A taste of blue fluff: Cookies 'n cream Monster Cupcakes
 |
| Cookies 'n Cream Monster Cupcakes :) Look at those googly eyes! |
I had forgotten how fun it was to make cupcakes :) there's so much more room for creativity!
This is going to be a short introduction: I have made 3 discoveries that I really want to share through this recipe.
1) Eggless chocolate cupcakes - with avocado and a combination of vinegar + extra baking soda. It's tasteless in the batter and it helps keep the crumb moist and fine, something that I have had trouble doing in the past when experimenting with eggless baking. Eggs having many functions in a recipe, depending on what you're going for, the all-encompassing applesauce substitute just didn't cut it to cover all of its roles. It often worked to keep the cake moist when fresh out of the oven and when breaking it apart still released a puff of hot chocolatey steam, but quickly turned rubbery as it cooled.
In baking, eggs will usually be used for either structure, leavening, richness, moisture content and tenderization, and/or its golden shine when brushed over a surface and browned under heat. Often, however, all of those roles will be intertwined, some having more importance than others depending on the type of baked good.
For instance, in heavier quick breads, the moisture content and tenderization of eggs will often take precedence over their ability to leaven. Quick breads' tender crumb is usually mostly a result of mechanical factors - mainly manipulation. There is some chemical leavening from baking powder, but in this kind of recipe, we usually limit gluten formation by stirring the batter as little as possible to create a tender crumb. Consequently, a food substitute with equal moisture and a minimal leavening role will be adequate (ie.: fruit purées). Examples include banana breads and muffins.
In baked goods such as layer cakes and cupcakes, the fine crumb is a combination of mechanical and chemical factors. Minimal manipulation of the batter isn't as critical here as we will also be foaming or shortening the batter to create the cake structure.
Foamed cakes refer to the method of beating eggs and sugar together to aerate the mixture and incorporate air bubbles into the batter. Combined with delicate manipulation when folding it into the flour, this is what leavens the cake and creates the fine crumb. In these kinds of cakes, the eggs are often one of the only/the main source of fat (from the yolk), which means that we absolutely need it to help the cake retain its moisture. Furthermore, its leavening role is essential. Examples include génoises, sponge cakes and chiffon cakes.
Shortened cakes refer to the method of creaming sugar and fat together to fill the fat with air bubbles - which is why you see it lighten as you cream on. Additionally, eggs are then often beaten to this, incorporating extra air and more fat into the mixture. On top of tenderizing the crumb, the eggs have a certain leavening role in these kinds of recipes. Overmixing is at its less sensitive here as all these extra fat molecules will coat the flour's proteins, making it more difficult for them to link with each other and preventing an excess of gluten formation that way = tender crumb. Examples include your typical rich and moist butter cakes. Cake mix boxes often fall into this category.
 |
| Cookies 'n Cream Monster Cupcakes :) Nom! |
The vinegar+baking soda combination is something that I had noticed in practically all of "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World"'s recipes, Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Hope Romero's bible of eggless cupcakes. Their recipes work like magic, but I had never been able to figure out how, and there were so many unfamiliar ingredients in their goodies' formulas that it was hard to single out a few proportions to experiment with.
Then, as vegan diets became increasingly popular on the net, I read more and more about the vinegar substitute: most people used it to replace the egg's leavening role. That totally makes sense if you remember your volcano experiment in chem class.
Most cakes that use the foaming or shortening methods will also have chemical leaveners in their recipe (baking soda and baking powder). All of those factors put together will have trapped air bubbles in the batter. When heated, those air bubbles and trapped gases expand to leaven the cake. Any water/moisture retained in the batter will also vaporize to steam, and that extra air will equally contribute to the leavening. As the cake bakes, protein strands from the flour and the eggs will start to coagulate and firm up around this delicate foam structure, setting it into a solid crumb.
When eggs are taken out of this kind of recipe, we lose a bunch of air bubbles that beating them could have trapped in the batter. The vinegar + baking soda combo compensates for those lost air bubbles through their chemical reaction, which generates CO2 and water, components that can expand in the batter. ...Aaand this takes care of the leavening role.
