Du'in It in the Kitchen » cupcakes

Strawberries take the Short Cupcake!

Du — Tue, 11 May 2010 15:09:13 +0000

Strawberry Short-Cupcake

It’s strawberry season… so I’ve been told. I forget every year until I start seeing strawberries everywhere and I’m drawn to them by their hypnotic aroma. Yes… the aroma tends to put me in another realm and I forget where I am.

Since I’ve been in a cupcake haze the last few weeks and exploring different types of filled ones, it’s only natural I would focus on what’s in season… but what kind of filling? I thought about making a strawberry-rhubarb but couldn’t find any rhubarb…. so good ol’ strawberry it is!!

I researched different white cakes and found they all looked pretty similar. I compared a recipe by Martha Stewart and another site… I can’t for the life of me remember where where the “Classic White Cake” recipe came from because they all are alike, with variations on the amount of sugar…

I wanted to make mini cupcakes… the recipe I found made three 9″ layers, so I roughly adjusted it down to 25%… but the measurements are exact. For the filling, I decided to make up my own recipe. I chose a vanilla meringue buttercream as it is much lighter than a traditional buttercream and adapted it from an online recipe credited to Martha Stewart.

Mini Strawberry Short-Cupcakes (makes 24 minis)

Ingredients

4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature.

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons cake flour

3 oz whole milk

2 large egg whites, lightly beaten

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup evaporated cane sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake pan with liners.

Whisk together egg whites, milk, vanilla and almond extracts in a small bowl and in another bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.

In a medium bowl, beat butter until for about 1 minute, then slowly add sugar while continuing to mix until incorporated. Continue beating until light and fluffy – about 2 minutes with a stand mixer and several minutes with a hand mixer. With the use of a hand mixer… it was not getting “light and fluffy” so I added a about a 1/4 of the egg-milk mixture (this seemed to work). Scrape down bowl.

Alternate flour mixture and egg-milk mixture until fully incorporated, scraping down bowl as needed. Batter will be very thick.

Scoop batter into cupcake liners, about 3/4 full. Place in center of oven, middle rack. Bake 12 – 13 minutes. Test with cake tester until it comes out clean and tops will be springy. Cool on wire rack.

Strawberry Filling (makes 1 cup – enough for 24 mini cupcakes)

8 oz strawberries, washed and hulled

¼ cup evaporated cane sugar

juice from ¼ lemon

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

2 Tablespoons cold water

1 rounded teaspoon of cornstarch

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Chop and mash strawberries into large chunks in a medium bowl. Mix in lemon juice, sugar and vanilla.

Place strawberry mixture in medium saucepan and heat over medium high heat. Stir in cornstarch/water thoroughly and bring to a low boil, then reduce heat to maintain.

Stir occasionally. At this point, the mixture will have a milky quality. When sauce begins to thicken and become clear, keep on low boil for additional minute.

Remove from heat and stir in butter until fully incorporated.

Set aside and allow to cool completely before using. Store in sealed container in fridge until ready to use.

Vanilla Meringue Buttercream

3 large egg whites

3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon evaporated cane sugar

2 sticks room temperature unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium heat proof bowl, whisk together egg whites and sugar and place over pan filled with water (making sure bowl does not touch the water). While continuing to whisk, heat egg mixture over simmering water until sugar is completely dissolved. I did not have a candy thermometer but mixture was warm to touch and no grittiness felt between finger when finger were dipped in mixture. Remove from heat.

Beat egg mixture on high speed until it holds a stiff peak. With my hand mixer, it never really formed a stiff peak – more like a pliable hill. After 20 minutes and holding the mixer, I moved on to the next step.

On a medium speed, begin adding butter a little at a time, fully incorporating before adding more butter. Frosting began to come together almost immediately. When all the butter has been added, beat in vanilla and continue beating until smooth, light and fluffy. Use immediately or store in airtight container in fridge. Will keep about 3 days.

filling the cupcake

ready to frost

To assemble cupcakes

Using a small knife, carefully cut a hole in the top of each cupcake, removing tops and set aside. Take the handle part of the spoon, gently scoop out some of the cake to accomodate the filling. Fill each cupcake with filling, using a spoon and replace tops. Frost with buttercream or pipe it with a large size tip. Eat or refrigerate until ready to serve.

To VEGAN or not… Key Lime Cupcakes

Du — Wed, 05 May 2010 04:44:41 +0000

Vegan Key Lime Cupcakes

I’m not a vegan, although I did omit all animal products for a couple years. My intro into vegan baking started when I was a cupcake tester for Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Romero opened my eyes to vegan baking, showing that you don’t needs special ingredients to make a fabulous cupcake. I almost prefer vegan baking to traditional - it’s quicker from bowl to pan to mouth. Almost every recipe can be made with a whisk – don’t have to deal with an electric mixer (except frosting). Most of the ingredients I always have on hand… no emergency trip to the store for milk, butter or eggs.

So I’ve been thinking about limes/key limes the last few weeks. I’ve always loved key lime pie and have been throwing around ideas for cupcakes. Key limes aren’t in season but you can easily use the regular limes or (heaven forbid) the juice in a bottle. I picked up a bottle of Nellie and Joe’s Famous Key West Lime Juice and set out to make my cuppers.

