Vanilla Cupcakes with White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

I'm about to do something crazy.

From time to time, I share a recipe that is against my belief system. What belief system is that? "Vanilla is ick." Oh, that.

However, I have been known to befriend people with other belief systems. Several years ago, my husband asked if I could make vanilla cupcakes with white chocolate frosting for a coworker of his. It's apparently her favorite combo. In fact, I almost added the recipe to this blog, but later thought better of it. Why is that? Other than the (plain! vanilla! boring!) obvious, I have never really tasted these cupcakes. I had a tiny bite of one, but gave the rest to my husband and went to the freezer for some chocolatey ice cream instead. The frosting is too sweet. The cake is too un-chocolate. I considered eating one topped with chocolate sauce, but what is the point?

Don't get me wrong. I'm told that these are delicious cupcakes. Better than delicious. When the aforementioned coworker took a new job elsewhere, I was asked to make the cupcakes again. I was told that she had four of them. Then saved two for the next day. When my husband saved one for his old boss, she replied with an e-mail. Subject line: "OMG." Of all the (by my standards) delicious things that I have prepared for his coworkers, this is what the people want. I'll just go have another scoop of chocolate peanut butter ice cream, thankyouverymuch.

I wasn't even inspired to take nice photographs or to decorate them with a piping bag. So, sorry. Vanilla just doesn't deserve that.

Everyone's Favorite Vanilla Cupcakes with White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
(adapted from Martha via Magnolia Bakery, and frosting from Diana's Desserts)

Cupcakes:
2 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
2 t. baking powder
3/4 t. salt
1 c. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 c. sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 c. milk
1 t. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with paper liners; set aside. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth and creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla, and scraping down sides of bowl in between each addition; beat until ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat.

Divide batter evenly among liners, filling about three-quarters full. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes.

"Help us! We're plain! Not even chocolate can save us!"

Transfer to a wire rack to cool in tins for 15 minutes. Remove cupcakes from tins, and cool completely on rack. Once cupcakes have cooled, use a small offset spatula to frost tops of each cupcake. Serve at room temperature.

Frosting:
9 oz. white chocolate, chopped (or use chips)
12 T. unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 1/4–3 1/2 c. confectioners’ sugar (to taste)
1/2 c. milk
1 t. vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

Melt the white chocolate in a double boiler or good nonstick pot on low. Stir until smooth. Let cool to room temperature.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth and creamy. Gradually add confectioners’ sugar, and alternate with the milk, beating until fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and salt and beat until smooth. Stir in the cooled melted white chocolate. If necessary, refrigerate until firm enough to frost the cupcakes, about 30 minutes.

Frost cooled cupcakes with an offset spatula.

A Triple-Layer Birthday

A certain hubby of mine recently turned 30 and I found it appropriate to raise (literally) his standard birthday cake to new levels. Three of them to be exact.

I almost considered this gorgeous cake (with chocolate frosting throughout, of course), but I chickened out at the last minute since it was a new recipe and an important birthday. I noticed when making the cream-filled chocolate cupcakes earlier in the week that the cupcakes didn't really "dome" much—which would be perfect for a layer cake. When the layers get too rounded at the top, they become difficult to stack unless you trim them (and I'm just not advanced enough for that).

I won't duplicate the recipe here (it's right below this one!) but since I only have two 9-inch round cake pans, I used one 24-cupcake recipe to evenly fill two pans (be sure to butter and flour the pans first!), baked that off, let cool, released from pans, etc., then made a half recipe of the cupcake recipe to fill one more cake pan. However, since you can't really halve three eggs, I did want to mention that I used just one egg in the halved recipe and everything turned out just fine.

Cooking time varied slightly as well, with two pans in the oven taking about 33 minutes to fully cook (but test on your own with a toothpick).

I doubled the chocolate buttercream frosting (rather than multiplying by 1.5) and that was a good idea since there's so much surface area on a triple-layer cake (and hubby is all about the frosting anyway).

Finally, to pipe on the lettering, I used a basic vanilla buttercream recipe—just a small batch. I'd double the following recipe if you wanted to use it to actually frost anything like a batch of cupcakes. This is the recipe given to us at the Sur La Table class and is used on the whoopie pies as the filling. You could add some food coloring if you'd like!

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
1/4 c. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1.5 c. powdered sugar
1.5 T. heavy whipping cream—milk will definitely do though
1/2 t. vanilla extract (or my new favorite paste if you want the flecks!)
pinch of salt

Cream butter and powdered sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, starting on low and increasing speed to medium, until mixture is crumbly, about 1 minute. Add the heavy cream, vanilla, and salt and beat on high until smooth, about 3 minutes. Scoop into piping bag or large zip-top bag with the corner snipped to pipe on details.

Happy birthday!

Retro Desserts: Cream-filled Chocolate Cupcakes

My friend M and I decided to take a class at our local Sur La Table recently. The title was "Retro Desserts" and the menu included cream-filled chocolate cupcakes (think Hostess cupcakes), chocolate whoopie pies, baked doughnuts, and strawberry chiffon pies. The hands-down favorites were the cupcakes and the whoopie pies (recipe to come at a later date!).

I was never a huge fan of the Hostess cupcake growing up, but I certainly had it in my lunch from time to time. I guess you could say that although I wanted processed lunches like every other elementary schooler, I was likely a dessert snob from day one. These cupcakes are a great update on a "classic"... can you see vanilla bean flecks (I adore this vanilla bean paste) in the original? Don't think so.

Also? They were fun to make, even if it does include a large chunk of time for cooling/filling/frosting/decorating... and dishes. It was only my second attempt at a filled cupcake (using the cone method), but the results were impressive. I'm making several dozen to bring into work this week (update: it was a huge, huge success)! Check back later too. The cake recipe was so incredibly moist and delicious that I turned this cupcake recipe into a triple-layer cake for my husband's 30th birthday. Details to come!

Cream-filled Chocolate Cupcakes
makes 24
1/2 c. unsalted butter, room temperature
2 c. sugar
3 large eggs
3/4 c. sour cream (low-fat or regular will do)
1 t. vanilla extract
2 c. flour
2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/4 c. cocoa powder
2 oz. dark chocolate (I used 1/3 c. bittersweet morsels)
1 cup water, boiling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line two 12-cup muffin tins (or one muffin tin in two batches!).

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in eggs one at a time, followed by about half of the sour cream and all of the vanilla.

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer on, add about half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, followed by the remaining sour cream, followed by the remainder of the flour mixture, mixing well between additions. Mix just until no streaks of flour remain (overmixing flour = tough cupcakes).

Measure out 1 c. water in a glass measuring cup and microwave until boiling. Whisk cocoa powder and dark chocolate into the boiling water until well combined. Gradually pour "chocolate water" into the batter and stir (by hand—it will splatter if you use the mixer!) until uniform in color.

Evenly distribute batter into prepared baking cups. Bake for 15–17 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean and the cakes spring back slightly when lightly pressed. Turn cupcakes out onto a wire rack to cool completely before filling or frosting.

Vanilla Cream Filling:
3 T. flour
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. unsalted butter
1/2 c. sugar
1 t. vanilla extract (or 1/2 scraped vanilla bean, etc.)

Whisk together the flour and milk and cook in a small saucepan over medium heat until thick. This will only take a few minutes. Stir continuously to avoid clumping and do not bring all the way to a boil. When thickened (consistency of a thin pudding), strain with a mesh strainer into a small bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let cool completely to room temperature.

When the milk mixture is cool, cream the butter and sugar together in a medium bowl until light. Add in the milk/flour mixture and the vanilla and beat at high speed with an electric mixer for 7 minutes, until light and very fluffy. Scrape into a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip (or a large zip-top plastic bag with the corner cut off) and set aside until ready to fill your cupcakes.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting:
1/2 c. unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 c. cocoa powder
2–3 c. powdered sugar
1/4 c. milk
1 t. vanilla extract

Cream butter well with an electric mixer. Add cocoa and powdered sugar alternately with milk. Add vanilla. Beat to smooth, thick (but still spreadable) consistency—add more milk a little at a time if needed. Taste often!

Assembly
Take a completely cooled cupcake and, using a small paring knife, cut a cone of cake (1 inch across by 1 inch deep) out of the top. Trim off pointy end of cone (you can eat that!), leaving a flat circle of cake. Set to the side and continue process for all cupcakes.

Take the cream filling and squeeze a tablespoon or so into each cupcake cavity. Top off with the flat circle of cake to plug up the hole and keep the filling in place.

