a whisk and a spoon

CH#5: Cappuccino Cupcakes

In my dream life, I spend my mornings sipping cappuccinos in a café while reading The New Yorker and watching the world go by.  In my real life though, The New Yorkers pile up on the kitchen table, and a cappuccino is a rare treat usually consumed on the go.  Laurie of Quirky Cupcake had her husband, Jaos, pick Cupcake Hero’s theme this month.  He chose coffee, so I thought I’d celebrate my favorite morning drink in cupcake form.

Now, I heard that Jaos likes his cupcakes kept simple, and since it is his birthday (happy 29th!), I kept that in mind.  This is a simple little cupcake (no filling this time), but it has great flavor, thanks to a double shot of espresso in the batter.  A little bit Kahlúa soaking syrup boosts the flavor and keeps them really moist.  The “foam” on top is just whipped cream, sweetened and flavored with an extra splash of Kahlúa.  And finally, because I like cinnamon and coffee, I sprinkled a bit on top.  I made a small batch of just six cupcakes, but the recipe could easily be doubled for a whole tin.

 Cappuccino Cupcakes– makes 6 regular-size cupcakes

-Start with a batch of Kahlúa syrup (recipe below).

-Bake the espresso cupcakes (recipe below).  Lightly brush warm cupcakes with Kahlúa syrup, then cool completely.

-Whip some cream, sweetening to taste and adding a splash of Kahlúa (or other coffee liqueur) to flavor.  Note that, because whipped cream doesn’t keep well, it’s best to just top the cupcakes you will be eating that day.  If you have extras, make new whipped cream to top them as needed.

-Top with whipped cream and garnish with a sprinkle of cinnamon.

Kahlúa Syrup– makes more than you will need, but keeps for a long time and has many uses (like sweetening iced coffee)

1 cup sugar
3/4 cup water
splash of Kahlúa, or other coffee liqueur

-Combine sugar and water in a small saucepot.  Mix gently with your finger so sugar isn’t stuck to bottom or corners of pot.  Try not to get a lot of sugar on the sides of the pot above water level (cooking time is short, so it shouldn’t crystallize, but just to be safe…)

-Bring just to a full boil, at which point all the sugar should be dissolved.  Shut off heat and add in a splash of coffee liqueur to taste. 

-Transfer to a jar or airtight plastic container for storage.  This will keep in the refrigerator for weeks.

Espresso Cupcakes– makes 6 regular-sized cupcakes

1/2 c plus 3 T all-purpose flour
1/4 t plus 1/8 t baking powder
pinch of salt
3 T brewed espresso, cooled to room temperature
1 T milk
1/2 t instant espresso powder
2 oz butter, room temperature
1/2 c sugar
1 egg

 -Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C and line a muffin tin with six paper cups. 

-Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.

-Combine the espresso and milk.  Dissolve the instant espresso powder in the mixture and set aside.

-Cream the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl until smooth, fluffy and pale.  Add the egg, beating well. 

-Add the dry ingredients and espresso mixture in three parts, alternating and beating smooth after each addition.  Add the liquid additions a little at a time to avoid splitting the batter.

-Divide the batter among the paper cups, and cook for about 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool in the tins for a few minutes and then transfer to a rack to cool completely.  

CH#4: Minty Chocolate Cupcakes

Mint is a really friendly herb.  It gets along with so many things…coconut, almond, citrus, berries, melon, blah blah blah.  So when Laurie of Quirky Cupcake announced that this month’s Cupcake Hero theme is mint, I really had a hard time deciding what to pair it with.  In the end, I maybe went with the most predictable thing–chocolate– but only because I love it so. 

The combination of chocolate and mint around the holidays makes me think of Andes mints.  My mum rarley bought us candy, but for some reason every Thanksgiving and Christmas, she’d bring out Andes with dessert.  My brother and I would go nuts and eat them by the dozen, accumulating a huge mound of the shiny green wrappers next to our plates.  I haven’t had them in at least a decade…I wonder if they would taste so good to me today.  They probably would.

I made a plain chocolate cupcake, from a recipe (called “Peerless Chocolate Cake”) in The Fannie Farmer Baking Book that I have made a zillion times.  I worked the mint flavoring into both a white chocolate whipped ganache frosting and a pudding filling.  For the ganache, I infused a bunch of fresh mint into the cream.  I swirled a couple drops of red gel coloring gently through the finished frosting before putting it into a piping bag in hopes that it would look a little candy cane-like.

For the pudding, I’m not embarrassed to admit to taking a shortcut (hey–cupcakes should be easy, right?). I have this giant tub of Bird’s custard powder in my pantry from when I made Nanaimo bars. I followed instructions on the package to make what I needed for filling, and then mixed in some melted bittersweet chocolate and a couple drops of mint extract. At that point, it tasted pretty good on its own. You could use any brand of packaged mix, or make homemade if you can’t stand the thought of it.

