Cupcakes for tonight

[Norcalbaker59]

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Well, today after making the lime curd and a double batch of pastry cream, I had enough fresh egg whites leftover to prompt me to attempt the ghosts again. Okay, clearly something went wrong the first time and it may have been the pasteurized egg whites from a carton? Also this time I added cream of tartar instead of lemon juice, and a little hit of almond extract. The meringue came out a totally more stable texture, plus I piped them small. Instead of putting them on sticks, I'll just scatter them around between the dessert shooters on the display.

I have three bags of crushed cookie crumbs - graham cracker, animal cracker, and thin Oreos. I divided the pastry cream into about half, and added unsweetened coconut to one part, with a little dab of the green-tinted lime curd. That'll be layered: Animal Crackers, coconut lime cream, green curd "slime", crumbs, whipped cream, slime. The other cream, I divided again, laced one with a good bit of peanut butter, and left the other plain vanilla-bean. Those will be: Oreo crumbs, vanilla cream, crumbs, peanut butter cream, whipped cream, thick layer of oreo crumbs with a gummy worm protruding. Finally, I took from frozen cherries plus a jar of deep purple looking bing cherries which I've had for a while, and made a cherry jam. That will go: graham crackers, no-bake cheesecake filling, cherry jam, cheesecake, jam, whipped cream with a reserved stem cherry on top. I may have to do the final garnishing when I arrive, in costume. The candy apple pops will also join those, and I found some battery powered Halloween lights on closeout, hot-glued them into my cupcake display, so hopefully it all comes together. I should place the meringues on something, so I may have to flatten some mini cupcake wrappers, or cut out little squares of parchment?

No, I didn't get to make the pita, though this is something I definitely want to do. As for the hummus, I've had white-bean hummus before, so I was just winging it to see how it came out. I will have to look for the small garbanzos - they mentioned those are the best ones to get also. But I think it's the whipping the heck out of them in the food processor, steaming hot, for three full minutes, that made the nice texure. I'll just do that next time and add more lemon, and some garlic (this called for no garlic) as well.

I'm still not sure what to think of Milk Street. It's a bit dryer in tone, the guest cooks are really attractive, and the background looks totally fake, unlike the "real working kitchen" thing the ATK shows had. So far I was most intrigued by the corn starch gel in the pie crust, though I haven't tried it yet. I was late to find out that Kimball had left Cooks Illustrated/ATK. Like you, I assumed he was the franchise, so it was surprising it continued without him. Okay, you made me look it up - he and his wife were apparently separated since 2010. I do recall seeing his wife's name in the credits in the past. Apparently they separated, and he and his assistant fell in love and have since married. And apparently ATK has pursued infringement/theft suits against him, but apparently the show has still gotten off the ground. I still watch ATK with the remaining chefs, and they recently announced Dan Souza, the younger of the two male chefs who appear on the show, is going to be the new managing editor.

These ghosts are very un-uniform, and some of the chocolate ran, but they were fun to make and decorate, and they crack me up. Plus, they taste better than with the marshmallow inside. That was just too much sugar-on-sugar. View attachment 1172

OMG! Those little ghost guys are sooooooo cute! I think the different shapes and sizes make then more adorable—they all have their own personalities.

You really went all out for this party. That’s really very thoughtful of you. People just love it when they get to have homemade treats. it’s so much better than grocery store purchased goods. Not only does homemade taste better, but it’s heartwarming know a friend cared enough to bake for you.

Yes, the Whole Milk Street/ATK saga reads like a soap opera. It’s really unfortunate for all parties involved. ATK’s work is exceptional. It has always appealed to me because they focus on the science behind the cooking and baking. Providing that knowledge really helps people troubleshoot their cooking and baking problems. It will be interesting to see how ATK fares in the long run without Kimball as the face of the show.

Yes if you ever get your hands on some of those little itty-bitty garbanzo beans do make hummus. I swear there is a difference. I personally like a lot of cumin and tahini in my hummus. I will put in two parts chickpea purée to one part hummus. There’s a brand of tahini that I used to buy at the Persian store called Al Waldi. Not sure if that’s the correct spelling of the name. But it’s in a Kermit the frog green jar. Al Waldi tahini is the best Sadly, I can’t find that brand around here either. The stores here stock Ziyad brand, which is good too. But I miss my Kermit the frog green jars of Al Waldi.

