Cupcake 16 - Lemongrass Cupcakes with Coconut Lemongrass Buttercream

The more grown-up cupcake was a Lemongrass cupcake with Lemon grass Coconut Buttercream. Subtle flavor, good texture and just enough lemongrass, but not so much as to overwhelm. This was my first venture with fresh lemongrass, I was not sure what to expect. It seemed to be a bit fibrous, but this did not affect the texture of the cupcake adversely. I decided to leave out most of lemongrass used to steep in milk, next time I would use more of it. The coconut worked well in the buttercream.

Recipe to follow, I'm running behind this week.

Cupcake 15 - Peep with Brown sugar Marshmallow frosting

Another double cupcake week!. First out was an Easter tribute to the mighty marshmallow Peep. I'm not usually one to jump on the trendy bandwagon, but the Peep PR machine was working overtime this holiday season. Peeps were calling my name in Target weeks before Easter. I loved all the vibrant colors. My co-worker Kevin helped with the inspiration for this batch. I was thinking of a catchy "chicken or egg" theme and decided to fill the cupcake with a cream filling to resemble an egg yolk. I didn't want a custard filling but something more creamy, yes yolk-like, so I turned to a knock off of a Hostess cupcake filling and added some yellow food coloring. I topped off the standard cupcake with a brown sugar marshmallow frosting. Not only a tribute to the Peep, but a solid tribute to good old fashion sugar!

Learnings In hindsight the cupcakes could have used a bit more filling and little more yellow food coloring for effect. Never having filled a cupcake, I piped lightly, concerned about the cupcake getting soggy and/or busting open. And next time the filling needs to be slightly thicker, it was a challenge just to keep it in the pastry bag. The brown sugar marshmallow frosting was not as white as I'd hoped, yes the main ingredient was brown sugar, but for some reason I thought it would be a brighter white. It was fluffy and sticky in a marshmallow kinda way.

Cupcake Filling

1/2 c sugar
1/3 c milk
2/3 c crisco (Scant)
1/4 t salt
1 t. vanilla
1 T water
1/2 c powdered sugar

Beat all ingredients except powdered sugar for a full 7 minutes. Don't stop early! Add powdered sugar and beat for a full 5 minutes. Again, don't stop early.

Marshmallow Brown Sugar Frosting

2 c brown sugar, firmly packed
1 c white sugar
3/4 c water
1/2 t vanilla
5 full size marshmallows, cut into quarters
2 egg whites

Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form, set aside. Cook sugar and water over low heat until it spins a thread. Add vanilla extract and marshmallows. Beat until marshmallows melt and fully incorporate. Gradually cooled sugar into stiff egg whites, beat for 5 minutes.

Cupcake 14 - Bailey's Irish Cream Cupcakes with Bailey's Buttercream

I'm not a huge Bailey's fan, but the cupcakes turned out well with a moist texture and nice crumb, a little light on the chocolate flavor, but the Bailey's came through to lend a subtle caramel note. 8 out of 10.

And if you want to mix and match cupcakes with frostings, the Bailey's frosting goes nicely with the Guinness Cupcake to give you an Irish Car Bomb of sorts.

To the standard chocolate cupcake, substitute 1 c Bailey's Irish Cream for the liquid and 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips.

Bailey's Buttercream
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
5 c powdered sugar, sifted
2 T Bailey's Irish Cream
Pinch of salt

In bowl of standing mixture, whip butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. In one cup increments add salt and powdered sugar, mixing well and scrapping down sides of bowl. Add Bailey's and mix well. Whip frosting on high for 3 -4 minutes until light and creamy.

Cupcake 13 - Guinness Cupcakes with Mocha Buttercream

A 2-fer this week. I couldn't ignore St. Patrick's day, the Potato Famine did not lend itself to cupcakes, so I resorted to liquor.... for a theme, not so much for me.

Guinness Cupcakes, good all around. I've made Guinness brownies before, the beer adds a nice depth of flavor and moistness to the chocolate. (I've also attempted Guinness ice-cream with much less success. Frozen beer, milk and eggs did not do it for me.) Several things to know, Guinness draught comes in an 11.2 ounce bottle and the recipe calls for 12 ounces. It seemed a shame to waste good beer, but I was baking early Sunday morning and thought the Husband might be concerned if I was imbibing before 9 am. The batter is much thinner than most, don't be concerned. The mocha buttercream worked well with Guinness 9 out of 10.

