Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Salted Caramel & Dark Chocolate Sour Cream Icing

Little cupcake soldiers as far as the eye can see..

You know, I've been doing this blog for over a month and there are no recipes for cakes on here! This blog is called Cassie CAKES! Where are all the cakes? Here. They're right here.



Oh man. What I would give for this cupcake right now...


These cupcakes are off the hook. When Mr. Cakes ate one he went "Mmm they're good!" and I went "Good? Good?! They're not good! They're life changing!". And...they are. Are you ready for this? You're life will never be the same. You might look the same but on the inside...you're different. You'll try other cupcakes and even enjoy them. But these dark little cocoa cakes will be at the back of your mind, calling to you, tempting you, lingering. Have I hyped these enough? THEY'RE REALLY FREAKING GOOD! I would have sworn there but I don't have enough readers yet to offend anyone. But trust me. They're worth the cussing.


See how that pack of chocolate is open? And half is gone? Mr. Cakes handiwork.

These cupcakes have cocoa and melted chocolate and a little coffee in them. They have butter and oil AND sour cream. Do you know what this all means? Levels of flavours. Levels of chocolate. Depth. Moisture.


This is the texture of the butter and sugar.

To make these cupcakes, cream the sugar and butter. Don't be concerned about the small amount of butter, there are more fats coming. That sounds a little gross but it's a good thing. Anyway, the ratio of butter to sugar is a little lower than you usually find in most cupcake recipes because of the other types of fats in them. This means the sugar and butter won't cream like they usually do. The mix will look like wet sand, rather than fluffy and pale.


Step 1. Melt chocolate. Step 2. Insert face into chocolate. Step 3. Inhale.

Then comes the silky, dark chocolate. Buzz it in the microwave in 30 second lots until there are a few lumps of chocolate left then stir until it's all melted and smooth. Add that in and watch the creamy yellow succumb to the cocoa bean.


Oh, you may stray, but you'll always return to your dark master... The cocoa bean!

This mix will still look grainy until the eggs get mixed in. Now things start to get interesting. The texture is getting smooth and everyone's starting to get along real nice.


Now the party is starting...

Then comes the additional fats, the sour cream and oil as well as the vanilla. Beat these all together and you're getting a finger licking good batter!


Am I the only one that gets excited by ingredients and photos like this? It's exciting!

Sift together the dry ingredients, add them to the wet and you've got your batter! I like to weigh out each cupcake to 50g, give or take 2 grams. This ensures a nice full cupcake that doesn't sit too low or spill over.


So that's around 50g and what 2/3 full looks like. A big dollop.

Once your cupcakes are in the oven, start on the luscious frosting and the salted caramel. For detailed instructions on the caramel, check out my post on Salted Caramel Éclairs. Otherwise, let's head deeper into flavour country.


Little babies ready to go into the oven! Also, smooth the top of the cupcakes out with the back of a teaspoon for nice even rising of the cake.

I was searching for an adult frosting for these cupcakes that wasn't too sweet and since I had the sour cream for the cupcakes already, I thought I would use it for extra tang.


And the little babies fresh out of the oven!

I used dark chocolate in this frosting for a darker, stronger cocoa flavour and to cut back on the sweetness. Chocolate is the star with these cupcakes.


I thought this was quite an interesting photo of butter. Isn't butter amazing? Not even joking, butter is amazing.

The buttercream is straight forward, melt the chocolate then cream the sugar and butter. Once the chocolate is cool, add to the butter along with the sour cream. Sift the cocoa in and beat til it's all smooth and delicious and amazing. I could eat it with a spoon. And maybe I did. Don't judge me!


Yum. Silky, smooth and oh so chocolaty.

Once the cupcakes and the caramel are cool, scoop out lumps of cupcake and then add a generous teaspoon of the caramel inside.


Cupcake perfection.

Replace the cupcake cap and add a generous swirl of frosting. I used a Wilton #1M tip. And I put a Columbine on top to finish it off! These will last 3 days in an airtight container but good luck keeping them that long.


