A couple weeks ago I wanted to make red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for a baby shower at work. I wanted to use RLB’s from RHC, but never found directions for making cupcakes from the red velvet cake recipe, and wasn’t sure how many cupcakes that white chocolate cream cheese frosting would frost (recipe said it made one cup which doesn’t sound like much).

So I ended up making a recipe of Ina Garten’s which was good but I think I overcooked them a bit because the second day (day of the party) they seemed a bit dry but the taste was good. Her recipe for both the cupcakes and the frosting said it made enough for 15, so silly me, I doubled it. It made 24 regular size cupcakes and an entire pan of mini cupcakes/muffins. And I had WAY too much frosting. I didn’t glop it on as much as perhaps some folks might, but it was enough. I ended up throwing a lot of frosting away…

Any suggestions? Thanks so much.

Hi, Indysusan!

I don’t have my books here, but perhaps I can help, generally.

First, Jenn of our board often makes cupcakes, and she makes no recipe adjustments (as far as ingredients go).  You can, if you want to, reduce the BP slightly if you want rounded tops, or you can just let thme sit on the counter about 20 minutes before baking.

As to quantity, look in your book for a Rose cupcake recipe.  Look at the flour quantity (if it’s chocolate, look at the flour + cocoa powder) and how many cupcakes that recipe makes.  Rose’s recipes are all fairly similar in butter and oil cakes as far as percentages of this or that, so you can look at the cake you are thinking of making into cupcakes and the flour (or flour + cocoa powder) there to see if you want to scale it or not.

As to frosting, obviously it depends on how you sant to frost.  I would think that 1c frosting would frost about 6 cupcakes, which gives a little more than 2T per cuppie.  Keep in mind that you can easily freeze leftover frosting!!!  Cream cheese frosting is quite edible frozen, BTW…......*danger* *danger*

As to dryness, there are two things to consider.  One, be very careful about overbaking, since they’re small.  Also, as I understand it (not being a cuppie gal myself), cuppies can dry more easily than other things (because they’re small and have all that exposed surface—paper not being a real moisture-sealant), so wrap leftovers well—or as well as possible.  If you’re leaving at room temp, maybe little ziplock bags?  You can also freeze or fridge them. Freeze, then wrap, and you don’t have to worry about mussing the frosting.  In either case (fridge or freezer), if you unwrap cold, the frosting will stay neat.  Others here can probably give you better cuppie storage info.

Good luck!!

—ak

I’ve baked quite a few of the cakes from the butter & oil cake chapter of RHC as cupcakes and as a general rule, any recipe that makes a single 9"x2” layer, including the red velvet, yields 12 reg. sized cupcakes. For other recipes, I would refer to Anne’s suggestions for scaling. I make no adjustments to leavening and let the batter sit for 20 min before baking for a slightly domed top. I usually start checking for doneness at the 20 min mark, checking first for the top to spring back when lightly touched, then using a skewer/toothpick to confirm. (But, after this past weekend’s experience with my Miette Tomboy cupcakes, I think I’ll start taking the internal temp of them as well!). They are very easy to overbake!

I also don’t like an excessive amt of frosting on a cupcake - I find that the 2 cups Anne recommended works well for 12.

I always transfer the cupcakes to an airtight tupperware-like container with waxed paper between the layers, as soon as they’ve reached room temp, regardless of when I’m frosting them. ie don’t expose them to air for any longer than is necessary. If I’m frosting them the next day, I refrigerate them in the same container. Once frosted, I transfer them to an airtight cupcake keeper. (A tupperware container would work as well.) They can also be refrigerated overnight this way. I transport them to the site in the same plastic containers - I know it’s not as pretty as some of those cupcake display boxes, but it keeps them moist and you can always make them look pretty on the display table .

Hope this helps.

As Anne have said, I often make Rose’s cakes into cupcakes. I don’t make any adjustments to the recipe but I do weigh each cupcake - usually 40 - 50 grams for each cupcake. I didn’t know about the trick to let it sit on the counter for 20 minutes. I usually bake them right away. I don’t mind a little dome though as they are covered by frosting anyway.

As others have said, the amount of frosting does depends on how you want to frost the cake. If you’re gonna do the pretty swirl around the cake with a piping bag (see photo), it takes a lot of frosting. I’d recommend making 1.5 of the recipe (for 1 recipe of cake you make 1 1/2 recipe of frosting). Any leftover frosting you can probably freeze for future use.

For baking time, I usually check it after halfway what the recipe said. So for the cake if it said to bake for 30 minutes, I’ll check the cupcakes after 15. Usually they are done baking in half the time. If you have overbaked them, you can always syrup it. You don’t even have to use sugar, just water (and maybe a bit of alcohol) would work. The point is to incorporate some more moisture.

I hope this helps!

Sophia - 07 November 2011 10:12 PM

I’ve baked quite a few of the cakes from the butter & oil cake chapter of RHC as cupcakes and as a general rule, any recipe that makes a single 9"x2” layer, including the red velvet, yields 12 reg. sized cupcakes. I usually start checking for doneness at the 20 min mark

Indysusan,
Just to clarify…the batter for each of the cupcakes I bake usually weighs ~55-62g (it does depend on the recipe), hence the longer baking time.

Wow, Jenn, fab photo!!!!!  It’s almost Hitchcockian in its “activeness.”

Jenn, I like those cupcakes.  Are the decorations made with melted chocolate?  Thanks.

Jenn, love the pic and cuppies

I have in my notes that 3 cups of mousseline frosts 24-30 cupcakes.  This would be less frosting than Jenn has on her cupcakes, as mine generally have a bit of bare edge showing.

The cupcakes were Chocolate Genoise with Peanut Butter Whipped Ganache. The chocolate decoration were melted chocolate - not tempered. I piped it with parchment cone onto wax paper.

Julie, I do use a bit less frosting when I pipe cupcakes now, but I like “overflowing” look of this one .