donuts and drinks party

Miss Fats’ dreams came true last week.  You know how sometimes all of the forces of the universe converge at fix all problems ever?  This happened last week, and it will forever go down in history as the day of infinite donut luck.  (Now when she says “all her problems were fixed,” Miss Fats really means that a big ‘ol fried dough band aid was slapped across her life and the universe called it a day. Donuts can’t write papers, but they can definitely delay them.)  Anyway, one (miraculously) sunny morning, following one of the greatest classic raised donuts of her life (that shit was warm, but more on that in a future post), she received a text from J inquiring whether she’d “won donut party.”  Naturally, given the donut party that had just happened in her mouth, she went on an on about that classic raised.  To which J responded to check twitter.  Logging on she found a cryptic tweet-back to a response she had totally forgotten she’d posted.  Late the night before she’d suggested a party option for Glazed and Infused twitter contest to win a “donut party for 20-30 people.”  Pitching and “end of the year party,” Miss Fats forgot her lame idea and went to bed.  So naturally, this was a huge surprise come morning.  She’ll save you the boring details of correspondence, but within thirty minutes she’d secured her winnings and was well on her way to dreaming up the ideal donut bash.

Miss Fats was now sitting on top of a sugary evening for 20-30 guests up at Glazed & Infused Lincoln Park location.  They generously offered the entire shop on a Friday or Saturday night from 9 pm ’till 2 am, and donuts for all of my guests.  Now luckily Miss Fats has a little party-planning position in her department and access to funds as a result.  She and her partner had been struggling to nail down an end of the year gathering given Chicago’s weather schizophrenia.  And here was the answer, delivered fried and delicious by Glazed & Infused.  This meant that Miss Fats had a significant chunk of change to supply drinks with the donuts, and turn the evening into a real party (“real” party according to society at large.  Miss Fats considers almost any occasion where fried dough is consumed to be a party.)  Now the trickiest part of this party was really getting enough stressed grad students out of Hyde Park and all the way up north during finals.  Miss Fats was real worried she wasn’t going to be able to make it happen.  However she seriously underestimated her department and friends love of fried dough and drinks.  By the end of the RSVP period she was sitting on a guest list of 60 + people.  Glazed & Infused was incredibly kind to welcome everyone and offer donuts for all.  Life was good. Miss Fats was looking at a trunk full of alcohol, a donut supply for 60 excited guests, and a whole shop to themselves into the early morning hours.

Glazed & Infused Lincoln Park shop turned out to be a nice, intimate space for the gathering.  The long, two-roomed space had plenty of tables and even a nice bar to display the wide variety of drink options (see above).  Abraham (the greatest donut store manager of all time), let them have full control of the sound system to pair some tunes with the treats.  All in all, this was literally the easiest party Miss Fats has thrown all year.  Glazed & Infused laid out an incredible spread of donuts throughout the space.  Baking sheets were piled with a variety of their insanely indulgent treats and Miss Fats was delighted to see tray after tray of fried dough keep coming out.  They had everything from a classic vanilla bean raised to Glazed & Infused famous bacon maple bars and a range of crazy goodness in between.  Miss Fats seriously had trouble containing herself while those donuts were laid out; and naturally, as soon as they appeared to be finished, she and J tore into those suckers.  Instant sticky fingers and happy faces.  This was preceded by an insane tasting session, as they ran around trying all the different types and shoving their favorites into their purses (bad form: yes.  But she knew it was worth waking up to an old fashioned glazed the next morning.)

By then, guests had started to arrive and the evening had started.  Miss Fats watched group after group of people arrive and their eyes burst out of their faces as they saw the sugar smorgasbord.  Most people got super excited and dove straight into the selection, emerging seconds later with sticky faces and hands.  It was like a delightful return to a childhood sugar rush over and over again.  Only you got to top it off with a cool refreshing adult beverage afterwards.  Guests meandered around the room cutting off bites from every flavor, trying their best to select a favorite.  Given the pace at which people seemed to dig into the spread, Miss Fats was a little worried they’d run out.  She underestimated the crashing powers of the sugar rush and actual number of donuts out there.  That initial gorging moment seemed to create a premature end to the donut-consuming portion of the night.

