2 great recipes and 1 mediocre baker

So yesterday was my cousin's birthday party and I had offered her whatever cupcake she would like. She chose S'mores, which I was excited about because I hadn't made them in quite a while. The recipe is pretty simple, it's a graham cupcake with milk chocolate chips mixed in, and marshmallow fluff for frosting. The key though is that, once you put a dollop of marshmallow on top, you put them in the oven under the broiler for a minute and toast the marshmallow tops.

The result was incredibly yummy! So here's the recipe (which is adapted from Vanilla Garlic).

Graham Cupcakes
Makes 12-14 cupcakes / 350 F oven

What You’ll Need...
1/2 cup of butter, room temperature
1 cup of sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
1 cup of milk
1 cup of self-rising flour
1 1/2 cups of graham cracker crumbs

1 bag of milk chocolate chips
What You’ll Do...
1) Beat the butter for about 30 seconds until well creamed. Add the sugar and mix for 3 minutes using a paddle attachment until light and fluffy.
2) Add the eggs, one at a time, being sure to beat for 30 seconds for each egg.
3) Place graham crackers in a food processor or in a plastic bag and beat the crud out of them until it's been ground into small crumbs and powder.
4) Sift together the flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking soda and powder, and salt. Add about 1/4 of the mixture to the butter mixture, then add some of the milk. Continue to add the ingrdients in adry-wet-dry method, ending with the dry. Continue to mix until just combined, then fold in the chocolate chips.
5) Scoop into cupcake papers and bake for 15-18 minutes in a 350 F oven or until a cake tester comes out clean

Like I mentioned, once the cupcakes cool, put a bit of marshmallow fluff on top. There's no need to pipe it on or to try to be neat or pretty with it cause it's just gonna melt anyway. Then set your oven to broil and put them back in for a couple minutes. Keep a close eye on them cause, once they start to brown, they move quick!

The cuz loved her cupcakes and, since I have an order due on Friday for another birthday party, I headed home and started on another cupcake recipe. This birthday girl wants Pink Lemonade (which is and old go-to recipe) and she also wanted Mocha, which I've never made but always wanted to try.

I made the cupcakes, which came from How to Eat a Cupcake, and they were perfect! They were big and full and even had these perfectly domed top. You seriously couldn't come up with a prettier cupcake.

Mocha Cupcakes
Makes 12-16 (book says 12, I got 16)

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup strong brewed coffee, at room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350°F. Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with paper or foil liners.
Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a bowl. In a measuring cup, combine the milk and brewed coffee. In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Add the egg and beat until combined. Add the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the milk mixture in 2 additions, beating on low speed until just combined; scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups, filling each about ½ to ¾ full. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean, 16-20 minutes (book says 22-24 minutes, mine were done at 16). Let the cupcakes cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Transfer the cupcakes to the wire rack and let cool completely, about 1 hour.

Once the cupcakes were done and cooled, I was so excited by how well they turned out that I wanted to make the frosting and get them finished. I decided to go ahead and make the frosting that How to Eat a Cupcake had made for them, which is unusual cause I have a handful of frostings that I really like and I tend to just modify those instead of trying new ones.

She used a Coffee Swiss Meringue Buttercream. Now I've only made Swiss Meringue Buttercream once, but it was awesome. I've always heard that it's a tricky frosting, but, in my hands, it went from tricky to mind-boggling (none of which is the fault of the actual recipe).

Coffee Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Makes enough to frost 16 cupcakes

3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 egg whites
1/8 tsp salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temp
1 tbsp hot water
1 1/2 tsp instant coffee

Put sugar, egg whites and salt into the top of a double boiler over a pan of simmering water. Whisking constantly, cook until sugar has dissolved and mixture is warm (about 160 degrees). Pour heated egg whites into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat egg white mixture on high speed until it forms stiff (but not dry) peaks. Continue beating until fluffy and cooled, about 7 minutes total. Switch to the paddle attachment. With mixer on medium-low, add butter two tablespoons at a time, beating well after each addition. Increase speed to medium-high; continue beating until frosting appears thick, about 3 minutes. Meanwhile, stir 1 1/2 tsp instant coffee into 1 tbsp hot water until dissolved, then put it in the refrigerator or freezer until it comes down to room temperature. Reduce mixer speed to low and add coffee mixture. Continue beating 1 minute to reduce air bubbles.

