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The Cupcake Thread!

Date: 4/11/2008 5:32:27 PM
Author: Mara
okay so i was worried about the tiramisu cake because it took FOREVER and a day to bake in the 6'' deep pan but it came out DIVINE!! i let it cool and then split it into 4 layers and the inside looks so perfect. i also flattened the crown a bit so i ate the crumbs from that and YUMMMMMM. i am going to try to make this into a cupcake...it uses a lot of buttermilk and you can TASTE that in the cake, and i love vanilla and buttermilk. so i will fill it and frost it this afternoon for eating tonite after dinner!!! i can''t wait to see how it comes out. it will be 6'' 4 layers with cream in between each. decadent!
Tiramisu is my favourite pudding....
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okay gals...i had to come and post because i just made the most divine cupcakes!!!

we are going to a friend's house tonite...and they have 2 kiddies. we don't see them that often but she keeps up on what we are doing via email, so she knows i am fully into baking. so i said well since you are making dinner, i'll bring dessert. do the kids want cupcakes?

she said YES..and some for her too. so i was thinking for the last few days what i could do. i wanted something kid friendly, so nothing with coffee or liquer or anything too gourmet, but something that wasn't just your typical vanilla or chocolate cuppie.

so i did what i have been wanting to do for a while with TWO things i have been wanting to try.

first was making a really vanilla buttermilky cupcake. with a firm vanilla and buttermilk taste.

second was to use these mini pb cups i got from TJs...i used them in the PB frosting i did this week and they are so cute...but my initial thought when i bought them was...i want to bake these into minis.

so since i was making regular size cuppies...i made a vanilla buttermilky cake mix...using the same recipe i used for the tiramisu last nite (which came out fab by the way, will post more on that in a few) and adding a bit more buttermilk and vanilla. then i filled the cups just 1/3 full, pushed 3 mini pb cups into the centers and filled them the rest of the way to 2/3. i used these whole foods unbleached liners that are a pale tan color...i've been wanting to try them. i halved the cake recipe and got 12 full size and 3 minis, perfect since i sample on the minis.

so when they came out, let them cool etc...tore open one of the minis and ate it, omg!!! it's divine!!! first off i should have put MORE into the big ones cuz i put 2 pb cups in the minis and it was the right amount...and in the big ones i just put 3 but i could have put 4 or 5 for sure i think. anyway, the cake was so angel food soft and fluffy and the pb and choco was melted right in...YUM.

the jury is still out on the cake itself being vanilla buttermilky...because i was so enamored by the combination of the pb cup and the cake...but i will sample again later and try to taste the cake separately than the pb cup to see if it's worth claiming as a success. but the cake itself came out so spongy. i used all purpose flour this time for a more 'rustic' crumb and it worked out great.

frosted them with traditional confectioners sugar chocolate buttercream as i figured the kids would not appreciate the 45 minute process that it takes to make the swiss merengue buttercream...and they probably just wanted 'as sweet as possible' which was def confectioners sugar.

they came out super cute, i took pictures but haven't uploaded them yet....anyway i had to share the cake recipe because it's SO GOOD someone has to try it really soon. if you can't find a TJ's near you to get the mini pb cups (they are super mini, not your reese's mini size), then i would use a mini reese's but only use 1 in a biggie cupcake because they are seriously so much larger than these mini ones, i think 1 in a regular size cuppie would be more than enough. you could even do a PB chocolate buttercream too, but i just wanted to stay simple with the chocolate since kids love that...and the PB cups are like a little surprise inside for the kids.

Peanut Butter Filled Cupakes:
Makes 12 large and 3 mini

1c all purpose flour (original recipe called for cake but I wanted a more rustic crumb ala old fashioned style)
1 tsp baking powder
1/16 tsp baking soda
1/16 tsp salt
5 tlbspoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2c bakers sugar
2 room temperature eggs
1 tblsp vanilla
1/2c+ buttermilk (i used slightly more but not quite 2/3)

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt.
Cream butter and sugar together in mixer til fluffy.
Mix in eggs one at a time, until each is mostly imcorporated. Whip til totally incorporated. Add vanilla.

