Peach Cupcakes and Lessons.

So I saw a recipe for peach cupcakes, on Pinterest of course, and Jon said that they sounded delicious! It's taken a good while for me to actually make them because I screwed up a couple of things. First, the peaches I bought were either not peaches, or were very under-ripe. They looked more like apples than peaches.. So next I tried a different recipe that called for freeze dried peaches. I was not aware that there is a very big difference between freeze dried peaches and dehydrated peaches. The ones I bought almost broke my food processor, and smelled like feet. I threw them out, and called it a day. Now I have frozen peaches and diced peaches in natural juices, because I'm lazy and couldn't find freeze dried peaches to save my life (not at HEB, Kroger or Wal-Mart). 

So I have finally made it through a baking session without burning myself. However I was disappointed in how the cupcakes turned out, so maybe burning myself is somehow key to a delicious meal. At any rate the real problem for me was in the buttercream, I do not recommend it For me it came out tasting only of butter and vanilla. which sounds good, but somehow isn't. But here's the recipe and pictures of how my stuff turned out.

Peach Cupcakes with Peach Buttercream

don't judge me for the icing, it had big peach
parts and I had to cut the tip off the bag.

Cupcakes

2-2 ½ cups unbleached white flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

¾ cup sugar

1 cup fresh peach puree 

½ cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2/3 cup water

2 tablespoons vinegar

I cooked them a bit longer than recommended because
I  was afraid they would collapse like my lemon cupcakes.

Cake

Preheat oven to 375°F. 

Line a muffin tin, or lightly grease and flour a 9-inch round or 8-inch square cake pan. 

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and sugar into a bowl. 

In a measuring cup, mix together the peach puree, oil and vanilla. 

Add the peach mixture to the dry ingredients and whisk together until combined. 

At this point, you may want to add some yellow and food colouring to achieve a peachier colour. 

When the batter is smooth, add the vinegar and stir quickly. The batter will foam slightly where the baking soda and vinegar are reacting. 

Stir just until the vinegar is evenly distributed throughout the batter. 

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for 20 minutes if making cupcakes, or 25 to 30 minutes it making cake. 

Allow to cool before glazing or frosting.

Tip for filling a frosting bag, drop it in a cup,
 fold the sides over the cup, and fill.
 It's worked for me most every time.

Buttercream

¾ cup butter, at room temperature

1 ½ cups confectioner’s sugar

¼ cup peach puree

Vanilla, to taste

My cupcake.

Peach Buttercream

Whip the butter until light and fluffy. 

Add the sugar and beat until well combined. 

Add peach puree and vanilla and beat again until smooth. 

You may want to add some yellow and red food colouring to achieve a peachier colour.

And halfway through.

Mother's Day Cupcakes

I started with a Duncan Hines box of Lemon Cake. I used a box because I'm a bit lazy and besides Alton Brown said it's ok. I followed the directions exactly and stuck them in the oven. I decided to try out a couple of my "fancy" cupcake liners. So I used them and some other, less fancy, liners as a constant. 

Of course a simple lemon cupcake isn't enough. So I decided to give them a raspberry filling, and raspberry & lemon frosting. I used Wilton's recipes for all of these because I trust their recipes.

Ingredients:

1 pkg (16 ounces) frozen raspberries packed in sugar thawed

1/3 cup granulated sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Directions:

Drain raspberries, reserving liquid. 

Add enough water to liquid to equal 1 1/4 cups. 

In large saucepan, combine liquid, sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice; mix well. 

Heat and stir until mixture boils and thickens. 

Cool completely. 

Stir thawed raspberries into cooled mixture.

(I didn't have the right amount of frozen raspberries, so I just used a little less cornstarch and a little less sugar.)

This is what it looks like at first.

As it's heated it starts to thicken.

Then the consistency will be between
jelly and cake mix.

I totally spent hours making perfect circle cutouts...
Or not, Instead I used a  tiny cookie cutter.

 *As you might notice, some of the cupcake liners have pulled away from the cupcakes. These are the "fancy liners" I was very displeased with them. For now I think I'll stick to paper liners.*

I used a tiny scoop to put the raspberry
 filling into  the cupcakes.

This is the Raspberry Buttercream Frosting.

*I halved this knowing that I wanted to do both raspberry and lemon icing.*

Ingredients:

1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine , softened

1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract

4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (about 1 lbs.)

1/3 cup seedless raspberry preserves (I used the raspberry filling instead)

Rose Icing Color , optional

1 pint fresh raspberries , optional

Directions:

In large bowl, beat shortening and butter with electric mixer until light and fluffy. 

Add vanilla; mix well. 

Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. 

Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. 

When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. 

Add raspberry preserves and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy.

If desired, add a drop of Wilton Rose Icing Color to deepen the pink color. 

Ice cooled cupcakes. 

Garnish, if desired, with a fresh raspberry.

I used the 1M tip and piped little roses and swirls.

And the Lemon Buttercream 

*Again this was halved for me because of the double icing thing.*

Ingredients:

1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening

1/2 cup butter softened

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon lemon zest

4 cups (approx. 1 lb.) confectioner's sugar sifted

Additional lemon juice or milk (optional)

Directions:

In large bowl, cream shortening and butter with electric mixer until light and fluffy. 

Add lemon juice and zest; beat well. 

Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. 

Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. 

When all sugar has been mixed in, if icing is dry, add additional juice or milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy.

fresh raspberries go on top!

For some added effect I piped some Wilton
Candy melts into hearts and "Mom"s.

By the way I reccommend using a glove or
 hotpad with the piping bag as an
 intrinsic value of a "melt" is that  it is hot.