Martha’s a Genius. But we already knew that. May 5, 2009
Posted by Dorothy in chocolate, cupcakes, vegan.21 comments
Who loves Martha Stewart?!
I do! Most Dessert Obsessees I know have a love/hate relationship with Martha and her recipes, but I completely adore her! I believe anyone who can build a successful career and home empire, and then destroy said successful career (by lying and ending up in jail, in Martha’s case), and then rebuild that career and become even more successful after imprisonment and public humiliation is a Genius.
So of course, she came up with these Genius super easy one-bowl chocolate cake recipe! I can’t believe it took me so long to try this recipe, as dessert lovers everywhere have been raving about this recipe for awhile. I’ve been using this vegan recipe as my go-to chocolate cake recipe, but Martha’s are slightly better! (But the vegan ones are healthier!) And Martha’s cupcakes baked up gorgeously, with perfectly domed tops.
This recipe is supereasy and results in moist, chocolatey, cupcakes. Perfect! Top with some Cream Cheese Frosting or Cookies and Cream Frosting and you’re in cupcake heaven!
Creamy Cream Cheese Frosting
Martha’s One – Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners; set aside. Sift together cocoa powder, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Add eggs, warm water, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla, and mix until smooth, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl to assure batter is well mixed.
Divide batter evenly among muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full. Bake until tops spring back when touched, about 20 minutes, rotating pan once if needed. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely and then frost. Makes 24 cupcakes.
Cream Chese Frosting
1 8 0z. package cream cheese
1/2 stick butter (1/4 cup)
2 c powdered sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
Beat all the ingredients together until creamy. Add in 1/2 C crushed Oreos for Cookies and Cream frosting.
And did you know Martha was a teenage model?
Martha the Model
So she’s been a model, chef, tv personality, publisher, author, decorator, actress, homemaker, stock broker, went to college on a scholarship, etc etc etc and still going! She’s done everything! That woman is amazing. If one day I could be even a smidge as successful as her, I would be beyond satisfied with myself.
A Delicious Taste of New York City! April 4, 2009
Posted by Dorothy in chocolate, cupcakes, sweet eats.Tags: best cupcakes, chocolate, healthy, japanese, new york city, nyc, restaurant, souffle, soy, tofu, valrhona
12 comments
Remember when I went on that wonderful dessert tour of NYC not so long ago? Well, I was sitting around and reminiscing about those wonderful chocolate souffle cupcakes from Kyotofu, and majorly craving them. They were voted the Best Cupcakes in NYC, and SO good! They melt in your mouth like truffles, AND have tofu in them (which kind of makes them healthy)! So I decided that I HAD to have some, even though I was on the West Coast and miles away from Kyotofu! I mean, I have a kitchen, and I know how to make Chocolate Souffle, so it can’t be that hard, right?
…not really. I tried variations of chocolate souffles, flourless chocolate cake, and even brownies, and then even combinations of the three, but nothing was right. They were all either too fudgy or too chewy or too crispy (well I think I overbaked that batch)… and if you think a chocolate souffle cupcake is just an overbaked chocolate souffle (like I did), let me tell you, you are wrong (overbaked chocolate souffles are not nearly as yummy as the real thing)! so I went to plan B – digging around Google with my handy dandy digging around Google skills aquired from college! I should’ve done this sooner, because I soon found the ACTUAL Kyotofu recipe! YAY!
mini-chocolate souffles cupcakes from kyotofu
I then proceeded to bake them, and they were SO delicious! Not EXACTLY like the ones I had in NYC, but closer than anything I had tried. I’m sure they’ll become perfection with more practice. Here’s the recipe, so try it out for yourselves! Just remember to use the best quality dark chocolate you can find, and to puree the tofu into smoothness BEFORE you blend it into the batter (I didn’t the first time… and ended up with tiny chunks of tofu in my cupcakes). Oh, and the recipe says it makes 24 mini cupcakes, but I got 36 mini cupcakes. The more the merrier!
Kyotofu’s Chocolate Souffle Cupcakes
2 cups dark chocolate (preferably Valrhona pellets, 64 percent)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 tablespoon white miso
3 eggs
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup Japanese bread flour
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder (preferably Valrhona)
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup silken tofu
1/4 cup soy milk, unsweetened (preferably Vitasoy)
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prepare 24-36 mini-cupcake liners for baking. (1) Melt chocolate, butter, and miso in double boiler over low heat, stirring occasionally. When only small lumps remain, remove from heat and stir until completely smooth. Whip eggs until they reach “ribbon stage,” then pour chocolate mixture into mixing bowl with the eggs, varying the mixing speed to incorporate chocolate. (2) Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl, mixing together with hands or a whisk. Fold the dry ingredients into the chocolate, mixing until fully incorporated. Add tofu and soy milk slowly, mixing until fully incorporated. (3) Fill batter almost to the top. Bake for 20 minutes, rotating tray halfway through, until center springs back when touched. Dust with confectioners’ sugar if desired.
