The delivery date for Operation Buttercream is approaching at warp speed; four more weeks until all the cupcakes need to be loaded into the boxes and very carefully transported to the wedding venue. Latest developments include adoption of project planning software, which has sharpened the mind and development of the final prototype cupcake – caramel filled chocolate cupcakes topped with caramel buttercream. And I am starting to dream about cupcakes…..

The project planning software is called Trello and its really helping me keep track of the myriad of tasks and subtasks. Not a paid promotion, the free version is nifty for a small project. I’m not using any of the collaboration features though.

The Davinator acquired a simple secondhand refrigerator for Operation Buttercream. It has been officially named the Beer Fridge even though its contents are primarily white wine and unsalted butter.

The groom is very fond of salted caramel and I’ve got a great recipe for chocolate cupcakes so this last of the four types was an easy choice. The big question – do I make the caramel or do I buy it? Making caramel involves a delicate balance of chemistry, timing and technique as does much sugar work. I may some day write a blog on the affair of the white chocolate fudge with macadamia nuts and candied cherries. With encouragement from the Davinator, I decided to make my own caramel. And it came out okay. But I am going to do the next batch on the induction hob with a different saucepan. I could prattle on about the complexities of sugar crystals for pages, but for the sake of the readers – I’ll keep it to myself.

Describing the cupcake: a chocolate cupcake, filled and topped with caramel, iced with caramel flavoured buttercream in a simple swirl design.

The order of my process steps: make chocolate cupcakes, make caramel, make the caramel buttercream. I made the cupcakes and the caramel on the first day. The caramel needs to cool and TBH you need time for plan B if it goes wrong. I made the buttercream, piped it and applied the decoration on the second day. I’ve included a recipe for caramel below but it’s worth watching some YouTube videos as well if you’ve never made caramel. Boiling hot sugar is not for the faint hearted.

Chocolate cupcakes: here’s my recipe. I have made a couple of changes, I added an extra egg and another 10 grams of butter. The version on my website has been updated to reflect this. I pipe the batter into the cupcake cases; weighing them as I do it. 55-60 grams is about right.

Caramel

Ingredients

• 200g Caster sugar (superfine sugar)
• 60ml Water
• 60g Butter, cut it chunks
• 175ml Double cream
• 1tsp Vanilla extract optional, adds extra flavour
• ½ tsp Salt

Instructions

1. Prep your ingredients and have them to hand before starting. It can feel like juggling. measured out and ready before you start

2. Put the caster sugar and water into a high sided non stick pan, and heat on a low-medium heat. You can stir the mixture a little if needed. I used one of my cast iron teflon lined ProCook pans.

3. The sugar will dissolve, takes about 5 minutes, and the mixture turns clearer and doesn’t look as grainy. Turn the heat up to medium-high so the mixture bubbles, and do not stir. It will create crystals and may harden on you.

4. Watch the pan carefully, it will eventually start to turn golden. If you’re a numbers person, it will start to caramelise between 160C and 175C. It goes slowly slowy slowy and then all at once. Timing is dependent on your hob and the pan. Say 10 minutes or so but do not leave it unattended. This is the one time to watch the pot.

5. Once golden, remove from the heat and whisk the butter in quickly. Then add the cream and whisk as you’re pouring it in.

6. Add the vanilla and salt at the end.

7. Finally, transfer to a metal or plastic bowl, allow to cool. Once cooled, cover with cling film and refrigerate.

The caramel will keep refrigerated for up to two weeks. To take the pressure off, I will probably do this first.

Caramel buttercream

Ingredients

• 200g unsalted butter at room temperature
• 400g icing sugar
• 2tsp caramel flavouring
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 to 2 tbsp hot water
• Food colouring

Instructions

1. Beat the butter in your stand mixer at high speed until smooth and lighter in colour – 3 to 5 minutes
2. Add half of the icing sugar and 1 tsp of caramel flavour and incorporate, then repeat with the remainder.
3. Add a few drops of brown food colouring the salt and sufficient water to get a good piping consistency.

Assembly

1. Use a cupcake corer or small knife to cut a hole in each cupcake. See the cupcake gadget in this earlier post.
2. Fill with caramel.
3. Drizzle any remaining caramel over the surface of the cupcakes.
4. Ice the cupcakes. I went for a simple swirl design and used a 2D closed star tip.
5. Decorate if desired. I used tiny cubes of caramel fudge and some gold sugar beads.

Notes on this test bake

1. These cupcakes are very sweet, almost like a 3 Musketeer bar from my youth.
2. Using the cling film method to fill the piping bags is a game changer.
3. I will make the caramel well in advance. Working with hot sugar when feeling time pressure seems like a recipe for disaster.
4. Use the induction hob for the next batch of caramel.
5. Probably time to do the quantity surveying. It’s going to be a lot of butter, sugar and eggs. I’m more worried about any speciality ingredients like for colouring or decoration.
6. I’ve found another store – Hobby Craft – that I should not be allowed to go in without adult supervision.
7. The secondhand refrigerator was a genius move.

Okay, I’m off to inventory the transport containers. Thank you for reading the blog and going on the cupcake journey with me. Any clever suggestions much appreciated.

