Cupcakes?! Again!?

So my niece just turned 5 and my sister asked if I could make cupcakes for her birthday. The theme was easy...princess and there was one color in mind....can you guess what it was?



I made cute, simple vanilla cupcakes with a rich frosting because lets face it kids really only like the frosting. Along side a fun cake for her to cut and some yum-o sugar cookies in perfectly princess designs.

I kinds let things get out of control with the cake but when else can you make a cake look as pink, pretty, and sparkly as possible? Never...except a girls 5 year old birthday party:)

My other niece (whose birthday was the following weekend) enjoyed the first fruits of the labor. Impressive with no hands !

Cupcake Wars...with myself:)

I was lucky enough to be asked to make some cupcakes for a baby shower and these are what I came up with.

Below: A coconut cupcake with a blackberry filling and a cream cheese frosting!
Below: a dense brownie cupcake with a chocolate ganache frosting.
Below: An espresso cake with a mocha frosting.

A baby shower blue vanilla bean cupcake with the most amazing frosting!

The tray of beautiful cupcakes. Aren't they just beautiful.

Gluten Free: Coconut Flour Pancakes!

Coconut flour can be such a life saver. My mother has a hard time with gluten so I'm always looking for new recipes that meet both our needs: delicious and free of flour. Thus, coconut flour pancakes. These pancakes are extremely high in protein, light and puffy on the inside, crisp on the outside, and all together really yummy.

Coconut Flour Pancakes
inspired by Comfy Belly

4 eggs
1 teaspoon earth balance
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon maple syrup
2 tablespoons of coconut flour
Basically mix the wet and then add the dry. Really very easy!!
Throw it in a buttered (or earth balanced) pan. Let cook until you see the pancake bubbles and flip.

We added all sorts of great toppings: more earth balance, honey, blueberry jam, and love. Plus copious amounts of french press coffee.

Like a waterfall of goodness. Is there a place in the world where one can lay under a waterfall of butter and jam? If someones knows of a place PLEASE let me know.

More to Love in Santa Cruz!

So much more to love. So much more to eat! This is how we spent one of our days in Santa Cruz.
Enjoy as we did.
Below is Panther Beach. If you go to Santa Cruz ask a college student where to head otherwise you will never find it. Beware- hippies and naked people congregate here...but the view is well worth it.
My second favorite breakfast place is Santa Cruz: Zachary's. Simple food, clearly made with care. This place has big American breakfasts that you can feel good about eating.

Above: The Hash: egg over easy and served with their home fries which have a surprising curry flavor.
Below: I am happy!
Below: Jalapeno corn bread...moist, as you can see.
Dinner at Soif
This is my favorite dinner spot in Santa Cruz. It's a wine bar than serves amazing food, full of sparkle, ingenuity, and sex appeal.
Below: Crostini with fresh sardines and a lemon aioli. Our first try at sardines; they taste like the sea in the best way possible.

Below: Roasted peppers filled with a cheese sauce and herbs
We both got a very nice glass of Chianti.
Below: Lamb meatballs...these are heavenly light, meaty, and full of flavor.
And the close off the night, Marianne's Ice Cream.
Tacky= Yes!
Too many flavors to comprehend= Yes!
Dancing Cow Wall-Paper = Yes!
It was suggested that we try a brownie sundae with both our ice cream picks. Suggested correctly.

Yes...that was all in one day. Pretty amazing.

Ginger Cookie-Crust Pumpkin Pie: Gluten and Dairy free

Like a light-bulb my stomach flicked my mental switch on. The light buzzed, vibrated with the idea of pumpkin and ginger. The light kept flickering through dinner and even as I sat, full, my brain, and no doubt my taste buds, called for the combination of spicy ginger mingled with the mellow flavor of pumpkin. I needed to make this!!!

A gingerbread cookie crust...

Pumpkin mingled with curry powder (thanks to 100 Cookbooks)
Maybe some lemon with the ginger cookie crust?
Mix the pumpkin pie.....

Spread the crust into a non-stick 9 inch spring form pan.

Beautiful!

Rich, dense, semi-sweet, earthy, warm, spicy, and so mother loving good!!!!

Recipe to follow shortly. Scouts honor!

