For Original Recipe Check Out:
SOURCE: http://www.beantownbaker.com/2009/04/creme-brulee-cupcakes.html
CREME BRULEE CUPCAKES with SHIRO TOTORO MARZIPAN DECO
Creme Brulee Cupcakes
2 & 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus a pinch for the egg whites
1/2 cup (125grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs, separated
1 cup milk - I used 1/4 c water + 3/4 c heavy cream (Double Cream since I'm Australian)
3 tablespoons caramel syrup - I used Smuckers ice cream topping (I used COTTEE's Caramel Topping)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Mix flour, baking powder, and salt together and set aside. Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Alternately beat in dry ingredients and milk.
Add caramel syrup and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Beat egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff but not dry. Gently fold whites into batter.
Spoon batter into cupcake papers, filling cups about 2/3 full. Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool.
What I do is I turn the tray around at 7 minutes or so to allow more even baking. At about 15 minutes or so I pull them out of the oven a little and use a skewer to test if any batter sticks on it. If so put it back in for a few more minutes of baking, test again in about 5 minutes. If the batter comes out clean and the cupcakes top is firm but springs back when you press on it then it should be ready. Mine took a bit longer than 20 minutes. I try very hard not to over bake things haha.
==== NOTE ==== I couldn't get the Brown Sugar Swiss Meringue Buttercream below to work. It's apparently meant to separate after you add the butter to your the mix at the end and it will separate as you keep mixing, but then mix in again and thicken into BSSM the buttercream of piping consistency. But it does appear many people struggle with it. If you don't mind wasting some ingredients I'd strongly advise you to not go with this if you're a beginner baker, or at least do some detailed research beforehand :) If you would like an alternative, I just used the normal vanilla buttercream from http://www.joyofbaking.com/VanillaCupcakes.html
to replace the BSSM buttercream. Recipe follows after the recipe of BSSM buttercream below.
==============
Brown sugar swiss meringue buttercream1 cup light brown sugar
4 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
Put sugar, egg whites and salt into the top of a double boiler over a pan of simmering water. Whisking constantly, cook until sugar has dissolved and mixture is warm (about 160 degrees). Pour heated egg whites into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat egg white mixture on high speed until it forms stiff (but not dry) peaks. Continue beating until fluffy and cooled, about 7 minutes total.
Switch to the paddle attachment. With mixer on medium-low, add butter two tablespoons at a time, beating well after each addition. Increase speed to medium-high; continue beating until frosting appears thick, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low and continue beating 1 minute to reduce air bubbles.
==========
Confectioners (Buttercream) Frosting
4 cups (460 grams) confectioners sugar (icing or powdered sugar), sifted
1 cup (226 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 Teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 Tablespoons milk or light cream
Assorted food colors (if desired)
If you like you can divide this buttercream recipe in half and dye two different colors if you want different colors on your cupcakes. So some can be slight blue or yellow etc.
In an electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, cream and butter until smooth and well blended.
Add the vanilla extract. With the mixer on low speed, gradually beat in the sugar. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Add milk and beat on high speed until frosting is light and fluffy (about 3-4 minutes). Add a little more milk or sugar, if needed. Adding more milk makes it more runny, and adding more confectionary sugar makes it thick. If you do need more, add either one a tiny little bit at a time.
