Cupcakes: Recipes & Decorating

[K8memphis]

Those are so pretty and delectable, AmritaBala.

Great photos too.

Great stuff.

[AmritaBala]

thanks k8memphis! The process of making them was extremely fun too!...)

[K8memphis]

On the mango passion one are the carrot and flower made of marzipan? And what are the little eggy egglette shapes on the other two? Chocolate? And the amber colored cooked sugar piece splashed on the cinnamon one, what flavor is that?

[AmritaBala]

The carrot n flower are made out of sugarpaste.

The eggies are Organic Chocolate Easter Eggs which I bought.

The amber sugar piece is just plain sugar cooked to dark caramel stage and poured on a silpat randomly to cool. )

[CanadianBakin']

I really like Sylvia Weinstock's recipe but I don't separate the eggs. I just plop them in whole. I didn't re-read the thread so apologies if this one was already mentioned.

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Thanks for the suggestion K8. I'll give it a try. It's amazing how close many recipes are but I guess it's a matter of getting it just right for your preference.

Anyone else have a vanilla cupcake that they are really happy with?

[AmritaBala]

I really like Sylvia Weinstock's recipe but I don't separate the eggs. I just plop them in whole. I didn't re-read the thread so apologies if this one was already mentioned.

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Thanks for the suggestion K8. I'll give it a try. It's amazing how close many recipes are but I guess it's a matter of getting it just right for your preference.

Anyone else have a vanilla cupcake that they are really happy with?

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Well, I ALWAYS use this one which took me a while to create after trying out so many terrible recipes.....

Vanilla Cupcakes:

125 grams unsalted butter

250 grams caster sugar

2 eggs

1 egg yolk

225 grams pastry flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla extract

150 mls whole milk

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees celsius.

2. Sieve flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl.

3. In another bowl, cream butter & sugar till light and creamy. Add eggs one at a time and then add yolk. Finally add in vanilla. Mix well.

4. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and mix on low. Add 1/2 the milk and mix again. Continue alternating, ending with flour.

5. Spoon into lined cupcake trays and bake for 15 - 20 mins, checking @ the 15 min mark.

*This makes around 14-16 cupcakes when I do it ;o)..*

Hope this helps!

[Special K]

Ooh, AmritaBala! Thanks for sharing!

[Tallen234]

Has anyone tried Alton Brown's recipe?:

Chocolate Chiffon Cupcake

Recipe courtesy Alton Brown, 2008

Show: Good Eats

Episode: Honey, I Shrunk the Cake

4 ounces cake flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 cup hot water

1 1/4-ounce cocoa powder

5 large egg yolks

6 ounces sugar, divided

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 large egg whites

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

I think he recommends 2 muffing tins or 12 coffee mugs for these muffins.

You whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Then mix the hot water and the cocoa powder into a small bowl and thoroughly combine. In a stand mixer you place the egg yolks and 5 ounces of sugar and whisk on high for 2 minutes or until the mixture becomes pale yellow and 'ribbons' form. Mix the cocoa mixture, vegetable oil and vanilla and whisk to combine. Add the dry ingredients and whisk just to combine. Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl while you whisk the egg whites.

Put the egg whites and cream of tartar into a bowl and whisk on high using the whisk attachment, until foamy. Decrease the speed to low and slowly add the remaining ounce of sugar. Once the sugar been added, increase the speed back to high and continue to beat until stiff peaks.

Transfer 1/3 of the egg whites to the batter and whisk untill combined. Add the remaining egg whites and fold in slowly. Transfer batter into prepared tins or mugs, Put ints in middle rack or, if using mugs, place all of them on a half sheet pan and set on the bottom rack of the oven. Bake for 30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean or the cupcakes reach an internal temperature of 205 to 210 degrees F.

Remove to a cooling rack. cool completely before frosting.

[Lisa2k]

I've been on a miniature cupcake binge lately, especially since my sister had her first baby yesterday, and I'll be baking up a couple dozen vanilla and chocolate with blue cream cheese frosting and teeny, tiny fondant pacifiers and rattles.

