Cupcakes and simplicity

Cake isn’t just for birthdays**

**Note: Cake isn’t just for birthdays, but today it is! A choco mayo cake dedicated to my baby nephew, born two days ago. If I was with Steph and Andrew (sister and brother-in-law), this is what I would make them to celebrate. Congrats to them!

There’s not much for me to say about this chocolate cake, but I wrote many words about it anyways. If you’d like to read more about the thought process of my recipe development, please find it below the cake recipe. But, for those of you who typically scroll past a personal story, I have placed the recipe at the top of this post.

The chocolate mayo cake. It’s moist, it has mayonnaise (don’t let that scare you), it’s relatively simple. It was inspired by a hand-written recipe found in an old cookbook at Skoki Lodge in Banff National Park. The name: Helen’s Mayo Cake. Although the mysterious Helen had created a simpler recipe than mine, I made some changes to improve the texture and flavour (no shade to Helen). The buttercream recipe was a mixture of my knowledge from my bakery days and Julie Van Rosendaal’s vanilla icing recipe. If you’re having any trouble with this cake, please feel free to message/comment and we can try to work it out together (I am still troubleshooting the recipe writing process).

Jen’s Mayo Cake

Makes ~18 cupcakes

• 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

• 1 1/2 cup sugar

• 3/4 cup cocoa powder

• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1 cup mayo (preferably full fat)

• 1/2 cup milk (whole, 2%, buttermilk, whatever!)

• 2 large eggs

• 1 tsp vanilla

• 1 cup hot coffee

  • Hot (boiled) water also works wonderfully - but the coffee deepens the flavour of the chocolate!

Classic Buttercream

• 1 cup salted butter (room temp!!)

• 4 cups icing sugar

  • You can increase or decrease this amount based on your sweetness preference.

• 1 tsp vanilla

• 4 tbsp whipping cream

  • You can also use milk, but if you have cream I find that the higher fat content will balance out the sweetness of the sugar.

FOR THE CAKE

1. I like to prepare my baking dish first. Non-stick spray or a little oil on a paper towel to lightly coat the muffin tin, and then muffin liners (don’t forget muffin liners).

   1. This can also be made into a cake. I didn’t test it, but I think it would probably fit into two 8” or 9” circular cake pans.  Or, if you are a rectangle cake girlie, a 9x13” rectangle pan. Live it up! (For cakes, oil the pan, and then do some arts and crafts to fit a circular or rectangular piece of parchment paper into the bottom of the given pan.)

2. Turn your oven on to 350F, rack usually in the middle/bottom of the oven or so.

3. Make yourself some coffee, or boil some water (you will use this later).

4. In a big bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda and salt, until evenly mixed. You can sift this together if you’d like, but if you don’t have a sieve it’s not super necessary.

5. In a smaller bowl, whisk the mayonnaise, milk, eggs and vanilla, until evenly combined.

6. With a spatula or big spoon, gently mix the wet ingredients with the dry, until evenly combined - it will be thick, but don’t be tempted to overmix! Overmixing can cause gluten to form and then you won’t have a deliciously moist cake, it will be dry and sad.

7. At this point, you can measure out the hot coffee, or hot water, either will work! Add it to the batter while stirring with a whisk, until evenly mixed (but again, try not to overmix).

8. If you have chosen to make cupcakes, scoop approximately 1/4 cup into each muffin liner. The batter will be close to the top of the muffin tin, maybe 3/4 of a centimetre from the top.

   1. If you have chosen to do a cake, do your thing here, pretty self explanatory.

9. For cupcakes, bake for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

   1. Use the same process for the cakes, however it will probably take around 30 minutes to cook depending on the size of the pan. I would recommend setting a timer for 20 minutes to start, and then checking on the cake intermittently until it is baked through.

10. Let cool completely before icing!

FOR THE BUTTERCREAM

1. Make sure that your butter is at room temperature, aka soft to the touch. If it isn’t, sometimes I will pop it in the microwave for 10 seconds at a time, making sure not to melt it.

