Green Tea Cupcakes with Toasted Sesame Buttercream

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All photographs by TK Photography!  Aren't they beautiful??

Green Tea Cupcakes

• Cake Flour: 1 3/4 C 
• Spoon it into the cup and level off
• Baking Powder: 1 3/4 t
• Sugar, Granulated: 1 1/2 C 
• Water: 1/3 C
• Butter, Unsalted: 4 T 
• Room Temperature 
• Cut into 1 T pieces
• Vanilla Extract: 2 t
• Salt: 1/2 t
• Canola Oil: 1/3 C
• Egg, Yolks: 2
• Egg, Whole: 2
• Heavy Cream: 1/2 C 
• Matcha Powder: 2 T
• Water: 1/2 C
• Tools: Stand Mixer, Small Sauce Pan, Medium Bowl, Whisk, Sifter, another medium bowl, cupcake pan, preheated oven to 350

Sift your flour and baking powder together into your mixing bowl and then mix together with a paddle attachment on medium low until combined, about 30 seconds.  Sift it back into a medium bowl.  Set aside.

In a small sauce pan, combine 1/2 C water and Match powder and cook on medium heat until reduced down to a paste.  Remove from heat and set aside.

Heat 1/3 C water to a simmer.  Combine it with the sugar in your now empty mixing bowl on medium-low speed for around 15 seconds.  Add your butter and mix until completely incorporated. Add your Vanilla
and your green tea paste and mix until combined.  Add the canola oil, and mix on medium until completely combined.

Remove your mixing bowl from your mixing stand.  Sift 1/3 of your flour mixture into your mixing bowl. Using a spatula, fold the flour until all it is just combined.  Repeat until all of the flour is incorporated.  Fold each egg yolk in, one at a time, followed by your two whole eggs.

In a medium bowl, whisk your heavy cream until it is just forming soft peaks.  I recommend doing this by hand.  It's a good arm work out, and it's really just too small of an amount to warrant mixing it in your bowl.  If you want to speed up the process, put your whisk and bowl into the freezer for 10-15 minutes before hand.

Fold 1/4 of your heavy cream into your batter, gently.  Fold in the remaining heavy cream.

Portion out your batter into each of your cupcake liners until each cup is about 2/3 full.  Bake in your preheated oven for approximately 7-8 minutes, then rotate the pan, and bake for another 7-8 minutes.  I can't emphasize enough how individual each oven is.  To test if your cupcakes are done, first, they will not look wet on top.  Shiny, yes.  Wet, no.  Press lightly on top of the cupcake.  If it springs back, it is done. If you want to be extra sure, use the ol' toothpick trick.  If it comes out clean, you're done.  Immediately remove your cupcakes from the pan and put on a cooling rack.  This recipe should make about 18 cupcakes, depending on the size of your liners/pan.

TK Photography

Toasted Sesame Buttercream

• Butter, unsalted: 24 oz room temperature
• Egg, Whites: 8 
• Save your egg yolks in an air tight bag or container in your fridge for up to three days)
• Cream of Tartar: Pinch 
• Optional, but helpful
• Sugar, Granulated: 2 C
• Salt: 1/4 t
• Vanilla Extract: 1 T
• Sesame Oil: 1/8 t
• Sesame Brittle (See Below)
• Tools: Stand Mixer, Medium Sauce Pan, Candy Thermometer

Place your eggs and cream of tartar in a very clean mixing bowl with a whisk attachment.

Put 1/2 C of water, sugar and salt into a medium sauce pan.  Make sure all of your sugar is saturated with water (use our fingers or gently stir if it's just not happening on its own). Cook your sugar on medium heat.  When it starts to boil rapidly, place your candy thermometer in our sugar mixture and just watch it go up.  When your sugar hits 225, turn your mixer on medium-high and whip until it is anywhere between cappuccino foam and soft peaks (I've done both, and they both have worked equally well for me).  By this point, your sugar will have reached 240.  At 240, immediately remove your sugar from the heat and walk carefully to your mixer.  Turn your mixer to its highest speed and then VERY CAREFULLY, pour your sugar slowly and steadily (don't rest it on the side of the bowl), down the very edge of the bowl. Avoid hitting the whisk or your sugar will start roping around the side of your bowl.  There is a sweet spot that is the point in the bowl where you can pour your sugar away from the edge of the bowl without hitting the whisk.  Try and hit that point.

