Vanilla and Chocolate Frosting // A Vocal Sparkling Wine

The week transitioning back to work after the holidays is always a tough one and this year was no exception. Big event on the horizon, aggressive dietary and exercise goals to kick off the year and I think everyone was in the same boat. Definitely a Sunday for bubbles&sprinkles. This week I had to appease an overdue birthday cupcake request, one overdue by over a month– sorry Bobby! Co-worker Bobby wanted vanilla with chocolate frosting, and that’s exactly what he’s getting! Not my best batch of cupcakes to date, I would prefer if they were a bit more moist….but damn does sugar taste good.

Recipe (makes 12):

• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 tbsp salt
• 2 tbsp baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup softened butter
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup brown sugar

Frosting:

• 1 cup softened butter
• 16 oz confectioners sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 2 tbsp heavy cream

Combine ingredients and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.Sprinkle brown sugar on top of cupcake batter before baking. While cupcakes bake, combine frosting ingredients. Add more cocoa for personal taste. Once cooled, frost and enjoy!

I was pleasantly surprised by this week’s sparkling wine, a gift from a super sweet client. Hi! Prosecco sang to me when I opened the gift bag. Its packaging is as sweet as it’s taste. Not too sweet, super tangy with hints of tangerine and pineapple. This would be a good one with creamy pastas or milk chocolate. It brought out the cocoa flavors of these cupcakes perfectly. Hi! Prosecco is made from Glera grapes in northern Venice. It’s light and crisp and will be in regular rotation this Summer. Stock up if you can find it 🙂

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Cheers,
Jenna

Cranberry and a Treviso Prosecco

The holidays are officially in full swing and I’m loving the flavors that come with them. I had a wonderful, relaxing Thanksgiving with family and am ready to power through the next few weeks before Christmas and the New Year.

Of course, with Thanksgiving comes total food coma. As concession for attending the gym regularly this week, I gave myself permission to create a decadent post-Turkey Day cupcake.

It’s been a while since I’ve made a stuffed cupcake. Rather than rely on dried cranberries in the cupcake batter (good chew, not enough flavor), or risk mixing gelatinous pre-made cranberry sauce into the batter, I decided to try my hand at a cranberry compote stuffed cupcake with cream cheese frosting. I let orange zest and lemon zest create a little texture in the cupcake mix and baked for 23 minutes. They didn’t rise as well as I thought they would– I don’t think I added quite enough flour for this batch.

Since they were flatter than planned, instead of injecting the compote into the cupcake, I hollowed out small holes in the top of the cupcake and filled with the cranberry mix. I let them cool for a couple hours before frosting with cream-cheese frosting. A dusting of chocolate sprinkles and voila!

Recipe (makes 12 cupcakes):

Cupcakes:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup granulated white sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
3 tsp orange zest
3 tsp lemon zest
1 cup milk
1 cup butter (room temperature)

Compote:
12 oz fresh cranberries
1 cup light brown sugar
2 cups granulated white sugar
3 tsp cinnamon
3 tsp fresh-squeezed orange juice
3 tsp fresh-squeezed lemon juice

Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 box confectioners sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
8 oz whipped cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla

• Combine all cupcake ingredients and bake for 23 minutes at 350 degrees.
• While cupcakes bake, cook compote ingredients on medium heat for 30 minutes
• Remove cupcakes from oven and cool
• Scoop a small hole in the op of each cupcake and spoon finished compote into each
• Place in refridgerator or cool, dry place
• Combine and whip frosting ingredients until texture is thick enough
• Spoon frosting into piping tube and frost cupcakes
• Garnish with chocolate sprinkles or whatever you please!

Papa bear gets the credit this week for my Champagne choice. Valdo is so deliciously creamy and enveloped the tart, sour flavors of the cranberry compote. It’s produced in Treviso with the Glera grape. Aged for 3 months in the Charmat method before another 3 months in the bottle. Golden delicious apples are probably the most dominant flavor but the texture is what won me over with this one. Highly recommend. The bottle went mysteriously missing, but here’s a picture of the Portland Christmas Tree Lighting I attended after baking and sipping, to distract you.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Cheers,
Jenna

Dark Chocolate Chili and an Organic Rosé

Hi friends, it’s been a hot minute. Another week off last week due to travel and work but the end of the tunnel is officially in sight and I’m back in cupcake and champagne action.

This cupcake has been on the books for a couple of weeks and I went totally rogue on the recipe. The inspiration was actually one of my favorite snacks– the Dark Chocolate Chili bar from KIND Healthy Snacks. I love dark chocolate and I love all things spicy so it seemed like a match made in heaven. Recipe as follows (makes 12 cupcakes)-

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup chili powder
• 1 cup dark chocolate (60% cacao) bites (Ghiradelli is my favorite)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup low-fat milk
• 1 cup butter

Mix dry ingredients, mix wet ingredients, combine and bake for 19 minutes. Look at these beautiful bad boys-

I was nervous about the dark chocolate bites (past experiences have sometimes ended poorly when I use large quantities of ingredients that thin the batter), so I over compensated with flour.

I mixed together a buttercream frosting (didn’t want to distract from the zing-y flavors of cinnamon and chili) and garnished with my muse, the KIND Dark Chocolate Chili bar.

My cupcakes’ companion this week was a unique Rosé from La Jara Organic. It’s a frizzante, its carbonation is achieved through a second fermantation in the autoclave. Made with a combination of organic Glera and Raboso grapes, it’s bright pink– a big drawing factor for me 🙂 — and has a faint raspberry flavor. It’s nice and light, would also work really well with Sushi or Thai food.

I was almost unable to enjoy it, due to a battle with its unique cork, but it was worth the struggle. Raspberry complimented both the cinamon and chili very nicely.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Cheers,
Jenna

Pumpkin Spice and Italian Prosecco

I kind of jumped the gun this year on pumpkin spice. I figured as soon as there was a cloudly September day, it was a legitimate decision. Bad choice. Sun came out as soon as I ordered and home girl at the counter definitely added an extra pump of flavoring to my drink. The result was way too much heavy sugar as the day warmed up and quite a stomach/headache.

I’ve now waited a couple of weeks and since today is officially the first day of fall, I feel that pumpkin spice cupcakes are now appropriate. A typical Oregonian day of downpour helped solidify this decision. I was kind of nervous about the cupcakes, every recipe that I look up had a completely different array of ingredients. I nixed ingredients here and there, but here’s the main recipe that I used as inspiration.

Heads up– too much pumpkin equals sunken cupcakes. Whoever said you can’t fill cupcake liners up too much is totally lying. Takeaway is that any recipe with more than a cup of a main flavor ingredient (chocolate chips, candy, fruit, etc.), you should plan on only filling up the liner to the halfway mark. Still totally delicious, but the road to aesthetically beautiful cupcakes continues.

Dom Bertiol Prosecco was the chosen sparkling wine this week. Produced from 100% Glera grapes, it hails from the hillside vineyards in Conegliano, Italy. Super crip, very citrus-y, not overpowering next to the rich flavors of pumpkin. It’s a little bit sweet but an easy drink that complements most dominant flavors.

Back to football… Hope everyone has a wonderful week 🙂

Cheers,
Jenna