Recipe: The Thai Ice Tea Cupcake Experiment #0002

I tried the fresh brewed option this past week. I didn't get the results I wanted (obvious Thai ice tea flavor), but the cupcakes were still really tasty. I had gotten some good suggestions for sweetened condensed milk frosting from my last experiment. I whipped something up and was happy with the results. I will use it for my Vietnamese Coffee Cupcake which I will work on next month.

The cake: Similar to the first test, the cake was tasty, but not very Thai ice tea flavored. One taster said it tasted like it had corn in it, which it didn't.

The frosting: I had some frozen Thai ice tea cream cheese frosting left over from the last test. Tasters really liked it, so I decided to do a layer of that topped with the sweetened condensed milk buttercream frosting. I really liked the way the two layers looked and I think the flavors worked well together.

Here is the recipe:

Cupcakes
makes 24 cupcakes / 350 degree oven

1 stick plus 2 tablespoons butter
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup home brewed Thai ice tea
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
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 Thai ice tea and vanilla together
5. add the flour mixture and tea mixture to the butter/sugar in 3 parts alternating between flour and tea 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

Sweetened Condensed Milk Buttercream Frosting
makes a small batch to top frosted cupcakes with

1 stick butter
7 oz sweetened condensed milk
1-1/2 cups confectioner's sugar

1. soften butter in the mixer on high speed
2. sift confectioner's sugar
3. add sweetened condensed milk and about a half of the sugar to the butter and beat until combined
4. add remaining confectioner's sugar in stages until desired consistency is achieved

Assembly
1. transfer a tablespoon of cream cheese frosting onto each cooled cupcake
2. smooth out with a small pallet knife
3. pipe a dollop of sweetened condensed milk buttercream on top of the cupcake

NOTE: I would be lost without this book, In The Sweet Kitchen: The Definitive Baker's Companion. Its thorough substitution chart is invaluable when swapping out ingredients.