Strawberry Cupcakes ala Sprinkles

Wow! It's been, like, FOREVER since I posted my last piece to this blog. I blame the fall academic calendar, the changing temperatures, my lack of sleep ... and any number of other excuses to get me off the hook.

But, I am back and ready to dish (no pun intended) on two new concoctions that I have recently tried. First up: Strawberry Cupcakes.

My attempt to make these little gems was inspired by two factors:

1) several months ago, I had a bunch of fresh strawberries in my refrigerator. My kids, David and Elizabeth, are really not huge fans of berries in any size, shape, or color. I say this is a huge pity, because they don't know what they are missing.

2) There is a wonderful little cupcake store in Glendora called The Cake Mamas, and they make an incredibly yummy strawberry shortcake cupcake, with a fluffy cupcake on the bottom, strawberry-infused whipped cream on top, and a fresh berry on top for decoration. It's sublime ... and it's also seasonal.

So, I set about to recreate a delicious, strawberry-inspired cupcake. Doing a search on Google for a "strawberry cupcake" recipe, I happened upon what claimed to be the "official" recipe for Strawberry Cupcakes from the world-renowned Sprinkles Cupcakes.

Candace Nelson can't be wrong here. I decided to give it a whirl, in both regular and gluten-free varieties.

Regular Recipe:

2/3 cup fresh or frozen whole strawberries (thawed if frozen)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour , sifted
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. coarse salt
1/4 cup whole milk , room temperature
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter , room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg , room temperature
2 large egg whites , room temperature

As usual, I stirred together the gluten batch first. Here is what the batter looked like:

Gluten batter: in the bowl

Gluten batter: in baking cups

 To me, the batter appeared to be a bit thin but manageable, and was easy to scoop into the paper cups.

They baked up nicely, too! Here's proof:

Gluten cupcakes: "poofed up" nicely in the baking pan

 

Gluten cupcakes: nice crumb and texture on the inside.

Next, it was on to the gluten-free batter. For this recipe, I substitute regular flour with a gluten-free flour mixture I've used before. This mixture combines the following:

 

3 cups brown rice flour (fine ground)
1 cup potato starch (not potato flour)
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1 1/4 teaspoons guar gum 

 

And, for the recipe, I used only 1 1/2 cups of this flour mixture.

 

All other ingredients listed above were included in this recipe.

 

Now, knowing that my gluten-free batters have, in past, tended to collapse soon after coming out of the oven, I experimented a bit by adding a bit more baking powder than that which was called for in the recipe, about 2 tsp.

 

Here is the batter in the bowl and in the baking cups. As I had seen before, the G-F batter took on a shiny look, suggesting that maybe the wet ingredients were incorporated differently into the G-F flour. I don't know; it's just a guess.

 

Gluten-free batter: in the bowl

Gluten-free batter: in baking cups

Looks a little shiny, doesn't it?

 

 The gluten-free cupcakes baked up quite nicely! I don't know if it's because I added a bit more baking powder, did not fill the baking cups as much as I would with a gluten batter (for fear of them puffing up too much and crusting all over the pan ... yuck). But, look at these little gems!

Gluten-free cupcakes: nicely and evenly browned

Gluten-free cupcakes: up close

The crumb and texture looked remarkably similar to the gluten version!

Next, it was time to have my intrepid taste-testers give me feedback. I provided both my next-door neighbors and a co-worker (and his kids) with samples.

Here is what my co-worker wrote in terms of feedback from his crew:

"Black cupcake wrapper: more crumbly, tastes more like shortcake, a little saltier

Red cupcake wrapper: smoother texture

Taste pretty much the same

Vote:

Black = 1

Red = 2"

 

And our next-door neighbors pretty much concurred. As for me? I loved them both!!

 

What I did not capture in photos was the delicious frosting I added to these cupcakes. I whipped fresh cream and incorporated finely chopped strawberries into it, and then fluted the cream on top of each. The strawberry whipped cream was a wonderful addition to both versions of this delightful cake.

 

 

Lemon Cupcakes: The recipe went AWOL

Well, this stinks.

Inspired/prompted by the daughter of a faculty member who works at my college, I recently whipped up two batches of comparably delicious lemon cupcakes. Let's refer to this colleague's daughter as "M." M and her dad came into my office the day before, seeking samples of cupcakes from my blog. Their family had recently returned from sabbatical, and the faculty member saw my cupcake blog from abroad.

Seeing no cupcakes within the immediate vicinity, M requested (very politely and very kindly, I might add) that I prepare a batch to celebrate their homecoming. I was very happy to oblige her!

"What kind would you like me to make?" I asked. "And, remember, I make two batches: one with gluten and one without. If you're to be my official taste-tester, you have to try both. Are you on board?"

