A Day for Chocolate

Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Mousse

Today is my brother's half birthday. His birthday is on Christmas, and because he doesn't get a "real" birthday party, we celebrate the half. He requested something with chocolate mousse, so I made a chocolate cake...but only half. Also, half a batch of cupcakes.

It's an easy chocolate cake, cut in half and piled, with a layer of chocolate ganache in between the layers. I put a layer of the ganache, let it cool, and put another layer. The cupcakes are also just chocolate, with a layer of ganache and chocolate mousse on top. The mousse didn't turn out as thick as usual, so it didn't get to be piled as high, which is sort of disappointing, but it's alright.

Definitely ended up with chocolatey chocolatey cake. Chocolate ganache, mousse, sprinkles, and chunks of dark chocolate.

A Muffin is not a Cupcake!

Coffee Chip Muffins

Eeeh, I know these are muffins and not cupcakes, but I thought they deserve a place in the blog. Sometimes people call cupcakes muffins and muffins cupcakes but there is a difference between the two. Besides ingredient differences, cupcakes have papers and frosting, and muffins don't. I'm not sure how many times I've had to smile and say, "Cupcake." following, "Oh yeah, I checked out your muffin blog..." But, it's not the end of the world.

Aside from that, it took me a long time to try and think up something to make. Lots of different cupcake ideas came into my head, but I ended up just following a recipe. These are the first recipe I've done from a cookbook I picked up called Vegan Brunch. This was a book I've been waiting for...my favourite meal of the day and by my favourite cookbook author! Needless to say, these turned out great. Also, I got to use my cupcake scoop for the first time. So, I ended up with preeeetty even cupcakes! So...coffee, chocolate, yummy...you know.

Blueberry Crumbly

Blueberry Crumb Cake




Funny story about this cake...

As I was mixing the ingredients together and doing usual cake making things...I was thinking, "This will bake for 55 minutes. Usually when things bake for a long time I forget about them and they get taken out a little late...La la la." then I thought, "Wow, this is a lot of blueberries...I hope it turns out. I really don't want to ruin so many blueberries..." So, I finished putting the cake together and I put it in in the oven, scheduling the time it should come out. I did some other things for awhile and, big surprise, I forgot about my cake. An hour and a half later I strolled casually into the kitchen and looked at the hot oven. Suddenly I remembered my cake...my blueberry crumbly cake. :( I was upset that I forgot about it but it ended up being fine, though maybe a little dry compared to how it could have been. Everyone so far has liked it, so I guess it's fine. I'll definitely make it again, though maybe the right way. Here's the recipe so try it out.

• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
  
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 cups flour
• 1 cup Crisco, or other shortening/margarine/butter
  
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  
• 4 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
  
• 4 teaspoons cornstarch

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and grease a 9x13 inch pan.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together the sugars, flour and baking powder, and cinnamon. Cut in the shortening 1 tsp at a time with a pastry cutter or fork. Press half the dough into the pan.
   
3. In another bowl, stir together the sugars and cornstarch. Mix in the blueberries and pour the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble remaining dough over the berry layer.
   
4. Bake for 55 minutes (or whatever... ;) ). Cool completely before cutting into pieces.