IronCupcake_008: Spumoni Cupcakes

Iron Cupcake:Earth_008
Theme: Nuts & Seeds
My 1st entry: Spumoni Cupcakes
Voting begins: Sunday, March 29 at 8 pm Central @ http://www.ironcupcakemilwaukee.com/ and will be open through Friday, April 3 at 12 noon Central.


I've been wanting to make cupcakes with pistachios for a long time, and when I saw that this month's Iron Cupcake theme is "Nuts & Seeds" I knew it was the perfect excuse! It only took a few minutes to come up with a delicious flavor combination. My inspiration comes from a popular Italian ice cream flavor called spumoni. The main flavors are chocolate, pistachio, and a fruit flavor which is usually cherry. For the cupcake version I made a two-tone chocolate and cherry cupcake with pistachio Swiss meringue buttercream. Formulating a recipe for the pistachio buttercream was harder than I thought. I googled for a recipe, but I couldn't find one. Surely, I'm not the first person to think of pistachio buttercream! I found a few articles that talked about using store-bought pistachio paste to flavor cakes, but I have never seen pistachio paste anywhere. I decided to make my own and blend it into a batch of my SMBC. It worked perfectly! You could definitely taste the pistachio flavor in the buttercream, and it went very nicely with the chocolate and cherry cupcake. Josh loves pistachios but isn't a huge fan of chocolate, and he LOVED these cupcakes! He texted me from work this morning just to make sure there would be another one here waiting for him when he comes over tonight. :D

Two-tone cupcakes cooling... The pistachio paste looks... unappetizing... =/ May I introduce Mr. Spumoni Cupcake! And his insides...He might have a drinking problem...Meet the family too!

Spumoni Cupcakes
MY NOTES: Measure out the ingredients for both batters first. This way you don't have the first batter sitting out for a long time while you make the second one. My cupcakes were done at 16 minutes.

Two-Tone Chocolate and Cherry Cupcakes
Prepare both cherry and chocolate batters (directions below); fill muffin cups with 3 tablespoons of each, side by side. Makes 24.

(If you make one cherry batter and one chocolate batter, you'll have enough for 24 cupcakes; If you split this recipe and make 1/2 cherry batter and 1/2 chocolate batter, you'll get 12 cupcakes. It sounds like common sense, but it was confusing at first.)
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for pan
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon cherry (or raspberry) flavoring
1/2 cup whole milk
1/4 cup chopped cherries (canned or frozen/thawed)

For Chocolate Cupcakes
Add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Reduce flour to 1 1/4 cups, and add 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder. Whisk into dry ingredients.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a standard 12-cup muffin pan, or use paper liners. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
With an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition; add cherry flavoring and mix until combined. On low speed, beat in half the flour mixture, followed by milk; end with remaining flour mixture and chopped cherries. Mix just until incorporated (do not overmix).
Fill muffin cups with 3 tablespoons of each batter, side by side (I used a #30 disher with a scant scoop of batter for each half). Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake comes out clean, 20 to 22 minutes (Check them at 16 minutes). Cool cupcakes in pan, 5 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Sweetened Pistachio Paste
Makes about 1 cup

1 cup pistachios, skins removed (if pistachios are salted, rinse them well)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup hot water

In a food processor, grind pistachios and sugar until it becomes a fine meal. With the processor still running, Slowly add hot water, one tablespoon at a time scraping the bowl often, until a thick but spreadable paste forms. Transfer to a bowl and press plastic wrap against the surface. Cool to room temperature.

Pistachio Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Makes about 4 cups

4 large egg whites
1 cup sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, cut into tablespoons
Sweetened pistachio paste, to taste
Green food coloring (optional)

Put egg whites and sugar into the top of a double boiler over a pan of simmering water. Whisking constantly, cook until sugar has dissolved and mixture is warm (about 160 degrees).
Pour heated egg whites into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat egg white mixture on high speed until it forms stiff (but not dry) peaks. Continue beating until fluffy and cooled, about 7 minutes.
Switch to the paddle attachment. With mixer on medium-low, add butter two tablespoons at a time, beating well after each addition. Increase speed to medium-high; continue beating until frosting appears thick, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low; add 1/4 cup pistachio paste and mix until incorporated. Add more if a stronger flavor is desired (I used about 1/2 cup).



Overall rating on a scale of 1-5
Moistness: 5
Tenderness: 5
Frosting: 5

Prizes provided by Etsy artists:
A Bunnycake Easter Plushie by DOGBONEART
A whimsical piece by CAKEASAURUS
A pair of cupcake earrings from LOTS OF SPRINKLES
Also, CAKESPY, who is now going to be doing a piece for our winner each month until further notice!
SWEET CUPPIN CAKES BAKERY AND CUPCAKERY SUPPLY will be tossing in a collection of all new printed cupcake liners, 200 in all.
Corporate prize providers:
HEAD CHEFS by FIESTA PRODUCTS
HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson
JESSIE STEELE APRONS
CUPCAKE COURIER
TASTE OF HOME books
UPWITHCUPCAKES.COM
Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers