Category: Cakes + Cupcakes

Bird’s Nest Cupcakes

birds nest closeupSpring is here! It’s 70-something in Pittsburgh today and appears for the moment that the long, hard, polar vortex extravaganza of winter is over. Having grown up in the fickle weather patterns of Western PA, I realize that tomorrow could be 40, and that snow is a possibility through early May. For now though, I’ll take a beautiful day whenever I can get one.

These bird’s nest cupcakes would be great for any spring-related event; an Easter dinner, Mother’s Day brunch, or in this case, a bird-themed baby shower. One of my colleagues hosted just such an event today and I was happy to provide these, which may look complicated but are actually very easy to prepare especially given the abundance of egg-shaped candies right now. If you can’t find egg-shaped candies for the nests, I suspect that peanut M&Ms would work well too.

Ingredients

Preparation

Bake cupcakes and allow to cool completely before frosting.

Prepare vanilla almond buttercream. Using a one-inch cookie scoop, scoop frosting onto each cupcake and spread with an offset spatula in an even layer.

Prepare cocoa frosting. Fit a piping bag with a medium plain tip, such as Wilton #5. Pipe nests, creating the outer edges first and filling in with a few squiggles of frosting for the nest bottoms.

Place mini egg candies in each nest; most will fit three eggs, but a few of mine fit four. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to two days.

Note: one of the cupcakes in this batch featured a hatched baby bird, similar to a cupcake I’d seen in the Martha Stewart Cupcakes book, as the cupcake for the mom-to-be. To create this, I used one blue Hershey’s candy-coated egg, melted a few chocolate chips, and dabbed the chocolate on for eyes, then made a batch of Zella’s icing, tinted it orange, and piped on a small beak using the smallest plain tip I have. You can see the hatched bird in the photo below, and you can reserve the batch of icing from the beak for another time; it refrigerates very well.

birds nest all

Caramel Cupcakes with Vanilla Almond Buttercream

caramel cupcakesIn this age of fancy-looking cupcakes, when many a blogger can present the kind of artistic creations that were once reserved for food magazines, I find myself incapable of successfully piping buttercream icing onto regular-sized cupcakes.

While cream cheese frosting flows freely from my piping bag in elegant swirls, buttercream reduces me to the amateur of amateurs. Miniature cupcakes are easier; with such little surface area, you really just need a blob to cover them. But regular-sized cupcakes are another matter entirely, and I simply can’t manage to produce the kind of effect I’d like. We all have our shortcomings, I suppose.

After attempting to pipe this frosting and discovering that my skills were once again lacking, I took hold of my trusty offset spatula. One advantage to frosting cupcakes by hand is that they take on a lovely old-fashioned look, befitting a classic flavor like the caramel of these cupcakes. This recipe was adapted from a few others I’ve seen online to incorporate much more vanilla, and I chose to frost them with a vanilla almond buttercream, rather than a salted caramel or other trendy flavor, to create a more classic treat. Caramel and vanilla are good flavor friends, and according to Mike the almond adds another dimension, which is exactly what I’d hoped to create. If only I weren’t fasting from sugar right now, I’d probably have already eaten a few myself!

Caramel Cupcakes

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 8 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
  • 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
  • 2 eggs, at room temperature
  • 4 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk

Preparation

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line cupcake tins with paper liners; this recipe yields about 18 cupcakes.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In a mixing bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar until very light and fluffy.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla and beat on medium speed until combined.

Add flour mixture and buttermilk in alternate batches, starting and ending with the flour and scraping the sides of the bowl frequently. Batter will be fluffy.

Using a 2-inch cookie scoop, scoop batter into prepared pans, filling about half-full.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Mine baked for 21 minutes.

Remove from oven and cool in pans for just a minute, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Vanilla Almond Buttercream

Ingredients

  • 8 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
  • 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract
  • 1/2 to 3/4 tablespoon almond extract

Preparation

In a mixing bowl, beat butter for about 1 minute, then add salt and beat another minute.

Add powdered sugar and beat on low speed until all of the sugar is fully incorporated into the butter; this will take a few minutes.

Add vanilla extract and almond extract, beating well to combine. Taste; add more extract if desired.

Frost cupcakes using an offset spatula.

 

Orange Cream Mini Cupcakes

orange cream cupcakeI’ve just completed a mammoth baking endeavor: 23 dozen miniature cupcakes, of varying flavors. This is the largest single-client baking project I’ve ever completed, and it went very well (as far as I know; the aforementioned cupcakes are likely being consumed right now at a fundraising event). It also left me with two dozen miniature vanilla cupcakes that needed frosting, so I asked Mike to choose a frosting flavor to complement them. He chose orange, for an orange cream-like result.

Rising to the challenge, I did a quick online search for orange frosting. There are many to choose from, ranging from orange cream cheese to orange buttercream to orange drizzle. Because drizzle would have been too glaze-like and cream cheese would have added a tang I didn’t quite want, I chose an orange buttercream and adapted it to my liking, using orange extract, vanilla extract, and orange juice to achieve a delicate orange-vanilla balance. If you don’t have orange extract handy, you can substitute with more orange juice. Mike was very pleased with the outcome, proclaiming the end result “very orange-creamy.”

The recipes below yield 24 miniature cupcakes and 1 cup of frosting, which covered my cupcakes perfectly.

Very Vanilla Cupcakes

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons cake flour
  • 1/2 plus 1/8 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 plus 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup canola oil
  • 1/4 cup buttermilk

Note: to double this recipe for 4 dozen miniature or 2 dozen regular-sized cupcakes, use the quantities in St. Patrick’s Day Cupcakes.

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line one 24-cup mini cupcake pan with paper liners.

In a small bowl, whisk together cake flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

Place egg in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar and continue beating for another 30 seconds.

Add vanilla and canola oil and beat on medium speed for 1 minute.

Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternatively in three batches, beginning and ending with the flour, scraping the sides of the bowl frequently. Batter will be very thin.

Using a teaspoon measuring spoon, scoop batter into prepared pan.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in pan for about 1 minute, then remove to a wire rack and cool completely before frosting.

Orange Cream Frosting

Ingredients

  • 4 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon orange extract*
  • 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • About 3 tablespoons orange juice
  • Yellow liquid food coloring
  • Red liquid food coloring

*Substitute orange juice if you don’t have orange extract. And, this recipe would be very easily doubled if you wanted to make enough to cover 4 dozen miniature or 2 dozen regular-sized cupcakes.

Preparation

In a mixing bowl, beat butter on low speed for about 1 minute. Add 1 cup powdered sugar, orange extract, and vanilla; beat on low speed until well-combined. Add second cup powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon orange juice and beat until well-combined. Add additional orange juice, 1/2 tablespoon at a time, to reach a smooth (but not runny) consistency.

With your mixer running on low, add about 3-4 drops of yellow liquid food coloring, followed by 1 drop of red. Beat on medium speed until color is well-distributed, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary, to achieve a pale orange color.

Fit a piping bag with a large plain tip and pipe frosting onto cupcakes. Store in an airtight container for 2-3 days.

St. Patrick’s Day Cupcakes

st. pattys cupcakesHappy (actual) St. Patrick’s Day! Yes, the baking extravaganza continued throughout this past weekend in my kitchen, and these were my final project. I like to think that St. Patrick would be proud of them…if he liked cupcakes, that is. 

The two things I love most about baking are that it is both creative and apt to make someone really, really happy. These cupcakes enabled me to be both creative, and the bringer of sugar joy to the family of one of my lovely colleagues from work, whose kids love this holiday.

Apparently, the cupcakes went over big…as you can see in the “aftermath” photo below. And yes, that is my laptop in this photo…a blogger needs her resources close by, after all! 

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 cups cake flour
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup canola oil
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk
  • 1 recipe vanilla buttercream
  • green liquid food coloring
  • leaf green and kelly green gel paste food coloring
  • green sparkling sugar, if desired

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line one regular-sized cupcake pan and one miniature cupcake pan with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, whisk together cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

Place eggs in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar and continue to beat for another 30 seconds.

