cupcakes

Cakes, Chocolate, Cookies, cupcakes, Desserts, Vanilla

The Best Edible Cookie Dough

July 3, 2017July 3, 2017by thebusyspatula2 Comments

I’ve been in a motivational slump lately. Creative juices are at their all-time low, and laziness has taken over my life. It’s not like I don’t have content to share with you, but parking myself in front of the computer and writing a post seemed so pointless and boring I just didn’t have the heart to write. Anyway, I’m working on moving past the slump and onto a more productive track.
These mini cupcakes are vanilla cupcakes that I made from leftover wedding cake batter (a post on that soon) and are topped with a scoop of (what I think) is the best cookie dough, homemade magic shell and flaky salt. While all the parts of the cupcake are delicious, the star of this particular recipe is the cookie dough. What I think makes this cookie dough better others is a key step: toasting the flour.
Did you know that ingesting raw flour can cause foodborne illnesses such as E.coli and Salmonella? I know. I was surprised too. Toasting the flour not only makes it safe to consume, but it also gives the cookie dough a delicious nutty flavor that cuts down the sweetness of the cookie dough too.
Other than toasting the flour, you would need some great quality chocolate chips. Artisan Kettle happened to send me some bags to work with, and they were delicious. I’ve really tried about every brand of chocolate out there, and for the price point, they’re hard to beat. Bonus, they’re organic, fair-trade and gluten free. It’s simple to make and so so easy. I happened to make the cupcakes because I had them on hand, but you can always just make a jar of cookie dough and store it in the fridge for a cold scoop able treat.

The Best Edible Cookie Dough

Recipe for cake can be found here: Strawberry Ombre Cake

Ingredients:

¾ c. all-purpose flour
½ c. butter, softened
⅓ c. sugar
2 tbsp. heavy cream
½ tsp. kosher salt
½ c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
½ c. milk chocolate chips

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325˚F. Line a small sheet pan with aluminum foil.
Spread flour evenly on the sheet pan and toast in oven for about 10 minutes, or until the flour is lightly browned and smells nutty.
5 minutes into baking, stir the flour to toast it evenly.
Remove and cool flour before use, about 10 minutes.
In a medium bowl with an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.
Add the sugar, cream and salt and mix until combined.
Add flour and mix until combined.
Fold in chocolate chips. Either scoop on top of mini cupcakes or store in fridge for easy snacking.

Recipe adapted from espresso and cream.

Birthdays, Cakes, cupcakes, Desserts, Holidays

A Boy Baby Shower & How to Dye Your Own Sprinkles

April 15, 2016April 14, 2016by thebusyspatulaLeave a Comment

This past weekend I made some baby shower cakes and cupcakes for a friend. There wasn’t a particular theme except the color blue and silver. Now this isn’t the first time I’ve catered for a baby shower, so I had an idea of what I wanted it to look like. If you’re like me and are very particular about your colors, you know how difficult it is to find that riiiiight shade of sprinkles. Try googling “baby blue sprinkles” and most likely you’ll get the generic blue. The first time someone requested a baby blue cake, I searched high and low for the right shade. Etsy, amazon, and just plain google search turned up nothing. Zip. Zilch.
You know what they say, “If you want something done, do it yourself.” (<= Side Note: Fifth Element is one of my favorite movies. Also, Gary Oldman pretty much can be anyone he wants. How is this the same person that played Commissioner Gordon?) And so I did. All you need is a ziplock bag, white sprinkles, and gel food color.
Place your sprinkles in a ziplock bag, add in your gel color. A tiny dab will do. You can always add more but you can’t take away the color. Start massaging your sprinkles into the gel color. The sprinkles will magically start taking on the color of your dye without melting. Once all the sprinkles are uniform in color, you are ready to go!
For the sprinkles on the cake I used, Americolor’s sky blue and electric blue and for the cupcakes, I used Wilton’s cornflower blue. I bought the silver sprinkles because metallic colors just don’t work as well when hand dying them.
baby boy cupcakes Another tip I have is that if you’re short on time and on a budget, I recommend ordering items from Etsy. I love Etsy for their homemade things and supporting small business is always a good idea. I suppose I could’ve made the little converse booties and the cutout sign, but I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have done as neat of a job and it would’ve taken me forever. What I did make were the little fondant pom poms to tie the whole thing together with the décor. I promise to do a tutorial on this soon! 🙂

Chocolate, cupcakes, Desserts, Strawberry

The Pink Cupcake (#10000cupcakes)

October 19, 2015October 19, 2015by thebusyspatula10 Comments

October is breast cancer awareness month! When I found out that KitchenAid is donating $1 to Susan G. Komen for every original picture of a cupcake baked and shared, I had to jump on board.

