Scrambled Egg and Bacon Cupcakes

So I've been horrible at posting lately - I do apologize. I'm in the midst of tuning up and tweaking the site, so I've been having a harder time staying on top of my posts. Regardless, this was my favorite out of all the cupcakes. I am still perfecting each of these cakes, but if you're going to try one of them - I'd suggest this one. So without further ado - the good 'ol how-to:

Ingredients

For Bacon Cupcake

1 1/4 c. milk 

2 1/2 c. sifted cake flour

1 1/4 c. brown sugar

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 c. maple syrup 

1/2 stick butter, melted

1/4 c. bacon fat, reserved from cooking your bacon slices

2 eggs

1 egg yolk

1/2 c. buttermilk

4-5 pieces of bacon

For Frosting

1 1/2 c. heavy cream

1/2 c. brown sugar

3 large egg yolks

1 egg

1 1/2 - 2 sticks butter, room temp

1 1/2 c. confectioners sugar

Start with the first stage of the frosting. This frosting is a tad involved. But bear with me. It turns out pretty fun. Start by heating the heavy cream and brown sugar in a heavy bottomed small saucepan over medium/low heat. Heat until small bubbles form around the edge. Remove from heat, whisk a small amount of the hot liquid with the yolks to temper the egg mixture. Mix all together and then return mixture to the same saucepan and continue to cook over medium heat. Continue to whisk mixture over heat until it thickens and eventually breaks. As soon as the cream mixture curdles remove from heat. Refrigerate overnight. 

On to the cake! Cook your bacon over a slow heat - you don't want to burn it.  Save the bacon fat from the pan in a small bowl (you'll need 1/4 cup). Cut the bacon pieces into 1/4 inch pieces. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Get your cupcake pan ready. In a medium bowl (not the bowl for your stand mixer) mix together the flour, brown sugar, baking soda and salt. In the bowl for your stand mixer, or a large bowl you can use your hand mixer in, mix the milk, maple syrup, the butter, the reserved bacon fat, and the eggs. Beat on high for 2 minutes or so. Beat in half the flour mixture, then half the buttermilk, then the rest of the flour mixture and the rest of the buttermilk. Beat for 2 minutes more to aerate. Mix most of the cooked bacon pieces into the batter (you'll want to save some for garnish). Pour into the cupcake liners about 3/4 of the way with batter (these guys will puff up a tad). Bake for 25-30 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. 

Remove the curdled cream mixture from the fridge and let come to room temp. Cream together the butter and confectioners sugar until it's nice and smooth. The slowly add a little of the curdled egg mixture at a time, mixing slowly. You may not end up using all of the curdled cream. You want to get to a point where the frosting will still hold together, but almost appears to be slightly undercooked scrambled eggs.

To assemble, scoop the frosting on top of the cakes, and garnish with some bacon pieces. EAT!

English Tea Cupcake with Lemon and Cream Frosting Recipe

soubriquet said...

Where in the world do you drink a cup of english tea with cream and lemon? Here in England, certainly not. Milk, not cream, in tea, cream's fine in coffee, but in tea? Urgh! And the lemon's a touch that's instead of a dairy product, not as well as. Try a drop of lemon juice in tea with milk and watch the milk curdle and precipitate out. The cakes look good though!

Guys - someone in England is READING MY BLOG!!!!!

So I stand corrected. You don't drink English tea with cream at all - and you definitely don't drink it with cream AND lemon. But if you are making cupcakes - you can do whatever the heck you want. So live on the wild side: try the impossible, the English unfathomable - and put lemon AND cream in your tea cupcake! American freedom never tasted so, so lemon-y.

Ingredients

for lemon scented whip cream frosting

2 cups heavy whipping cream

1 tsp. lemon oil (or 1 tsp. lemon zest)

for cream frosting

1 cup milk
1 cup heavy cream
1/8 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon butter

for cake

3 oz. pecans
1/2 cup plus 2 Tblsps sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 Tblsps cake flour
1 1/2 Tblsps finely ground english tea
1/4 tsp salt
4 egg whites
1/2 cup warm butter

Start with making the cake. Make this about a week beforehand. It totally makes the tea flavor intensify. Pulse the pecans and 2 Tblsps of the sugar in a food processor until finely ground. Be careful to not run your processor or awesome blender for too long - you don't want to release the moisture in the pecans...Put in a bowl and add the rest of the sugar, cake flour, english tea, and salt and stir until blended. Add egg whites and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Pour in the butter and beat for 2 minutes more. Depending on the climate - the batter will either look the same no matter what - or it will froth a tad and turn a lighter color. This is what you want. If it doesn't happen - it doesn't happen. Such is life - the cake will still be good - but it won't be AWESOME. Anyhow - once the batter is done mixing - put it away for about 5 days. Then take out of the fridge and let come to room temp. Pour into cupcake tin only about half way up - you dont actually want the cupcakes to pass the top of the cupcake paper - and bake for 20 -25 minutes. 

