Over the Hill Cupcakes

It was my last trip out of Boston before my transfer to New York, along with 3 other of my colleagues. It was also the birthday of one of us. A Big One! Propitious and momentous at the same time, so we had to celebrate on our London layover. Throughout the years, we felt that London has been our home away from home and have many favorite places to go. One of those is Da Mario's Italian Restaurant. Mario often sat at a nearby table and greeted airline crews with a smile and sometimes sent over a little something extra. Princess Diana and her children used to stop in here from their nearby home of Kensington Palace. That seems so long ago now, with her handsome son getting married next month. There is a large painting on the wall of Mario with the princess. Sadly, they are both gone now.

Since it was my friend, Debbie's birthday, we had to have cupcakes. I brought the crew Whoopie Pies for our Valentine's Day trip last month and everyone loved the combination of chocolate cake and Italian Meringue icing. It is my all time basic combination, as you know if you visit here often. Sometimes I dress it up and sometimes not. The Whoopie Pie cake is a different recipe, but still chocolate. I was telling a friend about bringing cupcakes to London as a surprise for Debbie and she asked how could I transport them without them getting smashed. Ah, I said, I made a special box with circular cutouts for them to rest in. Brilliant, she replied. I baked them in animal print cupcake liners and added toasted coconut to the top, since Debbie loves coconut. They were beautiful with their swirling updo of icing and animal print bottoms. Packed in their special box, they were loaded into my car for our last trip based out of Boston. They carefully went through airport security, onto the plane, to the hotel and then to the restaurant. I wanted to surprise Debbie, even though she astutely noticed I was always carrying around that bag with a box in it. I guess she's not quite over the hill yet. After we finished our pizza and paid our bill, we were brought a complimentary toast of Limoncello. Mario's tradition was being carried on. We decided to have our cupcake dessert at the hotel since the restaurant was emptying for the night. Soooo, I carried the cupcakes back to my room where we gathered for a birthday surprise. Everyone stood around while Debbie and I carefully pulled back the tape and opened the box. The others said they thought the box was full of snakes by the look on our faces! I think we laughed for 5 minutes before taking our first bite. I suppose I don't have to worry about getting a patent for that box! They still tasted as good as they used to look. And fortunately for youthful looking Debbie, the only things that looked like they'd gone over the hill were her cupcakes!

Chocolate Cake
(Adapted from Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake)

2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease, flour and line with parchment 2 9-inch cake pan or line a muffin tin with cupcake baking cups.

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla; beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour into lined muffin tin or 2 9-inch cake pans. Bake 30-35 minutes for cake and 20-25 minutes for cupcakes or until wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

Makes 30 cupcakes or 2-9 inch layer cakes.

Meringue Frosting

1 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
3 egg whites
pinch of salt
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine the sugar and water in a heavy medium saucepan and bring to a boil without stirring. Boil until it reaches the soft ball stage, 240 degrees on a candy thermometer.

While the syrup is cooking, beat the egg whites with the salt and cream of tartar until stiff peaks form. When the syrup reaches 240 degrees, pour 1/4 cup of the syrup into the stiffly beaten egg whites, drop by drop, beating at high speed. Gradually add the rest of the syrup in a fine stream and beat for 8 to 12 minutes, or until the mixture is cool. It should be glossy and thick, but not dry.

Makes about 3 cups.

Toasted Coconut

Evenly spread desired amount of shredded, sweetened coconut on a baking sheet and bake at 350℉ a few minutes until just golden. Keep an eye on it since it only takes a few minutes, and stir to make sure it browns evenly. It should be light with a crunch and not at all chewy.

To top marshmallows with toasted coconut, moisten the marshmallow with water where the coconut will be put and lightly press on the coconut. Let dry.


Animal cupcake liners from Kitchen Krafts are found here.