Alright, alright enough of the people, let’s get to the donuts.  Miss Fats tried them all (you know: for “research” purposes).  The flavor list included: old fashioned, chocolate old fashioned, vanilla bean glazed, chocolate glazed, bacon maple, coffee glazed, lemon blueberry glazed, pistachio passionfruit, apple fritters, banana cream cheese, and blueberry goat cheese. That’s right. Take a moment to marvel in that list.

In the end, Miss Fats’ favorites included the chocolate and traditional old fashioned, vanilla bean glazed, and the lemon blueberry.  Clearly Glazed & Infused does the classics well.  The old fashionds were both incredibly flavorful, moist, cakey donuts that were not too sweet, but still a sugary delight: ideal coffee pairing donut.  The vanilla bean glazed was the big surprise of the night.  She almost never goes for a simple raised donut at a gourmet shop, but boy was Glazed & Infused a beautiful surprise.  The massive glazed donut was light, airy and perfectly moist.  Total cloud donut.  Finally, the lemon blueberry was a summery, tart mouth party of fun flavors.  They were such a nice treat following the gallon of classic donut glaze that was filling up her gullet.  Refresh your pallet with one of these dude on your next donut binge.  Now Miss Fats can’t go finishing this post without a shout out to the bacon maple glazed.  This has become a staple at most gourmet donut shops, but she has to say that Glazed & Infused serves this up right.  It’s hard to get the right balance between the fatty, salty bacon and the super sweet maple, but these long johns hit that symphony of salt and sweet that Miss Fats is always looking for.  Despite the fact that the bacon just kind of sits in the middle, every bite strikes the balance and never leaves you just eating center meat portion and doing away with the scraps.

Despite the fact that the combo of alcohol and excessive sugar caused most of her guests to sugar crash (sugar party hard) before the clock struck midnight, Miss Fats has to say this might be the most successful party she’s ever thrown.  An essentially endless supply of donuts and the company of all her friends created a fantasy sugar evening that will go down in friend dough history.  The insanity of her twitter prize still shocks Miss Fats, and she hopes all her guests enjoyed themselves and had the proper sweet hang over the next morning.  Miss Fats would like to extend a HUGE THANKS to Glazed & Infused for all their hard work, crazy delicious treats, and awesome space.  It was a great party success (people need to marvel just in the fact that Miss Fats got 40+ students to show up), and she could not be more pleased with her undeserved winnings. She hopes everyone now be inspired to see donuts as the new ultimate party food and go throw an excessive sugar bash themselves.   You’re guaranteed to have nothing but infinite donut smiles:

THANK YOU, GLAZED & INFUSED!

Note: This post is not officially sponsored by Glazed & Infused.  But hey, they did give Miss Fats a free party.

Other Note: Sorry for the lameness of these black & white images.  Miss Fats was too busy eating to properly document this miraculous event.

Recipe Review: Lemon Cheesecake Topped with Strawberries

It has been years since Miss Fats has baked a cheesecake. And reflecting upon it, she’s not sure why. Perhaps the pressure to get that filling silky smooth and set just right was too much for her. After all, there’s nothing lamer than a dense cheesecake with a mushy center.  But thanks to a recent spring-form pan purchase, she was all set to return to the chilled dairy cake realm (just you watch out, ice cream cakes), and try her hand at a massive and indulgent cream cheese monster.

Miss Fats was baking this cake for a department event and had the request for some sort of “cream-cheese-strawberry-type-cake,” and due to a lack of imagination, went straight to cheesecake with strawberry topping.  (Sorry this sounds so apathetic. Miss Fats does not know what’s wrong with her: she has so little enthusiasm for the prospect of cheesecake with fruit.  Her unconscious is clearly deeply effected.)  For the recipe, she turned to Food 52′s Meyer Lemon Cheesecake with Biscoff Crust, which looked beautifully spring-like and just what everyone needed for a June lunch meeting.

Since Miss Fats still can’t figure out what Biscoff cookies are, she opted to go for the standard graham cracker crust.  She simply substituted the same amount of graham cracker crumbs for the Biscoff cookies and it worked out perfectly.  Since she also could not get her hands on meyer lemons, she used normal lemons but added an additional one to amp up the flavor (she also omitted the lemon extract).

