Iron Cupcake: Savoury- Voting Now Open!

You can now head over to No One Puts Cupcake in a Corner to vote for your favourite Iron Cupcake: Savoury Cupcake!  Just browse the entries and then look to the right sidebar, pick up to 3 favourites, and then hit the vote button at the bottom!  Every vote counts as a ballot which a winner will be randomly drawn. Voting is open through Friday, June 5 at 12 noon central.  The winner will be posted the night of June 6, before 11:59 p.m.

   My entry is the Nacho Sabroso Cupcake,  just in case of course you would like to vote for me!

Iron Cupcake: Earth - Battle Savoury!

This will be my first Iron Cupcake: Earth challenge, and I’m so excited!  Faced with the challenge of making a savoury cupcake;  that is, something you would have for dinner instead of for dessert, I tried to break down favourite dishes that might translate in cupcake form.  After lots of brainstorming, where I learned the internet is not teeming with ideas for savoury cupcakes, it came to me – Nachos.

Everyone has their own way of doing them; some like grated cheese, some the ooey-gooey processed cheese sauce.  The garnish possibilities run the gamut, from sweet (tomatoes) to salty (olives) to a little bit of heat (jalapenos).  This is my interpretation of nachos, in easy to eat cupcake form.  A cheese cupcake in a crispy tortilla cup, spiced with taco seasoning, dotted with green onions and filled with a thick salsa  and frosted with a swirl of sour cream.  Frosting is garnished with a sprinkling of finely diced tomatoes and sliced green onions and finally topped with a homemade tortilla chip.

Nachos Sabroso Cupcakes

Tortilla cups

• 4 Large tomato tortillas
• cooking spray or vegetable oil

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400F (200C)  for the cupcakes.
2. Lightly grease 12 cup muffin tin with cooking spray or vegetable oil.  Set aside.
3. Using a 4 inch cookie or biscuit cutter, cut out 12 rounds from tortillas.
4. In large pan over medium-low heat, warm tortillas, one or two at a time, until pliable.
5. As you remove tortillas from heat, gently fit into muffin cups, pleating if necessary.  Careful as the tortillas may be hot!
6. Set aside and proceed to making cupcake batter.

Cupcake

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp taco seasoning (homemade or store-bought)
• 1 1/2 cups shredded old cheddar cheese
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup butter, melted

Directions

1. If you haven’t done so yet, preheat oven to 400F (200C).
2. In large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda and taco seasoning;  stir in cheddar cheese and green onions.
3. In small bowl, lightly beat eggs; stir in sour cream and butter.  Add to dry ingredients, all at once, stirring just until moistened.  Divide batter evenly among the 12 tortilla lined muffin cups.
4. Bake 18 minutes or until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean.  Cool 10 minutes in cups on wire rack.  Remove and let cool completely.  If making tortilla chips, leave oven on.

Tortilla chips (for garnish)

• 1 flour torilla
• 2-3 tbsp vegetable oil
• kosher salt
• freshly ground pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400F unless oven is still on from making the cupcakes.
2. Slice tortilla into 12 wedges and place on lined baking sheet.
3. Brush top side of tortilla wedges lightly with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
4. Bake for 5 minutes, rotate baking sheet and bake for an additional 5 minutes, or until tortillas start to crisp but do not turn brown.

Topping and Assembly

1/2 cup thick salsa

1 500 ml container sour cream (2 cups)

1 tomato, finely chopped

1 green onion, sliced

12 tortilla chips (homemade or store-bought)

1. Using sharp knife, cut out small circles into the middle of the cupcake, careful to not go through to the bottom (picture above).  Reserve caps.  Fill each cupcake with a 2 tsp of salsa, and gently replace cap.  If necessary, cut bottom of the cap to make room for the filling.
2. Using a spoon,  swirl sour cream on each cupcake.
3. Garnish with finely chopped tomato, green onion slices and a tortilla chip and serve immediately.

