Thin-Mint Cupcakes

Thin Mint Cupcakes. The idea came to me via an episode of "Unique Sweets." Now, that's a food show I love: no recipes given, just a bunch of foodies drooling over amazing desserts.

These guys are a little involved, but they're more than worth it. It starts with a cookie crust, followed by a moist chocolate cake, a mint buttercream filling, and it's all topped off with a smooth, creamy chocolate ganache. Thin Mint Cupcakes: Win.

edit: I wanted to post a slightly updated version of this recipe containing a more accurate peppermint buttercream recipe so that there is enough frosting to fill and decorate, a better chocolate coating for the top of the cupcake, and (ultimately) a better final product.

Thin Mint Cupcakes
yield: 24 cupcakes

Chocolate Cookie Crust
Found originally at food.com

40 Nabisco Chocolate Wafer cookies (about 1 box)
6 tbsp butter, melted
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 24 muffin tins with cupcake liners.

Crush the cookies by grinding in a food processor. Otherwise, use your hands and the bottom of a heavy, plastic cup of some kind. They don't have to be uniformly crushed; the butter will soften slightly larger crumbs.

Add the melted butter, vanilla, and salt. Stir until all of the crumbs are moist. Press into the bottoms of the cupcake liners. Bake for about 6 minutes. Watch them closely; you do not want them to burn. Let cool for about 20 minutes in pans on racks.



Chocolate Cake
I'm using a slightly modified Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake recipe

2 cups granulated sugar
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cups cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup hot coffee

Combine dry ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer. Stir to combine thoroughly. Add in eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla. Mix for 2 minutes at medium speed. Stir in coffee. Batter will be thin. Pour on top of cooled crusts in cupcake tins, filling about 2/3 full. This recipe makes enough batter for about 30 cupcakes, so there will be some left over.

Bake for 22 - 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes on wire racks before removing from pans and allowing to cool completely.



Peppermint Buttercream
I'm using a modified version originally found on Pink Parsely's blog

edit: Having made this recipe quite a few times now, this frosting in this (the previous) quantity isn't really enough to fill the cupcakes and to top them decoratively. Below, I have made some changing, increasing the recipe by 1/3 to have enough:

1 cup of butter, softened
4 cups confectioner's sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
about 6 drops green food coloring
4 tbsp heavy cream

Cream the butter in a stand mixer until pale and fluffy. Add the confectioner's sugar gradually, beating after each addition. Add the vanilla, peppermint, cream, and food coloring, and beat until light and fluffy.

Fill pastry bag fitted with a wide or rosette tip with peppermint butter cream. Be bold. Plunge the tip into the center of the cupcake until it hits the crust and fill each cupcake with pastry cream. The cupcake will likely bulge and buckle. Inevitably, you will have to spread some frosting on the top as a kind of crumb coat to make the top smooth and to make it easier to dip the cupcake into chocolate.

Chocolate Ganache

edit: I have used a ganache to top the cupcakes quite a few times, and the ganache never quite seems to come out right. After a recent batch of Salted Caramel Chocolate Cupcakes (with  an amazing salted caramel buttercream found over at Buttercream Couture), I decided to use plain melted chocolate. Below, these changes have been reflected.

6 oz semi-sweet chocolate, chopped (though I got away with using Ghiradelli chocolate chips)
4 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Place chocolate in a bowl in the top of a double boiler and heat gently (over medium low to medium heat) until melted and smooth. Turn cupcakes upside down and dip into warm chocolate, coating the top. I had to occasionally use a spoon to cover up a missed spot or two.

This is one of those recipes of which I'm enormously proud. Other than the extra cupcakes that the batter makes, the only thing I would change is a slightly thicker layer of chocolate on top. Otherwise, these are Thin-Mint cookies in Cupcake form. Enjoy!

My First Carrot Cake

I've had this blog for quite some time now, but I've never made a carrot cake. I like them well enough, but I just never seem to make them. I'm not sure why that is, but then I don't really make traditional cakes so much as cupcakes and the like.

I started with my usual method of search and seizure, looking at different recipes from many different sources. This is the sort of recipe that all of my books contain, and of course websites like Tastespotting are filled with many variations: pineapple, cardamom, coconut, raisins, pecans, walnuts, chocolate... Just about any variation you could find is out there somewhere.

I'm sticking with a traditional, if not spicy, carrot cake. I started with Alton Brown's recipe as a base because it's straightforward and contains only carrots and cinnamon. I love ginger and cardamom (and how they play off cinnamon's spiciness), so I added those but they certainly aren't required. I'm a fan of pecans and Brown's recipe lacked them. For the frosting, it's hard to mess with the traditional cream cheese.

Carrot Cake

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger, optional
1/2 tsp ground cardamom, optional

3/4 cup vanilla yogurt
1/4 cup oil
1 1/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs

4 medium carrots, grated measuring 1 1/2 cups
1 cup finely chopped pecans

extra chopped pecans for decoration

Butter and flour two 9x2 cake pans and set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sift the dry ingredients together. Add the carrots and mix to coat the carrots in the flour mixture. Add in the chopped pecans.

Combine the wet ingredients, including the sugar, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed until combined and slightly thickened (about 3 minutes).

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Don't over-mix.

Divide batter between cake pans and bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until they pass the toothpick test.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 8-oz packages cream cheese, left at room temperature for 15 minutes to soften
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
4 cups confectioner's sugar

Combine the cream cheese, butter, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer, and beat until combined. Add the vanilla and beat on medium speed for 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Add 2 cups of the confectioner's sugar and beat to combine. Add the remaining confectioner's sugar and mix until frosting comes together and gains a little lightness and volume, about two minutes longer. Frost the cake.

I feel like I should point out I used a different recipe for the frosting initially, and these pictures reflect that recipe. It used more cream cheese than butter and required more confectioner's sugar. The
result was a bit gloppy and difficult for frosting the cake. I've since tried the above recipe to wonderful success frosting cupcakes.