Cupcakes
1 stick unsalted butter
12 oz Guinness beer
1/2 t vanilla
2 C AP flour
2 C sugar
3/4 c unsweetened coca powder (I used Dutch Process)
1 t salt
1 1/4 t baking soda
3/4 c sour cream
3 eggs

Preheat oven to 350. Line two cupcake pans with liners for 24 cupcakes (this actually made 30 cupcakes)

In medium saucepan combine butter, Guinness and vanilla, stirring constantly until melted. Pour mixture into bowl of stand mixture, cool for at least 10 minutes.

In a second bowl combine flour, sugar, coca, salt and baking soda. Whisk until well combined, set aside. Gradually add flour mixture to Guinness mixture in 3 installments, mixing well and scrapping sides of bowl each time. Add sour cream, mix well. Add eggs one at a time, mix well. Fill cupcake cups 3/4 full. Bake 22-35 minutes (mine took 20 minutes.) Cool in pan for 5 minutes and complete cooling on rack.

Frosting

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 C powdered sugar, sifted
4 T ground espresso powder, dissolved in 2 T hot water
pinch of salt

In bowl of standing mixture, whip butter until light and fluffy. Add dissolved espresso powder, mix well. In one cup increments add powdered sugar, mixing well and scrapping down sides of bowl. Once all the powdered sugar is added, whip frosting on high for 3 -4 minutes until light and creamy. I had almost a cup frosting left over, but I'm not "heavy-handed" when I pipe.

Reading and eating

It's magazine time. Cooking Light has a good article on umami, the fifth sense after salty, sweet, bitter, sour is savory. A quick google for umami + desserts points me to various chocolate and coconut recipes. Humm... umami may be in the taste bud of the beholder?

I also picked up a copy of Good magazine an issue dedicated to food. And in an accidental juxtaposition I also picked up Clean Eating. Good news, we are going down the clean eating path, naturally, without a magazine - no fast food, very little prepackaged food, lots of whole grains and veggies. Although I can't embrace the recipe for gluten free brownies.... potato starch, agave nectar, and fava bean flour...the lack of butter in the ingredient list concerns me. Street Eats around the world in Good was much more appetizing. Does Baltimore have street eats? Other than an occasional hot dog or taco truck? Maybe that's my cupcake niche!

Oh, the things we learn.

Cupcake 12 - Root Beer Cupcakes

I have a friend who consumed gallons of root beer while pregnant with her first child. For 9 months it was her beverage of choice. She had the baby and never drank another root beer. She doesn't dislike root beer, its just not top of mind when thirsty, I feel the same way. Not sure where the inspiration for root beer cupcakes came from. Maybe the random bottle of unopened root beer extract I had on the shelf?

I layered the root beer - soda, extract and crushed hard candies in the cupcakes, hoping to showcase the distinct flavor, it was still mild. The frosting, however, had a nice root beer flavor. And after looking at the photos, I should have used a different tip on my pastry bag, the frosting looks a little like root beer poo. Maybe I spent too much time at the vet today!

Cupcakes
2 1/2 c cake flour
2 1/2 t baking powder
1 t salt
1 c good quality root beer
1 t root beer extract
1 1/2 c sugar
1 c butter, room temperature
4 eggs, room temperature
3/4 c finely crushed root beer candies

Preheat oven to 350. Line 2 cupcake pans with 24 liners. Sift flour, baking powder and salt into bowl, set aside. Mix root beer and extract, set aside. Beat butter and sugar in bowl of standing mixer until light and fluffy, add eggs one at time, beating until incorporated. Add flour mixture 1/3 at a time alternating with root beer. Mix well, scraping down sides of bowl. Gently fold in root beer candies, mix until combined. Fill each cupcake well 2/3 full of batter, bake 16-18 minutes.

Frosting
1 c butter, room temperature
4 1/2 c shifted confectioners sugar
2 T cream
1 T + 1 t root beer extract

Beat butter until fluffy, add confectioners sugar in batches, beating well. Add cream and extract beat 4 minutes until light and fluffy. This mad "just enough" frosting for 24 cupcakes, if you like a more generous frosting you may want to increase quantities. And consider a different tip for piping frosting, one that looks less like poo.

