Cupcake Recipes, Tips & Ideas

**MamaPan** · August 24th, 2009, 01:22 PM

YUM now i need to make these!! and get the book LOL

**Bathsheba** · August 24th, 2009, 01:40 PM

My mixture made 36! But I used the standard sized cup cake patty pans. Maybe if I used the larger ones (the commercial size) it would have come to 24. My kids couldn't eat a whole large cupcake.

**Rouge** · August 24th, 2009, 01:51 PM

I do the patty case thing for the kids too, but the normal size cupcake size for guests. The whole trick is to make sure you could eat the cake without the icing and then it's just as appealing. There is nothing worse than a cupcake that is blurgh and only tastes good with icing - even worse if the icing is mediocre!

Also google Magnolia's Bakery recipe (this is the cupcake bakery made famous by Sex in the City) and also Amy Sedaris' (hilarious comedian who does send ups of the martha stewart type... seen her on letterman and Martha a few times!) cupcake recipe. They are both awesome cupcake recipes (and funnily enough there's a cupcake war between them) some say that magnolias cupcakes are overrated and Amy's are so much better... I'm still undecided. I made Amy's yesterday and tweaked it a little and everyone raved about the cupcakes (they were filled with red wine poached pear puree though

) even without the icing!

My biggest tip for cupcake fans is keep an eye out on the best cupcakeries of the world (especially the US) as they like to post their recipes and these IMO are the ones that taste best.

All of my fave cupcake base recipes come from bakeries in the US.

**helle** · August 24th, 2009, 01:53 PM

A cafe near where I work makes Cheese, Chive and Bacon cupcakes (well they're probably more a muffin because they're pretty big) and serves them up with a bit of butter while they're still warm - you're not after a "healthy" option are you? :P

Gawd they're good.

Now I want one.

**KatieRabbit** · August 24th, 2009, 02:36 PM

Thanks Rouge. I have been meaning to do the Magnolia ones for ages and you have inspired me! Does Amy's make 24 patty sized ones or muffin size? I was so inspired I googled the recipes and changed the sticks of butter to grams (I am sure 1 stick=125gr) and changed all-purpose flour to plain. It's funny that the Mag one uses half plain but no raising agent? I normally just use SR whenever it says plain+raising agent but will stick to the recipe. I will try Amy's this afternoon..

Amy Sedaris' Cupcakes
185gr unsalted butter
1 3/4 cups of sugar
Beat well, then add:

Add 2 large eggs
2 Teaspoons of pure vanilla
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
2 1/2 cups of flour
1 1/4 cups of milk
Beat well, fill cups, and bake at 180 degrees for 18-20 minutes. You should get 24.

Magnolia Bakery Vanilla Cupcakes
Makes about 2 dozen
CUPCAKES:
• 1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
• 1 1/4 cups plain flour
• 250gr unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake papers.
3. In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about three-quarters full. Bake for 20–25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the centre of the cupcake comes out clean.
5. Cool the cupcakes in the tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing. At the bakery we ice the cupcakes with either Vanilla Buttercream or Chocolate Buttercream.

**Bathsheba** · August 24th, 2009, 02:42 PM

I've eaten two of my now cool cupcakes already!

I must say they are very light and fluffy! I think I kinda like a denser texture... but they are delish!

Thanks for posting those recipes Katie

From just reading them I think I'm going to like the Magnolia ones.... I don't get adding salt and 1/2 a teaspoon is quite a lot.

**~Raven~** · August 24th, 2009, 03:46 PM

This thread it evil!

I made D's recipe to take to a friends place for dessert on Friday and everyone loved them, especially topped with the Swiss Meringue buttercreme that Rouge posted

Thanks so much for sharing it D

Very tempted to have a go at the Magnolia ones now...

**Rouge** · August 24th, 2009, 04:32 PM

I'm backwards Katie I prefer to use plain flour and raising agent because SR flour goes stale VERY quickly!

Thanks for posting the recipes

Sam I'm glad the meringue icing went down a treat! It always does!

ETA: Yep amy's made 24 even clicky ice cream scoops in cupcake size cases (not patty cases)

**KatieRabbit** · August 24th, 2009, 05:05 PM

I just made Amy's - they are still cooling- but I got 17 muffin size papers in a muffin tin which are bigger than the modern cupcake papers! Will let u know what they are like. They rose really high so should be fluffy but I suspect that the sugar may be too much as some were a bit weepy and the last few have sugary bits on top!

