The Cupcake Thread!

[Skippy123]

maybe it is the lime juice making it too acidic and reacts w/the bakingpowder and soda. Hmmm, it would be interesting to see what the others think. Maybe FC will chime in since that is what she studied in school

FG, at least they are tasty

 

[FrekeChild]

Hmmm...Can you post the whole recipe FG? I can check it out, but I''ve never seen that before.

 

[icekid]

Mara- Will you post the lemon cupcake recipe you used? Or direct me to it?

Anyone have a strawberry recipe they love? I am getting into the fruity flavors for sure, now that it''s getting warm!

 

[dragonfly411]

I made the butter cinnamon cupcakes last night. And they were wonderful, delicious! BUT the bottoms stuck to the paper cups!?!?!! Anyone had this happen? If so how do I FIX IT?!!?!?!!?!?!?!? lol. The icing had perfect consistency, but I think I put it on too early. They were still a taadddd warm, and the icing melted just a tad, but it actually made it a bit like that on a good cinnamon bun!!! So it was ok!! lol. I''ll post pics later.

 

[Independent Gal]

This is the first time I''ve looked at this thread. Wow. It really IS all about cupcakes!

Will you consider branching out to muffins for these crazy-good brunchy things?

Onion-Walnut Muffins

4 med onions, peeled and pureed
2 sticks unsalted butter, melted & cooled
3/4 cup sugar
4 Extra large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tbl salt
1 tbl baking powder
3 cups of walnuts, coarsely chopped
3 cups flour

Preheat to 425.
Mix 2 cups of onion puree with butter, sugar, and eggs
Then stir in salt, bp, flour, walnuts
Spoon into muffin pans and bake 15 mins or until done

Makes 24 mufflies.

So. Good.

 

[FireGoddess]

Next time brunch is at my house I''m going to try those, IG!

 

[FireGoddess]

Here it is..very tasty, but if you can solve my shrinking problem I''d be so ecstatic!! I printed the recipe off the web, but for the life of me I can''t remember where it was from.

Coconut Lime Cupcakes

1.5 cups flour
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
2 tsp lime juice plus zest of one lime
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter, sugar, and lime zest about 3 min until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and mix well after each addition. Stir in the lime juice. Alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk, starting and ending with the flour. Fill each cupcake liner approximately 2/3 full and bake approximately 20 min.

 

[FireGoddess]

Date: 5/10/2008 7:30:05 AM
Author: icekid
Anyone have a strawberry recipe they love? I am getting into the fruity flavors for sure, now that it''s getting warm!

I haven''t tried it yet, but on Martha Stewart''s website she has the Sprinkles Strawberry Cupcake recipe from when the founder of Sprinkles came on the show. It looked really good!

 

[Skippy123]

I hope you find a great recipe FG

I am going to make Yellow cupcakes w/chocolate frosting in honor of Mother''s Day and 2 birthdays tomorrow for my family; they all are coming over to my house for a barbecue. Off to the kitchen.

 

[FrekeChild]

Date: 5/10/2008 12:20:56 PM
Author: FireGoddess
Here it is..very tasty, but if you can solve my shrinking problem I''d be so ecstatic!! I printed the recipe off the web, but for the life of me I can''t remember where it was from.

I have no idea. Everything looks normal to me except the high amount of acid in there (buttermilk, lime juice, and on top of that baking powder and baking soda?) I''m thinking that it probably has something to do with the leaveners and the acid content. Here''s a question though-where do you live? City wise? I''m also wondering where the person who made the recipe is from...

Sometimes the weather can have an affect on baked goods-or the altitude. Like sourdough is best in San Fran because there is a specific yeast that floats around the air there that isn''t anywhere else, and wouldn''t survive anywhere else. And here in Albuquerque where we''re almost a mile high every baked good needs extra stabilizing ingredients. Stuff like that.

This is a mystery...

 

[FireGoddess]

It is indeed a mystery, FC. I'm in the bay area of CA, know all about that San Fran sourdough.

I have no clue where the original creator of the recipe is...I've already forgotten which blog I got it from! I will do some digging to see if I can find it again. Interestingly it is a very tender cupcake, probably from all the acid, but it is a good guess that all the acid is making it shrink too. ETA: just found out the recipe is from Texas.

