My Aunt Sent Me A Present

When it comes to Aunts,I have the best of both worlds. I have one Aunt who owns a subway store and another Aunt who owns a cake business. I really enjoy going to visit them because I get free subs and cake, and I love them a lot too. The Aunt who owns the cake business is a fun,hip mom and is also a great gift giver! My Aunt,always being thoughtful, sent me an awesome birthday present. It was a package with a new cupcake cookbook (http://www.cakemixdoctor.com/books/cupcakes-from-the-cake-mix-doctor/) and all of the ingredients to make some cupcakes! They were Strawberry and White Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Malted Milk Ball Frosting. Lets just say that I enjoyed my present a little...okay, maybe a lot!

Strawberry Malted Milk Ball Cupcakes

Ingredients for Cupcakes:

- 24 Paper Liners
- 1 Package of Strawberry Cake Mix
- 1 Box of Vanilla Instant Pudding Mix
- 1 Cup of Sour Cream
- 1/3 Cup of Vegetable Oil
- 1/4 Cup of Water
- 1/4 Cup of Sugar
- 4 Eggs
- 1 Tsp. Vanilla
- 1 Cup of White Chocolate Chips


Directions for Cupcakes:


1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 24 cupcake cups with paper liners. Set pan aside. 

2. Place cake mix, pudding mix, sour cream, oil, water, sugar, eggs, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl.(It looks kind of like brains, but still delicious) Blend with electric mixer on low speed until the ingredients are well mixed. Scrap down the sides of the bowl and increase mixer speed to medium. When finished, the batter should look smooth and thickened.  

      
3. Mix in chips until they are well distributed in the batter. 
4. Scoop the batter into the liners to fill the liner 3/4 of the way. Put pans in the oven.

5. Bake cupcakes for about 18 to 20 minutes. Remove pans from oven and let the cupcakes cool for 5 minutes. 
6. Take the cupcakes out of the pan, and place them on a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes before frosting.

Ingredients for frosting:


- 8 Tbsp. (1 stick)of butter, at Room Temperature
- 3  1/2 Cups of Confectioners Sugar
- 1/4 Cup of Milk
- 1 Tsp. Vanilla
- 40 Strawberry Malted Milk Balls


Directions for Frosting:


1. Place butter in large mixing bowl. Blend with and electric mixer on low speed until fluffy. 
2. Put milk balls in a plastic bag and crush into finely grounded pieces. 

3. Stop mixer, and add confectioners' sugar, crushed malted milk balls, milk, and vanilla. Blend in mixer until sugar is incorporated. Increase speed and beat until the frosting is light and fluffy. 
4. Place a dollop of frosting on each cupcake, and eat up!

So much flavor packed into one little cupcake!

Strawberry Cake

This was one of the most amazing cakes Sarah and I have ever made! We really wanted to try our hand at homemade fondant... Granted, our fondant was far from perfect, the cake was still delish!!

Ingredients:

Cake - 

4 1/2 cups cake flour

5 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

3 cups sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups pureed strawberries (we used fresh)

8 egg whites

2/3 cup milk

1 to 2 drops red food dye (to make more pink)

Buttercream Frosting -

3 cups confectioners' sugar

1 cup butter, softened

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 to 2 tbsp. whipping cream

Vanilla Fondant -

1 (.25 ounce) package unflavored gelatin

1/2 cup cold water

1/2 cup glucose syrup

1 tbsp. glycerin

2 tbsp. shortening

1 tsp. vanilla extract

8 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

Making the Cake -
1. Preheat the oven to 350. Spray three 9-inch round round cake pans. Line with parchment or waxed paper and spray the paper as well....(flip the pan over on a sheet of parchment paper, outline using a pencil, cut out and place in bottom of pan... Oooops! We did this wrong... learned our lesson, if you do not cut out the paper your cake will not be smooth on the sides.

2. Place the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl. With the electric mixer on low speed, mix for 30 seconds. Add the butter and strawberry puree into mixer and blend the ingredients together. Raise the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, or 2 to 3 minutes; the batter should be the same texture as strawberry ice cream.

3. In another large bowl, whisk together the egg whites, milk and red food dye. Add the mixture to the batter in two or three additions, making sure to get it off  the sides of the bowl. mix until fully incorporated and divide the batter into the three prepared pans.

 

4. Bake the cakes for 30 to 34 minutes. To check the cake, put a fork through the middle of the cake. If the fork comes out clean than it is finished.  Allow the layers to cool in the pans for 25 minutes. Turn the cakes on to a cooling  rack covered with buttered parchment paper. Let sit until completely cooled before assembling the cake, at least an hour.

  

Making the Buttercream - 

1- In electric mixer mix together sugar and butter. Whisk on low speed until well blended and then increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes.

2- Add vanilla and cream and continue to beat on medium for 1 minute more, adding more cream, if needed, for spreading consistency. 

Making the Fondant - 

1- Combine gelatin and cold water; let stand until thick. Place mixture in top of double boiler* and heat until dissolved. 

2- Add glucose and glycerine, mix well. Stir in shortening and, just before completely melted, remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Let mixture stand to cool until it becomes lukewarm.

3- Place 4 cups confectioners' sugar in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and, using a wooden spoon, stir in lukewarm mixture. Mix in sugar and add more a little at a time, until stickiness disappears. 

4- Knead in remaining sugar. Knead until the fondant is smooth, pliable and does not stick to your hands. If fondant is too soft, add more sugar; if too still, add water - ONLY a drop at a time. Use fondant immediately or store in an airtight container in the fridge. When ready to use, bring to room temperature and knead again until soft.

* A double boiler is a pot of boiling water with another, smaller bowl placed inside of the water. The smaller bowl should contain the ingredients being double boiled. 


PS- Our first attempt at the double boiler for this particular recipe was a FAILURE! TO the max. Make sure your second bowl is big enough to not get filled with water at the slightest touch.


Assembly - 


THE FUN PART!

Once you've frosted the cake, sprinkle a clean surface with confectioners sugar. Take your fondant (this part was tricky for us) and place in a ball in the center. Take a rolling pin a roll fondant out flat and smooth... making sure there are no holes or cracks (we struggled with this). 

After you've rolled it out, place the rolling pin across one end of the fondant. Slowly roll the fondant onto the rollin pin, wrapping it around the entire pin. Take the pin with fondant rolled over it and carefully unroll it over the cake. from there, mold fondant to the sides of the cake, cutting any excess. Ours had one perfect side and one not so great side... Don't fret if this part is difficult! We learned a lot from just doing it once!!!