Vanilla Cupcakes with Lime Buttercream

A fast post here: as part of my "thank you for helping out with the website" I was asked to make "vanilla cupcakes with sort of spring-looking frosting" so I baked up Smitten Kitchen's vanilla cake recipe, topped with a lime buttercream.

The results: mmmm. The cake is moist and tender and the frosting has an addictively pleasant zing.

(Note to Jordan, another website helper: I brought your scones in today. I emailed you twice. They were here all day, but you didn't arrive. I could not keep my co-workers at bay -- sorry!)

Yellow Vanilla Cake (adapted from Smitten Kitchen)
3 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups buttermilk, well-shaken

Preheat oven to 350-degrees F. Line two muffin tins with muffin cups.

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, then beat in vanilla. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well and scraping down the bowl after each addition. At low speed, beat in buttermilk until just combined (mixture will look curdled). Add flour mixture in three batches, mixing until each addition is just incorporated.

Spoon batter evenly in muffin pans, then rap pan on counter several times to eliminate air bubbles. Bake until golden and a wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 15 to 20 minutes, rotating pans halfway through baking. Remove cupcakes from pan and allow to cook fully on cooling rack.


Lime Buttercream Frosting
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
Finely grated zest from 2 limes (about 2 teaspoons)
Juice from 2 fresh limes (about 1/4 cup)
6 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

Beat butter with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Beat in lime juice and zest. Scrape down the bowl and gradually add the powdered sugar, beating just until smooth. Frost cooled cupcakes.

All-in-the-Pan Chewy Chocolate cake with Chocolate Butter icing

Another day, another cake but from the same cookbook: In the Sweet Kitchen by Reagan Daley .

Last week, we were invited to a "Thanksgiving dinner in February" at Carolyn's house. She provided the turkey (21 lbs!), mashed potatoes, mashed turnips, stuffing and gravy and all I needed to bring was dessert.

Given that there was a mixed crowd of people -- all ages, all tastes -- I chose a traditional chocolate cake that could feed a crowd. As the name suggestes, the cake is mixed and baked in the same pan (though you do use an extra bowl...) making it quite simple to pull together. You don't have to frost it with the icing, but you'd be missing out.

The cake is very moist, though it could have a deeper flavor. Although Daley says not to "add anything silly to this cake, like liquers or other flavorings" adding some espresso powder would give it a nice punch.

The frosting is simply delicious. Imagine the flavor of fudge in a frosting. Yum!

All-in-the-Pan Chewy Chocolate cake with Chocolate Butter icing
Cake


3 cups AP flour
2 c. sugar
½ c. natural unsweetened cocoa
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
¾ cup vegetable oil
2 Tbsp white vinegar
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups cool water

½ c. unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
4 to 6 Tbsp milk or water
3 TBSP natural unsweetened cocoa
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350- degrees F. Sift flour into an ungreased, unfloured 13x9 baking pan.

In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Add this mixture to the flour in the pan and stir well with a fort of small whisk to blend the ingredients.

With the back of a teaspoon, make three indentations or wells in the dry mixture: one large, one medium-sized, and one small. In the large well, our the vegetable oil. In the medium well, add the vinegar. In the small well, add the vanilla extract, and then pour the water over everything. With a for, stir the mixture until well blended, making sure you reach into the corners and sides to catch any dry pockets. Do not beat this batter, but just mix enough until most of the lumps are smoothed out, and there are no little patches of overly thick or thin batter. A few lumps are fine.

Bake the cake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean & the top feels springy when lightly touched. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and cool the cake completely before frosting.

In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and 2 cups of the confectioners’ sugar until butter is well distributed. The mixture will be very dry and powdery. Stir in 2 Tbsp. of milk or water, then sift the cocoa powder over the mixture and cream to blend. Mix in the vanilla then add the rest of the sugar. Add as much of the remaining liquid as needed to make a thick and creamy frosting.

La Festa al Fresco Submission: Honeyed Zucchini Muffins (or Cupcakes?) with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

Once again, Lis from La Mia Cucina and Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice have teamed up to host La Festa al Fresco. The event is a celebration of fresh, seasonal (and preferably local) ingredients. Such a good idea, no?

So, armed with plenty of zucchini from my neighbors' garden plus 2 lbs of fresh, raw honey from the Rochester Public Market, I set out to find a recipe that combined the two for a tasty sweet treat. And I found it!

Now here's the thing: without the frosting, these delicious little guys are in muffin territory. With the scrumptious frosting, they cross over into cupcake land with their close cousins, the carrot cakes.

Mupcakes? Cuppins? However you decide to think of 'em, they're yummy.

Thank you to Lis & Ivonne for hosting!

Honeyed Zucchini Muffins/Cupcakes? with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting (adapted)

For cakes:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon Chinese 5-Spice powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups coarsely grated zucchini (2 medium)
1 teaspoon finely grated fresh orange zest
1/2 cup oil
1 cup honey, preferably of a medium to deep color/flavor
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla


For frosting:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon finely grated fresh orange zest

Cakes: Place oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350-degrees F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners. (You may wind up with extra batter for about 3 more cupcakes. so you may want to prep another tin.)



In a large bowl, combine flour, 5-spice powder, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.

In a separate bowl, whisk together zucchini, orange zest, oil, honey, eggs, and vanilla, then pour into flour mixture. Stir until just combined.

Divide batter among muffin cups and bake until golden and a wooden pick or skewer inserted in center of a cupcake comes out clean, 20 to 24 minutes.

Cool in pan on a rack 10 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan and cool completely, 1 hour.
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Frosting:
Beat together frosting ingredients with an electric mixer at high speed until well-combined, 3 to 5 minutes. Frost tops of cooled cupcakes.

White Buttercream Frosting

Last Tuesday, I attended the first of six classes in cake decorating offered through Canandaigua School District’s Complements program.

I’ve taking cooking classes before but I haven’t the foggiest idea how to decorate a cake. Usually, I just slap it on and schmear into a swirly pattern. Voila! Cake.

Tuesday was a basic first day of class. The instructor, Wendy, introduced herself and talked a bit about her background. We, the students, introduced ourselves. From there, Wendy showed us some tools – off set spatulas, pastry bags, decorating tips – and then we were off to make frosting.

It’s your basic grocery store-bakery butter cream: very white, very sweet, very durable. I’m not usually a fan of that kind but damned if I wasn’t Tuesday night. And, um, Wednesday. And, all the days up to today. (Maybe it’s the lemon flavoring?)

Consisting largely of butter and shortening, this frosting is, as one woman put it, “a heart attack on a plate.”

And now, I have to make a double batch for tonight’s class. Oh, the sacrifice.

White Buttercream
1 cup white vegetable shortening
1 stick butter
1 tsp. flavoring (vanilla, lemon extract, almond extract, etc.)
2 Tbsp. water
1 lb. confectioners’ sugar
1 Tbsp. meringue powder **

Cream together shortening, butter, flavoring, and water. Add dry ingredients and mix slowly to incorporate. Increase speed and blend 3-4 minutes until fluffy.

Grade: A-

** More info on meringue powder can be found here.