My favourite hummus (right now) and an exciting trip!

Today is a very exciting day! Around lunch-time I board the first of 3 planes that will take me to sunny San Diego for the BlogHer '11 conference!  This is my very first blogging conference and I cannot even describe how excited I am.

Follow me on Twitter! @naked_cup_cakes 

I am bunking with the awesome Amy of Do You Know the Muffin Pan? who was kind enough to offer to let me stay at her place. :)  How lucky is she to live in San Diego?  We are going to tear BlogHer '11 up!


I can't decide what I am the most excited about: meeting in person the wonderful people that I have met online, the huge array of sessions, the parties at night, the expo, etc etc. I think this whole weekend will be an amazing experience.

I cannot wait to share my experiences with you, hopefully as the weekend progresses. If I don't find that I have a lot of time to jump on the computer, please feel free to follow me on Instagram where I will be posting photos (you can find me: @nakedcupcakes or Hailey Elliot). I have no idea if I will have any free time over the course of the conference :)

I think some people might be blogging during the sessions, but I am more of a pen and paper kind of girl, so I might not be lugging around the ol' laptop.


Here is my favourite hummus recipe that I have been chowing down on this week! It comes together super fast, and is a great healthy snack (or supper while you are packing!).

Chipotle Hummus

• 1 can (19 oz) chickpeas, drained and liquid reserved
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 2 tbsp tahini
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• scant 1/2 tsp salt
• pepper, to taste
• 1/2 tsp chipotle chili powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 - 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

1. Place all of the ingredients (except the reserved liquid from the chickpeas) in a food processor or blender and blend until smooth
2. Add the reserved liquid until the desired consistency is reached
3. Serve with crackers, pita chips, vegetables, etc.
4. Enjoy!

I was fortunate enough to receive this Blog on Fire Award from Kelly at Eat Yourself Skinny!  I feel so lucky to be counted amongst the other amazing blogs that she passed this award onto.  Now it is up to me to pass it along to 10 amazing blogs that have made an impression on me.  

1) Amy - Do You Know the Muffin Pan?

2) Rachel - The Avid Appetite

3) Sukaina - Sips and Spoonfuls

4) Erica Lea - Cooking for Seven

5) Kay - The Church Cook

6) Gina - Skinnytaste

7) Jamie - My Baking Addiction

8) Lindsey - Hot Polka Dot

9) Katrina - In Katrina's Kitchen

10) Darla - Bakingdom

For those of you listed above, now it's your turn!  Pass this Blog on Fire Award to the 10 blogs that have influenced you!

How to save a broken cake AKA Death by Chocolate dessert!

So last week when I had made the Vegan Black Forest Cupcakes, I had originally intended to make a vegan Black Forest Cake.


But as I shared previously on both my blog and on Instagram, I had an epic cake fail:

oh dear.


Since I couldn't bring myself to simply throw away all of that hard work and really, there was nothing wrong with how it tasted, I had to come up with some way to use it.


I took a quick survey of what I had available, and saw that I had all of the requirements for a quick Death by Chocolate Trifle! Cake saved!


These are incredibly easy desserts to make. 

Step 1: Crumble the disastrous cake into a large bowl


Step 2: Whip heavy cream until fluffy, adding a little bit of vanilla and icing sugar to sweeten it up


Step 3: Start layering in a dish: cake pieces, followed by whipped cream, topped with skor bits, repeat! 


Step 4: When your dessert has filled the dish (or as in my case, you are running low on whipped cream), finish off with remaining whipped cream and skor bits


Step 5: Chill until ready to serve


Step 6: Enjoy!

You can jazz up the dessert as well with whatever you have on hand.  The possibilities are endless! You could add a layer of pie filing (cherry, blueberry, etc), or chocolate chips, or maybe chocolate or caramel sauce, etc etc etc!


So if you have a bit of a disastrous cake situation, or you would like to make a delicious trifle for dessert, give this a shot :)

Black Forest Cupcakes (Vegan too!)