Since pink is the color for breast cancer awareness, I decided to make the pinkest cupcake I can possibly make. With a pink velvet cake base and strawberry frosting, the cupcake is already pink. But once topped with tiny sparkling pink macarons sandwiched with chocolate ganache (macarons are my favorite!), pink and white colored edible pearls, edible silver stars, gumpaste flowers and specks of pink shimmer, it is filled to the brim with all things pink and white.
Of course, you don’t have to decorate the cupcakes like I did. The pink velvet cake, strawberry frosting, ganache and macarons are all delicious individually and together. And I encourage you to try your own combination of flavors and components to make your own unique creation.
So here’s to all to those who are fighting, supporting, hurting, recovering, helping, treating and healing from breast cancer or with a loved one with breast cancer. You are stronger than you think.

The Pink Cupcake

1 batch of pink velvet cupcakes (recipe below)
1 batch of strawberry frosting (recipe below)
1 batch of pink mini macarons (recipe below)
1 batch of chocolate ganache (recipe below)
edible pink pearls (optional)
edible white pearls (optional)
edible silver stars (optional)
edible pink shimmer dust (optional)
white gumpaste flowers (optional)

Instructions

On a pink velvet cupcake, with a 1M Wilton frosting tip, frosting a swirl of strawberry frosting.
Sprinkle with edible pink and white pearls and sprinkle silver stars and pink shimmer dust.
Top with two pink mini macarons and two gumpaste flowers.
Enjoy.

Pink Velvet Cake

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup cake flour
2 tsp. baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, at room temperature
½ c. butter, at room temperature
1 ½ c. granulated white sugar
1 ½ tsp. vanilla extract
½ tsp. pink gel food coloring
1 cup buttermilk

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350˚F. Line two muffin pans with cupcake liners.
In a medium bowl, mix both flours, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter on medium speed for 30 seconds.
Add sugar and vanilla and beat until light and fluffy.
Add eggs one at a time until incorporated and beat in food coloring.
Alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk to egg mixture on low speed.
Fill cupcake liners two-thirds full. Bake 15-17 minutes until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool pans on wire racks for 10 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pans and cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting:

Strawberry Puree

Ingredients:
3 cups of strawberries, smashed
1 tsp. lemon juice

Instructions:

In a small pot, cook strawberries and lemon juice on medium heat until mixture thickens and reduces 1/3-1/2 of the original volume, about 5-10 minutes.
Once thickened, put in a bowl to cool and refrigerate.

Basic Vanilla Frosting

Ingredients:
2 c. whole milk
½ c. flour
¼ tsp. salt
1 1b. (4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 c. sugar
1 tbsp. vanilla extract

Instructions:

In a saucier pan, put milk, salt and flour and whisk until combined on medium heat.
Continuously whisk mixture until thickened to a pudding like consistency.
Once thickened, strain through a mesh strainer into a bowl with a spatula to remove lumps.
Place a piece of plastic wrap on top of the flour mixture and put into the fridge until fully cool.
In a mixer bowl fitted with the whisk attachment, mix the sugar and butter on high speed until fluffy and pale about, 5-10 minutes.
Add the chilled flour mixture and continue to whip on high speed until the sugar is completely dissolved and the mixture is no longer gritty, about 5-10 minutes.
Add the vanilla extract and mix until combined.

Strawberry Frosting

Ingredients:
1 batch of strawberry puree
⅔ batch of vanilla frosting

Instructions:

Mix vanilla frosting with ½ of strawberry puree until the mixture turns strawberry pink and fluffy.
Give mix a taste and if not flavored enough, add puree ¼ at a time until desired flavor is reached.