Caramel

I've not had a post dedicated to this most delicious treat, and it's high time I rectify that. I love caramel. It's cheap and easy to make and remake (for those times when we should be watching the stove but something fascinating just started happening on Facebook or TV or something).

I was blown away when I tried a friend-of-a-friend's caramel recipe, the one used with the chocolate and salted caramel brownies. The sour cream and salt combine to form this slightly tangy, slightly salty, sweet treat.

I wanted to use that caramel as a glaze to accompany my mother's apple cake recipe (something else I need to post on here). But the tanginess and saltiness wouldn't quite hit the right notes of the apple cake. So I decided to add browned butter to offset some of those flavors. Just a tablespoon. But oh my, what a difference it makes. And this is the recipe I provide to you:

Browned Butter Salted Caramel Sauce
yield: about a half cup, but this recipe is easy to duplicate

1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp water

1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 tbsp sour cream
1 tbsp browned butter

Place the sugar and water in a pot set over medium to medium-high heat. Stir until the sugar is melted, and the mixture begins to boil. Let it boil for 6-8 minutes, watching it carefully. Once the mixture begins to turn golden, you'll have roughly 1-2 minutes before it turns a dark amber.

When the mixture has reached an amber or dark amber color, add the cream and sea salt. It will spit and sputter, but whisk until it calms itself down. Add in the sour cream and browned butter, whisking until combined. Place in a bowl and let it cool down before placing it in the refrigerator for safe keeping.

Pumpkin Cupcakes Revisited

edit: I decided to repost this because it's fall and I'm particularly proud of having developed this recipe. However, I wanted to try out some new ideas. I decided to use the entire 29oz can of pumpkin because I had little use for the remaining cup of pumpkin puree. The batter was too thick and didn't properly rise. The result was closer to a muffin than a cupcake; what little distinction there is between the two was present in the end product.

In a second, much more successful, batch I kept the pumpkin quantity the same, increased the baking powder by half a teaspoon, and increased the flour by a 1/4 cup. The recipe below reflects these changes and was incredibly successful. The cupcakes now have a more cake-like quality to them while maintaining all of the caramely, roasty, pumpkiny flavors I initially sought.

Finally, I'm usually skittish of overfilling cupcakes, but because of the thickness of the batter, these don't rise too much and I daresay it may be difficult to really overfill them. While they used to deflate after coming out of the oven (the main reason I wanted to adjust the baking powder and leavening), they now keep their domed-top shape.

I'm truncating two posts that have combined to make one amazing Pumpkin Cupcake. This time, trial and error more than paid off!

I don't mean to be getting all "Cooks Illustrated" on everything, but when I don't have a base recipe to start from, I tend to go to Taste Spotting in order to research other recipes that people have used. I judge based on looks, and then compare a few recipes.

Pumpkin cupcake recipes were all over the place, though. Some yielded around 14 and contained 2 cups of pumpkin, but another one yielded 24 yet only contained 3/4 cup pumpkin! Spices were actually pretty consistent throughout (1/2 - 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, and 1/8 tsp cloves were used pretty regularly).

Flour was fairly consistent with all-purpose. One used cake flour, but I'm not exactly sure why. Sugar was... interesting. It seems like the caramel notes of brown sugar would work well with the pumpkin, but only a couple recipes contained any at all. So, with all of that in mind, here's what I want out of a Pumpkin cupcake, and here's what that led to:

Caramel goodness = brown sugar
Toasty warmth = browned butter
Tenderness = buttermilk
Pumpkin like woah = 2 cups pumpkin puree

And here is what I've cobbled together from a few websites (more than one of which cited Martha Stewart's recipes as starting points). Additionally, I've truncated a later post containing my favorite buttercream frosting paired with these cupcakes: brown sugar-cinnamon. It's a perfect combination!

Pumpkin Cupcakes
Yield: 20 - 24 cupcakes

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves

Whisk dry ingredients together. Set aside.

1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 cups pumpkin puree

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 2 12-cup muffin tins with paper liners.

Place butter in a pan over medium-high heat. Swirl until fragrant and milk solids are beginning to brown. Remove from heat (browning may continue). Transfer to bowl of stand mixer and let cool.

Add sugars to browned butter and cream until wet, sandy mixture forms. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Add in vanilla. Mix in the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk (3:2 ratio). Finally, mix in the pumpkin, just until combined.

Scoop batter into muffin tins, filling 2/3 full. Bake for 20-22 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes until turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Cinnamon Brown Sugar Buttercream Frosting
Yield: Enough frosting for about 2 dozen cupcakes

1 cup of butter, softened
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
4 cups confectioner's sugar, divided
3 tbsp half and half, divided

Cream the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add the cinnamon and vanilla. Add two cups of the confectioner's sugar and beat until smooth. Add in about 2 tbsp of the half and half. Add in the remaining confectioner's sugar until spreading consistency. Add half and half if needed to make it more spreadable.

Cinnamon Rolls

This may be my third or fourth post about cinnamon rolls. What can I say but that I'm a glutton for... well... cinnamon rolls.

The key to perfecting this recipe, and I do think it is perfected here, was to abandon my old dough recipe altogether and start the process with brioche bread dough. The old dough recipe used mashed potatoes to make the dough tender. And it worked. However, as much as I tried to alter the dough recipe, I never found the proper balance: sometimes the cinnamon rolls would be light and dreamy, and other times the dough would be too light and the rolls would collapse in on themselves. I know my way around yeast, so the inconsistent results, while still quite tasty, began to bother me.

Don't get me wrong, my older dough recipe was delicious, but brioche has a richness (thanks to the eggs and butter) that is beyond reproach. The brioche comes courtesy of Cooks Illustrated, though I've modified it to be used for cinnamon rolls. I'd recommend, if not require, a stand mixer for the kneading process (the original recipe doesn't even offer an alternative). Additionally, begin making these the night, if not the day, before you need them. They rise in the refrigerator for anywhere from 10 - 24 hours in addition to needing a second rise after they've been rolled and sliced.

