Ivory Castle Cakes

There are so many different kinds of poppy flowering plants out there.  One of them is an ivory color, called Ivory Castle.

This particular cupcake has a vanilla and poppy seed batter and is filled with lemon curd.  On top is a white chocolate ganache with poppy seeds.  The cupcake was an experiment in the use of cornstarch in a baked good.  It does give the cake part a unique texture, however, I found that you need to be exacting in certain areas or you will not attain the proper texture.

The lemon curd filling as well as the icing is what makes these extra special.  The white chocolate and the filling do add some extra notes of flavor as well as sweetness.  The cupcake by itself is not very sweet at all.

I am still working on my white chocolate topping recipe, so I have provided you with another recipe that was not used when I made these. That recipe may not be the same consistency, so your cupcakes may not look like the above when completed. However, it does have the same flavor.  This particular recipe yields about 2 1/2 dozen cupcakes.

As a side note, I am behind in thanking my blogger friends for bestowing me with some awards.  Based on that, I will make note of two every Wednesday in my blog until I am done.

The Versatile Blogger Award was given to me by:
Mary Kay at Just For Cooking- While some of us are blogging hoping to get discovered, this person came to the blogging world after already having her recipes published. In reviewing her blog, I noticed that she does explore various cuisines, but has the most filed under "comfort food".  After finding such gems as Chicken Paprikash and Cuban style Surf and Turf, I would say dinner at her table would make for a delicious evening.

Missy at Mrs Maki Cooks- this girl is one busy bee.  As a catering director and hosting a food talk radio show, she still manages to find time to share her talent by food blogging.  She started blogging in October of 2011. The blog has recipes that are great go to dishes for the every day cook or baker.  Pumpkin spice cookies and simple healthy fried rice are a few winners I found. Also her writing style does convey her warm friendly personality.

If you have not heard of these two, then it is time to hook up-so pop on over and introduce yourself.  Also, thanks again you two for passing along the awards to me.

Now, on to the recipe.... 

Ivory Castle Cakes
by Flourtrader

Ingredients/Cake
1/4 cup poppy seeds
1/2 tsp ground vanilla beans (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
1 tbs baking powder
1 cup cornstarch
2 1/3 cups cake flour
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1 cup butter
2 tsp oil
5 eggs
1/2 cup milk
11 oz jar of lemon curd (I purchased but you can make your own)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grease top edge cavities of muffin tins and line with cupcake papers.

Sift together cornstarch, flour, salt, baking powder and ground vanilla beans (if using).  Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, preferably from a stand mixer, add butter,sugar and oil.  Beat for 5 minutes at medium speed.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl occasionally during the beating process.

Then add one egg and beat for 30 seconds.  Continue this process until all the eggs are beaten into the batter.  Then, if using, stir in the vanilla extract.

Add 1/3 of the sifted ingredients and fold into the batter.  Pour in 1/4 cup of milk and stir until all is blended.  Then fold in 2 tbs of poppy seeds.  Repeat this whole process of adding and stirring, ending with the last 1/3 of the sifted ingredients.

Using an ice cream scoop or a spoon, fill each of the liners 2/3 full with the batter.  Then dampen your fingertips and smooth the top of the batter in each cavity.  Place in oven and bake until tester comes out clean, about 10-15 minutes.  Remove pan and let rest for 1 minute, then transfer cupcakes to a cooling rack.  Let cool completely before filling and frosting.

Ingredients/White Chocolate Ganache (makes 1 cup)
by Dorie Greenspan
2/3 cup of heavy cream
10 oz premium white chocolate (finely chopped)
1 1/2 tbs unsalted butter, cubed

poppy seeds for sprinkling  on top(optional)

Place the white chocolate in a large, heatproof bowl.  Then take a saucepan and fill it with cream and bring it to a boil.  Remove and pour over the white chocolate.  Let sit for about 30 seconds and then whisk together.  Whisk from the center in small circles, slowing moving your way to the outer edge.  Once all is smooth, add one cube of butter and stir until melted and blended.  Follow that same process with all the cubes.

Then let the ganache sit until it reaches the consistency you want.  You can speed up the process by placing it in the fridge, but check often so it does not get too thick.

To assemble, take a ziplock bag and cut off a small piece of the corner.  Set aside.  Using a paring knife or a cupcake corer, cut  a small circular piece from the center out of each cupcake.  Then you will have a small cone.  Cut off the top slice and reserve it keeping it by the proper cupcake.

Take the ziplock bag and fill with the lemon curd.  Holding bag over the cupcake hole, squeeze until hole is filled.  Then place the reserved cap over the hole.  Continue with this process for each
cupcake until all are filled and capped.

Then frost as desired with white chocolate ganache.  Also, if you prefer you can sprinkle a stripe of poppy seeds down the center.