Pink Mini Macarons

Ingredients:

212 g. almond meal
212 g. powdered sugar
172 g. egg whites, divided to 82 g. and 90 g (aged, if possible)
236 g. sugar
158 g. water
pink gel food color
pink sparkling sugar (optional)

Instructions:

Line four baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
In the bowl of your food processor, add the almond meal and powdered sugar and pulse until thoroughly combined.
Sift the mixture over a large mixing bowl, throwing out the lumps as they appear. Add 82 g. of the egg whites and stir until you get a thick mixture.
In a small pot attached with a candy thermometer, combine the sugar and water over medium heat and boil until the syrup reaches 200˚F.
Once the syrup reaches 200˚F, start whipping the remaining 90 g. in the bowl of your stand mixer with the whisk attachment on medium speed until soft peaks are reached.
Once the syrup reaches 248 degrees, remove the pot off the burner and slowly pour the syrup down the side of the mixing bowl with the egg whites on medium speed.
Once the egg whites are fully incorporated, increase the speed to medium high until egg whites form glossy, stiff peaks. Add two drops of the pink gel food color and mix until batter turns a light shade of pink.
Mix a ⅓ of the egg white mix to the almond mixture and stir together until the batter is slightly lighter and less pasty. From then on, fold in ⅓ of the egg white mixture at a time until the mixture “flows like magma”. The mixture should be smooth and run thick ribbons off the spatula.
With a pastry bag fitted with a ¼ in. plain tip, pipe mini macarons by squeezing the pastry bag with slight pressure.
The piped batter may have peaks but should smooth away in a minute or two. Let the batter stand until the tops of the macaron batter have dried*, about 30 mins to 1 hour.
Optional: If using pink sparkling sugar, sprinkle it on top of macaron batter after the batter is piped.
Preheat the oven to 275-325˚F. If your oven tends to run hot, go for 275˚ if not then 325˚.
Bake 10-13 minutes, until the feet are formed and the tops are smooth. The batter is done when you slightly wiggle it and it starts to come off of the parchment paper / silicone mat.
Let cool and fill with chocolate ganache filling.

Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients:
8 oz. dark chocolate, chopped
¾ c. heavy whipping cream

Instructions:

In a heatproof bowl, pour heavy cream on top of chocolate and microwave for one minute.
Let stand 3 minutes and stir until combined.
Let mixture cool in the fridge and stir every 4-5 minutes until the ganache is firm enough to be spread onto macaron shells.

Appetizers, Chocolate, Cookies, cupcakes, Desserts, Dinner, Disney, Meat, Mexican, Parties, Star Wars

Star Wars Rebels Party

December 4, 2014March 25, 2015by thebusyspatula9 Comments

It’s been a while. With Thanksgiving and prepping for Step 3’s, life has been hectic! I feel a mix of regret and sorrow that I missed out on all things fall for the blog. But, it has fast forwarded to December which means that the holidays are here and that translates to holiday goodies. But before we get started on all things Christmas, let’s get to the Rebels Party.

As someone who has watched the Star Wars movies exclusively, I was skeptical when the hype for Star Wars Rebels rose out of midair. But after watching one episode (which led to another and another…), I have to say that I’ve fallen in love with the characters and the story line. There is just the right mix of darkness and humor for all ages to enjoy.

So when Mr. L approached me about doing another Star Wars party, I couldn’t say no. (This is the second Star Wars themed party to be featured on the blog. The first one is linked here.)

We drew inspiration from Lothal, the planet where the rebels operate. Lothal is apparently the name of a real city in India and one of the characters, Ezra, really reminds me of Aladdin. Coincidence?? I think not. Anyways, a bit of yellow turf, clay mountains and a modified Lego Space Needle, made a cute tablescape that was reminiscent of the real thing.

As always, there was food with punny names.

Inquisitortilla Chips with Dual Dip (Inquisitor Tortilla Chips with Dual Dip)
Sa-Bean Burritos (Sabine Burritos)
22 Pickup-Cakes (22 Pickup Cupcakes)
Chopper Salad
“Zeb” Orrelios Oreos
TIE Lettuce Wraps
Kanan Lightsaber Kebabs
Jogan Fruit Juice
Hoth2O (A nod to the original series)
The Entire Spread

It was really fun hanging out with friends, eating good food and watching the special broadcast of “Spark of Rebellion” with the extended scene. Everyone went home with a goodie bag filled with Star Wars themed candy and a figure. Of course I got the one figure I didn’t want, the imperial commander. Boo.

