Dear Readers, I apologize for the past days I haven't written. It's been pretty hectic.
First, a note re: the devil's food cupcake recipe -- if you have small-ish muffin or cupcake tins, the recipe will make more than two dozen cupcakes, unless you overfill the cups and get those flat muffin tops, which I usually try to avoid because they are fragile and make decorating difficult. Don't fill the cups more than about 2/3 to 3/4 full.
Moving right along....
I spent last Thursday shopping and then baking the approximately 250 cupcakes for the festivities on Saturday. Friday, I prepped fillings and frostings, and filled the cupcakes. Note: if you need to take a lot of cupcakes somewhere, the easiest way is to put them in pizza boxes UNFROSTED and then frost when you get to your destination. If you AREN'T taking 250 cupcakes somewhere but instead only need to tote a couple of dozen, I highly recommend the Cupcake Courier, which I ordered online from Montgomery Ward (Amazon now has it.) It is the Rolls-Royce of cupcake carriers. In short, it is awesome. It will transport up to three dozen cupcakes securely, and keep them beatifully fresh.
In any event, I managed to achieve batch after batch of devil's food, lemon and red velvet cupcakes, and transported the entire kit and kaboodle to the venue, or at least an apartment in the building on whose rooftop the nuptials were to take place. My nieces cracked on preparing the frilly wrappers while I got busy with frosting and decorating. I got the cupcake tower together, managed to find a section of the rooftop where the breeze wasn't blowing a Category 5 hurricane, and with the invaluable assistance of my loving husband, who carried box after box of cakes to the roof, got the whole lot organized into a tower of yummy sugary buttery goodness.
The ceremony was funny and touching, and concluded with the assembled throng loosing enthusiastic cheers, which frankly is how I think every wedding ceremony should end, and we all attacked the food, of which there was a TON.
And dear Readers, I know I promised to turn loose the recipes for all of the cupcakes, so here is the deal on the lemon raspberry beauties.
Lemon Raspberry Cupcakes
Yield: 2 9-inch rounds, or 2 dozen cupcakes
Special equipment: if filling the cupcakes, you will need a pastry bag (or Ziploc) and a plain decorating tip @ 1/4 inch in diameter
fine sieve for straining the raspberry filling
I recommend you take out the cream cheese and butter for the frosting before you start on the filling, so they have time to soften
For the cake:
4 cups + 2 tablespoons cake flour (do not use self-rising)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup vegetable oil
4 large eggs
2 cups buttermilk (if you don't have buttermilk, blend 1/2 cup yogurt and 1-1/2 cups milk)
@ 3 tablespoons of fresh lemon zest (1 - 2 lemons depending on size)
Preheat oven to 350 F. If baking cupcakes, drop cupcake liners into the cups and hit each with a quick spritz of baking spray. If baking a layer cake, cut rounds of wax paper or parchment to fit bottoms of two 9-inch pans, grease pans with butter or cooking spray, and insert your paper rounds.
Sift together the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, and lemon zest. Add the dry ingredients and buttermilk alternately until all the ingredients are combined. Drop into the cupcake liners, being carefully not to fill more than @ 3/4 full and bake @ 10 minutes, then rotate pans and bake another 12 minutes, until a toothpick pushed into the center of a middle cupcake comes out clean.
For the filling:
@ 12 ounces of raspberry jam (I used Bonne Maman)
1 pint of fresh raspberries
2/3 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons creme de framboise (raspberry liqueur)
@ 2 tablespoons cornstarch
A mouthful of raspberry seeds inside a deliciously tender cupcake does not equal good eats. Put a fine-meshed sieve over a bowl. Dump the jam into a saucepan and set over the lowest heat, stirring occasionally until it is loose and runny. Add the raspberries and the sugar and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture starts to bubble at the edges. Continue cooking for @ 3 minutes, then turn off the heat and spoon @ a third of the jam mixture into the sieve and push it through with the back of a wooden spoon, using a spoon or spatula to scrape the pulp off the underside of the sieve into the bowl. By the way, if some well-meaning friend at some point gave you a mortar and pestle as a housewarming present, now's the time to break out the pestle and put it to use pressing those lovely raspberries through the sieve and breaking up their inappropriate relationship with all those pointy little seeds.
Return the now-seedless raspberry mixture to the saucepan over low heat. Mix together the framboise and cornstarch (this is called a slurry,) and when the raspberry mixture starts to bubble, pour in the slurry while stirring constantly with the other hand to avoid the cornstarch turning to gummy little lumps. Raise the heat to medium and continue to cook until the raspberry filling has thickened, about the consistency of thin mayonnaise, and thickly coats the back of a spoon. When I say "coats", I mean: dip the spoon in, let the filling run off, and drag your fingertip down the back of the spoon. A nice thick coat on either side of the finger track is what you want. AND now you get to savor the raspberry loveliness on your finger, unless you have helpful types lounging around your kitchen just waiting for the opportunity to help you with bothersome tasks like finger-cleaning. Cool the filling completely before using. This is also a delicious little treat to drop on icecream or slabs of plain cake just crying for that something extra.
For the frosting:
2 sticks sweet butter, softened
2 8 oz bricks of cream cheese, softened
4-5 cups of confectioner's (powdered) sugar, sifted
Zest of 2 lemons
Combine the cream cheese and butter together, add the lemon zest and mix on the lowest speed until well combined. Add 4 cups of the sugar gradually, beating slowly, until it is fully combined. The mixture should be fairly thick: you should be able to pick up a heaping spoonful and have it hold shape strongly when held upside down. If the frosting is still too soft and runny, add the remaining cup of confectioner's sugar gradually until you get that nice thick consistency.
To fill the cupcakes, place a plain 1/4 inch decorating tip in a pastry bag and fill with the raspberry mixture, twisting closed. Push the pastry tip into the center of each cupcake @ a 1/2 inch, and squeeze gently, until the cupcake just swells slightly.
Once filled, frost the cupcakes, using a pastry bag and decorating tip or a knife. These could be decorated with a little curl of candied lemon zest or a single candied mimosa blossom, but honestly, they are so delicious they don't need anything. For the wedding, I just placed a single 1/4 inch silver dragee on top of each one.
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