Mmmmmm...

They're the best.

Get in mah belleh!

And here are some more picture, just in case you're not convinced yet.

Mmmm delicious...

 


 

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes
Adapted from The Cupcake Project

Prep time: 20 mins

Cooking time: 16 mins

Total time:  36 mins

 

Servings: 18 cupcakes 

 
70g butter, room temperature

200g caster sugar

100g dark chocolate

2 large free range eggs, room temperature

2 large free range egg yolks, room temperature

110ml vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

80g full-fat sour cream

150g all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

60g cocoa

1/2 cup room temperature black coffee 

1. Preheat oven to 180°C
2. Beat butter and sugar until combined. The batter will be grainy in texture, not light and fluffy.
3. Melt the chocolate in the microwave, in 30 second intervals, stirring between each interval.  
4. Once the melted chocolate is cool, add to the butter mixture gradually with the mixer on slow.
5. Lightly beat the yolks and eggs together and mix into the batter until just combined.
6. Mix in oil, vanilla, and sour cream until just combined.
7. Sift together flour, salt, baking soda, and cocoa powder into a separate medium-sized bowl and add to the wet ingredients in three lots.
8. Mix in coffee, slowly as to not splash until just combined.
9.  Fill each cupcake liner to about 50g or until 2/3 full.
10.  Bake for 16 minutes or until a wooden skewer or toothpick comes out clean. 
11.  Remove from oven and allow to cool.

Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting

Prep time: 10 mins

Cooking time: 3 mins

Total time:  13 mins

 

Servings: Enough to frost 18 cupcakes 

 

220g dark chocolate, finely chopped120g unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups icing sugar, sifted1/4 cup cocoa
2/3 cup sour cream

1. Melt the chocolate in the microwave, in 30 second intervals, stirring between each interval.  
2. Cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy and lighter in colour.
3. Sift the cocoa into the butter mix and add sour cream. 
4. Beat until well combined.

Salted Caramel Filling

½ cup (115g) caster sugar
½ cup (115g) brown sugar
90g salted butter, at room temperature, cut into pieces
½ cup (125ml) double cream, at room temperature
¼ teaspoon fleur de sel plus extra

Prep time: 15 mins
Cooking time: 10 mins
Total time:  25 mins

Servings: 1.5 cups

1. Add sugars to a heavy bottomed sauce pan, stirring occasionally, until the sugars melt and becomes smooth.
2. Add the butter and whisk until the butter is melted and stirred through.
3. Remove from the heat and slowly pour in the heavy cream.
4. Return to the heat and allow the mixture to boil for 1 minute.
5. Remove from heat and stir in salt.
6. Allow to cool down before using.

REVIEW: Dannyboys Sandwich Bar



This is the front of the shop. Can you see my reflection there?

Last weekend, I attended an event called Eat Brisbane, which is a food orientated meet-up for Instagrammers and bloggers. This was the fourth ever Eat Brisbane (Instagram profile @EatBrisbane) event held. I was really excited to be involved in this event as I felt it was a great opportunity to meet lots of the foodies I follow and it was great to put face to Instagram names.


Dannyboys is so street.

The meet was held at Dannyboys Sandwich bar at Kelvin Grove. I had seen the name of Dannyboys around but being on the other side of the city, the north side, it might has well have been in Cameroon. But then Eat Brisbane happened, so I got in my car and went to Cameroon! And by that, I mean Kelvin Grove.

The star of Dannyboys sandwiches are the bread. Baked in house, with no added preservatives, the smell of the bread was the first thing that hit me as I entered the shop. The second was the funky graffiti that adorned the walls and the upbeat atmosphere.


Check out my pamphlet styling skillz. 

I met the Eat Brisbane hosts (on Instagram under (@Ausmican_Eats  and  @Ameriaus_Food) and made my way upstairs to the seating area which filled up fast with fellow foodies and sat down to peruse the menu. Dannyboys menu reads like a sandwich lovers heaven with so many amazing sandwiches! 

