Crafting: Lebkuchen Heart Felt Purse with Deer

I made this felt Dirndl bag in the shape of a Lebkuchenherz to wear with my Dirndl for Oktoberfest this year! There's a fabric pouch with a zipper inside to keep me from losing anything. My favorite bit is the plastic toy deer in the center!

I don't really have step-by-step instructions for this because I pretty much made it up as I went along. I spotted a similar bag at a local department store and thought I could make my own. It took about a week to make because of all the times I messed up or decided something would be better differently.

The front, back, and sides of the purse are made of brown felt. Before sewing them together I made sure I was done decorating the front cover. I wanted it to look like a Lebkuchenherz, which are gingerbread hearts sold during most German festivals. I used ric rac trim to represent icing border of heart. Then I embroidered the leaves and the grass - the flowers are french knots. The deer was attached using two wood screws. On the back piece I added to strips of fabric to act as belt loops, and at the top of the sides two more loops to use to attach purse strings. Once the parts were done I attached all the felt pieces together.

For the inside pouch I used some quilting fabric I had. I cut out two hearts the same size as the brown felt hearts (accounting for seam allowance, I thought they would end up smaller, but as it turns out my seams really aren't that even.) and two strips to be the sides. Then I sewed everything together inside out (although not necessarily on the first try...). The zipper was the hardest part. I used a trouser zipper that locks in place because I figured it would be added protection against pickpockets. I sewed a strip of cloth along each side of the zipper, put the zipper in place along the top of the heart, and then hand stitched the zipper in place.

The inside pouch was attached to the felt heart at the bottom (point) of the heart, and then again along the tops of the sides, front and back. I sewed right under the seam that attached the top (with the zipper) In the front, I used white thread and stitched inside the ric rac ribbon so it would be less visible. In the back, I just used brown thread that matched the felt.

I'm thinking getting a chain to attach as a strap, but right now I just thread one of my apron straps through the purse to wear it.

Crafting: Felt Cover for Android Phone

Please note: I'll have the pattern for the Android up in a day or two - I need to get my scanner working again first!

I made this cover for my husband's G-1 phone. He designed it himself! He's a huge fan of Android , so he wanted something to show it off. It was a bit tricky to make because he wanted the arms to be along the sides of the phone while it was in the case, but the case to basically fold flat (now it's like a wedge).

What you'll need

• Pattern for Android
• 1 piece neon green felt (I think it's 3mm)
• 1 piece black felt
• needle (I used an embroidery needle because the lady in the felt store said to use the same needle for felt that I would use for normal embroidery, but since then I've switched to using quilting needles - for some reason they work really well.)
• black (and neon green thread if you don't want to see the stitching as much)
• scissors
• hole-punch

Time: 3-4 hours, or one afternoon in front of the TV

What to do

Print out Android design or sketch one yourself, and cut it out. If you design one yourself, make sure that it'll fit on the front of the cover.

Pin design pieces to green felt, and draw around them in pencil, then cut them out.

Measure your phone. The cover should fit snugly around your phone, so the exact measurements will depend on what type of phone you have. This cover is for G-1, but can easily be made for the Hero, Dream, or ironically-minded i-Phone owner. The cover is made out of one piece of black felt folded in half.

Dimensions: Length (L) of phone, width (W) of phone, plus depth, height, or thickness (whichever helps you visualise what I mean best) (H) of phone.

(2 x L) + (1 x H) + 5mm by (1 x W) + (2 x H) + 1cm

The 5mm and 1cm are seam allowances - it's way more than you need, but you can always cut off the extra later - it's hard to sew more on!

Cut out a rectangle of black felt to the dimensions you calculated.

Position your Android on what will be the front of your phone cover and pin it into place. Don't worry if the felt bulges due to the pins; I find that once you've gotten a few stitches in you can pretty much hold the piece in place while you sew the rest. I actually outlined the Android lightly on the black felt so I would know exactly where I wanted the pieces, but as you can see, the head was still a bit wonky. I pinned the head on first, then the body, then the arms, because it was easy to align the antenna a few millimeters from the top.

Thread your needle with the green thread if you're using it (black'll show more - you can see the stitches in the picture). Begin stitching at the top right corner of the body piece. I found that stitching the body piece on first was easiest because I could orient the other pieces around it.

