Cooking Lesson (White Wedding Cake Cupcakes)
So I learned an important cooking lesson today: TAKE PICTURES!!!
Man...if I could only remember that one simple thing.
It was my jazz and contemporary teacher's birthday today, so I figured I would make her a cake. However, it ended up being cupcakes, but that's alright. They're the same thing. So I completely forgot that I forgot a blog. For just like a few hours. I know. How could I? It's practically a crime. I almost arrested myself. But I completely forgot about my pioneer style cooking promise to myself. The promise being that I would make all my recipe entries Pioneer Woman style. But! The reason why I didn't arrest myself: I remembered halfway through! Aka, once the cupcakes were cooked and I was making the icing. But hey. At least I have some pictures. So don't go hating me just yet. So the recipe I have today is an actual recipe! Hooray for my first actual recipe!!
So for today's dessert menu was a batter that I found on none other than my best friend: Pinterest. Yes. I am addicted to Pinterest. All thanks to my wonderful sister-in-law Steph =]
Anyways I found these babies, and knew I had to make them at some point. So: perfect timing for Felicia's birthday. These are "White Wedding Cake Cupcakes". Yes I know. You're already drooling.
First thing's first: The ingredients.
-1 (18.25 ounce) box of white cake mix (The suggested kind was Duncan Hines "moist" white cake mix; I used a classic white mix since there were no "moist white cake mixes" and it tasted perfectly fine)
-1 cup all-purpose flour
-1 cup granulated white sugar
-3/4 teaspoon salt (literally I never follow the salt ingredients. I always just throw a dash in)
-1 1/3 cup water
-2 Tablespoons vegetable or canola oil (I used vegetable)
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-1 cup sour cream
-4 large egg whites
As usual, the first step is preheating the oven. In this case; to 325 F (I have no idea how to do the 'degrees' mark) and then lining the cupcake sheets with the little liners. (which I actually didn't do until the batter was made.)
Next, in a large bowl (I just used my standing mixer with the whisk) whisk together the cake mix, flour, sugar, and salt. Then add the rest of the ingredients in, and it said to beat with a hand mixer for two minutes, but I literally just used the whisk on the standing mixer and it worked just as well. I know. I'm so lazy.
Next, you fill up the cupcake liners, and stick 'em in the oven for about 18 minutes. Mine always ended up being more around 20 minutes. But just to make sure, whip out those toothpicks people!
(Here's where I started taking pictures-well not really. but I have a picture to show you my cupcakes that were baked (again, I don't have a good camera at this moment, so don't mind it if my pictures are poor quality. I'm doing my best with what I got))
Tada!!! Awwe. Little baby ones. It's actually a good thing I made baby ones. They're like those pop 'em donuts. So convenient.
Next is the icing. This was an adventure and a half. I really wished I had taken pictures of the huge mess I made with this. I think you should be able to tell by the ingredients:
-3 cups powdered sugar
-1 cup butter (room temp. also says to not substitute for margarine or shortening)
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-1 to 2 Tablespoons whipping cream
Now you're probably looking at that going, "...well. that doesn't seem too bad. I don't know what her problem is." These are the ingredients for icing for 12 cupcakes. The cake batter yields 36 cupcakes. So. I had to triple the ingredients. Which I probably could have been fine doubling it; regardless I tripled it. And let me tell you...it was a mess. Nine cups of powdered sugar is alot to handle. And on top of that 3 cups of butter?? That you have to cream together?? Not an easy task. Anyways, here's the instructions.
First you have to cream the sugar and butter. (Literally that's the description they gave you.) I guessed what that meant. First I used the hand mixer in a huge bowl so I wouldn't spill it everywhere. Which I did anyways. Then I transferred it over to the standing mixer, and it ended up "creaming" itself. Which ends up looking like this:
Or something like that. Next you add in the vanilla:
Then the cream:
Yes. I went full on Pioneer Woman at this point.
Then you mix, mix, mix, adding more cream if need be, until it ends up looking something like this:
Look at that. Silky smooth sugary-goodness.
And after that, you apply the icing onto the cupcakes. They said to use those fancy bags that are used for making cool shaped icing patterns and what not, but I didn't have any of those so I used the good ol' 'plastic bag with the cut corner' trick. It worked perfectly fine. Well...
Kind of.
But what can you say? Some turn out great:
Some...are less fortunate...
And some have the icing put on them wayy too quickly due to the baker's eagerness to get the stinkin' cupcakes done after taking forever to make billions of batches...
This was really unfortunate. Not gonna lie. But what's fortunate is that I have a sister who was sitting around. mwahahaha. Yes. I made her eat these ones. Honestly, I didn't think she would eat both of them. But. Apparently she liked them.
Regardless of the fact that some look great and some...don't...they were really sugary. And what's best with a sugary dessert?
Why, a glass of milk of course!
After enjoying one of my creations with a glass of milk (that may or may not have been a little on the sour side), I realized that my work was not yet done. I still had the most important part left. The part that I have recently discovered (Thanks to my parents constant antics) is the way to true chef-hood.
Cleaning up.
Yes that's right. The worst part is the best part. Even though I had no desire to clean up after myself, I knew that I would feel fantastic after I was done, and what do you know. I felt just that.