M eagerly nodded her agreement, and asked me to procure lemon cupcakes. I promised her (and her dad) that lemon cupcakes would be waiting for them at my office the next day.

So, that night, I embarked on a search for a simple yet tasty recipe for lemon cake that I thought could translate nicely in both gluten and gluten-free formats.

And, I found one! I printed it out, baked both batches, and declared them to both be delicious.

The only problem is that I tossed the recipe after I was done (it had batter drippings, sugar, lemon juice and all sorts of other stuff on it, making it a tad messy), and my subsequent web searches have not uncovered it again.

I am so annoyed!

But let me tell you the key ingredients that were included: 3 oz cream cheese and 2 tablespoons of freshly-grated lemon zest went into each batch, along with flour (of course,) eggs, and vanilla extract.

For the gluten-free batch, I used Thomas Keller's Cup 4 Cup gluten-free flour blend, which I used previously in my Hershey's Cocoa recipe for the July 4 holiday.

 

Both the gluten and gluten-free batches whipped up easily, and rose beautifully in the oven. As has been the case in my other gluten-free batches, however, the cupcakes deflated a bit once they were out of the oven. The gluten cupcakes retained their puffy shape somewhat when they cooled.

Here are the baked batches, side by side. The gluten-free batch is on the right. They both look extraordinarily similar.

I made a different topping for each of the cupcakes. The gluten batch was topped with a whipped cream and drizzled with a homemade lemon curd. The gluten-free batch was topped with a lemon curd infused whipped cream.

Here is the gluten batch, with topping, dissected:

And, here is the gluten-free cupcake, topped and sliced:

I took samples from both batches to the office the next day and, as anticipated, M and her dad came by. They sampled both. I asked for a verdict.

M declared the gluten-free cupcakes to be much better than the gluten batch. Wow! Her dad liked the topping on the gluten-free cupcakes better, but preferred the gluten cupcakes for taste.

Next time, I'm going to keep much better track of the actual recipe used.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes (recipe courtesy of The Joy of Cooking)

Well, it's been quite a while since my last installment of Comparative Cupcakes. I hope you'll agree, though, that it was worth the wait.

Several weeks ago, I tested out yet another cupcake recipe, and used another gluten-free flour blend, in the hopes of creating two batches of cupcakes that were equal in texture, flavor, and over-all yumminess.  I invoked the assistance of Elizabeth who ultimately made good on her promise to actually taste the cupcakes once they were done! She is the only kid I know who resists cupcakes. Go figure.

For this experiment, I used a carrot cake recipe from the tried-and-true cooking classic, The Joy of Cooking. Here is the original recipe:

Carrot Cake (from The Joy of Cooking):

1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour 
2/3 cup vegetable oil 
3 large egg 
1 1/2 peeled and finely grated cup carrot 
1 cup walnuts, finely chopped (I omitted these)
1 cup sugar 
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda 
1 teaspoon baking powder 
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves 
1/2 freshly grated or ground teaspoon nutmeg 
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice 
1/2 teaspoon salt    

I mixed the batter together according to the directions, resulting in a light, albeit thin batter:

The final product resulted in a light and fluffy cake, cooked to a nice golden hue, and with a moist crumb that beautifully highlighted the spices and carrots that make it so unique.

Elizabeth dissected her first cupcake, sniffed it, nibbled at it, and declared it delicious. Yeah!

Now, time for the gluten-free version. 

I had done an Internet search looking for a suitable substitute for cake flour, as opposed to a substitute for regular, all-purpose flour. Why cake flour specifically? Well, traditional cake flour and all-purpose flour differ on several levels, most notably for their protein content. Cake flour has a lower protein content and, as such, has less gluten, making it more ideal for light and fluffy cakes with a particular crumb and texture.

But, we're going for gluten-free here!! And, so, my Internet hunt procured the following flour blend that received raved reviews as an ideal substitute for cake flour:

Cake flour blend:

2 cups rice flour

2/3 cup potato starch

1/3 cup tapioca flour

1 teaspoon xanthan gum or guar gum.

So, this is what I made, and these are the ingredients I used:

 

I went with the guar gum this time

Substituting this flour blend cup-for-cup in the revised recipe, my gluten-free recipe for carrot cake was as follows:

1 1/3 cup gluten-free cake flour blend (see above)
2/3 cup vegetable oil 
3 large eggs
1 1/2 peeled and finely grated cup carrot 
1 cup walnuts, finely chopped (I omitted these)
1 cup sugar 
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda 
1 teaspoon baking powder 
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves 
1/2 freshly grated or ground teaspoon nutmeg 
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice 
1/2 teaspoon salt   

The batter came together in a jiffy, and looked remarkably similar to the gluten-based recipe.

The notable difference occurred one they started baking in the oven. As you can see, they puffed up very well ...

