THE CUPCAKE PROJECT № 4 | ESPRESSO CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES

These chocolate cupcakes are incredibly moist and tender with a rich chocolate flavor, due to the fact that the batter used is actually a double chocolate cake batter using both cocoa powder and chocolate. The recipe is adapted from Miette, one of my go-to bake books, both for the recipes and the pretty designs.

Come to think of it, cupcakes weren't a big part of my childhood. I can't really recall a special memory that includes them, even though I'm quite certain I've eaten a fair share at birthday parties and other seasonal occasions. But I do have a special place in my heart for chocolate cake.
Chocolate cake in Japan tastes different, and although I've been living here in Tokyo longer than I lived in the States, I still sometimes get cravings for a slice of classic American-style chocolate cake. No fancy flavors or decorations; just plain chocolatey chocolate cake, served with a layer of plain chocolate buttercream or maybe a dollop of whipped cream. That's my idea of perfection — something that fulfills my chocolate cake cravings — and that is exactly what these cupcakes taste like.

The buttercream is adapted from Call Me Cupcake!'s espresso chocolate cupcakes (by Linda Lomelino), and if you like your chocolate cupcakes with a cold glass of milk, this is the buttercream to use. If you want something a little less rich but as equally as satisfying, I recommend the raspberry buttercream I used for the cupcake photographs in my last post, also from Linda's blog.

It's hard to believe we've already come to the end of April. I'm still having trouble writing posts on a regular basis, but I guess writing random posts is still better than not writing at all. I really hope I can post a Mother's Day post before Mother's Day. One of my goals for May . . . *

* { espresso chocolate cupcakes, double chocolate cupcakes adapted from : miette by meg ray with leslie jonath, espresso chocolate buttercream adapted from : call me cupcake — espresso chocolate cupcakes }
— click on the images above, or continue reading for the recipe

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY | BON APPÉTIT BOX № 2

The Valentine's version of the "Bon Appetit Box" is finally ready (and just in time for Valentine's Day!). So much effort has gone into this post, from the recipe testing to the photography editing to the recipe writing . . . The whole process took a lot of time, but I enjoyed the challenge and am relieved that I was able to complete it. At the moment, I am in a euphoric state and am ready to just relax and get away from my screen for a while. Hope you enjoy the recipes (even though I know you won't be able to use them for this Valentine's; next year, I promise I will get things up here earlier), and happy happy Valentine's Day!


LA BON APPÉTIT BOX {a valentine's version}
* french butter cookies
* valentine's cookies
* honey & lemon madeleines
* chocolate financiers


— continue reading for the recipes & more photographs of the Bon Appétit Box

LA GANACHE | A DETAILED HOW-TO

Ever since the holiday season started last year, I have been having too much chocolate. There were chocolate tartlets and the chocolate truffle stars, a chocolate cake and boxes of bon bon chocolats, chocolate bars from Dean & Deluca (which I braved on the weekend right before Christmas: not a very good idea), and old chocolate brownies saved from the freezer. There were even a few chocolate chip cookies if you can count that as chocolate. And not to mention that Valentines's Day is right around the corner, and I have more chocolate recipes lined up to try. Enough is enough, but I just wanted to share a detailed how-to for making chocolate ganache.
I have failed with chocolate so many times, crying over wasted (expensive) chocolate, and I know that it is one of the most frustrating experiences in the world. Hopefully, this detailed and very glossy version from Miette (which is one of the prettiest cookbooks/pastry shops ever) will save others from having to go through that kind of frustration.

* { la ganache adapted from : miette by meg ray with leslie jonath -- chocolate ganache }
click on the images above for the recipe

HAPPY, HAPPY NEW YEAR | CHOCOLATE TRUFFLE STARS

. . . a belated happy, happy new year, and wishing you all the very best for 2014!
How has your new year been so far? Here, it has been a non-stop whirl ever since christmas, and there were champagne toasts and merry merry dinners, much needed family time and pretty holiday cards, last minute cooking and new year's baking, and now it is monday again, and have been thinking very hard about where {chasing sofia crumbs} will be headed for the new year (and there is still much to consider), but first a recipe for a bright & beautiful start.