Cinnamon Rolls, as I've come to view any yeasted-bread-based recipe, is a labor of love. Enjoy making them. Enjoy your friends' expressions and gratitude as they devour them. They (both the cinnamon rolls and your friends) are worth it.

Ultimate Cinnamon Rolls
yield: 1 dozen large cinnamon rolls

3 1/4 - 3 3/4 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 tbsp instant yeast
3 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tsp salt
3 large eggs
1/2 cup ice water
1 cup unsalted butter, softened but still cool

Topping
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp cinnamon

Icing
2 cups confectioner's sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp cream, or more depending on consistency

Before beginning, place bowl and dough hook attachment of your mixer in the freezer for 15 minutes to chill thoroughly. This help ensure they don't get too warm during the kneading process.

In a medium bowl, whisk together 3 1/4 cups flour and the yeast; set aside. In the chilled bowl of your stand mixer, mix together sugar, salt, 3 eggs, and ice water. Add flour mixture and mix with a fork until it begins to come together; using dough hook, knead at low speed until ball of dough forms, about 3 minutes depending on how much you mixed the ingredients with the fork. Raise speed to medium-low and continue kneading, scraping down sides as necessary, until dough becomes smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes longer.

Add butter, one piece at a time, waiting about 15 seconds between additions and scraping down bowl as necessary. This can be a frustrating process filled with stops and starts as you encourage the dough to consume the butter. Patience, here, is key. Continue to knead until a very soft ball of dough forms, about 15 minutes longer, adding remaining flour by the tablespoonful at a time as needed. Place dough in large and very lightly oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for 10 - 24 hours. Because of the butter content, the dough will rise only slightly.

In the meantime, make the topping by mixing the butter, sugars, and cinnamon together into a compound butter. This makes it much easier to spread on the dough. Additionally, prepare extra-large muffin pans by greasing lightly with butter.

After the dough has risen, remove it from the bowl and flatten into rectangular shape. Roll until the dough is about a half-inch thick. Spread topping on dough -an offset spatula works wonders here-, roll into a log, and cut into twelve equal cinnamon rolls. Place in extra-large muffin pans in a draft-free area to rise until doubled in size (the dough should rise above the rim of the tins), 2 - 2 1/2 hours.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place pans in the oven, reducing the temperature to 350 degrees (325 degrees if you have dark pans like I do). Bake cinnamon rolls until golden brown, about 25 minutes. Let them cool in their pans for about 15 minutes before removing them.

In a bowl, mix together confectioner's sugar, vanilla, and cream until spreading consistency has been reached. Top cinnamon rolls with icing as you see fit. Personally, I like a lot.

Cupcakes!

For a returning caller meeting for work, I decided to make two types of cupcakes. I didn't have time to work on my own recipes, but I started with Tide and Thyme's Red Velvet Cupcake recipe. Looking at other, similar recipes, this one seemed solid, but I added 1 more tables spoon of cocoa powder because recipes that produced a similar volume used 3 tbsp.

Finally, I've made Your Cup of Cake's German Chocolate Cupcakes before, and they were amazing. So good, in fact, that I don't mind the recipe starting off with a box of devil's food cake mix. Why hate on a time-saver?

edit: If anything, I would only make half of the filling for the german chocolate cupcakes.

Vanilla Macarons

My friends got back to me regarding the previous mocha cupcakes. They all loved them, and the most common comment was the "they aren't too sweet or too rich," which is exactly what I was going for. I like the idea of "grown up" cupcakes that aren't filled to the brim with sugar.

And speaking of sugary treats, I decided to give another go of French macarons. I found a cookbook--Macarons: Irresistible French Confections to Make at Home--and got tired of all this folderol over macarons. Some recipes are so specific ("you must use aged egg whites" or "freshly ground almond flour" for two examples) that they make it seem impossible to make these properly.

So let me be frank: I used a recipe using volumetric measurements (I don't have a kitchen scale and I don't have the space for one either); I cut corners (I used a coffee grinder in lieu of a food processor); I guessed when the recipe was vague ("glossy meringue" does not imply soft, medium, or firm peaks).

And all in all, they turned out quite well. They had that adorable little "foot" on the bottom of each. The only thing I might change it to use a form for piping to make my circles equal in size. Otherwise, I found this recipe to be something so many macaron-ers would never think to call a macaron recipe: forgiving.

Vanilla Macaroons
yield: 32 individual macarons

3/4 cup almond flour
1 cup confectioner's sugar
2 extra-large egg whites
1/4 cup superfine sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Place the almond flour and confectioner's sugar in a food processor (or coffee grinder) and process for 15 seconds. Sift the mixture into a bowl. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Place the egg whites in a large bowl and whip until holding soft peaks. Gradually beat in the superfine sugar to make a firm, glossy meringue (medium peaks that fall over on themselves and don't immediately dissipate into the meringue). Beat in the vanilla extract.

Using a spatula, fold the almond mixture into the meringue one third at a time. When all of the dry ingredients are thoroughly incorporated, continue to cut and fold the mixture until it forms a shiny batter with a thick, ribbon-like consistency.

Pour the batter into a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch / 1-cm plain tip. Pipe 32 small circles on the prepared baking sheets. Tap the sheets firmly on a work surface to remove air bubbles. Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes (to help form the shell; you should be able to touch the top of the batter without any sticking to your fingers). Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Bake in the preheated oven for 10 - 15 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes. Carefully peel the macarons off the parchment paper and let cool completely.



Vanilla Buttercream Filling

4 tbsp butter, softened
1 cup confectioner's sugar, sifted
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Cream the butter until pale and fluffy. Beat in roughly half of the confectioner's sugar followed by the vanilla extract. Beat in the remaining sugar until smooth and creamy. Sandwich between two macarons, making 16 sandwiches.