Whip your eggs/sugar (it's an Italian Meringue now) on high until the bowl is just warm to the touch.  Keeping the mixer on high, add your butter 4 oz, or half a stick, at a time, until completely incorporated.  At this point, you can stop the mixer to scrape down the sides to get rid of any extra butter or unincorporated meringue that's hanging out.  Turn your mixer back on high and mix until it is soft and fluffy like Cool Whip.  The rule of the thumb I always go by is that when I think it's done, I whip it another ten minutes.  This buttercream should be very light, so whip it like it's paying you.  At the end of this process, at your vanilla and your sesame oil and whip until completely incorporated.

Take your mixing bowl off of your mixer and gently fold in your pulverized Sesame Brittle until consistent throughout.
 

TK Photography

Sesame Brittle

• Sugar,Granulated: 3/4 C
• Sesame Seeds, White: 1/2 C 
• Toasted 
• Put them on a parchment lined baking sheet at 325 until golden brown
• Sea Salt: 1/4 t
• Tools: Small Sauce Pan, Baking Sheet lined with parchment or silicon sheet.

Add 1/3 C of water and sugar to a small sauce pan.  Make sure all of your sugar is saturated with water (use our fingers or gently stir if it's just not happening on its own).  Cook your sugar on medium heat until it starts turning amber around the edges. Swirl GENTLY! (good God, I cannot emphasize gently enough) to get a consistent caramel color.  If you're using your candy thermometers, it will register around 320.

Remove your pan from the heat and quickly stir in your toasted sesame seeds and your salt.  Immediately pour your mixture onto your baking sheet and let it sit until it is completely cool.

Break your brittle up into several smaller pieces and place into your food processor.  Turn that baby on and let it run until your sesame is a grainy powder, more coarse than a rough corn meal.  You can store this for quite a while (about a week), but only if you keep it in a very dry, air tight container in a cool area.  If you don't have a food processor, or you're just wound a little tight, double bag your brittle in two seal-able large sandwich bags and beat it's will to be whole out of it with a rolling pin.  It'll work on a couple of levels, I assure you.

TK Photography

Now Try This!
Save some of your sesame brittle to use as a garnish, or use more toasted sesame seeds.

Recipes adapted from recipes from Bakewise by Shirley O. Corriher and Les Petits Macarons: Colorful French Confections to Make at Home by Go (Google Affiliate Ad)\

All photographs by TK Photography.

Blueberry Cream Scones and Lemon Curd

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Blueberry Scones and Lemon Curd, photos by TK Photography

I was walking to work the other day, and I stopped in a coffee shop on my way and got a latte and one of the blueberry scones they had wrapped up on their counter.  They looked homemade, and cuss it, I love a good scone.  I walked and ate and drank and this thing was....well, it was sad.  It was dry and tasteless and pale.  I ate the whole thing, of course, because I'm me and I do that, but I didn't want to!

My mission was clear.  My itch had not been scratched.  So I took to my (friends, with the convection oven and cable in their) kitchen to get my scone fix.   Of course, a scone without anything on it is almost like a crime against God and nature, so I decided that a good, buttery lemon curd would do the trick.  I love citrus, and there are few things that cut the acidity of the lemon better than the sweetness of a blueberry.  Because this is something you generally eat for breakfast as opposed to a dessert, I decided on a curd recipe with slightly more butter than our average curd.

I hope you love it!

Blueberry Cream Scones

• AP Flour: 2 C
• Granulated Sugar: 1/3 C
• Baking Powder: 1 T
• Table Salt: 1/2 t
• Heavy Cream: 1 1/2 C, plus a little more for brushing the tops of your scones
• Frozen Wild Blueberries:
• Tools: Medium bowl, sifter, preheat oven to 400 

Sift together your flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in your medium bowl.  Very, very gently, toss your blueberries into your flour mixture.  If you are too rough, they will burst, your scones will turn weird blue and you'll be sad all day.

Make a well in your dry ingredients, and pour in 1 1/4 C of your cream.  Mix VERY gently until a rough looking dough has formed.  If it still seems too dry, add cream a tablespoon at a time.  I ended up using almost an extra quarter cup.  Divide into eight different pieces and place onto your lined baking sheet, giving each scone about 2" on each side to grow.  They will be difficult to portion out perfectly because the dough is very sticky.  Wet your hands and gently form each scone into an evenly shaped ball.   This will make it easier because the water will keep the dough from sticking to you.  Brush each scone generously with cream.  I also sprinkled each scone with a little Turbinado Sugar (Sugar in the Raw) to give them a little extra crunch and a little, well, zazz.

