The day after Christmas, we had a blizzard. A blizzard as in from 12 p.m. Sunday until the afternoon on Monday, the snow fell consistently. Over 24″ of snow! (And we had two more doozies since then, but this time it was a mere 9-10″ and 3-5″… pfft that ain’t nuthin!)

These photos were actually taken in last February’s snowstorm, out my window at 5 a.m…. but shit looked the same this time, actually worse!

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I, of course, couldn’t stand to be stuck inside with two new cookbooks without being able to bake, so I walked to Walgreens, which is only about 3 blocks away, and they were out of butter, so I walked to 7-Eleven, which is only 2 blocks away, and managed to get the last Land O’ Lakes package of 4 ½ lb sticks. Whew. I guess everyone had the same idea! Of course, Jay came looking for me by vehicle as I was  trudging back home (with coffee & munchkins from Dunkin’ Donuts!) but I managed to get home safely & make some snowflake cupcakes, or (winter) white velvet butter cupcakes.

They didn’t so much look like white cupcakes, they had a golden color… but they were delicious. I topped them with a coconut-flavored Swiss meringue buttercream (colored violet with Wilton icing colors) and sugar snowflakes. Since I wasn’t 100% pleased, here’s a small peek at them. The color was inspired by the above photos, which have a sort of lavender/violet shade to them due to the early morning (barely there) light.

See? Too crusty. Pretty, but yellow. Boo. (sugar snowflakes from sweet estelle’s baking supply)

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Cute, but not 100% aesthetically pleasing. The funnest thing was the fact that Jay was there watching me bake, which he never does, and was fascinated by Swiss meringue buttercream. I  guess for someone who never baked from scratch or made it, it is sorta amazing- the way its just plain ol’ egg whites heated up with some granulated sugar until it’s smooth, then  it becomes a kind of glossy meringue, then it “curdles” when you add the butter and then comes together all smooth and beautiful.

After that attempt about a month ago, I decided to try the recipe again. They came out good the first time, don’t get me wrong, but I was so busy glued to the TV watching to see how many feet of snow we’d get, I had a nagging feeling I’d left them in a tad bit too long (25 minutes when they probably only needed 20, hence the super golden color and slight “crust”). So I wanted to make them a second time. So I did. This time,  I used cake flour (not all-purpose which I had used the first time), I preheated my oven for 30 minutes before putting them in, I paid close attention to them while in the oven and after exactly 21 minutes I removed them from the oven. The color was definitely better and so was the texture of the top of the cake. The inside had been fine with both, however the first time like I said, the tops developed a crustiness  & a golden hue I didn’t care for. The second time… perfect! Even right from the batter I knew it would be awesome. Although sadly, I do not have photos of those. Boo.

WHITE VELVET BUTTER CUPCAKES (from Rose’s Heavenly Cakes)

Ingredients:

• 3 large egg whites, at room temperature
• ⅔ cup milk, divided
• 1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups, sifted and leveled cake flour (or 1½ cups all-purpose flour)
• 1 cup superfine sugar (I used granulated)
• 2¼ teaspoons plus ⅛ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened (65° to 75°F)

Directions:

1. Set 15 cupcake liners in muffin pans or custard cups.
2. Twenty minutes or more before baking, set an oven rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 350° F.
3. In a small bowl, whisk the egg whites, 3 tbs of the milk, and the vanilla just until lightly combined.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the flat beater, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt on low speed for 30 seconds.  Add the butter and the remaining milk and mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened.  Raise the speed to medium and beat for 1½ minutes.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
5. Starting on medium-low speed, gradually add the egg mixture in two parts, beating on medium speed for 30 seconds after each addition to incorporate the ingredients and strengthen the structure.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl.  Use a number 30 ice cream scoop or a spoon to place the batter (1.7 ounces) into the prepared cupcake liners, smoothing the surfaces evenly with a small metal spatula.  The liners will be about three-quarters full.
6. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a wire cake tester inserted in the centers comes out clean and the cupcakes spring back when pressed lightly in the centers.
7. Let the cupcakes cool in the pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes.  Remove them from the pans and set them on a wire rack.  Cool completely.

*You can make this into a 1-layer cake by using a 9-inch pan lined with parchment and coated with cooking spray and floured generously.  Increase the baking powder to 2½ teaspoons plus ⅛ teaspoon and bake 30 to 40 minutes in a 350° preheated oven. I also recommend using the Bake Even cake strips by Wilton, or Rose’s version.

Just a word of warning: these rise like crazy. BE YE EVER SO CAREFUL ABOUT FILLING YOUR LINERS. Either go by Rose’s measurements exactly, use a scale or do a Google as to how many ounces are in a teaspoon, etc.

So because of all the snow & cold, I thought I’d share my mom’s winter tree with you all. It’s a white 4′ Christmas tree with white lights decorated with snowflakes & icicles, & some silver ornaments like initials & ice skates.

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To get back to the baking, here’s a tip (that doesn’t matter much in this recipe since the egg whites aren’t beaten); I prefer Pyrex or stainless steel bowls for most of my mixing, especially when beating egg whites or making meringue. For letting dough rise, I’ll use plastic, but I much prefer stainless. Of course, if you have a KitchenAid stand mixer, this is just useless information for you, because you already use a steel or Pyrex bowl for most of your mixing. As far as bowls go, I got a bunch at Ikea for really cheap in all different sizes (and they also come in glass), and KitchenAid also makes some, albeit pricier (although understandably, as they fit the mixers). Honestly, I’d get more Pyrex or glass ones, but I’ve gone through 3 measuring cups in the past 4 years thanks to them slipping out of my greasy baker’s hands, so I’ll pass on them & stick with the steel. Steel & ceramic clean better and don’t absorb grease like plastic, so egg whites come together much better in them. Also, make sure your mixer blade or whisk is clean & not greasy at all before beating. You’ll end up with a pile of fail otherwise.

I’ve been totally absorbed in both of Rose’s books, but The Cake Bible is fascinating me. So much so that I traveled on over to her website and was peeking around and found something very interesting; a blog post all about cake mix vs. scratch. I want to share it with you, but it’s sorta long… so click here to read it.