Mocha Cupcakes with Coffee Buttercream Frosting

I used to make these delightful little treats called Cappuccino Muffins. They were coffee and chocolate flavored, and they were served with an Espresso Cream Cheese mixture. They were more decadent than a muffin should ever be, but the recipe never translated into a good cupcake (though I have tried before). The cake was too dense. Both this recipe, modified from a recipe at Dinner and Dessert's blog, and the buttercream surprised me. The cake was fudge-y and rich without being overly sweet. Likewise, the buttercream was flavorful with out being too sweet or too buttery. Finally, I had some fun piping different designs in chocolate as a decoration for each cupcake. Of course, just a simple chocolate-covered espresso bean can do wonders.

Mocha Cupcakes
yield: 12 - 16 cupcakes

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup strong brewed coffee, at room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 tsp instant espresso powder

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350°F. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with paper liners. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a bowl.

In another bowl, combine the milk, vanilla, brewed coffee, and instant espresso powder.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugars together on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add the egg and beat until combined. Add the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the milk mixture in 2 additions, beating on low speed until just combined; scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups, filling each about 2/3 full. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean, 18 - 22 minutes. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Transfer the cupcakes to the wire rack and let cool completely.

Coffee Italian Meringue Buttercream 

3 egg whites
3/4 cup sugar (12 tbsp), divided
2 1/2 tbsp water
20 tbsp butter (2 1/2 sticks), room temperature but not too soft

1 1/2 tbsp vanilla
2 tbsp instant espresso powder

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the egg whites until soft peaks. With the mixer running on medium speed, add in 2 tbsp of the sugar gradually, and continue beating until medium peaks.

Meanwhile, combine the remaining 10 tbsp sugar and water in a saucepan set over medium high heat. Stir to help the sugar melt. Once melted, stop stirring and boil until it has reached 245 degrees F. This can happen relatively quickly considering the size of your pan. Once the sugar has reached 245 degrees, stream into the egg whites while the mixer is running at medium-high speed. This will cook the egg whites and create a beautiful, voluminous mixture. Continue beating for 5-8 minutes until the mixer bowl is room temperature. It's safer to err on the side of 8 minutes to ensure the egg whites are cooled.

While still beating, add in the butter, 1 tbsp at a time, until incorporated. The mixture may get soupy and will appear to seize. Keep beating (cooling it in the fridge if necessary) until it comes together. Trust me, it will. Dissolve the espresso powder in the vanilla and add to the frosting. Beat until combined. I decorated mine with melted chocolate in the shape of owls, a Batman symbol (because why not?), and asterisks with a chocolate-covered espresso bean in the center.

Thoughts and Future Works

Ideas I really need to set into motion...

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes: Vanilla cupcake, cinnamon-sugar sprinkled on top, cinnamon buttercream, cinnamon-sugar sprinkles.

PB and J Cupcakes: Vanilla cupcake, strawberry jam filling, peanut butter frosting.

Sandwich cookies: cocoa-nib shortbread sandwiched with chocolate ganache and dipped in chocolate, hazelnut and chocolate bacci.

Also, I tried to make a White-Chocolate Lemon Curd as a filling for wedding cake cupcakes. Basically, I used about 3oz white chocolate and 3-4 tbsp of butter in my regular lemon curd recipe. The result was nothing short of decadent and wonderful.

White Chocolate Cupcakes, White Chocolate Frosting

I'm experimenting with Italian Meringue Buttercream. Well, technically I experimented with it last week; I simply didn't make any cupcakes to go with the frosting. As a result, it sat in my fridge, sad and unused. In an effort not to be so terribly wasteful, I'm making a white chocolate variation. The basic frosting is simple--just omit the white chocolate--and I found it very tasty and easy to pipe. It has a texture comprised of density from the butter and airyness from the meringue. One would think those textures would be diametrically opposed to one another, but the result is a delicious frosting.


White Chocolate Cupcakes
yield: about 16 cupcakes

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/3 cup sugar

3 extra-large eggs
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

2/3 cup milk

4 oz white chocolate, chopped and melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and line 2 muffin tins with 16 cupcake liners. In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed for about 3 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs, one at a time, followed by the vanilla. Scrape down the bowl as necessary, and avoid over-beating.

Mix in the dry ingredients alternately with milk in a 3:2 ratio, beginning and ending with the flour. Scrape down the bowl as needed. Remove the mixing bowl and fold in the melted white chocolate until incorporated. Pour batter into the prepared cupcake tins and bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes they are until light golden and a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Frost with White Chocolate Frosting.


White Chocolate Italian Meringue Buttercream


5 egg whites
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1 cup butter
1 tbsp vanilla
4 oz white chocolate, melted


In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the egg whites until soft peaks. With the mixer running on medium speed, add in the sugar gradually, and continue beating until medium peaks.


Meanwhile, combine 1 cup sugar and water in a saucepan set over medium high heat. Stir to help the sugar melt. Once melted, stop stirring and boil until it has reached 245 degrees F. This can happen relatively quickly considering the size of your pan.


Once the sugar has reached 245 degrees, stream into the egg whites while the mixer is running at medium-high speed. This will cook the egg whites and create a beautiful, voluminous mixture. Continue beating for 7-10 minutes until the mixer bowl is room temperature. It's safer to err on the side of 10 minutes to ensure the egg whites are cooled.

Cut in the butter 1 tbsp at a time with the mixer running on medium-high speed. The mixture may get soupy (if so, let it chill for a couple minutes and continue beating) or it may look broken (continue beating). In the end, the frosting will deflate to about half its original volume. Mix in the vanilla and melted chocolate. Let cool and pipe onto cupcakes.

