Caldron Cupcakes

Cauldron Cakes
 

Another Harry potter treat! 

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 2 teaspoons baking powder 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup butter, softened 1 1/2 cups white sugar 2 eggs 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup buttermilk

Directions:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a muffin pan with paper or foil liners. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa and salt. Set aside.
2.	In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition, then stir in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk; beat well. Fill the muffin cups 3/4 full.
3.	Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Frost with your favorite frosting when cool.

Chocolate Glaze
6 ounces (1 cup) semi-sweet chocolate chips 
4 tablespoons butter

In a double boiler, melt together the chocolate and butter, stirring until smooth. Glaze will be relatively thick. Remove from heat and let sit 5 minutes before use. If chocolate thickens too much, return to heat and stir until smooth and melted once more.

I recommend making two batches of this glaze, using half a cup of chips each time so that you don't lose the consistency of the chocolate. When glazing for the top of the caldron, you want the glaze to be warm still.

Marshmallow Filling
1 cup Marshmallow Fluff (or prepared marshmallow cream)
1/2 cup vegetable shortening (this can be left out and it will still taste good)
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, beat together the marshmallow fluff, shortening, sugar, and vanilla extract until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes.

To assemble
Using a cupcake corer or sharp knife, cut out a cavity in the bottom of the cupcake. When using a knife, I run it in a circular motion around the cupcake, while always pointing the knife towards the center (this will make the cavity cone shaped).
Dip the top of the cupcake into the chocolate glaze. Flip the cupcakes right side up and let rest until the chocolate sets, about 30 minutes. To speed up the process, place cupcakes in the refrigerator.
To make the cauldron feet, take 3 chocolate chips and form a small triangle, placing each chocolate chip roughly an inch from the others. Place the top of a cupcake onto the chocolate chips and push down ever so slightly so the chocolate chips will stick into the chocolate glaze. Repeat for the rest of the cupcakes.
Place remaining chocolate glaze into a piping bag and pipe a chocolate rim around the edge of the opening to the cauldron. If chocolate is too thick to pipe, heat chocolate glaze up until warm and allow to sit until glaze thickens slightly. If chocolate glaze is too runny to pipe, wait a few minutes until the glaze thickens to a pipe-able consistency. Alternatively, you could use a knife to spread the glaze around the edge of the cupcake.
Fill a pastry bag with marshmallow filling and pipe into the cavity of the cupcakes. Garnish the top with edible gold glitter.

To make cauldron handle, melt the remaining chocolate chips, stir until smooth, and place into a pastry bag. You don't need a special tip for this step; I simply cut off the very end of the pastry bag which was sufficient. On a non-stick mat or wax paper, pipe out the handles. Let the chocolate set until hardened, approximately 30 minutes, before very carefully peeling off of the non-stick surface and placing into the top of each cupcake.

recipes adapted from Pastry Affair and allrecipes.com

Butterbeer cupcakes

Happy Birthday Harry Potter!

How old are you now? lol. Here's a cupcake that I made for Harry Potter's Birthday and for our Harry Potter's Birthday Party Barnes and Noble #getpopcultured event. (well, not for public consumption, just for the booksellers really.)

Cupcake ingredients:.
2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon butter extract
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup cream soda
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For the ganache:.
1 11-oz. package butterscotch chips
1 cup heavy cream
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For the buttercream frosting:.
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup butterscotch ganache
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon butter flavoring
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 16-oz. package powdered sugar
Splash of milk or cream (as needed)
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For the cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake pans with paper liners. I used red and yellow liners for Gryffindor colors.
Combine your flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, cream your butter until light and fluffy. Add your sugars and beat until well-combined. Beat in your eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Then beat in your vanilla and butter flavoring.
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Alternate adding your buttermilk, cream soda, and dry ingredients in batches until all are well incorporated. Fill each cupcake liner 1/2 or  nearly 3/4 full, then bake for 17 minutes until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean and cake springs back to the touch. Cool completely on wire racks.
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For butterscotch filling: In a double boiler (heat-proof bowl over a pot of simmering water on the stove), combine butterscotch chips and heavy cream and stir until completely combined and smooth. Cool to room temperature. Fill a squeeze bottle with ganache and insert into the center of each cupcake, squeezing until filling begins to overflow. (You can choose not to use the filing if you forget or do not want to overpowering of a taste and it will still taste delicious)
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For buttercream frosting: Cream butter in a large bowl until fluffy. Add in ganache, vanilla, butter flavoring, and salt and mix until well combined. Beat in powdered sugar 1 cup at a time until reaching desired consistency. Add milk or cream by the Tablespoon as needed. Frost cupcakes and top with a drizzle of butterscotch ganache.

Recipe adapted from amybites.

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Rec

Chocolate Angel Food Cupcakes

Here is a cupcake that I made for my mother in laws gathering for Fourth of July.

 

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 Tb cocoa powder
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 6 large egg whites at room temperature*
• 2 1/2 Tb warm water
• 3/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 tsp cream of tartar
Topping
• 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 6 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 2 Tbsp cocoa powder, plus more for dusting (optional)**
• Fresh strawberries, raspberries or blueberries, or chocolate covered berries

 

 

 

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• In a food processor, pulse sugar until super fine, about 2 minutes (if you don't have a food processor caster sugar should also work). In a mixing bowl, sift together the sugar, the flour, cocoa powder and the salt. (I ignored the salt, but left it in the ingredients in case you wanted to follow directions, I avoid salt when I can though).
• In a large mixing bowl, whisk together egg whites, water, vanilla extract and cream of tartar until well combined, about 2 minutes. Switch to a hand mixer and whip mixture on medium speed while slowly adding 1 tablespoon of sugar to mixture, until medium peaks form. Sift or sprinkle just enough of the flour mixture in to evenly dust the top of the egg white mixture and using a spatula gently fold flour layer into egg white mixture and continue this process until all of the flour mixture has been incorporated (I did this by using a 1/4 cup measuring cup and gently sprinkling until the egg whites mixture was covered).
• Divide batter among paper lined muffin cups, filling each cup nearly full. Bake in preheated oven 18 - 20 minutes, until toothpick inserted into center of cupcake comes out clean. Cool completely then spread Chocolate Cream Cheese Whipped Cream over cupcakes just before serving, dust with cocoa if desired and top with fresh fruit.

For the Cream Cheese Whipped Cream Topping:

• In a mixing bowl whip heavy cream until soft peaks form.
• In a separate mixing bowl, whip cream cheese until light and fluffy. Mix in cocoa powder.
• Combine whip cream into cream cheese mixture and whip again.
• Spread on cooled cupcakes or use a piping bag to apply topping.

Optional sprinkles and blueberries...possibly strawberries next time ;-)

 

Recipe adapted from Cooking Classy.