MSC: Peanut Butter (No Jelly!) Cupcakes

I'm so happy to be back blogging along with the Martha Stewart's Cupcakes Club again this month! I skipped out last month but now I'm back and ready to talk about some Peanut Butter Cupcakes! The original recipe was for Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes, but I just decided to leave out the jelly. I dunno, maybe it's un-American of me or something, but I just don't eat the peanut butter/jelly combo. I know, what a weirdo! If you give me anything peanut butter/chocolate, I'm yours, but for some reason I just don't really love jelly all that much.

I halved this recipe and made 10 cupcakes. I came across some reduced-fat natural peanut butter, so I used that in place of standard natural peanut butter in the batter. I don't know if my reduced-fat pb was the culprit for this, but my cupcakes turned out super dense. Like, must grab a big glass of milk to wash this cake down with dense! Also, I left out the chopped peanuts. It was good, peanut buttery cake, it just felt thick in your mouth.

For the frosting, I wanted to reduce some of the fat there, too. Sooo, I used fat-free cream cheese. Again, not the most perfect frosting in the world. It was a bit grainy in texture, and not very sweet. That was okay with me, but I don't think I would have served it to company or anything. I think putting the dollop of jelly on top could have masked the frosting's texture a bit, but obviously I will never know.

My verdict on these? They are good, especially if you're a die-hard peanut butter fan (which I am). But they do need a little something else. They need a contrasting flavor/texture to balance out all that pb. I ate these with a little splotch of chocolate sauce on the top, and that really did help out. Some ice cream alongside would probably improve these, too.

Thanks to Karen of Karen's Cookies, Cakes, and More for the selection! Check out the MSC blogroll to see how the others fared with these cupcakes!

MSC: Yogurt-Lemon Cupcakes (With Lemon Curd)

For this month's Martha Stewart's Cupcakes Club, we were supposed to make Yogurt-Lemon Cupcakes with Raspberry Jam. I say "supposed" to because, in typical fashion, I just had to deviate from the script!

This one was chosen by Jenny of Give Cupcakes, and I was happy to see it on the schedule because, quite honestly, this is one cupcake that I probably would have always overlooked in favor of fancier, flashier cupcakes! The beauty of this cupcake is in its simplicity; there's no special bells or whistles or crazy swirls of frosting here. It's basically just a dense, lemony cupcake that has been cut two times lengthwise and filled with raspberry jam. You can sprinkle some powdered sugar on top if you'd like. And that's it. No frills necessary.

So, what did I do differently from Martha? Well, for starters, I didn't actually have any yogurt, but I did have some sour cream! So I subbed that in for the yogurt, and I think it worked out just fine. In addition, I decided to make mine super-lemony by filling them with a homemade lemon curd, rather than the recommended raspberry jam. I just got a new cookbook for my birthday that I wanted to make something from, and the lemon curd jumped out at me. I figured it would be perfect for this.

Though the lemon curd did turn out a bit runny (which I am sure was a result of me not cooking the curd to a thick enough consistency), it tasted completely wonderful. It was very tart; the curd is sweetened with some agave nectar, and nothing else. I love citrusy desserts, so this one really worked for me. A bit of fresh whipped cream on top would have sent this over the top, but I still enjoyed it. Thanks to Jenny for the pick!

I am sharing the lemon curd recipe below, in case anybody was interested in trying out this combo. The book the recipe is from is Sugarbaby by Gesine Bullock-Prado (Sandra Bullock's sister), and I can't wait to keep making treats from it! Everything looks amazing.

Lemon Curd
adapted from Sugarbaby
makes 2 1/2 cups

Ingredients
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice, divided (from about 3 large lemons)
Zest from the above lemons
1 cup organic agave nectar
6 egg yolks
1 tsp. unflavored gelatin
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter

Directions
1. In a heatproof metal bowl, combine the 1/2 cup lemon juice, the agave nectar, and the egg yolks. In a separate bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over the remaining 2 Tbsp. lemon juice until it blooms, or in other words, looks soggy. Set aside.

2. Place the bowl with the egg mixture over a pot of simmering water and whisk until it has thickened enough that it ribbons when you pull out the whisk. Remove from the heat; immediately add in the gelatin mixture and whisk until it is completely melted.