Food 52′s recipe worked perfectly.  The filling was incredibly easy to create thanks to a stand mixer and leaving the cream cheese out until it was fully softened.  She highly recommends beating the hell out of that cream cheese when you first put it in the bowl- there is nothing worse than a lumpy batter.  Even though Miss Fats opted to use full fat cream cheese, the actual cake turned out to be surprisingly light (or as light as a full fat cheesecake can be…) and not too sweet.  The bright lemon flavor cut the heaviness of the cream cheese and the crispy crust provided the perfect balance of texture and even a little salty note at the end (Miss Fats is a HUGE fan of Food 52′s addition of salt to the crust).

Now, Food 52′s recipe does not include strawberries.  And frankly, there isn’t necessarily a reason to add them: the lemon cheesecake is insanely good in itself.  Except why the hell not?  Strawberries are in season, gorgeous and affordable right now.  We all must shove as many in our mouths as possible.  So Miss Fats is going to share her totally ad hoc strawberry topping with you so you can push this cake into the realm of excessive.

Strawberry Topping:
creates a heaping portion for a 9 inch cheesecake

2 pints strawberries, divided
1-2 tbs sugar (depending on your berries)
2 tbs water
pinch of salt

1. In a small sauce pan, combine the sugar, water and about 2/3 of a pint of hulled, chopped strawberries.  Cook over medium heat until berries begin to breakdown and form a sauce (about 10 minutes).  Using a handheld blender (or regular one), puree the sauce until smooth.  You can also skip this step if you don’t mind a chunkier sauce.  Simply cook a little longer, mashing the berries with a spoon or fork as you go.  Allow to fully cool.

2. Slice the remaining berries and toss in the cooled sauce.  Dump that good stuff all over top of your cake.

In the end, this cake really seemed to please everyone.  Miss Fats received reviews including “more” and even “perhaps even the best cheesecake I’ve ever eaten.” Now these are sugar-induced delirious statements, however Miss Fats does believe this recipe makes a case for the top.  With the strawberries and tangy lemon cream cheese flavors, this dessert manages to be both sunny and utterly indulgent.  She’s sure that this cake will become a critical recipe in her dessert arsenal and plans to experiment as soon as possible (hello, rhubarb is in season.)  Don’t even get Miss Fats started on the sweet-salt combos likely to come. Just you wait.

S’mores Cupcakes

May was the craziest month of birthdays Miss Fats has ever experienced.  She’s fairly certain that just about every single person she knows “decided” to be born in the last two weeks of the month. Therefore each year they all create a birthday vortex where time becomes structured entirely through running from one “drinks” to “dinner” to “party,” rather than attending to things like work…or school, or life. whatever.  It sounds like Miss Fats is upset about this.  False.  Because she in fact loves birthdays, and despite the end of the quarter craziness, she prefers a world structured through celebration.

Naturally, birthdays demand cake.  And as you can see, there has been a number of birthday cakes popping up on Sunday Sundaes in the last couple of weeks.  The latest cupcake was an impromptu production when the last birthday of the month popped out of nowhere (at least to Miss Fats, who has been in birthday brain spiral and fails to look at things like calendars anymore). Luckily she had all the ingredients on hand to experiment with this new indulgent cupcake recipe.

All this sunshine (well, at least the small heat wave last week) and the wrapping up of classes is making Miss Fats itch for summer and the delicious foods of BBQ season.  So it’s no wonder her brain went immediately to s’mores when she was faced with a cupcake challenge.  There’s a ton of s’more (s’mores? is it always plural? whatever.) cupcake recipes out there– from blogs to pinterest– so there’s nothing revolutionary about this concoction.  However Miss Fats would like to think that her version does a pretty good job of recreating the ooey-gooey-ness that is a s’more experience.  Her version layers graham cracker crust with moist chocolate cake, stuffed with an oozing chocolate almond filling, and topped with a light and fluffy marshmallow frosting.  She has no idea how science works, but these little guys actually stay incredibly moist and gooey days after they’ve been properly torched on top as well.  Therefore they become the perfect make-ahead cupcakes for gatherings if you can manage to keep your hands off them.

Now they probably seem like a lot of work: many components.  However these are damn easy cakes.  Miss Fats literally threw them together after an evening of gorging herself on Ethiopian food and was fighting an insane food coma the entire time. Yet, they came out even in her half-conscious state.  To make things even easier on yourself, she suggests splitting the work between two days: bake the cakes one day, frost the next.  No problemo.