The idea for these chocolate truffle stars (or chocolate truffle reverse-tartlets) came up when I was designing my new year's card. Back when I made these lemon tartelettes, I also tried the chocolate truffle tartlettes by miette, and they were fantastic. The only problem was, because the chocolate ganache was so rich, a whole tartlet felt slightly too rich. But I didn't want to give up on these chocolate treats because they truly were delicious. Thoughts of making them in smaller bite size portions came up momentarily, but making canape-size tart shells wasn't very appealing, and besides, I thought these treats deserved a prettier look (than my probably wonky canape tart shell attempts).

Fast-forward to christmas time. I had a brand new star-shaped cookie cutter, and the phrase "bright & beautiful new year" was appearing on my new year's card design. It also helped seeing this beautiful photograph of salted caramels (taken by my idol Katie Quinn Davies, full post here), and the idea for chocolate truffle stars was born. These are reverse-tartlets with the pâte sucrée crust in the middle and the chocolate ganache on the outside rather than the other way around. I tried topping them with a pinch of fleur de sel, and they upgraded the intense chocolate flavor (at least in my opinion, but I was in a euphoric state so please feel free to omit this last step if you are skeptical) and set a lovely contrast. Make sure that you get the ganache as glossy and smooth as you can, and also keep them in the refrigerator until serving time because ganache becomes sticky and soft at room temperature.
Happy baking, and hope your 2014 is bright & beautiful!


* { chocolate truffle stars adapted from : miette by meg ray with leslie jonath — chocolate truffle tartlettes }

rich chocolate ice cream

At home, at kitchen table. A lesson has been learned. The importance of "la cuillère à glace" (the ice cream scoop) has been discovered. A plain spoon will not do. Definitely an ice cream scoop for the perfect photogenic scoop.

The only problem is, it is quite difficult to find a good ice cream scoop in tokyo. Millions of shops, but no classic scoops. The ones that have been found are shiny, brand new, and very 21st century. Am hoping to come across a classic (rustic) beauty. Something that would look lovely in a Berthillon shop (but then again, most things would look lovely in a Berthillon shop . . . ). Will have to make use of grandmother's very old (authentic vintage) one until search is over.

This ice cream is rich, sweet, intense, and heavenly. It is an ice cream for true chocolate lovers. Am thinking of experimenting with a less cacao percentage chocolate (perhaps 54% as have good 54% cacao chocolate in pantry) to create chocolate ice cream for the chocolate liking ice cream lovers. If anyone tries, would be very happy to hear about results.
Happy ice cream making!

p.s. Do check Indochine Kitchen's recipe here, as it has step by step photographs explaining the process of ice cream making perfectly.

* { rich chocolate ice cream adapted from : indochine kitchen — chocolate ice cream }
— チョコレートアイスクリームのレシピは以下 :

from the recipe files | classic chocolate brownies {dusted with a unicorn}

- why don't we . . . whip up some brownies? {classic brownies are rare in tokyo} -

Cannot believe it is already September. Feels like an eye blink since New Year's and having panic attacks for no apparent reason. Well, reason is sort of apparent. Feels like have accomplished nothing in the past eight months and the year is almost over. And feeling truly guilty for lack of recipes posted. (Actually recipes exist, but no time to edit photos and write recipes out.) Guilty, guilty, guilty.

Quite fond of brownies. Especially the classic chewy kind. But because of tricky, tiny oven, the first three attempts ended up in catastrophe. After taking break for two weeks (because one can only eat so many brownies over such a short period of time), finally got around to giving it another go and results were better. Actually, brownies look and taste v.g. Have dusted it with a unicorn (actual meaning: have dusted it with confectioner's sugar in shape of a unicorn), and am feeling like lovely Martha Stewart-like woman. Oh, forgot this all took place two weeks ago. Not v.g. Starting to feel guilty again. Feel like eating brownie, except none left.

