Don't Panic

So over the weekend I made 4 1/2 dozen cupcakes for a bridal shower. 1 1/2 dozen each of vanilla, lemon, and red velvet. I was so proud of myself for being hyper-organized. Normally I'm such a mess with these things and leave everything to the last minute and I'd wanted to avoid that this time. 

I had all my dry ingredients pre-measured in ziploc bags (labelled according to recipe) the day before I was baking them so I wouldn't have to contend with a mess of flour. I made the icing a couple days ahead and put it in the fridge so that it was ready to go for decorating. 

The cupcakes came out beautifully: all of equal shape and size (honestly ice cream scoops are the greatest way to fill cupcakes pans). And then I put the icing in my mixer to smooth it out and restore it to a spreadable consistency. 

It's possible I should have let it come up to room temperature a bit more before throwing it on the mixer because the unthinkable happened. It broke. It broke and I found myself staring at a curdled soupy mess in my mixing bowl.

My first reaction was full blown panic. My second was an impulse to sit on the floor and cry. Because I had exactly and hour and a half to decorate the cupcakes before they were being picked up. (In my defense, this had more to do with my desire to maintain the integrity of the icing in my too-warm apartment than with my leaving things to the last minute.)

So I'm here to tell you how to save your buttercream if it breaks on you.

1. Set a pot of water on the stove to use as a double boiler. Put the broken buttercream in a metal bowl and set it on top of the simmering water. Keep some unbroken buttercream that you haven't tried re-whipping yet to add after.

2. Heat slowly, stirring constantly. Don't leave it over the water for more than a minute at a time. You'll be pulling it off and putting it back on repeatedly, but you don't want the butter to melt completely or it will never come back.

3. Once you have something that resembles creamy soup with minimal lumps, throw it back on the mixer with a whisk attachment (or use a hand mixer) and whip it on high. Just whip the hell out of it.

4. At first it will do nothing. DON'T PANIC! (or, you know, panic a little, but don't lose faith) Eventually it will start to come together and form peaks as it thickens. It's going to be looser than when you first made the icing. 

5. Take some of the still-together, just-out-of-the-fridge buttercream you haven't tried to smooth out yet and add it slowly to your mixer. It should work in smoothly without breaking. Just don't add too much at once and make sure all the lumps are gone after each addition before adding more. 

Voila! Ready-to-use, good-as-new buttercream! Aren't you glad you didn't panic?

Guinness and Red Velvet

Well, hello there! It's been a while, I know. 'Busy' doesn't really begin to cover it, but I'm here now. And with a renewed love of baking no less. So perhaps the tiny sabbatical was necessary. I'll admit, I was getting to the point where I was beginning to--well not hate precisely--I suppose not love baking. When it's all you do, all day, every day it can start to lose its lustre.

However, a couple weeks ago my sister asked if I would make red velvet cupcakes for a baby shower and I said yes because why not? I hadn't made cupcakes in a while, and I had yet to break in my shiny new KitchenAid stand mixer (which is heaven, by the way). And after making them, and decorating them, I stopped and realized I'd really enjoyed the entire process. I'd had fun. So all is not lost on the baking front. I just need some variety.

The red velvet recipe I used was from Martha Stewart and they got rave reviews. Now, confession, I never actually tried one because I didn't have any extras. So I can't actually give you a run down on what they tasted like or the merits of the recipe. I can tell you that if you're going to make red velvet cupcakes I highly recommend investing in some high quality red food colouring, because you use so much less than the grocery store variety (Club House, etc.).

Also, when doubling the recipe make sure you've doubled all the ingredients, because it's not fun emptying batter back into the bowl after scooping half of it into cupcake cups when you realize you're short on flour and that's why it looks a lot like soup.

Another confession, what I like best about red velvet cake of any kind? The cream cheese icing. I am actually always mildly concerned about red velvet cake because that (see below) requires a lot of food dye.

I would like to find a recipe that uses beet juice to get the colour, I know they're out there, and when I find and test one I'll let you know.

On an entirely separate note: isn't my stand mixer pretty?

As always I overestimated the amount of icing I needed for decorating. There is almost nothing I hate more than running out of icing when I'm baking and having to make more in the middle of decorating, so I always err of the side of way too much. Especially having run out of icing when you really don't want to (i.e. weddings). So I decided that I would make more cupcakes and use up what was left of the cream cheese icing.

I settled on Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes. This recipe is all over the internet on different blogs and websites and I couldn't find the one I used the first time I made them this past March, but this time I used the one here and they tasted exactly the same.

These cupcakes are divine. I mean really, just so good. I'm going to have to keep this cake recipe around to use in layer cakes because chocolate cake was meant to taste this way. The Guinness rounds out the flavour beautifully and adds just a hint of something, a bit bitter, a bit sweet, a bit 'please sir, I want some more.' I really can't say enough about this cake except: make it! Make it now!