S’mores Cupcakes:
makes 12 cupcakes (recipes all easily doubled)
cake adapted from The Ktchn’s Dark Chocolate Cake
frosting adapted from Baker’s Royale S’mores Rice Krispy Treats

cake:
about 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (Miss Fats ground up one package of the crackers from the standard box)
4 tbs melted butter
pinch of salt
1 cup + 1 tbs sugar, divided
1 cup scant flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup scant boiling water

filling:
1/2 cup Trader Joe’s Chocolate Almond Spread (or use Nutella)
3 tbs milk

frosting:
2 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cupcake pan (Miss Fats has not tried this without cupcake liners and she is fearful of what would happen without them. However if anyone out there gives it a shot, report back!)  In a small bowl, mix the graham cracker crumbs, 1 tbs of sugar and salt.  Mix in the melted butter, forming a crumbly crust.  Distribute evenly among the cups, packing it down with the back of your spoon or fingers.  Bake for about 10 minutes or until the crust just begins to brown.

2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, mix flour, remaining sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, soda and salt.  Add the eggs, oil and milk and whisk for approximately 2 minutes.  Add the hot water and mix until smooth. Distribute batter evenly among the crust cups and bake for 15-18 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.

3. Make the filling: in a small bowl, warm the milk and spread in the microwave for about 30 seconds.  Whisk until smooth.  If the mixture seizes up at all, just microwave for an additional 30 seconds and patiently whisk away.

4. Make the frosting: in a large metal bowl, over a simmering pot of water, whisk the egg whites and sugar together.  Using a thermometer, gently heat the mixture to 160 degrees, whisking constantly (about 5-8 minutes).  Transfer mixture to your stand mixer and whip on high speed until it as cooled and soft marshmallow peaks have formed (about 10-12 minutes).

5. Assemble the cupcakes: Preheat your broiler (or ready your blow torch). Using a small spoon, scoop out the center of each cupcake, careful not to dig into the crust layer.  Spoon 1-2 tsps of the filling into each.  Transfer the frosting to a large ziplock bag and cut off the tip to form your ad hoc pastry bag.  Swirl the frosting over top each cupcake.  Transfer the cupcakes to a baking sheet and broil the tops of cakes until toasted (careful not to burn). (You can also skip this step, but come on, it’s not a s’more without a little toasted marshmallow).

Instant summer in a cupcake.  This will bring back all the memories of campfire and messy s’more consumption in one bite.  It’s the perfect fun, nostalgic treat for any summer or birthday celebration.  Not to mention with the messed Chicago weather, this cake allows for optimal indoors s’more consumption.  Miss Fats hopes that you all get the chance to make some traditional campfire toasted s’mores soon, however, she’d like to think this cake can suffice in the meantime.

intensely coconut mini cake

Last week was a big day for Miss Fats’ better half: J rang in her 30th year and a whole new decade of food adventures to be had.  Though she looks nowhere near her age, and is infinitely more exciting than any young person Miss Fats has ever encountered, J opted for a less rowdy, more intimate birthday celebration.  However just because J was being an adult, didn’t mean M needed to be.  Hence the craziest coconut cake ever.  This cake is a bit of a beast: not for casual or impatient baker.   However it really pays off in the end for those who love coconut more than life itself (which J does).

Since the gathering was a small group of six, Miss Fats opted for a minicake.  Now mini doesn’t mean less intense or less epic.  Instead she packed all the crazy times of a giant cake monstrosity into a nondescript mini version (she likes to think this intensifies the effect).  The cake features 4 moist layers of coconut cake with coconut pastry cream and strawberries.  The whole deal is then frosted with swiss buttercream and flaked coconut for good measure.  Lots of steps, but really worth it: both in looks and taste.

The cake has been adapted from several recipes that have been altered and cut in half to make up for the mini form.  She assumes that any of these recipes below can be doubled for a large cake option.  Ultimately, you end up with a 6 inch stacked mini cake and a substantial bowl of extra coconut pastry filling (like you can’t figure out what to do with that).  Miss Fats went for strawberry filling to help balance the creamy coconuttiness, but any berry or tart option would do just fine.  Or if berries are out of season, just opt out. For this filling, Miss Fats created a half-cooked, half fresh filling so as to preserve the tart flavors of those fresh berries, while still holding it all together with some cooked jam-y fruit action. Miss Fats is going to take you through the steps carefully, but be warned that this cake is really more of a two-day process that requires periods of waiting and careful cake assembly work.  Plan ahead.

