Happy first day of fall! I’m sure most of you aren’t feeling very excited about this change, especially if you reside in New England like I do.  The onset of Fall means that sunblock, bathing suits, and flip flops will soon be distant memories and the inevitable snowflakes are lurking just around the corner. In the meantime though I fully intend to take advantage of the crisp cool air, visit my favorite local orchard, and maybe even bake a pie or two. Of course my fondness for fall is probably made possible due to the fact that I’m flying to Florida for an extended dose of sun soaked laziness this week. It’s much easier to get excited about bundling up in scarves and mittens when you know you have an upcoming date with a frozen rum soaked concoction and a chaise lounge in 48-hours.

Beach retreat or not, I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the changing seasons than with a spicy pumpkin muffin topped with a subtle orange icing. This substantial snack is the perfect way to ready yourself for the pumpkin flavored onslaught that is bound to take place over the next few weeks. Are you ready for the pumpkin?

Orange Frosted Pumpkin Muffins (originally published in A Harvest of Pumpkins and Squash by Lou Seibert Pappas)
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 cup pumpkin or winter squash purée, canned or homemade
2 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup golden raisins

Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Line 12 standard muffin cups with paper liners.

In a large bowl, combine the butter, brown sugar, and molasses. Using an electric mixer set on medium speed, beat until creamy. Add the pumpkin and eggs and beat until smooth. In another bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture along with the raisins and mix just until incorporated.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling each almost to the rim, and smooth the tops. Bake for 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool slightly, then turn the muffins out and let cool compltely in their liners on the rack.

Orange Frosting
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons butter melted
1 tablespoon thawed orange juice concentrate

In a small bowl, beat together the confectioners’ sugar, butter, and orange juice concentrate. Spread over the cooled muffins. Serve at room temperature. Note: I really wanted my icing to be orange tinted so I added one drop of yellow and red food coloring to the mixture.

I’ve mentioned it before, but when I go home to Maine there are two things I have to eat while I’m there and they have absolutely nothing to do with lobster or blueberries. I always make a point to have an Italian Sandwich from Sam’s Italian Sandwich Shop, and I also have to have a whoopie pie. So last weekend when I met my family for lunch in Freeport I did just that.

I’ve been living in Massachusetts now for almost three years so there are lots of new stores and construction popping up in my favorite outlet shopping destination, but this summer something decadent opened up on Main Street: a retail Wicked Whoopies store. Please commence drooling now. This cozy shop is tucked around the corner from the Bath and Body store and offers up a sinful assortment of unique whoopie pie flavors ranging from peanut butter, to gingerbread, and everything in between. After a long deliberation I decided to take home a red velvet treat, and CK and I split a mini original whoopie dipped in chocolate which is adorably refered to as a “Whoop-de-Doo.”

The most outrageous item that they offer is a 72 ounce whoppie pie that is literally the size of a dinner plate and feeds 9-12 hungry people. Stick a few well placed candles in that monstrosity and I’d say you have a terrific birthday cake ready to serve. Fortunately you don’t have to drive all the way to Maine to sample one of these amazing desserts. They’ll happily ship them to you at a very reasonable price.

The lovely purveyors of TCHO were kind enough to send me three samples of their chocolate flavors: Chocolatey (which I’d reviewed in a previous beta version), Fruity, and Nutty. After having a few squares and submitting our feedback online CK and I still had quite a bit of chocolate kicking around in our fridge. So I decided to make good on my previous idea that this rich dark chocolate would be an excellent addition to cookies.

I’ve become obsessed with sandwiching sweet things to other sweet things with even more sugary things lately. So it only seemed natural to make mini TCHO laced Chocolate Chip Cookies (a mixture of chopped up fruity and nutty) and secure the two halves together with a rich filling made with melted TCHO Chocolately squares.

The resulting cookies, if I do say so myself, were a chocolate overload of tastiness. But you don’t have to take my word for it. CK’s boss, Dave, had an extremely exuberant reaction to them.

