#Workshop - Cupcakes! - January 30th @ 7pm EST
01/30/2012
Quote:
...
Originally posted by
darthkitt3n
Finally, I’d like to share a delicious homemade dark chocolate cake recipe. This cake is very heavy, unlike most cakes. However, this heaviness works great when stacking cakes up and frosting them, as they come out perfectly even, rather than rising
...
more
Finally, I’d like to share a delicious homemade dark chocolate cake recipe. This cake is very heavy, unlike most cakes. However, this heaviness works great when stacking cakes up and frosting them, as they come out perfectly even, rather than rising in the middle and needing to be evened out on top. What you see when you pour the cake batter into the pan is pretty much what you’re going to see when it’s done.
Ingredients:
2 cups boiling water
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
2 1/4 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 3 - 9 inch round cake pans. In medium bowl, pour boiling water over cocoa, and whisk until smooth. Let mixture cool. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at time, and then stir in vanilla. Add the flour mixture alternately with the cocoa mixture. Spread batter evenly between the 3 prepared pans.
Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Allow to cool before frosting
I baked my cakes as directed, but I did not use three 9 inch round pans. I used two because the cake batter did not look like it would fill three. My pans were filled about half way, which made the layers kind of thin. You can use more pans if you want a thinner cake layer.
I also paired this cake up with the buttercream frosting, since the cake itself is very chocolatey and rich. The simple flavor of the buttercream worked well with it. I think a marshmallow flavored frosting would also taste great with it.
If you do happen to make this cake, I strongly suggest taking a much smaller piece than you normally would. This cake has very little air in it. I took a slice with about an inch and a half of an outer edge and could barely finish my piece. less
Ingredients:
2 cups boiling water
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
2 1/4 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 3 - 9 inch round cake pans. In medium bowl, pour boiling water over cocoa, and whisk until smooth. Let mixture cool. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at time, and then stir in vanilla. Add the flour mixture alternately with the cocoa mixture. Spread batter evenly between the 3 prepared pans.
Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Allow to cool before frosting
I baked my cakes as directed, but I did not use three 9 inch round pans. I used two because the cake batter did not look like it would fill three. My pans were filled about half way, which made the layers kind of thin. You can use more pans if you want a thinner cake layer.
I also paired this cake up with the buttercream frosting, since the cake itself is very chocolatey and rich. The simple flavor of the buttercream worked well with it. I think a marshmallow flavored frosting would also taste great with it.
If you do happen to make this cake, I strongly suggest taking a much smaller piece than you normally would. This cake has very little air in it. I took a slice with about an inch and a half of an outer edge and could barely finish my piece. less
Nom.
01/30/2012
Quote:
I usually take cakes or cupcakes to work if I bake. Everyone loves it and it gets rid of extra cupcakes that would just sit at my apartment. I've been trying to avoid eating too much sugary stuff
Originally posted by
Jul!a
I usually end up bringing stuff like that to my weekly Denny's gathering. The servers don't usually mind, especially if we bring enough for them.
01/30/2012
Quote:
Ooh, that's another great idea! Unfortunately I work from home, so taking them to work is letting them sit in the kitchen
Originally posted by
darthkitt3n
I usually take cakes or cupcakes to work if I bake. Everyone loves it and it gets rid of extra cupcakes that would just sit at my apartment. I've been trying to avoid eating too much sugary stuff
01/30/2012
Quote:
I wish there was a way to bake just like one or two cupcakes. I usually make as few as possible, but there's a point where dividing the measurements just gets too difficult or is impossible, like dividing one egg by three or something.
Originally posted by
Jul!a
Ooh, that's another great idea! Unfortunately I work from home, so taking them to work is letting them sit in the kitchen
01/30/2012
Now I'm going to show you how to make my favorite cupcakes, the Totally Lemon Cupcakes. The cupcakes are super sweet and their icing on top is sour, like lemon flavored candy. When I made them the first time, I halved the recipe because I didn't want a whole ton of cupcakes sitting around my apartment. I wasn't paying attention and accidentally added in the whole amount of milk called for in the recipe. This actually turned out great, because my cupcakes were super moist and they had a small dent inward in the middle of each cupcake. Before it hardens, the lemon icing is very runny. This dent allowed the icing to sit on the cupcake rather than run off all over the place.
