What's New Cupcake?

What’s new Cupcake is the class at Sur La Table which is based on a book by the same name. If anyone has read or flipped through the first book Hello Cupcakethen you would appreciate all the unique and creative designs. Most of the cupcakes call for plain cupcakes and tub frosting. Not that I am a cake snob (maybe just a little), this book is great for getting decorating ideas and this class offered 4 designs of cupcakes from the new book.  

This design is called “Mum’s the Word”. The flower petals are actually mini-marshmallows cut diagonally and dipped in colored sugar. So easy to make, but time consuming to fill each cupcake with petals. 

“Mini Bake Sale Pies” are created using M&Ms and frosting tinted with cocoa power and yellow food coloring. The foil cup is a nice touch. This was my favorite to make (and eat). 

This cupcake is called “The Coals are Ready” and is meant to look like BBQ coals and burger patties, which are caramel rice cakes spritzed with red food coloring. The coals are large cut marshmallows dipped in melted tub frosting and tinted gray. Oreo cookie crumbs and colored sugars give the coals their color. 

The picnic cupcake is made with colored coconut for the grass, and the ants are created using 3 chocolate covered peanuts for the body and chocolate frosting for the legs. 

This class was a great way to try some non-traditional designs for cupcakes. I usually make cupcakes that focus on the flavors, not the designs, so it was nice to just focus on truly FUN cupcakes. 

7-Minute Frosting

It’s called “7-Minute Frosting” but it somehow took me an hour and a half to make. I have seen this recipe in many of my cookbooks, but usually use my go-to butter cream frosting instead. The reviews were compelling “sweet”, “indulgent”, “light-as-air”, and even one “oh la-la”, I had to give it a try.

The Recipe:

2 large egg whites

1 ½ cups granulated white sugar

¼ cup cold water

1 Tbs corn syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

In a stainless steel bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, place the egg whites, sugar, water, and corn syrup. With a handheld electric mixer, beat the mixture for 3 to 4 minutes on low speed. Increase the speed to high and continue to beat for another 3 to 4 minutes or until the icing is shiny and satiny with soft peaks.

Remove from heat, add the vanilla extract, and continue to beat on high speed for another 1 to 2 minutes or until the frosting is thick. Use immediately.

I knew there would be issues, mainly because I did not own a handheld mixer.

Attempt #1

I used my bowl from the stand mixer and placed it over simmering water, just as instructed. I swirled the ingredients for a bit and then alternated mixing on the stand mixer, and placing it on the heat. 

It seemed to work; the mix got fluffy and resembled frosting. On closer inspection, I could see little lumps. I tested it, and there they were, sugar crystals, all lumped together and crunchy. In the trash it went.

Attempt #2

So alternating heat and whipping did not work. I need to be sure the sugar dissolves completely. What if I dissolve the sugar in the water first? This might work. In a separate saucepan, I melted the sugar in the water with the corn syrup. I poured the syrup into the bowl with the other ingredients and began the 7-minute whip. Again, this batch looked great, and again there were the sugar crystals. This time, my bowl was a mess. The sugar turned into a cement-like crust that required lots of scrubbing.

Attempt #3

If I boil the water and sugar longer, maybe the sugar will not re-crystallize? WRONG!

I now know how to make hard candy. Unfortunately, this batch was like pouring superglue into egg whites. My bowl was in even worse shape after this disaster.

Attempt #4

I couldn’t give up; I had a cake to frost. There was a temptation to run to the market and buy a 99 cent tub of vanilla frosting, but I overcame. How was I going to make this happen? I googled other 7-minute frosting recipes and they were all about the same as this one. However, one description said that the recipe has been used for over a century…and it came to me – they did not have hand mixers 100 years ago, I can do this!

I placed all the ingredients in the bowl over simmering water, started my timer, and began to slowly whip. One minute…2 minutes…my arm hurts, how am I going to ‘speed up’?…3 minutes. SPEED UP…4 minutes…5 minutes – that’s good, it looks beautiful. I removed it from heat and put the bowl on the stand mixer for the final 2 minutes and added the vanilla. 

Oh la-la, it looks amazing. It’s shiny, thick, soft, and fluffy. It reminded me of marshmallow fluff, and kind of tasted like it too. It was a simple and sweet flavor, perfect for the coconut cake that I was making.

So 4 attempts and almost 2 hours later, I had exactly what the recipe called for. It was worth the effort, I have big plans for this frosting in future baking endeavors. 

Coconut Cake

My co-workers are getting spoiled. Not that I mind, but almost daily I get asked “any goodies today?” and if the answer is no, “how about tomorrow?” It’s actually a great feeling knowing that people enjoy what I bake. The latest request was for a coconut cake. I was even presented this recipe by my friend and cubicle neighbor, Gina.

Surprisingly, I had all the ingredients in my kitchen. That is a good sign that I am building a stock of baking necessities, really – who has buttermilk in their fridge, just in case? 

It’s a good rule of thumb to bring all ingredients to room temperature when making a cake, even the milk and eggs. The cake will have a better rise if the ingredients are warm during mixing. I greased the pans, and sifted the flour, baking powder, soda and salt into a medium bowl. 

I beat the butter for 2 minutes, and then added the sugar until light and fluffy. Then the egg yolks were added, one at a time, followed by the vanilla. 

