REJECTION CUPCAKES

My unbelievably talented and amazing cousin released his book today!! Rejected: Tales of the Failed, Dumped and Canceled". If you're looking for some humor in your life then I highly suggest you purchase this fun, hilariously witty book based on a collection of rejection stories-and works-by some of today’s most accomplished comic writers and performers (some world famous) sharing their pieces that were ripped to pieces and their own experiences of being handed their hats, heads, and hearts on a platter. Available for purchase at Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com, and Borders NOW!

Tonight is the 'Rejected' book release party and what's a party without cupcakes? I offered my services to supply rejected cupcakes for tonight's festivities. I made hundreds of mini red velvets with chocolate and vanilla buttercream topped with red 'X's which I made from red candy melts. The idea for the X's came when I thought about the show Family Feud. Whenever a contestant got an answer wrong they would flash a huge red X! So, in my mind...X's denote rejection! I also made.......

"NO" cupcakes! These cuppies were vanilla cake using piped vanilla buttercream. I figured I could pretty much pipe anything negative on these cupcakes to represent the idea of rejection and "no" definitely qualifies as the #1 indication of rejection.
If you are in the NYC area and would like to come to the party tonight, click here!

TWD:FRESH GINGER AND CHOCOLATE GINGERBREAD CUPCAKES

Heather of Sherry Trifle chose this week's TWD recipe: Chocolate gingerbread. I was in a cupcake kind-of-a-mood and decided to whip up a dozen of these. I followed the recipe to a "T" and topped each cupcake with brown sugar Swiss meringue buttercream and garnished with crystallized ginger. These were fun, cute and not overly sweet. Although the ginger smelled extremely potent, the taste was not overwhelmed by ginger at all. The cake was light with a touch of density to it and the suspended chopped bittersweet chocolate pieces throughout made this cupcake a real treat. For the recipe, go to Jessica's blog here.

ICE-6: DARK CHOCOLATE RED WINE CUPCAKES

This month's Iron Cupcake Earth challenge ingredient is wine. I've only cooked with wine, never baked. So, I was excited to experiment especially since I have so much unopened readily available wine in my apartment. Whenever I think of red wine; chocolate comes to mind. Why, you ask? Seriously I have no idea...but it just does! Therefore, I knew right off the bat that I wanted to incorporate chocolate..and not just chocolate, but rich, dark, deep chocolate giving this cupcake a super sophisticated taste. For added fun I incorporated chopped toasted pecans into the batter for a little extra umph.

I made a deep dark chocolate ganache to top the cupcakes with. For half of the batch I poured the already warm ganache along the tops and garnished with multi-colored dragees. For the other half I whipped the ganache in my Kitchen-Aid mixer on high speed until fluffy and piped it on the cupcakes with a little fondant flower for garnish.

These cupcakes were fantastic! The wine added a bit of zing without being overbearing. The actual cake was very moist and rich and the toasted pecans added just enough crunch. The ganache couldn't have been any more complimentary. I used Lindt's extra intense dark chocolate which proved to be..well, intense..

Be sure to vote for me at No One Puts Cupcakes In A Corner beginning January 24th at Noon (central time). ICE is giving away awesome prizes for the winner.

RECIPE:

For cupcakes

1-1/4 cup sugar

1 cup AP flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Dutch processed)

1 tsp baking powder1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 large egg

2/3 cup sour cream

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup red wine (I used Porto)

1/4 cup boiling water

1/3 cup toasted pecans, chopped

For Ganache:

8oz chopped dark chocolate (I used Lindt's intense dark)

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

dash of salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake tins with papers, or grease well.
Combine sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl. Cream the egg, sour cream, oil and wine together in mixer for two minutes. Stir in flour mixture until well combined.

Add 1/4 cup boiling water and stir. Fold in chopped nuts. Batter will be fairly thin. Pour into prepared cupcake tins and bake for approximately 17-20 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

To make ganache–Place chocolate in bowl. In saucepan bring whipping cream to boil over high heat. Pour hot whipping cream over chocolate and stir until chocolate melted. Add vanilla and salt. Spoon ganache over cupcake.

Prizes provided by Etsy artists: DOGBONE ART

• A pair of cupcake earrings from LOTS OF SPRINKLES
• CAKESPY
• SWEET CUPPIN CAKES BAKERY AND CUPCAKERY
• Corporate prize providers:HEAD CHEFS by FIESTA PRODUCTS HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson
• JESSIE STEELE APRONSCUPCAKE COURIERTASTE OF HOME booksUPWITHCUPCAKES.COM

Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers

TWD:BERRY SURPRISE CAKE

Ann of Meet Me In The Kitchen chose this week's TWD recipe: Berry Surprise Cake! Boy was I surprised when this cake came out to be completely unappealing.  I found the actual cake to be too dense, the filling to be absolutely tasteless and the berries to be completely out of season.  All of these negative factors combined really surprised me being that this is a Dorie Greenspan recipe; and lets face it, everything she creates is fantastic whether it's my cup of tea or not. 

In order to add some sweetness/taste I grated chocolate on top; white and semi-sweet.  I then took some raspberry sauce and drizzled it all over. Alas, this cake was still doomed.  This, my friends, is not a recipe that I recommend and/or will be making again in the future.  Not everything can be a slam dunk..right?

PEANUT BUTTER MOUSSE BROWNIE BARS

Peanut butter creme Oreo crust. Brownie stratum. Peanut butter mousse blanket. Silky chocolate ganache layer. Topped off with crushed Reese's peanut butter cups, honey roasted peanuts, and mini semi-sweet chocolate chips. Need I say more? If you are a peanut butter/chocolate lover then this dessert is for you! These were incredible!! My most favorite dessert combination is peanut butter and chocolate and these bars were kryptonite for me. I couldn't keep my hands off them. Awhile back I made Dorie's Peanut butter chocolate torte which was my favorite Dorie recipe to date. I thought it would be fun to make a version of this torte in bar-form. As explained above, I made the crust using crushed peanut butter creme Oreo's. The brownie layer was made using Smitten Kitchen's 'one bowl brownie' recipe which was then topped with peanut butter mousse from Dorie's original chocolate peanut butter mousse torte found here. I went over the top by drizzling a delicious dark chocolate ganache atop the mousse then garnished with crushed Reese's, honey roasted peanuts and mini chocolate chips. Wallah! A luscious chocolaty peanut buttery creamy gooey dessert. Please, make these for your own good...or, in that case, maybe you shouldn't...??!?!

*Please note* I ended up cutting these bars into thirds because they were SO rich.

A little goes a long way with these bad boys.

RECIPE: Use a 9X13 inch pan.

*Follow the recipe here for the crust and peanut butter mousse. *You can go with a graham cracker crust or

a Nutter Butter crust if you prefer*

*Put the finished mousse in the fridge until needed.

• Using this recipe, bake the brownies over the pre-baked Oreo crust.
• Once cooled, spread the peanut butter mousse atop the brownie layer. (Note: I had some peanut butter mousse left over and saved it)
• Follow the directions for the ganache here and drizzle it over the peanut butter mousse
• Chop up Reese's peanut butter cups, honey roasted peanuts, and mini chocolate chips for garnish if you like
• Warning: Keep a large glass of milk handy!! =)