The recipe calls for lemon candies shaped like lemons, but really I think any lemon flavored candy should do fine. We've used some Wonka candies that are hard on the outside and jelly-like on the inside and found we kind of preferred those.
I recommend not icing more cupcakes than you will be eating right away. Unlike frosting, this icing gets funky after a while. The hard candies that sit on the icing also get very soft from the icing, which is gross.
Looking at these pictures, yes, the icing does look granulated and funky. I do have yellow sugar crystals on them, though, which is the darker yellow spots.
For the record, I'd like to say I am terrible at taking pictures.
These cupcakes are great for pretty much any sugar-loving crowd. They're pretty light tasting and, unfortunately, it's easy to eat more than one in a sitting.
The recipe calls for lemon candies shaped like lemons, but really I think any lemon flavored candy should do fine. We've used some Wonka candies that are hard on the outside and jelly-like on the inside and found we kind of preferred those.
I recommend not icing more cupcakes than you will be eating right away. Unlike frosting, this icing gets funky after a while. The hard candies that sit on the icing also get very soft from the icing, which is gross.
Looking at these pictures, yes, the icing does look granulated and funky. I do have yellow sugar crystals on them, though, which is the darker yellow spots.
For the record, I'd like to say I am terrible at taking pictures.
These cupcakes are great for pretty much any sugar-loving crowd. They're pretty light tasting and, unfortunately, it's easy to eat more than one in a sitting.
01/30/2012
Quote:
Yeah. I was watching Bridesmaids and saw the main character bake just one cupcake, and that would be fantastic.
Originally posted by
darthkitt3n
I wish there was a way to bake just like one or two cupcakes. I usually make as few as possible, but there's a point where dividing the measurements just gets too difficult or is impossible, like dividing one egg by three or something.
01/30/2012
For my final recipe, I'm going to show you how to make Swirled Peanut Butter & Chocolate cupcakes. These are absolutely delicious and very chocolatey. I brought them to work one day and everyone loved them.
When I made these, I used one cup of unbleached whole wheat flour with the peanut butter cupcake batter recipe. It gave the peanut butter batter a thicker, grainy texture that was great with the peanut butter flavor. I also ended up using more milk than the recipe calls for, about 1/8th of a cup more.
I followed the dark chocolate cupcake recipe exactly. When I tasted the batter, it tasted like a yummy chocolate malt.
I halved both cupcake recipes and got about 24 cupcakes out of the batter.
When the batter is gently swirled together, it will not look like much. Mine just looked like a big bowl of chocolate batter. All of the peanut butter batter ended up being much heavier and didn't sit at the top of the batter. When I scooped it out with a spoon, though, I ended up getting about equal amounts of peanut butter and chocolate, which was gently swirled together.
I baked my cupcakes in parchment paper liners, which I had not tried yet. The packaging for the boasted that they would come off of cupcakes more easily and wouldn't have as much cupcake stuck to them as regular liners. They did work, but they ended up coming off the cupcakes very easily as I was trying to move them around.
As you can see, the tops of the cupcakes aren't very smooth. This is because of the difference in batter textures.
I decided to just frost my cupcakes in the chocolate frosting. I halved the batches of batter but did a whole batch of chocolate frosting. I decorated them with some 16-inch decorator's bags and a large 1M star shaped tip. Since this used up a lot of frosting, I did not have enough frosting for all of my cupcakes, only about half. I suggest doubling the frosting if you use a decorator's bag. If you just spread on the frosting with a knife, you should have enough from one batch of frosting.
When I made these, I used one cup of unbleached whole wheat flour with the peanut butter cupcake batter recipe. It gave the peanut butter batter a thicker, grainy texture that was great with the peanut butter flavor. I also ended up using more milk than the recipe calls for, about 1/8th of a cup more.
I followed the dark chocolate cupcake recipe exactly. When I tasted the batter, it tasted like a yummy chocolate malt.
I halved both cupcake recipes and got about 24 cupcakes out of the batter.
When the batter is gently swirled together, it will not look like much. Mine just looked like a big bowl of chocolate batter. All of the peanut butter batter ended up being much heavier and didn't sit at the top of the batter. When I scooped it out with a spoon, though, I ended up getting about equal amounts of peanut butter and chocolate, which was gently swirled together.
