Pumpkin Cupcakes

Pumpkin Cupcakes are  perfect for your Halloween or autumn gathering.  For the chocolate cupcake I used Cook's Illustrated's recipe which is super easy to make and comes together by hand in one bowl.  My favorite Swiss meringue buttercream was piped on top of each cupcake to create the pumpkin effect.   

Cook's Illustrated Ultimate Chocolate Cupcake

 

Swiss Meringue Buttercream 

 

5 large egg whites (~150g)

1 1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 lb unsalted butter cut in to pieces, at room temperature

 

Place sugar, egg whites and salt in the heat-proof bowl of an electric mixer. Set bowl over a pan of gently simmering water, and whisk until sugar has dissolved and egg whites are hot to the touch, about 3 minutes. Test by rubbing the mixture between your fingers; it should feel completely smooth.

Transfer bowl to mixer stand. Using the whisk attachment, beat on high speed until mixture has cooled completely and formed stiff and glossy peaks, about 10 minutes.

Add the butter, one piece at a time, and beat until incorporated after each addition. Don't worry if the buttercream appears curdled after all the butter has been added; it will become smooth again with continued beating. Add vanilla extract, and beat just until combined.

 

Decorating Tips

Pumpkin Body: Ateco 862

Pumpkin Stem: Ateco 19

Leaf:  Ateco 352

Vine: Ateco 2

Mini Victoria Sandwich Cakes

 

Even though I'm not from England I have to admit I'm a fan of the British royal family.  (Especially the Duke and Duchess of Sussex who are favorites of mine!)  I just love the history, traditions and pomp and circumstance that goes hand in hand with the institution.  In honor of Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee celebrations this weekend I made Mini Victoria Sandwich Cakes, named after the second longest reigning monarch, Queen Victoria.  She was known to enjoy a slice of cake along with her afternoon tea.

 

 

If you've been to England I'm sure you've seen this tempting cake at a tea salon or bakery. It's  comprised of two vanilla cake layers that are "sandwiched" with berry jam and buttercream or whipped heavy cream.   What makes it so appealing to me is its simplicity; there's no need to cover the entire cake with frosting or other embellishments.  In fact, you could say it was the original naked cake.   

 

 

Recipes abound on the internet and you'll have no trouble finding one, e.g., Mary Berry's.  Most call for self-raising flour, widely used in British baking, but I've found that cakes made with self-raising flour can be hit or miss because the type sold in the US isn't exactly the same as those sold in the UK.  Plus, I like being able to control the amount of leavening in a recipe.   

 

Luckily I found Nigella Lawson's Victoria sponge recipe, which used all-purpose flour (aka "plain flour"), cornstarch and baking powder.  Cornstarch was a new ingredient I hadn't seen before and was supposed to make the cake tender and light.  The process to make the batter couldn't be simpler either.  Just throw everything into a food processor and whiz it up for a few minutes until creamy.  

 

To mini-size the cake I used a nonstick cheesecake pan with removable bottoms, which made releasing the cakes super easy.  They did bake up with a bit of a hump on top, but I leveled them off with a serrated knife after they were cooled.  Baker's treat!  The cake gets a 5-star rating from me with it's tender, light crumb and delicious taste.  

 

I sandwiched the mini cakes with some leftover Swiss meringue buttercream that I had thawed from the freezer and homemade raspberry jam.  The smaller cake was the perfect portion and would satisfy anyone's sweet tooth.  All that remained was a light dusting of powdered sugar and a nice cuppa. 

Many congratulations to the Queen for her selfless years of service.  God Save The Queen!

Toasted Almond Cake

 

I saw a picture of this Toasted Almond Cake on Cook's Country's Instagram account a few weeks ago and immediately saved it because I knew I wanted to make it.  What drew me in was the caramelized almond exterior.  Plus, the idea of fluffy cake layers filled with almond flavored pastry cream sounded fantastic too.

 

 

Instead of the white cake layers that were called for in the original recipe I used CI's Yellow Sheet Cake recipe, baked in three 8" cake rounds.  Pastry cream is used for the filling and the exterior of the cake is frosted with a German buttercream (butter and pastry cream whipped together).  I found the German buttercream to be a bit too fussy so the next time I make this cake I'll use my favorite Swiss meringue buttercream instead.  The toasted and caramelized almonds are the final decoration and really complete the cake.    

Think this might be a new favorite of mine.  The tender, fluffy cake combined with the pastry cream filling and nutty exterior is a real winner.