This is from the episode of The Simpsons where Homer takes the sandwich home from the company picnic and he eats it for weeks after and then he's too sick to go to Duff Land. Just so you know.

The KJ Club which has turkey breast, bacon, cheddar cheese, tomato, onion, lettuce and mayonnaise almost had me but ultimately I chose the eponymous Dannyboy sandwich ($10) which has ovenbaked chicken breast, mozzarella, onion, lettuce with both ranch and buffalo sauces. My dining companion (@diddylaws )chose another one of my contenders, The Halfbrick ($10) which has ovenbaked chicken breast, bacon, avocado, tomato, lettuce and ranch dressing and her partner (@lawsy) chose the grand sounding Big Boy ($12) with leg ham, corned beef, shaved chicken loaf, salami, cheddar, tomato, onions, pickles, lettuce and mayonnaise. Phew! I'm tired just listing all those ingredients!


Look at this bread. So good.

We also got the choice of soup and I was so close not to ordering one but I am so glad I did. We got two serves of the Vegetable Corn Chowder and one serve of Broccoli Cheddar, all $4.50. The food arrived really quickly and my fears of so many sandwich orders holding up my lunch were quickly allayed. And I was so happy to be tucking in to the soup which was thick and creamy with visible bits of carrots and corn. The broccoli cheddar soup got rave reviews as well and was thick with melted cheese. he bread on the side was my first taste of Dannyboys famous bread and I devoured the lot! The bread was so good, soft on the inside, crusty on the outside. Things looked promising for the sandwich.

This soup was so good and when you dipped the bread in, you got some croutons on the bread and what goes better with bread than bread?

And that promise delivered. The sandwich was absolutely stuffed with flavour. It was messy and drippy and so good. The sandwiches knocked each table in succession into silence as the sandwiches were greedily consumed. I was more than a little dusty from a night of drinking before and this sandwich had the stuff to set me straight. The half brick and big boy were received equally high praise.


This was my sandwich, the Danny Boy.



...and this was the Big Boy!



And this was the Half Brick with the Broccoli Cheddar soup.

The sandwich was the short version but I couldn't finish it all and I did try. So when the cupcakes came round, I was devastated I couldn't fit them in as Dannyboys claim they're some of the best in Brisbane...they haven't tried mine though so I'll let that slide. But they looked amazing and the bit I did pick at was very, very good. Maybe not Cassie Cake good but don't let that deter you!  

Hmm...it does look good, maybe we should have a Dannyboy vs. Cassie Cakes cupcake off!

The Oreo cupcake! Who would win in a bake off?!

I don't often venture over to the dark side, I mean the north side but next time I'm over that way, I know where to get the best damn sandwiches in Brisbane. Highly recommended! And thanks to the organisers of Eat Brisbane 4 for a great afternoon out! Check out the hashtag #EatBrisbane4 on Instagram for more great photos of the event.

Food: 4/5
Service: 4/5
Price: 4/5
Atmosphere: 3/5

REVIEW: Spring Food & Wine



Ahhh...expectations were high.

Since I've been blogging reviews, I've started to really take note of a lot more things when I eat out. I note the service and the little extra touches that restaurants do, and as such, I've just noticed that most places really try to do their best. I was thinking, maybe I'll never post a less than positive review! I have been as critical while remaining fair as I could but I just haven't had a bad experience...until now. 

This kitchen is pretty cute hey. Imagine having that in your house!

I'd been hanging out to go to Spring for literally over a year. The menu looks so good and the website makes it sound fresh and spectacular, with organic food and farm to table eating. Unfortunately, I did not have the spectacular experience that I thought was all but guaranteed.


A nice coffee. The coffee must have been good cos the coffee drinkers went back for more!

We arrived at Spring early on a Wednesday morning for a girls catch up before work. I was so excited and when I walked in, I was simply chuffed with the interior. It is so French, provincial and charming. We were seated with the rest of our party and perused the menu. Everything sounded pretty good and we were quickly decided on what we would get.