And, as suggested by the cupcake in the right-hand foreground, perhaps they got TOO puffy ...

Once out of the oven, they deflated pretty quickly.

But, never one to judge a book by its cover, Elizabeth and I dug into this new batch, once it had cooled down nicely. The result? Flavorful bliss!!! The taste and texture were an extremely close match to the gluten-based recipe, although, once cooked, they appeared to have browned a bit more.

Of course, no carrot cake is complete without a good dollop of cream cheese frosting:

And once these little beauties were properly frosted with creamy goodness, they became almost indistinguishable, one from the other.

In short, this gluten-free flour blend seemed to do the trick nicely! I'll be using it again in my next recipe, which will be a simple vanilla cupcake. Stay tuned!

Blueberry Cupcakes (recipe courtesy of Martha Stewart)

Truth be told, I conducted this culinary experiment about two weeks ago, but am just now writing about it on this blog. My apologies for the day. Of course, it's not like my few readers were waiting with bated breath ... but, here we go!

The most recent recipe experience came, again, from Martha Stewart's Cupcake book. The recipe: Blueberries and Cream cupcakes.

Here is the recipe, from her cookbook (credits at end) using the gluten ingredients:

For the cupcakes
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising), sifted
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 3/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups milk, room temperature
2 cups fresh blueberries, plus more for garnish
Whipped cream

For the whipped cream
2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted


Once I ran through the ingredients I had on hand in the kitchen, however, I quickly realized a few things: 1) I didn't have enough butter, sugar, or eggs to crank out two different batches; 2) and even if I did, this would churn out a WHOLE LOT of cupcakes.

So, for both recipe versions, I attempted to reduce the ingredients by half. Just saying.

For each version, I used one whole box of delicious and gorgeous blueberries, which are clearly the highlight and star of this recipe!

First, the regular batch:

The batter was a light, buttery yellow, nice and thick, and easy to scoop into my muffin tins.

The resultant batch looked fluffy and light when removed from the oven. They puffed up beautifully and had a decadent crumb. Too bad my kids refused to try them (sigh ...)

As you can see, too, the blueberries appeared to remain well incorporated throughout the batter before, during, and after baking.

Now, for the gluten-free version:

For the cupcakes
1 1/2 cups The Pure Pantry All Purpose Baking mix
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
 A pinch of salt 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
Whatever 1/2 of 1 3/4 cups sugar is (I "eyeballed" it)
  2large eggs, room temperature
  1teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 plus 1/8 cups milk, room temperature
1 box fresh blueberries

The gluten-free flour I used for this particular experiment is the blend created by The Pure Pantry. The All Purpose Baking Mix (actual bag used pictured below) had the lovely consistency of regular flour, and incorporated easily into the recipe.

I noticed, when mixing together the ingredients, that the batter appeared to look a little ... how do I say this? Greasy? Oily? Shiny? It was not at all a bad appearance, but just different. Here was my attempt to get a close-up shot of the patina I was seeing:

When baking, the gluten-free batch puffed up nicely in the oven, but the tops turned golden brown when cooking.

The finished, baked product definitely had a crispier texture to the tops than did the gluten batch, and the cupcakes "collapsed" a bit when removed from the heat. The consistency appeared to look more like that of a cornbread or corn meal. But, that aside, the crumb and texture were just divine.

In the gluten-free batch, though, the blueberries clearly sank to the bottom of the cupcakes. So, each individual cupcake turned out to be a fruit-on-the-bottom treat. It was not a bad thing.

The taste? Delicious! Again, slightly more reminiscent of a cornbread, and the consistency was a bit more dense, but this was one tasty treat! Topped with whipped cream, it was decadent!

Final note: This afternoon, my mom surprised me with four new batches of decorative cupcake paper liners today. Ridiculously adorable, and they will be used in my next experimental batch (thanks, Mom!)!

Giving Credit where Credit is Due

Martha Stewart's Cupcakes: 175 Inspired Ideas for Everyone's Favorite Treats. Martha Stewart Living, (Eds). New York: Clarkson Potter Publishers, 2009.

© 2009, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc.

Chocolate Cupcakes (courtesy of Hersey's Cocoa)

Besides apple pie, what is more American, per se, than chocolate cake? Especially if it's adorned with a rich, chocolaty frosting to round out its chocolaty goodness?

Not much, I say.

That is why, in honor of annual celebration of our country's independence, I decided to make my next cupcake experiment based on a tried and true classic: Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake.

Behold, the key ingredient: Hershey's Cocoa:

The actual can used!

The recipe

Just to make sure I was keeping the whole experiment authentic and honest in terms of gluten products, I double-checked the ingredients on this Hershey's can. The one ingredient listed was cocoa. And that was all.