Here it is, word for word, copied from Rose’s website.

why i believe in real baking, i.e. baking from scratch as opposed to a mix

i suspect that the two main reasons people bake from a mix is 1) that they think it’s faster and easier and 2) it’s practically foolproof. there may even be some who grew up with the flavor of a mix and actually prefer it.

i grew up without a cake baking tradition, in fact, my grandmother used the oven only to store pots and pans. there was NEVER anything baked in that oven until I went to the university of vermont, took a course in basic food, and came home thanksgiving vacation with the intention of making my father’s favorite–a cherry pie. it was a disaster of melting bubbling soap that I hadn’t realized was stored in the broiler beneath. in short, i learned scratch cake baking on my own–from scratch.

it’s o.k. to prefer cake mixes if you really do prefer them. my take on the mixes is that since they contain emulsifiers which give them what is known in the industry as tolerance, i.e., the ability to keep their texture despite additions of various extra ingredients, these emulsifiers result in an unpleasantly metallic after-taste. to my palate, the flavor of a cake baked from scratch is incomparably superior. and making a cake from scratch takes maybe 10 minutes more prep time than one from a mix. but as far as the foolproof aspect, let me tell you how to achieve that in a scratch cake.

there are only two important things to know:

1) use cake flour or bleached all-purpose flour. if you use a scale, the weight is the same. if you are using cup measures, and you have all-purpose bleached flour, for every cup of cake flour use 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of all-purpose. if you want the cake to be as tender as one with cake flour, use 3/4 cup of all-purpose and 2 tablespoons of cornstarch. the all-purpose flour i use is gold medal, but if you happen to have a southern or regional brand the protein content may be as low as cake flour so you will not want to add the cornstarch as it may weaken the cake’s structure and cause it to collapse.

the reason that it is essential to use bleached flour is that unbleached has particles that are smooth and round and the butter slips right through them and lands in a gummy layer at the bottom, causing the cake to fall in the center while cooling. the bleaching process, however, roughens these flour particles enabling them to hold the butter in even suspension.

if you measure the flour instead of weighing it, use a measuring cup with unbroken rim. place it on a counter and use a sifter or strainer to fill it with flour, allowing it to mound over the top. use a long metal spatula or knife to run it over the rim, thus removing any excess flour. never lift the cup or shake it during measuring as this packs more flour into the cup which would result in a denser drier cake.

that’s all you need to know about flour for cakes and it’s really quite simple.

2) have the butter softened but cool, i.e. it feels cool to the touch but when you press it with your finger it will flatten. this is a wide range of temperature, between 65 and 75 degrees. most kitchens are warmer than 75 degrees so to be on the safe side you can let the butter soften in a cooler room. if the butter is too cold or too warm the cake’s texture (crumb) will not be even.

here is my favorite of all my yellow cake recipes. it’s the right amount for a standard 9 inch by 2 1/2 inch springform pan but if you have only a 9 x 2 inch pan, just be sure to fill it only half full and bake the remaining batter as 2 cup cakes. (15 to 20 minutes)

if you still prefer your favorite mix, you have my full permission to use it, but not if the only reason is that you don’t trust a “real” cake!

I’m really glad that part one of the frosting tutorial was a success, and that people found it helpful. Here’s where we get into the real stuff, though: piping using a pastry bag and frosting using an offset spatula. I’ll be frosting these using three different tips, as well as telling you how to use the tips, fill the bags, and pipe the frosting so it looks super pretty. I made cupcakes especially for this occasion (well, and for Mother’s Day), they’re lemon cupcakes with a light lemon buttercream, and I topped them with raspberries. If you’d like to make them as well, the recipe and all credits for it and the liners, etc will be at the very end of the post. Boy, it felt good to make some cupcakes again! I hadn’t made any since my Fluffernutter cupcakes from April 15th.. that’s a month ago. A month without cupcakes, how sad. Anyway here’s what the finished products looked like:

Pretty, aren’t they?

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I’ll say this again: I am not a professional. There are people out there with much better techniques than I, I’m sure, for frosting cupcakes. I don’t think I’m all that and a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips, believe me. But people asked me to do this, so I am, because I want to help them out. However please don’t take this to mean I’m conceited and think I’m a pastry chef or anything. I’m just a regular chick, with a regular kitchen, who likes to bake and happens to be sorta good at it. And if by sharing my tips, tricks and cheats I can help a few other people get in touch with their inner Francois Payard, then by all means… I just don’t want anyone thinking I’m walking around looking for accolades on my frosting techniques.

First of all, the following Wilton materials will be used in this tutorial:

• 16″ pastry bag – I recommend this size because it holds enough frosting for at least 24 cupcakes without having to refill
• disposable pastry bags – definitely needed if you’re using colored frostings, they’ll dye your polyester reusable bags something fierce, you can also use these instead of reusable bags, despite the horrible effect they probably have on the environment, it saves time: instead of washing ‘em, you toss ‘em
• large coupler – this is what you use to attach the tips to the bags.. duh… although when using disposable bags, this isn’t needed
• offset spatula – important for frosting cupcakes that you don’t want to pipe, or for creating smooth tops on them, like this
• 1A tip (large round) – this tip makes the frosting look like these examples: one – two – three (also it’s good for piping on frosting before you spread it out with an offset spatula, like this)
• 1M tip / #2110 (large star) – this tip makes the frosting look like these examples: one – two – three
• 4B tip (open star) – this tip is also known in some brands as a “french star”… I just got it so I don’t have any examples to show you other than the cupcakes I’ll be frosting today

To begin, we’re going to get our bags ready. We already made our frosting and covered how to make it pipable in the last post. So here I’ll show you how to fill and use a reusable bag as well as a disposable. To use a reusable bag, first you have to put the coupler base in the bag. If you haven’t already cut your bag, you’ll have to do that before you do anything else. To cut the bag, you have to first push the coupler base as far down into the bag as you can. Then, using a pen or pencil, mark the bag where the bottom screw thread is outlined against the bag material. Push the coupler base back out of your bag, cut the bag on the mark, and push the base back in. It should fit perfectly. Now put the tip on, and then screw the coupler ring over the tip. It should fit snugly, and not be wobbly or uneven. I can’t show you pictures of this because I cut mine a long time ago, but it should be fairly self-explanatory. To prepare a disposable bag, when marking the spot on the outside of the bag, do it about a ¼ of an inch below that screw thread line. You don’t have to use a coupler for disposable bags- I never do. I won’t be doing so in this tutorial either, but if it makes you feel more comfortable, you can use one.

Filling a reusable bag with an offset spatula…

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To fill the bag, you have two options. Option one is the way Wilton will tell you to do it: hold the bag in one hand, and fold the top over to form a large “cuff.” With an angled spatula or silicone spatula, fill the bag with about ½ – 1½ cups frosting. The second way to do it is to use a drinking glass to hold the bag. Then fold it over to form the cuff, and fill it, lifting the bag up and shaking it slightly every so often so that the frosting works it’s way down to the tip. When you’ve filled it enough, close the bag by unfolding the cuff and twisting it closed, forcing the frosting down into the bag further. This prevents “frosting farts”; aka when you think you’ve filled the bag and didn’t push it down enough, so when you try and pipe frosting on your cakes, a bit comes out, then stops, and when you push the frosting comes “farting” out with an obnoxious sound and splattering itself all over the top of your cupcake. This can also happen when your bag is running low on frosting, so make sure you’re aware of how much you have in there.

Once you have your bag filled and ready, position your tip over the cupcake. Depending on the look you’re going for, and the tip you’re using, you can either do a straight pipe or a circular pipe. A straight pipe is when you hold the bag directly perpendicular to the cupcake, place the tip against the cake, and slightly push on the frosting bag. Continue pushing until the frosting “blooms” out large enough, while lifting the bag upwards. When you’re finished, do a final little push into the frosting while doing one last little squeeze on the bag. Then just lift it away. Ta-da! This looks awesome with a large round tip when using meringue type frosting, but for these purposes I used the 1A tip to frost and then smoothed it with an offset spatula. This, like anything else, requires an amount of practice. The 1M star tip also makes a nice look when used like this.