3. Add the butter and the lemon zest, and whisk until fully incorporated. Transfer the curd to a different bowl. Take a piece of plastic wrap that is larger in diameter than the bowl, and place it directly on the surface of the curd. Make sure the plastic touches the entire surface of the exposed curd; otherwise a skin will form. Refrigerate for a few hours until it is completely cool. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.

MSC: Father's Day Tee-Time Cupcakes

This month's Martha Stewart's Cupcakes Club pick was the Father's Day Tee-Time Cupcakes, chosen by Julie of Little Bit of Everything. I was eager to try my hand at something a bit different for this group: a project that focused on the cupcake's appearance, rather than the cupcake's taste or fun flavor. I knew my kids would be on board with this one, too!



For the cupcakes themselves, I tried a recipe that I've really been wanting to make for a long time. I found it a couple years ago in an issue of Cooking Light. It's a Coconut Cupcake with Lime Buttercream; yum! I just thought that sounded so summery and refreshing; plus, anything with lime automatically catches my eye. I tinted the lime buttercream frosting green, and decided to use that shade as my putting green surface, rather than covering the frosting in green sprinkles. I guess I figured my kids and I didn't really need a mouthful of sanding sugar in every bite!

My five year-old actually is frosting-averse, so he opted to decorate his with just some ground-up graham cracker crumbs (for the sand traps), some mini M&Ms (for the golf balls), and just a bit of green sanding sugar (to make some grass). I made my little flags by affixing some trimmed, bright orange Post-It notes to toothpicks; I thought it worked pretty well, although I did have to apply a bit of transparent tape to each to secure it.

This was a great way for me to spend an afternoon with my boys; they enjoyed the decorating, and eating the leftover decorations! As for the cupcakes themselves, it was a mixed bag. My husband and I thought they were delicious; I was so impressed with the texture of the cupcakes in particular. These are a lower fat version of a dessert, but they really don't taste like it. I think my substitution of coconut milk for skim milk in the recipe made the cakes a bit fluffier and lighter. Considering that some of the recipes from Martha's cupcake book have turned out denser and drier than I would have liked, this was a very nice surprise. If you like the lime/coconut flavor combination, I highly recommend these cupcakes. And I recommend the decorating idea if you need a tasty, fun way to spend an afternoon with kids! Thanks, Julie!

Coconut Cupcakes with Lime Buttercream Frosting
adapted from Cooking Light
makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
Cooking spray
4.5 oz. all-purpose flour (about 1 cup)
3 Tbsp. potato starch (not potato flour)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
1 large egg
1 large egg white
2/3 cup light, unsweetened coconut milk
2 Tbsp. sweetened, flaked coconut
1/2 tsp. coconut extract

For the frosting:
3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
1/2 tsp. fresh lime zest
1 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
1/2 tsp. light, unsweetened coconut milk
4.75 oz. confectioners' sugar, sifted (about 1 1/3 cups)


Directions
Make the cupcakes: 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 12 muffin cups with muffin liners, then spray the liners with nonstick cooking spray. Set tin aside. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine the flour and the next 3 ingredients (through salt) in a small bowl; stir with a whisk.

2. Combine the 2/3 sugar and the 2 Tbsp. butter in a large bowl; mix at medium speed until well-blended; mixture should be the consistency of damp sand. Add egg and egg white, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the flour mixture and the coconut milk in three batches, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Fold in coconut and coconut extract.

3. Spoon batter evenly into prepared muffin cups. Bake at 350 for 18 minutes, or until cupcakes spring back when lightly touched in the center. Cool in pan for 5 minutes; remove from tins onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the frosting: 1. Combine the 3 Tbsp. butter, the lime zest and juice, and the coconut milk in a medium bowl; mix until well-blended and smooth. Gradually add the confectioners' sugar, beating just until smooth. Frost each cupcake with about 2 1/2 tsp. frosting.

MSC: Tiramisu Cupcakes

This month's selection for the Martha Stewart Cupcakes Club was the Tiramisu Cupcakes with Mascarpone Frosting. These were chosen by Jennifer of The Rookie Baker, whom I am in both this group and the Craving Ellie group with. I was intrigued by these cupcakes, because while I am not too familiar with tiramisu in general, I did wonder how it would translate into cupcake form.



