Katherine's Excellent Baking Adventures

When a friend who routinely sings your baking's praises has a birthday coming up, you know you have to bake cupcakes that put all other cupcakes to shame. Cupcakes that will blow the minds of anyone who eats them. Cupcakes that could potentially solve all the world's problems.

Ok maybe I got a little carried away there.

Anyway, after a very intense brainstorming session, I decided to make Blackberry-Lemon Cupcakes. Now, when I tell you they were amazing, I'm not exaggerating in the least. They almost didn't survive the night that I made them because I was this close to devouring them all. I started with a pretty basic lemon cake recipe, and then made it the most unhealthy thing in the world by throwing two sticks of butter and four eggs in there (because sometimes, you need to sacrifice your unclogged arteries for a rich cake). For the frosting, I modified my go-to buttercream recipe with fresh blackberries and lemon zest. I was totally shooting in the dark with this one and improvising way more than is acceptable when baking, but they ended up getting rave reviews, so it paid off.

Here's the recipe!

Blackberry-Lemon Cupcakes: Ingredients: For the lemon cupcakes: 3 cups all-purpose flour 1 Tbsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. salt 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature 4 large eggs zest of 2 lemons (roughly 2 Tbsp.) 2 Tbsp. freshly-squeezed lemon juice 1 tsp. vanilla extract 1 cup buttermilk

For the blackberry buttercream frosting: 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened 1/4 cup blackberry puree 1 tsp. vanilla extract 1 Tbsp. lemon zest pinch of salt 5-7 cups confectioner's sugar

Directions for cupcakes: Preheat oven to 325ºF. Line standard muffin tins with cupcake liners. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt, set aside.

With an electric mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium speed, cream butter and sugar until fluffy, about 1 1/2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in zest and vanilla until incorporated. Gradually add flour mixture, alternating with two additions of buttermilk and lemon juice, and beating until just incorporated after each addition (do not over-mix).

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each 3/4 full (a little less than 1/4 cup of batter for each cup). Bake, rotating tins half way through, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks, cool for 15 minutes, then remove cupcakes. Cool cupcakes completely before frosting.

Directions for frosting: With a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter on medium-high speed until smooth. Add blackberry puree, vanilla extract, lemon zest, and salt, and mix on medium-low speed until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Gradually add the powdered sugar (only add 5 cups at first). Beat on low speed after each addition until combined. Then beat on high speed for 3-5 minutes until light and fluffy. If frosting is too thin, gradually add more sugar, beating on low at first until combined, then beating on high. Either pipe or spread frosting onto cupcakes, then top each with a fresh blackberry.

Enjoy!! Katherine 

Ok ok ok I know, I'm terrible. It's been close to forever since my last post, I'm already doing some heavy duty slacking with this blog. Between working, assistant-teaching at NESOP, and being the mommy to a very high-maintenance pug named Enzo, this blog took a temporary back-burner.Never fear though, because I'm back and will be posting more than once every month now that my life has some semblance of order to it. 

To make up for my insane absence, I'm giving you all my favorite recipe in the world. Yeah, that's right. You read correctly. Favorite. In the world. Ever. It's a recipe for Gifflar Kanel, which is basically a Swedish cinnamon bun. But. It is. So much more. Than that. Gifflar Kanel might be the end to all the world's problems. It's why you don't hear of it that often outside of Sweden and Ikea stores, we don't want the secret to get out. Why do you think Sweden and Ikea are such amazing places? One answer: Gifflar Kanel. Usually, this is a small (two-bite) pastry served with coffee or tea, which is a perfect pairing. But really, for the hardcore fanatics like myself, just eating them plain is equally, if not more, satisfying. And by the way, the Ikea ones are ok in a pinch when a craving strikes and you don't want to make these from scratch, but I assure you, that they ain't got nothin' on homemade Gifflar. 

