A step-by-step Italian Meringue Buttercream tutorial! NOW with a video!!! It is the smoothest and creamiest of all the buttercreams! You will love it on cakes, cupcakes and more! Plus it’s easier than you think! In culinary school we made 5 different types of buttercream, but Italian Meringue Buttecream is my favorite! It has a lighter texture and taste than Swiss Meringue and German; it doesn’t taste like pure butter like French Buttercream; and it isn’t saccharine, tooth-achingly sweet like an American Buttercream.
Over the past 2 months, I’ve made this buttercream a lot.
A lot. I dream about cutting a cake in three perfect layers and then frosting it.
And not in a good way. It’s more of a nightmare really.
Italian meringue buttercream (IMB) seems complicated at first; it’s definitely the most sophisticated of its peers. Simply put, it is made by whipping egg whites to stiff peaks while simultaneously cooking sugar to the soft ball stage; you then slowly pour the sugar into the whipping egg whites; and, finally, add butter.
A whole lotta butter.
They don’t call it buttercream for nothin’.
I love this frosting because it is light and airy but simultaneously rich and creamy. It is also magically stable and will keep for months in the freezer! So stable, in fact, if you think you totally messed it up, take heart, it’s probably totally fixable!
One of these days I’ll shoot a video tutorial for you on IMB and also Swiss Meringue, because they are really not as complicated as they seem. For now, I shot a step-by-step photo tutorial, which is kind of a big deal. I’ve never done that before!
The Best Death by Chocolate Cupcakes are double chocolate cake, filled with a German’s chocolate ganache and topped with a decadent chocolate butter cream. They certainly bring big BOLD chocolate flavors! Chocolate craving crushed!
People who have spent 20 minutes with me know that I am a chocoholic.
I carry chocolate in my purse.
I even travel with my own chocolate stash, because I don’t trust that my destination will have quality dark chocolate or my favorite milk chocolate.
In preparation for tomorrow’s NYC Snowpocalypse I purchased Lindt dark chocolate with sea salt along with my milk and bread. {Umm…it’s a staple.}
Sometimes a handful of bittersweet chocolate chips is all it takes to satisfy, but sometimes chocolate overload is in order. Enter the BEST Death by Chocolate Cupcakes.
If you are “meh” on chocolate, these cupcakes aren’t for you – you should probably just check out these caramel ones or my Peach Crisp Cupcakes.
But if you like your chocolate dark and in vast quantities, stick around because these cupcakes are going to rock your chocolate-loving world!
A soft, moist double chocolate cake is filled with a rich German’s chocolate ganache filling (you know I had to fill it!) and then all topped with THE BEST dark chocolate buttercream that I have ever had.
Oh the buttercream! It is rich and moosey but still silky smooth. I beat the frosting quite a bit to incorporate more air, because the last thing you want on a rich, chocolate cupcake is a dense, heavy frosting. But it is so sinfully good, you will want to eat it straight from the bowl!
An easy, finger-food dessert that is perfect for parties, barbecues, or just Friday Night. A thin layer of milk chocolate ganache is spread onto Graham crackers and topped with homemade marshmallow frosting!
Easiest cooked frosting ever. Seriously cannot believe how fast this was and how little work I actually had to do to make it. That’s my kind of frosting! And making it gives you free license to torch things!
It’s like I missed my calling as a welder or something.
When my husband and I were in Chicago last week, we took a little evening trip to Richardson’s Farm, which is home to the largest corn maze in the world. Yes, the whole world.
We did the whole shebang: took a tracker ride, braved the corn maze, ate some kettle corn, climbed a tower and watched some teenagers shine super powerful lights on people in the maze (hi-larious, btw), drank some hot cider, ate some more kettle corn, and warmed ourselves beside a campfire.
What was this idyllic little scene missing? S’mores. (Obvi.)
Before I had time to fully lament our lack of forethought, my husband was off to a neighboring campsite to commandeer us a s’more. {Just kidding, he asked politely.}
One lone s’more between the two of us.
And it was AWESOME.
We smelled like a campfire for weeks but it was totally worth it for that little shared bit of melty, marshmallowy happiness.
These Homemade Marshmallow Frosting Smores Sticks are my tribute. Nothing competes with a campfire s’more (except maybe these smores crumble bars) but these little S’mores Sticks come close.
Moist pumpkin cupcakes studded with toasted pecans and topped with a sweet and creamy Maple Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting!
Back to my kitchen! Back to Fall baking!! Squee!!
Who’s tired of pumpkin? Bloggers keep asking that. I could never get tired of pumpkin! I wait all year to bake anything and everything with pumpkin. I would go so far as to say that I hoard pumpkin just in case there is a shortage like several years ago.