The avocado substitute is a lot more straightforward. It is simply there to replace the fat and moisture content that the eggs would have contributed. (And it works!) I'm so, so pleasantly surprised :D!
 |
| I'm blue - da ba dee da ba daa~ |
2) Blue fluff: I have had an obsession with making something blue ever since I saw the most adorable electric blue cotton candy cupcakes at Sugar Lady. They were as large as my nose and looked like tiny Smurfs with a baby pink cap. This baking session pretty much feeds my blue fluff compulsion.
...2 noteworthy tools that I have to mention: gel food coloring and Wilton's #233 piping tip. They work like a charm. The piping tip is especially wonderful for making fluff.
3) Bulk Barn. I don't know why I didn't go there sooner: it's PARADISE. They have everything from baking gummies, a homemade nut butter machine, loukoums and banana flour (not that I will ever find something to bake with banana flour - but that's beside the point). I bought my chocolate buttons for Cookie Monster's eyes there.
Ok, so I lied. This introduction was a lot longer than I had anticipated.
...They always are. I think that's how my Facebook events look like too, despite initial promises.
...I'm sorry.
P.S.: Oh. A word of forewarning: this buttercream is a lot sweeter than what I usually like, so don't make my mistake and layer on two thick layers of frosting. I recommend a thin coating of the cookies 'n cream buttercream so that the added fluff isn't too overwhelming in terms of sweetness.
 |
| Cookies 'n Cream Monster Cupcake :) |
Servings: 18-19 x medium 4.7" cupcakes
Ingredients:
Eggless chocolate cupcakes:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1/2 cup minus 1 tablespoon cocoa powder, sifted
3/4 cup white granulated sugar
1/4 cup mashed avocado
2 tablespoons oil
1 cup strong, warm coffee
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
White Chocolate Cookies 'n Cream Buttercream:
9 oz / 190g white chocolate, chips or finely shaved
1 1/3 cup crushed Oreo cookies, cream center scraped off (~13 cookies)
2 3/4 cups / 345g powdered icing sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup / 80g cornstarch
15 ml milk
1/2 - 1 teaspoon blue food gel coloring
Decorating:
A piping bag
Wilton's #233 piping tip
~40 medium white chocolate buttons
~40 small dark chocolate buttons
~20 mini Chips Ahoy! chocolate chip cookies
Preparation:
Eggless chocolate cupcakes:
1. Preheat your oven to 350F and fill your pans with cupcake liners.
2. In a large bowl, sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt together.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the sugar, mashed avocado, oil, coffee, apple cider vinegar and vanilla extract. Combine until you get a homogeneous mixture (make sure that there are no avocado chunks). It should be smooth.
4. Form a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the wet components. Mix on medium-low speed and stop as soon as everything is combined. If you have a few tiny flour granules remaining it's alright - they'll be moistened and disappear during the baking process.
5. Immediately put the cupcakes in the oven (do not wait too long because the baking soda-vinegar reaction will have started). Bake for ~18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into one of the cupcakes comes out with 1-2 clinging moist crumbs, but not wet ones.
6. Cool your cupcakes in their pan for ~5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Cool completely before decorating.
Blue white chocolate buttercream:
1. In a medium stainless steel bowl, melt the white chocolate over a bain-marie. Stir until it is smooth and set aside.
2. Fit a paddle attachment to your stand mixer. In a large bowl, start creaming the softened butter on medium-low speed. Add the cornstarch, then the powdered sugar in thirds. Make sure to incorporate every addition before moving on to the next one.
3. Reduce the speed to low and pour in the melted white chocolate in a continuous and constant small stream. Increase the speed to medium-fast once all the chocolate is in.
4. Add the blue food coloring gel and 15 ml of milk.
5. The consistency will seem too liquidy, but I promise it will really firm up when it cools down. It has the solidity of butter when straight out of the fridge. If you intend to use it shortly, pop it in the fridge for 15-20 minutes.
Cookies 'n Cream Buttercream & Decorating:
1. Once both the cupcakes and the blue buttercream has cooled, remove a third of the buttercream in a separate bowl. In the remaining 2/3, fold in the crushed Oreos (make sure that you scraped off the filling beforehand - it will be really, really sweet otherwise).
2. Fit a piping bag with Wilton's #233 piping tip. Fill the piping bag with the 1/3 of blue buttercream that you have set aside. Practice a bit on a spare piece of parchment paper to get a feel of the frosting shaping.
3. Prepare the eyes: using a tidbit of buttercream, glue small dark chocolate buttons on a corner of larger white chocolate buttons. Make 20 pairs (for a few spare ones just in case of a decorating accident).