My first problem was that I generally use powdered egg whites, especially in recipes where you're using a liquid (like coffee) to add flavor. So I had to get the equivalent of 6 egg whites, which was 1/4 c of powdered egg whites and 3/4 c of liquid (I used slightly watered down coffee). It made sense to me that, if the eggs were supposed to dissolve in the liquid, then the warmer the better, so my coffee was still hot and I added lukewarm water to it, and then I added the eggs. You cook this mixture, with a bunch of sugar, in a double boiler until the sugar dissolves, then move it to the mixer and beat the crap out of it. So that's what I did.

What I didn't know is that, if you mix powdered eggs with hot water, they turn into what feels like little bits of plastic. So I completed the recipe (after you beat it, you add butter) and tried it. It tasted incredible (like sweet, milky coffee), but with little bits of plastic.

I obviously couldn't have that so I decided that the issue was how I mixed the egg whites and liquid (I had mixed them in the double boiler with the sugar) and that could be remedied by simply mixing the powder and coffee separately and then adding to the sugar. But, no, the hot coffee still turned the whites to plastic.

Then I looked on the internet and figured out what the real problem was. So I cooled my coffee to room temp and added the whites and, just to be sure, poured the mixture through a sieve as I was adding it to the sugar. And it worked perfectly.

I cooked the eggs and sugar, put them in the mixer and whipped them like mad, then added the butter and mixed just a bit longer. Then I put it in the fridge for a bit, then beat just a little more. Then I tried to pipe it.

And yes, tried is the key word. It appears that my butter wasn't soft enough when I added it (and I didn't beat it long enough either) so there were all these little bits of butter. It didn't hurt the flavor, but the frosting wasn't as smooth as it should have been. And, once I did get some of them all frosted, the buttercream began to separate and a milky looking substance dripped down the sides of the cupcakes within 15 minutes or so.

At that point, I got frustrated and went to bed. But I know that, as much as I hate failing, it is just a reminder that I am still a novice baker. I've only been making cupcakes for less than a year and I still have a lot to learn and try. So tonight I'll head home and try again. Hopefully I'll have a better report tomorrow.

1 recipe 2 cupcakes...

So I found this awesome Key Lime Pie cupcake recipe. It's basically a graham cracker cupcake and then you swirl Key Lime Pie filling into it. I had tried the recipe back when I made the cupcakes for my cousin Steph's party and fell in love with them. But this time I did a little something different. I made a larger version of the cupcake recipe (not quite doubled though) and then split the recipe in half and made the Key lime out of half and made the other half into S'mores Cupcakes.

So here are the recipes:

Graham Cracker Cupcakes (originally from the Cupcake Project):

3/4 c butter

1 1/2 c sugar

4 1/2 eggs

1 1/2 c milk

1 1/2 c flour

2 1/4 c graham cracker crumbs

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Cream butter and sugar and beat till fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing 30 seconds after each addition. In another bowl, mix flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add 1/3 of the graham mixture to the butter mixture and beat just until mixed. Alternate milk and graham mixture ending with graham. Once mixed, split into two bowls.

For the Key Lime:

5 egg yolks

14 oz condensed sweetened milk

1/2 c key lime juice

a few drops green food coloring (optional)

Mix all that in a separate bowl and mix it into one bowl of the graham cracker cupcake batter. Don't fully mix it in. Just mix it so that there are basically globs of graham cracker batter and globs of key lime mixture.

Scoop the mixture into cupcake pans, making sure to get even amounts of graham and key lime. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.

Key Lime Frosting:

8 oz cream cheese

1/2 c butter

2 c powdered sugar

4 Tablespoons key lime juice

4-5 c more powdered sugar

Green food coloring

Mix cream cheese and butter till light and fluffy. Mix in 2 c powdered sugar. Add juice and then the rest of the powdered sugar and food coloring (if desired). Top cooled cupcakes.