I don't have the guts to go for green juices. Like, they look so healthy and people love them but why go green when you can go pink! Pink juice is where it's at.

When I caught the attention of the waiter and asked to order, he told me that drinks were first. This kind of perturbed me as it was obvious we were all dressed to go to work and you would think on a work day, efficiency would be key. Whatever, we ordered drinks and were left to wait to order our food.


A slightly blurry photo of the watermelon special. Looks a bit like a Halloween drink. It was really nice though.

For drinks, we ordered a Watermelon Special juice which is apple, watermelon, mint and lime, a Miss Berry juice of mixed berries, apple and orange, a Sweet Green juice of cucumber, spinach, celery, kale and watermelon as well as a couple of coffees. All the juices were $7.50. There was a big juicing machine in the kitchen and they were all very fresh.


And this is my drink! The pink beauty.

Once the waiter had deigned to take our order with his most least interested face on, the Farmhouse Breakfast ($22) proved to be most popular with 3 orders with Smashed Avocado on home-baked sourdough toast ($10) a close runner up with two of us ordering the dish. The Farmhouse Breakfast looked decent  and came with all the expected trappings of a big breakfast with eggs, bacon, tomato, sausages, mushrooms, spinach and toast. A gluten free order had the sourdough swapped with gluten free bread. My fellow diners said the bacon was very well cooked. The sausages also looked fat and plump.


The Farmhouse Breakfast and you can see the gluten free farmhouse with the gluten free bread. I tried some of that bread and it was alright. Poor gluten free people.

I was less impressed with the avocado on toast. The presentation was quite poor. I ordered a side of mushrooms for $5 and received four pretty sad looking mushrooms on the side. I guess the avocado on toast was on the cheaper side for breakfast at$10 but I was pretty disappointed with the mushrooms. Way over priced. And I didn't think the bread was all that good compared with the bread I had at Chester Street Bakery.


Those mushrooms look miserable. They need Xanax or something. It's like avosadco on toast.

My fellow avocado on toaster ordered a side of haloumi for $5 and I thought it looked equally depressed. As there was no salt on the table, I asked the waiter for some salt and was given an empty shaker. That's not enough really to upset me but when I asked for a different one, I was given instructions on how to use the shaker and told it wasn't really empty in a manner I found rude. After negotiating the release of a different salt shaker like the release of a hostage from Fallujah, I finished my meal with a sour taste in my mouth from the dismissive and unhelpful waiter.


That haloumi is trying to hide under the toast. It can't even.

I found the food at Spring pretty average but it was the service that really stuck in my craw. The waitress who rung up our bill at the end was actually really lovely and perhaps if she'd been our server the whole time, I might be back to Spring to see if they were having an off day.


The coffee must be good! Look at that line up for takeaways.

However, with the attitude of the man who did serve us, I think I'll try somewhere else next time. There are so many great places opening every week in Brisbane, I really don't have to put up with bad service. 
 
Food: 2/5
Service: 1/5
Price: 3/5
Atmosphere: 3/5

 

REVIEW: Our Haus

Here's the sign for Our Haus...not the greatest photo but anyway. Now you've seen the sign,

Last weekend, we woke up and got out of bed before 9 which is a bit of an accomplishment. We were due at breakfast with Mr. Cakes' lovely family. We walked the short distance to Bungalow 4171 to meet our fellow diners with 6 of us planning to eat. Unfortunately, when everyone arrived, we were told it would at least be 20 minutes until they would be able to seat us and that there were few tables large enough to accommodate us. It was a bit of a shame as I hadn't been to Bungalow 4171 for a while and was keen to try their new menu.

So instead we went to Our Haus on Riding road. We've been to Our Haus so many times as it's so close to us and we're always satisfied, especially with their serving sizes. They have recently changed owners in the last few months, so I was curious to see if things have changed. We were seated straight away and had menus as well as water for the table promptly. The services is always very attentive.