The Best Breakfast City

I can barely contain my excitement! This is the best breakfast city in the U.S.! And no I'm not making that grand and highly improbable statement because I went to college here. This city really does have the most amazingly delicious, affordable, warm, and creative breakfasts in the United States of America...and if I might be so bold, the world!
Santa Cruz, California
okay, so the reason I love this city and the food within it is mainly due to the fact that I ate out here for four years straight. But I also loved that the food came locally, from the farms and people who lived near by. I loved that I could name all the best restaurant by category from one to ten because Santa Cruz is so small place. I loved that there was a place such as the one featured below:

Cafe Brazil!

Banana pancakes: these are perfect. Light, full of happiness and sunshine, fluffy, perfectly sweetened. Ever bite or two you get the burst of sweet, mushy bananas. Bits of dark carmelization streak the cakes; meaning burnt deliciousness.


Below us stands the steak cavalo accompanied by a mound of spuds generously sprinkled with oregano. The cavalo consists of two slices of fresh baguette joined by a steak, two poached eggs, melted cheese, tomato, and as AJ had requested avocado. A mans meal which any women with a brain or soul could and should finish.

And finally the reason Cafe Brazil is a staple to UCSC life: the Acai Bowl! This place has been using acai as a main attraction before any of those posh grocery stores, or froufrou cafes got a hold of the idea. A blended mixture of fruits (acai, strawberries, banana, and apple juice) topped with a crunchy, oh-so-sweet granola and perfectly completed with sliced bananas and strawberries. This is a thing a sincerity, of seduction, of truth. I deeply miss Santa Cruz. I really enjoy Cafe Brazil. I love the Acai Bowl.

Go to Santa Cruz!
More Santa Cruz breakfast places to come.

Finally, CAKE!

Yes! This is Cake! Real Cake!
It is AJ's.. 4Th birthday. Every year I bake a marble cake with fudge frosting decorated in his favorite thing in the whole world...Peanut M&Ms. The simple pleasures in life are undeniably special and it only seems right to present those elementary, blissful luxuries on ones birthday. Marble cake, fudge frosting, peanut M&M's...it sounds good, right?

The look of of quite satisfaction that can only come moments before you cut into buttery confections!

This year I tried a well known and highly awarded cookbook focused on cake, frosting, and the rules of how to bake and make it perfectly.

The Cake Bible
by Rose Levy Beranbaum

I adapted her "Simple All-Occasion Yellow Butter Cake" by adding melted chocolate mixed into half of the batter and then "marbling" it into the yellow cake batter. Thus we have:

Marble Cake

6 egg yolks
1 cup low-fat milk
2 tsp. vanilla
3 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tbsp. + 1 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
12 tbsp. very soft butter
6 oz. melted bittersweet chocolate
Preheat oven to 350

Mix milk, vanilla, and yolks.
Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together in a separate bowl.
Mix a little dry ingredients and a little butter into the milk mixture. Then mix a little more dry and a little more butter. A little at a time till everything is incorporated.
Divide half the batter into two 9 inch pans.
Using left over batter mix in melted chocolate. Next, drop spoonfuls of chocolate batter around the yellow colored cake batter. And (this is my favorite part) use a knife to marble the chocolate and yellow cake batters together. Be gentle, don't swirl things around too much; this will allow for a clearly marbled cake.

Bake the cakes 25-34 minuets.

- How beautiful are these yolks? Nature, local, and raised on sunshine and the outdoors. Kinda odd the mix M&M's and beautiful unprocessed eggs.

A watched oven always bakes. Unless the oven isn't turned on, or the oven door is left open for the entire baking process.
This is the second year I have used the following frosting recipe and it is just splendid. Super rich, easy to make, and perfect consistency.

Chocolate Frosting
adapted from Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook and borrowed from Cupcake Bakeshop

5.3 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
3 tablespoons boiling water
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, room temperature
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Chop the chocolate and microwave in 30 second intervals until a smooth consistency forms. And let cool. Then dissolve the cocoa powder in the boiling water in a small bowl.
In an electric mixer, beat butter until creamy. Scrape the bowl. Next add powdered sugar and beat to combine.Next, add cooled, melted chocolate and beat to combine. And finally add cocoa paste and beat to combine.

I'm all for healthy, all natural, un-monopolized food sources, in fact, I think that that's the right way to eat for our bodies, minds, and spirits...but can you deny the appeal of chemically colorful candies that crunch with ever bite? I can't and to be honest I don't want to.

The cake came out a little crumbly, however, the flavor was amazing. I would add a small amount of buttermilk or sour cream next time I use the recipe.