Candy -and- Cake: Reese's Cupcakes.

I've never really liked peanut butter. I've never hated it. I think it's OK. If there's something else around to eat, I wouldn't first go for peanut butter. Even when paired with chocolate as in Reese's candy, I'd still usually rather have a different candy or dessert.

I think these cupcakes might have changed my mind.

While I have a few recipes for vanilla or birthday cakes that I honestly think taste just as good using a doctored-up cake mix, I've never found the same to be true for chocolate cake. Even from-scratch ones can easily turn out dry and crumbly or simply... somehow not chocolate-y. I don't know if I've mentioned it on this blog before, but the first time I made this chocolate cake/cupcake recipe from Foodess, I knew it would become my go-to. I don't even bother looking for other recipes anymore. Although the recipe has a lot of ingredients, it's also an easy recipe to follow. I used Hershey special dark cocoa powder this time, but it does work just as well with regular cocoa powder. For these cupcakes, I used this peanut butter frosting which uses the same basic formula as a regular buttercream. The most tedious part of the whole process was unwrapping the Reese's candy to go inside the cupcakes and to top them, and even that doesn't take too long. (Of course, if you're making more than one batch, it might get old... )

What I did that worked well/would do differently:
1) Next time I would fill the cupcake tins with more batter before putting the candy pieces inside and cover with less batter. Having the candy so close to the bottoms caused some of them to melt in the oven and then harden on the liners after baking, making it difficult to remove them without tearing off the bottom of the cupcakes.
2) I used unsalted butter for the frosting. In a previous cupcake post, I mentioned that this does make a substantial difference with buttercream in both taste and texture. So if at all possible, use unsalted butter.
3) I used Jif creamy peanut butter. I don't have sponsored posts, so I'm not advertising either Jif or Reese's in this post, but I will say that it turned out exactly as I wanted. I'd at least use a smooth and not a crunchy peanut butter. I think while the latter might taste good for those of you who like their peanut butter crunchier, it might be difficult to gauge the ending point of your frosting and make it harder to pipe.

For the cupcakes...

 

I first mixed together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. I did use a spatula to stir from the bottom a few times to thoroughly mix the ingredients together.

Then, I mixed in the eggs (having the eggs at room temperature makes them blend better without overmixing), buttermilk, melted butter, and vanilla. At this point, the batter became quite thick. 

I took the bowl off the mixer and stirred in the cup of hot coffee. At this point, the cake batter was much thinner. 

I filled lined cupcake tins about 1/4 way full with batter, placed a Reese's miniature in the center of each, and covered with more batter, until the tins were roughly 2/3 full. Next time, I would fill each more like halfway or even slightly more and then top with just a little batter. 

I baked at 375F for about 22 minutes, until the tops sprang back and the tines of a fork came out with just a few crumbs. I then immediately placed them in the freezer while I made the frosting (freezing right after baking holds in moisture). 

For the frosting, I beat the butter and peanut butter together until thoroughly combined and smooth, about a minute. 

I then added most of the confectioner's sugar, beat on medium speed for about two minutes, then added one tablespoon of milk, beat for about thirty seconds, then added the rest of the sugar and milk and beat for roughly another minute, until thick and smooth. If you want to test for consistency, put a scoop in the tip of a piping bag and see if you can squeeze it out onto a piece of parchment paper. If it comes out without applying too much pressure but still holds its shape, then go on and fill the piping bag more and decorate your cupcakes. If it's too thin or comes out of the tip almost on its own, scrape it from the parchment paper back into the bowl and beat in a little more confectioner's sugar (about a tablespoon at a time; there's probably no need to just dump another half cup in!). If you find you have to squeeze hard, do the same but add milk instead of sugar.

I piped the frosting onto the tops of the cupcakes and topped each with half of a Reese's miniature candy.

DEEMS THIS RECIPE:
... Much, much easier than pie. 

Harry Potter-Inspired: Butterbeer Cupcakes.