I baked my cupcakes in parchment paper liners, which I had not tried yet. The packaging for the boasted that they would come off of cupcakes more easily and wouldn't have as much cupcake stuck to them as regular liners. They did work, but they ended up coming off the cupcakes very easily as I was trying to move them around.
As you can see, the tops of the cupcakes aren't very smooth. This is because of the difference in batter textures.
I decided to just frost my cupcakes in the chocolate frosting. I halved the batches of batter but did a whole batch of chocolate frosting. I decorated them with some 16-inch decorator's bags and a large 1M star shaped tip. Since this used up a lot of frosting, I did not have enough frosting for all of my cupcakes, only about half. I suggest doubling the frosting if you use a decorator's bag. If you just spread on the frosting with a knife, you should have enough from one batch of frosting.
01/30/2012
Quote:
I am drooling over these right now, seriously.
Originally posted by
darthkitt3n
For my final recipe, I'm going to show you how to make Swirled Peanut Butter & Chocolate cupcakes. These are absolutely delicious and very chocolatey. I brought them to work one day and everyone loved them.
When I made ... more
When I made ... more
For my final recipe, I'm going to show you how to make Swirled Peanut Butter & Chocolate cupcakes. These are absolutely delicious and very chocolatey. I brought them to work one day and everyone loved them.
When I made these, I used one cup of unbleached whole wheat flour with the peanut butter cupcake batter recipe. It gave the peanut butter batter a thicker, grainy texture that was great with the peanut butter flavor. I also ended up using more milk than the recipe calls for, about 1/8th of a cup more.
I followed the dark chocolate cupcake recipe exactly. When I tasted the batter, it tasted like a yummy chocolate malt.
I halved both cupcake recipes and got about 24 cupcakes out of the batter.
When the batter is gently swirled together, it will not look like much. Mine just looked like a big bowl of chocolate batter. All of the peanut butter batter ended up being much heavier and didn't sit at the top of the batter. When I scooped it out with a spoon, though, I ended up getting about equal amounts of peanut butter and chocolate, which was gently swirled together.
I baked my cupcakes in parchment paper liners, which I had not tried yet. The packaging for the boasted that they would come off of cupcakes more easily and wouldn't have as much cupcake stuck to them as regular liners. They did work, but they ended up coming off the cupcakes very easily as I was trying to move them around.
As you can see, the tops of the cupcakes aren't very smooth. This is because of the difference in batter textures.
I decided to just frost my cupcakes in the chocolate frosting. I halved the batches of batter but did a whole batch of chocolate frosting. I decorated them with some 16-inch decorator's bags and a large 1M star shaped tip. Since this used up a lot of frosting, I did not have enough frosting for all of my cupcakes, only about half. I suggest doubling the frosting if you use a decorator's bag. If you just spread on the frosting with a knife, you should have enough from one batch of frosting. less
When I made these, I used one cup of unbleached whole wheat flour with the peanut butter cupcake batter recipe. It gave the peanut butter batter a thicker, grainy texture that was great with the peanut butter flavor. I also ended up using more milk than the recipe calls for, about 1/8th of a cup more.
I followed the dark chocolate cupcake recipe exactly. When I tasted the batter, it tasted like a yummy chocolate malt.
I halved both cupcake recipes and got about 24 cupcakes out of the batter.
When the batter is gently swirled together, it will not look like much. Mine just looked like a big bowl of chocolate batter. All of the peanut butter batter ended up being much heavier and didn't sit at the top of the batter. When I scooped it out with a spoon, though, I ended up getting about equal amounts of peanut butter and chocolate, which was gently swirled together.
I baked my cupcakes in parchment paper liners, which I had not tried yet. The packaging for the boasted that they would come off of cupcakes more easily and wouldn't have as much cupcake stuck to them as regular liners. They did work, but they ended up coming off the cupcakes very easily as I was trying to move them around.
As you can see, the tops of the cupcakes aren't very smooth. This is because of the difference in batter textures.
