A Wedding and Forty-Eight Cupcakes (+ Yellow Cake)

I used to be on the fence about summertime in DC. Being from the desert and all, I developed what my boss calls a "tender California constitution" that leaves me absolutely enfeebled by the humidity. I had a killer summer last year anyway, but I was starting to feel languid last week when temperatures hit 100 and going to work felt like bicycling through a butterstick. This year, I've decided to run with it. I embarked upon my summer with a trip to Richmond to visit the very best of pals, and when not eating Cuban food or drinking iced coffee, we explored the neighborhood, hiked through the forest, and thrashed down the river, earning belly scrapes and having a ball with the best dog of all time. I made a new friend too, and I'm riding my post-Richmond high all the way to Maine on Friday, followed by Texas and Seattle, and back to North Carolina and Pittsburgh in late July, just time to revel in the peak of east coast heat. 

So I've recently vacated my perch to plant myself on the pro-summer side of the fence, which, in addition to unholy heat, boasts baseball, swimming holes, piles of fruit pies, IPAs, citronella, Arsenal Park Olympics, and no time to wait for autumn. And then there are the weddings! Summer has also brought a slew of weddings, and for one of these, I was hired (hired!) to bake four dozen cupcakes for a small Friday-night reception. I'll soon get to the fruit pies (and their buttery, flaky, and possibly cream cheesy crusts), but for the mo' I want to delight in the floor-to-ceiling pile of dishes and frosted floors that begot my first wedding project, one dozen each of:  carrot cake with maple cream cheese frosting and cinnamon flecks, rich chocolate cake with vanilla-marshmallow frosting, my favorite yellow cake with bittersweet chocolate buttercream, and vegan dark chocolate cake with vegan chocolate buttercream. I realize that I posted this yellow cake recipe once before, but I did it such a sloppy disservice, that that's the recipe I'll post today. Happy summer y'all.

Yellow Cake Cupcakes

Adapted from Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes by Alisa Huntsman

This recipe makes exactly 18 cupcakes. The quantities might strike you as impractical, but they are they way they are because I've halved this recipe from a triple-layer cake recipe. The original quantities are available here. 

1 1/2 cups + 6 tablespoons cake flour (all-purpose is fine)

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

2 3/4 teaspoons + 1/8 teaspoon baking powder (or, one scant tablespoon)

1 1/4 sticks (ten tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 cups + 2 1/2 teaspoons buttermilk

2 1/2 whole eggs

1 egg yolk

1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract

1.  Preheat over to 325 degrees F. Spray two cupcake tins lightly with cooking oil and line with cupcake liners.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt; stir with a fork to combine. Using an electric mixer on low speed, mix butter and 3/4 cup buttermilk to briefly blend; then increase the speed to medium and blend for two to three minutes, until fluffy.

3.  In a smaller bowl, whisk together the eggs, remaining buttermilk, and vanilla extract. Pour one-third of the egg mixture into the flour mixture at a time, folding it in completely with a rubber spatula after each addition. Divide the batter between the cupcake tins, filling each bowl about three-fourths full.  Bake for 15-20 minutes (mine were finished at 18), or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the centers comes out clean.

4.  Allow the cakes to cool in the pans for ten minutes before gently twisting them out of the pans and allowing them to cool completely on wire racks. Proceed with the frosting recipe that follows, or consult a different one!

Bittersweet Chocolate Buttercream

This makes a little more than enough to pipe the frosting onto cupcakes, about 2 1/2 cups. You'll need less if you plan to spread it instead.

7 ounces bittersweet chocolate (I used Ghiradelli)

1 cup heavy cream

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature

1.  Melt the chocolate with the cream in a double boiler set over barely simmering water. Whisk to blend well. Remove from heat and let stand, whisking occasionally, until the chocolate has thickened to the consistency of mayonnaise (this might be tough if your house is particularly hot -- a stint in the fridge could help).

2.  Place the butter in a large mixing bowl and whip on medium-high speed with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, one to two minutes. Add the chocolate cream and beat until lighter in color and somewhat stiff, about three minutes. Do not overwhip, or your frosting might separate. Pipe away!

Molasses-Gingerbread Cupcakes with Coffee Icing

Forgive me for the unseasonably and unfairly long list of ingredients, but I promise these are totally worth it. You know the drill—punchy, no-bullshit flavors that I can't effectively persuade you into trying, partly because February is the longest month of all time and I'm completely exhausted, but mostly because: Molasses. Ginger. Coffee. Chocolate. There's not much else to say! So much love though, from my sometimes churlish kitchen to yours.

