Once Upon a Time: A Story of Cupcakes

Hello, Lovelies!

Or...Uglies, if you prefer. However, I'm sitting here with a British-flag-covered, steaming pot of tea, and methinks it affects my vocabulary at times. Besides, if you're sparing the time to read of my latest (and *ahem*, long ago) adventures in cupcakery, you are lovely! Shall we begin the tale?

    Once upon a time, when the colors of spring were just beginning to come into focus and warm the landscape, Sarah traveled to the far-off state of Maryland. This land was very merry indeed for the traveler, as it boasted the wonderful attraction of home to her life-long best friend, who had married another life-long friend, the two of whom had an exciting new friend to introduce to Sarah.

  Or, to be more precise, an honorary nephew for Auntie Sarah to meet!!

     Mr. Liam was full of smiles and conversation for Auntie Sarah, and she loved him dearly. Loved him when he napped, when he ate, and when he bounced. They played bump together, read books when Mama and Papa went on a date, and toured the art museum. One day, the adventures of Mr. Liam and Auntie Sarah contained-

What's that you say? You thought you were getting a cupcake recipe? What is this nonsense about cupcakes? Look at the post title. I'm sure I wrote "The Adventures of Mr. Liam and Auntie Sarah"...

Oh.

Cupcakes. Right. I will try again.

     One day, during Auntie Sarah's visit, Mr. Liam regrettably informed her that he had a busy day planned, and advised her to occupy herself as cheerily as she could with Mama while he attended to his duties (he promised to bounce in and out so they wouldn't be too devastated). Mama and Auntie wracked their brains, and finally decided that the best option for keeping happily busy would be the art of cupcakery. But not just any cupcakery. No - it would require a special kind, a kind of multiple colors and dancing flavors, to sufficiently brighten their time in which they could not be playing with Mr. Liam. And so the Sherbet Cupcake was born. Half grapefruit, half blueberry, topped with the fluffiest of So-Fluffy-I'm-Gonna-Die frostings, these cupcakes were masterpieces. Even Mr. Liam, who could not then enjoy their flavor, pronounced the aroma "heavenly" and "oohed" and "ahhed" at the colors. He thought Mama and Auntie were brilliant, and so, today, we share the recipe with the world.

     Because when life gives you no Mr. Liam playtime, you make cupcakes (and Skype him, and save to visit him again, and talk about him, and look at pictures that Mama sends you of him, and...well, you get the idea). So without further ado:

It was so fun to get make cupcakes with Mika as part of our Bloggy Cupcake Party - since we originally conceived the idea the first time Lauren and I got to visit her! For Part One of the recipe (Grapefruit Cupcakes!) and the Delectably Fluffy Frosting (a Mika-Sarah original), hop over to One Bright Corner. Below you'll find the Blueberry Cupcake side of this delicious-duo. Enjoy!

Blueberry Cupcakery
1 cup brown rice flour

1/2 cup coconut flour

1/3 cup tapioca starch

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup coconut oil

2 eggs

1/3 cup Berry Blend fruit juice

2 - 3 drops purple food coloring, optional

1/2 cup 2% milk

1 cup blueberries (we used frozen, but fresh would be even more delicious!)

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Line a 12-count muffin tin with adorable cupcake liners.

2. In a medium bowl, combine the rice flour, coconut four, tapioca starch, baking powder, xanthan gum, and salt. Whisk until well combined. Set aside.

3. In a larger bowl, beat the sugar and coconut oil together. Add eggs, one at a time, until texture is thick and smooth.

4. Combine the berry juice and food coloring with milk in a small bowl. Alternate adding milk and flour mixture by halves, beating until just combined.

5. Gently fold in blueberries, then fill papers with half Grapefruit half Blueberry batters!

6. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until cupcakes spring back when tops are pressed or until a toothpick comes out clean (but remember gluten-free cupcakes are done at a more moist consistency than wheat flour cupcakes). Remove and cool completely on wire racks.

7. Frost!

(Remember, for frosting and specific details in duo-flavored cupcake assembly, see Mika's blog!)

Review:

This was my favorite cupcake recipe so far and receives two thumbs up!! They were flavorful, moist, and delicious with or without the frosting (but if there were any doubters, I'm highly recommending the frosting)! We all thought they had a slightly gritty taste, so I would experiment with substituting sweet rice flour for the brown rice. Also, I have made them again as lemon cupcakes and found them a bit dry - a problem we did not have with the original Sherbet Cupcakes. My hypothesis is that the juicy blueberries kept them moist - so don't skip the fruit! :)

     And now you know how it came about that there were Sherbet Cupcakes in the adventures of Mr. Liam and Auntie Sarah. And I think I can promise you that everyone lives happily ever after.

