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Boozy Yellow Birthday Cake with Chocolate Frosting and Caramelized White Chocolate Ganache

• There's a lot going on with this cake, so I suggest breaking it down by making the cake first, and then the syrup two ganaches the following day. Make the cake first and cover it in plastic wrap and keep it in the refrigerator until you're ready to frost it — the cake's butter flavor actually intensifies overnight.


• So, this cake uses a shit-ton of egg yolks. You will need to use an entire dozen's total for the cake and the frosting combined. I recognize the ridiculousness of that situation (but it was my birthday, and I had to indulge myself), so let me offer you up these recipes for the leftover eggwhites: use 4 egg whites for this rhubarb and pistachio pavlova, another 4 egg whites for this white chocolate malt cake, and the rest for an egg white scramble with a ton of spinach, fresh herbs, and gruyere. 


• Let's talk more about caramelized white chocolate, because I know I just dropped it in there last minute like whoa. I first found out about the phenomenon ever since spying this recipe in Food52's Genius Recipes cookbook and I've been playing around with it since. My one complaint, however, is that the original recipe requires you to heat at a ridiculously low temperature (265 (F)) for almost an hour, along with stirring it every three minutes or so. It's fussy, because if the chocolate gets too hot, it seizes and turns into solid crumbles instead of caramelizing.
  
  So a couple of things: because the oven in my new apartment runs so insanely hot and I really don't have time to stir something in the oven every 3 minutes, I started playing around with trying to find a shortcut. I found out that you can basically get the same result in almost a quarter of the time suggested by the original recipe if, instead of baking in an oven, you cook the white chocolate over the stovetop. The trick is to melt the white chocolate over low heat, and then once it's melted completely, turn the heat on high and to scorch it. Stirring constantly to distribute the heat evenly throughout the mixture achieves the same sort of caramelization, and I found that I actually had more control over the final flavor using the stovetop method — because it's happening right in front of you, you can really control how roasted and caramelized you want the final product to be.


• It took me a couple of times to get the ratio of white chocolate to cream for the topping; don't be afraid to troubleshoot it! If you find the ganache to be too runny, feel free to add a few more chunks of white chocolate to thicken it up. If it's too thick, add a splash of cream. The trick is to add just a little bit at a time to get the consistency you want. Because you're going to be pouring it over the cake, you're going to want a ganache that's still warm and just ever-so-slightly runnier than normal to get that pretty spilled frosting look. The ganache will set as it cools.

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Brown Butter Blueberry White Chocolate Muffins

How is it that I have missed the boat for so long on browning butter?!?!  Oh. My. Goodness. Do I LOVE browned butter!!! The taste that it adds to this muffin recipe is wonderful. I can not wait to bake more with browned butter! That being said be warned as you will most likely see many more recipes in the future on my blog with browned butter.  Do you have a favorite recipe that uses browned butter?  PLEASE do share!!!


I love that Joy the Baker has come out with her first cookbook as this is where I found this lovely muffin recipe.  If you have yet to purchase this book do yourself a favor and treat yourself to it.  It is packed full of GORGEOUSLY scrumptious recipes.  A talented and oh-so-sweet blogging friend of my mine, Carrie from Bakeaholic Mama, hosts a fabulous blogging event every Sunday that features a recipe from Joys cookbook.  This event is called, Sundays with Joy.  Take a peek at it as I am sure you will find lots of fun and delicious recipes from Joy The Baker that you will want to try. :-)

Brown Butter Blueberry White Chocolate Muffins
(Slightly altered from the recipe found in Joy The Baker Cookbook)

Muffin Ingredients:

7 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/3 cup milk
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup white chocolate chips (my addition)
2 cups fresh blueberries (I used frozen bbs and it worked just fine)

Topping Ingredients:

3 Tbsps unsalted butter, cold
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3 Tbsps sugar


Directions:

1.  Place oven rack onto the upper third of the oven and then preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with liners and then set aside.

2. Make muffin batter first by browning the butter.  Place 7 Tbsps of butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Butter will first melt, then forth and then lastly crackle - which is the water cooking out of the butter. The crackling will subside and then the butter will start to brown - this happens quite quickly so keep your eye on the butter so that it doesnt burn. Remove saucepan from heat when you see that it becomes a medium brown color and it has the wonderful nutty smell.  Immediately pour hot butter into a small bowl and set aside.  This will allow your butter to not continue to cook and possibly burn.

3. In a small bowl whisk to combine,  milk, egg, egg yolk and vanilla extract. Add in browned butter and whisk to combine.  Set bowl aside.

