Really-Red Red Velvet

I wonder if Red Velvet wasn't red and was perhaps just velvet, would it be as popular and delicious and loved as it is?  I honestly don't understand why a red cake is so popular and loved.  I just don't see someone creating the exact same cake but with orange food coloring, calling it Orange Delight, and it being as popular as Red Velvet (although Orange Delight does sound like Chinese food because it probably IS a Chinese dish somewhere).

Anyway, it was recently Travis' (AKA Jen's husband, DN's flickr uploader and sometimes ingredient picker upper) birthday and we wanted to surprise him with a birthday cake.  Red Velvet (which I will from here on refer to as RV) seemed like a good idea because good RV is really good.
 
We did our research and picked a recipe for the cake.  We had SUCH high hopes for this cake, at least I did.  It was supposed to be better than any RV I could buy. 

I'll admit, I DID over whip the frosting just a bit.  I think next time I over whip cream (Yeah yeah, I have done it before), I am just going to keep going and make butter.  BUT still, our RV was a FAIL.  So much... unrealized potential.  The cake was off -- next time we'll double or triple the amount of cocoa powder as we couldn't taste anything cocoa in it.  The frosting was WEIRD -- the taste and texture was grainy gross.  I really recommend against using Mascarpone cheese for the frosting.  Next time we will stick to the traditional cream cheese frosting.  *Sigh*.  And worst of all?  No one wanted seconds!

While it was a fail, I will say the cake tasted better on the subsequent days.  And hey, I think it was Jen's first time cutting layers!  Anyway, Travis seemed to think it was good and I hope appreciated our efforts (he honestly thought it was good).  I feel a need for redemption, however!

The recipe we used from Joy of Baking:

Ingredients:

Red Velvet Cake:

2 1/2 cups (250 grams) sifted cake flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons (15 grams) Dutch-processed cocoa powder

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups (300 grams) granulated white sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup (240 ml) buttermilk

2 tablespoons liquid red food coloring

1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar

1 teaspoon baking soda

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 1/2 (360 ml) cups heavy whipping cream

1 - 8 ounce (227 grams) cream cheese, room temperature

1 - 8 ounce (227 grams) tub of Mascarpone cheese, room temperature

3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup (115 grams) confectioners' (icing or powdered) sugar, sifted

Directions:

Red Velvet Cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Butter two - 9 inch (23 cm) round cake pans and line the bottoms of the pans with parchment paper. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl sift together the flour, salt, and cocoa powder. Set aside.

In bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until soft (about 1-2 minutes). Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.

In a measuring cup whisk the buttermilk with the red food coloring. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk to the butter mixture, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour.

In a small cup combine the vinegar and baking soda. Allow the mixture to fizz and then quickly fold into the cake batter. 

Working quickly, divide the batter evenly between the two prepared pans and smooth the tops with an offset spatula or the back of a spoon. Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 25 - 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean. Cool the cakes in their pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Place a wire rack on top of the cake pan and invert, lifting off the pan. Once the cakes have completely cooled, wrap in plastic and place the cake layers in the freezer for at least an hour. (This is done to make filling and frosting the cakes easier.)

Cream Cheese Frosting: In your food processor, or with a hand mixer, process the cream cheese and mascarpone cheese until smooth. Add the vanilla and confectioners sugar and process until smooth. Transfer this mixture to a large mixing bowl.

Then, in the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, whip the cream until stiff peaks form. With a large spatula, gently but quickly fold a little of the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture to lighten it. Then fold in the remaining whipped cream, in two stages. If the frosting is not thick enough to spread, cover and place in the refrigerator for an hour, or until it is firm enough to spread.

Assemble: With a serrated knife, cut each cake layer in half, horizontally. You will now have four cake layers. Place one of the cake layers, top of the cake facing down, onto your serving platter. Spread the cake layer with a layer of frosting.  Place another layer of cake on top of the frosting and continue to frost and stack the cake layers. Frost the top and sides of the cake. Can garnish the cake with sweetened or unsweetened coconut

Makes one - 9 inch (23 cm) four layer cake.


