Hello, my faithful followers! I apologize for my extended absence, but, as mentioned in the little 'About Me' blurb on the right-hand side, I'm a writer. This means that sometimes, when I'm very, very lucky, the Muses descend and bless me with ideas. (The rest of the time I have to beg and plead for them to throw some scraps my way as I watch my cursor blink and mock me.) So that's where I've been, finishing one manuscript and jumping right into another.
But, never fear! I did manage to break away from my keyboard long enough to bake something new. It's actually three recipes all combined into one delicious pastry. Are you ready for this? White Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Filling, topped with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting.
These were so good that one of my husband's co-workers said she'd ask me to make them for her wedding if her wedding was going to be here in town. I'm not ashamed to admit I did a little preening when my husband told me that. I mean, I know I'm no slouch in the kitchen, but that was pretty high praise.
Now, if you're saying "But I don't like white chocolate," no worries, neither do I. (If you do like white chocolate, feel free to read this or skip ahead since you probably won't need convincing to try it.) The beautiful thing about white chocolate cake is that doesn't taste like white chocolate, it's just richer than normal cake because of the fat content in the white chocolate. Since you melt it to add it to the batter, you get this smooth, soft cake that has a texture reminiscent of pound cake, but still retains the light and airiness of traditional cake. Seriously, try it. If you do and you still don't like it . . . well, then I apologize and I'll never bother you about trying white chocolate cake again.
I was worried about my confection because my first attempt at filling the first cupcake didn't go so well. Specifically, the piping tip retreated up into the pastry bag and hardly deposited any filling. After that, I went with the cone method, which worked much better. (In case you have no idea what I'm talking about, Annie's Eats has a great entry here.) What this meant for me is that I ended up sampling a cupcake with the barest amount of raspberry filling, and the chocolate buttercream kind of overwhelmed the white chocolate cake. Unfortunately, the recipe I used didn't make as many cupcakes as I'm used to (it says it makes 18, I got 16), so there weren't a lot of extras for me to try one with more filling. But, based on the above mentioned comment, I'm guessing that the proper amount of raspberry filling made all the difference.
The next time I try these, I think I'll use a different white chocolate cake recipe. Not that there was anything wrong with this one, but the last time I made this type of cupcakes it was with a different recipe, which I couldn't find for this baking adventure. I liked the other recipe a bit better - the cake was lighter - so I want to go back and try to find it again. Of course, since I don't remember where I found it, that may be a challenge. I'll keep you posted.
I'd also like to try a different frosting next time. Something lighter than chocolate buttercream. Right now I'm thinking of something like a light and airy raspberry frosting. Or maybe lemon, since lemon and raspberry go very well together. Perhaps I'll even try lemon cupcakes with raspberry filling and white chocolate buttercream frosting. I see great possibilities in the future!
Enjoy! And, as always, let me know what you think of the recipes if/when you try them, or shout out some suggestions of your own for future modifications!