Cake Balls, Chocolate, cupcakes, Desserts, Halloween, Holidays, Vanilla

Cute Halloween Bat Cupcakes

October 31, 2014October 31, 2014by thebusyspatula3 Comments

I know I said I would post about my Rebels Party next, but today is Halloween. And if I don’t share this with you now, I would have to wait a whole year to post this! I have a little cousin, J (wait, can I call her “Little J” from now on? A la Gossip girl??), who asks me to make cupcakes for her classroom parties every year. Last year I made these cauldron cupcakes, but it wasn’t an original idea of mine. This year I was bent on doing something unique, and of course every time I thought something was new, Google told me I was wrong. After a solid week of thinking about spiders, cats, ghosts, graveyards, pumpkins, candy corn, witches and other Halloween themed items, I came up with these really cute bat cupcakes.
Cute Halloween Bat Cupcakes 3 Start by tinting vanilla frosting to a blue that is similar to the night sky and add some edible gold stars. The bats are made with Oreo truffles which are one of the easiest desserts you can make. You basically mix Oreos and cream cheese and you get these tasty nuggets of goodness. Plus, I used cookie dough Oreos which made them that much more awesome. Stick on some candy eyes, chocolate wings and chocolate covered candy pearls and you’ve got a bat. The moon in the background is made with yellow candy melts sprinkled with sanding sugar to make it glitter. By the way, I hurried my butt to get a few shots of these before the sun went down and that’s the reason I’m lacking more photo content. I love me some fall, but I do not love the short days… no siree.

Halloween Bat Cupcakes

Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 ¾ c. all-purpose flour
2 c. sugar
¼ c. natural unsweetened cocoa powder
½ c. Dutch-process unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1. tsp. kosher salt
½ c. vegetable oil
2 extra-large eggs, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 c. strong, hot coffee

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 2 muffin pans with cupcake liners (24 cups in total).
In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix flour, sugar, both cocoa powders, baking soda, baking powder and salt until fully combined.
In a separate bowl, whisk vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla extract until combined.
With the mixer speed on low, add the egg mixture to the flour mixture until combined.
Turn off the mixer. With a spatula, scrape the sides of the bowl to fully incorporate the two mixtures.
Turn the mixer on low and slowly add the hot coffee to the batter. Once added, raise the speed to medium until completely homogenous.
Fill cupcake liners with 2/3 full with batter and bake about 15-20 minutes. Checking at 13 minutes for doneness with a toothpick.
Let stand for 5-10 minutes when done, then put onto a cooling rack to fully cool.

Night Sky Frosting

Ingredients:

2 c. whole milk
½ c. flour
¼ tsp. salt
1 1b. (4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 c. sugar
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
royal blue gel food color
violet gel food color

Instructions:

In a saucier pan, put milk, salt and flour and whisk until combined on medium heat.
Continuously whisk mixture until thickened to a pudding like consistency.
Once thickened, strain through a mesh strainer into a bowl with a spatula to remove lumps.
Place a piece of plastic wrap on top of the flour mixture and put into the fridge until fully cool.
In a mixer bowl fitted with the whisk attachment, mix the sugar and butter on high speed until fluffy and pale about, 5-10 minutes.
Add the chilled flour mixture and continue to whip on high speed until the sugar is completely dissolved and the mixture is no longer gritty, about 5-10 minutes.
Add the vanilla extract and mix until combined.
Add blue and violet gel colors until desired color is reached.

Yellow Moons

Ingredients:

yellow candy melts
yellow sanding sugar

Instructions:

Melt yellow candy melts and pour into a squeeze bottle.
On a sheet pan lined with wax paper, draw and fill in 1 inch wide circles with the squeeze bottle.
Sprinkle yellow sanding sugar while candy melt is still melted.
Let set until use.

Oreo Truffle Bats

Ingredients:

36 Oreos
8 oz. package of cream cheese, softened
1 tsp. vanilla extract
black candy melts
black candy pearls
small candy eyeballs

Instructions:

Put Oreos in a food processor and pulse until fine crumbs form.
Add softened cream cheese and vanilla extract, and pulse until blended.
Shape into 40 small balls onto a wax paper lined sheet pan and chill until firm.*
Melt the black chocolate candy melt in a tall and narrow bowl or cup and dip chilled truffles using a fork. Let excess drip back into the bowl/cup.
Let the chocolate on the truffle set until firm.
Pour melted chocolate candy melt into a squeeze bottle.
On a separate sheet pan lined with wax paper, draw wings with squeeze bottle. Set aside.
While the wings set, use the black candy melt to adhere candy eyeballs onto the chocolate truffle.
Take a black candy pearl, dip it into melted black candy melt and adhere onto top of the bat’s head. Let set.

