a week in cupcakes: july 14

sitting at breakfast

sunday morning,

with larry,

colleen, christian

and her sister, emily,

following a night out

at the brewery, a bar

and a run through the

pouring rain,

it hit me:

blair's birthday was

two days away.

yes, of course i knew that

her birthday was right around

the corner (in my family,

we pretty much start our

birthday countdown at the

six month mark).

but in light of the fact that we

didn't have a gift for her

(for a very good reason)

and in light of the fact

that i had recently

rediscovered cupcakes

and how much fun it is

to make them, i

sensed where this was

going.

after driving home,

i dropped to the floor

surrounded by a pile of

cookbooks, determined to find

a recipe before i left for work

the next morning.

but everything suddenly turned

to chocolate. blair (like me)

is not huge on chocolate and

if given the choice

would choose

vanilla.

so, i felt like

walking in with cocoa-laced items

was certainly not the way to go.

but really - everywhere:

chocolate peanut butter

chocolate caramel

chocolate buttercreams

black forest

and the list went on.

by the time i closed the

last cookbook and clicked

off the last internet page,

i had decided on one thing:

caramel frosting.

but, before i fell asleep

one hour later,

i had switched to blueberry.

blair's been on a bit of a blueberry

kick these days - out of hand,

in her cereal and recently, we all

made smoothies from them

for father's day.

i thought, what better

theme than that?

but, there were only a handful

of recipes - what i really wanted

was a blueberry buttercream -

and i was really nervous about

runny

drippy

streaky

inedible

frostings.

and the cupcake worries!

don't get me started.

but finally, after a day

of deliberating,

i realized how foolish i could

be. why freak out about finding

a cupcake recipe when there

is an entire blog dedicated

to cupcakes?

i had been sad last year when

cupcake blog closed down,

but who would have

guessed that she'd come

back a couple months

ago, to post just one recipe

for a vanilla bean cupcake

with grape cream cheese frosting?

sold.

with blueberries, of course.

as a family we've always been fans

of cream cheese frosting,

and usually the carrot cake that

comes under it (more on that later),

so this seemed perfect,

and at the very least,

stress-free.

of course until 5:30.

i had sworn up and down

that i was leaving work at 5:30

on the dot, shopping for ingredients

and running home to make them -

i was also planning to make dinner.

but as always happens when there is

a concrete plan, an unexpected meeting

popped up at about 5:25

and before i knew it i was running

to my car with a heavy bag

of groceries and then staring,

shocked at the clock in my car

reading: 7:09. i was still in the

parking lot.

i think the clock

was mocking me.

i ran in the house

yelling frantic orders at larry,

muffin pans!

cupcake liners!

flour!

butter...softened!

he stood there watching

the flurry unfold around him,

no doubt wishing he were

somewhere else.

i simmered the blueberries,

transfered them to a strainer

set over a bowl and yelled -

i'd like to say i didn't yell, but...

anyway, i yelled,

here's a fork, press out all

the juices, all of them,

every last drop.

baking is my favorite thing

to do, but often it ends up

turning me into a bit

of a crazy person and larry,

into an exhausted sous chef.

meanwhile, i sliced open

one of my precious vanilla beans,

coincidentally a gift from

colleen - one that i had been

too scared to waste on

something not worth it,

and scraped out the fragrant

specks.

with larry's help,

the thick batter was made in no

time and quickly scooped

into the lined wells.

they were in the oven fast -

so fast that maybe i forgot

to take a picture -

and i set to work making the frosting.

after whisking together

the cream cheese and butter,

i started adding in the sugar,

but stopped when it was sweet

and thick enough for me. as i

drizzled in

the blueberry syrup,

i debated whether or not to watch,

but i needn't have worried,

the frosting turned a vibrant

purple, not a weird grey

like i had feared.

i tossed it in the fridge

to firm up, pulled

the cupcakes out of the

oven and looked at the clock.

