Alexis M. Zaharis

Cookies & Cream Cupcakes

2011-10-22T10:19:00.006-04:00

This project starts by making chocolate cupcakes. The recipe I chose was a chocolate buttermilk cake, it uses Dutch processed cocoa and has been tweaked to make only exactly 12 cupcakes. On this day I could not possibly need more than 12 cupcakes. So use whichever chocolate cake recipe you're fondest of, or here's one from me if you don't feel much like looking too far.

While said chocolate cupcakes of choice are baking is the perfect time to assemble your filling and frosting. I filled mine with bittersweet chocolate mousse and frosted them with cookies and cream buttercream. Filling is an extra step and of course not necessary, but come on, why wouldn't you?

Cookies and Cream Frosting
1/2 cup butter - room temp
1/4 cup whole milk - room temp (plus a little extra for later)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 pound confectioners sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
15 cream filled chocolate cookies of choice (here's where I admit that I went with neither the name nabisco or newman brands. I decided to take this adventure late Thursday night and the closest store to me is actually a gas station where they only sell giant generic packages of double-filled-shure-fine-stuffed-chocolate-sandwich-cookies. so that's what I got. no rules)

Beat butter until creamy, add milk and vanilla and beat until well combined. Add confectioners sugar and salt beating on low until combined, then increase speed to high. Continue to beat until frosting is light and fluffy. Break cookies into bits and add them to the frosting with mixer running. They will continue to break up into smaller pieces. (In case you're wondering, adding the cookies directly to the mixer bowl seemed to work better than giving them a whirl in the 'ol food processor because all of that double cream filling really wanted to stick to the side of the processor and gum things up. Been there, done that.) After cookies have been sufficiently combined and crumbled, you may want to add a few more Tablespoons of milk to get a lighter, pipe-able, frosting consistency. I did.

Ok. Now you have all of the pieces of the puzzle. Here's what to do with them:

Get all of your ingredients together and your work area ready.

Make a filling space in each cupcake by cutting the middle portion out with a paring knife. Wait! Don't eat the middle parts! You'll need them in a little bit.

Fill that space with something. I used chocolate mousse. Maybe you'll use a cookie, or pudding, or mousse, or ganache. I don't know, anything could happen.

Put a cap on it. This is what those middle parts are for! As you can see from the photo, I needed to size the middle parts down so the caps would fit back on. This means there are some chocolate cake scraps to snack on after all.

Pipe or spread frosting on. I garnished mine with a broken bit of cookie. Cookie crumbs would be nice too...

A Cake Taken Apart

2011-08-15T20:52:00.001-04:00

You didn't think the little one on the top got cut first, did you? I've been working on some edits, updates and newness here on my baking portfolio site. A little bit at a time.

Summer Wedding in Leopard Print

2011-07-19T18:33:00.001-04:00

I've been working, on really cool stuff. Here's a sneak peek of wedding cake from early July. The leopard print tiers are chocolate cake with peanut butter filling. The white and black tiers are coconut cake with lemon frosting. Cupcakes in gold and leopard print wrappers to match. Better photos will be posted on my website at some point in the indefinite future. In the mean time, more cake.

A winter baking recap.

2011-05-28T13:03:00.001-04:00

Experimental VD cake in technicolor. Vanilla bean cake stacked in 7 colors and filled with cream cheese frosting for my annual Valentine box.

Strawberry rhubarb party pie. Used up the last of last years rhubarb on a few lattice pies before chopping and freezing about 20lbs from this year's harvest.

Lemon, coconut, and vanilla bean wedding samples. I often make cupcakes in different flavor combinations to help betrothed couples choose their favorite :)

Poison cake for the opening of my friend josh's show Compliance. A vanilla bean cake filled with toxic green colored pastry cream. Thanks for the opportunity Josh!

Mother's day order - a carrot cake in purple and blue.

Cupcake Wars!

2011-02-22T17:10:00.003-05:00

This is the audition video my friend Marion and I made for Cupcake Wars. Well, Mark actually gets all of the video making credit, and we get credit for creative costumes and talking mostly toward the camera.

