Monday, September 29, 2008

My First Cupcake Tower

Like I mentioned in a previous post I have been busy preparing for my step-father's surprise 50th birthday celebration. It was held over the weekend at Iavarone's Steakhouse here in Tampa. This is the biggest event I have ever done cupcakes for. I was so incredibly nervous about the prospect of making the cupcakes for this party that I made myself sick. As soon as I woke up on Thursday I knew I was in trouble, my sinuses were so full of pressure it was making my teeth hurt (ouch!). Well many sinus and cold remedies later I successfully completed this project I took on and I was thrilled with how it all came together. Here's a timeline of how it went followed by recipes.

10:00 AM - 5:00 PM Friday - I baked 120 cupcakes and one 6 in layer cake (5 batches of cake in all) as well as a double batch of chocolate ganache. I did the ganache today to ensure it had enough to time to cool itself and thicken up so I could whip it and pipe it on the cupcakes on Saturday. I used a scale to measure my ingredients for the first time today and let me tell you, if you don't do this I would highly recommend giving it a shot. Aside from the accuracy of it, it really does save you time in the measuring department. It's so much easier to just dump flour into a bowl until it weighs enough than to spoon it into a cup and level it...I promise. Rather than make the white chocolate raspberry cupcakes I had planned on I opted to leave the raspberry's out and just do a white chocolate cupcake with a white chocolate buttercream ( I wanted to simplify things a little) and I paired those with devil's food cupcakes with a whipped chocolate ganache. The six inch cake on top was a 3 level devil's food cake layered with fresh sweetened whipped cream and iced with the same chocolate ganache as the cupcakes.

9:30 AM Saturday morning - I took more meds and then made the white chocolate buttercream and whipped the ganache. Again my wonderful husband had to come to my rescue more than once on this particular day. First it was too feed me, I was sick, starving and up to my eyeballs in cupcakes and icing and I desperately wanted some good soup and a sandwich. I really wanted McAlister's Deli but that's in Gainesville and while he's a nice guy he's not driving 2 hours to get me soup; so I settled for Panera Bread which hit the spot. Rejuvenated by my lunch I got back to work and iced 72 of the 120. You see I only needed 72 cupcakes but one of the batches (24 cupcakes) of white chocolate cupcakes I rushed through and overfilled the cups and I didn't like their appearance (they will be in my freezer for any late night cravings that may arise!) that combined with my funny math ( I didn't think to cut a batch in half to only get 36 per flavor rather than 48) resulted in a few extra cupcakes but that's okay because I got to pick the prettiest one's for the party and wasn't stuck with any that needed to hidden in the back! I then leveled my 6 inch cakes and cut one into 2 layers to make a total of 3 layers (one cake was made with more batter and making it into a 3-layer cake was the easiest way to solve the uneven layer problem). I whipped some whipped cream layered in with the cakes and iced with the ganache. I then used a warm icing spatula to smooth the icing.
3:00 PM Saturday ( 2 hours before I am to arrive at the party to set up) - With all the cupcakes and the cake iced and packed to go I decided to start wrapping the cupcake tower. Enter hubby for the second rescue of the day. He stepped in and duck tapped the bottom level together since it was made of two pieces and needed to be tapped together for stability ( I will add another post with tower instructions)and then helped me wrap it. Then he glued all the ribbon on it for me and thank goodness because once I saw how he was doing it I realized my plan for doing it NEVER would have worked right!
3:35 PM Saturday - I finally get into the shower and start getting ready. I called my sister right before getting into the shower realizing I could really use some help at the restaurant carrying all the stuff inside and putting the pieces of this cupcake puzzle together. She agrees to meet me at 5 (not sure what made me think I could do all this by myself, but thank goodness for a good family)

4:46 PM Saturday - I glance at the clock and think oh-shit I'm to be there in 15 minutes and I haven't started loading my car. I'm ready and putzing around totally oblivious to the time, I blame this on the cold medicine. Hubby, again rescues me, and quickly loads everything into my car, starting it to get the AC running so that it wasn't so hot inside that the icing started melting. Isn't he a smart guy.

5:01 PM - In route to restaurant, one minute late and suddenly realize I'm not positive where the restaurant is. I can picture it and I think I know where it is but again the cold medicine gets the best of me and I have a total brain fart. I quickly call my sister who gives me directions and she informs me she will be there 20 minutes later than expected.

~5:10 PM - yes, I was that close to it and couldn't remember where the damn restaurant was. I arrive at the restaurant where a very kind valet boy helped me carry up my many boxes of cupcakes and supplies. And I felt so bad, I had no cash and therefore didn't tip him, but I did say thank-you! I jump right into putting all the pieces together. I had to put the cupcakes into the foil wrappers, add the pics to the tops of them, add the cake topper and candles and pipe the whipped cream around the little cake. My sister, the one who was coming to help, arrived just as I finished, but that was okay because it all came together really easy and my mom's friend who planned the party was there with her sister and they helped with the foil wrappers.

5:30 PM Saturday - Cupcake tower complete, I am sitting in a chair sipping water, no alcohol for me tonight, I feel to crappy. Guests start to arrive around 5:45, most notice the tower immediately and I was thrilled with their comments. They loved the concept of the photo pics. I used pictures from throughout my step-dads life to make the pics. I cut just his head from the pictures for the cupcake pics and then the pictures in their entirety were placed in frames and spread throughout the room for everyone to enjoy. Great conversation pieces! Well here it is...not the best picture, I wish I had taken more but I received many compliments. I'm glad that it was well received and I watched as people at the cupcakes and they were finishing them so that's a good sign! I even had someone approach me about doing a cake for the Steeplechase!!




