Rum Party Cupcakes: Dark and Stormy and Cuba Libre

Dark and Stormy Cupcakes
Originally uploaded by kel h

I went to a party where the theme was rum, and decided to make two kinds of rum based cupcakes. One was a layered Dark and Stormy Cupcake, and the other was a Cube Libre cupcake with coke frosting and homemade candied limes. The rum cake recipe makes a TON, in fact enough for two dozen Dark and Stormy cupcakes AND a dozen Cuba Libre (makes 2 doz full sized cupcakes)

Dark and Stormy Cupcake

Ginger Beer Cupcakes (bottom layer)

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup ginger beer
1/4 cup butter, at room temperature
2 tbsp milk
1 egg, at room temperature
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg, milk and ginger beer beat well. Add the flour, baking powder and salt. Beat until the batter is light and fluffy. Fold in the ginger.

Rum Cupcake (top layer):

2/3 c unsalted butter at rm temp
1c sugar
1c lt brown sugar
2 lg eggs rm temp
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp rum extract (or just 2 tsp vanilla)
1 1/3 c dark or spiced rum
2/3 c milk
4 c flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp salt

cream butter and sugars 3-5 min. Add eggs and extracts
in one small bowl combine rum and milk
In another bowl combine dry ingredients
add to butter mixture alternating wet and dry until combined.

Fill liner or well greased cupcake pan 1/3 full with ginger beer cupcake. Then pour another 1/3 of the way with rum cupcake (unfortunately I didn't have any food coloring, but it would be super cool if you could color the ginger beer layer a different color so you can see the layers). Bake for 15-20 minutes at 350.

Rum Frosting
1 lb powdered sugar
5 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter at rm temp
1/8-1/4 c milk
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp rum

combine sugar, butter and salt. Add rum. Gradually add milk to desired consistency. Mine was a bit runny (but I think i didn't use enough sugar)

Cuba Libre Cupcake

Cuba Libre (Rum and Coke) cupcakes
Originally uploaded by kel h

Rum Cupcake:
2/3 c unsalted butter at rm temp
1c sugar
1c lt brown sugar
2 lg eggs rm temp
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp rum extract (or just 2 tsp vanilla)
1 1/3 c dark or spiced rum
2/3 c milk
4 c flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 325
cream butter and sugars 3-5 min. Add eggs and extracts
in one small bowl combine rum and milk
In another bowl combine dry ingredients
add to butter mixture alternating wet and dry until combined.
Bake 20 minutes

Coca-cola frosting
1/2 c butter
1/3 c coke
1 lb powdered sugar
3 tbsp powdered cocoa
a few dashes bitters if you have them
1 tsp vanilla

Melt butter. Add coke, powdered sugar and cocoa. whisk togegther and bring to a boil. remove from heat and add vanilla and bitters. Refrigerate until it sets

Candied Limes
1-2 limes (I got around four slices per lime)
water
1 c sugar

Slice limes into 1/4 inch slices
blanch for 2 min in pot of boiling water then place on paper towel and dry.
bring 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar to a boil. Drop the limes in and let them simmer for 15-20 min. Put on a cooling rack or a piece of foil sprayed well with cooking spray. Let them cool.

(the recipe creates a nice bonus of some lime simple syrup) Toss some mint, a few uncandied limes and some rum and you've got a mojito!

Chocolate Orange Pudding

Chocolate Orange Pudding
Originally uploaded by kel h

I've been cooking up a storm lately. And I ran out of chocolate pudding so I decided it would be fun to learn to make it from scratch. It's stupid easy, and whats great about it is that you get to control the quality of the ingredients, and do wacky things like add orange zest and cinnamon

Homemade Chocolate Orange Pudding

Ingredients
6 tablespoons sugar (I use splenda)
4 tablespoons cornstarch (slightly heaping)
2 tablespoons cocoa (heaping)
1 pinch salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional)
zest of 1/4 orange (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups milk (I use 1%)
Directions
1-Combine all dry ingredients until all lumps are gone and blended well.
2-Add milk and place on burner turned to high -- stir constantly until desired thickness. It will seem like nothing is happening for a while, then BAM, pudding!
3-Remove from heat and add vanilla, stir well and serve.enjoy.