Once you've got your Android attached, use the hole punch to punch out two holes from the excess black felt (a multiple hole-punch works just fine). Place them roughly where the Android's eyes should be and stitch them on one by one.

Now that your Android's complete, it's time to finish your cover. This is where the tricky bit with the arms came up. The front half of the cover wraps around the sides of the phone, so that the Android's arms are along the sides of the phone. The front cover of the phone is therefore wider than the back cover. The top of the back cover should be the width of the phone, but taper out so that when you reach the part where the phone cover is folded it is the same width as the front cover.

To make this happen: Measure along the long side of the black felt, make a mark in the middle and then do the same on the opposite edge. Connect these marks - you've just drawn a line where the felt will fold to make the pouch.

Now, measure the top of what will be the back cover (the width of the black felt). Find the middle, and then measure out half the width of the phone (plus 2mm seam allowance!!) on either side of the middle and make a mark here. Now draw a diagonal line from this mark down to the edge of the felt at the line you just drew to mark where the felt will fold, and cut out along this diagonal.

This is pretty confusing, so this diagram is to help you visualise it:


Fold the piece of black felt in half so that the Android is on the inside (so that the cover is essentially inside out. Begin sewing one one side where the outside edges meet. I used a running stitch, which will leave you with a small seam allowance. Sew toward the fold. This may be a little tricky as you near the fold, and you'll probably gain some seam allowance. I stuck the phone in a couple times to make sure it would still fit once I was done.

Repeat along the other outside edge. When you're done, you'll have a pouch - but inside out! Turning it right-side round was actually the hardest part, since the felt was so stiff. I used a pen to poke out the corners. Once I was sure the phone fit, I turned the pouch inside out again to cut off the seam allowance, and then turned it back right-way-round again.

Pop your phone in, and admire!

Phaedra's Wedding Cake, Try #1: Chocolate Cake with Orange Pastry Cream Filling and Chocolate Frosting

My wonderful sister-in-law has been kind enough to entrust me with the baking of the cake for her wedding in January. I've never baked a wedding cake before, so I decided to practice.

This was attempt #1, which turned out pretty well. The cake was absolutely delicious, but incredibly thick (vaguely like flourless chocolate cake) and probably too rich for a wedding cake. Also, my attempt at a crumb coat before frosting was a disaster... Unfortunately, the picture of the finished product has disappeared (as has the cake, alas)!

The recipe for the cake part of the cake came from the recipe for Devil's Food White-Out Cake in Baking by Dorie Greenspan. Because I was making a much smaller cake (18cm round pan), I cut the recipe by a third (which made for some interesting measurements). Also, the cake in the book is decorated with crumbs, which looks nice but isn't appropriate for a wedding cake, so we ate the layer designed for the crumbs instead.

For the filling I used the same Joy of Cooking recipe as for the Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes, but added some Cointreau.

The result was a yummy cake that needs some fine-tuning before it's a bona-fide wedding cake. Reviews (my husband's co-workers) said that the cake needed to be lighter, and the filling more plentiful (maybe I'll try two layers next) with a more orange-y flavour (probably going to use orange extract as well as Cointreau).

Here's the recipe, because even if it's not a great cake for a wedding, it's still a great cake!


For the cake:

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 10 tablespoons unsalted butter (room temp)
• 1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs (room temp)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used a whole packet of vanilla sugar)
• 2 oz bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled
• 1/2 cup buttermilk or whole milk, at room temp
• 1/2 cup boiling water
• 4 oz semi-sweet or milk chocolate, chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F (175C). Butter one, or if you have them, two, round cake pans and dust the inside with flour, tapping out the excess. You may want to line the bottoms with parchment or wax paper, but if you have the kind of tin that pops open, you don't really need to.
   
2. Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, and salt.
3. In a large bowl, use a mixer (a stand mixer with a paddle attachment if you have one - I don't and a hand mixer worked just fine) to beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy.
   
4. Add the sugars and continue to beat for another 3 minutes.
   
5. Add the eggs one by one beating for one minute after each addition.
6. Beat in the vanilla (the recipe says not to be concerned if the mixture looks curdled - but it didn't).
   
