Baking Natural Red Velvet Cupcakes

Posted on 7 March 2011 by christao408

The red velvet cake’s entry into popular culture can probably be traced to the 1989 film Steel Magnolias, in which the groom’s cake was a red velvet cake in the shape of an armadillo. There’s something seductive about the color of a red velvet cake, especially a cupcake, at least at first. But at some point, the red seems just a little too red, and it starts to seem a bit unnatural. That’s no surprise considering that a recipe will use up to several tablespoons of red food coloring.

Doing some research, I gathered that red velvet cake was originally not so red and the color came about naturally. Cocao powder, a key ingredient, didn’t used to be “Dutch process” and was less alkaline in years gone by. When combined with the buttermilk and vinegar in the recipe, the chemical reaction caused the batter to take on a muddy red hue. Unable to find cocao powder that isn’t Dutch process here in Thailand, I stumbled upon a recipe for Natural Red Velvet Cake that, supposedly based on a traditional southern recipe, uses cooked beets for the color.

Intrigued, I had to try.

The ingredients: brown and granulated sugars, eggs, flour, cocoa powder, chocolate, buttermilk, butter, vanilla, salt, baking soda, cider vinegar, and roasted beets.

The mystery ingredient. Instead of using canned beets, which the recipe called for, I roasted my own beets and then pureed them with a little bit of olive oil and water.

First step: Melt the chocolate over a pan of simmering water. Chocolate doesn’t figure in most red velvet cake recipes, only cocoa powder, so I was surprised by this addition.

Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda. One of these days I’ll have to seek out natural cocoa powder (i.e. not Dutch process) and see how that affects the outcome of the recipe.

Cream together the eggs, butter, and two types of sugars. Most cake recipes are specific about the process – for example, whip the butter and sugars before adding the eggs. No specificity here so I just dumped them all into the bowl and turned the mixer on.

The end result (after combining the dry ingredients and adding the melted chocolate and beets) had a vaguely reddish tinge to it, although that could just be a color correction issue from the light.

Cupcake liners filled and ready to bake. Lesson I’ve learned: don’t fill your cupcake liners so high because cake batter expands as it bakes.

See? I told you that cake batter expands. Now I have these muffin top cupcakes that would have been interesting if the crumb had held together better, but the structure was kind of weak.

The cupcakes pretty much crumbled when unwrapped. I’m very curious why this is. Maybe cake flour didn’t have enough protein and regular flour would have been better? Maybe just a little too much liquid in the beets? Baking is a science and something didn’t work out right here.

To frost the cupcakes, I prepared a butter-cream cheese frosting but perhaps didn’t whip it enough. That, or the opening in the frosting tip was too small. The frosting bag actually burst on me so I had to instead spread the frosting instead of piping it.

The end results looked a bit rag-tag. I really need to take a class to learn how to frost a cupcake properly. As for the taste, the cupcakes were very moist and the beet flavor wasn’t noticeable at all. As for the color, though, there really was nothing red about the red velvet cupcakes. Not in the least bit.

I guess if I want a really red, red velvet cupcake, I may need to reach for the food coloring after all.

Baking with a Banneton

Posted on 28 February 2011 by christao408

On my trip to the US in early December, my friend Mabel gave me a gift she had been holding for some time: a pair of banneton. These wicker baskets are used by the French when proofing bread dough – after it is shaped and is undergoing its final rise before baking. At some point in the past I had mentioned that I’d like to find some banneton and when she saw them, she purchased them for me. Since December I’ve had the opportunity to use them a few time and thought I’d share the results.

The video is here, a nice, succinct two-and-a-half minute piece. If you cannot view, pictures are below. Link to the video is here.

The banneton is traditionally made of wicker, although some modern ones are made of plastic. The purpose of the wicker, though, is that it wicks moisture away from the surface of the dough, making for a better crust.

Proper flouring is essential, otherwise the dough may not want to leave the cozy nest of the banneton once it is finished proofing. After reading a few online baking sites, I decided to go with the suggested mix of all-purpose wheat flour and rice flour. This worked very nicely and I’ve had minimal troubles with sticking. It was also a neat way to use up some leftover rice flour.

