Devil's Fudge Brownies

My girlfriend at work told me about the Frank's Red Hot Sauce commercial with the Granny who wins first place and they ask her what her secret is. By the poor way she described it I thought she had meant that the Granny had baked something, but then my friend said "oh, I don't know what it was that she won with, its just so funny!". Later I saw the commercial for myself and how they advertise recipes on their website. So I looked up desserts on http://www.franksredhot.com/ and found a list of only 2 recipes: Devil Made Me Do It! Fudge Sauce and Devil's Fudge Brownies.
So I decided on the recipe that actually required some baking....or so I thought. After already adding half of the ingredients to my mixer, I read the recipe to the bottom and saw that it was in fact a MICROWAVE recipe!!!! I've never tried micro-baking and don't want to start. So after adding the rest of ingredients I plopped it into a circular baking pan and stuck her in the oven at 350.
You can find the true recipe here: http://www.franksredhot.com/retailrecipeview.php?id=RE0018&recipe=DEVIL%26%2339%3BS-FUDGE-BROWNIES

Here is the recipe with a couple variations (like baking, not nuking!)

Devil's Fudge Brownies

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons FRANK'S® REDHOT® Cayenne Pepper Sauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Blend all together in electric mixture until all is incorporated. Grease and flour a pan....probably a smaller sized one for thicker brownies. Bake at 350 for 20ish minutes until toothpick comes out clean.

I found that in the circular pan the edges burned a tad bit(not too badly but and the middle was still gooey. So I turned the oven down a couple notches and took it out 6 minutes later when the toothpick came out almost clean.

Outcome:
I don't really like it....too much hot sauce I think. Baby sister liked it, but she always claims to like weird things so I never really know if she does or just wants to. Good consistency, nice and dark and chocolaty and almost chewy. But hot sauce should maybe stay with dinner and not dessert.

ICE: Chicken Noodle Soup Cupcake (meat free!!)

After the first IRON CUPCAKE EARTH entry that I posted, I just wasn't satisfied. I told my mom about the contest and she said chicken noodle soup...jokingly. But the more I thought about the idea the more appealing it became! So last night while laying in bed and attempting at sleep, I began thinking about a chicken noodle soup cupcake. And this morning I went straight from shower to kitchen and mapped out a plan.
I threw ingredients in the mixer and the out come was beautiful. The cupcake rose beautifully and had a taste like sweet cornbread. I loved it. But for those of you worried about the meat content, don't be because there isn't any! This only made 9 cupcakes because I was hesitant that it would be a disaster and wanted to waste as little as possible. Little did I know!

Chicken Noodle Soup Cupcake

1 c melted butter
1 c sugar
1 c and 4 tbs flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 egg
3 fresh green beans chopped up
1 c shaved/shredded carrot
1/2 c milk
1/2 a cube of McCormick all vegetable chicken flavored bouillon
1/4 tsp of dried parsley, basil and ground rosemary and sweet paprika (you could probably add more of the spices or any other spice to taste)
1/4 c mini bow tied pasta (place in microwavable bowl, cover with water, microwave for 2 minutes or until el dente)

Mix butter, flour, sugar and baking soda in electric mixer. In separate bowl whisk together rest of ingredients, Add liquids to electric mixer. Gently fold in pasta.
Fill muffin cups 2/3s full and bake for 15 minutes at 350 or until toothpick comes out clean.

For an icing I just used a simple milk and icing sugar glaze since I don't think a sweet over bearing frosting would do. I used carrots and fresh parsley for the top decor from my garden...even though its is mid January there is no snow on the ground and the plants seem to be at a stand still. Which I love!!!

Vanilla Mint Cupcakes

I made some very expensive purchases today,

vanilla beans- 6.99

mint bunch, (small)- 1.99

And I am going to put them to good use.

In the oven are vanilla bean cupcakes, recipe adapted from http://http//mymadisonbistro.com/archives/vanilla-bean-cupcakes-with-white-chocolate-buttercream.

