Messy but Tasty: Stuffed Cupcakes

My mother-in-law used to make cupcakes stuffed with a chocolate chip mixture.  It was a unique dessert that was gobbled up as soon as it appeared on the dinner table.  She wrote down the recipe, but unfortunately I immediately misplaced it.

Years passed before I found the recipe, and I wondered if these cupcakes were really as good as I remembered. 

Question for Mom

Where does powdered sugar come from?—Eli B.

Powdered sugar (also called confectioners sugar) is crushed white sugar with some cornstarch added to keep it from clumping..  It is often used to make icings or is sprinkled onto cakes, cookies and other pastries as decoration.  In England it’s called icing sugar.  Substituting regular white sugar is not recommended as the taste and texture of what you’re making may be affected. 

                   For more recipes, order "Help! My Apartment Has a Kitchen!"

Mom Cooking Tip 167

If you are just learning to bake or are trying a new baking recipe, it’s a good idea to check whatever you are baking 5 minutes before it’s supposed to be done.  Your oven may be hotter than it should be…or the recipe writer could have made an error.  If you over-bake bread, cakes or cookies, there’s nothing you can do.  By checking 5 minutes early you may discover your dish is done and you can remove it from the oven.  If it’s not done, you have not harmed it by opening the door.  Just let it bake for the additional 5 minutes.  However, don’t open the oven door every 5 minutes during baking.  That will change the temperature of the oven and will impact the end result.

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Question for Mom

What am I doing wrong?  I wanted to make a two-layer birthday cake so I mixed up the batter, transferred it to two cake pans and put them in the oven to bake at 350 degrees.  The recipe said to bake the layers for 25-30 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the middle of the layer came out clean.  Luckily I checked after 20 minutes.  The layers were done. In fact, they were overdone. Why did this happen?—Gloria K.

If a cake cooks much faster than it should, it’s likely that the oven is too hot. Some people might say the quicker the better, but too high temperatures are not good for cake-baking. 

Question for Mom

Onion Quiche

A lot of recipes say to preheat the oven before putting food in to cook.  Are there any dishes you can bake without preheating?  --Amy V.

When you’re baking cakes, pies, cookies, quiches, bagels or anything made with yeast, pre-heating the oven is very important.  Just a few days ago I put my pizza stone in the oven but forgot to turn on the heat.  When I was about to slide my homemade pizza onto the stone, I suddenly realized my mistake. 

So the uncooked pizza sat on the counter on the pizza paddle until

A Springform Pan: What Is It and How Do I Use It?

Unless you like to bake, it’s unlikely that you would own a springform pan.  I bought one when I was planning to make a chocolate cheesecake with a cookie crumb crust and worried: 1) a regular cake pan wouldn’t be deep enough to hold all the cheesecake batter, and 2) if I used a deep dish casserole, how would I get the baked cheesecake out of it without making a mess?

Mom Cooking Tip 145

If a layer cake hasn’t fully cooled when you frost it, the icing will slide off.

                                            See all my Cooking Tips!

Mom Cooking Tip 136

When baking, you don’t need to soften butter if you’re using a food processor.  Just cut it into a few pieces to help processing.

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Question for Mom

How do I get cake layers out of their pans after baking without breaking or somehow damaging them?  Nicole E.

The secret is putting a layer of wax paper or parchment paper in the bottom of each cake pan before pouring in the batter.  Cut out pan-sized circles of one of these papers and slip them into the bottom of each pan.  Then spread a small amount of butter or canola oil onto each paper circle.  When you remove the baked cake layers from the oven, set them on a cooling rack and let cool.  Slide a knife around the edge of each pan to loosen the layer.  Then carefully turn the entire pan over onto a plate or the cooking rack itself and gently remove the paper. 

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Mom Cooking Tip 135

When baking a cake, don’t open the oven door until you can start smelling the cake.  If you open the door too early, the cake may not rise properly.  If it does fall in the center, pile on the icing so no one will notice.  Note thickness of icing in the center of the cake pictured above.

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Start the Year Off with Chocolate

Nobody brought me a chocolate dessert over the holidays, so I had to make my own.  That’s not such a terrible thing because I have a lot of good chocolate recipes.  And if I make them myself, I know where to hide the leftovers.

Right now there are two thin slivers of Chocolate Mousse Cake wrapped up in a plastic bag in the back of the fridge.  The last guests leave tomorrow, and I’ll be free to nibble on them in peace.

This is one of the easiest cakes ever.

Mom Cooking Tip 130

When you’re icing a layer cake and don’t have enough icing, use jam between the layers instead of icing.

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Question for Mom

Old-Fashioned Tin Flour Sifter 

Why do some recipes call for sifting flour?  Do I have to do it?—Shelley D.  

Years ago flour sometimes was a home for bugs, and sifting it before use allowed you to get rid of them.  Today’s flour does not have this problem.  I stopped sifting flour years ago after making a terrible mess in the kitchen.  I’m told that sifting flour is still recommended if you’re making delicate pastries.  Rather than get my old sifter out, I’d choose to make something else. 

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Mom Cooking Tip 120

Chocolate Cake with Buttercream icing

A cake baked in a 9” x 12” pan is easy to deal with because you need only ice the top.  If you’re willing to serve directly from the pan. you can forget the sides.  You can also store the cake in the pan.  Some large cake pans even come with covers.

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Mom Money-Saving Tip 87

Don’t want to pay a lot for unsweetened baking chocolate?  Use unsweetened cocoa instead, which is much cheaper. Three tablespoons unsweetened cocoa plus 1 tablespoon butter equal 1 ounce unsweetened chocolate.  
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Mom Cooking Tip 87

When baking and using 1 or more sticks of butter, cut the stick(s) into 4-6 pieces before adding to the bowl.  They will incorporate into the batter more quickly.  If the butter is frozen, cut the stick into 16 pieces for quick thawing.

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12 Ways to Use Chocolate Chips

The absolute easiest and cheapest way to use chocolate chips is eating them by the handful.  No cooking involved!  This is a particularly attractive option when you feel the need for something chocolate NOW.  I’ve often gone that route, and you may well have too. 

My job is to tell you another 11 ways to use chocolate chips that involve actual cooking – or baking.  All but one I’ve already written about, so I’ll provide links.  Below is a new recipe—Chocolate Chip Cake.  It’s not as rich as some of these other dishes, but you are unlikely to have leftovers.

What’s the BEST Chocolate Cake Recipe?

There are so many decisions to make about chocolate cake: 

* Sheet cake vs. layer cake

* Chocolate icing vs. buttercream

* Type of chocolate used—Baker’s Unsweetened Chocolate vs. chocolate chips vs. eating chocolate vs. unsweetened cocoa

* Flourless vs. flour

* Brown sugar vs. white sugar

* Milk vs. buttermilk vs. water

* How many people will the cake serve (or how big a pig are you?)

Question for Mom

Is there any way to make chocolate cake have stronger chocolate flavor?  Sharon A.

Yes.  If the recipe calls for milk, substitute an equal amount of water instead.  You will be surprised how much richer the chocolate flavor will be.

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Mom Cooking Tip 59

When baking a cake, don’t start testing for doneness until you begin to smell it.  Then peek at it through the oven door’s glass window to see if it’s begun to pull away from the edges of the pan.  If it has, open the door and gently poke the cake in the middle with a cake tester, skewer, toothpick or, in a pinch, a sharp knife.  If it’s done, the implement will come out clean.  If it has liquid or crumbs sticking to it, continue baking, testing every 5 minutes or so.

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