Spicy Orange Cupcakes with White Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream

While we were having a hot and blustery day here in Durban (poor Comrades Marathon runners!), Cape Town was being blanketed in a layer of hail-stones. Pretty bizarre winter weather. I'm sure in all 6 years that I was studying in Cape Town, it didn't hail there once. Lot's of rain, lots of wind, but no hail. And I'm sure I'd remember if it had (even though it's 15 years ago that I left) because the old skadonk that I drove then, probably would have fallen apart at the seams if it had been hit by hail!

Anyway... here's another spiced up winter recipe. But if you want to transform it into a light and breezy summer treat, instead - just omit the spices.

Spicy Orange Cupcakes with White Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream 
recipe adapted from homecooking.about.com

Juice and zest of 1 medium orange 
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
120g butter, at room temp.
2 large eggs
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon 
1/2 tsp ground cardamon

Pre-heat the oven to 180'C
Line 2 muffin trays with cupcake cases.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and spices to combine.

In a measuring jug, add 1/4 cup orange juice to the buttermilk.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar, and orange zest.
 Add the eggs, 1 at a time - scrape down the sides of the bowl between additions.

Alternate adding the dry ingredients and the buttermilk/juice mix to the mixing bowl. Begin and end with the dry ingredients.
Beat on low speed until mixed.

Spoon into prepared cases.

Bake at 180'C until a skewer inserted comes out clean (approx 20min). 

White Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream. 

5 large egg whites
1 cup  white granulated sugar
340g butter, cut into cubes, at room temp. 
2tsp vanilla extract *
1 tsp orange extract*
200g white chocolate - melted and cooled.

* I use Vanilla Girl  extracts - so 8-10 drops of each.  


Put the egg whites and sugar into a mixing bowl, and place that over a suitable saucepan of simmering water. The bottom of the mixing bowl must not be in contact with the water.

Whisk constantly, until the sugar granules have dissolved and the mixture is hot to touch.

Move off the stove, and to the mixer.
Using the whisk attachment, whip until it forms a thick and glossy meringue.When the mixing bowl feels neutral to touch (ie, no longer hot), change over to the paddle attachment, and add the butter one cube at a time.

It may curdle, but just keep whipping until it reaches a satiny smooth consistency and holds its shape. Add the extracts.
Pour in the cooled, melted white chocolate. **
Pipe onto cooled cupcakes.



** as the chocolate goes into the icing, some of it hardens, and forms small chunks, beat for a few minutes to minimize the size of these. I find that they don't disappear completely, though, and it is best to pipe this icing with a plain round nozzle, or an open star tip. 

Happy baking!

xxM 

Hot Air Ballon Teddy Cake and Buttercream Techniques

I seem to have so much more brain-space now that the builders have left. No - the kitchen is not yet finished, that's in the hands of the cabinet-maker now (but I'm not supposed to be talking about that, remember?!).
 The house is quiet, and relatively neat - at least until 12pm when the kids finish school - and my creative juices are flowing again. *Aaah, relief!*
So, I made this cake just because I wanted to!

Thankfully, I have a bunch of  cookie and cupcake-pals that come around every week for classes, so I can foist my cakes onto them for tea! Thanks, gals (and the occasional guy!)

If you haven't yet seen a how-to for this buttercream technique, here's a quick explanation;

Crumb coat a cake - ignore the two-tone icing in mine, it should be the colour of the icing you are using for piping.

Pipe dots of icing onto the cake with a large plain round icing tip - I used an Ateco 806

Use a palette knife, or spoon to smoosh the dot

Continue all the way around the cake. Finish with a column of dots in the last gap.

This was a two-layer  6-inch (15cm) cake. 

It took a large batch of swiss meringue buttercream  (double all the quantities in that recipe**) to fill, crumb-coat and complete the technique. 

**you'll need 10 egg whites, which is exactly the amount in a bottle of Woolworths fresh egg whites - which I don't get paid to say! ; ) 

Happy creating!

xxM 

Black Cherry Chocolate Cupcakes

I wrote you a haiku.....


Such simple pleasures
Hidden, but bite revealed
In secret centres


Ok, I'll stick to baking : )

Have I mentioned before that I love secret centers?

Sometimes the combination of the flavors compliment each other so well, that it's just .....pure poetry!

I haven't made cupcakes with a hidden centre for a while, and when I made these chocolate cupcakes with their ingredient of apricot jam, it made me think about using preserves as a secret centre....and, there you go: black cherry chocolate cupcakes!

Black Cherry Chocolate Cupcakes
recipe by Tea, Cake and Create 


Cherry Flavoured Swiss Meringue Buttercream.

5 large egg whites
1cup + 2 TBS castor sugar
340g butter, cut into cubes, at room temp.
A couple of drops of cherry essence.
Dusty Rose or Soft Pink gel colour.

Put the egg whites and sugar into a mixing bowl, and place that over a suitable saucepan of simmering water. The bottom of the mixing bowl must not be in contact with the water, and the water should not be boiling.

Whisk constantly, until the sugar granules have dissolved and the mixture is hot to the touch.

Move off the stove, and to the mixer.
Using the whisk attachment, whip until it forms a thick and glossy meringue.

When the mixing bowl feels neutral to touch (ie, no longer hot), change over to the paddle attachment, and add the butter one cube at a time.
 It may curdle, but just keep whipping until it reaches a satiny smooth texture, and holds its shape.

Add the cherry essence - just a couple of drops, essences can easily become overpowering, and the colour.


Chocolate Cupcakes with Cherry Preserves

Pre-heat the oven to 180'C

Line 2 x 12 hole muffin pans with cupcake cases.

2 cups cake flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp salt
1tsp baking powder
2 tsp bicarb
1 cup oil
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup boiling water
1tsp vanilla extract (I use Vanilla Girl vanilla - just a few drops)

1 jar good quality black cherry jam /preserves

Sift together the dry ingredients.
Make a well in the middle then add the other ingredients. Beat well.

Use a scoop, or 1/3 cup measuring cup to pour the batter into the cupcake cases. (It is a very runny batter).

Bake at 180'C for approx. 20minutes.

Allow the cupcakes to cool.
Spoon the cherry preserves into a piping bag fitted with a large round nozzle (eg an Ateco 802). Push the nozzle into the cupcake and squeeze in some jam.

Ice cupcakes with pretty pink cherry-flavoured SMB. Top each with a fresh cherry.

Notes:
Allow the cupcakes and their jam filling to get to know each other for an hour before you introduce them to your guests ; )
It gives them a little time to let the cherry flavour infuse into the chocolate cupcake.

I'm sure you could use a tablespoon of the cherry jam instead of the essence, but cherry essence is one of my favorite flavours, and well worth having in your  my cupboard.

I'll leave you with a haiku from a master:



A lovely spring night 
suddenly vanished while we 
viewed cherry blossoms

Matsuo Basho

xxM