Have finally edited photos and written out recipe which means can finally publish this post. Feel like responsible, mature woman again. Hurrah!

love, the tokyoette à la bridget jones *

<JAPANESE VERSION AFTER THE JUMP>

* { classic chocolate brownies adapted from : the hummingbird bakery via red online — hummingbird bakery's traditional brownie }
— チョコレートブラウニーのレシピは以下 :

unicorn brownies | a vignette

____________________

brown‧ie   noun   \ˈbrau̇-nē\
: a small square or rectangle of rich usually chocolate cake often containing nuts
____________________

____________________

uni‧corn   noun   \ˈyü-nə-ˌkȯrn\
: a mythical animal generally depicted with the body and head of a horse, the hind legs of a stag, the tail of a lion, and a single horn in the middle of the forehead
____________________

. . . after three catastrophic attempts in a row (can never seem to get the oven time right), the fourth try came out close to perfect — and could not help celebrating with a dusting of confectioner's sugar turned into a shape of a pretty unicorn *

p.s. recipe coming soon xo

the cupcake project № 2 | cherry bombe cupcakes

- why don't we . . . bake cupcakes? {チェリーボムカップケーキ} -

昔から本というものに異常な執着がある。
活字を見ると安心する "活字中毒" なるものではないけれど (ちなみにこの活字中毒は、友人が自身がそうであると話していて、その子以外にこの言葉を使っている人に出会ったことがなかったので、彼女が作った言葉なのだと最近まで思っていた)、とにかく集めるのが好きで、手に持ったり、ページをめくったり、飾ったりするのが好きなのだ。一応、弁解しておくと、読むという前提で ＋α の話である。

でも、どんな本でもイイというわけではない。
なんとなく好みの厚みだったり、大きさだったり、質感だったりというのはあるし、時々不思議なマイブームというのも起こる。例えば、今はハードカバー‧ブーム。全くもって持ち歩けないけれど、不便極まりないけれど、レシピの本も、小説も、今は見栄えのする素敵なハードカバーにしか食指が動かない。学生の頃に好んでいた小さくて軽い文庫本には、全く興味が湧かない。(決して内容に興味が湧かないのではなく、あくまでも外見の話。)

そして雑誌もまた重みのあるタイプが好みで、最近は、国内外問わずオシャレな重厚系 (?) 雑誌がたくさんあるので、嬉しい反面、本棚の大部分がこれに占領されているためドキドキしている。(いつか捨てるように言われるのではないか、最悪の場合には勝手に捨てられてしまうのではないかと。)

cherry bombe magazine — 今年創刊のウーマンズ‧フードマガジン。
素敵なこの雑誌を購入してしまい、ドキドキを更に加速させながら熟読した結果、想像以上に素敵だったのでタイトルに因んでカップケーキを焼いた。その名も cherry bombe cupcake。チェリーの可愛らしい形を活かしたチョコレートスポンジとバニラバタークリームを組み合わせたカップケーキ。

<ENGLISH VERSION AFTER THE JUMP>

why don't we . . . bake cupcakes?

ちなみに、本に異常な執着がある人のことを表す言葉があるみたいで、"bibliophilia" (ビブロフィリア) というそうです。


* { cherry bombe cupcakes inspired by : cherry bombe magazine, chocolate cupcakes & vanilla buttercream adapted from miette by meg ray with leslie jonath, cherry sauce & candied cherries adapted from what katie ate recipes and other bits & pieces by katie quinn davies }
— チェリーボムカップケーキのレシピは上の画像をクリック or 以下 :

cherry bombe saturday | a vignette

- cherry bombe saturday | ある休日の物語 -

. . . the story about a girl who's obsessed with cherry bombe cupcakes and paints her left toes black and right toes pale pink *

cupcake : cherry bombe cupcake {recipe coming soon}
left toes : black satin {chanel}
right toes : ballerina {chanel}
magazine : cherry bombe magazine

