Pink Velvet Cupcakes!

Pink Velvet Cupcakes

This cupcake is adapted from the Taste of Home magazine. It is basically a yellow cake recipe that is dyed pink using the Wilton Pink Gel Dye. These are topped with a whipped white chocolate ganache and pink pearls.

~Recipe~

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup butter, softened
1-1/4 cup Sugar
1/8 tsp. pink paste food coloring – use a pink gel…like Wilton’s brand
3 Eggs
1 tsp. Vanilla
2-1/2 cup flour
1-1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt
1 cup Buttermilk

WHITE CHOCOLATE GANACHE:
1 package white chocolate baking chips (2 cups)
1 TBSP. Butter
1/2 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
Pink coarse sugar, edible glitter, or sprinkles
Pink pearls-edible

DIRECTIONS: 1. In a large bowl, cream the butter, sugar and food coloring until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in Vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk beating well after each addition.
2. Fill paper lined muffin cups 2/3 full.
3. Bake at 350 for 23-27 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.
4. In a heavy saucepan melt the white chocolate chips and butter with cream over low heat. Stir until smooth. Transfer to a large bowl (use the bowl you set aside earlier to save dishes). Chill for 30 minutes; stirring once. Make sure it gets nice and cold. I even put it in the freezer for a couple of minutes.
5. Beat on high for 2-3 minutes or until soft peaks form and frosting is light and fluffy. Frost the cupcakes...I just used a regular knife to get a rough finish. It was a nice texture contrast when compared to the smooth pink pearls. Sprinkle the edges with coarse sugar and top with pink pearls.

Tart Pastry Dough

The shell was very simple to make.

The recipe is as follows: 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/4 cup solid vegetable shortening, and 4 to 6 tablespoons ice water

Directions: Sift flour and salt together into a medium bowl. Add shortening, and mix in with fingertips until the mixture resembles cornmeal. Add just enough ice water to form a dough. Gather into a ball, wrap in plastic, and place in refrigerator for a few minutes before rolling out.

Once baked in the oven, you can fill it with many fillings…for the one pictured below, it was filled with a lemon custard and topped with a sweetened whipped cream and garnished with a chocolate twirl. I made this dessert in culinary school.




Baked tartlet shell filled with lemon custard.



Topped with sweetened whipped cream

 

 

 As you can see from the pictures, it is beautiful and also tastes good! Another tartlet dessert I made filled the shell with an almond frangipane and topped with poached pears.

Baked tartlet shells

Poached pear tartlet topped with apricot glaze

 

 

Visiting chef from Italy

Master Chef Gianluca Pardini, from Italy, came to the work with the students at College of DuPage for a week.

My class worked with him on a dinner for 100 people. I worked with Chef Pardini on the dessert below. It is a wheat crepe filled with sweetened ricotta cheese topped an orange caramel sauce and garnished with candied julienne orange peel, rosemary, and roasted pine nuts.

Everything was made from scratch. It was delicious!

My plated dessert for the night

 

Chef Pardini and Me

 

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cake

 

 

Deep Dish Caramel Apple Pie

What makes this apple pie memorable it the crust...it is made out of sugar cookie dough.

With a crumb topping, caramel, and a drizzle of icing, this apple pie is a winner!!

 

Savory Prosciutto Palmiers

So easy to make and so delicious to eat!

I made this for Super Bowl Sunday. I wanted an appetizer that was quick to make, warm, and savory for such a cold day, especially living in Chicago. I made two dozen of them and they did not last more than 10 minutes….seriously!

Puff pastry dough is very labor intensive. I’ve made it in the past a couple of times, but for this recipe, I just used a box or pre-made dough I found in my freezer. The rest of the ingredients included: tomato paste, prosciutto, and grated parmesan cheese. For the parmesan cheese, I always buy a block of parm and grate it as needed. It is just better this way… I find that the pre-grated parm you can buy at the store is always a little dry.

An alternative to using tomato paste is to instead use a mixture of a table spoon of honey mixed with ½ cup mustard. Mix it up and try different ingredients. Enjoy!