All-New Cake Mix Doctor - Anne Byrn [164]
makes:
22 to 24 cupcakes (2½ inches in diameter)
prep:
15 minutes
bake:
18 to 23 minutes
cool:
20 minutes
24 paper liners for cupcake pans (2½-inch size)
1 package (18.25 ounces) plain white cake mix
3 tablespoons vanilla instant pudding mix
1 cup sour cream or plain low-fat yogurt
½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup water or orange juice
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract Cream Cheese Frosting (page 471)
1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 24 cupcake cups with paper liners and set the pans aside.
2. Place the cake mix, pudding mix, sour cream or yogurt, oil, water or orange juice, eggs, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer on low speed until the ingredients are incorporated, 30 seconds. Stop the machine and scrape down the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for 1½ to 2 minutes longer, scraping down the side of the bowl again if needed. The batter should look well blended.
3. Spoon or scoop a heaping ¼ cup of cupcake batter into each lined cupcake cup, filling it two thirds of the way full. (You will get between 22 and 24 cupcakes; remove the empty liners, if any.)
4. Place the pans in the oven and bake the cupcakes until they are golden and the tops spring back when lightly pressed with a finger, 18 to 23 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire racks to cool for 5 minutes. Run a dinner knife around the edge of the cupcake cups, lift the cupcakes up from the bottom of the pans using the end of the knife, and pick them out of the pans carefully with your fingertips. Place the cupcakes on a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes longer before frosting.
5. Meanwhile, make the Cream Cheese Frosting.
6. Spoon a heaping tablespoon of frosting on top of each cup-cake and spread it out with a short metal spatula or spoon, taking care to cover the top completely. Place the cupcakes, uncovered or in a cake saver, in the refrigerator until the frosting sets, 20 minutes. The cupcakes are then ready to serve.
Keep It Fresh! Store these cupcakes, in a cake saver or under a glass dome, at room temperature for up to three days or for up to one week in the refrigerator. Freeze the cupcakes, wrapped in aluminum foil, for up to three months. Let the cup-cakes thaw overnight in the refrigerator before serving.
Recipe Reminders
MADE FOR
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PREP NOTES
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SPECIAL TOUCHES
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Holiday Cupcake Ideas
Some moms seem to have a cup-cake for every occasion, don’t they? Here are five ideas for creating cupcakes for your next holiday party. Move over supermoms!
Halloween— Bake chocolate cupcakes and prepare a plain buttercream or cream cheese frosting. Tint the frosting orange. Take a tube of black or brown frosting and pipe out a spooky face or a big jack-o’-lantern smile on each cupcake. Or do as my daughter Litton did at a recent Halloween and arrange the orange cup-cakes on a big platter in the shape of a pumpkin. She piped a pumpkin face over the cupcakes and with a green icing tube piped out the stem at the top.
New Year’s— I’m thinking of an elegant black, white, gold, and silver combination to ring in the New Year. Bake white cupcakes and frost half of them with plain buttercream and the other half with chocolate frosting—the sour cream ganache would be nice. Buy gold and silver edible glitter and sprinkle this over the frosted cupcakes.