Our friends are getting married.
They're a really lovely couple.
They were talking about doing a dessert buffet in lieu of a cake.
I volunteered to make their vision come true.
Then they told me that their count is 400+ people.
Um, yeah.
At first I was like, no way.
And then I thought about it and started doing logistics in my head.
I can do this. I know I can.
So I started with the brain storming.
I love the idea of homemade hostess cupcakes.
I've never made those before, so that's where I started. I don't know if the lovely couple even wants homemade hostess cupcakes or not, but I had to start somewhere.
I started with making the cream filling.
I used the recipe from a Taste of Home cookbook. I had previously made the original recipe, Cream Filled Pumpkin Cupcakes, and got rave reviews about them, so I thought I would use the cream filling from it to fill the HHC (homemade hostess cupcakes).
The recipe for the cream is a little tricky because at one point you have to boil the milk for approximately two minutes. You need to whisk the living daylights out of it while it boils or the bottom will burn. Apart from that, it's not all that hard to make.
I also tried out a new method for filling my pastry bag with the cream. Check it out. It's fricken genius!
I used a ton more filling than what she shows but it still worked just as well. Amazing!
I then started on the chocolate cupcake portion.
I used the Devils Food Cake recipe from Cooks Illustrated. I wanted a rich, dense chocolate cake and this sounded like just the trick.
And from there, the experimenting began.
1) I didn't know if I wanted to make mini or full sized cupcakes. So, I tried out both.
2) I didn't know how much they were going to rise in the cupcake pans. So, I tried out a couple of different portions.
3) I didn't know how long the different portions and sizes would take to bake, so I watched over them like a hawk with a clean toothpick in hand the whole time.
4) I didn't know the best method of filling cupcakes. Do I fill them from the bottom, side or top?
The situation got intense.
As you can see the Devils Food Cake is not the way to go. Although it was super dense and rich and very very chocolatey, it didn't create a smooth even surface on the top. Even if I used a thick layer of ganache to ice these with, it totally would not cover up those cracks.
These were my first round. I used my large OXO cookie scoop to portion out the standard cupcake pans and my small OXO cookie scoop to portion out the mini cupcake pans. Both were too small and don't look right.
From there I adjusted the portions to 1/3 cup of batter for the standard cupcake pan and my medium OXO cookie scoop to portion the mini cupcake pan.
Those portions were perfect!
The final bake time on those were 12 minutes for the minis and 20 minutes for the standards.
I also tried some different greasing methods for the pans.
The first round I greased the cups with crisco and then "floured" them with cocoa powder.
That didn't work so hot. It was really hard to dislodge those from the pan.
Did you know that if you drop one of these on the floor while trying to dislodge it from the pan, when it hits the floor it will explode into a thousand little bits and stick to every single surface like glue.
Did you know that?
I now know that.
I then just generously greased the pans with straight up crisco. This was the way to go.
Now for the filling portion. I've never filled anything with a filling tip and a piping bag. I had to buy a filling tip especially for this. Like I need an excuse to go to the baking goodies store.
This was honestly the trickiest part. I wanted to make sure I filled them adequately but you don't want to over fill them and have them explode. (see above picture)
The trick is to cradle the top of the cupcake in your free hand and you can feel the top rising as you fill it. From there, you just need to make sure to stop filling right before the top cracks. This took several attempts before I was able to get it down.
I tried filing them from the bottom and from the side. The side filling method was the way to go.
The overall consensus?
Although the cake and filling were both really delicious they did not emulate the HHC the way I wanted. The cake was way too dense and rich and the filling wasn't substantial enough.
I think I'm going to try a chocolate chiffon cake recipe for the next round. I need something lighter and more spongy that will yield a smooth flat top and will allow for the filling to expand without distorting or cracking the top.
From my extensive filling research, it turns out that I need to be getting myself some marshmallow fluff to make an appropriate filling consistency.
Mini cupcakes are the way to go.
I still need to figure out the top frosting situation.
I also need to figure out what else will be on this dessert buffet.
Here's what I think might be some good ideas:
1)Rosemary Walnut Shortbread-These will be cute little circles with their initials on them.
2)Chocolate/Pumpkin/Carrot Cake Whoopie Pies
3)Candied Pecans
4)A Vegan/Gluten Free Option-Yet to be determined.
5)Assorted Macaroons
6)Assorted Meringues
7)Assorted Petit Fours
Do you have any good ideas for small desserts for such an occasion? Have you had any kind of interesting flavor combos in desserts?
Lay your ideas on me! I'm totally open to any and all suggestions!
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