TCHO Beta Stuffed Cookies
(Cookie based on the Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip cookie recipe published in the Got Milk? Cookie Book by Peggy Cullen)

2 ounces (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
6 tablespoons white sugar
6 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (6 ounces) chocolate chunks or chips (Note: I used a mixture of finely chopped TCHO Fruity & Nutty)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter, sugars, salt, and vanilla until well combined. Beat in the egg. Scrape down the bowl using a rubber spatula and beat for a few more seconds.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and mix on low speed just until absorbed. Add the chocolate chunks and stir into the dough.

For perfectly uniform cookies, scoop the dough using a small diameter ice-cream scoop (around 1 3/8”), leveling the dough off across the top before dropping onto the silpat lined (or greased) baking sheet. Bake for 7-10 minutes, or until edges are golden. Let sit for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

TCHO Chocolate Filling:
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 tablespoons Crisco
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 ounce melted dark chocolate (Note: I used TCHO Chocolatey)
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1-2 tablespoons of water (Optional)

Mix the first five ingredients together in a small bowl. If the mixture doesn’t appear smooth enough add in 1-2 tablespoons of water until you reach a spreadable consistency. If the mixture is too wet, simply stir in a little extra confectioner’s sugar.

To assemble, gently spread filling onto half of the cooled cookies and top with the remaining cookies.

Congratulations Christie! You’ll be receiving CakeLove in the mail shortly. Thank you to everyone for participating and be sure to stay tuned! There are more giveaways in the works.

If after reading Monday’s post you now desperately want your chance to dive right into the cake baking world of Warren Brown then you’re in luck!  I’m giving away a copy of CakeLove to one Erin Cooks reader.  All you have to do is leave a comment on this post (one comment per person please).  A winner will be selected via the nifty random number generator this Friday (May, 23rd) at noon and than I’ll promptly ship the cookbook to your home.  Get your aprons ready!

UPDATE:  Don’t forget!  You have until Noon (EST) on May 23 to enter the contest to win your very own copy of CakeLove.  Simply follow this link and leave a comment.  It couldn’t be easier.

You may be familiar with Warren Brown from reruns of his show Sugar Rush on the Food Network, or perhaps if you’re lucky enough to reside in D.C. you might have had the pleasure of sampling some of his creations and original recipes at one of his highly regarded CakeLove bakeries. For those of us living outside of personal shopping distance you’re in luck as Warren has recently released a gorgeous cookbook dedicated to the art of making some of his most popular CakeLove recipes.

I don’t use the term “art” loosely.  These cake are involved masterpieces.  Don’t be lulled into complacency by the brightly colored layout and upbeat color schemes.  The pages of this book may be designed to imply simplicity and ease but in reality this cookbook is more boot camp than day camp.   Ok…so the boot camp might be run by Vin Diesel’s character in The Disney movie The Pacifier, and not a four star general, but these recipes still mean business and attention to detail is key.

Fortunately, Brown gives you all of the tools to succeed including very detailed recipe instructions, step-by-step images when appropriate, and helpful tips and tricks.  But in the end it’s all up to you.  Thanks to jaw dropping photography and tantalizing recipe options like Stout Pound Cake with Roasted Pecans, Tres Leches Butter Cake, and Hazelnut Spice Sponge Cake your body will no doubt go into pure craving mode, and the ambition to taste one of these fanciful creations will give you all the motivation you’ll need to power through the recipe.

After examining the cookbook I decided to attempt the decidedly Summer appropriate Mojito Pound Cake.  To answer your burning question, yes, it really does taste like a Mojito!  Actually it tastes like a great Mojito, not one of those ghastly drinks you get from a hurried bartender because they think you’re a jerk for ordering one in the middle of a rush, but a carefully made, simple syrup, and mint muddled Mojito that makes you sit back and say, “Ahhhhh…”

In all seriousness though, I can’t believe I made this cake and I definitely couldn’t have done it without this amazingly thorough text.  There’s nothing semi-homemade about these recipes.  They’re all butter, flour, cream, and eggs through and through.   Sure they take a little more time and effort but the quality and taste of a cake made from scratch isn’t even in the same league as your basic boxed Betty Crocker.

