October Roundup

Well, who knew! Such delicious goodies this month! Thanks so much Colleen for your amazing challenge and thank to everyone that participated.

Chocolate Carbonation Peanut Butter Cup Surprise Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

Hi, I'm Kyleen and I'm the sixteen-year old girl behind sixteenbeans. This month, I made Chocolate Carbonation Peanut Butter Cup Surprise Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting.

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I’m a peanut-butterist. I’m that kind of girl who dips a spoon into the peanut butter jar and scrapes the sides of the jar in an attempt to get as much peanut butter on the spoon. It’s actually kind of strange that I’m not allergic to peanut butter, seeing as I’m allergic to walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts (I wish I could try Nutella...), and basically every other kind of nut. Maybe I’ve outgrown my allergies and I just don’t know because I haven’t tried any of those nuts in such a long time.

Either way, I count my blessings that I’m not allergic to peanuts. Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to enjoy Boiled Peanuts with Chinese Five Spice or these scrumptious Chocolate Carbonation Peanut Butter Cup Surprise Cupcakes (oh no, I just gave the surprise away) with Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting.

I made these for the Have the Cake November challenge, which was to make a carbonation cake. After some research, I deduced that any box mix could be made into cake using pop instead of butter and eggs. I decided to use my chocolate cake recipe and just replace the liquid ingredients with soda water (who needs all that extra sugar from soda). Although I was skeptical, I have to admit that these cupcakes don’t taste half-bad, considering that they were made with just soda water and one egg. Butter is butter and it can’t be replaced, but these low-fat cupcakes were passable.

If you’re not into the whole no-butter or oil low-fat cupcake, then make these cupcakesand hide peanut butter cups in them. Of course, I think almost anything with peanut butter tastes good, so I’d give these cupcakes two sticky, peanut-buttery thumbs up.

Click below for the recipe.

Chocolate Carbonation Peanut Butter Cup Surprise Cupcakes (oh no, I just gave the surprise away) with Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

Adapted from: Food & Wine, May 2008

Yield: 12 medium cupcakes

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:

• 1 can sparkling water (355 mL)
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ¾ cup all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup granulated plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon instant coffee granules
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 package mini peanut butter cups

Frosting:

• 3 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
• 6 tablespoons peanut butter, at room temperature
• 6 tablespoons powdered sugar, sifted
• ½ cup heavy cream
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

For the cupcakes, preheat oven to 350F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners. 

In a medium bowl, mix the sparkling water, egg, and vanilla extract until combined. 

In a large bowl, sift flour with sugar, cocoa powder, instant coffee granules, baking soda, and salt. Add the wet ingredients and beat until smooth, scraping the bottom and side of the bowl. The batter will be thin. Pour batter into lined muffin tins, filling them about three-quarters full. Drop a couple peanut butter cups into each cupcake. 

Bake cupcakes in the center of the oven for about 20-25 minutes, until springy and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool slightly, and then transfer them to a rack to cool completely before frosting. 

For the frosting, in a medium bowl beat cream cheese and peanut butter until smooth. Add the powdered sugar and beat until combined. Add the heavy cream and vanilla extract and continue to whip until thick and smooth, about 2 minutes. Using a palette or butter knife, frost the cupcakes as desired. Garnish with a mini peanut butter cup. 

Chocolate Framboise Bundt Cake

Posted by - Dorrie

A few years ago my homebrewing husband introduced me to a style of beer called "Lambic", which is a Belgian beer traditionally made with fruit added during the secondary fermentation. Lindeman's Framboise is such a Belgian lambic, which has been fermented with raspberries thus producing a rose-pink colored beer, with a slightly sour raspberry taste. After giving the baking challenge a little thought I decided to make a chocolate cake with Framboise since I love the combination of chocolate and raspberry.

Using a recipe that I found on Smitten Kitchen for a Chocolate Stout Cake that she turned into a bundt cake, I replaced the stout with Framboise and made the necessary adjustments for my above 6,000 foot altitude.

Chocolate Framboise Bundt Cake:

1 cup Framboise

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter (reduced 1 1/2 sticks - 3/4 cups for high altitude)

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 cups all purpose flour (increased to 2 1/4 cups for high altitude)

2 cups sugar (reduced to 1 1/2 cups for high altitude)

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

2/3 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter or spray a bundt pan.

Bring 1 cup Framboise and butter to simmer in a heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Remove from the heat and add the cocoa powder, whisking until it is smooth. Set aside to cool slightly.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a large bowl to blend. Beat eggs and sour cream with hand-mixer or stand mixer to blend. Add the beer-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat to combine. Add the flour mixture and mix briefly on a low speed until blended and then fold the batter with a spatula until completely combined. Pour batter into prepared bundt pan.