Gingerbread Cupcakes
Adapted from The Craft of Baking by Karen Demasco

3/4 cup stout beer, such as Guinness
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons freshly brewed coffee
3/4 cup dark molasses, such as Grandma's
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons grapeseed or other neutral oil
3 tablespoons Demerara sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons finely grated fresh ginger
1 large egg
1 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
2 1/4 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Candied ginger, cut into thin strips, for topping

1.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Using two cupcake tins, line 18 cups with silicone or paper liners.

2.  In a large saucepan, bring the beer, coffee, and molasses to a gentle boil.  Whisk together to combine. Remove from the heat and whisk in the baking soda (it will bubble quite a bit); let the mixture sit for five minutes to cool.

3.  In a large bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, oil, Demerara, and grated fresh ginger.  Whisk in the egg.  In another large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, cocoa powder, ground ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, white pepper, and salt.  In three additions of each, alternately whisk the flour mixture and the beer mixture into the brown sugar mixture to combine.

4.  Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups, filling them about three-quarters of the way each.  Bake for 20 minutes without opening the oven.  Then, rotate the tins and bake until the cakes spring back to the touch or until a cake tester inserted into the centers comes out clean, about five minutes more. Invert the cupcakes onto a rack, turn them top up, and let cool completely.  Proceed to icing!

Coffee Icing
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar (I used 3/4 cups, see below)
4 tablespoons coffee (I used two of coffee and also two of heavy cream)
1 tablespoon dark molasses
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1.  I'm not too into the taste of confectioners' sugar, so I used half of what KD recommended and made mine more of a glaze than a thick icing. I accidentally brewed my coffee too strong too, so I used cream for half the liquid to temper the taste.  Add your sugar to a mixing bowl and whisk in the coffee (cream), molasses, and vanilla.  Add more sugar if you want to thicken it up, or more coffee or cream if you'd rather thin it out.

2.  Dip tops of cupcakes in the icing, top with strips of candied ginger, and let icing set for 30 minutes.  Cupcakes will keep, covered, for up to three days.

P.S. I don't always redo my banner to match my most recent posting, just this once!

Coconut Cupcakes with Marshmallow Frosting

Last weekend was a weekend of cravings ignored and answered. First on Saturday morning, cake donuts infiltrated my dreamscape (sprinkles too) and prodded me awake with the hope for donuts and coffee. It is a combination that's so very unobtainable to a tired-eyed girl on a snowy Saturday morning, but a craving so acute that I'll be splashing around with hot oil and a splatter guard in the near future. Then there was a barbeque chips vs. brie vs. chocolate dilemma at the store; it ended poorly, and my self-preservation is prompting me not to recount. Then came a good and proper craving that I could master and that wouldn't involve Joey whispering devilishly in my ear to just get all three. And as much as taste, this recipe answered a craving for textures.  Airy cake with fluffy frosting and hunky shards of flaked coconuts, and well...

Coconut Cupcakes
Adapted from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes
Makes between 16 and 18

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut, packed
1 1/2 sticks (6 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/3 cups sugar
2 large eggs plus 2 large egg whites (so four whites all together)
3/4 cup unsweetened coconut milk
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup or so large-flake unsweetened coconut, for tops of cakes

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line cupcake tins with 16 liners to start.  Mix all dry ingredients in a medium bowl.

2.  In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about two to three minutes.  Add eggs to butter one at a time, beating after each addition, then add whites and beat.  Measure coconut milk, and add vanilla to the same measuring cup.  Add dry ingredients to butter mixture in three additions, alternating with coconut milk mixture and ending with dry ingredients; whisk after each addition until just incorporated.  Scrape sides of bow to make sure batter is evenly mixed.

3.  Fill cupcake tins 2/3 full, and bake for 20 to 23 minutes until domed tops are springy to the touch and cake testers inserted in the centers come out clean.  Turn out of tins and let cool on wire racks.  Frost (recipe follows) one at a time, sprinkle large-flaked coconut on top, and serve immediately.  These are best the same day, but will keep at least overnight, covered.  I didn't manage to let any stick around longer than that to see what happened.

Marshmallow Frosting
Classic recipe, with more frills according to Martha Stewart, less according to Joy of Cooking

2 large egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 light corn syrup or golden syrup (the latter will lend a more caramel- or honey-like taste)
2 tablespoons water
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1.  Combine all ingredients and a pinch of salt in a metal bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water.  Beat at high speed with an egg beater for six to seven minutes, or until frosting is thick and fluffy.  Remove from heat and continue to beat until slightly cooled.  Use the same day.