The batter looks great! A beautiful shade of yellow, with a creamy and fluffy texture. The recipe calls for the buttermilk to be added in 3 additions, alternating with the flour mixture. This recipe is called “Coconut Cake” although the only coconut in this cake is the flaked coconut garnish. So I added ¼ cup of dried coconut milk to the buttermilk before mixing it into the batter. The powder dissolved right into the milk, so it should give the cake a light coconut flavor and add a bit more moisture to the cake, since the power contains some coconut oil. 

I beat the egg whites onto a meringue, and gently folded them into the batter. I used my new kitchen scale to weigh both pans of batter to get even cakes. The cakes baked for 35 minutes in a 350 degree oven. 

After the cakes were completely cooled, I cut them both in half to get 4 even layers. The recipe calls for a home-made lemon curd filling. Instead of using this, I just popped open a jar or pre-made lemon curd. I did not want the strong lemon flavor to drown out the coconut flavor, so I beat ¾ cup of lemon curd with 1 cup of whipped cream. It was a creamy, but not-as-tart version of lemon curd – perfect for this cake. I spread it evenly between the 3 layers along with a sprinkling of coconut.

The recipe called for a ‘7-Minute Frosting’. The ingredients are simple, the process not-so-simple. I had such a hard time with this frosting that I am writing a separate post about it – yes, it was that bad! But, on the 4^th try, it came out wonderful, better than I had imagined. 

I spread on a nice thick layer and topped with a layer of coconut. We carved it up for breakfast the next day at work. The cake was moist, a little dense with a hint of coconut flavor. The alternating lemon curd and coconut in the layers was not only attractive, it gave you all the flavors in every bite. The frosting was heavenly – thick, sweet and almost marshmallowy. All together, the cake was delicious. My co-workers would agree, especially one of my biggest supporters, who had 3 pieces! 

Cupcake Experiments

Lately, all I want to bake is cupcakes. So why not get a little creative? I made a batch of Devil's Food Chocolate and a batch of Golden Yellow cupcakes for a total of 48. I divided each batch in half, for greater variety with my experimentation. For half of the chocolate batch, I wanted to make a chocolate mint version, so I added 1/2 tsp Peppermint Extract to the batter. For an extra kick, I melted 1/2 cup chocolate chips, 2 tbs heavy cream and 1 tbs corn syrup to make a dark chocolate ganache filling. I cored out the middles and filled them with the ganache. I mixed up a batch of vanilla butter cream, and separated out enough to frost the dozen mint cupcakes. I added green gel food color and 1/2 tsp of Peppermint Extract before filling the decorating bag. I simple piping and an Andes mint topped this cupcake. 

The other half of the batch was intended for a "Chocolate Malt" flavor. However, when I went to the grocery store, they did not carry malt powder. This seems to be an epidemic. They no longer carry baker's superfine sugar, and now malt powder! I am going to end up special ordering all of my best ingredients. So, these cupcakes are really just "Chocolate Milkshake", but still fabulous. I cored the centers, filled with white vanilla butter cream, topped with made-from-scratch chocolate frosting and a dollop of the white butter cream. I used 2 different tips for a different effect, the butter cream resembles whipped cream. For a cute garnish, a Pepperidge Farm Pirouette cookie takes the place of a straw. I made sure to inset the cookie at an angle, allowing the cookie to sit in the core for stability. 

The Golden Vanilla batch did not turn out as expected. For half the batch, I wanted to make a "Banana Split" cupcake. I added 1 mashed banana to the batter. It was a disaster - they hardly rose in the oven, and they were severely rubbery and undercooked. All 12 went right in the trash. The second dozen was going to be a simple cake with no filling and butter cream frosting specially piped on top. I was dying to try to make chrysanthemums on top with some new decorator's tips. The pictures made it look so easy!! I did one, and it was not pretty, so I stuck with what I am good at. Simple piping and for a garnish - the cherry that was intended for the banana split cupcake. They looked pretty to me, and they tasted great too.

Banana Cupcakes

What a great idea - turn banana bread into a cupcake and add frosting. This is the beginning of a new revolution - cupcakes for breakfast! I found this recipe for Banana Cupcakes with Honey Cinnamon Frosting in my Martha Stewart Cookbook, however the online version is very different, so I opted not to link it to this entry. It might be close in flavor, but the process is different.

Before mixing anything, the bananas need to be roasted. Place on a baking sheet in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes. Let the bananas cool before peeling them. They will be quite wet because the peels release moisture during the roasting. My kitchen smelled WONDERFUL during the roasting.

This cupcake recipe is a bit different from my standard cake recipes; The butter is creamed with the sugar, and then egg yolks are added to create a yellow, fluffy batter. Then the peeled bananas are added.

This does not look pretty, and I actually became a bit worried because it looked to moist and there were so many lumps. But I added the flour and sour cream just as instructed, and it looked better after the addition.

I poured the batter into a seperate bowl so I could use my mixer to beat the egg whites, which were gently folded into the batter in 3 additions. Ok, much better - now the batter looks normal.

The cupcakes baked up just fine, and while they cooled, I made the Honey Cinnamon Frosting. This was the easiest frosting that I have ever made - powdered sugar, butter, honey and cinnamon, and it looked and tasted great.

Decorating cupcakes is my favorite part! The banana cupcakes were simple - piped frosting and 2 thin banana slices. Unfortuantely, bananas age quickly, so I recommend slicing the banana immediately before serving.

These were a hit at my office, although I thought the cake was a bit too much like banana bread. I plan to work on getting a better cake texture.