Pretty in Pink Confetti Cake

 

Doesn't this Pretty in Pink Confetti Cake just bring a smile to your face?  It just screams Festive! and Fun!, right?  I made this beauty for my friend's birthday using Cake By Courtney's white vanilla cake recipe and then adding rainbow sprinkles to the batter.  Note: I baked the cake layers using three 6-inch round pans and had enough batter leftover for six cupcakes.  For the frosting I used my favorite Swiss meringue buttercream recipe. 

 

Lemon Posset and Lemon Cupcakes

 

For the Lemon Lovers Table that I recently created I included some citrus-infused treats.  At each place setting there was a decorated sugar cookie to welcome my guests.  Other desserts included the cutest  lemon petit-fours from Trader Joe's and homemade Lemon Posset and Lemon Cupcakes.

I had my first taste of lemon posset at ad hoc restaurant and I was immediately hooked on the creamy, tangy dessert.  It was so refreshing, especially after having ad hoc's famous buttermilk fried chicken!  Luckily I found a recipe from Cook's Illustrated that couldn't be simpler to make using only three ingredients: heavy cream, sugar and lemons.

For the lemon cupcakes I used a vanilla cake recipe from The Cupcake Project.  It was the winner of a recent taste test from The Kitchen.  While the cupcakes were really tasty, I actually prefer a cake that has a tighter crumb to it.  I frosted the cupcakes with Swiss meringue buttercream that was mixed with pre-made lemon curd. To pipe the buttercream swirls I used a large petal tip (Ateco #126).  I confess it was a decorating technique I pinched from Violet bakery in London. 

Chocolate Chip Cake

 

This Chocolate Chip Cake came about because of a recent baking failure.  But I've learned that out of defeat one can find victory.  I had seen a post on Instagram for a chocolate chip cake that looked so delicious and was super easy to make, i.e., no appliance needed, so I gave it a go. Sadly I was disappointed with the results.  Instead of chocolate chips that were evenly distributed among the cake I got chips that sunk to the bottom of the cake like an anchor.  On top of that, the cake part was nothing to write home about.  

 

Never one to give up I persevered and decided to apply the chocolate chip concept to a tried and true cake recipe that I've made before.  The three layer cake you see in this blog post is the end result of that adaption and it tastes amazing!   

 

 

The recipe for the white cake and American style vanilla buttercream comes from Cake by Courtney.    If you've never heard of Courtney before I highly recommend you follow her.  Her cakes not only look beautiful, but they also taste incredible.  I think her white cake is the best "from scratch" one out there with an amazingly tender and tight crumb.  My only update to her recipe was the addition of chocolate chips to the cake batter. 

 

While I normally frost my cakes with Swiss meringue buttercream, for this cake I went with Courtney's American-style whipped vanilla buttercream.  American-style buttercream contains no eggs and is made with butter, powdered sugar, heavy cream, vanilla and salt.  Due to good amount of beating using a stand mixer the texture of the frosting is light and fluffy, similar to SMB. Be forewarned though it is a lot sweeter than European buttercreams.  Moderate application of this buttercream was key to avoid a sickeningly sweet cake.

Speckled Egg Cake

 

The centerpiece for my Easter dessert table this year is a Speckled Egg Cake.   Around spring time you'll see cakes similar to this as it's perfect for the Easter holiday or spring season.  Even better, it couldn't be simpler to make.  All you need is a frosted layer cake along with some vodka and brown food coloring for the "speckles."

I made four cake layers (by doubling this recipe of Martha Stewart's one-bowl chocolate cake) and then filled and frosted them with blue-tinted Swiss meringue buttercream.  To achieve the "speckled" effect I mixed a little bit of vodka with brown food coloring and used a pastry brush to splatter the mixture all over the cake. 

If you don't want to use vodka I've also seen recipes that used 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract mixed with 1 teaspoon of cocoa powder.  For the cute bird's nest topping I combined about 1 cup of toasted coconut flakes with 1/3 cup of melted chocolate chips.  Form into a nest shape and place a few Cadbury's mini eggs in the center.  Chill until firm and then place at the top of the cake.

HAPPY EASTER!

Petits Fours

 

This Petits Fours post is long overdue and I mean REALLY overdue.  We're talking more than a decade people!  When you put it that way it sounds so bad, right?  My fascination with petits fours really started when I saw them made in this video, Martha Stewart Living Cake Decorating.   I was immediately drawn in by how beautiful and elegant the little cakes were.  They've been on my baking bucket list forever and I finally got my a%$ in gear and made them recently for my Easter table this year.  I packaged four petits fours into clear plastic boxes and placed a favor at each place setting.  I think they look absolutely darling and fit the Easter decor beautifully.

