Easter Cupcakes

These cupcakes can be frosted and topped in many ways; the chocolate is quite subtle and they taste rather syrupy. These could be frosted with ganache (dark or white), golden sryup buttercream, or even nutella. I opted for a brown butter vanilla buttercream (follow a buttercream recipe, browning the butter first, and mix in vanilla bean paste or extract).

Recipe for the cupcakes from LRF

White Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes

makes 12

Ingredients:
125g unsalted butter
100g white chocolate, chopped
150g brown sugar
90g golden syrup
160ml milk
150g plain flour
50g self raising flour
1 egg

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/mark 5 and line a muffin pan with 12 paper cases.

2. Melt the butter, chocolate, sugar, golden syrup and milk together in a small saucepan. Pour into a medium-sized heat proof bowl and leave to cool for 15 minutes.

3. Sift the flours and mix into the cooled mixture. Beat in the egg.

4. Divide the batter amongst the cases and bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cakes comes out clean.

Marbled Cupcakes

My friend knows how much I love baking, so she knew I would be happy to make a batch (and a half) of cupcakes for a James Bond-themed party. Marbled Cupcakes were the request- perhaps a nod to the tuxedo was the reasoning behind it... or the fact that they should please both those who prefer vanilla and those who prefer chocolate.

The recipe is from the Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days book. These are actually the first cupcakes I made from the book, and I was very pleased with them. They are light and fluffy in texture, but I did find that there was more frosting than I needed. I made one and a half times the  amount listed, but the amount of frosting for a single batch would have been enough.

Marbled Cupcakes

Makes 12- 16

Ingredients:

For the chocolate sponges

40g unsalted butter

140g caster sugar

120g plain flour

½ tbsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

20g cocoa powder

1 egg

120ml whole milk

For the vanilla sponges

40g unsalted butter

140g caster sugar

120g plain flour

½ tbsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

1 egg

120ml whole milk

½ tsp vanilla extract

For the chocolate Frosting

200g icing sugar

50g cocoa powder

80g soft unsalted butter

25ml whole milk

For the vanilla frosting

250g icing sugar

80g soft unsalted butter

25ml whole milk

¼ tsp vanilla extract

     

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/mark 5 and line a muffin tin with muffin cases.

2. For the chocolate sponge batter, beat together all of the ingredients apart from the egg and milk.

3. In a separate bowl, lightly whisk together the egg and milk. Once the other mixture resembles breadcrumbs, beat in three quarters of the egg and milk mixture until the batter is smooth. Add the remaining quarter of the egg and milk and mix until smooth and thick.

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for the vanilla sponges, adding the vanilla extract to the egg and milk mixture (no cocoa powder is used here).

5. Distribute the chocolate batter evenly amongst the muffin cases, filling 1/3 of each case. Add some vanilla batter on top and swirl with a knife tip or teaspoon handle.

6. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until risen and a skewer inserted into the centre comes away clean. Leave to cool a little, remove from the muffin pan and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

7. For the chocolate frosting, mix together the icing sugar, cocoa powder and butter until the butter is evenly distributed. Pour in the milk and continue to mix until fluffy.

8. Repeat step 7 for the vanilla frosting, adding the vanilla extract to the milk (and omitting the cocoa powder). Ensure the two frostings are of the same consistency by adding milk where required.

9. Frost the cupcakes, once completely cooled, with some of the chocolate frosting and some of the vanilla frosting. If piping the frosting, fill one side of the piping bag with chocolate frosting and the other with vanilla.

Cherry Cupcakes

It has been a while since my last post... revision. Anyway, I will compensate by posting more than one recipe this week- we may be looking at a triple feature over this weekend...

In my last post- the White Russian Cupcakes, I wasn't totally satisfied with the texture of the cakes, but these are exactly what I was yearning for. I will usually favour a simple yellow cupcake, nice and springy and light, over a more heavily-flavoured dense cupcake, including chocolate- they seem to defeat the point of a cupcake. These cupcakes have a lovely taste of almond throughout the sponge, with sweet maraschino cherries folded in. I found this recipe from the Always With Butter blog and love it.

Cherry Cupcakes

Makes 24 cupcakes

Ingredients: 

225g unsalted butter

400g caster sugar

4 eggs, separated

240ml milk

¼tsp almond extract

480g plain flour

3tsp baking powder

1tsp salt

4 tbsp maraschino cherry juice

180g maraschino cherry halves 

Vanilla Buttercream:

225g unsalted butter

350g icing sugar

½tsp salt 

4tbsp vanilla extract

4tbsp milk 

Method:

1. Preheat the oven the 180C/350F/gas mark 4, and line a couple of muffin trays with cupcake cases.

2. Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy then add the egg yolks and continue beating until it is fully amalgamated.

3. Add the almond extract and sift in about a third of the dry ingredients, then add about a third of the milk, alternating until all has been added and evenly combined.

4. In a separate clean, dry bowl, whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks and fold into the rest of the cake mixture. Fold in the cherry-halves and juice.

5. Bake for about 18-22 minutes in the centre of the oven, or until the tops are bouncy and a skewer inserted through the middle of the cake comes out clean. Leave in the trays for about 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

6. For the buttercream, sift the icing sugar into the butter and cream together until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla, salt and half the milk. As required, sift in additional sugar or milk to required consistency.

White Russian Cupcakes

These are adapted/inspired by a recipe I saw for White Russian Cupcakes based on the cocktail (Kahlua, Vodka and cream), on Katie Cakes. The flavour is quite subtle, and they don't really taste like coffee, or alcoholic cupcakes, but almost have hints of white chocolate.

I decided to omit the vodka, as it didn't really seem necessary (because of its lack of flavour), and replaced it with more milk and Kahlua.

I found the texture of these cakes to be a little too dense, and would prefer to use a different recipe which provides more light, springy cakes. The recipe I have posted uses a base of the vanilla cupcakes from Hummingbird Bakery's Cake Days, with the addition of liqueur

.

White Russian Cupcakes

Makes 12-16 cupcakes

Ingredients:
80g unsalted butter
280g caster sugar
240g plain flour
1tbsp baking powder
¼tsp salt
210ml milk
2tsp Kahlua
½tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
White Russian Buttercream:
110g unsalted butter
350g icing sugar
1tbsp Kahlua
milk
1 square milk/dark chocolate  

Method:
1. Preheat the oven the 190C/375F/gas mark 5, and line a muffin tray with cupcake cases.

2. Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy then add the flour, baking powder and salt and continue beating until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs.

3. Mix together the milk, Kahlua, vanilla and eggs in a separate bowl. Beat three quarters of the liquids into the dry ingredients, mix well, add the rest of the liquid and continue mixing until the batter is smooth.

4. Divide the batter between the cupcake cases, up to about two-thirds full and bake for 18-20 minutes, or until the cakes are springy to the touch. Leave to cool in the tin for about 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

5. For the butter cream, beat together the butter and sugar until smooth and add the Kahlua. Add as much milk as (about one tablespoon) required to reach piping-consistency. Frost the cupcakes with the butter cream and grate some chocolate over the tops.