2-minute Microwave Mug Cake

We interrupt our regularly-scheduled programming (i.e. my Paris Top Ten List) for this important message:

TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY. Time to kick it up a notch.

The day started with a completely corrupted version of what's supposed to be a healthy breakfast - oatmeal topped with crème brûlée at Zazie in San Francisco.

Criminal.

Why even bother with the oatmeal. I barely ate any of it (or many of the bananas, for that matter) if only because I had to save room for pancakes. It wouldn't be my birthday without pancakes.

Fast forward to night-time. Post chicken parmesan dinner, made by the mister, came dessert part one: Secret Breakfast Ice Cream from Humphry Slocombe. For the uninitiated, that's bourbon ice cream with corn flakes - Humphry's most popular flavor, but nowhere near its most offbeat (from NYT: Who Wants Prosciutto Ice Cream?)

And if you think the aforementioned prosciutto ice cream is wackadoo, up there on the right is Humphry's foie gras ice cream sandwich. That's right. Ice cream made with fattened goose liver, between two ginger snap cookies (a limited time offer, considering a ban on foie gras goes into effect in SF in July.)

Quite the line-up on my special day. But how does a guy really impress a girl whose life passion is cake?

Why, you get out the flour and bake, of course.

Or in the case of my better half, you get nukin'!

My Sweet (the human, not the blog) had filed away a blurb from Lucky Peach Magazine, which laid out instructions for a chocolate cake, that you make in a mug, in two minutes, in your flippin' microwave!!! 

Mind. Blown.

You could buy this:

Spotted at Cost Plus World Market

But why would you?

Recipes abound on the World Wide Web (just Google "mug cake.") A Pinterest search yields a Nutella-flavored version (mmmm...) repinned dozens of times.

Here's the Lucky Peach version, which calls for a few simple ingredients you probably already have on hand:

3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons whole milk
1 large egg
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons (20 grams) all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons (45 grams) sugar
2 tablespoons (10 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder
Pinch salt
3 tablespoons (30 grams) semi-sweet chocolate chips 

In a medium sized microwave-safe mug, add the vegetable oil, whole milk, egg, and vanilla extract. Use a fork or small whisk to mix until combined. Add the flour, sugar, cocoa, and salt and mix until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
Bake in the microwave on high for two minutes. Serve immediately.

"Serve immediately?" Who's making this in advance? It only takes 2 minutes. And therein lies the danger of this magical microwavable love in a mug: low commitment plus instant gratification equals sweet, sweet temptation.

Encore!

Happy birthday to me.

Paris Top Ten: #7 - Glazed Pineapple at Hediard

This uber-chic spot looked more like a gallery than a grocery store – flawless specimens of produce, immaculate portions of sweets and savories, terrines and tea and truffles, just all kinds of gifts and goodies.

It was so picture-perfect, I felt uncomfortable taking pictures! The place was silent, we were the only ones in there (which was completely unlike our next stop at the competition, Fauchon) and I didn't want to be too conspicuous. But when I saw this, I couldn't resist.

There alongside the fine chocolates and  pâtes de fruits  were these beautiful candied fruits. The cherries, sliced oranges, kiwis, peaches and plums - all glazed in sugar - were just a delight to look at. And look at the whole figs and pears! But the real question is: what does one do with a whole candied pineapple, crown and all?

Hediard 

31, avenue George V (8e) (the one we visited, which was empty)

21, place de la Madeleine (8e) (across the place from Fauchon)

On the Web at: http://www.hediard.com/

And also in Singapore!

<<< #8 McMacarons!                                           #6 Disco-dancing Crepe Man >>>

 

 

Crazy Awesome Spinning Cakes

There are really no words needed for this post.

Just hit play on the video below.

 

If you want it to get really trippy, hit play on all four videos at the same time.

I came across these videos some time ago, while looking on YouTube for something or the other. Even the music is fun.

A Google search for "Quenary Academy" reveals that it's a baking school in Malaysia, neighbors with my home country of Singapore.

They call this course of study "clay art cream design" and it reminds me of a pottery class I took a few weeks ago.

Does anyone know anyone who does this stateside?

"Piece of Cake" Cake

Aaaaaaaaahhhhh.

That's the sound of me working on a cake after a two-and-a-half month dry spell. Between work and travel, and work travel, my cake supply cabinet was in a sorry state of neglect.

Cake supplies amid some cobwebs.

This week I finally had some time to dust off my turntable and rev up the KitchenAid, for not one, but two mini cake projects, just for fun.

One was a design I had been eager to try for a while: a "Piece of Cake" cake.

I've seen this concept on several Web sites, usually as part of a multi-tiered cake. Take the one below, made by CakeCentral user, "lilo_taart" who credits one of "The Whimsical Bakehouse" books. (I found these books at my local library.)

Just doing the top slice is a great way to make use of a single leftover cake layer, or to create something small that still makes a statement.

One layer, cut into 6 segments and stacked (I only used 4 of the segments)

As you can probably tell, I wasn't too concerned about being neat or mixing the right colors - I really just wanted to "flex my muscle", try some new things and practice some little-used techniques. Like making white chocolate ganache...