Using a disposable bag there, as you can see

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Another way to pipe is the circular pipe. To do this, you place your tip over the cupcake much in the same way as previously stated. Instead of pushing down in one spot in the center of the cake, however, you push down a little ways away from the center, and go in a circle, pushing the frosting out of the bag all the while… making a coil. Usually, I try not to go around more than once or twice, ending with a pretty point on the top (ending in the same fashion as above: doing a final little push into the frosting while doing one last little squeeze on the bag, then quickly releasing pressure and lifting the bag away). But depending on how thick your frosting is and how steady your hands are, it’s possible to go 3-4 times around. Also, try making circles if your coils don’t work. Make a larger circle, then a smaller one on top, then finish it with a “dollop” on top of that. It has the same look, especially when using a round tip, but easier to try and get the hang of. All three tips I used today can be used in this way, as well as tip 2A.

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While I’m frosting I find it helpful to listen to music or have a DVD on of a movie I like. I find that listening to Lady Gaga & Beyonce sing ‘Telephone’ or something makes it not only more fun but helps me get into a “zone” of sorts. Though depending on the type of cupcakes or dessert I’m making, different music is in order. These cupcakes just made me think of Nicki Minaj & her “Harajuku Barbie”-ness, but sometimes Green Day, Black Sabbath or Social Distortion and even Method Man, Mos Def or Lil’ Kim is necessary. Movies with a lot of awesome music make for good frosting assistants too- for example, Quentin Tarantino movies, biopic movies on musical artists, etc. Find your groove and rock out while frosting. I promise you, it helps!

I thought I’d show you all how they came out, and maybe seeing the differently frosted finished products would also help you in your frosting efforts. The tips used, in order, are: 4B, 1A, 1M and 1A that I then spread out with the offset spatula.

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The main thing to remember is practice really makes perfect when it comes to frosting. As long as your frosting is the right consistency, you’re on the right path. Just attempting these things over and over again will let you work out, through trial and error, the best way of doing it for you. Just practice, you can even practice your technique on paper plates until you get the hang of it.

Of  course, Lola got jealous of all the equipment and stuff being photographed, and she wanted some face-time too. She’s such a camera whore. But it’s allright, she’s beautiful. She deserves to be seen.

LEMON CUPCAKES (tweaked from original cupcake & frosting recipes courtesy of ourbestbites.com)

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ cups (3 sticks) of unsalted butter, softened
• 3 cups cake flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp. salt
• ½ tsp. baking soda
• 2 cups sugar
• 5 large eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 4 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• Zest of 2 lemons (just zest the other lemons before you squeeze them)
• 1 cup buttermilk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line 2 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake liners.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, 4-5 minutes. Don’t go skimping here–you want the mixture to be almost white and super fluffy. This is absolutely essential to the outcome of the cake.
3. While butter and sugar are mixing, sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl. Set aside. After butter and sugar have mixed sufficiently, With the mixer running, add eggs, one at a time, beating to incorporate after each addition. Beat in vanilla, lemon juice, and lemon zest.
4. With mixer on low speed, alternate adding flour mixture and buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture and beating until fully incorporated.
5. Fill the liners with the batter. DO NOT FILL THEM TOO HIGH. They will rise, and rise, and rise.  Be super conservative. These cupcakes won’t have a nice, curvy crown, but that’s okay–no one will ever know or care. However, they will rise like you have no idea. A tablespoon of batter might be just right, but do a test run or two to make sure.
6. Bake about 20-25 minutes or just until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cupcakes comes out clean. You don’t want to overbake these even a bit, or they’ll start to lose their delicious moisture. Remove from oven and cool completely.

LIGHT LEMON BUTTERCREAM

Ingredients:

• 1 ¼ cups butter (2 ½ sticks)
• 2 tsp. grated lemon rind
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 2-3 tablespoons milk
• 3 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Beat butter, lemon rind, and vanilla in an electric mixer until creamy.
2. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating to spreading consistency. Makes 2 ¾ cups frosting.

I used pink polka dot and pink solid liners from sweet estelle’s baking supply and topped the cupcakes with frozen raspberries that I defrosted, then laid out on a paper towel and sprinkled with sugar, then let rest a while before putting them on the cakes. By all means if you want to use fresh raspberries you can, I just used all mine up in the pie and had happened to have some frozen ones in the freezer. After a few minutes on top of the cupcakes, the raspberries leak a little bit of juice, and it looks pretty when traveling down the rivets of the frosting. I halved the recipe and I got about 18 cupcakes, so keep that in mind. Also, DON’T TRY THIS RECIPE WITH ALL-PURPOSE FLOUR. Only use cake flour for this. And trust me on what I said in the recipe about them rising. I’ve made them twice so far, and the first time I listened to the recipe author’s advice to fill the liners up to almost the top… and it was disastrous. Cupcake batter overflowing everywhere. So really, trust me on this, fill them halfway (if that, even) and do a trial run or a test cupcake to make sure.

I hope this tutorial helps you, and if you have any questions, feel free to comment and I’ll answer them best I can. Or, alternately, if you have any tips I didn’t list here, feel free to add those in the comments as well so everyone can benefit. And if there is any other topic you’d like me to cover, please tell me, if enough people want it then I’ll do a part three.

Before I forget… mucho thanks to everyone who made Cupcake Rehab reach the big 231 “likers” this past week on Facebook. Let’s get to 250, shall we?

The type of flour used will ultimately affect the finished product. Flour contains protein and when it comes in contact with water and heat it produces gluten, which gives elasticity and strength to baked goods. Different types of flour contain different amounts of protein. Therefore using a different type of flour than what is called for in a recipe (without compensating for this change) will alter the outcome of the baked good.  A cake flour is used to make a white cake where a delicate tender crumb is desired.  Bread flour is used to make a chewy bread and all-purpose flour makes a delicious batch of chocolate chip cookies.

All-purpose flour has a 10-12% protein content and is made from a blend of hard and soft wheat flours. It can be bleached or unbleached which are interchangeable.  However, Southern brands of bleached all-purpose flour have a lower protein content (8%) as they are made from a soft winter wheat.  All-purpose flour can vary in its protein content not only by brand but also regionally. The same brand can have different protein contents depending on what area of the country in the United States you are buying it.  Good for making cakes, cookies, breads, and pastries.

Cake flour has a 6-8% protein content and is made from soft wheat flour. It is chlorinated to further break down the strength of the gluten and is smooth and velvety in texture. Good for making cakes (especially white cakes and biscuits) and cookies where a tender and delicate texture is desired.  To substitute cake flour for all-purpose flour use 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons cake flour for every cup of all-purpose flour.  Make your own – one cup sifted cake flour can be substituted with 3/4 cup (84 grams) sifted bleached all-purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons (15 grams) cornstarch.