9:30.

how?

i don't know.

it had felt like we were moving

at crazy fast speeds.

but maybe if we rolled the tape

back we would watch all the

movements we remembered,

just

in slow motion.

i apologized to larry for the lack

of dinner before thinking, um,

cupcakes are not an excuse.

so while they cooled,

i finally found the chance and reason

to make this

10 minute recipe (including slicing)

that i've been

meaning to try. topped with

an egg it was a welcome,

if not harried dinner.

after, i quickly piped the frosting

onto the cakes,

having just enough to cover

them all,

set them into the carrier

and gladly,

put them in the fridge.

we showed up at the restaurant

the next night with cupcakes,

which had

survived their trip down

and suffered only in a small

softening of frosting.

i had a cake plate in my hands,

that i kept with me the

whole meal, but it turns out,

i should not have bothered.

the waitress brought out

the carrier,

with all 18 cupcakes aglow.

it was quite a site.

once all the candles were blown out

and the cakes distributed,

i held my breath, aware,

ready and waiting for

whatever possible reactions

came my way.

but they were good.

the cake, very moist and dense,

boasted a healthy vanilla flavor

and the specks of vanilla beans

to go with it. i like a cake

that doesn't crumble with the

first bite, and this one

fit the bill. the frosting

was pretty traditional,

with just a hint of blueberry

running through the

sweet cream cheese base.

when we were done,

i sent blair home with

the cupcake carrier and we

promised each other that

we would do it again,

same time, same place,

same people,

in exactly one week

for my mom's birthday.

only difference?

the cupcakes.

vanilla bean cupcakes with blueberry cream cheese frosting

adapted from cupcakeblog.com

here's how i tackled this recipe: i made the blueberry syrup first and then while it was cooling, i prepped the batter and baked the cupcakes. that way, by the time i was ready to whip together the frosting, the syrup was cool and ready for me. to frost, i used a large plain tip.

vanilla bean cupcakes

it didn't occur to me until after the cupcakes were in the oven, but i totally changed around the recipe to the way i feel most comfortable baking. all ingredients and proportions stayed the same, but i had mixed up the order. for instance, the original recipe asks you to combine the milk and vanillas, and to whisk together the dry ingredients, once the butter, sugar and eggs have already been beaten. i need to have my mise en place together, so that by the time the eggs have been mixed in, everything else is ready to go.

don't throw out the vanilla bean: bury it in your sugar for a few days, steep it in vodka for a couple months or simmer it with milk for rice pudding.

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 vanilla bean, seeds scraped out

1 cup milk

2 3/4 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 cups sugar

4 large eggs, at room temperature

heat oven to 350˚f. fill 24 muffin wells with cupcake liners. set aside.

stir vanilla extract and seeds from the vanilla bean into milk; mix to combine. set aside.

in bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.

in bowl of electric mixer, beat butter 1 minute. with mixer running on medium speed, add sugar and beat 3 minutes, or until light and fluffy. add eggs one at a time, beating between each until well combined. (i used this method.)

add one-third dry ingredients to butter mixture; using spatula, fold in slightly. beat with mixer 20 seconds, or until just combined. add half milk mixture, stir slightly and beat 10 seconds, or until just combined. repeat twice, finishing with the dry ingredients.

fill wells 2/3 to 3/4 of the way full, smoothing up the tops. bake 22 to 25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center of cupcakes comes out clean, rotating racks after about 12-14 minutes.

let cool in pan on rack 10 minutes; transfer cupcakes to rack. let cool completely.

frost cool cupcakes using a spatula or a piping bag.

blueberry cream cheese frosting

after looking for a recipe for blueberry buttercream to no satisfaction, i realized that the frosting recipe accompanying cupcake blog's vanilla bean cupcakes would be perfect to play with. hers was a grape cream cheese frosting, but i had had my heart set on blueberry for too long (a whole day!) to deviate. plus - it's blueberry season (which makes it all the weirder that i used frozen blueberries. but for some reason, it just made sense). and now that i've tasted the fresh ones that i bought, i'm glad i went with frozen this time around. the frosting is bright purple, with just a hint of berry flavor.

8 ounces frozen blueberries

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 stick (1/2 cup butter), at room temperature

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, at room temperature

2 1/2 - 3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

in small saucepot combine blueberries, sugar and a splash of water. bring blueberries to a simmer and cook for about 5 minutes, mashing ocassionally with the back of a fork, until the mixture is very juicy and slightly syrupy. immediately transfer blueberry mixture to small strainer set over a bowl. press with with back of fork or potato masher to release all liquid possible (make sure to scrape the outside bottom of the strainer, too). let cool. (note: i had just about 3 tablespoons, which is exactly what i wanted so i just added it all in. if this gives you more than 3 tablespoons, use your judgement. or add a little more sugar, below, to accomodate.)

in bowl of electric mixer on medium speed, beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy and completely combined (make sure to scrape bottom of bowl with spatula to ensure that all the butter and cream cheese have been incorporated with each other). sift confectioners' sugar in, folding to combine, then beating after each cup until the mixture reaches a good spreading consistency. add blueberry syrup; beat on medium speed until completely incorporated. adjust sugar if necessary. chill 30 minutes before using to frost cupcakes.