My understanding of tiramisu is that it is a dessert composed of ladyfinger cookies that have been soaked in wine and/or coffee. The dessert is topped with a whipped cream (I think; see, my knowledge of actual tiramisu is limited!) frosting and then dusted with cocoa powder. Since I am not usually a fan of desserts that taste like booze, I wasn't sure if I'd like these, though I was certainly open to trying it!

The cupcakes themselves are not too difficult to make; they just require a bunch of different steps. You infuse milk with vanilla bean flavor by heating it up on the stovetop with a vanilla bean pod. Some butter is stirred into this at the end of the heating process. Meanwhile, you beat together some eggs, egg yolks, and sugar until combined, then heat that up on the stove, as well. You just want the sugar to dissolve, and for the mixture to become warm. Next, you beat the eggs/sugar on high speed until the mixture becomes very thick and the batter is almost ribbon-like when drizzled from a spoon.

You blend in cake flour, baking powder, and salt next to form a cake batter. Once everything is combined, you divide it into cupcake tins and bake. Once the cupcakes have baked and cooled completely, you brush each with a simple mixture of brewed coffee or espresso, marsala wine, and a bit of sugar. I was concerned that these would become too soggy, so I stuck the baked cupcakes inside a second cupcake liner each to minimize the possibility of them leaking all over. As it turned out, it wasn't really a problem, but at least I was prepared!

You allow this mixture to soak in for a while, and then your cupcakes are ready to be frosted. I was eager to taste this frosting, because last week I made a different mascarpone frosting for the Tomato Soup Cupcakes that I didn't care for too much. This one's made with whipped heavy cream, mascarpone cheese, and some confectioners' sugar. Just those three ingredients. And I have to say, this one really worked for me! True, I did not really taste the mascarpone when all was said and done, but it did add some body to the otherwise light and airy frosting. It was smooth and divine. A sprinkling of cocoa powder over the top of this, and these are ready.

I'm still glad I tried these, but I have to admit that they are not my absolute favorite. There's just something about the soggy, soaked cupcake tops that jut does not appeal to me. However, my husband took these in to his office and they received rave reviews, so clearly I am in the minority here. That said, they were a lot of fun to make and were very impressive.

Thank you, Jennifer, for giving me the opportunity to branch out and try something new. I wonder how everybody else liked these? Click on over to the MSC blogroll to see all the other results, here!

MSC: Chai Tea Cupcakes

This month, for the Martha Stewart Cupcakes Club, our assignment was to make the Chai Tea Mini Cupcakes with Condensed Milk Glaze. This month's cupcake is being hosted by Rachel of Simple Girl, since the blogger who originally chose for us to make these had to take some time off from her blog. I decided to make half mini cupcakes, and half regular-sized cupcakes this time. I just wanted to have both options available, and my first plan had been to do two different frostings (although that ended up changing).



So my husband loves to drink chai lattes from Starbucks, but he adds a twist to his. He orders them with two shots of espresso added in, and the slang for this is a "dirty chai." So in the spirit of experimentation, I thought it would be fun to make a frosting that sort of paid homage to his "dirty chai" habit. Plus, it was a great excuse to use up some heavy whipping cream I had hanging out in my fridge! So, I threw together some Espresso Whipped Cream to top my cupcakes.

I gotta say, this stuff was outstanding! I found it over on Epicurious; it's super easy and takes only minutes to make. You whip your cream to soft peaks, add in a touch of powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon of instant espresso powder, and continue whipping until stiff peaks form. There you go! I was so impressed with the whipped cream frosting that I wound up abandoning the condensed milk frosting that accompanies these cupcakes in Martha's book. I know it was probably delicious, but I don't think we really missed it. I topped the frosted cupcakes with just a dash of ground cinnamon, which I thought made the cupcakes look more latte-ish.

These ended up being loved by everybody who tried them; the pairing of cupcake and frosting worked very well! I loved the method of steeping the tea bags in milk and then using that milk as the liquid in the cake recipe. This would really be a fun thing to experiment a little bit more with. I dug the spices in the cake, as well. It truly was reminiscent of chai, but a little bit like a pumpkin-spiced cake, too. Not that I'm complaining!

