Toffee Cupcakes

Before I get into this recipe let me just say that I've come to realize something very important; the reality that not all cupcakes will be a success. I think I've been expecting every recipe and trial to end in a perfect cupcake. In actuality, some recipes aren't that great and sometimes my technique is gonna suck and sometimes both are going to be true at the same time.

That said, this toffee cupcakes is both a success and a failure. The frostings and the flavor profile were totally successful (read "successful" in a sing-songy voice). The cake, however, was unsuccessful (read "unsuccessful" in a monotone depressing voice).


Here is how this cupcake came about. My friend, Erika, and I tried to make toffee - a master recipe from our friend Christie. She warned us of the dangers of trying to make toffee on a humid day. We didn't listen. Also, we went about the whole process a bit haphazardly as we were crunched for time and surrounded by toddlers and babies - this was our "mommy" play date. I say that we "tried" to make toffee because although the flavor was fantastic, our toffee didn't set correctly and stayed soft.

Later on it hit me, this soft toffee would be perfect in a cupcake. I looked up recipes online and decided to go with my own intuition. I chose to do a browned butter cake with toffee pieces baked in the batter. I used a brown sugar frosting, coated with a chocolate ganache and topped the cake with more toffee pieces.

The cake recipe I got from Cupcake Project. One thing I'll say for this cake is that burning the butter was fun.

Unfortunately, the cake turned out dry. The flavor was not amazing either. The cake ultimately served as a vehicle for the delicious frosting and topping combo. The only thing I didn't do according to the recipe was use whole milk. I have a feeling the cake would have ended up a little more moist if I had. I would like to try another brown butter cake recipe, but I probably won't try this one again. I also found that the toffee pieces in the cake didn't make any difference for me. My hubby, however, liked the crunch of the nuts from the toffee in the cake portion.

I used two frostings for this cupcake to mirror the flavors in the toffee. The first was a brown sugar frosting I found in an old Taste of Home issue. This may be my all-time favorite frosting. I thought it would work great with this cupcake as butter and brown sugar is cooked together with milk to give it a very toffee-like flavor.

Brown Sugar Frosting:

1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/4 milk
1 tsp vanilla
About 2 cups powdered sugar

- Bring butter, brown sugar and milk to a boil over medium heat.
- Cook and stir 2 minutes.
- Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
- Cool to lukewarm.
- Gradually beat in powdered sugar until frosting reaches the consistency you like (I tend to like a thicker frosting).

The other frosting I used to contribute to the toffee flavor profile was a standard chocolate ganache. I had started my ganache while the brown sugar mixture cooled. By the time I was done piping my first frosting, my ganache was ready to go. It also has to cool down and thicken a bit to be able to coat the cakes appropriately. I dipped each frosted cake in the ganache and immediately topped with some additional chopped toffee.

The finished cakes went right into the fridge to set. It's the ganache that needs the setting. I like it to run a little so that it looks like a melty layer of chocolate over the top, but not so much that it starts to fall off the cake and take the topping with it.

I prefer to eat these particular cakes by peeling off the cupcake liner and cutting the cake portion in half horizontally. That leaves just enough cake so that I'm not eating pure frosting (although that wouldn't be so bad now would it?) and I don't notice so much that the cake is too dry.

I think these cupcakes would taste just as great with toffee that has been correctly made or even store bought toffee. I really liked that the toffee was soft. Soft cake, soft frosting, soft toffee - it really works for me. My husband would have liked more crunch. I'm not gonna go spoiling a batch of toffee just to get a soft version for cupcakes, but if it happens again it will be a happy mistake.

Gluten-free

I'm revisiting the gluten free coffee cake cupcakes I did for a wedding shower a month or so ago. The groom requested the recipe, so here it goes. (Wish I had a picture)

I adapted my recipe from Better Home and Garden's Cinnamon Roll Cupcake with the help of my friend, Cara of Fork and Beans. My first attempt was a bit of a disaster. I only substituted gluten-free all-purpose baking mix for the flour. The cakes were not the right consistency and sunk as soon as I took them out of the oven. The following principles brought me success the second time around.