**Rouge** · August 24th, 2009, 05:28 PM

Wow... I never had weepy or sugary! I wonder if having the fruit swirl changed anything. My fave recipe is a chocolate one which I plan to convert to vanilla as they are so moist, and not crumbly but not dense. And they still taste awesome the day after.

OH NOES! I just realised... when making cupcakes no matter what the instructions say I follow my own which is... Another rouge tip that I learnt from Miss Martha

Cream butter and sugar, add one egg at a time, whisk dry ingredients in a separate bowl, add one egg at a time and mix till combined, then add next egg, add vanilla to milk in a jug and stir to combine, add 1/3 dry ingredients and 1/3 milk mix to egg/butter mix and beat on a low speed till combined, add another 1/3 dry ingredients and 1/3 milk to the mixer and beat on low speed till combine and then add the last of the ingredients and beat till combined. It should come out almost like thick batter (mine did). And sometimes I use my whisk attachment after I've creamed the butter with the paddle attachment. The reason I do it this way is it allows for aeration without making it dense, and if you overbeat the cupcake you'll end up with a rock hard cake (or crumbly if its high in butter).

**~Raven~** · August 24th, 2009, 05:44 PM

I've had weepy ones. I think it happens if you have a pocket of unmixed stuff in the batter. Or in my case it was a bit of sugar that was on the top of the paddle and fell in.
When I was spooning in the mix I noticed it and tipped it in the patty pan anyway. I was a bit scared of overbeating so I mustn't have mixed it enough. I have also started giving the bowl a good scrape down, stopping the machine and getting in under the whisk.

Overbeating was the reason my cakes used to suck lol! I've recitified that now

**KatieRabbit** · August 24th, 2009, 08:00 PM

Rouge- that is the method by which I do my Crabapple Bakery cupcakes and they turnout a treat. But today I thought I would follow Amy's recipe exactly which included putting all the ingreds other than the butter and sugar in together and they are yum but not half as light and soft and fluffy as the Crabapple ones (the first recipe posted in this thread). DH said "We didn't need those did we?" Well no, we didn't (just had a week of birthdays and cakes) but I had to try them out. Will try the Magnolia ones when we get thru this batch! DH hardly eats them so it's just me who is watching my weight with this preg! I may have to freeze some!

**christy** · August 24th, 2009, 08:08 PM

I've kept out of this thread, as I love my cupcakes and haven't tried many other vanilla recipes other than mine. I will now try Amy's though... as I just wanna :P. I will probably do it my way (nearly the same as yours/Martha's Rouge). The only difference I think is I put the vanilla paste in with the eggs/beaten butter/sugar mix rather than in the milk. I haven't used the lemon yet, but I actually love the flavours of lemon and vanilla together....so its not something I'm against doing.

I use rice milk and nuttlex as we have a dairy allergy in the house, but sometimes I mix the rice milk with coconut milk/cream if I want a more dense cupcake.

**singledad** · August 24th, 2009, 08:46 PM

Mmmm they sound very yummy, but I dont trust my baking skills.

**amberj** · August 24th, 2009, 09:25 PM

Greek Yoghurt & Lemon Cakes:

125g butter, softened
1 cup caster sugar
1 lemon, rind finely grated
2 eggs, separated
1 cup greek style yoghurt
1/4 cup milk
2 cups SR flour, sifted
1/2 cup almond meal

Lemon icing:
2 cups icing sugar, sifted
1 lemon, rind finely grated, juiced
2 teaspoons butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 180. Line loaf tin/ cup cake tins
2. Cream butter, sugar and lemon rind on high speed until pale and creamy. Add egg yolks, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine yoghurt and milk in a jug. Fold flour, almond meal and yoghurt mixture, one at a time, into butter mixture.
3. Using electric beaters, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Stir one quarter of the egg whites into batter. Gently fold the remaining egg whites. Spoon into prepared pan and bake (45 minutes for loaf, 15 minutes or so for cupcakes- until skewer comes out clean)
4. To make icing: combine icing sugar, 2 Tb lemon juice and butter in a bowl. Beat with a wooden spoon until smooth. Drizzle over loaf/cup-cakes and sprinkle with rind.

**jackrose** · August 26th, 2009, 10:17 AM

This may be a silly question, but do you guys think there is a difference between cupcake recipes and normal sized cake recipes?

That is, will any cake recipe work well in a cupcake size where the cooking time is adjusted slightly?

Thanks in advance!

**Junglemum** · August 26th, 2009, 10:21 AM

There is a recent thread about cupcakes with lots of recipes.
You can make a normal cake recipe into cupcakes, cooking time adjusted a lot. But i would use one of the recipes in the thread, so easy and deliciously light and fluffy.