Browned Butter Cupcakes with Fig Swiss Meringue Buttercream and Fig Filling

Did I totally miss my blogiversary? Yes, yes I did. Gawd! I'm like a man! It's been two years since I started this little blog and I totally missed it. Does it count that I made these totally awesome cupcakes a week later? Well it should because these cupcakes are definitely worthy. They smell so delicious even before they bake because of the browned butter. I actually ended up creating this recipe on accident.

You see I attempted to make my very first batch of macarons. Unfortunately, I have not perfected the technique yet. I need more practice. You can see large grains of the almond flour in the cookie. They tasted wonderful though.

I used the italian method. Check out my fail and let me know if you have any tips.

So...I had whipped up a batch of amazingly delicious fig butter swiss meringue buttercream and had quite a bit left over....so I had to do something with it....I couldn't just eat it out of the container off the spoon....ok....so I do that too...it just seemed destined for better somehow.

So I came up with these...your're welcome.

Browned Butter Cupcakes with Fig Swiss Meringue Buttercream and Fig Filling

CUPCAKES
Ingredients:
1/2 cup browned butter
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
1 1/4 cups cake flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
1.  Pour glass of wine, set aside for yourself. Baking with a glass of your favorite beverage always makes it better.

2.  First brown the butter in a small sauce pan. (I started on low and gradually raised the temperature little by little, swirling occasionally, until the milk solids started to turn brown and it started to smell nutty.)

3.  Then place the browned butter in an ice water bath. (You can do this early and let it cool completely on the stove or use a water bath, which ever you prefer. I let it cool in an ice bath in the sink and let it sit there while I got everything together and preheated the oven.)

3.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare baking tin with cupcake liners.

4.  In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the browned butter, vegetable oil, and brown sugar together until light and fluffy.

5.  Beat the eggs in one at a time then scrape down the bowl. Add the vanilla, milk and mix. Then add the cake flour and baking powder.

6.  Mix until batter is smooth. Then pour evenly (I used a ¼ cup measure) into prepared cupcake tin. Bake for 12-17 minutes until a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean. (In my oven, mine came out perfect at 15 minutes)

7.  Let cool in pan for 5 minutes before removing them and letting them cool completely on wire rack.

FILLING
Ingredients:
1/2 cup or so Fig Butter (I used Trader Joe’s)
Slash of apple juice

Directions:
1.  Core the middle of the cupcake out to make room for the filling. (I used my nifty cupcake corer, love it, but you can also just use a paring knife.)

2.  Add a splash of apple juice to the fig butter to thin it out just a tad and then put it in a large ziplock bag and snip off the corner of the bag to just pipe in the filling.

FIG SWISS MERINGUE BUTTERCREAM
Ingredients:
5 large fresh egg whites (150 g)
1-1/4 cup (250 g) superfine granulated sugar
1-1/2 cups (340 g) (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, cut into cubes
2 teaspoons (10 ml) pure vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
1/4 + 1/8 cups fig butter (I used Trader Joe’s)

Directions:
1.  Add egg whites and sugar, and simmer over a pot of water (not boiling), whisking constantly but gently, until temperature reaches 160°F, or if you don't have a candy thermometer, until the sugar has completely dissolved and the egg whites are hot.

2.  Place bowl back on mixer and fit with whisk attachment. Whip until the meringue is thick, glossy, and the bottom of the bowl feels neutral to the touch (this can take up to 10 minutes, or longer).

3.  Switch over to paddle attachment and, with mixer on low speed, add softened butter in chunks until incorporated, and mix until it has reached a silky smooth texture (if curdles, keep mixing and it will come back to smooth).

4. Add vanilla, salt, and fig butter and continuing to beat on low speed until well combined.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream Recipe reprinted from Sweetapolita

What I baked...

I've been lazy.