Last week one of my girlfriends requested that I bring over a Black Forest Cake to a BBQ she was having. I have made a black forest cake in the past that was really delicious, but I had to come up with a whole new recipe for this one since my friend is vegan.


I originally wanted to make a full-out black forest cake, but I had a bit of a mishap trying to extract the cake from the cake pan.

oops. I have never encountered a situation this bad before! Maybe the fact that it was vegan requires different techniques to keep the cake from gluing itself to the pan? I'll be looking into it. Luckily, I was able to make something delicious out of this disaster of a cake as well! I'll post how to save a broken cake soon :)


Since it appeared that a regular black forest cake was out of the question, I decided to whip up some Black Forest Cupcakes. I have been wanted to make some for a while because I thought they would turn out really cute, and they did!

I used the chocolate cupcake recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.  I have used the vegan chocolate cupcake recipe from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes in the past, but I prefer this particular recipe. It has more of a classic chocolate cake taste and texture.

I then cut out a portion of each cupcake with a paring knife, and filled it up with cherry pie filling.

The cupcakes were then topped with a light fluffy whipped topping. Since regular whipped cream was out of the question, I used Nutriwhip which is completely vegan friendly!


I really love how these came out.  Some of our friends had no idea they were vegan until we told them, and my girlfriend said it took care of her black forest cupcake pregnancy craving perfectly. whew!

You can definitely make these with your favourite chocolate cupcake recipe, and use regular sweetened whipped cream to top them.


This recipe makes 12 black forest cupcakes.


Black Forest Cupcakes (Vegan)

• 1 cup soy milk
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup canola or vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 can cherry pie filling
• 1/2 - 1 cup Nutriwhip

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F and line your muffin pan with paper liners
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the soy milk and the apple cider vinegar and set aside
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt
4. In a second large bowl, whisk together the sugar, oil, and vanilla
5. Add the soy milk to the wet ingredients and beat until foamy
6. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and mix until smooth (or until only tiny lumps remain)
7. Divide the batter between the 12 cupcake liners, and bake for 18 - 20 minutes (or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into a cupcake)
8. Let cool completely before topping
9. When cool, cut out a cone from the top of each cupcake with a paring knife
10. Spoon a generous amount of the cherry pie filling on top of each cupcake
11. Whip the Nutriwhip until fluffy, and top each cupcake
12. Enjoy!

Fresh Fraisiers - Daring Baker's Challenge

Blog-checking Lines: Jana ofCherry Tea Cakes was our July Daring Bakers’ host and she challenges us to make Fresh Frasiers inspired by recipes written by Elisabeth M. Prueitt and Chad Robertson in the beautiful cookbook Tartine.


This was a really fun challenge! We had to create a delicious cake where the middle layer had exposed fruits around the outside.  We also had to make each component of the dessert by hand: the chiffon cake, pastry cream mousse, and the simple syrup!

This was my first time making a chiffon cake, and I am hooked! I loved how light this cake was, it was the perfect complement to the pastry cream and fresh fruit. I chose to make a citrus chiffon cake because I love desserts with a twist of citrus to them.

I filled my middle layer with strawberries and blackberries, they were so good in this dessert!  I can't wait to make the pastry cream again, I think it would be amazing with a strawberry shortcake dessert, or as a topping on a bowl of fresh fruit. 

I decided to keep the top of my cake clean and simple so that the amazing centre could shine through.

The recipes for the chiffon cake and the pastry cream mousse were provided by Jana, and they are amazing!


