Rich Buttercream Frosting

I guess we have officially entered into the Christmas season.  I say "officially", but I happen to know Target started the Christmas season before Halloween was over.  I'm sure Wal-Mart and Macy's did the same too.  It really is sad that the retailers take advantage of the holiday season to prey upon the consumers.  I guess most consumers aren't complaining, and sadly, I allowed myself to fall victim to the retailers before my Thanksgiving marketing was done...I indulged in some Cadbury (solid milk chocolate with crisp sugar shell...the same thing as those darn good Easter mini-eggs, but shaped into balls).

Actually, this is all RC's fault.  She sent me a tin of Williams-Sonoma Peppermint Bark a few weeks ago.  Thank you, RC (the contents of the tin were gone in a week)!  I am really NOT a chocoholic.  Normally, I will pick vanilla over chocolate.  I am vanilla.  But all bets are off at Christmas.  I think my weak mind makes me vulnerable to the appeal of hot buttered rum, spiced cider, hot chocolate with marshmallows, and all kinds of sweets. 

The Ds tend to get all caught up in the sweet binge too.  Both inherited my sweet tooth; Mr. Dependable doesn't gorge on sweets nearly as much as I do.  D1 got herself a bag of those Cadbury balls, and D2 bought a few boxes of candy canes.  I was tempted to buy some of the holiday Lifesavers, but I saw dum dum pops in holiday flavors and couldn't resist those.  I haven't tried them yet.

In a few weeks, the Ds will be telling me they need to bring food to class parties events.  Parties are frowned upon by school officials, forcing creative teachers to resort to linking festivities to the current curriculum.  Last year one of my students organized a Dickens festival, where every contribution needed to be tied to A Christmas Carol.  Recently, the Ds have been asked to bring mini cupcakes to events (the size makes mini cupcakes easier to eat, especially when there are multiple desserts available).  TBH, the classroom "events"  already began.  Last week, D1 brought some kind of mini cupcakes for her human physiology class.  I really don't know what it was all about but she pressed bone-shaped decors into the flesh-colored frosting.  Kinda macabre if you ask me, but she said it went over "bonederfully".

D1 can complete the baking part of the mini cupcakes, but she asks me to do the frosting portion.  Over the years, I have tried many different frosting recipes.  This is my favorite buttercream frosting.  The consistency is perfect for frosting cupcakes.  If you choose to embellish the cupcakes with sprinkles, be sure to apply them immediately after piping the frosting (helps to have someone else doing this part).  This frosting hardens fairly quickly, making for easy transport.  The only down side to this is that you need to get any decorations (sprinkles, candy beads, etc.) onto the frosting soon after piping.

I'm still pissed about Betty Crocker and Duncan Hines changing the size of their cake mix without consulting me, the Cake Mix Doctor, or any other cake mix user.  I'm not sure when this happened.  I don't know how they thought they could get away with it.  While not applicable to these mini cupcakes since I just make the recipe on the back of the box, I have a whole bunch of recipes which used the larger size cake mix.  I will now need to buy two boxes and weigh out the difference.  What a headache.

For mini cupcake purposes, the box of Betty Crocker Supermoist (about 15 ounces) Devil's Food cake mix can make 35-39 mini (2 oz) cupcakes (use 2 full #60 dishers for each mini cupcake).  Bake for 19 minutes.  A Duncan Hines box (also about 15 ounces) of yellow cake mix will make about 40 mini cupcakes.  I bake the Duncan Hines yellow mini cupcakes for 17 minutes (a full #40 disher works well for each cup).   If I plan to eat these, my preference is Duncan Hines. 

click on recipe title for printable recipe
Rich Buttercream Frosting

     1/2 c butter, softened

     4 c powdered sugar, sifted

     3 tbsp milk

     2 tsp vanilla

     food coloring

In a mixer bowl, cream butter on low speed for 30 seconds.  Combine milk, vanilla and food coloring.  Mixture should be much darker than end product.  Add powdered sugar to butter and 3 tbsp of milk mixture.  Mix on low speed (#2 on Kitchenaid) for 1 minute.  At this point, powdered sugar should be barely incorporated into mixture.  If lots of powdered sugar remains unincorporated, add 1 tsp more of milk mixture.  Scrape bowl.  Mix on medium speed (#6 on Kitchenaid) for 1 minute.  Place in an icing bag and pipe onto cupcakes.  Makes enough to frost 42-47 mini (2 oz cups) cupcakes with 1M star tip.  If decorating, add decors as soon as frosting is piped...frosting will harden.