If you love us (you know you do!!!) then you'll log in to you tube and give us a comment and a thumbs up! Won't you?

Thanks!

Wednesday the 13th is the new Friday the 13th

2010-10-13T08:51:00.000-04:00

This is my friend Steve:

He was born on October the 13th, and chances are that he's done way more cool shit than you.

The first time I met Steve he was wearing a breakdancing Fat Bald Men t-shirt, a brown UPS hat, and he had a pony tail. True story. Steve worked for my dad at my family's store in Ithaca, NY. About 10 years later Steve would be helping my dad and some friends and I move a piano into my house and, while carrying a too heavy thing down too many stairs, confess to my father that many of the hours he spent "working" for my dad were actually comprised of talking shit with my cousin and sneaking Strawberry Quick in the beer cooler.

Steve and I share stories of misadventure that span the country a few times over and could easily fill a lengthy novel. We've disagreed as many times as we've come to one another's rescue, and we've shown up with as much unconditional love and compassion as we've been cranky, bratty and mean to each other.

I have learned through Steve Crandall the true meaning of friendship, and am grateful and glad every single day for his presence in my life.

In honor of Steve - because I'm totally glad he was born, and because I can't be there to make him chocolate cake in person, I'm sharing with the world a list that I shared with him a little while back.

Ten important things I learned from Steve Crandall

10) Cops, meter maids, and tow truck drivers should not be trusted.

9) Almost anything is possible, or at least worth a shot, if it turns out to be impossible move on to the next thing.

8) Gnomes love to loiter.
7) When you're about to fight, hand someone you know your glasses and your wallet.
6) Life's a beach.
5) Occasionally it's important to take the local roads instead of the highway.

4) , 5, 6 wins. Always.

3) Strawberry Quick is awesome, but if you drink too much of it your stomach will hurt.

2) If you go streaking wearing only a cape and a mask you will get arrested.

1) Have fun every day.

Steve is someone that I admire and respect, someone who's life and advice I consider when making major decisions in my own. If you would have told me in 1993 that I would be learning some of the most important lessons of my life from the dude with a ponytail sneaking Strawberry Quick in the cooler, I never would have believed you. I guess that's just how life goes.

Love you Steve. Happy Birthday, and thanks for all of the good times!

Weddings, funerals, cookies and an emotional readjustment

2010-06-27T17:53:00.011-04:00

Last week I traveled to South Carolina to spend time with my amazing family and attend an amazing wedding with them in North Carolina. While I was there I made a wedding cake for 100 people, had the opportunity to drive through a beautiful mountain range in the Nantahala National Forest, and ate a few too many of my Uncle David's pecan chocolate chip cookies.

Life has been showing up in extremes the past few weeks (a wedding, a death, a pregnancy, an illness, and lots of transition) and after the wedding last weekend my extended family traveled back to Ithaca with my mother and I to spend some unexpectedly extended time together. Friday afternoon when the last of my family left I was feeling sad and lonely.

I decided this morning to try my hand at some pecan chocolate chip cookies. Partly because baking relaxes me and partly because thinking about these cookies is a fond reminder of how much I enjoy my family and am grateful for them no matter what the circumstance. My cookies were good but not nearly as good as my Uncle David's. What can I say, I think I'm at a pecan disadvantage up here in NY, plus he's had a lot more practice.

Baking for art's sake

2010-04-08T19:04:00.009-04:00

Some of my friend Phil's illustrations are on display at Homegrown this month. The illustrations are amazing and you should go look at them in person. There was an opening reception for the show at the end of last week and I baked cookies. A little sugar to accompany cheap wine and PBR seemed in order. Right? Right!

It's fun baking for events and people that I like. Phil and I met up a week or two before the show to talk about the work he was hanging and what kind of sweets he might want. He basically told me I could make whatever I wanted while also mentioning that he likes cut out cookies. I decided on apple shaped sugar cookies with salty sweet buttercream frosting (of the green variety).

I thought the apple would be funny because apples symbolize so many different things: youth; love; immortality (forbidden fruit); health (an apple a day...); cities; computers. So why not a cookie at an art opening. They were really fun to make, and sugar cookies in fun shapes are always fun to eat. So it was pretty much a win - win situation in the end.