I'm Dreaming of a White....Homemade Marshmallow

Bear with me...I have been under the influence of white. I look, I touch, I taste. I like white. It is pure and plays with light, shadow and subtleties. It looks good with any color, and there is inspiration in it everywhere. Four years ago my daughter and I went to the Tate Modern Museum in London. She had recently graduated from college as an art major when I brought her on a long layover of mine in London. We spent an entire afternoon at the museum, where one of the more memorable exhibits was a temporary installation of Rachel Whiteread's "Embankment" of 14,000 white polyethylene boxes. It beckoned us from the beginning as it overwhelmed the museum's large Turbine Hall. During my fascination with all of this white, I was reminded of a play I saw years ago entitled "Art". It revolved around 3 friends, a solid white painting and the issues it brought to the surface. Then there was the photo that my daughter sent to me from Osaka, Japan of a restaurant interior constructed of white Legos. I like white on white quilts, white china, white linen, and who doesn't like snow angels....again, inspiration is everywhere. So was it any surprise when I made these pure white marshmallows, I had to play a little first? I looked, I touched, I tasted, I played. This is where I parted from the abstract. They ended up in my Hot Chocolate, dipped in dark bittersweet chocolate,then coated with toasted coconut. They are tasty half-dipped in plain chocolate, or just simply topped with coconut (OK, that is a variation on white!)I cut out hearts and stars and squares. The shapes were cut from a blank canvas of marshmallow and were works of art in their simple unadorned state. Add some chocolate and they looked and tasted like a cloud from chocolate heaven. A dream come true.

Dreamy Homemade Marshmallows

1 1/2 envelopes (3 teaspoons) unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup water, divided in half
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup corn syrup
pinch of salt
1 large egg white
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract*
powdered sugar for dusting
*Alternatively you may use another flavoring of your choice such as mint or almond. Substitute the vanilla for 1/2 teaspoon of mint or almond extract.

Oil the bottoms and sides of a 8 1/2 X 4 1/2 inch glass loaf pan. Line with parchment paper by using 2 strips of parchment. Cut one for the lengthwise side and one for the width with a 2 inch overhang. Oil the bottom and sides of the parchment and dust with powdered sugar.

In a medium mixing bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over 1/4 cup cold water to soften. Set aside.

In a small mixing bowl, beat the egg white until it forms stiff, but not dry peaks. Stir in vanilla.

In a 2-quart heavy saucepan over low heat, stir together the sugar, corn syrup, pinch of salt and remaining 1/4 cup water. Turn up the heat to medium high and boil without stirring, until the temperature reaches 238 ℉ on a candy thermometer. Remove from heat and using a whisk attachment, beat into the gelatin mixture. Whisk on high until the mixture triples in volume or starts to become thick and harder to beat. Stir in beaten egg whites until thoroughly mixed and light and fluffy. Using an oiled spatula, turn the mixture out into the prepared pan. You won't be able to scrape the bowl clean, as the mixture is too sticky. Give the pan a quick tap to get out air bubbles and sift a light coating of powdered sugar on top. Let sit uncovered at room temperature for 3 hours or until firm.

Using the sides of the parchment paper, lift out of the pan. Dust with sifted powdered sugar. Place on a cutting board or mat and using an oiled knife cut into 32-1 inch squares, by cutting the shorter side into 4 slices and the longer side into 8 slices. To make other shapes, cut out using oiled cookie cutters or ones dipped in powdered sugar.

Store in an airtight container for up to one week.

Makes 32-1 inch marshmallows.

Notes: Keep a close eye on the temperature of the boiling sugar mixture so it doesn't go beyond soft ball stage. Oil and powdered sugar are your friends when making marshmallows. They keep things from sticking to each other. Using a whisk attachment can be the difference between success and a mess. When I used my beaters and mixed it a little too long, the sticky mixture worked its way up beyond the beaters and created a mess where the beaters are inserted into the mixer. Each day they are stored, the texture of the marshmallows change. Fresher is better.

To dip in chocolate:
Melt chocolate (bittersweet, semi or milk--your choice) in a bowl and dip in half way, using a skewer or your fingers. If dipping the top into toasted coconut or any other topping, dip into it while the chocolate is still soft and melted.To toast coconut:Evenly spread desired amount of shredded, sweetened coconut on a baking sheet and bake at 350℉ a few minutes until just golden. Keep an eye on it since it only takes a few minutes, and stir to make sure it browns evenly. It should be light with a crunch and not at all chewy.

To top marshmallows with toasted coconut, moisten the marshmallow with water where the coconut will be put and lightly press on the coconut. Let dry.