White Chocolate Amaretto Cupcakes

For my Valentine's Day contribution to Paula Deen's website, their editor suggested that I create a cupcake using white chocolate.  These white chocolate amaretto cupcakes did the trick!  The cupcakes contain both melted white chocolate and white chocolate chips for a double punch of white chocolate.  The amaretto adds a sultry almond flavor – enough to enjoy, but not strong enough to leave you with a lingering taste of alcohol.

Although you can make these white chocolate amaretto cupcakes using store-bought white chocolate, it would be extra fun to make them using homemade white chocolate (it only takes five minutes to make!). 

For the white chocolate amaretto cupcake recipe, head to Paula Deen's website!

Passion Fruit Cupcakes for Valentine's Day with White Chocolate Frosting

I have to give credit where credit is due.  Jonathan came up with the idea for these passion fruit cupcakes for Valentine's Day with white chocolate frosting.  I mentioned that I was trying to think of something different for Valentine's Day this year and he said, "Passion fruit!"  I wasn't sure about the idea at first - perhaps because I hadn't thought of it (yeah, I'm like that sometimes).  But, the idea grew on me until I had to get into the kitchen and bake them.

The passion fruit cupcakes are unique and tropical and they express more than just a friendly, hand-holdy kind of love. These are the cupcakes for the Valentine you are passionate about.

How to Make White Chocolate in Less Than 5 Minutes

You can make white chocolate from scratch - at home, in your microwave, with no special tools (not even a candy thermometer).

You may think that making candy is completely out of your league.  I assure you that making white chocolate is something you can definitely do and it will look like the white chocolate in my picture (or fancier if you use a different mold).  Making white chocolate takes under five minutes of your time and, even if you don't typically enjoy white chocolate, this homemade white chocolate might change your mind.

Lavender Pear Cupcakes with Vosges Bianca Ganache: A Tale of Two Groups of Tasters

Lavender Pear Cupcake Warning

If you are going to bring lavender pear cupcakes to a party, do not bring them to someone's house who has just made lavender-scented soap.

My cupcakes and I arrived at a friend's house who just happened to have blocks and blocks of lavender soap sitting out on the table curing. As newbies to the world of culinary lavender, how could my friends help but make an association between the soap and the lavender pear cupcakes? Most of my friends loved the moistness of the cupcakes, but thought:

a) Lavender tastes like soap.
b) The white chocolate frosting looked like gravy.

Bride 2.0 was actually a fan of this cupcake but thought it was too springy for their fall wedding.

Lavender Pear Cupcake Tasters Other Than The Soap Bunch

The second group of cupcake tasters were a group St. Louis food bloggers at a food blogger potluck. The majority of this group were not only familiar with culinary lavender, but were fans of it. This group loved the cupcakes. I can only assume that they were being honest. However, I don't think the bloggers group would have told me if they thought the frosting looked like gravy. That's why I keep my good friends around.

To see all the potluck food and food bloggers eating the food, check out J. Pollack Photography and enter keyword FOODBLOG at the bottom of any page.


Lavender Pear Cupcake Recipe

I created this lavender pear cupcake recipe by adding lavender to the bubbly pear cupcake recipe on Yumsugar. I am reprinting the recipe below with my modification and notes.

makes 24-30 cupcakes

• 2 3/4 C flour
• 1 1/2 t baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 2 sticks of lavender butter (Make this the night before - refer to this lavender butter recipe)
• 2 C sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 t vanilla
• 3 medium sized pears (The Yumsugar recipe said to peel and grate them. I peeled and finely chopped them.)
• 1 C champagne

1. Sift flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
2. Cream butter and sugar until well mixed and airy.
3. Add eggs, one at a time, making sure each is fully incorporated before adding the next.
4. Slowly add in flour mixture a little bit at a time until it is fully incorporated.
5. Stir in vanilla and champagne.
6. Stir in pears.
7. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full.
8. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until top bounces back when touched.

Vosges Bianca Couture Cocoa Ganache Recipe

For the white chocolate ganache, I used Vosges Bianca Couture Cocoa (No, they did not sponsor this post. I'll always let you know if I get something for free). This cocoa contains Australian lemon myrtle, lavender flowers, vanilla, and white chocolate. I should also explain that it is not traditional cocoa powder. It is little pieces of white chocolate with all the seasonings mixed in. If you enjoy white chocolate (I say this because I don't -- not even when it's particularly good white chocolate like this), you are sure to love this stuff.

It does however cost $17, so use any old white chocolate with some lavender flowers and vanilla if you would prefer.

• 1 box Vosges Bianca Couture Cocoa or 2 C white chocolate chopped into small pieces with 1/2 t of culinary lavender and 1 t of vanilla.
• 1/2 C heavy cream

1. Heat the heavy cream until it just starts to boil.
2. Pour over the chocolate and stir until all the chocolate is melted.
3. Let cool slightly and spread on the cupcakes.

Spring Fruit Sensations Monthly Mingle

I am entering these cupcakes into the Spring Fruit Sensations Monthly Mingle hosted by Eat the Right Stuff. Check there for more spring fruit cooking inspiration.