I use a KA mixer up until this point, but then remove it from the machine and hand-mix in the rest of the ingredients so I don't get a flat cupcake. Add in dry ingredients and buttermilk to the bowl, alternating each time, wet and dry, until incorporated entirely. Do not mix.

Use a spring release canteloupe baller to fill cups 1/3 way, just covering bottoms with batter. Press mini PB cups into batter (I used 3 of these but they are really tiny, if you use mini Reese's you'd just probably need 1), cover with another scoop of batter til cups are about 2/3 full.

Bake at 350 (using oven therm!) for about 18-20 minutes (mine were done in about 18). Remove from oven, let cool in pan for 3-5 minutes, remove to cooling rack right side up and cool entirely before frosting.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting:
6 tblsp room temperature unsalted butter
2-3c confectioners sugar
2 tblsp milk
3/4c unsweetened cocoa powder ( i used a mix of hersheys and scharffen berger for fun)

Cream butter and mix sugar in slowly, along with milk until consistency is reached, add cocoa and whip slowly until all air bubbles are removed. Add more cocoa or confectioners powder to make the frosting more stiff for piping if required--though cocoa makes the frosting VERY stiff. I had to add a bit more milk.

Pipe or frost with big swirls onto cupcakes. Sprinkle with kid-friendly colorful pareils or just another PB cup! I put a mini PB cup in the middle of mine and then placed teal chocolate sunflower seeds amidst the swirls.
 
Mara that cupcake with pb cups sounds divine!!!! Your friends sure are lucky. I dont'' much like to cook or bake but I think you are slowly turning me to the other direction. I love your passion for baking. I can feel your excitement through the computer. Hope you have a great dinner and if you ever need a taste-tester I would be happy to make the sacrifice
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Well, this thread has me thoroughly motivated! Today I made devil''s food cupcakes and frosted them with chocolate buttercream. I love the recipe on the Hershey''s cocoa container when I am in the mood for something very sweet and fudgy. I filled a few with the choc. buttercream and made a cream cheese icing to fill a few others. I sampled the cream cheese filled mini and it was deeeelicious (even with the boxed cake mix).

You guys make the most divine cupcakes! The tiramasu cake sounds outstanding!
 
I''m SO tempted to make yellow boxed cupcakes with chocolate frosting.

I need to be cleaning. Dang it.
 
just say no to boxed cake mix!!!!

okay before we head off to our little few days of vacation, i had to post my tiramisu cake and my pb cupcakes...couldn''t leave you gals hanging.

cake with candles!


tiramisu birthday cake done.jpg
 
and inside..!! as you can see even though i thought i was soaking the espresso too much -- on certain layers i could have gone even more like the top one.

tiramisu inside.jpg
 
peanut butter surprise cupcake in a bowl.

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and this one is NOT a mini so i don''t know why i named it that...but it''s a closeup. the funny thing, the blue things are choco covered sunflower seeds and it looks like they are sweating or something because they are smooth typically! these closeups show every detail.

pb mini closeup.jpg
 
holy moly that was a big shot of the cupcake!! haha.

and here is my FAVE picture, a shot of one of the 3 minis i made torn open with the discarded wrapper hahaa. it didn't even have frosting...and it was SO GOOD.

btw did i mention these came out fab? greg said they were my BEST so far. and he eats everything i make hahaha.


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Hi Mara
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You inspired me to make cupcakes for my sister''s graduation...

I made the Vanilla-Vanilla batter recipe you posted with a Vanilla Bean Buttercream, then the Lemon-Raspberry batter recipe you posted with some lemon and raspberry jam mixed into the Vanilla Bean Buttercream, and then just a chocolate batter with a super-whipped ganache...they were all amazing!! Thank you so much for posting your recipes! Here is the recipe for the frosting (I add a little vanilla extract too):

Vanilla Bean Buttercream (found on Oprah.com)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 vanilla bean, scraped
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 cup milk
4 cups confectioners'' sugar (1 pound box), plus more if necessary

Cream the butter in a medium-size bowl until very smooth. Stir in the vanilla-bean seeds until they''re evenly distributed. Add the salt and milk, and stir until combined. Sift the sugar over the butter mixture and stir the mixture until it''s perfectly smooth. If the frosting is too loose, add a few more tablespoons of confectioners'' sugar, and stir until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap until you''re ready to use; mix well just before using.

