Hefeweizen Cupcakes

I really don't remember how I stumbled across this recipe on Beantown Baker's blog, but Jen the Beantown Baker has an amazing collection of cupcake recipes and loads of other delicious looking yumminess. I highly recommend you check it out!

But when I saw Hefeweizen Cupcakes, I knew I had to make them!!

It took awhile to actually get around to it. And I had a Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse in the fridge that was off-limits, for what probably seemed like FOREVER to Jon!

But our friend's birthday rolled around, and he ended up being in town without his lovely wife or family, so I decided it was the perfect occasion for Hefeweizen Cupcakes!



Hefeweizen Cupcakes
Makes 9 cupcakes

2 egg whites
1/2 C sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 C vegetable oil
zest of one large lemon or 2 small lemons
3 TBLS milk
1 C all-purpose flour
1/2 C Hefeweizen or other wheat beer

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whip egg whites until soft peaks form.
Gradually mix in the sugar.
Mix in baking powder, baking soda, vegetable oil, zest, and milk.
Mix in half of the flour.
Mix in the beer.
Mix in the other half of the flour.
Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full.
Bake at 350F for 15 minutes or until cupcakes bounce back when lightly touched.

Beer Glaze Recipe
1/2 C malted milk powder
2 TBLS all-purpose flour
1/4 C hefeweizen or other wheat beer
4 TBLS unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 C powdered sugar

In a double boiler, combine all the ingredients except for the butter and sugar.
Melt the mixture, stirring continuously until it's thick - about 12 minutes.
Cool completely.
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, mix the cooled malt mixture with the butter.
Mix in the powdered sugar.
The end result should be a thick and sticky glaze.
Spread onto cooled cupcakes.

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The beer that sat in my fridge forever!


Preheat your oven to 350F
Ok... so beat your egg whites until soft peaks form.


Then gradually mix in the sugar.
Mix in baking powder, baking soda, vegetable oil, zest, and milk.
Mix in half of the flour.
Mix in the beer.
Mix in the other half of the flour.

It will look like this =)


Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full.


Bake at 350F for 15 minutes or until they bounce back when lightly touched.


Now to make the Beer Glaze.

So malted milk powder, beer and flour in to the double boiler.


Mix well, cook and stir until thick.


About 12 minutes...


When completely cooled...

Mix the cooled malty mixture with the butter


Then mix in the powdered sugar...


Now you're ready to glaze the cupcakes!




Kinda yeasty and a little savory sweet. But not too sweet. I'm not fond of stuff that's really sweet and these were great!



Really tasty... nice crumb...



They ARE different.

But I'll definitely be making them again!

Give them try!

Cathy's Cream Filled Cupcakes

The BakeSpace Challenge for September was to cook something from someone else's kitchen.

Everyone who wanted to participate signed up and Shane picked names for everyone.

I ended up with Cathy (The Dutch Baker's Daughter).

On my first browse through Cathy's recipes, I thought I wanted to make her Worstebroodjes. Dutch food. Definitely a challenge for me.

But time got away from me and I didn't think I'd have a good chance to do it. I didn't want to try working with dough on a week night and didn't have much weekend time left.

So after another browse through, I decided to go with her Cream Filled Cupcakes.

These are Cathy's.

They look like Hostess Cupcakes!


Yeah... mine don't look anything like that!

Cathy's Cream Filled Cupcakes
Filling Ingredients:
3 tablespoons flour
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 t. vanilla

Cupcake Ingredients:
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 cups water
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa

Chocolate Glaze Ingredients:
1 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Line (2) 12 cup cupcake pans with cupcake liners.

In large bowl, combine all of the cupcake ingredients and mix until well-blended. Fill each cupcake liner 3/4 full and bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until cupcakes spring back to touch. Remove cupcakes from pans and allow to cool on wire racks.

In small pan, whisk 3 tablespoons flour with 3/4 cup milk. Heat over medium heat, whisking constantly, until mixture is thick. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

Combine 3/4 cup butter and 3/4 cup sugar in large mixing bowl. Fit mixer with paddle and beat butter and sugar several minutes until fluffy. Add cooled flour/milk mixture and continue to beat until mixture is creamy. Add vanilla and mix until just combined.

Fit a pastry bag with a #5 tip and fill with buttercream filling. Insert tip about 1/2 inch deep into the top of each cupcake and fill cupcake with buttercream. Set aside any unused filling.

In small saucepan, combine chocolate chips and 1/4 cup butter. Over low heat, melt chocolate and butter, mixing together until melted and smooth.

Swirl the top of each cupcake into chocolate glaze, coating the top of each cake. Then, using leftover filling, pipe a swirl of buttercream on top of each cupcake.

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Ok, so cake from scratch... I don't have much experience with it.

This is the only cake I can remember making from scratch.


It turned out fine (if you like chocolate), but I didn't have to 'fill' it! Just a layer of frosting in the middle, which I can totally do.

So anyway....