Put them in your 400 degree oven and bake until GBD (golden brown and delicious...see, Rachel Ray, I can do it, too!), about 15 minutes.  I've said it before, and I'll say it, again: each oven is different. When these are done you should be able to pick them up off of the baking sheet without them crumbling at all, but they should still be tender to the touch.   You'll probably want to take them out while the "cracks" in the top are still a little pale.  Let them get a little more color than you probably would prefer to.  They'll taste better that way, trust me. Keep an eye on them and use your best judgement.  

TK Photography

Lemon Curd 

• Eggs,Whole: 3
• Lemon Zest: One Lemon
• Lemon Juice: 1/2 C 
• Fresh is always best, and that's about 3 lemons
• Sugar, Granulated: 1/2 C
• Butter, Unsalted: 6 T 
• Cut into 1 T pieces

Put your butter in a medium bowl and keep your strainer nearby.  Set aside.

In a small sauce pan, whisk the eggs thoroughly.  Add your lemon zest, juice and sugar and whisk until completely combined.  Cook on medium heat, constantly whisking (don't forget the edges and corners, y'all), until your curd is thickened and bubbling along the edges. Don't get crazy waiting for this to boil.  Two or three bubbles is really all you need.  The longer it cooks, the more egg-y stuff will end up in your strainer.  Wait to see just a couple lava bubbles along the edge and remove from heat.

Immediately pour your curd through the strainer onto your butter mixture, stirring a little to get the bound of curd through.  Scrape the underside of our strainer as well, because some of your curd will be clinging for dear life to it, but it still needs to get eaten.  Let this sit for about a minute, and then whisk until your butter is completely combined into your curd.  Refrigerate for up to a week.

TK Photography

Now Try This!
You can leave out the blueberries if you just want some good old fashioned scone action.  Also, try some clotted cream with your lemon curd.  It's decadent and delicious!  Don't be afraid to substitute ingredients for the blueberries.  Crystallized ginger (1/4-1/2 C depending on how into ginger you are) makes an excellent mix-in, and is especially good when you sift in about 1/2t of powdered ginger with our flour.  You could also substitute key lime juice (regular lime juice will be really tart) or meyer lemon juice in the curd if you wanted to make things interesting.

TK Photography

Recipes adapted from The Essential New York Times Cookbook: Classic Recipes for a New Centu (Google Affiliate Ad) and Sinfully Easy Delicious Desserts by Alice Medrich.

Photographs by the incredibly talented TK Photography.

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

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It's St. Patrick's day!  Even though I'm not Irish (I've dated one, though, so that kind of counts), I can still party with the best of them.  Especially when it comes to turning tasty drinks into tasty sweets!  I hope you enjoy this super dark, no-too-sweet stout-y chocolate cakes and the delicious Irish Cream flavored cream cheese frosting.  Give one to someone Irish, and then use it as an excuse to either kiss them....or to not kiss them.

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

Super Dark Chocolate Stout Cupcakes

• Sugar, Granulated: 2 1/3C
• Salt: 3/4t
• Cocoa Powder: 3/4 C
• Baking Soda: 1 t
• Stout Beer: 1 C
• Canola Oil: 3/4 C
• Vanilla Extract: 2 t
• Flour, All Purpose: 1 3/4 C
• Egg, yolks: 4
• Egg, whole: 2
• Buttermilk: 1/4 C

Pour your beer into a small sauce pan and bring it to a boil.  In a slightly larger sauce pan, whisk together your cocoa powder, baking soda, sugar and salt, thoroughly.  When your beer has started to boil, remove it from the heat and start to whisk into your cocoa powder/sugar mixture slowly.  When everything is completely combined, turn the heat back on your range and bring that mixture to a boil, whisking occasionally (remember to get into the corners!).  After your mixture has started to boil, remove from the heat and let it sit for at least ten minutes.  This is important, because if it's too hot, it will cook your eggs before they get cooking into the cake and that's not fun to eat.

Pour your beer/chocolate/sugar mixture into your mixture, turn mixture onto low, and then drizzle in your oil and vanilla.  Mix on low for 30 seconds to a minute to completely combine.  Sift in your AP flour and mix on low for 30 seconds, or less, just until most of the flour is moistened.  Take the bowl off the mixer and fold in the rest of the flour with a spatula.  Add your buttermilk and eggs and fold them in gently, but thoroughly.

