Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

 

Summer has finally arrived in the San Francisco Bay Area.  So here's a nice summer themed treat for all of you who have waited so patiently for the warm weather to arrive.  

I think the main reason why I wanted to try making a lemon meringue cupcake was because my good friend Malia raved about one that she had at Off the Grid.  She told me that I had to try making one similar and described her cupcake as having a graham cracker crust, lemon cake, lemon curd and topped with meringue.  

I don't think I've ever even tried a real lemon meringue pie, so I don't know if I'm equipped with the knowledge to tell you how much like the pie these cupcakes are.  What I can say is that the cupcakes were light and refreshing.  Not overly tangy, not overly sweet.  Great for bringing to your next pot luck (that's what I did) or serving at a BBQ. 

I opted not to include the graham cracker crust but would like to try adding it when I make these in the future.  The recipe I followed was Martha's (of course), which was similar to the one Malia described.  You can find the recipe here.  (I actually don't know why I bought her cupcake book.  She offers most of her popular cupcakes on the website anyways.)

I suggest eating your cupcakes the same day.  I had one the next day, from the fridge, and the texture of the cake changes and gets denser. 

Enjoy! 

Chocolate Salted Caramel Mini Cupcakes for Elisha

I could make this blog post really long and miserable and try to fast forward through how three girls became best friends and soulmates.  I won't because somehow you will see my tears streaming down this post in some weird kind of stigmata way. 

Elisha (of Cheesecake Challenge fame) moved to Portland on Sunday and this weekend we celebrated this new chapter in her life.  For her, I made Chocolate Salted Caramel Mini Cupcakes from Martha's Cupcakes.  Something sweet and salty for this equally sweet and salty moment. 

Each mini chocolate cupcake had a little bit cut out from the top and the homemade caramel was poured in.  A little sea salt goes on each caramel, then dark chocolate frosting tops each. 

Lisha reading her cupcake message.

I would have used "cry ourselves to sleep each night we are apart" instead of "miss you" but I didn't have that many toothpicks.

Elisha, Mary & Sylvia:  Soulmates

DIY: Cupcake Tower

My best friend's mom, Rose, turned 60 recently and had a huge shindig to celebrate.  I was commissioned to help out (I mean forced into slave labor) and build a cupcake tower. 

Building a cupcake tower is really only limited by your own imagination. I've seen fairly simple instructions and some more extreme ones as well.  I love the latter one but did not have that much time, skill, patience or money in my budget to build such a thing.  So, I based my tower off the more basic instructions.

You can't really tell in the pictures but each Styrofoam drum between each tier is covered in gold paper.  I didn't bother to wrap each tier in wrapping paper and just trimmed the edges with white ribbon.  I also gave the whole thing a final touch by adding fresh flowers here and there.  My tower fit approximately 40 cupcakes. 

My suggestions for those of you who are planning to build your own cupcake tower would be this: be creative.  All the tower has to be is sturdy.  To be quite honest, all I did was glue some stuff together and voila!  You can't call yourself crafty until you own a hot glue gun.  And of course, the bigger the tower, the more stable it will need to be.

The cake and cupcakes shown were made by Chestnut Bakery in San Francisco. 

The beautiful Chan family.  

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

It's been awhile since I've baked anything.  With moving and traveling to Japan for 2 weeks, there just hasn't been much time.  So, I started to get an itch and busted out Martha's Cupcakes.  Snickerdoodle cupcakes were all I could make without having to make a run to the store.

The cake is cinnamon flavored and the topping is a Seven Minute Frosting, which I've never tried making before.  It's like a marshmallow topping and from what I've read, it also takes to toasting so it would be good for something like a S'mores Cupcake.  Each cupcake is also dusted with cinnamon sugar.  

I made a dozen mini cupcakes and about 2 dozen regular.  The minis I shared with an upcoming client and a dozen I brought to a friend.  Yeah, it pays to know me.

The flavor was very simple, but good.  How can you go wrong with cinnamon and sugar?  You can't.

