Black-Bottom Cupcakes

27 Apr 2011 Leave a comment

by theregoesthecupcake in Uncategorized Tags:

When I asked my friend Maria what cupcake she would like for her birthday she requested black bottom cupcakes. I had honestly never heard of them before but I am always game to try something new. These are incredibly easy, in fact you can bang these out in under and hour and with no frosting to complicate things, clean up couldn’t be easier. They taste fabulous, somewhere between a cupcake and a muffin, with the mix of the cake and cream cheese filling keeping everything very moist. If you want a quick fun cupcake try these out, they do not disappoint.

Black-Bottom Cupcakes  (makes about 12-14 cupcakes)

Adapted from: Smitten Kitchen

Recipe:

Filling:

  • 8 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg, at room temperature
  • 2 ounces chopped semisweet chocolate (I used mini chocolate chips)

Cupcakes:

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
  • 5 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder (natural)
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup water
  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 tablespoon white or cider vinegar (I used cider)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

To make the filling: Beat the cream cheese, sugar and egg together until smooth. Stir in the chopped chocolate pieces (or mini chocolate chips).

To make the cupcakes: preheat oven to 350’F. Prepare you muffin tin with paper wrappers. In a medium bowl sift together the flour, brown sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt-stir with a whisk. In a separate bowl, mix together the water, oil, vinegar and vanilla.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and stir in the wet ingredients, stirring until just smooth- do not overmix. Divide batter among muffin cups, I filled about 1/2 way. Then add a few tablespoons of the filling to the cupcakes. I did it off to the side for a black and white look but you can just add it to the center. This will fill the cups almost completely, mine went over the edge a bit but not too bad. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the tops are slightly golden brown and feel springy when gently pressed. Let them cool in the pan till they are set, about 20 minutes. Then cool completely on a cooling rack.

 

 

Baptism cupcakes

15 Apr 2011 2 Comments

by theregoesthecupcake in Cupcakes Tags: , ,

 

Gumpaste flowers

One of my best friend’s was having a baptism for her adorable baby girl and I offered to make cupcakes. I just knew I wanted something feminine and pretty. We decided on lavender as the theme color and we enjoyed a Friday night creating these. They turned out better than I expected, we could not find the flower cutout I wanted anywhere in town so we had to settle for one I already had. But, we made it work and had a lot of fun with the gum-paste and disco dust. My friend also got to create her first cupcake tower, it turned out so cute and the sparkle ribbon I couldn’t resist at the store looked wonderful.

For the cupcake flavors, I did a limonchello cupcake, with a lemon curd filling and limonchello cream cheese frosting and a chocolate cupcake with raspberry filling and a Swiss meringue butter-cream frosting. I will say this will be the last time I use this chocolate recipe, they just don’t hold up well to being cupcakes and they puff up so much in the oven its hard not to get an ugly “muffin top” on the cupcakes. They taste fabulous but just are not sturdy enough for cupcake production. They also make a lot of cupcakes, which is not necessarily a bad thing but no normal batch of frosting will cover them all so I had to make a half batch of chocolate cream cheese frosting to get them all covered.  I also  ran into another problem with the lemon cupcakes, the recipe only makes 12 cupcakes, which is fine but the amount of lemon curd was not nearly enough for all 12 in my opinion, therefore I have doubled the recipe below so you do not encounter the same problem. Also, the frosting recipe makes just barely enough (for my frosting taste), so it really would not hurt to do a double batch if you would like a little more frosting on top. As for the Limonchello, again not to diss this recipe but I would not go out and spend $25 on a bottle just for these cupcakes, I would use a lemon extract instead. I added a touch of lemon juice in my frosting to add more flavor, I have noted that below as well.

Limoncello Cupcakes:

Recipe adapted from: Brown eyed Baker

For the cupcakes: (makes 12 cupcakes)

1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 ounces (½ stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
2 tablespoons limoncello
½ cup buttermilk
¼ cup lemon juice
Zest of one lemon

For the Lemon Curd:

Zest of 4 lemons
1 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs + 2 egg yolks

 For the cream cheese/limoncello frosting:

2 ounces (½ stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 tablespoon limoncello

1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

  1.  Cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 350 F with the rack in the center of the oven. In a medium bowl combine the dry ingredients and whisk together, set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer add butter, cream cheese and sugar and beat with the paddle attachment on medium speed until light and creamy, (about 3 minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the limoncello and beat and additional minute. On low-speed add the flour mixture and buttermilk alternatively,beginning and ending with the flower mixture (so, flower-buttermilk, flower-buttermilk-flower).  Add the lemon juice and zest and mix on low-speed just until incorporated. Divide batter between 12 muffin tins. Bake for 20 minutes or until your inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely.
  2.  Lemon curd: In a heavy medium saucepan, stir together the lemon zest, juice and sugar and bring to a simmer over medium heat. In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs and egg yolks. Whisk the lemon mixture into the eggs to temper them (start with a very small stream and whisk constantly to keep the eggs from scrambling-take your time). Scrape the mixture back into the saucepan and place over medium heat, whisking constantly until it thickens, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat (at this point you can strain the it through a fine mesh strainer if you are concerned some of the egg might have scrambled-its a safe way to eliminate that concern). Cool completely.
  3. Cream cheese/limoncello frosting: In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and cream cheese on medium speed with the paddle attachment until light and creamy (about 3 minutes). Add the limoncello and lemon juice and beat for an additional minute. reduce speed to low and gradually add the sifted powdered sugar and beat until smooth.
  4. Assemble the cupcakes: Cut a hole (cone shaped) into each cupcake with a small pairing knife. Fill each hole with the lemon curd and then replace the top (you may have to trim the pointy part of the cone to fit it back on). Frost the cupcake however you like, either with a pastry bag and star tip or use an off set spatula to smooth it on top. Decorate however you like.

