The Cupcake Thread!

[Rachel9]

Hi all

Agreed, those apple cupcakes are beautiful!... I''d like to post a friend''s link [hope it''s ok]
http://annies-eats.com/2008/09/26/apple-pie-cupcakes/ As a lazy beach baker I usually don''t slice open any cupcakes [bit messy for me] Last time I made annie''s recipe, I chopped the apples small enough to pass through a wide tip to fill cooled cupcakes

Here''s my small contribution, molten cupcake Happy VD:

 

[NakedFinger]

Hi ladies! just wanted to post my completed project. I wanted to keep the apple theme, so I went with this recipe Vanilla Apple Cupcake Its an vanilla bean/apple flavor, with apple butter filling and cream cheese frosting. I think they tasted great, but then again I love apple butter!

We are being judged on taste, creativity, and presentation. Here are some pics taken with my camera phone....

 

[NakedFinger]

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[NakedFinger]

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[Loves Vintage]

NakedFinger - Those are amazing! Love the tree too. When will you know who won? How many other entrants were there? Any as creative as yours? Pics of the competition?

 

[NakedFinger]

Thanks LV! Here are the competitors.....

From left to right... (back row)a toasted pecan & coconut cupcake with chocolate ganache on top; a red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting (with a mini one on top): smore cupcake with toasted marshmallow frosting,(was filled with graham cracker too);

(front row) yellow cake with chocolate whipped cream topping and filling; mine; then a Bailey''s chocolate and cheesecake cupcake, covered in rolled fondant with fondant flowers on top; and a chocolate cupcake with strawberry cream filling and a choc cover stawberry on top.

 

[NakedFinger]

I did close up''s of ones that merited it...

Here is the S''more one

 

[NakedFinger]

The Bailey''s one

 

[NakedFinger]

And the Strawberry one....

 

[NakedFinger]

And finally, the Red Velvet one (that we are all pretty sure was store bought lol)

 

[Dandi]

Awww NakedFinger, your cuppies turned out the cutest by far!!

I bet they were delicious, too!!!

 

[Mara]

I agree the apple ones are super cute!!

But I could take a serious bite of that s''mores too hehee.

Store bought?!? Doesn''t that disqualify them??

 

[Mrs Mitchell]

Hello!
I''m venturing onto this thread to ask a few questions - apologies if they''ve already been covered, I didn''t have time to read the whole thread, just a quick skim.

My best friend is having a significant birthday next week and I''m planning on making cupcakes for the party.

I''ve gathered a few recipes from this thead (thank you Mara and Mrs Salvo) and I have a couple of Qs:
Butter isn''t sold in sticks in the UK - can anyone tell me what a stick of butter weighs?
Can anyone (Freke?) give me the conversion between cup measurements and actual weights for the ingredients? I do have measuring cups, but I have better luck when I weigh out flour, sugar etc.

Also, can anyone tell me how to get raspberry jam (jelly?) into the centre of the cakes? Do you have to scoop out a little of the cake then inject the jam, or is there another technique?

Many thanks!

Jen

 

[Mara]

hi jen, the easiest way to get the jam in the middle for me is to cut out a little dome with a sharp paring knife and then scoop it in with a spoon and pinch off the bottom of the cake dome and then put the top back on. i have tried the injection technique and it's a PITA for me, i can never squeeze hard enough and it comes out the top, bah...and you have to have a special tip etc. anyway the dome cutout and spoon in IMO is the fastest and easiest.

a stick of butter is 8 tablespoons.

also you can google for conversion of measurements online. hope that helps!!! yum!

 

[Dandi]

Oops, double post

 

[Dandi]

Mrs Mitchell, I''m in Aus and we don''t have sticks of butter either! One equates to 115 grams, or 4 ounces. I''ve found http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/cooking-conversions/gram-conversions.aspx very handy in the past for converting cups to weight, etc. http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/cooking-conversions/gram-conversions.aspx

I keep a copy of this list too, which I use alot!