Add vanilla and canola oil and beat on medium speed for 1 minute.

Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternatively in three batches, beginning and ending with the flour, scraping the sides of the bowl frequently. Batter will be very thin.

Using a quarter-cup measuring cup, scoop batter into prepared regular-sized cupcake liners, filling half full. Use a teaspoon measuring spoon to fill miniature cupcake liners.

Bake regular-sized cupcakes for 12-13 minutes and miniature cupcakes for 7-9 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack before frosting.

To frost:

Prepare vanilla buttercream. Add a few drops of green liquid food coloring to the frosting with your mixer running on low to medium speed to achieve a light green color.

Remove about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of the frosting and tint darker green; I used a combination of leaf green and kelly green to create my shamrock color. Fit a piping bag with a small to medium-sized plain tip (I used a Wilton #5 tip) and place dark green frosting inside; set aside.

Frost regular-sized cupcakes first; using a 1-inch cookie scoop, scoop light green frosting onto each cupcake and frost in a smooth layer. Pipe shamrock shapes onto each cupcake; make three heart-like shapes then add the stem.

Frost miniature cupcakes next; replace your dark green piping bag with a large plain tip (I used Wilton 12) and pipe in swirls.

Fit another piping bag with a large star tip (I used Wilton 21) and fill with light green frosting. Pipe in swirls.

Dip half of each shade of the miniature cupcakes into the green sparkling sugar. Store at room temperature in an airtight container for 2-3 days (or store in the fridge to extend the life of your buttercream).

The aftermath at the Houser family St. Patrick’s Day celebration is as follows:

IMG_2262

 

Stout Cupcakes

stout cupcakesHappy (almost) St. Patrick’s Day! Most Americans probably celebrate this holiday with no sense of who he was. If you’re curious, check out the History Channel for some interesting information about St. Patrick, patron saint of Ireland. My Irish-American Catholic mother, Genny O’Donnell Kozusko, would like to remind you that St. Patrick’s Day is a Catholic feast day, so instead of drinking green beer you should really just go to mass. And say a few rosaries while you’re at it. Anyway…

I’m not sure how priests would feel about the aroma of Guinness, melted butter, and chocolate, but it smelled pretty heavenly to me. This is the first time I’ve ever baked with alcohol, and the process was not nearly as intimidating as I’d thought. The batter for these cupcakes is very thin at first, almost the consistency of honey; after it begins to cool a bit it’s a bit more viscous.

Note: this is a big recipe! The original recipe, which is from the Authentic Suburban Gourmet, was written as yielding 24 regular-sized cupcakes. My batch yielded nearly twice that, resulting in 24 regular-sized cupcakes and 24 miniature cupcakes.

Stout Cupcakes

Ingredients

  • 1 cup Guinness
  • 1 cup salted butter, cut into chunks
  • 3/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2/3 cup sour cream
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups flour

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners.

In a medium saucepan, combine Guinness and butter and bring to a simmer until butter is completely melted. Add cocoa powder and whisk until blended; set aside.

In a mixing bowl, combine sugar, sour cream, and eggs and beat on medium speed until combined. With the mixer running on low, slowly pour the Guinness mixture into the sugar mixture and beat until smooth. Add baking soda and salt, beating until combined. Add flour, one cup at a time, beating mixture for about 1 minute. Batter will be warm and very thin; it will thicken slightly as it cools.

Using a quarter-cup measuring cup, scoop batter into regular-sized cupcake pans, filling about three-quarters full; for the miniature cupcakes, I used a tablespoon measuring spoon and also filled the liners about three-quarters full. Regular-sized cupcakes bake for 17-20 minutes and miniatures bake for 8-10, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in pans for about 1 minute, then remove to wire racks to cool completely before frosting.

Devil’s Cut Frosting

Ingredients

  • 12 ounces cream cheese, softened
  • 6 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
  • 3/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons Devil’s Cut whiskey

Preparation

In a mixing bowl, cream together cream cheese and butter until very well-combined.