Our table in the lovely winter sun.

We were seated in a pleasant seat in the dappled winter sun and drinks were ordered! For drinks, we ordered one pineapple juice ($4.50), two Haus Frappes Fusions both for $6.50, two cappuccinos ($4 each) and for me...can you guess? Yep! A large caramel milkshake ($5.90).


The pineapple juice being all ananas-y.

The pineapple juice is from a bottle, not freshly juiced so it's nothing extra special but pineapple juice is pretty special anyway, right? One of the frappes was Mango Lime and the other was a rather exciting sounding Copacabana, which is pineapple, lime and mint. By reports, they were very good! The Copacabana looked particularly good.

The Copacabana on the left and mango lime on the right. Look at that pineapple juice in the background, pulling focus. YOU'VE HAD YOUR TURN, PINEAPPLE JUICE!

The coffees were good and nicely presented. They did look a tad small to me but I don't even drink coffee so I'm not sure how much of a right I have to judge.

A pretty little coffee. Is that called crema on the top? It's good looking froth anyway.

Now, down to the serious business. My milkshake. You should know I take dairy VERY seriously. Ice cream, and ice cream derivatives of which milkshakes are one, is my jam! They're my bae! They're my BFFs! And I ain't even joking.

It is a nice looking milkshake, I have to give it that. Ohh I see you pineapple juice! Go home, you're drunk!

So this milkshake...I gotta say. Meh. It's flavour was alright, I can't complain but it didn't knock my socks off. It was okay. The texture though? Mmm. Not that great. I couldn't even say it was like thick milk. It was like milk. And I would have liked a bigger one,(that's what he said!) but I think I might say that about every milkshake. So I don't know, overall, milkshake was meh.



That is a big Big Breakfast hey!

The milkshake did not ruin my experience though! Because here came breakfast! First up was the big breakfast at $21.90 It came with the standard big breakfast items - bacon, eggs, toast, mushrooms, wilted spinach, hash browns, grilled tomatoes and sausages. The usual suspects. But then there was a steak! A nice bit of steak! I don't think I've seen that outside a country pub and I think it was very much appreciated! It was just that little bit extra. Good work, Our Haus.

This is the Eggs Benedict with the extra haloumi and the second one is there in the left corner too!

Next up were two Eggs Benedict with bacon ($18.90) and one with an extra side of haloumi ($6). The eggs benedict at Our Haus also comes with avocado as standard too, which is another nice touch. The hollandaise sauce was tasty and the eggs were poached very well. The side of bacon was very generous and I have to say I got a little bit of bacon-envy. Happens. The haloumi was cooked well and not greasy as it can be. Both of the eggs benedict were well received.



The healthy breakfast option - The Gym Junkie!

Two servings of the Gym Junkies ($18) were ordered, with the Gym Junkie being an egg white omelette with mushroom and sweet potato served with rocket and spinach on top with a extra side of toast ($4). I didn't see any rocket on the plate though, even though its stated on the menu. I don't think that was particularly devastating. It was cooked well and the sweet potato went well with the omelette. It's nice to see such a healthy option on a menu that is also a hot dish.



Looks good hey! I like the little pumpkin crisp.

Finally, I had Eggs Riding ($16) with a side of hash browns ($4). One of my hash browns was pilfered by Mr. Cakes but since I'm so good at sharing, I didn't mind. I really liked the dish, with pumpkin and wilted spinach and I swapped out poached eggs for scrambled. It all worked well together and presented nicely. The tomato compete and little pumpkin crisp on top was a nice touch too!

I like Our Haus because it can always be relied upon for a decent breakfast. The restaurant achieves what it sets out to: it's a nice, simple suburban café. It's not a place for fancy, haute cuisine but it doesn't want to be. It's my neighbourhood café where we can rock up and get a table pretty much straight away.

Food: 3/5
Service: 3.5/5
Price: 4/5
Atmosphere: 3/5