White Wine Cupcakes with White Chocolate Frosting and Raspberries

White Wine Cupcakes with White Chocolate Frosting and Raspberries

First up, I have to admit that these cupcakes didn't turn out very well. The texture was great, but they tasted extremely yeasty and musty. My thinking is that I used the wrong kind of white wine -- I know that's where the taste came from, and I assume that the kind I used was not actually meant for baking. The recipe suggests using a reisling, so maybe that is the way to go. On the other hand, although I didn't like the taste, one of my taste testers loved these, so maybe it's up to individual preferences. You be the judge!

Cupcakes:

2/3 cup (13 2/3 tbsp, or about 1 and 2/3 stick) butter

1 1/2 cup sugar

2 3/4 cup flour

3 tsp baking powder

3/4 cup sweet white wine

6 egg whites

Preheat oven to 350 F.

In one bowl, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. In another, sift together flour and baking powder. Mix the dry ingredients into the butter, alternating with the wine.

In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the egg whites into the batter.

Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full.

Bake for 10 minutes, turn tins, bake 10 minutes. Let cool.

Makes about 22.

Frosting:

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter

6 oz. white chocolate

2 1/2 cups xxx sugar

1 1/2 tsp sweet white wine

Melt your white chocolate either over a double boiler or in the microwave; if you use a microwave, remember to do it in small increments, stirring often, so it doesn't burn. Let cool somewhat.

Cream butter until fluffy. Add in white chocolate, then sift in xxx sugar and wine. The icing may get somewhat runny because of the warm chocolate; if necessary, sit it in the fridge for a little while to cool.

When the frosting is the correct consistency, frost your cupcakes. This recipe makes more icing than is strictly necessary, so I was extremely generous with the frosting. I do think it can balance the cupcakes well.

To finish:

Garnish with fresh or thawed frozen raspberries. I used black raspberries because they're in season right now, but red raspberries and white wine are a classic combination.

As I said, the biggest problem with this recipe was the yeasty taste from the wine. I think with a more delicately flavored wine they could be really good. And the cake was wonderfully light from all the egg whites. I'd love to hear from anyone who tries this recipe and see whether you had more success!

Recipe adapted from We Are Not Martha.

Tiramisu Cupcakes with Marsala Syrup and Mascarpone Frosting

Tiramisu Cupcakes with Marsala Syrup and Mascarpone Frosting

adapted from Martha Stewart's cupcake book

Cupcakes:

1 1/4 cups flour, sifted
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup milk
1 vanilla bean, cut up and opened
4 tbsp (1/2 stick) butter, chopped into wee pieces
3 eggs + 3 egg yolks
1 cup sugar

Preheat the oven to 325. Whisk together flour and baking powder (I always sift these ingredients together and I think it makes a big difference; the flour is less likely to form little clumps and the bp gets integrated evenly).

Take the milk and vanilla bean and put them together in a little saucepan; scrape out the vanilla beans so the seeds are mixed into the milk. Cook it on about a 5 (medium) until little bubbles form around the edge. Take it off the heat, whisk in the butter pieces until it's all melted together, then let it sit for a while.

Mix together the eggs and sugar thoroughly, then put your mixing bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Whisk it by hand until the sugar is dissolved. This doesn't take nearly as long as you'd think. It will look basically like it did before. Whip it with an electric mixer until it gets super thick and fluffy. A ribbon of batter will stay on the surface for a couple of seconds.

Fold in the flour slowly. Strain the milk mixture to get out the vanilla pods (if you don't cut them too small, you can really do this by hand just by picking the pieces out), whisk a little batter into the milk, then add the milk mixture back into the batter and whisk it gently until it's folded together.

Put it in your lined cupcake pan. The recipe says it will make about 18; I got 23. Fill the cups about 3/4 of the way. The batter at this point is super fluffy and a little spongy on the bottom.

Bake for 10 minutes, rotate pans, bake another 10 minutes (using this method of turning the cupcakes halfway through has been insanely good for me in terms of getting stuff cooked evenly all the way through). Take them out, let them cool a bit. Now it is time to add the syrup!

Syrup:

1/3 + 1 tbsp very strong coffee or espresso
1 oz. (2 tbsp) marsala or other sweet dessert wine
1/4 cup sugar
Stir them together while the coffee is hot so that the sugar dissolves.

Brush the syrup onto the cooled cupcakes. I poked a few holes in the tops because I thought the syrup would soak in better, but I think that was actually unnecessary.

Frosting:

1 cup heavy cream
8 oz. mascarpone
1/2 cup sifted xxx sugar

Whip the cream until it's stiff peaks. Fold together the cheese and sugar in another bowl. Fold into the whip cream. Use right away -- it plops right down in lumps. I spiked it a little with my fingers, but you can probably smooth it pretty well with a spatula or knife.

Dust with cocoa powder.

If you're like me and you hate creamy cheeses in your desserts, regular whip cream also works just great; sweeten it with a spoonful or two of regular sugar.