Assembly

You will need:

chocolate cupcakes, baked and cooled
night sky frosting
yellow moons
truffle bats
edible gold star glitter
large open star decorating tip

Instructions:

In a pastry bag fitted with a large open star decorating tip, fill with night sky frosting and frost a tall swirl on a chocolate cupcake.
Sprinkle edible gold star glitter all around the sides.
Add a yellow moon towards the back of the cupcake and place a truffle bat (without its wings) onto the center of the cupcake.
Take two wings and position it next to the truffle bat.
Enjoy!

*If mixture is too soft to shape into balls, spoon 40 small separate mounds on a wax paper lined sheet pan and chill. Once chilled, you should be able to form them into balls.

Chocolate cake recipe adapted from Ina Garten.
Oreo truffle recipe adapted from Kraft.

Chocolate, cupcakes, Desserts, Disney, Holidays, Parties, Vegetables

Groot Cupcakes (Mont Blanc Cupcakes)

August 20, 2014August 20, 2014by thebusyspatula15 Comments

guardians of the galaxy cupcake 2 Remember how I gushed about Guardians of the Galaxy a couple of posts back?* Apparently, I wasn’t done with it. (Wait, have you watched it yet? Can you please? It’s totally awesome. Thanks.) The latest Marvel movie had me racking my brain for a dessert idea and naturally I started with my favorite character of the group, Groot. To be honest, I thought that the idea of Groot was silly. Really, a talking tree that only says, “I am Groot” exclusively in that order? But as the movie went on, the simplest character became the most interesting and loveable of them all.
A Mont Blanc is a chestnut flavored dessert. The chestnut cream is traditionally piled high and topped with powdered sugar which resembles a snow capped mountain. Hence the name, Mont Blanc, just like the mountain that borders France and Italy. The tan color of the chestnut cream is similar to the color of tree bark so instead of piling up the cream in a circle, I decided to turn it into Groot’s face.
This particular Groot cupcake starts with a syrup soaked genoise cake. It is then filled with chestnut cream and dipped in a perfectly shiny chocolate ganache. (Seriously, so shiny. I couldn’t keep my eyes off of them.) It is then topped with more chestnut cream, only this time it is piped with a multi-hole pastry tip in the shape of Groot’s face.
A few fondant additions later, you have your very own mini swarm of Groots.** Super cute and perfect for a Marvel, Guardians of the Galaxy or Superhero themed party, I hope you give it a try for your next gathering.
Groot Cupcakes (Mont Blanc Cupcakes)

Genoise Cake

Ingredients:
5 large eggs, room temperature
⅔ c. sugar
½ tbsp. corn syrup
1 ⅓ c. cake flour
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tbsp. butter, melted
2 tbsp. milk
2 tbsp. vegetable oil

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 325˚F and line muffin tin with cupcake liners.
In a bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the eggs until homogenous.
Add the sugar and corn syrup to the eggs and mix on high speed until thickened, lightened and a ribbon forms when whisk is lifted.
Sift the cake flour into the egg mixture and fold until no traces of the flour remain.
In a separate bowl mix vanilla extract, butter, milk and vegetable oil and mix into the flour mixture.
Fill the cupcake liners with batter and bake 12-15 minutes until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.
Cool on a cooling rack.

Simple Syrup

Ingredients
¼ c. sugar
¼ c. water

Instructions

In a small pot, heat sugar and water until sugar is completely dissolved. Set aside and let cool.

Chestnut Pastry Cream

Ingredients
2 c. milk
¼ c. sugar
2 egg yolks
1 egg
¼ c. cornstarch
¼ c. sugar
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract
320 g. chestnuts, roasted and peeled
¼ c. heavy whipping cream

Instructions

In a medium saucepan, bring milk and ¼ c. sugar to a boil.
In another medium bowl, mix egg yolks, egg, cornstarch and ¼ c. sugar until a paste forms.
Using a ladle, drizzle a ladleful of milk while continuously whisking the egg mixture. Continue to drizzle in hot milk a little at a time until you mix in ¾ of the milk.
Take the egg milk mixture and pour it into the saucepan with the remaining milk.
Cook the mixture while stirring constantly over medium heat until mixture is thickened and pudding like.
Remove saucepan from heat and mix in butter and vanilla extract. Set aside.
In a food processor, puree chestnuts until very fine.
Add the pastry cream and process until a smooth paste forms.
Add the heavy whipping cream and process until completely mixed in.

Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients:
8 oz. good quality dark chocolate, chopped into small pieces
¾ c. heavy whipping cream
2 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 pinch kosher salt

Instructions

Bring whipping cream and sugar to a boil in either a saucepan or microwave.***
In a medium bowl, pour hot cream mixture over the chopped chocolate.
Let it rest for 5 minutes, then whisk mixture until smooth.
Add the butter and salt and mix until fully incorporated.

Fondant Pieces

You will need:
green fondant
black fondant
white fondant

Instructions

For the leaves:

Pinch off tiny pieces of green fondant and form shapes of leaves by molding one end narrower than the other side.

For the eyes:

Roll out black fondant ⅛ in. thick. Cut out circles that are ¾ in. in diameter. (I used the end of a fat bubble tea straw.)
Pinch off tiny pieces of white fondant and make tiny circles to press flat onto the black fondant. Remember to place the pieces off center to avoid deadpan eyes. (I placed mine to in the north east quadrant of the eyes.)

Assembly

With a pastry brush, brush the tops of cooled cupcakes with the simple syrup.
Let it rest 5 minutes and go over it once more with the simple syrup.
Fill a pastry bag fitted with a narrow plain pastry tip with half of the chestnut pastry cream; fill each cupcake with about a tablespoon of pastry cream.
Dip the tops of the cupcake with the chocolate ganache, and let set in the freezer for about 5 minutes.
Fill a pastry bag fitted with a multi-hole pastry tip, with more chestnut pastry cream.
Using a stead pressure, draw Groot’s face using an up and down motion. Make sure you go over the each area several times to give it a 3D effect.
Carefully place the fondant eyes in the center of the face and arrange the fondant leaves at the top of the head. Remember the fondant WILL melt in time, do not place the fondant pieces until you are ready to serve or as close to the serving time as possible.

*If you don’t know by now, I’m into the geek/nerd culture. I wouldn’t say I’m fully immersed it in, but maybe waist deep.
** Warning about the fondant addition. Because the fondant is resting on top of a pile of pastry cream, the fondant will melt with time. I would give you a solid hour before it starts to melt. Tread lightly and be aware. 🙂
*** If using the microwave, be careful not to overheat it. It will bubble over, leaving you a large mess to clean… not that this happened to me. No, it totally did. Don’t be like me.

Chocolate ganache recipe adapted from recipe girl.

Cakes, Chocolate, cupcakes, Desserts, Ice Cream

Hi Hat Cake Cones

May 21, 2014May 21, 2014by thebusyspatula6 Comments

The weather is finally starting to warm up and these ice cream cones were screaming to be used. I originally used them for my ice cream cone macarons, but I had half a box that was sitting on my counter looking useless and forlorn. I wanted my next post to be hi hat cupcakes, so I stuffed it into a cone.
It’s ridiculously fun and easy to eat. The crisp chocolate coating breaks into the soft marshmallow frosting and rich chocolate cake. You can also sprinkle it with different combinations of toppings and change the color of the candy melts to suit the occasion. I used Swedish pearl sugar and sanding sugar as toppings, but you can use anything you want to top it. It also looks very cute with sprinkles.
On another note, why is the weather cloudy 80% of the time I’m trying to shoot photos? Can’t a sista catch a break once in a while? Every time I start conjuring up an idea for a project, the forecast is bound to be cloudy or rainy. If you are into photography, you know the value of natural light and can understand my frustration. If you’re not, then please excuse this rant of mine.
Hi Hat Cake Cones

You will need:
1 batch of chocolate cake batter (recipe below)
1 batch of marshmallow frosting (recipe bleow)
white candy melts
pink candy melts
blue candy melts
pink sanding sugar
Swedish pearl sugar
mini ice cream cones

Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:
1 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. sugar
1/3 c. Dutch-process unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. kosher salt
¼ c. vegetable oil
1 extra-large egg, room temperature
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 c. strong, hot coffee

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and put one mini ice cream cone in each cup of a mini cupcake pan.
In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix flour, sugar, both cocoa powders, baking soda, baking powder and salt until fully combined.
In a separate bowl, whisk vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla extract until combined.
With the mixer speed on low, add the egg mixture to the flour mixture until combined.
Turn off the mixer. With a spatula, scrape the sides of the bowl to fully incorporate the two mixtures.
Turn the mixer on low and slowly add the hot coffee to the batter. Once added, raise the speed to medium until completely homogenous.
Fill mini ice cream cones½ full with batter and bake about 10-13 minutes. Checking at 10 minutes for doneness with a toothpick test.*
Let stand for 5-10 minutes when done, then put onto a cooling rack to fully cooled.