intensely coconut mini cake:
makes 1 4-layer 6 inch mini cake
cake adapted from What’s for Dinner?’s Truly Awesome Coconut Cake
coconut pastry cream adapted from coconut swiss buttercream adapted from Willow Bird Baking’s Ultimate Moist, Fluffy Coconut Cake

cake:
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp coconut extract
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk

coconut pastry cream:
1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
good pinch of salt
1 1/2 egg yolks
1 tbs corn starch
1 tbs butter
1/4 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup flaked, sweetened coconut

strawberry filling:
1 pint of strawberries diced, divided
1/2 packet of unflavored gelatin
1 tbs sugar
1/4 cup water

coconut swiss buttercream:
1/2 cup sugar
2 egg whites at room temperature
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp coconut extract
good pinch of salt
1-2 cups of sweetened, flaked coconut

1. day 1, make the cake: Preheat oven to 350. Grease 2 six-inch cake pans.  Beat butter and sugar on high in a large bowl or stand mixer until pale and fluffy (about 3 minutes).  Add eggs one at a time, beating until combined after each.  Add coconut extract.  On low-speed, alternate adding the dry ingredients and coconut milk.  Increase speed to medium high and beat until combined (5-10 seconds).  Pour into pans and bake for approximately 15-20 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.  Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before removing from pan.

2. day 1, step 1 of the pastry cream: in a sauce pan, over medium, heat the coconut milk, sugar, salt, vanilla and coconut extracts.  In a small bowl, mix the corn starch and egg yolks until well combined.  Once the cream is hot, temper the yolks by carefully adding 1/4 cup of the milk to the bowl, whisking constantly.  Add the yolk mixture back to the sauce pan, whisking constantly. Continue to mix over medium high heat for 3 minutes (for the FULL 3 minutes!).  Add the butter and coconut flake and mix.  Pour into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap (make sure you press the plastic wrap onto the surface of the cream to prevent skin-formation).  Store in fridge until cake assembly or until fully cooled.

3. day 2, step 2 of the pastry cream: beat whipping cream until soft peaks form.  Fold into the chilled cream and set aside until assembly.

4. day 2, strawberry filling: in a sauce pan, melt the sugar, and gelatin in water over medium heat.  Add half of the pint of chopped strawberries and cook for 5 minutes, mashing the berries with your spoon.  Transfer to a small bowl and mix in the remaining berries.  Chill in the fridge or freezer while you make the frosting.

5. day 2, swiss buttercream: In a stand mixer, whip egg whites until soft peaks form.  While the eggs are beating, heat water and sugar in small sauce pan over medium high heat.  Stir until the sugar has dissolved and then stop.  Bring the mixture to 240 degrees.  Reducing the mixer speed to medium, carefully stream the hot sugar mixture into the whites, avoiding pouring onto the whisk. Increase speed to medium high and beat until stiff peaks form.  Add the butter, one tablespoon at a time, beating until fully incorporated.  If buttercream appears curtled at any point, increase speed to high and beat until smooth.  Beat in extract until fluffy and smooth.

6. day 2, cake assembly: carefully cut each of your cake layers in half.  Lay down the first layer and pipe a ring of the buttercream around the edge of the cake to prevent the cream from oozing out.  Spread approximately 1/3 cup of the pastry cream onto the first layer.  Top with second layer.  Carefully spoon the strawberry filling on top, doing your best to create a thick, even layer.  Top with third layer.  Repeat the steps for a second layer of pastry cream.  Top with final layer.  Frost the outside of the cake with swiss buttercream (this doesn’t need to be pretty).  Using your hands, carefully pack the flaked coconut onto the sides and top of the cake.

phew.  Miss Fats is exhausted.  However the cake is not complete just yet (or technically it is, but not up to Miss Fats’ standards).  Top off that insane cake with a cat face crafted of strawberries (see above).  Now you have the perfect coconut cat cake.