I told Phil I made 100 cookies but I really made a 115. No telling where the 15 that didn't make it to the art show went.

Hoping for easy like Sunday morning

2010-03-12T07:12:00.003-05:00

I spent my early Friday morning hours finishing a sheet cake (and a few bonus cupcakes) for a lunch time party at a school in my neighborhood. Chocolate congratulations.

Waiting for butter cream to set at an ungodly morning hour gave my head a little time to run back through last weekend's projects. And y'know what? My mornings last weekend were absolutely lovely. Baking in early light, coffee break and dog walk around 8am, frost-finish-deliver by 10. Accomplishment. Whatever happens the rest of the doesn't even matter. What a luxury.

I already posted some photos and information about Saturday here. Sunday's cake was a raspberry filled vanilla bean cake, modeled to look after a cake from the year the bride and groom were wed - 1950.

A 60th anniversary!

I'm imagining this weekend will involve less cake, more soup, lots of music and at least one special all-out breakfast. Hopefully some quality studio time too.

Oh Baby Baby

2010-03-09T18:34:00.000-05:00

My Saturday morning assignment was a woodland themed baby shower cake to serve 50 plus people.

Woodland themed? ...Yes!

Baking is a glorious way to spend any morning and I had so much fun making this cake.

Inside, the hexagon was a vanilla bean butter cake filled with mocha buttercreme. The outside was covered in espresso and semi-sweet chocolate ganache (and woodland critters, of course).

C'mon. Those little critters are CUTE.

VD: Welcome Back

2010-03-08T17:57:00.007-05:00

So my Valentines Day posts trend on the late side, this year's being much more belated than last.

My excuse is that Chinese New Year fell on the same day as St. Valentine's this year, and the Tiger came in with such gusto that I've been having just a little trouble catching up.

The theme of this year's box was "say no to VD". In addition to the regularly scheduled whoopie pies, broken hearts and mini bundts were also featured.

xox

Sunday Soup

2010-02-07T15:34:00.006-05:00

I was temped to title this post Souperbowl Sunday, which was followed by an immediate sense of discomfort that not only could such a thought pass through my brain but that I'd actually entertain it. So, no. I will not be starting every new post with a shitty pun. I'll just think about it in silence and then hang my head in shame.

Two things that I started doing recently:

Buying dried beans and then soaking them before making what ever it is I'm going to make with them. It's awesome. Not only is it cheaper than buying canned beans, but the beans hold up much better and have a better texture. Sure, it requires planning ahead a little bit, but don't we all feel better when we're planning wholesome meals ahead of time that we make from scratch with oh so much love and attention? We do. Which brings me to number
Sunday soup. Generally, if I eat well I feel well (save the occasional chili cheese dog with mustard and onions). Since weeks seem to get crazier and crazier, and available minutes seem fewer and fewer, and I have this job that I go to so I can't actually just sit around my house staring at soaking beans, I've become fond of making a big pot of soup on Sunday nights. This gives me solid lunch and dinner options for the week so I'm not skipping meals and getting cranky, or constantly snacking on crap.

Ok, back to Souperbowl Sunday. I was actually invited to a Superbowl Party. I'm not much into football. If you're looking for a sporting event to bring me to, or invite me to watch at your home, I like basketball. Now you know. Anyway, I'm not into football but I am into cupcakes, and while Sunday soup was simmering I made a few dozen cupcakes.

These little guys will be accompanying me to the party. Because although I don't really care about the superbowl, I do like to party, and no party is complete with out a cupcake.

Custards Last Stand

2010-02-06T14:43:00.010-05:00

I'm fairly certain that almost every birthday cake I had as a small child came from a place called the Home Dairy. Once located in an old brick building in downtown Ithaca, the Home Dairy was a bakery and cafeteria in the truest form. It was here that Mr. Avery baked and decorated the cakes and cookies that my bother, sister and I would spend our formative years fiending for. It was here that I was first inspired to try my hand at making something sweet and good looking for someone else to eat. It was here that I also had my first taste of baked egg custard. Egg custard and egg custard pie are classic Southern desserts that I rarely come across. Delicious, simple, without excess - egg custard is one of my favorite desserts, and invokes some of the sweetest taste memories of my life. Here's how you do it:

Baked Egg Custard

6 eggs

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 1/2 cups milk

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350. Yield 8 6oz custards.

