Cupcakes course - differences between FONDANT - GUM PASTE - MODELLING PASTE

Last days I went to a cupcake course, where I've learned lots of new things ( maybe many of you already know them), but since I am not a professional baker and I'm kind of new in this domain, I found these tips  interesting and very good to know.

I learned the differences between fondant, gum paste and modeling paste. Also a great recipe for vanilla cupcakes. I'll try it soon and post it here :)

FONDANT:

• is used as covering
• doesn't dry as hard as gum paste
• you can mix fondant and gum paste for modeling decorations.

GUM PASTE:

• is used to make flowers
• it can be rolled thinner without tearing
• it dries faster then fondant
• it hardens quicker, but sometimes causes cracking in the figures

MODELING PASTE:

• can be used to make decorations , flowers, ribbons

TIPS: 

 For a better result you can also mix fondant and gum paste for modeling decorations. It gives you a little more time to make adjustments.

 Never leave your pastes or fondant out. It will dry. Keep it covered or wrapped in plastic wrap and stored in a plastic bag when not being used.

Of course there are many others pastes, but for a beginner is good to know these 3.

Here are some pictures from the course that I took with my phone.

We've learned how to make roses from a mix of  fondant and gum paste

Carrot Cupcakes with Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting

This time my husband chose the next recipe. I remember our wedding cake tasting, where we had red velvet and carrot cake to chose from. My hubby went crazy about the carrot cake. And now I decided to make him happy again!

And here they are! Nice, moist and delicious carrot cupcakes! I love that you also use ingredients like pineapple, coconut and walnuts. I think the combination between all of them is fantastic.

Another great thing that I like about this recipe it's that it has a lot of carrot inside and in the end the cupcakes have a nice, natural color.

Also the frosting is quite nice. If you aren't a big fan of coconut, you can make a simple vanilla cream cheese frosting.

To decorate my cupcakes, I bought some cute marzipan carrots. They look adorable on top of the cupcakes.

If you are having a little party and wanna make something special with these cupcakes, you can arrange them in a round shape, like I did in the pictures, and then put a orange ribbon around them and make a pretty bow. This would be just lovely!

And now the recipe.

INGREDIENTS

For cupcakes:

• 1 and 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup whole-wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 2 large egg whites, at room temperature
• 1 and 1/4 cups dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 3 cups shredded carrots
• 1 cup crushed pineapple, drained
• 2/3 cup buttermilk
• 3/4 cup walnuts roughly chopped
• 3/4 cup shredded sweetened coconut

For frosting:

• 2/3 cup (6 ounces) cream cheese, softened 
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature 
• 2 and 1/2 cups powdered sugar 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 1/8 teaspoon almond extract 
• 3/4 cup flaked coconut

Directions

For cupcakes:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 

Line muffin tin(s) with paper liners or lightly coat with cooking spray. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, stir together the all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of a standing mixer or a large mixing bowl, beat together the egg, egg whites, brown sugar, and canola oil.

Add the carrots and beat for 1 minute.

Add the pineapple and 3/4 shredded coconut and beat until incorporated.

With a wooden spoon, stir in half of the flour mixture, just until incorporated. 

Stir in buttermilk.

Add the remaining flour mixture, continuing to stir in by hand, just until combined.

Gently fold in walnuts. 

Fill prepared tins 3/4 of the way with batter.

Bake 20-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Gently remove cupcakes from tin and let cool on a wire rack. 

My cooled cupcakes

For frosting:

In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese and butter until smooth and creamy.

Beat in vanilla and almond extracts.

Reduce speed to low, then gradually add the powdered sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, beating just until combined.

Spread frosting on cooled cupcakes, then top shredded coconut. 

In the recipe was mentioned that you can store frosted cupcakes in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or freeze  cupcakes for up to 2 months, first wrapping each individual cupcake tightly with plastic wrap.

Photos by Emi Trasnitu

Cranberry & Honey Cupcakes

This is a very nice recipe to try. You can make it with fresh cranberries or dried ones. 