On to the cream frosting! Heat milk and heavy cream, over medium heat until bubbles form at edges - remove from heat. In a different bowl mix sugar, cornstarch and salt. Sift the sugar mixture in to the hot milk and cream a little at a time - constantly stirring with a whisk. You may need a second person to help you out with this. Turn heat back on and continue to cook over medium heat till it thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon. Don't boil! Remove from heat and stir in butter. Pour on top of cupcakes and put in fridge for about an hour. 

Lastly the lemon whuipped cream frosting. Whip the heavy cream in the bowl of your mixer on high for a few minutes. Add in the lemon oil once you've reached a good thick whipped cream texture. Put in a pastry bag and pipe in a swirl shape on top of the chilled cupcakes.

EAT.

Yogurt Parfait Cupcake Recipe

As promised - the first of three recipes. The cake part of this cupcake is VERY light and airy. It was pretty funny picking it up and comparing it to the rather heavy bacon cupcake. Even in cupcake form - the parfait still masquerades as the "light" option - though in this case it's grams that determines this - and definitely not calories.

Ingredients

for granola topping

1 cup rolled oats

a sprinkle of cinnamon

a pinch nutmeg
a pinch of salt
2 tblsps olive oil
1/8 cup maple syrup

1/8 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
a handful of shelled pistachios and raw pine nuts

for cake

(original recipe found here - but I've messed with it just a tad)

1/3 cup sifted cake flour

3 tblsps cornstarch

2 Tblsps passion fruit tea (or other fruit tea)

2 whole eggs

3 egg yolks

2 egg whites

1/2 cup sugar

for icing

8-10 ounces greek cream cheese

1 cup powdered sugar

1 stick soft butter (room temp)

for greek cream cheese

8-10 ounces plain greek yogurt

pinch of salt

Start by making the greek cream cheese (I only call it greek cream cheese because you need to use greek yogurt to get the proper final result). Line a small colander with 2 pieces of cheese cloth. Mix yogurt with a touch of salt and pour in to cheesecloth lined colander. Cover with one sheet of cloth. Leave at room temperature for 2 hours. Place in fridge overnight.

Next make the granola! This is my favorite part. I could just sit and eat this granola all day long. And I did - the other day....after I had a bit too much wine. Why do i even bother with wine, though, when beer is so much better??? Anyhow - I digress. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Mix together the oats, cinamon, salt and nutmeg. In a seperate bowl mix together the oil, maple syrup, brown sugar and vanilla. Then pour that over the oats and mix togehter until it's totally covered in the sweetness. Put a piece of parchment in a cookie sheet and spread the oat mixture all over it. Put it in the oven for 10 minutes. Then pull it out and mix the oats around a bit. Then add the muts (typo! but it was too funny to correct) - and bake for another 5-10 minutes till the pine nuts turn a golden brown. YUM. Set aside to cool and try not to eat it all.

On to the cake. Turn oven up to 350 degrees. Line cupcake tin with cute papers. In a bowl (NOT the bowl for your mixer) whisk the flour, cornstarch, and tea. Then in the bowl of your mixer beat the whole eggs, yolks, and sugar on high for about 5 minutes until it's really thick and bubbly and looks like you want to plant your face in it. Sprinkle about half the flour mixture over the eggs and fold in with a spatula, or your face. Then do the same thing with the rest of the flour mixture. In yet ANOTHER bowl whisk the egg whites until just foamy - then add a bit of sugar and continue to whip until it forms stiff peaks - or do like I did and forget about it for like 5 minutes and then come back to find a big lump of stiff whites....and just bypass the whole sugar step. Fold the whites into the batter and then spoon in to the cupcake pan (fill about half way). Bake for 20 minutes or until it passes the cake test (knife in the mid section comes out clean). Check it at 15 minutes just to be sure. Let cool. Btw - it should make about 12.

Frosting. This recipe makes too much - on purpose. It's so you can eat the rest when no one is looking. Take the now fully drained greek yogurt turned cream cheese out of the fridge. Whip the cream cheese and butter together and then slowly add the powdered sugar until it is able to stand on it's own. It's totally up to you how sweet you want to make this - but I wanted the tartness of the greek yogurt to come through - so I tried to do as little of the sugar as possible.

To finish! Scoop the icing into a piping bag and pipe a little dollop on to the cake (it'll hold it's shape much better than my photos....I promise). Then sprinkle with granola. EAT.

Breakfast for Cupcakes!

This last weekend I attended the 17th Beatnik night over at my old house. Beatnik is a night, cheekily named, where friends and strangers are welcomed into someone's home (in the past it's been my old house or a neighboring "boys" house) and asked to share something with all who have gathered. It once started as a place to read and explore prose and literature - but has evolved in to a night of sharing inspiration both prepared and on the spot. So being that inspiration and preparation are now integral parts of Beatnik's festiities - I thought I'd come with my most current form of inspiration. Food. 

The Breakfast Cupcakes. Each cupcake is based off of a different common breakfast item. The top one is A cup of English Tea with Cream and Lemon, the middle one is Scrambled Egg and Bacon, the last one is A Yogurt Parfait...

