Strawberry cupcakes

I was in the mood to do some baking today. My birthday festivities were so fantastic I didn't have any room for dessert... so I decided a belated dessert today would be fantastic.

I thought Martha's Strawberry Cupcakes looked delicious. Plus, it's almost summer! Perfect time for a nice fruity dessert.

Everything went well until it came to the frosting - Martha's Strawberry Meringue Buttercream. As the "meringue" part implies, this frosting requires the delicate art of turning eggs and sugar into something fluffy and frosting-like. Naturally, mine fizzled. It ended up completely flat and watery and, although it tasted delicious, had no texture to it! I must have gotten the mixing and temperature wrong... or I just have really back luck with meringues.

I vow to get this right by the time the year is up!

Cake:
Ingredients

• 3 cups cake flour, (not self-rising)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 1/4 cups sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup milk
• 8 large egg whites
• Strawberry Meringue Buttercream
• 24 small fresh strawberries, washed (hulls intact), for garnish

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two standard 12-cup muffin pans with paper liners; set aside.
   
2. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
   
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and 2 cups sugar until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes, scraping down sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the milk and beginning and ending with the flour; beat until just combined. Transfer mixture to a large bowl; set aside.
   
4. In the clean bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat egg whites on low speed until foamy. With mixer running, gradually add remaining 1/4 cup sugar; beat on high speed until stiff, glossy peaks form, about 4 minutes. Do not overbeat. Gently fold 1/3 of the egg-white mixture into the butter-flour mixture until combined. Gently fold in remaining egg-white mixture.
   
5. Divide batter evenly among the muffin cups, filling each with a heaping 1/4 cup batter. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until the cupcakes are golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer pans to a wire rack. Invert cupcakes onto rack; then reinvert and let cool completely, top sides up. Frost cupcakes with strawberry meringue buttercream, swirling to cover. Cupcakes may be stored in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to three days. Garnish with strawberries just before serving.
   

Frosting:
Ingredients

• 4 large egg whites
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into tablespoons
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups (12 ounces) strawberry jam, pureed in a food processor

Directions

1. In the heatproof bowl of an electric mixer set over a saucepan of simmering water, combine egg whites and sugar. Cook, whisking constantly, until sugar has dissolved and mixture is warm to the touch (about 160 degrees).
   
2. Attach the bowl to the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat the egg-white mixture on high speed until it holds stiff (but not dry) peaks. Continue beating until the mixture is fluffy and cooled, about 6 minutes.
   
3. Switch to the paddle attachment. With mixer on medium-low speed, add butter several tablespoons at a time, beating well after each addition. (If frosting appears to separate after all the butter has been added, beat on medium-high speed until smooth again, 3 to 5 minutes more.) Beat in vanilla. Beat on lowest speed to eliminate any air bubbles, about 2 minutes. Stir in strawberry jam with a rubber spatula until frosting is smooth.
   

Cheesecake cupcakes

I haven't had cheesecake in so long! Today, I decided to change that.

The one problem was that I don't have a cake pan... so I decided to make some cheese cupcakes. Thankfully, Martha had a recipe that was for just that: Mini Cheesecakes with Apricot Jam. I decided to combine this with her Classic Cheesecake recipe, taking the crust from the classic cheesecake, the cheesecake part from the Mini Cheesecakes recipe and omitting the apricot.

I started by making the crust, which was as simple as crushing graham crackers in a food processor and adding in agave (substituted for sugar) and butter (I used vegetable margarine). I pressed this mix on the bottom of cupcake tins in the cupcake pan. I baked this for a bit and took it out to cool.

Then it was time to make the cheese part. I mixed together low fat cream cheese, agave, vanilla, eggs and non fat sour cream. I poured this mix into each cupcake cup with the crusts. This, I baked for around 20 minutes... until the outside of the cheesecakes was hard, but the middle was still jiggly.

I had to chill these cheesecakes for four hours (which will end up being overnight), so I haven't tried them yet. But they look delicious! I'll update tomorrow with the full results and pictures.

Recipe (courtesy of Martha Stewart):

Crust: 

• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus room-temperature butter for pan
• 12 graham crackers (3-by-5 inch)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Make crust: Butter a 9-by-3-inch springform pan. In a food processor, pulse graham crackers until fine crumbs form; add melted butter, sugar, and salt, and pulse to combine. Press crumb mixture into bottom and about 1 inch up side of pan. Bake until set, 12 to 15 minutes; let cool on a wire rack. Reduce oven to 325 degrees.

Filling: 

1. Reduce oven temperature to 275 degrees. Beat cream cheese with a mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add remaining 1/2 cup sugar, then vanilla. With mixer running, add eggs slowly, scraping down side of bowl. Add sour cream and salt. Pour batter into muffin cups, filling almost to the tops.
   
