Tonight is really simple for us, so what do I do?... I make dessert. From scratch. Just to give myself a challenge (and Greg a headache hehe. Side note: he hates baking).
Cherry Coke Float Cupcakes:
Things you'll need:
(Sorry for the Christmas colored cupcake liners)
For the cake:
3 cups all purpose flour
6 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups of sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, room temp
2 lg eggs
1 cup butter milk (I will teach you how to make this if you do not have it on hand)
1 1/2 cups or 1 can of Coke (don't use diet)
3 tsp vanilla extract
1 can cherry pie filling
For the glaze:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3-4 tbsp Coke
For the icing:
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
6 tbsp powdered sugar
Maraschino cherries for garnish
For the Cake:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line muffin pans with cupcake liners. Mix together flour, baking soda, salt and cocoa in a bowl and set aside.
In a mixing bowl, combine sugar and butter and beat on medium-high until light and fluffy aka creaming the butter and sugar. Mix in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each and scraping down the sides if needed. In a small bowl, combine buttermilk, Coke and vanilla extract, making sure to let the foam calm down after you mix it in. Foam will do us no good here.
If you do not have buttermilk, do not fret. All you need is 1 cup of milk, whole if you have it, but any kind will do, and 1 tbsp white vinegar. Mix together and voila! buttermilk!
Beginning with the your flour mixture, add to the butter mixture, alternating with the Coke mixture in 4 parts. Beat each addition just until incorporated.
Fill each muffin tin about 2/3 of the way full. If you have an ice cream scoop with the release trigger in it, this works best. All of your cupcakes will be similar in size and with little mess. Bake for 18-20 minutes until the tops spring back when touched lightly and a toothpick inserted in the center cupcake comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes in the pan and then transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely.
Once cooled, use a paring knife to cut out a cone shape in the middle of each cupcake. Add a spoonful of cherry pie filling to each cupcake. You may want to try to chop the cherries up a bit. The whole cherries were a bit hard to fit in each cupcake. Strain and reserve the liquid, give the cherries a quick chop, and then toss them back in the liquid before filling each cupcake. Greg just chopped them with a spoon in a bowl with the juice.
For the Glaze:
Mix together powdered sugar and coke with a whisk in a small bowl until no lumps remain, adding more or less sugar if needed. You want a thicker constancy, one that will glaze the cupcake but not disappear down the sides or into the cupcake. I suggest adding the coke one tbsp at a time or, like me, you will be adding almost twice the amount of powdered sugar. This, by the way, is REALLY frustrating, and the glaze turns out super sweet and tastes mostly of powdered sugar. Trying to save the mix we decided to add more coke to make it thinner and do a really light layer of the glaze. The trick to doing this is using a small amount and a small spoon. The glaze wasn't "Cokey" enough for me or Greg, so in a last ditch effort to have a glaze for the cupcakes we took a can of Coke and concentrated it to about an 1/8 of it's original volume. Simply put the Coke in a sauce pan on a medium heat and let it reduce. You want the liquid to lightly bubble, not boil, or you will burn it (I can't imagine that smelling very good). Once reduced, add a tbsp at a time to your powdered sugar whisking in a small bowl and be sure to smash those lumps out!
For the Icing:
Chill your mixing bowl for 10 to 15 minutes before you are ready to make your icing. Beat the heavy cream and powdered sugar with the whisk attachment or hand mixer on low speed and slowly crank it up to high. Whip the cream until it holds stiff peaks. Using your favorite tip, pipe the whipped cream onto cupcakes and top with maraschino cherries.
If you don't have a piping bag, use a gallon ziplock bag. Put the cream into one corner of the bag and cut off about a 1/2 in. I tried using a spoon to apply the cream like I do with icing, but since the cream is lighter it didn't work, as you can see in the picture.
After it's all said and donem the cupcakes were a hit and had most of us having two (or 3 if you're Jane, and more before bed, I'm certain). Even with the frustration from the damn glaze it was still worth it to listen to the silence as they ate them and the smiles afterward. I think this will be one I have to make again and again.
