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Cupcakes—that childhood cake treat smothered with thick, finger-licking buttercream icing—are all the rage. "What's neat about cupcakes is that they're the perfect, individually sized dessert," said Sarah Levy, owner of Sarah's Pastries & Candies, 11 E. Oak St., Chicago. "They're very portable — you can grab one on the go — and they're a little nostalgic, too."
Cupcakes figure prominently in many childhood memories of birthday parties and sprinkles and so much more. But cupcakes are not just for kids anymore. Many brides-to-be are requesting cupcake towers instead of wedding cakes and businesswomen on-the-go will pick up cupcakes as a sweet treat for themselves. In fact, visiting Magnolia Bakery, 401 Bleeker St., New York City, for one of its famous cupcakes is the New Yorkie-thing-to-do for many businesswomen and tourists alike.
"We limit our cupcakes to one dozen maximum per customer," said owner Allysa Torey. "We are so busy with lines out the door, we want to make sure everyone gets a cupcake." To keep up with the demand, Torey and her bakers "work 24-hours a day making cupcakes," and even though she wouldn't reveal how many they make and sell daily, she did say "an awful lot because that's what we're famous for." But it wasn't always that way. When Torey opened Magnolia in 1996, she didn't even make cupcakes. It wasn't until one month after her opening that she was making six-inch birthday cakes and had a lot of extra batter when she suggested to her bakers to use the extra batter to make cupcakes.
"We put them out with everything else," Torey remembers of her first cupcake creations, but soon, they started to catch on. Although she doesn't credit the popular HBO hit, "Sex in the City," for adding to her cupcake popularity when star Sarah Jessica Parker bit into a Magnolia Bakery cupcake in one of the episodes, she does know her cupcakes led to her bakery's fame. "Eventually, they started to have a special place in the store."
Torey likes her cupcakes with a lot of icing so she slathers it on when she makes her most popular vanilla cupcake with vanilla buttercream icing. But her special daily cupcakes are also popular choices including the Devil's Food to Red Velvet to coconut cupcakes ($2.25). "Cupcakes are a fun thing," Torey said. "They're not a fancy, schmancy thing like some people say. They're a basic, old-fashioned thing." So basic, she said, that it's not hard to recreate her success. "It's very easy to make them at home," Torey said, "but I think it takes a little bit of practice. If you follow the directions and read the recipe carefully, you'll do fine."
A self-taught pastry chef, Torey said, "I've been baking in my home kitchen since I was 8 years old." She realizes that many home cooks have more problems with the icing than they do in creating the cakes and recommends that readers of her "More from Magnolia" cookbook, read the helpful hints section carefully. "They're easy to eat, fun and a childhood thing," Torey said. "[The cupcake craze] has been going on for 10 years and it's gotten bigger, not smaller. "I don't think it's a craze anymore," Torey said. "People just like cupcakes."
"Everyone is always asking us which is the most popular cupcake at the bakery. Most people are surprised that it is what we call the "vanilla vanilla" the vanilla cupcake with the vanilla icing (and the most popular color for the icing is pink).
1 ½ cups self-rising flour
1 ¼ cups of all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Click here to view the Magnolia's Vanilla Cupcakes recipe.
"The vanilla buttercream we use at the bakery is technically not a buttercream but actually an old-fashioned confectioners' sugar and butter frosting. Be sure to beat the icing for the amount of time called for in the recipe to achieve the desired creamy texture."
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
6-8 cups confectioners' sugar
½ cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Click here to view the Magnolia's Vanilla Buttercream Icing recipe.
"I love devil's food.this recipe is chocolately and extremely light in texture. These cupcakes are great with the caramel frosting, but I wouldn't hesitate to try them with the other icings as well."
2 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
1 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon
¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 ½ cups firmly packed light brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 ½ cups buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Click here to view the Magnolia's Devil's Food Cupcakes recipe.
"I love anything with caramel, and I always wanted to make an easy caramel frosting that didn't involve a candy thermometer. Here it is. (This icing tastes better if made the day before the cake because the brown sugar gives the icing a slightly grainy texture that improves if allowed to set overnight."
2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
5 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 ½ cups firmly packed light brown sugar
½ cup milk
2 tablespoons dark corn syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Click here to view the Magnolia's Caramel Frosting recipe.
Sarah Levy uses her Chocolate Financier recipe for both her financier petit four and her giant Naked Cupcakes. She describes it as a moist chocolate and almond cake made with brown butter and topped with raspberries.
1 cup of almond flour
¾ cup of all-purpose flour
¼ cup of cocoa powder
2 ¾ cups of fresh egg whites
2 ¾ cups of butter
¼ cup of applesauce
2 teaspoons of salt
Click here to view the Sarah's Chocolate Financier recipe.
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