 

Other:

I plan on having another post about making gumpaste flowers next month.

Swiss Meringue butter cream

Chocolate cream cheese frosting

Cupcake tower directions

  

Pretty cupcake tower

Sour Cream Coffee cake with blackberries and lemon

08 Apr 2011 Leave a comment

by theregoesthecupcake in Cakes Tags:

Crumbly and soft, wonderful for breakfast

A coworker gave me some wonderful farm fresh eggs that were begging to be made into something. I had this recipe bookmarked since Christmas because my husband loves coffee cake. I just happened to have all the ingredients on hand, which never seems to happen so I whipped this up. Its incredibly easy and fast, something you could certainly do for a morning breakfast.  The book  had a variation in it for lemon/blueberry, which sounded fine but I had some frozen blackberries that needed to be used and it sounded better to me. I also made this in a rectangular pan rather than the called for bunt pan, I think either works, I just happened to purchase this pan that day and wanted to try it out. You will get a prettier slice from a bunt pan, so if you are using this for entertaining I would go with that.

I brought this to work to share and everyone enjoyed it. The eggs were the star, nothing beats farm fresh eggs from happy chickens that hang out in a garden all day and eat completely organically.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake with Blackberries and Lemon
Source: Baking Illustrated

Ingredients:

Streusel:

  • 3/4 cup (3 3/4 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup (5 1/4 ounces) granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup packed (3 1/2 ounces) dark brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
  • 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
  • 1 cup pecans, chopped ( I did not add nuts because I am not a fan)

Cake:

  • 12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened but still cool, cut into 1-inch cubes
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups sour cream
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 2 1/4 cups (11 1/2 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/4 cups (8 3/4 ounces) granulated sugar
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest
  • 1 cup frozen blackberries

Directions

  1. For the streusel: Place the flour, granulated sugar, 1/4 cup dark brown sugar, and the cinnamon in a food processor and process to combine. Transfer 1 1/4 cups of flour/sugar mixture to small bowl and stir in remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar; set aside (this will be the streusel for the inside of the cake). Add the butter and pecans to the remaining dry ingredients in the food processor bowl. Process the mixture until the nuts and butter have been broken down into small pebbly pieces. Set aside. (The streusel with the butter and nuts will be for the top o the cake).
  2. For the cake: Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a tube pan (10-inch diameter, 10-cup capacity). Combine eggs, 1 cup of the sour cream, and vanilla in a medium bowl.
  3. In the bowl of a standing mixer, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt at low speed, about 30 seconds. Add the butter and remaining 1/2 cup of sour cream and mix at low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened. Increase to medium speed and beat 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Decrease the mixer speed to medium-low and slowly incorporate the egg mixture in 3 additions, beating for 20 seconds after each and scraping the sides of bowl as necessary. Increase speed to medium-high and beat for 1 minute (the batter should increase in volume and become aerated and pale in color).
  4. Toss 1 cup frozen blackberries with 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest in small bowl. Add 2 cups of the batter to the prepared pan. With an offset metal spatula or rubber spatula, smooth the surface of the batter. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of blackberries and 3/4 cup streusel filling (without butter or nuts). Drop 2 cups of the batter over the streusel and blackberries, spread evenly, and then add the remaining blackberries and streusel filling. Top with remaining batter and then the streusel topping (with the butter and nuts).
  5. Bake until the cake feels firm to the touch and a toothpick or thin skewer inserted into center comes out clean (although there may be bits of sugar from the streusel clinging to the tester), 50 to 60 minutes. Cool cake in pan on for 30 minutes. Place a rimmed baking sheet over the top of the cake and invert the cake onto the pan (the cake should now be upside down, with the streusel on the bottom). Remove the tube pan, place a wire rack on the cake, and reinvert so the streusel is facing up. Cool for 2 hours and serve or cool completely and wrap the cake in aluminum foil.

Beautiful fresh eggs

Weekend Cocktail~ Pink Grapefruit Margaritas

01 Apr 2011 128 Comments

by theregoesthecupcake in Drinks, Uncategorized Tags: ,

These margaritas will certainly liven up your weekend, both refreshing and delicious. They are super simple to make, the only catch being, you need fresh limes, it really makes a difference. Make these at your next party, they are sure to be a hit.

Pink Grapefruit Margaritas
From: Barefoot Contessa’s  How Easy Is That

  • 1 cup          ruby red grapefruit juice
  • 1/2  cup    fresh squeezed lime juice (about 4 limes)
  • 1 cup         triple sec orange liqueur
  • 3 cups      ice
  • 1 cup        silver tequila
  • 1   lime cut in wedges, optional Kosher salt.

If you prefer to rim the glasses take a lime wedge and rim, then dip in salt, if you do not like a salted rim sprinkle a touch of salt in each glass, the salt really brings out the flavor.

Combine the grapefruit juice, lime juice, triple sec and ice in a blender. Pour into a large pitcher (or just keep it in the blender) and pour in the tequila, stir. (I personally just added it all to the blender- I like slushy, that is totally up to you)

Makes 4 drinks.

* Just as a note: it is important to use Ruby Red grapefruit juice, it is much sweeter than regular and it has the lovely pink color.  

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 449 other followers