Do you remember that? Little pumpkin lovin’ hearts were breaking all over the USofA. Sadness.
So in light of a possible shortage, I say bake away!
The smell of warm cinnamon spiced pumpkin baking in the kitchen is my happy place.
Come to think of it, pretty much all cupcakes are my happy place.
If you love maple half as much as I do, you will swoon over this Maple Caramel Cream Cheese frosting. It is the stuff of legends.
A silky, decadent maple cream cheese frosting made with my salted Maple Caramel Sauce. A little tang of the cream cheese mixed with a sweet maple caramel is the perfect topping for the spiced pumpkin cupcakes! A little crunch from the toasted pecans and you have yourself an awesome Fall cupcake!
Swiss Meringue Buttercream has been on my culinary bucketlist for months now, because someone told me it was difficult. Well, I don’t know about you, but to me that sounded like a challenge and I don’t like to back down to challenges! A nice flavorful Vanilla Bean Swiss Meringue Buttercream seemed like an excellent place to start!
Swiss Meringue Buttercream is a gift from the culinary gods! It is sweet but not overly sweet like American Buttercreams can be and it is so light that it practically melts in your mouth. Its silky, creamy texture is unparalleled. Both the Husband and I were very impressed!
The texture and delicate sweetness allow other flavors to shine. This Vanilla Bean SMB is bursting with vanilla flavor. It almost tastes like French Vanilla Ice Cream. Magical.
These Double Salted Caramel Cupcakes have a moist vanilla cake, salted caramel filling and a delicious caramel buttercream!
For me Easter conjures up happy memories: Easter egg hunts, dark chocolate bunnies (the bigger, the better), purple sashes on giant crosses, Whopper’s Robin’s Eggs, and fancy hats. Yes, fancy hats (thanks, Mom!)!
This year I can add these Double Salted Caramel Cupcakes to that list because they are fabulous! And salted caramel in cupcakes makes me happy.
Actually, come to think of it, ALL salted caramel makes me happy!
Recalling my happy Easter memories lead me to think about other things that make me happy.
In our High School yearbook there was a page where each senior finished the sentence, “Happiness is…” While some seniors got carried away, I simply said, “Happiness is Chocolate” but I realize now that happiness is so much more than that.
Happiness is finding the one person in the World who perfectly complements me, because, when you think about it, how impossible does that seem? Lucky girl…
Happiness is giving of yourself and your talents to others…
Happiness is becoming lost in a good book…
Happiness is having a library with a spiral staircase and towers upon towers of books (you know, like Beauty and the Beast…do I want too much?)…
Fine, Happiness is ANY library!…
Happiness is being married to a man who can fix anything. Seriously, though, my Husband is like a savant…
Happiness is sinking your hands into homemade bread dough and then watching it bake into a perfect yeasty loaf…
Happiness is an extra hour of sunlight after the longest, coldest Winter EVER…
Happiness is growing closer to Christ…
Happiness is seeing someone overcome with pleasure enjoying a dish or dessert I made…
Happiness is finding the perfect word…
Happiness is Chocolate. Because, let’s be honest, my 17 year old self was on the right track! 😉
And finally (at least for this short list), Happiness is Salted caramel!
These Double Salted Caramel Cupcakes have a moist, vanilla base with a salted caramel filling and a swirl of a sweet caramel butter cream frosting. The frosting is light and fluffy and the cake is generously scented with vanilla. I adapted a Copycat Sprinkles Cupcake recipe for the base, so you know it’s going to be divine!
I had this vision for caramel cupcakes with adorable caramel bird’s nests on top filled with Whopper’s mini Robin’s Eggs. In reality executing on this vision was a Giant Disaster complete with 1st degree burns and a few expletives!
Fortunately, The Husband came to the rescue! Remember how I said above that my Husband can fix anything? I wasn’t lying. He swooped into the kitchen, declared that my ruined caramel could still make my beautiful bird’s nests just as I imagined, and he created an ingenious collapsible aluminum foil ball that the caramel could be drizzled over and then easily removed when cooled. I kid you not – he thought of these magic collapsable balls shotgun in our tiny, galley kitchen while I nursed my burned hand and wounded pride. {Ok, I was making the nests, but my pride was still wounded….grrr caramel}
So this post is devoted to Easter, Double Salted Caramel Cupcakes and Happiness.
Double Salted Caramel Cupcakes {and thoughts on Happiness}
Yield: 24 Cupcakes
A Salted Caramel lover's dream! A moist vanilla cupcake is filled with the best salted caramel and topped with a rich caramel butter cream frosting! Adorably decorated for Easter!!
Ingredients
For the Cupcakes:
¾ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
½ teaspoon almond extract
1 ¼ cups sour cream, room temperature
2 ½ cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon kosher salt
For the Frosting:
1 cup butter, softened
3 cups confectioner sugar
2 teaspoons cream
½ - 2/3 cups cooled salted caramel
The recipe for the Salted Caramel used as the filling and in the frosting can be found here
Instructions
For the cupcakes:
Preheat the oven to 350°. Line 2 muffin tins with 24 cupcake liners.
Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a medium bowl and set aside.
Cream butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating to combine after each addition.
Add vanilla, sour cream and almond extract, beating until just combined.
Reduced the mixer speed to low and stir in the flour in several additions. Remove the bowl from the mixer and stir the last bit of flour in with a spatula until just combined. Do not over mix.
Scoop batter into cupcake liners and bake in preheated oven for 14-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few clinging crumbs.
Allow to cool completely before icing.
Cut a small hole in each cupcake and fill with prepared caramel sauce.
For the Frosting:
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar on medium-high speed until combined, then add cream and continue to beat until light and fluffy. Slowly pour caramel into frosting and beat until combined. Taste as you go! Pipe or spread onto your cooled cupcakes.
For the Nests:
My nests were not edible because the caramel was burnt, but I actually quite liked the color contrast.
Create hollow balls of aluminum foil, gathered at one end to form a “handle”. Place a wire cooling rack over a sheet of aluminum foil. Spray balls liberally with cooking spray.
Combine 2 cups sugar and ½ cup water in a large, heavy bottomed sauce pan over medium-high heat, stirring or whisking until sugar dissolves. Cook to a hard crack (310°) over medium-high heat, swirling the pot occasionally then place pot in a large bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process.
Drizzle caramel over aluminum foil balls. Place the balls on the rack using the “handle” to cool. Gently crush aluminum foil and pull out.
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Brace yourselves. These Reese’s Peanut Butter Blondies are insanely good.
It’s my favorite brown butter blondie recipe with mini Reese’s peanut butter cups, Reese’s peanut butter chips, and Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips folded into the batter. And because that just wasn’t enough, I slathered a thick layer of Reese’s peanut butter icing on top.
I originally created this Lemon Whipped Cream as a compliment to Mary Randolph’s Sweet Potato Pie, but it was so utterly delicious and versatile that I had to share the recipe separately.
This whipped cream is a touch sweeter than my standard whipped cream to balance the lemon zest.
Happy 4th of July!!! Independence Day is one of my favorite holidays. I can’t help but reflect on the courage, vision and fortitude it took to make this Country the paragon of freedom and democracy that it is today. As a Daughter of the American Revolution I feel particularly proud to have ancestors who played an integral part in fighting for our freedom. On July 4th I’m overcome with this sense of pride, which is precisely how you’ll feel after making and serving this Lemon Pound Cake with Fresh Strawberry Icing.
Proud that there isn’t a crumb left over and all your guests are raving about how moist and flavorful it was. The lemon is subtle and the strawberry icing just takes the cake to that next flavor level. It’s a celebration in and of itself.
Another thing I love about this Lemon Pound Cake is that there isn’t a drop of unnatural flavoring or coloring. The pale yellow cake is tinted by lemon, and the sweet, strawberry icing is flavored and colored by fresh strawberries. Warning: You are going to want to eat this icing on EVERYTHING.
It’s my birthday and I’ll eat cake for breakfast if I want to! I figured that since it was my birthday, I would make whatever I wanted. Perfectly reasonable. I briefly toyed with broccoli recipes but settled on Old Fashioned Chocolate Fudge Cake instead. (Just kidding! I always want chocolate cake with chocolate icing for my birthday!)
The recipe for both the Old Fashioned Chocolate Fudge Cake and the most chocolaty chocolate icing that I have ever had come from Maida Heatter’s Book of Great Chocolate Desserts. She is a woman after my own chocolate-loving heart. I was practically giddy while trying to decide which of her 12 chocolate cake recipes to make. I vow to make them all at some point. Yes, all twelve.
I chose this particular chocolate cake for numerous reasons: it has “fudge” in the name; Maida says it is so easy she gave it to an 11 year old; it calls for white vinegar, the addition of which I found intriguing; Maida calls it “Old Fashioned” and I trust her implicitly; and most importantly, there is more unsweetened baking chocolate in this whole recipe than in any other I have found!
In culinary school we made 5 different types of buttercream, but Italian Meringue Buttecream is my favorite! It has a lighter texture and taste than Swiss Meringue and German; it doesn’t taste like pure butter like French Buttercream; and it isn’t saccharine, tooth-achingly sweet like an American Buttercream.
Over the past 2 months, I’ve made this buttercream a lot.
