This New Year, we keep it cool and simple : inviting a couple of friends over and have this (hopefully) great dinner.
HoneyLove is taking care of the Salty Course, while I volunteered for the Sugary Course (go figure).
Because New Year’s dinner is one big giant calory fest, I thought it would be nice to have mini sweet things to plunge out teeth into. And so Mini Cupcakes Party was on!
Ok just to make things clear : it’s not because they are mini, that they are easy. Mini is complicated. It takes extra time! And patience. Especially when you bake at night like I do most of the time. I have really learned the value of sleeping at night. We do need sleep for a reason! I have experienced Mini Cupcakes Revenge of The Sweetness.
Just because they are sweet also doesn’t mean they are cute. I felt like I had some sort of curse. Let me narrate you my Mini Tale:
Ok first : I lost my frosting piping bag coupler. And so the frosting part was awful : my chocolate frosting literally exploded on top of the mini cupcakes patiently waiting to receive their final look. As I was moaning and trying to find a solution, HoneyLove started coming in the kitchen and as he saw my desperation, did the only thing any modern and sensible man would do : he fled.
Then, as I was putting my Bourbon vanilla and raspberry frosting minies in the fridge, the plate caught in the fridge’s inner rim and they toppled on one another. There they were. All comfortably smudged. At that point I must say that I considered taking the whole mini cupcakes leftovers and throw them out of the window. Alongside my useless couplerless frosting bag.
But I persevered, and just felt like it was some sort of Cupcakes God’s way of testing my patience and commitment. Or maybe because I was attempting a mini version of something which isn’t supposed to be mini in the Sugar Law Of Sweet Things.
Here are the ingredients for these devilish cuties:
Vanilla Cupcake Base
12 cupcakes (so like 36 mini cupcakes. I ended up with 46…)
- 1 1/2 cups (190 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup (100 grams) sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick or 113 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup (113 grams) sour cream
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
I have actually baked mine using my chocolate silicone moulds and they worked great! i baked them at 180 degrees for 5 minutes or so.
Vanilla Frosting base
- 300 g of philadelphia creme cheese
- 120g of icing sugar
- 60g of butter (soft)
- 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
For this particular series I made 3 different frostings and gave them little names (I get pretty emotional when it comes to baking):
- Le Breton : Caramel beurre salé
- Le Royal : Vanilla Bourbon & Pear
- Le Festif : Dark chocolate with cinannmon
You can have fun and add anything you want with this frosting base! You can also give them cute names.
Wishing you a great new Year and see you in 2016!
PS : You might ask yourself how I manage to frost the cupcakes? Of course you ask yourself that question. Well, I just cut off the tip of a plastic frosting piping bag and voila! The MacGyver of Cupcakes.
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Croque La Lune 