Sweet Inspirations: Raspberry-Almond Cupcakes

Did You Know? Half to one pound of raspberry fruit per day can provide twenty to thirty grams of fiber, which is adequate for an adult daily nutrition requirement.

I've mentioned my hopes for someday opening a bakery, Sweet Inspirations, with my best friend Chris in the near future, so that's pretty much what I've been busy with these past few days. We had our first order for an engagement party on Saturday evening, and we never would have predicted the success that was to come. Chris' brother Jeff had been working on our logo for a while, and I couldn't have asked for anything more perfect (and I can so see it on a t-shirt someday). He's thinking about taking it a little further, but his design sense is awesome, so I know I'll love whatever he decides on.

Raspberry-Almond Cupcakes and Lemon Bars were on the menu, so I thought I'd show you the cupcakes today. I wanted something girly, but classic looking, and I thought a raspberry-hued cake with an almond-scented buttercream would be perfect. The red berry against the white frosting was really traditional looking, and very fitting for the occasion. Packaged inside crisp, white bakery boxes, our first engagement turned out to be pretty professional.

The guests couldn't get enough of our desserts, and loved the original flavors we had paired together. Our next step will definitely be to finish our business cards, and maybe make some bumper stickers to put on all the cars of our friends and family members. We even booked two more clients for June, both for cupcakes, and the future bride of this engagement party rebooked us for another event she is going to have sometime over the Summer. We definitely have some hard work ahead of us, but so far things are looking really good. If we can keep delivering for small gatherings, and getting our name out there, I really see a future in the baking business. So if any of you live in the South Shore area, and are looking for a baked good for a party of yours or to bring along with you, send me an email, and we would love to create something special for you. And those lemon bars I mentioned will definitely be featured soon!

Rough Draft of our Logo/Engagement Quote

Raspberry-Almond Cupcakes
These were definitely on the less sweet, more muffin-like spectrum as far as cupcakes go, but when paired with the sweet, almond buttercream, I thought they were perfectly balanced. Add an additional 1/4 to 1/2 cup of sugar if you're looking for something sweeter.

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
6 eggs
3/4 cup canola oil
1 1/2 cups puréed raspberries, fresh or frozen, thawed
3/4 cup milk (or soymilk)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line cupcake pans with paper cups, and set aside.

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together remaining ingredients. Add this to the dry, beating with a wire whisk.

Pour into prepared cupcake tins. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until done when tested with a toothpick.

Makes about 30 cupcakes.

Almond Swiss-Meringue Buttercream
Enough for the 30 cupcakes, plus leftovers

4 large egg whites
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter, very soft
2 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 pints fresh raspberries (for garnish)

Mix egg whites and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer, and whisk to combine. Set over a medium pan of boiling water, and whisking constantly, heat egg whites and sugar for about 4-5 minutes, until hot to the touch.

Remove from heat and reattach to the stand mixer fixed with the whisk attachment. Beat on high speed until the mixture resembles marshmallow fluff, a few minutes.

At this point, you want the frosting to be completely cool before adding the softened butter, so surround with ice or frozen vegetables, until it has reached room temperature.

When cool enough, add the butter a few tablespoons at a time. Halfway through, scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl. Add the remaining butter, the extracts, and beat until fluffy. Frost the cupcakes, garnish with raspberries (if desired) and enjoy!

Pomegranate Yogurt Cake

Did You Know? Pomegranates have existed for 50 to 70 million years. The plants themselves live 100 to 150 years in the wild, and 300 years or more in cultivated gardens. They bear fruit in their second or third year, and can produce 440 to 660 pounds of fruit annually.

With a huge case of POM Wonderful and some tubs of Oikos, I needed a recipe to put these ingredients to use, preferably all at once. I'd had a recipe for grapefruit yogurt cake bookmarked for some time, and with a few substitutions, I knew I could have something really great. The original recipe had mentioned that the grapefuit syrup did not thicken up as hoped, so I made sure to let the pomegranate juice reduce down for a few extra minutes; it ended up being my favorite part.

