#55: Chicken & Waffle for Cupcake Camp

After 2 years being absent, SF Cupcake Camp returned this year! I had a hard time deciding what to bake because I was eager to come up with something creative, unique, and most importantly, delicious! I brainstormed a few ideas including chocolate potato chip cupcakes, chinese 5 spice cupcakes, green tea and chai...and ultimately I decided on a Chicken & waffle cupcake. I had no idea how I would pull this off but I was ready to commit. After a week of researching recipes and prototyping, I came up with my Chicken & waffle game plan.

The cupcake itself was a pancake cupcake that I "seared" under a waffle iron to get the waffle marks. I then made a maple buttercream to fill, sweeten, and moisten the inside of the cupcake. After days of contemplation, I ultimately decided to use crispy chicken skin and stay away from the chicken meat. I bought some raw chicken, peeled the skin, and cut into small pieces to deep fry. Think of it as chicken cracklings...or pork rinds. After assembling the cupcake with the crispy skin garnish, I decided to add some cayenne pepper for color.

I was really happy with this cupcake and I got a lot of great feedback from people. I didn't win this year, but I had a lot of fun creating this cupcake. Sometimes I get so caught up in baking that I forget to really get involved in the creative process - which is sometimes the best part :)

Special thanks to Fred and Sarah for helping ideate and sous chef. Thanks to all my friends who joined at cupcake camp: Sarah, Vic, Ashleigh, Annaliese, Karen, Kim, Grace, and Dru.

#54: Birthday Cupcakes for my Big Sis

Of course I had to bake some cupcakes to celebrate my big sister's 29th birthday. She is a big fruit fan so I searched for a recipe that featured summer berries. I stumbled upon some beautiful cupcake photos and I decided to take a stab at recreating the cupcakes. I started off with sugarcoating the fresh raspberries, blackberries, and organic mint leaves. The blackberries had a slight bitter taste so the sugar helped to balance out the tartness. I chose my go-to magnolia bakery vanilla cupcakes recipe and then made a simple vanilla buttercream for the topping. I was incredibly happy with how the cupcakes turned out. Sugared berries can really be a work of art. Happy Birthday Sarah!

#53: 2-Layer Cake

i decided to make a cake for elaine's birthday a week ago. when i heard she liked chocolate, i decided to go with a flourless chocolate cake - the same one i made for fred's birthday last year. this cake is dense and rich. after i made the flourless chocolate cake, i was suddenly inspired to make a layered cake. i had the afternoon free so i decided to go for it. i found a regular chocolate cake recipe and made one cake layer. I then whipped up some heavy whipping cream and spread the cream on top of the flourless chocolate cake base. i added the second chocolate cake layer on top and then spread the remaining cream on top and around the side of the cake. the cake looked a little sparse so i grabbed some sliced almonds and set them along the side of the cake. to finish off, i added some homemade raspberry sauce and chocolate on top.

this is the final cake. it was certainly rich and heavy with the flourless chocolate cake as the base. next time i'll probably stick with layers of regular cake but now i'm inspired to try my luck with making cakes!

#52: Blueberry Mochi Cake

i absolutely loooove mochi. so when fred sent me a blueberry mochi cake recipe i knew i had to try it out. since i only seem to bake for special occasions these days, it seemed natural to try out this recipe for my friend kim's birthday. i was really happy with how these turned out - they were soft yet chewy and the blueberries added great flavor to the cake. here's the recipe in case you want to check it out! the mochi texture seems to be a bit polarizing for people...but if you like mochi...then i think you'll really enjoy this cake.

#51: Oreo Rice Krispie Treats

i had some leftover s'mores stuff from my yosemite trip so i decided to repurpose the ingredients for another dessert. what could i do with chocolate and marshmallows? how about rice krispie treats with chocolate bits! well, i did some research and decided to jazz up the treats a bit. i found a good looking recipe for oreo rice krispie treats. what else could be better than marshmallow treats? well, marshmallow treats covered with oreo cookie crumbs! this recipe was incredibly easy and requires no baking at all. here's the recipe in case you feel inspired to try it yourself...the results are quite tasty!

#50: Throwdown Sticky Buns

after nearly 4 months, i finally made it to #50! to commemorate the occasion, i baked something that has been on my list for a few months now...Sticky Buns! during a Borders clearance sale, i was eager to spend my $20 gift card on a cookbook before all of the stores shut down. i lucked out and found a baking book from Joanne Chang. i recognized her from an episode of Throwdown with Bobby Flay. i flipped through the pages and i was really impressed with the book (plus i love how it has so many photos & stories).

the sticky buns looked so amazing on Throwdown so I decided to give it a shot. it was a random sunday and i didn't have much to do so i decided to make the sticky buns (which took about 10 hours total including rise time). you can't see in the photo, but below the buns is a pool of "goo" which is comprised of sugar, butter, cream, and pecans. i was really happy with how the sticky buns turned out. this one is a keeper but i will probably only make these for very special occasions or on a rainy day.

