We Interrupt This Blog To Bring You Cupcakes

I know this isn't a Barefoot Contessa recipe, but I made creme brulee cupcakes for Joel's birthday. I KNOW! I am awesome!

But the reason I decided to post this was because this is my first attempt using fondant!

Now, I'm actually not a big fan of fondant. Sure, it makes cakes look gorgeous, but let's face it: It tastes like stale marshmallow creme mixed with chewing gum. It's just weird stuff and I usually peel it off and don't eat it. BUT, that doesn't mean that I am opposed to trying it out and playing with it for a bit.

I decided to make Joel some Super Mario themed cupcakes. Just because I saw these and thought they were ridonkulously cute. I was going to try the Pacman cupcakes, but read online that black fondant was difficult to make and didn't really taste good, so that plan was scrapped.

Here are my cupcakes!







Aren't they cute? I'm actually really proud of them. I don't think it was bad for my first time at all. Of course, it is nothing compared to Hello Naomi's cupcakes, but she is a professional. :) I'm particularly proud of my Mario and Princess Peach. I was never very good at drawing or art, so my free hand copy was pretty good. Best of all, they tasted really good! I hollowed out the cupcakes and filled the center with the caramel meringue frosting that is gluing the fondant to the cupcake. All in all, it was fun, but soooo time consuming. Not to mention labor intensive. I hand mixed about 9 different fondant colors!! My hands were sooo sore the next day!

Back to buttercream and our regularly scheduled programming.

Outrageous Brownies

Ha. So what's the point of having a food blog, if you're not going to post?

So after I made my spectacular announcement that I would be reopening this blog, my computer dies. I mean DIES. All I know is that I ran AdAware, and then the next time I restarted the comp -- it didn't allow me to login. Then, when I managed to login, I had no administrative privileges. I couldn't use any programs, access the Internet, nothing. It all came to an end in mid-JULY, when I reinstalled the OS. Gosh, what a pain in the butt.

So what does that have to do with food or Ina or anything? Nothing. Movin' on.

We're making Outrageous Brownies today!!! I mean, how can they be outrageous and not have three exclamation points?

First up, the mise en place:


I've actually never made brownies from scratch before. I've heard that it's very easy though. Check it out! I splurged and bought some Scharffen Berger baker's chocolate, so I am guaranteed to make good brownies right?

First up - melting the chocolate for the batter:

That's right. Butter and chocolate. Like my makeshift double boiler?

Next is mixing the base for the brownie. In go all the wet ingredients:


Here's the dry ingredients that I have to add to the batter to thicken it. I don't have a proper sifter, so I have to sort of sift it through this strainer. Not the fastest use of my time, but it will leave me with silky flour.


Ooh, lookie! My chocolate has transformed into smooth, glossy molten goodness!

You know, I've given this some thought. You hear about Cleopatra bathing in milk to stay young-looking. If I ever got Hilton-type money, I am going to give a chocolate bath a try. If anything, the caffeine will stimulate my skin.

So here is the final batter. I've added in the flour and melted chocolate and some walnuts.


All ready to go into the oven:


And about 40 minutes later, here is the finished product!


So Joel has been really excited to eat this. It made the whole apartment smell really good, even when it was sitting and cooling on the kitchen table. When I finally cut into the brownies, he actually cheered.

Here's my brownie. I graciously let Joel have the corner piece. He might like baked edges more than me.


Ooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. This brownie is so good. I can't even describe it. It's very moist and cake-like. Not as chewy as some people might like it, but I like the more cake like consistency. The Scharffen Berger chocolate really made the difference. You could really taste how rich and decadent these brownies are. Considering that there are two sticks of butter in this baby, you can hardly eat a large piece since it's so rich! I would go so far as to say that this may be the best brownie I have ever eaten.

Since we have this whole pan, I'm going to wrap up half and freeze it. I've heard that it freezes well and then you can thaw it and heat it up again. Good as new.

Thank you Ina! These brownies are truly outrageous!