It is TO DIE FOR!!!! I ate almost half before I got to actually frosting the cupcakes
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shimmer those are so cute!!!! fabulous job. i love the idea of vanilla bean buttercream...i read online that you can buy vanilla bean psate...so you don''t always have to scrape your own beans, i was like oooh. i just haven''t gotten around to doing it yet hehee. but yeah that would be DIVINE. i love me some vanilla.

funny out of all the ones i have made, people really seem to love the ''filled'' ones the best, the pb ones i just did and then those lemon raspberry ones were people''s faves too. i think it''s the whole ''surprise'' inside the cuppie. i am going to experiment with more ''surprise'' cupcakes...i want to do a lemon one next with curd in the middle!
 
I''ve had some bad experiences with baking fresh lemon curd into poppyseed muffins-it essentially bakes into the cake. I would recommend that you scoop out the middle of the cake and put it in there or pipe some it into the middle of the cake.

But I think that the surprise middle of cupcakes are fab-o. That''s one of my other problems with Cupcakeology-they don''t have any like that. I like them the best too.
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Also, Vanilla bean paste can be found at Williams Sonoma. link
 
OMG i just had the Kara's lemon cupcake (i can never hang onto a cupcake!) that my Mom got me from SF yesterday, while waiting for Greg so we can finally hit the road for our mini-vaca...and it was amazing. i really like how moist SOME of their cakes are. i don't love all of them, but the lemon is to die for. it's got curd in the middle and yes i think they pipe it in after the fact Freke...and then a soft lemon buttercream, more butter tasting than sugar...maybe its an italian merengue (which i think is the same as the swiss merengue i made, same style), and the cake itself is so moist buttercreamy and i swear i think they put ALMOND extract in it. so i will experiment some more...but i want to do lemon next for sure. i love lemon cupcakes when done right! i have had some mediocre ones at other cupcakeries compared to this one.

freke, in terms of the baking into the cupcake...i found that happened also with my raspberry ones, i imagined it was the water content in the preserves? so would it be anything that would be like fruit related is better piped in later? though i kind of liked the baked in idea as well, so maybe if i wanted to go that route i'd bake it in but if i wanted a more pristine cupcake with a real 'filling' then do the piping in of fruit items.

one of my fave bloggers recommended the King Arthur bakers companion as her 'one go to book' so i got it at amazon last week with the vegan cupcake book and the sweet melissa book and i was reading it this afternoon, it's wonderful. and each of the recipes has NUTRITIONAL CONTENT...which i just LOVE LOVE LOVE...since i do try to be KIND of healthy, well not really for baking, but it's good to know when i am baking what i am making for sure.

amazingly enough the vanilla buttermilk ones i made were not that bad at all...the cupcakes were only like 115 cals each before the mini pb cups but those were only like 40-50 cals in each cupcake. and then the frosting, maybe like 140 per cupcake. but i could eat the cakes just plain ! hehee. anyway, guess i should get going, have a great week all...i may or may not be able to check in but i'll be thinking happy cupcake thoughts. unfort where we are going there is no cupcake love going on....i already checked yelp...but when i get back i'll be ready to bake!
 
SDL those look amazing!!!! I hear ya re: wanting to improve on what you make...I am so critical of my own stuff.

I am so craving cupcakes here in Palm Springs...this place needs a Cupcakery big time. Think of the possibilites...ice cream cupcakes...iced mocha cupcakes. Freke??? Wanna go in? hehee.
 
Good Grief these cupcakes are making me hungry.

Mara: Rick and I are coming to your house for desert ha ha ha ha ha.

Linda
 
Date: 4/14/2008 5:05:45 PM
Author: Mara
SDL those look amazing!!!! I hear ya re: wanting to improve on what you make...I am so critical of my own stuff.

I am so craving cupcakes here in Palm Springs...this place needs a Cupcakery big time. Think of the possibilites...ice cream cupcakes...iced mocha cupcakes. Freke??? Wanna go in? hehee.
Ahhh!!!I''d love to! I''ve only been to PS once-but I LOVED it!! So nice and beautiful!!!!

