4th Birthday Was the Charm Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream

Unrequited love is a funny thing. Most of us have experienced it, whether we’ve been the object of too much attention we’d rather not receive or given too much attention to an object who would rather not receive it. Either way, the situation is a slippery slope that can easily slide into a state of discomfort and humiliation, depending on which role you happen to be playing at the time.

Hopefully we mature and would never waste our time trying to win the heart of someone who would rather not lose his or hers to us. I’d like to think, when it comes to romance, that I have indeed grown out of that unproductive cycle of behavior. Believe me, I did my share of colluding, plotting, manipulating and strategizing in the name of “love.” And I was sure those days were long behind me, having successfully packed up my bag of tricks and only allowing myself to engage in relationships based on a mutual admiration and respect. That was, until I met Niece Two.
Since I became an aunt I have been the birthday cake baker of record. Niece One has been a pleasure to serve. For her first birthday she lunged at the lit candle on her plain vanilla cupcake and has had crumbs on her face every March 30th since. Weeks beforehand we design her annual treat together and I try to accommodate all of her requests, going so far as to use over-priced all-natural food colorings to keep her parents happy. She even laughed off the mortifying, anxiety induced spelling mistake I made on her sixth birthday cake last year. I had every reason to think her sister was going to be as easy she had been. I was wrong.
Niece Two has been impossible to please since her first birthday. There was no lunging, no crumb covered party dress, no nothing. With the exception of a forced photo op, she ignored her cupcakes and I was shocked. I wanted to scream, “Excuse me little lady, that is for you and it’s delicious. Now eat it!” But instead I took note and became more determined to make her second birthday a success. She was a major strawberry eater and when asked if she’d like a cupcake with strawberry frosting for her birthday, she nodded “yes” very enthusiastically. If you are a regular reader you already know that this is what her enthusiasm looked like.

What the hell was going on here?! I did what she asked and I was still being rejected? In the meantime, her sister had had two more birthdays of her own, again polishing off her bedazzled treats as Niece Two abandoned her plate at her big sister’s birthday parties. While clearing the table I felt the sting of shame picking up her untouched cupcake, mothers of the other kids politely smiling and shaking their heads.

I should have given up on Niece Two’s sweet tooth but I couldn’t. Tapping into my old desperate attempts to convince someone that really, I knew what was best for him and that was me, came all too easily. I began planning for her third birthday. At this point she could communicate perfectly and when she announced she wanted a cake, not cupcakes, and that it should be white, with brown frosting and orange writing (her favorite color), I was sure I had a winning recipe.

And I did, as far as all the other party goers were concerned. The birthday girl? She didn’t seem to care at all! She smiled broadly when I showed her the cake and said, “You’re the best baker!” But when it came time for the big song and candle blowing she made her wish and then got up from the table to play Busytown with her little friends. I ate her slice.

Again, how much rejection was I supposed to take? What was wrong with this kid and how on earth were we related? But, like all unhealthy relationships, her rejection only fueled my fire. Birthday number four would be the make it or break it year. I didn’t tell my sister, but my plan was to toss off my apron if I couldn’t finally lure her into cupcake heaven. So I started observing her. Although I am always getting in trouble with her parents for letting her play Cupcakes on my IPhone, I let her have it so I could see which ones she “baked.” What color was the frosting? I’d never seen those flat sprinkles she was always choosing. Would I be able to find them? In the middle of my research came the news that she is officially allergic to nuts and eggs should be limited. Great, more restrictions. I would have to abandon my Buttercream Principles. I have historically mocked the butter-sugar-cream and cloyingly sweet frosting so many people are familiar with from the cute cupcakeries that have sprung up everywhere. However, the buttercream I prefer is made with copious egg white and that would no longer do. But who cares, I’ve already admitted my principles are fluid and I’ll do anything for love.

It worked! Upon blowing out her candle, she took a big bite, yelled, “I love it!” and finished the whole thing. (Okay, all of the icing and 1/2 the cake.) Good enough for me.
I made a kid friendly chocolate cupcake with a vanilla buttercream, and I found the flat sprinkles on a trip to the grouchy cake decorating store in Chelsea, (talk about doing anything for love). Sure the frosting was super sweet but it was actually really good and the cake was excellent, full of chocolate flavor but still so light and moist. My love is no longer unrequited! And yet I’m faced with the question we’ve all had after conquering a heart. Now what?

4th Birthday Was the Charm Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream
Printer Friendly Version

Chocolate Cupcakes
From Martha Stewart Kids, 2004
Ingredients
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup warm water
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons safflower oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line two standard muffin tins with paper liners; set aside.

Sift together cocoa powder, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl.

Add eggs, warm water, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla, and mix until smooth, about 3 minutes.
Scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl to assure batter is well mixed.

Divide batter evenly among muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full. Bake until tops spring back when touched, about 20 minutes.

Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely.
Yield: 18 cupcakes

Vanilla Buttercream
Adapted from Food and Wine, May 2008
Ingredients
11 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
3 Tablespoons milk or cream

Directions
In a medium bowl, using a handheld electric mixer OR in the bowl of a standing mixer, beat the softened butter at medium speed until smooth.
Add the powdered sugar, vanilla and salt and beat at low speed until just combined.
Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat until smooth.

Add the milk or heavy cream and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

Spread on cupcakes using an offset spatula or a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip.
Yield: Enough to appropriately frost 18 cupcakes

The Best Sweets of 2011 From My Tiny Red Kitchen

Like a lot of people, I find myself doing three things during the last week of December: reflecting on the past 12 months, committing to the changes I hope to make in the New Year, and eating. Although this condition is temporary, and I'll start living in the present on January 1st, right now I am looking back at all the treats I've made in the last year. 'Tis the season for "Best Of" lists and I don't want to be left out. So in thinking about the stories attached to each recipe, taking into consideration the reactions from family and friends and, most of all, my own opinion, I give you The Best Sweets of 2011 From My Tiny Red Kitchen.

JANUARY
These cookies were a huge hit with me and those I love. Although I made them as a way to enjoy something indulgent without refined sugar or white flour after over doing it during the holidays, they quickly became a favorite regardless of their health properties. Super dark chocolate adds some oomph to mellow, creamy almond butter. I think I need to make a batch right now.
Clean Start Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
FEBRUARY
I'm always on the lookout for a jam that isn't too sweet and in general I love the slightly bitter zing of a good citrus marmalade. Days after I spotted Meyer lemons and Blood oranges at Fairway, this recipe appeared in the Times. An omen of sorts. So easy, so good and so pretty. Perfect against the slight saltiness of an Irish soda bread or Rye toast.
Pretty as a Picture Meyer Lemon Blood Orange Marmalade
MARCH
My sister and I agree on most everything. Except for these muffins. She hated them. I loved them. Decide for yourself.
Oscar Recovery Strawberry Thumbprint Corn Muffins
APRIL
I love it when I'm giving the charge to tackle a dessert dilemma. In this case, I solved the Flourless Chocolate Cake for Passover question that stumps so many of us every spring. Finding a cake that doesn't feel like it's the poor Kosher cousin or imitation of something that tastes much better with flour than when made with potato starch and matzo meal, is always a challenge. This cake would be great any time of year and in no way does it feel like you're settling. Problem solved.
Not my Nana Jose Chocolate Pecan Cake
MAY
I've been making these cookies for years and they always cheer me up. That's why they're included. Crabbiness be gone.
Crabby Mother's Day Toffee Dried Cherry Chocolate Chunk Cookies
JUNE
How could I not include a recipe that brought me back to meeting Morgan Fairchild in 1976? Plus my friend Marsha's daughter loved this bread and if a six year old remembers me because of a baked good, I have done my job.
Bicentennial Memories Strawberry Bread
JULY
Another super easy recipe that looks much harder and fancier than it is. Doesn't everyone need one in his or her arsenal? Plus I've made them over and over again and they never fail to impress.
Be Prepared Palmiers
AUGUST
One of the first really decadent bar cookie recipes I ever made (about 20 years ago) that I finally felt ready to revisit. The blog that accompanied it got a bigger reaction than I'd anticipated and the spell that kept me from baking them has been broken. If you love coffee and chocolate, this is for you.
Who Asked You Coffee Blond Brownies
SEPTEMBER
Back to school meant learning to make something I'd never made myself. Nothing was more satisfying than confronting and conquering the fear that had kept me from trying it. Plus, I love baklava and can never find it. It's very important to be self-sufficient.
Braving Baklava
OCTOBER
If it's Halloween it's candy time and these caramels were a big hit with my neighbor, my friend Margot's daughter Annie and my sister. Why it took us all so long to realize the intense deliciousness of adding salt to confections is beyond me. I wasted so much time eating inferior caramels. Time I will never get back. As they say, Never Again. Now, go buy a candy thermometer and get cracking.
Most Wonderful Time Sea Salt Caramels
NOVEMBER
This recipe is worth making for the smell alone. A ginger scented kitchen is soothing and cozy as are these muffins. For the ginger lover in your life bake as instructed. For the ginger liker, leave out the candied ginger topping.
Late Bloomer Pear-Ginger Muffins
DECEMBER
Because out of everything I've ever made, my mother deemed these her favorite treat. Enough said. Here's to an even sweeter 2012. Happy New Year!
Miranda Wants a Cookie Mocha Toffee Bars