That said, a few months ago, I experimented with some raspberry puree, cooked down with sugar until thick, then used that as a glaze beneath a piping of chocolate ganache. The below are filled with an almond paste 'based' cream, but I couldn't cut them open since they were a gift for a sick friend.

The ganache wasn't quite set up as much as I would have liked, and I didn't have time to wait, so it came out of my plain pastry tip too loosely and in gobs, kind of ruining the presentation. However, no need for a fix, as 'too much chocolate ganache' on a mini cupcake isn't necessarily a bad thing..lol The thing I really liked about these, was the 'layered' look between the glaze and ganache, on such a small cupcake. Nothing fancy, just thought it was kind of neat.

[whisks]

i like the loose look - has a certain charm - not too structured....lucky friend

[Lisa2k]

i like the loose look - has a certain charm - not too structured....lucky friend

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Thank you, and to say he got better pretty quickly, is an understatement. Chocolate has magic powers That said, I kind of liked the imperfect ganache too, as imperfections lend that 'homemade-grandma's cozy kitchen' look and feel to baked goods.

Edited June 19, 2008 by Lisa2k (log)

[whisks]

definitely - and you can't buy anything like that, and that's better than anything you can buy; funny how things have come full circle now, homemade being more treasured.

ahhh, the healing properties of chocolate....

[iii_bake]

Has anyone tried Alton Brown's recipe?:

Chocolate Chiffon Cupcake

Recipe courtesy Alton Brown, 2008

Show:  Good Eats

Episode:  Honey, I Shrunk the Cake

4 ounces cake flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 cup hot water

1 1/4-ounce cocoa powder

5 large egg yolks

6 ounces sugar, divided

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 large egg whites

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

I think he recommends 2 muffing tins or 12 coffee mugs for these muffins.

You whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Then mix the hot water and the cocoa powder into a small bowl and thoroughly combine. In a stand mixer you place the egg yolks and 5 ounces of sugar and whisk on high for 2 minutes or until the mixture becomes pale yellow and 'ribbons' form.  Mix the cocoa mixture, vegetable oil and vanilla and whisk to combine. Add the dry ingredients and whisk just to combine. Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl while you whisk the egg whites.

Put the egg whites and cream of tartar into a bowl and whisk on high using the whisk attachment, until foamy. Decrease the speed to low and slowly add the remaining ounce of sugar. Once the sugar  been added, increase the speed back to high and continue to beat until stiff peaks.

Transfer 1/3 of the egg whites to the batter and whisk untill combined. Add the remaining egg whites and fold in slowly. Transfer batter into prepared tins or mugs, Put ints in middle rack or, if using mugs, place all of them on a half sheet pan and set on the bottom rack of the oven. Bake for 30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean or the cupcakes reach an internal temperature of 205 to 210 degrees F.

Remove to a cooling rack. cool completely before frosting.

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I have been having problems of shrinking chiffon cake...wonder if this one shrinks at all?

( The episode title makes me wonder!)

[pastrymama]

I think he is refering to making cupcakes instead of a full size cake. But chiffon cakes do tend to shrink a little anyhow.

[emmalish]

I posted this in Daily Sweets as well, but then figured they really should be in this thread as it's what got me thinking about making cupcakes in the first place.

I can't remember the last time I made them. I usually make muffins or full cakes, but you guys inspired me.

I had to go out and buy papers and a mini cupcake pan (which is another story). I also really wanted to top them with fondant flowers. I've never made them before so had to buy the cutters and fondant too, but had a lot of fun doing this! I just used some pre-made Wilton's rolled fondant for these...

For the cupcakes, I was going to make the chocolate cupcakes from Elinor Klivans' Cupcakes!, but didn't have any sour cream and was too lazy to go buy some. So I did some googling and found the Magnolia recipe which calls for buttermilk – which I also didn't have, but I do have lemons and milk. The recipe makes 2 dozen. I halved that, but I still got a full 2 dozen minis and 10 full-size cupcakes from that. Because it was so hot this weekend, the butter was too soft and this mixed up really light and fluffy. They baked beautifully with a lovely dome... and then fell. Oh well. Serves me right for baking when it's so hot. I just made a butter & sugar buttercream. I would have rather done an Italian buttercream, but it was too hot and I didn't want to use the stove any more.

