2 eggs
1⅓ cups vegetable oil
¾ cup buttermilk, room temperature
2 tablespoons red food coloring
1 tablespoon white distilled vinegar
½ tablespoon vanilla extract
Cream Cheese Frosting, recipe follows
A small palmful of pink peppercorns, roughly chopped
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line mini cupcake or muffin pans with 48 mini cupcake liners, or line regular-size cupcake or muffin pans with 24 regular cupcake liners.
In mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, cocoa powder, and salt. In another mixing bowl, stir together the eggs and oil. In a mixing cup, mix together the buttermilk, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla extract and lightly whisk. Gradually add the dry ingredients and buttermilk mixture to the egg mixture, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. We are trying to achieve a dark brownish-red cupcake color, so add more cocoa powder if the red is not deep enough. Then add the batter to the mini cupcake liners until they are ¾ full and bake for 13 to 14 minutes, or until done. Alternately, fill the regular-size cupcake liners and bake 22 minutes, or until done. Let the cupcakes cool completely.
Cream Cheese Frosting
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
8 ounces cream cheese
1 cup or 2 sticks unsalted butter
½ teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Combine the sugar, cream cheese, butter, salt, and vanilla extract in a large mixing bowl and blend for 2 minutes.
And finally, the Queen’s Revenge—take a small dusting of pink peppercorn and carefully sprinkle the tops of each cupcake. Both sweet and spicy!
Leonard’s Awesome Lemon Curd
(Words in parentheses courtesy of Momma Leonard...)
Ingredients
5 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
4 lemons, zested and juiced
1 stick butter, cut into pats and chilled
Directions
Add enough water to a medium saucepan to come about an inch up the side. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Meanwhile, combine egg yolks and sugar in a medium-size metal bowl (mind the fur now... ’tis quite disgusting should any get into the concoction) and whisk until smooth, about 1 minute. Measure citrus juice and, if needed, add enough cold water to reach ⅓ cup. Add juice and zest to egg mixture and whisk smooth. Once water reaches a simmer, reduce heat to low and place bowl on top of saucepan. (Bowl should be large enough to fit on top of saucepan without touching the water.) Whisk until thickened, approximately 8 minutes (or 20 twitches of me whiskers), or until mixture is light yellow and coats the back of a spoon. Remove promptly from heat and stir in butter a piece at a time, allowing each addition to melt before adding the next. Remove to a clean container and cover by placing a layer of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the curd. Refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.
And Leonard being Leonard, he wanted me to let you know that some good old-fashioned English scones are a must to truly savor the tangy sweetness of his momma’s curd.
Leonard’s Awesome Scones
Ingredients
3 cups flour
⅓ cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¾ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon heavy cream, for brushing
½ cup currants or raisins (optional)
Directions
Preheat oven to 400° F. Combine the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a large bowl. Add butter and mix with your fingertips to a coarse meal. Add buttermilk and mix just until combined. Add currants if desired.
Transfer dough to a floured board and divide into 2 parts. Roll each to ¾-inch-thick rounds. Cut each round into 8 wedges and place slightly separated on a greased baking sheet. Brush the tops with the cream and bake for 15 minutes, or until lightly browned. Serve warm, split in half, and slathered with lemon curd.
Hatter says it tastes best with a good Earl Grey.
And a new cupcake creation, just because I’m constantly asked for more. I call this one The Tweedles’ Dilemma
The Tweedles’ Dilemma
Ingredients: Chocolate batter
1⅓ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup rich cocoa powder
¾ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 vanilla bean pod, or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup whole milk
½ cup hot water
Directions:
Very important to sift your flour first, then to it mix in all dry ingredients, set aside. In a separate bowl, combine butter and sugar, whisk together. One at a time, add in the eggs and beat until a smooth consistency. Scrape in the vanilla bean (or 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract). Continue beating on low, slowly adding in half of the dry ingredients. Once mixed, add in milk until smooth again. Then add in the other half of the dry ingredients. Add in the water until batter is smooth and creamy. Set aside.
Ingredients: Vanilla batter
1 cup sugar
1 sticks (½ cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 eggs, room temperature
2 vanilla beans, or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
¾ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon sea salt
1½ cups all-purpose flour
¾ cups buttermilk
Directions:
Sift flour, then add all dry ingredients and set aside. In another bowl, beat sugar and butter together until creamy. One at a time, add in the eggs. Stir in vanilla. Add in half of the dry ingredients. Once incorporated, pour in buttermilk until smooth. Add the final half of the dry ingredients and beat on low to med-low until creamy. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 350° F. Makes about 28 cupcakes. Place your liners in a cupcake pan, then scoop in a little chocolate, a little vanilla, a little chocolate, and a little vanilla until about halfway full. Then, using a toothpick, swirl gently. Repeat process for each cupcake. For regular-sized cupcakes, it will take approx. 22-24 minutes to bake. For minis, approx. 9-11 minutes. Once done, take out and set aside to cool completely before adding frosting.
Ingredients: Chocolate and vanilla frosting
It is easiest to make a simple vanilla base frosting and divide them in half, adding ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder to the chocolate version.
3½ cups powdered sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
4 tablespoons heavy cream, or half-and-half
2 vanilla bean pods, or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
pinch of salt
Directions:
Mix all ingredients together. Split in half and add cocoa to one half. Now you have vanilla and chocolate frosting. The frosting should be thick and creamy. Grab a piping pastry bag and slip it inside a cup, securing it around the rim with a rubber band (this step is important because you will be filling one bag with both frostings). Scoop out vanilla and fill it to the left. Scoop out chocolate and fill it to the right. It doesn’t have to be neat, it only makes the swirls prettier if they mix a little, at least that’s what Hatter always tells me.
Once full, take the bag out and twist until you push out all the air. Snip the tip off (only if yours doesn’t already have a piping hole available), and use a 1M open-star piping tip. Then, starting at the twelve-o’clock position on the cooled cakes, make nice, easy swirls. If you did it right, there should be a beautiful swirl of vanilla and chocolate both in the cake and in the frosting. And this is the Tweedles’ Dilemma: whether to have chocolate or vanilla and so they have both. Always those two give me such a hard time!
Enjoy~
Alice
About Jovee Winters
&nb
sp; She’s a lover of all things fantastical and whimsical. She loves tea, hiking in nature, and dreaming up worlds that are infinitely more magical than her own. If you’d like to see what new creations she’s got up her sleeve, make sure to sign up for her newsletter, of if you’d really like to immerse yourself with other like-minded folks, come hang out with her and her friends at the Hatter’s Harem on Facebook.
The Mad King (The Dark Kings) Page 32