Last weekend was a rare occasion, as
both Easter and Passover fell one day after another. While some indulged in
their flourless, yeastless meals; I was busy baking Easter themed desserts.
With flour smeared under my eyes I was ready to go. No matter what religion you
practice just about everyone knows the Easter mascot is the infamous bunny. He
bounces around to the homes of all the little Christian boys and girls leaving
candy filled woven baskets, carrot shavings and of course the trademark
pastel eggs. In an ode to the Easter bunny and his number one food group, I
made carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting decorated as a bunny face.
The carrot cupcake I adapted was
actually featured in a Cupcake Wars episode on the Food Network. The cupcake
was entitled the “24 Karrot Gold Cupcake” inspired by the fame and wealth at
the Grammy’s, the event of the episode. I remember watching Florian Bellanger,
the “Simon” of the judges, describe how deliciously moist and decadent this
cupcake was. I knew from his review alone, this cupcake was superb and must be tested.
Carrot cake is similar to bread, in its
texture and moistness. For this reason, many carrot cake recipes use oil
instead of butter, and this recipe is no different. This somewhat alleviates
the inherent density of cake, allowing it to be both fluffy and light.
24 Karrot Gold Cupcakes
(Recipe adapted from Alyssa Magliato,
owner of Perfect Circle Cupcakery)
Yields 12 Cupcakes
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups grated carrots (about 5)
1 cup chopped walnuts
Preheat the oven
to 350 degrees F. Line a 12-cup cupcake pan with paper liners. Whisk together
the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg in a medium bowl. In a stand
mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the eggs, sugar, brown sugar, and canola oil on medium speed until light and thick. Reduce speed to low and add the
flour mixture in 1/3 increments, beating just until blended. Add in the vanilla
and beat for about 10 seconds. Remove from stand mixer, using a rubber spatula
fold the carrots and walnuts until well incorporated.
Fill each cupcake tin (I use a 1 ½ inch ice cream scoop) 2/3-full with
batter. Bake until the cupcakes are puffed and a toothpick inserted into the
center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool the cupcakes completely before
icing.
For the delectable cream cheese frosting
I decided to adapt the recipe from my inspiration, Joanne Chang. She is the
owner of Flour Bakery as well as the co-owner of Myers and Chang, an Asian
fusion restaurant in Boston. I’ve made her Carrot Cake Recipe many times before
and I distinctly remember the icing being absolutely divine. She describes it
as “a sweet-but-not-too-sweet” cream cheese frosting. I couldn’t have said it
any better.
Since this recipe is for a whole cake,
you should expect to have extra frosting, but extra isn’t always a bad thing
especially when it’s frosting J
Cream Cheese Frosting
(Recipe adapted from Joanne Chang)
(Yields 1 8-inch, 2-layer cake)
12 ounces
(340 grams) cream cheese, left at room temperature for at least 4 hours
1/2 cup (1
stick/114 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 2/3 cups
(230 grams) confectioners' sugar
While the cupcakes
are baking, put the cream cheese in the stand mixer fitted with the paddle
attachment, and beat on medium speed for about 1 minute, or until smooth. If
you have forgotten to take the cream cheese out of the refrigerator 4 hours in
advance, you can soften it in a microwave on medium power for 30 seconds. Add
the butter and continue to beat for another 1 minute. Scrape the sides and
bottom of the bowl and add the confectioners' sugar. Beat for 1 more minute, or
until well mixed. You should have about 3 1/2 cups.
Cover the
frosting and refrigerate for 2–3 hours before using to allow it firm up enough
to spread (or pipe if you’re feeling ambitious). Remove from the refrigerator;
spread the frosting on the cupcakes with an icing spatula.
To add a little Easter flare, I
decorated the cupcakes with a bunny face. Using chocolate chips for the eyes, ½
of a pink jelly bean for the nose and dark-grey dyed cream cheese frosting for
the mouth and whiskers; a little homemade treat to end the festivities, in
style.
