Anatomy of a Perfect Egg Sandwich

Take that, peanut butter and jelly!

*A sandwich by definition contains ketchup. Without ketchup, it is not a sandwich.

And yes,  if you were wondering, we DO have egg sandwiches for supper. Sometimes. Maybe. Possibly. So there!

Brooklyn Blackout Cupcakes

Sometimes, something is so insanely good, I have a hard time writing the post to go with it. Really. If it were up to me, I would just hand out these cupcakes this week instead of writing something fun and witty. But frankly I am just too tired. These cupcakes have so many adjectives that go with them, its hard to pick just one.

 Chocolatey would be an obvious first.

Creamy.

Fudgy.

Rich.

Ok, got the basics down pat. Here's some more I thought of:

Chocolate hitting you from every angle....

An explosion of chocolate to your senses...

Chocolate, Chocolate, and more chocolate?

Ok, let's let the picture do the talking:

Brooklyn Blackout Cupakes

For The Cupcakes

One Recipe Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake 
(All good things begin with Hershey's perfectly chocolate cake. If I teach you one thing, its this.)

For The Filling

• 1 cups white sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 4 egg yolks
• 2 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the frosting

2 sticks margarine/butter

1/4 cup cocoa
4 cups powder sugar

6 tablespoons heavy cream or Rich's whip

1 tablespoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt

Make The Cake


Prepare the cake, and pour into lined cupcake tins. Bake, and allow to cool completely.

Make the Filling

In medium saucepan, combine sugar, flour, cornstarch and salt. In a medium bowl, beat milk and egg yolks until smooth. Gradually stir into sugar mixture. Stir constantly over medium heat until mixture thickens and comes to a full boil. Boil and stir for one minute.

Remove from heat and stir in chocolate, butter and vanilla. Stir until melted. Pour into a bowl. Place plastic wrap over filling to prevent skin from forming and chill for several hours. 

Make the Frosting

Beat margarine in a standing mixture until creamy. Add 2 cups of the powder sugar, and the cream. Beat until creamy. Add remaining powder sugar,cocoa,vanilla and salt and beat until fluffy and smooth.

Assemble The Cupcakes

Once cupcakes have cooled, line them up on your work surface. Using a paring knife, cut out a cone shape from the center of the cupcake. Alternatively, you can use a 1M Wilton tip to punch out the middle, or a cupcake corer. Slice off the "skin" from the top of the cone, and place it next to the cupcake to use as a "cover." Save the remainder of the cone in a small bowl. Fill a ziploc bag with the cooled filling, and snip off the corner. Squirt about 1-2 tablespoons of filling into the hole in the cupcake, and place the cover on top. Repeat  with the remainder of the cupcakes. Pour the prepared frosting into a ziploc bag, and snip off a corner- about a half inch wide.  Pipe a swirl on top. Use reserved "cones" to crumble and sprinkle on top. 


I know these sound like a lot of work, but they are SOOO good, its totally worth it. 

I originally saw this as a cake on A Tender Crumb, then on Zoe Bakes. (She has a great clip on her post on how to frost a cake. I would definitely recomment watching it.) I substituted the fillings and frosting for my own favorite recipes, and I was really happy with the result. 

One Dish Dinner : Spiced Chicken and Rice

Spiced Chicken and Rice

1 whole chicken, cut into quarters or eighths ( its better with the skin on,but you can take the skin off if you like.)

1 1/2 cups rice; brown or white

3 1/2 cups water

Onion Powder

Garlic Powder

Paprika

salt

Pour rice and water into a large roasting pan. ( You can use an aluminum pan instead, but it will take at least another hour to bake.) Arrange chicken pieces on top of rice. Sprinkle with seasonings. Cover and bake at 375° for 1 hour.