Mini Rainbow Cupcakes with Tie Dye Buttercream Frosting

Happy day of Christmas Eve!!!  I think I've been a good kat this year, so I'm hoping Santa brings me something good.  If Santa decides to pay us a visit, he may get lucky and get some of these:  mini rainbow cupcakes with tie dye buttercream frosting.

The mini cupcake journey is taking me on an interesting ride.  I first blogged about these when I made some for Halloween.  The Halloween ones were made with Betty Crocker's golden vanilla cake mix and frosted with Kick Ass Frosting, a cooked cream frosting.

This time, I used Betty Crocker yellow cake mix, and did the tie dye technique with buttercream frosting.  I found that the cupcakes I made in the 2 oz portion cups needed to bake for 19 minutes (golden vanilla baked in 15 minutes and devil's food baked in 19 minutes), and I was able to make 33 cupcakes with 1 box of the Betty Crocker yellow cake mix (Betty Crocker golden vanilla and devil's food cake mix made about 40 each).  

cross-section

At the urging of D1, we made a version of rainbow cupcakes, a much blogged-about creation at a whole bunch of different websites.  These cupcakes were intended to reflect the colors of Christmas, red, green, and gold, but the red turned out less than red.  Upon the advice of a coworker, I ordered a different type of food coloring, so I'm eagerly anticipating its arrival to see if it will yield a more "red" color.  Of course, along with the Christmas gift I ordered for D2, it will arrive AFTER Christmas.  Stay tuned. . .

This was my first attempt at tie dye frosting.  I followed the tutorial here.  Thank you, Mel!  I should have used the 1M tip instead of the open star tip, but I was so caught up in doing the tie dye frosting that I could not be bothered with changing the tip (The Help did the frosting of the cupcakes for me, so all the frosted cupcakes seen in this post are his handiwork).  He used to work at a "European" restaurant in Aina Haina, so he does have some kitchen experience.

This week's recipe is my go to recipe for buttercream frosting.  It is an adaptation from the version in the Cake Mix Doctor cookbook (one of my favorite cookbooks).  I've made it often, but given my climate, I've found that I have consistently needed to add a bit more powdered sugar to get the right consistency for piping in a pastry bag. At some point, I tried to go with less liquid, but it was easier to start with the additional powdered sugar.

click on recipe title for printable recipe
Buttercream Frosting

(adapted from the Cake Mix Doctor)

     1/2 c butter, softened

     3 3/4 c + 2 tbsp powdered sugar, sifted

     3 tbsp milk

     2 tsp vanilla

Beat butter on low speed for 30 seconds.  Add remaining ingredients.  Beat on low speed for a minute.  Beat on medium speed for 1 minute.  Makes 3 1/2 c frosting.  

If you are still with me, I'm also going to share a few helpful tidbits here:

*A box of Betty Crocker yellow cake mix will divide nicely into three 1 1/4 cup portions.  This is helpful if you are making cupcakes for people who want a "rainbow" effect.  

*If making 1-color mini cupcakes (not rainbow), use 2 full #60 dishers to fill each cup

 *Rainbow mini cupcakes are a pain in the ass, but its much easier/neater if the divided batter is placed in plastic ziploc bags and squeezed into each baking cup.  The Help and D1 both insist that using a disher is downright ridiculous.

*The frosting recipe will make enough to frost anywhere from 36-50 mini cupcakes.  Using a smaller tip will allow you to frost 50

*The frosting recipe will make enough to frost anywhere from 36-50 mini cupcakes.  Using a smaller tip will allow you to frost 50 cupcakes, whereas using a 1M tip will frost about 36 cupcakes. 

*The 1M tip produces the frosting pattern seen in the picture on the left.

Since the last post, where I commented about the tragic events in Newtown, Hawaii has experienced its own tragedy.  Our beloved senior senator, Daniel Inouye passed away in Washington, D.C. He was a iconic figure in both Hawaii and Washington political scenes.  Our entire nation will miss him dearly.  Now to watch and see who disrespects the honorable senator's wish for his legacy.