Saturday, March 26, 2011

Some Experimentation

So my original plan was to make these "Cupcake Poppers". I knew it wasn't going to be too easy since you need just the perfect amount of batter in each tin. I didn't want to use the box cake batter, which might have been my first mistake since the consistency of the batter I made was veryyy different from a box mix. Anyway, I decided to make a basic white cake so I started off with doing a half batter, therefore the measurements may be a little wacky


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White Cake Batter:
1 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp cake flour, sifted
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp milk
7 tbsp butter, room temperature
7/8 cup sugar
2 extra large egg whites, room temperature


Combine the cake flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl; Set aside. Combine milk and vanilla in another bowl. Separate the egg whites and beat them on medium-high until stiff peaks form; Set aside. In your main bowl, beat the butter until creamy, slowly add the sugar to the butter until light and fluffy. \
To the butter mixture, alternate adding the flour and milk while beating on low-medium. Just beat until combined. Add 1/3 of the egg whites to the batter and FOLD in gently. Once combined, fold the rest of the batter. Do NOT over mix this batter. 
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I added food coloring to my batter, if you plan on doing this, add it to the milk mixture prior to combining with the flour/butter!


I colored mine teal, yellow/orange, and a rose. I tried making the mini tops with the rose, and those all failed so I put them aside. I have heart-shaped silicon baking cups that I decided to try, and turns out I just filled them a little too much. I didn't want to waste them so I decided to stack them on top of each other with a vanilla meringue buttercream in between! Here's what they came out like: 



I was pretty happy that I didn't completely waste the yummy cake!

Since I halved the cake batter, I made an even smaller frosting batter
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Meringue Buttercream Frosting:
1 extra large egg white
1/4 cup + 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 stick butter
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Whisk sugar and egg whites in a large heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water until sugar is dissolved and mixture registers 140 degrees.on an instant read thermometer, 2 to 3 minutes.
Beat the egg-white mixture on high speed until it holds stiff (but not dry) peaks and mixture is fluffy and cooled, about 10 minutes.
Reduce speed to medium-low, and add butter several tablespoons at a time, beating well after each addition (meringue will deflate slightly as butter is added). Add vanilla, beat until frosting comes together, 3 to 5 minutes. Beat on the lowest speed until there are no more air bubbles, about 2 minutes. Stir with a rubber spatula until frosting is smooth.
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I just frosted the middle of the heart shapes with a knife and I think it worked pretty well. 
I ended up throwing the rose colored cake "tops" into my magic bullet and combined it with the extra frosting so I can make very vanilla cake pops tomorrow! Pictures to come soon




The heart shaped silicon baking cups really are super cute. Thanks to my roommate Emmarie for getting them for me for my birthday! I still can't believe it took me this long to use them. You can find them here!


Happy Experimenting!








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