It’s been sometime since I posted an Operation Buttercream blog. I have been working on various aspects of the project, mixing it in to my usual Christmas prep and activities. Including the annual Christmas Jumper Countdown. (my Instagram here) My theory is that all practice teaches me something and that proved to be the case. And we made some really cute Christmas cupcakes with the lovely Lisa from Lisa Dear Artworks.

The poinsettia cupcakes above show the benefit of practice and working out the engineering of icing. The Mark 2.0 cupcakes taste the same as the First Attempt cupcakes but are superior in terms of presentation. The First Attempt cupcakes used the chocolate cupcakes from the recipe below and went with me to a gathering of women friends in early December. The leftovers were enjoyed by the husband of the hostess and lasted for a good ten days in the refrigerator.

What changes did I make to get to Mark 2.0? I acquired several additional ‘leaf’ style piping tips and I’m now firmly committed to the cling film (Saran Wrap for you Americans) method of filling the piping bags. I went for a darker green for the leaves and did a better job with the placement of the leaves and the two layers of red petals (actually leaves, not flowers). I went with tiny gold balls for the centre of the flowers in Mark 2.0 mostly for speed as I didn’t have to make another colour and fill another piping bag. Finally, the icing was stiffer. I make the piping bags up and then put the extras in the refrigerator so that they are firm and cool when piping.

Mark 2.0 used gingerbread cake as the base following a special request and we ate them at our extended family Christmas meal. Recipe is below.

We iced chocolate cupcakes and then made a selection of cupcakes from Kerry’s Boucakes 2021 Christmas Collection. Two different wreath cupcakes (in increasing complexity and a Christmas pudding cupcake which turned out really well. We also practised full piped roses on cupcakes and some rosebuds on flower nails. The chocolate cupcake recipe is below also. I think the final ‘cupcake menu’ for the wedding will include a salted caramel chocolate cupcake.

Gingerbread Cupcakes

• Ingredients
  • 185 grams (1 1/2 cups) all-purpose flour (not self raising)
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1/4 tsp ground cloves
  • 115 grams (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
  • 100 grams (1/2 cup) granulated sugar
  • 165 grams (1/2 cup) molasses
  • 2 large eggs (room temperature)
  • 120 mls (1/2 cup) whole milk (room temperature)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. Preheat Oven: Preheat Oven:
2. Dry Ingredients: In a bowl, whisk or sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.
3. Cream Butter and Sugar: In another bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add molasses and beat until well combined.
4. Eggs: Beat in the eggs one at a time, ensuring each is fully incorporated before adding the next. Add the vanilla extract.
5. Combine: Alternately add the dry ingredients and milk to the butter mixture, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix until just combined.
6. Fill Liners: Divide the batter among the cupcake liners, filling each about 2/3 full.
7. Bake: Bake for 18-20 minutes until a tester comes out clean.

Allow to cool before icing.

Chocolate cupcakes

Ingredients

• 95 grams (3/4 cup) all-purpose flour 
• 40 grams (1/2 cup)  unsweetened cocoa powder*
• 1 teaspoon espresso powder or instant espresso*
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 100 grams (1/2 cup) granulated sugar
• 100 grams (1/2 cup)  packed light brown sugar
• 90 grams unsalted butter, melted and cooled (1/3 cup) (80ml) vegetable or canola oil (
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 120 grams (1/2 cup) unsweetened full fat Greek yoghurt at room temperature

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C (350°F). Line a 12-cup muffin pan with cupcake liners. Line a second pan with 2 liners—this recipe makes about 14 cupcakes. Set aside.
2. Whisk or sift together the flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl until thoroughly combined. Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs, granulated sugar, brown sugar, oil, and vanilla together until completely smooth. Pour half of the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Then half of the yoghurt. Gently whisk for a few seconds. Repeat with the remaining wet ingredients and the yoghurt. Stir until *just* combined; do not over-mix.
4. Pour or spoon the batter into the liners. Fill only halfway to avoid spilling over the sides or sinking.
5. Bake for 18-21 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
6. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

Notes on this test bake

This blog post actually captures the experience of 3 separate tests of baking and icing, and I’m always learning. A few things that are worth capturing.

1. I always use a piping bag for filling the cupcake liners and I use stiff liners (not the simple pleated paper ones). Prevents spills and makes clean up easier. I weigh every cupcake as I fill them and it helps with consistency. If you’re not as worried about presentation, freehand the filling and use a trigger ice cream scoop.
2. I sift the dry ingredients together after I have weighed them. One of my first batch of chocolate cupcakes exploded in the oven. As my sister Rachael reminded me – this is usually the result of imperfect distribution of the baking powder and baking soda. Both of these cupcake recipes are heavy batter and so need the extra lift from both leavening agents.
3. As my piping skills improve, making the icing colours and filling the piping bags takes much longer than the actual piping.
4. Practicing with Lisa – our mantra was ‘it is only icing, if it’s not good enough, scrape it off and do it again’.
5. With careful handling and storage, the cupcake bases can be made up to a week ahead. Either frozen or refrigerated.
6. There needs to be a dedicated team member for washing up, making boxes, filling piping bags etc.
7. Icing texture is critical – stiff icing at the correct temperature produces the best shapes.
8. Not directly relevant to Operation Buttercream but making buttercream icing Christmas red is a painful process.

Thank you for reading the blog – any comments, suggestions or helpful hints very welcome. And I need to go on a food photography course I think.