Using a small offset spatula, frost each cupcake with a layer of chocolate buttercream. Spread from the center to the sides to evenly cover the cake plug and help prevent tearing/crumbs.

If you have leftover vanilla cream filling, transfer it to a fresh zip-top bag, cut off a very small opening in one corner of the bag, and pipe a decorative swirl down the center of each cupcake. Store cupcakes in an airtight container.

Here are Miss M's cute swirls!

Check back at another time for the other recipes (and by "other recipes" I mean the chocolate ones... so whoopie pies!).

Texas Sheet Cake

Sorry for the blogging hiatus, but I have a bunch of exciting, super chocolatey recipes waiting in the wings!

I've never been to Texas, but I do love this cake (and that show; hooray, it's back!). I'm no authority on the subject, but from what I've read, this is an old-fashioned, simple, traditional potluck dessert in the South—which was exactly what I needed for an event this weekend. Oh, and it's freaking delicious.

The recipe that inspired me to try it was this one (and I'm grateful to her for the frosting recipe), but I ended up going with an oldie but goodie: a recipe posted in the Washington Post on May 30, 1974 (Thanks, Google)! While almost all recipes were virtually identical, why this one? Sour cream. I'm a sucker for cakes made with sour cream/yogurt/mayo. So moist! But, have a glass of milk ready for this one. It's a stick-to-the-roof-of-your-mouth cake. But who said that's a bad thing?

I'm in a retro mood after a cooking class I took this weekend (details and recipes to come), and what's more, this cake is all beaten by hand with a spoon. No mixer needed!

Texas Sheet Cake
adapted from the Washington Post
1 c. (2 sticks) butter (I used unsalted)
4 T. cocoa
1 c. water
2 c. flour
2 c. sugar
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. baking soda
2 eggs, fork beaten
1/2 c. sour cream (but milk will do if you don't have it on hand)
1 t. vanilla

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Butter and flour* a 13x9-inch pan (called for metal but I only have glass). (*To "flour" a pan when the cake is chocolate, use cocoa so the flour won't show, though it likely won't matter all that much.)

In a medium saucepan, combine the butter, cocoa, and water and bring to a boil.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda.

Pour the hot ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir well with a wooden spoon or spatula.

Add the eggs, sour cream, and vanilla and stir until batter is very smooth.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. While the cake is baking, prepare the frosting (it's frosted when warm).

Remove the cake from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool. Immediately pour the frosting over the warm cake and spread evenly. Let the cake cool completely before cutting.

Frosting
1/4 c. (1/2 stick) butter
3 T. milk
2 T. cocoa
dash of salt
1 t. vanilla
2 c. powdered sugar

In a medium saucepan, combine butter, milk, cocoa, salt, and vanilla. Bring to a boil.

Place the powdered sugar in a large bowl and pour the hot ingredients over the powdered sugar and mix with a wooden spoon until the frosting is very smooth. Add chopped walnuts if desired. Frost cake as indicated above.

Chocolate Birthday Cake Frosting

Yippee! My first post on my first-ever blog!

I have been thinking about starting a chocolate blog for quite some time now, so many of these recipes are out of date. Pretend it's November for this one!

While I generally make chocolate concoctions much more crazy than this, my in-laws and husband always have a traditional layered chocolate cake for their birthdays. My father-in-law was out of town, so we surprised mom with a cake on her birthday!

They always use Duncan Hines Devil's Food Chocolate Cake mix for the cake part. My husband came up with a quick way to make white icing for piping letters onto the cake (also below).

Mom2's Chocolate Frosting:

1 stick unsalted butter
1/3–1/2 c. milk
2 2/3 c. powdered sugar
1 t. vanilla extract
1/2–3/4 c. cocoa powder

Cream butter well. Add cocoa and powdered sugar alternately with milk. Add vanilla. Beat to desired consistency and add more milk a little at a time if needed. Taste often! Frost room temperature cake, preferably with an offset icing spatula.

My Hubby's Quick White Icing:
powdered sugar
milk
splash of vanilla extract

Put a few teaspoons of powdered sugar into a cup. Add milk and splash of vanilla extract, stirring often and rapidly, until desired consistency (and sickening sweetness!) is attained. Scoop into plastic bag, snip off tip, and pipe letters or designs onto frosted cake.

Raging success! Happy birthday, mom!