The recipes for both the cupcakes and the frosting can be found here.

2009 Christmas Treats

Normally, I make time to bake a few different treats to give out to my favorite people for the holidays.  My life has just been too hectic baking-wise lately and I just can't find the energy.  [Every person I know sheds a single tear.]  Sorry guys!

So, the only treats I will make this year were for Elisha's mom, Toni, who threw a Christmas party this weekend.  What I made for her were: Vanilla Christmas Tree Cupcakes (yes, I know they look like green dookie swirls), Red Velvet Cupcakes, Sugar Cookie Mittens, and Gingerbread Santa Hat Cookies.  Elisha suggested that I do hats and mittens because each guest was asked to bring a pair of mittens or a cozy hat to give to the homeless this winter.  I want to also mention that their family is the closest thing I know to the Huxtables and I love them for it.  Such a warm and fun family to be around!

Martha Stewart has yet to let me down.  Both cupcakes came from her books.  The vanilla cupcakes were adapted from the White Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream recipe in the Baking Handbook and the red velvet cupcakes came from Cupcakes.  I have been able to find both recipes on marthastewart.com.  The only thing I changed for the vanilla cupcakes was that I used a vanilla swiss meringue buttercream instead of a strawberry buttercream.  I really love the cupcakes fresh out of the oven.  So moist and fluffy.  When they are day old, they get slightly dryer and a bit more dense so make sure you eat these straight away!  The red velvet recipe was quite different than the one I have used before.  Martha's uses oil instead of butter and cake flour instead of all purpose.  I found that I like Martha's recipe better because I get a stronger cocoa flavor and they are very moist. 

Gingerbread Santa Hat Cookies

Sugar Cookie Mittens

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Chai Tea Cupcakes

I myself am not a big fan of chai tea, but someone I adore does. When I see chai I always think of Elisha so when I saw these Chai Tea Cupcakes, I knew I'd make them for her. The original recipe that I found on Mady by Melis is below.

For me, the recipe made 8 cupcakes. I like a little dome top on my cakes so I may have filled the cups more full then others would but I think that the recipe really could yield about 12 cakes if you only fill the cups about half way. Or even better, 24 mini cupcakes.

For the frosting I used Magnolia's Vanilla Buttercream recipe, which I found on the Food Network site along with Magnolia's recipe for vanilla cupcakes. The recipe can frost about 24 cupcakes so I cut it in half and there was still plenty left over. Maybe I made it wrong but the consistency wasn't what I was expecting (not as stiff as I would prefer) but the good thing is it gave my cupcakes a frothy topping, like a chai latte.

Oh, and of course I used eco-friendly unbleached cupcake liners for my always green conscience friend, Elisha. They are made by IF YOU CARE® and also have a variety of other environmentally friendly products.

Chai Tea Cupcakes

Ingredients

1/2 cup milk
1 or 2 chai tea bags
1/2 cup sugar
2 oz butter, softened
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cardamon
pinch of salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place liners into cupcake pan.
Heat up milk on stove, remove from stove. Place tea bags into milk, cover and steep for 5-10 minutes.
Cream sugar and butter together. Mix in egg and vanilla. Mix in milk.
Sift flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, cardamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt together. Mix dry and wet ingredients together.
Divide batter into cupcake liners. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a tester inserted comes out clean.
Allow to cool before frosting with your favorite buttercream frosting. Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Banana Cupcakes with Honey Cinnamon Frosting

Elisha sent me this recipe in the good old fashion postal mail last week.

I hadn't been keeping the promise to myself that I would try one new recipe a week, so I decided that this cupcake would be the subject of my first "official" blog.

The recipe was torn out of Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazine, but you can also find the recipe online here.

I followed the recipe exactly but, instead of adding fresh banana as a topping, I caramelized the slices in butter and sugar. The cupcake looks dense like a muffin on the inside, but is quite moist and fluffy once you take a bite.

Phil doesn't pay anyone a lot of compliments, but I take it as one that he already ate 2 tonight. Don't worry Lisha, I'm saving you one.