Be sure to see what the other MSCers did with this month's cupcake recipe, by checking out the blogroll, here. Oh, and there's a bonus cupcake recipe this month, Martha's Easter Egg Cupcakes, but I made and blogged about those last year! So if you'd like to see how they turned out, you can see them here.

MSC: Candied Hazelnut Cupcakes

I'm finally posting another Martha Stewart's Cupcakes Club entry this month! I skipped last month's selection because I had already made the assigned cupcakes and blogged about them in the past. But now I'm back and ready to talk about Candied Hazelnut Cupcakes!

These nutty little gems were chosen by Jeannette of The Whimsical Cupcake. The cupcakes themselves are a tasty mix of flours (all-purpose flour and cake flour), along with finely ground almonds and hazelnuts. This cake recipe also incorporates the use of egg whites whipped to soft peaks and then folded into the batter, which aids in preventing the cupcakes from being dense and heavy. I was excited about these cupcakes, particularly the cake part because I love nuts and had just recently bought almond flour. I couldn't wait to use it in these. The cake turned out wonderfully, with great flavor, texture, and a surprising nuttiness (well, it's only surprising if you're not the baker, I guess, but I still found it pleasant!). They were a snap to make and I prepared them the day before I worked on the candied nut and the frosting.



Everything was going along just swimmingly until I attempted to make the caramel for the candied hazelnuts. I say "attempted" because I never actually succeeded in making my caramel. I'm not quite sure what happened here. I tried making the caramel twice. Both times, the sugar syrup never quite turned the medium amber color indicated in the book. The first batch actually transformed from clear sugar syrup back into solid sugar, right before my very eyes, and hardened and crystallized onto the bottom of my pot and became an impenetrable mass. I had to fill the pot up with water, put it on the stove to boil, and then basically chisel the mass off the pot.

Once that mess was cleared up, I tried again. I was getting a bit frustrated at this point but I just thought I had cooked it too long or something. I watched it very, very carefully the second time, and this time I took the pot from the heat earlier than the previous try. I plunged it into the ice water bath as the directions indicate. About two minutes later, I noticed that the sugar syrup had crystallized again! I tried to start dipping the hazelnuts into it before it got too hard, but within moments the mass had re-formed, and I was out of luck. It was incredibly frustrating, especially because I have made caramel in the past and had success. I'm still not too sure what went wrong. My best guess is that there wasn't enough water in proportion to the sugar. I'm dying to see how everyone else made out with this; maybe it'll give me a clue as to what happened to mine.

What I finally did was I added extra water to my crystallized mass, put it back on the stove, and heated it back up until it was syrupy. Then, I dipped the hazelnuts into the syrup and let them sit for a while. They never hardened up, but at that point I didn't even care anymore. The nuts had a nice, shiny coat on them, and they still looked pretty on top of the cupcakes. They weren't the showstoppers I had hoped they would be, but I can live with that.

The frosting is an Italian meringue buttercream with chocolate. I could have made the dark chocolate frosting Martha suggests to use, but frankly I was a little wary of using that one because of all the butter and chocolate that goes into it. I know someday I will eventually make that frosting, because it sounds amazing. My original plan was to make an IMB and then turn it into caramel IMB by pouring in the leftover caramel. Obviously, my plans were thwarted when the caramel never turned out. It all worked out okay, though. I really enjoy making IMB and was eager to try a chocolate version. It turned out light, like mousse, not too sweet, and just perfect on these cupcakes, I thought.

Head on over to the MSC blogroll to see if the other bakers had better luck with those candied hazelnuts. I'm dying to see everyone's cupcakes! Hopefully nobody had the kinds of problems I did. If anyone's got any suggestions about my kitchen disaster, I'd be happy to hear them!

MSC: Black Forest Cupcakes

It feels so good to be participating in the Martha Stewart Cupcakes Club again this month! I've been MIA for the last two assignments, for various reasons, but this time I'm back and ready to bake! This time around, we were to make Martha's Black Forest Cupcakes, chosen by Janine of Janine's Crazy World. I almost did not participate this time, either, because I'm not really a fan of cherries. However, I decided to go for it and to take on the challenge of adapting this to better fit my personal taste.



The cupcake part was made exactly as the recipe was written. Well, I did cut the recipe in half, and I used low-fat sour cream, but other than that it was very faithful to Martha's original take. I didn't want to mess with the cupcake; it sounded so good just the way it was! But then I got to the filling part, and I just had to start tampering with it.

