Aug 24

Vanilla bean cupcakes and a KitchenAid

kitchenaid-christening

This recipe is taken from the Crabapple Bakery Cupcake Cookbook, by Jennifer Graham. It was a book that came up in our work “book club” and I couldn’t pass up a book devoted entirely to cupcakes.  I must confess that I haven’t made many of the recipes – I need an occasion to make cupcakes and they don’t seem to happen too often before you have children!

This is a great, classic cupcake recipe and it was a fantastic way to christen my brand new “Cinnamon” KitchenAid.  The KitchenAid was an indulgence justified by using wedding money/vouchers.  I’m lucky to have married a man who can appreciate the need for a shiny new appliance with the primary purpose of looking good.

I adapted the recipe slightly by using vanilla bean instead of vanilla extract.  I love the look of the speckled vanilla beans in the icing, so I kept the icing white.  I am definitely not a pastry chef – I had so much trouble icing the cakes neatly!

cupcakes
Vanilla Bean Cupcakes
Posted August 24, 2011 by Leah in

Details
  • Prep Time:
    15-20 min
  • Cook Time:
    18-20 min
  • Ready Time:
    33 min

Ingredients

  • 2 3/4 cups Plain flour
  • 2 teaspoons Baking powder
  • 200 grams Softened, unsalted butter
  • 1 3/4 cups Castor sugar
  • 4 Eggs
  • 1 Vanilla bean, beans scraped out
  • 1 cup Milk
  • 100 grams soften, unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup Milk
  • 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract or vanilla bean
  • 4 cups Icing sugar, sifted

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 170*.
  2. Line two muffin trays (12 holes) with cupcake papers.
  3. In a large bowl, sift the flour and baking powder.
  4. In the bowl of your KitchenAid or other mixer cream the butter for 1-2 minutes.
  5. Add the castor sugar 1/3 at a time, beating for 2 minutes after each addition.
  6. After all the sugar is beaten in, continue beating until light and fluffy and the sugar has almost dissolved.  This will take quite a few minutes.
  7. Then, add the eggs one by one.  Beat for 1 minute after each addition, ensuring the egg is well combined and the mixture light and fluffy.
  8. Scrape in your vanilla beans (or add vanilla extract) and beat until combined.
  9. Whilst beating on a low speed, add 1/3 of your flour until combined.
  10. Add half of the milk and beat until combined.
  11. Repeat the process with the remaining flour and milk.
  12. Once the final lot of flour is combined, stop your mixer - be careful not to overmix.
  13. Spoon the mixture into your cupcake papers - you want to fill about 3/4 full.
  14. Bake the cupcakes for 18-20 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.
  15. Remove the cupcakes from the oven and then remove from the trays immediately so they don't continue cooking in the pan.
  16. Cool cupcakes on a wire rack for 30 minutes before icing.
  17. To make your icing, cream 100g of softened, unsalted butter for 1-2 minutes.
  18. Add 1/4 cup milk, more vanilla beans/vanilla extract and 2 cups of sifted icing sugar.
  19. Beat for at least 3 minutes until light and fluffy.
  20. Add the remaining 2 cups of sifted icing sugar and beat for another 3 minutes until light and fluffy.  You want the mixture to be spreadable without being liquidy - add more milk or icing sugar if needed to get the consistency right.
  21. Ice your cupcakes, decorating as desired.
24.08.11 | Of: , , | In: Uncategorized | 2 comments

May 24

Vanilla bean panna cotta with raspberry coulis

This is only my second foray into the world of panna cotta, and as I am a novice when it comes to all things gelatine I took a “softly softly” approach.  This recipe is actually terribly simple, but it does require some patience in waiting for the gelatine to dissolve.  It is very important not to boil the gelatine or else you’ll end up with clumps that don’t taste particularly appetising.

This is a cheat’s version of raspberry coulis – you simply heat some frozen raspberries with some sugar (in the microwave works perfectly well!) until they soften and blend together.  I really love the visual contrast of the bright red raspberry sauce with the cream panna cotta, speckled with vanilla bean seeds.  The panna cotta was appropriately “wobbly”, and it slipped easily down the throat.  The vanilla bean was strong and added so much additional flavour – far superior to vanilla essence (not that I’m knocking vanilla essence – it certainly has its place!).

pannacotta
Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta
Posted May 24, 2010 by Leah in Posted In:
You can vary the spices - for instance, the original recipe used cloves and vanilla essence. You could always infuse with a bit of cinnamon and ginger or nutmeg - the choice is yours! You could also serve with fruit of your choice - figs and honey is a classic combination for a reason!

Cuisines:
Details
  • Prep Time:
    20 min
  • Ready Time:
    20 min

Ingredients

  • 1 whole Vanilla bean
  • 300 mls Thickened cream
  • 2/3 cup Milk
  • 2 tsps Gelatine
  • 2 tbsps Caster sugar
  • 1 handful Raspberries (frozen are fine)
  • 1-2 tsp Sugar

Directions

  1. Grease 4-6 ramekins with butter.
  2. Scrape vanilla bean seeds into a small saucepan, add cream and milk and pop in the vanilla bean pod.  Stir to combine.
  3. Stand the cream mixture for 10 minutes - this allows all the flavours to infuse.
  4. Sprinkle gelatine and sugar over the cream mixture.
  5. Turn the stove onto low and stir the cream mixture steadily until the gelatine and sugar dissolve.  It is very important not to boil - better to take a long time than to ruin it with impatience!  You can tell when they are dissolve as the little lumps of gelatine will be gone when you look at the mixture on a spoon.
  6. Pour the mixture evenly into the prepared rammekins.  Allow to cool to room temperature.
  7. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 3 hours, or until set.  You can leave overnight without any problems.
  8. Prepare the raspberry coulis - just a handful of raspberries with a teaspoon or so of sugar (to taste), and warm until the berries break down.
  9. You can serve the panna cotta in the ramekins if you wish, but for a bit of elegance, tip them out onto a plate and drizzle the raspberry coulis around.  To extract more easily from the ramekins, try running a warm knife around the rim.  I also found it helpful to keep the knife in on one side while tipping onto the plate, as this counteracts the suction effect.
24.05.10 | Of: , , | In: Food | One comment