Inspiration

It only makes sense that neither of us made a post in about a month and now within 24 hours we are both back on the blogging scene. I was watching Food Network last night and they had one of their famous cake challenges on where they had to make cakes for the premiere of the Simpsons Movie. I don't know if you've ever seen these challenges but these chefs make incredible cakes all around a particular theme. Last night's winners happen to work in Chicago so I thought I'd check out their Web site. To see some really creative, clean cakes check out their site at www.thecakegirls.com. Also, check out the menu link because it has some great ideas for flavor combinations. I recently made a silly purchase for B&C so I'll post a picture soon.

Seasoned Ingredients

There’s a lot to be said about seasonality of foods. Thick, savory foods are more satisfying in the winter when the body is beefing up for warmth. And in the summer, those same foods feel heavy and cumbersome on the body. Eating hot tomato basil soup in the July heat can turn summer laziness into miserable lethargy.

Last summer, Peter was badgering his mother as she stocked the fridge with fresh local produce each week despite a bulging pantry.
“Look at all this food,” he’d implore, yanking open the double wooden doors. “There’s so much food here already. Y2K is over; there’s no reason to stock up on so much food!”
His mom effectively ignored him and continued to fill the cold shelves with bags of crunchy veggie snacks and creamy-sweet fruits.
I also ignored him until one afternoon when, on one of his tirades, he pulled three or four large cans of pumpkin puree from between minestrone soup. Maybe he’s right, I thought, there’s already plenty of food (who keeps four cans of pumpkin puree just lying around?) I decided to cater to Peter’s eat-what’s-already-in-the-house motto and bake with the copious amounts of pumpkin.

Successfully I made dark and deeply rich pumpkin-molasses muffins…

…which sat on the counter for at least a week or two. “No thanks. It’s too hot.” Too hot for a cold muffin?

These puppies were so filling, so dark and heavy, that no one, not even Peter, wanted to eat them.

I should’ve learned.

But just last night I baked raspberry-cappuccino cupcakes. The idea sounded delicious: fresh raspberries and espresso in a cupcake—a marvelous breakfast. Somehow (somehow!) a couple tablespoons of cocoa powder and cup of semi-sweet mini chocolate chips also ended up in the batter and my cupcakes, once thoroughly baked, looked frustratingly like last summer’s pumpkin molasses bricks. Delicious but heavy. Most cakes sat lonely on the desk at work, uneaten.

It’s easy to see now why those cans of pumpkin puree sat uneaten in the pantry.

Leave the heavy stuff to winter.

Here’s the recipe for the cupcakes. Add cocoa powder and chocolate chips at your own discretion.

Raspberry Cappuccino Cupcakes

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

½ c. sugar

2 ½ teaspoons baking powder

2 tsp instant coffee powder

½ tsp salt

½ tsp cinnamon

1 c milk, scalded and cooled

½ c butter, melted and cooled

1 egg, slightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 pkgs (8oz) fresh raspberries

about 24 pecans

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

On the stove melt the butter. Let cool.

Also on the stove, scald the milk. Let cool.

In a medium bowl combine the dry ingredients. Set aside.

In a large bowl combine the cooled milk and butter. Add the egg and vanilla extract. Add the dry ingredients. Fold in the raspberries.

Spoon batter into muffin cups. Let bake for 12-14 minutes. Add a pecan to the top of each cupcake, bake another 5 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.