Magnolia Bakery Vanilla Cupcakes and Buttercream Icing

Well, this did not go as well as I hoped. I just wasn't happy with the icing, I'm sure it's me. I'm going to hunker down soon and perfect my buttercream. Here it goes, perhaps you will have more luck than me...

Cupcakes:

You need:

• 1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 (1/2 cup-12 capacity) muffin tins with cupcake papers.

2. In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not over beat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about 3/4 full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.

Cool the cupcakes in tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

Icing:

You need:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

6 to 8 cups confectioners' sugar

1/2 cup milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 4 cups of the sugar and then the milk and vanilla. On the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency. You may not need to add all of the sugar. If desired, add a few drops of food coloring and mix thoroughly. (Use and store the icing at room temperature because icing will set if chilled.) Icing can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

All and all these are fine. I did adjust the icing recipe a bit. Tonight we are having Jamie Oliver's perfect mushroom soup, and I can't wait to share it with you. Until then-

Joyeux Cuisson,

All Hallows Eve

This weekend was filled with some really good eats. It began Friday evening with our friends Dan & Amy and a Weinberger favorite: Cast Iron Deep Dish Pizza and Chocolate Candy Corn-alicious Cup Cakes.

For the Pizza:

1 Large pizza dough from your local pizza joint

6-10 Cremini Mushrooms

1 8oz. can of garlic and herb tomato sauce

3 Links of Italian Sausage

1 8oz. package of Low Moisture Part Skim Mozzarella Cheese

Preheat oven to 425 F

Begin by slicing and sauteing your mushrooms and It. sausage in a non-stick pan over medium heat.

Meanwhile roll out your room temp. pizza dough.

Dab a paper towel with oil and spread the oil around your cast iron to prevent sticking. Lay your pizza dough over the cast iron skillet & cut off the excess dough.

By now the mushrooms and It. sausage should be done. Fill your pie with the meat mixture, your sauce, and cover with cheese. Traditional deep dish has the sauce on top- but I like to see the beautiful browned cheese.

With the excess dough I like to make bread sticks covered in 1 TB of butter, garlic powder, & herbs de provence.

The pizza should take about 25 min. depending on the oven. I like to check mine after 20 min.

Voilà!

For the Cupcakes:

For the record I did make scratch chocolate cupcakes, but they weren't chocolate-y enough. It was Friday afternoon and I didn't have time to do it again. This box mix actually turned out really tasty!

Go Here for the icing recipe!

Sunday we had all orange food in honor of Halloween, so we enjoyed homemade tomato soup and sweet potato oven fries.

For the Soup: Courtesy of Martha Stewart

Serves 6

tablespoons unsalted butter

1 onion, coarsely chopped

1 to 2 cloves garlic (optional)

2 (14-ounce) cans whole peeled tomatoes

Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

1 1/2 cups Basic Chicken Stock, or water

1/2 cup heavy cream (optional)

Melt butter in a medium stockpot over medium heat. Cook onion and garlic (if using), stirring constantly, until soft and translucent, about 3 minutes.

Add tomatoes, their juices, and stock. Season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes.

Working in batches, transfer tomato mixture to a blender, food processor, or food mill. Puree tomato mixture (if using a blender, cover the lid with a kitchen towel while machine is running).
*I actual used an emersion blender, which worked great. While I was blending I slowly added 1/2 & 1/2 in place of the cream.

For the Sweet Potato Fries:

Serves 2

2 average sweet potatoes

Salt & Pepper

Garlic Powder

Preheat oven to 415 F

Peel and slice potatoes, we do ours about a cm thick. Sprinkle with olive oil, s & p, and garlic powder. Spread over a cookie sheet and bake in oven for about 30 min. *Flip after 15 min.

As you can see I like it pretty simple. Sometimes I like to jazz it up, but I don't see that happening for another week and a half or so. Until next time Joyeux Cuisson!