2. Bake until sides are set but centers are wobbly, about 20 minutes. Let cool in tins on wire racks. Wrap tins tightly with plastic, and refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.
   
3. Warm jam in a small saucepan until liquidy. Strain through a sieve. Spoon 1 teaspoon jam on top of each cake. Cheesecakes will keep, covered and refrigerated, for up to 3 days.

Edit: I just tried them and these are DELICIOUS. I'm in love.

Happy birthday, Casey!

So it's time for another roommate birthday! My number one bro Casey turned 23 today, and to commemorate, it was of course time for come delicious Martha Stewart-inspired cupcakes.

While Mike opted for chocolate chip with buttercream chocolate chip frosting, I opted for a vanilla cake with a cream cheese frosting for Casey today.

I followed the same procedure as before with the cake part, this time with a substitute. I used Sprite Zero instead of eggs, a technique I learned while a broke college student. This is both healthier and more interesting than using eggs. The downside is that I didn't know exactly how much to use, so the resulting cupcakes were a bit more buscuit-y than cupcake-y in texture. Still delicious, though!

For the frosting, I tried a new trick, mostly prompted because I realized that I didn't have enough butter.  I substituted 3/4 cup of olive oil for the 1 cup of butter in the recipe. It was actually completely delicious! And it's definitely a healthier choice. I will definitely be doing this again in the past.

A topped the frosting off with a bit of food coloring. Per Casey's request, I attempted "red" which actually equaled "bright pink" in practice. At least it tastes delicious anyway!

Recipes: 

Vanilla Cake

Makes 24

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature (1 1/2 sticks)
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups milk

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pan with paper liners; set aside. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. In another mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, mixing until incorporated and scraping down sides of bowl, beat in vanilla.
2. Add flour mixture and milk alternately, beginning and ending with flour. Scrape the sides and bottom of bowl to assure the batter is thoroughly mixed. Divide batter evenly among liners, filling papers about 2/3 full. Bake on the center rack of the oven until tops spring back to touch, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Read more at Marthastewart.com: Vanilla Cupcakes - Martha Stewart Recipes  

 

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 pound (4 cups) confectioners' sugar, sifted
• 3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Beat butter and cream cheese with a mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low. Add sugar, 1 cup at a time, and then vanilla; mix until smooth. Frosting can be refrigerated for up to 3 days; before using, bring to room temperature, and beat until smooth.

Read more at Marthastewart.com: Cream Cheese Frosting - Martha Stewart Recipes

P.S. A HUGE thanks to my fantastic, wonderful, inspirational, hardworking mother who helped me out a huge amount today because I have a test tomorrow and didn't have much time to do my Martha craft. Much love!

Happy birthday, Mike!

Today is my roommate's birthday and no birthday is complete without cake or cupcakes. Even if I can't eat said cake or cupcakes due to my current freeze on white flour and carbohydrates.

Being the awesome roommate that I am, I decided to do some baking and, for the first, time cook cupcakes without the help of a box of mix. This was much easier than I had anticipated.

I chose an easy recipe to start; my other roommates birthday is coming up in a few weeks, and I vow to try something more complex then. I gave my roommate and choice, and he picked Martha's Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Chocolate Chip Frosting, an excellent choice in my opinion. In order to make the whole thing more festive, I substituted M&Ms for chocolate chips, so the cupcakes would be nice and colorful.

The best thing about this recipe was that it omitted whole eggs, and just used a combination of milk and egg whites instead. Of course, this doesn't make the resulting cupcakes THAT much healthier, but they are definitely super light and fluffy, which was an added bonus.

The recipe called for a basic buttercream, which is essentially just powdered sugar, butter, and a dash of vanilla. I only used half the powdered sugar because the frosting (yes, I dared to try some, don't tell my doctor), was already really sweet.

Mike caught my other roommate night eating my cupcakes at 2am last night, so I'd say this recipe was a success. I hope these lucky non-pre-diabetics enjoy without me... I'm not bitter at all.

RECIPE (courtesy of Martha Stewart at marthastewart.com)

Ingredients
Makes 30
3 1/4 cups sifted cake flour (not self-rising)
1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
7 ounces (1 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
5 large egg whites, room temperature
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
Chocolate Chip Frosting

Directions

Make cupcakes as directed in Basic Cupcake How-To, omitting eggs and using milk and vanilla for wet ingredients. Beat egg whites to stiff peaks, and fold into batter. Fold in chocolate chips. Bake cupcakes about 22 minutes. Frost with buttercream, and serve immediately.