Mojito Pound Cake with Rum-Flavored Italian Meringue Buttercream (Based on the recipe originally published in CakeLove: How to Bake Cakes from Scratch by Warren Brown)

Dry
2 1/4 cups + 2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup potato starch
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3 whole cloves (ground into a fine powder)
1/3 cup oven dried mint crumbled

Liquid
2/3 cup sour cream
1/4 cup half-and-half
3 tablespoons dark rum
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon molasses
1 teaspoon limoncello
1 lime outer rind removed and segmented

Creaming
2 sticks room temperature unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups extra-fine granulated sugar
2 teaspoons lime zest
4 large eggs
2 large egg yolks

Note:  The actual recipe, including notes is three pages long.  Below is my condensed version.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Incorporated all of the dry ingredients into a bowl, whisk briefly,  and set aside. Incorporated all of the liquid ingredients into a bowl, whisk briefly,  and set aside.  Measure the butter, sugar, eggs, and yolks into separate bowls and set aside.

In the bowl of a standing mixer (fitted with the paddle attachment) cream together the butter, sugar, and lime zest on the lowest setting for 4 to 5 minutes.

With the mixer still on the lowest speed, add the eggs one at a time followed by the yolks, fully incorporating after each addition.

Add the dry ingredient mixture, alternating with the liquid mixture in 3 to 5 additions each, beginning and ending with the dry mixture.  Move swiftly through this step to avoid overworking the batter.  Don’t wait for the dry or liquid mixtures to be fully incorporated before adding the next.  This step should take a total of about 60 seconds.

Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl (don’t miss the clumps of ingredients hiding on the bottom of the bowl).  Mix on medium speed for 15 to 20 seconds to develop the batters structure.

Prepare the cake pans.  For 9-inch-round cakes, line the bottom of each pan with parchment.  Note:  The recipe says not to spray the pans with cooking spray, but I did.  I wasn’t willing to take any chances on this cake sticking to the pan.  Deposit the batter evenly into the pans and smooth out with an offset spatula, making sure the pans are two-thirds full.  Bake for approximately 30 minutes.  Note:  My cakes took about 35 minutes.

Remove the pans from the oven and cool to room temperature on a wire rack, about 25 to 30 minutes before removing from the pan.  Loosen the cake gently from the pan with a small offset spatula and invert onto a flat surface.  Remove the parchment from the bottom of each cake and wrap the layers tightly in plastic.  You can refrigerate the layers overnight or up to 5 days before frosting.  Note:  I’m very impatient and only left my layers in the fridge for 2 hours.  It seemed to work fine for me!

Rum-Flavored Italian Meringue Buttercream

5 egg whites
1 1/4 cups extra-fine granulated sugar
1/4 cup cold water
1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter
2 to 4 tablespoons of dark rum (to taste)

Set out the ingredients and the equipment.

Separate the egg whites into the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the wire whip attachment.  Measure 1 cup sugar and the water into a 1-quart, heavy-bottomed saucepan.  Gently stir with the candy thermometer to combine.  Place the remaining 1/4 cup sugar into a small bowl and set aside.  Cut the butter into tablespoon sized pieces and set aside in a medium bowl.

To make the sugar syrup, place the candy thermometer in the saucepan and heat the mixture over medium-high heat.  Partially cover with a lid to capture the evaporating water-this helps to moisten the sides of the saucepan to prevent sugar crystals from forming.

With the mixer on high speed, begin whipping the egg whites to stiff peaks.  When the peaks are stiff you have a meringue.  Keep the mixer running and pour the 1/4 cup of sugar into the meringue.

Raise the heat under the sugar syrup to bring the syrup to 245 degrees, if it is not there already.  When the syrup is at 245 degrees, remove the thermometer and slowly pour the syrup into the meringue.

After 1 or 2 minutes reduce the mixer speed to medium for 3 or 4 minutes, or until the meringue is cooled.  Add the butter 1 tablespoon at a time.  Increase the mixer speed to high for 1 to 2 minutes, or until the butter is fully incorporated.   Finally add in the dark rum and spread onto your pound cake.  Decorate as desired.   Note:  I used fresh mint and Turbinado sugar.