Your batter should be VERY shiny and a little more sticky than normal cake batter.

Fill your cupcake liners about 3/4 full, and bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.  Flip them around once during baking (be gently so they don't collapse).  To make sure they're done, press lightly on top.  When they are no longer wet and spring back after your touch, they are done.  Let them cool completely on a cooling rack before icing them.

Bailey's Cream Cheese Frosting

• Cream Cheese: 1 lbs
• At room temperature
• Butter, Unsalted: 1/ lbs
• At room temperature
• Powdered Sugar: 1 1/2 C 
• Sifted, twice
• Vanilla Extract: 1t
• Irish Cream Liqeur: 1/2 C

Combine your cream cheese and butter in your mixing bowl with a paddle attachment.  Turn on medium speed for two minutes.  Scrape down the sides to make sure everything is getting incorporated.

Place half of your powdered sugar into your mixing bowl and turn on low speed until it's generally moistened.  Place the rest of the powdered sugar and, again, turn on low speed until completely incorporated.  Do not, I repeated, DO NOT, put all of your powdered sugar in at once.  It will come flying out of that mixer and it will cover you.  You will not be happy.  Trust me.  When you have all of your powdered sugar in your mixing bowl, and it's all moistened, turn your mixer onto medium-high and beat for around three minutes.  About halfway through your mixing, add your vanilla extract and your Irish Cream.  Taste your buttercream and adjust the Irish Cream amount as you see fit.  You may want a little more, as the cream cheese has a tendency to make other flavors fall by the wayside.

Decorate as you see fit.  In all seriousness, I used a 4oz ice cream scooper and a baby food spoon with Dora the Explorer on it to do this.  You can turn anything into a decorating tool.  Enjoy, everyone!

Now try this!

Dust your cupcakes with a little cocoa powder, or a coffee or stout beer based caramel sauce!

Recipes have been adapted from Bakewise by Shirley Corriher and Ad Hoc at Home by Thomas Keller.

Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese Straws

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I'm kind of a nut for pre-meal bread.  The danger is that I fill up on them too quickly and then force myself to eat too much of my meal and then have no room for dessert.  The hidden dangers of eating carbs, I think.  You might say "Well, why just not say no to bread before your meal?" To which I say, shut your mouth when you're talking to me!  The obvious answer is a lighter option.  I found a great recipe in The Essential New York Time Cookbook for cheese straws that are so uncannily like cheez-its, it's ridiculous.  The possibilities are endless for these little gems.


Cheese Straws

• Cheddar Cheese, Grated: 4 oz 
• I used extra sharp cheddar
• 4 oz is half a block of cheese.  Definitely shred it yourself.  It's cheaper and tastes better.
• AP flour: 3/4 C
• Salt: 1/2 t
• Crushed Red Peppers: 1/4-3/4 t
• I found that 3/4 t was too spicy for me.
• Butter, Unsalted, Room Temperature: 4 T, cut into 4 pieces
• Half-and-Half: 1 T

The Butter is Camera Shy

Preheat your oven to 350 and have a ungreased baking sheet ready to go.

Put your cheddar cheese, flour, salt, pepper and butter into your food processor (or you can do it with a pastry cutter) and process for about 30 seconds until it looks like really course bread crumbs.  

Add your half and half and process until the whole thing is rolling around your processor in one big ball.

Lightly dust your counter top with flour and roll your ball out into an 8x10 rectangle (dust your rolling pin and the top of your dough if necessary).  

Cut into strips about 1/4" wide with a very sharp chef's knife and gently transfer onto your baking sheet.  If they're falling apart when you try and move them, use your knife.  Keep each straw about 1/4" away from each other.

Bake for about 14-16 minutes, until the tips of the straws start to brown.

Now Try This!

Cut them into squares, pop a hole in the middle of each one and make your own tasty cheese crackers!

Grown-Up Krispy Treats!

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You'd think after all that money I spent on going to school, learning how to make every little sweet piece under the sun, I'd have some kind of refined palate when it comes to my absolute favorite dessert item.  Not so, because to this day, my absolute favorite, favorite, FAVORITE dessert is still the same: Rice Krispy treats.  I've spent my fair share of time coming up with different combinations and flavors of Krispy treats and I think I may have found my favorite.


