I'm still deep in my fruity dessert phase (although I am likely to change that up a bit for my next cupcake, which is bouncing among my synapses even as we speak). This is the time of year when I'm more likely to make a cobbler for dessert than anything else, and if I have MY way it's going to be a peach cobbler. We just made peach jam last week - we have gone jam-crazy here this summer. So far we've made Strawberry, Strawberry-Ginger, Strawberry Rhubarb, Cherry, Apricot, and Peach. We haven't even started pickling yet, although we did take a class at our wonderful local nursery here, Eisley's, and Earlene was knowledgeable and helpful and I want to be just like her if I ever grow up.
It was difficult for me not to add a bit of cardamom to our first batch of peach jam. Cardamom is one of those flavors that tends to be overlooked in this country. It goes well with citrus, as well as stone fruits, which is why I always add it to peach cobbler (very few people can identify it, but I've not had any complaints thus far). My current favorite ice cream, made by Three Twins, is "Dad's Cardamom" (I don't know why Dad gets the cardamom), which also goes well with stone fruit (grilled, cobbled, pie'd...). Now, cardamom gets too heavy in a hurry if too much of it is used (at that point it goes from spicy to perfume-y, which is not what I want in a dessert), so the best advice I can give you is to add a little, taste, then add a little bit more. Don't just snuffle it out of the jar, either. It needs to be helping other ingredients along to really shine.
My mom knew that I wanted to do a cardamom cupcake, and she suggested the peach jam filling (she knew that I had some on hand - you do not have to make your own. Just use a jar of the best possible jam you can get). Her stumbling block was the frosting. Regular American buttercream would be too sweet. Swiss buttercream would be far too buttery. Whipped cream doesn't hold well. Cream cheese? Too overpowering. Cooked flour? Nah. Sour cream? Maybe...
What I ended up doing was starting with an American buttercream, adding in lemon curd (yes, I made that too, but by all means go get a jar of it - it should be near the jam), and then folding in whipped cream. There - light, lemony, and not too sweet. The only catch is that these do need to be refrigerated, and they will wilt in the heat, so keep them cool(ish), and you'll be fine.
The pistachio shortcrust is optional, and comes right from my obsession with The Great British Baking Show. The contestants are always playing around with tart crusts, and I had pistachios on hand, so why not toss 'em in as well? My sweetie said that while he liked the crust on the cupcake, he didn't know that it was absolutely necessary. I wanted to leave it because I enjoy the nutty flavor, and I particularly like the additional texture (because otherwise you're left with soft and jam and soft cream - which isn't a bad thing, either). It's up to you. It won't hurt my feelings one way or the other; I'm just pleased that you looked at the recipe! Which is coming up now...
This makes 24 cupcakes, which is a gracious plenty.
~Pistachio Short Crust~
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 1/2 ounces finely chopped pistachio nuts
In the bowl of an electric mixer, mix together the butter with the sugar and salt until creamy. Add in the vanilla and the egg yolk and continue mixing at medium speed until it all smooths out. Add in the flour and pistachios and mix on low until just incorporated. Gather together the dough into a ball, flatten it into a disk, then wrap in plastic wrap and let chill in the refrigerator for at least half an hour.
While you're waiting, you can go ahead and line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake liners. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Once the dough is chilled, tear off about a tablespoon's worth of dough and place in each cup (I know that's vague but I eyeballed it and you can, too. You just want to make a crust on the bottom of each cup). Then flatten out each bit of dough, using your fingers or a small glass lightly dusted with flour, making sure the dough completely goes to the edge of each cup.
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| Much like so. |
Bake the crusts for about 10 minutes or until starting to turn golden around the edges. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.
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| That is a well-used muffin tin. Sheesh. |
Now, on to the cake itself...
~Cardamom Cupcakes~
- 2 1/4 cups cake flour
- 2 teaspoons cardamom
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 5 large eggs
- grated zest from 1 lemon
- juice from one lemon
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
- 2 1/2 cups sugar
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
Make sure your oven is preheated to 350 degrees, and that you have one rack in the bottom third of the oven and the other in the top third.
Sift together the flour, cardamom, baking powder and salt in a small bowl and set aside.
In another small bowl, whisk together the eggs and the zest (but not the juice) of the lemon.
In the bowl of your electric mixer (yep, we're on bowl number three now), beat the butter until it is creamy. Add in the sugar, and then beat the tar out of it - you want it to beat on high for around 5 minutes. The butter's color will change, and the mixture will be very fluffy. You want that.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, and mix the lemon juice into the butter mixture. Gradually add in the egg mixture, continuing to scrape down the sides. Mix until combined. Now, mix in the dry ingredients in four additions, alternating with the buttermilk beginning and ending with the flour, just until all is combined. Do not overmix.
Fill up each prepared cupcake cup with the batter, filling about 3/4 of the way full (this is a very fluffy batter, so it's not going to be easy. Just do the best you can and trust your own judgement). Bake the cupcakes for about 20 minutes, switching the position of the pans at the ten minute mark so that the cupcakes bake evenly. A tester inserted into the center of the cupcake should come out clean.
Let the cupcakes cool in the pans for about 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to let them finish cooling.
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| Fluffy! |
To fill the cupcakes, cut a cone-shaped portion out of the top of each cupcake. Slice off the extra cake (set it aside for nibbling!), leaving the flat cap. Fill the resulting space with peach jam (again, homemade or from the store, preferably at room temperature), then replace the flat cap onto the cupcake. Repeat the process for the remaining cupcakes.
~Light Lemon Frosting~
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
- 1/4 cup lemon curd, store bought or homemade (I recommend Alton Brown's recipe)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
In a medium-sized bowl, beat the heavy cream into stiff peaks. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and lemon curd together until smooth. Add in one cup of powdered sugar, the vanilla, and the salt. Mix on low until combined. Mix in the remaining cup of sugar on low until it's all incorporated, then increase the mixer's speed to high and let it go until the frosting is light and fluffy. Turn off your mixer (I can't believe I just typed that but I shudder to think what might happen if I did not).
Take about 1/4 of the whipped cream and fold it into the frosting to lighten it. Transfer the frosting to the whipped cream bowl and gently fold together until it is all combined. Using a pastry bag fitted with a closed star tip, pipe your frosting onto each cupcake. Decorate with sprinkles, glitter, or nothing at all, as you like. Keep the cupcakes stored in the refrigerator, but do try to let them sit for around 5 minutes at room temperature before serving, if you can.
Enjoy!
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