Joy the Baker » chocolate buttercream frosting

Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream

joythebaker — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 07:30:24 +0000

Dating someone new means meeting all sorts of new people.

Listen… I know I’m getting old and this isn’t my first jump into meeting the groups of friends, the work buddies, the casual friends, the bosses, the grandma, or the adopted dog of the strapping your gent that I’m dating. Sadly, all this experience has made me no less awkward and devoid of grace. I have a tendency towards embarrasing sweat, stuttering and knuckle cracking that is less than charming… Or! I just talk about my kitten, or the family dog, or this giant white rabbit that attacked me in 4th grade and no one believed me but it TOTALLY happened… and then I just leave other people feeling weird… and it’s all just awkward.

Anyhow! I’ve devised two personal tactics to detract from such boneheaded behavior: wear a pretty dress and heels and always bring cupcakes (or cookies or brownies or granola… or pie). This way, I feel pretty and I turn into a tall girl… and people instantly love me when I had them a box of chocolate and sugar. It’s a little bit of a dirty trick and it works every time.

Sprinkles? A lifesaver. Who could resist?

These Vanilla Bean Cupcakes are a classic. They’re exactly like every cupcake I ate between the ages of five and nine.

Dense but moist cake with an undeniable vanilla flavor.

They’re sweet. They make me want a balloon animal made for me.

These un-frosted but baked cupcakes also freeze well.

And they taste great right out of the freezer… all hard and cold and gnarly. But that’s not their best use.

They really should be smothered in chocolate buttercream and eaten in mass.

This is absolutely my favorite Chocolate Buttercream recipe. It’s smooth and thoroughly chocolaty, without being stiff and overly sweet like chocolate buttercream can sometimes become. I didn’t invent Chocolate Buttercream. The inspiration comes from a Los Angeles bakery I worked in.

The secret ingredient is Ovaltine powder and heavy cream. If you can’t get your hands on Ovaltine, you might try using hot chocolate mix. Yea. Weird… but totally delicious! Count on it.

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes

makes 24 cupcakes

from Organic and Chic

Print this Recipe!

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened

1 3/4 cup granulated sugar

4 large eggs

1 cup whole milk

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 vanilla bean, seeds scraped out

2 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Position a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two cupcake pans with paper liners and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together milk, vanilla extract and vanilla bean seeds. Set aside.

In a stand mixer, fit with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. This may take 3 to 5 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure everything is well incorporated.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for one minute after each addition. If the batter begins to looks a bit curdled, that’s alright.

with the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and the vanilla milk mixture in three batches, starting and ending with the flour. When the batter is almost combined, stop the mixer and finish mixing the batter with a spatula, making sure that any flour bits at the bottom of the bowl are well incorporated.

Divide into the lined cupcake pan and bake for 25 minutes or until golden and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely before frosting.

The Best Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

makes enough to frost 24 cupcakes or one 8-inch layer cake

1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 1/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 tablespoons milk

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/3 cup Ovaltine

Cream together butter, cocoa powder and salt. Butter mixture will be very thick. Turn off the mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl and add powdered sugar. Turn mixer on low and mix in powdered sugar while adding milk and vanilla extract. As the sugar incorporates, raise the speed of the mixer to beat the frosting. Beat until smooth. In a 1-cup measuring glass, stir together heavy cream and Ovaltine. Turn mixer speed to medium and pour cream mixture into frosting in a slow, steady stream, until you’ve reached your desired consistency. You may not need the full amount of Ovaltine and cream. Spread or pipe onto cupcakes. Yuuuuuuuuum!!

Double Chocolate Devil’s Food with Fresh Raspberries

joythebaker — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 17:09:11 +0000

How are you going to share the love the Valentine’s Day? How do you share the love every other day of the year?

At the restaurant, this Saturday night’s reservations are already fully booked. We’re going to be packed to the gills with love birds. We’ve got people calling trying to pull the VIP card. What’s that? Oh.. you happen to think you and the chef are bffs this week and you’d like a table for two at 8? Tough luck. Really…

But Friday night…? Not a soul.