Green Pea Pesto

Green Pea Pesto
Originally uploaded by kel h

you know how sometimes you buy something and its a let down, and sometimes when you buy something you wonder how you ever got along without it?

Yeah, my new food processor/blender is the second kind. I LOVE it! I can't stop making things with it. Today I made green pea pesto from the show Giada at Home

Ingredients
Pesto:
1 (10-ounce) package frozen peas, defrosted
2 cloves garlic smashed
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus extra for seasoning
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus extra for seasoning
small handful parsley and three or four basil leaves
1/3 cup olive oil

Put the cheese, peas, garlic, and herbs in a food processor until it forms a paste. Add seasoning and then gradually pour in the olive oil while processor is running.

Serve over pasta or on toast.

Blueberry Lemon Scones

Blueberry Lemon Scones
Originally uploaded by kel h

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cup fresh blueberries
2 2/3 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, diced and chilled in the freezer 5 to 10 minutes
1 large egg
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon milk
zest of 1 lemon divided
PREPARATION

1.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. In a small bowl, toss the blueberries with 1 tablespoon of flour and the cinnamon. Set aside.
2.
In a large bowl, combine the 2 2/3 cups flour, all but 1 tablespoon of the sugar, the baking powder, half of the lemon zest and the salt and mix well. Using a pastry cutter (or in my case, your new food processor), cut the well-chilled butter into the dry ingredients, working quickly, until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Beat the egg with 1/2 cup of the milk and, using a fork, combine this mixture with the flour and butter mixture.
3.
Divide the dough into 2 balls. Lightly flour a work surface and roll each ball into a 7-inch circle. Sprinkle the blueberries across 1 circle. Top with the second circle and use your hands to carefully mesh the circles together. Pat or lightly roll the dough out until the circle is about 12 inches across. (Don't mush the berries.)
4.
Cut the circle into 10 wedges. Brush the tops of the scones with the remaining milk, dust with the remaining sugar and lemon zest (mix it together with a fork first) transfer to 1 or more ungreased baking sheets, leaving an inch between each scone. Bake 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

Banana Ice Cream

Banana Ice Cream
Originally uploaded by kel h

Adapted from Alton Brown's Banana Ice Cream recipe

Ingredients
6 (approximately 2 1/4 pounds) ripe bananas (frozen overnight, then defrosted)
1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
2/3 c honey
1 tsp vanilla
1 container plain yogurt
2/3 c milk

Directions
Place bananas in freezer and freeze overnight. Remove bananas from freezer and allow to thaw for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Peel bananas and place in bowl of food processor along with the lemon juice. Process for 10 to 15 seconds. Add honey and vanilla and turn processor on. Slowly pour in the dairy. Process until smooth. Chill mixture in refrigerator until it reaches 40 degrees. Transfer mixture to an ice cream maker and process according to manufacturer's instructions. Place mixture in an airtight container and freeze for 3 to 6 hours before serving.

Kelly's new toy and Blueberry Mint Smoothie

Kelly's new toy and Blueberry Mint Smoothie
Originally uploaded by kel h

One of the problems of living in a home that has cable (and unlimited access to Food Network) is that I am developing kitchen gadget lust. Macy's had a one day sale today with 40% the Black and Decker combo food processor/blender, and I couldn't resist. Here is the first thing I made with it since I'm on a low fiber, soft foods diet due to diverticulitis AND recent dental surgery:

Blueberry Mint Smoothie

1 cup blueberries
1 sprig's worth mint leaves
1 container plain yogurt
about a tablespoon honey
8 ice cubes

Toss it all in the blender, pulse it a couple of times, then let it blend for 1 1/2 minutes until its all combined.

Yum!

More Cupcakes in the Media

I was featured in the June edition of Taste of Home magazine in the Cooks Who Care section for my online bakesale for Homes For Our Troops, which is a charity that raises money to help build adaptive homes for service men and women who return from combat with severe injuries. Unfortunately the money these folks receive from the government doesn't go far enough to give them the homes they deserve. This charity raises both money and donations of materials and time from contractors to give them a quality home befitting the sacrifice they made for our country.