Tint the frosting with desired food coloring or paste. I just used a small drop of blue water based food coloring sold at local supermarket Woolworths/Coles. However keep in mind when I made this I noticed my buttercream was a creamy yellow tint color, so when I added blue it made a greenish colour instead. But since the theme was Shiro Totoro, I thought the green looked like lush grass and didn't wanna waste this for minor reasons I just went with it. But take that into your consideration when dying or tinting :)
==========
Marzipan Totoro Deco
FOR HEAD & BODY:
1/2 Pack (125g) of Marzipan
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
FOR EYES:
50 grams white chocolate (I use Nestle Plaistowe White chocolate)
20 grams bittersweet chocolate (I use Nestle Plaistowe Dark Chocolate)
Take roughly a bit less than 1 tablespoon of Marzipan and roll it around between your two palms to smooth the surface of cracks or creases. If the Marzipan appears a bit hard just squeeze and roll it out a bit and it will soften up. Firstly roll out the smooth ball of Marzipan into a longer oval shape. Roughly shape the head first by gently squeezing down the two sides just a little above half the ratio of the body. Then pull out ears from both sides of the head, shape and smooth the ears and around the ears and the head where you've pulled it out. Mould the head a bit more, sculpting out the indent at the front to show the face, and the back to show the head. I gently nudge the back of the head forward to make a nice slope on the back. A nice way to shape the bottom half of the body is to put it on a sheet of aluminium foil and just gently push it on top, then shape the body into a sort of rounded triangular shape. I push in in between it's two 'legs' to create the illusion of its feet or some motion. Then just grab enough Marzipan to make the tail. Roll into smooth ball, make into a rounded diamond shape of cards, and gently push one end against the centre of the back on a tilt so it looks cuter as if it was wagging its tail. Just make sure its connected properly by dabbing in with your fingers until they stick together. Repeat until you have enough shiro totoro's for the cupcakes.
Now let's make the seedling. Grab about 2 tablespoons of Marzipan, roll into smooth ball and make a dent at the center, then dip one drop of green food coloring into it. Use gloves if you don't want to use your bare hands, and just roll and pinch and smooth the dough until the color is an even green. Add more food coloring if you want a stronger green. Pinch a small amount and make into a long diamond shape, dent down the middle to make the seedling - like two leaves, then pinch the bottom. Grab a bit more Marzipan and roll out into a long stem with one end slightly thinner than the other. Lay the thinner end on top of the seedling leaves, and just use your fingers to roll them until they seamlessly join. I press one of the leaves onto one of totoro's ears, then press the bottom of the stem onto one side of its belly like it's holding it. If the stem is too long just pinch off some so it doesn't drape. Keep in mind Marzipan left out in the open will form a very subtle crust but still remains soft. I put mine in an airtight container, or any box with foil on top whilst i melt chocolates, and after i put them on the cakes.
Melt white chocolate over double boiler. Which is basically any bowl or saucepan with small amount of boiling water over the stove, then another glass bowl that's bigger than the other bowl containing water to sit on top, and we use the steam created by the heated water to melt the chocolate.
Chop the white chocolate or break them up into smaller pieces for easier melting, turn stove on small fire, then just stir once in a while as it begins to melt around the edges. Keep an eye on the chocolate whenever you are melting since it is easy to scorch sometimes. Once melted remove and let sit for just about a minute or two. Use the back end of a skewer to dab a little at a time to draw out the white part of the eyes on each totoro. Let them dry. It should not take too long before you can gently dab on the melted dark chocolate pupil with the sharp end of the skewer. But for them to completely dry hard let them sit for at least 5-10 minutes just to be safe.
To assemble cupcakesFOR BSSM Buttercream:
Remove center of cupcake using the cone method. For CONE METHOD see http://www.beantownbaker.com/2007/09/cone-method.html Fill cupcake with buttercream. Sprinkle brown sugar on top and caramelize with creme brulee torch. you can use the broiler method if you don't have a torch unfortunately I don't have either one. And I didn't do this procedure since I was using normal buttercream and had a totoro on top so I didn't find it necessary.
FOR BUTTERCREAM
Remove center of cupcake using the cone method. Fill cupcake with buttercream with two spoons just dropping them gently in the cone and smoothing it out around the cone to cover it and make a smooth surface. You can pipe it if you prefer that. Let sit for around 10 minutes to firm up a little, and then you can put the totoro Marzipan figures on top of each cupcake.
***MAKES About 14 Regular Sized Cupcakes
No comments:
Post a Comment