Paging NL Foodie, Clogged and other bakers

[CakeLover]

Next week is DH's birthday. I asked him what he wanted and he said cupcakes. Okay, easy enough but he wants cupcakes with some type of filling. If we were at home I would pull down some duncan hines cake mix and jello pudding mix whip those both up and combine. I know I can't get jello pudding mix here and I should probably step up my game for his birthday.

I think I'm still going to do the Duncan Hines cake mix (chocolate is his request) but what should I do for the filling? I think I'm going to frost half of them chocolate and the other half cream cheese, but I'm open to other suggestions. He loves coffee icing. I may try to surprise him with that.

Also I've never filled a cupcake before. So some follow up questions regarding that...if I fill them and send some to work should I refrigerate them? I shouldn't be trusted with a batch of cupcakes in the house. I'll need to get them out of here. I don't have my piping bags anymore but I have my caps/ nozzles would it be okay to fill them with the nozzles and a modified plastic baggie?

[Cheesecake]

Clogged is the super cupcake expert on here. She is probably much much more helpful than I. I've never actually filled cupcakes before. When I want filling, I usually just do a layered cake, or double up the topping :-)

I do know that nozzles on modified plastic (or even folded and rolled kitchen parchment) works fine.

As far as flavor/filling. I actually love the lemon and chocolate combo (DH's Italian cousin made me try that last September - and it was awesome!) So chocolate cake, lemon curd filling, cream cheese frosting would sound good to me.
I'd possibly also go for a chocolate cupcake with caramel filling and then coffee flavored frosting (or coffee and chocolate)
I also love love love the combo of nuts and chocolate, maybe make a nutty cupcake, then filled with a tasty ganache and topp with a regular buttercream with caramel drizzles in there.
I'm no fan of fruit besides lemon, but I could totally see filling chocolate with some kind of berry preserve and then topping with either cream cheese or chocolate.

Guess that's all the inspiration I have right this minute - plus now I want cupcakes.

Page clogged as well though, she'll surely know everything!

[CakeLover]

Thanks. Those are all good suggestions. I really like the caramel filling with coffee icing. I'm drooling already. I'll modify the post to have Clogged paged as well.

[cailinabroad]

I made Irish Car Bomb cupcakes once (http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2011/03/14/irish-car-bomb-cupcakes/) and to fill the cupcakes I used a metal icing tip, stuck it into the cupcake and twisted. It came out cleanly, and then after I just piped the filling in. A little time intensive, but super tasty! And people are always surprised.

At the time I was living in a tiny apartment with only the student essentials in the kitchen, so I borrowed the icing tips from my mom and improvised with plastic ziplock bags. Worked like a charm and probably cheaper than icing bags anyway.

Good luck with the baking!

[mouseinlux]

I made some with a cream cheese filling, it's super yummy. Well they are muffins but you get the idea... www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/295608/strawberry-cheesecake-muffins

[blushing]

My favourite filled cupcakes to make are lemon meringue ones. And they are super easy to do. If you are interested I can post the recipe.

[aMrsin09]

May 22, 2012 13:00:19 GMT -5 blushing said:

My favourite filled cupcakes to make are lemon meringue ones. And they are super easy to do. If you are interested I can post the recipe.

duh ... yes please.

[CakeLover]

May 22, 2012 13:00:19 GMT -5 blushing said:

My favourite filled cupcakes to make are lemon meringue ones. And they are super easy to do. If you are interested I can post the recipe.

Please and thank you!

[clogged]

"core" a cupcake 3/4 of the way down, about the width of your pinky. scoop in cherry vlaai filling- about a teaspoon fits. Frost with vanilla or cream cheese icing. Way easy, way yummy, no messing around with baked fillings or piping bags.

[clogged]

um. cherry pie filling. Can't believe I actually defaulted to a dutch word.

[blushing]

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

Makes 12

125g lightly softened butter, softened
125g caster sugar
2 eggs
150g self raising flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Finely grated find of lemon

Topping and filling
2 egg whites
100g caster sugar
4 tablespoons lemon curd

Line a 12 section bun tray with paper cases. Put all the cake ingredients in a bowl and beat with a hand-held electric whisk for about 1 minute until light and creamy. Divide mixture between the paper cases.
Bake in a preheated oven 180C (350F), Gas mark 4, for 20 minutes or until risen and just firm to touch.
Meanwhile, beat the egg whites in a thoroughly clean bowl until peaking. Gradually beat in the sugar, a tablespoon at a time, to make firm, glossy meringue.
Remove the cakes from the oven and raise temp to 230C (450F), Gas mark 8.
Scoop out about 1 teaspoon of sponge from the top of each cake and fill with the lemon curd. Pile the meringue on top, swirling with a palette knife. Return to the oven for a further 1-2 minutes watching closely, until the meringue is beginning to brown.

The book says serve warm, I don't always.

[CakeLover]

Thanks ladies, now I just need to decide what filling I'm going to do. Should I refrigerate them if I keep them overnight?

[blushing]

I would not keep them in the fridge overnight. A cool dry place would be better.

[Cheesecake]

If you have a very cool dry place, that'd definitely be better. It depends on the frosting and filling though. If there's unbaked stuff in there that needs to be refridgerated, you should do so. Preferably not though as it doesn't improve taste/texture.