4th of July Baking

So, I realize the 4th of July was a week and a half ago, but I have been very busy!  I was house-sitting that weekend, so I was not on the computer much.  And since then, when I have not been at work, I have been at the river or the gym!  The weather has been absolutely amazing for the river. 

For the 4th of July, my family held a yard sale at our house.  I thought it would be a great idea to bake tons of cupcakes to give away or sell. Long story short --- timing and everything did not work out.  I did not end up selling them, but my family (my mom, and my sister and her boyfriend who had temporarily been living with us) and I ate them up!

I baked a pouch of Betty Crocker's Sugar Cookies and I made White and Red Velvet cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream frosting from scratch.  Everything turned out delicious.  First, I baked the cookies, because I knew I could do those a day or two in advance.  I cut them into cute star shapes to go with the theme !

I found a new attachment that worked like a charm on mixing the dough!

Then I baked the familiar white cupcakes from Tish Boyle's "The Cake Book".  While they taste delicious, I decided I need to try out a few more recipes until I find my go-to white/vanilla cake recipe. 

 

 

The ziploc bag is a great tool for evenly distributing the cake batter into the paper baking cups!

My favourite part was baking the Red Velvet cupcakes.  This was my first time working with a Red Velvet recipe so I searched around online before deciding on one.  Of course, I chose the original recipe I wanted that I had found on Lindsey's blog Gingerbread Bagels.  I used her Red Velvet Fondant Cake recipe.  I love reading her blog, because you can tell she has a fun time sharing her experiences and personality through her posts!  I used Paula Deen's Red Velvet Cupcake recipe for a temperature and time guideline.

Now, the recipe called for 2 tablespoons of Red Food coloring --- which turned out to be two bottles of the food dye you buy in 4 packs at the grocery store.  I barely had two, so my cupcakes did not turn out as deep of a red as I had hoped. 

 

 

More of a cherry red, maybe?

They tasted very yummy though! Again, I'll have to try multiple recipes before I find my go-to recipe, but I have plenty of time ahead to do so. 

The next step was the Vanilla Buttercream Frosting.  Common sense should have told me that baking --- especially something with frosting --- is not the best idea on the first super hot weekend of the summer.  In an already full refrigerator, I now had to store 4 dozen cupcakes... The frosting was worth it though, it was simple to make, smooth and tasted delicious.

I used different frosting tips --- it was so warm in the house that I did not have time to clean and reuse the first one!

White Cupcakes with Sprinkles Cupcake's Strawberry Frosting!

So last week, I told my boyfriend that I would bake dessert for dinner with his family.  I was dreaming up different cupcake/frosting combinations, and I finally decided I would use white cake batter and strawberry frosting (white cake batter is my favourite, and I just LOVE strawberry anything!). I went with my semi-newish book, The Cake Book by Tish Boyle, again for the cake recipe.  However, I had to search around on Google for a good Strawberry Frosting recipe.

Google brought me to Oprah's website, where there was an article on Sprinkles Cupcakes, the "world's first cupcake bakery" located in Beverly Hills.  Lucky for me, the owner shared a recipe AND video  for strawberry cupcakes with strawberry frosting.  I figured this MUST be trustworthy, so I went for it!

Again, I have made a few cakes using the recipes in Tish Boyle's book, so I am used to the process and consistency of the cake batter.  Her directions are quite simple to follow, and there are multiple chapters in the beginning explaining everything including accessories, different types of ingredients, methods for frosting and decorating, and even a troubleshooting guide.

As I looked for inspiration for my cupcake and frosting flavor combination, I knew I had to check out Danelle's blog.  She writes about her personal baking and graphic design experiences.  In one post, I read that she put white chocolate chips in vanilla cupcakes.  I was sold --- I knew it would be the perfect addition to the white cake batter.

I totally forgot to mix them IN the batter for the first dozen...

But I did remember to sprinkle them on top for both at least!

They settled in nicely after baking, they were such a tasty addition.

