Flour-Lite Chocolate Cupcakes

The reason I baked these was to settle a bet I had with one of my friends. I had some problems making these cupcakes, although I guess they turned out well in the end. 
Everything started off fine...

1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
3 tbsp all purpose flour
pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp orange extract
3/4 cup fat-free milk
1 cup chopped bittersweet chocolate
1 lightly beaten egg
3 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/3 cup superfine sugar
cocoa powder, for dusting
confectioner's sugar, for dusting

I had all the ingredients all laid out and ready. Everything was going to go perfectly.

In a heavy saucepan, combine the cocoa, sugar, flour, salt vanilla, orange extract, and milk over a gentle heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves, being careful not to burn the mixture. Remove from the heat, and gradually stir in the chocolate until it melts. Whisk in the egg. Transfer to a large bowl to cool, and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place 12 paper baking cups in a muffin pan. In a medium bowl, combine the egg whites and cream of tartar. Beat with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Gradually add the sugar, one third at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition. Using a metal spoon, fold the egg whites into the chocolate, making sure not to overmix. Spoon the mixture into the cups. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and cool for 5 minutes. Then remove the cupcakes, dust with cocoa powder and confectioner's sugar, and serve immediately. 
Makes one dozen.

So far so good. I greased the miniature muffin cups and poured in the batter. 
So what did they look like?

Theirs:

Haha. No. 

What actually happened was that the cupcakes wouldn't come out of the pan... apparently you have to flour it as well or else it sticks. So I was forced to create marvellous sculptures out of the cupcakes in order to satisfy the bet for my friend. And this is what I came up with. 

Zombie snowmen cupcakes! 

I used a new technique that I learned where you heat the icing for 15 seconds and then dunk the cupcake in the icing to make it look shiny. Unfortunately, I had to use my fingers to get the cupcakes our of the heated icing, and it didn't cover up the chocolate very well. I do have to say that my hats made out of caramel are amazing though. 

Lemon Butterfly Cupcakes

The book says these should be delicate. Well, I guess I screwed up something here...

cupcakes:
1 cup sweet butter, softened
1 cup superfine sugar
2 cups self-rising flour
1 tsp baking powder
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

frosting: 1/2 cup sweet butter
2 cups confectioners' sugar sifted
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp lemon zest

preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place 18 paper baking cups in muffin pans. Combine all ingredients for the cupcakes in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until smooth and pale, about 2 to 3 minutes. Spoon the batter into the cups

Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for 5 minutes. Then remove the cupcakes and cool on a rack. Prepare the frosting by beating the butter, confectioners' sugar,vanilla, and lemon zest until smooth. Cut a slice from the top of each cake and cut it into two. Pipe the frosting onto the flattened top of each cupcake. Then place the half circles of cake at an angle on each side of the frosting.

Makes 1.5 dozen

These cupcakes are special, because they received the attention of a very important reporter: Ailsa Roovene.

The Story of the Baking of the Cupcakes

On Dec. 30, the day of the sleepover, Maria and Saffron decided to make cupcakes, using a recipe found in Maria's cupcake book of recipes. This is also the origin of the beet cupcakes, the subject of an as-yet unwritten account.

The making of the cupcakes began in a simple way, by melting the butter. Ailsa, one of our top reporters, got the goods on the butter. “As they melted the butter, they began to sing about it,” says Ailsa, “and pretty soon they got out the mixer and were mixing it with other ingredients they measured.” It seems that they also enjoyed talking as well as singing. “Maria said, ‘I can’t believe it’s not better than butter!’, as a joke referring to the fake butter, I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter,” says Ailsa.

Next, they put the eggs in. Any mention of eggs draws from them a reference to The Land Before Time, in which the ortheomimuses must have eeeeeggs. “We must have the eeeeegs!” says Maria, without knowing it would be in this article.

Maria and Saffron went on mixing and measuring things like tsp.s (pronounced ‘tisps’), until Maria spilled the salt with a shriek. “It was like she had just been attacked by the salt,” says Ailsa. Aside from this monumentous event, nothing happened until Saffron started zesting a lemon. And zesting. And zesting. Until Maria finally said, “This is going to be a long cupcake affair.” Yes, we must have a very long affair with cupcakes, even though they’re not very saucy. They’re sugary instead, and very sweet.

