Who You Callin' Cupcake - Michelle Garcia [11]
Frosting Prepare the Vanilla American Buttercream according to the recipe directions, but omit the soymilk and replace it with the coconut milk.
Put It All Together Fill the cooled cupcakes with your favorite strawberry jam or compote. Frost each one with a large dollop of the coconut buttercream, and top them with white chocolate cigarettes for straws and paper umbrellas!
BLOODY MARY
Who needs a drink at brunch when you can have a cupcake?
Cupcakes
1 recipe Vanilla Bean Cupcakes
2 cups cherry tomatoes
1 tablespoon coarsely ground black pepper
1½ cups vodka
Celery Garnish
3 or 4 celery stalks
1 recipe Simple Syrup
Frosting
1 recipe Vanilla American Buttercream
(page 27)
¼ cup Tabasco sauce
HOW TO MAKE IT
Cupcakes Omit the vanilla extract and vanilla bean scrapings from the Vanilla Bean Cupcake batter. Otherwise, prepare the batter according to the recipe directions. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half. Fold them into the cupcake batter with the black pepper. Bake the cupcakes according to the recipe directions. When the cupcakes come out of the oven, heavily drench them with the vodka.
Celery Garnish Cut the celery stalks into 2-inch pieces and blanch them really quickly in rapidly boiling water for about I minute. Strain the celery and add the pieces to the simple syrup. Bring the syrup to a boil for about a minute and then turn the flame off. Let the celery cool and then bring it to a boil again for another minute. Repeat this process two or three times until the celery is translucent.
Frosting Omit the vanilla extract from the Vanilla American Buttercream recipe. Fold the Tabasco sauce into the finished buttercream.
Put It All Together Using a piping bag with a star tip, frost the cupcakes. Top each cupcake with a few pieces of candied celery. You can also sprinkle a little cracked black pepper on top.
TEQUILA SUNRISE
In general, I find mixed drinks very inspiring. I use them in a lot of my creations, cupcakes and beyond. I was given a bottle of tequila by a friend whose family distills it in Mexico, and out came this cupcake.
Cupcakes
1 recipe Vanilla Bean Cupcakes
1 cup tequila, divided
4 tablespoons orange zest
1 recipe Simple Syrup
Frosting
1 recipe Vanilla American Buttercream
(page 27)
1 cup powdered sugar
½ cup tequila
2 tablespoons orange zest
HOW TO MAKE IT
Cupcakes Prepare the Vanilla Bean Cupcake batter according to the recipe directions, but leave out the milk, vanilla extract, and vanilla beans. Instead, replace the milk with ½ cup tequila and then mix the orange zest into the finished batter. Bake the cupcakes according to the recipe directions. Add the remaining ½ cup tequila to the simple syrup. As soon as the cupcakes come out of the oven, drench them with the syrup, then allow them to cool. Frosting Prepare the Vanilla American Buttercream according to the recipe directions, but leave out the vanilla extract. Make the buttercream extra stiff by adding the extra cup of powdered sugar. Once the frosting is mixed, stir in the tequila and orange zest. Put It All Together Frost the cooled cupcakes with a piping bag with a star tip. I like to make the frosting look like a flame, so I split it in half and use food coloring to make one half red and one half yellow and put them in the piping bag side by side. The color will come out looking like a flame and will make a very fiery orange color at the end. Usually I put a white chocolate cigarette right in the middle of each cupcake to look like a straw.
CHOCOLATE CHERRY STOUT
I love beer. I really, really love beer, and I especially love beer when I don’t have the guilt of actually drinking it. This cupcake is the perfect combination of beer, fruit,