Jump to content
  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

Creme filled cupcakes


LindaK

Recommended Posts

I've volunteered to make dessert for an informal birthday gathering tomorrow night, as many little kids as adults. Given the rest of the menu, I'm thinking of making cupcakes à la Hostess style--chocolate w/ chocolate frosting and the cute squiggle on top (the batch for adults will have some rum syrup moistening the chocolate cupcakes and most likely rum in the creme filling too).

Easy, except that I've never filled cupcakes before. I'm not afraid to wing it but would be more confident with some expert advice. I've read conflicting opinions as to whether you cut a little wedge from the bottom, pipe in the filling, and replace OR whether you just stick the pastry tip in the bottom of the cupcake and give a squeeze.

Also, any advice about best fillings. I'm thinking a creme patissière, maybe lightened just before filling with some whipped cream.

While I'm looking to answer this immediate question, if you have other favorite filled cupcake ideas, recipes, advice, please share here.


Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hmmm. Filling from the bottom would mean that you are either puncturing the paper liner the cupcake is baked in, or not baking them in liners but putting them in papers after you fill/frost....

Usually when I do filled cupcakes, I use a wide, plain tip and poke it through the top of the cupcake to about halfway to the middle of the cupcake, twist and then pull the "plug" and use that space to fill, then I pipe the topping on. You could smooth the filling level with the top of the cupcake and then dip them into the glaze and then do the squiggle.

ETA: I like using jumbo/large/Texas size cupcakes for filled cupcakes - the standard size ones are harder to fill because they're smaller.

Edited by JeanneCake (log)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Totally agree about filling from the top - I use a little scoop or melon baller to take out a goodly divot. If you're looking for recipes/ideas, you can make a nice take on the Mounds bar by using any nice, dark chocolate cake recipe, filling with a mixture of equal parts sweetened condensed milk and flaked coconut, and frosting with a whipped dark ganache. Have fun!

Edited by patris (log)

Patty

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Totally agree about filling from the top - I use a little scoop or melon baller to take out a goodly divot. If you're looking for recipes/ideas, you can make a nice take on the Mounds bar by using any nice, dark chocolate cake recipe, filling with a mixture of equal parts sweetened condensed milk and flaked coconut, and frosting with a whipped dark ganache. Have fun!

You have hit one of my few candy weaknesses--Mounds bars. I would not have thought to use sweetened condensed milk and coconut for the filling. This is dangerous. If I make a batch of these cupcakes, I will eat all of them.

Sweetened condensed milk is an interesting base for fillings. It probably doesn't need refrigeration, unlike anything with pastry and/or whipped cream.


Link to comment
Share on other sites

This tip makes it super easy to fill from the top. I don't cut anything out. Just make sure you use a cake recipe that doesn't have too tight a crumb. Once they have cooled just jam the tip in, squeeze till you feel the center give a bit and pull it out. A little might escape but you can clean it up very easily and then glaze. I think I'd be tempted to chill them a bit before glazing. You can also use a normal plain tip or a squeeze bottle with the tip cut off so the whole is about 1/4". I haven't tried the squeeze bottle but read about it in Demolition Desserts.

This chocolate cake recipe on www.epicurious.com works great for this application.

Edited by CanadianBakin' (log)

Don't wait for extraordinary opportunities. Seize common occasions and make them great. Orison Swett Marden

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have found that an apple corer (like this) works really well to get a nice consistent space in the middle for filling. I usually don't re-top them, just pipe on frosting or make the filling level and glaze, like others have said. If your cake is pretty light, you can fill without removing any cake, but if you have a denser cake, it can be rough to get enough filling without ruining the cupcake.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Oops. Having begun this topic I only now remembered that I never updated folks on the cupcakes. Thanks, pringle007, for bumping it up.

The filled cupcake experiment was a lot of fun for me and a hit with kids and adults alike. The advice here made a big difference, so thanks to everyone. I would have taken a picture, but the process took longer than I'd expected and I rushed out of the house balancing a large tray of cupcakes with barely enough time to be part of the birthday surprise.

First of all, I decided to try the recipe CanadianBakin' suggested above instead of my tried and true recipe--it sounded delicious and seemed less time consuming. Yes, I know better than to try a new recipe in these situations, but in this case the gamble paid off. An excellent recipe, very moist and chocolatey but not overly sweet thanks to the coffee.

The advice here about filling the cupcakes from the top made so much sense, and sure enough it worked like a charm. Once the cupcakes were dipped in the warm ganache, the puncture in the top was invisible.

To JeanneCake's point about smaller, standard sized cupcakes being harder to fill--I took one look at my cupcake pans with this point in mind, decided she was right, and instead used stand alone cupcake/mini cake liners, which are larger than standard size. The results were big, but no one complained.

Finally, the filling. My inexperience here made me uncertain about the best option, but it all worked out well. I made crème patissière but I worried that it was too heavy, and I wasn't sure if the cupcakes would get much refrigeration time during what I knew would be a long dinner. My initial thought was to lighten it with whipped cream, but I worried that it might get watery sitting out of the fridge. So, I decide to try yet another recipe that I'd never made before but knew from reading all my French cookbooks to be a good stabilized custard filling--crème chiboust (crème patissière folded with Italian meringue). Shockingly easy, why did I never try it before? It lightened the filling and kept it in perfect form until the cupcakes were devoured 6 hours later. I don't know the respective holding powers of various creme filling options, but this one served me well. Any advice on this point would be useful.


Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...