Birthday party!

Recently, I celebrated my dearest friend, Janet Mock's birthday.  She has been an inspiration to many people, of all walks of life.  I am so proud to call her one of my closest friends.  Janet has inspired me to take a leap and move to the Big Apple to pursue my career and leave the comforts of home.  Both of us are true island girls at heart.  When we get together not only do we share our love for trashy reality TV but we laugh till our stomach hurts.  We also share the same birthday month so we are similar in many ways. 
I wanted to create something special for her birthday celebration and since Janet loves German chocolate cake it was a no brainer for me.  I decide to make a cupcake version of her favorite dessert since it's portable and easier to eat (in my opinion).  I decide to use condensed milk instead of evaporated milk and brown sugar.   The result was a creamier and perfectly sweet topping! I also realized after making a few rounds of cakes and cupcakes that the addition of buttermilk helps with the moistness of the cake.  It truly makes a difference. 

Bake these cupcakes the next time you have a birthday party or any party! I'm sure they will be a huge hit! Enjoy! :)

German Chocolate Cupcakes
makes 24 cupcakes

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 cups cake flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/3 cup granulated sugar
3 eggs, large room temperature
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
5 oz. semi sweet chocolate (melted)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line cupcake tins.
In a medium bowl, sift cake flour, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.
Using your stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat on medium speed, butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time, scrape sides down with a rubber spatula in between eggs.  Add in vanilla, mix until incorporated.  Reduce speed and add flour in thirds, alternating with the buttermilk, with the flour as the last ingredient added.  Beat in chocolate and mix until all incorporated.  Scoop batter into cupcake liners 3/4 full.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Check if cake is ready when a toothpick is inserted in the center and comes out clean.  Cool on a cooling rack. 

Coconut and Pecan topping

1 cup toasted and chopped pecans
1 can sweetened condensed milk
3 egg yolks, large
1 stick unsalted butter (1/2 cup) cut in pieces
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 package of Bakers coconut flakes

In a medium saucepan, whisk condensed milk and egg yolks.  Add butter and cook on medium heat, stirring constantly.  Lower heat when mixture starts to come to a soft boil.  Continue to stir and simmer on low heat until mixture is thickened.  Remove from heat occasionally to prevent the mixture from burning.  Add vanilla, coconut and pecans into pan and continue to stir and cook for a minute or so.  Mixture is ready when it turns tan in color and is slightly translucent.  Transfer to a bowl to cool. 

Breakfast!

I don't know about you but one of my favorite meal times is breakfast.  Literally, breakfast at any hour of the day is perfect for me.  Not only do I love the savory foods of breakfast but as a baker I love all the sweet stuff as well!
As of now, I haven't really tried baking anything breakfast related.  However, I recently made two of my favorite breakfast treats.  Pop tarts and coffee cake.
As a kid, my mom used to buy pop tarts as a convenient way of feeding me and my sister breakfast as we were hauled out the door to school.  I loved it! It was always warm, a little crisp and oh so sweet! Were pop tarts part of your childhood? Now as an adult, I don't have it in me to buy the boxed pop tarts at the store.  I just don't feel right about all the preservatives and artificial flavors.  So I decided why not make my own.  It turned out to be really easy and the crust came out WAY better than the boxed version.  Flaky, crispy and buttery.  I also wanted to use a jam that didn't have any additives as well and came across a local Brooklyn jam company called, The Jam Stand.  Their creations are funky, creative, and most importantly, all natural!  Just what I was looking for.  I chose two different spreads for my pop tarts, Blueberry Bourbon jam (blueberries,sugar and bourbon) and Drunken Monkey jam (bananas,rum,lime and sugar).  Each of them on its own is delightful but put them in a pop tart and you have the perfect breakfast treat!!

I didn't stop there.  I love coffee and eating cake with it, and in my opinion its the perfect combination. Whenever I go to Starbucks to pick up a coffee, I literally drool and stare at their coffee cake.  Part of me tells me to just go for it and another part of me says stop you don't need it.  So what better way then making it yourself! hahaa... That way I know exactly what I'm putting in it... Did I mention to you that I LOVE cinnamon.  The first time I made coffee cake the streudel part didn't come out even though I followed the recipe.  Second time around, it came out beautiful! I'm telling you the streudel is what makes the cake! Yes its sugary but the crumbles and the cinnamon makes it so yummy!!! I also added a cinnamon brown sugar swirl in the center of the cake which just elevates the cake to another level. It not only made me happy every morning but brought smiles to my boyfriend's as well... I'll just say the cake didn't last very long.