Cupcakes: A Buttercream's Best Friend

Last week I showed you how to make the perfect buttercream.  This week, I thought I’d show you a fabulous conveyance for said frosting.  Even as good as the buttercream is, you still can’t just eat it with a spoon.  Not if there are other people present, anyway.  These cupcakes are soft and tender and I’d say they fall into the category of a sponge cake. 

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 1 cup flour
• ¾ cup sugar
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 3 eggs
• ¼ cup oil
• ¼ cup buttermilk
• 2 Tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Start by preheating your oven to 350° and lining/spraying your muffin pan.  Next up, measure all of your dry ingredients into a large-ish mixing bowl. 

Whisk those together and set it aside.  Next, you need to separate the eggs.  (Seeley has the perfect tip for that here.)  If you measure all the rest of your wet ingredients first, you can just drop the yolks in with them and save dirtying an extra dish.  

Beat the egg whites until you get stiff peaks.  <giggle>  Sorry, I just can’t help myself.  But if you don’t laugh at the term ‘stiff peaks’, then you’ve never read a really bad romance novel.  Some of the descriptive phrases that people come up with are simply amazing.  I have yet to actually come across stiff peaks (HA!), but I guarantee it’s out there somewhere.  Oops, I got sidetracked.  Where was I?  Oh yes, egg whites. 

Set those aside and whisk together the other wet ingredients and pour them over the dry stuff. 

Stir until it just comes together. 

Add about ⅓ of the egg whites. 

Fold that in until it’s mostly incorporated before adding the next third. 

Stirring will deflate the egg whites, so make sure you’re gently folding them in.  Cut through the middle with your spatula.

Then scrape along the bottom of the bowl and up over the top. 

Continue that with the remaining egg whites until they’re all incorporated.  Spoon the batter into the muffin cups, filling each one about ⅔ full.  I always put my muffin tins on a sheet pan.  It makes them easier to move around, and it’s also insurance in case I’ve filled them too full.   

Now, just before you put the cupcakes into the oven turn the temperature up to 425°.  Bake them at that temperature for 5 minutes, then turn it back down to 350°.  Bake them for an additional 10 – 12 minutes. (That’s a total of 15 – 17 minutes.)  They’ll be just starting to brown around the edges and a toothpick inserted in the middle of one should come out clean.  Allow them to cool in the pan for only 2 or 3 minutes before relocating them to a cooling rack. 

When they’ve cooled completely, top each one with a generous amount of delicious buttercream. 

The interior of these cupcakes is fabulous.  They’re light, fluffy, and moist without feeling oily. 

What perfectly innocent phrase makes you crack up?  Come on, we all have our sophomoric moments. 

Beautifully Basic Buttercream

The other night, Hubby told me that a colleague of his was looking for a buttercream recipe.  Rather than referring him to one of our posts that includes a recipe for buttercream, I decided it deserves a post of its own.  The truth is, there are lots of different kinds of buttercream.  The one I’m making today is foolproof (even in May), reliable, delicious, and perfect for either piping or spreading. 

Here’s what you’ll need:

• ½ cup butter, softened (1 stick)
• 2 cups powdered sugar (that’s icing sugar for you non-Americans)
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla
• 2-3 Tablespoons cream
• ¼ teaspoon salt (optional)

An important note to make is that your buttercream can only be as good as the individual ingredients you use.  Good quality butter, organic powdered sugar, and pure vanilla extract are a must.  I can’t stress enough just how important it is.  If you’re going to use crap ingredients, you might as well save yourself the trouble and just buy the stuff that comes in a tub.  If you’ve never used organic powdered sugar, give it a try one time.  You won’t believe the difference.  Trader Joe’s is a really good source for stuff like that. 

Ok, rant over. Let’s get started.  Drop the room temperature butter into your mixing bowl and give it a quick stir, just to make sure it’s nice and soft. 

Sift the powdered sugar over the top. 

This is another thing that makes a difference.  All powdered sugar is going to have at least a few lumps in it.  Sifting it will make your icing nice and smooth.  Break up any lumps with your fingertips or the back of a spoon and put them through the sieve. 

Mix on low speed until you have what is basically a crumbly mess.  This is when you want to scrape down the bowl really well.  If you have a dough scraper, they work great for this because they’re stiffer than a silicone spatula. 

Once everything is scraped down thoroughly, mix on medium- low speed until you have something about the consistency of play dough. 

Add the vanilla.  If you want your buttercream to be a different flavor, (mint, almond, whatever) feel free to substitute it for some or all of the vanilla.  (this is also when you would add coloring if you’re doing that)     

Mix that in until it is completely incorporated.  Be sure to continue to scrape everything down. 

Add 2 Tablespoons of heavy cream,  

and give it a mix until it looks well… beautiful!

Now’s the time to check for consistency and flavor.  If you want it to be thinner, add a little more cream.  I wanted salt in mine, so I added ¼ teaspoon. 

Give it one more stir and you have reached buttercream perfection! 

Spread it on a cake or pipe it onto your favorite cupcake. 

If you drop your cupcakes back into the pan, they can’t run away from you while you’re piping.  There are two easy designs for topping cupcakes.  The first is a spiral that has a point in the middle. To accomplish this, use a large open star tip, hold your bag straight up and down, and starting from the outside edge, work your way around, slowly moving toward the center. 

The second is a rosette.  It’s exactly the same technique, except you start in the middle, and work your way toward the edge.  Either way is beautiful!

Repeat with the rest of the cupcakes.  There should be plenty of frosting for a dozen. 

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