As for the cake itself, it has a wonderful crumb, and is super-moist. Flavorwise, it's definitely more lemon than pomegranate, but I expected that. The original recipe had praised the grapefruit-zested sugar that was incorporated, but with no rind to zest from a pomegranate, I opted for a lemon instead, and threw in a tablespoon of pomegranate juice for good measure.

Pomegranate Yogurt Cake
Adapted from Joy the Baker

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup Greek yogurt
1/3 cup grapeseed oil
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1/2 cup pomegranate juice, plus one tablespoon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 Tablespoons powdered sugar

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a bundt pan, and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt to blend.

On a clean surface, or in a large bowl, combine the granulated sugar and zest. With the back of a spoon or a flexible bench knife, rub the lemon zest into the sugar. The essential oils will release into the sugar creating a wonderfully fragrant lemon-sugar.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs and lemon-sugar until the eggs are thick and pale yellow. Add the yogurt, oil, one tablespoon of pomegranate juice, and vanilla extract. Stir well to combine. Add the flour mixture and stir to combine.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with a rubber spatula. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and a wooden skewer comes out clean when inserted near the center. Place the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes to cool. Run a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the cake, and cool completely on the wire rack.

In a small saucepan, combine the powdered sugar and the remaining 1/2 cup of pomegranate juice and bring to a boil Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook, stirring, for 10-15 minutes, or until the glaze is slightly thickened. Remove from heat.

To finish, pierce the cake all over the top with a skewer and pour the warm pomegranate syrup slowly over the cake.

Store at room temperature, wrapped well, for 2 days.

Coconut Layer Cake

Did You Know? Falling coconuts kill 150 people every year - 10 times the number of people killed by sharks.

Not having a job leaves me with little money of my own to buy gifts for just about anyone, so when the occasion arises, I turn to baking. There's nothing like creating something special to present to your friends and family, especially when that someone is your mom. My mom is the best, and always by my side in the kitchen, cleaning every last pan that I make a mess of. She's great at rinsing and chopping, and always makes sure our kitchen is stocked. No request is ever too large. She's the ultimate soux chef.

My sister and I always joke around that we could never live with any other mother besides our own. No one would put up with us like she does, and no one would do as much as our mom does. She makes it really hard to ever want to get a place of my own. Why move out, when every last detail of my life is taken care of here? I guess to be a little more self-sufficient, but I've got time for crazy stuff like that. So in honor of my mom, and all the awesome things she does for my family, I made her a cake (even trade right?); A coconut layer cake, her favorite.

Mother's Day was held at my house this year, and my aunt, uncle, and grandparents came over for a late lunch to celebrate the occasion. My mom made the meal, and I finished it off with this cake. I'm not a huge fan of shredded coconut, and cream cheese is definitely not my thing, so I opted out of tasting this one. But from the reactions of all of our guests, along with the multiple servings, I'd say it was a huge success. My mom loved it too, so that's all that really mattered. I hope you all enjoyed your Mother's Day, and I promise to post a little more often now that I'm done with school!

Coconut Layer Cake
Adapted from Bon Appetit via Epicurious
I sliced each cake into 2, for a total of 4 layers. The recipe below is for a basic 2 layer cake.

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup canned sweetened cream of coconut (such as Coco Lépez)*
4 large eggs, separated
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon coconut extract
1 cup buttermilk
Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe below)*

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour two 9-inch-diameter cake pans with 2-inch-high sides (I lined mine with parchment paper as well). Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon salt in medium bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat sugar, butter and sweetened cream of coconut in large bowl until fluffy. Beat in egg yolks and vanilla and coconut extracts. On low speed, beat in dry ingredients and then buttermilk, each just until blended.

Using clean dry beaters, beat egg whites with pinch of salt in another large bowl until stiff but not dry. Fold beaten egg whites into batter.

Divide cake batter between prepared pans. Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Cool cakes in pans on rack 10 minutes. Run small sharp knife around pan sides to loosen cakes. Turn cakes out onto racks and cool completely.