Reading through the amazing compilation cookbook, The Essential New York Times Cookbook,  I found the most amazing looking recipe for Caramelized Browned Butter Rice Krispy Treats.  Um, say whaaaaaat?!?!?!  The next day I grabbed everything I needed and went to work.  I've made a few changes to the recipe, that I think improved it, but overall, this is the yummiest Krispy recipe I've ever had.  Be warned, it's a bit more time consuming that your normal recipe, but in the end, it's more than worth it.


Caramelized Browned Butter Rice Krispy Treats

• Crisped Rice Cereal: 9 C
• The original recipe called for an entire 12oz box, and even though I prefer my treats on the dry side, they ended up palate ripping dry.
• Butter, Unsalted: 1 C (2 Sticks)
• Large Marshmallows: One 10 oz package
• Salt: 1/2 t
• Almonds, Chopped or Sliced, Toasted: 1/2 C
• To toast: Preheat oven to 350 °.  Place Almonds on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes in preheated oven.  Keep a close eye on them and toast them to where you prefer them to be.  I like mine a little on the dark side.

Thoroughly butter a 11x17 baking sheet, a 9x13 baking pan, or 2-9" cake rounds, depending on the thickness you like or the shape you want.

Place your butter in an 8qt stock pot and cook on medium-low, stirring often, until your butter starts browning and getting that tasty nutty aroma.  Make sure you keep a close, close eye on your butter so it doesn't scorch.  When it gets to a medium brown (you'll have to push the foam out of the way so you can see it), stir in all of your marshmallows and salt, until the marshmallows are completely melted.  Keep cooking and stirring often until your marshmallows have gotten to a nice, medium golden brown.  Stir in the almonds until just incorporated.

Melty Buttery Marshmallowy Goodness

Remove your pot from the heat, and immediately stir in your rice cereal until completely coated with your marshmallow mixture.  

All Mixed Up

Quickly put into your prepared pan and use either your hands or a silicone spatula to push your mixture down into a nice, even layer.

Let your treats cool completely before slicing, or covering with plastic wrap.

Now Try This!

Why not try to mix in a little honey with your marshmallows (2 Tablespoons should do it).

It's Business Time: Chai Tea Whoopie Pies with Orange Scented Buttercream

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I'm a little obsessed with Cardamom.  It's so delicious and kind of peppery and it's in my favorite drink from Argo AND it pairs with my favorite citrus: Orange.  I should probably warn you that this will not be the last time you see Cardamom and Orange on this blog, but I do promise I'll wait at least a month.


Enough about me, let's talk about whoopie.  At my job, recently, we've been making all kinds of wacky changes and really trying to embrace house-made and not just house-decorated bakery items.  I went crazy!  I'm researching, I'm testing.  I'm making.  It's awesome.  Then I got this awesome book, Whoopie Pies, on my Kindle and BAM, my whole world opens up.  I'd never, ever had a whoopie pie before.  Delicious!


This particular recipe is based off of the vanilla and vanilla recipes from this book, but I put my own, personal spin on them.  These whoopie pies are deliciously sweet, but not too sweet, and they have the wonderful bite of the orange mixed in with the vanilla filling.  You'll love them for their adult flavors, and you'll probably be able to get your kids to eat them, too!


Chai Tea Whoopie Pies

• AP Flour: 2 1/4 C 
• Chai Spice: 3 T
• You can also use a combination of ground Cardamom, Clove, Ginger and Cinnamon
• Baking Powder: 1 1/2 t
• Salt: 1/2 t
• Butter, Unsalted (room temperature): 4 T (Half a stick)
• Shortening (room temperature): 4 T
• Granulated Sugar: 1/2 C
• Light Brown Sugar: 1/2 C
• Eggs: 2 Large
• Baking Soda: 1 t
• White Vinegar: 1 t
• Milk: 2 T
• Vanilla Extract: 1 t
• Buttermilk: 1/2 C
• You can also use 1/2 a cup of milk and 1 1/2 t of vinegar

Preheat your oven to 375° and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.  You can also use a whoopie pie pan, if you're into that kind of thing.


The first thing I'll say is that I recommend having all of your ingredients at room temperature.  Leaving them out at room temperature (covered!) should get everything to where it needs to be.  Place your butter, shortening, and sugar into your mixing bowl together and beat them together with a paddle on medium speed for about two to three minutes, or until it's light, fluffy and light, light yellow.  Start off slower, until things start coming together so they don't fling out of the bowl at you, then go up to medium, or four on a Kitchen-Aid.