Aside from cupcake love, Maria and Saffron went on singing, about vacuuming, da-s, and dums. And so the first part of cupcake making was ended, with the cupcakes roasting in the oven for 16 more minutes. At the end of 16 minutes, the only comment left to say was, “The cupcakes are so beautiful!” This comment was made by Mom, the cupcakes were made by Maria and Saffron, and this article was made by me, Ailsa Roovene, for the Sondule Kids Almost Omnipost. Thank you for reading, and love your cupcakes! 

It's a very comprehensive and accurate report. 

Anyway, here is what I know you're dying to see, the results of the cupcake baking.

Theirs: 

Ours:

I don't know. This cupcake was our best looking one, and I guess it holds up ok to the original, but there are a few key differneces. First, the cupcakes aren't as brown as theirs. I don't think we let it be undercooked, so I'm not sure how this happened. Second, it's clear that our icing piping skills leave much to be desired. I cut the piping bag with a large hole to create the beautiful huge mounds of icing you sometimes see in stores. Sadly, the icing was too thick to pipe accurately. We also didn't think ahead and so cut off the entire top of the cupcakes instead of just a thin sliver. This is why the wings of that butterfly look more like rabbit ears.

Chocolate and Beet Cupcakes

Bet you didn't think you'd ever hear those two words together! Yes, chocolate and beets can indeed make a very tasty addition to the cupboard snacks. 
Here's the recipe:
1 1/2 lb fresh trimmed beets (about 2 large)
3 1/2 cups self-rising flour
2 tbsp. dutch process cocoa powder
1 cup superfine sugar
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cup buttermilk

Steam the beets for 5- minutes until tender. Drain and rinse with cold water. When cool enough to handle, gently peel away the skin with your fingertips. You may need to wear latex gloves to avoid staining your hands purple. Place the peeled beets in a food processor and blend until smooth. Set aside. 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, sugar, and baking powder. In a large bowl, beat the eggs, oil, and buttermilk. Stir in the beets until well combined. Add the flour mixture, stirring until just combined. 

Spoon the batter in the muffin cups. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove pan from the oven and cool for 5 minutes. Then remove the muffins and cool on a rack. 

Makes 2 dozen


Theirs:

Mine:

So I think mine actually turned out pretty well! They're very moist and thick, so if you're a fan of light fluffy cupcakes I suggest you make the vanilla ones below. 

My sister, who is NOT a fan of beets, tasted one of these and said she loved it. When I wouldn't tell her what was in it she took at least half an hour to guess the ingredients. And after she did, she scowled at me and ate another. 

While making these things, I did learn a lot about stamina. I hadn't really looked at the recipe before deciding to make them, and so when I found out I had to steam the beets I was a little overwhelmed. I'd never steamed anything, and I didn't think we had a steamer. So I made a makeshift one on my own and eventually ended up boiling them for twenty minutes. Then came the problems with the mixer. The beets were just not cut up small enough to be mixed properly, so I had to take each piece out of the beet muck and recut it several times. 

The entire process took about two hours, and it completely exhausted me. I can safely say I won't make these again, even if they are delicious!

(brought to you by 500 Cupcakes)

Vanilla Cupcakes

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup superfine sugar
2 cups self-rising flour
1 tsp. baking powder
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place 18 baking cups in muffin pans.
2. place all ingredients in a medium bowl and beat with an electric mixer until smooth and pale, about 2-3 minutes.
3. spoon the mixture into the cups. Bake for 20 minutes.

makes 1 1/2 dozen
Mine versus theirs:

I think I did a pretty good job. 

Vanilla cupcakes are basically the simplest cupcakes you can make. They're delicious, common, and they go well with pretty much any kind of icing. Because it's Thanksgiving weekend, I decorated these with my cousin in the form of thanksgiving foods. 

I used carmel for the turkeys and gravy, cut up laffy taffies for the butter, and m&ms for the pie filling.

I should say that I didn't get the ideas for these from nowhere- I read about them in another cupcake book. But I didn't end up using all the same techniques or ingredients, just because of what was available at the store. 

Baking with my cousin was extremely fun. I did learn that I can't trust myself not to take lots of taste tests of the batter and the icing- it was too delicious looking! 

The Challenge

Welcome to my cupcake blog!

This blog is going to be a recipe book, diary, and food magazine all at once. I plan to bake 500 kinds of cupcakes and post about each one when I bake it here. Obviously, even if I made one kind every day it would take me over a year to finish, and I definitely won't be making some every day. By the time this challenge is complete, I should be "old," mature, and in a different place in my life.
Feel free to read, copy, and dig in.