Peach Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Frosting

Even the dollops of frosting are sweating!

In case you’re sitting in an air-conditioned office with no windows right now (guilty), I just want you to know: It’s still decidedly summer. Hyper-summer even. So summer that I am a constant mess of mosquito bites and sticky curls, and my primary activity—when I can muster the strength to remove my face from in front of the air conditioner—is drinking cold beer. (Wait, I mean exercising, Mom! No seriously, exercising!)

But despite this omnipresent boggy misery, there was no stopping the summer-spirited recipe for peach cupcakes posted on SmittenKitchen last week. If stone fruit cupcakes are what we can expect as a product of the summer season, well than I’d say that the asphalt-melting, crazy-making heat is a reasonable sacrifice.

We ran out of cupcake liners, but my ever-resourceful and ingenious friend Vanessa fashioned these parchment paper liners. They make the cupcakes look simultaneously coy and rustic, yes?

Peach Cupcakes
Adapted from SmittenKitchen from which the frosting scheme was also shamelessly copied. Makes about 24.

3 cups cake flour (I used all-purpose unbleached)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
Generous pinch of nutmeg
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup dark or light brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups buttermilk* (or sour cream or full-fat yogurt )
3 large peaches, cored and chopped small (I went for a 1/3-inch dice)

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg and set aside. Cream the butter and sugars together, beating until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl between each addition, and then add the vanilla. Gently mix in the buttermilk. Stir in the dry ingredients and fold in the peach chunks.

Divide the batter evenly among the prepared cupcake liners. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center of cupcakes comes out clean. Cool the cupcakes for five minutes in the tins, then turn them out onto wire racks to cool completely.

*Remember, if you’re out of buttermilk or don’t want to buy any, you can substitute a mixture of milk and white distilled vinegar. In this case, add 1 ½ tablespoons vinegar to 1 ½ cups milk, set aside to let curdle for ten minutes, then you’re good to go!

Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting

1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted
2 8-ounce packages of cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a small bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, cornstarch and powdered sugar. In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add the sugar-cornstarch mixture and vanilla, beat until frosting is smooth and light. Chill the bowl in the refrigerator until it thickens back up a bit, about 30 minutes, then spread or dollop on cooled cupcakes.

Yellow Cake with Bittersweet Chocolate Buttercream

If Candyland was real, or if Tim Burton had a cupcake shop, the cupcakes might look something like these little monstrosities. Yellow cake with chocolate frosting is my favorite cake combination, but lest a cupcake with classic flavors ever appear to be boring, I went as Sega as possible with the buttercream (and my new, shitty pastry bag from Safeway). This is the best yellow-cake recipe in my (and now your) reperetoire, and the bittersweet tinge to the frosting adds an unexpected and welcome departure from the sticky milk chocolates of childhood.

Check that little guy on the left! It's like Japanime in frosting form.

Awesome Yellow Cake

Using my supreme math skillz, I halved the following recipe to make 18 cupcakes. I haven’t provided the halved quantities since I left my sheet of math skillz conclusions at home (Woo! Blogging from work!). This makes one three-layer 9-inch round cake. Both recipes adapted from

Sky High: Irresistable Triple Layer Cakes.

3 3/4 cups cake flour

2 1/2 cups sugar

1 tablespoon plus 2 3/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 sticks (10 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/4 cups plus 1/3 cup buttermilk

5 whole eggs

2 egg yolks

2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Butter three 9-inch round cake pans. Line the bottom of each pan with a round of parchment or waxed paper and butter the paper.

2. Combine the cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large mixer bowl. With the mixer on low speed, blend for 30 seconds. Add the butter and 1 1/4 cup of the buttermilk. Mix on low speed briefly to blend; then raise the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.

3. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the whole eggs, egg yolks, vanilla, and the remaining 1/3 cup buttermilk until well blended. Pour one-third of the egg mixture into the cake batter at a time, folding it in completely after each addition. There will be 9 cups of batter; our 3 cups batter into each pan.

4. Bake for 26 to 28 minutes (between 20 and 25 minutes for cupcakes—but start checking at 15 minutes just to be sure!), or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

5. Turn the layers out onto wire racks by placing a rack on top of a pan, inverting it, and lifting off the pan. Peel off backs, let cool, and do what you will with frosting options!

