Cupcake Love Workshop- Week 1 of 4

Hi Crazy Domestic readers, I'm Brandi from Tweedle Dee Designs and I am honored to be your "cupcake expert" for the Cupcake ♥ Love Workshop Series. Throughout this series I'll show you how to bake, fill, frost and wow your friends and family with some fabulous cupcakes. Let's get started...

Week One: Baking & Supplies

Keep it Simple! 

This week we're going back to basics with Baking and Supplies.

I bake a lot of cupcakes and I have to admit, I don't have a lot of time to perfect a delicious cupcake recipe.  The first step in keeping it simple for me is to use a store bought cake mix.  They're delicious, they need little preparation and they create a good foundation for a yummy cupcake. (Not to mention you can always add your own little twist, but we'll get to that later.)  If you have a favorite cake recipe, go ahead and use it.  Most recipes will do fine when divided into 12 scrumptious little servings.

Cupcake recipes typically yield 24 cupcakes and bake at 350 degrees for approximately 20 minutes.  You'll know they're done when you can insert a toothpick and it comes out clean.  Make sure to follow your individual recipes as baking times and temperatures may vary.

{Baking Tips} 
♥ Bring all of your ingredients to room temperature, except milk if your recipe calls for it.
♥ Don't over mix your batter, this is really important. Over mixing will cause your cupcake to become chewy instead of deliciously moist.
♥ Fill your liners 2/3 full. This will give you a nice size cupcake with a smooth round top.
♥ When baking your cupcakes, try and bake only one pan at a time and rotate the pan halfway through your cooking time. You'll have a more evenly baked cupcake.

{Simple Frosting}

Now that our cupcakes are out of the oven and cooling, it's time for my favorite part, the frosting!  This is what will give your cupcakes some personality. You wouldn't have Death by Chocolate with no frosting, right? There are so many different ways to top your cupcakes and we'll get fancy with that next week, but since we're going back to the basics I'm going to share with you my favorite simple, but so delicious buttercream recipe.

 

{Simple Buttercream Recipe}

Ingredients

♥ 1 cup *butter, room temperature

♥ 3 cups powdered sugar

♥ 2 tablespoons *heavy cream

♥ 2 teaspoons almond extract

Directions

1. With a hand mixer, cream butter and sugar.

2. Add heavy cream and almond extract and mix on medium high until just combined. 

{Note} If your frosting is too thick, you can add additional heavy cream one tablespoon at a time.  If it is too runny add additional powdered sugar a 1/4 cup at a time, until the desired consistency is reached.

Yes, it's really that simple. You don't need a lot of ingredients to make a delicious cupcake, however, you do need quality ingredients.  I would say that this is the place to splurge on specialty items. 

*Feel free to substitute a vegan butter spread and soy or rice milk. I like using Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Spread and a vanilla soy milk.   

{Baking Supplies} 

Here is a list of some of my favorite cupcake baking supplies and where you can find them.  All of these supplies are also available on my Amazon Affiliates page.  Purchase through my shop and support Tweedle Dee Designs.

♥ Cupcake Pan - I use the Calphalon Classic Bakeware 12 cup Non-Stick Muffin Pan.
♥ Cupcake Liners - I love chocolate brown standard size liners.  Bake It Pretty, Cupcakeology and Cupcake Social are some of my favorite places to get cupcake liners.
♥ 2 tablespoon coffee scoop, this is the perfect size for each cupcake.  If you don't have a coffee scoop on hand, a mini ice cream scoop also works well.

{Coming Up Next Week...}

  
Make sure to come back next Wednesday for some more Cupcake ♥ Love.  
 

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A Little About the Workshop Author:

Brandi is the busy designer at Tweedle Dee Designs. In addition to baking some pretty fantastic cupcakes, she also creates darling printable party supplies &  Fairytale Tutus. She shares her fabulous party inspiration on her blog, and even sells her ideas on her etsy shop- making party planning just a bit easier for everyone!

We are so excited to have Brandi here with us for the entire month of August and hope you'll stop by her blog for even more creative ideas and inspiration! 

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Other weeks in this series:
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4

 

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