Marshmallows

This weeks Tuesdays With Dorie recipe is Marshmallows chosen by Judy of Judy’s Gross Eats.

I've tried to make marshmallows once (for my chocolate hi-hat cupcakes) but that was before i got my KA - it turned out ok but they were ridiculously sweet. Now that i have my KA i was happy to see this recipe chosen so i can make some again.

So of course i have some mishaps.

• in trying to get my syrup to 265 it started to turn a pale amber color, so my marshmallows are beigey
• when pouring the sugar syrup into the whites the syrup started to harden on the whisk, so there were big clumps of thickened syrup stuck to my whisk
• i guess the syrup was too hot because i had little flecks of eggs all thru it, so i had to strain it
• the whisk to my KA broke (i just got this KA in august)!!!!

After beating the meringue it really didnt look like alot so i used an 8" square cake pan intead. I sprayed it with baking spray and then dusted the pan with a cornstrach/sugar mixture. Once the mixture was into the pan i spread it out and tossed on more cornstarch/sugar. I then put a sheet of wax paper on top and smoothed out the surface. I let them sit for about 3 hours before i cut them (i used my pizza cutter). They were still a little moist so i just tossed them in more cornstrach/sugar and let them sit.

From my other experience making marshmallows i was scared to bite into it for fear of going into a sugar coma, but once i did i was really happy. Not too sweet, the perfect hint of vanilla, a nice spongy/gummy center. My only issue was the cornstarch on the outside of the marshmallow, to me it gave it a kind of dry, chalky texture when you first put it in your mouth. Otherwise I loved it. I have to say that there is a big difference between these and the ones in the supermarket. These make me want to make them over and over again so that i have them perfected by the time winter comes...... homemade mini marshmallows to top homemade hot cocoa :)

For a printable verion of the recipe click here

Click here to check out other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers.

Last Week: The Most Extraordinary French Lemon Cream Tart
Next week: Big Bills Carrot Cake

Red Velvet Cupcakes

As many of you will come to know i love to bake. But i would rather make cucpcakes over a cake any day. Or i will make a small 6" cake and 12 cupcakes. I love making cupcakes - so you will notice that most of my posts to come will be in cupcake form.

These are my Red Velvet Cupcakes. Red Velvet seems to be all the rage these days, and is easily giving chocolate a run for its money as the most requested flavor at events and wedding. I have never tasted or made a red velvet cake before so i was not sure what to expect, everyone has such different and strong opinions on this cake. Is it a chocolate cake? Is it a buttermilk cake? Is it a buttermilk cake with a hint of chocolate? So many versions of this recipe out there each with its own "passed down" story to go with it.

I chose a recipe which was recommended to me by a friend. It comes from Sylvia's Soul Food Cookbook. The only change i made from the original recipe was that i increased the cocoa powder to 2 tbsp. The cake was a little dense and could have been moister but it was very tasty - it has a light chocolate taste in the background. I am tempted to make this cake without the food coloring and see if there is any difference in flavor and texture.

I topped it with a marshmallow cream cheese frosting which i made up as i went along. It was really good but a little too soft. I want to work on it but i dont even remember what i did so i guess i will have to start from scratch.

Since this is such a popular flavor I need to perfect it so that i can add it to my rotation. I will stick with this recipe as a base and tweak a few things to work on the denseness and dryness.

For printable recipe click here.