Cupcakes

I am by no means a cake decorator but it is a great way to really focus your attention to detail and practice patience.  As I was making these today I found myself thinking of having to decorate thousands of cupcakes, I don’t think I would mind really.  It draws your attention to one task and everything else in the world or your mind no longer exists, its just you and the cupcake.  You really have to have a little perfectionist within you and a lot of practice.  If you were looking for something different to do this weekend you could spend the day creating all sorts of cupcakes!  There are so many different ways you can decorate them and there are so many different flavors you can make too.  Cupcakes are great for valentine’s day as you can spruce them up for your special someone and customize the wording to be all your own, what better way to say “I love you”  I used an 18 piece Cake Decorating Set from Wilton to decorate these cupcakes I also bought an extra tip that was not in the kit for the grass it was tip #233.  It was about $8.00 for the kit and the extra tip was in a package of two for about $1 or so, which is money well spent for the amount of use you will get from it.  I was and reuse the piping bags so it will last even longer.  These cupcakes are so light that you really do not need icing at all, in fact, they are great by themselves with a glass of milk.  You could use a different icing if you wanted, I like the butter cream icing because it is easy to use and stores well.

For the White cupcake batter:

3 large eggs, separated

2 cups flour, sifted

2 1/4 teaspoons of baking powder

3/4 cup butter, room temperature

1 1/4 cup sugar, divided

1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla

3/4 cup milk

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

To Prepare the Cupcake batter:

 

In a medium mixing bowl whisk or sift the flour and baking powder together and set aside.  In the bowl of your electric mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until smooth and light about 4 minutes.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add 1 cup of sugar and beat again until light and fluffy occasionally scraping down the sides to incorporate everything.  Add the egg yolks and vanilla; beat well again scraping the sides of the bowl until everything is included.  With the speed on low alternately add the flour and milk to the sugar, egg mixture in thirds.  So it will be flour, milk, flour, milk, flour, milk beating well to combine after each addition and scraping the bowl.  Transfer this batter to another bowl.

In a clean bowl for your electric mixer, with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until frothy.  Add the cream of tartar and one tablespoon of the 1/4 cup remaining sugar to the egg whites and beat on high until the egg whites look glossy.  Continue to add the sugar 1 tablespoon at a time beating well after each addition and occasionally scraping the sides of the bowl.  Beat until stiff peaks form and the egg whites look glossy and there are no visible sugar granules, they should be dissolved.  With a rubber spatula fold 1/4 of the egg whites into the cake batter.  The batter is a little stiff so it will take a few firm folding strokes to incorporate the egg whites at first.  Once the first addition of egg whites has been folded in, add the remaining egg whites and continue to gently fold them into the batter until combined.  Do not over mix as it will cause for your cupcakes to be tough.

Fill 12 muffin cups with the batter and bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Remove from the oven and cool completely on a wire rack before attempting to frost or decorate.

For the Butter Cream Icing:

1 cup butter, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla

4 cups icing sugar, sifted

1-2 tablespoons of milk

Food coloring (optional)

To Prepare:

Beat the butter with the paddle attachment until smooth.  Add the vanilla.  Gradually add the icing sugar one cup at a time beating after each addition on medium-high speed.  Scrape the sides of the bowl after each addition.  If the icing appears dry add a little milk and beat well.  Continue adding the milk in small amounts until you achieve the desired consistency.  If you add too much milk and the frosting is running add a little more icing sugar.  This icing may be stored in the fridge for up to 2 weeks in an airtight container.  Re-whip before using.  If the icing becomes too soft during use simply put it into the fridge to stiffen up, test it on a plate before using for decorating as the icing in the tip will be harder than the icing in the bag.

You could prepare these cupcakes well in advance and freeze them but do not stack them as the tops will stick.  Thaw before using.  If you do choose to freeze them you could make them now and then decorate  them closer to valentine’s day.  I think these would be a great way to spend the day with the kids and they can decorate their own it would make for a fun party idea as well. Whatever you decide to do, I know you will enjoy these cupcakes if not for the fun of the decorating simply for the eating!

Please check out the Sweet as Sugar Cookies blog, and their Sweets for a Saturday post, the above recipe is linked up with them!!

From our kitchen to yours,
Sydney Jones