Lamington Cupcakes - Cupcake Cubes Frosted on All Sides

"Think Lamingtons," said Peter of Delicious Delicious Delicious at the conclusion of an email he sent urging me to enter his blog contest, Re-inventing the Lamington. Before I could re-invent the Lamington, I had to find out just what a Lamington was!

What are Lamingtons?

If you are in Austrialia or New Zealand, you probably find it funny that I need to ask what Lamingtons are. In Australia, there is even a National Lamington Day, which falls on July 21.

Lamingtons are a sponge cake or butter cake cut into cubes, dipped in chocolate, and then dipped in dessicated coconut (read more in the Lamington Wikipedia article). Sounded good to me!

How Did I Re-invent the Lamington?

In Peter's Re-inventing the Lamington contest, he challenged participants to come up with a recipe for Lamingtons with a difference. After reading numerous articles on Lamingtons, I learned that one of the more difficult parts of Lamington making is that cutting the cake into cubes may produce lots of crumbs. The crumbs end up gunking up the frosting.

I decided that instead of baking a cake and cutting it into cubes, I would start with cubes and make Lamington cupcakes! I purchased square silcone cupcake liners from Wilton (if you are in St. Louis, you can pick some up at Kitchen Conservatory). The neat thing about using silicone is that the cupcakes easily come in and out of the liners. I was able to remove the cupcakes, frost on all sides, and then put them back in their liners. As you can see above, when the cupcakes were returned to the liners, no one would ever know that they were frosted on all sides. The tasters found a happy surprise of frosting on each side of the cube!

Another (less exciting) change that I made was to decorate half of the cupcakes with coconut and the other half with white sprinkles. Bride and Groom 3.o don't like coconut, but they do like sprinkles!

How to Make Lamington Cupcakes

I got the recipe for the Lamingtons from allrecipes. I am reprinting it below with changes to make it into cupcakes and changes to the frosting to make it a bit less thick and a bit less sweet.

Note: Bake the Lamington cupcakes a day before you want to serve them. The cake needs to sit out overnight to get a bit stale before it is frosted. Trust me - you'll like the stale cake. Frosting it on all sides moistens it up.

Makes 12 cupcakes

For the cupcakes:

• 1/2 C unsalted butter
• 3/4 C white sugar
• 1 t vanilla extract (I used vanilla bean paste)
• 2 eggs
• 2 C all-purpose flour
• 4 t baking powder
• 1/8 t salt
• 1/2 C milk

1. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy.
3. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition.
4. Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk; beat well.
5. Set silicone cupcake liners on a baking sheet and fill them 3/4 full.
   
6. Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.
7. Leave out uncovered overnight.
   

For the frosting:

• 3 C confectioners' sugar
• 1/3 C unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 T unsalted butter, melted
• 1 C heavy whipping cream
  

1. In a large bowl, combine confectioners' sugar and cocoa.
   
2. In a saucepan, heat heavy whipping cream and butter until the butter is melted.
3. Add the hot mixture to the sugar mixture and mix well to create a fluid, but not too runny, frosting.
   

Putting it together:

• 1 (8 ounce) package flaked coconut or a lot of white sprinkles or anything else fun that you can think of to decorate with (pink sugar hearts for Valentine's day, green shamrocks for St. Patty's day, etc.)

1. Place your topping into a small shallow bowl.
2. Remove cupcakes from liners.
3. Using a fork or a long toothpick or your fingers (if you've cleaned them well, are willing to get messy, and are able to resist the urge to lick them) dip each cube into the icing, then roll it in the topping.
4. Return the cube to its silicone liner. Continue for each piece.
   

4th of July Cupcakes with Built-In Ice Cream Cones

4th of July cupcakes need red, white, and blue. But, 4th of July cupcakes (at least in St. Louis) are typically served on a HOT day and will need to compete with anything cold. So this year, my 4th of July cupcakes have a built in ice cream cone with bright red strawberry sorbet! The white comes from the frosting (I could have made the cake white, but went for yellow - close enough) and the blue comes from the sprinkles (I could have also used blueberries if I had some on hand).