(these are homemade Gifflar, made and photographed by, of course, yours truly)

Some quick notes about this recipe: It is authentic, straight from the mouth of a Swede. That being said, it was given to me in the metric system. Since most of my readership is no doubt in the U.S., I've toiled over it to convert it to the imperial system. I assure you, the measurements seem weird as hell but are totally correct, I've done a run-through with them and the Gifflars came out perfectly.

You'll need a bottle of wine for this recipe. Or whatever else your poison may be. It's not to physically be used in the recipe, it's for yourself because it takes forever and most of your time will be spent waiting for dough to rise.

 Gifflar Kanel Prep time: 2h,30m •• Active Prep time: 30m •• Bake time: 20-30m

Ingredients: For the dough: 10g (1 packet) dry yeast 230ml warm milk 2/3 cup granulated sugar 5 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened to room temperature 1 tsp salt 1 tsp honey zest of half an orange 2 eggs 600g all-purpose flour (I broke down the exact measurements in the recipe instructions)

For the filling: 1 cup packed brown sugar 8 tsp ground cinnamon 2 tbsp flour unsalted butter, melted

For the glaze: 2 egg yolks, whisked w/ 2 tbsp milk 2 egg whites, whisked

Directions:

Dissolve the yeast in 100ml of the warm milk mixed with the honey. Pour the mixture over 3/4 cups of flour and mix well until smooth. Seal with Saran Wrap and let double, about 30 minutes.

Take the risen dough and add the remaining milk, eggs, and 1 7/8 cups of flour. Knead well until combined. Add salt and 15/16 (that's a fraction) cups of flour. Knead well. Mix the softened butter with the sugar and add the mixture to the dough, alternating with the remaining flour (3/16 cups). Transfer the dough to a floured working table and knead it, adding flour until it no longer sticks to the table. Fold the dough in half, place in the bowl, seal with Saran Wrap, and leave in a warm place to rise for 1h, 30m, it should triple in volume.

While the dough is rising, combine the brown sugar, cinnamon, and flour for the filling.

Cut the risen dough in half, and roll out both pieces into a rectangular shape. Generously brush the rectangles with melted butter, and pour the cinnamon filling mixture over the rectangles. Save some to sprinkle on top of the Gifflars. Press with your hands to let it stick to the margarine, almost like a BBQ rub. Sprinkle some flour over, and roll up the rectangles to form two long rolls, like logs. 

Wisk together the egg yolks and milk for the glaze.

Cut the rolls into 1-1.5 inch segments, and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush the tops of the rolls with the glaze mixture, and sprinkle with the remaining cinnamon/brown sugar mixture.

Bake at 350ºF for 20-30 minutes, until the tops are golden brown. Directly after removing the Gifflars from the oven, brush the tops with the beaten egg whites, and let cool.

Alright kids, there you go. Hope you all enjoy this recipe as much as I do!

That is such a lame post title. But since I like to say really lame things, I'm leaving it.

Hi there. You found my blog! I probably groveled at your feet and begged you to follow it so this project wouldn't be a total waste of my time, but hey, followers are followers.

Alright let's get down to it. My name is Katherine, I'm a Boston-based photographer (this is my website!), I believe that nothing is so bad that a cupcake can't fix it, and I'm crazy enough to be making a cookbook. It will contain recipes that I've either come up with, learned from friends, or appropriated from other sources. It will also only be baked goods of the dessert persuasion, since cooking is way harder than baking. In case you can't tell, I bake far too much. Thank god my house has a fantastic kitchen.

Fun fact: this really wasn't even something I'd thought about up until recently, when my friend and fellow photographer (and official cupcake guinea pig) Justin Hamel (that links you to his kickass website) told me that I should take my awesome recipes and put them together in a cookbook. So the idea grew in my head, and here we are.

The specs: Since I can't afford don't want to shell out for a publisher, agent, and go into debt over this, I'll be using Blurb books to create this masterpiece. Also, all the photography in the book will be done by yours truly (I mean, I am a professional after all). 

I'll be blogging my way through the whole process, with possible book titles, possible recipe titles, photos, challenges, awesome announcements, etc.