Recipes coming soon!

February 7th "Night of" Images

Here are more images from the following night when we served everyone! Enjoy. 
All photos courtesy of Grayson. 

Perhaps my favorite image of the night. Lehua - don't kill me...it's just priceless:

February 7th - Recap Images of Six Course Menu Based On Love

So last Sunday we did our last YBF Two Week Dinner, for awhile, for eight of our family and friends. It was a grand time. Tyler and I have been planning on taking March off for awhile now (from doing our dinners) to rethink, re-brand, and re-focus this blog and our dinners. So this last meal needed to be a fun one. I knew I wanted to do something with the theme of love, but in a more ironic or witty way than making everything heart shaped and pink. Also, Tyler had been working tirelessly on a few bread recipes, so I knew I wanted to be able to utilize his fresh bread the best I could. He also surprised me, late in the game, with making his own cheese. 


Most of this menu was influenced by my new cookbooks by Thomas Keller, The French Laundry Cookbook and Under Pressure. Unlike other dinners I've worked on, this one didn't employ many nods to the world of molecular gastronomy. Instead, I wanted to learn about the science of food in far less manipulative procedures. So I relied on a few recipes from both books. The tongue and bread pudding dish was completely Thomas Keller's, I only made minor tweaks because of time.  Also, the potato crisps in the first course were from The French Laundry, and is such a simple process that I really wish I'd thought of it. The pasta dish I created utilizes Keller's recipe for pasta dough, and it's the best I've come across yet. All that to say, I'm amazed by Keller's simple and beautiful combination of ingredients and items. It's been quite a fun learning experience, and I'm looking forward to trying more recipes and learning more techniques from the pages of both his great books. 


My brother was so kind to give up his Saturday and part of his Sunday to shoot this latest meal for us. Enjoy the following photos from Grayson. Oh. And happy Valentine's day. w00t.

Be Mine

Cultured cream panna cotta, potato rosemary chip 

I ♥ U

Quail bacon deviled eggs;

Endive hearts, green apple, chicken hearts, pine nut cream cheese, black olive puree; 

Artichoke hearts with eggplant caviar, marscapone, truffle oil, and parm chip, 

3 Love Letters

Tyler's fresh goat cheese with raisin love letters, brown butter, fried sage, diced chevril

Hugs and Kisses
Corned beef tongue and pain perdu (made with Tyler's baguettes)
Pork shoulder confit with fennell puree, celery root mashed potatoes, and fenell staulks, bordelaise syrup

Love stinks. Cheese plate.
Dried wine grapes (raisins), honey comb, quince paste

From left to right: Vermont Shepherd, Raw Sheep, Midgnight Moon Goat Gouda, Cypress Grove Truffle Tremor, Rogue River Blue Raw Cow

Not pictured: An assortment of Tyler's homemade bread; raisin, pecan and nutmeg loaf; Iberico cheese bread; French baguettes; and rosemary and olive baguettes 

Thai-m for love
White chocolate covered peanut, lime and hoison sauce truffle

Thai iced tea cake, dipped in dark chocolate, thai tea soup

Ginger Lemon Chocolate Sherbet, Browned Anise Marshmallow, Salted Dulce De Leche, Cacoa Nibs

Here's the 3rd post from the Sundae courses from our Home Alone themed dessert. Enjoy!

Photo by Laurel Dailey.

Ingredients

for Sorbet

80 ml water
130 grams sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
2 tsp ginger
225 ml heavy cream, half n half, or milk
60 ml lemon juice

35 grams melted chocolate (you won't need this till the following day)

for Anise Marshmallow
See Alton Brown's recipe for Marshmallows. Add 1 tsp. anise flavoring at the point where he says you can add flavoring. When marshmallows are complete and ready to cut, cut very small squares of the marsh so it can fit in the tiniest spoons you own.

for Salted Dulce De Leche

1 can condensed milk

pinch salt

Directions

For sorbet In a saucepan, bring the first three ingredients to a boil. Remove from heat, transfer to a bowl and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled. Add the buttermilk and lemon juice once it has chilled in the fridge and churn in your ice cream machine. At the very last minute add the melted chcolate. Transfer to a bowl or ice cream container and freeze. This recipe is slightly tweaked but is mainly David Lebovitz's recipe from his book, The Perfect Scoop.

For Salted Dulce De Leche start by making the dulce de leche. In a deep sauce pan or stock pot submerge the unopened can of condensed milk in water and simmer for about 3 hours. Make sure the can is ALWAYS submerged. Otherwise, it'll explode. If that freaks you out, puncture a small hole in the top of the can and fill sauce pan half-way with water. Cook for about 3 hours, making sure the water is always at least half way up the can. 

To complete, lightly toast the tops of your marshmallows with a torch. Place on the tip of the spoon. Scoop a small amount of the Dulce de Leche on to the other side of the spoon and sprinkle with salt. Quenelle a small amount of sorbet and place on plate next spoon. Garnish with a few cacoa nibs.

Enjoy!