My co workers loved the lemon/strawberry cupcakes, so I’ve been mentally picturing my fruit bowl trying to decide what flavors to combine next. I finally have blueberries and am able to fulfill my blueberry frosting craving, but what to put underneath it? I have a large amount of pears at the moment, so I thought, “why not?”
I type this next piece as I gather everything together:
Looking it my fridge, it appears I am out of butter, so these guys will have to be vegan, although still yummy! *I have also just discovered that we are currently not harboring any soy milk. I have always made vegan cupcakes with soy milk, but all we have is almond milk. I guess there is a first time for everything! *Today must hate me, because I need 1/3 cup of canola oil, and I have just a little less than that. So I filled the rest of the measuring cup with peanut oil. Man! I can’t wait to see what happens with all these substitutions!
So the recipe I use only makes 12 cupcakes. For the first batch, I combined 1 cup almond milk with 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar. Whisking this and setting it aside to curdle is what is used to substitute any type of cream or milk (one of the most essential ingredients). I then mixed it with my flour, sugar, oil, baking powder and soda, and vanilla extract. Bake for 20 minutes at 350. The batter should be a bit runny, but that’s okay.
For the second batch, instead of oil, I used Earth Balance spread, which is vegan. It’s not equal parts, you use a little more of the spread than you do oil. And to the second mixture I added 2 pureed pears. Batter was a little thicker, and obviously clumpy.
As far as the cupcakes go, both were really good, and the vanilla-pear cake was surprisingly better tasting than I thought!
On to the frosting. Wouldn’t you know I used the last of the Earth Balance(I have to get to Shop Rite) for the second batch of cupcakes. The vegan frosting I make is 1/2 cup of Earth Balance, and 1/2 cup of vegetable shortening, plus 31/2 cups of powdered sugar and a little vanilla extract. Well I made a bold move and just used shortening. It was a little sweet, and had a thicker consistency than usual, but all-in-all it was okay. I piped half of it and frosted the vanilla pear cupcakes, then pureed some blueberries and mixed it with the rest of the frosting, which was piped and top onto the vanilla cupcakes.
I swear, I can not attempt to bake and not having something go wrong, even if it’s just a missing ingredient.
Finally, here is the vanilla cupcake with blueberry frosting! (I’m too tired to go back to the kitchen to take a pic of the other.
Enjoy!
For the past week, I’ve had a craving for lemon cupcakes with a blueberry buttercream frosting. Why? Who knows? So while my schoolwork was slow, I decided to take advantage of the free time and get to baking. I really had my heart set on the lemon/blueberry combination, however Shop Rite was out of blueberries at the time, leaving my only berry option to strawberries (yes, they were out of blackberries and raspberries as well).
I made the lemon batter in a snap using both lemon juice and zest along with the usual flour, eggs, salt, baking powder, sugar, vanilla, and believe it or not, cream cheese. I might have taken the cream cheese idea from Martha Stewart, but hey, the woman knows her baked goods! In the initial mix, I had only added 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, but after tasting it decided it could use another tablespoon to really enhance the flavor. In a mixture that only makes 24 cupcakes, you do not want to use more than 2 tablespoons of juice, especially if you’re including the zest, for the flavor will be a bit overwhelming, but always taste and determine for yourself. I let them bake at 325* for about 23 minutes.
It’s always very important to let your cakes cool completely before frosting them. I have learned this the hard way and watched the frosting melt right off. Luckily, I have an unheated addition on my house that acts as a great refrigerator. So while my trays are out back cooling, I make my frosting.
Flipping through my Martha Stewart “Cupcakes” book looking for a buttercream recipe I have yet to try, I found a recipe for meringue buttercream. Being that I’ve never made a meringue before, I decided to give it a whirl. Apparently, this type of frosting is not too sweet, and great for adding any type of flavor, whether it be jams, extracts, or pureed fruits! So I followed the instructions, first combining egg whites and sugar over heat until it melted, then beating until stiff. Although I never found it to form any type of peaks, I figured it would be okay. I have yet to invest in a mixer, and had to spend 10 minutes beating my egg/sugar mixture with a hand held mixer.
Afterwards, I added the butter and the strawberry puree, however, there was something a bit off. It was too much of a liquid to be a frosting. In deciding to beat it more, I took the mixer whisks out of the water and put them right into the meringue. BIG MISTAKE. You do not want any type of water to come in contact with your meringue, for it will separate! I know this now, after researching why my meringue buttercream was curdled looking. It tasted great, it just was not something that would withstand being piped and placed on these baby cakes.
My first thought was to add cornstarch. I added quite a bit, not measuring, however, it did nothing. My second thought, the winning thought, was to strain the concoction. After all the water (boy was there a lot) had strained out, I put the meringue back into the bowl and beat it into a stiff, much better frosting candidate.
Voila! Very delicious!
Hi! I’ve decided to start a blog to document the baking I do, for my own enjoyment, as well as to share any tips I may have when I come across a challenge.
Enjoy!