For the S'mores cupcakes:

To the other bowl of graham cracker batter add one bag of Milk Chocolate chunks. Scoop the batter into the cupcake pans and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

To frost the S'mores cupcakes:

I piped marshmallow fluff on the cupcakes with a pretty little star tip and my apartment is so warm that it quickly melted to the point that I coulda just scooped a spoonful onto the cupcakes and it woulda looked the same. Once the fluff is on the cupcakes, put them under the broiler in the oven until they brown.

And that's all there is to it! Although I should warn ya that the S'mores cupcakes are seriously messy! But yummy!

Cupcake Experiments #5 & 6...

There was a birthday at my job, which meant I had an excuse for cupcake baking!  So last night I made S'more and Funfetti cupcakes from my new favorite blog Cupcake Rehab.  Now if you look at my picture and say, "Gee I see a S'mores Cupcake but that sure doesn't look like Funfetti..."  That would be correct.

Jake ate the Funfetti Cupcakes.  So we'll focus on the S'mores one...

Here is the recipe, along with one little change I made...

S’MORES CUPCAKES

Get this shit together:

• 7 whole graham crackers, coarsely chopped
• 1 & ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder, sifted
• ¾ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• ¾ cup buttermilk
• 3/4 cup of mini chocolate chips (added by P and just a rough guess on the measurement)

And then you’re gonna:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a cupcake pan with paper liners.
2. Place about 1 tablespoon of chopped graham cracker crumbs in the bottom of each liner. Set aside and reserve the remaining crushed crackers.
3. Mix together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, oil, egg and vanilla until smooth. Alternately whisk in flour mixture and buttermilk until smooth.
4. Scoop batter into pan and bake 22-27 minutes until tops of cupcakes spring back when lightly touched.
5. Cool in pans for 10 minutes, then remove and cool completely on wire rack.

MARSHMALLOW FROSTING

First you get:

• ¼ cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 (7½ ounce) jar Fluff, or similar marshmallow cream
• 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Then you’re gonna:

1. Beat butter in a large bowl with mixer on high speed until creamy. Beat in marshmallow cream. Reduce speed to low, and beat in confectioners’ sugar and vanilla. Increase speed to high; beat until fluffy.
2. Frost cooled cupcakes.
3. Top frosted cupcakes with graham cracker crumbs and a mini chocolate bar, if desired.

Now everyone agreed the cupcakes were awesome.  And I thought the addition of the chocolate chips kinda gave it the bit of ooey, gooey chocolate that S'mores have.

But there is a down side... if you're like me and have a super cheap hand mixer, the marshmallow frosting is super thick and hard to mix.  I burnt up my mixer and had to buy a new one (read as had to send the Not-So-Ex out for a mixer at 1 am).  But there are no regrets and the recipe is definitely gonna be one of the chosen ones for Steph's party.

Now onto the next experiment...

As I mentioned before, Jake ate up my Funfetti Cupcakes so I was kinda screwed.  However, luckily, I had a dr. appt this morning which meant I had an hour of downtime before I had to have the cupcakes at work.  So I decided to do a little cake mix magic and made Cherry Vanilla Cupcakes (which are in the picture).

Cherry Vanilla Cupcakes:

Ingredients:

1 Yellow Cake mix

1 cup water

1/4 cup cherry syrup

1 stick butter

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp almond extract

Some maraschino cherries

Mix 'em all up and beat for 3 minutes.  Pour into cupcake pan and push a cherry into each cupcake.  Bake according to box directions.

Cherry Cream Cheese Frosting (modified from this recipe)

Ingredients:

• 4 ounces cream cheese
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 2 tablespoons cherry syrup
• 2 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
• Some red food coloring

Directions:

1. Beat cream cheese and butter in a bowl until combined. Beat in powdered sugar and cherry syrup.
2. Beat in 2-1/4 to 2-1/2 cups more of powdered sugar till frosting is of spreading consistency. Stir in a few drops of red food coloring.

I know these are incredibly freaking simple but they were also super good!  Now I may try to find a good yellow cake recipe to avoid using a cake mix, but this is still a definite winner!