Peanut Butter Cup Cake

Peanut Butter Cup Cake - made August 1, 2010

This is another recipe I got from my fitness friend, Tanya. Note this is a peanut butter cup cake, not a peanut butter cupcake. Hence the peanut butter cups:


Tanya's recipe calls for making this as a 9" two-layer cake but I've already packed away my round cake pans so I made it in a bundt pan instead. Since the base of the cake is a cake mix, this was really easy to mix together. You have to bake it longer if you use a bundt pan instead of splitting between two round cake pans. I think I baked this for around 45-50 minutes.

As it cooled, I made the ganache. When I was in culinary school, one of my classmates, who had worked as a pastry chef before, had a tendency not to follow the directions our chef instructors gave us. No matter what, she usually did her own thing. Something I found baffling sometimes because then it makes you wonder why go to school if you're not going to do as instructed? But in the making of ganache, I confess, I like her method better. Ganache is essentially melted chocolate and cream whisked together. The traditional method and the one I was taught in school was to heat the cream to boiling and pour over chopped chocolate then to let the heat of the cream melt the chocolate before whisking together to make a smooth ganache. For some reason, I don't like this method. You have to take the time to chop the chocolate and sometimes the ganache doesn't come out evenly if the cream isn't hot enough or you don't whisk fast enough to melt it completely.

My classmate's method (which drove our chef instructors crazy, lol) was to melt the chocolate then take a little bit of cream and whisk into the chocolate. At first the chocolate "seizes" as liquid is added to it and it looks like the whole thing is going to solidify and be a wreck. But you just have to keep whisking and adding the cream a little at a time and you'll end up with a pretty smooth ganache. If you're risk-averse, go with the traditional method in the recipe but this other method also works pretty well. Just remember to keep whisking.

Tanya, a true peanut butter and chocolate aficionado, says she uses double the amount of peanut butter cups that the recipe calls for. I only had one bag of peanut butter cups so my cake turned out much more modest than hers.

You can't really see the peanut butter cups that got mixed into the cake itself - they're there but they blended in pretty well with the cake.

If you like peanut butter and chocolate, this is a good cake. My coworkers liked it - a lot, judging by how fast these disappeared from our communal kitchen on my floor. Next time though, I think I'm going to try it with a devil's food cake from scratch instead of a mix. I'll probably wait until I move, settle in and unpack so I can make it as a real two-layer cake. If you make this as a bundt cake, be warned that you don't need all that ganache. Probably 2/3 of the recipe will do. I personally am not a ganache fan as it's not sweet enough for me and I don't care for the texture as much as with regular frosting so I might change up the frosting too.

Peanut Butter Cup Cake

1 devil’s food cake mix
3 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
½ cup vegetable oil
2 cups chopped peanut butter cups (plus more for garnishing – I used 2 bags)
8 oz. dark chocolate, chopped
1 cup heavy cream
½ cup peanut butter
1. Preheat oven to 350˚F. Coat two 9-inch cake pans with non-stick cooking spray. Line with wax paper and coat paper.
2. In a large bowl, beat cake mix, eggs, buttermilk and vegetable oil on low for 30 seconds. Increase speed to medium-high and beat for 2 minutes. Scrape down sides after 1 minute. Fold in 2 cups of the chopped peanut butter cups.
3. Pour batter into pans and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
4. Cool cakes completely.
5. Place chopped dark chocolate in a medium bowl. Bring cream just to a boil and then pour over chocolate. Whisk until chocolate melts. Add peanut butter and whisk until smooth.
6. Trim each cake layer so the tops are flat. Place one layer on a cooling rack and pour 1 cup frosting on top. Spread evenly with a spatula. Add second layer and pour remaining frosting over top and sides of cake. Smooth out with spatula.
7. Allow frosting to set for a minute and gently press remaining chopped peanut butter cup pieces all over top and sides of cake. Place in refrigerator for about an hour to set. Remove and serve.

Lemon Doodles

Lemon Doodles - made July 30, 2010 from Land O Lakes Cookies book

You have to try this recipe just for the name alone. Not to mention it garnered my parents' highest praise: "It's not too sweet." Lemon Doodles are not to be confused with the more common Snickerdoodles. These are not sugar-butter cookies rolled in cinnamon sugar. Rather, they're lemon butter (or sugar) cookies with coconut. There isn't enough coconut to really call them a coconut cookie but the coconut does add to the chewiness making them very good. You know my taste buds are jaded so when I like a cookie, I like a cookie.

