No baking until next month...

I am remodeling the bathroom adjacent to the kitchen and everything is covered in a film of dust. No cupcakes coming out of there for a while. Hopefully I will be back in business mid-July.

About Cupcake Bakeshop

Cheryl Porro – software quality engineer by day, baker for hire by night - stumbled upon the world of food blogs through a forwarded link, sent by a friend, admirer, and consumer of Cheryl's baking experiments. A few hours of surfing later, the rest was history…

Although a devoted baker since the age of 13, Cheryl simply wasn't ready to abandon the reliable world of software for the high-stakes game of owning a bakery. But the creativity, the exchange, and the inspiration she found among this community of food bloggers – this was just the outlet she needed! In short order, Cheryl signed up for her very own blog, and Cupcake Bakeshop was born that fateful day in March 2004.

Baking, namely cupcakes, has since taken residence in Cheryl's day-to-day life. Cupcake Bakeshop has evolved into a place to experiment, inspire, create, and share her work with others.

Cheryl continues to lead a double-life as an amateur baker and full-time professional software quality engineer, with a degree in chemical engineering. She has also become a dedicated food blogger and amateur food photographer (her main client being herself).

Cheryl lives in San Francisco with her musician husband and sensitive Boston terrier and can be found during her lunch breaks at the Ferry Building Marketplace coveting pricey ingredients.

To date, Cheryl's recipes have been published in the San Francisco Chronicle food section.

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.

Thai Ice Tea Update

I had an email conversation with someone very knowledgeable about Thai products. We discussed the pluses and minuses of the various Thai Ice Tea options. Basically, home brewed will result in the most authentic flavor and if brewed correctly (which takes about 2+ hours) will be very strong. So, I am brewing my own right now and hope to make some cupcakes with it today. In addition, I plan on doing a buttercream with sweetened condensed milk for the frosting.

Recipe: Devil's Food Cupcake with Chocolate Buttercream

I made these cupcakes for my friend's birthday. Very simple, classic recipe, but made with the best ingredients I could find. They were a hit at the party.

Devil's Food Chocolate Cake
makes 24 cupcakes / 350 degree oven

2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1-1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. Measure out everything but the eggs directly into your mixer bowl.
2. Mix on low speed just until incorporated.
3. Beat on high speed for 2 minutes.
4. Add eggs, beat on high speed again for 2 minutes.

Measure out into cupcake pan lined with cupcake papers. A 2" ice cream scoop works great for this. Bake for about 15-20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool slightly in the pan then transfer to a rack to cool completely before frosting.

Chocolate Buttercream
enough to lightly frost 24 cupcakes

1 stick butter
1/2 cup cocoa
4 cups confectioner's sugar
~1/4 cup milk

1. Beat butter on high for about 30 seconds until soft.
2. Add cocoa and 1 cup of sugar and beat until incorporated
3. Add half of the milk and the remainder of sugar and beat until incorporated.
4. Continue to add milk until you get to the consistency you want.

Assemble
There are many ways to go here, in this case, I simply piped the frosting onto the cupcakes with a large star tip.