Place 1 cake layer on cake plate. Spread 1 cup Cream Cheese Frosting over cake layer. Sprinkle 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut over. Top with second cake layer. Spread remaining frosting over top and sides of cake. Sprinkle remaining coconut over cake, gently pressing into sides to adhere.

Coconut Layer Cake can be prepared up to 1 day ahead. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Let stand at room temperature 2 hours before serving.

Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting
Adapted from Ina Garten

2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon coconut extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pound confectioners' sugar, sifted
14 ounces sweetened shredded coconut

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the cream cheese, butter, and the coconut and vanilla extracts on low speed. Add the confectioners' sugar and mix until just smooth (don't whip).

Lemon Poppy Seed Teacakes

Did You Know? For hundreds of years, Greeks have prized strained yogurt for its richness and creaminess, and because it makes a great cooking ingredient that’s less likely to curdle when heated. Today, we know that straining also makes Greek yogurt richer in protein than regular yogurt, and lower in lactose.

Sorry I've been missing the past few days, but with school winding down, I've been slammed with presentation after presentation. I'm almost through the worst week, and I could not be more ready for Summer. My Dad emailed me a possible vacation house for the Vineyard this August, I've been working out the basics for our annual Saco River trip, and we're even discussing a San Francisco excursion towards the end of the Summer. So as you can imagine, the thought of doing one more paper in the midst of all these Summer getaways could make anyone go crazy. That being said I needed a little break from my computer. I spent this past weekend baking and churning, and could not have been more relaxed, even with the dreadful week that awaited me.

Being a marketing major, it's pretty tough to pass up some free product when it could help out a company I love. Today's teacakes are made possible by Stonyfield Farm and their new Oikos Organic Greek Yogurt. I'd never had Greek yogurt before, so I was excited to try it out. I'd heard wonderful things about this style of yogurt all over the blogging world, so I was pretty sure I too would fall victim to the creaminess of this tangy treat. I started the recipe testing with a basic vanilla frozen yogurt (coming soon) to get the full effect of this prized yogurt. I will never go back to the freezer case.

Anyways, back to the cakes at hand - lemon poppy seed teacakes. I knew I wanted some sort of lemon poppy seed concoction, and I'm a sucker for cupcakes, but I also didn't want a sugar overload. These teacakes are just that, a perfect cake to dip into an afternoon cup of tea. Not overly sweet, studded with that unbeatable lemon poppy seed combo, and super-moist from the ultra-thick Greek yogurt. I glazed them with a variation of the lemon juice and sugar mixture that Ina uses on her lemon yogurt cake, and it gave them a wonderful sheen and a tart topping. If you're interested in something on the sweeter side, just add another 1/4 cup of the granulated stuff. But be sure to use Greek-style yogurt, if not for the health benefits alone. Oikos has 0% fat, and twice the protein of regular yogurt. Pretty awesome for something so rich looking.

Lemon Poppy Seed Teacakes

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 cup Greek yogurt
3/4-1 cup granulated sugar, plus 1 tablespoon
3 large eggs
1/4 cup grapeseed oil (may substitute vegetable oil)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
1/4 cup lemon juice

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a cupcake tin with paper cups, and set aside.

Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and poppy seeds in a medium-sized bowl.

In another, larger bowl, mix the lemon zest, yogurt, sugar, eggs, oil, and vanilla extract.

Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and whisk until just combined.

Using an ice cream scoop, measure the batter into your prepared cupcake tin. I filled my cups pretty much to the top so I didn't have to pull out another pan, but if you follow the 3/4 rule, you might have to use two cupcake tins.

Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 15-18 minutes.

Heat the remaining one tablespoon of sugar and the 1/4 cup lemon juice in a microwave safe dish until the sugar dissolves. When the cupcakes come out of the oven, brush the tops with this lemon juice mixture. I pricked the tops with a toothpick a few times as well. These taste best the day they're the made.