Thursday, December 4, 2008

Marshmallow Fluffycakes!

Posted by Erin Wilburn / 2 comments » / cake, dessert

I had some amazing cupcakes planned out in my head to make for a friend’s birthday. Only to find out the day before he didn’t like one of the flavors. So I didn’t have much time to pick a replacement cupcake. I’m always interested in trying something new. A new flavor, a new method. I browsed one of my favorite food porn sites, I mean, food blogs, Culinary Concoctions by Peabody, and I was immediately drawn to these cupcakes! I thought I’d give them a shot!

The method to make them was different that any cupcakes I’d made before. I really enjoyed that I got to try making a marshmallow frosting. In the end result, they were certainly yummy, but not my favorite. I’m not sure I’ll use the cake recipe again, but the frosting one I definitely will! I’m not sure if I over beat the egg whites, or what, but the cake wasn’t as moist as I prefer. It was more on the dense side. Again, they still tasted great, and got rave reviews, but not my cup of tea!

They were still the cutest thing ever, so I decided I’d go ahead and blog them! I can’t help but give my honest opinion. That’s something my friends all know about me. I have no problem giving you my honest opinion. I left in most of Peabody’s notes about the recipe. If you try this recipe, let me know your results!

Marshmallow Snowflake Cupcakes
adapted from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody, originally adapted from Cupcakes Galore by Gail Wagman

Cupcake Batter:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 ¼ cups sugar
2/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
3 egg whites(plus a pinch of salt for them)
1 cup mini-marshmallows

Preheat oven to 350F.

Combine flour and baking powder together in a bowl; set aside.

Cream butter and sugar together, beating till light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Alternately add the flour mixture and the milk, and beat until batter is smooth. (Don’t panic, this will look more like cookie batter than bake batter.)

Beat egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff but not to dry. Gently fold into batter. (This was a bit of a chore, just keep at it).

Fold in marshmallows.

Spoon batter into cupcake papers, filling cups about 2/3 full(even if you are using papers, be sure to grease down the top of the muffin tins as the marshmallow part tends to ooze over a bit). Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool.

Frosting:
2 egg whites
¾ cup sugar
¼ cup light corn syrup
pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla

Using a large bowl, preferably the top of a double boiler, mix eggs, sugar, corn syrup ans salt until combined. Place the bowl over simmering water ans whisk until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is hot, about 3 minutes(be careful to not make it too hot since you are using eggs and don’t want them to scramble). Remove heat and beat 5-7 minutes until frosting is cool and stiff peaks form. Beat in vanilla. Decorate cupcakes to your tastes.