After removing the dough from the banneton, you can see the lines left by the wicker. A few slashes to help the loaf expand and then slide it into the hot oven and onto a baking stone.

The end result is very beautiful and, I must say, rustic-looking. Not sure to what extent I can tell if the crust is really any better. I create a steam bath in the oven with a small tray of boiling water, so the environment is going to be about as conducive to a good crust as this home-use oven will allow. Nonetheless, Tawn and I have been enjoying the results, especially when it is time for panini! Thanks for the thoughtful gift, Mabel!

Saturday Cooking Part 2

Posted on 22 February 2011 by christao408

Whereas Saturday morning was spent at the Seagull Cooking Cafe helping break in their new cooking school, Saturday evening was spent at the house of Khun Nat, co-editor of the website catandnat.com where some of my entries are cross-posted. After he started editing my pieces and discovered our common interest of food, he suggested we cook together. Our first venture: Hearty Italian Sunday Gravy based on a recipe from Cooks Illustrated.

This over-the-top tomato sauce usually calls for six cuts of meat and half a day by the stove. Thankfully, the CI recipe cuts that down to just three cuts (ribs, sausages, and meatballs) and just a few hours, most of which is in the oven. In addition to preparing the sauce, spaghetti and a salad, Nat prepared an angel food cake. Not wanting to waste the egg yolks, we also prepared two batches of ice cream: one banana and the other raspberry.

I did not go to the trouble of shooting everything, simply because I was being put to work. But here is a video showing the highlights of the afternoon and evening. If you cannot view the video embedded in this entry, the link for it is here.

Raised in New York City, Nat moved here in his mid-twenties and has been here ever since. He is one of those fortunate souls who got to design his kitchen from scratch and it is perfectly laid out to have lots of people involved in the cooking. Off to the left is a seating area where guests can relax and talk with the chef. Very useful arrangement, if only I had another few dozen square meters in my condo!

Iron Chef New York prepares the tomato sauce after browning in the meats in a skillet. The secret behind the rich flavor is that you sautee the onions until they start to brown and then add tomato paste and cook it until nearly burned. While this may seem too far at first, it concentrates the flavors and nicely caramelizes the sugars in the paste, and it ends up adding an incredible richness to the sauce.

After adding crushed canned tomatoes and cooking for a while, you add the ribs and sausages to the sauce and let them bake, covered, in the oven for two hours.

Starting ingredients for the meatballs: Italian parsley, egg yolk, bread crumbs, buttermilk, chili flakes, salt, and spices.

Nicely shaped (golf ball sized) meatballs.

Nat has a half-dozen or more beagles, all of which are very cute. They must have been tortured by the wonderful smells coming from the kitchen!

Fry the meatballs until browned.

Busy kitchen as Tawn and Cha handle the wine, Nat keeps an eye on the meatballs, and the angel food cake rests upside down on the concrete countertop.

The finished meatballs with nice browned bits on the outside, ready to add succulent flavor to the Sunday Gravy.

After the first round of cooking the ribs and sausages in the sauce, we agreed that it needed more liquid so added some water. Then added the meatballs and let them finish cooking.

Beautiful angel food cake. I really should make these more often. They are fat-free and very showy and satisfying desserts, especially with some fresh berries spooned on top. We went for homemade ice cream, but berries would have been nice, too.

Keeping with the Italian theme, a nice mixed salad with cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes, peppers, salami, feta cheese, and olives.

The meat piled on a platter, ready to serve. Too bad Xanga doesn’t have a smell-o-blog feature.

The final product: whole wheat spaghetti served with rich sauce and three types of meat. Oh, this was good. I hate to rub it in, but you really missed out!

A slice of heaven. Didn’t photograph the two types of ice cream, but you can trust me that they were tasty, too. Is there room in my kitchen for an ice cream machine?

Saturday Cooking Part 1

Posted on 19 February 2011 by christao408

Saturday a week ago, the one before Valentine’s Day, was a full day spent cooking. There were two separate events, both of which will get their own blog entry. The morning event was the soft opening of the Seagull Cooking Cafe, a cooking school that the makers of Thailand’s premier line of stainless steel cookware products have opened on Sukhumvit Soi 63.

