Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream

Growing up in Paris, I have fond memories of macarons, croissants and fresh baguettes as regular morning treats. Paris is filled with bakeries, or 'boulangeries' where bread is freshly made and can often be bought still warm from the oven. Certain things, however haven't yet made it to our tables...and cupcakes are of those things. Sure, France has some of the most elaborate pastries around, but no authentic cupcakes to be found. There's just something about a moist cakey cupcake with luscious sweet icing. It's surely hard to beat. While I was living in New York last year, my near-obsession with cupcakes compelled me to wander into any cupcake store I could find. I always felt the slight irony of me wanting a simple heart-warming cupcake when I had spent the day making intricate meat dishes, homemade pasta or puff pastry from scratch at school.

All to say that posting a cupcake recipe was long overdue! I made a simple chocolate buttercream with a cocoa base this weekend and it turned out well. Next on my list is making orange-flavored buttercream. Mistake to be avoided would be: adding orange juice to buttercream as the acidity in the orange makes the icing curdle (I speak from experience here!).. so I will be making it with Grand Marnier and orange zest only. For now though, these all-chocolate cupcakes did the trick.

Recipe (batter adapted from the Barefoot Contessa)
Makes about 15 cupcakes

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup of buttermilk, shaken, at room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup good cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Frosting
1 stick of butter
1 3/4 cups of confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
3 tablespoons of bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake pans with paper liners.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and 2 sugars on high speed until light and fluffy, approximately 5 minutes. Lower the speed to medium, add the eggs 1 at a time, then add the vanilla and mix well. In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and sour cream. In another bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. On low speed, add the buttermilk mixture and the flour mixture alternately in thirds to the mixer bowl, beginning with the buttermilk mixture and ending with the flour mixture. Mix only until blended. Fold the batter with a rubber spatula to be sure it's completely blended.

Divide the batter among the cupcake pans (1 rounded standard ice cream scoop per cup is the right amount). Bake in the middle of the oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes, remove from the pans, and allow to cool completely before frosting.

Icing
Cream the butter with an electric mixer. Add the confectioners' sugar little by little. Mix for about 3-4 minutes until the mixture is smooth. Add the cooled chocolate and vanilla extract and mix well until the chocolate is entirely incorporated. Ice the cupcakes as you please. Enjoy!
Once you have iced the cupcakes, it is best not to store them in the fridge to maintain the icing's texture.

The Kitchen at Parson's Green

Last week, Niamh from Trusted Places invited myself and 10 others (amongst them Tom, Helen, Su Lin, Josh, Melanie, Alex and Chris) to an evening at The Kitchen. Newly opened, this place's concept is popular in the US. All you do is pick which dishes you'd like online, turn up, assemble them there, and take it home to cook it. No chopping, no slicing, no peeling and best of all, minimal washing up. Co-owner and Michelin-starred chef Thierry Laborde and his colleagues are on hand to help (and teach me how to pipe mashed potato...).

The operation ran smoothly. We were given sheets with clear step-by-step instructions on how to assemble our dishes and once assembled, we took them over to a fancy machine which sealed them with a plastic wrap and instructions on how to further cook it once you get home. By the time we got back to our work stations, new ingredients for the next dish were ready waiting.

It's a good concept and perfect for those with busy lifestyles but also concerned about the provenance of their food. All the ingredients are of high quality and sourced from independent traders and not wholesale. I don't think I'm the target market as I will make the time to cook, but I can see the attraction. I would recommend picking a day when Chelsea aren't playing at home though; it was a rather unpleasant sweat-a-thon on the tube on the way there.

I immediately cooked up the salmon teriyaki I had assembled when I got home and it was gorgeous. Melt-in-the-mouth salmon, decent teriyaki sauce and mushroom and pak choi stir-fried in sake. I wish I'd made more.

Pear Clafoutis with Fleur de Sel Caramel

First, before the food, a food news! I have the honor to announce that I am now one of the online editors at www.tastespotting.com. As most of you know, tastepostting is a great outlet for all of us food blog owners, and I have been using it for months. I cannot overstate how happy I am to be a part of the project. I have already discovered dozens of wonderful blogs through all the photographs submitted to the site and it's been great to be a part of the approval process. I look forward to discovering more of the blogs out there!

