There is something magical about a cupcake. I think it's because they come in so many different shapes, sizes, and flavors. During our travels, we decided to take a walk down to East Village to Butter Lane for one of their cupcake classes. We made three different cakes: vanilla, chocolate, and banana with six different icings: vanilla, raspberry, chocolate, peanut butter chocolate, cream cheese, and cinnamon cream cheese. Now I know that banana sounds weird (and I was skeptical at first too), but it was light and delicious. The teacher was really knowledgeable and made the process really easy. Though it helped that everything was measured out already, but it the cupcake process is really easy. The thing I found interesting was that the batter was mixed for a lot longer than I thought. I guess that's how they get the light and airy cake. The basic steps to making a cupcake start with creaming the butter and sugar together. While that's mixing you put together the dry ingredients which were flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the eggs one by one until they are fully incorporated. Then you mix in half the dry ingredients, all the buttermilk, and the other half of the flour mixture. I thought it was also interesting that we used buttermilk...Something I will have to try when I make these at home. Lastly, gently add the mashed banana and then it's time to go into the pan. *Side note: apparently the best way to mash a banana is with a paddle attachment in the mixer. We used an ice cream scoop which I have recently started using because it makes for much easy batter filling and more even cupcakes. They go into a 300 degree oven for 23 minutes and when they come out they are delicious.
While we were waiting for the cupcakes to bake, we started on the three basic icings. We were handling the cream cheese icing which only included butter, cream cheese, and confectioner's sugar. So, obviously not the most healthy, but then again icing isn't really healthy, but it was delicious. It wasn't overly sweet, didn't leave a film in your mouth, and was light and airy. Another interesting lesson I learned from the class was the best way to test if a cupcake is cool enough to ice is to test it on the inside of your wrist that way you avoid destroying the top of the cupcake. As they finished cooling, the teacher showed us how to make the other three icings. I guess I never really thought about making a few different ones. Butter Lane makes their cupcakes with as many fresh and local ingredients as they can. They make all their preserves in house and you can really taste the difference. When she was demonstrating how to do the chocolate peanut butter icing, she said you can't use organic peanut butter because it is too oily, which is good to know.
Next, we were shown the proper way to ice a Butter Lane cupcake. Interestingly enough, you take a dollop of icing and smooth it out on the side of the bowl. That gets all the air bubbles out and makes it easier to smooth into a ball. Once you have the small icing ball, you hold the spatula at a 45 degree angle and put the icing in the center and spread it out. Then for the finishing touch, you put an indentation in the middle and leave a little bit of the cake showing. You each get to take home a box of 9 cupcakes and get to eat a few while you are there, so this is definitely worth it. However, there was no way that we were going to eat 18 cupcakes in a day, so we gave them away but of course saved a few to try. If you get a chance, take the class because you get to make some new friends, learn how to make a few varieties of cupcakes, and you get some to go! There is really no losing in this situation. We had so much fun and really enjoyed Butter Lane!
