Cake Batter & Crumbs

Very Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla & Blackberry Buttercream

I saw these gorgeous blackberries at the grocery store and tossed them in my cart without having any specific plans for them. I decided they would look beautiful sitting surrounded by rich buttercream on top of vanilla cupcakes.

I wasn't feeling stingy with the vanilla that day and used 3 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract in the batter. These cupcakes have a wonderful strong vanilla flavor and full dense texture.

So, what better to pair with a dense vanilla cupcake than a heavy, rich buttercream! This is a classic buttercream using egg yolks, butter, and sugar that I found in the Taste of Home Baking Book that my parents gave me for Christmas. Yum! I frosted the tops of the cupcakes with the vanilla buttercream.

...and..

To bring in the blackberry theme again, I took out around 3/4 cup of the buttercream and folded some blackberry preserves. The buttercream turned this amazing shade of light purple with little darker specks of dark blue/purple. Using a pastry bag I filled the centers of the cupcakes with the blackberry buttercream.

I kept these cupcakes in the fridge and they lasted a good week. Just remember to take them out a few minutes before devouring them. Mmmmmmmm.

Very Vanilla Cupcakes
Makes around 18 cupcakes

1½ sticks unsalted butter
1¾ cups sugar
3 large eggs
3 teaspoons pure vanilla
½ teaspoon salt
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
2½ cups flour
1 cup milk

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Line a muffin pan with cupcake liners.

Cream together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Whisk together all of the dry ingredients -- salt, baking powder and flour. Add the dry ingredients in 3 batches, alternating with milk. Mix on low speed just until combined and then on medium for 2 minutes.

Divide batter evenly among cups. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick into center comes out clean.

Cool on wire rack.

Classic Buttercream

1 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
6 egg yolks, lightly beaten
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups butter, softened

6 tablespoons confectioners' sugar

In a heavy saucepan, bring sugar and water to a boil; cook over medium-high heat until sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat. Add a small amount of hot mixture to egg yolks; return all to the pan, stirring constantly. Cook 2 minutes longer or until mixture thickens, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat; stir in vanilla. Cool to room temperature.

In a mixing bowl with the whisk attachment, cream butter until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Gradually beat in cooked sugar mixture. Beat in confectioners' sugar until fluffy, about 5 minutes. If necessary, refrigerate until frosting reaches spreading consistency. Store in the refrigerator. Yield: 3 cups.

Blackberry Buttercream

Using around 3/4 cup of the classic buttercream, fold in 1-2 tablespoons of blackberry preserves.

 

 

Pineapple Spice Cake with Brown Sugar Buttercream

I was flipping though the latest issue of the Hallmark magazine when I stumbled across several recipes for Cakes in-a-jar gifts. These are those homemade mixes you see layered in mason jars, requiring only the addition of the wet ingredients to finish off the batter. Hallmark has five of these recipes on their webpage, including printable gift tags that include instructions on preparing each of the mixes.

I've never experimented with these types of mixes before, but I must say I was really pleased with the outcome of my cardinal expedition. I plan on trying more in the future. It kind of reminds me of sand art!

The mix was created by blending the dry ingredients and layering each in the jar. I used a wide-mouthed funnel to transfer each layer from the mixing bowl to the jar. It's important to remember to tap the jar on the counter after each layer to settle the ingredients; otherwise you may run out of jar space. The article also states that if you're going to make one for yourself, you can skip the layering steps and just throw everything into a plastic bag. Since I had never created one of these jars before, I decided to make one up. Although in my trip to the store to buy a mason jar, I quickly discovered that I couldn't buy just one jar, so I ended up purchasing an entire case of them. I guess people will be getting these as gifts in my future! For this recipe, you can make 2 8 or 9-inch cakes, 1 9x13" cake, or I'm assuming 24 cupcakes. I opted for 2 of the 8-inch cakes and then halved each of those to end up with a 4 layer cake.

I really wasn't sure what to expect, but wow, was I delightfully surprised. This really has to be one of the best spice cake bases I've ever had. It tastes so much better than the boxed spice mix kind. My husband happily agreed. The pineapple isn't overpowering at all. You can see little bits of it throughout the cake and it compliments the cake really well without stealing the stage.

The recipe suggested using either brown sugar or caramel icing. I opted to go with a brown sugar buttercream that I found in the Martha Stewart Baking Handbook. The icing had a great creamy texture and a wonderful, slightly sweet flavor. I had to double the recipe to have enough for each of my layers. The recipe is below also on their website.

Pineapple Spice Cake (Cake in-a-jar mix)

Blend the ingredients for each layer separately. Put Layer 1 in the bottom of a widemouthed 1-liter jar or canister. Build up to Layer 5 (or 6). Even and settle each layer by rapping the jar gently on the counter.

