The first cake I baked was a pink lemonade cake with a pink lemonade frosting. The recipes call for actual powdered pink lemonade drink mix and they taste just like pink lemonade. I've been feeling like I should decorate my cupcakes a little more. Just frosting is getting a little boring. The recipe for these cupcakes called for a dusting of pink lemonade mix. I thought they tasted "lemonady" enough so I sprinkled them with white nonpareils. I made the mistake of piping the frosting on all my cakes and then adding the sprinkles. Most of them fell off. I either need to add them as soon as I've piped or make my frosting less stiff. These cupcakes adorned my brunch table for a friend's visit.
The second cake I baked was a hummingbird cake. I used a gluten free recipe from Cupcake Project using blanched almond four. Fabulous - absolutely fabulous! I also loved that it only called for the fruit and some honey and no extra sugar. It didn't need it at all. I chose to frost with a simple cinnamon cream cheese frosting. I used my favorite recipe from BHG and added a half teaspoon of cinnamon. Next time I may leave the cinnamon out of the frosting.
The third cake I made was supposed to be a gingerbread cake. It turned out more like a molasses cake in my opinion. I wasn't sure what I was going to do for the frosting. First I tried making a molasses frosting. I based the recipe off of a honey frosting recipe I've done before. This was a complete disaster. The consistency and color were beautiful, but the flavor was horrible. I threw it out. There was no salvaging that one.
Next, I tasted one of the molasses cupcakes with the cinnamon cream cheese frosting I had already made. It was just okay. As I had mixed the batter and baked these cakes I smelled a hint of butterscotch. I decided to make a butterscotch frosting based on a white chocolate frosting recipe I have.
Butterscotch Frosting:
6 oz. butterscotch chips
1/3 cup whipping cream
1 cup unsalted butter
1 1/2 - 2 cups powdered sugar
- Leave butter out for 30 minutes.
- Heat whipping cream to simmering and pour over butterscotch chips. Leave for 5 min.
- Stir to combine and then leave another 15 min.
- Gradually beat butter into butterscotch mixture.
- Gradually beat in powdered sugar until frosting reaches piping consistency.
As if that wasn't enough, I decided to make a brown sugar drizzle to fill the cakes with.
Brown Sugar Drizzle:
Bring 1 stick of butter, 1 cup of packed brown sugar and 1/4 cup of milk to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla and let cool to thicken.
This drizzle is like caramel, but not as smooth. Also, it has a distinct brown sugar flavor. This recipe remains grainy. If you prefer smoother textures, make a traditional caramel sauce.
I used a squirt bottle to fill my cupcakes with the drizzle. These work better than ziplocks for fillings that are a little looser.
I used a simple 2D tip to pipe the butterscotch frosting on top. I wish I could have thought of some cute way to decorate these. Maybe a molasses chew or a butterscotch candy on top.
I made this particular cake for a friend who loves spiced cake and caramel. She loved it. My hubby and I also loved them. Delish!
Well, I finally did it. I ate frosting... butterscotch frosting... all by itself... a significant amount of frosting... maybe two or three cupcakes worth. It was too much to throw away, but not enough to want to save, so I piped it into my mouth. I didn't feel sick after, but I did feel a little guilty - but just a little.
No comments:
Post a Comment