Sunday, 4 November 2012

Week 7 - Cupcakes

Happy Halloween!!! I love Halloween, I love seeing all the little kids in costumes, the different baked goods, and all the wonderful decorations.

I know!! I am late again, but these cupcakes were insane to make and it was a busy week. Hopefully this is the last time my posts are late, but I can’t guarantee it.

Mr. VIP found out that the challenge was cupcakes for this week, one of his favourites ;P. Rather then doing regular cupcakes, I did 3 different types, with 2 having fillings inside. It turned out to be a great idea, because everyone loved them.

Now there are a lot of recipes this week, so I’m not going to do much talking :P.

The first kind I made was Raspberry filled Vanilla Cupcakes with White Chocolate Buttercream Icing. The second version I made was Caramel filled Chocolate Cupcakes with Marshmallow Icing. The last kind was a simple cupcake. Vanilla Confetti Cupcakes with Buttercream Icing.

 
Vanilla-Fudge Cupcakes

Oven 350F

¾ cup butter
2 eggs
2 ¾ cups flour
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 ¼ cup butter milk or sour milk
2/3 cup chocolate-flavoured syrup

Allow butter and eggs to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, line muffin pans with paper liners. In a medium bowl stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on low to medium speed about 30 seconds. Add sugar and vanilla; beat until fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating on low to medium speed 1 minute after each addition and scrapping bow frequently. Alternately add flour mixture and butter milk mixture, beating on low speed after each addition just until combined. Reserve 2 cups batter, divide remaining batter into muffin cups (1 heaping tablespoon each).

For this recipe, you can either leave out the chocolate syrup and make all vanilla cupcakes, double the chocolate syrup and make all fudge cupcakes, or do as above and make both types, or marble them. If you want a confetti cupcake, make the vanilla cupcake batter and add 1 cup of coloured sprinkles at the end.

In a small mixing bowl combine chocolate syrup and reserved 2 cups of batter. Beat on low speed until well combined. Divide batter into muffin cups.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, remove and let finish cooling on wire rack.

 

Raspberry Cupcake Filling

Makes: Fills 24 cupcakes

1 pkg (16 ounces) frozen raspberries packed in sugar thawed
1/3 cup granulated sugar
3 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp lemon juice
 
Drain raspberries, reserving liquid. Add enough water to liquid to equal 1 1/4 cups. In large saucepan, combine berries, liquid, sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice; mix well. Heat and stir until mixture boils and thickens. Cool completely. Fill cupcake.

                                                                                          

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Makes: 2½ cups
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
3-4 cups confectioners sugar, SIFTED
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 tbsp vanilla extract
up to 4 tbsp milk or heavy cream
½ cup to 1 cup of melted chocolate

Beat butter for a few minutes with a mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed. Add 3 cups of powdered sugar and turn your mixer on the lowest speed (so the sugar doesn’t blow everywhere) until the sugar has been incorporated with the butter. Increase mixer speed to medium and add vanilla extract, salt, and 2 tablespoons of milk/cream and beat for 3 minutes. At the end add the cooled melted chocolate (dark, milk or white). If your frosting needs a more stiff consistency, add remaining sugar. If your frosting needs to be thinned out, add remaining milk 1 tablespoons at a time.

 

Classic Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Makes: 2½ cups

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
3-4 cups confectioners sugar, SIFTED
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 tbsp vanilla extract
up to 4 tbsp milk or heavy cream

Beat butter for a few minutes with a mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed. Add 3 cups of powdered sugar and turn your mixer on the lowest speed (so the sugar doesn’t blow everywhere) until the sugar has been incorporated with the butter. Increase mixer speed to medium and add vanilla extract, salt, and 2 tablespoons of milk/cream and beat for 3 minutes. If your frosting needs a more stiff consistency, add remaining sugar. If your frosting needs to be thinned out, add remaining milk 1 tablespoons at a time.

 

Marshmallow Icing 

Makes: Icing for 24 cupcakes

3 packages unflavored gelatin
1 cup ice cold water, divided
12 ounces granulated sugar, approximately 1 1/2 cups
1 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Place the gelatin into the bowl of a stand mixer along with 1/2 cup of the water. Have the whisk attachment standing by.

In a small saucepan combine the remaining 1/2 cup water, granulated sugar, corn syrup and salt. Place over medium high heat, cover and allow to cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Uncover, clip a candy thermometer onto the side of the pan and continue to cook until the mixture reaches 240F, approximately 7 to 8 minutes. Once the mixture reaches this temperature, immediately remove from the heat. Let cool to 210F

Turn the mixer on low speed and, while running, slowly pour the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl into the gelatin mixture. Once you have added all of the syrup, increase the speed to high. Continue to whip until the mixture becomes very thick and is lukewarm, approximately 12 to 15 minutes. Add the vanilla during the last minute of whipping.

Fill piping bag and use immediately. This is real marshmallow, not marshmallow flavoured icing.
 
 

Tips:

To fill the cupcake, I cut out a piece from the center and fill with about a teaspoon of filling. For the caramel, I bought the caramel from the store in the squeeze tube. I also took my torch and toasted the marshmallow.



 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

So after the feedback from my boyfriend and all my coworkers, apparently these were great cupcakes :). I am going to experiment more with fillings, cause they turned out wonderful. I hope everyone enjoyed their Halloween!

Happy Baking!

Sey

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