buttercream

July 10, 2015

Rainbow Cupcakes.

This is not the post for you if you hate and/or are weirded out by artificial coloring and/or sprinkles.

This is most definitely the post for you if you: a) love colorful things, and b) you aren’t afraid of ingesting the occasional fake food coloring/chemicals/whatever evil stuff they’re warning us about now.*

*[Obviously, moderation is key. You won’t see me gulping down buckets of food coloring… That’s just nasty. *Cleveland voice* But I don’t think that some artificial colors in my system on occasion is gonna hurt my body any more than life already does. It’ll be aight. Also, #YOLO.]

That’s right. Today I’m talking about rainbow cupcakes! Just look at how pretty they are!

I made these beauties for Pride week in St. Louis. It just so happened that Pride weekend occurred right after the Supreme Court ruling for same-sex marriage was passed. That was a cause for celebration in my book, and no celebration is complete without some kind of sweets. I might be biased, but I think that these rainbow cupcakes were perfect for the celebration.

We’ve got a long way to go in regard to civil issues in this country. I don’t want to get into my personal beliefs too much on here, and I’m not here to shove my “agenda” (for the record, the only “agenda” I have is to bake a lot of tasty sweets and try to be a happy, decent human being!) down anyone’s throat. But the Supreme Court ruling was a big step toward improvement and more open-mindedness and understanding. And I’m thrilled that we’re starting to make some more progress as humans. I hope that we can continue to move forward to work on the myriad of issues involving equality (with sexual orientation, race, gender, etc.). In the meantime, I’ll continue with my attempt to make the world a better place with pretty, homemade baked goods.

For these rainbow cupcakes, I decided to try a new-to-me recipe for vanilla cupcakes. The recipe comes from another fellow STL redhead, Stef. She’s tirelessly tested the “ultimate vanilla cupcake” recipe along with many other bakers. After reading about all of their cupcake testing, I was confident that these cupcakes would turn out great as far as the taste and texture were concerned. Turns out that my confidence was justified, because these cupcakes ended up being 100% amazing!

rainbowinside — {Gorgeous cupcake interior!}

The cupcakes hold up well; the cake is sturdy, but still soft and moist. The vanilla flavor is perfect. I don’t know if my taste buds are just whack, but I swear that I can taste the egg in some vanilla cake recipes [which is a huge turn-off to me]. These aren’t like that at all; they just taste like pure, unadulterated vanilla cake.

To give them that gorgeous, tie-dye/rainbow effect, I got my ideas from this post on Dessert Now, Dinner Later’s blog. Then I topped them with a simple vanilla buttercream, and obviously I had to add lots of rainbow sprinkles, plus some hearts. Yay for pretty rainbow cupcakes, marriage equality, and making progress on some of our issues.

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Vanilla Rainbow Cupcakes.
Yield: About sixteen cupcakes.

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:
– 1 cup granulated sugar
– 1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise, and seeds scraped out
– 1 3/4 cups cake flour, not self-rising [I used this cake flour substitute from Joy the Baker.]
– 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
– 1/2 tsp. baking soda
– 1/2 tsp. salt
– 1/4 cup (half stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
– 2 large eggs, at room temperature
– 1/3 cup full-fat sour cream
– 1/4 cup canola oil or vegetable oil
– 1 TBSP. pure (not imitation) vanilla extract
– 2/3 cup whole milk [I used 2%.]
– High-quality gel food coloring [I used the Spectrum brand, but the Americolor brand is great too. Wilton is also fine. I wouldn’t use liquid food coloring for this project.], in red, orange (or make your own orange, which is what I did), yellow, green, blue, and purple.

