Chocolate Buttermilk Cupcakes with Light Cream Cheese Glaze 27Apr09

Well, tonight was a slight failure.  I still don’t have an electric mixer so tonight’s frosting proved incredibly difficult. I’ve made frosting before without a mixer and it turned out fine but cream cheese is a difficult one! I’m a bit disappointed but the “frosting” ended up being a really good glaze, especially with sprinkles on top.

I actually prefer less frosting on my cupcakes… most of the time I scrape it off! And in keeping with my “health” kick… I used extra light cream cheese. I thought it would be easier to whisk but I think it might have affected the thickness. Oh well, light cream cheese glaze it is! Thick enough to hold as a glaze, perfect amount of sweetness to go with the yummy moist cupcake. Mmmmm.

So this cupcake recipe is from Martha. Didn’t really alter it at all, minus the whole no mixer, extra light cream cheese fiasco.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup of all purpose flour
3/4 cup of sugar
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of baking powder
6 tablespoons of cocoa powder
6 tablespoons of buttermilk
3 tablespoons of melted butter
1 egg + 1 egg white
1 cup of confectioners sugar
6 tablespoons of light cream cheese

Preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C.

Step 1: Mixing!
In a bowl, mix together the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Now set that aside. In a large mixing bowl, put in the cocoa powder and mix with 2-3 tablespoons of hot water into a paste. Add in the butter, mix. Add in the buttermilk, mix. Add in the eggs, mix some more. Now whisk in the flour mixture from before.

Step 2: Bake!
Line cupcake trays with paper liners and fill with the mixture about 2/3 full. I used muffin trays and mini muffin trays. I like the little ones Now bake for 20 minutes at 350°F or 180°C. Check to see if they’re done by poking a toothpick in the center of a cupcake and if it comes out clean, they’re done! Let it cool completely on a cooling rack before frosting, oops I mean glazing.

Step 3: The glaze!
So if you have an electric mixer, go ahead and whisk together the cream cheese and the confectioners sugar for a few minutes until light and fluffy. That’s if you want frosting. Now for a slightly different version, don’t use the mixer! Whisk together the cream cheese and confectioners sugar for as long as your arm can handle and place in the fridge for about 10 minutes. Dip the cooled cupcakes (top side in) or use a knife to spread it on and there it is! You can dip it in sprinkles or put some decorations on top. Make sure to refrigerate so it solidifies!

Okay so this may not have been the best baking experiment but it was nice to know that everything ended up tasting great. I mean that’s all that really matters anyway right?!

*update*
I have entered this recipe in Gourmetgirlmagazine.com 2009 Virtual Cupcake Crawl! Voting starts July 20th, go vote for my cupcake!

Posted by: Maggie Ha
Category: baking, food, mmmm, recipes
Tags: baking, chocolate, cooking, cupcakes, food, recipe, recipes, sweets

This entry was posted on Monday, April 27th, 2009 at 12:00 am and is filed under baking, food, mmmm, recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.