October 2010 Archives

cupcake update

By sketchy on October 22, 2010 6:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Post necromancy! It has been salvaged from the dead!

Been a busy few weeks at home. We had the State Fair, Yard Sale, Richmond Folk Festival, new hardwood floors, decorating for Halloween, soccer, gym, etc. During that time I've managed a few batches of cookies and a few cupcakes, and a four layer cake.

First we have some buttermilk cupcakes with a chocolate cream cheese icing. My daughter loved the cupcake base (she cannot have much cow based products - cooked butter and cooked milk seems to be ok.in small doses)

These cupcakes were a hit with everyone. The icing was incredibly stable for piping, and the use of single origin cocoa made the chocolate flavor very prominent.

Next up we have strawberry cupcakes with an Italian strawberry buttercream icing. These were shipped off to wine night. I think mint would have been great added to the icing. If I make them again, I will probably add some mint.

Third, we have some mini cookies and-cream-cheesecakes. These were incredibly cute and tasty, The perfect size for cheesecake. I made a batch of these for the wives of the neighborhood. Then I made a second batch to bring in to work. They are wonderful little cheesecakes with a cookie as the base, instead of the typical pulverized crust

These were so popular at work, I get regular requests to make them again. My boss even bought me the cookies and cream cheese to make a new batch. They freeze quite well, so I can make a batch, freeze them all, then take them on the VRE up to DC. When I get to work, they are very cold, but not frozen anymore. This way they stay nice and firm, and keep their shape.

My neighbor asked me to make a birthday cake for her. I was going to start with 8 inch pans, but I had to feed 8 adults and 4.5 kids. The 8 inch pans weren't going to cut it. I went out and got some 9 inch pans, and man they are big. The cake ended up huge,much larger then a four layer 8 inch cake.

I made a red velvet cake with fresh strawberries between the layers, iced with an ermine icing. I have an older blog post about red velvet cupcakes. I just adapted that recipe for the layer cake. I got to try out a cake edger for the first time, and I even made an attempt at writing on the cake. They all thought it looked great, I thought it looked messy, always my worst critic.

Lastly, we have chocolate cupcakes with a raspberry buttercream. I used fresh raspberries and freeze dried raspberry powder to strengthen the flavor of the icing. this was my first attempt as piping two colors at the same time, and I have much better ideas for it next time. I got cupcakes that were right/left colored, instead of a nice swirl through the icing. The chocolate was rich and moist, and the icing was nice to look at and silky smooth.

and just for the cuteness factor, here's my daughter with some chocolate chip cookies -- she LOVES them.