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Cupcakes: Recipes & Decorating


La Niña

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It's too bad Hamtaro is vermin and must be destroyed at all costs.

EEK!!! My girls will be jumping on you if they heard that! However, that cake was demolished very quickly.

*holding out on your TCB pals? Hmmm? Hmmmm?

Aaack!! Caught by a Cake Police/Moderator. Deborah dear, I was thinking you guys had too much of my cakes already. You're balancing yourself pretty well (too), I see.

TPcal!

Food Pix (plus others)

Please take pictures of all the food you get to try (and if you can, the food at the next tables)............................Dejah

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My favorites right now are the coconut ones from the Barefoot Contessa, very, very good!

Mmmmmmm.... those Barefoot Contessa Coconut Cupcakes are incredible. They bake up very big and full looking, and with the cream cheese frosting and sprinkling of coconut they look just as irrisistable as in the photo. I made them for a party and folks were moaning in ecstacy. Note though, that the frosting recipes makes at least twice as much as you need for that amount of cake (and I piled it on).

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Mmmmmmm.... those Barefoot Contessa Coconut Cupcakes are incredible.  They bake up very big and full looking, and with the cream cheese frosting and sprinkling of coconut they look just as irrisistable as in the photo.  I made them for a party and folks were moaning in ecstacy.  Note though, that the frosting recipes makes at least twice as much as you need for that amount of cake (and I piled it on).

I second THAT!

I gotta warn you though, keep the cupcakes small/average, and do NOT under any circumstances convert the recipe to a layer cake. Gave folks (including myself) a severe tummyache with 3 layers of that rich, rich cake and that rich, rich icing. :laugh:

"Give me 8 hours, 3 people, wine, conversation and natural ingredients and I'll give you one of the best nights in your life. Outside of this forum - there would be no takers."- Wine_Dad, egullet.org

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Cupcake lovers: be on the look-out for Hey There, Cupcake! by Clare Crespo, ISBN 0-9717935-6-5. It should be out soon, if it isn't already. I can't vouch for the quality of the recipes -- didn't have to test any -- but the decorating ideas are adorable.

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Those Barefoot Contessa ones sound wonderful so I went looking for the recipe online. In case anyone else wants to try them but needs the recipe, here's a link Coconut Cupcakes

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

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I agree, the Barefoot Contessa Coconut Cupcake recipe is excellent, and the batter is firm enough so that she recommends using an ice cream scoop. Makes for perfect looking cupcakes - I used this recipe for a friend's small wedding reception.

Barefoot Contessa Carrot Cupcake recipe looks good too. I will have to try that next.

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should be OK, there's a Nigella recipe for brownies with cream cheese filling which is v similar, just keep an eye on the cake and maybe turn down the heat or cover with tinfoil if baking too fast.

on that note, for serious cupcakery, I recommend Nigella's How To Be A Domestic Goddess.  There's a recipe in there for cherry chocolate cupcakes (basically, chocolate cupcakes with a jar of cherry jam stirred in, then iced with ganache) that moved a friend of mine to tears when I made them for her birthday.  Also hundreds and hundreds of fantastic ideas for cupcakes, from simple (eg fairy cakes) to fancy (lavender-scented, with lilac-coloured icing and silver flowers to decorate).

I love that book! So far everything I've tried from it has worked brilliantly. Until yesterday that is. My banana muffins were edible, but hardly praise-worthy. How is a cupcake different from a muffin? My guess is that the cupcake is smaller, denser and the ingredients are mixed in a different manner compared to a muffin batter. Anything else I might have missed?

I'm off to start a muffin thread.

Suman

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So here was...if I say so myself... a brilliant cupcake twist. I was making the Cooks Illustrated "perfect cupcakes", when I realized I didn't have heavy cream for the ganache icing.

I did have evaporated milk. Thinking of my favorite, since I was nine years old fudge recipe, I heated the evaporated milk, added the chocolate, and let it melt. Stirred it up, and smoothed the just warm fudge onto the not completely cooled cupcakes. The fudge hardened on top of the little cakes, they look fantastic, taste great-- and best of all, travelled incredibly... no frosting mush.

voila-- cake and candy in one!

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I love cupcakes... Just acquired some silicon baby bundt moulds for the carrot cake we serve at our teahouse. They worked beautifully - two to a plate, with an artful little puddle of cream cheese, honey and orange zest sauce, and topped with a carrot flower (I use little aspic cutters for these). I have christened them "Baby Cakes" - which elicited much giggling from an eighty year-old patron who blushingly enquired if we also served "Stud Muffins". :biggrin:

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These chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese filling are my old potluck standby. they are fudgey and creamy, not too sweet and can be in the oven in less than a half hour.

Neil,

I tried those yesterday. First time with cupcakes so I don't know what I have to expect.

They taste very good but are not fudgey and creamy. I checked the chocolate cake with a toothpick until it was dry.

The chocolate cake is moist and spongy but the cream cheese center is cooked, not creamy.

Is this a good description of the final product or did I bake them too long ?

By the way, I just bought Café Beaujolais from Amazon !

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These chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese filling are my old potluck standby. they are fudgey and creamy, not too sweet and can be in the oven in less than a half hour.

Neil,

I tried those yesterday. First time with cupcakes so I don't know what I have to expect.

They taste very good but are not fudgey and creamy. I checked the chocolate cake with a toothpick until it was dry.

The chocolate cake is moist and spongy but the cream cheese center is cooked, not creamy.

Is this a good description of the final product or did I bake them too long ?

By the way, I just bought Café Beaujolais from Amazon !

It sounds like you baked them properly. The cake part should be "fudgey" like a very moist chocolate cake, not like a dense brownie. And the cream cheese part should be creamy like a baked cheesecake, not like a liquid center. I guess it just depends on how you define the key words. Sorry you were dissappointed.

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Neil,

Thank you for the answer !

I am not dissappointed at all : I am very happy with those cupcakes !

I just wanted to know if I have got the correct texture because it was my first attempt with cupcakes.

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Oh no, Yetty! Don't get me into that too! As it is, I'm trying real hard (my standard of 'real hard') to cut down my sugar intake and calories. I must admit after seeing the petits fours thread, I'm itching for an occasion to produce some. :rolleyes:

TPcal!

Food Pix (plus others)

Please take pictures of all the food you get to try (and if you can, the food at the next tables)............................Dejah

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Well, darling, after you make them don't eat them === send the little lovelies to me! Just a two hour flight away, :rolleyes::laugh:

I know, that petits fours thread has got me dreaming of them! Make them, make them, TP!

Yetty CintaS

I am spaghetttti

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How much chocolate did you add to the evap milk? That sounds like a great icing for schools, as it didn't mush. I am the class mother who bakes everything, so this is always a problem for me. Thanks.

sorry for the delay--I was away..

its 14 oz of chocolate to one can of evaporated milk, and a healthy splash of vanilla

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