7. Reduce the mixer speed to low and mix in the melted chocolate. When it is fully incorporated, add the dry ingredients alternately with the milk (adding the dry ingredients in three batches and the milk in two); scrape down the sides as needed and mix only until the ingredients disappear into the batter.
   
8. At this point, the batter will be thick, like frosting. Still working at low speed, mix in the boiling water, which will thin the batter considerably.
9. Switch to a rubber spatula, scrape down the bowl, and stir in the chopped chocolate.
10. Divide the batter evenly between the two pans (if you have them, otherwise just do one and wait) and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula.
11. Bake for 25-30 minutes, rotating the pans at the midway point. Test to see if your cakes are done by inserting a thin knife into the center of the cake. If it comes out clean, the cakes are done. (In our gas oven, at 175C, it took 1 hour for the cakes to bake, so make sure you check on them!)
12. Transfer the cake pans to a rack to cool. After about 5 minutes, run a knife around the sides of the cake and unmold them. Invert and cool to room temperature right side up.
13. When you are ready to fill and frost the cake, inspect the layers. If the cakes have domes, use a long serrated knife (like a bread knife) and a gentle sawing motion to even them. With the same knife, slice each layer horizontally in half. Set three layers aside and crumble the fourth layer; set these crumbs aside.
    

For filling:

You may wish to double the amount of filling to get two thick layers. I halved the cake instead and made a much smaller cake.

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 Tbsp flour
• 2 Tbsp cornstarch
• 4 large egg yolks
• 1 1/3 cups milk
• 1 vanilla bean, split, or 3/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons Cointreau or other orange liquor
  

Directions:

1. Once you've got the custard on the stove, this can get tricky, so make sure you have a spatula or two and a whisk at hand, plus a bowl to pour the hot custard into.
2. In a medium bowl beat sugar, flour, cornstarch and egg yolks at high speed until thick and pale yellow (about 2 minutes).
3. In a medium saucepan, bring milk to a simmer over low heat (add vanilla bean if you're using that, but remove it once the milk is simmering).
4. Gradually pour about 1/3 of the hot milk into the egg mixture, whisking to combine.
5. Heating the custard:
   • "The Joy of Cooking" says to scrape the egg mixture (use a spatula if your pans are sensitive) back into the pan (with the remaining milk in it), and cook over low to medium (low unless your oven is useless!) heat, whisking constantly and scraping the bottom and corners of the pan to prevent scorching, until the custard is thick and beginning to bubble. Then continue to cook, whisking, for 45 to 60 seconds. Using a clean spatula, scrape the custard into a clean bowl.
   • My take on this: This time it turned out exactly how it was supposed to. I have no idea why! But you may find that you notice your custard going from runny to lumpy practically immediately, despite constant whisking. Don't panic; just don't let it burn! Just pour your lumpy custard into the clean bowl and whisk it a few times, and it should even out just fine. If it did burn, then make sure not to scrape the burned bit on the bottom into the bowl.
     
6. If you're using the vanilla extract, stir that in now. Also, add 2 Tbsp of Cointreau, Grand Marnier, or other orange liquor.
   
7. You may want to cover the surface of the custard with wax or parchment paper to keep a skin from forming. I find that this just wastes custard as it usually sticks to the parchment paper (can't seem to find waxed paper here, so no word on whether that works better), and you can just eat the skin off the top of the custard before filling the cupcakes.
8. Let cool, then refrigerate before using. Make sure the custard is set before filling the cake!

For frosting:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter (no substitutes), softened
• 4 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar (powdered sugar)
  
• 1 1/4 cups baking cocoa (not instant cocoa powder or the likes of Nesquik - I tried this this time. The result was a remarkably rich frosting that was extremely difficult to spread, despite copious amounts of cream.)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup milk

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter. Gradually beat in confectioners' sugar, cocoa and vanilla. (Be careful not to add too much at once or you'll have a powdery mess all over your kitchen!) Slowly add enough milk until frosting reaches spreading consistency - you may not need the entire 1/2 cup or you may need more.

Taste your frosting as you go along (it'll be yummy!). That way you can add sugar/cocoa to your taste.

Refrigerate your frosting until your cake is ready to frost, but leave it out for a few minutes (ideally while you're setting up the cake) to allow the frosting to soften again.