I decided to just frost my cupcakes in the chocolate frosting. I halved the batches of batter but did a whole batch of chocolate frosting. I decorated them with some 16-inch decorator's bags and a large 1M star shaped tip. Since this used up a lot of frosting, I did not have enough frosting for all of my cupcakes, only about half. I suggest doubling the frosting if you use a decorator's bag. If you just spread on the frosting with a knife, you should have enough from one batch of frosting. less
01/30/2012
I want to take a moment real quick to thank you for hosting, darthkitt3n. I had a great time and I know I'll be adding these to the recipes I bake from in the future!
01/30/2012
Where do I get my cupcake recipes? I found the best book for creative, cute, and easy cupcake recipes is Crazy About Cupcakes, by Krystina Castella. It can be found on Amazon.com here.
This book includes plenty of helpful information, including substitutions and some basic baking tips. It doesn't really show you how to make elegant or fancy-looking cupcakes, mostly cute ones. I think it would be a great book to use with kids, since a lot of the decorating is basically placing on candies or other little edible pieces.
This book includes plenty of helpful information, including substitutions and some basic baking tips. It doesn't really show you how to make elegant or fancy-looking cupcakes, mostly cute ones. I think it would be a great book to use with kids, since a lot of the decorating is basically placing on candies or other little edible pieces.
01/30/2012
Quote:
Thanks
Originally posted by
Jul!a
I want to take a moment real quick to thank you for hosting, darthkitt3n. I had a great time and I know I'll be adding these to the recipes I bake from in the future!
01/30/2012
Quote:
Thank you this was amazing!
Originally posted by
darthkitt3n
Where do I get my cupcake recipes? I found the best book for creative, cute, and easy cupcake recipes is Crazy About Cupcakes, by Krystina Castella. It can be found on Amazon.com here.
This book includes plenty of helpful information, ... more
This book includes plenty of helpful information, ... more
Where do I get my cupcake recipes? I found the best book for creative, cute, and easy cupcake recipes is Crazy About Cupcakes, by Krystina Castella. It can be found on Amazon.com here.
This book includes plenty of helpful information, including substitutions and some basic baking tips. It doesn't really show you how to make elegant or fancy-looking cupcakes, mostly cute ones. I think it would be a great book to use with kids, since a lot of the decorating is basically placing on candies or other little edible pieces. less
This book includes plenty of helpful information, including substitutions and some basic baking tips. It doesn't really show you how to make elegant or fancy-looking cupcakes, mostly cute ones. I think it would be a great book to use with kids, since a lot of the decorating is basically placing on candies or other little edible pieces. less
01/30/2012
Does anyone have any questions?
01/30/2012
Quote:
Ooh, thanks for that as well! That will definitely be very helpful!
Originally posted by
darthkitt3n
Where do I get my cupcake recipes? I found the best book for creative, cute, and easy cupcake recipes is Crazy About Cupcakes, by Krystina Castella. It can be found on Amazon.com here.
This book includes plenty of helpful information, ... more
This book includes plenty of helpful information, ... more
Where do I get my cupcake recipes? I found the best book for creative, cute, and easy cupcake recipes is Crazy About Cupcakes, by Krystina Castella. It can be found on Amazon.com here.
This book includes plenty of helpful information, including substitutions and some basic baking tips. It doesn't really show you how to make elegant or fancy-looking cupcakes, mostly cute ones. I think it would be a great book to use with kids, since a lot of the decorating is basically placing on candies or other little edible pieces. less
This book includes plenty of helpful information, including substitutions and some basic baking tips. It doesn't really show you how to make elegant or fancy-looking cupcakes, mostly cute ones. I think it would be a great book to use with kids, since a lot of the decorating is basically placing on candies or other little edible pieces. less
01/30/2012
Quote:
Yes, the cat in your avatar is adorable. Is it yours?
Originally posted by
darthkitt3n
Does anyone have any questions?
01/30/2012
Quote:
I wish they had this book in Kindle format! I can't afford the book in print
Originally posted by
Jul!a
Ooh, thanks for that as well! That will definitely be very helpful!
01/30/2012
Quote:
Yes. That's my cat Snot. He looks adorable when he's sleeping, but he can be a little snot sometimes.
Originally posted by
Jul!a
Yes, the cat in your avatar is adorable. Is it yours?
