Sunday, January 31, 2010

On Freezing Cupcakes and Blueberry Frosting

This weekend, I put on a few hats. One of them was my handy, dandy bakers cap. And the other, and they were hand in hand, was my 'scientist' cap. The scientist cap is not as sexy though. In fact, it kind of looked like this.



I decided to freeze three cupcakes.

The first cupcake is just a regular cupcake. Nothing exciting.


Then the second one I used a Wilton tip and filled the cupcake with peanut butter.



And the third one I used a cookie cutter and pulled a chunk out so that it could be filled while still frozen. When I wrapped this one (I wrapped them all in glad wrap and aluminum foil), I made sure to stick the glad wrap in the hole so that there wasn't any air in there. I don't know if that made a difference though...



All together now!




I froze these cupcakes on Saturday and then we tried them on Sunday and...they all tasted about the same! The filling actually thawed out all right. It tasted exactly like the peanut butter filling I hoped it would be. At the same time, it looked like this on the inside.



This is not enough filling, in my opinion. Maybe I needed to push the bag harder, but it just wasn't working.

At the same time, I only froze these cupcakes for a little less then 24 hours. They were rock solid, but we're going to freeze ours between two and two and a half days before the wedding. Looks like I'll be experimenting again next weekend/week! But I may try it with the vanilla cupcake instead of the chocolate.

I also experimented with a new blueberry frosting.

I cooked fresh blueberries on the stove and I then squeezed the blueberries through a sieve and got rid of (aka: ate) the cooked fruits. Well, I should have kept them. The first frosting was good, but had way too much sugar in it and didn't taste much like blueberries.



Nice color, right?

But it was too stiff. So I actually went out and bought blueberry juice. Actually pretty good! And mixed the blueberry juice with the rest of the buttercream.



Much better. Softer and it actually tasted like blueberries!!! Looking at the picture, it's a little TOO soft, so hopefully I can figure out some middle ground. :) You can tell the difference in this one:



Last, but not least! I also frosted a small chocolate cake. I'm not sure how I feel about the little frosting balls. I need to find a better way to decorate the cake.




Any suggestions?

7 comments:

  1. What if you cooked down the blueberry juice to a thick syrup? Or maybe blueberry preserves/jam? Here's a link I forgot I had bookmarked. Haven't tried it yet, but it looks amazing.
    http://domesticgoddessadventures.blogspot.com/2009/09/lemon-filled-vanilla-cupcakes-with.html

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  2. I have no suggestions at all... I really haven't dealt with cupcakes.... ever! Hubby loves them so I should probably start! I might learn a lot from the different things you try! So ... thanks for sharing!

    Happy Monday!!!

    Paloma.

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  3. Blueberry frosting on a chocolate cake would be LUSCIOUS! Stop posting such yummy pictures. It's killing me!!!!! :)

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  4. I lack any skill whatsoever when it comes to this, but my two cents on the cake is to definitely figure out a different decoration then the balls. The cake is pretty and should maybe have some color. (Did someone suggest the blueberry icing already? Maybe as an accent color/flavor.)
    Like I said, I have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about.

    Thanks for stopping by my blog.

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  5. I love to craft and cook but I have yet to master the art of anything cake or bread related. Im sorry I wish i had help. did you check the bakerella website? she is the queen of cooking. good luck

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  6. I didn't know you could freeze cupcakes and they'd be good. That chocolate cake looks fab.
    Mary

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  7. You could also try a blueberry yogurt. What kind of recipe did you try using for the icing? To stiffen it, use merengue or egg whites...or just add a little bit more powdered sugar.
    Oh, and your chocolate cake looks great. If you want to smooth it out a bit more, dip your spatula into a cup of water. It keeps is from sticking to the icing. But, after each smoothing stroke, you'll have to re-wet the spatula.
    As far as decorations, try a shell - just a really easy bordering technique. You can buy the little plastic tips from any store & use them with a ziplock baggy. Topping cakes with fruit also adds color & is still super yummy!!! Great job!!! Keep creating yummy desserts. :o)

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