Hello Cupcakes!!

My previous blogs had everything you can imagine about doing cupcakes. I taught you guys how to frost, and how to properly fill the cupcake pan with batter in order to get the best cupcakes. However, this time, I wanted this blog to be more creative. 

Today, I am going to frost designs on my cupcakes to make them more appealing. I don't know about you, but when I'm at a party and I see cupcakes, I always choose the ones that are very creative because they look more appetizing.  

First off, I started by baking some fresh and delicious cupcakes. I made a regular vanilla recipe cupcake batter but I added two handfuls of sprinkles and they looked so pretty after they baked. 

Inspired by the book Hello Cupcakes by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, I decided to create petal like designs from frosting on my cupcakes. Trying to recreate light pink flower petals, I put strawberry syrup in the frosting before adding it to a Ziploc bag. I had to cut out a specific shape in the corner of the bag in order to achieve a petal like design. As you can tell by the picture below, you have to cut the corner into a v-shape in order to achieve that design. 

On page 14 of Hello Cupcakes it said, "Starting off the perimeter of the cupcake, place the tip flat on the surface of the cupcakes. Squeeze the bag, pulling away from the center of the cupcake. Use small side-to-side pushes or wiggles to make the leaf or petal shape. Work toward the center in concentric circles, overlapping the patter slightly." Now, honestly, this took me a couple of tries because the pattern isn't that easy to achieve. What helped me was putting the bag with the frosting in the freezer for 30 minutes so that it's firm. Then I piped the frosting on carefully and patiently, it'll take precision. 

Here is my finished product. Light pink petals piped on the cupcake. It isn't that good but hey I'm not a professional, and I hope you guys are learning along with me. It was fun to make, but it also came with patience. 

What is the most creative design you've seen on a cupcake? 

Richardson, Alan, and Karen Tack. Hello, Cupcake! Houghton Mifflin, 2009.

Hello Cupcakes! 

Today, I did an experiment to see if the tips in the book really make a difference. On page 9 of Hello Cupcakes by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, they give us helpful steps to filling up the cupcake pans correctly with Ziploc bags saying, "Put the cut opening in the center of a cupcake liner, squeeze gently, and fill the cup two-thirds full. As the batter approaches that level, stop applying pressure and remove the tip from the cup." 

I thought, "how difficult could it be to just fill up the cupcake pans with a spoon, like I usually do?" So, in one of the pans I poured the batter with a spoon, in the other cupcake pan I used a Ziploc bag and followed the steps in order to fill the cupcake cups correctly. And here are the results. 

The plate at the top contains the cupcakes that were filled with the Ziploc (book method). 

The plate at the bottom contains the cupcakes that were filled with a spoon (my method). 

Book method: 

Using a Ziploc bag to fill in the cupcake pans with batter was much neater, and quicker, all you had to do was just squeeze the bag until the cup was filled. And as you can tell by the picture, the cupcakes turned out more similar in sizes, and were more consistent. 

My method: 

It was the easiest method for me before, all I had to do was scoop the batter with a spoon but it was messy and took a long time. 

Overall, the tips that the book gave me were very helpful and I'll continue using that method of filling cupcake cups because it took less time and it wasn't as messy as using a spoon, like I used to do previously. 

How have you filled cupcake pans before? Do you think you'll use this method now? 

Richardson, Alan, and Karen Tack. Hello, Cupcake! Houghton Mifflin, 2009.

Torta Maddalena (Sponge Cake)

     While on winter break I wanted to continue to improve my baking skills, so last week I took a crack at Torta Maddalena also known as sponge cake. I found this recipe in The Il Fornaio Baking Book by Franco Galli. This classic recipe is used to construct the famous Italian Tiramisu, but before I try that trickier desert I wanted to practice the cake. Galli explains that he doesn’t know where the Italian name of this desert came from, “But Italians often name dishes after saints, so perhaps it honors Santa Maria Maddalena,” (Galli 159). No matter where the name came from the dish is a great classic that can be used in a multitude of sweet treats.

Mixing the egg mixture into a mousse. 