The menu was Linguine Carbonara, Chocolate Truffles, and a mocktail called the Cinderella. One of Tawn’s cousins, Wan, is friends with the daughter of the family that owns the Seagull company. In additional to inviting her two sisters, Wan also invited Tawn and me to participate.

Tawn comes from a big family – he is number 35 out of 38 grandchildren on his father’s side of the family. Keeping track of all these cousins is a bit of a challenge, especially those cousins here in Bangkok. While I’ve met several of Tawn’s Bangkok cousins once or twice before in passing and am connected with some of them on facebook, this was my first opportunity to spend any significant time with them.

This opportunity fit perfectly with my plan to build connections with the rest of the family, in anticipation of the day that Tawn’s father, who regards me with something akin to a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, either changes his mind or is no longer a factor – to put it delicately.

P1100004

The school is on the top floor of Seagull’s headquarters in a large and brightly lit space. There are fifteen working stations, each with stainless steel tops (no surprise there!) and all the other equipment you would need. Tawn and his cousins were at the front of the class.

We started by making the chocolate truffles as these would need to be refrigerated. Here, Tawn poses with Som and Wan as they squirt chocolate ganache from a pastry bag onto parchment paper.

My partner for the cooking was Pueng. Despite her good humor and many talents, her ganache came out looking like little chocolate poos.

See?

After refrigerating the chocolates for a bit, we were able to shape them by hand, ostensibly rolling them into balls. In practice, this didn’t work out so well.

The end result of our efforts? Some damn ugly and unevenly-sized truffles.

P1100030

Som’s two-year old daughter, First, was there as well, spending most of her time playing with her father. Tawn was playing with her but she seemed a little shy.

While not officially involved in the project, Chef Ian Kittichai (who has several famous Thai restaurants in New York, Barcelona, and Mumbai) had chefs from his organization conducting the class. Tawn has appeared on his local TV show before as a guest (just chat with the chef and help as he cooks) and also knows his wife through common friends. Had a nice chat with him about the challenges of managing restaurants around the globe and he provided some assistance with our truffles. All the ones that are actually round were rolled by him!

Next up was the Linguine Carbonara, which actually was not a Carbonara sauce since it contained milk and cream. Nonetheless, Pueng practiced her technique of putting the pasta into the boiling water, twisting a standing bunch of dry pasta so is splays out.

Somehow, partners were swapped during the course of the cooking so Tawn ended up helping me finish the pasta.

Looks quite pretty, doesn’t it? I hadn’t cooked the bacon as crispy as I could have and didn’t salt the water sufficiently. Nonetheless, it was tasty.

Pueng, Tawn’s elder, feels compelled to help him eat his pasta.

I poked my head into the adjacent kitchen to see the cleanup process. This being their trial run, they had tons of staff on hand and still seemed a little overwhelmed. I think they didn’t anticipate just how much counter space they will need to handle the cleanup from fifteen cooking stations.

It was a fun experience and I enjoyed the chance to spend more time with Tawn’s cousins. It is fun watching them interact with each other and I look forward to the day when I can be a part of family events.

Tawn Cooks: Pineapple Fried Rice

Posted on 6 February 2011 by christao408

The only gifts we’ve ever had appear on our doorstep are pineapples, and both have been left by givers unknown in the past month. About three weeks ago we returned home to discover a medium-sized pineapple, a variety that is very juicy but also a bit tart, sitting on our doormat. No card, no message, no hint of who left it.

No wanting to waste a perfectly good pineapple, Tawn decided he would make pineapple fried rice. While you don’t see it much in my blog, Tawn actually cooks and is quite proficient. When we lived in the United States and he was going to school, he prepared a lot of our dinners. Since we’ve moved to Thailand, I do most of the dinner preparation so you have precious few opportunities to see his culinary skill. Let me use this opportunity to fix that.

Iron Chef Tawn, armed and ready to cook.

Today’s challenge ingredient: pineapple.

First off, fry some Chinese sausage. Once starting to brown, add some crispy pork and fry for another few minutes.

Add the pineapple and fry for a few minutes until it begins to brown slightly.

Add rice. We like using whole-grain rice cooked the night before.

