tovolo, my love

just some quick reportage on some recent and ongoing experiments - last-day-at-the-office cupcakes and my newly acquired popsicle molds (see awesome image to the left).

so my departing gift to the office wasn't really an experiment - after all, this is the third time i've made them - but i've continued to finetune the recipe, or at least the logistics of making them.  i had been planning to make them for quite some time because i knew people would like them, but had been rather leery of doing so because of the problem of transport.  i mean, i can make lots of cupcakes no problem, but how do you transport them after that?  because the container has to be portable, not too big because there's not much space in the kitchen, closed sufficiently so the cupcakes don't dry out, etc.  and it's a bonus if the container fits into the fridge too, so there's no need to build a box after storing them somewhere else overnight.

i'm happy to say that i've got the production time down to about 3 1/2 hours, from 6 hours the last time i made these.  unfortunately, some of the increased efficiency is due to the fact that i almost destroyed the ganache - i heated the cream much too fast, and as a result the chocolate almost seized.  it didn't quite seize, but it solidified to spreadable consistency really fast (about 5 minutes instead of 45) - too fast!  also, the texture tasted fine, but looked a little funky.  and i was hoping people wouldn't notice that on the cupcakes that were refrigerated, the ganache had actually broken (separated) a little bit.  how embarrassing!  the last time that i made these, the ganache was beautiful as ganache is.  

fortunately, these cupcakes are a surefire showstopper, so my technique issues didn't detract from flavor.  i like the cake recipe i use for these in particular, partly because they have a nice deep chocolatey taste from the beer and cocoa powder, and partly because they develop a bit of sticky crustiness from the high sugar content.  this time, i didn't have any bailey's and didn't feel like buying any just for this one thing, but it turned out that unflavored whipped cream is just as good as the real deal.

and, logistics.  i ended up refrigerating the ones that had to be refrigerated - namely, the ones with the whipped cream filling.  i left some plain and some filled with marmalade, to accommodate differing cupcake preferences.  so in the morning, i made stacking trays out of some cardboard boxes i had from pots i bought for the summer - just cut them in half horizontally, tape as needed, and stack.  i taped them all together to stabilize the whole deal, and carted them off to work.  actually, it was easy to build the box - a lot easier than i expected it would be - but harder to carry the box.  i didn't have the foresight to build something that would fit into the bag i had from whole foods - one of the recycled plastic ones that's kind of stiff.  the bag didn't really have enough give for me to hold the bag by its straps, so i ended up putting the box into the bag sideways and holding the bag in my arms the whole way to work.  slightly inconvenient, but what can you do.

so that was then, and this is now; or rather, the popsicles are now.  i went to pick up the knife i had sharpened at kitchen arts (it cuts like a dream - thanks, kitchen arts!) and these popsicle molds caught my eye.  i've been thinking about popsicle molds in the back of my mind for a while, and these were pretty inexpensive - $10 for a set of 6 - so i went ahead and indulged myself.  i currently have a test batch of peach iced tea-flavored pops in the freezer, to see how much i can fill the molds and how they freeze and unmold.  they seem pretty great - i also have ice cream sandwich molds by this brand that work well, but popsicles are much easier to make than ice cream sandwiches, so i think the molds will see some good use.  i think the future of the molds include yogurt pops and some sort of attempt at fudgsicles, at the very least.