Put the eggs in a mixing bowl and stir just until mixed. Add the sugar, salt and milk, and mix until well blended.

Strain through a fine meshed sieve, and stir in the nutmeg and vanilla. Divide evenly among your custard cups.

Place cups in a baking pan, and fill the pan halfway up the cups with hot water. Bake in preheated oven for 30 min, or just until custards are set (this can seem tricky if you haven't made custard before because they'll be a little jiggly, but if a knife inserted in the center comes out clean - you're all good). Remove from the hot water bath and cool.

I like my custard at room temperature or chilled. Some like it warm. I support you in serving/eating it however you want to. Your kitchen - your rules.

Iradell Rd.

2010-01-30T15:34:00.006-05:00

I spent yesterday afternoon packing things at my grandfather's house. It's one of very few physical places that seems to have remained the same since my childhood. I brought a few table linens home with me and their smell is almost intoxicating. It triggers an entire past lifetime of emotion in my core that suddenly I feel inclined to protect and preserve. Like, I better put these little buggers in a plastic bag otherwise I'll never again be able to remember what my childhood felt like.

Soup's ON!

2009-10-18T15:37:00.013-04:00

It's fall and I'm only interested in participating in 3 major food groups: Soup, Cider, and Donuts. Monday I ate donuts for dinner and every night since I've eaten soup. Some at home, some at friends, and some at Asia Cuisine. Here's this week's soup in review:

Fish stew and crusty bread at home. Courtesy of Rachel.

Chicken noodle soup at Mandy and Fuzz's. Thanks Fuzz!!!

Jam Bong at Asia cuisine.

Good Bye Cupcakes

2009-08-04T18:03:00.006-04:00

My friend Meg left for Ohio last weekend. At various moments during the day I find myself wondering where she is and what she's doing. Did she leave NY yet? Stop at a Flying J for fuel? Settle into her new apartment? Go grocery shopping for the first time at a new store that's hard to navigate now but will be old hat within a few weeks?

Before she left we traded sweets for a hair cut. I requested bangs and she requested vanilla cupcakes with chocolate frosting. I love trades and I miss Meg.

Tiki Birthday Mayhem!!!!!

2009-07-25T19:33:00.006-04:00

My friend ordered this for her husband's birthday and I had an absolute blast making it. The cake is chocolate and coffee.

There have been many sweet things since my last post. More photos coming soon. More cupcakes baking tomorrow.

85th Birthday Celebration

2009-05-25T10:54:00.004-04:00

This was a vanilla bean cake with alternating layers of chocolate ganache and cherry conserve. Charlotte, the fun, beautiful, energetic woman celebrating 85 years (!), loves to be outside. A simple cake inspired by her flowers was requested.

Somewhat Hazelnut Cake Makes It's Way To New Jersey

2009-05-10T00:47:00.010-04:00

I made a cake for a birthday party in the garden state. Cake remnants, accompanied by champagne, are probably being eaten as I write this.
Or at least I'd like to hope.

On the outside - a wood grain desk with an open notebook and a tea cup on it. On the inside - alternating layers of: vanilla bean butter cake, bittersweet chocolate ganache, chocolate hazelnut butter cream, and hazelnut and almond meringue.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

2009-04-20T13:31:00.006-04:00

These cupcakes were inspired by my good friend Mandy. Word on the street is that her mom, Marg, makes the best cream cheese frosting this side of the Mississippi. I'm not one to argue fact. I will just say that these were made lovingly, with Mandy and Marg in mind.

Cupcakes
1 -1/2 cups pastry or ap flour
1/2 cup alkalized unsweetend cocoa
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup whole milk
1/2 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

Preheat oven to 400. Yield 1 dozen cupcakes.
Whisk dry ingredients in bowl. Mix wet ingredients in separate bowl. Add wet to dry, mixing just until wet and dry ingredients are thoroughly combined. Batter will be stiff. Spoon equally into 12 cupcake liners. Bake until tops spring back.

