Brown and Blue Baby Shower Cupcakes

There is nothing more joyful than celebrating a new life. I made these baby shower cupcakes for one of my coworkers who is expecting a son. The blue and brown combination is quite popular for little boy nurseries at the moment, and I was excited to get a chance to try my hand at putting together a simple treat that reflects that trend.

I used a basic vanilla cake recipe and folded fresh blueberries into the batter. The fresh fruit lent a light note to the fluffy sweetness of the vanilla cake. I chose to use fresh blueberries rather than frozen to avoid the purple color that frozen berries would have inevitably brought to the batter. I also believe the integrity of the fresh berry is much greater than that of a frozen one, making the cake void of any mushy berry pockets that are often found in mass-produced blueberry baked goods. The berries also made the cupcakes rather pretty in their white liners. They took on a polka-dotted appearance. If you look carefully at the cupcake in the lower right corner, you can see one of the blueberries peeking out from under the frosting.

The simple decoration on the cupcake is made from marshmallow fondant, tinted blue and brown. My coworker specifically requested no chocolate in the decorative elements. I felt that using a fondant would be better than attempting to color frosting a deep brown hue without the benefit of cocoa powder.

You'll notice that the cupcakes appear to be wearing skirts. I have started double wrapping the cupcakes I make for special occasions. I do this because many times a printed liner will lose its vibrancy when going through the baking process, and I want my cupcakes to have a polished look that is appropriate for the occasion. I want to try using some sort of ribbon or seal to keep the additional liner from fanning out so much. I will post comments and pictures when I get an opportunity to try this technique.

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Martha Stewart's Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

 

I both love and envy Martha Stewart in that Stepford Wives kind of way. It seems that everything she produces is perpetually picture perfect. I know that most of this is an illusion created for print and television, but I am certain that, given the opportunity to meet the woman herself, I would discover she can, on the first try, successfully bake most of the delicacies in her numerous, albeit daunting, cookbooks. 

I believe it was this blog that finally gave me the courage and inspiration to purchase one of her cookbooks and try one of the more intimidating recipes. My father selected the recipe while flipping through my new copy of Martha Stewart's Cupcakes and making suggestions about what I try to bake next. I am not going to detail the recipe here because you can get it in its entirety on Martha's website or in her cookbook.

The cupcakes turned out luscious and delicate. The cake was incredibly moist with just the perfect lemon flavor. The strong flavor of the lemon curd was balanced nicely with the creamy meringue topping. 

While the end product was well worth the effort, assembling the many components that came together to create these cupcakes took a great deal of time and patience. If you choose to purchase Martha's cookbook, I would recommend thoroughly reading through each recipe and creating a game plan before you attempt to execute it. 

For these cupcakes, I would block off a solid three hours of kitchen time to bake and decorate. It would be prudent to make the lemon curd in advance, so that it's ready to go when you make the meringue. The curd can keep in the fridge for up to two days before you need it. The recipe calls for six lemons, but I only used five. If you purchase a larger lemons, I think you would be safe with five.

The cake component was relatively easy to put together. I got to use a microplaner for the first time and discovered that you have to be pretty aggressive to get the right amount of zest for the batter. I would not recommend using anything other than a microplaner because you risk having lemon rind mini-chunks in your cakes. A properly blended batter will be thick. The cakes took a full twenty-five minutes to bake and came out a beautiful, buttery color.

The lemon curd definately gave me some trouble. Martha's instructions were vague and neglected to offer estimated times for critical stages in the curd making process. This surprised me because other areas of her cookbook were much more specific. I heated the curd base for what I thought was an appropriate time, but it ended up not setting up in the fridge.I had to reheat the mixture and add in some sugar-free lemon Jello in order for it to set up.

Making the meringue frosting was surprisingly easy. It requires the use of a candy thermometer, so be sure you have one on hand. The frosting must be used immediately after making, so make sure you have all of the other components ready to go before you begin. Piping the meringue on the cupcakes was a delightfully messy experience. I imagine that it would be supremely fun to try with enthusiastic, sugar-loving, six-year-olds as it has a tendency to get all over the place inviting one to eat as one decorates.

Over all the flavor and consistency of the cupcakes far outweighed the problems I encountered while making these. I would make them again but only with careful planning and preparation.

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Vanilla Cupcake with Blueberry Cream Cheese Butter Cream

I made these cupcakes for my high school's open house. It's usually a very long day for the teachers, so I decided that it might be nice to have a sweet treat before the parents arrived. I've been wanting to work with fresh fruit for a while now. This seemed like the perfect opportunity.

