11th Jun2011

“Bananas Foster” Cupcakes with Mascarpone Frosting

by cupcakedaydreams

Bananas Collage

One of my husband’s favorite desserts is Bananas Foster which is basically vanilla ice cream served over rum caramelized bananas. For his birthday this year we hosted a dinner at Bistro du Midi a French restaurant near the Boston Common/Public Gardens. I created these tasty caramel cupcakes with a caramelized banana filling and topped with a light mascarpone cream cheese frosting.

This is the first time making these and they have definitely become my new favorite flavor although I’m a sucker for anything with mascarpone cheese. The caramel base adds a nice dimension to the cake and really enhances the caramelized sugar flavor in the bananas.

I packaged them in these adorable but semi- masculine (ie. they have green and blue on them, that counts right?) gable boxes from the Container Store. I did have to modify some of our cupcake holder inserts to fit into these boxes as the boxes were a little too large.

Bananas Foster

Caramel Cake

1 ½ cups sugar

2 2/3 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

4 large eggs, room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the Caramel Sauce:

2/3 cup sugar

2/3 cup boiling water

  1. Preheat oven 350 degrees.
  2. Line 2 cupcake pans with liners.
  3. Make the caramel sauce: In a skillet or saucepan heat (medium high) the 2/3 cup sugar. Shake the pan to level out the sugar. Just as the sugar begins to melt– in a SEPARATE saucepan bring the 2/3 cup water to a boil.
  4. Continue to shake and stir the pan with the sugar to melt it completely. Stir until it becomes golden amber in color.
  5. Remove from heat and slowly pour in the boiling water while continuing to stir the sauce. Stir until smooth. Transfer to bowl.
  6. Add ½ cup water to the saucepan and stir over medium heat to loosen the leftover caramel.
  7. Add the water mixture to the bowl with the caramel and stir together.
  8. Let the mixture cool while you prepare the cake batter.
  9. To make the cupcakes: In a bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt, whisk until combined.
  10. In a large mixer bowl (fitted with a paddle attachment) cream the butter and then add the  1 ½ cup sugar—mix until fluffy.
  11. Beat in the eggs, one at a time until the batter is smooth about 40-60 seconds after each addition, scrape batter down the sides.
  12. Beat in the vanilla.
  13. Add in flour mixture alternating with caramel sauce.
  14. Divide the batter among the 2 pans—fill about ¾ full.
  15. Bake about 20-25 minutes

“Bananas Foster” filling

3 ripe bananas, sliced lengthwise

¼ cup sugar

3 tablespoons butter

  1. In a large skillet over medium high heat melt the ¼ sugar—shake the skillet occasionally until the sugar has caramelized. Remove from heat and add butter one table spoon at a time while continually stirring.
  2. After all the butter has melted return the pan to a medium heat and add in bananas. Cook bananas until they brown, about 2-3 minutes each side. Bananas will break apart to pieces, it’s ok!
  3. Transfer to a bowl and let cool.

Mascarpone Frosting

16 oz mascarpone cheese

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

1 ¼ cup heavy cream

  1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment beat the heavy cream and sugar until smooth. Care not to overbeat or the cream will curdle!  About 2 minutes.  Fold in marscarpone cheese (i did it by hand then for a minute in the mixer on low) and let set up in the fridge for 15 minutes.

Assembly

Banana Filling

With a serrated knife cut an inverted cone into the cooled cupcakes and remove it. Cut off the bulk of the cone cake so that just the top remains. Fill the cupcake with a teaspoon of the banana filling and replace the top of the cupcake. Once all of the cupcakes are filled use a small scoop to frost the cupcakes. Serve with the scooped frosting to resemble a scoop of ice cream or spread across the entire cupcake.

Category : Cake Events, Everything Else, Recipes
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3 Comm
05th Jun2011

Chocolate Toffee with Caramel Drizzle

by cupcakedaydreams

The Cupcake Swap: Week 1

Toffee Collage

It all started with the idea of a potluck for our friends Jen & Brendan who are brand new parents. You don’t have to have kids to know that the first few weeks can be daunting and exhausting! The only problem with a potluck is that it’s WAY too much food for one couple to consume before it all goes bad. So we took the idea of a potluck and stretched it over a couple of months with a slight twist…cupcakes!

Here’s the idea: each friend signs up for a week to bake a savory dish/meal for the new parents. In EXCHANGE for the food they get a dozen cupcakes baked by Cupcake Daydreams! Parents get a much needed home cooked meal, the cook gets tasty cupcakes and we get to test out new recipes! It’s a win, cubed!

For the first week I decided on a chocolate cupcake because I’m always looking for ways to change up chocolate recipes. A vanilla based cake is definitely easier to modify since a chocolate base can be overpowering to some of the more subtle flavors.

Growing up my favorite candy bar was the heath toffee bar—what’s not to like hard caramel covered in a luscious chocolate coating! Seems like a natural pairing with the chocolate cake. I opted to mix toffee bits into the batter so that the chocolate bits would melt in the cupcake. I kept the frosting simple since the cake was so rich but topped it off with a fresh caramel drizzle. Why are you still reading? Go bake this cupcake!!

Chocolate Toffee Caramel Drizzle

Chocolate Toffee Cupcake

2 2/3 cups flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

4 teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons butter, room temperature

3 cups sugar

4 eggs

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups milk, room temperature

1 package crumbled toffee bits

 

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Line two cupcake pans with liners.
  3. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa and salt. Set aside.
  4. In a mixer bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
  5. Add eggs one at a time.
  6. Add vanilla.
  7. Alternate between milk and the flour mixture—beginning and ending with flour.
  8. By hand, fold in the package of toffee bits.
  9. Fill cups ¾ full.
  10. Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick in the center comes out clean.

Vanilla Buttercream

2 sticks of butter, room temperature

3-4 cups of confectioners’ sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

  1. In a mixer with a paddle attachment  cream butter.
  2. Add confectioners’ sugar ½ cup at a time until you reach desired consistency. Mix in vanilla at any time.

Caramel Drizzle

½ cup sugar

½ cup heavy cream

Caramel Ice Bath

  1. Prepare an ice bath (you’ll need two nesting bowls – place ice in the larger bowl and place smaller bowl inside the large bowl surround it with ice).
  2. Heat the sugar in a medium saucepan over medium high heat. Sugar will start to melt, shake the pan to move the unmelted sugar around the pan.
  3. Stir with a wooden spoon until the sugar becomes a smooth golden amber color (about 2 or 3 minutes). Stir constantly so that the sugar doesn’t burn.
  4. Remove from heat.
  5. Continue stirring and slowly add the cream in a slow stream (it may splatter and this is normal).
  6. If it’s not the desired consistency (smooth) return to heat while stirring.
  7. Place caramel in the smaller bowl in the ice bath—stir frequently until cooled.

Assembly

Chocolate Toffee Close up

While you are waiting for the caramel to cool, frost the cupcakes. Once the cupcakes are frosted whisk the caramel with a metal whisk. Use the caramel on the whisk to slowly drizzle over the frosted cupcakes. I have found it best to place the cupcakes on a cooling rack when you drizzle the caramel over it. It can get a bit messy and this prevents the bottom of the cupcakes from getting sticky with caramel.

Category : Cake Events, Cupcake Swap, Recipes
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1 Comm