Time to Cool Down

Better than ice cream? Not really, but it's a great substitute when you've already had your ice cream allowance for the week (Nobody else gets that? Must just be me then...). I first saw frozen hot chocolate on Food Network when they went to Serendipity 3 in New York. Since then I've tried it at DQ, but at $4 a pop, I knew I could make it myself for cheaper so I went on a frozen hot chocolate spree trying to make a copycat recipe. I made a recipe, with help from Big Bear's momma's hot cocoa recipe, that I think is pretty darn close. The best part of this is that you can keep the cocoa mix year round, have frozen in the summer and hot in the winter. Or however you want to do it, I'm not telling you how to drink your cocoa.

Mmmmm chocolate-y

Frozen Hot Chocolate (Makes one drink)
6 T cocoa mix (recipe below)
1 C ice
1 C milk
Whipped Cream
Cherry
Chocolate chips or shavings

In a blender (one that can crush ice), mix the milk and cocoa mix until well combined. Add ice and blend until crushed, it should be the consistency of a frozen margarita or a slushy. Pour into a a large cup, top with whipped cream, a cherry, and chocolate chips or shavings. Drive past the DQ and laugh at everyone in line waiting to get their frozen hot chocolate. (Last part is optional!)

Cocoa Mix
2 C powdered sugar
1 C cocoa (I like Hershey's Dark)
2 1/2 C dry creamer
1 t salt

In a mixing bowl combine all the ingredients and store in an airtight container.


Pictures are coming once Big Bear gets home and gets his FroCho!

Cinnamon Roll Deliciousness

Mmmmm, what's better than a plate full of warm cinnamon rolls in the morning? Probably waking up to the smell of warm cinnamon rolls :D But since I'm the little bakeress in this house my hubs gets to experience that one. The best thing about this recipe though is that you can freeze the rolls before letting them rise and pull out 1-2 whenever you want a couple! Yay for not having to do the whole batch at once!

I chose to do them in the muffin pan, individual servings!

Cinnamon Rolls

Dough

3/4 C buttermilk, warm (110 degrees)
6 T unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 eggs
4 1/4 C all-purpose flour, reserve 1/4 C
1/4 C sugar
1 envelope instant or rapid-rise yeast
1 1/4 t salt
Filling 
3/4 C packed light brown sugar
1/4 C ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt
1 T unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Frosting
1 C softened butter
10 oz softened cream cheese
2 oz vegetable shortening
1 1/2 lbs powdered sugar
2 T heavy cream
2 t vanilla
1 T meringue powder


For the dough:
Whisk the buttermilk, melted butter, and eggs together in a large separate bowl. Combine 4 cups of the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt together in a mixer with the dough hook. With the mixer on low speed, add the buttermilk mixture and mix about 2 minutes. Increase the mixer speed to medium and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. If after 5 minutes more flour is needed, add the remaining 1/4 cup flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough clears the side of the bowl but sticks to the bottom.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly oiled counter (I use cooking spray, easy!) with plenty of room and knead by hand to form a smooth, round ball. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and wrap tightly with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 2 to 2 1/2 hours.

For the filling:
Grease a 9 x 13 pan or a jumbo muffin pan if you are doing just a few. Mix the brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt together in a small bowl. Turn the risen dough out onto a lightly floured counter and press/roll it into a 16 by 12-inch rectangle. Brush the dough with the melted butter, then sprinkle the brown sugar mixture over it, leaving a  1 inch border along the top edge. Press on the filling to ctick it to the dough.
Loosen the dough from the counter using a bench scraper, metal spatula, or any other instrument with a large flat edge, and roll the dough into a tight log. Pinch the seam closed and roll the log seam side down. Gently stretch the log to 18 inches in length with an even diameter and pat the ends to even them.
Slice the log into 12 evenly sized rolls (about 1 1/2 inches wide) using a serrated knife. Arrange the rolls in the prepared baking pan and wrap tightly with greased plastic wrap, or place a few in the oiled muffin pan and cover. If you want to freeze them, stop at this point and don't let them rise! Freeze them in whatever pan they're in, covered in heavy duty foil. Otherwise, let rise in a warm place until the rolls have nearly doubled in size and are pressed against one another, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Adjust an oven rack to the middle and heat the oven to 350. Bake the rolls until golden and puffed, 25 to 30 minutes if you are using the 9 x 13 pan. Bake 20 to 25 minutes if using the muffin pan. Flip the rolls out onto a wire rack set over a sheet of parchment paper (for easy cleanup) and let cool for 5 minutes.

For the frosting:
In a mixer combine the butter, cream cheese, and shortening. Add the powdered sugar slowly, 1 cup at a time. Once the sugar is fully incorporated, add the vanilla, meringue powder, and cream. Beat on high for about 3 minutes. Stop, scrape down the sides and beat for an additional 2 minutes. This will make about 2 1/2 times the amount of frosting for one batch of 12 rolls. The frosting will keep about 2 weeks in the fridge and 2 months in the freezer.

