Chocolate Cake with Oregon Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

July has certainly been the month of cupcakes with the numerous birthdays and celebrations that popped up. We round out the month with a return to finding the best chocolate cake and exploring a heavenly sounding frosting flavoring suggested to me by a friend. These cupcakes were a birthday present for my dear friend Melanie (there's your shout out!) who has a soft spot for cream cheese frosting so I figured there wouldn't be a better audience to test these out on!

All packaged and ready to be delivered to the birthday girl!

Analysis of the Cake
The last time I made chocolate cupcakes was way back in April, but after a recent visit to Miette bakery in San Francisco (my own personal Mecca of cupcakes and bakery decor) and a sampling of their chocolate cake, I'd been recently feeling inspired to attempt to recreate it. But, I was also torn because I got my yellow cake recipe from Miette's cookbook as well and a part of me wanted to explore some of the other cookbooks whose cake recipes have been relatively untouched by my crafting. But, a sign from the heaven's came down unto me as I was searching through Rose's Heavenly Cakes. There within it's pages was Miette's chocolate cake recipe. So, since it was in two separate cookbooks I decided I should just give it a go.
The Yays

• Holy cow does this recipe pack a chocolatey punch. Using 70% dark chocolate courtesy of Scharffen Berger and natural cocoa powder, the cupcake delivers on a dark, strong but not overpowering, and smooth chocolately taste. 
• That same strong chocolately taste is strong enough to match equally flavorful frostings without being lost in the mix. As was noted in my previous chocolate cake adventure, the last recipe I used was overpowered by the mocha frosting.
• The techniques used for mixing deliver a foamy soft batter (whipping the eggs, straining the batter through a sieve as a final mixing step to avoid over mixing) and a subsequently light/airy cupcake
• Those who know me well also know that a lot of times cake is a just a vehicle for me to eat frosting, my one true love. But these cupcakes are so damn good they don't really need frosting, I would literally just eat the cake and skip the frosting. That's fairly unheard of for me.

The Nays

• The cupcake did not hold its structure well by the last bites but I think it's my fault and not the recipes. I would like to try this recipe a second time but maybe cook it for less time to avoid the breakage that ensues.
• There is literally nothing else wrong with this recipe

Overall Impression: ohmuhlord, this is definitely the new winner for chocolate cake with some minor tweaking the second time around.

Analysis of the Frosting
Cream Cheese Frosting. 

• Although the last time I made this particular recipe I wasn't sure if it was the best cream cheese frosting, the more feedback I got from others (and a few more samplings myself), the more I decided it was addictingly delicious and the cream cheese frosting I will crown as perfection.

Strawberry Flavoring

Overall Impression: Ohmuhlord this is amazing and the combination of strawberry and cream cheese is simply to die for. De-lish.

Lemon Cake with Lemon Buttercream Frosting

After originally tasting these cupcakes, I wrote the most bitter (yeah, pun probably intended) blog post ever. The flavor just was not what I was expecting at all and I was slightly heartbroken at the failed adventure as these cupcakes are a gift for a 65th birthday extravaganza. But, I took another taste later and the tart after-tart was not so mouth-puckeringly bitey and I received confirmation from my official taste tester, and boyfriend extraordinaire, that this was indeed how they were supposed to taste. What follows is a less emo post about my first adventure in lemon cake and lemon buttercream.

Soft, sweet, and very very tart

Analysis of the Cake
I spent a great deal of time reading through the recipes in my cookbook collection and weighing the pros and cons to each one before finally settling upon Cake Love's "Light and Lemony" recipe. What drew me to this recipe originally were the multiple lemon flavor sources (segmented, limoncello, lemon oil) and the sour elements to counter the sweet (cream cheese, heavy cream). Also, it was the only lemon cake recipe I had that stated it could be made into cupcakes as well as other cake forms. I've previously made a spectacular lemon cake that would not translate well into cupcakes (however see nays for the shocking results).
The Yays

• New technique learned! How to segment a lemon! I did pretty well for my first try too. Lesson learned though: wear gloves. My dry nurses hands felt like the fire of a thousand suns by the second lemon. According to the recipe, by using a segmented lemon the lemon juice flavor is still translated into the batter but since it's still contained in it's pulpy cocoon the batter doesn't get too watered down. Noted.
• New ingredient used! Turbinado sugar! Smells like happy! Supposedly makes a huge difference but honestly I'm not really sure it did in the end. In fact, the batter was almost a little too gritty-sugary tasting. 
• The cake has a wonderful texture, light, spongy, kind of melts on your tongue. Almost like cotton-candy cake.
• They baked quite lovely and had a wonderful golden top as seen in the photo above. I did have to extend the baking time by quite a bit however, but all is well that ends well.