Bake until toothpick comes out clean - about 45 minutes at high altitude and less for sea level - about 35 minutes. Allow cake to cool completely in the pan and then turn it out onto cake plate or rack. I drizzled mine with chocolate Ganache and finished it with fresh raspberries.

The chocolate cake with Framboise produced a wonderful cake with a raspberry taste that is not overpowering but seems to bring out the chocolateness of the cake. A real winner in our house!

Root Beer Chocolate Cake Cupcakes

Posted by - Vivian

I made some root beer cupcakes from the Prepared Pantry .  I don't know what went wrong but they rose beautifully and then flattened out making it impossible for me to remove them from the pan! I ended up cutting them out of the pan by removing the flat tops.  Ended up looking ugly but still edible! I topped with butter cream frosting and pop rocks.


Root Beer Chocolate Cake Recipe

3/4 cup shortening

1 3/4 cups granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 tablespoon root beer flavor (or vanilla but will not have as deep of root beer flavor to the cake)

2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 12-ounce can root beer, not sugar-free

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

 Cream the shortening and sugar together. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Beat for five or six minutes so that the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the extract.

In another bowl, mix the flour, cocoa, salt, and soda together.

In three or four additions, alternately add the dry ingredients and the liquids to the creamed mixture starting and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix only until smooth.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake a 9x13 inch pan for 35 to 40 minutes, cupcakes for 15 minutes, or until the cake tests done with a toothpick. Cool completely before frosting with the frosting of your choice.

Baker’s Note: When making a cake such as this, you are mixing oil (shortening) and water (soda pop and buttermilk)—which don’t mix. The egg yolks act as an emulsifier, a bonding agent between the oil and water molecules and the flour absorbs much of the water. That is why you start with the flour addition—so that the water doesn’t overload the fat mixture before the flour is there to start absorbing water. It’s also why you add the liquids in stages between the flour additions.

October - Dr. Pepper Chocolate Cake

Posted by - Jessica

Since the soda of choice in my house is Dr. Pepper I decided to see if I could find a recipe. I found a few different ones but settled on this one because it included Dr. Pepper in the cake and frosting. I would totally make the cake portion again but found the frosting a little a short on taste. The cake is super moist and delicious but I can't say I could tell there was Dr. Pepper in it.

Chocolate Stout Cake with Bailey's Irish Cream Frosting

Posted by - Angela from Soap Mom's Kitchen

I was thrilled when Colleen posted her beer cake for the October Challenge on Have the Cake. I actually had found this recipe on a blog called, Closet Cooking that I love and had copied it down in the hopes of trying it out one day. The stout beer sounded so intriguing!  This recipe however, is very similar to the one Colleen posted, but I had to give it a try.  Well, here it is and I must say that the beer does add a little something different. I really think the Irish Cream Frosting really compliments this cake very well. I would definitely recommend this cake with a traditional Irish meal.

Chocolate Stout Cake (as posted on Closet Cooking)
(makes 1 cake, 6+ servings)
Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup stout (such as Guinness)
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

Directions:
1. Melt the butter in a sauce pan, remove from heat and let cool a bit.
2. Mix in the stout and cocoa powder.
3. Mix the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.
4. Mix the eggs and sour cream in another large bowl.
5. Mix the stout mixture into the egg mixture.
6. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet.
7. Pour the batter into one or two greased and parchment lined circular cake pan(s).
8. Bake in a preheated 350F oven until a toothpick pushed into the center comes out clean. If you bake it in a single pan then it should take about 40-50 minutes. If you bake it in two cake pans then it should take about 20-30 minutes. I baked my cake in a 8" pan and it took 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Bailey's Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients:
4 ounces cream cheese (room temperature)
1 cup confectioners sugar
3 tablespoons of Bailey’s Irish cream

Directions:
1. Cream the cream cheese.
2. Slowly mix in the confectioners sugar.
3. Slowly mix in the Irish cream.

October Inspiration: Carbonation

Posted by -colleen

I have been looking for an excuse to make this Chocolate Guinness Beer Cake for a long, long time. Every review and variation on it seems to draw rave reviews. It's a super-moist but not too sweet chocolate cake balanced with the dark, stout beer and then a whipped up, frothy, foam-like frosting which should resemble the head on a glass of beer.
Then one day, a friend made a Chocolate Dr. Pepper Malt Cake for my birthday (a recipe she got from the amazing and personally highly recommended Dinosaur BBQ cookbook. This was the best chocolate cake I have ever tasted. EVER. So apparently, the richness, the moistness, the not-so-over the top chocolate goodness is greatly helped by carbonated beverage.
So, that is my challenge to all the bakers this month: bake yourself up some yummy goodness using some form of carbonated beverage. It can be a cake, cupcakes, I even saw a bunch of recipes for breads. There are a TON of recipes out there using Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite and the
previously mentioned beer and Dr. Pepper.
Can't wait to see what everyone does!
Enjoy!