Marshmallow Frosting

Ingredients:
4 egg whites (120 g.)
1 c. sugar
a pinch of cream of tartar
a pinch of salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Instructions:

In a small pot fill about 1 in. of water and let it come to a simmer.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk egg whites, sugar, cream of tartar and salt until homogenous.
Once the water comes to a simmer, place the bowl on top of the pot and whisk the egg white mixture until the sugar is completely dissolved and no longer grainy.
Move the bowl to your standing mixer fitted with a whisk attachment and beat on high speed until glossy and stiff.
Add the vanilla extract and mix completely.
Fill a piping bag fitted with an open star tip.

Assembly:

Pipe a swirl of frosting onto cooled cake cone.
Put into the freezer for 15-30 minutes until completely cold.
In two separate bowls, melt white and pink candy melts and blue and white candy melts.
Remove the cake cones from the freezer and dip the frosting portion into the melted chocolate. Do not be afraid, the frosting will not fall off if sufficiently cooled.
Before the chocolate sets, sprinkle sanding sugar and Swedish pearl sugar.
Let chocolate set and enjoy.

* The toothpick test: insert a toothpick into the cake and if the toothpick comes out clean or with a few crumbs clinging to it, it is done.

cinnamon, cupcakes, Desserts, Holidays

Churro Cupcakes

April 29, 2014by thebusyspatula2 Comments

churro cupcake 2 Have you ever had a churro before? It’s a giant stick of fried dough with tons of cinnamon sugar on it. It’s different from zepoles and funnel cakes because it’s more dense and has a thicker outer crust. I get my churro craving satisfied at Costco. It’s just one dollar for about 1½ feet of sweet fried goodness. Such a good bargain! The trick is to get it before you start shopping so you have a little snack, and you don’t have to worry about a cinnamon sugar trail being left in the house.
Here is my ode to a churro. It is a cinnamon buttermilk cake with fluffy marshmallow frosting topped with cinnamon sugar and a bite-sized churro. It takes a bit of work to make but it’s a lot of fun and a great idea for Cinco De Mayo. 🙂
Churro Cupcakes

Makes about 28 cupcakes

Cinnamon Buttermilk Cake

Ingredients:
3 c. cake flour
2 c. sugar
1½ tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tbsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
1¼ c. buttermilk, divided
8 oz. unsalted butter, room temperature
4 eggs, room temperature
2 egg yolks
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350˚F and line muffin pans with cupcake liners.
In a bowl of a standing mixer with the paddle attachment, add flour, sugar, ground cinnamon, baking powder, and salt. Mix until combined.
On low speed, add 1 c. buttermilk and butter and mix until combined.
In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, egg yolk, ¼ c. buttermilk, and vanilla extract until homogenous.
On low speed, slowly add the egg mixture to the flour mixture.
Increase speed to medium, and mix until combined.
Fill 2/3 of cupcake liners.
Bake about 13-16 minutes until cake is done or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, and then move onto a cooling rack until completely cool.

Churros

For the cinnamon sugar
Ingredients:
½ c. sugar
1½ tsp. ground cinnamon

For the batter
Ingredients:
1½ tbsp. sugar
1 c. water
½ tsp. salt
2 tbsp. plus 2 quarts vegetable oil, divided
1 c. all-purpose flour

Instructions:

In a medium shallow bowl, mix together ½ c. sugar and ground cinnamon. Set aside.
In a small saucepan combine sugar, water, sat and 2 tbsp. vegetable oil and bring to a boil.
Take the pan off heat and stir in flour until a ball of dough forms.
In a medium heavy bottomed pan, heat oil to 375˚F and line a sheet pan with paper towels for draining.
Transfer dough to a piping bag fitted with a large star tip.
Squeeze out 1-2 inches of dough and have it ready for frying.
Once the oil is ready, use a slotted spoon or a spider to transfer the dough into the hot oil and fry until golden brown.
Remove the fried dough onto the sheet pan with a slotted spoon or a spider and let drain for about a minute.
Toss the warm churros into the cinnamon sugar mixture. Reserve leftover cinnamon sugar mixture to dust on top of cupcakes.

