Carolina Love: Summer Vineyards Tour

Aug 14, 2011 By Love & Flour in Drinks, Musings 3 Comments Tags: carolina, wine

This post has little to do with flour, but it has a lot to do with love. After all, it is halfway to Valentine’s Day! Yesterday, I had the opportunity to visit three North Carolina vineyards as part of a girls’ day to celebrate a friend’s upcoming wedding. That’s where the love comes in.

Vineyard One: Laurel Grey

All parties involved agreed the wines at Laurel Grey were fantastic. I prefer a sweet or fruity wine, and many of the wines at Laurel Grey fit this bill. In addition to wine, Laurel Grey sells the most delicious vinaigrette I have ever tasted. Barbecue sauce, as well as a chocolate and a caramel sauce made with wine, are also Laurel Grey specialties and taste as delicious as the wine.

Vineyard Two: Raffaldini

The grounds at Raffaldini were absolutely gorgeous. The wines, however, were all very dry. I asked the gentleman pouring our tasting why the wines were so dry, and he responded, “the owner prefers dry wines.” That was good enough reason for me. The gentleman also said if the fruit on a vine received too much sun, workers would hand turn the grapes to prevent them from getting a sunburn. Now that’s love.

Vineyard Three: Cellar 4201

A happy medium between Laurel Grey and Raffaldini.

Pretty grounds and good wine.

Dessert

All this wine made me consider the drink’s dessert-making capabilities. There are a variety of desserts you can make with leftover wine, though with the crowd I know, leftover wine seems a bit of an oxymoron. Red wine and chocolate pair well together – check out a red wine cake or red wine cookies for inspiration. Lighter flavors, like lemon, pair well with white wine. My personal favorite, judging solely on the title alone, are Italian wine donut cookies. Anything involving a donut wins my heart. Cheers!

Neapolitan Cupcakes

Aug 12, 2011 By Love & Flour in Cupcakes 4 Comments Tags: neapolitan, raspberry

Neapolitan refers to all things Naples, Italy. Marinara sauce, a romance language, and a very large dog to name a few. But when I think of Neapolitan, ice cream comes to mind.

A carton of Neapolitan ice cream could usually be found in the freezer of my childhood home. Neapolitan would typically win the “If you were to be stranded on a desert island and could only bring one flavor of ice cream, what would it be?” game. I liked to choose mint chocolate chip, but my mother pointed out Neapolitan provided three flavors in place of one. It was hard to argue with logic like that.

These Neapolitan cupcakes are made with one cake batter divided into three flavors: vanilla, chocolate, and raspberry. Wait a second, raspberry? Isn’t the pink stripe in Neapolitan strawberry? Typically, yes. Though historically, raspberry was also a reasonable flavor. I did not have strawberries on hand, but I did have a bottle of raspberry extract. So, raspberry flavor went into the cakes.

A bottle of raspberry extract was one of the first gifts someone very close gave me at the beginning of our courting. “That’s odd,” I thought at the time. “Sweet, but odd.” Looking back, it strikes me how things so ingrained into your being can be seen as unique to someone else. It never occurred to me that baking could be seen as a hobby, or even a luxurious treat, to someone else. It was simply something I enjoyed. Besides, I had to eat!

To make the cupcakes, I used one cake batter divided into thirds and flavored and layered accordingly. To further simplify the task, layer the vanilla batter in first, then divide the remaining batter just once to flavor and layer the chocolate and raspberry. Or omit the raspberry altogether and make black and white cupcakes like the infamous black and white cookies. Another way to incorporate all three flavors is to layer two batters and frost the cupcakes with the third flavor. The options abound, so suit yourself.

When the cupcakes came out of the oven, my companion immediately asked, “Can I have one?” Of course. My companion-turned-tester remarked how truly wonderful it was to eat something freshly baked and just out of the oven and suggested I write about that experience. I was to take the opportunity to really encourage people to take a little time to bake, because eating a fresh baked good was good for the palette and the spirt. And not only does the baker reap the reward, but the people the baker cares about do to.

Have a lovely weekend!

Neapolitan Cupcakes

Recipe type: Dessert

Serves: 12

Ingredients

1½ cups all-purpose flour
1½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup (1 stick) butter
¾ granulated sugar
3 eggs
¼ cup milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
1½ teaspoons raspberry extract
red or pink gel food color
Icing
½ cup (1 stick) butter
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Instructions

Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium sized bowl and set aside.
Cream the butter and the sugar together.
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Add the milk and the vanilla.
Slowly add the flour mixture and mix until well incorporated.
Line a cupcake pan with paper liners and fill each well with a scant tablespoon of vanilla batter.
Divide the remaining batter in half and add the cocoa powder to half and the raspberry to the other half. Mix well, adding a small amount of red or pink gel food color to the raspberry flavored batter.
Layer the remaining chocolate and raspberry batters over the vanilla to create a three-layered cupcake.
Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 20 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean.
While the cupcakes cool, make the frosting. Beat ½ cup butter and the confectioners’ sugar until combined.
Add the vanilla and beat at high speed until the icing is light and fluffy.

Floating Away: Root Beer Float Cupcakes

Aug 10, 2011 By Love & Flour in Cupcakes No Comments Tags: root beer

Today I am topping off the root beer posts with root beer float cupcakes. When I bought the root beer for the root beer float brownies, I figured I may as well keep on baking with the root beer since it was unlikely I would drink it.

At first, like the root beer cookies, I was a little disappointed the cake did not taste more like root beer. The cake tasted more like spice cake than a tall glass of root beer. But then, I had a few tasters all say they really liked the cupcakes. No one seemed to mind the root beer flavor was not prominent because the cake tasted good.

Yet another lesson learned: as long as it tastes good, it doesn’t matter what I think it should taste like. Well, it matters, but not as much as I thought it should. Better a light root beer tasting cake that’s delicious than one where the flavor is readily identifiable but no one really wants to eat.

To decorate the cupcakes, I used the same icing technique as for the 4th of July cupcakes. Divide the frosting, and color half with brown gel food color. Place the brown frosting in one side of a decorating bag, place the white frosting in the other side, and start piping. Remember to work in a circular motion from the outside edge in towards the center.

So, why the three root beer posts, and all in a row no less? This is something I’ve wanted to do since I started thinking of baking-blogging, much less actually starting the baking blog. Take one flavor and twist it into different recipes. Three just seemed like a good number.

I was going to call it The Trifecta until a friend suggested the Triple Crown, and I loved it. I have no immediate plans to do another Triple Crown, but I do hope to make it a regular feature over time. Until then, enjoy a mid-week sweet!

Root Beer Float Cupcakes

Author: adapted from Baking Bites

Recipe type: Dessert

Ingredients

1⅓ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
6 tablespoons butter
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 egg
⅓ cup rootbeer syrup
⅓ cup milk
1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Icing
½ cup (1 stick) butter
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
¼ cup root beer syrup

Instructions

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a medium sized bowl and set aside.
Cream the butter and the sugars together.
Beat in the egg, root beer syrup, milk, and vanilla.
Slowly add the flour mixture and mix until well incorporated.
Line a cupcake pan with paper liners and fill each well approximately ¾ full.
Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 20 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean.
While the cupcakes cool, make the frosting. Beat ½ cup butter and the confectioners’ sugar until combined.
Add the root beer syrup and beat at high speed until the icing is light and fluffy.

Notes

To make root beer syrup, simmer 12 ounces of root beer over medium heat and reduce to ⅓ cup.