Yo Gabba Gabba Cupcakes

 Yo Gabba Gabba Cupcakes

I'm baaaaccckkk.... Sort of. Sleep deprived, exhausted, zombie-fied, but I have been baking and I neeeeed to blog. Oh and I have NO CLUE what happened to my background. I saw that blogger changed its format one day and I was looking at it and I guess I changed it and couldn't figure out how to fix. Hopefully I will soon because it looks goofy. I am not an IT person so for right now that's what you get. ha ha

So my first blog is some cupcakes I made for a good friend for her kiddo's 2nd birthday. I KNOW I said my first blog back from my self appointed baking maternity leave would be killer vanilla cupcakes but those will be soon ( and they weren't as killer as I thought they would be..) any who. My friend's little boy is 6 days older than my first daughter so they are good friends and we do play dates all the time and my gift to him besides a very obnoxious batteries required monster truck that his dad just LOVES was his birthday cupcakes. Jack is a HUGE Yo Gabba Gabba fan so I made cupcakes to match the theme of the party. I TOTALLY didn't take step by step pics. I know. I suck. BUT. They are MY go-to chocolate cupcake recipe and a basic vanilla swiss meringue buttercream, dyed with ameri-colors food colorings to get those nice bright colors. Americolors are a gazillion times better than Wilton's for 2 reasons: 1. squeeze bottle. No digging around in a tub with a toothpick. 2. You use way less to achieve a nice bright color. So no funny dye taste. I made 20 cupcakes and 2 cakes. I used my wilton sports ball cake pans for the two half dome cake pans. It was also Jack's dad, Noah's birthday celebration so I made him a cake too. I am not all that familiar with Yo gabba gabba so I found several online for inspiration as well as the Nickelodeon web site

Okay. Picture time

Jack - the birthday boy patiently waiting for his cake/cupcakes

 I bought this stand just for the party. There are 5 different characters so I made 4 of each one. Aren't the colors great? Americolors baby!!

I laughed when I saw how I had outlined the eyes on some of the characters. They looked like they had glasses on. My friend Kaysie had made a Yo Gabba Gabba quilt and said that the characters looked like members of The Cure with the black around the eyes. We were cracking up.

For the fondant dots I rolled the fondant thin and used a #12 round wilton deco tip. Worked perfectly

Jack's favorite character is this guy, Brobee, so I made him a smash cake. So what if kids usually only get a smash cake on their 1st birthday, I don't think it should stop at age 1, I think everyone should have a smash cake. So I will have one at my "29th" birthday next year... ha ha.  I used the grass tip for the fur and it wasn't that easy to use with swiss meringue buttercream. I have hot hands and when I pipe the frosting started to soften up so the fur would look a little mushy. I kept having to chill the bag a little so it would harden back up enough to show the detail.

This is the cake I made for Jack's dad, Noah. There is a DJ in Yo Gabba Gabba named DJ Lance and he wears this crazy orange hat with a funky star. I figured since Noah is a DJ by hobby that he needed a DJ Lance hat cake.

Here is the whole set up with the Yo Gabba Gabba quilt in the background. My friend Kaysie did a great job with it.

Cake smashing time. Jack was already messy from the finger painting session so why not dive into the cake. And of course he wanted cupcakes too and why not? It was his birthday afterall

My munchkin diving into a cupcake

I was dying laughing she looked like she had lipstick on. I think from now on I will just do frosting shots. That's all kids eat any way...

Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting Recipe

Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Makes about 5 cups

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar 

6egg whites
1/8 tsp salt
3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temp
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Put sugar, egg whites and salt 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 total.   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. If it is still runny keep beating it will come together I promise. Add in the vanilla extract and continue beating 1 minute to reduce air bubbles.

Graduation Cupcakes

This is probably one of my shortest blogs as far as me babbling goes. Maybe. ha! I made graduation cupcakes for one of my husband's co-workers. She had two kids graduating one from college and one from high school. So I had lots of fun colors to work with. I searched "graduation cupcakes" and there really isn't a whole lot of creative differences when it comes to graduation cupcake ideas. So caps, diplomas and some little embossed fondant pieces with  "Congrats Grads" and " Class of 2010" and some starts, sprinkles and glitter. These cupcakes were basic, vanilla and chocolate and all with vanilla butter cream. I am still looking for the ONE that perfect vanilla cupcake recipe. The chocolate I made was the one from my pomegranate chocolate cupcakes but I altered the recipe and it is TO DIE FOR. My best chocolate cupcake I have ever made says me and the husband. This is now my GO-TO recipe. Still searching for that vanilla though.  The buttercream is my basic fluffy vanilla butttercream which I divvied up for all the colors. I had JUST ENOUGH for all of them to do nice Wilton 1m swirls on,  and with the little bit of each color I had left over I channeled my inner kindegartner and mixed all together to see what color I could make. Um. EW. It was like a faux chocolate color. Kinda grey, kinda purpely totally gross. ha ha. So here are the cupcakes, I TOTALLY forgot to take step by step pics so these are all finished ones. Preggo brain strikes again!!

