California, Big sur and cupcakes

בס"ד

California is a huge state, of course, and we have traveled it quite a bit. But the one place, I think, everyone are passing through is Big Sur.

The region is the segment of California State Route 1 from Carmel south to San Simeon.

Why is it called Big Sur?

Well, it actually derives from the Spanish language "El Sur Grande" ( "the big south") or from "el país grande del Sur" ("the big country of the south"), which refers to its location south of the city of Monterey.

We were in the area in late September and it was quite chilly.

We stopped at a vista point to see some elephant seals.

There were two sides to try and look for the elephant seals and I've decided to take the right side, that turned out to be the wrong side, because on the right you could only see three chubby ones from a distance, not doing nothing.

We then went to the left side and they were everywhere! You could not miss them, even if you wanted to.

So there they were, this chubby cute giant fellows...

And the breathtaking view...

And how about this cute little squirrel...

Except for Big Sur, you can find in California the very first cupcake store founded by Candace Nelson ("Cupcake Wars") and her husband in 2005 at Beverly Hills, California. 

Now we Haven't visited there, but I thought what kind of recipe would be more appropriate than a cupcake recipe.

So I've decided to make a cupcake filled with dulce de leche and covered with chocolate.

This Cupcake is adapted from "Cupcake Heaven Vol 2 " of Eric Lanlard.

Ingredients For 8 cupcakes:

Batter:

2 M eggs

160 ml milk(5.41 Oz)

75-gram melted butter (2.64 Ounce)

225-gram flour (7.93 Ounce)

75-gram sugar (2.64 Ounce)

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

8 spoons Dulce De Leche  / jam

Coating:

150 ml whipping cream (5.07 OZ)

150-gram dark chocolate (5.29 ounce)

Decoration:

Chocolate cut into stripes

Preparation:

Heat oven to 200 Celsius (392F).

Beat the eggs just a bit. Then add the milk and butter and stir.

Add the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and mix. The mixture will be a bit lumpy and that's ok.

Prepare muffin tins in a muffin pan and fill about a third of the batter to each muffin. Fill with the Dulce De Leche and pour on top the rest of the batter.

Bake for 20 - 25 minutes until risen and golden.

Let the cupcakes cool to room temperature.

Melt together the whipping cream and chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl. After each interval, mix the mixture. Let it cool a bit and dunk the cupcakes in to get a delicious chocolate coating.

Sprinkle chocolate stripes on top of the cupcakes and Bon Appetite.

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