Miss Fats likes to think that this is truly a celebration cake.  All the hard work and multiple steps are worth it for that perfectly layered slice of cake on a special day.  Sure, modifications can easily be made to make this thing easier (omit the berry filling in favor of more cream, and whip up your favorite simple buttercream recipe instead of the crazy swiss version), but she likes to think that the amount of work involved in the cake directly correlates to how important and wonderful the person you’re making it for is.  So break this recipe out for your next coconut-obsessed bff, lover or cat.  Or just spend a fun day making this crazy cake for yourself and then please eat it while rubbing an overweight cat’s round belly (careful not to get fur into that slice).

five minute blueberry scones

In honor of Miss Fats’ recent house guest, she’s crazy editing the crap out of her photos and sharing the easiest, most impressive 5 minute breakfast recipe.  Never mind the photo nonsense (it’s a dumb joke for her most design-y friend out there).  But definitely pay attention to this quick little scone recipe.  Miss Fats’ blueberry scones are no-fuss heaping piles of flakey pastry goodness.  These guys only require one bowl, five minutes, and can be easily adapted to any ingredients you have on hand.  Feel free to throw down other berries, nuts, chocolate, whatever.  It’s a mini recipe, so it serves up four appropriately massive weekend-coffee-drinking-scones.  No left overs.  Don’t even bother: just embrace your perfect portion of fresh baked goods.

Blueberry Scones:
4 large scones

1 cup flour
1 tbs brown sugar
1 tbs sugar
1/2 tbs baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground ginger
1/4 cup cold butter cut into pieces
1/2 cup heavy cream or milk
1/2 pint blueberries

1. Preheat oven to 425.  In a large bowl mix together flour, sugars, baking powder, salt and spices.  Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut the cold butter into the dry ingredients until you form large pea-size pieces.  Add milk and blueberries and stir until just combined (careful not to overwork the dough or mash the blueberries).

2. Spoon 4 heaps of dough on to a baking sheet and sprinkle with a little white sugar if desired.  Bake for approximately 10-12 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.

Boom. Impressive weekend breakfast that takes minutes.  Miss Fats can tell you that these scones make quite the impression on those sleepy house guests.  You will essentially be Martha fucking Stewart if you serve these up warm with a cup of coffee in a house now filled with delightful pastry smells. The only bummer about this recipe is that they don’t keep super well.  Ok, they’re fine the next day. But let’s get real: there is nothing better than a warm, flakey, fresh-baked scone.  And Miss Fats likes to think that because the recipe is so small, you can handle just eating them all. Get over it.

the miracle cure cupcake: cookie-dough-stuffed chocolate cupcakes with chocolate ganache frosting

Are you ready to erase all ailments and stop the apocalypse? Miss Fats is sharing her latest “most-requested” cupcake with you all today.  This indulgent little dude is literally the cure to all bummers, because we all know that a cookie and cake will cure anything.  These cupcake have now undergone a series of names and Miss Fats seriously struggled to land on a final title for the recipe.  Anything from “break-up” to “PMS” to “crack” cupcakes, they’ve provided love and support for emotional ailments, and caloric fodder for rowdy celebrations.

Miss Fats locates their magical power in the balance between salt and sweet, moist cake and dough center, all topped off with fluffy ganache frosting.  She likes to think of these as a taste bud dance between childhood indulgences and thereby collapses space and time in a moment of pure mouth explosion.

Now these may seem like they have a lot of steps, but they can literally be made in about 2 hours.  To make these happen, Miss Fats simply takes her go-to one-bowl chocolate cake recipe, hallows out some cupcakes and stuffs them with a eggless/levener-less dough.  As you can see above, the stuffing process is no fancy show: just hallow those suckers out and stuff some goodness in.  The frosting will cover it all up later. You’re also welcome to make these in steps: baking the cupcakes off and setting them aside, and then stuffing and frosting the next day.  Easy enough.  All three of the cupcakes components literally only require one bowl a piece, and can be done in minutes.  You see: this recipe is magical on just about every level.

Miss Fats has also tried this out with a couple of different cookie centers.  As you all know by now, she’s a peanut butter addict, so naturally some of that action had to happen.  However she also recommends you try out ginger snaps for a cold fall day, or even add a little oatmeal raisin for a chewy center. But today Miss Fats is sticking to the classic: a salty-sweet chocolate chip cookie, and a moist dark chocolate cake.

Miracle Cure Cupcakes:
makes 24 cupcakes
cake transcribed from The Kitchn’s Dark Chocolate Cake

cake:
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup oil
1 cup boiling water

filling:
1 stick melted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
1  1/2 tsp salt (sounds like a lot, but it balances the cake and frosting)
1/2 cup chocolate chips

frosting:
2 cups chocolate chips
2 cups heavy cream
heavy pinch of salt

cookie crumbles or pretzels for decoration/that tasty bite on top

1. Heat the heavy cream in the microwave for approximately 2 minutes or until super hot.  Dump the chocolate chips into your stand mixer bowl (or another large bowl) and pour hot cream over top.  Whisk until the chocolate has melted and you’ve formed an insanely good-looking ganache.  Allow to cool completely to room temperature (or stick it in the fridge if you’re impatient).