 

[Apocalypso]

Well, the day after. Everyone seemed to enjoy the little dessert tower, and didn't comment on how sloppy some of the things were due to transport. The ghosts were a big hit. Unfortunately, I thought there were to be about 25 people there and there were only ten. I knew one couple had to back out and drive out of town to be with an ailing mother. Some others were sick or had sitter issues. There were fewer people than in years past. So, I had way overdone it, and now have a lot of shot glasses of dessert left. The ghosts went pretty well, and lots of folks took them home for kids, husbands, etc.

This was after they were sitting out for a while, and the lime-coconut ones had drooped considerably because of the whipped cream dollops on the top going flat. And one of the lights I'd hot-glued in place had lost its bearings.

But we did have fun. There was way too much food - I wish I had pics of it all. The mummified jalapeno poppers were adorable. Our host made a dish that was supposed to resemble coiled intestines (a turkey and pastry concoction) - it did look a bit more like a cobra, but it tasted good. My bf made "eyeball" meatballs.

I do think I'll really simplify in the future.

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Well, the day after. Everyone seemed to enjoy the little dessert tower, and didn't comment on how sloppy some of the things were due to transport. The ghosts were a big hit. Unfortunately, I thought there were to be about 25 people there and there were only ten. I knew one couple had to back out and drive out of town to be with an ailing mother. Some others were sick or had sitter issues. There were fewer people than in years past. So, I had way overdone it, and now have a lot of shot glasses of dessert left. The ghosts went pretty well, and lots of folks took them home for kids, husbands, etc.

This was after they were sitting out for a while, and the lime-coconut ones had drooped considerably because of the whipped cream dollops on the top going flat. And one of the lights I'd hot-glued in place had lost its bearings.

But we did have fun. There was way too much food - I wish I had pics of it all. The mummified jalapeno poppers were adorable. Our host made a dish that was supposed to resemble coiled intestines (a turkey and pastry concoction) - it did look a bit more like a cobra, but it tasted good. My bf made "eyeball" meatballs.

I do think I'll really simplify in the future.

View attachment 1189

Brava! It’s really so cute. And I am soooo in love with those little ghost guys

I am so going to make little meringue ghosts for my niece next Halloween.

I love that everyone make ghoulish food. It sounds like a really good group of friends.

 

[Apocalypso]

I love that everyone make ghoulish food. It sounds like a really good group of friends.

They are. Mostly women from Jazzercise and their spouses, some neighbors of theirs, etc.

Thanks! The ghosts were the most fun. I made them rather small, and maybe next time I will use them as cupcake toppers.

So you'd know this - was there something about using AllWhites egg whites from a carton (pasteurized) that made my meringue so wet the first time? The second attempt was with fresh egg whites. Both times I wiped the bowl and beaters with a vinegar-soaked paper towel to check for any traces of grease (and they were hand washed and dried as well.) The only other thing I did differently was cream of tartar the second time instead of a small splash of lemon juice. I should note, I didn't have the exact same measurements, but weighed the egg whites in grams and then used 2x that amount in superfine white cane sugar. Batch two piped beautifully. I still had many of them bending towards the east, or as someone put it, they were doing the limbo (I oriented their faces so they were limbo-ish in posture rather than facing down), and I think perhaps I could use some practice piping. But loads of fun.

I may (may!) attempt a few snowmen this winter. I suppose I could always make a small batch out of a few leftover whites whenever I use the yolks. Check out these cuties: http://www.bhg.com/recipe/meringue-snowmen/

 

[Norcalbaker59]

They are. Mostly women from Jazzercise and their spouses, some neighbors of theirs, etc.

Thanks! The ghosts were the most fun. I made them rather small, and maybe next time I will use them as cupcake toppers.

So you'd know this - was there something about using AllWhites egg whites from a carton (pasteurized) that made my meringue so wet the first time? The second attempt was with fresh egg whites. Both times I wiped the bowl and beaters with a vinegar-soaked paper towel to check for any traces of grease (and they were hand washed and dried as well.) The only other thing I did differently was cream of tartar the second time instead of a small splash of lemon juice. I should note, I didn't have the exact same measurements, but weighed the egg whites in grams and then used 2x that amount in superfine white cane sugar. Batch two piped beautifully. I still had many of them bending towards the east, or as someone put it, they were doing the limbo (I oriented their faces so they were limbo-ish in posture rather than facing down), and I think perhaps I could use some practice piping. But loads of fun.

