Cupcake Consult

You guyyyyysssss……I did a thing. It’s a thing I always wanted to do. Its a thing I’m pretty proud of.

I made cupcakes for a friend’s wedding, as a gift. I like to make cupcakes for friend’s kiddos birthdays. I make cupcakes for work. Matt loves vanilla cupcakes. This was the big leagues. I have been playing with my own cupcake recipes for quite some time now.

I made… a lot of cupcakes. I made 290 cupcakes. I only took 225 to the wedding. The perfect ones. The ones that turned out exactly how I wanted and planned. The other ones? Those are in my freezer. And the reasons and fact that they exist could be an entire blog in itself. I am a bit of a perfectionist, per say.

I had a plan. I laid it all out. I made a timeline. and it actually worked.

I pretended I was a bakery. I did a tasting and let them choose their cupcakes. I made 3 Costco runs and 4 grocery store runs and 3 amazon orders. I wrote out the recipes (doubled) for cupcakes and frosting. I separated out dry ingredients, both correctly and incorrectly. Take 1, I put my sugars into the dry ingredients. A cake no no. Learning opportunity. Don’t do that. I bought transport boxes and I bought 2 of my local grocery stores completely out of mascarpone cheese. I drove over a mountain pass slowly, like I had a baby on board.

They decided on Strawberries and Cream, Chocolate, and Salted Carmel. I decided on freezer bags, timelines, lists, and friends.

Specifically: I made my signature chocolate cupcake with chocolate mascarpone frosting, my strawberry cupcakes with vanilla white chocolate mascarpone buttercream, and my caramel cupcake with salted caramel cream cheese buttercream.

I knowwww….

Strawberry Cupcakes with Vanilla White Chocolate Mascarpone Buttercream

Cupcake

• 3 C Flour
• 1 1/2 C Sugar
• 2t baking powder
• 1/2 t salt
• 4 eggs (room temp)
• 2t vanilla bean paste
• 1 C buttermilk
• 3/4 C butter
• 15-20 dices strawberries depending on size

Frosting

• 8oz mascarpone cheese (room temp)
• 1 C butter (room temp)
• 2t vanilla
• 10 oz melted quality white chocolate (slightly cooled)
• 3-5 C powdered sugar depending on desired consistency
• 2 T whipping cream

Topping

• 2 T sugar
• 1 t lemon juice
• 15-20 diced strawberries, depending on size and how much you want on each cupcake

I like to have everything prepped before I start, I think it makes it faster and more efficient. The first thing I suggest is that you dice your strawberries. You could do all of the: cupcake and topping, but make sure you separate them. Or you could just start with cupcake strawberries. I combine my dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and salt) in a small bowl, stir with a fork and set them aside. I typically pour all my wet ingredients into cups, in this recipe your wet ingredient is buttermilk. Please believe the baking gods or Paul Hollywood that your eggs should be room temperature. Start by creaming your butter and sugar. Add in one egg at a time and all the vanilla bean paste. Alternate adding the dry ingredients with the wet. Half the dry, half the buttermilk, repeat. Mix until just combined. Do not over mix. I used a spatula to fold the diced strawberries into the batter. Scoop batter into cupcake liners, fill 3/4 of the way full. DO NOT OVERFILL. Bake 18-22 minutes at 350. Check with toothpick to ensure cupcakes are done. I can get anywhere from 28-32 cupcakes with this recipe.

For the frosting, start with the room temp butter and mascarpone. Beat until combined. Add melted white chocolate and vanilla. Add powdered sugar and whipping cream. I like this frosting to be more dense, but then it is more difficult to pipe but it hold the strawberries better if it is more dense.

When I pipe, I do a small frosting blob (technical term) in the center and then I pipe a 2 layered circle to make a nest for the strawberries. I think these are the most beautiful cupcakes. They are simple but lovely.