Add powdered sugar, about 1/2 cup at a time, beating until well-combined, then add cocoa powder and beat until smooth. Add whiskey and continue to beat for 3-4 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl frequently, until frosting is very smooth and ingredients are completely incorporated.

Fit a piping bag with a large plain tip and pipe onto cooled cupcakes. Store in the refrigerator.

Red Velvet Cupcakes II

red velvet iiOne glimpse at the photo in this post will tell you everything you need to know: these are indeed brilliant red velvet cupcakes. This is my second try at red velvet, because my first batch turned out far less red and far more dry than I’d been expecting. My first recipe called for butter, 3/4 cup of Dutch-process cocoa, and apple cider vinegar, while this recipe uses oil, one teaspoon of regular unsweetened cocoa, and regular white vinegar. I also suspect that my first batch sat in the cupcake pans too long after cooling, but whether it’s the ingredients or the process, I’ll probably never be sure.

This recipe, which is adapted from Christy Jordan’s Southern Plate “Phenomenal Red Velvet” recipe, is certainly my preference. Not only are these cupcakes a vibrant red, they’re very moist. I suspect that the vegetable oil, not butter, in the recipe gives them an extra boost of liquid, and it certainly helped that I pulled them from their pans immediately after baking. These are certainly another recipe I wish I could eat, but until late April, the Sugar Fast will remain in effect!

Note: this recipe yielded 24 miniature cupcakes and 7 regular-sized cupcakes.

Red Velvet Cupcakes II

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 cup flour
  • 1 heaping teaspoon cocoa powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk
  • 3/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 teaspoon white vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/2 ounce red liquid food coloring (just use have of the 1-ounce bottle)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners.

Combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl; set aside.

In a mixing bowl, combine sugar, buttermilk, vegetable oil, egg, and vinegar. Beat on low, then medium speed, until combined.

Add flour mixture and beat on low speed until combined.

Add vanilla and red food coloring, beating until combined; the batter will be on the thinner side, which is fine.

Fill cupcake liners about three-quarters full; I used a 1-inch cookie scoop to fill the miniature cupcake liners and a two-inch cookie scoop to fill the regular-sized ones. Bake miniature cupcakes for 8-10 minutes and regular-sized cupcakes for 18-20 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Remove from pans to cool on wire racks almost immediately after baking; I let mine sit in the pans for just about 30 seconds to a minute. Cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting II (adapted for a smaller batch)

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 4 tablespoons cream cheese, softened
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 3/4 cups powdered sugar

Preparation

In a mixing bowl, cream together butter and cream cheese for 1-2 minutes, until well-combined. Add vanilla and beat until combined.

Add powdered sugar, about 1/4 cup at a time, beating well until incorporated.

Fit a piping bag with a large star tip and pipe frosting onto cooled cupcakes. Store in the refrigerator.

 

 

Vanilla Cupcakes with Cocoa Frosting

vanilla with cocoa frostingBaking trials continue! These cupcakes are yet another rehearsal for the gig I have next weekend, although those vanilla cupcakes will feature a salted caramel frosting, rather than the cocoa frosting I made tonight. 

The batter on these little beauties is very, very thick…thicker than pound cake batter, even. Scooping proved to be a bit of a challenge, so go easy. You can always add a bit more to each cupcake well if necessary, but it’s much harder to remove batter once it’s already been scooped. 

According to Mike, these cupcakes are a classic mix of chocolate and vanilla. I wish I could eat them and was seriously tempted, but my Lenten Sugar Fast continues. 

Note: this recipe made 12 miniature cupcakes and 11 regular-sized cupcakes; I suspect it would actually make 12 regular-sized cupcakes if a few of the miniatures and regular-sized ones had been just a bit smaller.  

Vanilla Cupcakes

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 8 tablespoons butter, room temperature
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 3 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1/4 cup milk

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake tins with paper liners.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In a mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping the bowl frequently.

Add vanilla and beat to combine.