I may (may!) attempt a few snowmen this winter. I suppose I could always make a small batch out of a few leftover whites whenever I use the yolks. Check out these cuties: http://www.bhg.com/recipe/meringue-snowmen/

Hahaha...those are so cute. I’m definitely going to have to make up some meringue to make these snowmen! I’m such a sucker for the little whimsical stuff in baking. While I do love the elegance and percision of fine pastry, it doesn’t convey the same joy as the whimsical. Your little ghosts were such a hit because they make people happy. I didn’t get to eat one of your little ghost guys… but just seeing them in the pics made me happy.

I know exactly what you mean about the packaged pasteurized egg whites beating up wet. The heating and the long term refrigeration affects the protein structure. While you’ll never get a really nice thick just moist enough meringue like you get with fresh egg whites, you can still get a very good meringue by making a couple of adjustments to beating pasteurized whites.

Cream of tartar is your very very best friend when it comes to beating egg whites. Whether it’s fresh egg whites or pasteurized, I never let anything get between me and that cream of tartar when it comes to beating egg whites. I always seem to get a creamy your smoother meringue when I use cream of tartar.

When beating pasteurized egg whites I still like them room temperature.
I use 30g as the equivalent to 1 fresh egg white
I use 1/4 teaspoon per 30g of pasteurized egg whites (with fresh egg white I use a scant 1/8 teaspoon per fresh egg white.

I like to beat the egg about a minute before I add the cream of tartar. I just like the egg whites to agitate the protein a little bit to get the denaturation started before I add the cream of tartar. So I beat them till they just look a bit frothy, but still very translucent. I do the same with fresh egg whites.

I also do not add my sugar until the egg whites go from translucent to white. It may just be my imagination, but I think the sugar provides better structure when it’s added after protein denaturation has occurred. I’ve never seen any science to support that observation, it’s just anecdotal.

With the pasteurized egg whites you need to beat them longer. So start on a lower setting. KitchenAid # 2 for about two minutes then kick it up to 4. Then high. Given the longer beating there’s the risk of over beating. So going up in increments gives a little bit better control of the beating process.

Pasteurize egg whites seem to produce a little bit less volume than fresh egg whites. Where I normally use 5 fresh egg whites. I’ll throw in an equivalent of 6 whites of pasteurized because I never seem to get the volume.

Just an aside since we’re taking about meringue...sometime ago I read a blog post on making real buttercream without beating the egg whites into a meringue. I thought it very interesting and I was going to try it once. Summer Stone, the baker who created the recipe, heats the sugar and eggs in the microwave; the chills it in the refrigerator. Then in an interesting reversal of procedure she whips the butter, then adds the egg sugar syrup to the butter. I couldn’t get past the raw egg whites.. But if you’re interested I’ll add the link below. It’s actually pretty ingenious.


http://thecakeblog.com/2014/06/no-meringue-swiss-buttercream-recipe.html

 

[Apocalypso]

Thanks for all those tips! I had cream of tartar all along, only was following a recipe (that used fresh egg whites) that didn't use it. Side note: I got curious just now as to why a dry powder is called "cream of" anything. I still don't have an answer for that etymology, but I did find that in addition to stabilizing egg whites, potassium bitartrate (C of T) is also used for stabilizing whipped cream, preventing sugar syrups from crystallizing,and reducing discoloration of boiled vegetables.

Just an aside since we’re taking about meringue...sometime ago I read a blog post on making real buttercream without beating the egg whites into a meringue. I thought it very interesting and I was going to try it once. Summer Stone, the baker who created the recipe, heats the sugar and eggs in the microwave; the chills it in the refrigerator. Then in an interesting reversal of procedure she whips the butter, then adds the egg sugar syrup to the butter. I couldn’t get past the raw egg whites.. But if you’re interested I’ll add the link below. It’s actually pretty ingenious.

http://thecakeblog.com/2014/06/no-meringue-swiss-buttercream-recipe.html

Very interesting! This really made me think I'd seen it before, but realized what I was thinking of was Nila Jones' Serious Eats piece on the ermine, or flour, buttercream that I looked up a few weeks ago. Unlike most examples of the ermine, Jones advocates adding the sugar to the flour-milk roux, or "pudding" as she calls it, or tangzhong as I thought of it. Cooking the sugar into it insures that there are no grains of undissolved sugar in the final buttercream, and the cooled mixture, like the above cooled egg-white-sugar liquid, is added to the beaten butter. The only difference is that the "pudding" of cooked flour stands in for egg whites.

