Funfetti Revisted

Occasionally in your life, you come to the realization that work sucks. 

Not just the usual “I hate my job” sucks, but the deep down, this-job-is-stealing-my-soul-and-feeding-it-to-the-bears sucks. My Zoo career was getting there (kind of literally since I made bear food…), but I got out before too much damage was done.

I cared too much. I had too much pride in my job, in my product, that I couldn’t separate my expectations of myself from what I expected of others. My inability to deal was causing major problems between our crew and within myself.

Luckily, I had some great co-workers at the Zoo (hello MR!). One co-worker gave me some great advice back in the day. She probably only prolonged my inevitable Zoo career downfall, but at the time, her advice saved my sanity.

When I found out she was also saying good bye to the Zoo, I knew I needed to make her something. (I don’t care what you say—food always makes the perfect gift!)

I resorted to another adage a friend of mine once gave me:

“When in doubt, Add SPRINKLES!”

I know... I’ve made Funfetti cupcakes before. But I’ve not made these cupcakes:

My go-to vanilla cake with a cup of rainbow jimmies baked right in. Covered with vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream and every sprinkle I had in the house, these little treats satisfy every craving. 

And yes, I have a sprinkle addiction. And no, it’s not my fault. I just really like to have some sprinkle options available anytime I bake. 

And it’s really not my fault that I only use the pink sprinkles at Valentine's or that sometimes sprinkles come in humongous jars. I like variety.

And sprinkles.

 Trust me. Everything’s better with sprinkles.

bleu

  

Oh, and that excellent advice I received… I still use it today. ;-)

Split Decision Cupcakes

Vanilla is the love of my life. It’s creamy, complex floral aroma... It’s sweet, luxurious addition to any baked good… It’s uncanny ability to enhance the flavor of whatever else you use it with (coffee, caramel, chocolate)…

Yep, in this house, vanilla most definitely rules. 

But I’m not the only taster in this household. The other love of my life gets first dibs on most treats. And he’s just gotta be difficult and be a chocolate fan. (And he really prefers chocolate cake heated up and covered in butter…)

So what do you do when you want to make everyone happy, but not have to make four dozen cupcakes? Of course, Split Decision Cupcakes!

Now that’s satisfaction in cake form.

With the opposing sides of vanilla and chocolate, I needed a frosting that would go with both.

I love chocolate covered cherries. He loves chocolate and butter. I love maraschino cherries on vanilla ice cream. He loves chocolate and butter.

So cherry Swiss meringue buttercream works perfectly. He gets the buttery deliciousness to top his half. I get the cherry creaminess to top my half.

Normally I make everything using my Kitchen Aid stand mixer. It’s my underappreciated workhorse. The other other love of my life. But with two batters and a frosting to make, it’s not worth the time to wash it. I used a handheld mixer for these cakes, saving my stand mixer for the frosting.

But you don’t have to be like me. And if you like using multiple bowls just because you can taste test as you go, I won’t tell. It’s called “quality control” for a reason.

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Split Decision Cupcakes

For the vanilla cake: 
1 1/4 c all-purpose flour

1/4 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/2 c (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 c granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 large egg yolks
1 T vanilla extract
1/2 c buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pan with paper liners.
2. In small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. In a medium bowl (or in a stand mixer), cream butter and sugar until pale yellow in color. Add egg and yolks, one at a time, beating well between additions.
4. Add half of the flour mixture to the butter/eggs. Scrape well and add buttermilk and vanilla. Add remaining flour mixture.

Set batter to the side and prepare chocolate cake.

For the Chocolate Cake: 
1/2 c unsweetened cocoa powder
1 c all-purpose flour
1 c granulated sugar
1/2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/4 c vegetable oil
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 c warm water
1/2 c buttermilk
1 large egg (or 2 egg whites – from the vanilla cake)

1. In a medium bowl, combine dry ingredients with a whisk or fork to remove any lumps.
2. Add all liquid ingredients. Mix on medium speed for approximately 3 minutes or until batter is smooth and glossy. (Batter will be considerably loose compared to the vanilla batter.) 
3. For better control, pour batter into a large liquid measuring cup. 

For divided cupcakes: 
1. Using either a small disher (size 100) or two spoons, fill cupcake liners with approximately two tablespoons of vanilla batter. Make an effort to keep the batter on one side of the cup.
2. Pour an equal amount of chocolate batter on the other side of the cup.

3. Repeat with remaining batter. If you use all of one batter before the other (I had extra chocolate), fill liners two-thirds full.
4. Bake at 350 for 15-18 minutes. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

I used this Swiss Meringue Buttercream (divided in half), with the substitution of 3

tablespoons of kirschwasser (or kirsch), a cherry brandy, for the vanilla extract.

