But, I was invited to a Lost season finale party. I didn't accept right away - then Brad was going to the Cubs game, I was itching to make some fun cupcakes and, oh yeah, I wanted to hang out with my friends - so I decided to go.
I wanted to make the desert islands with pretzel rod palm trees because they had pretzel rod palm trees!
Sorry, back to Lost cupcakes. I searched a couple of stores for small plastic planes so I could make it look like they were crashing into the cupcakes, but I didn't find any. So, I got crafty and molded my own little plane out of some stiff icing. Take that Ace of Cakes! Haha.
The actual cupcake was Ginger-Lime with Vanilla Buttercream. Yum. And, something "different" with a tropical island nod? Yes.
Here's the recipe, adapted from FoodNetwork.com.
Ingredients: my adapted recipe made 14 regular-sized cupcakes and 9 mini-sized. The original recipe said 12-14 regular.
Cupcakes
- 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 heaping teaspoon grated lime zest
- 1/4 teaspoon grated ginger root (next time I would probably increase this to 1/2 or 1 tsp to taste the ginger a little more)
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
- 1 1/2 cups cake flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup light sour cream
Frosting (from Billy's Vanilla Buttercream on MarthaStewart.com.)
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 6 to 8 cups confectioners' sugar
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (or clear vanilla flavor for a whiter base that's easier for making other colors)
- Assorted food coloring, icing gels/pastes
*This is supposed to make enough for 30 cupcakes; I made the whole recipe so I would have enough for all the colors and piping I wanted to do. I have leftovers.
Instructions for Cupcakes:
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes
- With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs, 1 at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition
- Add the vanilla extract, lime zest, lime juice and ginger and mix well
- In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt with a fork or whisk; then sift the entire dry mixture together
- In 5 parts total, alternately add the dry ingredients and the sour cream to the batter, beginning and ending with the dry; mix until just combined
- Line a muffin pan with liners and fill each liner almost to the top with batter (a 1/4 cup measuring cup or ice cream scoop works well and ensures they're all the same size)
- Bake for 25 minutes or until the tops begin to brown and a toothpick comes out clean
- Remove cupcakes from oven and allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then transfer to a baking rack to cool completely before frosting
Instructions for Frosting:
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth and creamy, 2 to 3 minutes
- With mixer on low speed, alternately add 6 cups sugar, milk and vanilla; mix until light and fluffy
- If necessary, gradually add remaining 2 cups sugar to reach desired consistency (i.e., if the frosting still looks "grainy" add more sugar)
- Divide into bowls and make crazy frosting colors, or just leave it plain if you're boring and not fun! ;)
*Note, when adding food coloring to frosting it will make it look "wetter" and "grainier." Just add more powdered sugar until you get a smoother consistency.
One more photo, I couldn't resist. Also, I'll stop taking picture on my cooling racks...how lame.
these are awesome!!
ReplyDeletethese. are. AWESOME!
ReplyDeleteI love the Dharma Logo one.
ReplyDeleteit may have been 5 pieces...
ReplyDelete