What a day Valentine’s Day is… so ripe with expectations, how can you satisfy?

I remove myself from the whole game. There are so many other gorgeous days of my life that I prefer to share love with the world around me. How do I do it? It usually involves butter, brown sugar and cocoa powder, but that’s just my style.

Sometimes love is as simple as sending someone a goofy postcard. As deliberate as looking someone in the eye and smiling as you pass on the street. As tiring as staying up extra late to make your Mom a birthday cake. We share more love than we might realize. Everyday, in the little things. Let’s remember that this week. Let’s remember that always. It’s those little touches that make this life seem loads brighter.

I made this triple layer Devil’s Food Cake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting for my Mom’s birthday. My Dad aptly dubbed it “The Wall”. I baked the smooth batter up in a single 9×13-inch pan, wrapped and froze the sucker, and the next day sliced it (still frozen) into thirds. The layers measures 4×9-inches, producing a rather brick shaped cake. Feel free to bake this cake in three 8-inch rounds or two 9-inch rounds.

What else do you need to know about this cake?

It’s moist, and beautifully flavored. The coffee and dark brown sugars work wonders with the cocoa powder. The chocolate frosting is an absolute dream, and fresh raspberries send the whole cake over the top. Thin slices of “The Wall” will serve about 10 to 12 chocolate loving people.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting and cake frosting tips after the recipe!

Devils Food Cake

makes a three layer 8-inch round cake

or a two layer 9-inch round cake

or a one layer 9×13-inch sheet cake

adapted from The Gourmet Cookbook

Print this Recipe!

1 cup hot brewed coffee

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-process)

1/2 cup whole milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 sticks (1/2 pound) unsalted butter, softened

1 1/4 cups packed dark brown sugar

3/4 cups granulated sugar

4 eggs

Put racks in the upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter cake pans and line bottom with rounds of parchment or wax paper. Butter paper and dust pans with flour, knocking out excess.

Whisk together boiling coffee and cocoa powder in a medium bowl until smooth, then whisk in milk and vanilla. Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt into another bowl.

Beat together butter and sugars in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium sped until pale and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in flour and cocoa mixtures alternating in 3 batches, beginning and ending with the flour mixture (batter may look slightly curdled).

Divide batter among pans and smooth tops. Place two pans in middle of oven and one pan in bottom of oven. Do not put top pans directly over bottom pans. Stagger them in the oven so the heat circulates. If you’re baking with a 9×13-inch sheet pan, feel free to bake on the middle rack. Bake, switching positions of pans half way through baking, until a wooden skewer inserted in enter of cakes comes out clean and layers begin to pull away from the sides of pan, 20- 25 minutes. 25-30 minutes for 9-inch rounds and 35-40 minutes for a 9×13-inch cake.

Cool layers in pans on racks for 10 minutes, then invert onto racks, remove paper and cool completely. I covered my 9×13-inch cake with plastic wrap while still in the pan, and put it in the freezer to rest until I had time to frost it the next day.

Once completely cool, put one layer right side up on a cake place and spread with about 1 cup of chocolate buttercream frosting. Top with fresh raspberries and add another layer of cake. Add another cup of frosting, fresh raspberries and the final cake later. Top with buttercream and frost the top and sides of the cake.

If using a 9×13-inch pan, trim the sides slightly, and measure out the long side into three 4-inch sections. Slice, creating three 4×9-inch layers. Frost!

Notes:

These cake layers came be made two days in advance and kept, well wrapped in plastic wrap at room temperature. It can also be frozen for up to a week. I kept the cake frozen while I trimmed and frosted it. I think it’s easier and less crumby.

The cake can be frosted one day ahead and kept refrigerated covered loosely in plastic wrap. Bring to room temperature before serving.

You’ll need frosting right?

The Best Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Cake frosting tips!? We have those too!