Better Than Sex Cupcakes: Chocolate Times Five

When I made saffron cupcakes, I commented that Groom 2.0 really just wanted a plain chocolate cupcake. Those of you that read the comments saw that he was quick to correct me,

"I don't want a 'plain chocolate cupcake'. I want a phenomenal, rich, delectable, 'better than sex' chocolate cupcake. Milk chocolate? White chocolate? Dark chocolate? All of the the above. Not EVERY cupcake needs to
have an unusual flavor or a quirky ingredient. There's no reason that traditional has to mean boring. If I wanted a boring chocolate cupcake, I'd got to the store and buy a box mix and do it myself. I want the Cupcake
Project version."

I couldn't help but to see his point. I had to create a Better than Sex Cupcake that lived up to his hopes.

The Five Chocolate Parts of the Better Than Sex Cupcakes

I created cupcakes that have five different chocolate components:

White Chocolate Caviar Cheesecake Cupcakes: Eww?

I made this week's cupcakes as part of the blog event "They Go Really Well Together," hosted this month by Chadzilla.

Each month, participants are asked to create a dish featuring two different flavors that you might not have thought of combining. The two flavors, however, are not chosen randomly. According to the creator of the event at blog.khymos.com, "If two (or more) foods have one or more volatile compounds in common, chances are good that they might taste well together." You see, it's all based on a science called molecular gastronomy. "The molecule shown in the logo is of 2-methylfuran-3-thiol, a very potent aroma chemical found in coffee, chicken, meat, fish and popcorn - to mention a few."

While I am no scientist, I do enjoy reading about what these cutting-edge science based chefs come up with. I was excited and a bit nervous to participate in this month's event: white chocolate and caviar.


At first, I was thinking of making normal vanilla cupcakes and just adding caviar to the frosting, but somehow that felt like cheating. The caviar needed to be throughout the cupcake for it to count. A normal cakey cupcake just didn't seem like it would work. I, of course, did not do a molecular analysis. I went with my gut. My gut told me to go for a white chocolate caviar cheesecake cupcake.

Disclaimer
I know some of you think cheesecakes in cupcake wrappers are not cupcakes. We've been through this before. However, I figure white chocolate is clearly not chocolate and people have been letting that slide forever, so just work with me here.


The Tasters
My first taster, as always, was my husband: "There is nothing I like about this cupcake." He has never had such a strong negative reaction to a cupcake before.


I was worried, but I thought it was tasty. The flavors did, in fact, go well together. I love sweet and salty and this was no exception. The only thing that wasn't so pleasing was the slightly fishy aftertaste.




I decided to brave it and bring the cupcakes to a family event. The first taster there was my mother-in-law. "Mmmm," she said with a smile. "Yes!" I thought, she didn't spit it out. It turns out that she loves caviar and loves white chocolate and consequently loved these cupcakes. I won't tell you how many she ended up eating (to protect the innocent).


I proceeded to nonchalantly observe (I tried not to stare people down) as others tried the cupcakes. "Not bad." "Pretty good." "Really good." People actually liked them. Only one person complained about the fishy aftertaste. One guest commented on how the sweet and salty combo made her think of the salted caramels that are so popular now.


Will I Be Making Them Again?
I don't plan on making them again. They were good but not "wow" good. However, if you like white chocolate and caviar, give them a try or try some of the other white chocolate and caviar combinations once the TGRWT #8 is completed.

The Recipe
I used a white chocolate cheesecake recipe from allrecipes, and simply mixed in some caviar.
Makes about 15 cupcakes.

• 4 (1 ounce) squares white chocolate
• 3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tsp caviar

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Place the cream cheese, sugar, and flour in a mixing bowl and cream until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape bowl.
Melt 4 ounces of the white chocolate. With an electric mixer on low speed, mix melted white chocolate into cream cheese mixture. Keeping electric mixer on low, slowly beat in the vanilla and 1/2 cup of heavy cream. Blend well. Mix in caviar. Pour in cupcake wrapper.

Bake at 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) for about 20 minutes, or until center of the cheesecake is just firm. Cool at room temperature for 30 min. Refrigerate until set prior to frosting.



The Frosting
I topped the cupcakes with a white chocolate caviar butter cream frosting. I adapted the recipe from Food and Wine.

• 2 sticks (1/2 pound) unsalted butter, softened
• 12 ounces white chocolate, melted and cooled slightly
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 t caviar

Directions
In a large bowl, using a handheld electric mixer, beat the butter at medium speed until creamy. Beat in the melted white chocolate. Add the confectioners' sugar and vanilla and beat at low speed, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl, until light and fluffy. Mix in caviar.

Note: I had trouble piping this frosting because the white chocolate either a) solidified really quickly and gunked up the tip or b) was not fully melted in the first place. I ended up just spreading it and using a toothpick to swirl the caviar around.

Additional Reading
This article from The Guardian about white chocolate and caviar is definitely worth reading.

Also check out this new site on Food Pairings. It doesn't include white chocolate and caviar, but it may give you some really interesting ideas on how to combine flavors which you may not have thought of.