Read more: http://www.joyofbaking.com/flour.html#ixzz0lnC73cdM

Now, normally, I could just go out and buy some AP flour and be done with it. Except I had just come home from CVS where I had to purchase a cream for a suspicious rash that popped up under my right eye last weekend and that was resistant to hydrocortisone and every other allergy and itch cream you can imagine. So the past few days had been completely taken over by my funky, itchy, random eye rash that I lovingly referred to as my “EYE PROBLEM” much in the same way Heather at Dooce said “SHINGLES!”, although not always with jazz hands. Was I in the mood to go out again just to buy flour, especially with aforementioned EYE PROBLEM? HELL-to-the-motherfucking-NO. Yet I kinda did want those muffins. So I decided to do a little experiment, and I thought you all, my little baking minions, would appreciate the results, either way. I’m all about substitutions and cheats and tricks when it comes to baking, so I don’t mind being the guinea pig. I figured the worst thing that would happen is that the muffins would be lighter, which isn’t a bad thing at all. I didn’t expect them to come out even more perfect than before!

What I did was I used the regular substitution equation: 1 cup + 2 tablespoons cake flour for every 1 cup all-purpose flour needed (that works the same in reverse, by the way, 1 cup – 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour = 1 cup cake flour in a pinch… although the results won’t be as lightly textured, and this shouldn’t be used in every recipe, some French pastries and desserts need cake flour).

(EVEN BETTER!) BASIC CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS

Ingredients:

• 2 cups + 2 tablespoons cake flour
• 1/3 cup light-brown sugar
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup milk
• ½ cup butter — melted and cooled
• 2 eggs – beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 6 ounces mini chocolate chips (about half an average size bag)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. and grease up twelve muffin cups or put liners in them ( I prefer liners because it’s less messy that way).
2. In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugars, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, stir together milk, eggs, butter, and vanilla until blended. Make a well in center of dry ingredients; add milk mixture and stir just to combine. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.
3. Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling them as much as possible; bake 15-20 minutes, or until a knife inserted in center of one muffin comes out clean.
4. Remove muffin tin to wire rack; cool 5 minutes and remove from tins to finish cooling.

Like I said, these are the best muffins ever, and apparently they only get better with cake flour! Now you know- no matter what flour you use, these are going to come out pretty damn spectacular. If you substitute self-rising, though, just remember to take out the baking powder and salt.

I filled the cups up more this time, and still got 3 more muffins, making a total of 15. No idea why, really, even though there are two extra tablespoons of flour in them, the flour is so much finer than all-purpose I don’t know if that would really give me an extra 3 muffins. But boy am I glad it did. They came out a tad smoother on top than the ones made with all-purpose flour, but still not as smooth as my banana chocolate chip yogurt muffins. That could be the difference in the flour, or the difference in my hand-mixing of this particular batch.

I know you’re all still waiting for that second frosting tutorial, and I promise you it’s coming. Between my EYE PROBLEM and the usual crap, once again I got behind on my plans. But it should be up next week. Okay? So stop hating me!

oh, and my EYE PROBLEM? All gone, thanks for asking.



First off, let’s start with basic chemistry. Baking has a lot to do with science. Even if you’re a casual baker who just likes making cupcakes or cakes for fun and you don’t take it seriously, you’ll need to know certain things. If you are making a frosting, for example a “buttercream” (which usually isn’t a real buttercream, just a butter frosting), and it’s too stiff, you add more liquid. If your frosting is too thin, you add more sugar. In the rare event that doesn’t help, an extra pat of butter or spoonful of shortening will do the job as well. Also, depending on the weather, you might want to incorporate shortening into your frostings anyway. It adds more stability and substance in places of high humidity or heat, so your frostings don’t drip or wilt. Another thing to remember is certain flavorings, or things you can use as flavorings, can cause your frosting to separate. Coffee is a big culprit with this. I suggest using a coffee extract instead, but if you’re dead set on using regular coffee (which is totally possible, don’t get me wrong), make sure you add some shortening as an added bonding agent and you frost your cake/cupcake immediately to avoid the frosting “breaking” on you.

Sources: top, almond cupcakes, bottom, cream soda toffee cupcakes

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Same goes for white chocolate. If you melt white chocolate to use in your frosting, you will absolutely have to add shortening to it. White chocolate is notorious for being really soft and making the frosting wilt. For example:

Sources: White chocolate almond cupcakes, left and Dylan Lauren’s cupcakes, right

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KEEP IN MIND: BUTTERCREAM IS NOT AN EXACT SCIENCE. Unlike cake, or cupcakes, or baked items, there is no definitive way of doing it. It does not have to contain an equal amount or specific amount of anything in it. You don’t really even need a recipe. As long as the finished product is stiff enough to be frosting, isn’t runny or isn’t too thick… then you’re good. If you’re making a recipe for buttercream, and it comes out too runny, add more sugar! If it’s too thick, add more milk! I don’t think I’ve used a recipe in years. I just wing it, and as long as it comes out pipeable and edible, it’s all gravy. Or… frosting?

I always test my frosting by picking some up with a spoon and plopping it on a piece of paper towel. If it holds it’s shape, it’s probably good to go. If not, it needs more sugar/shortening, and if it’s too thick to come off the spoon no matter how hard you shake… then you should add a bit more milk (or vanilla extract). You want your frosting stiff & thick, but not brick-like. The thicker your buttercream is from sugar, the harder it’s going to get when left out. You know that hard shell buttercream sometimes develops? Yeah, like that.

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(The concept is the same with a cream cheese frosting. It’s always going to be part cream cheese, obviously, but I like to add some butter too. So I use about ¼ stick of butter and 4-8 oz cream cheese, depending how many cupcakes I’m frosting or how big the cake is. Then I just add the sugar as needed, and add some milk or vanilla extract to help thin it out a bit. In this case, the cream cheese adds what the shortening would- a thicker creamier base that helps the frosting get stiffer.)

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A lot of people have problems with wilting frosting even if they follow all those directions to a tee. The frosting was just fine before it was put on the cake/cupcakes, but then you frost them and it just melts, or wilts, or slides off. In that case, I would say it’s most likely because your cupcakes aren’t cool enough when you frost them. This is HUGELY IMPORTANT. Many of us, myself included sometimes, as evidenced above, are too impatient to wait long enough. So we jump in, pipe our pretty little piles of frosting on top, and by the time we get to the fourth cupcake… the rest of the cupcakes have flattened, mushed down, drippy, lop-sided frosting. This is easily remedied. No, not once it’s done. But before it’s done. I know we’re all busy, and that most of you have kids running around, or pets, or husbands or boyfriends poking fingers in your batter bowls and frosting bags (wow that sounded dirty!), but you have to wait. The cupcakes (or cake) have to be totally and completely cool… not just to the touch. The internal temperature of the cake takes a much longer time to cool, and if the inside is still hot (or even slightly warmer), then for sure that frosting is going to melt. What I do (especially if I’m in a hurry, otherwise I try and avoid doing it and practice my patience instead) is I let them cool for 15 – 20 minutes, 5 – 10 in the pan usually and then another 10 on a rack, then I pop them into the freezer for like 5 – 10 minutes at the most. Then when I take them out, the tops are very cool and I’m more certain the internal temp is room temperature if not slightly cooler. Then I can frost them quicker. This is especially helpful in the warm weather when no matter what I do short of holding them in front of the A/C vents, my cupcakes do not cool down quick enough.

