A little reminder

You can still vote for me (Starting all over again)! I am losing terribly and have almost no shot of winning but who doesn't love an underdog? LOL

Vote for me!!!

It's Iron Cupcake voting time again folks! Click here and vote for me (Starting all over again)!

Like we always say in Lincoln County, "Vote early, vote often!"

Mom Cupcakes (Iron Cupcake Earth January)

So for Iron Cupcake Earth this month, you are supposed to come up with a cupcake based on something that warms you up. Now I'm not one for warm stuff generally. I don't drink coffee. I'll occasionally have tea (at work) or hot chocolate (with the kids), but it's not a normal thing for me.

However, there is this one certain drink that even the smell alone makes me feel all warm and snuggly. And that is Russian Tea.

My mom discovered Russian Tea when I was in my early teens I think. The smell of citrus, tea, and cloves instantly brings to mind a zillion different Christmas, New Years, or family winter birthday dinners. But more than anything, the smell just screams Mom. So when Iron Cupcake mentioned warmth, I knew Russian Tea was the way to go.

You can just barely see the filling in there...

I guess I should start with Mom's recipe for Russian Tea...

8 c water

2 c sugar

6-8 tea bags

1 tsp cloves (or more depending on taste)

1 tsp allspice berries (optional)

1 c orange juice

1 c pineapple juice

1/4-1/2 lemon juice

Mix the water and sugar in a decent size pot and add the cloves and allspice. Boil for 5 minutes. Take the pot off the heat and add the tea bags and let steep for about 5 min. Remove the tea bags, add all the juices and put back on the stove to simmer. Let it sit and simmer until you're ready to drink. Mom likes it warm but I think it's just as good cold.

Now on to the cupcakes. I wanted something that used a pretty decent amount of Russian Tea in the batter so that the taste would really come through. So I decided on Angel Food since I like to use powdered egg white and can reconstitute them with any liquid without changing the texture of the cake.

INGREDIENTS:

12 egg white (I used 1/4 c powdered egg whites and 3/4 c cooled Russian Tea) 1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar 1 cup all-purpose flour 1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1/2 teaspoon almond extract 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 cup sugar

DIRECTIONS:

1.

Combine the powdered whites and tea in a mixing bowl; let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.

2.

Meanwhile, sift confectioners' sugar and flour together three times; set aside. Add cream of tartar, extracts and salt to egg whites; beat on high speed. Gradually add sugar, beating until sugar is dissolved and stiff peaks form. Fold in flour mixture, 1/4 cup at a time. Gently spoon into a prepared cupcake pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 15-20 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Cool completely before removing cake from pan.

For the filling, I wanted to add more citrus so I made a curd using the juices in the tea. And I even added the cloves and allspice as it cooked. If I were to do it over again, I would cut down or even eliminate the spices, but I was still pretty pleased with it once I got it in the cupcakes.

INGREDIENTS:

3 eggs 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup orange juice 1/2 cup pineapple juice

a splash of lemon juice cloves 1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted I always have to add some cornstarch (start w a teaspoon)

DIRECTIONS:

1.	In the top of a double boiler, beat eggs and sugar. Stir in juices, butter and cornstarch. Cook over simmering water for 15 minutes or until thickened.

The frosting was pretty simple since I went with an old favorite and just added a bit of Russian Tea to my cream cheese frosting.

INGREDIENTS:

8 ounces cream cheese 1/2 cup butter, softened 2 cup confectioners' sugar

4 tablespoons Russian Tea 3-4 cups confectioners' sugar

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Beat cream cheese and butter in a bowl until combined. Beat in powdered sugar and Russian Tea.
2.	Beat in 3-4 cups more of powdered sugar till frosting is of spreading consistency.

Anyway, I was pretty happy with them!

I should also mention that, since I'll be submitting this to Iron Cupcake, there are some incredible prizes to win including:

• The Demy™ by Key Ingredient
• Hello, Cupcake by Karen Tack & Alan Richardson
• Bella Cupcake Couture
• Cupcake Stackers by Gourmac
• The Cake Mix Doctor Returns! by Anne Byrne
• Beautiful Baking Liners by Vestli House
• Sweet Cuppin' Cakes Bakery & Cupcakey Supply

So wish me luck folks!

Vote for me!

So I entered Iron Cupcake for the first time last month and now it's time for the voting. My entry was the (IMO) awesome Appledoodle Cupcake.

If anyone would like to, please feel free to vote for me here! I have no chance of winning, being a small town upstart and all, but I like to think I could! LOL

Appledoodle Cupcakes (My first Iron Cupcake!)

So this month is all about apples for Iron Cupcake Earth and I had a blast with it! I considered apples and caramel, then decided everyone would be doing that. Then I tried candy apples, but I had my little frosting disaster. The I had an inspired thought when I was looking at a cookbook and realized that Snickerdoodle Cupcakes would be great with apples. So I played with the recipe and this is what I came up with!

Appledoodle Cupcakes (based on Martha Stewart's Snickerdoodle Cupcake recipe)

Ingredients
Makes 24(ish)

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon, plus 1/2 teaspoon for dusting
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar, plus 2 tablespoons for dusting

3/4 c brown sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk

3/4 c condensed apple juice

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and 1 tablespoon cinnamon.
With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugars until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Put milk and apple juice into one cup. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of milk/juice mixture, and beating until combined after each.
Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes.