Scurvy Bastard Cupcakes

The first cupcake I made were lime cupcakes with lime curd and lime frosting. Appropriately I called them Limey Bastard Cupcakes and, by and large, they were quite tasty. However, I always wanted to try the same idea but with lemon. Hence, Scurvy Bastard Cupcakes are born. These cupcakes were ultimately easy to throw together since I already had a solid lemon curd and lemon frosting recipes. These are delicious without the filling as well, but why not guild the lily a bit, eh?

Also, if you've been paying attention, I've basically found my cupcake base taken and modified from Ina Garten's coconut cake recipe. The cupcakes have a delicate, moist crumb, but they still have some heft to them. They were made for coconut cupcakes, but they've taken well to vanilla and, now, to lemon as well.

Lemon Curd

2 lemons, zested
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
pinch of salt

3 large egg yolks
1/4 cup lemon juice

4 tbsp butter, sliced into 4 pieces

Combine zest, sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a medium saucepan. Whisk to combine. Add egg yolks and whisk until pale yellow. Whisk in juice and set pan over low - medium heat. Stir with a wooden spoon until thick. Usually, this takes 10 minutes of cooking over a medium low flame. Strain through a mesh sieve into a bowl. Add butter, one piece at a time and stir until combined before adding another piece. Cool. Cover and chill. This makes about 3/4 cup lemon curd (and can be used to make lime curd as well). This can be made up to 5 days in advance.

Lemon Cupcakes

yield: about 16 cupcakes

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/3 cup sugar

zest from 2 lemons

3 extra-large eggs
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp lemon oil, optional

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

2/3 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, or 325 for dark pans, and line 2 muffin tins with 16 cupcake liners. In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter, sugar, and zest on medium speed for about 3 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs, one at a time, followed by the vanilla, lemon juice, and lemon oil if using. Scrape down the bowl as necessary, and avoid over-beating.

Mix in the dry ingredients alternately with the milk in a 3:2 ratio, beginning and ending with the flour. Scrape down the bowl as needed. Pour batter into the prepared cupcake tins and bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes (18 - 22 at 325) until they are light golden and a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Frost with very lemon frosting.

Lemon Frosting

1 cup butter, softened
3 - 4 cups powdered sugar
zest of 3 medium-sized lemons
3 tbsp fresh lemon juice

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter until light and fluffy. Gradually incorporate 3 cups of confectioner's sugar, one cup at a time until fully incorporated. Next, mix in the zest and lemon juice. If the frosting is a little too loose, incorporate more confectioner's sugar until it's of spreading consistency. 


Fill cupcakes with lemon curd, and top with the frosting.

Chocolate Cupcakes. Caramel Frosting.

The chocolate cupcakes come from a mix. I'm warning you now. However, they're very delicious, and it makes my life that much easier when baking cupcakes for people in a tight schedule. This recipe comes courtesy of Your Cup of Cake and frankly I would highly recommend those German Chocolate Cupcakes too.

The caramel is worth the time and effort, and the frosting is perfect. Enough said.

Chocolate Cupcakes
yield: 20 - 24 cupcakes

1 box Devil's Food Cake Mix
1/2 cup oil
3 eggs
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 (325 for dark pans). Line 2 muffin tins with cupcake liners.

Mix the oil, eggs, and buttermilk until combined in a large bowl. Gradually add in the cake mix (sifting can help incorporate it more easily). Mix until combined. Finally, add in the sour cream and mix until smooth and consistent (though small lumps are just fine).

Fill muffin tins with batter 2/3 to 3/4 full. I've always gotten at least 20 cupcakes out of this mixture. Bake at 350 for 18 - 22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Salted Caramel Sauce
yield: about 1 1/2 cups caramel though only 1 cup (total) is needed for this recipe

1 1/2 cups sugar
6 tbsp water

3/4 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 tsp salt
6 tbsp sour cream

Bring the water and sugar to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Let it boil until it turns amber in color. Watch it like a hawk; sugar goes from golden brown to amber to black in the blink of an eye.

Whisk in the heavy cream. It will spit and sputter and get all kinds of angry. Your knuckles may get  a light steam burn. This is normal. Whisk it away until the cream and sugar is a cohesive mixture. Add in the salt, and, finally, mix in the sour cream. This caramel is a little salty, a little tangy, and hands down the best caramel I have ever made. The recipe came courtesy of a friend of a friend to whom I am forever grateful.

Caramel Frosting
yield: about 3 - 4 cups or enough to frost 20 - 24 cupcakes


3/4 cup of butter, room temperature
3 cups confectioner's sugar, divided
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup salted caramel sauce

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter until creamy. Mix in 2 cups confectioners sugar and beat to combine. Add in the vanilla and the caramel. Beat to combine. Finally, mix in 1 cup of confectioner's sugar and mix until thick and consistent. Add in remaining 1/2 cup sugar until desire thickness, consistency, and sweetness are reached.

Pipe frosting in a ring on top of the cupcakes. Fill the hole in the middle with remaining caramel sauce.

Caramel is sugar and cream. Frosting is sugar and butter. With that said, I should still point out that this is easily one of the sweetest, almost to the point of cloying, recipes that I've ever made. Originally the frosting recipe started with 1 cup of butter (and equally greater amounts of the other ingredients), but I was left with quite a bit of frosting.

Also, you will likely have caramel sauce left over. You're welcome.

Vanilla on Vanilla

Why not go back to the basics and make them really good? Personally, I'm a huge fan of vanilla when it's done really well. Both the cupcakes and the frosting itself contains vanilla beans to really bring out the vanilla flavor. As a reminder, here is a link to the eBay store where I purchase vanilla beans; you get them in bulk, and you get them relatively inexpensively: Vanilla Products. Enjoy!

Vanilla Cupcakes
yield: about 16 cupcakes

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/3 cup sugar

3 extra-large eggs
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

2/3 cup milk
1 vanilla bean

Pre-prep: Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and add it as well as the remaining husk to the milk in a sauce pan. Heat over medium until simmering, cool, and let steep over night in the refrigerator. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and line 2 muffin tins with 16 cupcake liners. In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed for about 3 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs, one at a time, followed by the vanilla. Scrape down the bowl as necessary, and avoid over-beating.

