brigadeiro | Bewitching Kitchen

Vanilla or Chocolate Cupcakes, all with American Buttercream in different decorating styles. Two designs went tropical, showcasing a plump Brazilian “brigadeiro” on the top.

VANILLA CUPCAKES
(adapted from several sources)

120g all-purpose flour
150g granulated sugar
40g butter, unsalted, removed from the fridge for 30 minutes
1 large egg
120mL milk
1 + 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla paste or extract
1/4 tsp salt

Heat the oven to 350F and line a cupcake pan with paper baking cups. Recipe makes 9 to 10 cupcakes.

Put the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and butter cut in small pieces in the bowl of a KitchenAid type mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-low until the butter is in very small pieces, almost like sand.

Whisk the egg with the milk and vanilla, add slowly to the mixer running in low-speed. Once it is almost smooth, increase the speed to high for a couple of minutes, scraping the bottom of the bowl once.

Stop the mixer and make sure the batter is fully smooth, mixing by hand with a spatula. Add batter to the 9 cupcakes, filling half-way full only. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center.

Leave cool completely before decorating.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

PASTEL TONES CUPCAKES

Vanilla cupcakes were baked then frosted with American buttercream, using this recipe. The batch was divided in three portions, dyed pastel pink, teal, and the last portion left white. Then, it was a matter of having fun with different piping tips and finish them with sprinkles in matching color.

I used a 3D Wilton tip for the large rose swirl, and a tip 20 for the other details. Just have fun with it, no precision needed. I love the end result…

BRAZILIAN-STYLE CUPCAKES, TWO WAYS

I used the same vanilla cupcake recipe, the same American buttercream. Rolled brigadeiros in sprinkles, and used them to decorate the cupcakes right after frosting. I used a large open star tip to make petal-style piping. You can use white frosting, or make a marble type like I did in one of my batches, using pink and white.

These turned out fun and from what I heard, were a big hit when I donated them…

GALAXY CUPCAKES

CHOCOLATE GALAXY CUPCAKES
(inspired by several sources)

for the cupcakes (makes 10):
100g all-purpose flour
20g cocoa powder
140g granulated sugar
40g butter, softened
1/8 tsp salt
1 large egg
120mL milk, full-fat
1 + 1/2 tsp baking powder

Heat oven to 350F and line a tray with cupcake liners.

Mix the milk with egg in a small bowl, whisk, reserve.

Put the flour, cocoa powder, butter, sugar and salt in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix until the butter forms a sand consistency. Pour half the milk mixture into the bowl and mix on low-speed for a minute. Increase the speed to medium-high for a couple of minutes. Add the remaining milk mixture, and mix on low-speed until fully incorporated.

Increase the speed for a few seconds, then add the batter to the lined cupcakes. Bake for about 15 minutes, until a toothpick comes clean when inserted in the center.

Cool the cupcakes completely before frosting.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

For the galaxy effect, divide the buttercream in three portions, one of them smaller than the other two (no need for exact measurements, you can eye-ball). The idea is to minimize the amount of the very dark component, otherwise it will overpower the design. Dye the smallest portion black, the other two teal and pink. Add them in straight lines over plastic wrap, roll the wrap like a sausage and insert into a large piping bag fitted with an open star tip. Pipe swirls, and add sprinkles. These would be amazing next to the cookies I blogged about recently, don’t you think?

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First things first, huge thank you to Chef Faye Palmqvist, who inspired me to get this special baking pan, and most importantly, stop hyperventiating about it and BAKE! You can marvel at her creations and learn a lot by visiting her site, her IG page, and also her Facebook page.

To make this cake, you need a special pan that leaves an opening in the center, thanks to the empty cylinder that slides into it through holes at the sides.
(ordering info here)

It is a very clever system. If you don’t want to have the hole in the center, simply slide into the pan the insert that closes the holes, and bake a regular cake in it. If you place the cylinder, make sure to spray it with baking spray or coat it well with butter and flour it lightly.

For the cake component, I won’t share the recipe Chef Faye sent me, as it is from her copyrighted files, but you can use any marbled cake you like, just don’t make a huge batch. A recipe that calls for ONE EGG will be enough. I suggest this one although you will probably still have leftover cake batter if using the same pan I did. If you over-fill a bit, cake batter will spill out of the pan through the side holes or even from the top. Do not worry about it, just bake for about 40 minutes at 325F with the pan closed and after allowing it to cool for 10 minutes, you can slide the top open. I put the open pan in the fridge for 20 minutes after that to solidify things a bit before pulling the cylinder out. It worked like a dream, although my job doing the marbling was pretty pathetic… It was hard to judge what I was doing, especially with the cylinder in the middle of the the way. Next time will be easier.

The filling component… I used a soft-batch of brigadeiro to fill the empty space, my default recipe was published in the early years of my blog. Check it out here. Just don’t cook it all the way into rolling stage, stop when the mixture just starts pulling away from the sides of the pan but not furiously bubbling. I transferred to a shallow baking dish to cool faster, and filled the hole of the cake while it was still warm, but the cake cold from the fridge. It might be better to freeze the cake for a while, but I have not tried that this time.

To coat the cake, I used a mixture of compound chocolate, milk chocolate and grapeseed oil (150g compound chocolate, 75g milk chocolate, 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil). Melt gently, whisk until super smooth. Place the cake in the freezer for 30 minutes, then remove and coat the bottom. Let it set, if needed warm gently the coating so that it flows nicely, and coat the sides and top. Immediately add chocolate sprinkles for the traditional “brigadeiro” look. I sprayed a little gold luster because that’s how I roll. And apparently also how I cake.

Travel cakes last for several days at room temperature, that’s why they are called this way. In French, even more beautiful… Gateaux de voyage! What a dream!