The cupcakes are vanilla bean cake (OMG) with a seedless raspberry frosting. They were made to bring to my parents' house for Easter and were perfect for the day.
This was my first try at making vanilla bean cupcakes and they were phenomenal. I tweaked the recipe for my Key Lime Cupcakes since it would make the perfect amount for this occasion. That recipe is nice and basic and allows for some wiggle room with ingredients. However, I only frosted half of these with the seedless raspberry frosting. The other half I frosted with some basic chocolate cream cheese frosting and rolled the edges in toasted coconut to make them look like nests. I then placed some chocolate easter eggs in the middle :)
Ingredients: (makes about 16 cupcakes)
1 3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 vanilla bean pod
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside. Cut the vanilla bean pod in half to make it easier to scrape. Cut each half lengthwise and scrape the inside of each piece with a butter knife. Mix scraped vanilla seeds into buttermilk and discard empty bean pods. Beat butter until smooth and creamy, then add sugar and beat until fluffy. Add one egg at a time, beating in between to combine. Add vanilla extract and beat until combined. Add flour mixture and buttermilk in the following order: 1/3 of the flour mixture, 1/2 of the buttermilk, 1/3 of the flour mixture, rest of the buttermilk, then the rest of the flour mixture. Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full and bake 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcakes comes out clean.
Here's a picture of this amazing batter:
I REALLY wanted to try making a frosting using coulis so I figured this would be a good chance since I didn't need to pipe them. I didn't realize how great of an idea that was since this frosting is NOT pipeable. Yet. I'm still working on a recipe for pipeable seedless raspberry frosting. I made the coulis the night before, but this isn't necessary- just make sure you allow yourself to have enough time to let the coulis cool completely prior to making the frosting. I imagine hot coulis would probably make this frosting really runny.
For the coulis:
1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tbsp lemon juice
Place the raspberries and sugar into small saucepan and cook over medium heat until berries are completely deconstructed and a thick liquid forms, about 15 minutes. Check and stir frequently to avoid burning and sticking. In small batches, strain liquified raspberries in a mesh strainer, using a rubber spatula to push through strainer. Make sure to scrape bottom of strainer in between batches since the mixture will be thick and will stick to the strainer. Once all of the seeds are strained out, stir in lemon juice and refrigerate.
*I had some leftover coulis that I used on top of some cheesecake and almost died because it was so good.
For the frosting:
One pound confectioner's sugar
3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tbsp milk*
Raspberry coulis
Beat butter until smooth, add milk and combine. Slowly add confectioner's sugar and scrape down bowl occasionally. Once all confectioner's sugar is added, slowly add coulis and beat on low until combined. *I think I ended up using the whole batch of coulis in this because I wanted a good raspberry flavor to it. However, the milk probably shouldn't have been added. I didn't realize how thin this frosting would become... had I known, I would not have added the milk. I'll post another recipe soon for another batch I made without the milk, but it still turned out quite thin. I'll have to keep working on this recipe. Since I was decorating these the way I did, it was perfectly acceptable for me to dip the cupcakes in the frosting, which worked out just fine. AND, it was the first time I dipped cupcakes, so it gave me some good experience and inspired me to make some chocolate ganache again :)
Decoration:
One bag of mini marshmallows (you won't use the whole thing)
Different colored decorative sugar
Place each color of sugar into a separate ramekin or souffle dish. Use as many colors as you want based on how many different colors of flowers you'd like to make. I used blue, pink, and purple. Next, cut mini marshmallows in half diagonally, pushing the sticky side of each piece into the colored sugar. Set aside. Decorate cupcakes by placing sugared marshmallow halves around the outside edge of the cupcake first, then working inwards in circles until you reach the center. I just cut a bunch of marshmallows and dipped in alternating colors of sugar, then started decorating until they were all used up, then cut more marshmallows one by one until I had enough to cover all of the cupcakes. I also put little balls of yellow fondant in the center to look like stamens.