To assemble your cake:

Once your cake body has cooled sufficiently, you can assemble it. Put the bottom layer cut side up on a cake round or cake plate protected by strips of wax or parchment paper, or just use a big enough cutting board like we did if you're not concerned about presentation. Using a long metal icing spatula (I used a regular rubber one, which was interesting while applying the frosting but really fine for the custard), cover the layer with half the custard, spreading it evenly. Top with the second layer, cut side up, and add the remaining custard. Finish with the top layer, cut side down.

Frost the top and sides of the cake with the frosting (this is where the long metal frosting spatula comes in). Don't worry about smoothing the frosting. Cover the entire cake with the chocolate crumbs, gently pressing the crumbs into the cake with your fingers.

Next week: Red Velvet Cake with Orange Pastry Cream Filling and Buttercream Frosting

Recipe: Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes (Damon's Birthday Cupcakes)

Boston Cream Pie has always been Damon's birthday cake of choice, but he's never managed to make it through a whole one on his own. So for his birthday this year we made Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes! This recipe is a take on Martha Stewart's Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes, the icing is allrecipes.com's Rich Chocolate Frosting, and the pastry cream/vanilla custard filling is a take on the recipe in "The Joy of Cooking". Please read the directions for each section through once before starting to cook! Makes 12 large cupcakes.

For cupcakes:

I hate to contradict Martha, but this recipe really only makes about 12, if you want nice big cupcakes.

I also rearranged the directions a bit, since unless you're really amazing at multitasking in the kitchen, it's really hard to keep your eyes on two things at once, and nothing is so time-sensitive that it can't wait a few moments for you to catch your breath. (Martha is a perfectionist. I am a realist.)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for tins
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup whole milk (We used 1.5% milk because that's what I grabbed by mistake. Worked just fine.)
  
• 3 ounces (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for tins
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (I used butter-vanilla instead. I think that might be something only available in Germany, though. Couldn't find bog-standard vanilla extract.)
  

Directions:

1. Butter (and flour, if you want, we went without by accident and it was fine) standard muffin tins.
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl.
3. Beat eggs and sugar with a mixer on high speed until thick and pale, about 5 minutes. Beat in dry ingredients (In parts! If you add them all at once odds are you'll make a mess).
4. Preheat oven to 350F (175C).
5. Warm milk and butter in a saucepan over low heat, bringing to a boil. With mixer on low speed, add milk mixture to batter, and beat until smooth. (It's easiest if you get someone to help you with this, unless you have a stand-alone mixer.) Add vanilla.
6. Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each halfway. (We went for two-thirds-way. Makes for bigger cupcakes, which are easier to fill.)
7. Bake cupcakes until light gold, about 22-25 minutes (Check at the 15 min mark by poking one with a toothpick. When it comes out clean, your cupcakes are done.)
8. Let cool in tins for 10 minutes, then transfer to wire racks. I find the best way to do this is to turn the cupcakes slightly in the tins- they should then pop right out. Let cool completely.

For frosting:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter (no substitutes), softened
• 4 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar (powdered sugar)
  
• 1 1/4 cups baking cocoa (not instant cocoa powder or the likes of Nesquick - they already have loads of sugar added and your frosting will be super-sweet!)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup milk

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter. Gradually beat in confectioners' sugar, cocoa and vanilla. (Be careful not to add too much at once or you'll have a powdery mess all over your kitchen!) Slowly add enough milk until frosting reaches spreading consistency - you may not need the entire 1/2 cup or you may need more.

Taste your frosting as you go along (it'll be yummy!). That way you can add sugar/cocoa to your taste.

Refrigerate your frosting until your cupcakes are ready to frost.


For filling:

