Vanilla and Raspberry Jam Cupcakes with Pink Buttercream Roses

One day, one glorious beautiful fine day I will bake the perfect cupcake...again. 2 years ago I managed it. The most perfect, moist, light and fluffy cupcakes and not just one but 40 of them! I baked them for Monsieur Squirrel's brother's wedding. I used the infamous Hummingbird Bakery vanilla cupcake recipe and the bad boys that came out of the oven were perfect. They were perfect in height, perfectly cooked and the taste, oh the taste. Light, fluffy, moist and vanillary (yeah that is a word).

Check out my measuring matroyshka nesting  doll cups. They are my best friends when I'm baking.

We moved out of that house a couple of months later. I wish I'd baked so many more cupcakes in that oven because since then I haven't baked one perfect cupcake. NOT ONE. And it hurts. Oh it hurts. It haunts my dreams. I feel like every cupcake I see mocks me; and boy are they cruel.

Just out of the oven...before they sunk.

Why does my favourite hummingbird recipe not work anymore? (I have whined this to Monsieur Squirrel a lot; it is not a pleasant sound). So far I've tried the hummingbird recipe 4 bluming times using our current oven. Each time they shrink and are chewy. When they failed the first time, I thought it was because the ingredients hadn't been at room temperature. The second time; because I used the oven fan. The third; I hadn't filled the liners properly. The forth; I just blamed the oven and searched for a new recipe.

Filled with raspberry jam.

The next vanilla cupcake recipe I used worked ok; they were too dense but at least they rose.

Icing! Monsieur said my icing looked like MRM (mechanically recovered meat?!). Always the charmer!

On Saturday I decided to try the ultimate vanilla cupcake recipe. This recipe has been tested by 50 bakers (and I'm sure a lot more have tested it by now too).

Not looking too shabby (but a little bit, dare I say it,like lady parts?)

The recipe: Taken from the cupcake project.com 


Makes around 12 - 16 cupcakes 

• 1 cup (225 grams) granulated sugar 
• 1 vanilla bean
• 1 3/4 cups (175 grams) plain flour, not self-rising
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup (57 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1/3 cup (75 grams) full-fat sour cream
• 1/4 cup canola oil or vegetable oil (60 ml)
• 1 tablespoon pure (not imitation) vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup (160 ml) whole milk

1. Preheat oven to 350 F (175 C).
2. In a small bowl, combine sugar and seeds from the vanilla bean. 
3. Using the back of a spoon, move around the bowl and apply pressure to break up any clumps of seeds and to better infuse the vanilla flavor into the sugar. Set aside.
4. In a medium-sized mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, mix together cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
5. Add the vanilla bean sugar and mix until well combined.
6. Add butter and mix on medium-low speed for three minutes. You should end up with a very fine crumb texture.
7. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, sour cream, oil, and vanilla extract until smooth.
8. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined.
9. Slowly add milk and mix on a low speed until just combined. The batter will be quite liquidy.  
10. Fill cupcake liners just over 1/2 full.
11. Bake for 14 minutes and then test to see if they are done. These cupcakes shouldn't turn a golden brown.  If they aren't done, test again in two minutes.  If they still aren't done, test again in another two minutes.
12. When the cupcakes are done, remove them immediately from the tins and leave them on a cooling rack to cool.

Note: I didn't use a vanilla bean in mine; if you can't afford it, just use a tiny bit more vanilla essence

So this is when I did my own recipe thang and added raspberry jam:

1. Once the cupcakes have cooled make a cavity in the middle of the cupcake using a teaspoon. Try to do this in one movement, so you have a whole tiny piece of cake that you have removed (set aside).
2. Insert half a tea-spoons worth of raspberry jam into the cavity.
3. Take the cake you've removed and place it back into the cupcake, covering the raspberry jam.

(Another way to do this is using a fine nozzle; place the raspberry jam into a decorating bag and insert the nozzle into the centre of the cupcake and squeeze gently)

Icing:

I used the Hummingbird Bakery's vanilla buttercream icing recipe and added 4 drops of pink food colouring. I then used the Wilton 2D icing nozzle and a disposable decorating bag to make the rose detail. Squeeze the icing from the centre of the cupcake outwards (angling the nozzle tip inwards)in a spiral pattern. 

I will discuss icing techniques a bit more in my next cupcake inspired post!