Helpful tips:
-do not pack the cornstarch when measuring, use a soup spoon to scoop and fill the one cup cavity
-do not over bake, cupcakes should not have brown edges but edges should be the same hue as the rest of the cupcake when done
-Fold dry ingredients into batter lightly.
-do not use white chocolate chips in ganache, the recipe requires good quality bar chocolate to work per Dorie.
                            **LAST YEAR: Blueberry Hand Pies***

Citrus Tri Stars

Well I definitely broke the rules on this one.  I recently got a cookie press and the directions said "not recommended for refrigerated dough".   I sat there wondering why.  Now, I can understand that if you took too long with refrigerated dough, it would become difficult to work with.  However, most of the time when I use this type of dough, I form the dough on one cookie sheet and then place the bowl back in the fridge while the one pan was cooking. So after deliberating on that, I disregarded the warning and forged ahead.

My main thoughts about making the dough is that it had to be stiffer than drop cookie dough and had to bake up with some height, unlike cut out dough. In addition, the dough could not spread like leavened cookies, they had to maintain their shape when baked.  Add ins in the dough is possible, but the particles must be small enough to go through the press.  That narrowed it down to three things, cocoa nibs, poppy seeds and milk crumbs.

I tried some of the batter with cocoa nibs and some with poppy seeds. The poppy seeds were smaller so they distributed better in the dough than the cocoa nibs.  Taste wise, I liked both of them. As far as the milk crumbs (see recipe here), it was an after thought. These cookies taste better the next day, for the lemon flavor develops more with time. This recipe makes about 5 dozen.

Citrus Tri Stars
by flourtrader

Ingredients
1 tbs lemon zest
1 tsp lemon juice*
2 cups of flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tbs poppy seeds


Sift together the flour and the salt and set aside.  In a separate bowl, beat together shortening, sugar, eggs, lemon zest and lemon juice.   The fold in sifted ingredients  Lastly, fold in poppy seeds until evenly distributed.  Cover dough and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.

After chilling the dough, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease two baking sheets.  Remove dough and fill cookie press according to instructions.  Cover remaining dough and place back in fridge.  Press cookie dough out onto greased cookie sheets according to manufacturers instructions.

Place cookie sheet in oven and bake for 9-12 minutes or until lightly golden on bottom and edges.  Remove and let cool for 1 minute and then transfer cookies to cooling rack.  Repeat process, greasing cookie sheets after baking each batch.

*02/26/12  a taste tester has stated that there is not enough zip of lemon flavor in this cookie, so feel free to add lemon extract in place of the juice for a stronger lemon flavor.


                                 **LAST YEAR:Brandy Alexander Pie**

 

Orange Poppy Seed Tea Cakes

There has always been a dilemma when it comes to what classifies as a cake, muffin, bread or scone.  Each one of these connotates a specific texture in each person's mind.  So before I lead you down the wrong path with the name of this post, I will be very specific regarding the texture of this baked good.

It is very dense, much like a scone.  The batter is very thick and has the same leavener ratio to flour as a lot of cookie recipes.  This is not a fluffy light cake by any stretch of the imagination.

The citrus flavors in the cake are very subtle which pairs nicely with the poppy seeds.  I found that with the light glaze, that there is enough flavor even though the recipe suggests  using butter or jam to spread on the split cakes.  

I used dariole molds to bake these in.  It gives the cakes a nice tall shape as you can see, however, it does take some time to prepare the molds prior to baking. This recipe makes 8 cakes.

Orange Poppy Seed Tea Cakes
adapted from Perfect Afternoon Tea Recipe Book

Ingredients
1 tsp lemon juice
grated rind of 1 lemon
2 tbs orange juice (cake)
grated rind of 1 1/2 oranges
1 1/2 tbs poppy seeds
1/4 cup plus 1 tbs vegetable oil
1/4 cup plus 2 tbs melted butter
2 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 tbs baking powder
2 eggs
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tbs orange juice (icing)

Prepare muffin pans by lining with paper cases or greasing the cups with butter.  If using molds, butter all insides and then line the inside edge with parchment paper.

Measure out the flour in a small bowl.  Remove 1/4 cup and 2 tbs of flour and place in another small bowl and set aside to reserve for later.

In a larger bowl, sift together the large amount of the flour and the baking powder. Then stir in the sugar.  Make a well in the center of the ingredients.

For the wet ingredients, mix together butter, oil, poppy seeds, lemon rind, lemon juice, orange rind and 2 tbs of orange juice.  Beat in egg for 30 seconds, then add the other egg, beating 30 seconds after addition.

Pour the wet ingredients into the well of the flour mixture and stir until no dry streaks remain.  Let batter rest for 1 hour.  Then preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

After the batter rests, fold in reserved flour mixture.  Your batter will be quite lumpy.  Fill the muffin cups or molds 3/4 full, making sure batter is even. Place pan in oven and let bake for about 25 minutes.  Cakes are done when they have risen and are golden on the top.

Remove pan from oven and let cool in pan for a few minutes.  Then transfer to rack to finish cooling.

In the meantime, icing can be made.  Sift powdered sugar into a small bowl. Stir in orange juice and add a small quantity of water to get to the correct consistency.  Then drizzle over cooled cakes.

                            **LAST YEAR: Fried Peach Pies**