The Cupcake Thread!

[ladypirate]

OK, I got off my behind and took a picture of my cupcakes! My photography skills are somewhat lacking (although it may have helped if I had taken the picture while they were still laid out nice and pretty rather than having to take them out of the tupperware and take a picture on the kitchen table

), but here you go:

ETA: Also, just wanted to say that Mara has inspired me--the local adult ed program is offering a cake decorating class and I'm signing up for it! Starts Monday evening.

 

[FrekeChild]

YAY LP!!! I''m glad you''re going to cake decorating class!!!!

How about this: When I move and start my bakery, I will have any and all local, regional (or not!) PSers come, sample and taste test EVERYTHING before I put the recipes into production. Capiche? (except less menacing...)

 

[swingirl]

I am sick of this thread!! I am gaining weight just reading it!!! And my keyboard is getting sticky from drool. JK!

Keep it up. I may get inspired to bring out my old cupcake pan!

 

[Mara]

LP those are so cute!! I love the look of red velvet cuppies, but I just don't know that I love how they TASTE. Were yours super chocolatey or not so much??

We tried www.karascupcakes.com today in SF, and they were amazing thus far. Super moist. I had a mini vanilla w/chocolate and a mini lemon...YUMMY!!!! And we also tried www.saralynnscupcakes.com which was a 10 min walk from Kara's and their mini strawberry was divine. I brought home EIGHT others. Yes ... eight!

 

[ladypirate]

Date: 4/6/2008 12:05:00 AM
Author: Mara
LP those are so cute!! I love the look of red velvet cuppies, but I just don''t know that I love how they TASTE. Were yours super chocolatey or not so much??

I added extra cocoa, so they were fairly chocolatey, but not too much. I like the taste because the vinegar/buttermilk makes them a little less sweet than a lot of cuppies are. I think next time I make them, I''m going to do it without the dye, though. They may not be as pretty, but it''d probably be a bit better for you (if that''s possible with cupcakes...

)

 

[neatfreak]

Date: 4/6/2008 12:05:00 AM
Author: Mara
LP those are so cute!! I love the look of red velvet cuppies, but I just don''t know that I love how they TASTE. Were yours super chocolatey or not so much??


We tried www.karascupcakes.com today in SF, and they were amazing thus far. Super moist. I had a mini vanilla w/chocolate and a mini lemon...YUMMY!!!! And we also tried www.saralynnscupcakes.com which was a 10 min walk from Kara''s and their mini strawberry was divine. I brought home EIGHT others. Yes ... eight!

Yay for Karas! They rocked at our wedding. I bought wayyyy too many so we brought all the leftovers back to the hotel with us after the wedding and ate many more over the next few days...

 

[Rachie]

I am usually just a lurker but I just wanted to check in to say that I just made the snickerdoodle cupcakes and they are awesome! I haven't made the frosting yet but they are so yummy, even without it! I followed the recipe that Mara posted and the only modifications that I made that she also made were with the baking soda, cinnamon, and vanilla. Oh, I also used a whole cup of cake flour and a 1/2 a cup of all-purpose flour. I also made MrsSalvo's red velvet cupcake recipe last week (which was my first time making cupcakes without using a mix)and they were so yummy! Like a pp mentioned, they weren't overly sweet or too chocolaty. I love this thread!

Here is a pic of the red velvet ones I made!

ETA: Oh, that is huge!! Sorry for the large pic. Also, I don't have the wonderful frosting skills you ladies have so they are a little messy.

 

[Mara]

rachie those look lovely!! i like the frosting!

here are the snickerdoodles i made on thurs....they came out quite pretty even though the batter exploded a bit, i cleaned them up and then frosted the #*!& outta them!! they were yummy!!

 

[Mara]

and a larger picture of them all....!

 

[swingirl]

Wow, these all look so yummy! How does everyone get them to look so perfect? When I make cupcakes they are all different sizes and I seem to slop the batter on the edges of the paper. What''s your secret?

 

[Mara]

oh and i just had some of That Takes the Cake strawberry cupcake...YUM AND YUM. we tried a mini yest while there and it was so yummy we just had to get a biggie!

also tonite i made my cake for the ''final'' cake decorating class...i did this white lemon layer cake from Dorie Greenspan...they came out wonderful looking but i have to split (halve) one to fill it and layer them to make 3 and i don''t know that the cakes came out tall enough to split one. so that might be iffy...we''ll have to see!!! but they smell divine. i am layering them with buttercream and blueberry preserves. will post pictures assuming that they come out not too horrible.

 

[FrekeChild]

Date: 4/7/2008 1:35:44 AM
Author: swingirl
Wow, these all look so yummy! How does everyone get them to look so perfect? When I make cupcakes they are all different sizes and I seem to slop the batter on the edges of the paper. What''s your secret?

