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Sweet success
May. 29th, 2010 21:46I finally made caramel buttercream icing today. Modifying Martha Stewart's recipe seemed to do the trick; I took copious notes, so I shouldn't have a lot of trouble doing it again. It turned out silky, not really fluffy (I've had one that was much like whipped cream, this is not that). Rich but not greasy, with a light mouthfeel you just can't get with shortening. I have to keep it cool since it is mostly butter, but I think it's worth it.
After that, I pulled some of the proto-cake batter out of the fridge from my previous attempts at icing. I mixed in the dry ingredients and milk to make a stiff batter, then made cupcakes, as they're easy to get rid of. :) I ended up with 28 cupcakes, minus a couple sacrificed for testing purposes, and the icing surprised me by stretching to 26 of them. So I now have a little over two dozen gluten-free, HFCS-free caramel cupcakes.
How are they? Amazing. The cupcakes are quite soft and springy, not dense at all, and not too sweet; they have a slightly sugar-crisp crust from the caramel syrup in the batter. They make oily prints through the cupcake liners (I may see about cutting down on the butter, but they don't taste oily/greasy at all). The icing adds a dark caramel flavor and a little more sweetness, with a satiny finish to complement the crumb of the cupcake. I used salted butter, as I usually do with baked goods, and its quantity and prominence make the iced cupcakes salty-sweet, like the best caramel corn. I'm very, very pleased with how they came out, and it bodes well for the cake I'm making in a couple of weeks.
Some of the cupcakes will be voyaging to Baycon -- get ready,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
elynne!
After that, I pulled some of the proto-cake batter out of the fridge from my previous attempts at icing. I mixed in the dry ingredients and milk to make a stiff batter, then made cupcakes, as they're easy to get rid of. :) I ended up with 28 cupcakes, minus a couple sacrificed for testing purposes, and the icing surprised me by stretching to 26 of them. So I now have a little over two dozen gluten-free, HFCS-free caramel cupcakes.
How are they? Amazing. The cupcakes are quite soft and springy, not dense at all, and not too sweet; they have a slightly sugar-crisp crust from the caramel syrup in the batter. They make oily prints through the cupcake liners (I may see about cutting down on the butter, but they don't taste oily/greasy at all). The icing adds a dark caramel flavor and a little more sweetness, with a satiny finish to complement the crumb of the cupcake. I used salted butter, as I usually do with baked goods, and its quantity and prominence make the iced cupcakes salty-sweet, like the best caramel corn. I'm very, very pleased with how they came out, and it bodes well for the cake I'm making in a couple of weeks.
Some of the cupcakes will be voyaging to Baycon -- get ready,
elynne!