Mix rice into other ingredients on high heat. Add turmeric. You can add other spices if you wish to customize the flavor.

Once almost finished, add some raisins. We added some pine nuts, too.

Finished dish, carefully plated to look like a pineapple. Very tasty weekday evening treat. This week’s champion: Iron Chef Tawn!

Chicken Tagine with Green Olives and Preserved Lemons

Posted on 2 February 2011 by christao408

In September I tried my hand at making preserved lemons. The first batch has been sitting on the top shelf of my refrigerator ever since and I finally decided to pull them out and make something with them. The obvious choice: a chicken tagine with green olives and preserved lemons. I captured the adventure on video.

Preserved lemons are wonderful. They have the bright lemony flavor with none of the acidic tartness. I’ll have to try using them with other dishes. I also need to make some more!

Per Matt’s recent request, I uploaded this video in high definition. However, it seems a bit unwieldy to embed it in high definition as it will be twice as wide as my pictures normally are. So if you want to see it in high definition, click here. Otherwise, enjoy it as embedded.

Chiang Mai Strawberries and Whipped Cream

Posted on 23 January 2011 by christao408

To celebrate the completion of our bathroom re-tiling project, we celebrated with a special dessert: fresh strawberries from Chiang Mai (in the north of Thailand) and some hand-whipped cream.

Beautiful, aren’t they? Unlike some of those mega-monster strawberries we get from California, which are all pale inside, these strawberries reminded me of the strawberries of my childhood – smaller and sweeter. Of course, they still weren’t as nice as the strawberries we tried in Japan two Aprils ago. (Video of that experience here.)

Cooking – Attempting the Truffled Egg Toast

Posted on 19 January 2011 by christao408

On our last two visits to New York City, Tawn and I have fallen in love with a small panini shop and wine bar in Greenwich Village called ‘ino. The ambience is fantastic, the service is friendly, and most importantly the food is good. After buying their cookbook on my last visit, I’ve eagerly awaited the opportunity to try and recreate their most perfect menu item: the truffled egg toast.

Perfect for breakfast, perfect for lunch, perfect for dinner, the truffled egg toast (original pictured above) is a thick slick of white bread, lightly toasted, with a pair of egg yolks gently baked in a well in the center of the toast while Fontina cheese melts along the edges. Afterwards, it is drizzled with truffle oil and generously salted and peppered. Lightly grilled asparagus provide the perfect condiment.

It is hard for me to convey in words just how wonderful the combination of flavors is: Truffle, egg, cheese, and asparagus just go together really well.

The big problem I faced here in Thailand was finding a loaf of bread that isn’t sliced. I could bake it myself, but the ideal bread for this is a white sandwich bread, not something rustic like my homemade bread turns out. Finally, Tawn spoke with a manager of a bakery and they said we could order unsliced loaves a day in advance. Once we got the bread home, I realized it was a little too airy, sweet, and eggy – kind of like Portuguese sweet bread – to be ideal. But I decided to press ahead with the experiment.

After toasting the bread lightly in the oven, I used a serrated knife to cut a 2-inch square in the middle of each slice, cutting about halfway into the 1-inch thick bread. Then, using the handle of the knife, I tamped the bread down, forming a well.

The next step was to line the edges of the toast with Fontina cheese. Except, in cheese-unfriendly Thailand, I couldn’t find Fontina so substituted Gouda. Cheese is very expensive here and the types you find are very inconsistent. A few months ago, I saw Fontina. But when I went to the store this time, there was none.

In the middle of the well I put the yolks of two eggs. When I first attempted this recipe after our first visit to ‘ino (before we bought the cookbook), I didn’t realize they only used the yolks so when I put a whole egg into the well, it just spilled over the top of the toast. This seems to illustrate the saying, “If all else fails, read the directions.”

Not following directions, I broiled the toast rather than baking it, so the egg set a little firmer than was ideal. That said, upon pulling the toast out of the oven, I stirred the egg with the tip of my knife and it turned out to be plenty runny.

The biggest problem was my truffle oil. This oil has a limited shelf life and the oil we have is over a year old. The strength of the truffle aroma is nearly gone, so we weren’t getting a healthy dose of that heady earthiness that makes truffles so wonderful. Thankfully, we had a jar of black truffle salt on hand, so I liberally sprinkled that on top of the toast.

