Blueberry Earl Grey Cupcakes

Blueberries and Earl Grey tea may sound like a strange combination, but when you try these cupcakes, you’ll be amazed by how well these flavors mesh.  The light citrusy flavor of the Earl Grey tea complements the fresh blueberry flavor of the preserves, and the cake itself is light and fluffy.  The blueberry preserves keeps the cake from drying out and the additional flavor transforms ordinary cupcakes into something special. 

Earl Grey Swiss Meringue Buttercream

This Earl Grey Swiss Meringue Buttercream looks beautiful speckled with earl grey tea and has a light, slightly citrusy flavor.  In the above picture, I’ve paired this buttercream with Buttermilk Yellow Cake and Blueberry Preserves in my Blueberry Earl Grey Cupcakes.
 

Ingredients:

• 2 egg whites
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 sticks butter, room temperature, cut into pieces
• About ½ to 1 teaspoon loose leaf earl grey tea (amount should be adjusted to taste; some brands of earl grey tea have stronger flavor than others)

In a spice grinder or food processor (I use the Cuisinart 14-Cup Food Processor), grind or process the earl grey tea leaves until they become a fine powder.  I used a fine mesh sieve to make sure the tea leaves were fine enough so that when mixed into the buttercream, it will not lose its smooth, silky texture.  Set aside.  

Whisk together egg whites and sugar in a mixing bowl over simmering water until sugar has dissolved and egg whites are warm.  Using a stand mixer, beat the egg whites until meringue is a glossy white and can hold stiff peaks, about 3-5 minutes.  Add the Earl Grey tea powder and beat until evenly distributed.  

Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the butter all at once.  Slowly increase the speed to high and beat until mixture is homogeneous, about 2 minutes. 

Buttermilk Yellow Cupcakes

These buttermilk yellow cupcakes are the perfect base for a variety of frostings and fillings.  Vanilla bean seeds or zest from a lemon or orange can be added to the butter-sugar mixture to give these cupcakes an additional hint of flavor.  These cupcakes are amazing with complex flavor variations, such as my Blueberry Earl Grey Cupcakes: Buttermilk Yellow Cupcakes filled with Blueberry Preserves and topped with Earl Grey Swiss Meringue Buttercream. 

Mini Strawberry Lemon Cupcakes

These bite-sized Mini Strawberry Lemon Cupcakes are refreshing and light; perfect for dessert on a warm day.  When you bite into the mini cupcake, you immediately taste sweet strawberries from the preserves; then the subtle citrus flavor of lemon shines through from the cupcake. 

Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream

This Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream is a beautiful pink color and is perfect with a variety of cupcake flavors.  In the above picture, I’ve paired this buttercream with Mini Lemon Cupcakes in my Mini Strawberry Lemon Cupcakes.  

Mini Lemon Cupcakes

These mini lemon cupcakes are one of my favorite cupcake recipes.  The lemon flavor is refreshing, but not overpowering, and the cake is light and moist.  These cupcakes are perfect filled with Lemon Curd and topped with Vanilla Bean Swiss Meringue Buttercream in my Lemon Meringue Cupcakes, or filled with Vanilla Bean Strawberry Preserves and topped with Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream in my Mini Strawberry Lemon Cupcakes. 

Boston Cream Cupcakes

In my twist of the classic Boston Cream Pie, I filled light Two Egg Yellow Chiffon Cupcakes with creamy Vanilla Bean Custard and piped Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream on top. 

Ingredients:

• 24 Two Egg Yellow Chiffon Cupcakes, cooled
• 1 recipe Vanilla Bean Custard, refrigerated until set
• 1 recipe Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Take a small paring knife and core the each cupcake, leaving ¼ inch of cake on the bottom and about ½ an inch of cake on the sides. 

Fill the center of each cupcake with vanilla custard.  I found that using a small spoon and simply spooning in the custard works perfectly. 

Using a spatula, add the chocolate swiss meringue buttercream to a piping bag set with a large star tip.  Pipe the frosting on the cupcakes, starting at the edge and moving in a smooth, circular motion as you bring the tip above the center of each cupcake. 

Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream

This Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream is the perfect topping for almost any cake or cupcake.  It has the distinct flavor of chocolate without giving up the light, creamy texture of a Vanilla Bean Swiss Meringue Buttercream. 

Two Egg Yellow Chiffon Cupcakes

This Two Egg Yellow Chiffon Cupcake recipe is your basic yellow chiffon cake.  In a chiffon cake, egg whites are beaten stiff, then folded into the cake batter to achieve a light, fluffy cake.  This is a very versatile cake and can be paired with a variety of fillings and frostings. 