U.S. CUPS TO GRAMS

All-Purpose Flour and Confectioners'' Sugar

1/8 cup = 15 grams
1/4 cup = 30 grams
1/3 cup = 40 grams
3/8 cup = 45 grams
1/2 cup = 60 grams
5/8 cup = 70 grams
2/3 cup = 75 grams
3/4 cup = 85 grams
7/8 cup = 100 grams
1 cup = 110 grams

Brown Sugar

1/8 cup = 25 grams
1/4 cup = 50 grams
1/3 cup = 65 grams
3/8 cup = 75 grams
1/2 cup = 100 grams
5/8 cup = 125 grams
2/3 cup = 135 grams
3/4 cup = 150 grams
7/8 cup = 175 grams
1 cup = 200 grams

Butter or Margarine

1/8 cup = 30 grams
1/4 cup = 55 grams
1/3 cup = 75 grams
3/8 cup = 85 grams
1/2 cup = 115 grams
5/8 cup = 140 grams
2/3 cup = 150 grams
3/4 cup = 170 grams
7/8 cup = 200 grams
1 cup = 225 grams

Cake Flour

1/8 cup = 10 grams
1/4 cup = 20 grams
1/3 cup = 25 grams
3/8 cup = 30 grams
1/2 cup = 50 grams
5/8 cup = 60 grams
2/3 cup = 65 grams
3/4 cup = 70 grams
7/8 cup = 85 grams
1 cup = 95 grams

Cocoa

1/8 cup = 15 grams
1/4 cup = 30 grams
1/3 cup = 40 grams
3/8 cup = 45 grams
1/2 cup = 60 grams
5/8 cup = 70 grams
2/3 cup = 75 grams
3/4 cup = 85 grams
7/8 cup = 100 grams
1 cup = 125 grams

Flaked Coconut

1/8 cup = 10 grams
1/4 cup = 20 grams
1/3 cup = 25 grams
3/8 cup = 30 grams
1/2 cup = 40 grams
5/8 cup = 45 grams
2/3 cup = 50 grams
3/4 cup = 60 grams
7/8 cup = 65 grams
1 cup = 75 grams

Granulated Sugar

1/8 cup = 30 grams
1/4 cup = 55 grams
1/3 cup = 75 grams
3/8 cup = 85 grams
1/2 cup = 115 grams
5/8 cup = 140 grams
2/3 cup = 150 grams
3/4 cup = 170 grams
7/8 cup = 200 grams
1 cup = 225 grams
Sooooo, whatcha cookin''?

 

[Mrs Mitchell]

DandiAndi, thank you so much for taking the time to type out all this info. I''ve printed it and pinned it up in the kitchen, so I''m ready to go. I''m making Mara''s vanilla, Mrs Salvo''s red velvet and my own chocolate fudge. I''ll let you know how it goes - I haven''t used the choc recipe as a cupcake before, just a layer cake, so if it''s good for cupcakes, I''ll post it. Thanks again for your help.

Mara, thanks for the jam tip! Makes sense - if you inject it without removing cake from the middle, there''s no where for it to go but ooze out somewhere. I''d sort of forgotten that the cut would be covered with frosting! D''oh! Thanks.

Jen

 

[Mrs Mitchell]

One more question, if you don''t mind:
What''s the best vanilla extract? Paste?

Is it possible to make either at home? I can get really good vanilla pods from a local deli, but they don''t sell paste or extract. I love the flavour of them! Can I just throw the seeds into the mixture, or does it need to be paste / extract form?

Thanks again,

Jen

 

[stephbolt]

Date: 2/28/2010 8:03:57 AM
Author: Mrs Mitchell
One more question, if you don''t mind:

What''s the best vanilla extract? Paste?