The green and yellows are for the college graduation and the blue and reds are for the high school. I had some white with each to break them up and to give a few people the option to eat non dyed frosting. But not many. Ha!

I will post the chocolate cupcake recipe in its own post because it is THAT GOOD it deserves its own post.

Another Recipe Update - Caramel Apple Cupcakes

I have added the recipes to this post of my Caramel Apple Cupcakes from September, 2009. I know a little out of season BUT who doesn't love a caramel apple? The recipe is my green apple cupcake recipe and Martha Stewart's Caramel Swiss Meringue buttercream. 

I have added to my original post you can go to it HERE.

Enjoy!!

Mango Mousse Anniversary Cake

In a couple of days my husband and I are going to be celebrating our 3rd wedding anniversary and I wanted to make something special and different from my normal baked goods of cupcakes. We got married in Hawaii, which I think is the best place on this planet to get married, or at least barefoot on a beach on any tropical island will suffice, and I have always made something tropical for our anniversary. When we left for our wedding we had an early am lay over in San Francisco and like at 7 am we decided to get some breakfast before our flight out to Kauai. There is this cafe at SFO that has all kinds of awesome cakes, pastries, desserts, coffees etc and we decided hey what the hell this is a major celebration and vacation so why not start off with cake for breakfast!!! I got a slice of this amazing mango mousse cake and the hubs got um something else. I can't remember. ha ha. I just remember how heavenly this mango mousse cake was. Mostly mousse and thin layers of a simple sponge cake. Not overly sweet and a nice tang from the mango, one of my favorite fruits. 

So I decided to recreate this cake for our anniversary. My husband is working on the actual day so we decided to celebrate on Saturday ( last night).  The cake by itself is really easy and simple, not many ingredients. I chose a simple genoise, or sponge cake. I think the cake could have been a little better, not exactly what I liked, but maybe it was the recipe I chose to make. It worked with the whole cake put together, but I think if I make a genoise again it wont be this recipe. I used the one from my Williams Sonoma Cake book, from this recipe here. After I had made the cake I looked up other recipes for sponge/foam cakes and genoise cakes. I think there might have been a typo with the Williams Sonoma one since it said to raise the temp of the eggs/sugar mixture to 140 deg F and all the other recipes I had found said to raise to 100 to 104. As I was whisking and watching the temp the eggs seemed to be cooking a little. Scrambled egg cake anyone? Ew. BUT once I had it whipping the texture and color did what it was supposed to according to the directions so I thought it was going to be ok. It was - but not my fave type of cake. A little dry on its own and I baked it less than the directions said to. I also used another recipe from the Williams Sonoma Cake book for directions on cake assembly, the pumpkin mousse cake, which looks really good too and probably a nice alternative to pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving time for those of you out there like my self that aren't fans of pie but still love pumpkin in desserts.

I also was trying to figure out recipes for the mango mousse and the mango mirror ( The glassy looking mango gelatin mixture on top of the cake) and was having a hard time finding them not in metric. Apparently this cake is a popular asian/thai cake so most of the recipes don't use standard American measures and I really hate converting because I hate math. I do have a food scale but I am thinking mine isn't as sensitive as it used to be ( it is well worn) so it might be time for an upgrade. So I did find a recipe and I converted it to the best of my abilities and the mousse and mirror came out awesome.

So here we go with my step by step pics.

Mise en place.

The mangoes were keeping the parchment paper flat in my cake pan. But since this was a mango cake I thought it made for a nice visual. ha ha

There is no chemical leavener in a genoise such as baking powder.. The whipping of air into the eggs and sugar is what gives the cake its height. Which isn't much so this is why there are only a few ingredients to measure out.

Whole eggs and sugar in mixing bowl of a stand mixer 

Whisking over a pot of simmering water to get to the right temp ( use a candy thermometer to watch the temp as you whisk)

Notice the color and volume of the eggs and sugar mixture after it had been whisked on high speed for 8 min.  Sift the flour over the mixture and carefully fold in so you don't deflate the air out of the eggs/sugar mixture. Like 10-15 folds each addition of flour

Poured into pan. There is only parchement paper on the bottom of the pan, it is not greased at all. No need. The recipe calls for a 9" x 3" pan but I only had a 9" x 2" and hoped that it wouldn't puff up and out of. It didn't. I think I might have deflated it a little when folding in the flour

Baked til golden brown and cooled in pan until needed for next step

Making the mousse

Whipping the cream first and chilling it until the mango gelatin mixture is ready to be folded in. I thought the mousse could have been a touch sweeter, next time I will add a few tbsp of powdered sugar to the whipped cream.