For the frosting: (Note: You may double this recipe, depending on how piled-high you like your frosting.)
– 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar [Add more until it reaches your preferred consistency.]
– 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
– 2 tsp. vanilla bean paste [Add more to taste.]
– 1 TBSP. milk

Instructions:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with sixteen liners and set aside.
2. In a small bowl, combine the sugar and seeds from the vanilla bean. Using the back of a spoon, apply pressure to break up any clumps of seeds to infuse the vanilla flavor into the sugar. Set aside.
3. In a medium-sized bowl, or bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the vanilla bean sugar and mix until combined.
4. Add the butter and mix on medium-low speed for three minutes. You’ll end up with a fine, crumb-like texture.
5. In a small, separate mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, sour cream, oil, and vanilla extract until the mixture is smooth.
6. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture, and beat on medium speed until they’re just combined.
7. Slowly add the milk, and mix on low speed. Mix until just combined. The batter will be very liquid-y; this is okay.
8. To create the rainbow effect, evenly divide the batter into six small bowls. Add the desired amount of food coloring to each bowl and gently mix to get your six colors. Be careful to not overdo it with the food coloring; too much and it can make the final product taste bitter.
9. Carefully spoon each color in layers into the cupcake liners, filling until they’re about halfway full. [Alternatively, you can put each batter color into a small Ziplock bag, snip the corner of the bags, and pipe the colors in… That will make the layers more even, but I was too lazy to do that.]
10. Bake the cupcakes for 14 minutes, then test to see if they’re done. They are done when a toothpick comes out clean. The cupcakes won’t be super dark (although they won’t brown much anyway with the colors). Bake a bit longer for a minute to two minute increments until they’re done. Cool on a wire cooling rack.
11. To make the frosting: beat the butter for a few minutes until it’s light and fluffy. Carefully add the powdered sugar and vanilla bean paste (or extract), and beat until light and fluffy. Add milk to thin out the frosting to the desired consistency. Pipe or spread the frosting on the cupcakes as desired, and top with lots of colorful sprinkles! Enjoy.

Recipe Sources:
– Vanilla cupcake recipe from The Cupcake Project.
– Vanilla bean buttercream frosting recipe from The Cupcake Project.
– Rainbow cupcake tutorial from Dessert Now, Dinner Later.

June 7, 2015

Vanilla Funfetti Cupcakes.

Funfetti is just one of those things that everybody likes. It’s just fun, you know? {I’m punny today. Haha.} When it comes to baking, I often like to poll people on their favorite baked goods. When I ask people what their favorite cake is, most people always respond “funfetti.” I began to wonder why, as it’s just vanilla cake loaded with sprinkles. However, I think I get what all the fuss is about now. It really does look cool. And it’s fun (sorry) to eat. One of my friends said that it’s “the most moist cake of all,” but I’m not sure that’s a scientifically sound explanation. 😉

These funfetti cupcakes in particular are from a recipe for just plain old vanilla cupcakes. I decided to add sprinkles to them because I had made them for the cupcake decorating class that I taught several weeks back. I thought that the students would enjoy the pretty colors in the cakes. Anyway, these cupcakes turned out pretty great, in my humble opinion. 🙂 The cake is so vanilla-y and just rich enough. The frosting is your standard buttercream frosting. And of course, adding the sprinkles to the batter gives the cupcakes a fantastic burst of color.

These cupcakes would be super fun to make for a birthday party. Or just make them because sprinkles are awesome.

PS: I’m in Germany at the moment, and I’m having a blast. That’s why posts are a bit sporadic right now; I didn’t have time to schedule as many posts ahead of time as I would have liked. Whoops. Oh well. More updates to come soon! <3

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Funfetti Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream.
Yield: 12-14 regular sized cupcakes.

Ingredients:
For the cupcakes:
– 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
– 1 cup granulated sugar
– 1/4 tsp. baking soda
– 1 tsp. baking powder
– 3/4 cup salted butter, at room temperature
– 3 large egg whites
– 3 tsp. pure vanilla extract
– 1/2 cup sour cream
– 1/2 cup milk
– 1/2 cup of multicolored sprinkles [Jimmies work best for this.]