Cherry Coke Float Cupcakes:
Things you'll need:(Sorry for the Christmas colored cupcake liners)
For the cake:
3 cups all purpose flour
6 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups of sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, room temp
2 lg eggs
1 cup butter milk (I will teach you how to make this if you do not have it on hand)
1 1/2 cups or 1 can of Coke (don't use diet)
3 tsp vanilla extract
1 can cherry pie filling
For the glaze:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3-4 tbsp Coke
For the icing:
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
6 tbsp powdered sugar
Maraschino cherries for garnish
For the Cake:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line muffin pans with cupcake liners. Mix together flour, baking soda, salt and cocoa in a bowl and set aside.
In a mixing bowl, combine sugar and butter and beat on medium-high until light and fluffy aka creaming the butter and sugar. Mix in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each and scraping down the sides if needed. In a small bowl, combine buttermilk, Coke and vanilla extract, making sure to let the foam calm down after you mix it in. Foam will do us no good here.
If you do not have buttermilk, do not fret. All you need is 1 cup of milk, whole if you have it, but any kind will do, and 1 tbsp white vinegar. Mix together and voila! buttermilk!
Beginning with the your flour mixture, add to the butter mixture, alternating with the Coke mixture in 4 parts. Beat each addition just until incorporated.
Fill each muffin tin about 2/3 of the way full. If you have an ice cream scoop with the release trigger in it, this works best. All of your cupcakes will be similar in size and with little mess. Bake for 18-20 minutes until the tops spring back when touched lightly and a toothpick inserted in the center cupcake comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes in the pan and then transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely.
Once cooled, use a paring knife to cut out a cone shape in the middle of each cupcake. Add a spoonful of cherry pie filling to each cupcake. You may want to try to chop the cherries up a bit. The whole cherries were a bit hard to fit in each cupcake. Strain and reserve the liquid, give the cherries a quick chop, and then toss them back in the liquid before filling each cupcake. Greg just chopped them with a spoon in a bowl with the juice.
For the Glaze:
Mix together powdered sugar and coke with a whisk in a small bowl until no lumps remain, adding more or less sugar if needed. You want a thicker constancy, one that will glaze the cupcake but not disappear down the sides or into the cupcake. I suggest adding the coke one tbsp at a time or, like me, you will be adding almost twice the amount of powdered sugar. This, by the way, is REALLY frustrating, and the glaze turns out super sweet and tastes mostly of powdered sugar. Trying to save the mix we decided to add more coke to make it thinner and do a really light layer of the glaze. The trick to doing this is using a small amount and a small spoon. The glaze wasn't "Cokey" enough for me or Greg, so in a last ditch effort to have a glaze for the cupcakes we took a can of Coke and concentrated it to about an 1/8 of it's original volume. Simply put the Coke in a sauce pan on a medium heat and let it reduce. You want the liquid to lightly bubble, not boil, or you will burn it (I can't imagine that smelling very good). Once reduced, add a tbsp at a time to your powdered sugar whisking in a small bowl and be sure to smash those lumps out!
For the Icing:
Chill your mixing bowl for 10 to 15 minutes before you are ready to make your icing. Beat the heavy cream and powdered sugar with the whisk attachment or hand mixer on low speed and slowly crank it up to high. Whip the cream until it holds stiff peaks. Using your favorite tip, pipe the whipped cream onto cupcakes and top with maraschino cherries.
If you don't have a piping bag, use a gallon ziplock bag. Put the cream into one corner of the bag and cut off about a 1/2 in. I tried using a spoon to apply the cream like I do with icing, but since the cream is lighter it didn't work, as you can see in the picture.
After it's all said and donem the cupcakes were a hit and had most of us having two (or 3 if you're Jane, and more before bed, I'm certain). Even with the frustration from the damn glaze it was still worth it to listen to the silence as they ate them and the smiles afterward. I think this will be one I have to make again and again.
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