Is it possible to make either at home? I can get really good vanilla pods from a local deli, but they don''t sell paste or extract. I love the flavour of them! Can I just throw the seeds into the mixture, or does it need to be paste / extract form?


Thanks again,


Jen

Mrs. M. - If you can get quality pods I would try making your own extract. I''ve never tried it myself but a friend has and swears by it.

 

[Mrs Mitchell]

Thank you Stephbolt, I now have a little jar of vanilla extract infusing. It looks like a fun thing to watch as it changes colour too. I have lovely bourbon vanilla pods, they smell fantastic and I love their slightly smokey flavour. I see from your signature that your wedding date is getting really close, btw! How exciting.

So, I had a marathon cupcake recipe testing session today. Can I start by saying that MrsSalvo's red velvet cupcake recipe is sublime. Truly, it made the most heavenly, flavoursome little cakes with a lovely texture. Thanks for sharing that, MrsS.

Vanilla cupcakes, I had less success with.

I tried the Magnolia bakery recipe first, because my cousin swears it's the best. Well it isn't. The texture was perfect, they rose just the right amount and the tops stayed level. With frosting, they were absolutely picture perfect. I was so, so thrilled with them. Then we ate some and they tasted of absolutely nothing. At all. They were just sweet, with no flavour to them. They were nice warm, but just pointless when they were cool. So disappointing, given how pretty they turned out. I should have listened to the PS experts.

I tried Mara's recipe and while it had loads more flavour, I think it prefers being made in sunny warm California to damp, icy Scotland. The texture wasn't right at all. Thinking back to Freke's tips in Maisie's recent cake thread, I really think it was mostly to do with the ambient temperature and the humidity. They were yummy though, so I might try that one again and see if I have better luck. Mara, any suggestions? They turned out a little bit dense and didn't raise much. I may just have to tweak the quantities slightly.

The last one I tries was a UK recipe and it did turn out really well, but with a different texture and flavour from what I expected. They were more substantial cupcakes, not as light and airy, but again really yummy. I think they're closer to a traditional British sponge and maybe there's a reason why they work well here. Flour types, temp, humidity etc might just mean that this is the most stable batter. Not sure, but if you fancy trying this one (from BBC Good Food magazine). here's the recipe I used:

• 150ml pot natural yogurt
• 3 eggs , beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 175g golden caster sugar
• 140g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 100g ground almonds
• 175g unsalted butter , melted

1. Line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases and heat oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5. In a jug, mix the yogurt, eggs and vanilla extract. Put the dry ingredients, plus a pinch of salt, into a large bowl and make a well in the middle.

2. Add the yogurty mix and melted butter, and quickly fold in with a spatula or metal spoon - don't overwork it. Spoon into the cases (they will be quite full) and bake for 18-20 mins or until golden, risen and springy to the touch. Cool for a few mins, then lift the cakes onto a wire rack to cool completely. Keep in an airtight container for up to 3 days or freeze as soon as possible.

3. White chocolate frosting: Melt the chocolate in the microwave on High for 1½ mins, stirring halfway. Leave to cool. Beat the butter and icing sugar in a large bowl until creamy. Beat in the chocolate. Cover and chill for up to one month.

The recipe was for wedding cake cupcakes and they were topped with white chocolate frosting. I wasn't crazy about the frosting, which brings me to my next question:

What's the best frosting recipe?
I tried a couple of the flour and milk versions and although I LOVED them, DH and my mom (focus group

) hated them.
I craved cream cheese frosting while I was pregnant and never want to see that again (I ate my own bodyweight in the stuff, straight from the bowl for about 8.5 months) so that's out.
Buttercream seems too rich and isn't easy to pipe with a bag and nozzle.

Any other sort I could try?

The butter cream and the flour and milk versions all end up quite yellow, as the butter from our local dairy is very yellow. It looks nice, but when I added a little red colour to make pink icing, it came out sort of fancy orangey pink, rather than fancy light pink. Any frosting recipes that don't use butter, that anyone knows of?

