Brown Sugar Meringue Frosting

Tip:

• If you do not have a pastry bag for frosting the cupcakes, use a large freezer bag and cut a small hole in the corner. I actually prefer this method so I can toss the bag afterwards. You can use frosting tips with the bag or depending on the hole size, pipe out different amounts of frosting.
• When adding a fat (butter or shortening) to a meringue frosting, the mixture will often curdle. Continue mixing until the frosting becomes smooth and is completely mixed.
  

I have gotten many rave reviews about this frosting! I was a little unsure about it in the beginning as I am not a Meringue Frosting lover but the frosting has a warmth that brings to mind Candied Sweet Potatoes, Warm Apple Pies and all things fall and is sure to be a fast favorite!

Brown Sugar Meringue Frosting

Ingredients:

• 1/4 tsp salt
  
• 4 egg whites
  
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• Simmering water
• 3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon-size pieces and chilled
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

1. Using the electric mixer, beat the brown sugar, remaining 4 egg whites and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt. Fill a medium saucepan with enough simmering water to reach a depth of 1 inch; place the mixing bowl on top. Whisk the mixture until it registers 160° on an instant-read thermometer. (Without a thermometer, whisk until the sugar has completely dissolved and is not grainy)
   

2. Transfer the bowl back to the mixer and beat at high speed until fluffy; lower the speed and beat to room temperature, about 5 minutes. Add the butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, then beat at high speed for 5 minutes. Beat in the remaining 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. 6. Transfer the frosting to a pastry bag; pipe large rosettes on top of the cupcakes.

Beat the brown sugar, remaining 4 egg whites and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Over a medium saucepan with enough simmering water to reach a depth of 1 inch; place the mixing bowl on top and whisk until 160 degrees (or sugar is completely dissolved)

Transfer the bowl back to the mixer and beat at high speed until fluffy; lower the speed and beat to room temperature, about 5 minutes.

Add the butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, then beat at high speed for 5 minutes. Beat in the remaining 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until smooth.

Frost!

I frosted Cheesecake-filled Pumpkin Cupcakes with the Brown Sugar Meringue Frosting using the leaf frosting tip. I lightly sprinkled cinnamon on top as a finishing touch.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Cupcakes with a Gingersnap Cookie Crust

Tips:

• Use aluminum foil cupcake liners for cheesecake cupcakes so your cheesecake does not soak through the paper liner and make a mess.

I have officially been bitten by the "Fall" bug! Last weekend we went apple picking. The leaves were turning and the apples were bright and delicious. It was so exciting to pick apples fresh from the trees and see an actual real pumpkin patch! So exciting in fact, I wanted to carry over the fall theme to my kitchen with Pumpkin Cheesecake Cupcakes! These were delicious, although I undercooked them a bit.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Cupcakes

Ingredients:

For the cheesecake:

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
1 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp pumpkin spice

For the crust:

2 cups finely ground gingersnap cookies
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup melted butter

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Combine gingersnap cookies and sugar in bowl; add melted butter and mix until combined. Press crust mixture onto bottom of each cupcake liner, about 1 tbsp. Set aside.

2. In a stand mixer with a flat beater, combine cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Blend in eggs one at a time.

3. Add pumpkin and pumpkin spice to the remaining batter and stir gently until well blended. Fill the cupcake liners almost full. Bake in preheated oven for 22-25 minutes, or until center is almost set. Allow to cool, then refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight.


Make sure you don't forget anything by gathering up all of your ingredients beforehand!














I used the Magic Bullet to finally ground the gingersnaps as I do not have a blender. A blender is preferable but the Magic Bullet will work in a pinch. To get 2 cups of crumbs, I filled the Magic Bullet roughly 2 1/2 times with whole cookies.


I should have mixed the brown sugar and gingersnaps together before adding the melted butter but instead I melted the butter, then added the brown sugar to the hot butter while I continued to grind the gingersnaps. I ended up with caramelized sugar. It may sound great but the crust was a bit too chewy!









































































Use aluminum foil liners when baking cheesecake cupcakes. The moisture will seep through paper liners as seen in the corner cupcake holder. I baked all the cupcakes in foil liners except the corner one and I was left with a bit of a mess when I took the cupcake with the wrapper out.

