Cupcakes: Recipes & Decorating

[ComeUndone]

The mango buttercream is one of my favourite flavour too. I flavour italian meringue buttercream with canned alphoso mango puree. It's the some stuff Indian restaurants use to make mango lassi.

Here's the link again to my cooking notes: cupcake notes

The mango mousse cake was an assignment from The Art of Cake class that I took earlier this year. This is a link to the picture.

Enjoy!

[freddurf]

Freddurf....just click on comeundone's blog.

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Thanks! I'm such an idiot!

[designerobsessed]

I made a variety of cupcakes for a special occasion a few days ago. I'm happy with most of the results. You can read my review notes in my blog.

top row: coffee cake + coffee buttercream, vanilla cake + pistachio buttercream, green tea cake + azuki bean buttercream, coffee cake + ganache

middle row: coconut cake + cream cheese frosting, chocolate cake + ganache, lemon cake + lemon buttercream

bottom row: coconut cake + mango buttercream, chocolate cake + coffee buttercream, vanilla cake + strawberry buttercream, carrot cake + cream cheese frosting

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I would just like to say that your cupcakes look amazing!!! It seems that everytime I make them the tops are flat rather than slightly domed. Is there a special trick to getting them this way?

[ComeUndone]

I would just like to say that your cupcakes look amazing!!!  It seems that everytime I make them the tops are flat rather than slightly domed.  Is there a special trick to getting them this way?

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Thank you! I found that pound cake or quartre-quarts recipes generally yield nice domed cake whereas butter cake recipes are much harder to control. I personally perfer the former because the cakes end up having more structure. Butter cakes are mush lighter and fluffier but they are too delicate for my personal taste (much better suited for layer cakes IMO).

[joaquin]

A search of Food Network for Coconut Cupcakes turned up only Rachael Ray and not the Barefoot Contessa that was well reviewed here. Does anyone have the link?

[designerobsessed]

I would just like to say that your cupcakes look amazing!!!  It seems that everytime I make them the tops are flat rather than slightly domed.  Is there a special trick to getting them this way?

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Thank you! I found that pound cake or quartre-quarts recipes generally yield nice domed cake whereas butter cake recipes are much harder to control. I personally perfer the former because the cakes end up having more structure. Butter cakes are mush lighter and fluffier but they are too delicate for my personal taste (much better suited for layer cakes IMO).

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At the risk of sounding like an idiot, what is a quartre-quarts recipe?

[tan319]

Pound cake in French.

[designerobsessed]

Pound cake in French.

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Thank you - I must sound like a real novice!! lololol

[momlovestocook]

A search of Food Network for Coconut Cupcakes turned up only Rachael Ray and not the Barefoot Contessa that was well reviewed here. Does anyone have the link?

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here's a link

cupcakes

Sandra

[ComeUndone]

From front to back:

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Buttercream with Vanilla Pound Cake. Garnished with Maple Sugar.

Mixed Berries Buttercream with Vanilla Pound Cake. Garnished with Chocolate Sprinkles.

Milk Chocolate Tofee Buttercream with Chocolate Pound Cake. Garnished with Roasted Peanuts.

I was totally intrigued when I read that people bake cupcakes in ice-cream cones so of course I had to try it. They look absolutely adorable! In order to transport the cakes easily, I put each cone in a plastic cup filled with some course sparkling sugar (looks like ice, doesn't it?). The sugar is perfect for anchoring the cone. I use a second plastic cup as a lid. This screams wedding favors to me, don't you think?

[takomabaker]

The Politics of Pastry

I just ran across this yesterday!

[Pam R]

Back in the 80's I went to school with a girl whose mother threw the best birthday parties. The parties were usually thrown in the basement 'party room' which had a floor made up of squares that lit up as we danced. Anyhow, she used to bake these for us - and I loved them. Thought they were the coolest.

Yours look fantastic.

[bergerka]

I haven't, unfortunately had the chance to bake any this week, but just thought I'd let you all know that I am eating the most ADORABLE little cupcake at work - it's teeny and tiny and chocolate and has a frosting spiderweb on top. It's from the Halloween lunch.

K

[momlovestocook]

Here's the cupcakes I made for the bake sale at dd's school tomorrow. I'm just learning to decorate on my own so ignore the flaws LOL.

Sandra

[takomabaker]

Here's the cupcakes I made for the bake sale at dd's school tomorrow.  I'm just learning to decorate on my own so ignore the flaws LOL.

Sandra

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OH CUTE!!!! Those are WONDERFUL!

[RuthWells]

Here's the cupcakes I made for the bake sale at dd's school tomorrow.  I'm just learning to decorate on my own so ignore the flaws LOL.

Sandra

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Flaws?! Are you kidding? They're ADORABLE!!

[joaquin]

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

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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).

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I just made these Barefoot Contessa Coconut Cupcakes. I found the amount of frosting to be about right. But her recipe calls for about 1/2 a package ( 1 1/3 C.) of sweetened coconut to dip the finished and frosted cakes in. That was not enough. You will need an entire package to have the proper amount of coconut atop your cakes. Skimpy on this finishing touch does not make it.