     Everyone except the cupcakes.

Tasting the World Through Rose-Flavored Cupcakes

Hello, fellow cupcake lovers!

You may or may not have noticed (depending on your level of commitment to the cupcake cause), but May and June rolled by with nary a cupcake post, either here, or at the lovely Bright Corner. Alas, thus flies life. Amidst races, and recital preparation, and recital planning, and recital executing, and visits from our East Coast Cupcaker, a small reprieve was necessary. Happy July!

Last week, Lauren again began our delicious baking trend with Chocolate Lavender Cupcakes, and I'm here to follow suite with (drumroll, please):

Rose & White Chocolate Cupcakes

Shall we begin??

Last year, while up in Seattle for the day, I purchased a small vial of very strong rose flavoring from the Market Spice store. At first, my experiments with it in baking were border-line catastrophic, as I subbed in an entire teaspoon of the floral flavoring for a teaspoon of vanilla. The results were...barely edible, but I was determined to hit upon the sweet spot of flavoring. That perfect balance came together in the following cupcake recipe.

Sadly, pictures are a bit lacking for this post, as the cupcakes were snapped up and devoured - at least it's a testimony to tastiness!

Rose Cupcakes

2 c. gluten-free flour
{The first batch I made, I used Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Flour Mix. The second time, I used 1 cup of sorghum flour + 1 cup arrowroot. I like the flavor the sorghum flour adds, but it seemed to be a bit drier. If I try these again, I may try equal amounts of sorghum, arrowroot, and coconut}
1 c. sugar
{For paleo, substitute 1/2 c. honey + 1/4 tsp. baking soda. also, reduce milk amount by 1/4 c.}
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. xanthan gum
{If you're using a gf flour mix that already has xanthan gum, this is not necessary to add.}
1 c. almond milk
1 egg
{Chia seed substitute works well, too!}
3 TBSP coconut oil
1/8 tsp. rose flavoring
{Trust me - you want only this much!}

Whisk dry ingredients together before adding wet ingredients.

Don't over-mix! Batter will be wet, but just trust it. ;) Bake at 350 degrees for 18-22 minutes (until inserted toothpick comes out clean, but no longer!).

Let cool completely on wire rack, before frosting with:

White Chocolate Rose Frosting

6 oz white chocolate, melted & slightly cooled
{I used half a bag of good-quality white chocolate chips!}
1 c. room temperature butter
2 c. powdered sugar
1/4 c. heavy cream
1/8 tsp. rose flavoring
1/4 tsp. salt

Whip butter until fluffy. Add powdered sugar slowly until fully incorporated. Follow with the white chocolate, cream, rose flavoring, and salt. Voila! White chocolate rose frosting to top off the cupcakes!
Warning: this frosting is delicious, non-nutritious, and very rich. "Heavy on the frosting" not recommended! ;p

Review:
Basically, I loved these cupcakes - they're probably my favorite ones I've made so far!! I still like experimenting with different flours (I think that will forever be the part of the recipe I mess with the most), but both batches I made were delish. These are easily made paleo and vegan (as you can probably see from my excessive notes in the ingredients list), but I have yet to find a good, paleo, butter-cream-like frosting. If anyone discovers one, do pass it along!

Happy Cupcaking!

Would You Like that in a Teacup?

Tea ranks pretty high on my "Comforts" list - right up there with chocolate, cupcakes, books, and a good CD - so what better challenge ingredient for April's cupcakery? A few weeks ago, Lauren made some delectably unique Peach Green Tea Cupcakes (which I was able to sample and yeah. Yum.), and I decided to try my hand with one of my favorite teas: Lavender Earl Grey.

Cupcake Conversations:

This is probably a common thought, but I just realized recently that "cupcakes" probably got their name by, you know, being cakes baked in cups. And then I wondered in what kind of cups they were baked, and decided probably teacups, because I love teacups. And then I looked up the history of the cupcake, and found that it actually was thusly dubbed because all the measurements were by cups, as you can read here. Pretty sure we're still talking about teacups, though. So while cupcakes may not have originally been conveniently cup-sized when they emerged in the 1800s, there still is a very strong link to tea when baking these little beauties. 

Lavender Earl Grey Cupcakes (makes about 12)

1 c. coconut flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

5 tsp loose leaf lavender earl grey tea

8 eggs

1 c. honey

6 TBL almond milk

4 tsp vanilla

To begin, warm almond milk and 1/3 c honey until honey is liquid.

