The last test bake before my big cook off Sunday for the bake sale Monday.

For the cupcakes:

Ingredients
3 cups (330 g) cake flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup (8 oz or 230 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups (454 g) granulated sugar
5 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups (10 fl oz or 300 ml) buttermilk

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Butter and line with parchment paper two 8x2-inch (20x5-cm) pans. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Cut up the butter into 1-inch pieces and place them in the large bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment or beaters. Beat for 3 minutes on MEDIUM-HIGH speed until the butter is light and creamy in color. Stop and scrape the bowl. Cream the butter for an additional 60 seconds. Add the sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, beating 1 minute after each addition. Scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally. Add the eggs one at a time. Reduce the mixer speed. Stir vanilla into the buttermilk. Add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk. Mix just until incorporated. Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix for 15 seconds longer.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a knife. Lift up the pan with the batter, and let it drop onto the counter top to burst any air bubbles, allowing the batter to settle. Center the pans onto the lower third of the oven and let bake 45 to 50 minutes or until the cake is lightly brown on top and comes away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Note: Let the cake cool in the pan. Storage: Double wrap the cake in plastic wrap. It will keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks or in the freezer for up to 2 months. Yields: Two 8-inch (20-cm) cakes

For the frosting:

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups whipping cream
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
4 1/2 tablespoons light corn syrup
16 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon (scant) almond extract

Directions
Whisk first 4 ingredients in medium saucepan over medium heat until butter melts and mixture comes to simmer. Remove saucepan from heat. Add chocolate and both extracts. Whisk until chocolate is melted and smooth. Refrigerate frosting until slightly thickened but still spreadable, stirring occasionally, about 45 minutes.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I added a batch of strawberries from Trader Joe's to turn the yellow cake into strawberry cake. The strong strawberry flavor unfortunately didn't survive the cooking. So next time I'll have to add more strawberries (if I can't find strawberry extract) and my cooking buddy says almond extract to bring out the flavor. I also was very haphazard in putting the cupcake batter together cause my friends were watching Top Design and I didn't want to disturb them. You have to fill the cupcake cups to the top cause the batter didn't rise so high (maybe my fault in making them).

The only thing I did different in the icing is skip the almond extract cause I didn't have any. The icing takes a long time to set to a point where it's spreadable. I put it in the fridge and the freezer and after an hour gave up and just poured them on the cupcakes while they were still runny. They didn't taste great (warm cupcake with runny icing). But I put them in the fridge over night and the next day the icing was solid and they tasted a lot better. So I think I am going to use them for the show.

Labels: icecream