Now.. for this little dessert. There are those days when you're just not in the mood to make a real, rustic tart dough. Yesterday was one of those days. Let's face it, no matter how much you like to cook, there will be days when you want to take the easy way out. For some it might be take-out or running to the closest pastry shop, but for me it's going for a quick substitute. Clafoutis is possibly one of the easiest ways to make a fruit tart without worrying about making dough. It's as simple as cutting fresh fruit and pouring a sweet custard mixture over top.

I have also been meaning to try out this simple caramel recipe we used to make at culinary school and to tweak it a little at home. It's the easiest caramel sauce, and we would use it to decorate our dessert plates. I decided to add a touch of 'fleur de sel'- a gourmet hand-harvested salt - which added a nice hint of salty goodness. Fleur de sel is quite a pricey ingredient, but I've really grown to love what it adds to meals. In this case, it turned a simple caramel sauce into a burst of different flavors.

Recipe (makes 6 individual clafoutis)

1/3 cup of sugar, and extra for your molds
3 eggs
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons of Grand Marnier
3 firm but ripe Bartlett pears

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Butter each mold lightly, sprinkle some sugar and tap off excess.

Beat the eggs and the sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Lower the speed and the flour, cream, vanilla extract, lemon zest, salt, and Grand Marnier. Reserve

Meanwhile, peel,core and cut the pears into thin slices. Using about half a pear per mold, gently arrange the slices so as to cover the bottom of each mold. Pour the batter over the pears. Bake until the top is golden brown and the custard is set. This will take about 40 minutes.

Caramel Sauce
1 cup of sugar
2/3 cup of water
1/2 cup of cream
1/2 teaspoon of fleur de sel

In a pan on medium heat, add the sugar and water. Without stirring, let the sugar dissolve in the water (until the mixture looks like water only). Once it has, let the mixture come to a simmer. At this point, you can gently swirl the pan around. Be extremely gently (and stay concentrated) because the mixture is extremely hot. Keep a watchful eye on the mixture, and wait for it to turn a nice mahogany color. It will take about 6-7 minutes to change colors, but once it has started it will go very quickly. The sugar also burns very fast once the color changes, so be careful. Once the caramel has reached the right color, remove from the heat and slowly add the cream. If the sugar starts to harden, place back on low heat for a couple minutes and let the sugar melt down. Once the mixture is homogeneous, set aside and leave to cool. The caramel sauce can be stored in the fridge, and gently re-heated before using. Enjoy!

A Perfect Saturday in London

Krista of Londonelicious has called for bloggers to blog their 'Perfect Saturday in London'. So here's mine.

I'm not much of an early riser (this here is the understatement of the year) but since I have a lot to fit in, we start at:

9:30am It will, of course be a perfectly sunny day. I like to walk; I do at least 3 miles a day, if not more. I leave the house and walk to Blackheath, a rather pleasant and tree-lined 40 min stroll. At Blackheath, I jump on the 108 to North Greenwich.

10:30am I arrive at the Peninsula Restaurant at the Holiday Inn, North Greenwich to join the masses for a dim sum breakfast / brunch. North Greenwich is a strange, deserted place full of new builds, the O2 and motorways. I swear I see tumbleweed roll past in the distance, but the restaurant takes me straight back to the dim sum places in Hong Kong. It's usually heaving and very noisy, often not an English word heard.

11:45am Sufficiently stuffed, I jump on the Jubilee line to London Bridge (15 mins) and walk to Borough Market. Batting aside the crowds, I grab a pint of mulled cider and 6 oysters. These are slurped / drank in the shadow of the church.

1pm Back to the overland at London Bridge to catch a Southeastern to Charing Cross (11 min). I walk past Trafalgar Square to the National Portrait Gallery (my favourite of London galleries I've been to so far) and have a potter around inside. A cup of over-priced coffee (you're not in London if you're not being ripped off) in the cafe to revive my mulled-cider-brain.

3:30pm Leaving the gallery, I then walk (25 min) down to Lanesborough Hotel for Afternoon Tea, more specifically the Belgravia Tea. I haven't been before, but it's been on the list for ages.

6pm Leaving the Lanesborough, I jump on the tube (30 mins) to Old Street. A few beers in The Reliance - they have Scrumpy Jack on tap. I like.

8pm Jump on the 205 to Tayyabbs (via an offie to pick up more beers for the inevitable queue). Lots of grilled lamb chops.

11pm I waddle off, home-bound. Or, more likely than not, we head to Catch on Kingsland Road for a boogie and I end up having to catch a miserable night bus. Wait - this is the perfect Saturday, right? In that case, I am chauffered home by a taxi.