These 4th of July cupcakes are designed to get you thinking rather than to provide you with any specific recipe. The key is the mini waffle cone deeply planted into the cupcake (do this right before serving to keep the cone from getting soggy), but what you use for the cake, frosting, and ice cream flavor is up to you!

Here are some other 4th of July ideas, using the mini cone, to get you thinking:

• Blueberry cupcakes, vanilla buttercream frosting, and cherry ice cream.
• Raspberry cupcakes, blueberry frosting, and vanilla ice cream.
• Lemon cupcakes, blackberry frosting (blackberries look blue), and coconut sorbet.

Feel free to share your original ideas in the comments!

Yellow Cake Recipe

For the curious, I'm including the yellow cake recipe that I used. I got the recipe from my Twitter friend Cakes4RockStarz. Despite the thousands of cupcakes I have made, I very rarely make a plain yellow cake and wanted to find a really good recipe. Several Twitter friends helped out by offering their favorites. I have not had a chance to try them all yet, but this one was light, moist, and flavorful. I won't go so far as to say it's the perfect yellow cake - it was missing something, though it's hard to put my very picky finger on what. So, I'm still on the hunt.

Makes 16 cupcakes

• 1/2 C butter
• 1 C sugar
• 4 egg yolks
• 3 t vanilla bean paste (you could also use vanilla extract or the seeds from 1/2 of a vanilla bean)
• 2 C flour
• 2 t baking powder
• 2 t baking soda
• 1/2 t salt
• 1 1/2 C water
• 1 T apple cider vinegar

1. Cream butter and sugar.
2. Mix in egg yolks and vanilla.
3. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
4. In another bowl, mix water and apple cider vinegar.
5. Mix in dry and wet ingredients alternatively to the butter/sugar mixture, ending with the dry.
6. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full.
7. Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes or until cupcakes bounce back when touched.

Root Beer Whipped Cream Frosting

I wasn't in the mood for a plain vanilla frosting. This recipe makes a root beer whipped cream frosting, but you can replace the root beer extract with any flavor you prefer.

• 1 C heavy whipping cream
• 1/3 C sugar
• 1/2 t root beer extract

1. Whip the whipping cream until it looks like whipped cream.
2. Mix in sugar and extract.

Other 4th of July Cupcake Ideas

Check out my other 4th of July cupcake ideas.

Golden Glow Cupcakes: Back to School Time

Several people have commented to me that my blog posts keep getting longer and longer. My brother even pointed out that people are going to start having problems finding the bottom of them. Therefore, for this post I'm going to warn you right at the beginning. This is going to be long. This post will talk about a class, frosting, two cakes, and cupcakes. I've divided it into sections so you can read what you care about or if you don't like to read at all, you can just look at the pretty pictures.

Class Night 1

It's back to school time here in St. Louis. I'm not in school and have no kids, but I decided to get in the spirit and take a class related to the project. I checked out the various schools around town and shockingly (OK, not such a surprise) no one offered a cupcake class. I thought the next best thing would be to take a cookie decorating class, but as luck would have it, the cookie class I signed up for got canceled and I ended up in Cake Decorating 101 at Sallies Cake and Candy Supplies.

The class was incredibly cheap ($30 for three two hour classes), but it had a huge supply list. You know I was disappointed to be "forced" to buy more fun baking toys.

Growing up, I was what you might call a nerd: straight As, kiss-up to the teacher, and willingly spending my recess shelving books in the library. At least in 6th grade I had the sense to realize that maybe I should stop only wearing sweat pants to school and make some attempt to get a style. Taking a class now, in my 30s, I still had that drive to do things right and make a good impression on the teacher.

