Triumphant Return: Pink Lemonade Cupcakes!

Hi there.  It's been a while, and I'm sorry.

Like, really sorry.

SO SORRY.

But I think I have something that will make you forgive me.  Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the very first recipe I ever invented all by myself: Pink Lemonade Cupcakes.

Well, maybe I shouldn't say I did it all by my myself.  I had some help from these lovely books:

But, using the delicious knowledge I learned from these volumes, I invented a recipe.  Yup.  Here's how that looked:

But I can't complain.  For my first try, I think these came out GREAT.  Here's my very own recipe:

1 3/4 c. flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 stick butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 can (6 oz.) frozen lemonade concentrate (I used pink lemonade)
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp. lemon extract
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 c. buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine flour, baking soda and baking powder in a bowl (if you're using unsalted butter, you should add a little salt here as well).  Set aside.

Beat butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time.  Add lemonade concentrate, lemon juice lemon extract, and vanilla extract.

Add flour mixture and buttermilk in intervals (like this: flour, buttermilk, flour, buttermilk, flour).  I also added about 3 drops of yellow food coloring... just for effect.

Pour into cupcake holders and bake 18 minutes.

Oh look, cakes.  The recipe made about 20 cupcakes.  They were good, I think, although I might use cake flour next time to see if I can get a lighter texture.  I meant to use cake flour this time, actually, but I straight-up forgot.  Whoops.

They have a pretty intense lemony flavor, so I coupled them with a plain vanilla buttercream.  I think buttercream is something people should be able to improvise, but here are some approximate ingredients (make enough for about 24 cupcakes).

1 stick of butter
3 c. powdered sugar
3 tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Then I dyed it delightful pink, to complete the Pink Lemonade effect.

Also, I know it's winter.  But maybe these cupcakes will help you forget about winter.  Not that winter is a real thing, here in Los Angeles.

Enjoy!

Still on a quest for perfect chocolate cupcakes

HOW cute are those monkey cupcake wrapper thingies?

Here is a secret: I don't like cupcakes very much.  I don't really like making them, I don't really like eating them.  But somehow they became kind of a specialty of mine.  So I keep making them.  And now I'm on the search for the perfect chocolate cupcake.

To me, the perfect chocolate cupcake is dark (obviously) and sweet (again, obviously), but the most important thing is the texture.  It needs to be light and fluffy and actually pretty much fall apart in your hand so you do that awkward "ahh" laugh as you get crumbs down your shirt (maybe that's not a problem for someone more graceful than I).  I though I'd found that cupcake in this recipe from Cook's Illustrated.

I was wrong.  I don't mean the recipe isn't fantastic.  The cupcakes were a huge hit despite the fact that my frosting looked like mustard, and several people mentioned that I was clearly my own worst critic.  But they weren't perfect.  They were just a little too heavy, and really kind of bitter (though my buttercream frosting disguised that for the most part).

I would make them again if I needed a dozen chocolate cupcakes RIGHT NOW, but I think I'm going to try and tweak the recipe a little until I get it really right.  For the time being, here is the recipe, and be prepared for a lot of whisking:

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup (1 1/2 oz) Dutch-processed cocoa
3/4 cup (3 3/4 oz) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 large eggs
3/4 cup (5 1/4 oz) sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/2 cup (4 oz) sour cream


Preheat oven to 350 degrees (with the oven rack in the lower middle position).  Line a muffin tin.

In a double boiler (or a little pot over a slightly larger pot), combine butter, chocolate and cocoa.  Heat mixture until butter and chocolate are melted and whisk until smooth and fully combined. Set aside to cool until just warm to touch.  Meanwhile, whisk flour, baking soda and baking powder in small bowl to combine.

Whisk eggs in second medium bowl to combine; add sugar, vanilla and salt and whisk until fully incorporated. Add cooled chocolate mixture and whisk until combined. Pour about one-third of flour mixture over chocolate mixture and whisk until combined (the recipe says sift but I never sift anything ever); whisk in sour cream until combined.  Add remaining flour mixture and whisk batter until it is homogeneous and thick.

Divide batter evenly among muffin pan cups. Bake until skewer inserted into center of cupcakes comes out clean, 18-20 minutes.  Cool cupcakes in muffin pan on wire rack until cool enough to handle, about 15 minutes. Carefully lift each cupcake from muffin pan and set on wire rack. Cool to room temperature before icing, about 30 minutes.