One of my personal favorite combinations is this Two-Egg Yellow Chiffon Cake filled with Vanilla Bean Custard and frosted with Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream, as shown in my Boston Cream Cupcakes. 

Vanilla Bean Custard

This creamy, vanilla bean custard makes a nice filling in layer cakes or my Boston Cream Cupcakes. 

The custard is simple to make and thickens up nicely to support the weight of a cake layer.  It can also be eaten by itself or piped into chocolate cups for individual desserts.  

Ginger Elizabeth's Cupcake Day

If you’re ever in Sacramento, California, one of my favorite dessert places is Ginger Elizabeth Chocolates.  They specialize in chocolates (obviously), but they also have a good selection of cookies and desserts.  Every month or two, the boutique will host event days where special items are available such as cupcakes, custards, or gourmet preserves and jams. 

This past Saturday, Ginger held one of her amazing cupcake days.  This time she featured 4 cupcake variations (clockwise from front): Key Lime Pie, Salty Caramel, Tiramisu and Real Red Velvet.

Ginger Elizabeth's cupcake descriptions:

•  Tiramisu Cupcake - Coffee Syrup soaked "Ladyfinger" Cake filled and topped with Mascarpone and Marsala Cream
• Key Lime Pie Cupcake - Buttermilk Cake filled with Key Lime Curd topped with Vanilla Bean Buttercream and House-Made Graham Crackers
• Real Red Velvet Cupcake - Ginger's Grandmother's Light Chocolate Cake topped with Cream Cheese Frosting
• Salty Caramel Cupcake - Rich Chocolate Cake filled with Fleur de Sel Caramel and topped with Caramel Buttercream

I don’t know if I can decisively say that one cupcake was the better than the others, but the tiramisu cupcake came pretty close.  

Next time you’re in Sacramento, don’t forget to make a stop at Ginger Elizabeth Chocolates!

Tips for a Successful Cake

By following the basics outlined below, you should have successful results every time.  

• Fresh, All Natural and High Quality Ingredients: If I’m going to spend the time to make a cake, I like to use fresh, all natural and the highest quality ingredients available.  For dry ingredients, I personally prefer to use unbleached flour (such as King Arthur Unbleached All Purpose Flour) and aluminum free baking powder (such as Rumford Baking Powder, which is available at most grocery stores).  I also like to use a high quality vanilla extract, such as Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Extract, or fresh vanilla beans so that I can split them and use the seeds.  Personally, I think vanilla complements anything, so I add a little in almost all of my cake batters, even chocolate.  When making chocolate cake or chocolate frosting, I like to use good chocolate, such as Valrhona, Callebaut, or E.Guittard.  I do not like to use food coloring, unless it’s absolutely necessary.  If I want my frosting to be a certain color, I will flavor it instead.  For example, if I want a pink frosting, I will make a raspberry or strawberry syrup and mix that into white buttercream frosting. 

• Use Room Temperature Ingredients: Make sure that when you’re getting ready to bake a cake, ALL of the ingredients are at room temperature.  This includes your butter, eggs, and liquids, such as milk or buttermilk.  Butter is much easier to cream when it is already at room temperature, plus it is easier on your mixer.  Eggs are easiest to crack and separate when cold, but whip up best at room temperature.  I personally like to crack my eggs into a bowl and measure out the liquids and leave them on the counter for about half an hour before I actually start mixing things together.  By having all of your ingredients at room temperature, it is much easier to combine them (ex. no chunks of butter in the batter) and you’re left with a much lighter, airier batter. 

• Flour – Less is More: When measuring flour, don’t pack the flour as you scoop it.  I like to use an extra spoon or scoop to lightly sprinkle flour into the measuring cup as I fill it.  Then I use a flat object, such as the back of a butter knife, to level the measuring cup.  When you scoop the flour with a measuring cup, it tends to pack the flour in the cup and you can end up with 25% more flour than if you just use an extra spoon.  If you have too much flour, your cake can end up heavy and dry.  It’s always easier to add more flour as needed than have too much flour in the batter and have to start over. 

• Leaveners: Make sure that you are using fresh leaveners (i.e. baking powder and baking soda) in your batter, so that your cake properly rises when baked.  Baking powder should be replaced every 6-12 months.  However, you can easily test the freshness of these leaveners by using what you already have in your kitchen.    To test your baking powder, add ½ teaspoon of baking powder to ¼ cup hot water and the mixture should bubble immediately when fresh.  To test your baking soda, mix ½ teaspoon baking soda with 2 tablespoons of vinegar and the mixture should bubble immediately when fresh.  Both of these leaveners should be stored in a cool dry place.