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line cupcake pans. In a large bowl, whisk flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, soda, and salt.  Make a well in the center and add eggs, milk and oil.  Whisk until well combined (about 2 minutes).  Add boiling water, mix until combined.  Pour batter into cupcake pans, filling approximately 3/4 of the way (do not over-fill these!)

2. Bake for 18-20 minutes.  Once cool enough to handle, use a small spoon to scoop out the cupcake centers, discarding (or snacking on) the extra cake.

3. In a small bowl, combine all the filling ingredients.  Use your small spoon (or fingers) to add about a tbs of the mixture to each cupcake.

4. Once the ganche has cooled, whip on high speed using an electric mixture until stiff peaks form.  Cover up those gaping holes with frosting: you can do this rustic-style with a knife, or simply spoon the fluffy frosting into a ziplock bag, cut off the tip, and swirl it over top.  Top off with a little crumbled cookie or pretzel for good measure.

Not so hard huh?  The hard part is actually restraining yourself from eating all of them.  Good luck.

Miss Fats favorite comment on these cupcakes comes from a recent night of birthday shenanigans.  Well into an evening of drunken karaoke, the birthday boy leans over to Miss Fats and tells her, “These cupcakes are the greatest thing in the history of the universe.  I’m afraid if we eat them all we’ll cease to exist.”  Now this may be a bit of a hyperbolic statement brought out through copious amounts of alcohol, however he’s clearly zeroed in on a critical issue: living in a world without cupcakes just isn’t worth it. Plus why risk the end of the universe? Make these cupcakes: save mankind.

Mango Coconut Bread

Summer, is that you I see approaching? With Chicago’s temperatures pushing 80 this week, Miss Fats was feeling a little tropical.  The warm (maybe even a little too warm. uh oh.) weather spurred nothing but good attitude and required an equally cheerful flavor combination for this weeks’ breakfast treat. Naturally, however, by the time Miss Fats got around to making the loaf, Chicago’s weather decided to return to confusing grey and weird patches of wind and rain.  Whatever, Chicago.  Like that’s going to stop Miss Fats.

In order to transport this basic breakfast loaf, Miss Fats turned to mango and coconut.  Typically she’s not into the sweet flavors of the tropics, but this cake brings the perfect amount of sun. She began with Smitten Kitchen’s Coconut Bread recipe as a base, but decided to really amp up the coconut flavor by switching out butter for coconut oil and milk for coconut milk.  Lastly, she added chunks of fresh, ripe mango to the batter which dotted the bread with tasty soft bites of the sweet fruit.  Since mango is in season, Miss Fats went for fresh, but she’s sure that big chunks of dried mango would be equally delicious.

The cake turned out super moist: almost layer cake consistency.  And despite the juicy mango fruitiness throughout, the loaf itself wasn’t too sweet and can definitely still mask as a breakfast bread.  And naturally, since Miss Fats is lazy, she changed the original recipe to a one bowl deal.  Basically you just throw all that goodness into a bowl and mix. Done. Tropics in no time.

Mango Coconut Bread:
adapted from Smitten Kitchen’s Coconut Bread
makes 1 loaf

2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup scant sugar (depending on how ripe your mango is)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup coconut milk
6 tbs melted coconut oil
3/4 cup flaked, sweetened coconut
1 mango, diced

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9×5 loaf pan.  In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and ginger.  Make a well in the center, crack in eggs and add the coconut milk.  Stir until just combined.  Mix in coconut oil and stir until smooth.  Fold in coconut and mango.

2. Pour into loaf pan and bake for 60-70 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.

See: that easy. You are literally about an hour away from mini tropical cake vacation.  Miss Fats highly recommends starting your day with a big slice of this loaf, cup of coffee and some fresh sliced pineapple.  Then, all ones needs to do is imagine some palm trees and an island breeze and you’re basically there. Ok fine. You’re not even close.  But you might be closer to booking that plane ticket and in the very least, full of delicious cake.