This cake recipe makes a great cupcake.  And mint and chocolate really are perfect together.  The frosting had an earthy mint flavor from the fresh herbs, while the pudding had a snappy mintiness to it.

Natalie from Bake and Destroy! is co-hosting with Laurie this month. Thanks Natalie and Laurie…I’m looking forward to the round-up!

Minty Chocolate Cupcakes– makes 12 regular-size cupcakes

-Make and chill some minty chocolate pudding, using your favorite chocolate pudding recipe with mint extract added to taste, or prepare custard powder according to package instructions, flavoring with melted chocolate and mint extract.

-Bake and cool a batch of chocolate cupcakes (recipe below). 

-Make the minty white chocolate whipped ganache frosting (recipe below).

-To fill the cupcakes, use a small knife or round cookie cutter to cut a plug out of the center of each (going in from the top).  Save the top bit of each plug.  Fill each cavity with minty chocolate pudding.  Cover with the top bit so the filling is not exposed.

-Top with whipped ganache and decorate as you see fit.

Chocolate Cupcakes– makes 12 regular-sized cupcakes
adapted from Marion Cunningham’s The Fannie Farmer Baking Book

1.5 oz unsweetened chocolate
1/4 c water
1 c plus 2 T all-purpose flour
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1/2 c butter, softened
3/4 c sugar
2 eggs, separated
1/2 t vanilla extract
1/2 c buttermilk

-Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C and line a muffin tin with paper cups. 

-Combine the chocolate and water in a small saucepan.  Over medium heat, stir until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.  Set aside to cool.

-Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.

-Cream the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl until smooth and well-blended.  Add the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well.  Add the vanilla and chocolate mixture and beat until blended.  Add the sifted dry ingredients and buttermilk in three parts, alternating and beating smooth after each addition.

-In a separate mixing bowl, beat the egg whites until they are stiff but not dry.  Gently stir one-third of the beaten whites into the batter.  Fold in the remaining whites.

-Divide the batter among the paper cups, and cook for about 20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool in the tins for a few minutes and then transfer to a rack to cool completely.  

Minty White Chocolate Whipped Ganache– makes enough to generously frost 12 cupcakes

1 cup heavy cream
couple handfuls of fresh mint leaves, picked from stems
7.5 oz white chocolate, finely chopped
7 T butter, very soft

-Put mint leaves in a medium bowl.  Bring cream to a simmer in a small saucepot.  Pour hot cream over the mint leaves and let stand until room temperature to infuse.  

-Strain the cream into a measuring cup, pressing gently on the leaves to extract as much cream as possible.  Discard the leaves.  Measure the infused cream…if you have less than 1 cup, add cold cream to make up the difference.

-Put chopped white chocolate in a medium bowl.   Reheat the cream to a simmer in a small saucepot.  Pour hot cream over the chocolate and let stand for 5 minutes to begin to melt.  Gently whisk chocolate and cream together to form a perfectly smooth ganache.  If the taste of mint is not strong enough for your tastes, you can boost it with a couple drops of mint extract.

-Cover and refrigerate for about 45 minutes, until the ganache  is cool and begins to firm up, but is still soft enough to whip.

-By hand with a whisk or with an electric mixer, whip until fluffy frosting consistency.  Whip in the soft butter, piece by piece.  If it starts to look split (mine did), chill it a couple more minutes and it should come together with a bit more persistent beating.

CH#3: Cranberry Bliss Cupcakes

A couple of months ago, my cherry lime rickey cupcakes were chosen buy Quirky Cupcake Laurie as the winner of the first-ever Cupcake Hero event!  What an honor!  Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to come back and defend my title for last month’s clove edition.  I did make two different types of cupcakes for it and both were awful!  Well, I’ve put that mess behind me and come back with a vengeance for this month’s event with a cranberry theme.

My inspiration for these cupcakes is the Cranberry Bliss bar that Starbucks sells around the holidays.  Yes, even in Australia you can find these in the display case at this time of year.  If you are a seasoned Cranberry Bliss bar eater, you will probably recognize me for the fraud that I am.  I have never had one…don’t even know what’s actually in one.  So this is a loose interpretation, containing things that I think are blissful with cranberries!