For the frosting:

– 1 cup [two sticks] unsalted butter

– 4 cups powdered sugar

– 2-3 TBSP. milk or cream

– 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Instructions:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners, and set aside.
2. Whisk together the dry ingredients [flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder] in a large mixing bowl (or in the bowl of a stand mixer).
3. Add the butter, egg whites, vanilla, sour cream, and milk, and mix on medium speed until smooth. Be careful to not over mix. Fold in sprinkles until evenly incorporated in the batter.
4. Fill the prepared liners a bit more than halfway, and bake cupcakes for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (or with a few moist crumbs). Allow the cupcakes to cool completely.
5. For the frosting: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until it’s lighter in color and fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar, and beat until combined. Add the vanilla extract, and one or two tablespoons of the milk. Continue beating until light and fluffy; adding more milk as needed. Frost the cooled cupcakes as desired!

– Cupcake recipe from Life, Love, and Sugar.
– Buttercream recipe barely adapted, also from Life, Love, and Sugar.

May 22, 2015

Chocolate Cupcakes with Cocoa Buttercream Frosting.

This past Saturday, I taught a cupcake decorating class as a networking event for my day job. [Yikes!]

Basically, I just taught people how to make buttercream and frost their cupcakes using decorative pastry tips and bags. Except, as my luck would have it, I had a hard time getting the buttercream to proper piping consistency. Then I had an extra double batch of buttercream when I got home… So what was I going to do with it? Make more cupcakes and frost them. Duh. And wouldn’t you know it: The consistency of my frosting at home was much better than the frosting in the class. Whoops. Sometimes, I’m just garbage at doing things in front of other people.

Since I have never officially taught a group of people anything, it was definitely a learning experience. I’ve been stepping out of my comfort zone a LOT lately, and although it’s been interesting [and kinda uncomfortable], it’s a great way to help myself grow as a person. Even if I don’t get something exactly right the first time I demonstrate in front of others, to me that should just serve as a reminder that I’m always constantly learning. And that’s okay. It’s easy to get embarrassed and start doubting myself and thinking of myself as a “fraud” – not a “legit baker.” But it’s important to remember that the fact that I occasionally make mistakes with baking does not invalidate my experiences. I am a baker. Why? Because I bake. It’s that simple. The same goes for you: do you write? Then you’re a writer. Do you run? Then you are a runner. Do you bake? Then YAY! We’re both bakers and we should be friends! 🙂 {See what I mean, though? We get too caught up in “what it means” to “be something,” instead of just focusing on doing what we love and not thinking about labels or comparing ourselves to others.}

Okay, life lesson aside… Let’s talk about these cupcakes. This chocolate cake is actually a vegan recipe. It contains neither eggs nor dairy. It’s just a good chocolate cake recipe, to be honest. I have made cupcakes using this recipe several times, and for vegans or non-vegans, it’s just good. As for the frosting, well, it’s definitely not vegan since it contains butter. But I love chocolate frostings more than regular buttercreams, so I decided to add cocoa powder to the buttercream I had leftover from the class. The result is rich, fragrant chocolate cupcakes [due to the almond and vanilla extracts in the cake] with a light, fluffy cocoa buttercream! So, if you’re in need of some chocolate cake, but not feelin’ the usual vanilla buttercream, make these! They’re gooood cupcakes. And they’re great for fulfilling a fierce chocolate craving. 😉

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Chocolate Cupcakes with Cocoa Buttercream Frosting.
Yield: Twelve regular-sized cupcakes.

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:
– 1 cup non-dairy milk [I used unsweetened almond milk]
– 1 cup granulated sugar
– 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil [I just used canola oil]
– 1 TBSP. apple cider vinegar
– 1 TBSP. pure vanilla extract
– 1/2 tsp. pure almond extract [Optional, but awesome!]
– 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
– 1/3 cup cocoa powder, sifted
– 1 tsp. baking soda
– 3/4 tsp. kosher salt, to taste

For the cocoa buttercream frosting:
– 1 cup unsalted butter, softened- 3 1/2 cups of powdered sugar
– 1 tsp. milk, or more, depending on consistency
– 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
– 2 TBSP. cocoa powder

Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with 12 cupcake liners, and set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or with an electric hand mixer), beat together the following ingredients: non-dairy milk, oil, sugar, apple cider vinegar, and the extracts. At medium speed, beat the ingredients together for a minute or two.
3. Sift the dry ingredients into the wet (flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt). Mix everything well, until all the dry clumps are gone.
4. Pour batter into prepared muffin tin, filling each cup about 2/3rds full. Bake for about 22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (or with a few moist crumbs, is fine too). I think I baked mine for about 20 minutes. Allow to cool completely before frosting.
5. For the frosting, beat butter on medium-high speed for about 3-5 minutes, or until it’s light and fluffy. Gradually add in the powdered sugar and cocoa powder. Add the vanilla extract and milk. Continue to beat and add more milk, if necessary, until the frosting is light and fluffy. Pipe or spread frosting on cooled cupcakes. Enjoy!

– Cupcake recipe from Oh She Glows.

– Frosting recipe barely adapted from Food.com.

March 22, 2015

Small Batch Vanilla Bean Cupcakes.

Have I mentioned how much I freaking love small batch recipes? Especially these days. As I have mentioned before on the ol’ blog, most of the time, my coworkers and friends reap the benefits of my baking shenanigans. However, there are times in which one of the following scenarios occur: a) I’m not in the mood to share; b) I just have a sweet tooth and need a quick but homemade fix [I’m pretentious like that, I guess]; c) I want sweets but do not need to eat ten cookies; d) I have no desire to frost more than four cupcakes; or e) all of the above.

Small batch recipes come in handy for all of the aforementioned situations. Now, I’m no recipe expert, so I generally don’t like to screw around with baked good recipes very often. Once I have made something a few times, I’ll make my own alterations, of course. And, I usually have no issue with cutting recipes in half. However, I am not quite brave enough to scale recipes way down. But that’s where the Dessert for Two blog comes to save the day. Christina – the blog’s author – has experimented with recipes enough to scale them down to make just enough tasty baked goods for herself and her man. Then she shares them with the world. I’m telling you, she’s a genius. Every recipe of Christina’s that I’ve ever tried has always impressed me, and I’m kind of hard to please when it comes to baked goods.

singlecupcake — [Do you see those little flecks of vanilla bean?! Love it.]

I have ~~stalked~~ followed Christina’s blog for quite awhile now, but I just recently purchased her new cookbook. These vanilla cupcakes are the first treat I decided to make from the book. As expected, they turned out awesome! Also, her cookbook is just lovely. It never really occurred to me until recently that no other such book really exists for small batch baking. And I think that it’s a really awesome concept, especially for bakeaholics such as myself. Sometimes it’s just really nice to bake only a few treats, and then enjoy them by myself [or I share with Brian when I really feel like it… hehe].

The cake is really tasty; it’s simple, which I love, and it’s just plain good. I whipped them up on my lunch break while I was working from home last week, and I just love how quick they are to make. These cupcakes get a bit more browned on the tops than I was expecting, but they are really good. I added vanilla bean paste to mine in lieu of the extract, just because I love those little vanilla bean flecks. I have a feeling that these cupcakes would do well with a few little adaptations, such as making small batch chai cupcakes, or perhaps small batch snickerdoodle cupcakes! Let’s just say that I’ve got some inspiration up my sleeve. 😉

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Small Batch Vanilla Bean Cupcakes.
Yield: Four regular-sized cupcakes.

Ingredients:
– 4 TBS. unsalted butter, at room temperature
– 1/4 cup granulated sugar
– 1 large egg white
– 1/2 tsp. vanilla bean paste [You can use vanilla extract in lieu of the paste, but I love using vanilla bean paste whenever I can! Note: The quantities of both are interchangeable.]
– 2 TBS. sour cream [I use whole fat sour cream. I’m just not about that non-fat stuff.]
– 6 TBS. all-purpose flour
– 1/2 tsp. baking soda
– Pinch of salt

Instructions:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line a standard muffin tin with four cupcake liners [Note: Use the cups on the outside of the pan}, and set aside.
2. Using an electric hand mixer [Note: You can use a stand mixer; I did, because I’m lazy, but that’s kind of overkill for such a small amount of batter], cream together the butter and sugar until it’s light and fluffy.
3. Add the egg white, vanilla bean paste, and sour cream to the butter/sugar, and beat until combined.
4. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt into the wet ingredients, and mix until combined. Divide the batter among the four prepared cupcake liners. Bake the cupcakes for about 15-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean [or with a few moist crumbs]. Cool the cupcakes on a wire rack, then once they’re totally cooled, frost as desired. Enjoy!

