Thursday, July 15, 2010

Cupcake Cupcake Hero!

So, for this months Cupcake Hero, the secret ingredient is COCONUT!!!! One of my all time favorite ingredients to use in cupcakes. I previously posted a coconut cupcake that didn't turn out superb, but I will probably make some changes to the recipe and then do another entry with that cupcake as well. For this entry, I decided to make a Homemade Snowball (Cupcake, of course)! This cupcake was so much fun, but a bit tricky. The recipe is all my own, and I am very very proud of it! To start, you have to make the chocolate cupcake:

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
2 sticks butter (cut into pieces)
12 ounces unsweetened chocolate (finely chopped)
3 cups sugar
6 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla

Method:

-Preheat over to 350 degrees
-In a mixing bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, and salt
-Heat Butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water
-Remove from heat when melted and then add sugar
-With an electric mixer on medium high, add eggs one at a time until completely mixed
-Add vanilla and beat for three minutes
-Reduce speed to low and add 2/3 of the flour mix. Beat until just combined
-Remove from the electric mixer and fold in the rest of the flour mixture
-Fill cupcake cups 2/3 full
-Once cupcakes have cooled, remove cupcake liners and place aside

For the YUMMY cream filling:

Ingredients:

2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup icing sugar

Method:

-whisk heavy cream until soft peaks form
-add icing sugar, whisking until combined

Once you have made the cream filling, put it in a pastry bag with a tip that has a wide hole ad the end. Take the largest tip you have and cut out a hole from the top of the cupcake.



Once you've done that, fill the hole with the yummy cream you've just made. I could eat this stuff like ice cream!



After you've filled the cupcake with the fluffing, it's time to make the marshmallow icing! This is pretty tricky but super fun (it's like making dough).

Ingredients:

8 ounce bag of marshmallows
2 pounds of powdered sugar (1 normal bag)
2 tablespoons of water
1 small can of crisco

Method:

-put the marshmallows and water in a microwave-safe bowl for two minutes
-stir thoroughly until smooth
-add about 1 1/2 pounds of the powdered sugar and stir with a well greased spoon (use the Crisco)
-Thoroughly grease your hands and work surface with the Crisco and knead the icing until it isn’t sticky anymore. If it’s sticky, add more sugar. If it’s dry and tearing, add a teaspoon or two of water and knead it in. The icing is finished when the dough is pliable and stretchy without tearing



After the icing is ready, take a golf ball size amount and flatten it out so it it a large enough circle to cover the entire cupcake (besides the bottom). Once you have a large enough flattened piece of icing, place it on top of the cupcake and press lightly around the bottom edges of the cupcake. Then, cut the excess icing off of the cupcake and gently press the icing under the bottom.





Now it's time for the fun part! I took a bag of sweetened coconut and another bag of unsweetened coconut and mixed it together. I put the coconut mixture on a piece of parchment paper and got ready to have fun! I realized when I was trying to put the coconut on,that it wasn't sticking quite right. I lightly greased the top of the icing with a sliver of butter (you could use water to make the icing sticky again) and then put the coconut all over the icing.



I then had a chance to step back and take a look at my masterpiece :)


And then I got to taste my masterpiece, and boy was it a beautiful symphony of ingredients!



Thanks for this great opportunity Small Town Oven! If I make it to the finals, (fingers crossed) instead of cutting a hole in the top and inserting the icing that way, cut off the top of the cupcake and scoop some cream into the middle, then put the top of the cupcake back on. The marshmallow icing will hold the whole cupcake together. I love coconut and I promise you wil love this yummy yummy homemade snowball!

Make sure you check out the flickr account for Cupcake Hero! You can follow this link: http://flickr.com/groups/cupcakehero!

8 comments:

  1. These look unbelievable good!!! I seriously hope I get to eat some of your cupcakes soon, as I'm getting tired of you tempting me and me drooling all over my keyboard. LOL

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  2. KATIE! make me one of these!?!?!

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  3. These cupcakes were wonderful! Pretty sweet with the marshmallow top but would be SO yummy with a cup of coffee. Also if she made the minis that would be the perfect size. One more thing, because of the cream in the middle, they need to be refrigerated. Ken and I are so lucky to be the testers!

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  4. These are beyond cute! I'm so curious about marshmallow fondant.

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  5. I'm going to make these delicious cupcakes this weekend. They look amazing!!! BTW, we may compete against one another once in a while, but admiration is what we learn from each other. xo

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  6. Congratulations!! You were selected one of the finalists for Cupcake Hero! What is icing sugar?
    -Jackie

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