Cupcake 11 - Cardamom Plum Cupcakes with Cardamom Cream

I have a slight obsession with cardamom. Primarily cakes and cookies with cardamom catch my eye. I regularly bake a holiday cookie with cardamom. And I always make sure my cardamom stash is fresh. But I don't actually like it. I mean, its okay, a little goes a long way, both in a recipe and for my consumption. I was reading an article recently on kitchen design, "design your kitchen for who you are, not for who you want to be." I want to like cardamom, maybe because its exotic, but I don't really. I doubt I will ever develop more than a passing taste for it. But I digress.... these cupcakes are exactly what I planned, moist, fragrant, spicy. The flavor is out in front, no subtle punches, no middle ground.

Cupcakes
I added 2 T of ground cardamom to my standard yellow cake recipe, and added 1 c of pureed plums to the mix.

Frosting
1 stick butter, room temperature
8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
3 t cardamom
pinch of salt
3 1/2 c confectioners sugar
2 T cream

Cream butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy, add cardamom, mix well. Add confectioners sugar 1 cup at a time, mixing well and scraping down the sides. Add cream and beat 3-4 minutes.

Cupcake 10 - Cookies and Cream

It was a sad baking day. For this batch I took a perfectly good bag of chocolate sandwich cookies and mutilated them, chopped some and crushed others. Happily, the result as good as the stand alone cookies.

I am still in search of the perfect frosting, I tried a new combination of butter and shortening for these. Very fluffy and white, but still a tad too sweet for my liking. The mouth feel was not the same as buttercream.

Cupcakes
2 c AP flour
2/3 c Dutch process cocoa powder
1 ½ t baking soda
1 1/2 t baking powder
½ t salt
2 c buttermilk + 2 t
1 ½ c sugar
2/3 c canola oil
2 t vanilla
1 t almond extract (optional)
20 chocolate cream filled cookies, such as Oreos
Preheat the oven to 350. Line 2 muffin pans with paper liners for 24 cupcakes.
In a medium bowl sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In bowl of stand mixer combine buttermilk, sugar, oil and vanilla extract and almond extract beat until foamy. Add the dry ingredients in 2 increments, and beat until no large lumps remain (a few small lumps are okay). Add the chopped cookies to the batter, stirring just to combine. Spoon the batter into the liner cups, filling them three-quarters full. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Frosting
1 c shortening
1 c butter
7 c confectioners sugar, sifted
3 t vanilla
½ c whole milk
10 chocolate cream filled cookies crushed to crumbs plus more for garnish
In bowl of stand mixer, beat shortening and butter on medium high speed for 5 minutes until well combined and fluffy. Reduce speed, add confectioners sugar in batches until incorporated, beat on high 3 minutes. Reduce speed add milk and vanilla. Mix on high 5 – 7 minutes until fluffy. Mix in cookie crumbs by hand.

Cupcake 9 - Double Ginger Pear Cupcakes with Ginger Buttercream

This was an experiment with flavors. The catalyst - a bunch of fruit nectars and some crystallized ginger. I had a pantry cleaning out episode last weekend and came across some odds and ends. Much more on the odd side. I freely admit I buy random groceries all the time, things catch my eye in stores. I'm sure at the moment of discovery I have a thread of inspiration, but then it dissipates by the time I get home and I'm left with among other things 6 cans of various fruit nectars. I'm on a mission to use up my "odd grocery" stockpile.

Because this was an test of flavor combinations, I won't go into the entire recipe. To the basic yellow cake recipe, I replaced the milk with 1 cup pear nectar, 1/4 c water, 2 t ground ginger, 3/4 c finely chopped crystalized ginger and the zest of 1 lemon. Baked 18 minutes.

Finely chopped ginger is key, a little zing of ginger goes a long way. The lemon zest added some punch to the tame pear nectar. Rating 9 out of 10. These worked.

For the frosting
1 c butter, softened to room temperature
8 oz cream cheese, softened to room temperature
5 c confectioners sugar, sifted
2 T ground ginger
pinch of salt

Cream butter and cream cheese until fluffy, add ginger, salt and confectioners sugar, gradually. Beat with electric mixer 5 minutes until light and fluffy. If you like a lot of ginger you could add some chopped crystalized ginger to your frosting. I like creamy frosting rather than crunchy.