Read more: http://www.joyofbaking.com/RedVelvetCake.html#ixzz0yQkPhw3V

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup, originally uploaded by Dessert Night.

Every Halloween as a kid, I looked forward to getting some peanut butter cups, a perfect blend of chocolate and creamy peanut butter. The gooey, sweet combination was enough to make me a happy camper. Fast forward to today. For girl’s night, I promised the host I would make something with one of my favorite ingredients, chocolate! As I looked through some recipes I wanted to try: cookies, brownies, and petit fours, I could not imagine leaving the oven on for an hour and making my kitchen as hot as the weather outside.

And then I found the perfect recipe. It’s simple, although the preparation is a bit messy, easy to serve, and since it’s homemade, there are no additional chemical additives or preservatives. For the health conscious, that makes this dessert almost guilt free! Ok, so I will admit spreading the chocolate wasn’t just a little messy, it got all over the place. At times, I felt like melted chocolate was everywhere except on the sides of paper liner. Well, at least at the end I could lick my fingers!

With this recipe, a lot of time is spent waiting for the chocolate to harden in the fridge. If you are in a hurry, the freezer will harden the chocolate faster. As expected, the end result is fabulous, tastier than the store bought version.

Our recipe is adapted from here.

Makes 12 peanut butter cups

Ingredients

• 1 (12 ounce) package milk chocolate chips
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt (if desired)

Directions

1. Cut 12 paper cupcake cup liners to half of their height. Place in cupcake pan.
2. Divide the chocolate chips in half. Using a double boiler, melt one half of the chocolate chips, stirring until smooth.
3. Scoop about 1 heaping teaspoon of melted chocolate into each cupcake liner. Spread the chocolate evenly around the cupcake cup until evenly coated. This part will get the cupcake pan, and your fingers, messy! It helps to make the chocolate bottom thicker, and to cover the sides of the liner completely with chocolate. I used a chopstick to hold the liner in place, and a spoon to do the spreading.
4. Cool in the refrigerator until firm (about 1 hour)
5. In a bowl, mix the peanut butter, powdered sugar and salt.
6. Divide the peanut butter mixture into the chocolate cups. Melt the remaining chocolate, and spoon over peanut butter. Spread chocolate to the edges of the cups. Cool in the refrigerator until firm (about 1 hour)
7. Enjoy!

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Souffle Goes Green - No Waste

Cheese Souffle, originally uploaded by Dessert Night.

After we made the Tiramisu, I was left with 6 perfectly good egg whites, and no idea of what to do with them. While some sites pointed out that eggs are an inexpensive ingredient; ever since I was a child, wasting food was a no-no, so I couldn't throw them out! We also had more than enough Tiramisu to last a week, so making Chocolate Souffle again was really not an option.

I could have frozen the egg whites, but decided to whip up something savory and delicious: Cheese Souffle. This is off topic, but it turned out so well that I imagine it is the perfect complement to your dessert.  The recipe below was adapted from here.

Cheese souffle with Egg Whites

Ingredients
Grated Parmesan cheese and butter for prepping souffle dish

2.5 TB butter
3 TB flour
3/4 c. simmering light cream
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
Big pinch nutmeg

6-7 egg white
Big pinch salt
3/4 c. (3 oz.) coarsely grated Swiss cheese, + 1 Tablespoon for topping the souffle
3/4 c. (3 oz.) Swiss cheese cut into 1/4 inch cubes


Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400F. 
2. Generously butter 6-cup souffle dish and coat evenly with grated Parmesan cheese. 
3. In a saucepan over low-med heat, melt butter and then stir in flour. Cook for about 2 min. making sure it doesn't brown. Off heat, add simmering cream and seasonings. Bring to boil and stir for 1 min. Take off heat.
4. Beat egg whites and salt until stiff peaks form. Stir one fourth into cream base. Stir in the grated cheese. Then add diced cheese. Gently fold in remaining whites.
5. Pour mixture into prepared souffle dish, sprinkle w/ remaining grated cheese. Set in middle of oven and immediately reduce heat to 375F. Bake for 25-30 min. til souffle has puffed and browned. 
6. Serve Immediately.