Five minutes into class and there was already a problem. For the next class we were going to have some homework (seriously?? homework??). We were to bring in one recipe of icing that we would have to make exactly according to her recipe:

1lb of powdered sugar (Should be C&H Brand)

1/2 Cup Crisco

1/4 Cup of water less 1t

1t clear flavoring (clear vanilla, almond, or lemon would be best)

1/4t salt

Me in my timid student voice: Excuse me, but we don't use Crisco at home. Can I use an organic all natural vegetable shortening?

Teacher: Well, it may not work. If you want to use it, you can, but you should also make a recipe with Crisco just in case the first one doesn't work.

Nice. I've now given myself double homework.

Me again: Umm... one more thing. I like to use organic powdered sugar, not C&H brand. Is that a problem?

Teacher: Don't you want to be able to color your frosting? Organic powdered sugar makes the icing brownish. But, fine you can try it.

I've got to give her some credit here. She knew what she wanted me to do, but she was willing to be a bit flexible.

Class Night 2

I showed up to class on night two with my two tubs of icing. The teacher took one look at my natural icing and said, that I was going to have to use the Crisco one. I could see what she was saying. The more natural icing (the one on the left in the picture if you can't tell) was less fluffy and drier. It also had a problem where the oil seemed to separate from the frosting. To take it one step further, the teacher wasn't even that thrilled with some of the students' frostings that used Crisco. Turns out that since Crisco has gone trans fat free it doesn't work as well for cake decorating. Her store sells a shorting with extra trans fat that she swears by. Apparently, it has been flying off the shelves since Crisco went trans fat free. Who knew there was such a market for trans fats. Yuck!

Aside from my disappointment about not being able to use my preferred frosting, the class was great. We learned how to make frosting roses. I was NOT the class star at this task. The teacher kept telling this other student, Miss Goodie Two Shoes (I can call her names since it wasn't me), that she should do this for a living. There was also a 12 year old boy in the class who the teacher concluded would be a pastry chef some day. As for me, she suggested that I practice.

So I did.

I went home and made rose after rose after rose after rose and I was able to do so with my preferred natural frosting. All I needed to do was add a bit of water and the texture worked out fine. I was also able to color it with no problem at all. Maybe it wasn't the exact colors Teach would have expected, but it worked for me and more importantly, it's something that I wouldn't feel bad feeding to someone I care about. The roses got better and better. Never quite perfect, but there were some that I was really proud of.

Class Night 3

Homework for class 3 was even more intense. In addition to bringing in 30 roses, we were to bring a yellow cake, and two batches of icing.

I decided that it was time to break out Grandma's Golden Glow (the recipe is all the way at the bottom of this post). It's tried and true and it's just a one bowl recipe which made me happy after last week's all day tomato cupcake extravaganza.

While we could pick any yellow cake, the baking instructions from our instructor, much like the frosting instructions, were exact:

1. Bake the night before class.

2. Wait EXACTLY 10 min after it is done to remove from the pan.

3. Flip it out onto a towel on a drying rack.

4. Put into a plastic bag.

5. Untie the bag in the morning.

6. At 2pm on the day of the class remove the bag.

I broke rule one right away. I was tired the night before class. I figured I could just make it early on the day of class, she would never know the difference. FYI, this may sound like a calm relaxed decision, but I was seriously concerned that the teacher knew all and she would immediately call me out for breaking rule one.

The morning of class, I got up as planned and baked. As fate would have it, when I went to check on my tried and true cake it was all cracked at the top and not cooking properly. What??? I took it out of the oven, waited the 10 minutes and flipped. The top part of the cake came out but the bottom stuck to the pan! Clearly I haven't made a cake in a very long time. If only I could have made cupcakes. I could not bring this cake to class.

I just wanted to throw the cake in the trash, but it was a cake! It still tasted good. Instead, I threw some chocolate cream cheese frosting on it and labeled it for what it was.

The roses are a nice touch, don't you think?

I thought about buying a cake to decorate for class. I didn't think the teacher would mind since it was all about decorating not baking, but how could I buy a cake. It just didn't seem right (OK, Whole Foods didn't sell any square un-iced cakes). I would have to bake another one.

