Nomad Kitcheneer

  I must confess: for the longest time, I have a prejudice towards cupcakes. I find the frosting too sweet, and the cake itself very bland. That is, until I did a "tasting" for a girlfriend of mine's baby shower. I sampled 4-5 stores' cupcakes, and oddly, I realized, not all cupcakes are created equal. (Duh....should've known that a long time ago, but how can I never make that connection?) Fast forward to St Patrick's Day, and I was sitting around reading recipes online for fun. Yes...i do that, though I also often lacked the motivation to get over the "activation energy" to actually make something. Anyhow, I saw this interesting recipe for chocolate stout cupcake with chocolate ganache filling and Baileys frosting. And I went.....how can a cupcake be SO complicated?! It's so complex that I got curious enough to actually want to try making it myself. I mean.....first of all, having beer in cupcake is an interesting idea. Secondly, th...

Chocolate Pudding, ready to dig in If I ever get the "weakness" question in an interview, my default answer always involves being a perfectionist. On the bright side, that means I have high standards; not so great side, I can be a bit paranoid about fine details. When it comes to cooking, especially when it comes to making dessert, I AM A PERFECTIONIST. So in most cases, I'd try a recipe, have a reasonable success with it (or failure occasionally), and I'll always have something I'd change, and I'd work on it later. This Chocolate Pudding recipe from Tartine....I don't have anything I'd change (except maybe reduce the amount of sugar). It's simple, not very time consuming to prepare, and the result was phenomenal! I served it at the end of my dinner party, and everybody just inhaled it. The pudding is rich, chocolate flavor intense, with a hint of saltiness that highlights the cocoa. I topped the pudding with unsweetened softly whipped cre...