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 Tbsp flour
• 2 Tbsp cornstarch
• 4 large egg yolks
• 1 1/3 cups milk
• 1 vanilla bean, split, or 3/4 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Once you've got the custard on the stove, this can get tricky, so make sure you have a spatula or two and a whisk at hand, plus a bowl to pour the hot custard into.
2. In a medium bowl beat sugar, flour, cornstarch and egg yolks at high speed until thick and pale yellow (about 2 minutes).
3. In a medium saucepan, bring milk to a simmer over low heat (add vanilla bean if you're using that, but remove it once the milk is simmering).
4. Gradually pour about 1/3 of the hot milk into the egg mixture, whisking to combine.
5. Heating the custard:
   • "The Joy of Cooking" says to scrape the egg mixture (use a spatula if your pans are sensitive) back into the pan (with the remaining milk in it), and cook over low to medium (low unless your oven is useless!) heat, whisking constantly and scraping the bottom and corners of the pan to prevent scorching, until the custard is thick and beginning to bubble. Then continue to cook, whisking, for 45 to 60 seconds. Using a clean spatula, scrape the custard into a clean bowl.
   • My take on this: unless you're an accomplished baker, you're probably going to notice your custard going from runny to lumpy practically immediately, despite constant whisking. Don't panic; just don't let it burn! Just pour your lumpy custard into the clean bowl and whisk it a few times, and it should even out just fine. If it did burn, then make sure not to scrape the burned bit on the bottom into the bowl.
6. If you're using the vanilla extract, stir that in now.
7. You may want to cover the surface of the custard with wax or parchment paper to keep a skin from forming. I find that this just wastes custard as it usually sticks to the parchment paper (can't seem to find waxed paper here, so no word on whether that works better), and you can just eat the skin off the top of the custard before filling the cupcakes.
8. Let cool, then refrigerate before using. Make sure the custard is set before filling the cupcakes!

To assemble the cupcakes:

(Watch the video for the Pear Champagne Cupcakes for a quick tutorial.)

The cupcakes and the custard must be cooled completely before filling the cupcakes! It helps if the frosting is pliable - room temperature is best.

Take a sharp knife and cut a cone out of the top of the cupcake. (I find that removing a cone works better than just cutting off the top and scooping out a hole, since that makes the top much harder to reapply - you have to use frosting as glue and it can get rather sticky.)

Use a teaspoon to scoop out some more of the body, but not so much that the cupcake falls apart. You can usually get about a square inch out and still maintain the integrity of the cupcake. (I usually eat the scooped out cupcake. You could also discard it, but it seems like a waste. It's pretty yummy).

Take the cone you cut out of the cupcake and trim off the tip. (Eat that as well!)

Teaspoon the filling into the hole. Don't fill it up the whole way. Take the top of the cupcake and replace it. Depending on how much filling you've added, you may have to trim off a bit more of the cone.

Top with frosting. You should be able to apply it so that you can't see the seam where the top of the cupcake was cut out and then put back in. That way when you serve them to your friends you can keep mum about the filling, and they'll be in for a yummy surprise! We put the frosting in a ziplock bag and then cut off one of the corners for a makeshift pastry bag and used that to frost the cupcakes.

Repeat with remaining cupcakes.

Serve and enjoy!


My calligraphy skills need some work, but thankfully they disappeared so fast no one noticed!

Recipe: Quick & Easy Berry Sand Dollar Pancakes

A quick, easy breakfast for two: sand dollar-sized pancakes with your choice of berry. Makes 8-10.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 egg
• 1 cup berries (blueberries, blackberries, etc)
  

In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients except the berries. I find slowly upping the speed on the mixer till its about medium is easiest. Once you have a smooth dough, gently stir in the berries.

Heat 1 tsp butter or oil (not olive! or other flavored oil) in a frying pan. Once the butter is melted, pour a ladle or large spoonful of batter into the pan. (You can also use this recipe for full sized pancakes, but it's harder to get them that perfect brown color without some practice.)

Watch for bubbles - then flip and wait a little while for the other side to brown. Remove pancake. If you're feeling fancy you can keep the pancakes warm on a (oven-safe) plate in the oven on low heat.

I find that once the pan gets really hot, it's best to turn the heat down to low so as not to burn later pancakes. My husband swears the ideal temperature for the pan is about 480F, but don't worry if you don't have a fancy non-contact infrared thermometer just lying around - you can tell if the pan is too hot or too cold based on how well your pancakes are browning/burning.

Also, I always serve these with syrup despite the sugar - yummy!

Recipe: Pear Champagne Cupcakes with Pear Pie filling

This yummy recipe is for Pear Champagne Cupcakes with Pear Pie Filling and Champagne Frosting. My husband loves these; he can eat about four in one sitting. They're a little bit labor-intensive, but totally worth it! They're sweet to very sweet (and can be made extremely sweet). The base recipe is from YumSugar's Bubbly Pear Cupcakes. I made some minor changes and added the filling. The recipe says it makes 24 cupcakes but I've only ever gotten 18 - you need to make the cupcakes slightly bigger so that there's enough room for the filling.