4. In a medium bowl combine flour, sugar and baking powder.  Whisk all together.

5. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients all at once. Stir to combine. Do not over mix.  Add in white chocolate chips and blueberries and gently but thoroughly stir all together. .

6. Scoop muffin batter into prepared muffin tins.  I used my lovely medium scoop for this step.

7. Make crumble topping but combining cold butter, flour and sugar all together in a medium bowl. Incorporate butter with the dry ingredients by either using a pastry cutter or your fingers.

8. Sprinkle crumble topping over muffins.  Pop muffins into preheated oven and bake for 18-20 minutes until golden brown and when a toothpick is inserted in center comes out clean.  Serve muffins warm or at room temperature.

Happy Brown Butter Blueberry White Chocolate Muffins Baking!

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Blueberry and white chocolate buttermilk scones

This is one of those amazing recipes that started as a bit of an experiment and ended beautifully. I have been quite busy lately and have been neglecting my blog. I do miss baking and blogging and participating in blogging challenges but sometimes life just gets in the way. I didnt get a chance to enter anything last month apart from Alphabakes so I wanted to make sure I got a few entries in this month. The inspiration for this recipe is the We Should Cocoa Challenge hosted by Choclette from Tin and Thyme. The theme this month is blueberries. I started thinking about how to pair chocolate and blueberries. Initially I thought of a blueberry sponge cupcake with white chocolate frosting but decided it was too boring. I debated about cookies but I couldnt find any dried blueberries when I went shopping. I then stumbled upon a recipe for buttermilk scones and thought aha! I dont bake scones often and Ive certainly never tried baking this type of scone so I thought Id go for it! 

I adapted a recipe slightly from Butter Baking which in turn was adapted from Tartine. I wasnt sure how to incorporate the blueberries and white chocolate but I did know that scone mixture should not be handled extensively otherwise the scones are hard and dry. I decided to tip out the scone mixture onto a silicone mat and kneaded it gently. I pressed it into a large rectangle shape then poured the white chocolate chips and blueberries on top. I then rolled the dough so the filling was in the middle. I cut large rectangles and then cut them into triangles. The scones were brushed with melted butter and sprinkled with caster sugar before baking. Every scone had ample filling of blueberries and white chocolate and the blueberries stayed in the middle. 

The scones turned out better than I expected. They look a lot better than those sold at a certain coffee chain! They have a lovely crispy edge and a soft centre. The blueberries and white chocolate work well together and the scones are not overly sweet at all. The sugar on top gives it a lovely crunch. Its best served warm with a cup of tea but it was still delicious the day after.

 add cubed butter to flour mixture  

 I spread out the dough and patted it into a rectangluar shape

 poured the fresh blueberries and white chocolate on top

 fold in half and cut into rectangles and then triangles

 brush with melted butter and sprinkle with caster sugar before baking 

 Loved the crispy bits 

 Warmed up slightly for breakfast the next day - love the oozing blueberries! 

Im sending this to a few blog challenges this month...

We Should Cocoa hosted by Choclette from Tin and Thyme. The theme this month is blueberries.

Treat Petite hosted by Stuart from Cakeyboi and Kat from The Baking Explorer. The theme this month is Summertime Special. Berries in any form definitely spell summer for me.

Simple and in Season hosted by Ren. Blueberries are definitely in season at the moment.

Recipe of the Week hosted by Emily from A Mummy Too

Tasty Tuesdays hosted by Vicki from Honest Mum.

Recipe adapted from Butter Baking 

Makes 18 scones
For the scones
680g plain flour
100g caster sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
250g butter, cubed
375mls buttermilk
100g white chocolate chips
200g fresh blueberries
For the topping before baking 
30g butter, melted
30g caster sugar for sprinkling

• Preheat the oven to 180C. 
• Place the flour, sugar, baking powder and bicarbonte of soda in the bowl of an electric mixer.
• Add the cubed butter (250g).
• Mix on a low speed until the butter is incorporated into the flour mixture. 
• Add in the buttermilk.
• You should have a soft dough at this point.
• Tip it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently. Try not to overmix or handle the dough too much.
• Spread the rough into a large rectangle.
• Pour the white chocolate chips and fresh blueberries on top. 
• Fold the dough in half starting with the bottom end, folding upwards.
• Cut into large rectangles and then cut into triangles (see photo above).
• Place the triangles on a lined baking tray.
• Brush with melted butter and sprinkle caster sugar on top. 
• Bake for approximately 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through.
• Allow to cool for 5 minutes on the tray.
• Best served warm but will keep in an airtight container for a day or two. 

Available link for download