And you say they need a Cupcakery huh?
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Now tell me, does Palm Springs have any Universities?
 
You''re all evil - absolutely EVIL!

I had my best friend''s (almost) five year old all weekend and we made strawberry cupcakes with strawberry icing. And I ate two of them!!!

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I have my second cake decorating class tonight! I followed your advice, Mara, and made Dorie''s perfect party cake yesterday. The layers do seem a bit shallow...hopefully I''ll still be able to split them! I made Italian buttercream to frost it with and flavored some of the buttercream with lemon curd for the buttercream that gets used as filling (along with the blueberry preserves). OK, not sure if that made any sense, but hopefully it''ll taste good!

I''m taking my camera, so I''ll try to post pictures of it tomorrow (no promises, though--I''m still half afraid it''s going to look like a 5 year old''s science experiment!).
 
omg lady pirate, even if it comes out looking wonky it will still taste DIVINE. that cake is still giving me the daydreams. i am definitely making it again soon. the combo of the lemon and blueberry, fab!!! and i'm sure i'll be fab looking too!

hmmm not sure about school freke...but you could commute to somewhere i'm sure..maybe. hmm. definite need for a cupcakery down here. i don't even think they have any FAB bakeries from what i can tell either. lots of ice cream though!

starset, strawberry is so yummy...i def have that on my list after lemon or carrot cake to try my hand at it. the one i had in SF was amazing...so moist and soft and pink and then the frosting so strawberry. i made strawberry cream cheese frosting for vanilla cuppies for the event last week and people LOVED them...they were one of the top faves...so i figure if i can get the cake part right, it'll be a hit.

off to the gym now at the hotel...hahaha. since there's no cupcakeries maybe i'll lose some weight on vacation. though i did bring our last PB filled one with us. maybe i can eat it all myself if i get REALLY desperate!
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though the place we are going for dinner tonite has 'fresh baked cookies' for dessert and i do mean fresh baked, they bring them out piping hot. so they might be an acceptable 'filler' for my missing cupcakes.
 
I need the university for BF, since I''m thinking there aren''t any government agencies in PS. He''s got to have a job to support my cupcake/bakery place for the first few years (and my shoe habit!). Anyway, he''ll need a job (probably be a professor) because I don''t trust him in my kitchen. Heh.
 
Date: 4/10/2008 8:26:10 PM
Author: fisherofmengirly
cupcakefetish.com. now that''s funny!

I wonder if there is a nakedcupcakefetish.com out there somewhere. That''d be freaky.
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There''s a Naked Chocolate Cafe in Philadelphia. They have pretty great cupcakes, too. So yummy!

I''m going to make some naked cupcakes myself today, b/c it''s my birthday! Yay! I think I am going to run to the store and get some whole wheat flour and try using half ww and see how it goes. It will make me feel a little less guilty, for sure. Since I''ve been making all of these cupcakes lately though, I''ve discovered that I really have no need or desire for the frosting portion, so that cuts a lot of calories anyway. I think I may do a small batch of the Billy''s vanilla which I love. And maybe the Cooking Light blueberry/lemon as well. Hmm... decisions!
 
Date: 4/13/2008 6:54:34 PM
Author: Mara
peanut butter surprise cupcake in a bowl.
ok, one more comment. Mara, I will be totally making these when my family comes to town for my graduation. I know they will flip over them! They look sooooo yummy. Well done
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OK, so here are the pictures of my cake! It came out super delicious--I ended up frosting it entirely with the lemon curd italian buttercream (which is why it's yellow-tinted) and it was sooooooo good. Speaking of which, maybe I'll have a slice for breakfast...

This is at class while I was filling the cake:

Delicious01.jpg
 
The finished product!

Delicious02.jpg
 
A slice:

Delicious03.jpg
 
And this is my piece
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:

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ladypirate,

what a gorgeous cake. I am telling the people on the WWW thread what a big piece of cake you had, ha ha ha ha

Linda
 
LOL! Uh-oh.
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Wow, LadyPirate you are so talented. You and Mara are in No. Cal, no?
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You could start a cake shop!!! Gorgeous
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