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Hotteok (호떡) - A Delectable Korean Treat!

Hotteok, originally uploaded by Dessert Night.

Hotteok (호떡) is one of those treats you buy from the street vendors (포장마차) in Korea that you not only never regret getting, but wish the street vendors would come to America to sell them as well.  It's basically a pancake filled with brown sugar, cinnamon, and nuts if desired. It's cooked so that the brown sugar oooooooozes out of the pancake, and it's just... so good.  Hotteok memories are happy memories. :)  I remember eating hotteok in Surak San (one of the mountains in Korea): it was big, thin, crisp, oozy, and... just make sure you pick up some when you go to Korea. 

I've made it a couple times.  There are mixes you can buy from the grocery store that have the dough mix and filling mix for you.  Tried it, didn't like it.  I also tried it from a recipe online.  One of the difficulties with making hotteok is that the dough is EXTREMELY sticky.  Then you have to put oil all over your hands so it doesn't stick to your hands... but that got old really quick.  I also found that they were really doughy, and not as thin as I'd like.  After doing some research, it was apparent I needed to try adding some rice flour as it would help with the thickness and the texture.  So then I stumbled upon a recipe from I love butter and sugar that I thought turned out really well.

Here is our adapted recipe:

Pancake:

* 3 teaspoons lukewarm water
* 1/4 teaspoon white sugar
* 1/4 teaspoon dry-active yeast
* 6 tablespoons milk (7 if it's too dry)
* 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/2 cup sweet rice flour (We used a Japanese brand found at the local asian grocery store)
* Pinch of salt
* Canola oil

Filling:

* Scant 1/4 cup brown sugar
* 2-3 tablespoons peanuts, toasted and finely chopped
* 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon


To give it a go:

1.  Combine water, sugar, and yeast in a medium sized bowl.  Then turn on the oven light and let it sit for 10 minutes inside your oven.  The heat from the light will get the yeast to bubble. 
2. Add in milk, all-purpose flour, glutinous rice flour, and salt, then mix until it's all incorporated.
3. Cover bowl with cloth (or plastic wrap or a paper towel, but trying to be green here), put it back in the oven with the oven light on, and let it rise for 3 hours. (Tip: If you really can't wait to eat your hotteok, we did do it for an hour and half, it was fine.)
4. After the dough has doubled in size, knead the dough for a minute.  Also mix the filling together in a separate bowl.
5. Put some canola oil to coat the bottom of your pan, and set the heat to medium to medium.
6. Portion out the dough into golf-sized balls. (Tip: If the dough is VERY sticky, put some oil onto your hands for the remainder of the recipe.  This helps a LOT, although I found I didn't need to do that with this particular recipe)
7. For each ball of dough, flatten it in your hand and lay a generous spoonful of the filling.  Then gather the dough around the filling so as to encase the filling with the dough.
8. Place a ball with the gathered side down onto the pan.  Let it sit for 10 seconds.  Then flatten with a spatula (Tip: Again, if the dough is very sticky, make sure your spatula is oiled).  Flatten it several times, switching your angle.  The thickness should be about or smaller than the thickness of a pancake.  Fill your pan this way with 2 or 3 pancakes at a time.
9.  Once a golden brown is reached, flip the hotteok over.  Cook both sides to a golden brown.
10. Eat!  But be careful, the inside will be very hot!

Jen and I made this for our end of the year Korean project, and it turned out to be a hit!  I give ourselves an A+.

If you try out the recipe, be sure to leave a comment to let us know how it went! It also lets us know we have readers!

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