Softening the gelatin

The gelatin is added to the mango puree

Folding the puree into the whipped cream. The puree sort of sank to the bottom didn't really mix in that well and I noticed it when it was time to add the second layer of mousse so I stirred it better and when you see the cut slice of cake you can see one layer of mousse is slightly lighter than the other.

Cake assembly time

I LOVE my giant cake cutting knife. This cake was pretty thin so laying the knife against the counter was the perfect level to cut it into even halves

Peeling off the parchment on the bottom layer. You can see how thin this cake is

Bottom layer cut side up in a 9" springform pan

Topped with about half the mousse mixture

The other cake layer placed on top and trimmed around the edges so the mousse will fill in the sides

And the rest of the mousse. You can see this layer is slightly more orange since I mixed in the mango puree that had sank to the bottom of the bowl and didn't notice until I went to spread it on the cake the second time

Off to chill in the fridge a few hours to set the mousse

Mango Mirror Making Time

Mango puree, gelatin, sugar and water

The heated and dissolved sugar and gelatin mixture and the mango puree

All mixed together and cooling to room temp

The chilled cake with the mousse nicely set

Straining the mirror through a sieve so its a nice somewhat clear topping. I thought this was  a pretty cool thing to add to the top of the cake. 

I SUCK at piping lettering. But I wanted to add something to the cake being that it is our anniversary and all. I had "3 Years" on it as well but it looked BAD so I took it off. I hope this doesn't end up on Cake Wrecks blog. ha  ha

It really wasn't that bad taking it out of the spring form pan. I had to run a knife around the top to loosen the mirror but the rest slid right out and not too much had to be smoothed out

I overcompensated with sweetening the whipped cream I decorated with more than I normally would have since the mousse and cake weren't very sweet at all. It actually was perfect tasting all together.

I just LOVE the colors of the cake

It looks really neat sliced too and the mousse worked with the cake afterall. I still would make a different recipe if I do make this cake again. It was a touch dry for my taste even with gobs of mousse. The mirror was a neat touch. Both the hubs and I really liked it, great mango flavor and texture.

YUMMY!!!!

Classic Genoise Recipe

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 1⁄2 cup granulated sugar
• 3⁄4 cup cake flour, sifted
• 3 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted

Directions:

To make the génoise, preheat an oven to 375°F. Line the bottom of a 9-by-3-inch round cake pan with parchment paper.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk together the eggs and granulated sugar by hand until combined. Place the bowl over but not touching simmering water in a saucepan. Gently whisk until the mixture registers 140°F on an instant-read thermometer, about 3 minutes. Put the bowl on the mixer and beat with the whisk on high speed until the mixture is pale and almost tripled in volume, 5 to 8 minutes.

Remove the bowl from the mixer. Sift the flour over the egg mixture in 2 additions and carefully fold in with a large rubber spatula. Fold a large dollop into the melted butter, then fold back into the egg mixture.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake until the top of the cake is browned, about 20 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool completely.

Run a table knife around the edge of the pan and invert the cake onto a work surface. Turn the cake right side up, leaving the parchment paper in place. Cut the cake into 2 equal layers. Put the top layer, cut side up, on a serving plate.

Mango mousse (adapted from Aran's roasted plum mousse)

  2 cups heavy whipping cream, chilled
1 packet plus 1 1/2 tsp gelatin
1/3 cup cold water
2 cups mango puree (about 2 -3 mango's or frozen mango thawed and pureed)
 1/3 cup powdered sugar

Whip the whipping cream until soft peaks. Cover and put it in the fridge.
Soak the gelatine in the water for a few minutes. Meanwhile mix the mango puree with the powdered sugar. Heat the gelatine/water mixture in the microwave until dissolved. I popped it in for 30 seconds at a time and stirred every time. 40 seconds was perfect
Add the gelatine mixture to the mango puree and mix well. Add the mango mixture to the whipped cream until well combined.  Pour half on top of first layer of cake in a springform pan. Place other layer on top of the mousse with edges trimmed 1/2 inch all the way around. Pour the rest of the mousse on top ( there will be a little leftover) and smooth with a spatula. Chill at least 4 hours or overnight covered with foil
 
Mango mirror

1packet plus 1 1/2 gelatin
150 ml (cold) water
1 ½ oz granulated sugar
4 ½ oz mango puree

Soak the gelatin in about half of the cold water. Meanwhile heat the rest of the water with the sugar and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Turn off the heat. Add the soaked gelatin to the water/sugar mixture. Stir until all the gelatin has dissolved. (Heat gently if the gelatin doesn't dissolve).
Add the gelatine mixture to the mango puree and allow to cool down to room temperature. Pour the mirror through a sieve on top of the chilled mousse. Allow to set in the fridge.