Bacon-Wrapped Scallops

I've always loved entertaining, but especially love easy entertaining. I've learned from trial and error to always make something fresh and simple, and something you've made before! These bacon-wrapped scallops make for great finger food. you can make them ahead of time and reheat them at the last minute and switch the ingredients around. You can use pancetta in place of the bacon and dates or figues instead of the scallops. Any crispy and salty cured meat will pair wonderfully with, in this case tender scallops, or fruity and soft fruit.

The only thing about this recipe is that because it is simple, the ingredients have to be really good .. so try to get the bacon from a good deli, and the scallops as fresh as can be.

Recipe: (for 12 scallops)
12 scallops
12 thin slices of bacon
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
12 wooden toothpicks, soaked in water for 20 minutes

Set your oven on broil. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Season the scallops with salt and pepper. Tightly wrap them with a piece of bacon and seal by inserting a toothpick to hold the bacon together. Place on a bacon sheet and lightly drizzle with olive oil. Bake for 6-10 minutes, depending on the size of the scallops. Remove when cooked through. If the toothpicks burn a little while in the oven, gently remove them once out of the oven, and replace with new ones.

Thrifty

Recently it's been nothing but doom and gloom; the rain has arrived and the clocks will be changing this weekend. Soon, I will be waking up in the dark and coming home in the dark. The tacky Christmas decorations will be going up, and Oxford Street will be more of a nightmare to navigate when I finish work due to Christmas shoppers. Add to this the incredibly boring credit crunch which people won't stop talking about, and you get a rather grumpy girl.

So on a miserable Monday night, this was the best thing to cheer me up. It was warming and deceptively filling, not to mention very cheap. It also uses all the odds and ends of pasta packets that I strangely hoard.

Pasta Stew

For four

1 onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
2 rashers of streaky bacon, diced
1 carrot, diced
2 sticks of celery, diced
2 yellow peppers
Pinch of chilli flakes
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
Pinch of dried oregano
1 bay leaf
200mls chicken or vegetable stock
Leftover pasta pieces (I used bits of pappardelle and macaroni), about 150gr
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 small handful of basil and parsley
Parmesan to taste (optional)

Fry the onion with the bacon and the chilli flakes until lightly browned, but not burnt. Add the garlic and oregano and fry further until fragrant. Add the carrot and celery and stir fry until softened.

Meanwhile, soak the pasta in boiling water to get rid of excess starch. Drain and add to the saucepan, with the stock, tinned tomato and puree, and bayleaf. Simmer this for 20 minutes, or until the pasta is quite soft. If it's looking dry, top up with more water. Add salt to taste. On serving, scatter with parsley and basil and top with parmesan and black pepper.

This is a really flexible recipe which I often change to add whatever's hanging around the fridge. Savoy cabbage also works well.

Boiled

The humble pork dumpling has many faces in Chinese cuisine. With a few different flavourings and shapes; they can be delicate, soupy won tons, steamed dim sum favourites siu mai, and also the crispy bottomed potsticker dumplings.

The dumplings are made much like potsticker dumplings, but instead of steaming and then frying, they are boiled. This makes for a somewhat softer and more delicate skin, as often the steaming and frying of the bread flour dough makes them more chewy.

Boiled Dumplings

Makes 12

80gr bread flour

40gr water

Mix the bread flour and the water together to form a dough. Knead for a few minutes and leave to rest.

150gr pork mince

1 shiitake mushroom, rehydrated and diced

1 spring onion, sliced finely

3 or 4 sprigs of coriander, chopped

1" ginger, minced

1 small carrot, grated

2 tsp light soy sauce

1 tsp cornflour

Mix all the ingredients above and leave to marinate for 1/2 an hour. Before you add the grated carrot, squeeze as much juice out of it as possible.

Roll the dough into a sausage shape and cut into 12 pieces. Flour each piece as you go along, and roll into a disc shape as thinly as you can manage. Place a heaped teaspoon of the pork mixture in the middle of the disc and fold the edges, making sure it's tightly sealed. I didn't bother crimping these dumplings, as I think the effect is lost with boiling them. Place each dumpling on a floured plate.

To cook, boil a big pot of water. Add the dumplings, and turn the heat down to a simmer. Simmer for 8 - 10 minutes, and serve with soy and chilli, or black vinegar and ginger.

They're not the most attractive things, but they are very tasty and simpler to make than the potstickers, due to not having to crimp and also the easy cooking method. They make a pleasing brunch.