Assembling Instructions:

LAYER 1
1 cup sifted cake flour
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

LAYER 2
1 cup plus 6 tablespoons sifted cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

LAYER 3
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons cake flour

LAYER 4
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup buttermilk powder or nonfat milk powder

LAYER 5
1/2 cup finely diced dried pineapple (3 ounces)

Baking Instructions:
In mixer bowl, blend cake mix ingredients briefly.

Beat in ¾ cup butter and ½ cup water. Beat on medium for
1½ minutes. In small bowl, beat 3 eggs with ¼ cup water and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Add egg mixture to batter in three batches, beating well after each.

Scrape batter into two parchment- lined 8- or 9-inch round (or square) pans, a greased 9 x 13-inch pan or paper-lined muffin cups. (I just sprayed non-stick spray in my baking pans)

Bake for 20 to 30 minutes at 350°F. Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Invert onto racks to cool completely.

Brown Sugar Buttercream
Makes about 2 cups.
2 large egg whites
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons

Put egg whites and sugar into the heatproof bowl of an electric mixer set over a pan of simmering water. Cook, whisking constantly, until sugar has dissolved and mixture is warm to the touch (about 160 degrees).

Attach the bowl to the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on high speed until stiff (but not dry) peaks form. Continue beating until mixture is fluffy and cooled, about 6 minutes.

Switch to the paddle attachment. With mixer on medium-low speed, add butter, several tablespoons at a time, mixing well after each addition. (If the frosting appears to separate after all the butter has been added, beat on medium-high speed until smooth again, 3 to 5 minutes more.) Reduce speed to low; mix to eliminate any air bubbles, about 2 minutes. Stir with a rubber spatula until frosting is smooth.

Italian Meringue Buttercream - Birthday Cupcakes

Well, the office move is officially completed. We’re in our new building, and I’m happy to finally have my own office with a nice view. But—on to more important things… cake!

We threw a birthday party over the weekend for our friend Dave. The party planning detail that I of course, was most interested in, was what kinds of treats to serve. I wanted to do a twist on the usual cake and ice cream menu, so we had a make-your-own sundae bar along with vanilla cupcakes topped with Italian meringue buttercream icing.

I was under pressure to get everything ready, so I just used a box cake mix. The icing recipe came from The Baker’s Field Guide to Cupcakes. This is a really great “idea” book as every cupcake is pictured in full color. I’m a sucker for photographs, so that’s what sold me on the book!

This icing recipe was the first I’ve made from the book, and it was quite tasty. For me though, it’s just not style of icing I love though. I, unlike a lot of people out there, adore the really sweet and rich, heavy icings. They’re not very good for you, but hey, it’s all about moderation, right? Anyway, this was a very smooth, delicate and not-too sweet icing.

The recipe as listed in the book is a basic version and it’s suggested to add flavorings to create different icings. I split the batch in two and added a little vanilla to one and some cocoa powder to the other. I dusted the tops of the chocolate ones with some additional cocoa powder, just to make them look prettier. I kept these in the fridge and let them come to room temperature before serving.

   

Ingredients:

Scant 2/3 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar
¼ cup water
4 large egg whites, at room temperature
½ teaspoon cream of tartar
1 ½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into small pieces   

Directions:

Place 2/3 cup sugar and water in small pot. Stir to wet sugar. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, swirling pan occasionally. Dip pastry brush in cold water and wash down sugar crystals from the sides of the pot once or twice. [I didn’t have a pastry brush and just used the spoon] Turn down heat to simmer gently.   

Place egg whites in mixing bowl and whip until frothy on low speed using balloon whip attachment. Add cream of tartar and turn speed to medium-high. When soft peaks form, add remaining 3 tablespoons of sugar gradually. Continue whipping until stiff, glossy peaks form.

Bring the sugar-water mixture to a rapid boil and cook until it reaches 248°-250° F. As syrup cooks, look for visual clues to assess the temperature. It starts out thin with many small bubbles over the surface. The water will begin to evaporate, and the mixture will become thicker. The bubbles get larger and sticky and pop more slowly. At this point the syrup looks thickened, but it has not begun to color. If you drop a bit of the syrup into a glass of cold water, it will form a ball. This is the firm-ball stage and the syrup is ready. 

Pour a thin steady stream over meringue, without pouring any on the rotating whip or the sides of the bowl. Whip meringue on high speed until cool. When the bowl is no longer warm, stop the machine and touch the surface of the meringue with your finger to check that it is cooled. With mixer on medium speed, add the butter, a couple of tablespoons at a time. Keep beating until the buttercream is completely smooth. Any flavorings may be added at this point.