Mix in the dry ingredients alternately with the vanilla-milk in a 3:2 ratio, beginning and ending with the flour. Scrape down the bowl as needed. Pour batter into the prepared cupcake tins and bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes they are until light golden and a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Frost with very vanilla frosting.

Very Vanilla Frosting
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3 - 4 cups confectioner's sugar
1 vanilla bean
1 tbsp vanilla extract
about 1 tbsp cream, as needed

Cream butter on medium speed for 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Add in confectioner's sugar gradually, reserving the final 1/2 cup. Add in the vanilla, vanilla bean seeds, and 1 tbsp of cream. Beat in remaining sugar to smooth consistency.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

Peanut butter and chocolate is a classic combination exemplified by the perfection of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. I'm straying from my usual Chocolate Cupcake recipe because it has a deep cocoa richness. However, I want something a little lighter, and I think using chopped chocolate in the batter will add a certain candy-like quality that will be helpful in mimicking the aforementioned peanut butter cups. I'm adapting my recipe from Cait's Plate which I happened across yesterday while searching Tastespotting. Her recipe melts the chocolate, so I'm not adding in any extra chocolate; I'm simply changing the form of the chocolate already in the batter.

Chocolate Cupcakes
yield: 24 cupcakes

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

1 cup butter, cut into 8 pieces
1 cup natural cocoa powder

4 eggs
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup greek yogurt

4 oz chopped semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (325 for dark pans) and line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake liners.

Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a separate bowl.

On the stove top over medium heat, melt the butter. Mix in the cocoa until homogenous and let this mixture cool. Use the microwave in a pinch and a whisk will incorporate the cocoa perfectly.

In the bowl of a stand mixer combine the eggs, sugar, vanilla, and greek yogurt. Add cooled chocolate mixture to combine. Mix in the dry ingredients gradually, scraping down the bowl of the mixture as necessary. Finally, fold in the chopped chocolate. The batter will be thick.



Fill muffin tins, and bake at 350 for 18 - 20 minutes until they pass the toothpick test. I use dark pans, and at 325 these took about 25 minutes. Cool the cupcakes in the pan on a wire rack. Remove after 10 - 15 minutes and cool completely before frosting.



Peanut Butter Frosting

2 cups creamy peanut butter (I used a mixture of Jif and a natural peanut butter)
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla

2 cups confectioners sugar
heavy cream as needed, about 1/2 cup

In the bowl of a stand mixer beat the butter and peanut butter until fluffy and combined. Add in the salt and vanilla until thoroughly combined. Gradually add the confectioner's sugar. The frosting will begin to get thick after the first cup or so. Add the remaining sugar followed by 1/4 cup of cream. Add more cream as necessary. You'll reach a point where the creaminess just happens. For me it was after a little more than 1/2 cup of cream. Beat the frosting until fluffy, scraping down the bowl as needed.

Frost cupcakes. I garnished with halved Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Decadent? Yes. The cupcakes are incredibly rich, but the frosting is fluffy and not too sweet. You can definitely taste the salt. The frosting is perfection.



I'm going to make these again next weekend. The cupcakes are solid, but I think I may revert back to the sour cream in the original recipe. The batter was incredibly thick and I overfilled my cupcakes, so I'd like to get it right. The frosting, as I mentioned, was perfect, but there was quite a bit left over, so I'm going to modify the amounts next time. I hate throwing such delicious frosting away, but there was about a cup too much.

A Rolling Scone Gathers No Mess

This is kind of a scone mega post. Kind of. I'm rewarding my callers with brunch, and having 25 on a shift means this weekend is going be filled with cooking. And we all know I love brunch. I won't bore you with the 4 quiches I'm making (two spinach, sausage and potato, and lorraine), but I do want to post about the scones.

I've only ever made one scone recipe before, but they turned out so well that I'm going to alter that cranberry orange scone recipe in order to make blueberry lemon scones. It's changed somewhat. I added more butter and a little more cream. These scones are therefore richer, but the dough is also easier to handle. Additionally, I found a great recipe for maple pecan scones over at Kitchen Misfit that I just have to try. After all, if I ever want to own a bakery or anything of the sort when I retire, I had better starting mastering these classics. I'll start with an updated version of my cranberry orange scones.


Cranberry Orange Scones
yield: about 8 scones

2/3 cup heavy cream
1 large egg
1 tbsp orange zest
1/4 cup sugar

8 tbsp butter, chilled and cut into tiny bits
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1-2 tbsp orange juice
3/4 cup confectioner's sugar

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Whisk the cream, egg, orange zest, and sugar together in a small bowl until well combined.

In another bowl, stir together the bread flour, salt, and baking powder. Blend in the butter with your finger tips or a pastry blender just until the mixture resembles coarse meal.

Stir the cranberries and the cream mixture into the flour mixture with a fork until it forms a sticky, but hopefully manageable, dough.

Knead the dough gently for 30 seconds just so it comes together. Shape the dough into a long rectangle and cut the scones into 8 triangles using a sharp knife. This is much easier than using a biscuit cutter and having to reshape the dough. Transfer the scones to the prepared baking sheet.

Bake the scones for about 15 - 18 minutes or until golden brown. Let them cool on the baking sheet before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. In a small bowl, whisk together the orange juice and confectioner's sugar to make a glaze. Drizzle the icing over the scones. These scones are not too sweet, but the icing adds a little punch of sugar and orange flavor.




Blueberry Lemon Scones
yield: about 8 scones

2/3 cup heavy cream
1 large egg
zest of one lemon
1/4 cup sugar

8 tbsp butter, chilled and cut into tiny bits
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup frozen wild blueberries

extra cream and raw sugar to finish off the scones

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Whisk the cream, egg, lemon zest, and sugar together in a small bowl until well combined.