My only issue with these cookies is that they spread out. They puff a bit during baking and look promising but once you take them out of the oven and they cool, they deflate. It's not a dealbreaker since the taste and texture are still pretty good but this is definitely one I want to bake again once I have my convection oven and see if I can minimize the spread. I underbaked them slightly but they would be better baked just right - the edges are crisp and the middles are nice and chewy with a great lemon flavor that isn't overwhelming. And they couldn't be easier to make.

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ cups sugar
¾ cup flaked coconut
1 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1 ½ teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon grated lemon peel
1 tablespoon lemon juice

1. Heat oven to 400˚F. In large mixer bowl combine all ingredients. Beat at low speed, scraping bowl often, until well mixed (2 to 4 minutes). Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto cookie sheets. Bake for 7 to 10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.

Yield: 4 dozen cookies

Tamarine - prepare for serious food porn

Tamarine Restaurant in Palo Alto - July 29, 2010

My boss took our team out for a teambuilding dinner at Tamarine last night http://www.tamarinerestaurant.com/. It's considered "contemporary Vietnamese cuisine" and is one of my favorite restaurants in Palo Alto but I don't go that often because I also think it's a bit overpriced. But I have to admit, the food is pretty good. I mean, really excellent. My coworker, Rhuwena, and I perused the group menus and chose the menu below.

First course: Salt & Pepper Calamari, Banh Mi Roti and Ginger Soy Brochettes

I didn't get a shot of the calamari as it was a tad too far away....and I don't like calamari so I wasn't as interested in capturing it for posterity, lol.

The Roti, however, was just excellent. I made roti in culinary school and I know the layering that goes into it (think of it like a croissant but much flatter) and the need to pelt it flat. This one was delicious, crisp at the edges but chewy elsewhere - good stuff.

The brochettes were also to die for - very fork tender and tasty. I didn't even question the "soy" part.

Second course: Ha Long Bay Soup (crab wontons served in a consumme infused with coriander and coconut milk) and Papaya Salad

The soup was delicious - I generally like wontons and crab but I hadn't expected to like the soup base itself since, while I like coconut, I'm not a big fan of coconut milk. But Tamarine surprised me and the soup was flavorful and delicious without being overwhelmingly coconut milk-y.

The papaya salad - no, I didn't eat this since I don't like papaya. I mean, I had to save room for the later courses, right?

Third course: Tamarine Prawns, Lemongrass Sea Bass, Chili Lime Aubergine, and Coconut Rice

The Tamarine Prawns were another to-die-for dish - I can't even describe how good they were except to say I had two prawns and was probably licking my chops debating on whether to have a third. Only the fact that I knew there were two courses left held me back.

With all good Asian meals, you have to have rice. This course came with coconut rice inside a banana leaf container. Despite the name, there wasn't much coconut to it so it was more like steamed rice. Very good.


I loved the sea bass as well but then again, I'm also a fan of lemongrass. Very tasty.

This course also included eggplant which I didn't get a picture of (three guesses as to why) and this green bean dish. Because we have vegetarians in the group, I think we must've substituted some of the official menu for the veggie dishes. Which helped with my portion control since I literally couldn't eat everything that was served.

Fourth Course: Garlic Fried Rice, Shaking Beef and Hoisin Lamp Chops

I didn't even try the lamp chops. My eyes were on the prize (see next dish).

I knew the Shaking Beef was coming and I knew I had to pace myself and not have everything that was served because I had to save room. This is my favorite dish at Tamarine. The beef is tender and tastes just divine. I don't have enough gastronomical descriptors for it without sounding over-the-top corny about it. But I love this dish. It turned out to be my downfall because while I had prudently paced myself and eaten only a few bites of the other dishes, I "had" to have a (generous) second helping of the Shaking Beef and that's when I hit full. Yes, before the final dessert course. But it was worth it.

By the time we got to the fifth course, billed as "Chef's Seasonal Selection", I was pretty much topped up on fullness. Not sick full but full. Thankfully, dessert was a cup of fruit with creme fraiche(?) and what looked like a beignet but was really a little fried banana. I skipped the fruit bowl and had the warm fried banana, grateful for its relatively small size. Also quite delicious even if I probably would've enjoyed it more if I hadn't had that second helping of Shaking Beef.

So next time you're in downtown Palo Alto, give Tamarine a try - it's further down University Avenue near Middlefield, far enough down that you have a shot at getting a decent parking space even on a busy weeknight. I recommend going a little early (we got there at 6 pm) as the place gets packed. And don't forget to order the Shaking Beef (thanks, boss!)

