Posted on: Wednesday, May 19, 2004

The celebrity cupcake is more than a child's treat

Advertiser Staff and News Services

Cupcakes are enjoying a certain celebrity. This homely dessert more often thought of as potluck or child's party fare is being featured on the covers of magazines such as Gourmet, served in hot spots such as New York City's Magnolia Bakery and embraced by diners who want to have their cake and not eat too much of it. Chronicle Books has commissioned food writer Elinor Klivans to write a new cupcake cookbook due out next spring.

New silicone bakeware in a variety of charming shapes and offering the promise of guaranteed nonstick surface also may be fueling the trend.

While we usually think of cupcakes as small, dome-shaped cakes covered with icing, the confections do lend themselves to a variety of shapes. Bake the batter in colorful ice cream cones. Or cut the tops off and arrange slices into the shapes of butterfly wings. Make up a batch of mini-cupcakes with a swirl of colorful frosting.

Cupcakes lend themselves to making in stages. Bake them one day and frost them the next, or wrap and freeze plain cupcakes for as long as one month. When it is time to serve them, thaw as many as you need and add frosting.

Nuts, berries, candies, chopped chocolate, sugar flowers or fresh edible flowers provide decorating options.

Pastry chef Ron Viloria of Tiki's Grill & Bar in Waikiki said it was probably his grandmother's coconut and vanilla cupcakes, homemade ladyfingers and other sweet, old-fashioned small cakes, cooked for him back on his native Guam, that got him into the business.

He said he has noticed a definite trend toward innovative cupcake treatments, specifically for weddings, with couples choosing to create a tower of cupcakes rather than the traditional tiers of round or square whole cakes. "We also get orders for cupcakes for birthday parties and we try to upscale it a bit with chocolate mousse on top, chocolate fans, strawberries. Basically, the trend is decorating it as you would a fancy cake."

Frances Pons of Sugar Rush in Makiki, who specializes in miniature desserts, said she doesn't do much with cupcakes because the standard size confections are too big for her style. But she has ordered some miniature cupcake molds and is looking forward to experimenting. One reason is that she's doing a wedding in July in which the bride has requested tiered platters of miniature desserts, including cupcakes and petit fours in pastel colors, instead of the traditional wedding cake. Although Pons says there always will be a place for the elaborate white tower of wedding cake, she adds that people are a bit bored with the same old thing — "more and more, brides and their guests are asking for variety."

Cupcakes are one answer. "I've been seeing the revival of cupcakes for several years now on the Mainland, though not so much in Hawai'i," Pons said. "But it's coming. It's hot. I mean it's hot — and not just vanilla cupcakes with chocolate frosting, but all different flavors of the cake and all different shades and flavors of the icing, and the traditional icing no longer applies. The more whimsical, the more in-your-face appearance is more acceptable — preferred, actually."

Amy Hashimoto of Waimalu, who has loved to bake since she was a child, says cupcakes were her first specialty. "Remember those two-tone ones with the chocolate cake and the cream-cheese filling in the middle — the Hostess knockoffs you made at home? I was known for that back in high school; had to bring 'em to every football game."

Now Hashimoto likes to bake minicakes (she has a collection of various pan shapes) and experiment with different frostings. "And, you know what? When you're in a hurry, you can cheat. You just melt some frosting from the store, right in the tube in the microwave, and then dip the cupcakes into the melted frosted. You can let it get hard and then double-dip with another frosting flavor."

After a thoughtful pause, she admits why cupcakes appeal to her so: "I love frosting. I'm always the one angling for the corner of the cake, so I can get frosting on two sides. With cupcakes, you can really pile on the frosting."

"I love making cupcakes. It reminds me of my mom," says chef Matt Jones of Louisville, Ky. His current favorite recipe is a marbled mix of chocolate and vanilla batters. Anyone who had, or wanted, a Garfield lunch box will remember the bake-sale favorite, marble cake, that inspired his recipe.

Chef Jenna Miller of Louisville has a favorite recipe learned during her childhood culinary experimentation — coconut-filled chocolate cupcakes, so simple a child can make them on the first try, are still her favorites because "you can throw anything into the middle. It doesn't have to be coconut. And you don't have to make a frosting. Just throw on a little powdered sugar."