Once the cupcakes were baked and cooled, I cut a cone out of the center and put a heaping teaspoon of fried apples in the center. I would love to give you the recipe I used for the fried apples, but Not-So-Ex made them for me and he is not a recipe user. So, if you've never fried apples, we basically chopped up apples and put them in a skillet with sugar, cinnamon, and butter. Whenever they started to look dry, I added some apple juice. Once they're soft, they're done.

I used Martha Stewart's recomendation for frosting (7 Minute Frosting), but changed it so that it used brown sugar. And replaced some of the water with apple juice. If I was gonna make these again, I'd use a different frosting. The 7 Minute Frosting kinda tasted like molasses. The kids and Not-So-Ex liked it, but I didn't. But anyway, here's the recipe.

Brown Sugar 7 Minute Frosting

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons brown sugar
2/3 cup water (I used half juice and half water)
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
6 large egg whites, room temperature

Directions
Combine 1 1/2 cups sugar with the water and corn syrup in a small saucepan; clip a candy thermometer to side of pan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar dissolves. Continue boiling, without stirring, until syrup reaches 230 degrees.
Meanwhile, in the bowl of a standing electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk egg whites on medium-high speed until soft peaks form. With mixer running, add remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, beating to combine.
As soon as sugar syrup reaches 230 degrees, remove from heat. With mixer on medium-low speed, pour syrup down side of bowl in a slow, steady stream. Raise speed to medium-high; whisk until mixture is completely cool (test by touching the bottom of the bowl) and stiff (but not dry) peaks form, about 7 minutes. Use immediately.

I will warn everyone that this is not the recipe to make on a warm day. Between the cupcakes in the oven, the fried apples on the stove, and then the frosting on the stove, I was ready to pass out!

Anyway, this is my first ever entry for Iron Cupcake: Earth! I am super excited and these are the prizes I could possibly win:

The Demy™ by Key Ingredient
Hello, Cupcake by Karen Tack & Alan Richardson
Bella Cupcake Couture
Cupcake Stackers by Gourmac
The Cake Mix Doctor Returns! by Anne Byrne
Beautiful Baking Liners by Vestli House
Sweet Cuppin' Cakes Bakery & Cupcakey Supply

Iron Cupcake Earth: Music

So I missed the Iron Cupcake Earth deadline for this month. I thought it was the 15th and, when I hadn't gotten anywhere by that date, I gave up. Then Friday I was looking to see if they had announced the next month's theme and noticed that it wasn't due until the 24th. Which meant I had to have it ready by Saturday.

And I did.

But I didn't have internet at the house so I couldn't blog about it. So I couldn't submit it.

But I still like what I did so here it is!

The theme was music and the cupcake was supposed to be inspired by a song. My choice was the song "Buddy Holly" by Weezer. In particular, I was inspired by the music video (which just so happened to be directed by one of the producers on my film, Spike Jonze). In the video, the band is in Al's (the soda fountain-type restaurant from Happy Days).

So I present the Root Beer Float cupcake!

There are tons of versions of Root Beer Float cupcakes, so I scoured the web and took bits and pieces from everywhere and came up with my own version.

For the cupcake:

1/2 cup condensed root beer (I used A&W and simmered it to let it condense till it was syrupy)

3/4 cups root beer (this is just regular, still fizzy root beer)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup butter

1 egg

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 Tbsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, mix the butter and sugar till fluffy. Add the egg, vanilla, and then condensed root beer (one at a time). Add the flour 1/2 c at a time, alternating with the regular root beer (so 1/2 c flour, half the root beer, another 1/2 c flour, the rest of the root beer, the last 1/2 cup of flour). Mix just until combined. Scoop into cupcake pan and fill almost all the way. Bake about 20 min.

Make sure and make extra of the condensed root beer (about another 1/2 cup). Once the cupcakes are baked, poke holes in them and pour around a teaspoon of the condensed root beer over top. Do it really slowly!

Once you're finished with that, you'll put the remaining condensed root beer back on the stove and heat at medium to make the glaze.

Root Beer Glaze:

Around 1/3 c of condensed root beer

1 c powdered sugar

1/2 c regular sugar

1 tbsp vanilla

Heat the root beer and mix in all the sugars. Let it come to a boil for a second or two, then take it off and add the vanilla, mixing the whole time. Let it cool. If it gets too thick, add a little milk.

Once the glaze cools, put about a teaspoon on top of each cupcake and allow to harden. The glaze will be almost like royal icing.

I topped each of my cupcakes with a scoop of Vanilla Bean Buttercream frosting, which is a recipe I got from Martha.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into small pieces
• 1 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
• Pinch of salt
• 1 vanilla bean, scraped
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• a little milk

• DIRECTIONS

  1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter until creamy. Slowly add confectioners' sugar; beat to combine, scraping down sides of bowl as necessary.
  2. Add vanilla bean seeds and vanilla extract, and beat to combine. Slowly add milk and continue beating on medium-low speed until smooth and creamy, about 5 minutes.
  To make the cupcakes look like real floats, I put the frosting in the fridge for just a few minutes, then used my cookie scooper to dole out one scoop of frosting on each cupcake!