Because this time of the year I could not find the fresh ones, I used the dried cranberries. And the cupcakes turn out very good.

Besides cranberries, what I love at this recipe is the fact that you use honey instead of sugar; which is great!

Another ingredient present in the recipe is white chocolate. My favorite! You use white chocolate chips inside and white chocolate in the frosting.

The red thing that you see on the frosting is a cranberry syrup. The idea  is quite nice, but my result wasn't as I expected to be. I couldn't find the cranberry  jelly and I used regular white jelly. The result was too thick and the flavor was't too strong. But is looking nice on the cupcakes :)

Ingredients:

For cupcakes:

6 ounces of white chocolate chips

3/4 cup of softened butter

1 cup of honey

4 eggs

2 cups of flour

1 teaspoon of orange zest

2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed orange juice

2 teaspoons of baking powder

1 1/4 cup of fresh/ dried cranberries

2 tablespoons cocoa - optional

For frosting:

8 ounces of white chocolate

1 cup of butter

1 teaspoon of vanilla

2 tablespoons of milk

3-4 cups of powdered sugar (or until desired consistency)

For syrup:

1/2 can of whole cranberry jelly

1/4 cup of cranberry juice

2 tablespoons of honey

Directions:

Cupcakes

Cream  butter and honey until light and fluffy, at least five minutes. If you want, don't use all the honey. With the chocolate chips and dried cranberries your cupcakes will be too sweet. Or use less chocolate chips.

Add eggs one at a time.

Mix in orange zest, juice and baking powder.

Slowly add flour, scraping the sides after each addition. 

Lastly add cranberries and white chocolate chips.

Bake at 350 degrees for 18-21 minutes. 

Cool before frosting.

Frosting

Melt white chocolate on a double broiler and set aside, cool completely before using.

In a mixing bowl cream butter until light and fluffy, at least five minutes.

Beat in white chocolate until smooth and blended.

Add vanilla and milk and mix thoroughly.

Lastly add powdered sugar, one cup at a time scraping the sides of your bowl.

Add powdered sugar until you reach the consistency you like.

Cover and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before frosting.

My advice here is not to use all the quantity of sugar or chocolate. The cupcakes are already very sweet.

Syrup

In a clean pan add cranberry juice, honey and whole cranberry jelly and heat.

Whisk and stir until smooth and blended.

Set aside and let it cool completely before using as a drizzle.

Frost cool cupcakes and drizzle with cranberry syrup. 

To decorate them I used some shredded chocolate.

 

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Mascarpone Frosting

I finally got my Wilson dyes and I'm very happy :)

The moment I put my hands on them, I knew I have to make my favorite cupcakes, red velvet.

 I was really curious to see if they are as good as everybody says. And they were right. The result is amazing :)

The cupcakes are delicious and really easy to make.

As you put them in the oven and they start to cook a little, an incredible smell catches your nose. It's so hard to resist it!

The recipe is from the 33 Gourmet list, but I decided to go for another frosting
So I made Martha's Stewart recipe for Mascarpone  Frosting . It's dead simple to make and it's to die for :D

The combination of red velvet cupcakes and mascarpone frosting... hmm... 10 points out of 10!

Envoy!

Ingredients:

For cupcakes:
1 1/4 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 T cocoa powder
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1 T red food coloring
1/2 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp vanilla

For frosting:

1 cup heavy cream
8 ounces mascarpone cheese, room temperature

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted

Preparing the cupcakes:
Sift together flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder.

In a separate bowl, whisk together oil, buttermilk, egg, food coloring, vinegar and vanilla.

While mixing at medium speed, gradually add dry mixture to wet mixture until just combined. Fill cupcake liners 3/4.

Bake at 350 for 25 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. 

Let cool completely before you put the frosting.

The frosting:

With an electric mixer on medium speed, whisk heavy cream until stiff peaks form (be careful  not to over beat, or cream will be grainy).

In another bowl, whisk together mascarpone and confectioners' sugar until smooth.

Gently fold whipped cream into mascarpone mixture until completely incorporated. 

Use immediately or save it in the fridge before serving the cupcakes.