I was feeling adventurous so I decided that my next baking experience should be an attempt at baking cake from scratch…for the first time ever! I have been collecting a few recipes and stumbled on this website, Ming Makes Cupcakes. The site lists 33 different recipes, all of which seemed very easy and straightforward. I was interested in making a cream cheese frosting since the last frosting I made was buttercream, but also thought that a maple icing would be nice (I’ve been slightly obsessed with it lately). Cupcake #27 fit this description, however my husband also mentioned an apple cupcake, like #10. As a solution, I combined the two and did apple cake with a maple cream cheese frosting. Upon gathering the ingredients for the cake, I began.
I was very surprised how easy it was! Fifteen minutes later I had the batter complete and in the cupcake pan!
I was a little concerned with how much apple was in the batter, but knowing that apple cooks down, I tried to not think too much into it and just hoped for the best.
The cupcakes came out of the oven looking okay. They didn’t plump up the way I’m used to cake doing and the top of the cake was very crunchy.
While letting the cupcakes cool, I moved on to the icing, which was also super easy to make. I modified the recipe some, adding in a little more cream cheese and a little more maple syrup and also confectioners sugar to firm it up. At first I didn’t think the frosting had enough maple flavor, but I think my taste buds had too many taste tests because when I came back to it later, I really did like it.
Now it was time to frost! I received a stainless steel pastry bag for Christmas and wanted to give it a try. It definitely takes some getting use to, but I was glad to have the practice!
(Piping frosting for the first time with my new Kuhn Rikon Stainless Steel Pastry Bag)
(The results from one of the more successful cupcakes)
Next I had to decide on a garnish. I went with two options: a maple drizzle and a cinnamon sprinkle.
(With Maple Drizzle)
(With Cinnamon Sprinkle)
In the end, I recommend the cinnamon sprinkle. The cake is really sweet so the extra maple syrup is just too much, in my opinion. I would prefer a cake that wasn’t so sweet because it would help the spices come through. However, despite the sweet cake and crunchy top layer, the inside is incredibly moist!
Overall, I’d consider this a success and look forward to baking from scratch in the future! I even inspired a visiting friend to give it a try!
Have you dabbled with baking cakes and cupcakes after always relying on a box mix? Did you also find the experience encouraging? Let us know what some of your favorite recipes are!
- Posted by Cupcake Crusader, Jenn (Westminster, MD)