You see, even though I am not a fan of eating whole cherries, I could totally see myself eating some yummy frosting that tasted like cherries. So I decided I would slice my cupcakes in half, through the middle like Martha indicates. However, instead of filling them with pastry cream and cherries, I thought I would make a cherry buttercream filling for this. Then, instead of brushing the cut cupcake sides with the cherry liquor/syrup, I just brushed some cherry preserves on each side. The buttercream was a delicious combination of butter, confectioners' sugar, and cherry preserves. The preserves contained pieces of cherry, but once they joined the butter and sugar in my stand mixer they got all chopped up. They were able to leave the frosting mostly smooth, with streaky bits of cherry throughout.

Finally, I topped the cupcakes with the indicated chocolate ganache glaze. Yum! That is all I have to say about the topping. I sent these to work with my husband and he returned home with just one left (which was for him since he did not get a chance to eat one at the office), so I am assuming that these were well-received by everybody! I thought they were delicious, and I really enjoyed my variation. It made the cherry flavor way more palatable for me, and I loved the way they looked. They almost reminded me of a chocolate parfait or something; lovely layers of goodness!

I'm glad these were chosen for this month because if I hadn't been assigned to make these, I probably never would have. Now I've discovered a new flavor combo that I previously would have been skeptical to try. Thanks, Janine, for the great choice! The full recipe (Martha's way) can be found on Martha's website, here. And to see how the other bakers in the group did, check out the Martha Stewart's Cupcakes Club blogroll, here.

MSC: Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

It's that time again; time to post another selection from the Martha Stewart Cupcakes Club! This one, Snickerdoodle Cupcakes, was chosen by Katie of Katiecakes. I'm really glad this one was picked, as anything with cinnamon is always a hit here at my house. I'd been wanting to try these out but never really had an excuse to make them. Now was my opportunity, finally!

As I'm sure you can tell from my pictures, I decided to simplify this recipe by making just the cupcake, and not the frosting. There were several reasons for this. For one thing, my kids aren't the biggest frosting fans, so I knew it would not be missed by them. For another, I knew the 7- minute frosting would not be doable here because I would not be able to serve these immediately after assembling, as Martha's instructions tell you to do. I would like to try her 7-minute frosting recipe sometime, but it just wasn't meant to be this time. So, I considered making a different type of frosting for these, such as cinnamon cream cheese frosting or just a buttercream of some kind. But in the end, I decided to just make a half-recipe of the cupcakes and leave them as is.

This turned out to be a wise decision, because my frosting-hating 5 year-old son is absolutely addicted to these! What I did when putting these together was to sprinkle a cinnamon/sugar mixture over the top of each cupcake, then I put them in the oven to bake. I was hoping that this would give each cupcake a nice, sugary crust, but that didn't quite happen. The tops of the cupcakes were very moist, not that this is a bad thing. As for the cake itself, it was....well, it was good. It was pretty standard, as far as cakes go. The addition of a hefty amount of cinnamon was very nice, but otherwise it was just a basic yellow cake recipe. I am willing to bet, though, that frosting would definitely have made this much, much better! If I ever have an occasion to serve these right away, I will try these with the recommended frosting, promise!

Thanks to Katie for the pick this month! And if you'd like to check out the other MSCers' results, be sure to visit the blogroll.

MSC: Cookies and Cream Cheesecakes

This month's Martha Stewart's Cupcakes Club recipe is Cookies and Cream Cheesecakes, chosen by Nina of Nina's Cupcakes. This was the second time I've made these mini cheesecakes. I made them back in January for my father in-law's birthday (and you can find the full recipe in my post about them), and they went over very well. So when I realized I had an opportunity to make them again with the group, I was pretty excited. However, I decided to switch things up a bit, and use inside-out Oreos! The cookies I chose to use were vanilla cookies on the outside, chocolate filling on the inside. Yum.



One cookie is placed in the bottom of each cupcake liner, serving as the tasty crust to the mini cheesecake. Then, a very simple filling is mixed together and dispersed among the cupcake cups.