1. Subtract 2 to 4 tablespoons of the liquid called for in the recipe.
2. Add 25% more baking powder than called for.
3. Bake cupcakes longer - somewhere between 22 and 28 minutes.

Without further ado, here's the recipe that worked for me (the modifications I talked about above have already been accounted for.

For the cake:

2/3 cup unsalted butter
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups gluten free all-purpose baking mix (Must include a starch and a gum. See Cara's website for more info. on mixes. I used Arrowhead Mills.) 
3 1/8 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup milk

1. Allow butter and eggs to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, line twenty-six 2-1/2-inch muffin cups with paper baking cups. In a medium bowl stir together baking mix, baking powder, and salt. In a small bowl stir together brown sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Gradually add granulated sugar, about 1/4 cup at a time, beating on medium speed until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes more or until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Alternately add flour mixture and milk to butter mixture, beating on low speed after each addition just until combined (batter may look curdled).

3. Spoon about 1 tablespoon batter into each prepared muffin cup. Sprinkle about 1 scant teaspoon of the brown sugar mixture over batter in cups. Spoon remaining batter evenly over brown sugar mixture in cups. Sprinkle another scant teaspoon of brown sugar mixture over batter in cups. (You will have left over brown sugar mixture)

4. Bake for 22 to 28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Check cupcakes after 20 minutes. Cool cupcakes in muffin tins on wire racks for 10 minutes. Remove cupcakes from muffin tins. Cool completely on wire racks.

5. Spread or pipe Creamy Butter Frosting onto cupcakes. Makes about 26 (2-1/2 inch) cupcakes.

A quick tip from my cupcake diva neighbor: You can store frosted cupcakes in an airtight container in the freezer. Pull out cakes about an hour before you want to eat them to defrost at room temperature. This is especially nice for gluten-free baked goods as they tend to go stale even faster than regular ones.

For the Creamy Butter Frosting:

1 cup unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla
Dash of salt
8 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup whipping cream
2 to 3 tbsp additional whipping cream

Allow butter to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Beat in vanilla and salt. Gradually add 4 cups of the powdered sugar, beating until combined. Beat in the 1/4 cup whipping cream. Beat in the rest of the powdered sugar. Beat in additional whipping cream until frosting is light and fluffy and reaches a spreading (or piping) consistency. Makes 4 cups.

The groom also wanted a cake version:
Grease a 9 x 13in. cake pan or baking dish. Prepare batter as above. You can either pour half of the batter and top with half of the brown sugar mixture and then repeat, or pour in all of the batter at once and then top with all of the brown sugar mixture. The cake will need to bake longer - I'm guessing 35 to 45 minutes, maybe even longer. Check cake after 30 minutes. I also suggest making a thinner version of the frosting by adding less powdered sugar so that you can drizzle it over the top of the cake instead of piping it. 

Chocolate mint and a lesson in options

Yesterday's adventure was a chocolate mint cupcake. I started with a basic chocolate cupcake, filled it with an Andes creme de menthe ganache, piped a cream cheese peppermint frosting on top, drizzled it with regular chocolate ganache, and topped it with Andes creme de menthe baking chips.

For the cake I used a chocolate cake mix. There are a few ways you can doctor cake mixes to get a better cake. My favorite way is to substitute milk for the water (preferably, whole milk), add an extra egg, and substitute melted butter for the oil - oh yeah, and double the amount of butter. :)

I made a ganache for filling my cake using Andes creme de menthe baking chips instead of chocolate chips/baker's chocolate. In retrospect, I could have just as easily made a regular chocolate ganache and added some peppermint extract.