Bittersweet Chocolate Buttercream

7 ounces bittersweet chocolate

1 cup heavy cream

1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1. Melt the chocolate with the cream in a double boiler or metal bowl set
over a pan of simmering water. Whisk to blend well. Remove from heat and let stand, whisking occasionally, until the chocolate mixture thickens to the consistency of mayonnaise (Gross, but true. Be patient, because the thicker this gets, the fluffier your frosting will be).

2. Place the butter in a large mixer bowl and with an electric mixer on medium speed, whip the butter until light and fluffy. Add the chocolate cream and whip until lighter in color and somewhat stiff, about three minutes. Do not whip too long or the frosting may begin to separate.

Cakewalk: Best Chocolate Cake Recipe with Almond Buttercream

This is a weighty claim to make, I know, but this is the best g.d. cake I have ever eaten. It seems like it would be a mocha cake, but it's really just a rad cake that gets all rich and delicious with the addition of coffee, which through some sort of chemistry science I do not understand, makes chocolate taste better. Science=delicious.

According to Corby Kummer, the cupcake pandemic is really only worth cheering on in the hopes that somebody somewhere will finally get the cupcake right. Novelty cupcakes and overkill cuteness be damned, and let’s get rid of dry cakes and grainy or greasy frosting while we’re at it. Excepting the rare encounter with a truly killer cupcake, I always leave bake shops feeling totally suckered by cute decorations and swirly buttercreams, and then immediately disappointed by bland cake and stale frosting. The proceeding recipe is like the panacea for paltry cake.

Besides being sifter-less, I was (and still am) clearly pastry-bag-less.

Best Chocolate Cake

To instantly disenchant yourself with cupcakeries, top this recipe with your favorite frosting. I'd recommend a boiled vanilla-bourbon frosting or chocolate ganache, because really I'm not so into buttercream. Butter=good on bread, freaky on cake. I'm not sure where this recipe is from originally. It's ubiquitous online, though you might see it with different proportions since it was originally made to be a ten-inch layer cake. The following proportions will work for two dozen cupcakes or a double layer caked baked in two nine-inch pans.

2 ounces high-quality semi-sweet chocolate (I used Ghiradelli)
1 cup hot brewed coffee (high-quality coffee is preferable, decaf. is fine; take care to avoid burning the coffee)
2 cups sugar
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process—I used an extra dark powder)
1 1/3 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup well-shaken buttermilk (1 cup regular milk plus 1 tablespoon white distilled vinegar, mixed together and left for ten minutes to curdle, will also work)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F and prepare cupcake tins with liners. Lightly grease the pan before inserting the liners for easy removal of cupcakes.

Finely chop chocolate and in a bowl combine with hot coffee. Let mixture stand, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.

Into a large bowl sift together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another large bowl with an electric mixer beat eggs until thickened slightly and lemon colored (about 3 minutes with a standing mixer or 5 minutes with a hand-held mixer). Slowly add oil, buttermilk, vanilla, and melted chocolate mixture to eggs, beating until combined well. Add sugar mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined well.

Divide batter into cupcake tins, filling each one 3/4 full of batter. Bake for 25 to 27 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Do not overbake. If your oven bakes unevenly, be sure to rotate the pans halfway through baking. Let cupcakes cool in their pans for about 10 minutes, then gently remove, place on a rack, and let cool until ready to frost. Cupcakes are best eaten within the day, but will keep for three.

Almond Buttercream

1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
3 egg whites
3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 teaspoons almond extract

In a small saucepan on medium heat, bring sugar and water to boil. Stir to dissolve the sugar, and use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides of the pan and keep the sugar from building up. Boil until the mixture reaches the soft-ball stage, or 238 degrees F. If you don’t have a candy thermometer, test for doneness by dripping the mixture into a glass of cold water; the mixture should adhere in pliable balls when ready.

In a large bowl, beat the egg whites on medium until frothy and pale, and continue to beat while slowly adding the hot syrup. Raise the speed to medium-high after all the syrup has been added, and beat until the mixture has cooled to body temperature.

Reduce speed to medium, and gradually beat in butter, 2 to 3 tablespoons at a time. At the end of adding the butter, the mixture will fall apart, but don’t despair! Keep beating and eventually the frosting will come together in a fluffy whip. Add the extract, and continue beating on medium until buttercream has the consistency of whipped butter. Frost your cakes, leftover cinnamon buns, your ice cream, your baby brother, what/whomever.