There's even more cookie goodness contained inside the cupcake batter, which really adds some great texture to the creamy cheesecake. These were loved by everyone who tried them (my husband brought them to work with him). It's always fun to surprise people with the Oreo cookie crust, and the fact that they had the chocolate in the center certainly didn't hurt, either!



Thank you so much, Nina, for choosing these cupcakes this month! It was great to revisit such a fantastic recipe. I'm even thinking about how good these would be with peanut butter-filled Oreos, or mint-filled Oreos at Christmastime. You've got options with this one. No matter what flavor Oreo you use, these are awesome! Make sure to check out the blogroll to see how the other MSC members fared.

MSC: Triple Citrus Cupcakes

Wow, two cupcake posts in one week! The other day I shared my Scooby-Doo Yellow Buttermilk Cupcakes, and today I give you these Triple Citrus Cupcakes. They sounded like they would be light, summery, and refreshing! They were chosen by Marthe of Culinairy Delights for the Martha Stewart Cupcakes Club, and I was really looking forward to trying them.



Well, unfortunately, these fell a little bit short of my expectations for them. I know that sometimes Martha's cupcake recipes have a reputation for being a bit dry, or dense, or too muffin-like, and I felt like that was the case with these particular cupcakes. They almost reminded me of cornbread in texture, and although cornbread can be delicious, it doesn't necessarily scream light and fluffy.



They're pretty easy to make, though! That fun picture of my stand mixer you saw earlier was all the beautiful, colorful citrus zest that went in with the butter and sugar. It smelled absolutely amazing! I did think 4 sticks of butter in one cupcake recipe was a tad ridiculous, but I went with it.

After the zest mixes in with the butter/sugar mixture, you add vanilla, then 9 (yes, 9!) eggs. Then the flour and salt goes in, and that's it for the batter. While I was making these, I found it odd that there was no baking soda or baking powder in the recipe. Again, I went with it. I figured Martha knew what she was doing.



The cupcakes were heavy, indeed, but the flavor was very nice. I loved the delicate citrus flavor throughout, and I could envision these being eaten without glaze for breakfast. With the glaze, though, they did become much more dessert-y. It's just a simple powdered sugar/citrus juice glaze, with a bit of zest sprinkled in. My cupcakes seemed to absorb some of the glaze; it didn't sit all nice and thick on top of the cupcake like the one in the picture in the cookbook did.

I have to say, though, that my review of these cupcakes was just my opinion. Andy took these in to work, and they were very well-received there. People really loved them; I even heard they were hiding them from other people in the building! So it just goes to show you, it's all a matter of taste. Do check out what the other Martha bloggers thought of these, over at the MSCC blogroll! You can also find the full recipe here, on Martha's website.

MSC: Flourless Chocolate Cupcakes

Wow, it's already been a month since we made those Strawberry Cupcakes? I can't believe it! It's time once again for a cupcake from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes! This month, the Martha Stewart Cupcakes Club is making Flourless Chocolate Cupcakes.

These flour-free confections were chosen by Lauryn over at Bella Baker. They are very simple to make, and don't really take much time at all as long as you have a powerful mixer. You start out by melting together some chocolate and butter. I used Ghirardelli Bittersweet Chocolate Chips, because I find that those work best for me when I need a good quality chocolate but don't want to pay an arm and a leg for it. While the chocolate/butter mixture cools slightly, you whip 6 egg whites in a stand mixer with the whisk attachment. You add a bit of sugar while they are whipping. You want to eventually have stiff, glossy peaks in the mixing bowl.

Once the chocolate is cool enough to add egg yolks, you add the 6 reserved egg yolks (from separating the whites from the yolks) to your chocolate. Once it's all mixed together, you gently fold this mixture into your egg whites. Fill cupcake tins 3/4 full with batter, and bake!

Once they are out of the oven, the perfectly formed dome tops on the cupcakes start to sink almost immediately. Martha says that this will happen, so I wasn't concerned about it. However, when everything was said and done, mine didn't really look like the picture in the book. Martha's had gotten all crackly on top, and then the cracks had sunk into the cupcake. Mine sunk in a more uniform fashion, and were still perfectly smooth and flat on top. The process of the cupcakes shriveling a bit also had the effect of making the cupcake liners sort of pucker in a bit in places, and this made the cupcakes almost look like little flowers. It was kind of cute!