I definitely want to try both and see! But now that the Halloween projects are done, I'll probably not be baking cakes as frequently for a bit. I saw pictures of myself, and I've gained more weight than I realized lately. Time to knuckle down.

 

[Norcalbaker59]

I wonder too if cooking the sugar into the flour mixture adds stability. Ermine is not very stable. But dissovling the sugar into the flour and milk could create a tad more stability. Assuming a change in viscosity like that of a 1:1 ratio of sugar and water as it heats from room temperature to boiling.

I’m going to look up Jones’ ermine to try on cupcakes. I promised my niece I would bring her cupcakes the next time I visit. She’s only five but she always remembers when I promise to bring a big treat. The nice thing about ermine is it’s a bowl of deliciousness without a lot of fuss.

Oh I just noticed the note above the quoted text box. Lol, I never thought about it but yeah it is rather odd to call a powder “cream “. It’s also odd that it’s a by-product from the wine grape fermentation. Humans are strange in that we will scrape up anything left over from a process, then eat it

I didnt realize you could use it to stabilize sugar. I caramelize a lot of sugar for different projects. I’m going to try it. Do you know how much to use?

 

[Apocalypso]

I didnt realize you could use it to stabilize sugar. I caramelize a lot of sugar for different projects. I’m going to try it. Do you know how much to use?

No, was kinda hoping (assuming) you would. I did find another post that mentions "a bit of" CofT, and also they made the same remark I did, the odd "cream of" moniker. http://www.madfoodscience.com/post/4338474877/cream-of-tartar Maybe just 1/8 tsp or so to try it? Apparently it keeps the glucose and sucrose getting along.

 

[Norcalbaker59]

That is a really interesting piece on cream of tartar… I’m neurotic about washing the sides of the pot down whenever I cook sugar. And I cook sugar a lot because I do Italian meringue buttercream as my standard. I’ve made so much of that stuff that I don’t even crack open my binder to look up the recipe– – it’s ingrained in my brain.

I also have this obsession with trying to make soft chewy taffy-like caramel. But to date and countless batches, I’ve yet to perfect caramel. And im going to go on the record here to confirm it really truly is NOT possible to make caramel when it’s raining outside...don’t ask me how I know this.

I’ll never understand why the foods with the fewest ingredients, like bread and caramel, are the most complicated to actually make.

I will be making some caramel sauce for dessert for Thanksgiving. And a caramel filling for a cake. So I’m definitely going to experiment with the cream of tartar and sugar

Thanks to for the link itself. I bookmarked that page as I want to explore that blog. I’m obsessed with food science. I chuckled when I got to the end of the article and saw that remark about why it’s referred to as “cream”. So you are definitely not the only person in the world who meditates over deep food mysteries

 

[Apocalypso]

I'm intimidated by caramel. Tried a few times recently and it got too dark very quickly. I imagine it's somehow easier if you have very precise heat source, which I don't, I have an old electric stove, and the larger the batch too as that would slow the temperature change.

I saw someone saying they don't scrape down the sides, they cover the pot so that the condensation washes any sugar back down the sides. I don't know how well that works. I made me wonder whether there's a perfectly sloped saucepan that would help.

I made some dulce de leche, not in the can because that scared me, but I got small canning jars and cooked the sweetened condensed milk in them in the crockpot.

Food mysteries and linguistic mysteries. That's a pretty good cross section.

 

[Norcalbaker59]

I’ve never covered the pot while the sugar cooks because I’m always afraid it won’t work. So I stand over the pot with a pastry brush and glass of water.

I have certainly made my share of really bad caramel. I’ve made rock hard caramel. Caramel that’s too soft. Caramel that is chewy, but not soft enough. Last winter I think it rained every day for a month straight. And I kept trying to make caramel. I tried everything you could think of to try to dehumidify the kitchen. Nothing worked. And so the caramel never even boiled to the correct temperature. So I had a lot of gooey can’t even use as caramel sauce syrup. The moisture in the air really does affect the evaporation of water in the pot.

The one thing that I have wanted to make for a long time but feel totally intimidated by is a traditional flan. I absolutely love that caramelized syrup in a flan. I’ve collected dozens of recipes. I’ve looked at videos online. But I feel really intimidated by the process.

