Zucchini-Spice Cupcakes - Martha Stewart's Cupcake Club

For this month's Martha Stewart Cupcake Club, Tracey from Tracey's Culinary Adventures chose Zucchini-Spice Cupcakes on pages 44 of Martha's fantastic book: Martha Stewart's Cupcake Book. Tracey is the most awesome baker, cook, and all around nice person! I love her! Go visit her blog!

Martha Stewart Cupcake Club is a new baking club started by Sugar B of Eat My Cupcake and we are going to make one cupcake recipe per month (or more!) Check it out on the new website here.

I made this recipe earlier with a simply glaze, but this time I made it with the recommended Cream Cheese Frosting. It was the first recipe I made from this book, and it's a winner! I was very happy to make it again as I still had lots of zucchini hanging out in the veggie drawer.

The recipe calls for a boatload of cream cheese frosting. I made 1/2 the cupcake recipe and about 1/4 of the frosting recipe. Me thinks Martha and her crew love the frosting way more than me. :)

Be sure to check out the other Martha Stewart Cupcake Club members and their version of the recipe! And be sure to make this tasty treat! (The cupcake is dairy free but the cream cheese frosting...well, is not!)

Recipe:
Martha Stewart's Cupcake Book: Zucchini-Spice Cupcakes, page 44
Note: The Martha Stewart Cupcake Club doesn't post the recipe. You can use WorldCat to see if your library has it in their collection (hey, I need to put the Librarian in the Food Librarian sometimes! :)

Banana Zucchini Bundt Cake with King Arthur Cinnamon Flav-R-Bites

It's the end of summer.
Sad.
Luckily, I got to go to San Diego over Labor Day weekend and met up with my friend Jami and her new doggie, Maggie. Ain't she the cutest?

When it's summer, it's zucchini time. Kinda like Hammer Time but with a little less dancing.

My blogger friend Mary of Popsicles and Sandy Feet recently went to King Arthur Flour in Vermont. OMG. When she said she was going to KAF for a baking class, I thought she was kidding. Seriously, I thought KAF was like Oz. A place they mention in their catalog and on their packages, but not an actual place. Well, low and behold, Mary took a baking class with her mom! See her post about her yummy adventures.

After my cat Q-Tip passed away, I received a lovely card and gift package from Mary. She is so sweet. I shook the packet and it sounded like dried cat food! But inside were King Arthur Flour's Cinnamon Flav-R-Bites. These are too cool!

I added 1/3 cup of King Arthur Flour Cinnamon Flav-R-Bites. While they do indeed look like cat food pellets, they are tasty when they soften in a baked good. They are also dairy free! Whoo hoo. (The recipe is also dairy-free).

I found this recipe on Michelle's blog (One Ordinary Day) and Alicia's blog (Confessions of a Bakeaholic ) and it looked so delicious I had to give it a shot. One cup each: raw zucchini, mashed bananas and chopped pecans, along with 1/3 c of the King Arthur Cinnamon Flav-R-Bites.

Yeah. I know. It's a Bundt. Again.
And I have another one that isn't posted yet. I think I'll save that one to space them out a bit! :)

This was yummy. It isn't really rich like Dorie Greenspan's butter and sour cream filled Banana Bundt, but it is a yummy breakfast treat. The King Arthur Flav-R-Bites add a nice cinnamon touch.

Recipe: (three options)
One Ordinary Day who found it on Recipezaar (submitted by Margo59 and baked in two loaf pans) or Confessions of a Bakeaholic

Chocolate Souffle - Tuesdays with Dorie

For this week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection, Susan of She’s Becoming DoughMessTic selected Chocolate Souffle, on page 406 of Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours. Susan is such an active baker! She is a true artist too...you should see some of her custom cookies and cakes. I don't understand how anybody actually eats her creations, they are too pretty!

I made 1/4 of the recipe and did it all by hand. I have the cutest mini ramekins and 1/4 would have made 5 of them. I baked the minis for 17 minutes at 400 degrees.

Souffles are impressive and yet pretty easy to make! If you can whip egg whites and fold ingredients, you can make a nice souffle. Impress your friends with this delicious dessert.

Thanks Susan for picking a fun recipe! Be sure to check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers!

Recipe:
Susan's blog: She’s Becoming DoughMessTic
Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours, page 406

Fresh Fig Tart on Puff Pastry (You want pies with that?)