I don't know if I did something wrong somewhere along the way, and this is why they didn't turn out looking exactly like Martha's. I don't think it really mattered for the overall flavor of the cupcakes, though. They were very tasty! I haven't ever eaten a cupcake with this sort of texture before. They are light as air, as opposed to a denser brownie, but the taste is similar to that of a brownie. It's almost like eating a chocolate souffle; each bite just melts in your mouth.

We kept it simple; no garnishes or ice cream on ours. I am sure they'd be fabulous with something on top, but they were just wonderful on their own. Thanks to Lauryn for the selection this month! I don't know if I ever would have made these from the cookbook on my own, but I ended up loving them! The Flourless Chocolate Cupcake recipe can be found on Martha's website, here. Check out the MSC blogroll to see how the other bakers fared!

First MSC Post: Strawberry Cupcakes!

I am very excited to announce that I have joined yet another blogging group! This one is the Martha Stewart Cupcakes Club, and is dedicated (obviously, hence the title) solely to cupcakes baked from Martha's Cupcakes Cookbook. I am really looking forward to cooking along with the other members; this is a group I have been following ever since they started out, nine or so months ago. However, this group had filled up with eager members very quickly in the beginning, so by the time I wanted to join, the club was closed to new bloggers. There was a waiting list, but I didn't sign up for it. Instead, I would read the blogs each month and enjoy other people's results, virtually.

But now the group is open for anyone to join! So I decided that it was time. You only need to bake along once a month, so it seems completely possible to keep up. Plus, I have been looking forward to using my Martha Stewart Cupcakes book more often; now is my chance!

For my debut outing, I made Strawberry Cupcakes (found on p. 146), which were chosen by Sherry of Sherry Starts Cooking. This is a great recipe; you incorporate real, finely chopped strawberries into a vanilla cake batter. The result is a light, sweet little cake studded with tart, red flecks that give it this extra pop. So good! I don't even eat strawberries, but I loved them in these cupcakes!

The recommended frosting was a Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream, which could also be found in the book. Here's where my problems began! It's been years since I have made this type of frosting; it's very tricky. I recently tried my hand at Italian Meringue Buttercream, with great results. I felt confident that I could pull off the Swiss variety.

Well, my confidence waned after my first attempt, when I began whipping an egg white/sugar mixture that had been heated on the stovetop, over a saucepan of simmering water. Instead of forming stiff, meringue-y peaks as the recipe called for, I got.....well, I don't know what I got, exactly. It looked like taffy, the kind you can get on the Jersey boardwalks of my youth, watching it pull and stretch on a machine in the storefront window. It was thick and sticky, almost like chewing gum after it's been chewed awhile. I was baffled. I chucked that batch and started over.

This time, pretty much the same thing happened. I got goop; it proved to not be usable; I scrapped that batch. By now, I was ready to give up and run to the grocery store for some canisters of whipped cream. It was only because of Andy that I tried one more time. He had been helping with the whisking stage of the proceedings, and he convinced me that if we tried again, we would be successful, darnit! I was skeptical, but I plunged onward.

I am so glad I listened to him! Our third attempt was a wild success. This buttercream is to die for! The consistency is that of silk; smooth and light on the tongue. The added pureed strawberries give it the right amount of fruit flavor and tartness. The frosting piped onto the cupcakes like an absolute dream. It was wonderful. We were victorious, and it was worth all the hassle! A garnish of fresh sliced strawberry perched on top completed these little cuties.

So, what went wrong? Andy thinks I made an error by setting my egg white/sugar mixture over a COLD pot of water, then heating it to a simmer. By the time the egg whites had come to the temperature they needed to in order to remove them from the heat, I had overcooked them. The third time we did this, Andy started with an already-simmering pot of water, and we were fine. So I'm gonna go with him on this. Now I know for next time! And there will be a next time, because these were an enormous hit! I sent Andy to work with 2 dozen cupcakes, and he returned that evening with one left. People loved them! I'm glad, because now that I'm in this blogging group, they get to sample cupcakes once a month from now on!

We don't post recipes as part of this group, but you can find the cake recipe on Martha's website, here. You can find the (devil) frosting recipe here.

Once again, I am thrilled to be a part of the group and can't wait to keep baking! If you want more cupcake goodness, check out the MSC website to find out how all the other members made out this month.