Babycakes Three Ways

You’d laugh if you saw my calendar.  It’s not a real calendar per se.  It’s the iCal on my Mac.  I actually spent quite a bit of time one day putting all the food events I could find on it so I could plan to be involved instead of happening onto them after the party’s over and all that’s left is sawdust on the floor.  Popped balloons.

Empty cupcake wrappers.

Cupcakes?

That would be me, now.  Showing up with my plates of goodness after everyone else has departed.  HomeMadeS is hosting a Cupcake Spectacular and I was supposed to be there on time.  But that’s what I get.  The next step in my learning will be to understand that creating a calendar in and of itself isn’t exactly enough to get things done.

I have to use it.

So here I sit, typing about nothing that makes any degree of sense, except the food.  It’s always about the food, isn’t it?

And these aren’t quite cupcakes.  At least cupcakes you’d give your children.  No, they’ll be something you won’t want to share.

Trust me.

Baby Cakes Three Ways

Cake
6 lg. eggs
1 c. extra fine sugar
1 c. cake flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. vanilla
1 banana, sliced

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. 

Beat eggs and sugar in the bowl of a mixer until it is well blended and add the flour.  Continue to mix for 10 minutes.  The batter will be very light and airy.  Add the baking powder and vanilla and beat for an additional 5 minutes.

Divide batter amongst 18 well greased large muffin cups, filling each to about 1/2.

Bake in the center of the oven for 10 minutes.  The cakes will be puffed and golden, but will begin to deflate after removing from oven.  Turn cakes out quickly onto cooling racks.

Filling
2 c. whole milk
1/4 c. sugar
1/8 c. cornstarch
2 lg. egg yolks
peeling from a meyer lemon (large pieces will be easier to remove…)

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, mix all ingredients, stirring constantly until thick (at least 15 min.)  It will resemble very thick mayonnaise.  Let cool in the pan and then transfer to a container that it can later be stored in.

Frosting
8 oz. cream cheese at room temp.
1/8 lb. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temp.
1-1/4 sifted confectioner’s sugar
1 tsp. grated orange zest
1 T Gran Mariner
1/2 tsp. vanilla

In the bowl of a mixer, cream the butter and cream cheese on low.  Scrape down the sides if needed.

Add the confectioner’s sugar in small quantities while the mixer is running on low.  When all the sugar is thoroughly mixed, add the orange zest, Gran Mariner, and vanilla, mixing to just combine.

Putting the Baby Cakes Together

Version I:  Carefully slice the top off the cake and place three slices of banana, followed by a dollop of filling.  Replace the top, then frost.

Version II:  Carefully slice the top off the cake and put a dollop of filling on the bottom.  Replace the top and sift confectioner’s sugar over the top.

Version III:  Skip slicing the top off.  Just ice the baby cake.

Have fun.  Try all three!

Notes: We are soooooooooooo NOT frosting people.  Every time I look at a cupcake and see all that frosting, I sort of wince.  I love how beautiful it is, but I just don’t enjoy biting into it.  How sad is that?  So these baby cakes are a way to get around our frosting issues.  They’re incredible with just confectioner’s sugar.  But if you need to use this frosting, it’s not fluffy.  In other words, don’t think about piping it.  It is, however, quite delicious and can be easily revised depending on your desires.  If you’re not wanting to use the Gran Mariner, then use freshly squeezed orange juice.  Or try lemon instead.

These baby cakes are somewhat like angel food cake.  They’re very light and fluffy and although fun to play with, can’t hold up under any kind of weight (heavy frosting…ugh!) They are, however, a very pleasant treat.