Buttercup Treats

Waldorf Pudding

My friend Katie and I wanted to commemorate and dedicate an evening to the Titanic on the centennial anniversary of the sinking. Katie hosted dinner at her place, and I offered to make the dessert. Our menu matched the dishes served in the First Class Dining Room on April 14, 1912. I chose to make the Waldorf Pudding and the Eclairs.

Waldorf Pudding is not a well known recipe. I found this one in the book Last Dinner on the Titanic: Menus and Recipes from the Great Liner. The book states that the real recipe does not exist today, however this recipe is created using the known ingredients and descriptions. 

2 large tart apples, peeled

1/2 cup golden raisins

2 tbsp. lemon juice

1 tbsp. finely chopped crystallized ginger

1 tbsp. butter

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 cups milk

4 egg yolks, beaten

Pinch finely ground nutmeg

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

3/4 cup toasted walnuts, halved

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Peel and thinly slice the apples. Place them in a bowl and stir in golden raisins, lemon juice and crystallized ginger. 

Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the apple mixture and cook for 1 minute. Add 2 tablespoons of the sugar and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, or when the apples begin to caramelize, stirring often. 

Remove apples from heat, and spread in the bottom of a 10-inch baking dish. In a saucepan over medium heat, bring the milk to a light simmer. As the milk is heating, beat the egg yolks slightly in a heatproof bowl. Whisking the eggs constantly, pour in a small amount of milk. This step is important, you do not want the hot milk to cook the eggs. 

Whisk in all the milk slowly, then the remaining sugar, nutmeg, and vanilla. Pour the mixture over the apples. 

Place the baking dish in a large roasting pan and pour in enough boiling water to cover the sides. This is an important step for making any kind of custard. It keeps the temperature regulated on the bottom and sides so the custard sets evenly. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until the sides are set, but the center is still wobbly. Sprinkle walnuts on the top, and cool to room temperature and serve. 

I loved this dessert, it was unique and refreshing. The tart apples mixed with the lightly sweetened custard perfectly, and the crunch of the walnuts rounded out the texture in every bite. This is a great dessert after a big meal. Also, I candied my walnuts, for added sweetness. 

Vanilla Eclairs

One would think that eclairs and cream puffs would be difficult to make. On the contrary, they are actually fairly easy and fun. I made these eclairs for a Titanic Centennial Dinner Party along with Waldorf Pudding. Both desserts were served as the 10th course on April 14, 1912 in the First Class Dining Room. This recipe makes roughly a dozen shells, however it depends on how big you make each shell. 

Pastry Shell

1/2 cup butter

1 cup water

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 eggs

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Grease a large baking sheet, or 2 small ones. In a heavy saucepan, boil the water and butter. Turn the heat to low and add the flour and salt. Vigorously hand mix with a wooden spoon until the dough begins to pull from the sides of the pan. Remove from heat.

Add eggs, one at a time, vigorously beating by hand after each egg is added. 

Drop by spoonful, or fill pastry bag fitted with large round tip (I used #10) with dough and pipe onto baking sheet in 1” by 4” strips. 

They look a little weird, but they will look better after baking :) Place the tray in the oven and bake at 450 degree for 15 minutes. Turn the temperature to 325 degrees and bake for 20 minutes more. Remove from oven and cool on a rack. 

Filling

1 (5 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix

2 cups cold milk

1 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat the pudding mix and the milk for 2 minutes. Set aside. In another bowl, beat the heavy cream until peaks form, then add in the sugar and vanilla. Gently fold the whipped cream into the pudding. 

Slice each shell on the side and spoon enough filling into each one. 

Chocolate Topping

2 ounces semisweet chocolate

2 tablespoons butter

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 tablespoons hot water

In a small saucepan, melt the butter and chocolate over low heat.Add the sugar and vanilla. The mixture will be stiff. Add water one tablespoon at a time, and stir until the chocolate is the desired consistency. Spread or drizzle over each shell immediately. Chill until ready to serve. 

These eclairs are so simple and delicious. Light and airy, with a creamy vanilla filling. I would like to try them with a fruit and cream filling, that would be a perfect breakfast pastry. 

Titanic Cupcakes

I had this brilliant idea for Titanic themed cupcakes. Using a Twinkie, Tootsie Rolls, and chocolate frosting I could create commemorative cakes. Unfortunately, my idea did not come to fruition. 

The Tootsie Rolls inserted into the holes in the Twinkie, that worked. It looks like a ship. Dunking the Twinkie into the melted chocolate was the complicated and very messy part. Only a few were ‘acceptable’, and I gave up quickly. I am sure there is a way to make these work, however I was lacking time and energy. 

In no way do I mean these cupcakes to be disrespectful. The Titanic was a horrible disaster that will never be forgotten. My intent was to bring these to a Centennial dinner party that a friend is hosting tonight. Instead, I am about to head into my kitchen to make chocolate and vanilla eclairs and chocolate mousse, the dessert that was served in the First Class dining room 100 years ago tonight.  

Buttercream Blossoms

Remember back to being a kid at a birthday party, eyeing up the cake and hoping to get a piece with a rose. Chances were slim, unless it was your own birthday - that’s the only time when you were guaranteed to get one. There were never enough to go around for everyone else though. Most people still wants that rose, and that’s why these cupcakes are perfect. Not only are they pretty and delicious, but you get a huge rose bloom on the top of each cupcake - and that gives you the warmest, most special feeling. It’s everyone’s ‘day’ - enjoy it!! 

The cakes are a basic yellow cake recipe with fresh fruit additions. Perfectly sweet and fruity, a balanced compliment to the fluffy buttercream blossoms. 

Ingredients

2 cups sugar

3 ½ cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 tsp salt

¾ cup unsalted butter, very soft

1 ¼ cups milk, at room temperature

2 tsp vanilla extract

4 large eggs, room temperature

2 cups chopped fruit of your choice 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare muffin tins with paper liners. This recipe yields 28-32 cupcakes.

Stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in the bowl of your stand mixer. Then add the soft butter. The mixture will look sandy. 

Combine the milk with the vanilla, and add all at once. Stir on low speed for 30 seconds, and then on medium speed for 30 more seconds. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well (about 30 seconds) between each addition, Scrape the sides and the bottom of the bowl, then beat for 30 more seconds. 

Hand stir in your fruit, and divide evenly into the muffin tins. 

These are my fruits of choice. I split the batter into 3 bowls, and added 2/3 cup of each fruit to each bowl. 

Bake the cupcake for 20 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely on racks.

I made my favorite Buttercream Frosting, and colored and flavored to match the cake flavors. Champagne flavoring for the strawberry cupcakes, blueberry flavoring for the blueberry cupcakes, and almond flavoring for the peach cupcakes. I filled an 18” pastry bag fitted with a petal tip (Wilton #104). 

To start the blossom, make a base swirl in the center. 

Next, rotate the cupcake, and swipe petals to overlap the breaks in the petals from the previous rotation. (See picture - it’s hard to explain, but easy to see) 

Keep rotating, and build the petals onto each other. 

For the last row, angle the tip so the petal turns downward, to hide any cake around the edge. 

These are by far the prettiest and most fun cupcakes that I have ever made. Almost too pretty to eat, but they are so flavorful and delicious, it’s hard not to.

The Best Buttercream Frosting

Need a simple, but amazing frosting? One that’s great tasting, and works well for piping - and that can be easily adaptable with different flavors? This is it, I am serious. The best buttercream frosting ever.

Ingredients

3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup boiling water
1/4 cup meringue powder
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 cups sifted confectioners’ or glazing sugar
2 cups (4 sticks) soft butter, vegetable shortening, or a combination of both

Boil the 1/2 cup of water over medium-high heat. Turn off the flame, and pour in the salt and sugar. Stir until dissolved.

Transfer the liquid to the bowl of your mixer and allow to cool to room temperature. 

When cooled, add the meringue powder and whisk on low speed until foamy. Increase the speed for several minutes until soft peaks form.  

Add the vanilla (or your flavor of choice), and add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, beating on medium-high speed. 