This month’s winner will receive the following fabulous prizes:

The May ETSY PRIZE-PACK:

• A sweet cupcake ID bracelet by INSANEJELLYFISH, http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5021935
• something sweet and dangly from CHERRYCREEKCHARMS at http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6686445.
• a sweet surprise from Sweet Cuppin' Cakes Cupcakery, http://www.acupcakery.com/
• PLUS, IronCupcake:Earth can not forget our good friend, CAKESPY, http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5243382, who is now going to be doing a piece for our winner each month until further notice - sweet!

Last and certainly not least, don’t forget the corporate prize providers: HEAD CHEFS by FIESTA PRODUCTS, http://www.fiestaproducts.com, HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, http://blog.hellocupcakebook.com, JESSIE STEELE APRONS http://www.jessiesteele.com; TASTE OF HOME books, http://www.tasteofhome.com; a t-shirt from UPWITHCUPCAKES.COM http://www.upwithcupcakes.com/. Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers, http://www.1800flowers.com

I will let you know when the voting opens, and I encourage you to vote for your favourites, even if its not mine! (of course that would be awesome too!)

Two-Bite Brownies

This blog post proves there is (almost) always a silver lining, even when a recipe decides to go pear shaped.

Today I attempted to make vanilla cupcakes with a brownie centre, using my very favourite brownie recipe.  Well, it didn’t pan out(pun intended). 

The vanilla cupcakes, a new recipe, were just plain bad.  Dense (more than a muffin), dry, and pretty much tasteless.  The brownie section was dry in some parts, and completely uncooked in others.  I was thoroughly disappointed, especially since I had just spent the afternoon mucking up the kitchen, and there was half a pound of butter down the drain.

I know, you’re wondering where does the silver lining come in.

Well I had a bunch of brownie batter leftover, but not enough for a full pan, so I had just quickly put the rest into greased mini muffin tins, and slipped them in the oven alongside the cupcake pan.

These turned out to be the little stars of the show.

These are my usual brownies, but this is the  first time I’ve ever made them mini, thinking they would end up tough and hard.  Instead they developed this wonderful chewiness (don’t take me wrong, its not like chewing chocolate bubblegum I promise!). The texture when baked in the pan is very fudgy, not cakelike, which might be why they didn’t end up drying out which I was afraid of.  If you would rather bake these in a pan then as minis, I’ve included a note at the bottom with directions.  These are very good even unfrosted, but I found as minis, they were almost elevated to miniature brownie cupcakes with a touch of frosting.

Two Bite Brownies

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Frosting

1/4 cup butter, softened

2 ounces chocolate, melted (two full chocolate baking squares)

1 cup icing sugar, sifted

Enough milk to make creamy consistency (approx. 2 to 4 tablespoons*)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).  Grease two mini muffin pans and set aside.

In large bowl combine melted butter,  sugar, eggs, and 1 teaspoon vanilla.  Beat in 1/3 cup cocoa, 1/2 cup flour, salt, and baking powder.  Drop by teaspoonful into greased mini muffin pans.

Bake in preheated oven for approximately 10-15 minutes (check at the 10 minute mark). Do not overcook.  Let set for 5 minutes in pans, then gently remove and cool on racks.  Store in airtight container.

To Make Frosting:  Combine melted chocolate and butter.  Add icing sugar and mix.  Mixture will be crumbly.  Add just enough milk to make a smooth and creamy consistency. 

*As icing sugars can differ in starch content, even depending on humidity, this amount can differ.  If you accidentally add too much milk or the frosting is too runny, you can slowly add more sugar.  Pipe or spread on cooled brownies.

Note: To make in an 8 inch square pan: spread brownies in the greased and parchment or foil lined 8 inch pan, and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, checking at the 15 minute mark.  Let cool in pan on a wire rack.

Recipe adapted from “Best Brownies”  from  Allrecipes.com

 

My 6 year old nephew loves the store-bought two bite brownies, that come in the brown folded bag.  He hates cake with a passion so I dress them up for his birthdays.  I would love to see if these(without frosting of course) would pass his discriminating taste buds.

I am still on the look out (and desperate) for a fantastic vanilla cupcake recipe.  If you have one you could point me to or would like to share, please let me know!