Emily's Mocha Cakes

Hello, friends!

"Let the sun shine..." - Hair 

It’s been awhile, I know! To be honest, I haven’t really had much reason to bake lately, mostly because I haven’t had many people to share it with. And, really, we all know most of the fun of baking comes from sharing what you’ve made with others.

But when I met my fellow cast-mates for the upcoming show HAIR at The Keegan Theater, I was like: “YES! These are the people I want to celebrate butter and sugar with! (Vegan butter, too…and egg replacements)”

It’s odd because I haven’t known most of these people for that long, and yet, I feel so comfortable around them. Normally, I’m very anxious around groups of people; constantly worried that as soon as I leave they’ll all breathe a sigh of relief. (Even typing that now I wonder if I’ve jinxed myself, and will now be feeling the familiar tug of monkey-mind whenever I leave a rehearsal) These people, though, they all exude such warmth and openness and passion, it’s hard to feel anything else when in their presence.

So, while I initially wanted to make everyone’s favorite dessert, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that wasn’t the perfect avenue to go down. Instead, I wanted to get to know these people. And through that, I wanted to bake a dessert for each and every one of them that I believed could describe them through something sweet.

After scouring and pouring over every baking book I had, I finally picked a treat for each cast member, and then put all their names into a hat (actually, it was the bowl I eat my oatmeal out of every morning, but hat sounds cooler to me so…from now on it was a hat) I picked names one by one, made a list, and yesterday, I started from scratch.

The first name I picked was Emily Levey. 

Emily is a super cool chick who, to me, seems like the exact balance between a perfectly tailored trench coat and a really comfortable, oversized sweater.

Therefore, I had to find a perfect balance between classic and comforting to create a dessert that brought to mind Emily’s awesome, good-natured personality, along with her beauty and talent.

So, I went with a riff on Dawn Casale’s Perfect Vanilla Cupcakes with Mocha Buttercream.

A fun, simple, easy base of birthday cake-worthy vanilla cake, topped with a sophisticated, one-eyebrow-raised, perfect-posture-having, swirl of coffee-infused icing.

My hope is that whoever tries this recipe and eats this cupcake, presents the dessert with a perfectly-timed flourish, and then takes such a large bite that the frosting spreads to their cheeks along with a satisfied smile.

PS. These cupcakes are awesome. I obviously can only take credit for following the directions, all of the genius goes to Dawn Casale, so I can say that these cupcakes are incredible, without sounding totally pompous.

INGREDIENTS: 

VANILLA CAKE

2 cups all-purpose baking flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 ½ teaspoons table salt

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 large egg whites

¾ cup whole milk

Pinch of table salt

1 ½ sticks of unsalted butter (AT ROOM TEMP! NO MICROWAVE MELTING J )

1 ¾ cups sugar

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (Or, be like me and preset it to 300 until you’re ready to put the cupcakes in, realize what you’ve done, bump it to 350 and wait an extract ten minutes)
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour baking powder, and salt (PS. This recipe uses a lot of bowls, but it’s worth it)
3. In another bowl, combine the vanilla, egg whites, milk, and salt. Whisk it all together for about a minute. And use arm power, because you want to break up those egg whites and have the ingredients really get to know each other.
4. Using a hand mixer, beat together the butter and sugar on medium for about three minutes in another bowl, until it’s all light and fluffy. It should kinda look like frosting.
5. Use a rubber spatula to wipe down the sides of the bowl and then add 1/3 of the flour mixture and ½ of the milk/egg white mixture to the bowl. Beat all that together on low for a bit. Then add another 1/3 of the flour mixture and the rest of the milk/egg white mixture. Beat all that together on low for a bit.
6. Then, and here’s where it can get tricky, put the rest of the flour in and fold it into the batter using the rubber spatula. What do I mean by fold in? Well, you use the spatula to rotate the batter and the flour around one another and mix it all in gently, so that all the ingredients are evenly mixed and there’s no excess flour floating around. This takes a while, but it’s worth it, because if you use your hand mixer instead, you risk over mixing your flour, which sets off the gluten and can make your cupcakes end up sorta chewy in a bad way…
7. Fill up your cupcake lined cupcake tins! I use a spoon or a ¼ cup measuring cup to fill the liners about ¾ the way full.
8. Bake those suckers for 12-14 minutes, then rotate the pans and bake for another 12-14 minutes. You can test the cupcakes for doneness by sticking a toothpick in the center. Just a few crumbs come out? Good to go. Sticky-gooey crumbs or full on batter on the toothpick? Needs more time.
9. When the cupcakes are done, let ‘em cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then remove them and put them on cooling racks or a plate until they are totally cool!
10. Frost ‘em! 

WHILE THE CUPCAKES ARE BAKING….

MOCHA BUTTERCREAM

INGREDIENTS:

 2 teaspoons instant coffee granules

¼ cup hot coffee or espresso

6 tbsp whole milk

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 ½ sticks unsalted butter (at room temp)

½ tsp salt

9 cups confectioners’ (powdered) sugar (Or more…because I like really thick, spread-able, or pipe-able frosting, I used a ton of powdered sugar)

DIRECTIONS

1. In a small bowl dissolve the coffee granules into the hot coffee or espresso
2. Add the milk and vanilla to the coffee and stir it all together.
3. In a large bowl, use a hand mixer to beat the butter for about three minutes until it starts to get all soft and creamy.
4. Add in the salt and ½ the sugar and mix it together on low speed for about two minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
5. Add the remaining sugar and keep on beatin’.
6. Add more sugar (or more milk if you want it to be creamier) until you reach the desired consistency.
7. Spread it on the cupcakes!
8. EAT THE CUPCAKES! 

Emily Cupcake

Emily with Cupcake!

Wasn’t that worth it?! Yes, it was!

Until next time!

D