People love cupcakes!
Especially children! They are super easy to make and fun to decorate. You can make a batch of cupcakes, invite your child’s friends to come over and have a cupcake decorating party. They get a chance to be creative and laugh at each other’s crumb-frosted faces as they eat them together.
Cupcakes are definitely a great item to serve up during the holiday seasons. Ghost and Jack-o-Lantern designed cupcakes for Halloween, turkey and pumpkin designs for Thanksgiving, and my favorite, Santa and snow crystal designs for Christmas. There is no doubt that anyone can be creative when it comes to making cupcakes.
My son kind of took his creativity over the top when he asked if we could make cupcakes together. We strapped on our baking capes and then it was born:
My Son’s Strawberry Cream and Marshmallow Cupcakes!
When we made and tasted these, we were mesmerized about how these flavors just came together so well. The cupcake was super moist, the pastry cream was smooth and decadent, the strawberry filling we made gave it some acidity to break up the richness of this dessert, and the finale was good ole marshmallow puff topping. How did he do it? Well, check out these easy steps, tips and the full recipe below!
WARNING!!!
The “Slap Your Mama Alert” is on full blast because these are just that damn good!
Here we go!
Let’s start off making the vessel that will hold these goodies, the cake!
There are several methods for making cake batters depending on the type of cake you are making. For this cake recipe, you will use the creaming method. This method will allow you to achieve proper “Air Cells” which is important for texture and helps aid in leavening the cake.
Pro Tip: Too often, many bakers don’t give this enough time and attention. Either they don’t mix the ingredients enough or they try to rush it by turning the mixer dial on high speed. If mixing is done on high speed, friction warms the ingredients too much and the air cells are not formed properly.
With the mixer on medium speed, cream the fat and sugar together until your mixture is very light, pale and fluffy. The sugar acts as an abrasive mixing with the butter and will cause this reaction to happen.
Next, add the eggs and whatever flavorings you tend to use. Make sure your eggs are at room temperature and add them a little at a time. Adding them to fast and while cold can cause the batter to separate.
Pro Tip: If you forgot to take your eggs out of the refrigerator on time, just add the eggs (while they are still in the shell), in a bowl, cover with warm water and let them sit for a few minutes. There you go, room temperature eggs.
As far as flavorings, you can get creative and add liquid flavorings, spices, vanilla seeds, zests, etc.… The addition of lemon zest alone makes a huge difference in the flavoring of your cake. Try it and see! Everything else is simple and basic. Just mix in the remaining ingredients as the recipe below tells you to.
Let’s make the fillings!
Crème Patisserie or pastry cream is a staple used in many desserts. Its creamy silky-smooth texture provides the perfect moisture for this cupcake. If you have any pastry cream left over, you can switch up the flavor profile by making variations such as chocolate, lemon, praline, and coffee flavored pastry creams or Chiboust cream.
Simply scald the milk with the vanilla seeds and pods to infuse the milk.
Next, beat the eggs and sugar to ribbon stage. Ribbon stage is when you can pour the mixture on top of itself and ribbons will form at the surface. In a separate bowl, mix the starches together, add the eggs and mix until homogenous Add the hot milk and place back in the pot on the stove and bring to a boil.
I know what you are thinking, “Chef Ward, if I do that then the eggs will scramble”, and that’s when I will give tilt my chef hat down to my brow, give you the stare and tell you to get the cooking. Trust me, the eggs will not scramble if your ingredient ratios are correct, you have nothing to worry about.
Starches in egg custards act as stabilizers!
They stabilize the coagulation properties that eggs have when they are cooked to a certain temperature. Also, the ingredients must be brought to a boil to fully cook and hydrate the starches. If you do not do this, the result is the cream will have a raw, starchy taste. Yuck!
After the pastry cream is fully cooked, remove from the heat, whisk in the butter until smooth and shiny, strain through a fine mesh while still warm. Cover the cream directly on its surface with plastic wrap and chill it over an ice bath.
For the next filling, cook the Strawberry filling and chill over an ice bath!
Place the Marshmallow topping in a piping bag!
Get ready for the fun part, assembly!
Yellow Butter Cake
- 180g Butter
- 195g Sugar
- 2g Salt
- 113g Eggs
- 225g Cake Flour
- 9g Baking Powder
- 225g Milk
- 4g Vanilla Extract
- In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, on medium speed, cream the butter, sugar, and salt
- Make sure the eggs are at room temperature. With the mixer on low speed, add eggs a few at a time until each addition is fully incorporated
- SDS!!! Stop the mixer, Drop the bowl and Scrape the sides and the bottom to make sure all of the creamed mixtures is fully incorporated (Remember the acronym SDS!)
- Sift the cake flour and baking powder together and reserve to the side
- Mix the milk and vanilla extract together and reserve as well
- Alternate the flour mixture and the milk mixture in three additions: Add ¼ of the flour first until just incorporated, then add 1/3 of the milk mixture until just incorporated. SDS- Stop, Drop and Scrape! Repeat this process in three additions until all the ingredients are incorporated.
Pastry Cream
- 300g whole milk
- 1ea vanilla bean, split and scraped
- 81g egg yolks
- 20g whole eggs
- 70g granulated sugar
- 16g cornstarch
- 16g all-purpose flour
- 28g butter
- Bring milk to a simmer with vanilla seeds and pod
- In a bowl mix the yolks, the whole eggs and sugar
- Whisk in the flour and cornstarch
- Whisk the hot milk into the mixture
- Return to pot and cook over moderate heat, whisking constantly until bubbly and thickened, about 5 min
- Reduce to a simmer for three more min whisking
- Scrape Pastry Cream in a bowl
- Whisk in the butter until incorporated (the pastry cream should have a shine)
- Once the butter is incorporated, cover with plastic wrap directly on top of the cream. This will prevent a skin from forming on the top
- Place the bowl over an ice bath to cool
Strawberry Filling
- 4 cups strawberries, hulled and diced
- 100g sugar
- 1/2 tsp lemon juice from half lemon
- In a bowl, mix together the strawberries and sugar
- Once the strawberries start to release some moisture, pour in a pot and cook over med heat until the strawberries break down, the liquid has evaporated, and the mixture is dark red and sticky
- Stir in the lemon juice and remove from the heat
Assemble
- Cut out the center of the cupcakes
- Spoon in some of the pastry creme
- Spoon in some of the strawberry filling
- Top with Marshmallow topping or icing of choice
The Pastry Warden
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