Now I can breath a huge sigh of relief and take some more cold medicine and go to bed...

Oh but first the recipes... I must actually in some sick way thrive under stressful situations because I choose to use a recipe I had never tried before for these cupcakes and thankfully they were fantastic (I would have been so screwed if they turned out crappy). The white chocolate and raspberry cupcakes I posted about previously even without the raspberry jam in the middle I still found a little heavy, good - just a little heavier then I wanted since I was pairing it with such a rich icing.


White Chocolate Whisper Cake
By Rose Levy Beranbaum found in The Cake Bible (if you like to bake and don't have this book, you should).

6 oz. White Chocolate Fine Quality (I used Ghiradelli)
4 1/2 large egg whites
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 cups sifted cake flour
1 cup + 3 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp + 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
9 tbsp. unsalted butter - must be softened

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a double-broiler melt the white chocolate over hot (not simmering) water, stirring frequently. Remove from heat. In a medium bowl, lightly combine the egg whites, 1/4 cup of milk and the vanilla. In a large mixing bowl combine the dry ingredients and min on low speed for 30 seconds to blend. Add the butter and remaining 3/4 cups milk. Mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened. Increase to medium speed (high speed if using a hand mixer) and beat for 1 1/2 minutes to aerate and develop the cake's structure. Scrap down the sides. Gradually add the egg mixture in 3 batches, beating 20 seconds after each addition to incorporate the ingredients and strengthen the structure. Scrap down the sides. Add the white chocolate and beat to incorporate. Scoop the batter into your prepared pans. I baked the cupcakes for ~18 minutes, removing them once a toothpick inserted came out clean. Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes and then remove from pan to cool completely.


White Chocolate Buttercream
By Betty Crocker

3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup butter
2 tsp. vanilla
3 oz. white chocolate melted and cooled
2 to 3 tbsp. milk

Mix all ingredients except milk in medium bowl. Add milk and whip until creamy.

NOTES: For the cake, The Cake Bible also lists weights for ingredients, which for the eggs was 4 oz. It only took me 4 eggs rather than 4 1/2 to get 4 liquid oz. Proving one, that not all eggs are equal and two, that weighing is more accurate. On the icing, 1/3 cup is a strange butter measurement, it works out 5 1/3 tbsp. Have you tried to cut 5 1/3 tbsp. from a stick of butter...hard to know if you got it right. Next time I would probably just stick with my usual 1/2 cup butter to ~4 cups powdered sugar and then just add maybe another 1/2 oz of chocolate or to taste. I'm not sure why I didn't do it like that to begin with, perhaps because I was freaking out about the whole thing and I was hopped up on cold meds. but it worked and that's all that matters in the end.


Devil's Food Cupcakes

2 cups sifted all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
12 tbsp. unsalted butter, room temp
2 cups + 2 tbsp. sugar
3/4 cocoa powder ( I use Hershey's)
2 tsp. vanilla
3 large eggs, room temp
1 cups water
1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside. With a standing mixer, beat your butter at medium speed until smooth. Increase the speed to medium high and add the sugar, beating until it is light and smooth. Add the cocoa and the vanilla and beat for one minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl if necessary. Add the eggs one at a time beating for 1 minute after each addition. Scrape down the side of the bowl.

Combine the water and milk in a pan and heat until just boiling. Remove from heat and cover so liquid doesn't evaporate. With the mixer on low, slowly add the flour mixing until just combined. Carefully pour the hot liquid into the bowl mixing until just combines. Remove bowl from mixture, scrape down sides and the bottom of the bowl and using a spatula finish combining the batter until smooth. Scoop into prepared cupcake pans. Bake for ~18 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then remove to cool completely.

Milk Chocolate Ganache
By: Rose Levy Beranbaum found in The Cake Bible

12 oz. milk chocolate (34% chocolate mass such as Lindt)
9 oz. bittersweet chocolate
1 1/3 cups heavy cream
3/4 tsp. vanilla

In the bowl of a food processor with metal blades, break chocolate into pieces . Process until the chocolate is very finely ground. In a small pan, bring the cream to a boil. With the motor running, immediately poor it through the feed tube onto the chocolate mixture. Process until smooth, about 15 seconds, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice. Add the vanilla and pulse a few more times to incorporate it. All the mixture to cool for several hours until it reaches frosting consistency.

NOTES: On the cake, again because I must like stress, I tried something different with one of the batches. Rather than add the cocoa powder to the butter and sugar mixture I added it to the hot liquid. I found no noticeable difference between the two batches and neither was easier than the other so whatever your preference I guess? On the icing, because I was originally planning on making a dark ganache using semi-sweet chocolate I didn't have as much bittersweet chocolate as I needed to make the double-batch necessary for all the cake. So I used 24 oz. milk chocolate (Lindt), 8 oz. bittersweet chocolate and 10 oz. semi-sweet chocolate. I allowed the ganache to chill overnight in the refrigerator and then in the morning I brought it to room temperature and whipped it with my mixer. It lightened it both in color and texture but it was still a little thick to pipe so I added whipping cream a little at a time until of the consistency I was looking for (sorry no measurements, just eyed it).

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Damn...it is a good thing you married Shawn. No one else could have possibly been such a Knight in Shining Armor in all your predicaments! Talk about jewels in the crown ~ your hubby is definately a 'rich' man!! Love you and congratulations on the final results!

Tricia Rennea (sometimes Daisy) said...

Wow! Great work.