They bake up wonderfully and have a gorgeous texture, kept moist by the sour cream. I had a picture of them baking in the oven that I was going to post until I realized that the flash had betrayed how truly filthy the back of my oven is, so you get them post-baking instead. One day when (if) I clean my oven I'll have mid-bake pictures for you.

The first time I made them I did use the whiskey ganache and the Bailey's icing that accompany the cake recipe and they are completely worth it. It's the best of the Irish wrapped up in a cupcake. On the other hand I would eat them plain, no icing, no ganache, nothing. Just the cake. That's how good they are. So seriously, if you're going to be making cupcakes any time soon, make these ones. They might even help you fall in love with baking again.

Cupcakes and Orchids

Here they are, as promised, the pictures of the wedding cake. Unfortunately I forgot my camera at home so the only photos I have are the ones that I pilfered from my cousins on Facebook.

For the 6" cake top tier I used the white velvet cake found in Rose Levy Berenbaum's The Cake Bible. It can also be used to make cupcakes, though I didn't use it here. Instead I used a recipe of Lucy Waverman's found on the LCBO website. The icing is Italian buttercream, piped on with a #9 star tip.

It needs to be said that I am in love with Italian buttercream. It is so delightfully creamy and smooth. Every time I make something with it for people at work, one of my co-workers will comment on it. Not only is it delicious, it is also extremely stable. While it won't stand up to extreme heat in mid-summer, it sets up fantastically and can remain out of the fridge for hours on end, and even several days. Since I feel I owe you a recipe after such long gaps between posts, I will provide the recipe for Italian buttercream. People tend to be intimidated by it, but I promise it's not difficult. It just requires good timing and an accurate thermometer.

Before I get into that though, I just want to point out my gumpaste orchids. I was rather happy with them, having never made gumpaste orchids before. So, yes, I just want to brag a little. One of these days I'll have a post on making gumpaste flowers. It's really not as hard as it looks; it merely requires vast amounts of patience.

On to the buttercream then.

Italian Buttercream from Anna Olson's Another Cup of Sugar
12 egg whites
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
pinch of salt
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups water
4 1/2 cups butter
2 tsp vanilla extract

Whip egg whites with cream of tartar and salt until foamy. Gradually add 1 cup sugar while whipping and whip to soft peaks.
Boil 1 1/4 cup sugar with the water, without stirring, until it reaches 115C on a candy thermometer (soft ball stage).
Remove from heat and carefully pour down the side of the bowl of egg whites while whipping. Continue whipping until it has all been added and until the whites have cooled to room temperature (about 5 minutes).
While beating, gradually add in butter. Beat until smooth and add vanilla.
If using that day, keep at room temperature. It will keep in the fridge or freezer for quite some time, but be sure to bring it to room temperature before using and beat it to bring it back to a spreadable consistency.

A Couple Notes about Italian Buttercream:

1. The cream of tartar serves to help the egg whites whip up better. I have made the recipe without it and not encountered any problems, but I would recommend some kind of acid. If you don't have cream of tartar, throw in a teaspoon of lemon juice. It will do the job just as well.

2. If you don't have a thermometer you can scoop a bit of the sugar mixture and drop it into cold water. If it forms a 'soft ball' then it's ready. I do highly recommend a thermometer though.

3. DO NOT let it cook over 115C. If you do it will solidify when it hits the egg whites and not distribute properly throughout the mixture. The sugar is effectively cooking the egg whites into an Italian meringue so it is a crucial step. Make sure your thermometer works (test it in boiling water, it should be 100C) and calibrate it often.

4. Cooking sugar makes a lot of people nervous, so here's a good watch point: the majority of the cooking time is used mostly to boil off the water (which serves to prevent the sugar from burning); you can leave it largely unattended as long as you still see a significant amount of steam coming off it; as soon as the steam starts to dissipate keep a close eye on it; it only needs to cook for a couple more minutes past that point and the temp will climb quickly once the water is gone.

5. It is extremely important that you bring the egg whites back down to room temperature before adding the butter. If you don't, the butter will melt and you will end up with a curdled mess.

6. Another note on curdling: the icing will look as though it's curdling after you initially add the butter. Keep beating it and it will come back together. If it doesn't, see previous note, as that is likely the problem.

7. This is a gigantic recipe that only just fits in a very large bowl. It is intended for a four tier wedding cake (though I used three times the recipe for 150 cupcakes). So cut it in half, or quarter it. Whatever you feel comfortable with. You can always freeze the leftovers.

I swear it's not as scary as it looks. You just need to keep an eye on the watch points and you'll be fine. You can actually put the sugar on to cook right before you whip your egg whites and by the time they reach soft peaks it will be a few minutes away from the right temperature. It saves a lot of time. Organization is key. Make sure all your ingredients are ready to go before you start.

It's a very versatile icing, and people love it. So please give it a try. You will not be disappointed.