Pink Vanilla Buttercream Icing Recipe:

500g icing sugar
160g unsalted butter softened
50ml whole milk
Half tsp of vanilla essence
4 drops of pink food colouring

The verdict: Not quite ultimate but alright.

These taste amazing, and I thought they looked great but they are too moist and dense. Also they didn't rise; if anyone has a solution for non-rising cupcakes (a cupcake viagra so to speak) I am all ears. I'm just going to blame my oven again and purchase an oven thermometer!! The hunt continues for the perfect cupcake....

Love
Madame Squirrel.

Madame Squirrel Bakes A Cake

Hello World.

I thought for my first blog post that I would tempt you all in with some "beautiful" pictures of cake. 

Blueberry Cake in fact.

The recipe I used is from: 'The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook' or My Bible as I tend to call it. I love The Hummingbird Bakery; I wish there was one on every single street across the entire world. Yes I would get incredibly fat as resistance would be futile but it would be worth it, I promise you it would be worth it.

Now that I've revealed my obsession with The Hummingbird Bakery and cake in general I'll get on with showing you what I baked shall I?

The Photographic Evidence:

Straight out of the oven and looking a bit terrifying:

At this point I had completely forgot that I had to turn the ring tin upside down, I was trying to figure out how the hell I'd ice this thing.

But I did turn it upside down and look how cake looking it is:

Ice(d), Ice(d) baby (yes there is a lot of edge blur going on).

Mmm...moist and delicious.

Now the recipe called for 6 eggs. Which I think is a hell of a lot of eggs; I also used particularly rich tasting ones, so the next time I may only try this recipe with 4 and hope for the best.

The recipe also calls for "2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons baking powder" which I thought was a lot of baking powder. I only used the 2 teaspoons assuming a misprint but after looking online at other peoples attempts; no one mentions it. Next time I will add all the baking powder and see if it makes the cake lighter (or simply rise for the heavens).

I also baked the cake for *ahem* 15 more minutes than it should have been baked for ... every time I put the skewer in to test the cake it came back out covered with runny cake mix. I now think I may have been putting the skewer too near to the blueberries, so the mixture was coming out still runny due to blueberry moisture leakage (that sounds appetising). Really I should have just obeyed the recipe and used their technique of testing for golden bouncy sponge with a finger instead of skewering the cake in a murderous fashion.

All in all this cake is nomtastic but make sure you have lots of people to feed it to as it is so rich (in an incredibly delicious way). 

The Recipe:

Blueberry Cake (taken from 'The Humming Bird Bakery Cookbook')

350g unsalted butter at room temperature (always room temperature people or it just won't work)

350g caster sugar

6 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

450g plain flour

2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons baking powder

280 ml soured cream (bringing the moistness)

250g fresh blueberries plus extra to decorate

2 quantities Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe below)

Icing sugar, to decorate

A 25cm ring mould, greased and dusted with flour

Makes 12-16 slices.

Preheat the oven to 170°C (325°F) Gas 3.

Put the butter and sugar in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) and cream until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well and scraping any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract, flour and baking powder until well mixed. Add the soured cream and mix well until everything is combined and the mixture is light and fluffy.

Gently stir in the blueberries by hand until evenly dispersed.

Pour the mixture into the prepared ring mould and smooth over with a palette knife. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes or until golden brown and the sponge bounces back when touched. Leave the cake to cool slightly in the mould before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

When the cake is cold, put it on a serving plate, cove the top and sides with the Cream Cheese Frosting and decorate with more blueberries. Dust with a light sprinkling of icing sugar.

Cream Cheese Frosting

300g icing sugar, sifted

50g unsalted butter, at room temperature

125g cream cheese, cold

Makes enough frost 12 cupcakes

(double the recipe for 20-cm cake)

Beat the icing sugar and butter together in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) on medium-slow speed until the mixture comes together and is well mixed. Add the cream cheese in one go and beat until it is completely incorporated. Turn the mixer up to medium-high speed. Continue beating until the frosting is light and fluffy, at least 5 minutes. Do not overbeat, as it can quickly become runny.

At this moment in time The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook (Ryland, Peters & Small) is available from amazon.co.uk for only 10 whole British Pounds.

What are you favourite recipes? Any tips for baking a perfect cake?

Love

Madame Squirrel.