With the mixer running on the lowest speed, add flour mixture and milk alternatively, starting and ending with the flour and beating until just combined. Scrape sides of the bowl to incorporate any flour that gets tossed up.

Fill cupcake liners about half to three-quarters full; again, batter will be very thick. Bake miniature cupcakes for 8-10 minutes or regular-sized cupcakes for 18-20 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in pans for about 1 minute, then remove from pans and place on a wire rack to cool completely before frosting. 

Cocoa Frosting

Ingredients

  • 8 tablespoons butter, melted
  • 2/3 cup cocoa powder
  • 3 3/4 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/3 cup milk
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preparation

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine melted butter and cocoa powder. Beat on low speed for about 1 minute, then increase speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes more.

Add 1 cup powdered sugar and beat on low speed, then add about half of the milk, continuing to beat on low speed, until combined. Follow with another cup powdered sugar and remainder of milk, beating on low until combined. Add remaining powdered sugar, then vanilla, beating until frosting is creamy and spreadable, but not too thin. You may need to add just a bit more powdered sugar if your frosting is too thin to be piped easily through a piping bag.

Fit a piping bag with a medium star tip and pipe frosting onto cupcakes. Store in the refrigerator, but bring to room temperature before serving. 

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Raspberry Buttercream

dark choc with rasp buttercreamRaspberries are my second favorite fruit, following the blackberry. In addition to being adorable and delicious, they’re are nutritional powerhouses that are loaded with fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Through a bit of internet research, I’ve just learned that raspberries are members of the rose family, and that raspberry flowers are an excellent source of nectar for honeybees. Neither of those facts have anything to do with baking, but they’re fun nonetheless, eh?

I hope to cultivate raspberries someday, alongside the prolific blackberry bushes in our backyard garden, but you won’t need fresh or even frozen raspberries for these cupcakes. Today’s raspberry buttercream was made with raspberry jam, which can be found year-round in your local grocery store (and my refrigerator). These cupcakes were a trial run for another paying baking gig, and according to Mike they are quite delicious. Since I’m observing a sweets fast for the next couple of months, I’ll have to take his word for it.

Note: this recipe yields enough for 24 miniature and 10 regular-sized cupcakes, but you could bake them all in miniature if you like. I’m not sure if the recipe would yield 4 dozen miniature cupcakes, but I believe it would come very close.

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 cup water

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Mix until well-blended, then make three wells for the wet ingredients.

Place vinegar, vanilla, and vegetable oil into the wells; add water and mix until the batter is smooth. The mixture will bubble up slightly when you add the water, so just keep mixing until you get a smooth consistency in the batter, which will be fairly thin.

Using a one-inch cookie scoop, fill miniature liners to about half-full; you can use a 1/4 cup measure for the regular-sized cupcakes to fill the liners.

Bake miniature cupcakes for 8-10 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in pan for a few minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely on wire racks. Regular-sized cupcakes bake for about 13-15 minutes.

Raspberry Buttercream

Ingredients

  • 8 tablespoons butter, room temperature
  • 1/4 cup seedless raspberry jam
  • 3 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Preparation

In a mixing bowl, beat butter and jam until very well-combined, about two minutes; the mixture will be lumpy, but that’s okay.

Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time, beating for about 2 minutes between each addition and scraping the sides of the bowl frequently. Continue to beat until frosting is very smooth.

Transfer frosting to a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip and pipe onto cupcakes. Store frosted cupcakes in the refrigerator, but bring to room temperature before serving.

Spice Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

spice cupcakesSometimes I bake something that transcends what I believe about my own baking abilities. My friend Carla, who is also a baker, understands what I mean by this. We know we can bake, and other people clearly enjoy our treats. If we each had a nickel for every time we’ve been told we should really be baking for a living, we could…well, open our own bakery.

Perhaps it’s the recipe, which I adapted from the Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook spice cake recipe to have an even distribution of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves. Perhaps it’s the maple cream cheese frosting, which I invented based on a few other recipes to my own taste preference. Perhaps it’s the combination of the two. I don’t know what makes these cupcakes so delicious, but they truly are. I mean, dee-lish-us. So if Carla and I do finally get to open our own bakery someday, you can bet they’ll be on the menu.