I started by culling the internet for a cupcake recipe that would be easy to make and required fewer than 10 ingredients. I settled on Billy's Vanilla Cupcakes from How to Eat a Cupcake, a blog with excellent cupcake recipes. I was able to find everything I needed at my local Super Target, always a plus. The quantities of the ingredients were convenient for a household of two, as I am often befuddled by involved recipes because inevitably the leftover ingredients will go bad before my husband and I can use them.

For the frosting, I decided to modify a basic butter cream recipe. I loved using the blueberries because they provided a natural tint to the icing that made it a lovely lilac shade.

Billy's Vanilla Cupcakes from How to Eat a Cupcake 

The recipe yielded about 30 cupcakes for me, and I filled some of them quite full. I think I would have ended up with more had a been a bit more even on my batter distribution among the cups. 

1 3/4  c. cake flour - I had a hard time finding this at first. It was on the bottom shelf in a box, not a bag like regular flours. 

1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
2 c. sugar
1 tbs. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1 c. unsalted butter softened and cut into tablespoons
4 large eggs at room temperature
1 c. whole milk
1. tsp. vanilla extract


Preheat oven to 325. Prepare your cupcake pan with liners. 


Thoroughly mix dry ingredients in your mixer bowl. Using the paddle attachment on your mixer on medium speed, slowly add the butter to your dry ingredients. I softened my butter in the microwave for about 20 secs. Make sure your butter mixes in evenly. You should have a mixture that looks like a dry cookie dough or pie crust. 


In a small bowl or large measuring cup- I used a 2c. measuring cup, and it got a bit messy- whisk together eggs, milk, and vanilla. The recipe specifies that the liquid ingredients are added to the butter mixture in thirds, scraping the bowl with each addition. Since I am very impatient, I turned on my mixer to one notch below medium (I use a KitchenAid) and slowly poured in the mixture. This worked well,and I didn't have to scrape the bowl. The batter was thicker than a traditional cake batter and tasted fabulous, like a moist sugar cookie dough. 


Fill your liners about 2/3s full. Bake between 17-21 minutes, rotating halfway through. Always check your cakes with a toothpick to ensure they are done baking. When the toothpick comes out clean, they are ready. Mine took about 22 minutes, but I have an older oven and it was very humid the day I baked these. 


Allow cupcakes to cool on a wire rack before icing. 


Blueberry Cream Cheese Butter Cream

Keep in mind when you are purchasing your ingredients that this is not a low fat recipe. I bought regular cream cheese because the consistency is best for a smooth butter cream. You can use fresh or frozen blueberries. For frozen, just follow the directions on the package for thawing and drain thoroughly. 


1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened but not melted (one stick)
8 oz. cream cheese at room temperature (about half a standard package)
2 lbs. 10x confectioner's sugar
4-5 tbs. whole milk
1/2 c. fresh or frozen blueberries
1 tsp. vanilla extract


Prepare your blueberries. If you used frozen, allow them to thaw and drain thoroughly. I sprinkles a bit of sugar over my berries after they thawed, so they would have a syrupy consistency. If you're using fresh, wash your blueberries and cut in half, sprinkling with sugar. Let the blueberries stand for about 10-15 minutes. I prepare my blueberries before I begin my cake batter to give them time to stand. Place blueberries into a food processor or blender and puree. Make sure the puree is not chunky because you won't be able to use a decorating tip if they are. Pour this mixture into your clean mixing bowl.


Add the butter, cream cheese, and confectioner's sugar to the blueberry mixture. Allow the confectioner's sugar to settle before attempting to mix. Add the whole milk and vanilla. Using the paddle attachment, begin mixing incing. Start on low to prevent the sugar from going everywhere. As the icing begins to look doughy, turn up the speed of your mixer. Mix until icing is thick, but not stiff. You want to be able to pipe it out of an icing bag. If your mixture is too thick, add more milk to achieve the right consistency. 


To ice the cupcakes, fill a pastry bag with the icing, and using a large star tip, start at the edge of the cupcake and swirl in. You could complete the cupcake by adding a fresh blueberry garnish. I kept mine simple because I was transporting them to school. 




These cupcakes were a huge hit with my coworkers. The cake turned out nice and moist. It tasted like the cake version of a sugar cookie. The icing added the perfect creamy sweetness to top off the cake. The blueberry flavoring was subtle, and the cream cheese kept the icing nice and light tasting. If you want a stronger blueberry flavor, I would recommend using blueberry preserves in your icing. 




 

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