I use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to scoop out the batter and use that to fill the regular size cupcake liners. Usually it comes out to filling about 2/3 of the liner. This is kind of tricky and takes time to get used to, but after you get the hang of it...perfect cupcakes!

Dangit, I''ve been avoiding it since I bought those last ones, but you guys are giving me the craving for cupcakes again, except now I want to experiment with them instead of just eat them.

 

[Mara]

whee cake came out great thus far! it''s split, filled, frosted and sitting on counter. will take it to class later and turn it into a ''work of art''...HAH! this is probably the best it''s going to look..hehee. my roses have some work to go. i''ll post photos later even though it''s not a cupcake!

swin...i use an ice cream scoop for larger cupcakes to fill (works perfectly, learned it from the bloggers) and a canteloupe baller for minis. also really practice makes perfect, i used to be a spiller too but now i make them so much that i am pretty good about filling.

 

[neatfreak]

Date: 4/7/2008 1:35:44 AM
Author: swingirl
Wow, these all look so yummy! How does everyone get them to look so perfect? When I make cupcakes they are all different sizes and I seem to slop the batter on the edges of the paper. What''s your secret?

I use what are essentially ice cream scoops. The kind that have a piece to scrape the ice cream out when you pull a trigger. I have a number of different sizes, got them at my local cake shop. They are PERFECT for batters of any kind not to mention cookies...

 

[neatfreak]

Date: 4/7/2008 11:14:28 PM
Author: SanDiegoLady
Oh my stars guess what? My daughter wants cupcakes for graduation! If I make them on Tuesday night (since we'll be on the road and arriving in Scottsdale on Wednesday night) do you think they'll be ok for Friday? Or, do you think I should wait until Friday to make them.


OH HELP CUPCAKE FRIENDS HELP!!

Can you freeze them in between? I'd make the cakes on Tuesday, freeze them when you get to Scottsdale, and then make the frosting and frost them on Friday. If you take them out Friday morning and let them defrost they will be perfect.

 

[Mara]

SDL i''d almost wait til friday to make the cupcakes...i personally am not a fan of freezing any type of baked good or anything like that, though i know some people swear by it. i feel like it can be hit or miss and the miss means ''ruined''. cuppies are actually best eaten the day of creation though they can keep a day or two but honestly even if i put them into a totally sealed container they don''t really taste very good about 3-4 days later. i had a snickerdoodle cuppie today that i made wed night before bed, and it was not very good, i tossed 3/4 of it. so friday MIGHT be pushing it or it might be okay.

i decorated my cake tonite, it came out really cute. i took pictures. and we cut into it...greg loves it and wants a 2nd piece. it''s quite good, i love the blueberry! next time i''ll add a little bit more lemon as you could not taste too much of it...but overall a total win win. love blueberry and lemon mixed together. and i tried my hand again at the italian merengue buttercream for this cake and it came out PERFECTLY (tried it last week but it didn''t quite come together enough)...so i was JAZZED! win win on the cake!! the cake decorating lady said she was impressed that i incorporated fruit and thought outside of the box but also used things we learned in class. yay!

 

[ladypirate]

I had my first cake decorating class last night and it was so much fun! I ordered a kit of all the supplies, so I should have those by next week's class, which involves bringing in a 2 layer cake and splitting and filling both layers to get 4, then frosting the whole thing. I'm thinking I'll fill it with preserves, but I'm still trying to decide what to ice it with (she said nothing butter based

). We're also learning how to transfer a line drawing to the top of the cake, so I have to pick that out.

Any suggestions on fillings or icing?

 

[Mara]

lp that sounds a lot like my class i just took...strange she said no butter based icings why?? i did an amazing merengue buttercream on my cake but used her shortening based buttercream for the decor and flowers as it just holds up better. the cake gal said that was the best way to do it if you wanted to minimize the usage of the shortening creams....frost and fill with buttercream but use a shortening product WITH butter for the decor. but if you don't use a butter based icing what do you use? even shortening icings typically have butter.

our class was 4 and the final was last nite where we had to bring our cake in. until then we practiced on a board with just icing tips and frosting.

suggestions on cake/filling:

white w/strawberries (fresh or preserve)
yellow w/chocolate and buttercream filling or boston creme filling
lemon white with wild blueberry preserves (what i did for mine and so yummy) and buttercream filling. (it was SO GOOD!)

you can combo almost anything really!! one gal just put custard inside hers. whatever you do, make sure it's thick enough to not run out of the cake AND that your cake is built sturdy enough with enough frosting in each layer to hold it all together so it won't slide. also you guys probably already learned this but when you build the layers, put a ring of frosting around the outside of the cake as a 'border' to hold in your preserves/filling/whatever then pipe whip/buttercream on top of the preserves/filling and then put the other layer on top. building it like this helps glue it all together.

last comment, don't make two 9" cakes !! because then you don't get as much of a rise out of them and end up with larger, flatter cakes, much harder to split into two. i'd do a 8" or if you can, a 6" and make a much taller cake with your layers. those are so much fun. my next cake will be a 6" and then i wil have a really tall thin cake which is so fun to decorate. the 6" look is more of a 'trendy' thing, totally fun.