For this month's You Want Pies With That? Challenge, Jenn of Piccante Dolce chosen theme is: Summer Vacation.

As a kid, we didn't go away much but I do remember visiting with cousins and grandma on our summer break. One of the relatives had a tree and would bring figs. Oh, the love affair begins. I love figs and I would take a plate of figs over a box of chocolate.

Fresh figs.
Puff Pastry.
Butter and sugar.
Yum Summer Fun.

I used Pepperidge Farms Farms Puff Pastry. This is my first time using it as Trader Joe's doesn't carry their butter puff pastry now (it might be a seasonal item). Um, maybe I'm reading the label wrong, but this PF stuff has NO BUTTER. I didn't know you could make puff pastry without butter. Anyway, I cut this palm oil puff pastry into a few circles and squares, sprinkled on some sugar, and placed the fresh figs atop. I sprinkled the figs with a tiny bit of butter (it needs to come from someplace!) and some brown sugar.

These figs were from a colleague's parent's tree. It's good to have friends in high places, and friends with fig trees.

Be sure to check out all the other delicious summer pies on the You Want Pies with That? website! I hope you are all enjoying the last days of summer!!

Thanks Jenn for picking a fun theme!

Sour Cream Chocolate Cake Bundt

It has been so hot in Los Angeles that I can only bake at 4 am. Crazy, yeah. But look at the cute result! Of course, it's a Bundt. This is an old Nordic Ware Bundt...the Fiesta Party Pan. That is a strange name. I called it my "Tree Bundt".

Since my last post was all about Jury Duty, I wanted to update you. Whoo hoo! I'm free. Los Angeles has a one day or one trial system. If you make it through one day without being sent to a trial, you are home free. So I sat in a room with over 100 other citizens for hours. They started the day with five possible trials. At 11:45 am, they said they were down to two trials (never been so happy for a plea bargain or continuance). At 2:30 pm, they finally called about 20 jurors. My fingers were cramping because I was trying to use my iPod Touch and I was crossing my fingers all day! :)

Finally, at 3:00 pm, they were going to call 35 jurors, and if you weren't on the list, you were going home! Tension filled the room like the set of "American Idol" (only in reverse...don't pick me, Ryan Seacrest!) When she said, "Mary..." I gasped. But it was a different Mary. Whew. Then she said, "Mary..." again! And, would you believe it, there were at least three Mary's in that room? Lucky for me (and unlucky for them), it wasn't me!

Whew! This calls for a celebration...and the Bundt is perfect for that!

I saw this cake on Jessica's What's Cooking in the Orange Kitchen? blog. Jessica found it on the back of the Bakers & Chefs brown sugar package from Sam's Club! Don't you just love those "back of the bag" recipes?! This recipe's technique is similar to the Cinnamon Chocolate Bundt and Texas Sheet Cake. Both of those recipes melt and boil ingredients, and this one melts the chocolate and butter in boiling water.

I placed 3 oz unsweetened baking chocolate (chopped up) and 1 stick of butter (cut into pieces) into a bowl. Pour 1 cup of boiling water over the top. Stir until melted.

In my Kitchen Aid mixer, I placed 2 cups packed brown sugar, 2 cups flour, 1 1/2 tsp baking soda, and 1 tsp salt. I used the paddle and let it spin on low to mix the dry ingredients. With the mixer on low, slowly add the melted chocolate mixture. Once the batter is well blended, add 2 eggs, 1/2 cup sour cream and 1 tsp vanilla. Then raise the speed to medium and beat for one minute. And that's it! Easy peasy, no?

Grease and flour the Bundt pan (or spray the heck out of it with Baker's Joy or Pam with Flour). I suggest a 10 or 12-cup Bundt. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes. Rest 10 minutes then depan and cool completely. I dusted mine with powdered sugar. Jessica added a chocolate ganache drizzle. Yum!

I used my Nordic Ware Fiesta Bundt (I don't see it on their website...I've had it for years). I believe it is about 9-cups and that why it is a little too full for this recipe.

Can you see a face profile in this slice?! See that little eye? Yeah...I've looked at too many Bundts and the heat has fried my little brain!

Have a great holiday weekend! Be safe and have fun!

Recipe:
Sour Cream Chocolate Cake from What's Cooking in the Orange Kitchen?
From back of the Bakers & Chefs brown sugar package from Sam's Club

Espresso Cheesecake Brownies - Tuesdays with Dorie

For this week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection, Melissa of Life in a Peanut Shell chose Espresso Cheesecake Brownies, page 104 of Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours.

