Recipe: The Horchata Cupcake Experiment #0001

I am on a drink-themed cupcake fit and this is the lastest experiment. This one came out pretty good, much better than the thai iced tea. In fact, there are many fans amongst my taste-testers at work. I am hearing things like, "the cake is perfect!" and "very horchatary".



Horchata

1 cup long grain white rice
2 cups skinless almond slivers
1 teaspoon cinnamon
6 cups water

1. wash and drain the rice
2. process rice in a food processer until fine and add to a bowl
3. add almonds and cinnamon to the rice
4. add 3 1/2 cups water and let sit overnight, covered
5. blend mixture using a blender (i had to do it in two batches)
6. add 2 1/2 cups of water and continue blending (again in two batches)
7. strain using a metal strainer
8. strain again using a double layer of cheesecloth




Cupcakes
makes 24 cupcakes / 350 degree oven

1 stick butter
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh horchata
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 large egg whites

1. soften butter in the mixer on high speed
2. drizzle the sugar mixture in with the butter and beat until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes
3. sift flour, baking powder, and salt together
4. mix the horchata and vanilla together
5. add the flour mixture and horchata mixture to the butter/sugar in 3 parts alternating between flour and horchata and beating well after each addition
6. set aside incorporated mixture
7. in a clean mixer bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form
8. fold egg whites into cake batter until incorporated
9. scoop batter into the prepared cupcake pans
10. bake in the 350 degree oven for approximately 20 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean

Frosting

2 sticks butter, soft
1/2 cup fresh horchata
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
7-8 cups confectioner's sugar

1. soften butter in the mixer on high speed
2. sift confectioner's sugar
3. add horchata, vanilla, and 4 cups of confectioner's sugar to the sugar and beat until combined
4. add remainder sugar 1 cup at a time until desired consistency/sweetness is reached

Assembly

1. frost each cooled cupcake
2. sprinkle each with cinnamon



More pictures here.

Recipe: The Thai Ice Tea Cupcake Experiment #0001

I am planning on developing two new-to-me cupcakes, Thai ice tea and horchata. With the Thai ice tea cupcake, I really want the flavor of the thai ice tea as well as sweetened condensed milk. I tried out a Thai ice tea cupcake recipe this past weekend.





The cake: The cake came out pretty good, it was tasty and had a nice crumb, but the Thai ice tea flavor was much too subtle. For the next experiment, I plan to brew tea instead of use instant thai ice tea, maybe that will get me the flavor I want. Otherwise, I am happy with the result.

The frosting: My plan was to take a seven minute frosting recipe and get some sweetened condensed milk in there some how. Two attempts, one involving heating the milk, the second involving adding it to a completed seven minute frosting, both failed... well, I ended up with a sweetened condensed milk foam. It could be nice in a different context, but was too sweet atop the cupcake. More work needed on the frosting for sure...

I planned to bring this experiment to the craftactory the next day, so I wanted to end up with something edible if not completely successful. So, I decided to make a cream cheese frosting with a hint of thai ice tea.

The result of the experiment became: Thai ice tea cupcake with Thai ice tea cream cheese frosting and a drizzle of sweetened condensed milk. The cream cheese overpowered any flavor of thai ice tea, but was yummy. The cupcakes were a hit at craft day, so that's good... Recipe #0001 follows.

Cupcakes
makes 24 cupcakes
350 degree oven

1 stick butter
1-1/4 cups sugar
2 packets instant thai ice tea
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 large egg whites

1. soften butter in the mixer on high speed
2. mix instant thai ice tea powder and sugar together
3. drizzle the sugar mixture in with the butter and beat until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes
4. sift flour, baking powder, and salt together
5. mix the milk and vanilla together
6. add the flour mixture and milk mixture to the butter/sugar in 3 parts alternating between flour and

milk and beating well after each addition
7. set aside incorporated mixture
8. in a clean mixer bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form
9. fold egg whites into cake batter until incorporated
10. scoop batter into the prepared cupcake pans
11. bake in the 350 degree oven for approximately 20 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean

Frosting

1 stick butter
2 8oz packages of cream cheese
1 packet instant thai ice tea
2 tablespoons hot water
4 cups confectioner's sugar

1. soften butter in the mixer on high speed
2. add cream cheese and beat until combined
3. sift confectioner's sugar
4. dissolve thai ice tea powder in 2 tablespoon of hot water
5. add about half of the confectioner's sugar and the thai ice tea to the butter/cream cheese mixture and beat on high speed to combine
6. add remaining confectioner's sugar in stages until desired consistency and sweetness is achieved

Assembly
1. transfer a tablespoon of frosting onto each cooled cupcake
2. smooth out with a small pallet knife
(optional) 3. drizzle sweetened condensed milk on top of each frosted cupcake

Note: I had a good amount of frosting left over (about 1/3 of the volume). I am usually ok with that, as I freeze the left overs and use them later on. Never hurts to have cream cheese frosting at the ready.