Frosting
1/2 cup butter - room temp
8oz cream cheese - cold
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 pound confectioners sugar

Beat butter until creamy, add cold cream cheese and beat until well combined. Add vanilla, mix until combined. Add powdered sugar, all at once. Mix on LOW until the mixture is starting to pull together and looking almost dough-like. Turn mixer to high and beat until light and creamy.

Happy rainy Monday.

VD: A Belated Post

2009-02-15T09:31:00.009-05:00

Valentines Day just happened to follow friday the 13th this year. Why didn't Hallmark cash in on that one? I would much prefer to give friends "Happy Friday the 13th" cards than any other kind. Maybe I should make greeting cards instead of cakes and coffee. Good idea, n'est-ce pas?

Since cookies seem to be the only appropriate way to celebrate VD, I marked the 14th by making a few sweets for the sweet ones in my life. Shiny pink hearts and whoopie pies (of course).

I used to make these whoopie pies at a cafe I baked for once upon a time in San Francisco. I owe, with love, all of the credit for the delicious perfection of these cookies to Ray, my former employer and chef and owner of the cafe. Without his push I'm not sure it ever would have occurred to me to make a whoopie pie. Now I can't imagine a Valentines Day with out them. They are SO good that I avoid making them with out someplace to send them.

Red Velvet, Take 2: Four Layer Cake

2009-02-10T22:00:00.007-05:00

My friends Chris and M'lissa are to be married in March. There will be a red velvet cake (or maybe cupcakes?) present to witness the ceremony. Until March 14th, when I have a spare moment to bake, or a head full of snow - it'll be all red velvet all the time.

This recipe is slightly different than the cupcake recipe, which came from Chris. I used a different mixing method, and a heavy cream and mascarpone cream cheese frosting in lieu of the cream cheese buttercream. I think I preferred the cup cakes, but maybe it was because they were pink. I'm not sure.

No, it wasn't because they were pink. The frosting was a little sweeter and a much nicer consistency. I think this cake was equally as good, but I'm going to make Chris' recipe one more time just to be sure. The next incarnation will be an 8" round cake with chocolate sprinkles. Some people call sprinkles jimmies. It makes me uncomfortable. Probably because I don't understand.

From The Ladle To The Grave

2009-02-03T14:49:00.014-05:00

I woke up two days ago with a headache. Since I never get headaches I probably should've known something was up, instead I chalked it up to the weather, not enough caffeine, and a possible nanobot infestation. I woke yesterday to a sore throat which I thought could possibly be a result of having slept with my mouth open. Today there's no denying it. A horrible ick is trying to latch on somewhere between my sinuses and tonsils, making my life slightly less pleasant and making my head feel like it's floating ten feet above my body at about twice it's usual size.

I'm fortunate to have a job that I can leave for my bed on days like this. My office-mates are glad to minimize the risk of an outbreak, and I'm glad to have the loving and extra supportive "get outta here, I don't want to get sick" nudge. Besides, I can type from home. Clearly.

I'm also fortunate to be part of a gang. This gang has armed me with the weaponry necessary to produce things like this even though my head feels like it might actually explode:

Ingredients: 3 small onions, 2 stalks celery, 3 cloves garlic, 2 potatoes, 2 large carrots, 1 bunch kale, 6 oz sausage, 16oz great northern beans, stock (I used some vegetable and some chicken as it was what I had on hand), thyme, oregano, turmeric, dill, salt, pepper, parsley. Assemble in usual soup making fashion.

Below is a picture that I came across today of my good friend Steve.

Steve is a fellow Soup Gang founding member. Nothing says tough like little cheddar goldfish.

Red Velvet, Take 1: Cupcakes

2009-02-01T15:46:00.002-05:00

Chris and M'lissa, this one's for you.

Mise en place

Alternate adding wet and dry

It certainly is red

Unadorned

What a pretty little cupcake.