Thank you and this is the best PS thread ever!

Jen

 

[Mara]

hmm Jen I am not sure about the humidity etc... but my vanilla cake is a bit more dense. it should still rise though. maybe freke or another of the scientific baking gals will have some helpful comments on how to adapt the recipe for your climate?

though really you can take any 'vanilla' cupcake recipe that works for you and make it way more flavorful by making sure to use butter and LOTS of vanilla. i always found it so puzzling that so many vanilla cupcake recipes have like 1/2tsp or 1 tsp of vanilla. really? PUT A TABLESPOON at least! if you want vanilla, make it vanilla, or else it's just 'butter cake'.

also for me, i don't like too light and airy cupcakes as then the frosting tends to weigh it down... but i would imagine you could use a recipe with more egg whites than yolks to lighten it up if you can google to find one from your area of the world?

oh and for an icing recipe... if you don't want butter you can try using shortening (do you have this?) which i am not a huge fan of but it's white and a lot of people use it for frosting if they don't want to use butter. or a SMBC but that also uses butter so i would color it yellow. you could try a 7 min frosting (google for recipe) which is kind of like a pillowy marshmallow frosting and takes flavors really well and is very white. but it depends on the cake. for vanilla i would almost only ever make a 'buttercream' even if it was flavored. for the red velvet, use cream cheese which is white.

 

[Mrs Mitchell]

Ok, I'm going to try it again tomorrow, because it's possible that I just made an a$$ of it.

I did the red velvet and the Magnolia recipes first, so I was losing the will to beat butter into sugar by then.

I totally agree about the vanilla. I used about a tablespoon of vanilla extract, but I don't think it was good enough quality. The flavour isn't strong enough and if I add more I'm adding too much liquid (stock syrup). I'm making some from the link that Stephb0lt posted, but in the meantime I need to get better flavour, so I need to hunt down some really good paste or extract. I love vanilla too, so I want to have the cakes taste of that, rather than have it as a background flavour.

I totally sickened myself of cream cheese frosting when I was pregnant, I found all sorts of things to top with that (vegetables were safe, but all else was fair game) so I actually made a chocolate ganache for the red velvet. It turned out really well, I'd do that again. It probably isn't authentic, but no one here has heard of red velvet, so I'm going to get away with it...

Buttercream - just powedered sugar, butter and flavouring? Vanilla / lemon?

Thanks for your help!

Jen

ETA not sure what shortening is? We probably do have it but with a different name. I'm thinking there are blocks of white vegetable fat here, is that the same thing? It always struck me as nasty, am I wrong? (Plus I never knew you could get fat out of a vegetable.)

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Mrs. Mitchell, solid veg oil is shortening, we also call it Crisco here in the states (a brand).

So I''m making funfetti cupcakes for a friend''s shower and I need frosting flavor ideas. She requested funfetti, it''s not my choice of cake. Anyway, she''s having a boy and the theme is turtles so I''m trying to keep the colors to green and blue, but I don''t want a boring flavor like vanilla. Any ideas?

 

[Mrs Mitchell]

Ah, I know it. Thanks, HH.

For your green and blue theme, how about green apple? I'm struggling to think of a naturally blue foodstuff, but raspberry flavoured candies are sometimes coloured blue, if that's any use? Um, blue raspberry? Not sure how it's done.

For the green apple, you could make plain cupcakes with a little grated apple or finely chopped dried apple through the batter, and scoop them out (Mara gave me some tips a couple of posts up) then fill them generously with apple jelly. You could also top them with apple frosting - apple jelly beaten with powdered sugar and butter, with some green food colouring.

If you did go this route, and want to go all home-made, here's a nice apple jelly recipe from my Polish friend, Rosa. It's a bit time consuming, but it's well worth eating. Plus, it will fill the house with the most wonderful smell. Quantities can be reduced as much as you like, just keep the proportions the same, or you can make a big batch and use it as a pie filling with a butter shortcrust pastry (szarlotke, Polish apple pie). It freezes really well.