Citrus Chiffon Cake

• 1 cup and 2 tbsp flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 cups sugar (remove 3 tbsp and set aside)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3 egg yolks
• 1/3 cup and 1 tbsp orange juice
• zest of one lemon
• 5 large egg whites
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1. Preheat the oven to 325 F and line the bottom of an 8" springform pan with parchment paper
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, all but the removed 3 tbsp sugar, and the salt
3. In a second bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, vegetable oil, orange juice, and orange zest
4. Mix together the wet and dry ingredients and mix until smooth
5. In a third bowl, beat the egg whites until frothy
6. Add the cream of tartar to the egg whites, and beat them until they hold soft peaks
7. Slowly add the 3 tbsp of sugar to the egg whites and beat until they hold firm and shiny peaks
8. Fold the egg whites into the batter until just combined
9. Fill the springform pan, and smooth the batter
10. Bake for 45 - 55 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the middle
11. Allow the cake to cool completely in the springform pan
12. When cool, run a knife along the edges and remove the cake

Pastry Cream Filling

• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp butter
• 3/4 tsp gelatin
• 1/2 tbsp water
• 1 cup heavy cream

1. Pour the milk, vanilla, and salt into a saucepan over medium-high heat
2. Scald the mixture (bring it near boiling) while stirring occasionally
3. While the mixture is heating, in a bowl whisk together the cornstarch and sugar
4. Add the egg to sugar/cornstarch and whisk until smooth
5. When the milk mixture is scalded, slowly add it to the egg mixture while whisking
6. Add the whole mixture back into the pot, and continue to cook it over medium-high until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon
7. Remove the pot from the heat and pour it into a fine-mesh sieve
8. Press the custard through to remove any remaining bits
9. After the custard has cooled for about 10 minutes, add the butter and whisk until smooth
10. Cover the pastry cream with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to cool for about an hour
11. After the custard/cream has cooled, sprinkle the gelatin over the water and let it sit for a couple minutes
12. Set up a double boiler and add 1/4 cup of the pastry cream 
13. Heat the cream while stirring until it is 120 F
14. Add the gelatin to the warmed cream and whisk until completely smooth
15. Whisk the warmed cream into the remaining cream
16. Whip the heavy cream until you have medium-stiff peaks, and then fold it into the pastry cream

Simple Syrup

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup water

1. Add the water and the sugar to a small saucepan
2. Heat it until it boils and all of the sugar dissolves
3. Remove from heat and set aside until ready to use

To assemble the Fraisier:

1. Line the inside of your 8" springform with plastic wrap
2. Cut the cake in half to create two cake rounds
3. Place one half of the cake in the springform pan and moisten it with the simple syrup
4. Place the fruit of your choice (I used strawberries cut in half, and blackberries) along the outside of the pan
5. Pipe the pastry cream around the fruit on the sides of the pan to keep it in place
6. Fill the middle of the cake with your remaining berries, and then add all of the remaining pastry cream
7. Smooth the top of the pastry cream, and then place the remaining layer of cake on top
8. Moisten the top layer with the simple syrup
9. Decorate the top of the cake as desired
10. Enjoy!

A Green Thumb?

So for a day or two last week, get this, it was SUNNY out! As in, not gloomy and rainy and cold and wet and miserable…. Sorry, I got caught up. It was actually sunny and fairly warm and dry! Amazing

So I took the opportunity to weed my poor flowerbeds and garden which have seen more rain in the past few weeks than our city probably encounters in the average year.  These things were intense! Apparently Alberta weeds love the rainy weather, my flowerbeds have never looked greener.

I should have taken a ‘before’ picture, but when I realized that I couldn’t see any dirt between my plants, I had to attack with a vengeance.

A couple hours and indefinite amount of mosquito bites later, here we are!

Not too shabby eh?

I know my garden is a little sad, but it is my first attempt at growing things that one can actually eat so it’s not that bad (right?).

I am so excited for my peas to be ready for eating. There is nothing better than fresh peas from the garden.

I also planted mixed lettuce (but Chloe ate all of those seeds), regular lettuce, spinach, and carrots. So not a huge variety but a pretty solid effort for a first attempt.

My lettuce is a little squished, Banjo insists on running through my flowerbeds and garden instead of taking the grassy routes, but I’m hoping it will still be tasty!

I have already learned a lot for my garden next year. I can’t wait to plant a larger variety of vegetables, and maybe expand my little herb garden as well. 

Here’s hoping the week is warm and sunny as well!