Yummy Splenda Cupcakes!
To celebrate my advisor's birthday, I brought birthday cupcakes in for lab meeting today. Since she is quite sensitive to refined sugar, I was excited to try out these "Splenda-iferous Cream-Filled Vanilla Cupcakes" from Buttercup Bakes at Home by Jennifer Appel, founder of Buttercup Bake Shop in Manhattan.
With nonfat milk powder and buttermilk to keep things hydrated, these cupcakes were wonderfully tender and moist and light! The frosting was uber-creamy and completed the whole melt-in-your-mouth experience that these cupcakes provided. Totally did not miss the sugar here. Not low fat, mind you, but at least you save yourself that sugar high.
Splenda-iferous Cream-Filled Vanilla Cupcakes (adapted from Buttercup Bakes At Home)
Ingredients:
2 & 1/4 cups cake flour
1/2 cup instant nonfat powdered milk
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1 & 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup Splenda Sugar Blend for Baking (I used straight-out Splenda)
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 muffin tins with paper cups (only need to prepare for 18).
In a bowl, combine flour, powdered milk, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Put to one side.
In another bowl or in your stand mixer, cream butter and Splenda on medium speed until fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until well incorporated. Add the dry ingredients in two parts, alternating with the buttermilk. Add in the vanilla and mix well.
Spoon batter into cups to about 2/3 full. Bake 18-20 min or until a cake tester comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool in the pans for 10 min, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Frost with Vanilla Filling and Frosting (see below).
Vanilla Filling and Frosting
Ingredients:
2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter (I used half Smart Balance and half butter)
1 cup Splenda, divided
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup half and half, divided (I didn't have this on hand, and apparently a decent substitution is a tablespoon of melted butter and enough additional milk to make one cup, combined. Worked for me.)
Instructions:
In a medium saucepan on low heat, melt 1 cup (2 sticks) of butter/margarine), 1/2 cup of Splenda, and 1 tablespoon of vanilla, stirring occasionally. Allow to cool for 10 min. Transfer mixture to large bowl, and using the whisk attachment to a mixing bowl or a hand mixer, whip this mixture at high speed until it becomes "stiff." (I used margarine for this part, so I never got to a "stiff" part...so I am not sure how long this would take with butter. However, I can say that I proceeded to the next step without the mixture being stiff and the rest came out fine.)
Add to that 1/2 cup half-and-half, 2 more sticks of butter, 1/2 cup Splenda, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Whip again for 1-2 minutes. Add the remaining half-and-half. Continute whipping until stiff peaks form.
Fill a squeeze bottle with the filling. Insert the tip of the bottle into cooled cupcakes and squeeze about 1 tablespoon of filling into each cupcake. When done, frost the top of the cupcakes with the remainder of the frosting.
My advisor and labmates all enjoyed the cupcakes. The Splenda is barely noticible and the texture is certainly not like other sugar free cakes I've tried in the past.
Here's a helpful site I've found regarding cooking and baking with Splenda: http://www.zenoplex.com/Splenda/recipes/tips.htm
With nonfat milk powder and buttermilk to keep things hydrated, these cupcakes were wonderfully tender and moist and light! The frosting was uber-creamy and completed the whole melt-in-your-mouth experience that these cupcakes provided. Totally did not miss the sugar here. Not low fat, mind you, but at least you save yourself that sugar high.
Splenda-iferous Cream-Filled Vanilla Cupcakes (adapted from Buttercup Bakes At Home)
Ingredients:
2 & 1/4 cups cake flour
1/2 cup instant nonfat powdered milk
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1 & 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup Splenda Sugar Blend for Baking (I used straight-out Splenda)
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 muffin tins with paper cups (only need to prepare for 18).
In a bowl, combine flour, powdered milk, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Put to one side.
In another bowl or in your stand mixer, cream butter and Splenda on medium speed until fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until well incorporated. Add the dry ingredients in two parts, alternating with the buttermilk. Add in the vanilla and mix well.
Spoon batter into cups to about 2/3 full. Bake 18-20 min or until a cake tester comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool in the pans for 10 min, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Frost with Vanilla Filling and Frosting (see below).
Vanilla Filling and Frosting
Ingredients:
2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter (I used half Smart Balance and half butter)
1 cup Splenda, divided
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup half and half, divided (I didn't have this on hand, and apparently a decent substitution is a tablespoon of melted butter and enough additional milk to make one cup, combined. Worked for me.)
Instructions:
In a medium saucepan on low heat, melt 1 cup (2 sticks) of butter/margarine), 1/2 cup of Splenda, and 1 tablespoon of vanilla, stirring occasionally. Allow to cool for 10 min. Transfer mixture to large bowl, and using the whisk attachment to a mixing bowl or a hand mixer, whip this mixture at high speed until it becomes "stiff." (I used margarine for this part, so I never got to a "stiff" part...so I am not sure how long this would take with butter. However, I can say that I proceeded to the next step without the mixture being stiff and the rest came out fine.)
Add to that 1/2 cup half-and-half, 2 more sticks of butter, 1/2 cup Splenda, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Whip again for 1-2 minutes. Add the remaining half-and-half. Continute whipping until stiff peaks form.
Fill a squeeze bottle with the filling. Insert the tip of the bottle into cooled cupcakes and squeeze about 1 tablespoon of filling into each cupcake. When done, frost the top of the cupcakes with the remainder of the frosting.
My advisor and labmates all enjoyed the cupcakes. The Splenda is barely noticible and the texture is certainly not like other sugar free cakes I've tried in the past.
Here's a helpful site I've found regarding cooking and baking with Splenda: http://www.zenoplex.com/Splenda/recipes/tips.htm
The frosting was really good on these! I hate whipped frosting, and this seemed like a great alternative for a low-sugar frosting.
ReplyDeleteShe didn't mention that she also brought brownies for those of us co-workers that do enjoy a nice sugar rush!
Hehe, I'm glad you liked the frosting--I think the milk/half and half made it much better than straight out icing or the other extreme, just whipped cream. If you like that frosting, I have grand plans of bringing in Red Velvet cupcakes with a traditional creamy frosting that is very similar to this frosting...you'll probably like that one too.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I got our brownie fix as well...!