.:: Fire The Housewife ::.

I know you’ve all been waiting for this.  For the stories of how I burned down my kitchen with my new set of kitchen torches.  How the boyfriend’s beard is gone because I singed it off waving my hands around wildly while holding a lit torch. All so I could make desserts like this…

Well, you know what, YOU’RE WRONG.  No major fires, no accidents, no nothing!  And they turned out so pretty and so delicious.  The only thing I’d do differently is use a milk chocolate ganache instead of a bittersweet chocolate ganache.  Don’t hold that against me though.  You can do it better at your house. WITH YOUR TORCH. OH YOU DON’T HAVE ONE?! YOU DIDN’T GET TWO OF THEM FOR CHRISTMAS? OH TOO BAD!

So, I wanted to get the s’moriest of effects so, I tried hard to think of a way to do a graham cracker flavored cupcake.  I settled upon a gingerbread cupcake, which I decided was too spicy, but I did it anyway.  Next time I think I’ll substitute the molasses with something a little less…demanding.  I got 99 problems, and molasses is seriously one of them. SERIOUSLY.

Gingerbread Cupcakes

2/3 cup molasses         1 tsp. baking soda

½ c. sugar                     2 ½ c. flour

½ c. butter                    1 c. sour milk

2 tsp. ginger                   2 eggs beaten

1 tsp. cinnamon

Heat molasses, sugar, shortening, ginger, and cinnamon to boiling, stirring constantly.  Cool about 30 minutes.  Sift together soda and flour.  Add to cooked mixture alternatively with milk and eggs.  Bake at 350° until toothpick comes out clean.

The frosting is wonderfully easy and seriously tastes exactly like a marshmallow that has been melted.  I was amazed. So was The Boyfriend, and after I made him eat that egg puff full of pumpkin he was a little weary of me screaming “OMG COME TRY THIS! RIGHT NOW!”

So, I actually used some powdered egg whites because I’m not really that awesome about using up the yolks after I separate them, and yes I should probably bake a pound cake or whatever other dessert uses a ton of yolks (creme brulee??) but I just don’t do it. Okay? I Don’t.  ANYWAY.  I used the Wilton powdered egg white, it’s just 2 tsp of powder plus 2 Tbsp of water.  Just do the math, not that hard if you decide to go that route.

Faux Marshmallow Frosting

1 ¼ c. granulated sugar      4 egg whites
1 Tbsp vanilla

If using egg whites (not replacement) first combine whites and sugar on double boiler until mixture reaches 160°.  Move to mixer bowl with whisk attachment and beat until room temperature or stiff peaks.

After you’ve done all this, thrown a layer of ganache (I just melt a cup of chocolate chips with 1Tbsp of butter and maybe 2 Tbsp of milk.) in between the cake and the frosting you get this…

You can go ahead and oooh and ahhh at this point.  I’ll allow it.  I know, they’re gorgeous.  These are the babycakes, because we all know how much I love babycakes (they’re just so cute!)

Then you get to pull out the torch.  Seriously, it’s so fun. Get one. Get a fire extinguisher. Get some butane. Start lighting fires.

Admit it, you think it looks like fun.  You can be jealous.

These were definitely a first try and could use some tweaking, but really, cmon, these are like the cutest things you’ve ever seen, just go ahead and admit it.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 18th, 2010 at 12:12 pm and is filed under Sweet Stuff. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.