The Wellingtons

Week 2: Making Things Taste Good

My husband, if I haven't mentioned it before, although he works a day job as a web developer, is a trained chef. He went to culinary school, before me and the kids, purely because he loves cooking and food. It has never been his goal to cook or serve food to anyone but his family and friends, so dinner guests are a fun time for him to get to try something fancy or new. Now that Slugger is coming to dinner every Tuesday, it is a chance for both the hubby and myself to test our culinary abilities.

This week Morgan, the wonderful Husband, found a Beef Wellington recipe in Jamie Oliver's book "Food Revolution". (We are also fans of his new show). This particular recipe is made with ground beef instead of a single piece of meat and then wrapped in puff pastry to cook in the oven. Morgan has always wanted to make a Beef Wellington and thought this recipe might be an easier version for him to try on a weeknight after he comes home from work.

So, then it was my turn to find a new cake or dessert recipe for our new, fun Tuesday night dinner. I was surfing around the Internet and there it was, just all of a sudden...I had stumbled upon a recipe for...Cupcake Wellington. Ok, theme dinner, here we come...

I must tell you, at first I was a little skeptical about this recipe. I decided to do it for fun, never actually expecting it to taste good. (I know it kind of defeats the whole attempting to "make things that taste good" thing). I found the Cupcake Wellington recipe at www.cupcakeproject.com, which is now one of my favorite baking blogs. The recipe says that you can use any type of cupcake you prefer for the inside of your wellington,so I chose to make the most delicious from-scratch chocolate cupcake I could find. So, here it goes...

The Inspiration: Morgan's Beef Wellington


First, I made super chocolaty cupcakes. They not only called for more bittersweet chocolate than I would have thought tasty, but I also mixed mini semi-sweet chocolate chips into the batter right before popping them into the oven.


After they colled, I used a melon baller to scoop out the middle of the cupcake.


While the cupcakes were cooling, I made a super creamy chocolate mousse. I've never actually made mousse myself before and I was amazed that it was just beaten eggs with chocolate folded in...who knew? I piped the mousse into the middle of the chocolaty cupcakes.


After they set, I dipped the top of the cupcake in a dark chocolate ganache, sealing the mouse inside the cupcake.


The last step was to wrap the entire cupcake in puff pastry. I cut a 5 inch square of store bought puff pastry and put the cupcake face down in the middles, wrapping the rest of the dough around the cupcake, kind of like wrapping a present. I flipped it over, brushed a egg wash on top, made some score marks and put it in the over for approximately 25 min. It came out hot and golden.


The part that surprised me was that the second time in the oven actually cooked the mousse filling, making it absorb back into the cake. I was excited to find that this was actually pretty delicious. Especially right out of the oven. I think I am going to have to do a 2.0 version of this in another flavor just to see what happens.


Kids like Cupcake Wellington too!