>>>
チェリーボムカップケーキに執着しすぎて、左足はブラック、右足は薄ピンクにネイルを塗る女の子の物語。

p.s. cherry bombe cupcake のレシピは coming soon *

photography № 2 | tartelettes from viron

. . . tartelettes are favored for breakfast around here *


{ the patisserie/boulangerie }
viron
33-8 udagawa-cho, shibuya-ku, tokyo

why don't we . . . bake a piece of heaven? {chocolate cake}

そもそものきっかけは久しぶりに手に取った輸入物のチョコレートケーキのミックスだった。

子供の頃から何の疑問も持たずに食べてきたケーキミックス。サラダオイルと卵を加えて混ぜるだけのケーキミックス。濃厚なチョコレートのケーキミックス。ところが、その万能ケーキミックスを使用したケーキが焼き上がって食べてみると何かが違う。ん? 頭の中で思い描いていた味よりも美味しくない。箱の裏に書いてある手順を確認するが、特に間違えてはいないよう。

「なんだかいまいちね。昔は結構美味しいと思っていたけれど、やっぱりミックスはミックスよ」
母が心の声を代弁する。
「しばらく食べない間に舌が肥えちゃったのね」

そうか、変わったのはケーキではなくてこちらね。確かに帰国してからは繊細な日本のケーキや複雑で洗練された欧州ケーキを幾度と口に運んできたけれど、たった数年でこんなにも味覚が発達するとは . . . 。ちょっとした衝撃だった。

以前、味覚というのは乳幼児期に形成されると聞いたことがあるけれど、もしそれが本当だとしたら我が弟はアウト (味覚音痴寄り) だと思う。彼は海外で生まれ、離乳食も全て現地のドクターに指定されたスーパーの瓶詰めだったので、出汁やうまみ等の繊細な味をこの味覚形成期に経験していない。そして実際に大人になった今でも、お吸い物や煮物といった薄味で繊細なお出汁の味を楽しむ料理はパスする。少し不憫なやつだ (大きなお世話だと言われそうだけれど)。その点、自分自身は母お手製の離乳食で育ったし、セーフだと思いたい。そのセーフな私 (ここはあくまでも譲らないつもり) が美味しいと太鼓判を押していたケーキだったのに、今改めて食べるといまいちだ。これって私も弟同様アウト?! いや、正確にはアウトだったけれど、ミックスで作ったケーキで満足できなくなったということは進化してギリギリセーフ?

話が脱線してしまったけれど、どうしてもイメージしていた濃厚な "美味しい" チョコレートケーキが食べたくて、今回このレシピに辿り着いた。もちろん日本には素晴らしいチョコレートケーキがたくさんあるし、デパ地下なんかに行けば迷えるほど選択肢がある。個人的にはガトーショコラが好きだけれど、つやつやのガナッシュでコーティングされたものや、コーヒーのほろ苦さとの組み合わせが絶妙なオペラも素敵だ。それでも時々無性に食べたくなるのが、このザ‧アメリカン‧クラシックなチョコレートの味しかしないチョコレートケーキ。

why don't we . . . bake a piece of heaven?

ちなみに、英語でチョコレートのことを "a piece of heaven" とか "heavenly" なんて表現することがある。あの濃厚な甘さが天国の味 (心地) として連想されるのかもしれない。だから今回のレシピで紹介するようなチョコレートの味しかしないチョコレートケーキを食べると、いつもこのフレーズを思い出してしまう。よろしければ意識が朦朧とするような甘〜い天国の味、焼いてみませんか?


* { the chocolate cake adapted from : the vanilla bean blog — the chocolate cake }
— チョコレートケーキのレシピは以下 :