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Tuesday, March 18, 2008

White Velvet Cupcakes with Marshmallow Frosting

When I wrote last week's poll, I really wanted the Yeti Cupcakes to win. Sadly they did not, but I got many messages and comments from people asking me to make them anyway because they sounded interesting. Well, as you can see, the title of this post is not "Yeti Cupcakes." That's because Sunday when I made these, I don't know where my brain was. This is going to be a long story. Let's start from the top. (Oh yeah, Rocky Road cupcakes will be made and posted soon. DON'T WORRY!)

The Yeti Cupcakes were supposed to have coconut in and around the frosting. Josh (my boyfriend) was helping me bake, and he really wanted to get a fresh coconut. He saw on Survivorman how to crack open a coconut, and he wanted to prove his manliness by doing it too. We drove all the way to Kroger to get one, because the grocery stores near my house didn't have them. We got home and the internet wasn't working so we were both clueless about how to begin. I remembered last week on Good Eats, Alton Brown drilled two of the eyes out to drain the coconut water, so we did that. Actually Josh drank it out with a straw. Should've gotten a picture of that! Then Josh decided to go outside and put the Survivorman technique to the test. I wish I couldn've watched him put all his brut strength into opening that coconut, but I was in the kitchen effing up the cupcake batter. Anyway, after 2 tries he came back in with a coconut perfectly cracked into 2 pieces. What a man! :) He got to work peeling and shredding the coconut (by hand, because our food processer is from the Stone Age and the shredding blade was dull).

Meanwhile, I wanted to dye the "white velvet" cupcakes green for St. Patrick's Day, but I forgot to do so. Then marshmallows were supposed to get folded into the batter at the last minute. Of course, I forgot that too. I didn't realize it until all the cupcake liners were full and ready for the oven. I tried to salvage half by pressing 4 mini marshmallows into each cup and covering them up with batter using a toothpick. Wait until you see how that monstrosity turned out!

The next eff up was when I made the "Snow Frosting." I guess I skipped the instruction to "delicately fold in the coconut by hand." I ended up with soup because I'm a genius and used the hand mixer.

After all was said and done, I ended up with White Velvet Cupcakes with Marshmallow Frosting... no marshmallows in the batter... no coconut in sight... not even green for St. Pat's Day... definitely not Yeti Cupcakes... but they really are tasty. ENJOY!
ingredients egg whites ready to be folded
folding in the egg whites
egg whites are blended, batter is smooth... but where are the marshmallows?
This is also when I should've tinted the batter green for St. Pat's Day... not green is it?
They're just chillin' on the counter while the cups are being filled 2/3 full...
16 cupcakes cooling
I added 4 marshmallows each to the cupcake batter in one of the pans. Not so pretty...
Don't use a mixer to incorporate coconut into 7-minute frosting... You'll get 7-minute soup.
I trashed the soup and made Marshmallow frosting. I decorated one...
...Threw some sprinkles on it
And Josh did the rest. Ladies, that's the kind of man you need in the kitchen!
He works diligently while I stuff my face.
Mmmm the frosting is so soft, and the cake is a perfect vanilla cake!
Good flavor and texture. I know I'll use the recipe again.
Josh put some fresh coconut on the one he ate.
After all, he did spend about an hour with that coconut from start to finish.
The recipe for Yeti Cupcakes is from Cupcakes Galore by Gail Wagman.
The recipe for Marshmallow Frosting is from Cupcakes by Shelly Kaldunski.

MY NOTES: I got 16 cupcakes. Duh, I forgot the marshmallows, so my result will be different from yours if you have an elephant's memory. The Snow Frosting worked until I added the coconut, so don't be afraid of the recipe. It flopped because of my mistakes. In the Marshmallow Frosting, it took closed to 4 minutes for the marshmallows to melt completely.

Yeti Cupcakes
MAKES ABOUT 18 CUPCAKES

WHITE VELVET CUPCAKES
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking power
1 teaspoon salt, plus a pinch for the egg whites
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 ¼ cups sugar
2/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (you can replace with another flavoring if you prefer: lemon, almond extract, etc.)
3 egg whites
1 cup mini-marshmallows

SNOW FROSTING
2 egg whites
¾ cup sugar
¼ cup light corn syrup
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut (optional)
Sweetened shredded coconut for decoration

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Mix flour, baking powder, and salt together and set aside.
3. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Alternately add flour mixture and milk, ending with milk, and beat until batter is smooth. Add flavoring.
4. Beat egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff but not dry. Gently fold into batter. Fold in mini-marshmallows.
5. Spoon batter into cupcake papers, filling cups about 2/3 full. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool.
6. To make the frosting: in a large bowl, preferably the top of a double boiler, mix egg whites, sugar, corn syrup, and salt until combined. Place the bowl over simmering water and whisk until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is hot. This will take about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and beat for 5-7 minutes until frosting is cool and stiff peaks form. Beat in vanilla and delicately fold in the coconut by hand, if desired. The frosting will be ready to spread. Decorate frosted cupcakes to your taste.


Marshmallow Frosting
MAKES 5 CUPS

2 large egg whites
1 cup sugar
6 tbsp water
1 tbsp light corn syrup
½ tsp cream of tartar
Pinch of salt
1 cup miniature marshmallows
1 tsp vanilla extract

In a large, clean heatproof bowl, combine the egg whites, sugar, water, corn syrup, cream of tartar, and salt. Set the bowl over (but not touching) simmering water in a saucepan and heat the mixture, whisking constantly, until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is very warm to the touch (about 160°F on an instant-read thermometer), about 3 minutes. Remove the bowl from the saucepan. Using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat the mixture until it is very warm and soft (but not dry) peaks form, about 2 minutes. Reduce the mixer to low and add the marshmallows and vanilla. Continue beating until the marshmallows are melted and the frosting is completely smooth, about 2 minutes more. Use right away.