So spread a little Valentine’s cheer. Keep you both happy.

bleu

Very Versatile Vanilla Cupcakes

Hallo-thanks-mas is my favorite holiday of the year.

I love it so much that I apparently decided that I would live like a hermit, bake nothing, and ignore the responsibility of blogging.

The good news is that it’s a new year. AKA, all the holidays are over and I have no more excuses.

New year, new treats…

 

One of my Christmas presents this year was a gift of art. This art was to be designed by me and created sometime after the start of the New Year. Size and location were to be determined later. This is my new art:

As soon as I showed friends and family my new tattoo, I was asked, “What flavor is it?” Naturally, I responded with my favorite combination, vanilla with strawberry frosting! Then I decided that I really need to bake something and this could be the perfect reason to celebrate with cake.

I also wanted to bake something for my family reunion via chili cook off. Those poor guys never get any of my treats. And what better way to soothe an over-spiced tummy than with a delicious vanilla cupcake.

For these cakes I wanted a super vanilla cake with a gooey pink strawberry frosting. I used Martha Stewart’s Versatile Vanilla Cake recipe. And I may have found a new favorite cake.

Every time I ate one of these cupcakes (and over a course of about three hours, I ate three) I would exclaim, “They taste like vanilla ice cream!” The addition of extra egg yolk in the batter helps create such a nice dense, but fluffy cake. It really is like eating a cake version of vanilla ice cream.

Now, the frosting was another issue.

I LOVE Seven Minute Frosting. Some people hate that after it sits for a few hours it forms a dry, crusty outer layer. I loved when we would find the plate of extra frosting that my great-grandmother made. She would put it to the side and let it sit out with the other fantastic eats she made at Easter, Christmas, whatever celebration. It would turn into this almost Divinity-like goop--dry and crusty on the outside, delicious and gooey on the inside.

To me, the one thing missing from Seven Minute Frosting was an excess of flavor. It’s sweet. And a little vanilla-ish. But I wanted pink frosting. Preferably STRAWBERRY pink frosting. So I can either search tirelessly for some strawberry extract (yeah, I know I can buy it online) OR I can simply add some strawberry Jello to it.

I’m cheap. (And kinda lazy.) So I went for the Jello. It made sense to just dissolve it in the sugar mixture. However, this is not so. For any of y’all that don’t know, gelatin burns at a lower temperature than sugar. Yeah, so… burned strawberry sugar… not fun.

I ended up whipping about a tablespoon of gelatin into the egg whites before I added the sugar syrup. Worked like a charm! Except that it was a terribly humid and wet week. And I didn’t use vinegar to clean out my bowl. And I was simply destined to fail at this Strawberry Seven Minute Frosting venture.

Two and a half sticks of butter later and hello buttercream! I guess it turned into an Italian meringue buttercream. Honestly, it’s the new bleu strawberry buttercream. And I’ll share my recipe below.

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Strawberry Meringue (Seven Minute Frosting) with Buttercream option
(adapted from these Martha Stewart recipes here and here)

Ingredients

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon light corn syrup

3 large egg whites, room temperature

1 tablespoon strawberry flavored Jello

1 1/4 cup (2.5 sticks) butter, softened

1. In a small, heavy saucepan, combine 3/4 cup sugar, corn syrup, and 2 tablespoons water. Heat over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar has dissolved. Raise heat to bring to a boil. Do not stir anymore. Boil until a candy thermometer registers 230 degrees (about 5 minutes).
2. Meanwhile, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk egg whites on medium speed until soft peaks form, about 2 1/2 minutes. Gradually add remaining 2 tablespoons sugar and jello.
3. Remove the syrup from the heat as soon as it reaches temperature. Turn mixer on medium speed. Pour the syrup in a steady stream down the side of the bowl of the mixer into the egg whites.
4. Beat frosting on medium speed until cool, 5 to 10 minutes.

If you’re lucky, and the humidity works perfectly for you, you can stop here. Just use it as soon as possible because this frosting does crust fast. If you’re luck runs more like mine, keep going: 

5. Change whisk attachment for the flat beater. Add softened butter about a tablespoon at a time. It might look like a little curdled, but keep beating. It will come together much like a Swiss meringue buttercream. 

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As a side note, I’m a cupcaker, sugary treat maker, and frosting taster. However, I generally suck at making pies. And cookies aren’t really my niche. 

But I made these Ginger Molasses Cookies! And they’re super tasty! 

I’m pretty sure my dad ate two thirds of the batch this past weekend. (I’m also pretty sure I ate the other third.) They’re like a chewy ginger snap.

They’re my brother’s recipe. He’s the cookie guy.  I also failed to ask if I could share his recipe, so y’all can just drool. 

happy baking!

bleu