Since my PC decided to wig out on me tonight for NO apparent reason, I’m lying in bed typing this update on my iPhone. Therefore, I shall make this short and sweet:
I have a NEW WEBSITE! The new ‘look’ is not up yet but check me out at the very concise http://egcakes.com or .ca. Either one works.
I’m excited to see the final product and once it’s done, this WordPress site will cease to exist. So please bookmark the new website today!
It all began with a dream. I took a tried-and-true chocolate cupcake recipe and then went all crazy with the Easter cream eggs. This is my story…
I don’t tend to stray from recipes. As it is, I’m too afraid of botching up a perfectly good set of instructions to then start adding this and taking out that only to end up with a delightful mess. Generally speaking, I don’t have the luxury of time to experiment.
But the idea of baking with Easter cream eggs came to me, as if from a dream. (Well, not really. Actually, it was a recent challenge from fellow Twitter pal, Eudora Fine Foods, that got me thinking.) And really, how hard could it be?
So it began with my fave chocolate cupcake recipe from what has become my ‘go-to’ cupcake bible, 125 best Cupcake recipes by Julie Hasson.
All I needed now were some key ingredients. Enter these:
Betcha didn’t know they now come in this nifty egg container!
And the rest of the ingredients:
Plus the sugar, which didn’t make it into the picture.
Measured everything out and then got busy with the eggs. The chocolate ones. It should be noted that 8 cream eggs came in the egg container (the other 4 were the caramel ones), but I only used 7. It’s called Research and Development, folks. Gotta test the eggs for, umm, freshness.
Anyway, I cut the eggs open lengthwise (along the seam) and then I scooped out the ooey, gooey, creamy goodness with a small spoon.
Collected said ooey, gooey goodness into a small bowl and set it aside. (Resisted temptation to curl up on the couch with a spoon and eat it.)
Next, I chopped up the chocolate roughly into chunks (about 3/4 of a cup) and set it aside. Yum!
Proceeded with my basic chocolate cupcake recipe until all my ingredients were blended together and then stirred in the chocolate egg chunks (in lieu of the chocolate chips normally added at this point).
(Now I REALLY wanted to just curl up on the couch with a great BIG spoon and eat this right out of the bowl!!) Instead, I scooped the batter into 12 prepared muffin/cupcake liners and baked for 22-23 mins.
This is how they looked when they came out of the oven:
See the little chunks o’ chocolate? Oh, yeah. That’s what I’m talkin’ ’bout.
Then it was time for the fun part. I had the idea that I could use the reserved ooey, gooey egg innards to fill the cupcakes. I introduce you to the Bismarck #230 tip, or as I like to call it, the “cupcake jabber”. This nifty tip fits inside any icing bag, then, after filling the icing bag with the filling, you literally jab the tip into the center of the cupcake and squirt out (sorry, ‘squeeze’ may be a better word choice when talking about food) the filling. This is where I navigated into unchartered waters as I had never done this before.
After a first ‘go-’round’ I still had quite a bit of filling left, so I did a second squeeze. Ultimately, it needed a much bigger glob, but since cupcakes are not transparent, it’s had to gauge how much filling is actually going in.
This is how these puppies stayed, untouched, untasted for about the next 8 hours because I had no whipped cream, which I needed for the vanilla cream frosting.
Finally! (I definitely think the vanilla cream frosting was the ideal topping choice).
So, I have to say, these cupcakes were delicious (albeit a bit crumbly, but that may be due to my having left them in the oven a minute or so too long.) The disappointing part was that they didn’t ska-reeeem “EASTER CREAM EGGS!” And that’s what I wanted. I wanted to bite into a gooey middle and taste the blend of the chocolate chunks and the creamy center. But, so what? I will still eat two in one sitting. Guilt-free.
And then, I will try again.
Well, it was bound to happen. Haven’t you heard? As part of its 40th anniversary celebration, Starbucks revamped its logo and introduced ‘petites’ to its menu last week. Topping the menu options are its cake pops which are creating quite a stir.
So, as any savvy businessperson would do, I decided to check out my ‘competition’ last Thursday when I pulled through the local Starbucks drive-thru for my usual Americano Misto (mmm…) Unfortunately, because it was 9am, they were not free so I bought one each of the ‘birthday’ and ‘tiramisu’ flavors (the third had chunks of marshmallow and stuff on it and, quite frankly, was not that appealing.) Here they sell for $1.60 each (if memory serves) or 2/$3.00. I brought them home and, since my husband was home that day, I asked him to taste-test the cake pops with me. For those of you who may not know, my husband is a straight-shooter, tell-it-like-it-is, spare-no-feelings kind of guy. So when the first word out of his mouth after biting into the ‘birthday cake’-flavored cake pop (the pink one) was, “Disgusting!” it made me nervous. Still, I thought he was being a bit harsh. However, then it was my turn so I bit into the ‘tiramisu’-flavored one. Ummm….well, this is what they look like on the inside.
Now, if you’ve never had a good cake pop before, or a cake pop period, then I suppose you’ve got nothing against which to compare, except to say, ‘yum’ or ‘ewww’. Either you like it or you don’t. Here’s the thing. I make cake pops. I may not have invented them, but I make them. A lot. And people like them. I know this because they keep wanting more, and that makes me happy. Mine, however, bear no resemblance, neither in texture nor taste, to those put out by Starbucks. The Starbucks version (keep in mind they are mass-produced, who-knows-how they are preserved, then they’re shipped from one central supplier to all its stores around the world) tasted like undercooked, slightly raw cake and the thick coating did nothing for me. Neither screamed ‘birthday cake!’ or ‘tiramisu!’ when I bit into it and, frankly, they left a bit of an aftertaste. Cake pops should yield a satisfying ‘pop’ as you bite through the sweet, hard shell into the moist (read: not wet) cakey goodness. I also should add, the cake pops are not individually-wrapped, but neither are Starbucks other treats. It seems I’m not the only one with an opinion on the matter as forums like this one from CakeCentral.com were popping up all over the place.
I only hope that those of you whose first cake pop experience was at Starbucks will take heart in knowing that this is not how they should look or taste! If you liked them, great. If not, call me! With fresh, made-to-order cake pops from Erica Gomez Cakes you get a custom blend of homemade cake and frosting dipped and decorated with the coating and edible accessories of your choice, a perfectly fun and delicious way to complement your party or special occasion or ‘just because’!