New York City Dessert Tour – Part 5 March 17, 2009
Posted by Dorothy in bread, cake, chocolate, cupcakes, information, sweet eats.10 comments
the desserts: pumpkin scone, buttermilk scone, blueberry scone, mocha chocolate chip cake, assorted cookies
tea party goodies
the assessment: Tea parties are so fun! Especially at Alice’s Tea Cup! We had a typical tea party composed of skirts, headbands, raised pinkies, exotic teas, tiny sandwiches and wonderful desserts.
Inspired by Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, this shop is absolutely darling. The walls feature fabulous quotes from the book (one of my all-time favorite books, but the way), and depictions of Alice herself! My favorite part of the decor were the swinging doors that led to the kitchen with keyhole shaped windows, reminiscent of the door Alice goes through in the story!
And the desserts! Everything was supercute, and they had the most amazing scones I’ve ever had! They have all sorts of creative scones, like blackberry coconut, and the regular flavors, like buttermilk. I don’t usually like scones, because I feel like I’m eating bread and not dessert, but these scones did not taste like any other scone I’ve ever had before! They were perfectly moist and soft, and the texture was more like cake than a biscuit (like scones I’m used to). They still weren’t very sweet, but I didn’t miss the sugar! The mocha chocolate chip cake was also delicious, and had the perfect blend of chocolate and mocha. Deeeelicious!
Our supercute tea party outfits (I'm dressed as Alice!)
New York City Dessert Tour – Part 4 March 12, 2009
Posted by Dorothy in cake, chocolate, cookies, cupcakes, information, sweet eats.Tags: 5th ave, candy, chocolate, desserts, dylan's candy bar, eloise, forbidden broadway sundae, frozen hot chocolate, ice cream, lady m confections, new york city, nyc, serendipity, serendipity3, the plaza
11 comments
Fourth and final part in my dessert tour! Wow, I’m a slow blogger – I’ve been back from NYC for 3 weeks and I’m just finishing up my blog posts! This section features fabulous, gorgeous, over the top DESSERTS!
Dessert Stop #1: Lady M Confection
Lady M Desserts
the dessert: Lady M Mille Crepes, strawberry fueille mille
the assessment: Gorgeous confections, Gorgeous store, Gorgeous display, Gorgeous ambience… HORRENDOUS SERVICE!! Their service was so bad, I didn’t eat there in protest! The servers are pretentiously snobby and never smile. Never Smile! How can people never smile?! I don’t get it. They had plenty of tables available while we were there, but none for a party of three, so they couldn’t seat us. I don’t know why they couldn’t add a chair to a table for two; we told them we didn’t mind squeezing. Since the wait was too long, Helen and Colleen ordered desserts to go. I didn’t order anything, bc they were so evil. Helen and Colleen thoroughly enjoyed their desserts, but they thought the cakes were a bit pricey.
Strawberry Feuille Mille
Dessert Stop #2: Dylan’s Candy Bar
the dessert: assorted candy
the assessment: OMG I LOVE THIS STORE!!! This store (the 5th ave. location) is now one of my all-time favorite stores ever! Not only do they sell candy, and chocolates, they also carry clothing, accessories, and cosmetics! I love it! And the design of the store is SO FUN – everything is in extreme colors, super bright and happy! And it smells like sugar. There’s a superbeyondcute food bar upstairs, and you can even host parties there! Wish I had known about that before my birthday passed! Oh, well, next year. I can’t wait for the Los Angeles location to open!
Non-edibles at Dylan's
I was so infatuated with their Ooey Gooey Bar, I ate everything I bought there in one day, and had to go back the next day for more! The Petit Fours are to die for! Soft, vanilla-y, white chocolate-y, fondanty, perfection! I have insane love for petit fours in general, and these are amazing! The Ooey Gooey Bar also has other creative goodies, like Chocolate Coconut Stacks, Candy Covered Pretzels, interesting chocolate barks, etc. I was also extremely smitten with the fudge at Dylan’s Candy Bar. They have every possiblity imaginable, from Cookies ‘n Cream to Rocky Road to Salty Caramel Nut. I wish I had taken pictures, but I ate all the evidence…
Even the website is fun!
Dessert Stop #3: Serendipity
Forbidden Broadway Sundae - Blackout Cake, Vanilla Ice-Cream, Hot Fudge, White Chocolate Syrup
the dessert: Forbidden Broadway Sundae and Mint Frrrrrozzzzen Hot Chocolate
the assessment: OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG!!!!!!!!!
