FOUR LITTLE CUPCAKES

Posted in Cake by sallybr

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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24Jun2023

HELLO THERE, CUPCAKE!

Posted in Cake by sallybr

For several months now I’ve been including cupcakes in my weekly box of donations. I try to vary the buttercream component and come up with different styles and colors each Friday. Because variety is the spice of life, right?

You can find my buttercream recipe with a click here. I used it for all cupcakes, except the Chocolate Cardamon with Espresso Icing.

RUSSIAN ICING TIPS

A long, long time ago I tried my hands at these funky looking icing tips, and promised that I would never touch them again. But trust Marlyn from @montrealconfections to make me change my mind. She had a nice video from years ago showing exactly how to use them, and I could not resist giving it a second chance (check it out here). She demonstrated two ways to using them, and I tried them both. First, the usual piping of flowers by dropping little blobs of two-color icing. If the consistency is just right, it works like a charm…

For these I used two color buttercream icing, half dyed pink, half left with no added color. The Russian tip was used to drop 6 tiny roses to the cupcake. A little buttercream dyed green added the final touch, which is of course optional.

This fun ruffled look is also given by a Russian ball-tip, piping and twisting the cake from one side to the other. Check Marlyn’s video to see exactly how it is done. The central portion is then filled with a drop flower as in the previous cake.

SIMPLE ROSES

Probably one of the simplest designs to pipe but with a nice visual effect, the 1M tip never disappoints. It looks nice when used with two tones of icing, but as you cam see below, it will work as a single color also.

The cupcakes above used a wonderful recipe from my friend Caroline, which you can find in her blog with a click here. Chocolate Cardamon Cupcake with Espresso Icing (OMG!). I added a little chocolate flower, made by painting tempered chocolate over a real leaf and then dusting with golden powder.

OPEN STAR TIP

For this look I used the Ateco 865 tip, but any open star should work. Just make a swirl starting from the center. It will give a more flat top that is nice coupled with any decorations you’d like. Above I used tempered chocolate painted on transfer sheets to add a design, and cut into small circles.

The same type of frosting will also go well with meringue sticks, in this case leftover from a cake of my recent past.

These cupcakes are Pink Lemonade flavor, and I used this recipe from Food Network (I made only half which was more than enough for 12 cupcakes).

SPRINGTIME FLOWERS

For the cupcakes above, I used either a petal tip or a Wilton tip #81, as shown in this video (around 19 minutes).

Petal tips such as 102, 103 or 104 can also make beautiful flowers by laying them more flat on the surface. I like the simple elegance of a fully white flower.

I hope you’ve found some inspiration in case you need to bake a batch of cupcakes to share with friends, family, or co-workers.

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14Feb2015

RED VELVET CUPCAKES

Posted in Desserts, Sweets by sallybr

If you are not completely overwhelmed by the influx of sweets, chocolates, strawberries, and heart-shaped things in the blogosphere, you could be now, because I am adding one more shockingly red item to the 26.2 mile-long list. But, how could I resist joining this party, when I baked a batch of these:

Aren’t you absolutely amazed? Aren’t they cute? Did you notice the icing? Can you believe “I” made them? So many questions, I know… but you have to be amazed. Because I certainly am. Granted, this baking adventure was not drama-free.

RED VELVET CUPCAKES WITH CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
(from Kristine’s Kitchen)

**recipe makes 24 cupcakes, I halved all amounts for a batch of 12**

for the cupcakes:
2 ½ cups cake flour
1 ½ cups sugar
1 tbsp. cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 ¼ cups vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
2 tbsp. (1 ounce) red food coloring
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. distilled white vinegar

for the cream cheese frosting:
8 oz. cream cheese (straight from refrigerator do not soften)
5 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 – 3 ½ cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake tins with paper liners and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together cake flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt until well combined. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine eggs, oil, buttermilk, red food coloring, vanilla, and vinegar. Mix on medium speed until well combined. Add the dry ingredients to the mixer and beat first on low-speed and then on medium speed until smooth, about 2 minutes.

Divide batter evenly between cupcake liners, filling each a little over halfway full. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until a tester inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean, 16-18 minutes. Let cupcakes cool in pans for 5 minutes and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

To make the frosting: Beat together the cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add 3 cups powdered sugar and mix on low-speed until incorporated, and then medium-high speed until frosting reaches desired consistency, about 3 more minutes. For a stiffer icing, add more powdered sugar. Beat in the vanilla extract. Pipe frosting onto cooled cupcakes as desired. Store frosted cupcakes in the refrigerator.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

The stunning paper linings were a gift from our friend Cindy. I decided to trim their tops after baking to make it easier to frost the cakes. I know my limitations.

Everything was going on well, until it was time to frost the cakes. I was set on doing a good job on these, so I bought myself a pastry bag. Not a fancy one, but a disposable, single use plastic type. I filled the bag with the cream cheese frosting, took a deep breath, and went to work. All went smoothly for the first two babies, then all of a sudden, I squeezed and squeezed, and nothing came out of the pastry bag’s tip. I told myself – you are a P90Xer, you can certainly squeeze harder than that! – and that’s when I felt a moist, cold, sticky feeling on my wrist, the consequence of frosting that had found its way up instead of down, and not satisfied to reach midway through my arm, was now splashing on the floor.

Not sure if you ever had to deal with this type of situation, but there’s only one word to describe it: messy. Very messy. The bag gets slippery, the frosting refuses to compact down, and the Jack Russell gets overly agitated from the sudden intake of sugar. Chaos in the Bewitching Kitchen. Still, only one little cake was lost in that battle, due to jerky movements on my part and the merciless Law of Gravity.

These cupcakes were moist, tender, and the frosting complemented them quite well. The only problem was the decoration added on top. It turns out that those sugar pearls were rock hard. I thought they would more or less melt in the mouth, but… not the case. More the dental filling destroyer kind. I will use a different type of sprinkle next time. Because obviously there will be a next time. And when that next time arrives, I intend to do as pros do, and twist the top of the pastry bag. It’s all in the details, my friends. 🙂