Cupcakery Review: Kate's Frosting in San Antonio, TX

On our recent trip to San Antonio, I made sure that one of my mom and I's priorities was to test out a couple of cupcakeries. The first one we came across was Kate's Frosting on Main. The store is set up as a tiny boutique flowing up to the cupcake counter. There were cake plates, jewelry, and scarves for sale as well as cupcakes. After getting momentarily distracted by a glorious Rosanna petal cake plate, I made my way up to the cupcake counter. My favorite thing to see at a cupcakery (especially if it's my first time there) are mini cupcakes. With minis I can taste a number of flavors at once without getting sick or, well, fat haha. I chose red velvet and carrot cake. My mom ordered red velvet, white chocolate raspberry, and chocolate with vanilla icing. The trouble with minis is that they tend to get drier easier, but Kate's Frosting did a great job with their minis. They were tasty and moist. My only complaint would be the lack of flavors, even in their standard cupcake size they were lacking in variety. Definite B on my cupcakery scale. Here are some pics:



Note: these were my favorite taste-wise, but if you're looking for more interesting flavors, I would go elsewhere. Enjoy!

Peanut Butter-Filled Chocolate Cupcakes

My friend J.P. had asked me to try a cupcake similar to my cream cheese-filled ones, except with peanut butter. My first attempt wasn't the greatest, but I have found a new recipe that I think is quite good. Still waiting to hear from J.P. and the rest of Club Haven to confirm or deny this opinion. Here it is:



Recipe
Peanut Butter- Filled Chocolate Cupcakes

Cupcake:
2/3c flour
1/2t baking powder
1/4t salt
1 stick butter, cut to pieces
4oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
2oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
3/4 sugar
3 eggs
2t vanilla

Filling:
1/2 stick butter, melted
1/2c powdered sugar
3/4c smooth peanut butter
1/4t salt
1/2t vanilla

Filling:
Mix all ingredients together until smooth.

Cupcakes:
Preheat to 325F. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Put butter and chocolates in a bowl over simmering water and stir until melted. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Whisk sugar into the chocolate mixture. Add eggs, and whisk until smooth, stir in vanilla. Add flour mixture, stir until well incorporated. Spoon 2T of cupcake batter into liners. Scoop 1T filling into liners. Add another 1T of cupcake batter over filling. Bake for 20 minutes, cool completely. frost with either chocolate or peanut butter frosting.

Enjoy!

Chicken and Cashew Nuts

My favorite dish to order at a typical Chinese food establishment is shrimp and cashew nuts, however this recipe called for chicken and I figured I'd try it that way before making any alterations. I have been craving Chinese food lately ever since a strong urge to eat egg rolls came to me the night of Steph's bday celebration. Unfortunately, Chinese food gives my tummy the rumblies probably due to how awful it is for you. I wanted a meal that tasted quite close to my favorite dish, but without the annoying side effects and I believe this recipe is a winner! I like the chicken, but next time I'm definitely trying the shrimp. Check it out:


Recipe
Chicken and Cashew Nuts (from Cook Like a Champion):
2T cornstarch
6T water
2T hoisin sauce
1T white vinegar
1T olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2c roasted, unsalted cashews
1lb boneless, skinless chicken, chopped into bite-sized pieces
s&p
green bell pepper, chopped
Brown rice for serving

In a small bowl, combine cornstarch and water, whisk until smooth. Stir in hoisin and vinegar, set aside. Add oil to large skillet and set over med-low heat. Add garlic and cashews and stir until garlic is golden and fragrant, be careful not to let it burn. Season chicken with S&P and add to skillet. Cook until no longer pink, then add pepper and cornstarch mixture. Continue cooking, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes or until the sauce has thickened a little. Serve with rice.

Enjoy!

Sweet and Salty Cupcakes

I recently checked out Baked by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito from the library. I wasn't as intrigued by this cookbook as I was by their following book, which I bought, however one of the recipes I did try was the Sweet and Salty Cake. I decided I was going to make this confection into cupcakes. I won't say that it was a total flop, but the recipe didn't translate particularly well into cupcakes. If I remade these cupcakes, I'd probably start with my dark chocolate cupcakes, make a thicker caramel sauce-sans salt, sprinkle a layer of kosher salt between the caramel and ganache, and make semisweet ganache instead of bittersweet ganache (without adding any caramel to the ganache either). I'll probably re-try these babies in the future, but for now this is what I've got:


Recipe from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito.

Enjoy!

Perfect Red Velvet Cupcake Recipe

I recently tried the best red velvet cupcake ever at Somethin Sweet in Deer Park, which made me realize my own recipe could use some work. I tried about 6 different recipes before just deciding to mess with the ingredients on my own, scary! I came up with this:


Perfect Red Velvet Cupcakes
1 3/4c flour
5/8t baking soda
3/4t salt
2t cocoa
3/4c vegetable oil
1c sugar
1/2c+2T buttermilk
1 egg + 1 egg white
1T red food coloring
3/4t vinegar
1t vanilla
1T water

Preheat to 325F. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. In a large bowl, beat together oil, sugar, and buttermilk. Add eggs, food coloring, vinegar, vanilla, and water. Mix well. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. fill liners 3/4 full and bake for 20 minutes. Cool completely and frost with cream cheese frosting.

Enjoy!

Texas City Guides

I just found the coolest city guide for H-town on Design Sponge, and they have guides for the rest of the cities in Texas (and the US for the matter) too! Check them out, I know I have my next 3-day weekend planned!

Houston
San Antonio
Austin
Dallas

And for my peeps back home:
Washington DC

Enjoy!

Cupcake Stand Sale at Vessles and Wares (Jeanette Zeis Ceramics)

If you've been admiring the cupcake stands the I use to display all the goodies I make, then you're in luck! One of my favorite online ceramics stores is having a sale! From now until February 28th you can get the entire 'Tiny Cake Stand' collection from Jeanette Zeis Ceramics- known as vesselsandwares on Etsy- at a great sale price (most $18-$20 plus s&h). Here are the ones I own:


And some other great ones on her site:


And the one purchase I am saving my pennies for (probably for forever since I have very little use for them, but sooo beautiful!!!):


Also, you can win a small/tiny cake plate set from InkSpot Workshop between now and Friday February 18th, so motor over there to get your entries in! In case you don't win, however, zip on over to Jeannete Zeis Ceramics Etsy store or her facebook page to see what's cookin in the kiln!

Enjoy!