In honor of Cinco de Mayo….no really, I didn’t do anything for Cinco de Mayo. I thought about it. But then the circumstances worked out that Jeremiah wasn’t coming home from work in time for dinner anyway, I had half of the Spinach and Mushroom Lasagna in the fridge from the other night and I felt like making cupcakes. 
So I did.
I have been in a little of a cupcake fury lately because my lovely sister-in-law, Natalie, asked me to make cupcakes for her wedding in July. So of course I have to come up with wedding worthy cupcakes. So I came up with these lovely little confections of vanilla flavored delightfulness.
(makes 24 cupcakes)
Ingredients
For the Cupcakes
1/2 pound unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups vanilla sugar
3 large eggs
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tablespoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract or two vanilla beans, scraped
For the Simple Syrup
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
For the Ganache
2 cups chopped white chocolate
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped out
2 cups heavy cream
Preparation Instructions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 cupcake pans with cupcake papers; set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 5 to 6 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat until creamy, occasionally scraping down sides of the bowl using a spatula.
In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. In a small bowl, mix together cream, and vanilla. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture, alternating with cream mixture, beginning and ending with flour; beat until just combined.
Pour batter into prepared cupcake pans and bake until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean, 20-25 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack before removing cupcakes from pans.
While the cupcakes are cooling, make the simple syrup.
In a small saucepan combine sugar the water. Bring to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved, then remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
While those are both cooling, make the ganache.
Gently heat the heavy cream in a medium saucepan. Once the cream comes to a boil, remove from the heat and add the vanilla seeds and the white chocolate, stir until the chocolate melts. Set aside to cool to room temperature. Once cooled to room temperature put in the fridge to chill until thick and cold. About 1-2 hours.
Once the chocolate mixture is cold and thick, scrape it into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on high until light and fluffy. Put into a piping bag and set aside.
Once the simple syrup and the cupcakes are room temperature drizzle each cupcake with a little of the simple syrup and then pipe the ganache on top.
- Huckleberry Plum Pie - January 1, 2017
- Fresh Mango Sorbet - July 17, 2016
- Steak Caesar Salad - June 8, 2016