Not So Sloppy Joes

Not So Sloppy Joes - made July 21, 2010 from Real Simple: Meals Made Easy via my cousin Christine

Oops, I was so focused on catching up on my desserts that I'm out of chronological order in posting this recipe. I should call it "Dinner in a Bag 2" as this is another from my cousin Christine who gave me most of the fixings for this, all packed in a brand new insulated lunch bag - talk about full service :).

This was a very simple recipe, just my speed and style. I substituted ground turkey for the ground beef and it worked just fine. I admit to deviating from the recipe though and left out the bell pepper since I don't eat those and the cheese since it was optional. Those got returned to Christine when we met for dinner at Patxi's (see earlier post on the pizza). This is one of the reasons I'll never be much of a cook. No matter what the recipe says, if there's an ingredient I don't like, I don't add it in, likely altering the recipe from its supposed taste. But that's okay with me as it's better than picking it out of the finished dish.....which I've been known to do. Yes, I'm a picky eater. I'm sure real cooks are as horrified as I would be if people who don't like sugar leave it out of one of my dessert recipes. It's just not the same. Oh well.

Oh and based on Christine's recommendation, I toasted the bun first (which she also provided, lol) before sandwiching it with the sloppy joe - yum. Great taste and contrast with the sloppy joe filling.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
1 pound ground beef (90% lean)
1 6-ounce can tomato paste
1 ½ teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon kosher salt
4 hamburger buns, toasted (to prevent bread from becoming mushy)
½ cup (2 ounces) grated Cheddar (optional)
½ cup sour cream (optional)

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and bell pepper. Cook until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the beef and cook, crumbling it with a spoon, until no trace of pink remains, about 7 minutes. Spoon off and discard any excess fat.
2. Stir in the tomato paste, chili powder, cumin, black pepper, cinnamon and salt. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens slightly, about 12 minutes. Spoon the beef mixture onto the bottom half of each bun with the Cheddar and a dollop of the source cream (if using). Sandwich with the top half of each bun.

4 servings

Caprial's Chocolate Brownies

Caprial's Chocolate Brownies - last made July 26, 2010 from Caprial's Desserts by Caprial Pence

Making Ina Garten's brownies earlier reminded me of another brownie recipe that was similar in texture - this one by Caprial Pence. It has the same lightness and similar directions because of whipping the butter and sugar so much. I first tried this recipe in 2008 and my notes at the time referred to the texture as being light and almost truffle-like. It's not cakey but soft. I made these again earlier this week for a lunch with my coworkers and my friend John referred to them as having a chocolate-mousse texture. Chocolate mousse or chocolate truffle, that's pretty descriptive of what this texture is like. The ones pictured were my first attempt and I had included Snickers in them. But the texture is so soft that it's actually better without add-ins to mar the texture. These are just a tad delicate so they don't really ship or freeze that well but if you needed to whip up a simple batch, they'll do in a pinch. And, like with all good brownies, these have a deep chocolate flavor so not for the faint of chocolate heart.

5 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
½ cup cold unsalted butter, diced
4 large eggs
1 ½ cups sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¼ cup flour
1 cup chopped toasted walnuts or pecans
Pinch of salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Line the bottom of a well-greased 9-inch round cake pan with parchment paper; set aside.
2. Place the chocolate and butter in a metal bowl set over a pan of simmering water, making sure that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. When the chocolate has melted about halfway, remove the pan from the heat (leaving the bowl on the pan) and let the chocolate sit until completely melted; stir until smooth. Set aside.
3. Place the eggs, sugar and vanilla extract in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the whip attachment, and whip on high speed until the eggs are very light in color and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the melted chocolate and mix on medium speed until well blended. Add the flour, nuts, and salt, and mix on low speed until all of the ingredients are incorporated. Increase the speed to medium and mix just until smooth. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a knife inserted in the brownies comes out covered with moist crumbs, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool about 20 minutes, then cut the brownies into 16 wedges and serve.

Heath Bits Peanut Butter Cookies

Heath Bits Peanut Butter Cookies - made July 25, 2010

One of my online fitness buddies, Tanya, posted this recipe and coincidentally I found it on the back of the Heath Bits package I had in my baking drawer that I needed to use up. Tanya is a self-admitted peanut butter and chocolate fiend and has been posting a lot of food porn in her journal lately. I, a self-admitted baking addict, seize on any opportunity to try new recipes recommended by people who can appreciate sweets, desserts and good baking.

In case you've never seen toffee bits before, here's what's generally available at the grocery store. There are two kinds - one that's milk chocolate toffee bits and are essentially Heath Bars chopped into pieces (pictured below). The other is just toffee bits without the milk chocolate. The latter is harder to find, at least in my local grocery stores. I've been able to find them when I visit my sister in Southern California so I admit to stocking up on them in the infrequent times I go down for a visit.