If you do ALL these things and your frosting STILL isn’t pipable… well, then the cupcake gods are against you and you should just stick to making Jello because I don’t know what to tell you.

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(I’m not going to get into meringues, 7-minute frostings and the like in this post… but if anyone would like a post on them, e·mail me.)

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Next thing I’m going to discuss is color theory. I know, you’re all thinking “WHAT!?” but honestly, it’s important. So many times I see people make cupcakes and they try a dual colored frosting, and they pick colors that combine to make… a mud color. And when frosting gets soft, and the colors start to bleed slightly… you want to make sure you have two colors that compliment one another at best and at worst look decent and not muddy. Nobody wants to eat a cupcake with a pile of mushy frosting that looks like a non-descript mud colored lump. Maybe because I’m an artist first, baker second, to me this is something that comes naturally. So I’m going to show you a tool to help you with this, and that tool is… the color wheel. TA DA!

(Thanks to seanmarcellus.com for the color wheel image)

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Okay, so what you should realize is that there are primary colors, secondary colors (which I’m sure you all know), tertiary colors, and complimentary colors which for our purposes (frosting) are NOT always complimentary. The colors that are OPPOSITE one another on the wheel, i.e. purple & yellow, blue & orange, etc… those colors compliment each other well. That is, when put next to one another, like in a painting, in decorating a room, in clothing, etc. When used in a frosting…it would look great too, however you can’t predict exactly how your frosting is going to take it, for example, you create a striped or two tone frosting, using purple and yellow, and the edges of the colors blend together… well, you’re going to get a brown, or a muddy color. Ick. That said, tinting a cupcake orange and using a blue frosting on it would be fantastic, or using two separate pastry bags filled with the colors separately, and you frost one on top of the other after the first sets. I’d just tend to stick with plain white frosting if you’re going to stripe it, and use a color for the stripes or second tone. Or, use colors that if they do blend together a bit, it looks good; for example pink & red, orange & yellow, blue & green, purple & black, etc. Otherwise, unless you’re really good, you run the risk of the colors mushing together a bit and ruining the brightness and the striking effect you’re trying to create.

Sources: left, pink zebra girly cakes, right, Obama cakes

Source: Anti-Valentine’s day cupcakes

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Another way to avoid the running or blending of the colors is to do two separate frosting colors, and pipe them on separately, or do a half-n-half frosting like CB at I ♥ Cuppycakes did. I’ll leave the explaining of that to her since I already linked to her *wink*

I hope this helps some of you. My next tutorial will be piping frosting/frosting cupcakes, both with a pastry bag and without. It will probably be up in about a week, maybe two weeks from now. Here’s a list of basics I suggest you invest in:

• 16″ pastry bag – I recommend this size because it holds enough frosting for at least 24 cupcakes without having to refill
• disposable pastry bags – definitely needed if you’re using colored frostings, they’ll dye your polyester reusable bags something fierce, you can also use these instead of reusable bags, despite the horrible effect they probably have on the environment, it saves time: instead of washing ‘em, you toss ‘em
• large coupler – this is what you use to attach the tips to the bags.. duh… although when using disposable bags, this isn’t needed
• offset spatula – important for frosting cupcakes that you don’t want to pipe, or for creating smooth tops on them, like this
• 1A tip (large round) – this tip makes the frosting look like these examples: one – two – three (also it’s good for piping on frosting before you spread it out with an offset spatula, like this)
• 1M tip / #2110 (large star) – this tip makes the frosting look like these examples: one – two – three

Again, I use all Wilton products. These things are also available in other brands, but that’s up to you. I think you should always invest in something that’s built to last, especially if you’re going to be using it a lot and wearing it out, so I don’t suggest going cheapo with this. However, it’s totally up to you what brand you choose to buy or what you want to pay.

Is there anything you’d like me to have a tutorial on? Let me know either in the comments or via e·mail and I’ll certainly take it into consideration!

I am not single by any means. And Jay is very good to me. But that doesn’t mean I can’t treat myself, either. So this doesn’t have anything to do with cupcakes, per se (there are cupcakes in this post though, I promise, and if jewelry doesn’t interest you feel free to scroll on down to the baked goods)… but thanks to Sarah at LuShae Jewelry I got the opportunity to treat myself to this beautiful ring, and I wanted to thank her!

I don’t want to sound like I’m doing a sales pitch on the Home Shopping Network, but if you’re the kind of person who doesn’t like wearing your real diamonds everyday on the subway, if you like the look of expensive jewelry & your budget doesn’t allow it, or if you’re into costume jewelry, then check out their website. Or, if you don’t like wearing diamonds because of the political and social issues involved (remember Blood Diamond?) this is another option for you. I wrote about fake stuff the other day… and while I still stand by all that, the only fakes that are acceptable in my eyes are costume jewelry pieces. At this website, they have really lovely rings and earrings and some amazing pendants as well. I happen to be very hard on jewelry. Like Paula Deen, I bake and cook with ALL of my jewelry on, and I never take it off to shower, I wear them while gardening, etc. Mainly because I just don’t remember to take ‘em off, I  jump in to everything without thinking about “my jewels” (haha… yeah, my jewels… like I’m Queen Elizabeth!). So because it takes a beating, I prefer costume jewelry for the most part, but I need it to be well-made, strong and also affordable, in case it needs to be replaced. That’s the main reason I wear men’s watches too, they’re chunkier and usually take a beating better (plus, the styles are usually cleaner & less “dainty” than women’s watches). Aside from that, I’m not the “super bling” type of girl, so I rarely go for diamonds or anything like that. But this was such a pretty ring, I just knew I had to have it. So go treat yourself to a piece of jewelry… and then, like me, treat yourself to some of these.

So like I said in the spirit of treating oneself… I made these cupcakes for me, they’re everything I like; they’re vanilla- I baked the Magnolia Bakery recipe (my favorite… and if you’re going to be treating yourself, make a real recipe… no Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker mixes, although I happen to stand by the fact that one should never consider a mix to be “baking”, I’ve long ago grown out of that pre-fab food phase), put some nice, thick, creamy pink-striped vanilla buttercream, and they’re in pink zebra print liners (thanks to sweet estelle’s baking supply and Yoyo who bought them for me!). Let me say that again. Pink zebra liners!