I seem to be a fan of filled cupcakes lately (there were the rickeys, the Bostinis and the linzers), and I knew I wanted to make a cupcake that would be filled with Thanksgiving-style cranberry sauce.  I actually even used my leftover sauce for this!  The bar from Starbucks has a cake or cookie base that looks to contain brown sugar, so I went poking around for a brown sugar cupcake recipe.  I found one from Nigella, the beautiful Domestic Goddess, for burnt butter brown sugar cupcakes.  I liked the sound of that–brown butter gives beautiful flavor to baked goods.  I also liked that the batter is quickly blitzed together in the food processor…not a lot of technique involved there.

The Bliss bars also appear to have a white chocolate topping, so after baking and filling my cupcakes, I frosted them with a white chocolate whipped ganache, into which I had folded toasted pecans and dried cranberries.  I sprinkled some toasted unsweetened coconut flakes and more dried cranberries over the top to finish.  Lush!  The tart cranberries really balance out the sweet frosting and cake.  And the next day, cold out of the fridge, OMG!  My brother declared the cold cupcake to be “f-ing amazing” (please excuse his language).

I don’t find the pictures of cupcake insides to be all that appealing, but here’s a picture of the “guts” anyway…

Thanks, Laurie, for another fun event!  Can’t wait to see December’s theme!

Cranberry Bliss Cupcakes– makes 12 regular-size cupcakes

-Make and chill the cranberry sauce filling (recipe below).

-Bake and cool a batch of burnt butter brown sugar cupcakes (recipe below). 

-Make the white chocolate whipped ganache frosting and flavor it with pecans and dried cranberries (recipe below).  

-To fill the cupcakes, use a small knife or round cookie cutter to cut a plug out of the center of each (going in from the top).  Save the top bit of each plug.  Fill each cavity with cranberry sauce filling.  Cover with the top bit so the filling is not exposed.

-Top with whipped ganache and garnish with lightly toasted unsweetened coconut flakes and more dried cranberries.

Cranberry Sauce Filling– makes about 1 cup

just under 1/2 cup sugar
just under 1/2 cup water
2 t orange zest
pinch of salt
6 oz whole cranberries, fresh or frozen

-Bring sugar, water, orange zest and a pinch of salt to a boil in a medium saucepot.  Reduce the heat to a simmer and add in the cranberries. 

-Simmer about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until the cranberries pop. 

-Transfer to a nonreactive bowl and cool to room temperature.  Refrigerate until using.

Burnt Butter Brown Sugar Cupcakes– makes 12 regular-sized cupcakes
modified from Nigella Lawson’s How to be a Domestic Goddess

1/2 cup plus 2 T unsalted butter
3/4 cup self-rising cake flour
3 T sugar
5 T brown sugar (I used dark, but light would be fine, too)
2 large eggs
1 t vanilla bean paste (can substitute vanilla extract)
1 t baking powder
pinch of salt
2-3 T milk

-Preheat the oven to 400°F/205°C and line a muffin tin with paper cups. 

-To brown the butter, put it in a small saucepan on medium heat, leaving it until it turns light golden and has nutty-colored brown bits on the bottom (will only take a couple of minutes).  Take the pan off the heat and pour the butter into a bowl or cup, scraping the brown bits (if you have accidentally gotten your butter too dark, strain it, leaving the dark sediment behind). Let the butter begin to solidify again, but you need it to remain soft for the cupcakes.  You can do this by either leaving it at room temperature, which will take awhile, or putting it in the fridge for about 10 minutes.   You want it to be the consistency of regular softened butter.

-When the butter is solid but still soft, put all the cake ingredients except the milk in a food processor and blitz to a smooth batter. As normal, add the milk down the funnel, pulsing sparingly to form a soft, dropping mixture.

-Divide among the paper cups, and cook for 15-20 minutes.  FYI, this does not make much batter, and the cups will not be very full.  Don’t worry, as the combination of self-rising cake flour and baking powder give it a lot of oomph in the oven.  They should rise to normal cupcake size!

White Chocolate Whipped Ganache with Pecans and Cranberries– makes enough to generously frost 12 cupcakes

7.5 oz white chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup heavy cream
7 T butter, very soft
handfull toasted pecans, cooled and roughly chopped
handfull dried cranberries

-Put chopped white chocolate in a medium bowl.  Bring cream to a simmer in a small saucepot.  Pour hot cream over the chocolate and let stand for 5 minutes to begin to melt.  Gently whisk chocolate and cream together to form a perfectly smooth ganache.

-Cover and refrigerate for about 45 minutes, until the ganache  is cool and begins to firm up, but is still soft enough to whip.

-By hand with a whisk, whip until fluffy frosting consistency.  Whip in the soft butter, piece by piece.  If it starts to look split, chill it a couple more minutes and it should come together with a few more strokes.  Don’t overbeat the frosting, however, or it may make it too firm.

-Gently fold in pecans and dried cranberries before topping the cupcakes.