The following recipe is adapted from the Golden Vanilla Cupcake recipe in Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World as well as their Lime Buttercream Frosting. The lime curd filling is from Bryanna’s Vegan Feast Kitchen

Key Lime Cupcakes (makes 12)

Ingredients

1 oz key lime juice (2Tab) or the juice of one regular lime

zest from 1 lime

7/8 cup of soy milk

1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

2 Tablespoons cornstarch

¾ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon kosher salt

1/3 cup canola oil

¾ cup evaporated cane sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and line a muffin tin with cupcake liners.

With a microplane, zest one lime and set aside. Juice lime and place in a 1 cup measuring cup. You should have approx 1 oz. Fill cup to 1 cup mark with full fat soy milk. Stir to blend and set aside for several minutes (it will thicken). Mix in lime zest

In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and cornstarch, then whisk in kosher salt (kosher salt won’t go through sifter)… I use a mesh strainer rather than an old fashion sifter…

In a large bowl, whisk lime/soy milk with sugar, canola oil and vanilla. Slowly mix in flour mixture a little at a time until no lumps appear. Do not over-mix.

Using a scoop, fill cupcake liners ¾ full. Place on center rack in oven for 20 minutes. Cupcakes will have a nice golden edge.

Cool completely on a wire rack.

BRYANNA’S VEGAN LIME CURD (veganfeastkitchen.blogspot.com)
Servings: 12
Yield: 2 cups

This makes a lovely cake filling-quite tangy, so it contrasts with the icing. It’s important to use freshly-squeezed lime juice in this recipe. Refrigerate the leftovers to spread on toast or scones, or to fill tarts.

1 cup fresh lime juice (or 8 regular limes)
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 cups granulated organic unbleached sugar (evaporated cane sugar)
4 tablespoons cornstarch
1/8 tsp salt (I used kosher salt)
grated zest of 2 small organic limes,
6 Tbs full fat soymilk
2 Tbs Earth Balance (regular)

Whisk together the juice, water, sugar, cornstarch and salt. Pour into a heavy saucepan with the zest. Whisk over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it comes to a full boil. Boil 1 minute, not stirring. (OR microwave in a Pyrex bowl 2 minutes and whisk, then 2 minutes more.) It should be thickened and turning clear. Remove from heat. Add soymilk or alternate and Earth Balance. Blend well with the whisk. Cool the curd, then refrigerate in a covered container. It thickens as it cools.

Lime Buttercream Frosting (Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World)

1/2 cup non-hydrogenated shortening

1/2 cup non-hydrogenated margarine (I use Earth Balance)

3 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup lime juice

1 teaspoon finely grated lime zest

Beat shortening and margarine together until well combined and is light and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat for 3 minutes. Add vanilla and lime juice, beat for additional 5 – 7 minutes, until fluffy. Add zest and mix. Chill until ready to use.

top replaced

scooped out cupcake

filled cupcake

To assemble cupcakes, use a small sharp knife to cut a circular hole on top of each cupcake (saving the top) and scoop out a little of the cake with a spoon. With a teaspoon, spoon a little lime curd into each cupcake on place top back on. Frost with buttercream and refrigerate until ready to serve. Remove from fridge about 15 – 30 minutes before serving… unless it’s hot and humid.

inside of vegan key lime cupcake

Chocolate Stout Cuppers

Du — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 19:07:32 +0000

I love to make these once a year for St. Patrick’s Day. Yea, I’m Irish (what’s it to ya!) but I’m not really a beer drinker. That being said, the stout brings out (ooo, a rhyme!) a nice flavor in the cupcakes that all will enjoy.

Erin go braugh!!

Mini and Regular size Chocolate Stout Cupcakes

Chocolate Stout Cuppers

1 cup chocolate stout

1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)

¾ cups Dutch-processed cocoa

2 cups all purpose, unbleached flour

2 cups evaporated cane sugar

1 ½ teaspoons of baking powder

¾ teaspoon salt

2 large eggs (room temp)

3oz sour cream (1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tin with cupcake liners.

Place butter and stout in a double boiler (or a large metal bowl over a pan of simmering water). When butter has melted, remove from heat and stir in cocoa powder. Continue to mix until smooth. Cool to room temp.

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Mix in sugar. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat eggs and sour cream together. Add the stout mixture and combine.

Add the flour mixture, mixing at a slow speed, scraping sides of the bowl. Mix an additional minute.

Using an ice cream scoop, scoop batter into lined tin, ¾ full and maybe a tad more.

Place muffin tin on center middle rack in the oven and bake for 22 minutes until toothpick or cake tester comes out clean (approx 14 minutes for mini cupcakes).

Chocolate Stout Cupcakes. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

Frosting

8 oz bittersweet chocolate (72%), chips (or broken into small pieces)

1 cup of heavy cream

½ teaspoon of vanilla extract

Place the chocolate in a large, heatproof bowl. Heat cream in saucepan to a simmer or heat in microwave almost to a boil. Pour hot cream over chocolate and let it sit for one minute. Stir cream and chocolate together until completely combined and smooth. Stir in vanilla.

Set frosting in fridge for 1 – 2 hours until it begins to set up but is still spreadable.

Using a small spatula, frost the top of each cupcake. Decorate with green sanding sugar if desired.