This time, I bought a brand new non-stick pan. The cake popped right out! Woohoo!! But... when I left it sitting on the counter for an hour, the middle sunk. Oh golden glow, how you have failed me. There were no third chances. I flipped it over and put in on a plate hoping it would have the correct consistency to ice despite being baked just hours before my class. I frost my cupcakes 15 min after they are out of the oven and have no problems.

I arrived at class full of fear. Would I even be able to decorate my cake with the crater in it?

Teacher: Is there a reason your cake did not arrive on a drying rack with a towel?

Me: No.. not really.

Teacher: You know that your cake is not going to look as good as everyone elses because of your natural icing?

Me: Yes, I understand.

Well.. you be the judge. I thought my cake came out great! I learned a ton and also learned that my frosting while not shiny white would work just fine and with lemon flavoring rather than the almond I had used on the first batch it even tasted semi-decent (lovers of sweet frosting thought it tasted great).

A few tricks I learned that you may already know:

• If the cake is uneven (ie it has a giant sump in the middle of it), you can just fill that in with frosting and then the cake is flat. Give that piece to someone who really likes frosting.


• To keep the cake from being uneven in the first place, you can use magic strips. Apparently these things magically keep the cake flat. I clearly did not try them so I can't personally vouch for them.
  
• You can make an amazing embroidered pattern simply by pressing a paper towel into the cake. I really want to try this on a cupcake. This will be coming soon.


• Did I mention I learned how to make roses? I had no idea that these could be made in advance and then placed onto the cake using frosting as glue.

All said, I would highly recommend classes at Sallies. Everyone was friendly and patient and they know their stuff. I look forward to taking level two at some point, although the teacher did already warn me that if I take level two I better not show up with my natural frosting. Hmmm.

The Cupcakes

Because of the above-mentioned class and homework and the fact that I was already making a golden glow cake, I decided to make golden glow cupcakes to go with the golden glow cake. I used the classic chocolate cream cheese frosting though instead of the sweet shortening one I made for class. Expect a more creative cupcake again next week.

How'd they taste? They were good but really really dry. When I mentioned this to my mom, she pointed out that the golden glow is always dry. You are supposed to drink some milk after every bite. It was, in fact, perfect with some milk and the frosting still ranks up as some of my favorite frosting ever.

The Recipe

The Cake

Sift

• 2 1/4 c flour
• 3 t baking powder
• 1 t salt
• 1 1/4 C sugar
  

Add:

• 1/2 C butter
• 3/4 C milk

Beat two min

Add:

• 2 T milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 t vanilla

Beat 2 minutes

Bake 350 for 25 - 35 min

The Frosting:

1 8 oz package of cream cheese
3 T milk
3 C powdered sugar
2 squares (2 oz) of melted unsweetened bakers chocolate

Strawberry Cupcakes with Champagne Glaze: Picture Perfect Cupcakes

Strawberry cupcakes are perfect for an intimate dinner for two. The champagne glaze gives them that touch of extra romance. No intimate dinner for two to be had? These strawberry cupcakes would also be perfect for a summer BBQ.

Black and White Cupcakes: A Taste of NY

Being from NY, I love Black and White cookies. I wanted to recreate the essence of the black and white cookie in a black and white cupcake. Most people in St. Louis haven't heard of black and white cookies except for maybe a reference to black and white cookies on Seinfeld. What better way to introduce them to this NY treat than a black and white cupcake!






Black and White Cupcake Recipe

For the yellow cake, I opted for the yellow cake recipe on The Longbored Surfer's site. [Note: The recipe is no longer found on that site. I have reprinted it below.] I liked that it had sour cream in it. I traditionally like sour cream cakes. Remember that even though it's for someone else's wedding, it's really all about me.