2. Now, if you have a stand mixer this is the ideal time to bring it out. If not, you can still make icing, it just won’t be as fluffy and that’s ok! Use a whisk attachment or paddle attachment to whip your butter until softer/smoother.

   1. If you don’t have a stand mixer, I cut my butter into thinner pieces and use a sturdy spatula to press against the side of the bowl and then scoop back into the middle. Repeat this process until the butter is easier to work with.

3. Slowly combine 2 cups of icing sugar, the vanilla and the cream to the butter in the stand mixer bowl. Once this is evenly combined, I start to add the rest of my icing sugar in 1 cup increments, in an attempt to avoid making too much of a mess.

   1. If you are combining by hand, add all ingredients and continue to press/smooth the butter mixture against the side of the bowl, and then scoop it into the middle. By the end, you will be able to stir/whip it with the spatula a little easier and it should be able to come together nicely. It will take a little longer and you won’t be able to complete step 4, but it will still be delicious!

4. Once, you have the right flavour (and a stand mixer), whip until the buttercream is airy and easy to spread (usually 2 minutes or so).

5. Ice the cupcakes, however fancy or non-fancy you please. Immediate sprinkling is encouraged but, not required.

FOR THE STORY

Long time, dedicated followers of this blog will remember the question I posed in an earlier (last week’s) post - should I stay or should I go?

The short answer - I went.

I mean, I didn’t leave the culinary industry as a whole. I simply left my job as the token salad lady in an industrial catering kitchen. Phew.

I also “went” from Vancouver. I mean, I didn’t leave Vancouver forever. I simply left for a few weeks to settle my mind from the inherent buzz of the big city. As I write this, I am at home in Canmore. The quiet of the snow-covered mountains has quieted the anxiety that plagues my everyday decisions. And the bright blue of the sunny Alberta sky has been slowly working to fight against my seasonal depression. Being home has reminded me to keep walking on this little path of mine. I am jobless and without a plan, but moving forward.

In the spirit of moving forward, my current goal of the moment is to simplify. Simplify my day to day, my thoughts, my priorities, etc. I suppose this new goal of mine has influenced my recipe writing process the past few weeks. I wanted to keep things simple and remind myself that this recipe doesn’t have to be a ground-breaking contribution to the culinary world. And, on top of that, my writing and photography doesn’t have to be at the level of professional content creators. And so, in the name of simplifying, I have forgone photos and simply taken it back to my culinary roots.

Cupcakes.

For a little background info on *me*, I started my culinary career at a local cupcake bakery in Calgary just over four years ago. I would spend 40+ hours of my week baking and decorating cakes of various sizes - and I kind of loved it. This job began after a short 9-month stint at an environmental engineering firm. I had made the decision to leave my engineering job, but I also wasn’t sure what I was going to do instead. At the time, I thought it would be fun to make treats while I figured out my next step. I was surprised to find so much joy in baking. Not only that, but I was proud of the precision and creativity involved in cake decorating. I was eager to learn more; it was this job that inspired me to pursue my culinary education. Flash forward to today and this current period of figuring out my next step. I thought it might be beneficial to go back to where I once found simple joy. Making cake.

In developing this recipe, I originally worried that many of you would look at a cake and only plan for the next special occasion where you would be able to justify it. I am here to tell you to look outside societal norms of cake etiquette. More specifically, look towards the Swedes and the delightful tradition of fika. Fika can simply be described as coffee and a sweet treat. But, fika is more than just a coffee break, - according to my personal Scandinavian intel - it is a cozy, self-care ritual of sorts. Fika is a necessary moment to pause wherever you are at in your day and take some time for yourself. Whether that pause is filled with alone time or time with loved ones, it will always be in the company of coffee and a treat. So, if this recipe does anything for anyone, I hope it will inspire you to be like the Swedes and enjoy a little fika. Morning fika, afternoon fika, fika with friends, fika with a book, I don’t care! But, treat yourself to some cake and coffee (or tea, if that’s your thing). What a simple joy!