21 comments:

Stef said...

Glad all turned out well in the end! Looks like you've got yourself a great guy!

Unknown said...

hahaha... perhaps we should switch blog names?
still, these look awesome. i love the idea of the fresh coconut, and the marshmallow frosting looks delectable. yummy!

Mignon said...

That is SO FUNNY! We use to use fresh coconuts when I was youger. It's nice to see then being used. Fresh coconuts are not appriciated enough in the states. You two ROCK!

marae said...

mmm they look like they turned out fab in the end. gotta love a cupcake save!!!

Unknown said...

oh yummm...those look so good!!!!

Gigi said...

Oh how I wish Mr. Gigi Cakes would ice cupcakes every now and then. He looks like keeper! Great looking cupcakes!

Unknown said...

I'm a fan of the chocolate, and definitely avoid shredded coconut. Might be that theshved fresh coconut could work. Send one out west! S

Sweet Sins said...

mistakes and all I think they look great!!! Although this sounds like something that would happen in my kitchen more so then yours! haha... Those cupcakes are frosted so cute I love the little tops... Boy has skillz!!

Anonymous said...

YUMMYYYYYYYY I want them so badly T_T......they looks so yumyyyyyy *droll..hihihi. before thank you so so much for replying my massage hihi....i tried a couple of times to edit my header by upload picture for my header blogger but i don't know why it's not working at all......T_T Cryingggg....hikshiks.....
Really? You will help me?? Thank you so much......You're an angel...thank you......I am actually pretty bad in design pictures hihihi.....i like something cute and colorful :p....i made mine but still looks horouble....Thank you so much....oyah how was the cupcake selling doing?? I can pay for $30 for your cupcakes....*Drollll

Anonymous said...

if we didn't make mistakes, we'd never learn anything...i've made plenty of smbc mistakes...and baking flubs sometimes don't turn out so edible...at least you could eat your delicious mistakes!
you and josh are CUTE! great memories made in the kitchen!

Sophie said...

Hiya! I was so excited when I found you on BakeSpace today :)! Why? Because I saw that you're actually my age and you're so interested in baking! I don't know why it makes me giddy when ever I meet a young foodie! Keep baking up cute little cupcakes :). Let me know when you open up your bakery, that is such a cute idea. One of these days I'd love to open up a restaurant, but we'll see how that goes :D.

:) nice meetin u!
Sophie
Flour Arrangements

Suze said...

even though it took a while, and there were flops along the way...they look amazing and I'll bet taste delish too!!
Your frosting looks so much better than mine..I could NOT get mine to peak at all!

Marq said...

Regardless of how long it took you to get there, they turned out excellent! That marshmallow frosting looks heavenly!

Melanie said...

my my my! i am going to have to make these with the marshmallow frosting! just for looks alone. but you say they are awesome tasting, too.. so all the better then!

thanks for the recipe.

melanie

Jenny said...

those look soooo fantastic! i absolutely love what you do! thanks for being so great =)

steaky diane said...

that marshmallow frosting is da bomb!...cheers! http://www.bakespace.com/index.php?mode=listing&act=show&lst_id=30912

Jennifer said...

This recipe for the white cupcakes is really good. Definitely going to be my 'go-to' recipe for white cupcakes. I did add the marshmallows to the batter, and they ended up floating to the top, and creating little craters anyway. Next time I'd leave them out entirely.

The marshmallow frosting is very soft and silky and yummy. I topped my (crater-filled) cupcakes with the marshmallow frosting, and then rolled them in shredded coconut. They were very tender, and sweet, and a big hit at my house. Thanks for posting this recipe.

sarah said...

Thanks for the marshmallow frosting recipe! Turned out beautifully: http://syrupandhoney.typepad.com/blog/2009/04/smores-cupcakes.html

Suzanne said...

Fabulous recipe for the Marshmallow icing! Son's birthday cupcakes were a hit! We doubled the icing recipe for 36 cupcakes and had leftovers that were claimed by another mom. Easy to shape the topping with a swirl, and looked so professional by just scooping it on top with a spoon. This icing with the whipped eggs is so much healthier too than that hydrogenated oil frosting out of a can! We will be making this recipe again and sharing with other friends! We used with chocolate cupcakes. Next time are going to try on top of chocolate mini-cupcakes using Devil's Food instead since most kids just licked icing off our cupcakes. At least the icing recipe you shared was a hit. Thanks so much!

Ko said...

I know this is 2 years later...however I want to share how this recipe has become my go-to vanilla cupcake (it's absolutely irresistible)

I just changed a few things. I don't put the marshmallows in the cupcake, for one, and I shy away from using so much salt...instead of 1 tsp salt, because there are egg whites, I use 1/2 tsp cream of tartar and 1/2 tsp salt.

This is INCREDIBLE. The best. I've never made a cupcake with this recipe that wasn't stand out and mouth-watering!! :-)

Rock on! Good luck!

pennyb said...

your frosting looks so good i am glad that it all worked out i had a very good recipe for marshmallow frosting made it last year foe my grandsons birthday and i can't find it i am so upset i have a baby shower and that is one of the frostings i wanted to use