[Kouign Aman]

Well, it took a year, and another birthday, but I made the Chocolate Bar cupcakes finally. They were a big hit, both at 'school' and at home. Nice brownie flavor.

The 'chocolate bar' was 62% ghiradelli chips. We got to use the scale for the first time, and herself measured all the dry goods.

The dairyfree restriction was lifted by changes in class population, and the frosting color restriction was also lifted, so I frosted them with a semi-sweet chocolate ganache. The munchkin decorated the tops with mini marshmallows.

We scaled the recipe to 150%. We baked 24 cupcakes, then 12 more. The batches were indistinguishable. The batter had nice stability. The finished cupcakes were very delicate and rich.

Somewhere, there's a picture.

Kim Shook's Chocolate Bar Cupcakes

I need to bake some dairy-free chocolate cupcakes ....

I've never made cupcakes before & wont have time for a retry (then again, the intended audience wont be deducting points for appearance).

.....

thanks for any and all suggestions, comments and help.

<et correct username spelling>

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[Kim Shook]

Well, it took a year, and another birthday, but I made the Chocolate Bar cupcakes finally. They were a big hit, both at 'school' and at home. Nice brownie flavor.

The 'chocolate bar' was 62% ghiradelli chips. We got to use the scale for the first time, and herself measured all the dry goods.

The dairyfree restriction was lifted by changes in class population, and the frosting color restriction was also lifted, so I frosted them with a semi-sweet chocolate ganache. The munchkin decorated the tops with mini marshmallows.

We scaled the recipe to 150%. We baked 24 cupcakes, then 12 more. The batches were indistinguishable. The batter had nice stability. The finished cupcakes were very delicate and rich.

Somewhere, there's a picture.

Kim Shook's Chocolate Bar Cupcakes

I need to bake some dairy-free chocolate cupcakes ....

I've never made cupcakes before & wont have time for a retry (then again, the intended audience wont be deducting points for appearance).

.....

thanks for any and all suggestions, comments and help.

<et correct username spelling>

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I'm so glad you liked them! It's one of my favorite cupcakes. I make them a lot after Christmas - we always forget whether we have chocolate or not for fudge when we are out shopping and see the bars on special. We always end up with extra bars to use up!

[DonnaMarieNJ]

Has anyone tried the "key lime cupcakes" from Bon Appetit this month?

[ablosh]

Chocolate Cupcakes

Checkered with Chocolate Buttercream and Chocolate Ganache

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I laughed when I came across this thread and saw my post! The pic above is from my first cupcake tryout!

Here are my recent cupcakes:

[FrogPrincesse]

I decided to bake cupcakes for my daughter's birthday next month. I bake regularly but have never made cupcakes. I actually never saw a cupcake until I moved to the US from France more than 10 years ago. At the time, muffins had just started becoming popular in Paris. I don't even think there is a French word for cupcakes even today (they just say 'cupcake' which a French accent...).

Anyway, I am very picky with cupcakes but like the ones they make at Sprinkles, so I am using them as my model. Additionally, they have the advantage of having a semi-hard frosting, which it should make transportation much less stressful. I plan on baking approximately 4 dozen cupcakes and they will have to be transported by car.

I am thinking of baking two different flavors. Dark chocolate is a must because we are chocolate addicts in our household. However for my first attempt I decided to try the Sprinkles strawberry cupcake recipe that I found online because I had all the ingredients on hand. I made the recipe with no modifications with a Kitchenaid stand mixer. I made a half batch (yield of 6 cupcakes instead of a dozen) and used fresh strawberries since we can find excellent ones in San Diego.

Sprinkles strawberry cupcake recipe, video (which also shows what the cupcake looks like)

Sprinkles strawberry frosting, video

Here is the batter. I love the pretty pink color, and the fact that the recipe does not use food coloring.

The frosting, which I blended a little further after I took the picture.

I forgot to take a picture of the cupcakes after they came out of the oven, but here is the finished product.

They came out pretty well for a first try, but I need your advice to fine-tune the recipe. The cupcakes tasted great, so I don't want to depart too much from the recipe, but maybe tweak my technique to improve the results.