Speaking of style, to continue on the
Easter theme I decided to make a peep featured cupcake. My brothers being the
adventurous people they are, like the simple, classic (and boring) desserts.
The typical chocolate chip cookies, chocolate cake and of course
vanilla-vanilla cupcakes are a few of their favorites. For my next cupcake
variation, I dressed up the somewhat ordinary vanilla-vanilla cupcake and made
it, for lack of a better word, extraordinary. I can hardly say that without my
decorations Candace Nelson’s cupcake recipe is boring, being the founder of
Sprinkles cupcakes and basically the founder of the cupcake fad, her cupcakes
are hardly dull. Her recipe embodies the fluffiest vanilla cake with the
creamiest vanilla buttercream it is truly amazing.
Vanilla Cupcakes
(Recipe Adapted from Candace Nelson)
Yields 12 cupcakes
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour , sifted
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. coarse salt
1/2 cup whole milk , room temperature
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter , room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg , room temperature
2 large egg whites , room temperature
Preheat oven
to 350°. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners; set aside.
In a medium
bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. In a small bowl,
mix together milk and extracts; set aside. In an electric mixer fitted with the
paddle attachment, cream butter on medium-high speed, until light and fluffy.
Gradually add sugar and continue to beat until well combined and fluffy. Reduce
the mixer speed to medium and slowly add egg and egg whites until just blended.
With the
mixer on low, slowly add half the flour mixture; mix until just blended. Add
the milk mixture; mix until just blended. Slowly add remaining flour mixture,
scraping down sides of the bowl with a spatula, as necessary, until just
blended.
Divide batter
evenly among prepared muffin cups. Bake until the tops are just dry to the touch,
22 to 25 minutes. Transfer muffin tin to a wire rack and let cupcakes cool
completely in tin before icing.
Vanilla Buttercream
(Recipe Adapted from Candace Nelson)
Yields 12 Cupcakes
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter , firm but not cold
1/8 tsp. salt
3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar , sifted
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. milk
Blue and green food coloring
In the bowl
of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and
salt on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
Reduce the
speed to low, gradually add the confectioners' sugar and beat until
incorporated. Add the extract and milk and beat until smooth and creamy. Do not
overmix or the frosting will incorporate too much air; it should be creamy and
dense, like ice cream. Add additional milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, if frosting
does not have a spreadable consistency.
Decorations
Fondant Eggs
(see recipe below)
12 peeps (any
color)
To decorate
the cupcakes, divide the frosting in half. Add blue food coloring to one half
and green to the other. Fold in the dye until it is incorporated. Fill a ½ inch
circle-tip piping bag with the blue frosting. Pipe the frosting in a circular
movement starting at the outside going towards the inside. Once each cupcake is
frosted, fill another piping bag with the green frosting fitted with a grass-piping
tip. Pipe the frosting in the middle of the blue frosting making a “pile of
grass”. Place a peep and a fondant shell to illustrate a hatching chick.
Fondant
(Recipe Adapted
from Jacques Torres)
Yields enough
for ½ a cake or many, many egg shells
1/2 tablespoon gelatin
1/8 cup water
1/4 cup corn syrup
1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoons shortening
4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
Cornstarch, for dusting
Place gelatin and water in a small saucepan over low heat and melt it. Combine the remaining ingredients in the
bowl of a stand mixer. Add the melted gelatin to the mixer and beat at low speed until combined. This will form a paste or dough. Place in the refrigerator for a few minutes to let harden slightly.
Use a rolling
pin and roll the fondant to a thickness of about 1/4-inch thick. Use cornstarch to "flour" the work surface and the rolling pin. Use a cookie
cutter (about 1-1/2 inch diameter) to cut out the “egg shells”. To make the
cracked egg look, take a sharp knife and cut a sharp-edge zigzag across the
upper 1/3 of the circle.
I hope you enjoy the recipes, I know I
did.
Happy (Belated) Easter Everyone!
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