Yesterday I made my sister's strawberry birthday cake, and because I only made one cake (vs. two layers), I ended up having about 1/4 of the whipped cream cheese frosting over. My friend's birthday is tomorrow but we are going out two steppin tonight (!!!!love it), so I thought I would make her some birthday cupcakes. I decided to use the leftover icing, make the rest of the whipping cream into whipped cream, mix the two together to make more and lighter icing, and then make chocolate cupcakes. I also bought a decorating kit, and by kit I mean a set of icing bags and three tips. Nonetheless, decorating the cakes was the highlight of my day... so far. Until I go dancing! Anyway, I used a recipe from my Barefoot Contessa at Home cookbook for chocolate cake. I was a little surprised at how they rose a bit and the spread out all over the tin, causing me to just cut them out so that they would be normal cupcake shapes. Then again, Ina made the recipe as cakes, so maybe that has something to do with it. Regardless, it worked out all right and is pretty tasty.
I made a half recipe so that it would yield less cupcakes - I ended up with about 11, but I think it would be better if I had divided it into 12. Below is the full recipe, which makes 2 8-inch layers.
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup freshly brewed coffee
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. I sprayed my pans with Pam baking spray, but truly I'm sad that I forgot to use my really cute polka dot cupcake papers.
Sift flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into bowl and mix.
In another bowl, mix buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla.
On low speed of electric mixer, pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Mix until combined. Then add coffee and stir just until combined.
Pour into pans and bake for 35-40 minutes. Let cool for 30 minutes on rack. To ice, it may be easier to put them in the fridge or freezer for a while first to firm them up. I've learned that for icing, using thin metal surfaces work best for crumb-free spreading. I used my icing bag and flower tip (I'm making up names since they weren't labeled) and attempted some decorating skills on the cupcakes.
I learned from one of my roommates to put the batter in a big measuring cup so that you can neatly pour it into the cupcake pan. Genius!
Woot! First attempts at decorative icing.
I made a half recipe so that it would yield less cupcakes - I ended up with about 11, but I think it would be better if I had divided it into 12. Below is the full recipe, which makes 2 8-inch layers.
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup freshly brewed coffee
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. I sprayed my pans with Pam baking spray, but truly I'm sad that I forgot to use my really cute polka dot cupcake papers.
Sift flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into bowl and mix.
In another bowl, mix buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla.
On low speed of electric mixer, pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Mix until combined. Then add coffee and stir just until combined.
Pour into pans and bake for 35-40 minutes. Let cool for 30 minutes on rack. To ice, it may be easier to put them in the fridge or freezer for a while first to firm them up. I've learned that for icing, using thin metal surfaces work best for crumb-free spreading. I used my icing bag and flower tip (I'm making up names since they weren't labeled) and attempted some decorating skills on the cupcakes.
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