Note: this recipe yields 24 regular-sized cupcakes and 16 miniature cupcakes. And seriously, folks, use pure maple syrup, not pancake syrup or maple flavoring, for the frosting. You’ll thank me later.

Spice Cupcakes

Ingredients

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • heaping 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  • heaping 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • heaping 1/4 teaspoon ginger
  • heaping 1/4 teaspoon cloves
  • 4 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 1/4 cup shortening
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 1/4 cups buttermilk

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves. You’ll note that the measurements for the spices are heaping, so seriously, don’t hold back.

In a mixing bowl, beat butter and shortening on medium speed for about 1 minute. Add sugar and vanilla and cream together until well-combined, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternatively, beginning and ending with the flour and beating until just combined after each addition.

Using a 2-inch cookie scoop, scoop batter into regular-sized cupcake pans, filling about halfway full; use a 1-inch cookie scoop to fill miniature cupcake pan.

Bake regular-sized cupcakes for 18-20 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Bake miniature cupcakes for 8-10 minutes, also until a cake tester comes out clean.

Cool in pans for a few minutes, then remove from pans and cool completely on wire racks before frosting.

Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

  • 8 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
  • 4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
  • 5 tablespoons pure maple syrup

Preparation

In a mixing bowl fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and cream cheese for 2-3 minutes, until very smooth and well-blended.

Add one cup powdered sugar, beating until combined, followed by 2 tablespoons maple syrup, again beating until well-combined. Add additional cups powdered sugar and remaining tablespoons of maple syrup alternatively, beating until frosting is very smooth.

Transfer frosting to a pastry bag fitted with a large plain tip and pipe frosting onto cupcakes. Store in the refrigerator, but bring to room temperature before serving.

 

 

Red Velvet Cupcakes

red velvet cupcakesI’ve been known to eat my fair share of cupcakes on Super Bowl Sunday.

Mike likes to tell the story of how, when the Steelers lost to the Green Bay Packers a few years ago, I ate six cupcakes. Though he makes it sound as if I tucked in to a half-dozen cupcakes at once, the truth is that I did eat six cupcakes. Throughout the day. Not all at once. And it’s not like I make a habit of such things. Anyway…

Red velvet cake is often thought of as Southern, perhaps due to the red velvet armadillo groom’s cake in Steel Magnolias, but its origins are debatable. Some say it was invented at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York, while others believe it to be a concoction by Lady Eaton, wife of Canadian department store magnate Sir John Craig Eaton. In any case, most traditional American cookbooks feature a recipe for it. This one is an adaptation from the Back in the Day Bakery cookbook.

Red Velvet Cake

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups cake flour
  • 3/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 4 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs, at room temperature
  • 1/2 ounce liquid red food coloring*
  • 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk, at room temperature

*I used 1 2/3 bottles of red food coloring, the kind that come in the four-pack of red, green, blue, and yellow. Nearly every recipe I found called for liquid, not gel food coloring.

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, sift together cake flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda; set aside.

In a mixing bowl, cream together butter, vegetable oil, and sugar on medium speed for 5 minutes, until very thick and light in color.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each.

Add food coloring, cider vinegar, and vanilla and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.

Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternatively, starting and ending with the flour mixture and beating on medium speed, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary, until combined. Once the last addition of the flour mixture is added, beat on medium speed for another 2 minutes.

Using a 2-inch cookie scoop, scoop batter into prepared tins, filling about half full.

Bake for 18-20 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.

Cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting II

Ingredients

  • 4 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
  • 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 3 to 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Preparation

In a mixing bowl, cream together butter and cream cheese for 1-2 minutes, until combined. Add vanilla and beat on medium speed for 5 minutes.

Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time, mixing well after each addition. If you’d like your frosting to be a bit sweeter, add the remaining 1/2 cup of powdered sugar.

Fit a piping bag with a large plain tip and pipe frosting onto cupcakes.

Store in the refrigerator, but bring to room temperature before serving.