I did remember one other thing.

I subbed in CAKE flour instead of regular flour to make the cuppies more tender. But then I read that cake flour is sometimes chlorinated. Maybe that is putting the recipe over the top? Hmmmm. Will have to test that by using regular flour next time.

 

[FrekeChild]

Its definitely worth a try. I think baking powder has an acid added to it too(my brain is dead today) so that would be even more acid. And then if there is even a trace amount of chlorine added to it, who knows what it would do.

Again, it''s possible that it could have something to do with the different environments, but that seems less likely since you''re both probably about sea level and possibly both have a semi-humid environment. Hmmm...I''ll have to think about it and maybe consult one or two of my books...

This is seriously weird.

 

[Dandi]

A question for Mara,

If you don''t mind me asking, what recipe did you use for your strawberry cream cheese frosting? I can''t seem to find one that appeals to me online, and yours looked sensational!

 

[Dandi]

OK and next question, has anyone tried adding peppermint essence to cream cheese frosting? Does that work?! I made some chockie cuppies with peppermint icing (a futile attempt at buttercream with not enough sugar!!

) but didn't love the icing like I loooved the cream cheese frosting, so I'd rather do that next time. At any rate, they are delish, 'specially with a fragment of Peppermint Crisp on the top

 

[FrekeChild]

It looks like it curdled. What recipe did you use, and how much peppermint essence?

 

[FrekeChild]

Question!!!

I am thinking of making cupcakes for BF''s department party on Friday. This is what I''m thinking:

Gold cake
Brown sugar cake

For frosting(Italian Buttercream):
Chamomile
Caramel

Or something else for either one. Anyone have any suggestions, comments, etc.?

 

[Skippy123]

Date: 5/12/2008 12:59:46 PM
Author: FrekeChild
Question!!!

I am thinking of making cupcakes for BF''s department party on Friday. This is what I''m thinking:

Gold cake
Brown sugar cake

For frosting(Italian Buttercream):
Chamomile
Caramel

Or something else for either one. Anyone have any suggestions, comments, etc.?

I would go for Gold cake (is that yellow cake?), yum.

 

[FrekeChild]

It is yellow cake-but it''s even richer with more egg yolks and butter. It''s awesome.

What about frosting?

 

[Mara]

freke...hmmm for gold cake you HAVE to do a chocolate. maybe a dark or a milk. i actually have 10 egg yolks in the fridge from making my Mom''s MD cake yesterday since it only called for egg whites (White cake) and was like OMG i am making gold cake this week with these, i am so excited. hahaa. i was thinking of doing old school traditional, yellow layer and milk chocolate frosting.

i am making some cuppies this week for a yelp event probably, was thinking of doing the choco cuppie recipe i have perfected and a coconut cream cheese frosting (cream cheese with coconut all over in a mound). people seem to love chocolate and coconut together.

icekid...for strawberry i am still looking too. this place in SF makes an AMAZING strawberry so now i am on a mission to find the right recipe. the sprinkles ones i have heard mixed reviews on, i have heard people say their stuff is dry. but maybe you can amend the recipe to ensure that is not the case.

FG on those coconut lime cupcakes...have you tried googling for coconut lime cupcakes as well to see if there are other recipes out there? i like to do that to ''compare'' and then see where maybe i can make changes or what might have happened. my other thought on that recipe is to omit the baking soda...i don''t think you need it with the other ingredients. and next time you make them, maybe let them cool in the pan a few minutes longer then remove them to a cooling rack. i don''t know why (and i am NOT an expert!!!) but i feel like the separating from the sides thing has to do with how they ended up cooling and settling.

here''s a fun picture of my mom''s cake from yesterday...it was white cake with lemon curd cream in the layers and frosted with lemon swiss merengue buttercream.

 

[Mara]

and here is a fun side view but not totally crisp. i put coconut along the bottom, it''s fab for ''hiding'' mistakes hahhaa. the yellow are lemon drop candies btw. it was a 5 layer 8" cake. yummy!!!