Here's my ganache recipe:
12 oz. chocolate (I used Andes creme de menthe for this recipe)
1 cup whipping cream
- Heat whipping cream just to a boil.
- Add chocolate. Don not stir. Leave 5 minutes.
- Stir until smooth and let rest another 15 minutes, at least. I recommend letting it sit longer, until it reaches a clearly thickened consistency - almost like frosting. It fills cupcakes best this way. You can even use it as frosting if you want. I have a little leftover Andes ganache I just might take a spoon to.

One more thing about ganache, if you are only using it for filling and/or drizzling, I would only make half a batch.

There are also different methods for filling your cupcakes. I like to take the back of a wooden spoon, stick it down the center and swirl it around to make a cone-shaped hole. Then I pipe in my filling using a ziplock freezer bag with the edge snipped off.

I made the mistake of trying to fill my cakes while my ganache was too loose. My kitchen was too hot and it didn't thicken in the time I allotted. The ganache poured into the cake and slowly got absorbed. After I had frosted almost half the cakes I decided to refill the rest of the cakes with regular chocolate ganache that I had leftover from another project. Ultimately, after trying the different cakes, I found that the extra filling was unnecessary. It didn't hurt anything, but the cakes were just as good without it.

The mint frosting used cream cheese as its base. I got the recipe from Your Cup of Cake. The writer of this site also does an Andes mint cupcake and uses a different version of doctored cake mix. Feel free to try both versions. After completing this project I got the feeling that you can't really go wrong with any version. Chocolate and mint just really works. Hurray for that!

I finished off my cakes with a drizzle of semi-sweet chocolate ganache (I was worried about going overboard with the peppermint) and topped them off with some of the Andes baking pieces. The pieces weren't as lovely as the Andes regular chocolate mints. They rub up against each other in the bag and get kind of akin to a fuzzy sweater. That probably sounds worse than it actually is.

I ran out of frosting before all of the cakes were done and improvised by creating a version that people who aren't big into frosting might like better. I dipped the filled cupcakes in the Andes ganache, put them in the fridge for a few minutes to set, drizzled regular chocolate ganache over them, and topped them with Andes creme de menthe pieces.

One of the things I love about cupcakes (there is so much to love) is that there isn't just one right way to do things. Whatever kind of cake you want to make, know that there are many options and all kinds of different ways of doing it. Think of the flavor profile you want to end up with and get creative.

By the way, these cupcakes are addictive. The peppermint makes them refreshing and whenever something is refreshing you can consume more of it for some reason. Don't ask me why.

My take on Goober

I got an idea last week that I just couldn't shake - Goober cupcakes. I grew up eating Goober and thought this cake would carry a bit of nostalgia for me and those of my generation. I wasn't exactly sure how the cake would play out so I tried a few different things before landing on the version that worked for me.

I've tried a peanut butter and jelly cupcake or two from cupcake bakeries that didn't really do it for me. For my version, I knew I wanted to start with a peanut butter cupcake recipe I got from Epicurious a while back (Note: if you ever make these, omit 1/4 cup of the flour). This makes a moist and kind of dense cake. Not everyone likes dense cakes. If you are more of a light and fluffy kinda person you'll want to find a different recipe. I also knew that I wanted to fill each cupcake with actual Goober.

I used a basic peanut butter frosting recipe, but may go with a cream cheese peanut butter frosting next time. I wanted it to be creamier than it turned out.

The experimentation started at the frosting of the cakes. I wasn't sure what I was looking for with the taste or the aesthetic. I started off trying to swirl the peanut butter frosting with plane ol' grape jelly. I also tried piping the peanut butter frosting and then drizzling the grape jelly over it. Both versions looked ugly, so I whipped up a grape jelly frosting of my own making. I would only recommend this frosting for a peanut butter and jelly flavored cupcake. I don't think it is so good on its own.

