Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Second Request Cupcakes


I wish I had photographed the moment where my nieces (ages 5 & 6) patiently sat at the kitchen island after dinner longingly staring at these cupcakes waiting for the adults to finish up dinner so they could eat their cupcake treat. Adorable.

I made these special for a belated birthday dinner for my five year-old niece. Hence, the pink. I love girls!

I couldn't decide how to frost them, can you tell? I think the swirls and pink sprinkles looked the best.

Anyway, the reason I'm posting is because everyone was enamored by how delicious these cupcakes were. I made these Biscoff Cupcakes from Picky Palate and used this Perfect Frosting from Our Best Bites.

Hylan is a self-declared cake hater, and yet, he managed to down 3 of these and also requested them for his upcoming birthday on Feb 26th. Yes, they were that good!

The cupcake batter utilizes Biscoff Spread--you remember my desire to try it from this post. Since then, I have enjoyed this "treat spread" on apples and in even tried this recipe for Biscoff Blondies (though, I personally thought the blondies turned out too sickeningly sweet, Hylan's family didn't seem to complain). I have actually seen Biscoff Spread in many of my local grocery stores lately, so it is becoming more popular and available. The Biscoff seems to give these cupcakes a subtle sweet, hint of cinnamon, and a sort of delicate nuttiness that is not too overpowering in flavor but adds just enough "hmm, what is that?" factor. And the crumb texture on these basic cupcakes is perfectly fluffy: not too dry or too moist or too dense or too chewy.

As for the frosting on these cupcakes, I didn't use the recipe for Biscoff Buttercream from Picky Palate because I only had enough Biscoff Spread left for the cupcake batter, and also because I didn't want to use 2 sticks of butter for 12 cupcakes!

I had previously heard about an alternative technique to making buttercream that requires cooking flour and milk together for the base of the frosting. It only takes a few minutes more of your effort to make than traditional buttercream, but the result is well worth those few minutes! It is less tricky than my all time favorite favorite Swiss Meringue Buttercream, and the end product is similarly silky, not cloying, and perfectly light and fluffy. So, I highly recommend trying this Perfect Cupcake Frosting. It only has 1 stick of butter (and by the way, skim milk does work just fine).

In closing, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you try these recipes:

Biscoff Cupcakes

Perfect Cupcake Frosting

Each is scaled for 12 cupcakes which was perfect for a dinner party of 4 adults and 3 children. I especially loved that I had all of the ingredients in my pantry and fridge to make these recipes! (So, next time your out grocery shopping, look for that Biscoff Spread so you can make these anytime you want).

They were a hit, so I will definitely be making them both again.

Please let me know if you try either recipe!

1 comment:

Bridget said...

I had never even heard of using flour in frosting! Thanks for sharing!
PS any extras?
Just kidding... sort of ;)