Essentially petits fours are small pieces of pound cake that are filled (I like jam or curd and buttercream) and covered in a glossy fondant.   I started with this recipe for the pound cake from the blog Rose Bakes which is nice and sturdy and holds up really well.  One recipe of the cake makes a half-sheet size pan and yields a lot of petits fours.  I made half of the cake into raspberry petits fours and the other half into lemon petits fours.  I'm  a sucker for fruit flavors and I think the tartness from the raspberry and lemon would be a nice counterbalance to the sweetness from the fondant. 

 

Now let's talk about fondant because that's the Archilles heel of these pretty treats.  The fondant used to coat petits fours is different from the rolled fondant you've seen covering wedding cakes and the like.  Petits fours use a poured fondant.  You can make certainly make it yourself but I was too intimidated (and lazy!) to do that so I bought some premade fondant from Amazon and it worked great.  The only thing I had to do was melt it in a bowl over a pan of simmering water until it was thin enough to coat.  Two tricks I learned from the Martha Stewart video were to have simple syrup on hand to stir into the fondant or put it back on the heat when it got too thick. 

 

 

The main caveat I have when it comes to making petits fours is that it's NOT a neat and tidy process.  The poured fondant can be very finicky to work with and downright messy.  It took me a while to get a feel for what was the best consistency for the fondant and even more time trying to figure out the best set up.  In the end I'm happy with my first attempt at petits fours.  I don't have the time to make them often so I'll save it for special occasions. 

 

Packaging Details:

4" x 4" x 2" clear plastic boxes

4" x 4" x 3/8" raised bottom box insert

3/8" grosgrain ribbon

Piña Colada Cake

When I was a kid my favorite ice cream flavor of all time was Thrifty's Coconut Pineapple.  Truth be told it's still my number one, even in adulthood.  I'd been meaning to make a cake version of this ice cream flavor and I finally got around to it after being inspired by Baking With Blondie's Mango Coconut cake.  Swap out the mango for pineapple and I present to you my Piña Colada Cake. 

 

I used Baking with Blondie's coconut cake recipe and Cook's Illustrated recipes for the pineapple filling and coconut buttercream frosting.  The cake recipe actually uses a Duncan Hines cake mix as its base.  Yes, this is a bit controversial in a world of "from scratch" baking but one that I welcome to be honest.  I grew up eating cakes made from a mix so this brings back a lot of nostalgia for me.   There's nothing wrong with taking shortcuts if it doesn't compromise the taste.

For the filling it was important that it contain fresh pineapple and was sturdy enough to hold up between the cake layers.   Ground instant tapioca did the job of thickening the pureed pineapple while still retaining it's fresh fruit flavor.   As for the frosting I went for an American buttercream which is easier to pull together than Swiss meringue, my normal go to.  To finish the cake off I had to recreate these amazing buttercream pineapples I saw from @makefabulouscakes...are they not the cutest things you've ever seen?

When I had a taste of the finished cake I was blown away by how delicious it was.  The tender coconut infused cake with the fresh pineapple filling is a taste home run!  I will definitely be making this cake again.

Hydrangea Cupcakes

Hydrangeas are one of my favorite flowers and sometimes I'll pick up a few bunches at Trader Joe's or Costco to decorate the house.  I love the massive blooms and vibrant colors they come in.  When I saw that you could make cupcakes to look like hydrangeas I knew I had to replicate them for myself.  The technique couldn't be simpler and the results are so beautiful.  They're the perfect addition to your spring or Easter table.

While searching YouTube I found this great video that demonstrates how to pipe the flowers using buttercream.  The key is to have the right piping tip.  Most posts I had seen recommended the Wilton 2D, a large closed star tip, so that's what I went with.   I used my favorite frosting, Swiss meringue buttercream, since it takes to colors so well. 

Are you doubting that you can create these hydrangeas for yourself?  You have nothing to worry about!  If you can squeeze a piping bag with a modicum of control then you've basically mastered the technique. Trust me when I say these flowers are the most impactful with the least amount of effort.

Cupcake Bouquet

Just in time for Valentine's Day, something sweet and unpredictable.  Why not forgo the usual gift of flowers and make your Valentine a bouquet made of beautiful cupcakes instead?   Seriously, these tasty treats may look complicated but they couldn't be easier to make.  All you need are Russian decorating tips and you'll be turning out professional looking decorated cupcakes in no time. 

For these cupcakes I used my new favorite cake and buttercream recipe from Bravetart's latest cookbook.  The white cake is so moist and velvety with a melt-in-your-mouth crumb and her marshmallow buttercream is a game changer.  Even better, the buttercream pipes like a dream with these decorating tips. 