#49: Shanghai Soup Dumplings

after 2 weeks of delicious shanghai soup dumplings (first from dumpling kitchen in SF, and second from hung's kitchen in San Ramon), i started craving more and more dumplings. i don't often eat soup dumplings, but these two visits revived my love of soup dumplings. Enough so, that I decided to try to make some myself. I heard they were quite difficult to make - but i was ready to take on the challenge (note: now that i've made them...i realized that people are right - these dumplings are quite challenging to make!). the recipe comes from epicurious.

i managed to take photos throughout the process so i figured i would share them this time around. let me say first - this was a 2 day process.

Day 1, 8:00pm-12:00am. Fred and I went to Ranch 99 and picked up the essential ingredients to make the soup base. I returned home and immediately started on the soup. I combined chicken wings & drumsticks, pork bones, green onion, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and water. i let the broth simmer for about 3 hours and then boiled the broth to reduce. after the broth reduced i added knox gelatin and poured into a pan.




Day 2, 8:00am. i removed the refrigerated broth which had now gelatinized into aspic. i cut the aspic into small chunks. i then made the pork/shrimp mixture and added the aspic.



Day 2, 4:00pm. Fred came over and we got ready to assemble the soup dumplings. the recipe yielded 75 dumplings. i thought that was a bit too much, but we could always freeze them. after all was said and done we ended up with nearly 180 dumplings! needless to say, the majority of them are still in the freezer. we steamed the dumplings on top of some cabbage and then gobbled them up!

here's a few comments on the dumplings:

• i think we overcooked the dumplings and waited too long to eat them. the tops of the dumplings were dry and doughy
  
• the dumpling wrappers may have been too thin because the soup leaked out of some of the dumplings
• do not add shrimp to the pork mixture. my taste buds are more familiar with the pork mixture. adding shrimp was not as tasty for me
  

#48: Tartine's Chocolate Pudding

A couple weeks ago I was in San Francisco visiting a friend in the mission district. she conveniently lives 2 blocks away from tartine, so of course, we had to stop by for a late afternoon snack. i picked up a huckleberry tart to take home but ordered the chocolate pudding to dine in. i really like pudding and mousse so i was eager to try a tartine style pudding. the pudding was absolutely delicious - not too sweet - but still rich and indulgent enough for me.

i found an online recipe for the pudding from the tartine cookbook so i decided to try it out. i had never made pudding before so this was definitely something new to me. the recipe is pretty simple to follow but the most important step to the pudding is to whisk the pudding like crazy to make it smooth and creamy (beware of chocolate pudding curds). after chilling the pudding, i served it with a dollop of fresh whipped cream and dark chocolate shavings. i'll definitely try out this recipe again soon...absolutely delicious and easy to make :)

#47: Savory Mac 'n Cheese Cupcakes

This isn't literally a cupcake with mac 'n cheese inside...but mac 'n cheese baked in cupcake tins. I saw Giada make this recipe on one of her shows and I decided to make this as an hors doeuvre for a new years eve party. these were definitely best hot out of the oven. i think i could have used more gooey cheese but i liked the crispiness of the cupcake crust and the panko breadcrumbs sprinkled on top. i also added some broccoli for color and added some cut up bacon as well. this is a really fun idea and a great canvas to be creative with different ingredients in this cupcake.

#46: Bi-Rite Inspired Salted Caramel Cupcakes

ever since the 7x7 top 100 foods to eat list was published, i've been wanting to go to bi-rite to try their oh so popular ice cream. i hadn't managed to make it to bi-rite until November. i'll admit, i was a bit underwhelmed by the casual store front...but perhaps that adds to the appeal of the neighborhood friendly ice cream shop. i tried the salted caramel and the seasonal pumpkin ice cream in a cup...absolutely delicious and a surprisingly good flavor combination. i finally understood the hype of the salted caramel ice cream.

since my trip to bi-rite, i've been eager to make a salted caramel cupcake. i stumbled upon a blog with a great looking recipe. i decided to take a stab at making the cupcake with a couple birthdays coming up (annaliese & loan). these cupcakes were quite time intensive but definitely worth it. caramel is pretty difficult to work with...but worth it. i made the candied caramel garnish the night before and let them cool overnight. the next day i baked the cupcakes (pretty standard cupcake, but used brown sugar). i also made a creamy salted caramel filling to spoon inside the cupcakes. lastly, i made a salted caramel buttercream to top off the cupcakes. many components to this cupcake...but a great recipe.