In another bowl, stir together the bread flour, salt, and baking powder. Blend in the butter with your finger tips or a pastry blender just until the mixture resembles coarse meal.

Stir the blueberries into the flour first, followed by the cream mixture. Use a fork until it forms a sticky dough. Be careful not to break up the blueberries too much.

Knead the dough gently for 30 seconds just so it comes together. Shape the dough into a long rectangle and cut the scones into 8 triangles using a sharp knife. Transfer the scones to the prepared baking sheet. Brush the scones all over with cream and sprinkle with the raw sugar.

Bake the scones for about 15 - 18 minutes or until golden brown. Let them cool on the baking sheet before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. All in all, this is a wonderful variation on the cranberry orange recipe!




Maple Pecan Scones
yield: 16 scones but this recipe can be halved

3 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup chopped pecans

3 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp + 1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 sticks (20 tbsp) butter, cold and cubed

1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spread the oats and pecans out on a baking sheet. Toast in preheated oven for 10 - 12 minutes, stirring halfway through. They should be fragrant and toasty when finished. Let cool.

Raise oven temperature to 425 degrees. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in the butter until a coarse meal forms. Of course, a food processor makes this whole process much easier, but I digress. Add in the cooled oats and pecans.

In a separate bowl, whisk the milk, cream, maple syrup, and eggs until combined. Fold the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients until a cohesive dough forms. Divide the dough in half. Transfer each half to a lightly floured surface and pat into 7" circles. Cut each circle into 8 wedges and place the wedges on a parchment-line baking sheet. Bake at 425 for 16 - 20 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. If you wish, make a glaze using about 3 tbsp maple syrup and 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar to drizzle over the cooled scones.

Lemon Cupcakes!

Sunday is the birthday of one of my student supervisors at work. She requested lemon cupcakes with cherry buttercream frosting, so I can only oblige her. However, I love blueberries and lemon as well. So I'm going to use the same lemon cupcake and top one dozen with cherry buttercream. With the second dozen, I'm going to fill them with lemon curd and top them with a wild blueberry buttercream. Naturally, fresh fruit is always the best, but since these fruits are getting pulverized by the mixer, I'm going to use frozen wild blueberries (I was lucky enough to find some delicious fresh cherries at the local Fresh Market). I think the best way to incorporate the blueberries will require that I let them thaw and drain since I want to to avoid adding excess liquid to my frosting.

Incidentally, about a year ago, I made some amazing lime cupcakes filled with lime curd and topped with lime frosting, but I never posted the recipe. The original recipe for Key Lime Cupcakes is found over at Bon Appetit. I have to say I preferred regular limes. Key limes have a lemony quality that I'm not fond of. Either way, I'm using a modified version of that recipe for my lemon cupcakes.

Luscious Lemon Cupcakes
yield: 24 - 28 cupcakes

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 1/2 cups sugar

4 large eggs
5 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp finely grated lemon zest (about 3-4 lemons worth)

2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups self-rising flour

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (325 if you're using a dark pan). Line two 12-cup muffin pans with cupcake liners.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes on medium speed. Add the eggs, one at a time, followed by the lemon juice and lemon zest. The mixture may look curdled; don't worry.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flours. Add the flour in three additions alternately with the buttermilk in two additions. Using a scant 1/3 cup batter, pour into lined muffin tins. I had enough batter for about 28, though I was very careful not to overfill because that seems to be a problem with me. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes.



Cherry Buttercream Frosting
yield: enough frosting for 1 dozen cupcakes

This recipe, and I think the whole idea my friend had for these cupcakes, comes from une Gamine dans la Cuisine. Those are some beautiful pictures!

1 cup of unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 tsp salt

3 to 4 cups of confectioner's sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
zest of 1 lemon

1/2 cup fresh cherries, finely chopped


Make sure to avoid adding too much of the cherry juice to the frosting. It can break down the buttercream.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and salt until light and fluffy. Gradually add 3 cups of the confectioner's sugar. After the sugar, add the vanilla, lemon zest, and cherries. If the frosting is a little loose because of the cherry juice, add more of the confectioner's sugar gradually until it's of spreading consistency.

Blueberry Buttercream Frosting

1 cup unsalted butter
1/4 tsp salt

3 to 4 cups confectioner's sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
zest of 1 lemon

1/2 cup thawed, drained, wild blueberries

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and salt until fluffy. Gradually add 3 cups of the confectioner's sugar. After the sugar, add the vanilla, lemon zest, and blueberries. The blueberries don't need to be chopped because the mixer will pulverize them enough. If the frosting is loose, add more confectioner's sugar.

Lemon Curd
yield: about 3/4 cup lemon curd

2 lemons, zested
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
pinch of salt

3 large egg yolks
1/4 cup lemon juice

4 tbsp butter, sliced into 4 pieces

Combine zest, sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a medium saucepan. Whisk to combine. Add egg yolks and whisk until pale yellow. Whisk in juice and set pan over low - medium heat. Stir with a wooden spoon until thick. Usually, this takes 10 minutes of cooking over a medium low flame. Strain through a mesh sieve into a bowl. Add butter, one piece at a time and stir until combined before adding another piece. Cool. Cover and chill. This makes about 3/4 cup lemon curd (and can be used to make lime curd as well). This can be made up to 5 days in advance.

Notes on Assembly

For the cupcakes, both frosting recipes made plenty for the dozen cupcakes they needed to frost. So I may dial those recipes back in the future. I only used the lemon curd filling in the blueberry cupcakes to give them a real lemony bite. Otherwise, I simply used a rosette tip to pipe the frosting on top! Wonderful!

Earl Grey Cupcakes with Lemon Frosting

Many of the recipes I researched seemed very similar: 1/2 cup butter, 1 cup sugar, 1 1/2 cups flour, etc. The method for getting the tea in the cupcakes did change. Some used tea steeped in milk. Others used teabags. Some even used the tea from the tea bags rather than loose-leaf tea. The starkest contrast between the cake recipes came in the form of leavening. 3 recipes using the same proportions of other ingredients used wildly different amounts of baking powder: one used 2 tablespoons (!), another used 1 1/2 teaspoons (and explained that the cupcakes fell), and a third used 2 1/4 teaspoons.

