With Sprinkles on Top

I’ve come to the conclusion that only people born and raised in the Midwest really love and get rhubarb. It’s tangy, it’s pretty, and it makes any baked good 100x better. My friends and I were at the Farmer’s Market yesterday and the one and only item on my list was rhubarb. My friend, who is from the east coast, had no idea what I was talking about and didn’t even know what rhubarb looked like (I described it looking like pink celery.. pretty accurate, don’t you think?). So yes, I rest my case, rhubarb is as Midwestern as snow, cows, and cornfields.

I saw this recipe in the latest issue of Martha Stewart Living (thanks for the subscription, dad!). It’s an EASY cake to make and it’s really moist and delicious. I’d highly recommend this recipe!

Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake
Recipe source: Martha Stewart Living
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For the topping:
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
coarse salt

For the cake:
1-1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature; plus more for buttering pan
1 pound rhubarb, trimmed and cut on a very sharp diagonal about 1/2 inch thick
1-3/4 cups sugar
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon finely grated orange zest plus 1 Tablespoon fresh orange juice
2 large eggs
1 cup sour cream

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Make the topping: stir together butter, flour, sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt until moist and crumbly.
3. Make the cake: Butter a 9-inch round cake pan (2 inches deep). Dot with 4 tablespoons butter (cut into pieces). Toss rhubarb with 3/4 cup sugar; let stand for 2 minutes. Toss again, spread in pan.
4. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and 1-1/2 teaspoons salt. Beat remaining stick butter and cup sugar with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Beat in zest and juice. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, until incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl. Beat in flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with sour cream, until smooth. Spread evenly over rhubarb. Crumble topping evenly over batter.
5. Bake until a tester comes out clean and the top springs back when touched, about 1 hour. Let cool for 10 minutes. Run a knife around edge of cake and invert onto a wire rack. Let cool completely.

My notes:
* I used Pam Baking spray to coat the pan instead of butter – it worked fine.
* Let the cake cool for 10 minutes then remove from pan – if it sits out longer, the rhubarb will stick to the bottom of the pan.

Are these just the cutest things? Even though they look like ice cream sundaes, no ice cream was involved in the creation of these cupcakes. These cupcakes are a little time-consuming to make because they involving making the cake, frosting, and two kinds of ganache – but believe me, they were a labor of love.

Ice Cream Sundae Cupcakes
Recipe source: sweetestkitchen.com
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Chocolate Cupcakes
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons cup cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup boiling water

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line muffin cups with paper baking cups.This recipe will make 12 cupcakes.
2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes.
3. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin).
4. Fill cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake 22 to 25 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.

Chocolate Ganache Filling
4 ounces semisweet chocolate
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon butter, room temperature

1. Chop the chocolate and transfer it to a heatproof bowl.
2. Heat the cream until simmering and pour it over the chocolate.
3. Let it sit for one minute and then stir until smooth. (If this has not sufficiently melted the chocolate, you can return it to a double-boiler to gently melt what remains. 20 seconds in the microwave, watching carefully, will also work.)
4. Add the butter and stir until combined.
5. Put the ganache in the refrigerator to firm it up a bit – 15-20 minutes in the fridge will do.
6. Remove a portion of each cupcake and fill the cupcake with ganache.

Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting
Recipe source: marthastewart.com
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 (1-pound) box confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Cream the butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer.
2. With the mixer on low, slowly add the powdered sugar – scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
3. Add the vanilla and increase mixer speed to medium. Blend until frosting is fluffy – about 1 minute.
4. Frost the cupcakes using a round piping tip.

Chocolate Ganache Glaze
3 ounces semisweet chocolate
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 tablespoon light corn syrup

1. Place chocolate in a medium-size heatproof bowl. Bring cream and corn syrup just to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium-high heat; pour mixture over chocolate. Let stand, without stirring, until chocolate begins to melt.
2. Gently stir chocolate and cream until totally combined; begin near the center of the bowl and gradually work your way toward the edge, pulling in as much chocolate as possible, until the mixture is smooth and glossy.
3. Drizzle over cupcakes, add sprinkles, and top with a cherry.

And here’s one more photo, just because:

One of my good friends has celiac disease, which inhibits her from being able to eat anything containing gluten (wheat protein).  No wheat — no flour, no bread, no baked goods. You would be amazed at how many foods contain gluten. Twizzlers have a ridiculous amount of gluten – who knew? Thanks to MJ, I am learning more than I ever thought I would about what contains gluten and what doesn’t.

She mentioned to me that the food she misses the most are lemon bars. Finding a good, gluten-free lemon bar has been a challenge for her, so I wanted to give it a try. I found a GREAT recipe – these bars are GOOD. Using rice flour tends to make most baked goods a little sad looking — cakes or bars containing rice flour seem to be a little thinner than those containing wheat flour. But don’t let the appearance fool you – they were SO delicious.

Yield: About 24 bars

Gluten-Free Lemon Bars

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Gluten-free lemon bars that are full of flavor!

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Ingredients

For the shortbread crust:

• 1 cup rice flour
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 3/4 cup butter or margarine

For the lemon curd filling:

• 4 eggs
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 Tbsp rice flour
• 2 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 tsp lemon peel
• powdered sugar

Instructions

1.Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Cut butter into the dry crust ingredients, until you have a something similar to cookie dough (I used a food processor for this step and it worked REALLY well).

3. Pat into bottom of a 9×13 pan. Bake for 17-19 minutes. Let cool.

4. Beat eggs. Add sugar, rice flour, cornstarch, lemon juice, and lemon peel. Whisk until smooth.

5. Pour over crust and bake at 325 for 20 minutes or until filling is set. Dust with powdered sugar.

Notes

Your yield will depend on how big or small you cut your bars.

Recipe credit: Kill the Gluten

We all know that muffins are the same thing as cupcakes — but muffins are a little less cute and attractive. We all also know that the muffin top is the best part of the muffin. Why even continue after that delicious, slight-crunchy, sugar-filled top is consumed? My dad bought me these muffin liners that allow you to make blueberry muffins that are just big muffin tops. They were delicious!

Blueberry Muffin Tops
Recipe source: epicurious.com
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3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter
1/3 cup whole milk
1 whole large egg
1 large yolk
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups fresh blueberries

for the topping:
3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3 1/2 tablespoons sugar

*Note: you will need special muffin liners for this recipe! You can find an example of the liners here at Amazon.com

1. Preheat oven to 375F and place oven rack in the upper third of oven.
2. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium/low heat. Once butter is melted, remove from heat. Whisk in the milk, then the whole egg, yoke, and vanilla until combined well.
3. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a bowl – then add milk mixture and stir until just combined. Fold in the blueberries.
4. Divide the batter among 12 muffin cups, spreading evenly.
5. To make the topping: rub together all topping ingredients in a bowl with your fingers until crumbly, then sprinkle evenly over batter in cups.
6. Bake 18-20 minutes, or until golden and a tester comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.