Hello, everyone.  Sorry about the gap in posts; we found out that we're expecting a new addition to the family in September, so things have been a bit slow on the blogging front.  Now that my energy has picked up, more recipes will be forthcoming!

If you or anyone in your family likes Harry Potter, you've probably wondered, "What the heck is butterbeer anyway?"  Even though I knew it was described as "a little bit like less sickly-butterscotch," for reasons unknown, I always imagined actual butter-flavored (not butterscotch-flavored) beer.  Ick.   In the books, it does have some alcohol in it--it's enough to affect house-elves but not humans, so not a large amount--but for obvious reasons, I went for a recipe without alcohol.  I think if you wanted to add a kick to it, you could.  Family-friendly versions of butterbeer, as I imagine the version served at Universal Studios would be, often include cream soda.  I'm not really a cream soda fan, but being both a fan of Harry Potter and butterscotch, I was excited to try this recipe for butterbeer cupcakes.  They turned out exactly like I imagined butterbeer in cupcake form would taste--success!  Also, they were yummy, which is the more important part.  I will say that this recipe isn't for anyone who doesn't like rich, sweet desserts.  I personally didn't find them overly sweet, but it's definitely a personal preference.

harrypotter.wikia.com

Here are a few things I did/noted while making these cupcakes:
1.  I didn't use butter flavoring.  I used an extra two tablespoons of butter for the cupcakes and left it out of the buttercream entirely.  I prefer to avoid artificial flavorings when possible.  The extra butter probably didn't give the cupcakes as intense a flavor, but it gave it some extra and lent a nice richness to the finished cake.  Cooking time seemed unaffected by the addition; it might have added a minute or two.  You might even be able to get away with adding more, but these were plenty rich for me and others who sampled them.
2.  This recipe opened my eyes to the world of correctly-made buttercream.  The keys?  Unsalted, soft butter, whipping long enough, and not adding milk or cream until you've finished whipping to see how much is needed.  If you're piping it, you can pipe some onto a sheet of parchment paper and see if it holds its shape.  If it comes out runny, add confectioner's sugar, and if it's taking sheer willpower to squeeze, add a bit more liquid.
3.  Waiting to eat the cupcakes for a time lets the ganache settle into the cupcake.  I know it's hard to resist sampling, but I ate one straight away and didn't get the nice filled-cupcake bite I was hoping for until I had one later.

On to the cupcakes...

The first step was sifting the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together.  I used a fork, because I couldn't find my whisk, and the whisk would have been too large for the measuring cup I chose to use anyway.  Then I beat the butter and sugar together in a mixer until fluffy. I don't have a picture mixing in the last bit of flour.  I know the lighting changed for the final picture; I had taken it off the mixer at that point :-).

Then I beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each, and added the vanilla.

Next, I added 1/3 of the flour mixture, then the buttermilk, then another 1/3 of the flour, then the cream soda, and then the rest of the flour, beating after each addition. I don't have a picture for adding in the last of the flour; the last picture, taken after I had removed the bowl from the stand mixture, is an accurate representation of what the batter should look like (sorry about the sporadic changes in lighting!).  

I filled cupcake liners between 2/3 and 3/4 full, so it made 15 cupcakes instead of the recipe yield of 18... pretty close, though!  Also, a trick I learned is to fill any empty molds about 1/2 full with water so that the cupcakes in that tin will cook more evenly.  

I popped them into a preheated 350˚F oven, and they turned a nice golden brown and were springy to the touch after 18 minutes.  

As the cupcakes cooled, I made the ganache and buttercream.  I melted the butterscotch chips in the heavy cream and stirred until smooth.  (Oh, I did actually stir in 1tsp of vanilla after I took the ganache off the heat to cool to room temperature.)  I set aside 1/4 cup of it for the buttercream and poured the rest into squeeze bottles.