And for some reason very few restaurants make a decent flan. If the caramel syrup is rich and delicious, then the flan is really coarse from failing to remove the air bubbles with a fine mesh strainer. Or if the flan is silky smooth in the caramel sauce taste flat. I keep thinking I could do better...but I’m so intimidated by it.

 

[-Daniel-]

:O those ghosts are fantastic! I like that they're lots of different sizes, it makes them look a big swarm coming after me

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Earlier today I thought I would try to make caramel tomorrow to test the cream of tartar in sugar. Then about 15 minutes ago, it sounded like the wind picked up outside. Turned out to be rain. Lots of rain. I swear, whenever I so much as think about making caramel, it rains.

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Thanks for all those tips! I had cream of tartar all along, only was following a recipe (that used fresh egg whites) that didn't use it. Side note: I got curious just now as to why a dry powder is called "cream of" anything. I still don't have an answer for that etymology, but I did find that in addition to stabilizing egg whites, potassium bitartrate (C of T) is also used for stabilizing whipped cream, preventing sugar syrups from crystallizing,and reducing discoloration of boiled vegetables.



Very interesting! This really made me think I'd seen it before, but realized what I was thinking of was Nila Jones' Serious Eats piece on the ermine, or flour, buttercream that I looked up a few weeks ago. Unlike most examples of the ermine, Jones advocates adding the sugar to the flour-milk roux, or "pudding" as she calls it, or tangzhong as I thought of it. Cooking the sugar into it insures that there are no grains of undissolved sugar in the final buttercream, and the cooled mixture, like the above cooled egg-white-sugar liquid, is added to the beaten butter. The only difference is that the "pudding" of cooked flour stands in for egg whites.

I definitely want to try both and see! But now that the Halloween projects are done, I'll probably not be baking cakes as frequently for a bit. I saw pictures of myself, and I've gained more weight than I realized lately. Time to knuckle down.

I had to deliver on my promise of cupcakes for my niece. So perfect opportunity to try the cream of tartar in boiled sugar syrup. Added scant 1/8 tsp at the start; used 280g of sugar, 112g water. Also added my normal 1/8 tsp/ per egg white in the meringue.

Wow! I can’t believe the quality of the Italian meringue buttercream using cream of tartar in both the egg whites and cooked sugar syrup. Billowy, smooth, and full of body. When I was adding the butter it didn’t even collapse into that soupy stage that all buttercreams go through when the butter is added. Before I added the last couple tablespoons of butter, the buttercream was already emulsified. Normally a buttercream has to be whipped for a good eight minutes after adding the butter to emulsify it.

And it’s so smooth. Normally buttercreams have a lot of air bubbles. When you run a spatula over buttercream you always see lots of little popped air bubbles on the surface. But this batch of buttercream has so few air bubbles it’s almost as smooth as a fondant. I don’t know if this is a fluke, but I know I’m definitely going to use the cream of tartar whenever I boil sugar. I’ve never made a buttercream this smooth.

Amazing body

Smooth. Ran an offset spatula over the surface, there’s like no air bubbles

 

[Apocalypso]

I don’t know if this is a fluke, but I know I’m definitely going to use the cream of tartar whenever I boil sugar. I’ve never made a buttercream this smooth.

What a great experiment! Thanks for documenting. I don't think cream of tartar, at those amounts, would impart any discernable flavor, but if it did it would only counterbalance the sweetness a bit, I guess.

 

[Apocalypso]

:O those ghosts are fantastic! I like that they're lots of different sizes, it makes them look a big swarm coming after me

LOL, they do definitely all have personalities. I'll be eager to see if I can, though, get a bit more uniformity when I attempt to make the snowmen. Those should be three separate balls. I may even pipe the balls individually using some templates so that I don't get the problem with them starting to droop over like the ghosts did. I could then assemble them using a bit of royal icing.

 

[Norcalbaker59]

What a great experiment! Thanks for documenting. I don't think cream of tartar, at those amounts, would impart any discernable flavor, but if it did it would only counterbalance the sweetness a bit, I guess.

It tasted fine. I wasn’t quite sure how much to use or how to add it to the sugar. I ended up dissolving it in the water first and then pouring the water over the sugar. No stirring. I just left the pot alone. I let it boil. At first it looks like the sugar had completely crystallized on the bottom of the pot. A weird translucent layer formed at the bottom of the pan. But by the time it reached a full boil the sugar syrup was clear.