{ 01 septembre 2005 }
cupcakes & poprocks
a couple of weeks ago, i made cupcakes. nothing fancy, but they were fun to make, pretty, and tasty.
starlight yellow cupcakes with buttercream frosting
recipe from the classic betty crocker’s cookbook
prep: 10 min. | bake: 25 min. | cool: 1 hour 10 min.
2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. [1 stick] butter, softened
1 1/4 c. milk
3 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
3 large eggs
buttercream frosting [see below]
1. heat oven to 350°. place cupcake liners in muffin tin.
2. beat all ingredients except buttercream frosting with electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping the bowl constantly. beat on high speed for 3 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. spoon into cupcake liners, filling each liner about halfway full.
3. bake 20–25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean. cool in muffin tin 10 minutes; remove cupcakes to wire rack. cool completely, about 1 hour.
4. make buttercream frosting:
3 c. confectioners’ sugar
1/3 c. butter, softened
2 tsp. vanilla
2 oz. unsweetened baking chocolate, melted & cooled
3–4 tsp. milk1. mix confectioners’ sugar and butter in a medium bowl with electric mixer on low speed. stir in vanilla.
2. remove 1/3 of the mixture and place it in another bowl. add melted chocolate to the 2/3 left in the bowl. stir.
3. add a few drops of red food colouring to the non-chocolatey third of the mixture. stir until pretty and pink.
4. add a few tablespoons of milk to each of the 2 frosting mixtures. beat in just enough milk to make the frostings smooth and spreadable. if frosting is too thick, beat in more milk, a few drops at a time. if frosting becomes too thin, beat in a small amount of confectioners’ sugar.
5. frost cupcakes, some with chocolate buttercream frosting, some with pink vanilla buttercream frosting. garnish as you desire.
i used coffee beans, dried cranberries and strawberry poprocks for garnish. i was wondering if the poprocks would react to the moisture in the frosting. they didn’t for the 1st few hours, but overnight they eventually fizzled and dissolved. the poprocks garnish looked pretty while it lasted though. i guess next time i decide to use poprocks as garnish, i’ll add them right before the cupcakes are served.
posted at 22.07