My Favorite Recipes

Kaysha Lyman caught the attention of her evaluators during her senior project presentation—she fed them cupcakes. Other seniors in her group brought photos, scrapbooks, even a porch swing, but Kaysha brought food.

Kaysha, a 2012 graduate of Colfax High School, is the daughter of David and Benay Lyman. She has an older sister, Dakota, and a brother, Kenton, who just turned fifteen.

Seven of her classmates were centering their senior projects on job-shadowing, but Kaysha wanted to be more original and learn something new, so she began to look at baking. Her challenge was coordinating school, a part-time job, softball and her senior project.

Her grandmother, Sharon Lyman is a frequent baking partner, and Kaysha watches “Cake Boss” on The Learning Channel, so she decided to bake.

Amy Warwick, friend of Kaysha’s mom, agreed to help her learn to make event cupcakes—the delicious, showy kind that are seen at weddings and other special events.

Their first session involved Kaysha watching, listening to Amy and asking questions. Until then, she didn’t know that Amy makes everything from scratch, and that was a new experience for her. For their next session, Amy had Kaysha measure dry ingredients and mix them.

Amy’s process of refining recipes interested Kaysha. She starts with an interesting recipe and makes it several times, tweaking ingredients, adding her own touches and personalizing the recipe.

Frosting the cupcakes was the hardest task for Kaysha. The frosting has to be the right consistency and free of air bubbles. She also had to master the pastry bag. If the consistency of the frosting is wrong, a great technique with the pastry bag won’t produce a great result.

Most of the frosting recipes she works with start with cream cheese, then butter and then flavoring with color ingredients added.

Kaysha’s finished senior project took 30 hours, complete with a scrapbook showing her experiences. She dislayed her project on presentation night at Colfax High School before a panel of local residents, friends and family. She concluded by serving lemon cupcakes with lemon curd filling and lemon cream cheese frosting to the evaluators.

During the summer, Kaysha will shift from school, softball and baking cupcakes to driving bank-out wagon during harvest for Steve and Kevin Mader for two months. Her father will also be working on the crew.

After harvest, she will be off to Eastern Washington University where she plans to major in physical therapy, earn a bachelor’s degree and then go to grad school for physical therapy, totaling six or more years of college. Staying in the Palouse and working with athletes are her preferences now.

Kaysha does some other cooking with casseroles; breakfast casserole and enchiladas are favorites. Her favorite cookbook, Crazy About Cupcakes by Krystina Castilla, is where she found two of her favorite recipes. She made pumpkin cupcakes in the fall and the peppermint ones at Christmas.

Recipes:

Pumpkin Cupcakes

1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs, room temperature

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup milk

1 1/4 cups pumpkin puree, canned or fresh

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Insert liners into a medium cupcake pan.

In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugars with an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy, 3-5 minutes. Add the eggs to the creamed mixture one at a time, mixing after each addition. Beat well.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and salt.

Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, alternating with milk. Mix until completely integrated.

Add the pumpkin and vanilla and beat until smooth.

Fill the cupcake liners one-half to three-quarters full. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of cupcakes comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in the pan.

Peppermint Cupcakes

1/2 pound unsalted butter, room temperature

2 cups sugar

4 large eggs, room temperature

1 tablespoon peppermint extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup milk

1/2 cup ground peppermint candies

1/2 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Insert liners into a medium cupcake pan.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy, 3-5 minutes.

In a separate bowl, with clean beaters on medium speed, beat the eggs and peppermint extract together.

Add the egg mixture to the creamed mixture.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt.

Gradually add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, alternating with the milk. Do not overmix. Sprinkle the ground peppermint candies into the batter. Add the boiling water and partially melt the candies. Mix slightly.

Fill the cupcake liners three-quarters full. Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of cupcakes comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in the pan.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

3 cups confectioners’ sugar

2 teaspoons peppermint extract

1/3 cup crushed peppermint candies

In a medium bowl, cream together cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth.

Slowly sift in the confectioners’ sugar and continue beating. Mix until all lumps are gone. Add the peppermint extract and crushed candies until fully mixed.

Whipped Cream

1 1/2 cups whipping cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 Tablespoons granulated sugar

In a medium bowl, whip the cream, vanilla, and sugar with an electric mixer on high speed until thick.

Cinnamon whipped cream: Add 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon before whipping.