I cut the recipe in half and made some minor changes like, regular sugar, AP flour with some cornstarch.

The cupcakes were not overly vanilla....not enough for the effort I put in involving vanilla. The frosting I made cream cheese frosting with chopped up mint leaves mixed into it and then topped with chocolate drizzle. They looked beautiful though!!!!

Iron Cupcake: Winter Warm Up.....WARM LAYERS

This is the first cupcake challenge I will be competing in and hopefully not the last....if I can get all the technical stuff figured out.

The theme is 'winter warm up'...which they state can be soup, hot chocolate...slippers???
I have a few ideas but they need work.

The prize providers include:
http://http://blog.hellocupcakebook.com/
http://http://www.mydemy.com/
http://http://www.bellacupcakecouture.com/
http://http://www.gourmac.com/custset.html
http://http://www.workman.com/products/9780761129615/
http://http://www.acupcakery.com/info.html
http://http://www.vestlihouse.us/

The Demy™ by Key Ingredient
Hello, Cupcake by Karen Tack & Alan Richardson
Bella Cupcake Couture
Cupcake Stackers by Gourmac
The Cake Mix Doctor Returns! by Anne Byrne
Beautiful Baking Liners by Vestli House
Sweet Cuppin' Cakes Bakery & Cupcakey Supply

"Voting will begin no later than Thursday, January 28th at 8 p.m. at NO ONE PUTS CUPCAKE IN A CORNER, http://http://www.ironcupcakemilwaukee.com/ and will be open through Wednesday, February 3rd at 12 noon. Send your readers to that address to vote.
Winner will be posted the night of February 4th, before 11:59 p.m.
Please refer your readers to the IronCupcake:Earth cuphub at http://http://www.ironcupcakeearth.com/ to become a part of the excitement. "-ironcupcakeearth

Update:

I decided to use a 'layer' idea as in 'warm layers'....like blankets, sweaters....whatever.

So I decided to make a 4 layer cupcake, not including the frosting.

I used this base recipe that I just made up as I went along:

Vanilla Base Recipe

1 c margerine, softened

1 1/2 c sugar

2 c flour

1/2 c milk
1/2 c cream

2 eggs

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Blend marg, sugar, flour, baking soda and powder together in electric mixer until mixture is crumbs. In separate bowl whisk eggs, vanilla, milk and cream together. Add to electric mixer and blend until smooth and liquid fully incorporated.
Then I seperated the batter into 4 separate bowls. #1 bowl i added 2 tbs bailys, #2 Bowl I added 1 tbs spiced rum and 1/2 c chopped white chocolate, #3 bowl I added 1 tbs cocoa, #4 1 tsp almond extract and 1 tim tam bar chopped up. Then I layered the 4 batters into muffin tins and baked for 15-20 minutes. For the topping I used an almond extract plus bailys whipped cream plus 1/4 c sugar.

I don't expect a win or anything but competition is healthy and fun and I enjoyed the challenge....although I cant wait for next month, hopefully the ingredient is actually an ingredient and not something so general and non edible!

Black Russian Brownies

When I get home today I am going to make these, they sound very unique with ingredients like black pepper and kahlua and vodka. I found the recipe in a 'favorite brand name recipes, homemade holiday cookies' booklet from 1992. I think they'll be good.

Black Russian Brownies

4 oz unsweetened chocolate
1 c butter
3/4 tsp black pepper
4 eggs lightly beaten
1 1/2 c sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/3 c kahlua
2 tbs vodka
1 1/3 c flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 c chopped walnuts

line bottom of 13x9 inch pan with waxed paper
melt chocolate and butter with pepper in small sauce pan over low heat. remove from heat.
combine eggs sugar and vanilla in large bowl, beat well. stir in cooled chocolate mixture, vodka and kahlua. combine baking powder and flour and add to large bowl. stir until blended. add walnuts. bake at 350 until toothpick inserted comes out clean (25 min about) DO NOT OVER BAKE (says the recipe).

