Buttercream | Fake Ginger

Secret Recipe Club – Fudge Rounds

August 6, 2012 in cake

I don’t know where this good luck came from but this month I got another one of my favorite blogs for Secret Recipe Club! I was assigned to Baking and Boys! which I have been reading for years now – if I remember correctly, Katrina and I were both fairly early members of Tuesdays with Dorie and that’s how I originally discovered her blog. Everything she blogs is wonderful but I especially love when she talks about her (4!!) boys. She gives me hope that I might just survive raising my boys!

I thought I was going to have a hard time picking a recipe but I was lying in bed one night, watching Big Brother After Dark (omg, has anyone else lost their summer to this crap?! I stay up way too late every night watching), and I came across this Fudge Rounds recipe. It’s no secret that I love a Little Debbie knockoff recipe so of course I chose it!

I swore up and down that I wasn’t going to eat one but I just couldn’t resist. They really do taste just like the Little Debbie Fudge Rounds but better because you can add as much frosting as you want! Perfect for those days when you want the most chocolatey treat ever!

One year ago: Grilled Potatoes with Garlic Herb Oil
Two years ago: Cheesesteak Pizza

Secret Recipe Club – Fudge Rounds

from Baking and Boys!

Ingredients

For the cakes:

½ cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

¾ cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1¼ cups all purpose flour

6 tablespoons cocoa powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

For the filling:

½ cup unsalted butter, softened

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

pinch of salt

1½ cups powdered sugar

1-2 tablespoons heavy cream (or milk)

For the chocolate drizzle:

¼ cup semisweet chocolate chips

½ teaspoon canola oil

Instructions

To make the cakes:

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butt and sugar until light in color and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla; mix well.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and beat just until combined.
Scoop rounded pingpong ball-sized balls of batter onto the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 9-11 minutes, until the centers no longer look wet. Let cool on baking sheet for a minute or 2 and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining batter.

To make the filling:

In a clean bowl, cream the butter until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and mix well. Sift the cocoa powder and powdered sugar together; add to the butter in small batches and beat until all the sugar is incorporated. Add heavy cream 1 tablespoon at a time until your filling reaches desired consistency.
When cakes are cool, spread a bit of the filling on half of them and then top with another cake.

To make chocolate drizzle:

Microwave the chocolate and oil in 20 second bursts, stirring between each one, until the chocolate is melted. Drizzle over each cake. Let sit until chocolate is set.

Notes

High altitude: I added an extra egg because I wanted the cakes to stay very soft.

http://fakeginger.com/2012/08/06/secret-recipe-club-fudge-rounds/

Tags: buttercream, cake, chocolate, little debbie
17 Comments »

White Cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Buttercream

April 26, 2012 in cake

Cupcakes have been mostly absent from my life (and my blog!) since we made the move from sea level to 6000 feet. Sad story, right? I just can’t get them right. I’ve had decent luck with cakes and quick breads but the secret to perfect high-altitude cupcakes has eluded me until now.

The problem with baking at high elevation is that your leavening agents react insanely quick up here. Like, you’re making a batch of cupcakes, turn your back for 10 seconds to get a different spatula and your batter rises an inch. Seriously, it’s that fast. So you have to raise the oven temperature to set the batter before it expands too much, decrease leaveners, perhaps add an extra egg, add extra flour… it’s all very confusing. And these remedies come with side effects – raising the over temperature not only sets the batter, it also gives you burnt cupcake tops with undercooked middles sometimes. Like I said, confusing.

But I finally found a recipe that adapted really well. And now here’s where I’m at: high-altitude baking applies to a very small percentage of my readers. So do I share the original recipe with notes on how to adapt? I’m assuming that since it adapted well to high-altitude baking that it’s probably a pretty good recipe to begin with. What do we think?

So about the cupcakes? They were so good! I love the white cupcakes from boxed mixes and these turned out even better than those. And the buttercream is so fantastic! It’s made by cooking egg whites in a double boiler and then beating them to stick peaks so it’s an entirely different texture than buttercreams made with just butter. It’s silky and rich and I considered spreading it on toast for breakfast this morning.

If you don’t have vanilla beans, just add vanilla. Although I do recommend picking up some clear vanilla because the regular vanilla extract will tint it. And sprinkles are a must.

Two years ago: Cardamom Crumb Cake

White Cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Buttercream

from Ad Hoc at Home

Ingredients

For the white cupcakes:

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

¾ teaspoons salt

12 tablespoons (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, at room temperature

2¾ cups sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1¼ cups milk

6 egg whites, at room temperature

For the vanilla bean buttercream:

1¾ cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar

6 egg whites

3½ sticks (14 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, at room temperature

1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste

Instructions

To make the cupcakes:

Preheat oven to 350F. Line 24 cupcake cups with paper liners or spray with nonstick spray.
In a mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, beat the butter and 1½ cups sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides as needed. Beat in the vanilla. Add in the dry ingredients in 3 additions, alternately with the milk. Set aside.
in a clean mixer bowl on your stand mixer fitted with a whisk, beat the egg whites until they begin to speed. Add the remaining 1¼ cups sugar and beat until the whites are thick and almost hold stiff peaks. Fold ⅓ of the whites into the batter to lighten it. Fold in the rest.
Fill the muffin cups about ¾ of the way full. Bake for 20 minutes -rotating the pans halfway through – until the cupcakes are golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of one comes out clear.
Cool completely before frosting.

To make the buttercream:

Bring a saucepan half full of water to a simmer. Set a bowl over the water; do not allow the bowl to touch the water. Combine the sugar and egg whites in the bowl and whisk constantly until the sugar has dissolved and mixture is hot to the touch.
Remove from heat and transfer mixture to a stand mixer fitted with a whisk. Whip until the whites hold stiff peaks and are cool to the touch, about 10 minutes.
Switch to the paddle attachment. Add the butter a little at a time, being sure each batch is incorporated before moving on. The mixture may look broken – just continue beating until it comes back together.
Add in vanilla and beat until combined. Check the consistency; if it’s too thin, continue beating until it’s thick enough.

http://fakeginger.com/2012/04/26/white-cupcakes-with-vanilla-bean-buttercream/