Recipe Source(s):
– Vanilla cupcake recipe barely adapted from Dessert for Two: Small Batch Cookies, Brownies, Pies, and Cakes, by Christina Lane. She’s also the author of the lovely blog, Dessert for Two. I would highly recommend buying this cookbook, though. It’s totally worth it!
– Vanilla bean frosting recipe was basically just made up by me, but here’s an actual recipe that’s similar to what I did for the frosting.

January 30, 2015

Fudgy Dark Chocolate Cupcakes for Two.

The honest title of this post should be: Fudgy Dark Chocolate Cupcakes for One. If you’re me, anyway. Yeah, that’s right. I made two cupcakes just for myself. To be fair, I did eat only one shortly after photographing them. Now I’m finishing this post from the train, so the second cupcake will be my little train snack in an hour or so. [It may or may not be my second breakfast…]

I’m really loving small batch baking recipes these days. While my coworkers and friends usually reap the benefits of my baking projects, sometimes it’s just nice to not have to bake 24 cupcakes, you know? Sometimes I just want to bake [or in this case, I was craving chocolate], but I’m not in the mood to make a bunch of something. And sometimes – I will be bold and admit this – I just don’t feel like sharing [sorry Brian!].

However, I do have to say that I think these cupcakes would be perfect for Valentine’s Day. That’s why I went with heart sprinkles on mine. You might notice that I have mini hearts on one cupcake, and even more miniature hearts on the other cupcake. Totes adorbs. [Can’t believe I just said that. Ha!]

So if you’re craving cake, or if you’re craving chocolate, but you don’t want to overindulge, may I suggest that you make these?

I tried to frost mine with a new technique I’m teaching myself – one that doesn’t involve piping tips and bags. I used an offset spatula to frost mine, and while I don’t think I’m quite there with the other decorating methods, I like how they turned out. Perhaps even more important, they taste great, too. They are deeply rich and chocolatey, and the buttercream is just a nice touch to the chocolate cake. Personally, I love chocolate buttercream frosting on chocolate cake, so these hit the spot.

cupcakebite
Chomp!

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Fudgy Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream
Yield: Two regular-sized cupcakes.

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:
– 3 TBS. all-purpose flour
– 2 TBS. granulated sugar
– 1 1/2 tsp. dark cocoa powder [Note: I get my Dutch-processed cocoa powder from King Arthur Flour. If you can’t find Dutch processed, you may use regular cocoa powder; it just won’t be as rich/dark.]
– 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
– pinch of salt
– 2 TBS. water
– 1 TBS. vegetable oil
– 1/8 tsp. of vanilla extract [I used about 1/4 tsp., but that’s just me.]
– 1 TBS. chocolate chips (optional)

For the chocolate buttercream:
– 2 TBS. unsalted butter, very soft
– 1 TBS. dark cocoa powder
– 4-5 tablespoons of powdered sugar

Instructions:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with two liners.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.
3. Make a small well in the center of the bowl, and add the wet ingredients: water, oil, and vanilla. Mix all of the ingredients together until smooth.
4. Scoop the batter into the liners, and top them with chocolate chips, if desired. Bake the cupcakes for about 18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a cupcake comes out clean. Note: Mine were done in about 16 minutes, but oven temperatures vary. Remove cupcakes from the oven, and allow to cool completely on a cooling rack.
5. While the cupcakes are cooling, make the buttercream: add the cocoa powder to the softened butter and stir until combined.
6. Using a spoon or small whisk, add the powdered sugar to the cocoa/butter mixture, one tablespoon at a time. Continue mixing until the frosting is thick and creamy.
7. Frost cooled cupcakes as desired, and enjoy!

Recipe from The Baker Chick.

If you make two cupcakes for yourself, I won’t tell anyone. 😉