How ADORABLE are they!? If I was Heather Armstrong of Dooce.com I’d be yelling PINK ZEBRA LINERS!! (instead of her versions, WAFFLE FRIES! or SHINGLES!) and doing jazz hands in a video right about now (yeah if you don’t read Dooce, you’re definitely not going to get that reference). I sprinkled some pearl nonpareils on top of the frosting, because what goes better with treating yourself to some jewelry than pearls? They’re really girly looking, and would be perfect for a Bachelorette party or bridal shower, or birthday. Or if you’re me, a Friday night watching Olympic ice dancing.

I know.. it’s the cutest thing ever.

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I think that presentation is one of the most important things when it comes to anything creative- art, design, baking, cooking, etc. So the liners you choose and the toppings you put on your cupcakes can make a HUGE difference. Also, the way you apply your frosting makes a big difference too. Always make sure your cupcakes are 100% cool before frosting, otherwise the frosting will melt, and your sweet little cakes will turn into a mess. Even if they feel cool to the touch, the internal temperature may still be hot. Also, make sure your frosting is the right consistency for piping (or even spreading). Too thin and it won’t look right, too thick and it may not pipe properly. A trick I use is that after they cool in the pan for awhile, I take them out and let them cool out of the pan the same amount of time. If I’m rushed, I stick them in the fridge or freezer for a few minutes. Not long enough to freeze, mind you. Just long enough to bring the temperature down to a cooler one so I can frost them and not worry about the frosting I put on them getting “deflated.”

I don’t think I’m all that wonderful at it, but I’ve been told quite a few times, both in comments here on the site and “in real life” that I should do a piping/frosting tutorial, and I’m seriously considering it.  Considering it as in I’m actually planning it mentally. It seems people have a lot of trouble with it, and I’d like to give them a hand. Because it’s really not that hard, once you get your technique down. I’m no professional pastry chef, but I will say that in addition to making sure your frosting is the right consistency and your cupcakes are the right temperature, the supplies you work with make a huge difference too…

Here’s a list of basics I suggest you invest in:

• 16″ pastry bag – I recommend this size because it holds enough frosting for at least 24 cupcakes without having to refill
• disposable pastry bags – definitely needed if you’re using colored frostings, they’ll dye your polyester reusable bags something fierce
• large coupler – this is what you use to attach the tips to the bags.. duh… although when using disposable bags, this isn’t needed
• offset spatula – important for frosting cupcakes that you don’t want to pipe, or for creating smooth tops on them, like this
• 1A tip (large round) – this tip makes the frosting look like these examples: one – two – three (also it’s good for piping on frosting before you spread it out with an offset spatula, like this)
• 1M tip / #2110 (large star) – this tip makes the frosting look like these examples: one – two – three

As I’ve said before, I have this kit, and it’s a lifesaver. But I realize that many people won’t use the majority of things included in it, and it’s almost $150.00. So you’ll do just as well (and save some money) buying things separately and as you need them. I also suggest that you practice, practice, practice. Buy some premade Wilton buttercream and just practice with the tips on top of either cupcakes you made or even just on a piece of wax paper. Wasteful, maybe, but if you need the practice, you need the practice… so invest in some good supplies (like I said, I use everything Wilton- so I totally recommend them), start practicing, and we’ll meet back here sometime soon for my piping tutorial!

I had the urge myself for a chocolate cookie, so in my search to find the perfect one I found these. They’re like a better version of those chocolate Famous Amos cookies your grammar school used to sell. To make them even richer, use dark chocolate cocoa powder. Oh- and if you’re stuck without eggs, instead of 2 eggs, you can use 6 tablespoons mayonnaise. The cookies will turn out just fine. Trust me on this. You can only do that with chocolate cookies/cake… not vanilla.

CHOCOLATE DROP COOKIES

First go git some:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• ½ cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 8 ounces unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened
• 1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cups finely chopped walnuts or pecans*

Then yer gon’ do this:

1. Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
2. Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in vanilla.
3. On low speed, beat in flour mixture a little at a time, until well blended and smooth. Stir in chopped walnuts.
4. Drop chocolate cookie dough onto greased baking sheets by rounded tablespoons, about 2 inches apart. Bake at 350° for 12 to 15 minutes, or until set. If desired, sprinkle with a little granulated sugar while they’re hot.
5. Cool on pans on rack for about 5 minutes; transfer chocolate cookies to rack to cool completely.

*These are optional. I didn’t use ‘em.

Makes about 4 to 5 dozen chocolate cookies, depending also on how big you make them. I made mine pretty big, so I definitely didn’t get 4 dozen. I like big cookies. I also put a spoonful down and “squashed” them a bit so they turned out more even. But you can just plop it down and forget about it if you prefer and it’ll come out fine. It evens itself out.

If you prefer a crispy cookie rather than a chewy cookie, bake them for a little longer, maybe 17-18 minutes, maybe 20. They’ll be slightly mushy to the touch no matter how long you bake them- don’t worry. They firm up as they set.

But I do have a little tip for you: if you don’t have cake flour, you can substitute all-purpose flour. Just use 7/8 cup all-purpose flour per cup of cake flour called for. The texture will not be the same, it won’t be as delicate, but in a pinch it’ll do. And most people probably won’t be able to tell the difference. You’d be surprised at how indelicate most peoples palates are. In chocolate cupcakes, like these for example, its not as big of a deal. They just come out denser and “thicker.” In vanilla cupcakes it kinda does make a difference.

I wanna thank the amazing Yoyo for the liners I used, they came today in a package she sent me!

It was filled with a homemade Christmas card…

Tons of handmade mini-tissue pack holders and Christmas cupcake liners, like these…

And an apron made out of a fabric very appropriate for me…

I’ll get better pics of the apron and hopefully a full-shot of it this week.

Thanks so much Yoyo! ♥

On that note, I’m off. I’ll be back with more Christmas-like recipes.

BILLY’S BAKERY CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks unsalted butter (8 ounces)
• 1 cup granulated sugar (7 ounces)
• 1 cup light brown sugar (7-¾ ounces)
• 4 large eggs (one at a time)
• 6 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate
• 2 cups cake flour (9-¼ ounces)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup buttermilk (room temperature)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Cream butter, granulated sugar and light brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer.
2. Add 4 large eggs (one at a time) and beat each until thoroughly combined, then add  chocolate (chocolate should be melted, then cooled for approximately 15 minutes before being added)*. Add and alternate cake flour plus baking soda with buttermilk (room temperature) plus vanilla extract.
3. Place cupcake paper into each cup of 2 muffin pans (each pan yielding 12 muffins). Then fill each cup with 1 leveled off scoop of an ice cream scooper.
4. Bake at 350 degrees in regular oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until tester comes out clean.

VANILLA MINT BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

Ingredients:

• 1 stick butter, softened
• ½ cup shortening (or, alternately, for stiffer frosting, one cup shortening plus 1 tsp butter flavoring)
• 4-5 cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp mint extract
• ¼ cup milk
• Food coloring (optional)

Directions:

1. Beat the shortening and butter together until well combined and fluffy. Add 4 cups of the sugar and beat for about 3 more minutes.
2. Add the vanilla, mint extract and milk, and beat for another 5 to 7 minutes until fluffy. Add other cup of sugar if needed.
3. Add some food coloring if desired, and mix until combined.

