A round-up of some classic and less traditional cupcakes to bring joy to any occasion
VANILLA CUPCAKES WITH AMERICAN BUTTERCREAM ICING
These vanilla cupcakes are super duper easy. They are a one bowl recipe and use the all-in one cake method, where you beat the butter with the flour and the dry ingredients. It is a great recipe for beginners who have less experience and just want to make something straightforward with minimal effort.
Now I know that the sweet nature of American buttercream is not for everyone – made with just icing sugar and butter, but it is important to have this staple in your tool-kit and is great for someone just learning. Feel free to adapt and mix and match cupcake flavours with buttercream flavours.
The recipe can be found here: Vanilla Cupcakes with American Buttercream Icing
ULTIMATE TRIPLE CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES
Fun fact, I took part in a national chocolate cake competition and was placed 3rd overall, with my chocolate cake garnering high-praise! So I know a thing or two about making a good chocolate cake.
These chocolate cupcakes were one of the first things I created, after my chocolate cake. If I had to single out the one bake which is most loved by all, it are these cupcakes. I recall taking these to the office once, people were literally arguing about who could have the last one!
The chocolate ganache is deeply chocolatey – I am all for more chocolate, but you can get away by piping slightly less on the cupcake. These cupcakes would be as delicious with a biscoff icing from my Biscoff Cupcakes of even the Salted Caramel Cupcakes. I hope you are getting the idea now …. mix and match and make these your own.
The recipe can be found here: My Ultimate Triple Chocolate Cupcakes
THE BEST EVER RED VELVET CUPCAKES
An ultra-tender sponge with a mild chocolate flavour and bold red hue gets crowned with a glorious cream cheese icing and filled with a white chocolate cream. I based these off my Ultimate Triple Chocolate Cupcakes and made tweaks and adjustments as I went along.
My version is more deeply chocolaty than most, as I use coffee to amplify the cocoa in the cupcakes. It does not taste like coffee at all, I promise! I have always made this with the liquid food colouring as I believe the gel colouring makes the crumb tighter.
My classic cream cheese icing is delicious and not too sweet. Most recipes use a lot of icing sugar to stiffen the icing, and I get why as the cream cheese can make the icing slightly looser. The trick to avoiding this without making it cloyingly sweet is to beat the cream cheese seperately to the remaining ingredients and then fold it in at the end.
The recipe can be found here: The Best Ever Red Velvet Cupcakes
SALTED CARAMEL CUPCAKES
A beautiful malted caramel cupcake, with a salted caramel sauce, French buttercream and whipped cream hidden center. Truthfully, I know this can feel a bit intimidating, but most of the salted caramel cupcakes I have had are cloyingly sweet! So I was determined to make a homemade caramel sauce and a buttercream which cuts through the sweetness of our beloved caramel treat / dulce de leche.
The recipe can be found here: Salted Caramel Cupcakes
PEPPERMINT CRISP TART CUPCAKES
This is really just a mash-up of my vanilla cupcake recipe, mixed with a very simple caramel icing. Mixing condensed milk and butter is a way to make a really simple icing, and I have leveraged off this thinking but used caramel treat instead (as this is really just caramelised condensed milk).
The recipe can be found here: Peppermint Crisp Tart Cupcakes
STRAWBERRY AND WHITE CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES
These cupcakes have a fruity flavour as a result of the strawberry jam and fresh chopped strawberries in them. Finding the correct balance of fruit to add is important, as too much fruit and the cupcake can become too heavy.
The real star of this show however, is the white chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream. The buttercream is light, silky and so smooth. I know that most Swiss Meringue buttercreams call for unsalted butter, but I found that with the inclusion of the white chocolate, using salted butter provides some balance to the overall sweetness. You could obviously use unsalted butter and then add salt to taste, as an alternative option.
The recipe can be found here: Strawberry and White Chocolate Cupcakes
BISCOFF CUPCAKES
These cupcakes pack a delicious biscoff flavour, thanks to the filling and icing which both contain a delicious biscoff spread
The recipe can be found here: Biscoff Cupcakes
GINGERBREAD CUPCAKES
Cupcakes can be enjoyed by adults too and I love sharing them with friends to take home after Christmas Lunch, so that the festivities linger even after they leave. These cupcakes have a warm gingerbread spice and a soft crumb. An oozy caramel centre surprises you when you bite into the cupcake, adding an extra level of decadence!
If you do not want to use the rum buttercream, feel free to use the French Caramel Buttercream from the Salted Caramel Cupcake Recipe.
The recipe can be found here: Gingerbread Cupcakes with a Caramel Centre and Eggnog Buttercream
Recipes by adventureswithsugar.com
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