It's needless to say, but this made me want to find my own way. An Earl Grey cupcake is nothing more than a delicious yellow cake infused with tea. Therefore, to start, I needed a delicious yellow cake. I can't think of any better that Hershey's Golden Cake (found in my mother's vintage Hershey's cookbook and, apparently, nowhere online). I used the same recipe in the same amounts and made roughly two dozen cupcakes rather than three 9-inch layer cakes, and I added the earl grey tea. So for simple, golden cupcakes, use the cold milk, unadulterated by tea.

Thankfully, the recipes for the lemon frosting were much more consistent, so I'm using one found over at Honey and Jam.

Earl Grey Golden Cupcakes
yield: 24 cupcakes, at least

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup powdered sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract
5 eggs, separated

2 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

1 1/4 cup milk
8 earl grey tea bags

First, we'll start with the tea. In a small saucepan heat the milk to just below a boil. In a bowl, empty 3 of the tea bags into the bottom and add the remaining 5 bags, unopened. Pour the hot milk over the tea leaves and tea bags, and let it set until cool. Refrigerate until cold. You can do this the night before. This process ensures a strong tea flavor along with ensuring that the batter will be flecked with bits of tea leaves.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (325 if you're like me and your cupcake tins are rather dark). Line two 12-cup cupcake pans with liners.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, whip the egg whites until medium-stiff peaks form. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the butter, shortening, sugar, and powdered sugar. Cream on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the vanilla and egg yolks, one at a time until incorporated. Be careful not to over-mix. Add the flour in three additions and cooled milk in two, beginning and ending with flour. Fold in the whipped egg whites in 3 additions, being careful not to deflate them and mixing in the first addition to lighten the batter.

Fill cupcake tins no more 2/3 full and bake for 20 - 24 minutes at 325 (around 18 - 20 at 350), or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. I slightly overfilled my cupcake tin and came out with 24. Had I been a little more frugal with the batter, I probably could have gotten 26 out of this recipe. Frost with lemon frosting recipe that follows.


Lemon Frosting

1 cup butter, softened
3 - 4 cups powdered sugar
zest of 3 medium-sized lemons
3 tbsp fresh lemon juice

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter until light and fluffy. Gradually incorporate 3 cups of confectioner's sugar, one cup at a time until fully incorporated. Next, mix in the zest and lemon juice. If the frosting is a little too loose, incorporate more confectioner's sugar until it's of spreading consistency. This frosting is magic. Overall, everyone at work loved the cupcakes, but I need to find a better way to get more tea flavor into them...

Coconut Cupcakes

It's been about a month and, truthfully, I've done quite a bit of baking in the interim. However, as it usually happens around Christmas, I relied pretty heavily on tried and true recipes. There is a lemon cookie recipe I need to post about on here, but otherwise I stuck to my usual gamut with the addition of the very successful Thin-Mint Cupcakes. Since Christmas, I've been on a baking embargo because of the ridiculous amount of sweets I consumed! It's about to be my best friend's birthday, though, and she requested coconut cake. How could I turn her down? These cupcakes were a hit, and I definitely plan on making them again.

This recipe is adapted from Ina Garten's Coconut Cake. Her recipe is delicious, but I wanted cupcakes that were more intensely flavored with coconut. To that end, I substituted coconut milk where her recipe called for milk in the cake batter. Additionally, I made a coconut pastry cream to be used as an optional filling for the cupcakes. In hindsight, I'm not sure that the coconut milk really made a difference in the flavor. I should know better than to question her expertise. However, the filling is to die for. I highly recommend using it.

Coconut Cupcakes
yield: about 16 cupcakes

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/3 cups sugar

3 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp pure almond extract

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the pans
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt

2/3 cup coconut milk

1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2, 12-cup cupcake tins with paper liners.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium-high speed for 3 to 5 minutes, until light yellow and fluffy. Crack the eggs into a small bowl. With the mixer on medium speed, add the eggs 1 at a time, scraping down the bowl once during mixing. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and mix well. The mixture might look curdled; don't be concerned.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the dry ingredients and the milk to the batter in 3 parts, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Mix until just combined. Fold in the 4 ounces of coconut with a rubber spatula.

Pour the batter evenly into the cupcake tins. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.



Coconut Frosting

12oz cream cheese, at room temperature
1/3 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon pure almond extract

3 cups confectioners' sugar

6 ounces sweetened shredded coconut

For the frosting, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the cream cheese, butter, vanilla and almond extract on low speed. Add the confectioners' sugar and mix until just smooth (don't whip!).

Frost cupcakes. There's no need to get too fancy with the frosting; simply press the coconut into the frosting to adhere. I topped mine with "luster pearls," a decorating splurge from Williams Sonoma.



Optional Boss Battle: Cocount Pastry Cream Filling

1/2 cup half & half
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup sugar, divided
1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
pinch of salt
3 large egg yolks

2 tbsp butter

In a medium saucepan, bring the half & half, coconut milk, vanilla, and 3 tbsp of sugar to a simmer over medium high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar.

In a separate bowl, whisk the remaining sugar, cornstarch, salt, and egg yolks until smooth. Temper the egg yolks by gradually whisking in about 1/2 cup of the hot half & half mixture. Pour the tempered egg mixture back into the saucepan, reduce the heat to medium, and whisk constantly for about 30 seconds to a minute. The mixture will thicken very quickly.

Remove the pastry cream from the heat and whisk in the butter. Pour into a bowl and let cool. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold. Use as a filling in the coconut cupcakes by removing the center of a cupcake and piping in the pastry cream. Frost and top with coconut (and sugar pearls if you want to get fancy).