I decided to use this recipe as the basis of my experiment for a couple of reasons. First, while I know that there are several very good recipes out there for a gluten-free chocolate cake, and that there are some excellent ready-to-go gluten-free mixes out there, I really wanted to base both recipes off of the same foundation. Second, Hershey's is just, well, classic.

This week, the experiment was conducted in our much smaller kitchen in our apartment in the Bay area; the kids and I are up north with Glen this week for a July 4 holiday. As you can see, my sous chef was very happy to put on her new apron:

The apron fits!

Two seconds later, she ran off to play Barbies

It's difficult to decipher the recipe from the photo above, so, without further ado, here it is:


Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Cake


Regular cupcake recipe:

2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cups Hershey's cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder (again, I used Clabbor Girl)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda (this time, I used Arm & Hammer)
1 teaspoon salt (I just used a pinch)
2 eggs
1 cup milk (I used whole milk)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

The batter came together quite nicely, as you can see. The dry ingredients, as expected, sifted together without any trouble.

As is the norm, I filled the cupcake tins about 2/3 full with batter. This batch would have easily yielded about 24 cupcakes, but I stopped at 18.

The oven we have in our Newark kitchen is a tad unpredictable, so I checked the cupcake's cooking progress every 7-10 minutes. The tester came out "clean" after about 20 minutes, and the cupcakes looked quite yummy and had a moist crumb.

Fresh from the oven

Gluten recipe cupcake, up close and personal

Now, for the gluten-free batch, the flour mixture I used came straight off of the shelves of Williams-Sonoma, the store I would gladly live in if given half the chance. I happened upon this brand when doing a search on "gluten free" on Williams-Sonoma's website. Up popped Thomas Keller's Cup4Cup brand. Heck, with a combination of Williams-Sonoma and Thomas Keller, I was feeling very optimistic about the impending results.

This product was $19.95 (plus tax, of course) at the Williams-Sonoma store in Palo Alto, CA. But, for a 3 lb bag, this is not a bad deal.

Gluten-free cupcake recipe:

2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups Cup4Cup gluten-free flour
3/4 cups Hershey's cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder (again, I used Clabbor Girl)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda (this time, I used Arm & Hammer)
1 teaspoon salt (I just used a pinch)
2 eggs
1 cup milk (I used whole milk)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

I prepared the batter as directed on the Hershey's can. The dry ingredients, once mixed, looked exactly like those with the gluten flour.

One of the first things I noticed once I incorporated the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients was the consistency of the batter. I was very intrigued by its viscosity. As you can see, the batter seemed to be a bit thicker:

Note how the dripping batter seemed to suspend itself in mid-air

So, slightly worried that the end product would turn out to be dense, chewy, or gummy, I filled the cupcake tins in the usual manner, and popped them into the oven. Again, I watched them like a hawk.

As they cooked and rose in the oven, I noticed that the tops of the gluten-free cupcakes took on a noticeable sheen. They were down-right glossy as they cooked. I wasn't quite sure what to make of this.

These, too, were cooked in about 20 minutes. As you can see, once removed from the oven, they looked remarkably similar to the gluten recipe, and they didn't collapse once taken out of the direct heat of my persnickety oven.

Once cooled, I opened up one of these little guys and found, again, a moist crumb of light texture.

Looks incredibly promising!

Then, the moment of truth was upon us. Glen (my hubby) and I each pinched off a piece of the cupcake in the photo above, and popped it into our respective mouths.

My first reaction: "WOW!"

It was incredible! A melt-in-your-mouth experience, with only a very slight taste differential in the actual cake itself. If anything, it needed a bit more cocoa. But, dang! In a blindfolded taste test, I likely would not be able to tell the difference between the two recipes. I was thrilled.

To finish each cupcake batch off, I prepared two different ganache toppings: a dark chocolate for the regular cupcakes, and a bittersweet for the gluten-free.

Dark chocolate ganache atop the regular cupcakes

Bittersweet chocolate ganache atop the gluten-free cupcakes

Then, it was time to test these batches with a wider audience. This time, I subjected my in-laws to these decadent little beauties during our annual July 4 family gathering. Pretty much everyone in the whole group knows about this blog, and they were more than happy to be the test audience for this round.

I opted not to tell them in advance which batch was which, but rather made them guess and tell me which batch they preferred. While I didn't get a vote from everyone, only a couple of people guessed the identity of each batch correctly. And a good cross-section of my experimental group said they ultimately preferred the gluten-free cupcakes over the regular. My husband didn't identify the batches correctly, but said he preferred the regular cupcakes just slightly more than the gluten free. My son? He went right for the cupcakes with the flags because, after all, it was July 4; gluten was besides the point.

So, I really enjoyed this particular experiment! Next week I'll offer yet a new batch of delicacies, using yet a different gluten-free baking mix.

I welcome and will look for your comments!