I followed Cathy's directions and mixed the cupcake ingredients well.

(those are bubbles, not lumps)

The thing I'm noticing about cake from scratch, well, chocolate cake from scratch anyway, is that the batter is wicked thin.

I made a huge mess!


I don't think it had anything to do with the margarita. I'm pretty experienced with those! Just not thin cake batter from scratch!

I won't show what a mess I made on the floor! But somehow there were lots of little drips there too!

Ok... so baked those for about 18 minutes.


So far so good!

Now on to the filling.

Perhaps I didn't get it thick enough.


Combined the butter and sugar.


Added the thickened (not thick enough??) milk and flour.


Hmmm... I guess it's not looking very thick, is it?

So that seemed way too thin.

It was a gazillion degrees in my kitchen, so that didn't help matters I'm sure!

I kept adding powdered sugar to try to thicken up.


Still didn't seem thick enough, but I had already added a ton of powdered sugar, so I decided to just go with what I had.

Melted the chocolate chips with butter in my double boiler.


Then dug out my cake decorating kit.


Pretty cool kit for someone who doesn't decorate cakes huh?

When my Uncle Joe passed away, my mom was cleaning out his apartment and gave me a lot of his kitchen stuff.

I have to say, even though I don't use it often, I really love this!

Now to find the #5 tip.

Hmmm... there doesn't seem to be one. There's a #4 and a #6, but no #5.

Maybe it ended up in here.


I dunno. But I used the #6.

And I made a HUGE mess.

My filling was too thin. I don't know if it was the heat in my kitchen or just an error on my part (probably the latter!), but it was thin.

Then I filled the bag too full and ended up like this.


That pic compliments of my little sous chef, Bob. He was a huge help!

Stuff was oozing everywhere... Bob kept running for bowls and towels to try to contain my mess. He can be such a great help when he wants to be!

Anyway... no 'action' filling shots.

But I pushed the tip into the top of the cupcakes and squeezed.

How long? How much? So soupy! So messy!

But I got it done.




Then to dip them in the chocolate.

I can totally do that!


A coating of chocolate hides a mess nicely!


But my filling was WAY too thin for the cute decorative design.







Look! I actually got some filling in there!

Anyway... everyone really liked these!

And they weren't hard to make, at least I don't think they would have been if I hadn't messed up the frosting!

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ETA!

I totally forgot!!!

Cathy this is for you!!


I know this recipe isn't on your blog. And even though I had a hard time filling these... everyone really loved them!!

Orange Coconut Cupcakes

I made these for the first contest I participated in at BakeSpace. Actually it was the first cooking contest I had ever entered. As it turned out we were all declared winners. I tested these out on friends & family and every really loved them. They are moist and very tasty!

This is what you'll need:

(the butter was camera shy and didn't show up for the group photo!!)

Orange Coconut Cupcakes
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 cup orange juice
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 (11 ounce) can mandarin oranges, drained and chopped
1 cup vanilla or white chips
zest of half an orange
TOPPING:
1 cup flaked coconut
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons butter, melted
zest of half an orange

Preheat oven to 375F.
In a mixing bowl, combine the sugar, oil, eggs and orange juice; mix well.
Combine dry ingredients; stir into orange juice mixture just until moistened.
Fold in oranges and chips.


Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full.


Combine topping ingredients.


Sprinkle over cupcakes.


Bake at 375 degrees F for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.




Enjoy!

Margarita Cupcakes (or cake)

These usually have a margarita glaze, but I decided to try this recipe as frosted cupcakes this time. Both are VERY yummy. I used foodiebride's Margarita Cupcakes Lime Buttercream Icing. (It's GREAT!!) The glazed cake was a HUGE hit at one of my Cinco de Mayo Parties.

Margarita Cupcakes or Cake
Cake:
1 (18.25 ounce) package lemon cake mix
1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
4 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup water
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup tequila
2 tablespoons triple sec liqueur
zest of one small lime
Glaze
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon tequila
2 tablespoons triple sec liqueur
2 tablespoons lime juice

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Prepare Cupcake pans... or grease and flour a 10 inch bundt pan
3. In a large bowl combine cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, oil, water, lime juice 1/4 cup tequila, 2 tablespoons triple sec and lime zest.
4. Beat for 2 minutes.
5. Spoon into cupcake cups or pour batter into prepared pan
6. Bake in the preheated oven for 12 to 17 minutes for cupcakes or 45 to 50 minutes for bundt pan, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
7. To Glaze
8. Cool in pan for 10 minutes; remove to rack and pour glaze over cupcakes or cake while still warm.
9. To make the glaze:
10. In a small bowl, combine confectioners' sugar with 1 tablespoon tequila, 2 tablespoons triple sec and 2 tablespoons lime juice. Mix until smooth.
11. To Frost
12. Cool completely and frost with foodiebride's Margarita Cupcakes Lime Buttercream Icing. (Next time I make that icing, I'll add fresh lime zest. The green flecks will look GREAT in the icing)