lemon poppy-seed cupcakes with blackberry buttercream

I am not really in the mood for experimenting, so cupcakes it is! My labmate requested lemon poppy-seed, thus..

Lemon Poppy-Seed Cupcakes with Blackberry Buttercream

Cake recipe via epicurious / Buttercream recipe via wilton.com

For the cupcakes:

Yields 10-12 cupcakes.

1 1/4 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon fresh finely grated lemon zest (or 1 teaspoon lemon extract)*

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened 

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 tablespoons poppy-seeds

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line muffin tin cups with paper liners. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, zest (if using lemon extract, add it with the sugar and butter), and salt. 

Beat together sugar and butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy. Beat in eggs until combined. Reduce speed to low, then add flour mixture and poppy-seeds, and mix until just combined. Batter will be thick. *I ended up adding the juice of one small lemon, because I felt like it wasn't quite lemony enough with the zest/extract alone.

Spoon batter evenly into paper liners, about 2/3 full. Bake for about 18 minutes, or until wooden pick inserted into cupcakes comes out clean. Allow cupcakes to cool a few minutes in muffin tin before removing onto wire rack. Cool completely before frosting.

For the buttercream:

I halved this recipe and had plenty for a dozen cupcakes. The ingredients listed below will make enough icing for at least 2 dozen cupcakes.

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted

1/3 cup seedless blackberry preserves

fresh blackberries for garnishing (optional)

In a large bowl, beat shortening and butter or margarine with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add vanilla, mix well. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape the sides and the bottom of the bowl often. The icing will appear dry once all the sugar is mixed in. Add blackberry preserves and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy.

raspberry limeade tart: fail

So, my attempt at "re-creating" one of my favorite recipes was, well, a failure (in my opinion).  I absolutely love this Creamy Lemon Tart recipe I found on Pinterest - made with Greek yogurt and a rosemary crust. AMAZING and so refreshing. A few friends and I barbecue on Sundays, so I thought I would contribute a variation on this recipe: a Raspberry Limeade Tart with a Graham Cracker Crust. I substituted lime juice and zest in place of the lemon juice and zest, and added about a cup of fresh raspberries, pureed. Adam, my boyfriend, approved of it, but it didn't quite meet my standards.. I was unimpressed. It was edible, I'll give it that, an "A" for effort! The graham cracker crust was perfect and the filling was tart (as it should be), but the consistency was off. I think the raspberry puree was the culprit. I may try it again with more Greek yogurt, or less puree. Anyway, I have room to improve! Which is fine with me. It only gives me another excuse to bake! Practice makes perfect, right? ;) One of my favorite quotes, "I am learning to be brave in my beautiful mistakes" - Pink ("Crystal Ball"), applies to baking (and to life in general..).

Here is the original Creamy Lemon Tart recipe: http://www.happyolks.com/guest-post-from-so-good-and-tasty/
It's great (AND simple)! Try it!

I started reading "The Making of a Pastry Chef: Recipes and Inspiration from America's Best Pastry Chefs" by Andrew MacLauchlan, Executive Pastry Chef, Coyote Cafe - so far, so good! It had great reviews on Amazon, so I though I'd give it a try.

This is the part I need to read - the cold, hard truth.

vanilla buttercream / buttercream begonias

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

again via allrecipes

Yields about 3 1/2 - 4 cups.

1 cup shortening

4 cups confectioners' sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 fluid oz. heavy cream

food color (optional) - I chose pink!

If you plan on piping, you will need a pastry bag, plastic coupler, and pastry tips (specifically a standard tip #44) - essentials, according to Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook. I love LOVE this book. I would highly recommend it. It has an entire section on general baking tips, equipment, and technique. And chapters on cakes, and cakes only, or on pastries or yeasted baked goods.

Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook - I'd recommend purchasing it on Amazon (I want to say it was about $25 or so, rather than $40 at Barnes & Noble).

With the help of Martha, I finally managed to properly assemble my pastry bag! 1) unscrew the coupler ring, 2) push the coupler tip into the end of the bag as far as you can, 3) if using a disposable pastry bag, with scissors, trim the tip of the bag below the coupler, 4) place the pastry tip over the coupler tip and the bag, 5) screw the ring back into place to secure the tip. 

OK! Now that you too have your pastry bag in one-piece, ready to go, set it aside and..

Cream shortening until fluffy. Add confectioners' sugar and continue creaming until well blended.

Add salt, vanilla, and cream. Blend on low speed until moistened.  Add additional cream, if necessary (up to 2 oz.). Beat on high speed until frosting is fluffy.

I split the frosting evenly into two separate bowls - one white, the other pink (or which ever color you'd like!).

I spooned pink frosting into the pastry bag first, then an equal amount of white frosting on top of the pink - this will create a pink-white swirl effect on the petals.  

When frosting, start at the edge of the cupcake with the smaller/skinny end of the tip facing towards you, and the wider end facing towards the center of the cupcake. I am right-handed and I felt most comfortable holding the bag in my right hand; the end of the bag on the right side, and the tip of the bag on the left (hope that is clear - I will take pictures of each step next time, promise!). Hold at a 90 degree angle, then gently squeeze the bag and make a small sweeping motion while turning the cupcake - pull towards you, and back towards the cupcake, pull towards you, and back towards the cupcake - this will create ruffle-like petals. The next trip around, hold the tip at about a 45 degree angle, then repeat the same motion. Continue working towards the center of the cupcake decreasing the angle of the tip with each layer. Fill the center with a small ruffle. Voila! Buttercream Begonias.

Next, my favorite part.. enjoy!

red velvet cupcakes

Ok ok, so I told myself I would wait until this weekend to feed my baking craving, but there is only a quiz standing in between me and bliss. Studying can wait, right? Always. Well, no.. sometimes. And this happens to be one of those times.

When searching for recipes, allrecipes.com is my go-to site. It is a good starting point, it gives you something you can work with, something you can "customize". Plus, the user ratings are accurate 99% of the time, and the reviews are full of good-to-know do's and don't's.

Also, I always always bake to Pandora. My new obsession: Coeur De Pirate ("Pirate Heart"), Beatrice Martin. Google her, youtube her. You will fall in love.  She reminds me of a French Regina Spektor.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

via allrecipes.com

Yields about 15 cupcakes (I halved the original recipe).

1 1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup milk

half of a 1-oz. bottle of red food color (this recipe recommends McCormick Red Food Color)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.

Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Mix in sour cream, milk, food color, and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until just blended. Batter will be thick. Do not over beat. Spoon batter into paper-lined muffin tins, filling each about 2/3 full.

Bake 20-25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into cupcake comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire cooling rack for about 5 minutes.  Remove from pans and cool completely before frosting*

*Rather than frosting the cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting, I will be frosting mine with buttercream.. cream cheese and red velvet are, well, THE perfect combo. But buttercream is best for piping.

I will post the buttercream recipe along with photos of the finished products tomorrow! Get excited. I am!

"Hell Week" has arrived, the first of many to come, unfortunately. So! I am rewarding myself with a weekend of baking! This weekend I will attempt to make buttercream begonias atop red velvet cupcakes (requested by my lab partners, aka my guinea pigs). *fingers crossed* for pretty, pretty cupcakes!

baker-ish

I thought it would be fun to record my progress, my "journey" as a.. baker-ish. I bake as a hobby. I bake to relieve stress. I bake because I enjoy it, no, LOVE it. I would not say I am a baker, yet! I am a baker-ish, a baker in the making, a bun in the oven! (sorry.. I had to :) ) On that note, so long! I am off to tackle some a&p!