Whatever your reason for trying them, cupcakes are generally a good choice for beginning chefs. They're convenient for singles or small families because unfrosted cupcakes can be frozen a few months in plastic freezer bags. And they're always popular at parties (much more original than that ubiquitous spinach-artichoke dip).

Marbled Cupcakes

Vanilla-chocolate marbled cupcake Gannett News Service

These soft, fluffy cupcakes are easy to make, but people will think you went to a lot of trouble. Be careful not to stir the two batters together when marbling — if you're too enthusiastic, the finished cupcakes could end up with a funny, muddy color.

• 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks, organic if possible)
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla (Matt Jones uses Madagascar)
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• pinch salt
• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder, sifted

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin with paper cups.

Using a mixer (paddle attachment if you have one), beat the butter until light and fluffy. Add the sugar and continue to mix well. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition until incorporated.

In a bowl, whisk together the milk and vanilla. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Reduce the mixer's speed to low. Alternately add the flour and milk mixtures until a smooth batter is formed. Transfer ¡ of the batter to a bowl and whisk in the cocoa powder.

Fill about 1 1/2 dozen cupcake liners a little less than á full with the vanilla batter. Drop spoonfuls of chocolate batter randomly into the vanilla batter. Run a knife through the batters, gently cutting the flavors together to create a marbled effect. (Do not stir.)

Fill about 9 to 12 cupcake liners a little less than á full with chocolate batter. Drop spoonfuls of vanilla batter on top. Use a knife to swirl the flavors.

Bake until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean, about 30 minutes.

Let the cupcakes cool in their pans. Makes about 2 1/2 dozen, or a little less.

For the chocolate frosting

• 3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla (preferably Madagascar)

Into a medium bowl, sift together confectioners' sugar and cocoa powder. In a separate bowl, beat butter, milk and vanilla together until smooth. Add the sifted sugar and cocoa mixture, about 1/3 at a time, to the butter mixture. If desired, thin by adding a little splash more of milk.

Use immediately or refrigerate. Makes about 2 1/2 cups of frosting.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Coconut Filling

Chocolate cupcake with coconut filling. Gannett News Service

For the filling:

• 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup sweetened coconut flakes
• 1/8 teaspoon almond extract (optional)

For the chocolate batter:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup baking cocoa (Hershey's is recommended)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup water
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the garnish:

• Powdered sugar for sifting

Before starting: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with paper cups.

To make filling: Beat together cream cheese and sugar. When smooth, beat in egg. Stir in coconut and almond extract (if using). Set aside. Leftover filling can be refrigerated at least one week (for another batch later).

To make chocolate batter: Stir together flour, granulated sugar, baking cocoa, baking soda and salt. Add water, vegetable oil, white vinegar and vanilla.

Fill paper cups a little less than half full. Top with a spoonful of coconut filling. Top again with a spoonful of chocolate batter. Bake 25 minutes, or until done.

Sift powdered sugar over tops.

Makes 18 cupcakes.

Banana Chocolate-chip Cupcakes

Vegan banana chocolate-chip cupcake with peanut-butter icing. Gannett News Service

These dairy- and egg-free cupcakes are a little heavier than most cakes — similar to a quick bread. But they're quite tasty.

It's important to use the exact brands specified in the following recipe; other products might react differently during baking.

• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tablespoons EnerG egg replacer powder
• 1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 tablespoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt3/4 cup turbinado (Hawaiian cane) sugar
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 cup soy milk
• 1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla
• 4 cups mashed bananas
• 15 ounces Tropical Source brand chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix flour, egg replacer, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar.

In a separate bowl, mix maple syrup, olive oil, soy milk, vanilla and bananas. Stir maple syrup mixture into flour mixture, using a wooden spoon and stirring just until the flour is incorporated. Stir in chips. Divide among 28 to 32 liners in muffin tins.

Bake 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of each cupcake comes out with only a few crumbs.

Makes 28 to 32 cupcakes.

For the peanut butter icing

This has the consistency of a real icing, but the flavor is quite different.

• 2 cups freshly ground peanut butter
• 1 cup real maple syrup (not imitation)
• 1 cup Hain's unsalted safflower margarine

Beat together all ingredients until mixture is spreadable.

Makes about 3 1/2 cups icing.

Food editor Wanda Adams and food writer Liz Reiter of the Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Journal contributed to this report.