Vanilla Malt Cupcakes

Vanilla Malted Milk Cupcakes with a Whipped Cream Frosting & Chocolate Grad Caps and Scrolls

I made these for my cousin's graduation party...needed 6 dozen cupcakes! But I whipped them out like a champ! I mean besides the miscalculation that ended up with me having twice as many cupcakes as I needed! Oh, well, more for me!

That is a chocolate graduation cap and scroll, in case you can't tell

Everyone LOVED them!

I kind of LOVE this angle!

The Cupcakes had a hint of Vanilla malt in them, and the frosting was light and airy... a perfect compliment!

Top View!

The cupcake recipe is from Paula Deen

Vanilla Malt Cupcakes
Makes about 16 cupcakes

Ingredients

• ¾ cup sugar
• ½ cup malted milk powder
• 1 ¾ cups cake flour, not self-rising
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• ¾ cup whole milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together sugar, malted milk powder, cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. Add butter and vanilla and mix until light and fluffy.
4. Mix in eggs until just combined.
5. Slowly mix in milk until just combined.
6. Fill cupcake liners ¾ full.
7. Bake for 20 minutes or until cupcakes bounce back when lightly touched.

Just out of the oven!

Whipped Cream Frosting

from Fine Cooking

Ingredients

• 3 cups heavy or whipping cream 
• 5 Tbs. granulated sugar 
• 1-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions

1. Chill the bowl and whisk attachment of a stand mixer for 20 min. in the refrigerator or 5 min. in the freezer. 
2. Pour the heavy cream into the bowl and whisk on medium-high speed until it just starts to thicken. 
3. Slow the speed down to medium and gradually pour in the sugar. 
4. Continue to whisk until soft peaks form.
5. Add the vanilla extract and continue to whisk by hand until the cream is smooth, and stiff peaks form.

This recipe was super easy! You could add a few more Tablespoons of sugar if you wanted. It wasn't too sweet as it is.

Ready to go to the party!

White Chocolate Strawberry Cupcakes

White Chocolate Cupcakes with Strawberry Whipped Cream Frosting

My mom and I are off to the wineries in Defiance, MO in the morning and needed a snack to bring along. I have been wanting to try this recipe for White Chocolate Cupcakes for awhile now. The recipe originally called for a Strawberry Buttercream, but I have left-over whipping cream from my 'sturdy' buttercream and it goes bad rather quickly, so I opted to do a strawberry whipped cream frosting instead.

White Chocolate Cupcakes (from Raspberry Eggplant)
(makes 28 cupcakes)

• 8 ounces good quality white chocolate, chopped (I use Ghirardelli)
• 2 1/3 cups flour
• 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• ¾ cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup whole milk
• ½ cup plain low-fat yogurt
• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

1.  Preheat oven to 350°F. 
2. Melt the white chocolate in a double boiler. 
3. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl and set it aside. Whisk the milk, yogurt, and vanilla into a medium bowl and set it aside.
4. Beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. 
5. Add half of the flour mixture, all of the milk mixture, and the remaining flour mixture, mixing well after each addition. Add the melted white chocolate. Mix on low speed to combine.
6. Fill cups and bake for 18-20 minutes. Cool the cupcakes in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove the cupcakes and let them sit on the rack until they are completely cooled. 

The cupcakes came out good, but kind of dense. My boyfriend said they are kind of like muffins.

Pretty Little Cupcakes

Strawberry Whipped Cream Recipe (from Cupcake Project)

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream 
• 1/3 cup sugar 
• 4 tablespoons food processed strawberries (take some fresh strawberries, wash them, remove the stems, and throw them in the food processor until they become a thick, seedy liquid) 

1. Whip cream until it looks like whipped cream. 
2. Mix in sugar. 
3. Mix in strawberries until just combined. 
4. Be sure to frost your cupcakes before you eat all of the strawberry whipped cream.

This was fabulous and simple! It tastes so fresh and light! This made exactly enough to frost 24 cupcakes, so you might want to double it. 

I used tip #2D which was a poor choice, the strawberries kept getting stuck in it!

Look at that Yummy Frosting!

Irish Car-Bomb Cupcakes

Chocolate Stout Cupcakes filled with Ganache and topped with Irish Whipped Cream Frosting 

My first experiences with baking with alcohol was through my Champagne Frosting adventures (more to come on that subject later), and then just recently with my white wine frosting. I’ve never tried to bake it in, but I recently came across a recipe from the Craving Chronicles and decided to use it in conjunction with a Bailey’s Whipped Cream Frosting from the Cupcake Project.

At first bite, the cupcakes were quite boozy! I’m hoping that as they settle they will get better. The Bailey’s Frosting was divine, I could eat it with a spoon, no cupcakes needed!

Update 10/6/11: The cupcakes were 100% better the next morning! The strong alcohol flavor has subsided and you are left with a subtle hint of Bailey's. The Ganache blended really well into the rest of the cake. Everyone loved them at work (took them to a staff meeting) and only have one or two left! If you are worried about the alcohol flavoring, or don't want to leave them in the fridge overnight,  leave the whiskey out of the Ganache, that's where the strong flavor came from. 

Chocolate Stout Cupcakes (From the Craving Chronicles)
1 cup Guinness
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup full-fat sour cream

Ganache Filling
 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
2 teaspoons Irish whiskey (I used Jameson, and had to buy some so now I have an almost full bottle in my cabinet!)

Baileys Frosting (from the Cupcake Project)
4 C heavy whipping cream
1 1/3 C sugar
4 T Bailey’s Irish Cream

Step 1: Make the cupcakes:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 24 cupcake cups with liners.
2. Bring 1 cup stout and 1 cup butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat.
3. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.
4. Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in large bowl to blend.
5. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend.
6. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine.
7. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed.
8. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined.
9. Fill cupcakes and bake for about 17 minutes.

Step 2: Make the filling:
1. Chop the chocolate and transfer it to a heatproof bowl.
2. Heat the cream until simmering and pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit for one minute and then stir until smooth.
3. Add the butter and whiskey and stir until combined.

Step 3: Fill the cupcakes:
1. Let the Ganache cool until thick but still soft enough to be piped (I put mine in the freezer for about 5 minutes, stirred, then put back in freezer for 5 more minutes)
2. Cut a conical shape out of the cupcakes
3. Put the Ganache into a piping bag, cut the corner off, and pipe into cupcakes
4. Remove excess cupcake from core, and replace the top

Filled Cupcakes:

Step 4: Make the Frosting: 
1. Whip heavy whipping cream until it looks like whipped cream.
2. Mix in sugar and Bailey’s Irish Cream until just combined.
3. Pipe onto cupcakes
4. Garnish with Chocolate Shavings

The finished product: