Who You Callin' Cupcake - Michelle Garcia [28]
Frosting Prepare the Chocolate American Buttercream according to the recipe directions.
Put It All Together Using a piping bag with a star tip, frost the cooled cupcakes with the buttercream.
APPLE SPICE
This is apple pie in cupcake form, made even better with brown sugar frosting. I’ve thought about adding cheddar cheese for all you Wisconsinites, but I’ll leave that up to you.
Cupcakes
3 cups chopped apples
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons sugar
1 recipe Vanilla Bean Cupcakes
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground allspice
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
Frosting
1 recipe Vanilla American Buttercream
(page 27)
1 cup brown sugar
HOW TO MAKE IT
Cupcakes Dice the apples into small, even pieces, about ¼-inch cubes. Over medium heat, melt the butter in a sauté pan. When the butter starts to brown, toss in the apples. Move them around a bit in the pan and toss in the sugar to give the apples a boost. Pour the apples out onto a baking sheet to cool. Prepare the Vanilla Bean Cupcake batter according to the recipe directions, but add the cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and nutmeg with the dry ingredients. Fold the apples into the batter. Reserve the apple juice and about a cup of apples for garnish. Bake the cupcakes according to the recipe directions.
Frosting Prepare the Vanilla American Buttercream according to the recipe directions. Stir the brown sugar into the buttercream with a rubber spatula.
Put It All Together Brush the warm cupcakes with the reserved apple juice. Using a piping bag with a star tip, make a big frosting circle around the top of the cupcakes. Fill the circles with the reserved apples.
CREAMSICLE
We made this cupcake for a wedding and came home with rave reviews. I know, I know what you’re thinking—“But it’s just a creamsicle, everyone makes those!” Yes, they do, but ours is different. Everyone else uses a chemical-based orange extract. We do not. Orange flavor exists in real life, so why use a chemical ripoff? So here’s our “made with real oranges” creamsicle cupcake.
Cupcakes
1 recipe Vanilla Bean Cupcakes
11/8 cups fresh orange juice, divided
zest of 6 oranges
1 recipe Simple Syrup (page 44)
1 cup fresh orange juice
Frosting
1 recipe Vanilla American Buttercream
(page 27)
2 vanilla beans, scraped
2 tablespoons orange zest
2 to 3 drops orange food coloring
HOW TO MAKE IT
Cupcakes Prepare the Vanilla Bean Cupcake batter according to the recipe directions, but leave out 1/8 8 cup of the milk and add 1/8 cup fresh orange juice instead. Add the orange zest with the dry ingredients. Bake the cupcakes according to the recipe directions. Mix together the simple syrup and the remaining 1 cup orange juice. When the cupcakes are hot from the oven, heavily drench them with the syrup.
Frosting Prepare the Vanilla American Buttercream according to the recipe directions. Divide the buttercream in half. To one half, add the vanilla bean scrapings. Add the orange zest to the other half of the buttercream and dye it slightly orange with the food coloring.
Put It All Together Place both parts of the frosting side by side in your piping bag fitted with a star tip. I use a star tip, but for no particular reason. Swirl the frosting on to the cupcakes—it’ll naturally make the orange and white swirl beautifully together.
CHOC-O-MATIC
CHOCOLATE DECADENCE
This cupcake was formerly known as the Chocolate Slut, and I made it when I tried out for my job in Amsterdam, so I can’t take credit for the name...but I got the job, so I must’ve done something right.
Cupcakes
1 recipe Devil’s Food Cupcakes (page 19)
Put It All Together
1 recipe Chocolate Sauce (page 38)
¼ cup cocoa nibs (found at gourmet grocery
stores or online)
Frosting