Grape Jelly Frosting:
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup grape jelly
About 2 cups powdered sugar

The grape jelly frosting looked better on the cakes and tasted better with the flavors already present in the cake and filling too. It cut the peanut butter flavor which is overpowering without the grape jelly frosting. Even with the addition of this frosting the whole cupcake is still pretty "peanut buttery," but delicious. After trying a few different ways of putting both frostings on the cakes I settled on piping some of the grape jelly frosting on first and then topping with a piped layer of peanut butter frosting. The cakes looked beautiful - maybe a little too beautiful for Goober cupcakes. Although I didn't feel like the cakes had the look of a playful and nostalgic Goober cupcake, the flavor was there and the look was to my liking.

Needless to say, I went through a lot of piping bags this time around.

Cupcakes for dinner?

Yup, cupcakes for dinner! Corn dog cupcakes to be exact. I was inspired by a couple of Pinterest posts on the subject. I pulled out my favorite cornbread recipe, Amusement Park Cornbread, and went to town. This is a skillet recipe, but I baked it into cupcakes instead.

The recipe made about 18 cupcakes. I inserted a 1/4 of a hot dog into each cup of batter before baking. The batter is nice and thick and the dog stays firmly in place. I checked them after 15 minutes, but ended up leaving them for almost 20.

To finish off the cakes, I drizzled some honey mustard over each warm cake and served each plate with a bacon and blue cheese side salad. A very fun meal. My hubby found the cake to dog ratio too much for his taste, so he threw a couple of hot dogs in the skillet to compliment his meal. The ratio was just perfect for me.

The leftover cupcakes went into the freezer to be pulled out one at a time when I need a quick dinner for my toddler who often gets hungry before I am ready to cook.

Beer, cheese and bacon... (wait for it)... cupcakes!

I couldn't wait for next week to get back into my apron. I've been wanting to try a beer cake recipe for a while now and found an intriguing one from cupcake project. The cupcakes were delicious - not what I expected though. I thought they would have a more savory flavor to them, but they are just as sweet as any cupcake.

The cake is a beer cake full of dark brown sugar, sharp cheddar cheese and vanilla. The frosting is a cream cheese frosting with sharp cheddar cheese and bacon. I garnished with additional crumbled bacon.

 
All of the flavors worked great together. The cake portion tasted mostly like beer and dark brown sugar. The beer was not overpowering at all - not too "beery" as my friend, Erika, would say. I have to admit that my cake fell flat again when I took it out of the oven. I may have taken them out too soon; although while they were still in the oven they only rose just above the top of the cupcake liner. Maybe some cakes just lie more flat. They didn't look like I had hoped, but the cake was moist, fluffy and flavorful.

The frosting was a little too loose for my taste. I prefer a firm frosting. I ignored my intuition and didn't add any more powdered sugar than the recipe called for. I was afraid of the frosting turning out too sweet. At this point, I didn't know how sweet of a cupcake I was dealing with. Next time I will definitely add more powdered sugar to get the consistency I like.

The frosting recipe called for an optional cup of bacon. I went ahead and added it, but the bacon only added a crunchy dimension to the frosting, but no real bacon flavor. When I added the garnish of bacon crumbled on top of the cupcake I could taste it much better. Next time I will leave the bacon out of the frosting and pile it on top of the finished cake instead.  

Earl Grey anyone?

Today I tried my hand at Earl Grey cupcakes with honey buttercream frosting.

 

I got both recipes form other bloggers. The cupcakes are from Desert Candy and the frosting from Romancing the Bee. The Earl Grey cupcakes were listed with a lemon buttercream that I switched out for the honey frosting recipe. The honey frosting was listed with a honey cake that I'd like to try soon.

The cupcakes baked up perfectly.

I have been trying to perfect my cupcake baking technique as I was consistently getting cupcakes that would fall after I took them out of the oven. Here are the tips that I followed, having gathered them from various sources online and off, that helped me out:

1. Make sure that all ingredients are at room temperature. I left my butter, eggs and milk out on the counter for at least 30 minutes (by the time I got to baking it was actually 45 minutes).