Buttercream Frosting: Try Outs Open Today

Tips:

• Sift powdered sugar before creaming with butter for a thick, consistent buttercream
• Separate eggs while cold for easy separation then allow egg whites to warm to room temperature (about 30 minutes) for a faster whip and better volume

While I may not have perfected the cupcake, I feel confident the Vanilla Cupcake I am currently baking is pretty tasty so I have moved on for a few days to frosting. Because really, what fun is baking if you cannot share with others and I am not so sure I can impress very many people with a bare cupcake. So frosting it is!

Friday it was full steam ahead. I whipped up a Meringue Buttercream, a Strawberry Meringue Buttercream and a Vanilla Buttercream.

Meringue Buttercream Frostings:

I whipped and whipped and whipped egg whites and granulated sugar over my home made broiler until the sugar dissolved and again I whipped until I had a nice sticky meringue with my handheld mixer. True, a handheld mixer, is not the best choice for concocting fabulous creations but it works in a pinch although I did have to take a break from time to time to let the mixer cool. I am unsure if this affected the frosting or not. I was never able to achieve "stiff" peaks in my meringue but it was nice and sticky and fairly thick so I began adding my cubed butter, 3 sticks of it! Needless to say, the frosting was very buttery and quite rich. Overall, I had a decent Meringue Buttercream Frosting even if it was too buttery for me.

Don't worry if your mixture begins to curdle upon adding butter! Continue mixing until you achieve a smooth consistency.

For the Strawberry Meringue Buttercream, I pureed 2 ounces of strawberries then mixed it with half of the already prepared Meringue Buttercream Frosting. The frosting was much better than the plain Meringue Buttercream as it masked the butter flavoring and it tasted like 100% real strawberries!





Side Note: Can anyone tell me if pureeing the Strawberries instead of simply chopping them up made a difference in the consistency of the frosting? The first time I added chopped strawberries to my first Buttercream Frosting, the frosting instantly took on a more liquid-y consistency. This time, with the pureed strawberries (resulting in a decently thick sauce), the consistency of the frosting did not change much. I do not know if this can be attributed to the ability of the Meringue Buttercream Frosting to hold up better or if it was the change in texture.

Meringue Buttercream Frosting Recipe (courtesy of http://www.perfect-wedding-day.com/buttercream-icing-recipe-1.html)

4 oz (1/2 cup) egg whites
8 oz ( 1 cup) granulated sugar
12 oz (3 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into cubes
Pinch of salt

1. Combine the egg whites, salt and sugar in a mixing bowl and place over simmering water.
2. Continuously beating with a whisk, heat until egg whites are hot and all the sugar is dissolved (~140 degrees). If the sugar is not completely melted, your final product will be grainy, so make sure!
3. Remove from the heat and place on the mixer. Whisk on medium speed until meringue is stiff, and the mixing bowl is cool to the touch. The meringue will be white with a bright sheen, and very sticky!
4. Switch to the paddle attachment, and on medium speed add the butter a few cubes at a time. Please note, if the meringue is not completely cool, the butter will melt instead of combining evenly.
5. Continue beating until all the butter is incorporated. At one point it may appear as if the mixture has “broken”, looking watery and separated like curdled milk. Continue mixing…it will all come together, I promise!
6. Increase speed to high, and beat until smooth.

Now for the real success story:

I now understand why you should sift your powdered sugar before attempting to mix up a buttercream. Your one pound of powdered sugar suddenly transforms to twice its amount and makes for a lighter, yet thicker buttercream. I can only hypothesize that my frosting came out better because there were absolutely no clumps in my powdered sugar and every last bit was able to smoothly mix with the butter while in the past, without sifting, the powdered sugar and butter never creamed together so well possibly due to tight balls of sugar in the mixture. With the sifted powdered sugar, the buttercream blended so well, my mixer was on the verge of losing the mixing fight. At one point, I had to take a break before the mixer overheated because of the nice, thick consistency of the buttercream.

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 pound powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon milk, if necessary

I did not need to add milk.


Taste Testing:
Finally, with the help of Soner, I was able to taste test my various frostings with cupcakes I baked earlier that day! While Soner liked the consistency of all the frostings and for the most part the taste, the Meringue Buttercream had way too much butter for him and the Vanilla Buttercream had too much almond oil. He enjoyed the Strawberry Meringue Buttercream but found the texture a bit odd. I believe if the frosting had been piped, he would not have had a problem with texture. Myself, I loved the Vanilla Buttercream, that nice kick of sweet Almond Oil along with its thick, creamy consistency. I am not a big fan of the Meringue Buttercreams but who knows what the overall taste, texture and consistency would be if my egg whites had formed stiff peaks as they should have.