Wedding Cupcake Trial: Part 3: Wedding White

Wedding Cupcake Trial: Part 3: Wedding White Cupcakes


Inspiration Picture via Pinterest and Recipegirl.com. Recipe adapted from Recipegirl.com. 

I made a half batch of these-  but below to keep it simple is the amounts for a full batch (about 36 cupcakes)


White Wedding Cupcakes 

1 box white cake mix ( I used Pillsbury Super Moist White Cake Mix) 
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated white sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups water
2 Tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup fat free (0%) Chobani 
4 large egg whites

1. Preheat oven to 325* F 
2. Prepared Cupcake pan and liners (about 36) 
3. Mix Cake mix, flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until well blended. 
4. Fill cupcake liners ~1/2- 3/4 of the way full. 
5. Place in oven and bake 18-22 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. 
6. Remove from oven and cool completely. 

For the Frosting I did a buttercream somewhat based on "The Best Buttercream Recipe" - which I keep trying different ways to discover the truly BEST Buttercream. 


1 cup unsalted butter, softened  - divided
1/2 cup white granulated sugar
1/2 cup powdered sugar
4 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 cup milk (I used Silk Light Soymilk)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract  (or whatever other kind you want- I also tried almond extract)

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, place 1 Tablespoon of butter with flour and stir for about 1-2 minutes. Add in milk slowly, stirring constantly until batter becomes thick. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
2. In a large bowl place the rest of the butter and sugars and beat with an electric mixer until fluffy. This can take a long time (10-15 minutes) to get the granulated sugar fluffy but it is worth it. If you have a stand mixer- this would be an ideal time to use it. 
3. Add cooled flour/ milk/ butter mixture to butter and sugar, and beat. 
4. Add in extract and beat until combined. 
5. Refrigerate for about 1/2 an hour until slightly thickened. 
6. Pipe or spread onto completely cooled cupcakes. Add any other decorations (I added colored sugar below). 

 For the version I put on this cupcake I added a bit more butter and a little bit less sugar-- the result came out almost like whipped cream! It was soo fluffy. I think next time I will follow the recipe I wrote above a bit closer since I like my frosting sweeter.

The Results:

• The cake had great flavor and was super moist.
•  I think I slightly undercooked them, so they were a bit to gummy in the middle so be sure to double check the doneness.
•  The frosting was great! Like I said above- depending on your taste you may want to tweek the amounts of butter and sugars to get it sweeter or fluffier.

Photography by Jordan Garry unless otherwise stated.

October-Cake

 One inspired evening (after a bottle of wine or so) Jordan and I devised the name for a dessert named Octobercake!

After coming up with the name, we then proceeded to develop the ingredient list:

(Note: Jordan wrote. My spelling is minimally better.)

The next morning I woke up with the urge to create said Octobercake, which required coming up with a slightly more defined recipe.

So the plan became that we would make an oatmeal/ gingersnap cookie crust, with a layer of pumpkin pie and a layer of pumpkin cake and then possibly top it with some sort of frosting.

I would like to pre-cursor that this is NOT a healthy recipe. I tried to make some healthy substitutions, and in theory since pumpkin is a vegetable, you are getting in a veggie, but nonetheless this is definitely a “sometimes” food :P

We began with a gingersnap cookie crust:

To make the gingersnap cookies I used:

·      1 stick butter, unsalted

·      1/2 cup white sugar

·      1/3 cup brown sugar

·      1 egg (or ¼ cup egg substitute)

·      ¼ cup molassess

·      2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

o   (all purpose flour is fine too—I keep the whole wheat on my counter so it is the easier option for me)

·      ½ teaspoon baking powder

·      1/2 tablespoon ground ginger

·      1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

·      1/8 teaspoon salt

1.     Pre-heat oven to 325*

2.     In a medium to large bowl: Cream together slightly softened butter and sugars.

3.     Add egg and molasses and mix.

4.     In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, spices and salt.

5.     Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix.

6.     Roll dough into balls and place on a greased or lined cookie sheet.

7.     Bake in pre-heated oven for 10-12 minutes.

Since I made the cookies with the intention of smashing them up to make pie crust, I just made a few large cookies. Feel free to make them whatever size you want.

Pie Crust:

·      1.5 cups smashed gingersnap cookies.

·      ½ cup plain, dry oatmeal

·      4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

·      1 teaspoon cinnamon

·      Pie tin

1.     Either using the gingersnap cookies you just made, or store bought ones, crush them up using a food processor or squishing them with a blunt object.

I personally added mine into a food processor, which I discovered did not work, so I proceeded to crush them with the end of my immersion blender – because when I tried to use that as a blender, it turns out the cookie bits just get stuck inside of it.

2.     Add oatmeal, cinnamon and melted butter. Continue the swishing together process until combined.

3.     Once the crumbs are relatively evenly crumby and moist, spread crumbs over the pie tin. (You may wish to spray with a nonstick spray first, I did not do this, and it stuck.) Using your hands (Wash them first!) spread the crumbs out evenly along the bottom and the edges of the tin. Voila!

Alternatively to this step, you could just use a premade graham cracker crust pie, but the gingersnap really does add something!

Then for the pumpkin pie layer:

·      1 large can plain pumpkin, or 2 cups of pureed, baked sugar pumpkin

·      1- 12 oz can unsweetened evaporated fat free milk

·      ½ cup brown sugar

·      ¼ cup white sugar

·      2 eggs (or ½ cup egg substitute)

·      1 tablespoon cinnamon

·      1 teaspoon ginger

·      ½ teaspoon nutmeg

·      ¼ teaspoon cloves

1.     Preheat oven to 425*

2.     In a large bowl mix sugars, spices and eggs.

3.     Add in pumpkin and evaporated milk and mix.

4.     Pour into pie crust you made (or bought). Fill only about half way.

5.     Begin baking in oven for 30 minutes.

6.     Start making your pumpkin cake batter!

Pumpkin Cake layer

·      ¾ cup sugar

·      ½ cup applesauce

·      2 eggs (or ½ cup egg substitute)

·      1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (again, all purpose can be used instead)

·      1 teaspoon baking soda

·      ½ teaspoon baking powder

·      1 teaspoon cinnamon

·      ½ teaspoon ground ginger

·      1 cup pumpkin (OR I justed used ~1 cup of the left over pumpkin pie mix from above!)

1.     Check on your pumpkin pie layer, after about 30-45 minutes the top should look relatively “set”. If the crust starts to burn, cover it with tin foil.

2.     Once the pumpkin pie layer is semi-firm, pour the cake layer on top of it, filling up the pie tin.

3.     Turn oven down to 350*

4.     Bake Octobercake for about 40 minutes at 350*, or until cake layer is cooked through (you can do the toothpick test for this.)

And now you have an October Cake! 

It is particularily good served with either: vanilla ice cream, light whipped topping or a cream cheese frosting.

I tried this cream cheese frosting on it (I honestly prefer just the ice cream on it though. )

·      1 cup light cream cheese

·      1 tablespoon vanilla extract

·      4 tablespoons butter

·      ~2 cups confectioners sugar

1.     add all ingredients into a bowl and blend with mixer (or shear arm power!) You may need more confectioner’s sugar.

2.     Add to cooled cake.