 

[ladypirate]

Date: 4/8/2008 11:42:29 AM
Author: Mara
lp that sounds a lot like my class i just took...strange she said no butter based icings why?? i did an amazing merengue buttercream on my cake but used her shortening based buttercream for the decor and flowers as it just holds up better. the cake gal said that was the best way to do it if you wanted to minimize the usage of the shortening creams....frost and fill with buttercream but use a shortening product WITH butter for the decor. but if you don''t use a butter based icing what do you use? even shortening icings typically have butter.


our class was 4 and the final was last nite where we had to bring our cake in. until then we practiced on a board with just icing tips and frosting.


suggestions on cake/filling:


white w/strawberries (fresh or preserve)

yellow w/chocolate and buttercream filling or boston creme filling

lemon white with wild blueberry preserves (what i did for mine and so yummy) and buttercream filling. (it was SO GOOD!)


you can combo almost anything really!! one gal just put custard inside hers. whatever you do, make sure it''s thick enough to not run out of the cake AND that your cake is built sturdy enough with enough frosting in each layer to hold it all together so it won''t slide. also you guys probably already learned this but when you build the layers, put a ring of frosting around the outside of the cake as a ''border'' to hold in your preserves/filling/whatever then pipe whip/buttercream on top of the preserves/filling and then put the other layer on top. building it like this helps glue it all together.


last comment, don''t make two 9'' cakes !! because then you don''t get as much of a rise out of them and end up with larger, flatter cakes, much harder to split into two. i''d do a 8'' or if you can, a 6'' and make a much taller cake with your layers. those are so much fun. my next cake will be a 6'' and then i wil have a really tall thin cake which is so fun to decorate. the 6'' look is more of a ''trendy'' thing, totally fun.

I found a great lemon buttermilk recipe that I think I may use for the cake, perhaps with the wild blueberry preserves as filling. Yum!

Our instructor said something along the lines of butter having to low a melting temperature. Maybe I can frost it with butter frosting and then use the shortening buttercream for just the decorating part? The decorating buttercream recipes she gave us all have just shortening.

I''m so excited for this class--the same instructor has one this and next Thursday that is all about making your own chocolates and I''m tempted to sign up for that one too, but we''ll see.

 

[FrekeChild]

Doopie doopie doo...

So I''m emotionally eating today, and I went to Cupcakeology AGAIN. They had 13 kinds of cupcakes and I bout a dozen, 1 of each except the Grandma Betty one:

I got: peanut butter cup, coconut, key lime, smore, german chocolate cake, red velvet, choc cake w/ vanilla frosting, choc cake with choc frosting, vanilla cake with choc frosting, vanilla cake with vanilla frosting, cherry frosting/vanilla cake (cherry vanilla), and mocha (choc cake with espresso frosting? Or mocha frosting?)

I''d take a pic, but I don''t have my new camera yet.

What birthday dress that I have to fit into in 2 weeks?

 

[Mara]

omg freke you go girl!!! 12 cupcakes is a record. i only had 8 at home after our 2 excursions (and most are gone hehe).

LP, i made Dorie''s Perfect Party Cake (just google it and you will find bloggers who have made it and they post the recipe)...it''s a buttermilk lemon white cake. then i did the buttercream and preserves in layers. and frosted with the buttercream.

our cake gal told us that it is okay to use a buttercream for frosting and layers of the cake but that it is easier to use the shortening based one for making things like flowers, garlands etc because it does take longer for your hand to melt it and soften it. but for FROSTING The cake it should be fine because you don''t do anything to it once it''s frosted on the sides anyway (unless you are pressing nuts or coconut in). so that is what i did and it came out great. also she lets us buy her shortening based buttercream for $4 so i just did that last nite for my ''decor''.

i''m going to make mini cuppies tonite for a yelp event i''m going to tomorrow...i get so many positive responses on my cupcake pictures that i thought it''d be fun to make some for this informal burger event tomorrow night. i''m thinking i''ll do all vanilla buttermilk cupcakes but then vary the frosting...so do a basic batch of buttercream and a basic batch of cream cheese. then separate into 4-5 bowls. and then mix in lemon extract to get a lemon buttercream, frost 10 cuppies. a regular vanilla. a PB buttercream (easy just mix in PB!). and then a strawberry cream cheese. and a snickerdoodle cream cheese (Since that was such a hit). that way it''s like all the same cake (so much easier baking wise) but diff flavors cream. should be fun...i am going to try diff decor too.

i also bought some wilton pastel fondant where you just roll it out and cut flowers and the like, a lot of cupcake places use them to top cuppies. so i thought that could be cute as well. i might not try that tonite but def this week. so much fun!!