This recipe made for a good dough to work with, meaning it wasn't too soft or sticky. I portioned the cookie dough into dough balls using my ice cream scoop which has gotten more use with cookie dough than with actual ice cream, placed them in a plastic lid that was originally supposed to be a cover for a pie pan, and put them in the freezer to firm up before I put them in a ziploc freezer bag marked with their name, oven temp and baking time.

These turned out pretty well. I'm not as into peanut butter as Tanya is so I can't rhapsodize over them but if you like peanut butter, chocolate and toffee, this makes for a nice variation from the usual chocolate chip cookies. I substituted butter for the shortening for better taste and preferred texture - these didn't spread too much and were nice and chewy when properly (under)baked. I baked them off Sunday night to bring into a couple of work meetings on Monday. If you have to go to work on Monday and you have to be in meetings, let there be cookies.

½ cup shortening
¾ cup creamy peanut butter
1 ¼ cups packed light brown sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups (8 ounces) Heath Milk Chocolate Toffee Bits, divided

1. Heat oven to 375˚F.
2. Beat shortening, peanut butter, brown sugar, milk and vanilla in large bowl until well blended. Add egg; beat just until blended. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt; gradually bet into peanut butter mixture. Stir in 1 cup toffee bits; reserve remainder for topping.
3. Drop by heaping teaspoons about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet; top each with reserved toffee bits. Bake 7 to 8 minutes or until set. Do not overbake. Cool 2 minutes. Remove to wire rack. Cool completely.

About 3 dozen cookies

New Krung Thai - pad thai

Pad Thai - dinner with my friend Cindy on July 23, 2010 at New Krung Thai

One of my favorite Thai restaurants near where I live is New Krung Thai http://www.newkrungthai.com/. Not to be confused with the other Krung Thai further down the same street. I haven't tried that Krung Thai as I keep falling back to the first one I had ever gone to. Almost without fail I get their pad thai (no bean sprouts - I don't see the point of bean sprouts). They're close to my current house (walking distance) and when I call for a takeout order, they already have me programmed into their computer. Eek. When my nieces come for a visit and spend the night, our usual ritual is to get a hefty takeout from Krung Thai and watch chick flicks while we consume our (double) order of pad thai, soup, pad see ew, fried rice and ribs. No, we can't finish it all in one sitting (although we've come close a few times) and yes, they like having the leftovers for breakfast the following day. Since I don't cook, it makes for a perfect solution.

I've experimented by trying pad thai at other Thai restaurants - Amarin Thai, King of Krung Siam and Shana Thai in Mountain View in the recent past but none of them compare to New Krung Thai's pad thai. When I move, I think this is one of the places I'll miss the most. Although that just means I'll have to drive instead of walk to pick up some pad thai.

Easy Fudgy Loaf Cake

Easy, Fudgy Loaf Cake - made July 23, 2010 from Chocolate by Nick Malgieri

This is one of those recipes I'd been meaning to try for awhile but never seem to get to. I finally got to it because I had some milk I bought for another recipe so I thought I'd leverage ingredients while I could. This was very easy to throw together which is what I did while Ina Garten's Brownies were baking in the oven. I'd already packed my regular size loaf pans so I ended up making this in 2 mini loaf pans and 2 round ramekins. You only see 1 mini loaf in the picture because the other broke when I turned it out of the pan. That was baker error - I upended it out of the pan while it was too warm and it broke apart. Needless to say, that was the taste test loaf.

While it was still warm, this was a great cake - soft texture, not too overwhelmingly chocolatey and just a nice crumb. Once it cooled to room temperature though, it was a little crumbly and I didn't think it was anything special. It didn't slice that neatly and had an almost dry mouthfeel. Not sure I'd make again or if I did, I'd warm it up before eating. Unfortunately I'd only tried it warm and didn't try it at room temp until after I'd given the rest away. Oops.

2 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup light brown sugar
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
1 large egg
¾ cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

One 8 ½ x 4 ½ x 2 ¾ inch loaf pan, buttered and the bottom lined with parchment or wax paper

1. Set a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325˚F.
2. In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt.
3. Use an electric mixer set at medium speed to beat the butter and sugars together until light, about 5 minutes. Beat in the chocolate and continue beating until smooth. Scrape bowl and beater(s) and beat in the egg. Continue beating until creamy and smooth, another minute or two.
4. By hand, using a rubber spatula, stir in half the flour mixture, making sure to scrape the sides of the bowl well. Stir in the milk and vanilla, then the remaining flour mixture.
5. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for about an hour, or until well risen and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then unmold, remove paper and finish cooling on a rack.