The conclusion? Well, I don’t think I’m going to put ‘ino to shame anytime soon. But with a little practice, a better choice of bread, cheese, and oil, and more attention to the directions, I think I’ll have a truffle toast worth serving to guests. And considering that the real deal is 9,000 miles away, I think Tawn and I will be able to live with second-best until our next visit to New York!

Baking Magnolia’s Vanilla Cupcakes

Posted on 16 January 2011 by christao408

Baking project! Tawn’s aunt had her 70-somethingth birthday celebration today so even though I was not going to attend, I helped prepare two dozen cupcakes. Tawn prepared brownies, too, but since he made those, not I, they aren’t covered in this entry.

The recipe for the cupcakes came from the Magnolia Bakery’s “More from Magnolia” cookbook. The Magnolia Bakery is a well-known spot in New York’s West Village, popularized in the TV show “Sex and the City” as it is just around the corner from Carrie Bradshaw’s fictional apartment.

We visited Magnolia Bakery last March and I have to say that while their cupcakes are tasty, they aren’t anything special. Nonetheless, this was the cookbook we had at hand.

The recipe we used was for their Vanilla Cupcakes. Instead of self-rising flour, I used a substitute of cake flour, baking powder, and just a little salt. The recipe is easy enough to use, made all the easier if you have a stand mixer.

You may notice that I have five eggs in the bowl but the recipe calls for just four. I was on the fence because the eggs look smaller to me than the standard “large” egg. The sizes were also inconsistent. Ultimately, though, I stuck with four eggs and placed the extra one back in the refrigerator.

This project wasn’t really about taking pictures and writing, though. It was about filming and editing a really cool video and, in all modesty, I think this one is one of my best. I hope you enjoy it.

The end products, which were tasty and very pretty in a pastel sort of way. If I had it to do again, I would sift my powdered sugar for the buttercream frosting as it ended up just a wee bit gritty. Other than that, though, no complaints.

New Year’s Eve Food

Posted on 1 January 2011 by christao408

What better way to start the new year (not to mention, what better first post to write) than to prepare some good food? While Tawn was away at his family’s annual New Year’s Eve party and didn’t return home until ten minutes before midnight, I hosted a missionary friend from Chiang Mai and one of her friends who is visiting from the US.

Kari and Brandi were wonderful company and we spent almost four hours visiting and eating. For dinner, I prepared a simple meal that thankfully used up the last of the lasagna ingredients that I produced earlier in the week. Remind me next time not to double an already large batch of pasta and bolognese sauce!

To begin with some Thai style pumpkin soup. Made with homemade stock, this soup features tumeric, fresh ginger, and a little bit of coconut milk to add richness. Garnished with a few drops of garlic-chili oil, which was enough to give it a definite kick.

An interesting recent discovery, a vegetable called kanaeng in Thai. An American restaurateur friend calls these “baby cabbages” on his menu, but they are more akin to loosely wrapped Brussels sprouts. I followed his preparation, stir-frying them with garlic, soy sauce, and crispy pork.

Probably a little heavy on the crispy pork, but is anyone going to tell me you can really have too much pork? I think not! (Well, okay, Dr. Zakiah, Lalima, and a few others will, but that’s for religious, not flavor reasons!)

The final dish of lasagna. I added a bit of meat and more tomatoes to the bolognese sauce to make for a richer, meatier dish. It worked out beautifully, except that the bubbling sauce burned on the handles making for unsightly presentation. The guests liked it enough to bring a few slices back to the mission house with them, though.

Homemade bread, a rye-wheat combination. Notice the faint lines running along the length of the loaf? Those are from a banneton. I’ll write more about those soon.

Dessert was a chocolate chip and pecan bread pudding served with creme Anglaise sauce. Very tasty, although perhaps a touch rich after this filling meal. But why not end the year on a rich note with the hope that the new year will be equally rich and satisfying?

I hope your celebration was just as wonderful as mine.

christao408

The adventures of an expat American who moved to Bangkok for his husband.

Tag Archives: cooking