Marshmallow Frosting

Ingredients:
6 egg whites (180 g.)
1½ c. sugar
¼ tsp. cream of tartar
1 pinch of salt
1½ tsp. vanilla extract

Instructions:

In a small pot fill about 1 in. of water and let it come to a simmer.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk egg whites, sugar, cream of tartar and salt until homogenous.
Once the water comes to a simmer, place the bowl on top of the pot and whisk the egg white mixture until the sugar is completely dissolved and no longer grainy.
Move the bowl to your standing mixer fitted with a whisk attachment and beat on high speed until glossy and stiff.
Add the vanilla extract and mix completely.
Fill a piping bag fitted with the biggest plain piping tip you have.

Assembly:

Pipe a large dollop onto the cupcake by holding the piping bag perpendicular to the cupcake and squeeze using an even pressure until your desired size forms.
In a fine mesh sieve, dust reserved cinnamon sugar topping onto the frosted cupcake.
Garnish with a piece of churro.

Cake recipe adapted from sky high.
Churro recipe adapted from just a taste.
Marshmallow frosting recipe adapted from Marth Stewart.

Chocolate, cupcakes, Desserts, Fruit, Vanilla

Neapolitan Cupcakes

April 15, 2014by thebusyspatula3 Comments

I believe that most of the world is split between two factions: chocolate and vanilla. You love one more than the other.
Neapolitan Cupcakes 2 But then there is a small cluster of us who like them all: chocolate, vanilla and strawberry. We stand in front of grocery freezers and ice cream parlors for minutes on end trying to choose. “They all sound good!” “I can go for all of them!” We secretly like having to share with someone who is in the chocolate or vanilla faction just to avoid making a final decision.

This cupcake is for us. You get the fruity tart strawberry with the sweet lightness of vanilla and dark richness of chocolate. All rolled into one. No more time wasted on your preference. Think of the time you’ll save!

Neapolitan Cupcakes

Chocolate Cupcakes
Recipe Adapted from Ina Garten

Ingredients:
1 ¾ c. all-purpose flour
2 c. sugar
¼ c. natural unsweetened cocoa powder
½ c. Dutch-process unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1. tsp. kosher salt
½ c. vegetable oil
2 extra-large eggs, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 c. strong, hot coffee

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 2 muffin pans with cupcake liners (24 cups in total).
In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix flour, sugar, both cocoa powders, baking soda, baking powder and salt until fully combined.
In a separate bowl, whisk vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla extract until combined.
With the mixer speed on low, add the egg mixture to the flour mixture until combined.
Turn off the mixer. With a spatula, scrape the sides of the bowl to fully incorporate the two mixtures.
Turn the mixer on low and slowly add the hot coffee to the batter. Once added, raise the speed to medium until completely homogenous.
Fill cupcake liners with 2/3 full with batter and bake about 15-20 minutes. Checking at 13 minutes for doneness with a toothpick test.*
Let stand for 5-10 minutes when done, then put onto a cooling rack to fully cool.

Strawberry Puree

Ingredients:
3 cups of strawberries, smashed
1 tsp. lemon juice

Instructions:

In a small pot, cook strawberries and lemon juice on medium heat until mixture thickens and reduces 1/3-1/2 of the original volume, about 5-10 minutes.
Once thickened, put in a bowl to cool and refrigerate.

Basic Vanilla Frosting

Ingredients:
2 c. whole milk
½ c. flour
¼ tsp. salt
1 1b. (4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 c. sugar
1 tbsp. vanilla extract

Instructions:

In a saucier pan, put milk, salt and flour and whisk until combined on medium heat.
Continuously whisk mixture until thickened to a pudding like consistency.
Once thickened, strain through a mesh strainer into a bowl with a spatula to remove lumps.
Place a piece of plastic wrap on top of the flour mixture and put into the fridge until fully cool.
In a mixer bowl fitted with the whisk attachment, mix the sugar and butter on high speed until fluffy and pale about, 5-10 minutes.
Add the chilled flour mixture and continue to whip on high speed until the sugar is completely dissolved and the mixture is no longer gritty, about 5-10 minutes.
Add the vanilla extract and mix until combined.

Strawberry Frosting

Ingredients:
1 batch of strawberry puree
⅔ batch of vanilla frosting

Instructions:

Mix vanilla frosting with ½ of strawberry puree until the mixture turns strawberry pink and fluffy.
Give mix a taste and if not flavored enough, add puree ¼ at a time until desired flavor is reached.

* The toothpick test: insert a toothpick into a cupcake and if the toothpick comes out clean or with a few crumbs clinging to it, it is done.