Have you ever used baking as an excuse to get out of something else? I swear if I do it one more time to get out of cleaning the bathroom things are going to start growing in there. Too bad scrubbing bubbles really doesn't just do the job for me.


I have been baking though, just not much else. That includes not taking pictures, just a few snapshots on instagram. But! I tried out a few great recipes that I would love to share.

Like this one...

This is a simple blueberry cobbler and it's topped with a homemade honey-peach ice cream. I found the recipes while flipping though a taste of the south magazine. I made it for a July forth BBQ and everyone really enjoyed it. I think you have to have some kind of berry pie or cobbler in the summer it just screams summertime. I have been loving my ice cream maker this summer, and have been experimenting with different flavors. This honey-peach ice cream was delicious and plan on making it again soon.

I also made some lemon cupcakes for our 4th of July luncheon at work. I used Martha Stewart's lemon meringue cupcakes recipe for the cake and Sweetapolita's recipe for swiss meringue buttercream. (my all time favorite frosting) For the frosting, I just dyed a third red and a third blue put them all in a piping bag and swirled away, love the effect it gave them. The cupcakes were very fresh and lemony.  

Now I'm off to go make some more ice cream. What's your favorite flavor?

October and Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Happy Halloween and Happy Monday! 

I do have to apologize for not having a totally awesome, gross, Halloween post for you. It has been a very busy month, full of activities and fun. Been going to a lot of sporting events and get-togethers. Unfortunately, I haven't been home to bake as often as I'd like, and honestly between everything I've been too tired to sit down and write anything for the blog. I did manage to crank a few things out of the kitchen though, some great, some experiments that were not so great. :) Oh well, learn from your mistakes. Some recipes I need to tweak and perfect a little more before sharing them with you. 

The news I'm most excited to share with you all is that I finally jumped on the Swiss Meringue Buttercream bandwagon. I do have to say it is amazing! It is smooth and fluffy and not too sweet. Way better than regular buttercream! Once you go Swiss you can't resist! (Geez :p) I don't think I'll ever be able to go back to regular buttercream after trying this. I just made the regular vanilla version, although the flavor possibilities are endless. I learned the technique and got the recipe off of one of my favorite blogs, Sweetapolita. She has a post that totally breaks down the different types of meringue buttercreams and their techniques. I found it to be very informative and helpful. 

Swiss Meringue Buttercream 

Ingredients: 

5 large egg whites (30g each–total 150g) 

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons superfine granulated sugar 

1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, cut into cubes 

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 

Pinch of salt 

Directions: 

Wipe the bowl of an electric mixer with paper towel and vinegar, to remove any trace of grease. Add egg whites and sugar, and simmer over a pot of water (not boiling), whisking constantly, until temperature reaches 140 degrees F, or if you don’t have a candy thermometer, until the sugar has completely dissolved and the egg whites are hot. 

With whisk attachment of mixer, begin to whip until the mixture is thick, glossy, and cool. Switch over to paddle attachment and, while mixing on medium speed continuously, add softened butter in chunks until incorporated, and mix until it has reached a silky smooth texture (if curdles, keep mixing and it will come back to smooth). Add vanilla and salt, mix well. You can also add a wide variety of flavorings, extracts, and more. 

Keep in airtight container in refrigerator for up to one week, leaving out at room temperature when needed, rewhipping in mixer for 5 minutes. 

Can freeze for up to 6-8 weeks. 

Makes approximately 5 cups of buttercream.

Here are a few things coming out of my kitchen this month...... 

Root beer Cupcakes

Pumpkin Ale Cupcakes (Still working this one out.)

Chocolate cake with Swiss meringue buttercream filling and chocolate frosting

So how was your Halloween?  Did you get to take the kiddos trick or treating?  No kids here so I don't get to do that yet, but my mom (lover of all things scary) and a friend of hers dragged me to a haunted house this year.  I swear I clung on to them like it was a life or death situation, then when they start chasing you with a chain saw, oh no, why do we like to scare ourselves?