Storage: Keep the cake wrapped in plastic at room temperature for several days. For longer storage, wrap and freeze.

Ina Garten's Brownies

Ina Garten's Brownies - made July 23, 2010 from http://www.foodnetworktv.com/

Someone recommended this recipe as THE best brownies they'd ever made. In baking-speak, to me that's the equivalent of madly waving a red flag at a charging bull. Gets my attention, you know? So I had to try the recipe and see if they'd come up to snuff.

Hmmm. First of all, bear in mind that I've made literally hundreds of different brownie recipes many more hundreds of times. So the bar is quite high for me to put one brownie recipe above all. Second, we all have different tastes and preferences. That's my somewhat gentle lead-in to say I wouldn't quite say these were the best brownies I'd ever made. They were good, no doubt about it. But they don't make my top 5 favorite brownie recipes, mostly due to texture. My favorite kind of brownie is fudgy, rich and dense. These weren't cakey but they did have a light, soft texture, mainly due to creaming the butter and sugar for 5 minutes which incorporates a lot of air into the batter. This recipe also has a relatively large amount of baking powder so that accounts for the lightness as well. I'm also not a big fan of having melted chocolate chips make up the chocolate in the batter. I don't have high-end chocolate chips to use like I do with regular bittersweet bar chocolate that I use for baking. I compromised and use part Nestle chocolate chips and part Guittard chocolate.

I also cut this recipe in half and baked it in an 8 x 8-inch pan. It made for a thicker brownie than The Barefoot Contessa might've intended but nothing wrong with thick brownies. You just have to bake them longer. That said, these were pretty easy to make. I woke up unnaturally early Friday morning and had these baked off and out of the oven before I logged into work by 8 am. Oh, yeah, I also added M&M baking bits on top in lieu of nuts. Some of them sank since the batter wasn't very thick and they gravitated towards the middle. I think these brownies have too soft a texture to take add-ins very well.

1 pound unsalted butter
1 pound plus 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate
6 extra-large eggs
3 tablespoons instant coffee granules
2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
2 ¼ cups sugar
1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F.
2. Butter and flour a 12 x 18 x 1-inch baking sheet
3. Melt together the butter, 1 pound of chocolate chips, and the unsweetened chocolate in a medium bowl over simmering water. Allow to cool slightly. In a large bowl, stir (do not beat) together the eggs, coffee granules, vanilla and sugar. Stir the warm chocolate mixture into the egg mixture and allow to cool to room temperature.
4. In a medium bowl, sift together 1 cup of flour, the baking powder, and salt. Add to the cooled chocolate mixture. Toss the walnuts and 12 ounces of chocolate chips in a medium bowl with ¼ cup of flour, then add them to the chocolate batter. Pour into the baking sheet.
5. Bake for 20 minutes, then rap the baking sheet against the oven shelf to force the air to escape from between the pan and the brownie dough. Bake for about 15 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Do not overbake. Allow to cool thoroughly, refrigerate and cut into 20 large squares.

Patxi's Pizza

When I was an undergrad at Berkeley, one of my favorite pizza places was Zachary's Pizza in Oakland, by the Rockridge BART station. Zach's was always crowded and always good. I think that was one of the first times I'd actually had pizza as a real pizza "pie". Many years out of undergrad later and not getting up to Berkeley or Oakland hardly ever, I was delighted to discover Patxi's (pronounced "pah-cheese") Pizza in Palo Alto thanks to my friend Karen (http://www.patxispizza.com/).

Patxi's is the closest I've come to Zachary's pizza on the peninsula. Their deep-dish Chicago-style pizza has a buttery crust and is laden with cheese. Yeah, don't go there if you're dieting or counting calories. The pies take anywhere from 30-40 minutes to bake so I've discovered the best thing to do is call ahead about 45 minutes before you expect to arrive (and account for having to hunt for parking around Palo Alto's busy University Ave) and order for dine-in. Then it's just a matter of arriving on time and they serve your pizza within a few minutes. If anyone in your party is late, they can also hold the pizza for you in their warmer. The call ahead option is a boon, especially when you're meeting cousins with young kids who probably wouldn't appreciate waiting more than half an hour for pizza :).

Oh, and once again if you're not on a diet and not watching what you eat (although you, I mean, "I", should) and have partners in crime who also like a little dessert, there is also conveniently a gelato place located next door to Patxi's so, despite being full, if you wanted a little something for your sweet tooth, you could also stop there on your way out to your car. I can personally recommend the mocha almond fudge. Just sayin'.....