Cupcake Experiments!!!!!

So I might cheat a little with my cupcake experiments. Basically I take my vanilla cupcake recipe from below and I tweak it for whatever flavor combo I want. I figure it took me a year of playing with the vanilla recipe to get it right, and I love it soooooo much, why wouldn't I use it as a base for every non-chocolate based recipe I try?

This weeks experiment is two fold. First, I love Thai food, a lot. I wanted to try and make something that reminded me of Thai cuisine, while still being super yummy and not too weird. So I came up with the idea of doing a cupcake with three of my fav Thai flavors; Coconut, Lime, and Basil. Just weird enough. I made a coconut cupcake with basil and topped it with lime buttercream and toasted coconut. I dubbed them the Bangkok Cupcake. They turned out pretty good. I wish the Basil had come through a little more, but not bad for a first attempt. I think next time I will double the Basil and boil it in the Coconut Milk first to draw more of the flavor out.

The second recipe came from the inspiration of the IF ladies who were discussing their favorite alcoholic drinks. My favorite adult beverage is a Margarita, so I made a tequila cupcake with lime buttercream and a dusting of salt. They are awesome! I wish I had little drink umbrellas to stick in them cause they remind me so much of being in The Keys when I was in college.

Here are the recipes, if you have tried the vanilla cupcakes from the previous post these recipes will look very familiar.

Bangkok Cupcakes
2 cups cake flour
1 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
4 large eggs, separated
1 cup coconut milk (I used light but either is good)
1/2 teaspoon coconut extract (I normally hate artificial extracts, but if it is all you got it will work)
1 cup shredded coconut
3-4 Leaves of fresh basil, finely chopped


Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt; mix on low speed until combined. Add butter, mixing until just coated with flour.

In a large glass measuring cup, whisk together egg yolks, coconut milk, and extract. With mixer on medium speed, add wet ingredients in 3 parts, scraping down sides of bowl before each addition; beat until ingredients are incorporated but do not over beat. Mix in Coconut and Basil. Using the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until they form a stiff peak. Fold in 1/4 of the stiff egg whites to the batter, once incorporated fold in the rest of the egg whites.

Divide batter evenly among liners, filling about 2/3 full. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 17 to 20minutes.
Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Margaritaville Cupcakes
1 cup cake flour
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar (recipe follows)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
4 large eggs, separated
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup tequila, plus 3 tablespoons



Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt; mix on low speed until combined. Add butter, mixing until just coated with flour.

In a large glass measuring cup, whisk together egg yolks, cream, and 1/2 cup tequila. With mixer on medium speed, add wet ingredients in 3 parts, scraping down sides of bowl before each addition; beat until ingredients are incorporated but do not over beat. Using the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until they form a stiff peak. Fold in 1/4 of the stiff egg whites to the batter, once incorporated fold in the rest of the egg whites.

Divide batter evenly among liners, filling about 2/3 full. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 17 to 20minutes. while cupcakes are still warm brush reserved 3 tablespoons tequila over the top of each cupcake.
Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Lime Buttercream
Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted softened butter
2 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 tablespoons Lime juice

Directions:

In a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter & salt for about 30 seconds and then add half of the powdered sugar and the lime juice to the butter and beat again until combined. Scrape down the bowl. Add the rest of the powdered sugar, and the lime juice and beat until combined. Scrape down the bowl again. Beat on high speed for 5-6 minutes or until the frosting is fluffy.