Oh Baby Shower Cake

My friends Claudio and Julia are expecting their first baby this spring, a girl.  For their baby shower they asked if I could make the cake and I was more than happy to oblige.  These are the exact occasions where I love to put my baking skills to good use.  

For the cakes themselves Julia had requested her favorite, carrot, for the bottom tier and I suggested red velvet for the top since it was Claudio's favorite.  As for the theme Julia had in mind something similar to this pink and grey themed creation she found on Pinterest.   Lucky for me it didn't look too complicated once you deconstructed its parts. 

Don't be intimidated by the design because it's a bit easier than you might think.  Once I filled and crumb coated the three layers of carrot cake I simply piped large rosettes all around the outside with pink hued Swiss meringue buttercream.  For even the novice baker this is achievable with beautiful results.  Admittedly, the top tier of red velvet did require a bit more patience and skill in order to get the buttercream perfectly smooth and even.  Once that was achieved I decorated with grey and pink fondant circles and applied a thin fondant ribbon at the bottom.  

One trick I did learn from watching numerous episodes of Ace of Cakes is to use large boba straws as supports when doing a tiered cake.  This provides structure so that the top tier doesn't sink in to the one below.  The straws are so much easier to use than wooden dowels and they're super cheap too.  I picked up a packet of 50 straws from the local restaurant supply store for under $1!

Congratulations Claudio and Julia!

Russian Decorating Tips

Calling all bakers who are intimidated by cake decorating:  this ones for you!

I only recently heard about Russian decorating tips and I have to say I'm a complete convert.   You can easily get professional looking results with very little effort.  Sign me up!  Many, many years ago I took a cake decorating class at my local baking supply store.  While the class was great and I learned a lot about making buttercream flowers, I have to say these Russian decorating tips are a total game changer.   

Instead of making individual petals to form the flowers, these decorating tips make the entire flower in one go.  Genius!  Based on a recommendation, I bought this set from Amazon and they are fantastic.  Admittedly I had to practice quite a bit to get satisfactory results (granted I am a perfectionist), but they really are easy to use. 

   

Take your cakes to the next level and invest in these Russian decorating tips.  For a nominal price the ROI is phenomenal (that's my Finance background talking!).

Vanilla Cupcakes

After 9+ hours of binge watching House of Cards Season 4 this weekend I must say I was more than happy to get off my bum and do some baking.  If you haven't seen the show yet do yourself a favor and start.  It's seriously some of the best television ever and the latest series does not disappoint in the least.

While the show is dark, cunning and ruthless these Vanilla Cupcakes are anything but; you could even call them "anti-Underwood".  I was craving something happy and light and these beauties fit the bill perfectly.  Even better, sour cream was used in the recipe, an ingredient of which I had plenty in the fridge.   The cupcake recipe can be found here on the Cupcake Project and I frosted them with Cook's Illustrated Easy Vanilla Buttercream.

I'm definitely feeling House of Card withdrawals, already!, but hopefully these cupcakes will ease the pain until next year.   Please, please, please Netflix...there MUST be a Season 5!

Chocolate & Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Chocolate and Peanut Butter.  What flavor combination could be more All-American than those two?  Little did I know that it's popularity extended beyond the borders of the red, white and blue.   

Case in point: Before heading to a work conference in Basel this past summer I had asked my co-workers if they wanted anything from the US.  How surprised was I when they requested Reese's Peanut Butter Cups?   Really....Reese's?   Ironic since they live in a country that produces some of the best chocolate in the world.    

So I dedicate these Chocolate & Peanut Butter Cupcakes to my friends and colleagues in the CH.  The cupcakes are super easy to make (no mixer required) and the addition of sour cream in the batter makes the crumb really tender.  For an extra treat I put a miniature Reese's peanut butter cup in the center before baking.   As for the frosting, I could have gone the cynical route and made Swiss meringue, but instead I opted for fuss free American style buttercream.   

 

Rainbow Cake

This Rainbow Cake has been a long time coming - we're talking five years!  Procrastination is not a trait I am friendly with.  I'm the type that likes to cross things off my to do list as soon as possible but for some reason I waited such a long time to make this cake.   Not anymore.

I'd first seen it featured on the blog Whisk Kid and then later on the Martha Stewart Show.   I loved how the rainbow of colorful cake layers is hidden behind a veil of unassuming white Swiss meringue buttercream.   There's just something so joyful about this surprise that it always makes me smile.

For the cake layers I used the recipe from Cook's Country's Confetti Layer Cake.  I like that it contains cake flour instead of all-purpose and uses a reverse creaming method to make the batter.    I find the crumb of the baked cake is so much more tender this way.   

I have a feeling I'll be getting many requests from family and friends to make this cake again and again.  But since it makes me so happy I don't mind!