Add your eggs one at a time, beating till they're incorporate, and scraping down the sides after each addition.  In a small bowl, combine the baking soda, vinegar (remember those volcanoes from elementary school projects?), milk and the vanilla and stir until they're combined.  Add to the mixing bowl and mix until incorporated.  Don't forget to scrape down the sides and bottom of your bowl!

Stop Mixing Here!

Sift together your AP Flour, Chai Spice, baking powder and salt over a piece of parchment or wax paper.  Pour a third of your dry ingredients into the bowl, on low speed, until the center is completely moistened.  The edges will still have some obviously dry ingredients, and that's alright!  Now, add half of your buttermilk and mix until everything is just moist.  Stop and scrape down the sides and bottom of your bowl.  Repeat the same process, again, with a third of your dry and the rest of the buttermilk, then finally mixing in the last of your dry.  Mix until almost everything is moistened, but stop while there is still some dry ingredients on the outside of your bowl.  Mix the rest of the dry ingredients by hand with a spatula.

Fold It In

Use an ice cream scoop (I use a very small ice cream scoop, which you can find at any home good store) to scoop out nice and even half orbs onto your parchment paper, leaving at least two inches of room between each, and more if you're making larger pies.  


Bake for about 10 minutes, or until just firm when pressed on their tops.  Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes, before you move them onto a wire rack.  Let them cool completely before you ice them.  If you're in a hurry, you can always put them in the refrigerator after they're no longer hot.

Orange Scented Buttercream

• Powdered Sugar: 3 C, Sifted
• Butter, Unsalted: 8 T (One Stick), at room temperature
• Orange Zest: 1 T 
• I use Minced, Dehydrated Orange Zest because it's so much easier than buying an orange every time I need orange zest, and it's tasty!
• Heavy Cream: 3-4 T
• Vanilla Extract: 1 t
• Salt: 1/8 t

Mise En Place

Put your butter and orange zest into your mixing bowl and beat for one minute on medium speed to really infuse the orange flavor right into the butter.  Add your powered sugar and beat into the butter until completely combined.  Scrape the sides and bottom of your bowl.  Add your heavy cream, vanilla, and salt and beat on medium to incorporate, and then on high for up to three minutes, until it's super fluffy!

Delicious Fluffy Filling Goodness

Put'n It All Together

The rest is so easy!  Depending on what you have at your disposal, there are a few different ways you can do it.

• Spread the butter cream on one pie, then place it's match on top.
• Use the same ice cream scoop you used to scoop the pies, and scoop the butter cream on one half, then smoosh the second half on.
• Use a pastry bag with a medium sized tip and pipe a 1/2-1 cm layer of butter cream on one pie half and top with the second half.

There you have it!  These are tasty and easy just to have around, and they're a great bribe.  I gave them to my leasing office at my apartment building and now I'm resident number one.  

Enjoy!

Butterbeer Cupcakes

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Butterbeer Cupcakes
adapted from Amy Bites

Oh yes, this is happening.  With just two weeks till Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part Deux hits theaters, it's time to let our nerd flags fly, friends.  I'm not ashamed of my love for Harry Potter or my curiousity about butterbeer!  I've never read the books, but what from my UBER HP nerd friends tell me, J.K. Rowling says it's a less cloying butterscotch.  Butterbeer is supposed to give you an all over warm feeling and make you a little more honest, so be prepared to feel warm and to start being really honest with your friends about how amazing these cupcakes are and how you ate six of them on the way over.  I'm going to try and avoid any wizarding cliche's in this blog, but bear with me if I slip and say something about whipping out our wands or achio-ing something...

Butterbeer Cupcakes

• Butter, room temperature: 1 C
• Granulated Sugar: 1/2 C
• Brown Sugar, Dark: 1/2 C
• Eggs, whole: 3 Large
• Vanilla Extract: 1 1/2 t
• Cake or AP Flour: 2 C
• Baking Soda: 1/2 t
• Baking Powder: 1 1/2 t
• Salt, table: 1/4 t
• Almond, Whole or Buttermilk: 1/2 C
• Cream Soda: 1/2 C

Butterscotch Ganache

• Heavy Cream: 2/3 C
• Butterscotch Chips: 1-11oz. Package

Butterscotch Frosting

• Powdered Sugar: 3 3/4 C
• Butter, room temperature: 1/2 C
• Butterscotch Ganache: 1/3 C
• Vanilla Extract: 1 t
• Salt: 1/8 t
• Cream: As needed

Preheat your oven to 350 Farenheit and make sure you have a rack right in the middle of the oven.