I baked this week's entry early this morning before my first (and hopefully only) day of jury duty. It has been too hot in Los Angeles to cook any other time. I am now starting this post using my iPod Touch and free WiFi at the courthouse...how do you iPhone people manage this keyboard?! My finger is cramping, I keep hitting the wrong letters, and oh my gosh, I'm getting motion sick seeing those letters pop out at me. (I have an LG Envy phone and it has a "raised" touchable QWERTY keyboard that I can use without looking. Um, I need to be schooled by my iPhone peeps or eventually forget getting the iPhone and pick up the Blackberry.)

Swirl the brownie batter with the espresso cheesecake batter before baking

I skipped the sour cream topping and don't really have a review because I can't eat them...dairy is pretty much a foe of mine now. I'm crazy not happy about that. Sadly, I now chew (to check if I accidentally used salt instead of sugar and to check the texture) and then I spit it out. Sigh. However, the flavors I did get were pretty tasty!! :)

...Back home now for lunch, shoot some photos and post this entry (using a real computer keyboard! :) I am crossing my fingers I don't get picked during the second session of jury duty. They haven't called anyone yet and there are over 100 of us reading, surfing the net, and dozing off. Los Angeles County uses a one trial or one day system...so if I can just make it to 5 pm...

Be sure to check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers!

Recipe:
Melissa's Life in a Peanut Shell blog post has the recipe
Dorie's awesome book, Baking: From My Home to Yours (just buy it, you'll love it), page 104.

Cream Cheese Pound Cake with Lime Glaze in a Rose Bundt - Williams Sonoma

Dear George Clooney,

Hi. You don't really know me, but I've known you from the days of Facts of Life. Detective Falconer on Sisters? My UCLA roommate and I planned our weekends around Sisters. When you got killed off? Oh, the pain and heartache. But then there was a little show called ER. Happiness again.

Anyway, I'm just saying I'm not a Johnny come lately girl. Um...unlike your recent cocktail waitress flings, I was actually alive when you started your career. Just saying...experience is a good thing.

So, if you do happen to finally realize that you really need a librarian and baker in your Italian villa...I'm here. And if you want to send me flowers, I'd like a bouquet of Rose Bundts. Like you being named People Magazine's Sexiest Man Alive (twice!!!), this Nordic Ware pan is totally the Sexiest Bundt Alive!

I made the William Sonoma's Cream Cheese Pound Cake with Lime Glaze. I don't know what happened, but I must have over beat the wet ingredients into a tizzy or something. By the time I slowly mixed in the dry ingredients, it was practically coming out of the KitchenAid bowl. Since the recipe was made to fit into the pan, I just threw in all the batter. Mistake. Luckily, I had some parchment in the oven to catch the overflow. So, note to self: don't over beat and don't overfill! :)

Isn't this sooooo pretty?

Enjoy this lovely pound cake with lime glaze. You can also use lemon as JustJenn does in her adaptation.

Recipe:
From Williams Sonoma: Cream Cheese Pound Cake with Lime Glaze

Mark Bittman's Olive Oil Cake

I can't believe it has been 8 weeks since my last blood donation. The summer is just flying by. September in a few days? What the heck? Last time I gave blood, I brought my own post-donation cookie. This time, I can't have dairy so I made an Olive Oil Cake.

I just picked up Mark Bittman's two classics from the library: How to cook everything and How to cook everything vegetarian. They are going on my wishlist of cookbooks.

This cake was really lovely. It was moist and light. The eggs provide a nice sponge, and the glaze a bit of sweetness. I think you'll like it. And it was a delicious treat after giving blood! :)

I'll try this again with either lime, lemon or grapefruit...I love me the citrus.

Whipping the egg whites separately and folding them into the batter gives this cake a nice lift.

And don't forget...if you can give blood, it is much needed. Jan, the RN, at my blood donor center told me that the percent of eligible donors is now 46% of the population. And of the 46%, only 5% actually donate. So, if you can, please think about rolling up your sleeve to help out! Contact you local hospital or the Red Cross.