Bubbly Pear Cupcakes
Cobbled together by YumSugar

For cupcakes:
2 3/4 cups of flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
2 sticks of butter
2 cups sugar (brown or white)
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla (or 1 pack vanilla sugar)
1 cup champagne
3 firm-ish but ripe pears, peeled, cored and grated - I usually just puree the pears since it makes for a moister batter, but don't bother peeling them because I buy organic

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. In a small bowl sift flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
3. In mixer (or large bowl), cream butter and sugar until well mixed and airy
(If the butter is really cold, you're going to make a mess. If it's too soft, it's not going to work. Leave it out for a little while before mixing, but not long enough so it goes runny)

4. Add eggs, one at a time, making sure each one is full incorporated before adding next.
5. Slowly add in flour mixture making sure it is fully incorporated.
6. Stir in vanilla and champagne.
7. Stir in pears.
8. Line a cupcake tin with cupcake liners.
9. Scoop an even amount of dough into each cup. (You can overfill them since they have to be big enough to fill. Remember to put a bit of water into any empty cups.)
   
10. Bake for about 16 minutes. (Check on them after about 10 - our oven heats unevenly so I had to rotate the tray after ten minutes, and it took 2o minutes to bake.)
11. Remove the cupcakes from the oven and allow to cool for few minutes before removing them from the tins and allowing them to cool completely.
    

While the cupcakes are baking, you can make the filling and the frosting.

For frosting:
8 oz cream cheese, softened (whole fat!)
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar (sifted)
2 tbsp champagne

Whip the cream cheese, sugar and champagne until smooth.

YumSugar also calls for 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened, but I don't think you need it and I think it makes the frosting too rich. But if you like buttery frosting, go ahead and add it. I found that if you use butter you can get away with low-fat cream cheese (but what's the point, really, if you're adding butter?), but if you're not, then you really need full-fat cream cheese, because otherwise the frosting will be too runny.

They also call for 3 or more cups of sugar. I think 2 1/2 cups makes a mighty sweet frosting, but if you have a real sweet tooth go ahead and add as much as you want. Just keep tasting until you like it!

If you don't add butter, refrigerate the frosting until you need it, so it has a chance to firm up again, otherwise you may find that it is too runny.

For filling:
2 pears, cored and chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup champagne
1/4 cup sugar

Bring pears, cornstarch, champagne and sugar to a boil over low to medium heat. When the mixture thickens, remove from heat and let cool. Really keep an eye on this - pie filling without the pie is not an exact science.

You're looking for a gooey, pie-filling consistency. I have used breading flour or normal flour in lieu of cornstarch. Sometimes 1/4 cup is enough, sometimes it's too little or too much, so start with a bit and keep adding it until you get the mixture right. Don't add too much or you'll get gloop!

You can also add a pinch of cinnamon and some lemon juice if you like.

To assemble the cupcakes:

Take a sharp knife and cut a cone out of the top of the cupcake. (I find that removing a cone works better than just cutting off the top and scooping out a hole, since that makes the top much harder to reapply - you have to use frosting as glue and it can get rather sticky.)

Use a teaspoon to scoop out some more of the body, but not so much that the cupcake falls apart. You can usually get about a square inch out and still maintain the integrity of the cupcake. (I usually eat the scooped out cupcake. You could also discard it, but it seems like a waste. It's pretty yummy).

Take the cone you cut out of the cupcake and trim off the tip. (Eat that as well!)

Teaspoon the filling into the hole. Don't fill it up the whole way. Take the top of the cupcake and replace it. Depending on how much filling you've added, you may have to trim off a bit more of the cone.

Top with frosting. You should be able to apply it so that you can't see the seam where the top of the cupcake was cut out and then put back in. That way when you serve them to your friends you can keep mum about the filling, and they'll be in for a yummy surprise! Repeat with remaining cupcakes. If you run out of filling you can fill them with icing, but then you're off in excruciatingly sweet territory.

Here's a video if you're confused (no, the filling shouldn't be that runny, but I ran out of starch :))



Serve, and enjoy!