Make sure that your butter is a room temperature.  If you're starting with your butter a little cooler than room temperature, place it in your mixer by itself and beat it just until there are no hard lumps of butter left.  If you start at room temperature (always advised!) place your butter and both sugars into the mixing bowl and cream them together on medium speed (speed four on my Kitchenaid) for five minutes, scraping down the sides about once a minute.  This will ensure that everything is getting mixed in consistently.  Do not forget to make sure you get right down to the bottom center of that mixing bowl, as butter is sneaky and likes to hide down there.

Add your eggs, that are preferably at room temperature, one at a time after the one before it has been incorporated fully.  You can add your vanilla at any time during this process.

Sift together all of your dry ingredients.  Cakes should be light and airy, and the more you sift, the more air you're going to have the opportunity to incorporate.  I sift my dry ingredients three times.  You can do it once or twice, but you should DEFINITELY sift, especially if you're using cake flour.  Add a third of your dry ingredients to the mixing bowl and mix on low speed until the dry is ALMOST completely incorporated.  Scrape your bowl! Now add half of your wet ingredients. You can add all of your milk, or all of your cream soda, or just half of the total, and mix on low speed until the liquid has been completely incorporated.  Scrape that bowl, again. Add another third of your dry ingredients and mix on low speed until almost completely incorporated.  Scrape! Add the rest of your liquid and mix until completely combined. You guessed it, scrape, again.  Add the rest of your dry ingredients and mix on low speed until dry ingredients are almost incorporated.  Turn off your mixer and fold in any remaining dry ingredients that are left hanging around the edge of your mixing bowl.

Line your cupcake pan with your liners.  I use an medium sized ice cream scoop to portion out my cupcakes so I get a consistent size.  Your liners should be very close to 3/4 full.  If you overfill, you're going to have a big ol' mess, so less is better if you're worried about your portions.

Bake on your center rack for seven minutes, spin your pan, and bake for another six to nine minutes.  Use a toothpick or cake tester to make sure your cupcakes are done.

Let them cool thoroughly on a cooling rack.

While your cupcakes are baking, get started on your ganache.  In a medium sauce pan, heat your heavy cream over medium heat until your cream is scalded, and small bubbles start forming around the edge of the cream.  Turn off your burner, or remove your pan from your heat source and pour in your butterscotch chips.  Make sure they're all submerged in the cream and let them sit for one to two minutes.  Stir in small circles from the center out.  Be gentle or it'll splosh all over your work space.  Stir until all your butterscotch is melted.  If your chips won't fully melt, place it back on your cook top and heat slightly over your lowest heat, stirring constantly.  Since there's not chocolate in this, you don't have to worry about burning your chocolate, which is why you can't put normal ganache over direct heat.  Put your ganache in your refridgerator to cool.

To make your frosting, place your butter, butterscotch ganache and vanilla in a bowl and whisk together on medium speed until completely combined.  Scrape that bowl.  Add your powdered sugar and whisk together on low speed until your sugar is completely moistened then kick it up to high speed until frosting is light and fluffy.  Because of the way I was decorating my cupcakes, I knew I wanted my frosting a little more stiff so I only add about a tablespoon or so of cream to loosen it up.  If you're doing a more simple design, you may want to add a little more liquid to loosen things up.

I decorated each cupcake by piping a spiral with a small round tip (about 3/4 centimeter opening), starting in the center and working my way out to the outside and then building up a wall around the outer rim.  Each wall ended up being about three to four layers thick.  I then whipped my ganache on high speed for about two minutes to get it nice and stiff, and then pipped in a layer of ganache to the center of each "cup." 

Enjoy!

Now Try This:

• Leftover cream soda?  Pour your leftover cream soda into a sauce pan and cook over medium heat until it is reduced by half.  Use a pastry brush to brush your undecorated cupcakes with your cream soda 'syrup,' this will keep your cupcakes moist until you eat them, which is ideal if you're refridgerating them over night or aren't eating your cupcakes that day. 
• Reduce your cream soda to 1/8th the original volume and pour over the top of your ganache in your "cup." It's a zing of cream soda flavor!