For the buttercream, I whipped the butter until lighter in color and fluffy, then mixed in the ganache and vanilla, and salt  I added just a smidge less than 3 cups of the confectioner's sugar and beat for about 3 minutes on medium speed (slow at first... you don't want to end up covered in sugar!) until it had about the consistency of smooth peanut butter.  Without adding all the confectioner's sugar, I didn't need to add cream, but if you find yours is too stiff, add one tablespoon at a time until you reach the desired consistency.

When the cupcakes had cooled, I stabbed the tops of each with the tip of the squeeze bottle of ganache and squeezed gently until the ganache started to overflow.  Then I filled a piping bag fitted with a 1M Wilson (large star) tip about halfway with buttercream and piped it onto the cupcake tops.  I had to refill the bag a couple times, but not filling it all the way makes it easier to control and to twist at the top for no spillage.  I drizzled some of the ganache on the tops of the cupcakes to finish and, because I liked the idea of signs for the cupcakes, made a few signs of my own:

And there you have it: butterbeer cupcakes!

DEEMS THIS RECIPE:

... Actually a lot easier than pie, despite multiple steps.

A Use for Leftover Eggnog.

Before Christmas, I decided to try something different.  After running through cupcake and frosting ideas in my head, I came up with a combination that sounded good: spice cake and eggnog.  After various attempts to find a decent eggnog buttercream recipe, I just took a normal buttercream and used eggnog in it.  It might already be the New Year, but if you're anything like me, you still have leftovers from the holidays. And some of those leftovers might be eggnog (the cooked or store-bought kind; hopefully you've thrown out any of the non-cooked kind by now!).  Here is the recipe for the cake.  The recipe for the buttercream is fairly standard, although I doubled a normal single recipe and didn't add any vanilla, salt or spices because of the eggnog and instead added a tablespoon of rum (it was on hand... I imagine brandy or bourbon would taste good as well):

1 cup butter
6-8 cups powdered sugar
1 tbsp rum
~3/4 cup eggnog

There was one thing I changed about the recipes, one change I would make in the future, and a recipe "choice" I made, so I'll start with those:
1) After reading several reviews, I doubled the spices in the cake recipe.  I'm glad that I did, because it had just enough spice to it without being overpowering.
2) Next time, I think I'd try to use a French buttercream rather than a regular one. This took a LOT of powdered sugar to thicken it.  It was still definitely eggnog-flavored, and it was good, but it was also extremely rich and difficult to work with.
3) I used store-bought eggnog for the frosting.  I made a list of the best-rated brands and the grocery store of course had none of them, so I bought the only one that specified pasteurized eggs on the carton. I was a bit concerned that the others didn't. It happened to be a low-fat one.  Even though I would rather have tried a full-fat version for more flavor with less eggnog, I'd rather compromise on that.

On to the cake...

First I sifted together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt into a bowl.  Then I separated the eggs and whipped the egg whites to stiff peaks.  I then put the egg whites into another bowl and washed out the mixing bowl... I'm never sure why some professional cooks assume that everyone has two bowls for their mixer.  I suppose I could have whipped the egg whites by hand, but I didn't.  If you have the patience for that, I salute you.

Then I creamed together the butter and brown sugar.  I added the vegetable oil slowly while the mixer was still running.

I added the egg yolks one at a time, beating after each, then alternated beating in the buttermilk and the flour mixture.

Once all buttermilk and dry ingredients had been added, I took the bowl off the mixer and folded in the egg whites.

Then I divided the batter into lined muffin tins (a little more than 1/2 full) and baked at 350 for about 20 minutes, until the tops were springy and a fork came out clean.  

Then I went on to the frosting, first creaming the butter, then slowly alternating adding the powdered sugar (I had to use almost a full 8 cups) and the eggnog, adding the rum after about half of each had been added, and beating each time until fluffy and thick.

The frosting does harden when exposed to air, and I should have let it do so longer, because it was difficult to pipe, and I don't think it would have been if it had been allowed to solidify a few minutes more.  However, the cupcakes came out well.  I sprinkled the tops with nutmeg, and then they were ready to eat:

DEEMS THIS RECIPE:

... Easier than pie, if you get the frosting thick enough.