The Nays

• I'm definitely not sold that this is the best lemon cake recipe in existence. I still feel that the tart aftermath is a drawback and a recipe with a more subtle tartness would be much more pleasant on the palate. The first cupcake I had was difficult to finish because it was so tart but the second more mellowed out sample I had still had the tartness but perhaps not in as strong of a form as the first (or so I hope).
• The cupcake paper does not want to let go of the damn things, which is something I've experienced with lemon cakes before. It was a disappointment because I thought that since this recipe specifically gave directions for cupcakes this problem would be avoided. Lies.

Overall Impression: Bleh, probably won't re-visit this one

Analysis of the Frosting
The good news is the frosting is simply to die for. With our base of Italian Meringue Buttercream, I added pure lemon oil as suggested by Rose's Heavenly Cakes. This too was a heavily deliberated choice and in the battle between limoncello, lemon oil, and something else (I honestly can't remember at this moment) the sage advice from my mother (who has spent years perfecting a lemon cheesecake) was to go with the lemon oil as it was the least artificial tasting. And that advice was spot on. Sweet with a hint of lemon it was the perfect, light, and refreshing taste you would expect from something of the lemon variety.  
Overall Impression: Ohmuhlord, this one's a keeper

It's hard to go from something as wonderful as my recent endeavor with red velvet cupcakes to something that missed the mark, but that's why I'm on this quest so that I can filter through everything and find the best of the best. Until next time, keep on keepin' on!

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

I have a confession: I find red velvet cake to be somewhat gimicky (I am also confused as to the appeal of funfetti cake which is also flavorless). It never tastes like anything, and when this fact is presented people pretty much always respond with "That's true, but I really like cream cheese frosting." So it seems as though we are all eating tasteless cake just to get cream cheese frosting when really we could plop the frosting on a number of other types of cake that actually taste like something.

But, I came across a recipe from America's Test Kitchen (the holy grail for most any recipe) and decided if they couldn't win me over, nobody could.

Had to add some blue sprinkles as these were made for a belated 4th of July party!

Analysis of the Cake
I have to admit, this was the best red velvet cake I've had to date. Well played America's Test Kitchen, well played. I'm not necessarily convinced enough that I would incorporate it into my regular rotation, but it was winning enough that if someone requested red velvet cake, I would at least have some delicious ammunition to win them over with.

Velvety and Red, just the way they should be

The Yays

• The finished cakes had the prettiest dark red color which was exciting because I've definitely made red velvet before that had kind of a tinge to it which is always disappointing
• They actually tasted like something! I'd have to go back and compare recipes but off the top of my head my I thought it was due to the buttermilk, vinegar, and cocoa powder a flavored cake was born unto us. But, after a brief google search for red velvet cake every recipe has these. So I am somewhat dumbfounded as to the how and why, but all I know is it actually tasted like something instead of a flavorless cake so win.
• The finished product was super moist and the flavor did hold its own well against the cream cheese frosting, one did not out compete the other
• I managed to get no red food coloring on anything which is a huge win for me. My clothes, towels, and the rest of my kitchen are intact (this has more to do with my ability to avoid an accident than anything the cake did, but knowing my track record with accidents this is a big deal.)

Inside view of the deep red hue

 The Nays

• Still not completely sold on the whole red velvet trend, but again now I have a decent recipe in my repetoire.

Overall Impression: Somewhere between meh and ohmuhlord
 
Analysis of the Frosting
I used America's Test Kitchen's cream cheese frosting (might as well keep with the theme) and while it was good, I have to say I think I've made better. It's been awhile since I've made cream cheese frosting so I may not be remembering it quite right (guess I'll just have to do some taste testing ;) ). I feel that previous recipes I've made have been a little tangier, which I like. However this particular recipe was a good blend of cream cheesy and sweet and also looked like a fluffy white cloud of heaven. My one complaint, and this is of all cream cheese frosting, is that I have a hard time piping it with the star tip because it's just a little too soft/unstructured. But, seeing as how that's just a texture thing in the future I would not use the star tip to frost with (problem solving at it's finest).

Fluffy happy fun times

Overall Impression: Somewhere closer to ohmuhlord but still not quite there

Well team that concludes another adventure is seeking out the best recipes of treats known to man. Next up on the quest: a birthday request of lemon cake with lemon frosting. Stay tuned!