So I made these cupcakes because of all that and because I’ve heard great things about them. Really, how can you go wrong with caramel and streusel? The apples are just incidental to me, but they’re good too (and the only fruit I’ll actually eat!). I happened to have 2 lonely apples sitting here looking sad, and since I wanted to bake but was low on flour, unsalted butter and confectioner’s sugar, these were perfect seeing as how they required no confectioner’s sugar and very little flour and butter. Unlike some other recipes I love (*cough*Magnolia*cough*).. but I digress..

These were easy and beautiful cupcakes to make. I had to make some substitutions (more on that after the recipe) and it still turned out perfect. I didn’t layer the streusel, I just topped each cupcake with a healthy dollop of it, so do as you wish with that.

CARAMEL APPLE CRISP CUPCAKES

For the cupcakes you gotsta get yo’self:

Batter-

• 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
• 1 ½ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
• 2 eggs
• ½ tsp vanilla
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 apple, peeled, cored and diced

Streusel-

• ¾ cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 Tbs unsalted butter, room temp.
• pinch salt

Then you iz gonna:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a pan with paper liners.
2. Make batter-

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl.
In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla until smooth.
Alternate whisking in flour and milk, making three additions of flour and two of milk, whisking until smooth. Stir in apple.

1. Make streusel-

In a bowl, whisk together brown sugar and cinnamon.
Add butter and rub in with fingers until mixture forms small, moist clumps.

3.   Scoop about half the batter into the pans. Sprinkle streusel over batter and top with remaining batter. Bake 20-25 minutes or until tops of cupcakes spring back when lightly touched.

4.   Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then cool completely on wire rack.

Caramel sauce topping:

• 1 cup whipping cream
• ½ cup packed light brown sugar
• ¼ cup light corn syrup
• 1 Tbs unsalted butter
• ¼ tsp salt

Directions:

1. Combine cream, sugar, corn syrup, butter and salt in a heavy saucepan.
2. Heat over medium-high heat for about two minutes or until sugar is dissolved and butter is melted.
3. Decrease heat to medium and cook, stirring often, for 10-15 minutes, until caramel is thickened.
4. Remove from heat and stir until smooth, then pour into a bowl. Let cool in bowl, stirring occasionally. Caramel with thicken further upon standing.
5. Stir cooled caramel well and spread on cooled cupcakes.

These are super messy cupcakes! Eat with caution! Do not eat anywhere near good clothing, good furniture or good carpet, haha. The caramel is very oozy and the cake itself, like a coffee cake, is crumbly.

I made the caramel using the following substitutions (all in the name of science mind you):

• Instead of cream I used 1 cup milk with a tablespoon melted butter in it for each cup needed
• Instead of corn syrup I used 1 cup granulated sugar plus ¼ cup water for each cup of corn syrup needed
• I used dark brown sugar instead of light brown sugar for the streusel and caramel

So, my caramel wasn’t very thick, but I don’t know if that had to do with the substitutions or not. It still worked, and tasted good, it was just thinner and the cupcakes absorbed a lot of it, and the rest pooled in the depressions in the cupcakes and made little pools of caramel-y yumminess. This is a good time to highly suggest you buy some silpats- I have clear ones that I use to decorate my cupcakes/cakes, so have no fear- I did not let caramel pool on the tablecloth.

You can use any kind of apple for this; green, red, Granny Smith, Macintosh… whatever. Go nuts! And I guess, technically, they are muffins, so I’m putting them in that category as well.

They’re not the prettiest ever, or the cutest, but they taste so good that we can excuse them. They can’t all be beauty queens…

Neither am I a fan of cherries. I hate cherries. But I like faux-cherry flavor, like Life Savers or cough drops (Luden’s fans represent!). And I figured in that case, a good way to make a cherry-vanilla cupcake would be to use the ultimate in fake flavoring: Kool-Aid! Its a way of making a fruity-cupcake without going through all the trouble of using real fruit. Or, if you’re like me and don’t like most fruits but enjoy fake sugary fruit-drink substitutes, a way of making it so that you’ll actually eat it.

Simply enough, its a vanilla cupcake with buttercream frosting made with black cherry Kool-Aid (plain cherry could not be found, ironically). Of course, you could use any of Kool-Aid’s plethora of fake fruit flavors to make any kind of frosting you wanted. Additionally, it can be added to cupcake batter as well. You could even add it to cupcake batter along with chunks of fresh fruit, or do the same with the frosting. Also, it can be sprinkled on top of frosting in place of colored sugar. Oh- the possibilities!!

CHERRY KOOL-AID FROSTING

Ingredients:

Anyway on to the cuppin’ cakes… Jay calls these ‘Hot Topic Cupcakes’… haha…

I’m not giving a recipe, because they’re just chocolate cupcakes with colored buttercream, and I’m confident you all can piece that together yourselves. However, I will give you my (not-so) secret of the “striped” marbelized whateveryouwannacall it frosting.

First, make a batch of buttercream. Tint it to the color you wish, keep in mind the buttercream should be tinted the lighter of the two colors you are using. I tinted mine a violet-ish pink. Then, paint stripes on the inside of your pastry bag (after you set it up and the tip is on it). Space it out as you wish, but remember the more stripes and the thicker they are, the more obvious the second color will be. I used five stripes that were fairly thick, of a potent black gel food coloring by Wilton.

Then fill your bag carefully with your tinted buttercream. Frost the cakes as you usually would, and you’ll see the stripey effect as soon as its piped out.

This is great to do on peppermint frosting: keep it white and make red stripes like a candy cane. Or another idea: keep it white and do red and blue stripes for a 4th of July party. The possibilities, as you can imagine, are endless.

My toppers are pictures of mini-playing cards that are faded to purplish at the bottom, Aces of course- to symbolize being single (*sings* onnnnneee is the loneliest number…), with a black “bleeding” heart in the center. How goth.

Make these and eat them on Valentine’s Day while listening to The Cure in a dark room and you’re all set.