Enjoy Your Holidays Pine Nut Brittle

I don’t know about you but I’m finding this holiday season to be very strange. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s the weather? Aside from one frigid day, temps have been pretty moderate and we have yet to see any real snow. I have to say, thank goodness for that because over the last year we’ve endured blizzards, an earthquake and a hurricane so I think it is only fair that the man upstairs cuts us a break. Oh no, now I’ve jinxed us. If your flights get cancelled due to inclement weather, feel free to blame me. Also, I have been shocked by how few holiday cards I’ve received this year. Where is the stack of grinning gap toothed children? I have gotten a total of five cards, one from my sister, one via email, two from friends I knew in my past career and the best? A photo of my doorman’s three grandchildren. So maybe everyone else is feeling strange too? (Or maybe they found out I was making fun of their kids.) But regardless of why, despite trimming the tree, decorating cookies and lighting the menorah (by the way, there’s nothing like having your ½ gentile niece teach you to play dreidel to make you feel like a bad Jew), I’m completely disengaged from the holiday spirit.
My lack of investment in Christmas/Chanukah/New Year’s isn’t coming from a Scrooge-y or Grinch-y place. It’s almost as if I’ve been unburdened from anticipation. I feel kind of relieved that I’m not holding on to any expectations and am just living my life. I tend to make a big fuss over birthdays and Christmas, probably based on some false notion of childhood emotional deprivation or feeling like our dinner table tableau never quite matched Norman Rockwell’s. But this year I’ve actually forgotten what date it is a few times and have had to do the math to figure out on which day Christmas falls.
All of this is reminding me of the one other time in my life when I have felt as I do now, the semester I spent in London during my junior year of college. Being abroad was disorienting in many ways but in others it was almost like an escape. For the first time I was truly unavailable for family obligations or holidays. Six hours by plane and a different time zone freed me from the train ride into the city to celebrate a birthday, go to Yom Kippur services, eat some turkey. And I never got wistful. The high holidays came and went and I realized, “oops, forgot to do anything about that.” But I didn’t feel guilty. For a long weekend in November my roommate and I went to Paris and, over croque messieurs in a café, I realized it was actually Thanksgiving and I was basically having a grilled cheese sandwich for dinner. It was delicious and we had a great trip. By Christmas time I had met my friend Michelle and we were in Rome. You’d think being in the home of the Vatican on December 25th would have made me feel left out in some way but it didn’t. I was more focused on soaking up all the things I was seeing for the first time to really care. When you have The Colosseum and the Piazza di Spagna are you really going to waste your time longing for the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree? Not me. By December 31st we were on an overnight train to Salzburg passing a bottle of wine across our sleeping compartment and laughing ourselves to sleep. Did I even think about Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Year’s Eve? Blessedly, no.
And so here I am over 20 years later feeling light as a feather and looking forward to 2012. And for some reason I don’t think I’m alone. In addition to my lack of cards I’ve been surprised by the lack of festivities. Not that I ever believe the exhausting holiday whirl pitched to us on the Today Show as being a source of exhaustion, wardrobe dilemmas and calorie consumption. But other than a few small dinner gatherings there seems to have fallen a social hush. And when I talk to friends they report the same thing. Have we all taken ourselves off the holiday hook?

I’m sure the answer to that is ‘no.’ There must be some of you still rushing to parties, struggling to find the perfect house gift or playing host and needing just the right thing to serve with drinks or after dinner coffee. This is where I come in. In fact I have been invited to ring in the New Year at two very convenient locations (one flight up and nine blocks away, respectively) and had been looking for an excuse to make this brittle. Pine nut prices have been insane so when I saw a bag at Trader Joe’s for under $10, I jumped. This confection is super easy to make and doesn’t even involve a candy thermometer. It is not your Ye Olde General Store’s peanut brittle. The woody rosemary and slight touch of lemon add wonderful flavor and sophistication. Set out a bowl to have with a great wine or champagne, fill a pretty bag to give to your hostess or keep it all to yourself. And do enjoy your holidays, whether you care or not.
Enjoy Your Holidays Pine Nut Brittle
from Molto Gusto, Mario Batali 2010Printer Friendly Version
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups, (7 oz) pine nuts
1 1/2 T fresh rosemary leaves, rough chopped
2 T canola, grapeseed or mild olive oil
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup corn syrup
3 T butter
3/8 t baking soda
1 t salt
One 1-inch thick lemon slice

Directions
Preheat to 350
Spread pine nuts on baking sheet and toast for 8-10 minutes, until lightly colored.Transfer to a plate and let cool, then toss with rosemary.Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and grease paper generously with the oil. Brush or rub an offset spatula or wooden spoon with oil. Set aside.
Combine sugar, water, corn syrup & butter in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Cook, without stirring, swirling pan occasionally, until caramel is golden brown, 8-15 minutes. (FYI--It took mine 15 minutes to turn golden brown. Start watching after 8 and keep an eye on it.)

Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the baking soda and salt.

Using offset spatula or spoon, quickly stir in nuts and rosemary until the nuts are thoroughly coated.

Pour mixture onto parchment lined baking sheet then use lemon slice to spread and flatten the brittle. Let cool completely.

Break or cut brittle into small pieces. Lasts one week in air tight container.
Yield: 4 cups or so