[CanadianBakin']

I made a variety of cupcakes for a special occasion a few days ago. I'm happy with most of the results. You can read my review notes in my blog.

top row: coffee cake + coffee buttercream, vanilla cake + pistachio buttercream, green tea cake + azuki bean buttercream, coffee cake + ganache

middle row: coconut cake + cream cheese frosting, chocolate cake + ganache, lemon cake + lemon buttercream

bottom row: coconut cake + mango buttercream, chocolate cake + coffee buttercream, vanilla cake + strawberry buttercream, carrot cake + cream cheese frosting

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What proportion of pistachio paste to buttercream did you use?

[debbiemoose]

Ina Garten has a new recipe for chocolate cupcakes that is very simple and produces a moist, fudgy cupcake.  It uses chocolate syrup, so if you don't like the taste of Hershey's syrup you might not like them. I made them for work and they were very well recieved. I covered with bittersweet ganache to balance the sweet cupcake.

Chocolate ganache cupcakes

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A question about these cupcakes (and I'm not a big baker - those gorgeous flower-bouquet ones just sent me running for the liquor cabinet). Could those with the ganache be made day before serving? I'm thinking for a Christmas party, but I need a do-ahead.

[Patrick S]

Ina Garten has a new recipe for chocolate cupcakes that is very simple and produces a moist, fudgy cupcake.  It uses chocolate syrup, so if you don't like the taste of Hershey's syrup you might not like them. I made them for work and they were very well recieved. I covered with bittersweet ganache to balance the sweet cupcake.

Chocolate ganache cupcakes

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A question about these cupcakes (and I'm not a big baker - those gorgeous flower-bouquet ones just sent me running for the liquor cabinet). Could those with the ganache be made day before serving?

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Sure, these will keep for at least a few days at room temperature.

[ComeUndone]

I made a variety of cupcakes for a special occasion a few days ago. I'm happy with most of the results. You can read my review notes in my blog.

top row: coffee cake + coffee buttercream, vanilla cake + pistachio buttercream, green tea cake + azuki bean buttercream, coffee cake + ganache

middle row: coconut cake + cream cheese frosting, chocolate cake + ganache, lemon cake + lemon buttercream

bottom row: coconut cake + mango buttercream, chocolate cake + coffee buttercream, vanilla cake + strawberry buttercream, carrot cake + cream cheese frosting

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What proportion of pistachio paste to buttercream did you use?

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Unfortunately, I did not make notes on the pistachio paste to buttercream ratio. I eyeballed it by colour and repeated tasting. The ratio also depends on which brand of pistachio paste you use. Some are more potent than others.

[ericablu]

I LOVE to make cupcakes. Here are some I've made recently:

<img src="http://baking.ericablu.com/wp-content/cupcakes.jpg" />

From left to right - Sour cream cupcakes with cream cheese frosting from cupcakes! by Elinor Klivans; Cinnamon sugar puff cupcakes also from Elinor; Lemon poppyseed butterfly cupcakes, again Elinor; and the chocoloate sour cream cupcakes, Elinor, with a vanilla buttercream recipe from Magnolia via <a href="http://www.52cupcakes.blogspot.com">52 cupcakes</a>.

[miladyinsanity]

I don't know what I did, but I got perfect looking cupcakes and not so perfect tasting ones.

They are good--I used Snowangel's recipe. Just not great, not like the first time I made them. In fact, if you saw them side by side, you'd not believe that they are the same ones.

Sorry, I don't have pics of the first ones. They had flat tops (and I got the same number of cupcakes both times), a thick crust, and a coarser crumb.

Anyway, there are holes inside, and the texture is well...odd. It's soft--and it should be, since I used a very low protein content flour--but it's kinda got that stick to your upper palate feel once it melts in your mouth. I think it's some kind of cake flour, but it's marketed as "superlite" and is also known as "Hong Kong flour." It didn't occur to me to write down the protein content, and I can't find it online.

My proportions:

130g sugar for burning

100g sugar

122g butter

350g flour

1 tsp lime juice--because my grandpa swore that it'd improve the texture and it works for my mom's pound cake and it was in the fridge

The rest were as stated by Susan.

My mom says the holes were caused by uneven folding of egg whites (probably true). I've not exactly gotten the folding in knack yet. I'm reasonably sure they were not underbaked, because I did the skewer test and the spring back test.

Any ideas?

Okay, it keeps telling me there's something wrong I'm doing, but I can't figure out what, so the piccies are Cupcakes a la Snowangel.

[whisks]

does anyone have problems with the cupcake paper separating from the cupcake after it has cooled? does anyone have a solution to this?

this happens to my cupcakes all the time - they're fine when they come out of the oven, but on cooling, they lift off the cake, which does not look particularly attractive. it doesn't matter which recipe i use, it still happens. my friend also has this problem; it was funny, when she started to mention her problem, i finished her sentence. at least i am not alone.

thanks

[MarieinLA]

I've found the paper separates when they aren't filled enough and overbaked a bit. If the cupcake, once baked, gets to the top of the paper they don't tend to pull away. You might want to make a batch where you fill to different levels and see what happens (but bake the lesser filled ones in a different pan than the more filled ones, otherwise you'll overbake the lesser filled ones waiting for the more filled ones to be done...).