1.5 C flour
3/4 C Sugar
1.5 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 stick (1/2 C) butter
1/2 C sour cream
1 large egg
2 large egg yolks
2 t vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees with the oven rack in the middle position. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake wrappers.
2. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
3. Cream together the butter and sugar until light colored and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
4. Add the egg, egg yolks and vanilla and beat at medium speed until thoroughly incorporated. 5. Add the sour cream and beat until incorporated.
6. Add the flour mixture and beat until just incorporated.
7. Spoon the mixture into the muffin cups and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean, about 20 minutes.
8. Remove and cool to room temperature on a rack, about 45 minutes.

Black and White Frosting Recipe
After doing some extensive web research, I came across a recipe for mini black and white cookies on Epicurious. My main concern about these cupcakes was that the black and white frosting needed to be authentic. It should be hard so that you can peel it off if you want to, not poofy. The icing on the Epicurious recipe had enough good reviews that I decided to give it a go.

2 3/4 cups confectioners sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice (You may consider leaving this out if you don't want a lemon flavor.)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
4 to 6 tablespoons water
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Stir together confectioners sugar, corn syrup, lemon juice, vanilla, and 2 tablespoons water in a small bowl until smooth. If icing is not easily spreadable, add more water, 1/2 teaspoon at a time. Transfer half of icing to another bowl and stir in cocoa, adding more water, 1/2 teaspoon at a time, to thin to same consistency as vanilla icing. Cover surface with a dampened paper towel, then cover bowl with plastic wrap.

With offset spatula, spread white icing over half of each cupcake. Starting with cupcakes you iced first, spread chocolate icing over other half.

Use Corn Syrup that is not High Fructose Corn Syrup
I am typically an anti corn syrup in baking person. However, that mainly stems from my dislike for pies that use corn syrup to thicken their filling. I think that alters the flavor and makes it taste less natural. I decided though, that I should give corn syrup a chance since it was an important ingredient in this icing.

I stopped at Schnucks to pick some up since I questioned whether Whole Foods would even stock it. To my chagrin, the main ingredient in the bottle of corn syrup at Schnucks was high fructose corn syrup. If I used that, my husband wouldn't eat my cupcakes. Essentially there is no high fructose corn syrup allowed in our home.

So.. I headed to Whole Foods with my fingers crossed. They had it it right next to the maple syrup and it was just plain organic corn syrup. Perfect!

Black and White Cupcake Reviews
I loved these cupcakes. I thought they tasted just like black and white cookies. The icing was perfect. It was however, really messy. When you put the icing on the cupcakes it is still wet and then it hardens. While it's wet, it's hard to keep it from dripping down the side of the cupcake wrapper. I'd have to work on that if I made them again.

The bride and groom to be thought the cake was too heavy and the white portion of the icing was too lemony.

I may try to make a fluffier version with no hint of lemon in the white icing for them at some point, or I may just keep this one as my own private indulgence to share with New Yorkers when they visit.

Lemon Curd Filled Cupcakes: The First Flop

Since my first cupcake went so well from chockylit's blog, I decided to try another right away. I made lemon curd filled cupcakes.

http://cupcakeblog.com/index.php/2006/01/lemon-lime-grapefruit-curd-filled-cupcakes-with-cream-cheese-frosting/

These were way too sweet and just not particularly good.

I did learn a few things making them though:

1. I learned how to put a filling in a cupcake.

• Wait till the cupcake is cool and use a paring knife to cut into the top of the cupcake and remove a small pyramid.
• Fill the cupcake up.
• Cut part of the pyramid off so you are just left with the part from the top of the cupcake.
• Replace the top on the cupcake.
• When you put the icing on, no one will know that the top had ever been removed.

I didn't believe this would work until I tried it myself. It actually worked quite well.

2. While I don't like icing to be very sugary, icing doesn't pipe well unless it has lots of sugar. I skimped on the sugar in the icing for this recipe and I had big problems getting it to look nice on the cupcake. I was so displeased with the look of them that I didn't even take a picture. Next time I may take a pic anyway. We shall see.