Chocolate Cupcake with Chocolate Mascarpone Buttercream

Cupcake

• 2 C flour
• 1 C cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/2 t salt
• 3/4 C brown sugar
• 3/4 C sugar
• 2 eggs (room temp)
• 2 t vanilla
• 1 C buttermilk
• 1/2 C sour cream
• 2 t coffee
• 1 t espresso powder
• 6 T butter (room temp)

Frosting

• 4 oz mascarpone (room temp)
• 1/2 C butter (room temp)
• 8 oz melted quality semisweet chocolate
• 2 T cocoa powder
• 1 t vanilla
• 3-5 C powdered sugar depending on desired consistency
• 2T whipping cream

First brew some coffee, because you can drink coffee while you make these. Also, coffee brings out the chocolate flavor. Don’t overdo it, you literally only need 2 teaspoons. Combine and stir your dry ingredients: flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, espresso powder. Cream your sugars and butter. Add vanilla and eggs one at a time. Add 1/3 of your dry ingredients, then the sour cream, another third of the dry ingredients, half the buttermilk, add the 2 t coffee now, repeat dry then buttermilk. Mix until just combined. DO NOT OVERMIX. This dough will be thick. Fill cupcake liners 1/2 way full. I get about 24 from this recipe. Bake at 350 18-22 minutes, sometimes longer on these.

For the frosting, start with the room temp butter and mascarpone. Beat until combined. Add cocoa powder, melted chocolate, and vanilla. Add powdered sugar and whipping cream. I like this frosting to be more light and fluffy, almost like a mousse, I tend to be around the 3 1/2 cups. Decorate as you choose. I did a simple sprinkle.

Caramel Cupcake with Salted Caramel Cream Cheese Buttercream

Cupcake

• 3 C flour
• 2 t baking powder
• 1 t salt
• 1 1/2 C brown sugar
• 1 C sugar
• 3/4 C butter (room temp)
• 4 eggs (room temp)
• 2 t vanilla bean paste
• 3 T salted caramel topping/whatever you have or make your own
• 1 C milk
• 1/2 C sour cream

Frosting

• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1/2 C butter
• 2 t vanilla
• 3 T salted caramel topping
• 3-5 C powdered sugar depending on desired consistency
• 2 T whipping cream

Carmel Drizzle

• 6 T butter
• 3/4 C brown sugar
• 6 T heavy cream
• 1 t salt

Choose whether you are making your own caramel for the cake and frosting or not. It’s okay if you are not. But you should make your own drizzle for the topping because it’s just better. It’s easy and I’ll share my secret. For this cupcake I combine my dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and salt) in a small bowl, stir with a fork and set them aside. I pour all my wet ingredients into their measuring cups, in this recipe your wet ingredients are regular milk and sour cream. Start with your sugars and butter, cream these. Next add the caramel, then eggs one at a time then vanilla bean paste. Next add 1/3 of your dry ingredients, then your sour cream, another third then half you milk, then repeat this step. Mix until just combined. DO NOT OVERMIX. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 way full. Bake 18-22 minutes at 350.

For the frosting, start with the room temp butter and cream cheese. Beat until combined. Add the caramel and vanilla. You will probably need at least 4 cups of powdered sugar for this frosting. I piped this on with a french tip then drizzle with caramel and sprinkle with course salt.

So the caramel drizzle. Its totally not cheating, because caramel can be hard and I have burned a lot of caramel and it is so frustrating. Make the drizzle in a glass microwave safe measuring cup. Melt the butter first. Add the brown sugar and salt. Stir furiously with a fork. Microwave for 30 seconds. Add the cream. Stir like you mean it. Microwave for 30 seconds. Based on consistency and if the brown sugar has melted all the way, you may have do 15 more seconds. Let it cool for a bit before you drizzle or you will melt your frosting.

There you have it. These are my carefully curated recipes for the cupcakes I made most recently. They are tried and true and you hope make them and love them as much as I do. I learned a lot with this process. Some great take aways and some things I won’t forget. It made for some good laughs. I had help from my tribe. I frosted and home and decorated onsite. It was nerve wracking. I had an epic caramel spill on the beautiful pink tablecloth. TG for paper towels, wood constructed cupcake stands and aunts. It went off rather well. I was surprised. I thought it would harder than it was. I just wanted it to be perfect for my dear friend. I know I could do this, like, do this do this- to make monies. But I still want to love it. If it became my job, I don’t know that I would.

The great thing about these cupcakes(or most of my cupcake recipes) is that you bake each recipe at 350. For 18-22 minutes. If you have more batches in it takes longer. On average I would say that the chocolate ones take the longest.

Because of my work and my personal feeling about large crowds, I didn’t stay to celebrate at the wedding. In some ways I think that was a good thing, I would have been watching everyone like some creeper to see what their reactions were to the cupcakes and if they liked them or not. It could get pretty weird. Even though I wasn’t at the wedding, I sure am glad I had the opportunity to use my love language as my gift to them. It was a way I could be there.

Eat cupcakes. Celebrate love. Be smart. Be kind. Stay healthy and safe. Wash your hands. Don’t touch your face.