cupcake woes
I can not seem to make cupcakes right. Every time I make them, the frosting is like gravy. the first time, the cupcakes were too hot, the second time I thought i didnt whip the frosting enough, so I bought an electric mixer. this time.... i have no clue. they turned out horrible. HORRIBLE! the frosting was just oozing over the side. i bought some nice tips for my frosting bag. but it didnt even matter, because seconds after putting the frosting on the cupcake, it just smoothed out and started oozing over the side. I just kept adding more and more powdered sugar to the frosting to make it thicker. but it didnt matter. I now have TONS of frosting even though i originally only made half of the recipe. michael thinks its because of the humidity. it was 92* today. we didnt have the a/c on, but we did have a ceiling fam on. and its not like I was sweating in our house. what do you think? why cant i make cupcakes.
ITS SO FRUSTRATING!
This is one of the reasons i never bother with icing for cupcakes. I figure a cupcake should be good enough plain.
But mabye putting the cakes in a fridge before frosting for a few minutes. I guess its just takes practice and trials to see what works best
i used the mint icing recipe from vctotw. i even made 3/4 of the recipe and ended up with twice as much. i'm thinking because i kept adding powdered sugar in hopes to make it thicker. and i couldnt pile the icing on so i didnt use as much as i could have.
We always just used powdered sugar and margarine type spread, creamed together, maybe thinned with a bit of "milk", with flavour/colour/chocolate added. But that was in the Midwest, a long time ago.
Yeah, what icing recipie are you using? I do know, that being in WI in the summer I often need to add more sugar to get the same thickness that I use in the winter, the heat makes the butter more liquid, and the extra hummidity dosen't help. Also, the cakes have to be completely cool, if its hot, maybe even in the fridge to be a little extra cool, and after I frost I usually store cakes in the fridge in summer because they get "wilted" and very saggy if I don't, but in the winter, no problem to leave them on the counter.
Try the basic buttercream recipe from VCTOTW. Make sure your cuppers are completely cool. Stick em in the fridge if you have to! When you put the cuppers in the oven to bake, put the marg and shortening in a bowl to soften. You should never, ever, ever, ever microwave these for this step! Once your cuppers have cooled (3-4 hours or 2 with fridge time) make your frosting. 1 EB stick is half a cup of margarine. Same for their shortening sticks. Be sure you measure properly if you are using tubs!
Beat the room temp sticks together until they look well incorporated and seem slightly fluffy, with a few peaks easily made. Put the correct total amount of sugar in a separate bowl and add it to the fats in 1/2 cup increments. Let me tell you now that the first step of that last sentence is the important one. It sucks royally when you flounder at what 1/2cup portion you are on from a bag! If you know you should add the whole bowl full then you are one step ahead. Alternate sugar with the liquids the recipe calls for, so add in sugar, beat a moment, drizzle in a tablespoon of the nondairy milk, beat until incorporated fully, scrape the sides of the bowl and any unbeaten sugar into the middle, beat, add sugar, repeat all the steps.
Once you have everything the recipe calls for in the bowl and well incorporated, looking respectable, beat the hell out of it. The frosting will actually change its shade of color from a rather creamy white to a brighter white or a dark chocolate to a lighter chocolate. I believe that is the sugar becoming evenly distributed (think molecule wise) in the fats. This is so important because otherwise it is not fluffy. It can take about 3 minutes with a stand mixer.
Plop all your frosting into a piping bag or ziploc bag. I use a large plastic cup and put my bag into it with the ends folded over the lip of the cup. It makes it easier to get it all in without juggling so you can scrape that bowl clean! Now you can use this on your very cool cupcakes and put the leftovers in a zip bag in the fridge for the next batch.
as someone that decorates a lot of cakes and cupcakes I will confirm the heat and humidity probably played a part in the soupy frosting... but I have also found that some of the frosting recipes in vctotw call for too much liquid.
Also I agree with everything cali said. ;)b
Try the basic buttercream recipe from VCTOTW. Make sure your cuppers are completely cool. Stick em in the fridge if you have to! When you put the cuppers in the oven to bake, put the marg and shortening in a bowl to soften. You should never, ever, ever, ever microwave these for this step! Once your cuppers have cooled (3-4 hours or 2 with fridge time) make your frosting. 1 EB stick is half a cup of margarine. Same for their shortening sticks. Be sure you measure properly if you are using tubs!
Beat the room temp sticks together until they look well incorporated and seem slightly fluffy, with a few peaks easily made. Put the correct total amount of sugar in a separate bowl and add it to the fats in 1/2 cup increments. Let me tell you now that the first step of that last sentence is the important one. It sucks royally when you flounder at what 1/2cup portion you are on from a bag! If you know you should add the whole bowl full then you are one step ahead. Alternate sugar with the liquids the recipe calls for, so add in sugar, beat a moment, drizzle in a tablespoon of the nondairy milk, beat until incorporated fully, scrape the sides of the bowl and any unbeaten sugar into the middle, beat, add sugar, repeat all the steps.
Once you have everything the recipe calls for in the bowl and well incorporated, looking respectable, beat the hell out of it. The frosting will actually change its shade of color from a rather creamy white to a brighter white or a dark chocolate to a lighter chocolate. I believe that is the sugar becoming evenly distributed (think molecule wise) in the fats. This is so important because otherwise it is not fluffy. It can take about 3 minutes with a stand mixer.
Plop all your frosting into a piping bag or ziploc bag. I use a large plastic cup and put my bag into it with the ends folded over the lip of the cup. It makes it easier to get it all in without juggling so you can scrape that bowl clean! Now you can use this on your very cool cupcakes and put the leftovers in a zip bag in the fridge for the next batch.
Cali is right on. Beat the hell out of your frosting. I followed her advice when I made the Cookies N' Cream cupcakes, using the Buttercream frosting recipe, from VCTOTW for Easter for my first time. The frosting came out sweet, fluffy and held well. I have leftover frosting in the refrigerator for my next batch of cupcakes. Thanks again, Cali.
as someone that decorates a lot of cakes and cupcakes I will confirm the heat and humidity probably played a part in the soupy frosting... but I have also found that some of the frosting recipes in vctotw call for too much liquid.
Also I agree with everything cali said. ;)b
i asked one of my coworkers today and looking at the recipe she said that there was too much liquid. i also did not beat the hell out of it like cali said. haha. i should have kept going. i also didnt whip the shortening until it was fluffy. and the humidity might have played a part. ok. i'll just have to keep making cupcakes until i get it right : )
thanks so much for your help!!! one of these days i'll get it right.
You'll get it, honey. It took me about 4 tries to achieve decent hummus. Now I can't stop making that stuff.
Its really all practice. Once you see the marg and shortening fluffy it should click and you know next time to get it to that. Same with the beating the hell out of it. Once you see it change colors you will go "Ah Ha!" and know how long to beat it next time or what you are looking for.
Honestly, I never measure my liquids. I drizzle it in by scant tablespoon per 1/2 cup sugar. Since I know what I want it to look and taste like, I just shoot for that ideal in my head. So honestly, maybe one time I made it with the proper measurements, but now, its all by how I feel about what it looks like in the bowl.