3. Using a small frosting spatula, spread a coating of cookies 'n cream buttercream on the top of a cupcake. Pipe blue fluff on the cupcake, going in a circle by starting from the edges and moving towards the center.
4. Wedge the chocolate button eyes into the fluff and add a mini Chips Ahoy! cookie where Cookie Monster's mouth would be.
5. Repeat until all the cupcakes are done.
6. Cover well with a plastic wrap and refrigerate until needed. I recommend letting the cupcakes come back to room temperature ~5-10 minutes before serving. The chocolate cupcake will remain tender :).
Decorating:
A piping bag
Wilton's #233 piping tip
~40 medium white chocolate buttons
~40 small dark chocolate buttons
~20 mini Chips Ahoy! chocolate chip cookies
Preparation:
Eggless chocolate cupcakes:
1. Preheat your oven to 350F and fill your pans with cupcake liners.
2. In a large bowl, sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt together.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the sugar, mashed avocado, oil, coffee, apple cider vinegar and vanilla extract. Combine until you get a homogeneous mixture (make sure that there are no avocado chunks). It should be smooth.
4. Form a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the wet components. Mix on medium-low speed and stop as soon as everything is combined. If you have a few tiny flour granules remaining it's alright - they'll be moistened and disappear during the baking process.
 |
| Eggless batter means that I can finally catch up on the childhood indulgence of licking the bowl clean... |
5. Immediately put the cupcakes in the oven (do not wait too long because the baking soda-vinegar reaction will have started). Bake for ~18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into one of the cupcakes comes out with 1-2 clinging moist crumbs, but not wet ones.
6. Cool your cupcakes in their pan for ~5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Cool completely before decorating.
 |
| These will be dark beasts. Cookie Monster has a dark soul under all its blue fluff. |
Blue white chocolate buttercream:
 |
| Mise en place! Clock-wise, starting from the top-left: Vanilla extract, white chocolate chips, cornstarch, butter, powdered icing sugar, crushed oreos |
1. In a medium stainless steel bowl, melt the white chocolate over a bain-marie. Stir until it is smooth and set aside.
 |
| Smooth white chocolate. It's so visually appealing. |
2. Fit a paddle attachment to your stand mixer. In a large bowl, start creaming the softened butter on medium-low speed. Add the cornstarch, then the powdered sugar in thirds. Make sure to incorporate every addition before moving on to the next one.
3. Reduce the speed to low and pour in the melted white chocolate in a continuous and constant small stream. Increase the speed to medium-fast once all the chocolate is in.
4. Add the blue food coloring gel and 15 ml of milk.
5. The consistency will seem too liquidy, but I promise it will really firm up when it cools down. It has the solidity of butter when straight out of the fridge. If you intend to use it shortly, pop it in the fridge for 15-20 minutes.
Cookies 'n Cream Buttercream & Decorating:
1. Once both the cupcakes and the blue buttercream has cooled, remove a third of the buttercream in a separate bowl. In the remaining 2/3, fold in the crushed Oreos (make sure that you scraped off the filling beforehand - it will be really, really sweet otherwise).
 |
| Blue cookies' n cream frosting :3 |
2. Fit a piping bag with Wilton's #233 piping tip. Fill the piping bag with the 1/3 of blue buttercream that you have set aside. Practice a bit on a spare piece of parchment paper to get a feel of the frosting shaping.
3. Prepare the eyes: using a tidbit of buttercream, glue small dark chocolate buttons on a corner of larger white chocolate buttons. Make 20 pairs (for a few spare ones just in case of a decorating accident).
3. Using a small frosting spatula, spread a coating of cookies 'n cream buttercream on the top of a cupcake. Pipe blue fluff on the cupcake, going in a circle by starting from the edges and moving towards the center.
 |
| Cookie n' cream coating |
 |
| Piping blue fluff! |
4. Wedge the chocolate button eyes into the fluff and add a mini Chips Ahoy! cookie where Cookie Monster's mouth would be.
5. Repeat until all the cupcakes are done.
6. Cover well with a plastic wrap and refrigerate until needed. I recommend letting the cupcakes come back to room temperature ~5-10 minutes before serving. The chocolate cupcake will remain tender :).
 |
| A nom in a nom. Nom-ception! |
About the Author
0 comments