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.

 

 

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.

Billy Reese’s Vanilla Vanilla Cupcakes

I had a vacation day off from work today and decided to bake up a small batch of Billy Reese's Vanilla Vanilla cupcakes with his butter cream icing. I've heard lots of good feedback on these cupcakes, so I decided to give them a try myself. As expected, I was not disappointed. My overly sweet-sensitive husband thought they were delish even with their butter cream icing.



The original recipe makes around 30 cupcakes. I thought that might be overdoing it for just the two of us this weekend, so I halved the recipe. Next time I'll make sure to not fill the cupcakes as full as I did because they got too high and not very pretty. I bought an ice cream scooper today to use for filling my cupcakes, and thought I needed the jumbo size scooper. Boy was I mistaken! A full scoop filled the cupcake liners to the very top, so I had to use less than a full scoop and even that ended up being too much! I think I may be on the hunt for a new scooper!



All in all these cupcakes came out a bit sloppier than I like, but they definitely do taste good.

Billy Reese's Vanilla Vanilla Cupcakes 

Makes about 30 cupcakes
1 3/4   cups cake flour, not self-rising
1 1/4   cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2   cups sugar
1   tablespoon baking powder
3/4   teaspoon salt
1   cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
4   large eggs
1   cup whole milk
1   teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 325°. Line cupcake pans with paper liners; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt; mix on low speed until combined. Add butter, mixing until just coated with flour.

2. In a large glass measuring cup, whisk together eggs, milk, and vanilla. With mixer on medium speed, add wet ingredients in 3 parts, scraping down sides of bowl before each addition; beat until ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat.

3. Divide batter evenly among liners, filling about two-thirds full. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 17 to 20 minutes.

4. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat process with remaining batter. Once cupcakes have cooled, use a small offset spatula to frost tops of each cupcake. Decorate with sprinkles, if desired. Serve at room temperature.

Billy Reese's Vanilla Buttercream

Colored sprinkles, for decorating (optional)
Makes enough for 30 cupcakes

1   cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
6 to 8   cups confectioners' sugar
1/2   cup milk
1   teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth and creamy, 2 to 3 minutes. With mixer on low speed, add 6 cups sugar, milk, and vanilla; mix until light and fluffy. If necessary, gradually add remaining 2 cups sugar to reach desired consistency.