Then, add 5 tsp tea, and leave to steep.

Do you like my "1 Cup of Perfect Tea" scoop?

Meanwhile, mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl and add the eggs.

Add honey-tea mixture, the rest of the honey, and vanilla, and pour into prepared cupcake papers!

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on cooling rack!

I found the cupcakes to be deliciously moist, and while there was a distinct tea flavor, the lavender was reduced to only a teensy-tiny hint. Had I known this ahead of time, I would have bought some lavender flavoring from a specialty store and used that in the frosting. As I had not, however, I flavored my dairy-free frosting with almond (a yums addition to lavender earl grey). No recipe for the topping, because it was rather hap-hazard. I used coconut oil, coconut cream, and powdered sugar. With a dash of lavender food coloring. ;)

Review:

These cupcakes were ab-so-lute-ly perfect in texture, so the coconut-egg combo is a keeper! My siblings all raved about them, with Zachary saying he loved them more than the chocolate ones I'd made and they were the "best cupcakes I've ever tasted!" For improvements, I would be interested to see if I could bring out the tea's flavor any stronger, in addition to, as I mentioned, flavoring the frosting with lavender. Besides that, I would just be sure to ground the tea leaves a bit more, as some of the longer leaves were annoying me in the finished product. 

Have you ever made tea-flavored cupcakes?

Previous Cupcakery:

Lauren's Double Peanut Butter Chocolate

Sarah's Death-by-Chocolate

Mikaela's Hazelnut Mocha

Lauren's Spinach Feta

Mikaela's Croutons :)
Sarah's Carrot Ginger Coconut..."Savories"

Lauren's Peach Green Tea

Oh My Cupcakes! (Or...Muffins!)

*ahem*

Pretend I posted this on Monday.

Which is what I meant to do.

And would mean I was still posting in March.

Which held the Cupcake Month Theme of "Savory."

Then this would have been timely.

So just pretend with me.

Are we clear on this? Grand, then let's proceed!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

March Cupcakes were to be baked on a Savory theme, and so we three turned to the wide selection of gluten-free muffin recipes available. Lauren tackled Spinach Feta Muffins, to the delight of her taste-testers, and Mikaela grew resourceful in her adventures with Kalamata Olive & Sundried Tomato Croutons. Now, while both of these flavor combinations comply with the socially-approved definition of "savory," I (in true nerd-style) went to the dictionary definition, and was informed that "savory" did not merely mean "pungently flavorful without sweetness," but also "pleasing to the sense of taste, especially by reason of effective seasoning."

My savory is a bit sweeter than not. But hey - it still has a good combination of flavors! :) So without further ado...

Carrot Ginger Coconut Muffins

2 cups blanched almond flour

½ teaspoon  celtic sea salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ tsp allspice

½ tsp powdered ginger

a pinch of clove

½ cup shredded coconut shreds , unsweetened

3 eggs, preferably pastured

½ cup coconut oil ,melted

½ cup maple syrup OR honey

1-2 Tbs grated fresh ginger

1 cup grated carrot

Firstly, whisk together the dry ingredients (almond flour - coconut shreds).

See how organized? Almond flour underneath, salt at the bottom of the picture, followed by the baking soda, allspice, ginger, and coconut shreds. Obviously pre-whisked.

Next, whisk the eggs, oil, and syrup/honey (I used honey).

....ta-dah.

The next order of business is to mix the fresh ginger, carrots, and some optional raisins (it's against my religion to put raisins in baked goods, so I left them out) into the egg mixture. This, of course, necessitates grating the carrot...

If anyone has any tips for grating carrots without carrot shreds spreading all across the work area, I'm all ears! Pleas share your secrets!

Tell me that doesn't look delicious. ("Ok...that doesn't look delicious.")

No surprises in the next step: combine wet & dry ingredients, and pour into paper liners or greased muffin tins!

Oven-ready!

Bake the muffins at 350 degrees for 24-26 minutes. Cool, serve, enjoy!

 

These pictures are in keeping with the delicious-eating theme Joel started here...does anyone see the similarity? :p

Review:
I thought these muffins quite delish and would hardily recommend them!! If I wanted to bend them a little more into the conventional "savory" category, I can't help but think that a cream-cheese-lemon-dill topping would just POP! with the sweeter, subtle flavor of the muffin. But I leave that experiment to other days...

Happy baking!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Cupcakes of Bakings Past

Lauren's Double Peanut Butter Chocolate

Sarah's Death-by-Chocolate

Mikaela's Hazelnut Mocha

Lauren's Spinach Feta

Mikaela's Croutons :)

Cupcake Party: Sarah Hearts Chocolate

Who ever heard of a girl late for her own party? Yet, I just checked and double-checked the calendar, and can you believe it's Friday ya'll??

