I have reached the age where not too many people of my acquaintance are getting married anymore - they are either already married, or are divorced and staying far away from formal wedlock. It was therefore a rare occasion worth celebrating when I learned that my colleague, Caroline, was getting married this weekend.
Weddings are another perfect occasion for cake, so as a wedding present of sorts, I made Caroline a dozen cupcakes decorated all in white, wedding stylee. I used the recipe for Lady Tarryn’s Wedding Cakes from The Crabapple Bakery Cupcake Cookbook by Jennifer Graham - really just white chocolate mud cakes. Instead of white chocolate ganache, I frosted the cakes with vanilla flavoured Medallion canned frosting (given to me by my friend E) - it has a nice flavour and sets up quite firm, so it was perfect for these cakes. I also used my new-found skill for making simple fondant roses for the top of the cakes, dressed up with some Edable silver disco glitter.
The biggest trick with the cake batter is that blending the flour with the chocolate mixture is a challenge. I found that even after a good blending, I still had lumps of flour that I just squashed out with a spoon as I found them (or for really big ones, fished out and tossed). In the end, it didn't affect the flavour or texture of the cakes - they turned out light and fluffy and sweet. Also be aware that the batter is very runny, not thick like normal cake batter - don't panic, it works out. I halved the recipe (which makes 24 cakes), but even after halving it, I still got 22 cupcakes, which I slightly overfilled in the tins even then because they all rose over the top of the muffin tin holes - this gave me ragged edges on the top of my cakes because the overflowing bits stuck to the tins, and hence were torn off when I unmoulded the cakes.
I loved the flavour (albeit very sweet) and texture of these cakes - I just need to work on the right level of filling to ensure that the batter doesn't overflow out of the muffin holes in the tin.
To make these cupcakes (24 in a full recipe, or maybe more on my experience), you will need:
4 cups plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
500g chopped butter
2 cups milk
4 cups sugar
300g chopped white chocolate (I used white chocolate melts instead)
4 eggs, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Preheat your oven to 155 degrees Celsius. Line 2 x 12 hole muffin tins with cupcake papers.
Sift flour and baking powder together into a large bowl. Make a well in the centre. Set aside.
Put butter, milk, sugar and white chocolate into a metal bowl and place over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir continuously using a wooden spoon until chocolate has melted and sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.
Use a rubber spatula to fold the eggs and vanilla extract into the cooled chocolate mixture. Pour this mixture into the well in the flour and fold together until well combined.
Divide the mixture evenly between the muffin tins. Bake for 30 minutes or until a fine skewer inserted comes out clean. Place moulds on a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes before turning out. Allow to cool for a further 30 minutes before frosting.
Decorate as desired:
Ta da! Congratulations to Caroline and her partner - I hope that they have a grand wedding day.
