Cuppycakes for Tuesday

3/6/12:  Yellow Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

Haven't shared much of my cooking with you all lately, but I'm still here! I've been cooking and baking almost every day each week and trying out some new recipes every now and then. Two of the "newbie" recipes I gave a go as of late were Yellow Cupcakes from Cook's Illustrated and Peanut Butter Frosting from the Bake-Off Flunkie blog. Boy, that sounds like a yummy duo, eh?

It may sound strange to some, but I like to bake a dessert and have that as the sole dish for evening supper every once in awhile. My family always has lunch as the main meal of the day, so we can get by with dessert-for-supper with no problem. So for yesterday's supper, I made these cupcakes on the spur of the moment. Yeah, I would have liked to plan supper in advance but the days got away from me!

Here's how they turned out yesterday:

For Christmas I received the Cook's Illustrated Cookbook (which I think weighs more than two bibles put together!), and this cupcake recipe is one of many I've tried so far from the book. 

So what do I think of the "cake" part of this cupcake? 

I don't know if I baked them for too long or what, but they were a bit dry. The batter was a thick one so it was difficult to evenly fill the cupcake liners, which led to some baking faster than others. So right now I am on the fence about them. 

So what do I think of the frosting?

I wanted to have the family's opinion on this one because I wanted to give feedback to the recipe creator. Here's the feedback:

Papa: OK. Isn't a peanut butter fan.

Sibling 1: Very good.

Sibling 2: Very good.

Sibling 3: YUMMY!

Sibling 4: OK.

Me: Good, but a bit too sweet for me. Would add more butter. 

All and all, it looks like it is a keeper, even though I may not be a huge fan. I'm a frosting fuss budget, especially as of late. I've been making more cooked frostings than buttercreams (like this one), and it is hard to go back. 

Thanks, Tiffany, for sharing the recipe on your blog! Frostings are one of my favorite things to make so I'm glad to add another one to my file.

Jam and Cake. . . Scrumptious!

2/4/11: Blackberry Jam Cake

Doesn't that recipe title sound so scrumptious? For me, putting together jam and cake (two of my favorite things), sounds like perfection. That title is actually what drew me to baking this cake last Friday. I found the recipe in the Nov/Dec 2010 issue of Cook's Country magazine that we subscribe to (check out what America's Test Kitchen changed with this cake, an Appalachian staple, here). I wish I could post the recipe here but copyright issues, ya know.

Anyhow, let me explain this cake to you a little bit. The actual cake is spiced with cinnamon, allspice, and cloves and it also has delicious blackberry jam added. The frosting that the magazine had teamed up with the cake was Caramel Miracle Frosting. And also chopped pecans were added to the side of the cake.

Let me tell you, I like frosting. And I like trying out new ones. So the Miracle Frosting was right up my alley! It is a cooked frosting that starts with a mixture of brown sugar, cornstarch, and flour. Then a load of butter is added and mixed until light & fluffy.

Did I make any modifications to the recipe? I didn't make a Caramel Miracle Frosting, I just made the 'original' version which has white sugar instead of brown. I also omitted the pecans and I used blackberry preserves instead of jam.

Both the cake and the frosting turned out very well and this cake is a great contender for birthdays! (I have two requests already!)

So are there any notes I should leave for myself? Yes.

1. There didn't seem to be enough frosting to cover the entire cake, probably should do 1 1/2 times the recipe next time.

2. I probably need to go a tad bit less on the amount of preserves used for the filling. It sort of leaked to the sides making it harder to frost.

So here it is. . .