2. Beat butter first - about 30 seconds. Then beat butter and sugar until creamy - about 2 minutes.

3. Add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition.

4. Once you add the dry ingredients barely beat until combined. The recipe I was working with suggested I beat in half of the flour until just combined and then stir in the milk and the rest of the flour until just combined. This tip worked out great and helped me to not over-beat (my biggest tendency - especially since my hand mixer only works at high speed as I let my toddler play with it for a few months).

The cupcakes turned out wonderful. The cakes were fluffy and not too sweet. I did find myself wishing I could taste more of the tea. The Earl Grey flavor was very subtle. Next time I'll replace the milk with strongly brewed Earl Grey tea mixed with half and half. I'll also try the lemon buttercream. Maybe the citrus in the frosting will bring out more of the citrus notes in the tea.

The frosting is definitely a keeper, worked well with this cake, and will work well with all kinds of cupcakes. Can you tell by my picture that I love frosting? I generally over-frost my cupcakes. This recipe is a very rich and very sweet one. If you aren't into frosting you might want to spread it instead of pipe it.

Hello out there in cupcake land!

So I've decided to start another blog. I know, I know, I have two kids under age 3. What am I thinking?

I'm thinking this: I am having way too much fun trying out different cupcake recipes to not share with my peeps. (Btw, I need tasters. Feel free to volunteer.) Also, I can't stop baking. I may be a little obsessed. This is where ya'll can keep me in check.

My adventures all started when I came across "Hello Cupcake!" in the Target book section. Since then I've picked up a few more books and magazines devoted to this sweet culinary art. I've also been hunting down websites, blogs and recipes. I have an arsenal and am 1/120 of my way into it (that's an arbitrary number I put in just there to sound like I've done a little of the "a lot" I want to do).

I thought I would start with some back logs of some of the stuff I've done so far. Sadly, I have not photographed all of my creations and the ones that I did catch on camera don't have awesome pics. Need to work on that.

Here is a list of what I have done so far:
- Chocolate cupcakes with chocolate bar frosting (I call it that because it tastes like a candy bar, not because it has candy bars in it)
- Green velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and green sparkly sprinkles for St. Pattie's Day
- Nutella cupcakes filled with chocolate ganache, frosted with Nutella frosting, drizzled with more chocolate ganache and topped with toasted coarsely chopped hazelnuts
- Strawberry Jello poke cupcakes with Cool Whip frosting, topped with a fresh raspberry - I made these for the 4th of July
- Banana cupcakes with crunchy peanut butter frosting
- Peanut butter cupcakes with a Reeses' peanut butter cup baked inside and frosted with vanilla frosting (this cupcake needs a revamp)
- Almond cupcakes with marshmallow frosting and topped with sliced almonds - this one could be better as well
- Hot Fudge Sundae cupcakes from BHG (Chocolate cupcakes with a hot fudge center, vanilla frosting, magic shell and chopped peanuts, another dollop of frosting and a maraschino cherry on top)
- Lemon strawberry pie cupcake - lemon cake filled with lemon curd, frosted with fresh strawberry frosting and topped with a fresh lemon slice
- Gluten-free coffee cake cupcake with butter frosting (Adapted from BHG's Cinnamon Roll Cupcake) and executed the second time successfully with the help of my gluten-free guru, Cara!
- Kahlua cupcakes with coffee buttercream
- Dark chocolate cupcakes with white chocolate frosting
- Zucchini cupcakes with caramel frosting (I found this treasure in an old Taste of Home magazine dedicated to cooking from your garden)
- Cherry almond cupcakes from BHG

On the decorating side of things I have done the following:
- Easter bunny butts amongst the grass from Hello Cupcake!
- Pumpkin patch cupcakes from Hello Cupcake!

Here's how green my St. Pattie's Day cakes turned out. The batter looked like melted crayons before I baked it.