 

[mrssalvo]

so, I don''t have much time for baking lately but am hoping to get more settled in our routine so I can make some time for cupcake baking with the baby''s nap schedule. My sister is due next week with a baby girl and we made these cupcakes for her. they are chocolate brownie in the center and coated with melted colored choc. as a coating. they are very RICH but yummy.

 

[FrekeChild]

I'm still debating, and I haven't even looked at my books for inspiration yet. I haven't exercised my baking skills in so long that I feel like I need to do something a little more challenging/interesting. I'm still open to other suggestions. With the gold cake, I figured since I'm doing Italian Buttercream I should use all of those egg yolks for good and not evil. I mean, cake.

So I'm totally open to suggestions.

Also, I went to Williams Sonoma with a friend the other day and came out with vanilla bean paste. So I'm wanting to try that out too.

ETA: These baked goods look fabulous ladies!!!

 

[Mara]

oh mrs salvo are those like the ones Bakerella did on Martha?? i totally want to try those.

 

[Skippy123]

Date: 5/12/2008 1:06:27 PM
Author: FrekeChild
It is yellow cake-but it's even richer with more egg yolks and butter. It's awesome.

What about frosting?

Chocolate frosting and yellow cake, my favorite combo. I honestly am not a cake person. It really has to strike my mood, but I love yellow cake, carrot cake and banana bread. hehe I not really a fan of white unless it is extra buttery. hehe What does Camomile taste like, you have me intrigued???? hehe

Mara and MRS. Salvo, BRAVO BRAVO BRAVO on your cakes

 

[FrekeChild]

Chamomile is yummy!!I think it tastes rich, smooth and sweet even without milk or sugar. It''s almost flowery-without being overly so. It''s very very subtle. So that''s why I wanted a cake that is basically background to chamomile frosting, and I was thinking of adding the vanilla to it, because they have a lot of similarities and are very complimentary. I actually have a tea right now that''s chamomile, vanilla and honey. Its yummy!

I''ve always wanted to use it to make creme brulee, but haven''t done it yet.

 

[Mara]

thanks skip and freke...!

i just bought some rose water at whole foods today, i am totally going to try rose water icing soon on a delicate vanilla cake. yum.

freke...what about putting a surprise into the gold cake for something fun. like a chocolate chip (hersheys has those big 60% chocolate ones, i use them in my cookies now) to bake in. that would be yummy with the frosting..and make chocolate italian buttercream...(w/cocoa). yum.

freke i got the vanilla bean paste too and am DYING to use it...i have read it''s amazing in frostings. somehow though i''ve had it like 2 weeks and still not. UGH! gotta get to it.

 

[mel047]

I love this thread! I seriously debated about going to culinary school to be a pastry chef and ultimately decided it''s still more of a passion/hobby than a profession for me.

Anyway, I''m dying to make the snickerdoodle cupcakes! Will post how it goes when I do and hopefully some pictures too!

 

[mel047]

Freke-

What about gold cake filled with caramel and chamomile frosting on top? Since the chamomile is mellow it might offset the rich caramel filling.

 

[FrekeChild]

Mel-it's not worth it to go to culinary school IMHO. I went to two and while I could go to Las Vegas and make $11 an hour, it's still only 11 an hour. And if I had had student loans-it would have taken a year just to pay those off (for the CIA-and only two terms), while ONLY paying them off. No rent or living expenses. I know student loans don't work like that, but it is just obscene how much it costs to go.

Having said that, when I get out of school (liberal arts BA) and move out of state, I'm probably going to open my own bake shop or start a wedding cake business.

I don't know what to do.

I could do the gold cake, with vanilla caramel "sauce" in the middle with Chamomile buttercream on top. Hmmm...

 

[lili]

Date: 5/12/2008 1:30:25 PM
Author: mrssalvo
so, I don''t have much time for baking lately but am hoping to get more settled in our routine so I can make some time for cupcake baking with the baby''s nap schedule. My sister is due next week with a baby girl and we made these cupcakes for her. they are chocolate brownie in the center and coated with melted colored choc. as a coating. they are very RICH but yummy.

Yummy.
I was about to ask you if your sister delivered yet