SO WORTH THE HYPE!
Are you drooling yet?
Serendipity definitely has the craziest, most over-the-top desserts. The confections are so creative, so beautiful, so artery-clogging…so perfect! It took us SIX hours to actually get a table there. We first put our names on the 2 hour waitlist at 4pm, but then we realized that our tickets to The Lion King were actually for 6:30 pm, not 8pm, as we originally thought. So we dashed over to The Lion King, and then dashed back to Serendipity. We got our names on the waitlist again at 8:30. After an hour of waiting, and with at least another hour and half of waiting to go, we decided we had to switch tactics. So… we conned the host. And befriended the cashier. And…got a table by 10pm. YAY US!!
Notice how Helen is still taking pictures of her Frrrrozen Hot Chocolate while Dorothy has already devoured half of her sundae?
And it was so, so, SO worth it. The desserts are over the top, the ambience is whimsical, the service is fantastic… LOVE IT!
Dessert Stop #4: The Plaza Hotel
We didn’t actually get a chance to eat at the Plaza Hotel (we were way too stuffed), but we had a wonderful time looking at their gorgeous desserts and taking pictures with Eloise. Just wanted to share pictures of the desserts Eloise got to eat at the Plaza!
Serendipity and Dylan’s Candy Bar are MUSTs for any trip to NYC!
Colleen, Eloise, Dorothy, and Helen at the Plaza
Photos courtesy of Helen! Visit Helen’s blog for her take on our dessert tour.
New York City Dessert Tour – Part 2 March 6, 2009
Posted by Dorothy in cake, chocolate, cupcakes, information, sweet eats, vegan.14 comments
Let’s get to more desserts on the second part of my NYC dessert tour! This part features more of the “healthier”, organic, and vegan desserts available in the city! YUM!
Dessert Stop #1: Kyotofu
Kyotofu
the dessert: chef’s five course dessert tasting
our assessment: Amazing! Everything was superdelicious, and it was all made with soy or tofu so it was healthy! I loved this place, but it is a bit pricey for the tiny portions you get. We shared the five course dessert tasting, each course hand chosen by the chef. This included a tiny square of sweet potato cheesecake, chocolate/strawberry soy ice-cream, rice pudding, flourless chocolate cake, and two macaroons (ours were black sesame and lemon-ginger). Our favorites were the cheesecake and chocolate cake. We just wished the pieces were bigger!
chef's five course dessert tasting
And you get tiny tiny mini chocolate souffle cupcakes with your check! These were perfectly dense, and reminded me of Nizza’s flourless chocolate cake from the night before. These mini chocolate souffle cupcakes were voted NYC’s best cupcakes, and I have to agree (although I didn’t have too many chocolate cupcakes while I was in NYC…)! And I didn’t even miss the lack of frosting!
mini chocolate souffle cupcakes
Dessert Stop #2: Babycakes
the dessert: gluten/dairy/soy free carrot cupcake and gluten/dairy/soy free red velvet cupcake with spelt
vegan red velvet cupcakes with spelt
our assessment: Babycakes makes me feel great, because every single one of their desserts is either gluten-free or vegan or dairy-free or something else alternative, but yet they are insanely popular! And they are sweetened with agave, not refined sugar. The bakery is supercute and homey, and has the cutest cupcake doorstep ever! Helen and I thought both cupcakes were moist and delicious, and tasted as good as regular cupcakes! We enjoyed the “cream cheese” frosting, too. But Colleen, who is not used to vegan sweets, did not enjoy the cupcakes 
– Helen and I regularly enjoy vegan sweets, so these did have too much of a difference to us.
Dessert Stop #3: Union Square Greenmarket
Honey Crisp Apples at the Greenmarket
the dessert: organic pumpkin pie and Honey Crisp apples
our assessment: SO GOOOOOOOD!!!! The organic pumpkin pie was AMAZING! We ended up eating it the day after we bought it (at least 24 hours) but it was so DELICIOUS! Not overly sweet, a perfect blend of spices; so perfect! The crust was soft and chewy, and definitely not dry or flaky. The pie tasted very clean and pure, and didn’t make me feel greasy or bloated like some desserts do. Loved it!! There was also a wide selection of muffins, pies, and breads at the Greenmarket, which we didn’t get to try.
We also had a couple of the organic Honey Crisp apples from the Greenmarket, which were also perfect. Juicy, crispy, and not too sweet! The Greenmarket was perfect!
assorted jellies
My overall assessment is that NYC has great organic/ “healthy” desserts!
Colleen, Helen, and Dorothy at Babycakes NYC
Photographs courtesy of Helen, the best photographer I know!