Once the rolls are mostly cool, but still warm enough to slightly melt the frosting, spread the frosting over the rolls and delight anybody lucky enough to be waking up in your house that day.

"I wish they made a cinnamon roll incense because I don't always have time to make a pan. Perhaps I'd rather light a stick and then have my roommates wake up with false hopes" -Mitch Hedberg

Well Lookee Here

For those of you not on The Cupcakery's Facebook page (which you can get to here), we have great news! Little Bear's Cupcakery is now online and ready to accept orders for fabulous and delicious treats! Come on over to www.LittleBearsCupcakery.weebly.com to see what we have to offer. At this time we cannot ship cakes or cupcakes, but there are still plenty of options for you non-Sheridan area fans! So head on over, check us out, and get your favorite homemade goodies!

'Merica, Heck Yeah!

I'm sure by now you've all heard of cake balls and cake pops. Bakerella made these trendy within the last couple of years. I've found that they are a great way to use up extra cake scraps (like the ones from last week's Nebraska cake). They're like a  mix between a truffle and a piece of cake, they're moist, bite sized, and delicious. Even better though, they're customizable to whatever your theme might be! As you can see with these cake balls, I colored and decorated them to reflect Flag Day tomorrow.

Flag balls!

Cake Balls
Cake scraps, or a baked/cooled cake, crumbled into very fine pieces
2-4 T buttercream frosting
Almond bark/chocolate melting wafers (NOT chocolate chips)
Decorations: food coloring/sprinkles/melted chocolate etc.

Start with a large bowl of finely crumbled cake. Add the frosting 1 tablespoon at a time, working it into the cake as you go. Too much frosting will result in mushy cake balls, too little and the cake balls won't hold together. Once the cake will hold a ball shape you've got enough frosting! If you aren't going to be serving these right away (withing 48 hours), err on the side of too little frosting. They will definitely get more moist as they sit.

Chocolate cake scraps and white buttercream

I used a cookie scooper to form equal sized balls. Place them on a lined cookie sheet and pop them in the fridge for up to 30 minutes. This allows the frosting solidify a little bit and hold the cake together. While the balls are in the fridge melt the candy coating in the microwave in 30 second increments. You'll want to use a fairly deep dish to dip the balls. If you add food coloring to the candy coating please read the instructions for doing so. Most liquid/gel food colorings will change the consistency of the candy coatings making it necessary to add shortening to the melted chocolate. If possible, use powdered coloring.

Formed cake balls ready for the fridge

Using a spoon, or a candy dipping fork if you have it, and lightly coat the cake balls with the candy coating. Tap the spoon or fork on the side of the dish to take off excess candy and deposit the ball back on to the lined cookie sheet. Work as quickly as you can to keep the balls from warming up too much. If need be, only take a few out of the fridge at a time. Once they are coated, do not store them in the fridge. This will cause them to "sweat". Once they are dry arrange them prettily on a tray/plate and enjoy!
As always, check us out on Facebook! Tell us about your favorite red, white, and blue desserts!

So Long, Farewell!

We recently had a coworker retire, so of course I made a cake for the party on his last day. Now this gentleman used to live in Nebraska and is a big fan of the Nebraska Cornhuskers (I know, I know, there's no accounting for taste sometimes). Fittingly I made him a cake in the shape of the iconic Nebraska 'N'. I made sure to take pictures along the way, because I figured this would be a great opportunity to showcase a carved cake.

The Husker-tastic finished product!

To do this cake I baked two 9 inch square cakes, let them cool overnight, took them out of the pans and placed them on my decorating turntable with some wax paper to keep the display plate clean. I printed off an 'N' that I found online, copied into a word document, and measured out to just under the 9 inch cake size. I trimmed the 'N' and filled and stacked the cakes. (Vanilla custard buttercream filling recipe to come another day!) After positioning the cut out on the cake I took a sharp serrated knife and cut through the cake while holding on to the paper with the other hand. And I still have all of my fingers! Woohoo!
Hint: keep those cake scraps to make cake balls/pops, or to fill in any holes should you have a cake disaster.

Ready to carve

Once it was carved I cleaned up any excess crumblies and applied a crumb coat of regular white buttercream frosting. This step is important because it traps any crumbs so they won't show up on the final frosting layer. See how it still looks like that 'N'? I was so excited.

Lookin' good!

After the crumb coat the cake went into the fridge for half an hour to set the frosting. Once those crumbs weren't going anywhere I put another thin layer of white buttercream frosting on, which I then airbrushed a lovely Husker red. To get that buttercream extra smooth, run your spreader under hot water for a few seconds, then dry it off. Smooth the frosting with the hot spreader, making sure to clean the edge frequently.

And look at that clean display plate!

When it was done I (carefully) pulled the wax paper out after running my spreader between the cake and the paper to loosen it. I wasn't too worried about smudging the bottom because the bottom border hides that. All that was left was to pipe on the white border using a round tip, and write on the message! Lots of ooohs and ahhhhs at work that day!