My ganache kept separating... 

... and ended up a little gritty.

... and working with modeling chocolate.

I had also been dying to play with one of my new cake toys, a KitchenAid pasta roller attachment that I got for Christmas.

I tried feeding some modeling chocolate into the roller but it just crumbled into a messy pile.

I wasn't discouraged, I just wanted to play and really hadn't taken any time to research this technique. My guess is the modeling chocolate was too dry to be workable. I have the "Wrapped Cakes: Extraordinary Stripes" DVD from Baking Arts, where they use the pasta attachment to  roll out the modeling chocolate. I'll probably give this another go after watching it.

Click on the video below for a sneak peek.

The second mini cake I made this week had a little more care put into it. More on that in a later post.

Love for EVERYONE (Plus One Way to Get a Perfectly Flat and Smooth Buttercream Top)

Today, a federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled that California's Proposition 8 is unconstitutional.
That makes this a fine day to share one of my favorite cakes:

A friend had asked about having me make a cake to celebrate Pride weekend in San Francisco last June. He didn't end up needing one after all, but I was so excited about the idea, I made one anyway. As it turns out, the weekend I made this cake was also the weekend New York state voted to legalize gay marriage.
(Aaaand, it was also still my birthday month, so there was that...)

Because a rainbow flag, rainbow letters and rainbow sprinkles weren't enough...

... I also made it rainbow inside.

I showed the rainbow cake process in this picture montage from another post.

I had really been struggling with getting a smooth, flat top on my frosting and used this opportunity to try out an interesting new technique I came across on Cake Central: icing the cake upside down. I thought the results were pretty flawless.

I didn't take any of my own pictures, but here's a collage I made with pictures from the Cake Central post:

Click on the picture to see the full tutorial.

It's basically four steps:

1) Tape a piece of parchment to a board and pipe on a circle of BC, the exact size of your cake (this will be the top of your cake!) Freeze or refrigerate until firm.
2) Place your prepped cake on the frozen circle of icing, fill and layer as needed, and then ice the sides (hence, icing "upside down.") Move quickly! Chill again till firm.
3) Remove the cake from the fridge/freezer, and quickly and carefully flip it over onto your board. Leaving the parchment on top, chill yet again.
4) Once the top is nice and stiff, gently peel back the parchment paper. Perfection!
 
Until this post, I actually forgot how well this technique worked for me. I have to do this again, perhaps on an 8 inch cake (though I'd certainly recommend starting with a 5- or 6-inch if you're trying this for the first time - easier to handle.)

Total game changer!

I hope you like, and I hope you try.

Tart Art

Several of the new malls that have cropped up since my last visit to Singapore feature entire areas designed around the Japanese food hall concept. Tonight I visited one that had a Japanese tart shop that my mom had been raving about, Fruit Paradise Cafe.

The tarts were so artfully decorated with fresh fruit, they shellac'd a whole bunch and lined a wall with them.
 

But the real oohs and aahs come when the tarts are cut. Look how the perfect layers of sponge cake and bananas have been carefully inlaid in the tart below, creating a precise pattern suspended inside the cream filling.

These pictures really don't do them justice - I was trying to be fast and sneaky with my camera lest they tell me to stop taking photos like they did at the Icing Room.

 I read somewhere that when the chain first set up shop on the Island, they attracted such long lines of food-crazy Singaporeans, orders had to be limited to a maximum of 4 slices per person.

Green Grape Tart



The Japanese really do take their love for cute food very seriously. I'm wrapping up my trip to Singapore with a renewed desire to visit Japan, if for nothing else, the food art.

$6 Cupcakes and Delightful Designs

It's been 3 weeks since my last cake and I'm really fiending for some QT with my KitchenAid. But until I'm back in SF, my cake-centric escapades in Singapore continue.Tonight, I got to check out Marina Bay Sands, a glamorous waterfront megaplex that combines luxury shopping, the arts, a casino, a hotel, and food of all kinds, including $6 cupcakes!

Edible gold leaf was a prominent feature of the fare at High Society, which is actually a local record company that has expanded into the business of food and drink. Apparently the market for super premium products and prestigious brands is still robust in Singapore. The pretty two-bite-sized cakelets that adorn the pastry case ran anywhere from $9 to $12.

I love this idea:

These chocolate cherry choux pastry concoctions come with a little squeezable vial of kirsch sticking out of the top. It looks like you're meant to inject the good stuff into the pastry before eating it - how fun! I have to figure out where I can find those vials.

My best friend picked up a cupcake and a cakelet to bring home to her husband and they were packaged in an exquisite box as precious as the pastries inside.

Next I wandered into a gift shop, where I stumbled upon a fun idea for a cake design.

I love the the intricate patterns and bright colors on these pieces of furniture. I covet a statement piece from the South African designer Thomas Hoffman, but a) my sweet husband would never stand for it (too loud) and b) a small cabinet unit like the one below runs about... erm... $2,000.

So I figure maybe I could just recreate this look on a cake instead, some day... complete with the feet! Or maybe you could. I'd love to see it.