So, this week, cupcake party on Friday. My blog. Everyone here? Hooray!

In accordance with the real theme of Valentine's Day (not really -we actually just chose it because there is no better flavor for kicking off a party) February's cupcake category is CHOCOLATE! (and I hope you all were terribly refined and read that with a French accent. I know I typed it thusly)

Lauren made some almost-healthy-and-still-incredibly-delicious Double Peanut Butter Chocolate Cupcakes last week, for which I can vouch as a keeper recipe! This week, I tried DC Cupcakes' Chocolate Chip Lava Fudge Cupcakes.

Three words:

Also a keeper.

The first step in making unbeatably delicious cupcakes is to get some unbeatably cute help, which is often hard to come by. I was lucky in my interviewing process, though, and was able to hire Maddy for some cupcake-paper-placing assistance. (please notice the hearts at the bottom of the papers. we love cupcakes.)

I substituted almond milk for the whole milk. I think this made the batter a bit more runny, and in the end I added an extra cup of flour (although if I did it again I would try only half a cup) for texture.

My other "tweaking" came in the form of dark chocolate chunks instead of chocolate chips - I recommend this change!!

What can I say? It's Valentine's Day tomorrow and I love chocolate. What better shape for cupcakes??

My second cute assistant: Kate! 

Cooling 

Then the truly fun part began! Using a lemon juicer (slightly smaller than an apple corer, which is what the recipe suggested) we punched holes straight through the cupcakes, gutting out their delicious innards for a core of even more delectable-ness -

Namely, chocolate ganache! The recipe said to use a plastic squeeze bottle, which would have made this a one-handed task. However, in the lack of squeeze bottles and the surplus of hands, we made do with a paper funnel!

Yummy-Yum-Yums 

 Next came a vanilla cream cheese frosting, topped with cute little pink sugar-candy-decor-balls. I think the end effect quite charming.

Yes, they were That. Good.

And now for some recipes - just in case you care to make these mouth-watering, diet-shattering, chocolate-fixing cupcakes for yourself! 

Cupcakes

1 1/4 c. gluten-free flour {I used 2 1/4}

1/2 t. baking soda

1/4 t. salt

2 eggs

1 1/4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 c. whole milk {I used almond milk}

1/2 c. cocoa powder

1/2 c. chocolate chips {I used dark chocolate chunks}

Beat butter until fluffy; stop to add the sugar; beat on medium speed until mixed. Then, add the eggs one at a time, scraping the bowl as needed. In a separate container, combine milk and vanilla. Sift flour, salt, and soda. Alternate adding flour and milk mixtures to butter-sugar combo (adding a third at a time). Mix just until combined. Then add cocoa, and fold in the chocolate chips! Bake for 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees, either in cupcake papers or greased muffin tins. The recipe said to start checking the cupcakes at 15 minutes, and mine were mostly ready to pull out then. Allow cupcakes to fully cool (on wire rack) before taking out the centers and adding the...

Chocolate Ganache

2 c. semisweet chocolate chips

1 c. heavy cream

Fill a skillet with about an inch of water, and put ingredients in a small metal bowl in the skillet - kind of like a double-boiler. Turn burner between medium-low and medium heat. {Ok, I cheated here and turned it to 'high' until the chocolate started to melt, then turned it back down. No negative effects.} Melt and mix until it is one smooth, chocolaty goop of deliciousness. It will seem very runny, but have faith! It thickens. We added it to the centers while it was still very runny, then just popped them in the fridge. After the initial hardening, the cupcakes were fine on the counter, and the ganache didn't get soupy again.

Finally, top with...

Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting!

4 TBLS unsalted butter {but mine was salted, and still good}

4 c. powdered sugar {recipe asked me to sift it...but I didn't. However, if your sugar is on the clumpy side, you will want to}

1/4 t. vanilla extract

6 oz cream cheese, at room temperature.

Combine and frost!

Review:

I really loved this cupcake recipe - and so did all my taste-testers! Those not accustomed to gluten-free cooking said they were a little dry, and they were on the crumbly side. At some point, I would like to experiment with adding a little less "extra" flour, and changing my g-free flour, to see if I could make them a little more moist. With the fudgy filling and creamy frosting, however, it wasn't bad at all. Even if this is "as good as it gets" I would make them again in a heartbeat...and probably will!

Any questions? No? Well then....

Would you like a cupcake?