Friday, August 28, 2015

Summer time Sweetness

 When I think of summer, I think of sweet treats, like snow cones, ice cream, fruit smoothies, and other fruit treats, but out of all these things what I look forward to the most are the many delicious treats made from the fresh fruits that we get from the fields or farmers markets.  There is nothing better to me then chocolate and fresh fruit.  Really any fruit will do.  Raspberries are my favorite so today we made a dark chocolate mousse with a fresh raspberry compote and sweetened whipped cream.  

  We also made some cupcakes, nothing better then a light and fluffy cake filled with a fruity filling and a light whipped frosting.  Here we made a French vanilla cake with a fresh raspberry filling and a white chocolate whipped Italian buttercream.  Yum, yum.  

  So here are these tasty recipes for your eating pleasure.  

Vanilla Cupcakes with raspberry filling and Italian buttercream 
Ingredients:
Batter:
1 1/4 c cake flour or sift regular flour well
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 c sugar
5 Tbs. butter at room temperature
1 egg at room temperature
1/2 c whole milk
2 cups raspberries
Filling:
6 oz cream cheese
3 Tbs. sour cream
1/3 c sugar
Buttercream:
3 eggs whites
3/4 c sugar
1 c unsalted butter at room temperature cut into small squares
5-8 oz of white chocolate melted and then cooled to room temperature
Directions:
1 Sift together cake flour, salt and baking powder. Set aside.  In an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugar for 2-3 minutes or until light and fluffy.  Add egg to butter mixture until incorporated.  Add flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the milk in 2 additions .  Do not over-beat, mix on low speed, just until flour and milk are combined.
2 Line muffin tins and fill half way.  DO NOT OVERFILL! The cream cheese filling will make a big mess out of your cupcakes if there is too much batter in the cupcake tins.
3 Use a small spoon or teaspoon to dig a well in each cupcake.  Combine softened cream cheese, sour cream and sugar with an electric mixture.  Fill each well with a small spoonful of the cream cheese mixture.
4 Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes.  Insert a toothpick in the center of a cupcakes to test for doneness.
Let cupcakes cool completely on wire rack.
5 While cupcakes are cooling, prepare buttercream in heatproof bowl (or double boiler like this one HERE).  Combine egg whites and sugar. Set the bowl over simmering water in a saucepan.  Use an electric beater to mix egg whites and sugar for 2 minutes or until mixture is warm to touch and sugar is dissolved. 

6 Remove bowl from saucepan and mix egg whites on high speed until stiff peaks form (see picture).  Mix in unsalted butter AT ROOM TEMPERATURE until combined.    Add white chocolate until desired taste is reached. CHOCOLATE MUST BE AT ROOM TEMPERATURE.  Continue whipping buttercream until super airy and fluffy.
7 To assemble cupcake…
use a fork and lightly crush raspberries.  8 Place heaping spoonful of raspberries onto each cupcake.
9 Pile on buttercream using pastry bag and tip.
10 Top with white chocolate shavings by warming up a small piece of white chocolate in the microwave for 10 seconds and then using a vegetable peeler to shave thin slices of chocolate into curls.  Refrigerate curls for a few minutes to make firm.



Dark chocolate mousse with raspberry compote and sweetened whipped cream

Ingredients

  • 5 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
  • 1 cup very cold heavy cream
  • 3 large egg whites (no traces of yolk), at room temperature
  • Sweetened whipped cream, for serving (optional)
  • 1Fill a medium saucepan with 2 inches of water and bring to a simmer over medium heat.
  • 2Place chocolate and 1/4 cup of the heavy cream in a large heatproof bowl. (Place remaining cream back in the refrigerator until ready to use.) Nest the bowl over the saucepan, making sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. Melt chocolate, stirring occasionally with a rubber spatula, until smooth and combined with the cream. Remove the bowl from the saucepan and set aside to cool slightly.
  • 3Place egg whites in a second large bowl and whisk vigorously until stiff peaks form, about 3 minutes (make sure the bowl and whisk have no trace of oil or fat, or the whites will not whip properly); set aside. (Alternatively, you can use an electric mixer.)
  • 4Clean and dry the whisk (or your beaters if you’re using an electric mixer). Place the remaining 3/4 cup heavy cream in a third large bowl and whisk until stiff peaks form. (Alternatively, you can use an electric mixer.)
  • 5Using a rubber spatula, fold half of the whipped cream into the melted chocolate, then gently stir in the rest (try not to deflate the whipped cream). Gently fold the egg whites into the chocolate-cream mixture just until there are no longer large blobs of whipped cream or egg white (do not overmix).

  • Spoon the mousse or pipe it from a pastry bag into serving cups and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Serve with additional sweetened or flavored whipped cream if desired.







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