The Dropped Cupcake

Sunday, August 31, 2008

When I first found out that we were evacuating my college campus due to hurricane Gustav, I was quite upset, but the thought of home (and all of my baking supplies) was a bit of a comfort.

I knew I had to make something good because I don't know how long it will be before I can bake again, so... after flipping through my various cupcake books and stalking my favorite cupcake blogs, I stumbled across How to Eat a Cupcake's recipe for Banana Split Cake.

Perfect!

The cake was moist and dense, and utterly delicious! Paired with fluffy whipped cream frosting and chocolate syrup, this was a hit with everybody in my household.

Hummingbird Cake III

Allrecipes.com

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained
1 cup chopped pecans
2 cups diced bananas

and I added 1/4 cup chopped maraschino cherries as well

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line muffing pan with cupcake liners.
Combine flour, white sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Add eggs and oil; stir until moistened. Do not beat. Stir in bananas, 2 teaspoons vanilla, pineapple, and pecans walnuts (and cherries if using).
Bake for about 26 minutes, or until golden brown around the edges. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from muffin pan and cool completely on wire rack.

Whipped Cream Frosting

joyofbaking.com

Ingredients:
1 cup (236 ml) heavy whipping cream that is ultra pasteurized
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon (14 grams) granulated white sugar

Directions:
In a large mixing bowl place the whipping cream, vanilla extract, and sugar and stir to combine. Cover and chill the bowl and beaters in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. When chilled, beat the mixture until stiff peaks form.

posted by Chamberlaine Beard at 11:04 PM - 2 comments

Friday, August 15, 2008

Red Heads

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing

I made these for a baby shower for a friend of my mother's. The nursery is kind of a jungle theme, you know, greens, yellows, and browns... hence the frosting colors.

I'm not going to lie, I hate working with cream cheese frosting. It's terribly difficult getting it to hold it's shape and must be refridgerated at all times or else it will melt all over the place, but it does look spectacular next to the deep red of the cake.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Chocolate from the Cake Doctor

Makes 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 package German chocolate cake mix with pudding

2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup vegetable oil

3 large eggs

1 bottle (1 oz) red food coloring

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners. Set the pans aside.

2. Place the cake mix, sour cream, water, oil, eggs, food coloring, and vanilla ina large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping the sides down again if needed. the batter should look well combined. Spoon the batter into the lined muffin cups, filling each liner 2/3 of the way full. Place the pans in the oven.

3. Bake the cupcakes until they spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove pans from oven and place them on wire racks to cool for 5 minutes. Then remove from pans and cool on wire rack for 15 minutes.

Cream Cheese Icing

125 Best Cupcake Recipes

Makes 2 Cups

Ingredients:

4 oz cream cheese

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

Pinch salt

2 1/4 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted

Directions:

1. In a bowl, using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, bat cream cheese, butter and salt until creamy. With mixer on low speed, beat in sugar, 1/2 cup at a time. Then increase speed to medium-high and beat until fluffy.

2. Spread frosting over cooled cupcakes and refrigerate until ready to serve or for up to 1 day.

posted by Chamberlaine Beard at 12:02 PM - 2 comments

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Plain Janes

Well, a few of my mother's friends took me to see "Jersey Boys" and I had so much fun that I knew I had to make it up to them somehow, and so, uninspired, I made a batch of basic white cupcakes with vanilla buttercream.

Never underestimate the power of a simple recipe. These were delicious!

White Cupcakes

125 Best Cupcake Recipes

Yields 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:
2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
pinch salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 egg whites
1 teaspoon almond extract
2/3 cup buttermilk

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line muffin pan with paper liners.

2. In a small bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

3. In a bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together sugar and butter until well combined. Add egg whites, one at a time, beating well after each addition. mix in almond extract. Alternately beat in flour mixture and buttermilk, making three additions of four mixture and two of butter milk, beating until smooth.

4. Scoop batter into prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until tops of cupcakes spring back when lightly touched. Let cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool completely on rack. top Cooled cupcakes with frosting.

posted by Chamberlaine Beard at 8:13 PM - 2 comments

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