This blog post, and I suspect all other on Project Buttercream will be a bit different. There are recipes but the blog is primarily about the project itself.

I do like a project. There should be self help groups for people like me. I’ve agreed to do the cupcakes for a 100+ guest wedding. I’m very fond of the bride and I’m a good baker, but this may have been a moment of insanity. I’m usually serenely confident in my abilities…. but then I had a reality check.

The Davinator and I were invited to lunch at the parents of the groom. I made a dozen strawberry champagne cupcakes, I iced them in 3 different patterns and used 3 different types of decorations. Somehow dropped the box with the cupcakes on the driveway when we arrived. We had two choices at that point: shove the box back in the car or carry it in and face the music. We went for the latter. They tasted great and I was asked ‘well did you take photos of them’. No, I hadn’t because I had the cupcakes, didn’t I?

I started having anxiety dreams about the cupcakes. I decided I needed to do something about it. The Davinator has a saying ‘until you have a written down plan (including a spreadsheet) it’s just a concept’. Thus Operation Buttercream was born. I started a plan and I enlisted some helpers. There’s a folder on my desktop for the electronic documents.

Test baking under ‘exam conditions’ is a key component of Operation Buttercream. There are only so many cupcakes the Davinator and our family and friends can eat. The church next door has a big coffee morning once a month and they agreed to accept some test cupcakes. The first test bake of Operation Buttercream was go.

The first recipe put to the test is Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Buttercream Icing. Cupcakes iced as flowers are very on trend now, so I chose two test icing patterns: a rose and a magnolia. Youtube is full of ‘how to’ videos on icing patterns: I watched several videos by Cornel, good reminders on piping bags, which icing tip to use and an icing recipe that is most stable. The recipes for the carrot cake and the icing are below. I’ve made lots of notes as I went along broadly separated into the cupcakes and icing.

Notes on the cupcakes

• I made a double batch of a recipe that should have made 24 cupcakes. It only made 22. I didn’t spill or overfill the cases, so I will need to factor the shortfall in for planning purposes. Will include the actual recipe below. Not sure if I want to plan to make another single batch to fill out the numbers and have extras for ’emergencies’. I piped the mixture into the cases: it gives better control on filling and keeps the tins tidy.
  
• I used strong white flour as it’s what I had on hand. I need to acquire an 18k bag of all purpose plain flour.
  
• I used melted butter instead of vegetable oil from the original recipes. Most carrot cake recipes use vegetable oil but I think butter or a natural oil like coconut oil is preferable if not trying for vegan or dairy free.
  
• I hand shredded the carrots and then rough chopped them for the best texture.
  
• I used stiff cases for the cupcakes, not the standard pleated ones. I think this will help with standardising the quantities, easier handling during the icing phase, uniform shapes and holding up to transportation.
  
• Pondered and went with ‘no nuts’. For a big event like a wedding, better not. Even though a home kitchen will never be free of nut traces best to avoid nuts.
  
• Questions for myself: do I need some extra bowls for my KitchenAid stand mixers. Oh, I forgot to mention I bought a secondhand one off Facebook marketplace and had the Davinator give it a service? Probably yes, two additional bowls. Also some more silicone spatulas and scrapers. What about covers for the bowls? I don’t use a splash guard and I think covers may be more trouble than they are worth.
  

Carrot cupcake recipe

Makes 22 -24 cupcakes

Ingredients

• 330 grams plain flour  
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 240 grams melted and cooled butter
• 400 grams packed light or dark brown sugar
• 4 medium eggs, at room temperature
• 160 grams Greek yoghurt, full fat, unsweetened or flavoured e
• 2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 400 grams grated and coarsely chopped carrots (about 3 – 5 large carrots)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 175°C. Line 24 cup muffin pan or 2 x 12 cup pans with stiff cupcake liners.
2. Melt the butter and set aside to cool.
3. Prep the carrots. It’s annoying but I hand grated, then rough chopped the carrots for the optimum texture. I top and tail the carrots then make a decision on whether to peel. Use your judgement on this one – supermarket carrots seldom need peeling but farm stall carrots can have lots roots and dirt.
4. Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg together in a large bowl. Set aside.
5. Whisk the cooled butter, brown sugar, eggs, yoghurt and vanilla extract together until combined, and then whisk in the carrots.
6. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold or whisk together until completely combined. Batter will be slightly thick.
7. Pipe the batter into the liners, filling only about 3/4 full to avoid spilling over the sides. Bake for 21–23 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

All of that took me about 90 minutes from start to finish including the washing up. That, as it turns out, was the quick part.

Notes on buttercream icing

• Carrot cake traditionally has a cream cheese icing. I’m did buttercream instead. First, properly made buttercream will not go off, it never curdles or refuses to smoothly incorporate with the butter. I’ve made good cream cheese icing – but it’s only when working with the cheapest cream cheese, so I think it’s the artificial ingredients that produce the smooth outcome.
  
• The buttercream needs to ‘keep’, needs to be soft enough to pipe but smooth enough to hold shape once piped. That means keep it simple: butter, icing sugar, vanilla and gel based food colouring.
  
• Disposable piping bags are crucial. And the challenge is to not overfill them; the more icing, the more force to pipe, especially the first cupcake or two.
  
• About 20 minutes into the piping I decided that I’m going to buy more piping tips of the ones that I need for the designs. That way I can fill multiple bags and keep going, there’s a real ‘groove’ to doing the roses I found. Here’s the tutorial for making the roses – I did them all white the first time. Wilton 104 piping tip for the rose.
  
• The magnolia design required 4 different piping tips, 1 for leaves, 2 for petals and a third for the centre and 3 colours: green, white and yellow. Here’s the tutorial for making the magnolia. I adapted the design so that it did not overhang the cupcake – makes transportation easier I think. It was easier to execute once I had the hang of the last ring of petals for the yellow centre. Logistically more difficult but I think less skilled. Food for thought. Used Wilton 104, Ateco 126, Jem 123 and Wilton 21 piping tips.
  
• I made two batches of icing per the recipe below and it easily provided enough for 22 cupcakes. Including the 3 colours: white, green and yellow. Only 21 of the cupcakes made it to the coffee morning; the Davinator and I ate one of the roses. For quality control purposes, obviously.
  
• Making the flowers required more time and energy than I anticipated. Also, seemed to tense up my back. But I was – to a degree – learning on the job. Having an assistant to fill piping bags and help with the washing up and various tasks will help.

Buttercream recipe

Ingredients

• 300 grams room temperature unsalted butter
• 680 grams icing sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 or 2 teaspoons water

Method

1. Beat the butter in your stand mixer for at least 5 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides once or twice. The butter will change colour – lighten and take on a lovely texture.
2. Add half the icing sugar and beat to incorporate. Then add the other half and do the same. Be prepared for a fine cloud of icing sugar to settle over your work area.
3. Add the vanilla and one teaspoon of water plus any necessary food colouring. Beat, check consistency. It should be quite stiff, just barely able to pipe.
4. No dairy beyond the butter means it will keep better.
5. I’m not going to explain how to do the flowers – it needs to be seen and then practiced. Be prepared for sore hands.

Other random thoughts

I did an ingredients list for cupcakes and for icing and also a list of allergens and a nut warning. I made little cards with a picture of the cupcake and ‘carrot cake cupcake’ on them. I transported them in sturdy white boxes that I got from Cake Craft. Boxes always come flat packed so it’s a good idea to prep them, including getting spaces for holding the cupcakes punched through at a point in the process when your hands are clean.

Watch for future instalments.