The mixture will be thick. If planning to pipe the frosting, you may add up to an extra cup of sugar to stiffen the frosting. Add the butter (or the shortening) a few tablespoons at a time. Keep the mixer at a medium-high speed. 

It’s creamy, fluffy, sweet, and downright heavenly. You may color, or add flavor at any point making this recipe. I often split the batch and use for various different flavor cupcakes. This makes a large batch, enough to frost layer cakes, and almost 3 dozen cupcakes. 

Recipe from the www.kingarthurflour.com library

Grapefruit Upside-Down Cake

Recently I ate my first grapefruit. Yes, I am in my 30s, but I never attempted to eat a grapefruit after the one time I tasted one as a kid. To a child, the flavor was overpoweringly bitter and acidic. I had sworn them off until a couple weeks ago, until a friend urged me to try a slice of his, and now I can’t get enough. The flavor is bright, tart, and so refreshing and delicious…it’s like my taste buds dance. I had to stop bringing them to work because no matter how careful I was, there would always be little spots of pink juice on my clothes. Grapefruit - it’s my new food obsession. So to fuel my obsession, I had to bake with it. You would think there would be lots of great recipes out there that feature grapefruit, but there are not many, and this is one of the few that I will attempt. This recipe is for a grapefruit upside-down cake, similar to the pineapple version, however the cake is a deeper flavored spice cake which balances out the grapefruit. 

Ingredients

10 tablespoons unsalted butter

¾ cup packed light-brown sugar

2 small pink grapefruit

1 ½ cups flour

1 ½ tsp baking powder

1 tsp ground cinnamon

¾ tsp ground ginger

½ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp ground allspice

½ cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put 4 tablespoons butter in a 9-inch pan, and place in the oven just long enough to melt the butter. Remove the pan from the oven and sprinkle 1/2 cup brown sugar evenly in the pan. Peel and remove as much rind as possible from the grapefruit. Layer the slices and pieces over the sugar. 

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking power, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda, and allspice. In the stand mixer, beat the remaining butter until creamy. Add sugars and beat until well combined. Add eggs, one at a time, then add vanilla.  

Alternately add dry ingredients and milk to butter mixture, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Pour batter over grapefruit.  

Bake for 40 minutes, cool for 5 minutes and turn out onto serving plate. Serve warm or cool. Whipped cream is a great garnish too for this cake.  

The spice cake is moist and flavorful, the grapefruit zing is very punchy and, well, zingy. The kid me would not have liked this cake, but the adult me loved it!

Recipe courtesy www.marthastewart.com

Chocolate Mint Cupcakes

Chocolate and mint, can I say that it’s a good a combo as PB & J? I believe so. The mint flavor turns any chocolate dessert into a refreshing treat. This cupcake is a nicely balanced, not too rich chocolate base with a hint of mint. I add peppermint to the buttercream frosting as well, and fill with a rich chocolate ganache. 

Cake Ingredients

¾ cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

¾ cup hot water

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 ¼ tsp salt

1 ½ cups unsalted butter (3 sticks)

2 ¼ cups sugar

4 large eggs, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp peppermint extract

1 cup sour cream, room temperature

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare muffin tins with paper liners. This recipe yields 32 cupcakes. 

Whisk together hot water and cocoa until smooth. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and the sugar and transfer to the bowl of your stand mixer. Set it on medium-low speed for 5 minutes, to allow the butter mixture to cool. Then add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated. 

Add the extracts, then cocoa mixture, beat until combined. Then add the flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the sour cream. Divide batter evenly into the muffin tins (filling each about 3/4 full) and bake for 20 minutes, or until cake tester inserted into center comes out clean. Cool completely on wire racks. 

For the ganache filling, core out the center of each cupcake.  

Chocolate Ganache

6 oz semisweet chocolate chips

2/3 cup heavy cream

1 Tbs light corn syrup

Place chocolate in heatproof bowl. Bring cream and corn syrup to simmer over medium heat. Pour over chocolate and allow to melt. 

Stir gently until smooth and shiny. 

Using a spoon, pour enough ganache in each core. 

Fluffy White Buttercream Frosting

¾ cup granulated sugar

¼ tsp salt

½ cup boiling water

¼ cup meringue powder

1 Tbs vanilla extract

4 cups confectioners’ sugar

2 cups (4 sticks) soft butter, vegetable shortening, or a combination of both

Dissolve the sugar in the boiling water, and cool to room temperature. Mix in the meringue powder. Use a mixer to beat on slow speed for several minutes, until the powder is dissolved and the mixture is foamy. Increase the speed and beat until soft peaks form. Beat in the vanilla, then the confectioners’ sugar. Add the soft butter a few tablespoons at a time, beating well after each addition. I added green food coloring and a few drops of peppermint extract. 

Pipe a lovely swirl on each cupcake and top as desired. I like to use an Andes mint, however you could use sprinkles, or even Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookies. 

Cake and ganache filling recipe modified from Martha Stewart’s book Cupcakes. Buttercream frosting recipe modified from www.kingarthurflour.com

Chocolate Malt Cupcakes

Have you ever had a chocolate malt? Not a shake, a real chocolate malted, made with malted milk powder. I think it’s a thing of the past, because most people think a shake is the same thing. It’s really not, one taste of that nostalgic malt flavor makes all the difference. Here is a cupcake that is light and chocolaty with a perfect malt flavor. A great recipe, and an even prettier cupcake. 

Ingredients

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

½ cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder

¼ cup hot cocoa mix

½ cup granulated sugar

¾ cup packed light brown sugar

1 ½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

1 cup milk

1 ¼ cups malted milk powder

1 cup vegetable oil

3 large eggs

1 cup sour cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tin with paper liners. 

In the bowl of your stand mixer, whisk together flour, cocoa, sugars, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together milk and malted milk powder until dissolved. The malt powder will not dissolve in cold fluids, so microwave the milk until warm. 

In the stand mixer, beat the milk mixture and oil with the cocoa mixture at medium speed until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated. Add sour cream and vanilla, beat until combined. Divide batter evenly in the muffin cups. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into centers come out clean. 

I like to preheat the oven at a higher temperature (about 400 degrees) and turn the temp down when the cupcakes go in. This will create a high dome to the cakes, and less spread around the edges. Makes for a prettier cupcake when decorated. 

For these beauties, you’ll want 2 different frostings - a fluffy chocolate cream and a light vanilla buttercream.  

Fluffy White Buttercream Frosting

¾ cup granulated sugar

¼ tsp salt

½ cup boiling water

¼ cup meringue powder

1 Tbs vanilla extract

4 cups confectioners’ sugar

2 cups (4 sticks) soft butter, vegetable shortening, or a combination of both

Dissolve the sugar in the boiling water, and cool to room temperature. Mix in the meringue powder. Use a mixer to beat on slow speed for several minutes, until the powder is dissolved and the mixture is foamy. Increase the speed and beat until soft peaks form. Beat in the vanilla, then the confectioners’ sugar. Add the soft butter a few tablespoons at a time, beating well after each addition.

Core out the centers of the cupcakes, or insert a decorating tip in the cake and fill with the cream. 

Super-Simple Chocolate Frosting

1 ¾ cups unsweetened baking cocoa

1 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup unsalted butter, very soft

1/8 tsp salt

2 cups confectioners’ sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

Whisk together the cocoa, confectioners’ sugar into a bowl. Bring the cream to a simmer on the stove or in the microwave, and whisk into the cocoa mixture. At first the mixture will look grainy; continue whisking for a minute. You’ll see the lumps disappear as the sugar dissolves and the cocoa hydrates. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

Place the butter, salt, and 2 cups confectioners’ sugar in a large mixing bowl. Beat until the mixture is smooth and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla. With the mixer running on low speed, add the cocoa mixture a spoonful at a time until it’s all incorporated. Scrape the bowl, then beat at medium speed for one minute more. 

Pipe the chocolate frosting using a plain round tip. Use a decorating bag with a star tip to pipe a smaller ‘dollop’ of the white buttercream. Decorate as desired. I like to insert 1/2 of a Pirouette cookie in the center, and tilted to the side to mimic a straw. 

Adapted recipes: Chocolate Malt cupcakes are from Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes book. Frosting recipes are from www.kingarthurflour.com