Hot Cross Buns

This weekend was going to cover frosting in a can, then I realized that while mapping out future posts I had neglected to take into account the fact that it was Easter weekend; so I hastily pulled together some Hot Cross Buns yesterday (even though I'd been planning them for a while) and today we have a great recipe.

Fun Fact: The Protestant English government supposedly attempted to ban the sale of hot cross buns as they were considered a dangerous hold-over of Catholic beliefs, Queen Elizabeth the first eventually gave into the buns popularity and passed a law permitting bakeries to sell them but only at Easter and Christmas. (Or so Wikipedia tells me.)


Hot Cross Buns
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons yeast
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoons nutmeg
4 eggs
5 cups flour
1 1/3 cups raisins
1 egg white (for brushing tops)

Mix powdered sugar with a bit of water until very thick and white, you can add lemon or orange zest or extract if you wish.

Microwave milk and butter which has been cut into small pieces in microwavable bowl or measuring cup until mixture is warm and butter is melted, about 1 minute. Sprinkle yeast over mixture and set aside for a few minutes.

In large mixing bowl blend milk butter and yeast mixture, eggs, sugar, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg, slowly add flour a little at a time. When flour is completely blended add raisins and kneed by hand to evenly distribute. Move to a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a dish towel, allow to rise for an hour.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Cut dough into equal portions and roll into round shapes, (my batch made nine large buns that were about 5 inches in diameter, you could easily make around 12 or even 18 roll size buns if you prefer.) Allow to rise, covered with a dish towel, for another half hour.

Preheat oven to 350°.

Using a sharp knife cut a cross pattern across buns, brush tops of buns with egg white for a shiny crust. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, checking often, until golden brown.

You can pipe or pour the glaze on top following the cross pattern.

From Box or From Scratch?

There’s nothing wrong with boxed cake mix. In case you missed that I’ll repeat: There is nothing wrong with boxed cake mix. How you define homemade may be different from how others do, for me homemade means I mixed some stuff together and put it in the oven; it covers everything from boxed mixes to truly from scratch recipes. Recent trends and worries about additives and high fructose corn syrup have promoted using whole food ingredients to make everything; while some can live the from scratch lifestyle without limitations, I’m not on that list. Even I’m back to looking at flour, butter, eggs, baking powder, sugar and a whole pantry of other ingredients in a whole new light. From scratch has become a badge to wear with pride.

So why do I use boxed cake mixes when I know perfectly well that I could create a nearly identical cake from scratch? For me it’s the fact that cakes are simple. They are readily available and fairly cheap. Chocolate cake, white cake, yellow cake and even red velvet cakes are pretty plain and boring when you really get down to it. What makes great cakes are the additions: fancy extracts and liquors, fruit filling, to die for frosting. If someone were to offer you the choice between chocolate cake and Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake with Chocolate Ganache icing, which one has a better ring to it? Which one would you rather try? (Assuming you’re not allergic to either chocolate or nuts.)

With cake mixes it’s easy to experiment, you’re not changing the basic chemistry that makes a cake a cake when you add a little orange zest or chocolate chips or extract. This rule does have some exceptions, times when truly ‘from scratch’ recipes are called for, but if I can get away with using a cake mix, I’m going to be using a cake mix. Life is too short to spend it worrying about hum-drum basic cake when there are so many more interesting recipes to bake.

That said if you want from scratch I can do from scratch. I started making cakes from scratch in my easy bake oven at age six after watching the cake scene in Pollyanna way to many times and realizing that those cakes were made from flour not easy bake oven cake mix. I remember that first cake well; it was chocolate and having no recipe to go by it was under flavored and quite a bit dry. If I could go back and whisper in my little-self’s ear I’d tell her the secret to making moist flavorful cakes.

So that’s my breakdown on cake mixes. Stay tuned for frosting in a can, bread mix and other episodes of: From Box or From Scratch!

Drunken Cupcakes Ver. 1.0

Lately I've been seeing a trend on spiked cupcakes, a friend shared a recipe for Guinness cupcakes and since then the idea of spiked cupcakes has been on my mind.

Years ago another friend shared the most amazing Drambuie Truffles with me (although not the secret recipe) and this morning having a box of spare German Chocolate Cake mix that was no longer needed for the purpose it was bought I set to work.

After reading a couple recipes for other liquor spiked cakes I decided on replacing 1/3 cup of the water called for on the back of the box with Drambuie.

I realized half way through baking that I had no confectioner's sugar anywhere in the house with which to make frosting. For me this is an amazing over site; it's not unusual to see several pounds of forgotten confectioner's sugar hiding in the back of my pantry. It's one of those things I forget I have at home when I'm at the grocery store and always buy more of. After thinking about making the sugar from scratch (in theory you can make it in a food processor with regular sugar) I settled on whipped cream as a topping and it worked better than any heavy butter or shortening based icing ever could.

I highly recommend trying these, there's nothing better than chocolate spiked with Drambuie and the fact that it's semi-homemade make for a quick batch.

Drambuie Spiked Cupcakes
1 box German Chocolate cake mix
1 Cup Water
1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil
1/3 Cup Drambuie
2 eggs (even though box calls for three)

Heat oven to 350°, line cupcake tin with papers. Beat cake mix, water, vegetable oil, Drambuie and eggs in a large bowl by hand or on medium speed for a couple minutes until almost smooth.

Fill cupcake papers 2/3 full and bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes.

Makes: 18 cupcakes

Vanilla Whipped Cream
3 Cups Heavy Whipping Cream
1/4 Cup Hot water
1 Package (7g) Unflavored Gelatin
Sugar and Torani Vanilla Syrup to taste (real vanilla can be substituted)

Sprinkle package of Gelatin over hot water and stir until dissolved, some of the gelatin may clump together on the sides of your bowl don't worry about it, you'll be adding this slowly by the spoon full and can avoid spooning up the clumps. When mixed completely move to fridge to chill for approximately 15 minutes, check often it should be about the consistency of uncooked egg whites when ready to use.

Beat Heavy whipping cream on high speed, slowly adding sugar a little at a time and scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally, when it's "almost" sweet enough add a few teaspoons of torani vanilla syrup and taste. Continue adding sugar and syrup in small amounts to taste.

As peaks form in whipped cream turn down the speed to low and slowly add Gelatin a spoonful at a time until incorporated.

Refrigerate whipped cream until ready to top cupcake.