“Surprise” Vanilla Bean Cupcakes
Cupcakes:
2 ¼ cup Cake
Flour
1 T Baking
Powder
½ tsp Kosher
Salt
1 ¼ cup
whole milk
4 large Eggs
Whites
8 T unsalted
butters, room temperature
1 ½ cup
sugar
Vanilla Bean
Seeds scraped from one vanilla bean.
2 tsp clear Vanilla Extract
Filling: Apple Pie Filling
Butter Cream
Frosting:
3 sticks Unsalted Butter
Vanilla Bean Seeds scraped from one vanilla bean
2 tsp Clear Vanilla Extact
1 ½ lbs Powdered Sugar, sifted
4-8 T Heavy Whipping Cream
1/8 tsp salt
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Prepare cupcake pan with your choice of paper liners.
Bake cupcakes on center rack in oven.
In a separate bowl, sift together cake flour, baking powder, and
salt. In another separate bowl mix egg
whites and whole milk until well blended.
Cream together butter, sugar, and vanilla bean seeds, on medium speed
with your electric mixer, until light and fluffy. While the mixer continues at medium
speed, add the vanilla extract and 1/3 of the flour mixture. Then beat in half of the wet mixture,
following up with half of the remaining dry ingredients. When everything is well blended, add the rest
of the wet mixture. Follow that up with the remaining dry ingredients. Now that everything is in the bowl, beat for
a couple more minutes on medium speed until everything is well
incorporated. Mixture should be light.
I like to make regular sized cupcakes for this recipe, so I scoop the
batter into my cupcake pan with a large ice cream scoop. Bake for 15 – 25 minutes until not quite
brown. Best way to tell if they are done
is by putting a toothpick in the center on an inside cupcake.
If it comes out clean, then they are done. Let these cool completely before you even
think about filling them.
To fill your cupcakes:
Don’t be intimidated when it comes to filling a cupcake – it really is
very easy. For this cupcake the filling
is a little heavy so I use an apple corer to take the center of the cupcake
out. I have seen some cupcake corers but they seem a little large for this type of filling. You will not need these cupcake
“cores” so they might make a well deserved snack while you are working so hard.
Take your apple pie filling and chop it into workable
pieces. (I put mine in the food
processor and pulse until the pieces are fine [not as fine as applesauce]) and
then put in a large plastic bag for piping into the cupcakes. Cut ¼ to ½ inch off of the corner of your
plastic bag. Squeeze the pie filling until it comes out the cut corner of
the bag and fill your cupcakes. This
method is a lot less messy than trying to spoon the filling in.
Finally the Buttercream Frosting. I like to use the whisk attachment on my
mixer. Beat the butter until it is light
and fluffy. Add the extract and vanilla
bean seeds. Add 2 tablespoons of the
cream and half of the sugar and mix. Add
2 more tablespoons of cream and the remaining sugar. Beat until well incorporated. At this point you can decide for yourself the
texture of your frosting. I like mine to
be a little stiff for piping, but if you like yours looser – add more cream
just a little at a time until your desired texture. Once you have the icing how you like it, then
add in your salt and mix well – at least 3 more minutes on medium speed.
All you have to do is put your frosting on. I like to pipe my frosting on using a
disposable cake decorating bag and a cake decorating tip # 1M. If you are piping, make sure you start from
the outside of the cupcake making a complete circle and working your way into
the center. This way your pie filling
will not get into your frosting and will remain a surprise.
