I do a lot of cake baking. This will come as a surprise to some but I always use boxed cake mixes. I don't follow the box directions though. Using a tip I saw on Pinterest quite awhile back I alter them just a bit. Instead of water use milk, same amount as called for. Replace the oil with milted butter that has been doubled. For example, if you box calls for 1/3 C of oil use 2/3 C of melted butter instead. Use REAL butter. You will never ever find anything I make using margarine. Yuck! Also use one extra egg than called for. Other than that follow the mixing and baking instructions on the box.
When making cupcakes it's important to get as close as possible to the same amount of batter in each liner. I don't like using measuring cups because it's hard to get all the batter out. I actually use my cookie scoop. It's approximately 1 TBSP so I use three scoops in each liner. The reason I like to use that is because with the little spring loaded arm it's easy to get the batter out into the liner. Using this method results in all of the cupcakes being the same height and not too tall so easier to decorate.
Earlier in the day I melted some chocolate chips to use for my chocolate words. Just microwave them in 30 second intervals at 50% power stirring after each round until melted completely. Using a piping bag and my #5 Wilton round tip I piped out 'thank' and 'you' onto waxed paper on a cookie sheet. Be sure you make extra because I can almost promise you that at least one (or a few) will break when you peel them off. After I had piped them all out I put the cookie sheets into the freezer for the rest of the day so that they would be good a firm.
I chose a chocolate cake mix and baked my cupcakes. I used this recipe for Cloud Frosting. She has a really great video that will walk you through it if you need a visual. It is so yummy and not too sweet, just the right amount. Once they had cooled completely I started decorating. Somehow I have managed to misplace my jumbo round tip so I had to just wing it and used a gallon size freezer bag with the corner cut off. I had full expectations for my frosting being piped on a lot prettier but it is what it is. I just squeezed a big blob on top of each cupcake. Working quickly peel your chocolate letters off the waxed paper and place them on the frosting. I ran into a small problem here. It's getting warm and I refuse to turn my A/C on until absolutely necessary. I underestimated just how warm my kitchen was and my letters started drooping before I could even get them back into the refrigerator. I was using small boxes that held six cupcakes each so I worked one box at a time. Between boxes I placed the chocolate words back into the freezer.
I delivered them to the school this morning. I hope the teachers enjoy them and know just how much I appreciate them, not just this week but all year long. The least I can do is bring in a treat every once in awhile.
No comments:
Post a Comment