 Now strawberry frosting obviously requires pureed strawberries.  This was a perfect opportunity for me to try out the food processor my best friend's mom found for me at a yardsale!  The food processor worked perfectly, looks like someone just needed to clean out and make more room in their kitchen! 

The flecks of strawberry look pretty!

The strawberry puree gave the frosting a lovely pink color, but I would have loved to add a tiny drop of red food dye for some more color. However, I forgot since I didn't give myself enough time.   Piping the frosting on was pretty simple.  After my first attempt, I had gotten used to using the Wilton frosting bags and 1M star tip.

Not kidding --- I could eat probably about 4 in one sitting, because they are so delicious.

The recipe for the frosting is listed below, but the whole article on Oprah's website can be found here.  It DOES say that the frosting "makes enough for 1 dozen", but I found that I had plenty for two dozen the way I frosted them.  You should consider visiting the site, because the recipe for the strawberry cake batter and another cake batter can be found there, yum! 

Sprinkles Cupcakes - Strawberry Frosting
 .5 C frozen whole strawberries
1 C unsalted butter, firm and somewhat cold
Pinch of salt
3.5 C confectioners' sugar, sifted
.5 tsp. vanilla extract

"Place strawberries in the bowl of a small food processor; process until pureed. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and salt on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce mixer speed and slowly add confectioners' sugar; beat until well combined. Add vanilla and 3 tablespoons strawberry puree (save any remaining strawberry puree for another use); mix until just blended. Do not overmix, or frosting will incorporate too much air. Frosting consistency should be dense and creamy, like ice cream."

All done!

My First Made-From-Scratch Cupcakes!

I would like to say that my very first attempt at cupcakes from scratch went very well.  It was a fun experience, and I finally got to use some baking gifts I was given for my last birthday and Christmas.

I used recipes from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle.  The book was a gift from my boyfriend for my last birthday, and so far I have only made the chocolate cake (yum!) out of it.  Since I am still new at baking from scratch, I kept it simple for these St. Patrick’s Day cupcakes: Yellow Cake and Fluffy White Frosting (some dyed green!).  It goes like this --- my mom buys all the ingredients, I do the baking, and she gets to be my taste tester (obviously the most important role).  So, I made her buy me some Cake Flour.

Making the batter for the cake was fairly simple, since I had previously done a chocolate cake from the same recipe book.  The recipe was detailed and easy to understand.

I really need a new electric mixer.  I swear there is no difference between Speed 1 and 5...

 I filled a ziploc bag with the batter, cut the bottom corner slightly, and used this to fill my cupcake liners.  Much easier and cleaner than using a spoon, like I have been guilty of doing in the past...  Since it was a first attempt and I did not know how many the batter would make, the baking cups were not all filled equally (but now I know for next time!).
 

Mmm smelled delicious!

I think I let them “cool” for too long (wasn’t even that long, maybe an hour and a half?) but they tasted wonderful anyway.

Check out my sweet hot pink timer!

 Making the frosting was definitely the difficult part.  I purchased an Instant Read Thermometer especially for the frosting.  All the ingredients mixed well in the first stage, but I had a hard time heating them to the right temperature.  Directions said to put the bowl with all the ingredients (except the extract) in a pan of simmering water.  First, the bubbles were gathering underneath the bottom rim under the bowl, so it was moving around.  I decided to scrape the mixture into a pot and then returned it to the the pan of simmering water.  It still never reached the right temperature, but it is possible that I did not calibrate the new thermometer correctly.

With all that being said, my frosting ended up perfectly fine :)  I loved it and it looked very pretty when I used the green dye.  Another gift I got for Christmas... all kinds of cupcake/cake decorating kits.  I used the Wilton 1M frosting tip to frost my cupcakes.  This is also my first time using frosting bags/tips.  I really am new at this whole thing.  I can't wait to teach myself or take a class to learn more about cupcake/cake decorating!

Check out  Tish Boyle's blog: http://www.tishboyle.blogspot.com/