Rating: 8.5/10

very dense and fudgy, good flavour will definitely make again. black pepper was not tasted at all, which I am not sure saddens me or is a good thing. I didn't have a pan at boyfriends house so I used my silicone muffin tray (which is truly amazing and handy).

Eureka! (Cupcakes)

I recently have had so many great cupcake flavour ideas (in my opinion anyways...)

I will keep this blog post open to myself to record ideas. Please feel free to use any ideas yourself or suggest ideas.


-peach ginger mint
-b-52 shot
-mango cardamom
-vanilla mint
-cinnamon lemon
-raspberry pumpkin
-cuba libre
-tea flavours
-strawberry banana peanut butter honey
-shirely temple
-broken down golf cart shot
-chocolate strawberry and vanilla milkshake
-coconut blueberry

Oh Kitchen Aid, How I Love You.

I've decided to name my new kitchen aid, which I received from my loving parents this Christmas (thankyou M and D!(L)) SNOW WHITE. Since she is white and pure and helpful and good. They really are useful and it is something I will use my whole life. Although you can't make muffins in them. But that's okay with me.
The biggest problem I face with baking is that I don't have enough people to give it to and sadly lots ends up in the freezer, forgotten and cold. I have to pace myself so that this tragedy doesn't happen and now I will wait for C-Dab's TWENTIETH birthday on Jan 12th. I will be making her vanilla mint cupcakes I think. So until then...

Raspberry Jalapeno Cream Cheese Cupcakes...Good or Bad???

Today I attempted something new. Raspberry Jalapeno Cream Cheese Cupcakes.
I got the idea from a demo we often do in the deli, cream cheese and jalapeno jelly on a cracker. It is very delicious and our lovely demo lady always sells a lot of it.
I gave it a go with the idea of using the 'black bottom cupcake' technique for the cream cheese and a vanilla cupcake recipe from the blog Baking Bites, with a few alterations.
The cream cheese middle layer seemed to somehow disappear into the cake part and I was left with the jalapeno chunks and a pinkish color, I probably should have upped the cream cheese amount. The cake itself was tasty and all in all it wasn't a disaster...the jalapeno wasn't intensely spicy, just subtle. I then frosted them with a cream cheese raspberry frosting. Here are the recipes if you are feeling adventurous.

Jalapeno Raspberry Cream Cheese Filling

1 c cream cheese, room temp (I used 3/4 c but I think this amount will work better)
1/3 c sugar
1 egg
1/2 c frozen raspberries thawed, or fresh
3 tbs finely diced jalapeno

Blend ingredients in electric mixer with whisk attachment until smooth.
Set aside in fridge.

Vanilla Cupcakes (altered)

2 c flour
1 c sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 c butter (or margarine) room temp
2 eggs
1 c milk
1 tsp vanilla

Sift together the baking soda and powder and flour into an electric mixer. add sugar and blend. cut butter into chunks and toss in. Blend until mixture looks likes sand. In separate bowl combine milk, vanilla, eggs, whisk for a minute and then add to electric mixture. Mix until fully Incorporated.

Drop 2 tbs batter into lined muffin tins, top with 2 tbs cream cheese mixture and then 2 more of batter (or use your own judgment with layering the 2 components, but make sure liners are almost full to the top). Bake at 350 for 15 to 20 minutes.
Cool completely before frosting.

The reviews for the cupcakes were surprisingly good.
Boyfriend liked them until I told him the 'secret ingredient' at which he proceeded to spit out what was remaining in his mouth.
At the deli everyone enjoyed them and were impressed by them...some said that they didn't taste jalapeno, so maybe some cupcakes didn't receive as much pepper pieces as others. One said that they tasted like the something special jellies (which is what I was copying the idea from) so that was good. The raspberry cream cheese frosting definitely over ran the jalapeno taste though. But all in all successful taste tests.