     For a perfectly formed sponge cake Galli recommends a springform pan which has sides that can be easily removed from the bottom. This pan allows for cakes with soft and fragile bottoms to be easily removed from the pan. They are commonly used to bake cheesecakes, quiche, and coffee cakes. I greased my pan and placed a sheet of parchment paper  on the bottom. The paper helps stop the cake from sticking to the base of the pan. I then preheated the oven to 350* F. Next, I sifted flour and baking powder together into a bowl before mixing the wet ingredients.
     To mix the wet ingredients I made a double boiler. I filled a pot filled with water and set a bowl on top of it.  As the water in the bottom pot reached a boil, the top bowl heated up warming the ingredients.  I added the honey, lemon zest, eggs, sugar and the egg yolks to the warmed ingredients in the top bowl.  To separate the yolks, I squeezed a plastic water bottle over the yolk so the yellow center of the egg was sucked into the bottle. It was tricky to get the yolk in to the bottle without it popping but eventually I got three yolks separated and added to the double boiler.

The cake baking. 

     Once the double boiler had heated the mixture to about 120* F. I poured the yellow liquid into a bowl and began to whisk it at high speeds. After about 10 minutes of whisking the mixture had formed a fluffy, creamy, and smooth mousse. Slowly I sifted the flour mixture into the wet mousse. Galli explains the best way to combine the wet and dry mixes, “Using a wire whisk combine the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients with a folding motion: gently move from top to bottom of the batter in a continuous action until no lumps remain” (Galli 159). Once I had carefully followed Galli’s instructions, I poured the batter into the cake pan and placed in the cake in the oven. I baked the cake for about 40 minutes before pulling it from the blistering oven. The cake had 5 minutes to cool before I carefully unclasped and lifted off the sides of the pan.  Then, 10 minutes later I lifted the base of the pan off the cake bottom and then pulled the paper from the bottom. Thanks to my prep, the cake easily came free of the pan with having to be cut. After freeing the cake from the pan, it was ready to enjoy.

Finished slice of sponge cake. 

The cake after it was cut. 

     For my first time baking a sponge cake and my first time using a double boiler the cake came out pretty good. Next time I try this recipe, I want to combine the wet ingredients in a bowl and then pour the mixture into the boiler so everything starts cooking at the same time. I would also whip up a creamy frosting to cover the cake and add more flavor. I learned a lot from this recipe and I’m excited to use my new skills on other recipes. Have you ever used a double boiler? Did it work for you or do you need to keep practicing? Let me know in the comments below.

Classic Birthday Cake Cupackes

Classic Birthday Cake Cupcakes

With my last cupcake, I went the chocolate route, but today I decided that I'll go on the other end of the spectrum and go with the vanilla. This recipe is used for cakes, but I used the batter to instead make some sing serve cupcakes. On page 206 of the book "The Williams-Sonoma Baking Book, the Essential Recipe Collection for Today's Home Baker", the recipe calls for:

• 2 3/4 cups of all-purpose (plain) flour
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
• Vanilla frosting

Recipe for Vanilla frosting:

• 1 cup room-temperature unsalted butter
• 4 cups confectioners' (icing) sugar
• 1/3 cup heavy (double) cream
• 2 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp salt

Flour Mixture

Firstly, I whisked together the flour, baking powder, and salt until well blended. In another bowl, I used an electrical mixer to beat the butter until smooth, but I over beat the butter which caused the cupcakes to turn out spongy in the end, so a piece of advice is to make sure you beat on medium speed and stop sooner rather than later. I then slowly added in the sugar and continue beating until well blended 

Batter

and fluffy. After, I added the eggs one at a time and beat well after each egg. I then beat in the vanilla followed by the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with buttermilk in two additions, and beat on low speed. 

Cupcakes baking

After I beat the mixture well, I poured 
the batter in the cupcake tins and pop
them into the oven for about 15-20, or until the toothpick I put in the 
cupcake comes out clean. I let them cool for 5 minutes before I started making the vanilla frosting. 

Cupcakes out of the oven

Frosting

I put all the ingredients in a bowl and beat it until well mixed and fluffy. I put the frosting into a pastry bag and piped the frosting onto the cupcakes. 

Piping out frosting onto
cupcake

 In the end, I think           there was too much   butter needed, so I advise if you are   making these cupcakes, you use less   butter than required. These cupcakes   were good, as are any cupcake, but I   would not use this recipe again or retry after I have more experience baking. 

If you have ever made any cupcakes, have you ever made any mistakes during the process? Or if you haven't baked any cupcakes yet, do you plan to? What flavor?