 

[FrekeChild]

It''s been a rough 24 hours...I highly doubt I''ll eat all 12, but I didn''t feel like making a decision as to which 6 I wanted to try. Plus, they had COCONUT. I can''t say no to coconut. Or Peanut butter, or half of the other flavors. So, that is how I ended up with so many.

Decisions + distraught Liz = dozen cupcakes.

I think that''s a fabulous idea Mara. Yum. Don''t forget to send some to NM...

 

[ladypirate]

Date: 4/8/2008 2:30:50 PM
Author: Mara

LP, i made Dorie''s Perfect Party Cake (just google it and you will find bloggers who have made it and they post the recipe)...it''s a buttermilk lemon white cake. then i did the buttercream and preserves in layers. and frosted with the buttercream.

Did you have a problem with it rising? I saw a lot of bloggers had problems with that. I think I''ll probably do a cream cheese or butter-based frosting on the cake and then just use the shortening buttercream for the decorations.

Freke, I''m really sorry you''re going through such a rough patch right now. *Sends hugs and chocolate your way* Hopefully the cupcakes made you feel a little better.

 

[Mara]

yep LP i did have a problem with it not rising all that much. if you made this cake, i would say do 8" max for the recipe (2 pans) and you will get a taller cake than i did with the layers. or even a 6" would give you a taller cake. using 9" with this recipe gave me two somewhat flat layers, i was able to split one and get 3 layers (i could have split both but i just wanted a 3 layer cake)...but if you do an 8" you'd be fine i think.

i read online also that someone mentioned to Dorie that bloggers were having problems with it rising and she said it was because people should not be using self-rising cake flour. but my cake flour says nothing about rising OR not. and i looked it up online and it said nothing about it either and one person suggested it for a NON self-rising recipe so i assumed it didn't.

i also got some more lift out of them in the oven but when i took them out they slightly deflated. however, the cake itself is REALLY AMAZINGLY YUMMY so i would TOTALLY Make this recipe again, i'd just do it in smaller pans OR make 1.5 of the recipe to get three 9" rounds for a very tall cake.

the version i made was from A Whisk and a Spoon where she made lemon blueberry and her pictures totally seduced me!!!

http://awhiskandaspoon.wordpress.com/2008/03/30/daring-bakers-in-march-perfect-party-cake/

freke so sorry you are having a hard time but cupcakes make EVERYTHING Better!

 

[ladypirate]

Thanks for the tip--I think I''ve been seduced as well!

Here''s the line drawing I photoshopped together to put on top of the cake...I hope it comes out ok. Pictures will be taken next monday.

 

[Mara]

wow you go girl. i need some of those cake designing skills hehee.

i have pictures of my cake on my cam but no one has a USB Cable here at work so i will have to wait til tonite to post!!

the cake i brought to work is entirely gone...the gals loved it. one gal said i could sell it and another said she''d give me 5 stars! too cute.

 

[butterfly 17]

Okay, I am not a baker at all, but I have been a pregnant lurker on this thread since page 2 and I have to say, I want CUPCAKES, CUPCAKES, CUPCAKES!!!!

I went to the city the other day and I could not find one place in Manhattan that had cupcakes, like real, fresh, pick what ever you want because we have 47 different kinds of cupcakes. It tried a search on citysearch and still I couldn'' t find one.

Mara, your cupcakes look like them belong in a friggin'' magazine or on a menu page. I thought your bling taking pictures took the cake( get it

), but the pictures of the cupcakes are the best that I have seen. I think it''s the angles and the size that they appear on my screen, or perhaps it''s the pregnancy, I don''t know.

But I would take one of each, or two of each cupcake in this thread. I want CUPCAKES, CUPCAKES, CUPCAKES!!!!

 

[Delster]

After the sad day yesterday I needed to bake something nice, so I busted out the red velvet cupcake recipe again. Only BF and his pals object to the red food colouring. I believe the phrases ''they''re scary!'', ''looks like a bloodbath happened while you were baking'', and ''all that colouring will make me hyper!'' were used. So they requested no colouring.

Ladies, I present to you... naked velvet cupcakes (with vanilla glacé icing)!

 

[ladypirate]

LOL Delster--I actually was just thinking about making some non-colored red velvet! I don''t like all the artificial food coloring, and I thought about using beet juice, but *shrugs*. Now I know what they''d look like!

Mara, let''s see some pictures of your cake!

 

[Mara]

i''ve got photos!! there are a bunch.

here is the first layer with my border of buttercream and the preserves, LOVE the vibrant contrast.