Olive Oil Cake
Adapted from Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything"

2 c all-purpose flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1/2 c extra virgin olive oil
3/4 c sugar + 1/4 c sugar
4 eggs, separated
1/3 c freshly squeezed orange juice
2 t grated or finely minced orange or lemon zest

1. Preheat oven to 350 degree.
2. Grease two 8- or 9-inch layer cake pans or one 9 x 13 pan. I used 9 x 13.
3. Combine in small bowl: flour, baking powder and salt.
4. Mix together oil, 3/4 c sugar until creamy. Add 4 egg yolks and beat until thick and fluffy (5-7 minutes)
5. Mix in dry ingredients until smooth. Add the orange juice and zest, and stir until blended. The batter will be pretty thick.
6. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until foamy, then add the 1/4 cup sugar. Beat until soft peaks.
7. I stirred 1/4 of the egg white mixture into the wet ingredients to lighten the batter. Carefully fold in the remaining egg whites.
8. Pour into pan(s). Bake for 35 minutes. If you used rounds, let them cool for 15 minutes before depanning. If you used the 9 x 13 pan, let it cool in the pan. Let cool completely before glazing.

Orange Glaze
1/2 c freshly squeezed orange juice
1 T grated orange zest
1/2 t vanilla extract
3 c confectioners' sugar
Mix together. Glaze the cake.

Recipes:
How to cook everything vegetarian by Mark Bittman, page 852 (has optional glaze recipes)
How to cook everything by Mark Bittman (10th Anniversary Edition) page 914 | glazes on page 919 and 924

Chocolate Zucchini Cake - King Arthur Flour

Have you been blessed?
No, not in a religious sense (although that is good too!)
But blessed with summer's green log. The zucchini.

Someone "conveniently" leaves them on your porch?
Or did you plant all the seeds in the packet because they so small (really, how many zucchini could result?!)...and now you are "rewarded" with zucchini coming out of, well, you know?

Here's something to do with your gift from the garden. Make King Arthur's Chocolate Zucchini Cake. Em of the Repressed Pastry Chef made this recently and I knew I would be blessed with another zucchini soon, so I quickly bookmarked it. Em made a chocolate ganache topping. Check it out on her blog (and keep reading her blog...she's amazing!)

You don't even taste the zucchini, but you'll benefit from the moistness it imparts. And the frosting is beyond easy. Throw some chocolate chips on top, let it sit & melt, then spread out with a spatula. Sweet.

Recipe:
Chocolate Zucchini Cake by King Arthur

B Star Bar, San Francisco

I traveled 400 miles for this salad.

Last weekend, I took a quick trip to San Francisco and was slated to go to Burma Super Star. (Unfortunately, Los Angeles doesn't have much Burmese food. I've been to the Golden Triangle in Whittier, but Burma Super Star is a lot better.) I was hungry when I got off the plane!

However, by the time my UCLA roomie, Diane and I arrived at Burma Super Star, there was a typical Saturday night 1 1/2 hour wait. Ugh. The hostess said Burma's sister restaurant was just down the street...B Star Bar.

We headed there and entered heaven. I'm not kidding! We were so fortunate...we walked in and got seated at the counter instantly. The place is cute and has a different menu than Burma with lots of Asian-inspired food...but with some of their favorites including the Rainbow and Tea Leaf Salad.

We split my favorite salad on the planet...Tea Leaf Salad (see above). A delicious combination of romaine lettuce, ginger, fried garlic, sunflower, sesame seeds, tomatoes, peanuts and tea leaves. Soooo good. $9

My friend, Diane ordered the Basil Chili Tofu. Pressed tofu, eggplant, bell pepper, asparagus...over coconut rice. Oh that rice! So delicious. The dish was pretty spicy. While I'm not a fan of the pressed tofu, Diane liked her dish. $11

Although I wanted to try a bunch of different items on the menu, I kept looking at the Ochazuke. This a Japanese comfort food that just says, "Mom." It's the equivalent of tomato soup and grilled cheese for me. Of course, my mom's is nowhere near this fancy.

Rice, salmon, poached egg, topped with an umeboshi (pickled plum) and surrounded by pickled greens and crunchy rice...all in a green tea broth. Delicious! If this dish were a person, I would hug it. $11

The Tea Leaf Salad is tossed and the green tea is poured over the ochazuke tableside. Here are my action shots!

If you are in San Francisco, head over to B Star Bar or Burma Super Star!

B Star Bar
127 Clement (between 2nd and 3rd)
San Francisco, CA 94118
They do take reservations (unlike Burma Super Star)
(415) 933-9900