Instead… I made cupcakes. :/

Well… I did do some cleaning too, and caught up on some e·mails. And watched ‘American Idol‘ (its my guilty pleasure, what can I say). But really I accomplished NOTHING I should have today, or tonight. *sigh* So now tomorrow I have a million things to do because Friday I’m spending the day with Jay and won’t be able to do them. *sigh again*

Anyway back to the culprit cupcakes that distracted me from my life. These are a new recipe I never tried before. They were good. I quite enjoyed them. Perhaps you will too? (**Please note my, er, notations at the bottom of the recipe for why I titled these ‘mess-ups’…)

DOUBLE DARK CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES WITH PEANUT BUTTER FILLING

MAKES 24 CUPCAKES

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
• ½ cup boiling water
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ sticks plus 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 2/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350° and position 2 racks in the lower and middle third of the oven. Line 24 muffin cups with paper or foil liners.
2. Put the cocoa powder in a medium heatproof bowl. Add the boiling water and whisk until a smooth paste forms. Whisk in the buttermilk until combined. In a medium bowl, sift the flour with the baking soda, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat 1 ½ sticks of the butter with the granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the eggs and vanilla, then beat in the dry ingredients in 2 batches, alternating with the cocoa mixture. Carefully spoon the cupcake batter into the lined muffin cups, filling them about two-thirds full. Bake for 20 to 22 minutes, or until the cupcakes are springy. Let the cupcakes cool in the pans for 5 minutes, then transfer them to wire racks to cool completely.
3. In a medium bowl, beat the peanut butter with the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter until creamy. Sift the confectioners’ sugar into the bowl and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Spoon all but 3 tablespoons of the peanut butter filling into a pastry bag fitted with a ¼-inch star tip. Holding a cupcake in your hand, plunge the tip into the top of the cake, pushing it about ¾ inch deep. Gently squeeze the pastry bag to fill the cupcake, withdrawing it slowly as you squeeze; you will feel the cupcake expand slightly as you fill it. Scrape any filling from the top of the cupcake and repeat until all of the cupcakes are filled.
4. In a small saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a simmer. Off the heat, add the semisweet chocolate to the cream and let stand for 5 minutes, then whisk the melted chocolate into the cream until smooth. Let the chocolate icing stand until slightly cooled and thickened, about 15 minutes. Dip the tops of the cupcakes into the icing, letting the excess drip back into the pan. Transfer the cupcakes to racks and let stand for 5 minutes. Dip the tops of the cupcakes again and transfer them to racks. Spoon the remaining 3 tablespoons of peanut butter filling into the pastry bag and pipe tiny rosettes on the tops of the cupcakes.

Tip: If you don’’t have a pastry bag with a fitted tip, you can fill these cupcakes by carving a hole in the center (from the top) with a sharp paring knife. Put the filling in a resealable plastic bag and snip off one of the corners. Pipe the filling directly into the hole.

Now once again, I cheated. I did not use the filling recipe that comes with this recipe. I used peanut butter buttercream I already had. I also did not use the melted chocolate recipe that comes with it, I used more left over ganache. Oh well. Slap my wrist and call me shifty.

I also, to add a stripey effect to the frosting, painted a few brown food-coloring paste stripes on the inside of the bag before filling it. Makes it more dimensional, and interesting. What can I say, I’m an artist, that crap just comes naturally. You can’t see it well in the pictures. Or at all, really. *ahem* Poo.

I should also state… seeing as how I did admit that I messed up… that I effed up sorta big-time on the baking powder/baking soda. I added more of one than I should’ve (American Idol was on! I was distracted!) I managed to do a ghetto baking powder dig-out thing but I was sure that they were done for. So.. I was expecting these to be shit-worthy. But they were NOT. I’m awesome. They just fall apart kinda easy. But they taste deelish.

I have an overwhelming urge to watch ‘Mary Poppins‘ right now (which I do not have on DVD, by the way… well I do have it technically but its on VHS and it was taped off of TV when I was like 7). If only I knew why..?

(That one I didn’t dip in the melted chocolate, I just devoured it, tehe)

I’m posting this to show that when you make cupcakes often, or any cakes I guess, you end up invariably with leftover frosting, ganache, etc. And at times even have surplus cupcakes frozen. It just so happened I had some vanilla cupcakes in the freezer, some chocolate ganache frozen, and some leftover cream cheese frosting. And from this comes…

Mish-mosh leftover cupcakes!

I also had peanut butter frosting and mint, but “they” like cream cheese frosting the best, and I’m not a huge fan. So I figured since theres only 7 cupcakes to frost, and I’m not in the mood for any, why not get rid of the frosting I’m not too incredibly into?

I defrosted the cupcakes and frosting for about a half hour, 40 minutes. I melted the ganache in the microwave and when the cupcakes were ready I dipped them in it. After allowing it to set a bit, I slapped a glob of cream cheese frosting on top and sprinkled them with some rainbow sprinkles, just because I felt like it.

So don’t be afraid to make that recipe of 30-something cupcakes! Freeze ‘em and save ‘em for later.

They tell me the taste difference is negligible, if any. Once the cupcakes are room temperature the only difference between them and fresh cupcakes should be the defrosted ones are slightly tackier to the touch due to moisture.

I almost filled these with chocolate pudding and frosted them with the peanut butter, kind of like a zombie/bizarro Boston Cream, but I’ll save that for another day.

We’re supposed to be hit with a mega-snow storm tonight/tomorrow so I’ll probably be baking something. If I’m stuck in the house I better have treats to eat!

And now, young grasshopper, I share them with you. *

Homemade buttermilk:

1 cup milk + 1 tsp white distilled vinegar. Allow to set, or “sour,” for five minutes. Change the quantity based on the amount you need, for example: 2 cups buttermilk = 2 cups milk + 2 tsps white distilled vinegar, and so on.

Homemade Sweetened Condensed Milk:

Mix 6 cups whole milk with 4 and a ½ cups of sugar, 1 stick of butter, and 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract. Cook over medium heat, reducing liquid, for 1 hour. Stir occasionally. Let cool. This can be stored, covered, in the refrigerator for several weeks. (I haven’t tried this yet, but it would’ve come in handy before Christmas when I made those magic bars!)

Self-Rising flour:

Instead of buying self-rising flour, or if you’re like me, and never have any and decide to bake at 4 a.m… its easy to cheat. Its 1 ½ tsps baking powder and ½ tsp salt per cup of self-rising flour needed. Simply take the amount of self rising flour called for in the recipe, use regular flour and add the baking powder and salt, for example, lets say you need 1 cup self rising and one cup regular. Okay, so then you would put in two cups regular flour + 1 ½ tsps baking powder + ½ tsp salt. Got it? Easy.

Homemade brown sugar:

1 cup packed brown sugar = 1 cup sugar + 2 tbsps molasses.

Homemade baking powder:

1 tsp baking powder = ¼ tsp baking soda + ½ tsp cream of tartar.

Saving cupcakes:

If you find yourself with an exorbitant amount of cupcakes, or don’t have time to finish frosting them, or whatever, you can freeze cupcakes for up to 3 months. I myself haven’t done it for that long so I can’t vouch for flavor and texture. But it can be done. An airtight ziplock bag or something similar is recommended, or double wrap in foil or plastic wrap. Freezer burn is the main problem. If you can avoid that, you’re good.

Keeping brown sugar moist:

Brown sugar gets hard, like a friggin brick, if you don’t keep it moist. There are a few ways to do this: place an apple slice in the container is the easiest and cheapest. They do sell terracotta discs meant for this purpose but I’d rather DIY it anyway. Another tip is to place a slice of fresh white bread in the package if it has started to harden. And if its already too far gone- break out the cheese grater.

Recipe Conversions:

I always go here. Its helped me enormously. Its easy, and you can even print out the finished product and save it as an alternate version of the recipe!

I hope these tips help you in some way. Otherwise I just wasted a post.

*Please note: I didn’t come up with these. I’m not that smart. I gathered them over the past few years/months from different sources.