01/30/2012
Quote:
That would be nice. It looks like there's a few other similar books on there that are available for the Kindle.
Originally posted by
Diabolical Kitty
I wish they had this book in Kindle format! I can't afford the book in print
01/30/2012
Quote:
Haha, that would explain the name then.
Originally posted by
darthkitt3n
Yes. That's my cat Snot. He looks adorable when he's sleeping, but he can be a little snot sometimes.
I want a cat, but until my husband and I get our own place that's not going to happen. Until then though, I will dream of the adorable little sweaters I will get for my future Sphynx cat, Mr. Fluffington.
01/30/2012
Quote:
I want a Sphinx, but my fiance doesn't. He says they're all creepy and wrinkly.
Originally posted by
Jul!a
Haha, that would explain the name then.
I want a cat, but until my husband and I get our own place that's not going to happen. Until then though, I will dream of the adorable little sweaters I will get for my future Sphynx cat, Mr. Fluffington.
I want a cat, but until my husband and I get our own place that's not going to happen. Until then though, I will dream of the adorable little sweaters I will get for my future Sphynx cat, Mr. Fluffington.
01/30/2012
By the way, the PhotoBucket album with all of tonight's pictures and recipes can be found here.
01/30/2012
Quote:
Haha, that's what my husband said too. But my husband also wants me to be happy, so as long as I don't just dump all the care on him, he doesn't mind. He's started to grow on how they look. Although this is the same man who said that even if he was allergic to the cat, I could still get it and he'd just be miserable until it died, so he may be lying to me..
Originally posted by
darthkitt3n
I want a Sphinx, but my fiance doesn't. He says they're all creepy and wrinkly.
01/30/2012
Quote:
We'll probably get one once we get a house. We have two cats already and our apartment is barely big enough for them to run around.
Originally posted by
Jul!a
Haha, that's what my husband said too. But my husband also wants me to be happy, so as long as I don't just dump all the care on him, he doesn't mind. He's started to grow on how they look. Although this is the same man who said
...
more
Haha, that's what my husband said too. But my husband also wants me to be happy, so as long as I don't just dump all the care on him, he doesn't mind. He's started to grow on how they look. Although this is the same man who said that even if he was allergic to the cat, I could still get it and he'd just be miserable until it died, so he may be lying to me..
less
01/30/2012
Quote:
We're in a house right now, but since we're not paying the bills, we don't get pets. But we should hopefully be in a house of our own by the end of summer. *fingers crossed*
Originally posted by
darthkitt3n
We'll probably get one once we get a house. We have two cats already and our apartment is barely big enough for them to run around.
01/30/2012
Quote:
That's cool. We probably won't be in our own house for another few years.
Originally posted by
Jul!a
We're in a house right now, but since we're not paying the bills, we don't get pets. But we should hopefully be in a house of our own by the end of summer. *fingers crossed*
01/30/2012
Quote:
We've been saving for a while. Realistically we should probably stay where we are and keep saving but I'm a bit antsy, lol.
Originally posted by
darthkitt3n
That's cool. We probably won't be in our own house for another few years.
01/30/2012
Quote:
I once tried to make a half recipe of croissants. Disastrous.
Originally posted by
darthkitt3n
I wish there was a way to bake just like one or two cupcakes. I usually make as few as possible, but there's a point where dividing the measurements just gets too difficult or is impossible, like dividing one egg by three or something.
01/30/2012
these all look awesome. i'll have to show this to my gf
01/30/2012
Quote:
Do we view the info in these posts?
Originally posted by
darthkitt3n
I love to bake, especially cupcakes. They are fun, easy to make, and their size means you can have a couple of them without feeling too guilty! Baking cupcakes is also an awesome family activity. Why settle for a premade cake from the
...
more
I love to bake, especially cupcakes. They are fun, easy to make, and their size means you can have a couple of them without feeling too guilty! Baking cupcakes is also an awesome family activity. Why settle for a premade cake from the store?You're welcome to attend a cupcake baking workshop on Monday, January 30th at 8 PM EST. I will provide the recipes for 8 different cupcakes and their frosting, as well as tips to perfect your cupcakes. I will even show you how to make a rainbow cake!Make sure to save the date, Monday January 30th at 7 PM EST!
less
01/31/2012