Follow Up to Cupcakes

I was successful with the cupcakes.  4 doz vanilla and 4 doz chocolate.  I ended up doing the High Ratio Buttercream.  2 batches covered 8 dozen cupcakes with a little leftover.  I have taken pictures but I still need to figure out how to upload the pictures :(

**correction figured it out.  I am proud of myself.  I have added the picture to the post**

I had great success with the Pillow Cake for my DD 6th birthday. I followed the blog on Wilton.com for assembling the pillow. It isn't perfect but I am pleased.  I will need to practice more to be happy with the final product.  I was pleased with the tiara as well.  DD was happy.  I learned so much from making it.  I followed a tutorial on Cake Central for the tiara.  It definitely made things a lot easier.

I need to make cupcakes for tonight's class.  I will have enough leftover that I will do Easter cupcakes for my family.  The cupcakes will look like Easter Baskets or candy.  I will take pictures :)

~Shay~

Cupcakes

 I figured it out!  Here are 4 dozen of the cupcakes.

Today I need to make 8 dozen cupcakes for an event tomorrow.  I must admit that I will probably make most of the cupcakes from a boxed mixed.  The cost of donating that many dozen just makes it too costly.  However the icing will be from scratch. I haven't decided what recipe I will be using so I figured I would post both.

Buttercream Icing using High Ratio Shortening

Here is the alternate buttercream that is less sweet than the traditional Wilton Buttercream and stands up well in high humidity. It is a crusting buttercream.

3/4 cup Crisco
3/4 cup high ratio shortening
5 tablespoons whipping cream (35%)
6 - 7 tablespoons half-and-half cream (10%)
1 tsp clear butter extract
1 tsp clear vanilla (or other flavour)
1 kg bag icing sugar

Mix shortenings, creams, and extracts together well, then gradually add icing sugar and mix until well blended. Makes about 6 cups of medium consistency icing. (You can stiffen it for roses with additional powdered sugar)

Traditional Wilton Buttercream

Stiff Buttercream (Full Batch)

1 Cup Solid White Vegetable Shortening
1 Teaspoon Wilton Flavoring
2 Tablespoons milk or water
1 lb. pure cane confectioners sugar (Apx. 4 cups unsifted)
1 Tablespoon Wilton Meringue Powder
A Pinch of Salt (Optional)

* Cream shortening, flavoring and water.
* Add dry ingredients and mix on medium speed until all ingredients have been thoroughly mixed together.
* Blend an additional minute or so until creamy.

 My next adventure in Blogging will be to attempt to post pictures of the finish cupcakes!

~Shay~

Vanilla Bean Buttermilk Cake

Here is the first recipe that I tried.  I received it from a friend (don't know the orginal source) and have tweeked it a little.

2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cups buttermilk
4 large egg whites
1 ½ cups sugar
1 stick (8 tablespoons or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tbsp Vanilla bean paste

Getting Ready
Centre a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 9 x 2 inch round cake pans and line the bottom of each pan with a round of buttered parchment or wax paper. Put the pans on a baking sheet.

To Make the Cake
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
Whisk together the milk and egg whites in a medium bowl.
Put the sugar, vanilla bean paste and sugar in a mixer bowl with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat at medium speed for a full 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar are very light.
Add one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed.
Beat in half of the milk-egg mixture, then beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients until incorporated.
Add the rest of the milk and eggs beating until the batter is homogeneous, then add the last of the dry ingredients.
Finally, give the batter a good 2- minute beating to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed and well aerated.
Divide the batter between the two pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the cakes are well risen and springy to the touch – a thin knife inserted into the centers should come out clean
Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unfold them and peel off the paper liners.
Invert and cool to room temperature, right side up (the cooled cake layers can be wrapped airtight and stored at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to two months).

This was well received by my family!

First Post

I am venturing into the Blogging world today.  I want to have a spot to record my successes and failures (hopefully not many) in the kitchen and in life in general.

I have started a goal of trying new recipes on my family and friends.  I want to try at least one new cake recipe a month.  I am also looking at crockpot recipes to make my life a little easier.

I am a stay at home mum to 4 wonderful children (15, 12, 8 and almost 6)

Hopefully this experiment is a success.