1kg sweet dessert apples
2 cups sugar (any type)
1 1/2 cups water
1 teaspoon vinegar

Peel and shred the apple finely
In a large heavy pan, boil the water, add the sugar and stir until it's dissolved
Add the apple to the pan
Simmer and stir occasionally until the mixture turns to a transparent jelly. It can take a while, but it's worth the wait.


ETA - just re-read your post and I'm not sure what funfetti is? If the apple stuff is no use for that, ignore me - sorry! (But do make the apple pie, if you have time, it's exceptionally good!)

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

LOL thanks dear. Those apple cuppies sound fantastic. Unfortunately the mommy of honor specifically requested "funfetti". I can''t remember the last time I had it so I couldn''t begin to tell you what flavor it is. I think it''s just a vanilla base? It''s a white cake with confetti-like colors throughout. Very festive, sadly it''s a boxed mix

 

[CasaBlanca]

Hudson, when I was a wee tot, which was just yesterday, (shush!) I was perplexed at the blue snow cones. They were always coconut flavored. When you asked for a blue colored flavor, that just popped back in my mind. Odd but it did. Hadn't thought of that in years. Thanks for the flash back of youth!

Blueberry would be great, acai berry would sound impressive, elderberry, blue plum? works for a great flavor...you can call them plum crazy, plum turtle crazy.

Since it is a womens shower...you might consider flavoring the cakes with tea or herbs or flowers! ...lavender, violet or lilac even jasmine flower essence comes to mind. You would take your "boring vanilla" base and juice it up with essence. Your frosting can be flavored the same way...with oils.

Have you ever baked using tea infused flavors? You can turn a plain jane vanilla into spectacular in no time! I think Mara may have posted a few recipes. You can use green tea for the green ones. I love mint...so I can see mint chocolate chip for green. Or Moroccan Mint green tea. Lime citrus something for the green.

Here a few links to help you think of another direction, for flavor. Fruit flavors are great, but there are just so many options for culinary use! If not this application, perhaps the next?

here is a link listing some botanical edibles

edible flower petals

essence flavoring oils

Gee it sounds like fun! Turtle cuppies?

EDITED: I was authoring this lengthy post, when you posed your explanation of the box funfetti mix. Sorry. I can't delete it...got time in it! Perhaps next time?

 

[Mara]

HH ... lol at the funfetti! one of my coworkers LOVES FUNFETTI!!! she will eat cupcakes of course and homemade sure but she just adores the funfetti. isn't there a matching funfetti frosting? why wouldn't you use that? i think it would go best with it.

if you totally want to make a homemade frosting with funfetti i would say a regular buttcream ..not sure WHAT to flavor it with because funfetti is a 'taste' that i can't even really explain, maybe butter cake with extra sugar bites is a good way to describe hehe? you could do strawberry flavor maybe? and for your 'color' theme just color the frosting with food coloring.

 

[AussieNic]

Ooh..so stoked to see a cupcake thread! My DD use to be cupcake mad, and since her baby brother was born 20 months ago, we havn''t been able to do much baking sadly..

Anyway, would love to share a few of our cupcakes that we have made for her birthday, to take to school to share with her classmates.

First one is ladybugs, for DD''s 6th birthday. We don''t have much choice in anything where we live, so I had to make do with what was available.

 

[AussieNic]

Next is some pigs, cats and another ladybug making an appearance.

I needed large marshmallows, and couldn''t get them so we used normal sized ones and chopped them up a little. The dots for their eyes were suppose to be black, all we could get was brown

The cats whiskars was licorice that i had to slice up myself because when we tried to pull the roll apart, it just kept ripping.... what i wouldn''t give to be able to have some decent decorating supplies...

 

[AussieNic]

Octopus and a starfish.