Look at that beauty of a kitchen counter. The far side looks messy, but I promise you it's not. This was a perfect time of the day to make cupcakes by the way. The sunlight was perfect for the pictures.
Well there you have it. My creation of the day. It was all worth it, and Felicia was quite happy to eat her cupcakes. Overall, this day was a success. I made some great cupcakes, learned a very important lesson, and then went to dance and danced off the sugar. Thus is how life should be like every day.
Well if you want the "professional" recipes to these, here are the links:
Cake Recipe
Icing Recipe
Man...if I could only remember that one simple thing.
It was my jazz and contemporary teacher's birthday today, so I figured I would make her a cake. However, it ended up being cupcakes, but that's alright. They're the same thing. So I completely forgot that I forgot a blog. For just like a few hours. I know. How could I? It's practically a crime. I almost arrested myself. But I completely forgot about my pioneer style cooking promise to myself. The promise being that I would make all my recipe entries Pioneer Woman style. But! The reason why I didn't arrest myself: I remembered halfway through! Aka, once the cupcakes were cooked and I was making the icing. But hey. At least I have some pictures. So don't go hating me just yet. So the recipe I have today is an actual recipe! Hooray for my first actual recipe!!
So for today's dessert menu was a batter that I found on none other than my best friend: Pinterest. Yes. I am addicted to Pinterest. All thanks to my wonderful sister-in-law Steph =]
Anyways I found these babies, and knew I had to make them at some point. So: perfect timing for Felicia's birthday. These are "White Wedding Cake Cupcakes". Yes I know. You're already drooling.
First thing's first: The ingredients.
-1 (18.25 ounce) box of white cake mix (The suggested kind was Duncan Hines "moist" white cake mix; I used a classic white mix since there were no "moist white cake mixes" and it tasted perfectly fine)
-1 cup all-purpose flour
-1 cup granulated white sugar
-3/4 teaspoon salt (literally I never follow the salt ingredients. I always just throw a dash in)
-1 1/3 cup water
-2 Tablespoons vegetable or canola oil (I used vegetable)
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-1 cup sour cream
-4 large egg whites
As usual, the first step is preheating the oven. In this case; to 325 F (I have no idea how to do the 'degrees' mark) and then lining the cupcake sheets with the little liners. (which I actually didn't do until the batter was made.)
Next, in a large bowl (I just used my standing mixer with the whisk) whisk together the cake mix, flour, sugar, and salt. Then add the rest of the ingredients in, and it said to beat with a hand mixer for two minutes, but I literally just used the whisk on the standing mixer and it worked just as well. I know. I'm so lazy.
Next, you fill up the cupcake liners, and stick 'em in the oven for about 18 minutes. Mine always ended up being more around 20 minutes. But just to make sure, whip out those toothpicks people!
(Here's where I started taking pictures-well not really. but I have a picture to show you my cupcakes that were baked (again, I don't have a good camera at this moment, so don't mind it if my pictures are poor quality. I'm doing my best with what I got))
Next is the icing. This was an adventure and a half. I really wished I had taken pictures of the huge mess I made with this. I think you should be able to tell by the ingredients:
-3 cups powdered sugar
-1 cup butter (room temp. also says to not substitute for margarine or shortening)
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-1 to 2 Tablespoons whipping cream
Now you're probably looking at that going, "...well. that doesn't seem too bad. I don't know what her problem is." These are the ingredients for icing for 12 cupcakes. The cake batter yields 36 cupcakes. So. I had to triple the ingredients. Which I probably could have been fine doubling it; regardless I tripled it. And let me tell you...it was a mess. Nine cups of powdered sugar is alot to handle. And on top of that 3 cups of butter?? That you have to cream together?? Not an easy task. Anyways, here's the instructions.
First you have to cream the sugar and butter. (Literally that's the description they gave you.) I guessed what that meant. First I used the hand mixer in a huge bowl so I wouldn't spill it everywhere. Which I did anyways. Then I transferred it over to the standing mixer, and it ended up "creaming" itself. Which ends up looking like this:
Then you mix, mix, mix, adding more cream if need be, until it ends up looking something like this:
And after that, you apply the icing onto the cupcakes. They said to use those fancy bags that are used for making cool shaped icing patterns and what not, but I didn't have any of those so I used the good ol' 'plastic bag with the cut corner' trick. It worked perfectly fine. Well...
But what can you say? Some turn out great:
Regardless of the fact that some look great and some...don't...they were really sugary. And what's best with a sugary dessert?
After enjoying one of my creations with a glass of milk (that may or may not have been a little on the sour side), I realized that my work was not yet done. I still had the most important part left. The part that I have recently discovered (Thanks to my parents constant antics) is the way to true chef-hood.
Cleaning up.
Yes that's right. The worst part is the best part. Even though I had no desire to clean up after myself, I knew that I would feel fantastic after I was done, and what do you know. I felt just that.
Well there you have it. My creation of the day. It was all worth it, and Felicia was quite happy to eat her cupcakes. Overall, this day was a success. I made some great cupcakes, learned a very important lesson, and then went to dance and danced off the sugar. Thus is how life should be like every day.
Well if you want the "professional" recipes to these, here are the links:
Cake Recipe
Icing Recipe
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