First, the cake itself. It did not rise much beyond the paper liner unlike the cupcakes shown in the video and there was no overhang. And as a result, it was too dense.

A few things could have caused this... The batter may have been overbeaten, my baking powder may be too old (I forgot to check the date), or maybe the oven temperature was not quite right. The yield was exactly 6 cupcakes so the amount of batter for each one should not be the issue. Could the fact that I only made a small batch have been a factor? I wonder what will happen when I scale up the recipe. The recipe is by volume unfortunately, which could be another source of error.

The buttercream frosting was delicious, however it was not as smooth and spreadable as what is shown in the video. The instructions say not to overwhip to avoid incorporating too much air so I stopped mixing as soon as everything was incorporated. The frosting had a somewhat dense texture, but maybe I should have transferred it to the refrigerator for a short time before using it?

Next, I will be testing a chocolate cupcake recipe. I am going to use this Sprinkles dark chocolate frosting recipe but don't have a cupcake recipe. I will be needing dark chocolate sprinkle flakes, which unlike regular sprinkles are flat and square (see the picture of the dark chocolate Sprinkles cupcake here). I am hoping I won't have to order them online.

Edited May 11, 2012 by FrogPrincesse (log)

[Kouign Aman]

I can let you have half a box of Hagel from The Netherlands. Not the right shape,but you wont have to py shipping. I think the brand I have is the one in the picture I linked here

[FrogPrincesse]

Thanks Kouign Aman, I sent you a message regarding the sprinkles.

I checked the expiration date for my baking powder, and sure enough, it had almost expired (June 2012). So I threw it away and bought a new one.

I tried another test batch of cupcakes this weekend, this time a chocolate recipe. It's interesting to see how few chocolate cupcake recipes use actual chocolate. The majority just seem to use cocoa powder. I eliminated recipes not using dark chocolate and recipes using ingredients that I would rather not see in my cupcakes (e.g., oil, condensed milk, Hershey's syrup, vinegar, mayonnaise (!)), or ingredients I did not have on hand (buttermilk). I was using Eat Your Books for my search which is very handy to eliminate specific ingredients.

I came up with this recipe from "Confession of a Tart" that looked promising. I followed the instructions as is, even the step where the cocoa powder is added to the butter + chocolate mixture in the bain-marie (I am not sure why it's not mixed with the dry ingredients). I used the weight measurements because I really don't like baking with volume measurements as this can be another big source of error. Everything went well. Using an ice-cream scoop to portion out the batter was a revelation for me - so much easier than a spoon or a spatula! The batter was quite thick/sticky.

The cupcakes rose this time but they also cracked badly. I made sure not to over-bake them by checking them regularly.

For the frosting, I used the Sprinkles recipe (here).

The verdict? The frosting is perfect, absolutely delicious. But the cake left to be desired. It was light and the taste was good, but it was also on the dry side, incredibly crumbly, and way too messy for a cupcake.

I since found a recipe from Dorie Greenspan for chocolate cupcakes so I will try it next (recipe here).

Edited May 15, 2012 by FrogPrincesse (log)

[Kouign Aman]

Try Kim Shook's chocolate bar recipe. Good cupcakes!

[Toliver]

...I eliminated recipes not using dark chocolate and recipes using ingredients that I would rather not see in my cupcakes (e.g., oil, condensed milk, Hershey's syrup, vinegar, mayonnaise (!)),...

There should be nothing wrong with using mayonnaise in your cupcake recipe. If made properly, it's just oil and eggs, ingredients which you'll find in most chiffon-type cake recipes.

[FrogPrincesse]

...I eliminated recipes not using dark chocolate and recipes using ingredients that I would rather not see in my cupcakes (e.g., oil, condensed milk, Hershey's syrup, vinegar, mayonnaise (!)),...

There should be nothing wrong with using mayonnaise in your cupcake recipe. If made properly, it's just oil and eggs, ingredients which you'll find in most chiffon-type cake recipes.

Sorry, I just can't bring myself to doing it. It must be a cultural difference, but I used to bake a lot when I grew up in France, and never once encountered a recipe using these ingredients. It has to be butter for me.