mmm dot

This is going to be one of my favorite posts, because it involves something I care a lot about (other than cupcakes).  A good friend of mine, Matt Hay, was diagnosed with Neurofibromatosis Type 2 (NF2) several years ago.    Matt has racked up several surgeries, including brain and spine.  After one of his surgeries the doctor told him he may never be able to walk again.  Well, on September 11th he completed an IRONMAN.  Yep, 140.6 miles.  If it were me I would send that doctor a picture of me crossing the finish line.


Matt is one of my regular cupcake tasters but I figured for an event like this I would make him his own batch.  He doesn't like the fruity ones so much, so I knew I had to stick in the chocolate world.  I decided on a chocolate chip cupcake with chocolate cream cheese icing.


I have been eyeing Martha Stewart's Cupcake book for some time now and I finally went out and bought it.  There are over 100 recipes in the book and I would love to try all of them.  This is my first...


Chocolate Chip Cupcakes:
3 1/4 c plus 1 tbsp cake flour
4 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp vanilla
1 c plus 2 tbsp milk
1/2 c plus 6 tbsp unsalted butter, room temp
1 3/4 c sugar
5 egg whites room temp
2 c choc chips


Just looking at the ingredients I should have known this recipe would not be one of my best.  I would love to know how they ended up with all these numbers - 1 c plus 2 tbsp??  I mean really...kind of specific.  I bake a lot and this is the first run in I have had with these crazy measurements.


So to actually make the cakes...


Whisk together cake flour, baking powder, and salt until combined. 

This is the first time I have ever used cake flour.  I typically stick with all purpose un-bleached.  I didn't think it made a huge difference.  Combine milk and vanilla in a separate bowl. 

LOVE my Mexican vanilla.  Starting to get a little low, so I guess I should plan a trip down south to get more!

With an electric mixer beat the butter on medium high until smooth.  Add the sugar and beat until fluffy.  

I also decided to try bakers sugar for the first time.  I did not notice a difference.

Reduce the speed to low and add 1/3 of the flour mixture, then half of the milk mixture, then another 1/3 of the flour, the rest of the milk, and then the last of the flour.  Be sure you are beating all ingredients until they are fully combined in between each addition. 

In another bowl beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.  Fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the batter.  Then fold in the rest until just combined.  

This step was a total red flag for me.  If you remember the lazy egg issue from my last post - the yolk is what makes the cupcake moist.  While slightly uneasy about this step I still carried along because I figured Martha knows best.

Lastly, the chips!  Lightly toss them in flour and then gently fold them into the batter.  The flour will help prevent all of the chips from sinking to the bottom.

Divide your batter into cups and bake at 350 degrees for roughly 20 minutes.  Cake is ready when toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Or you can tap one of them lightly and it should bounce back.  Once out of the oven let sit for a minute then transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely.

I then turned to cupcakeproject.com for the frosting - Chocolate Cream Cheese

8oz cream cheese, room temp

1/4 c unsalted butter, room temp

4 c powdered sugar

1/2 c cocoa powder

Mix cream cheese and butter until smooth.  Mix in powdered sugar - 1 cup at a time.  Mix in the cocoa powder and then beat until all ingredients are combined. 

Yum!

Once the cupcakes are completely cool go ahead and frost away.  Now, since these were to celebrate an absolutely amazing accomplishment, I wanted to add a little flare.  The symbol for an ironman is the M-Dot.  Pretty straight forward - it is a block letter M with a dot above it.  Looks like a little man.  I thought it would be cool to have the cupcakes topped with the symbol.  First, I melted some white chocolate.  I then put a little bit of the melted chocolate into a cupcake pan and then stuck in the fridge to cool and become solid.  Once solid I popped them out and they were perfect little circles.  I then melted some regular milk chocolate for the decorating.  Threw it in a piping bag and then decorated the white discs with the M-Dot and "140.6".  I was a little shaky, but I think they turned out alright. 

I then plopped the chocolate pieces on top of the cupcake.



Matt decided to take the cupcakes home to share with his support team!

Too cute, right?

Matt completed the ironman in 15 hours and 41 minutes.  His day started at 3:30AM

With Crew Chief, Nora, moments before the swim

The event was in Sandusky, OH.  While Matt was pushing through the bike leg of the triathlon, Nora went and rode every roller coaster at Cedar Point.  I don't know why but I think that is too funny.  Picturing her as a single rider all day at an amusement park.  

Finished!

He practiced this finishing pose for weeks.  Totaly worth it.  If I just completed 15 hours of swimming, biking, and running you would be scraping my body off the pavemet. 


While all of this was going on in Ohio I decided to enjoy the Bears season opener!  Tough day...

If you want to hear more of Matt's story, the below link is for a clip on Matt that aired on WGN.  Big Time!

Matt's Television Debut

xo

j