"Winter Whiteout" Cupcakes

Onto holiday flavor #3. The first two batches I made were Carrot Cake and Gingerbread. It was more of an undertaking than I had estimated, but I think everyone was happy with the results of the baking spree. From what I heard, coworkers were hoarding cupcakes, trying to take one of each flavor and stash them in their classrooms. I'll take that as a compliment!

These "Winter Whiteout" cakes are made from a vanilla bean cake, topped with a whipped white chocolate mascarpone cream frosting. They didn't come out exactly as I had hoped, but I know why, so I can fix that in the future. My tip to you, if you're going to make the frosting with white chocolate, is to use melted baking chocolate, and not your leftover candy melts white chocolate. The candy melts hardened (which I don't know why I didn't foresee that coming), and put little flecks of white chocolate in the frosting. Everyone liked them, but the bigger flecks don't exactly fit through the frosting tip....so, I had to repeatedly, dislodge chunks of white chocolate from my frosting tips. Using baking chocolate will help it be smoother and really mix everything together. I also added coconut snowballs as a decoration on the top, which I added into the directions below. This frosting is nice and light compared to the cream cheese and buttercream frostings I used for my other flavors. I also learned a trick I should use for more of my cupcakes. Spraying the liners with a bit of cooking spray or bakers spray. Sometimes the cake sticks to the liners. I almost skipped this step for these but figured they might be the "sticky" kind, so went with it, and they peel perfectly out of the liners.

A package of all four flavors I made

"Winter Whiteout" Cupcakes
adapted from My Recipes

Vanilla bean cake:

1/2 cup butter, softened 

1 cup shortening 

2 cups sugar 

4 large eggs 

2 3/4 cups all-purpose soft-wheat flour

2 teaspoons baking powder 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

1 cup buttermilk

1 to 2 tablespoon vanilla bean paste

Paper baking cups

Vegetable cooking spray 

For the mascarpone frosting:

1 cup whipping cream 

12 ounces mascarpone cheese, softened

1 cup powdered sugar 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

1/8 teaspoon salt 

1/4 cup melted white chocolate, cooled

For the snowballs:

24 Lindt white chocolate truffles, unwrapped

1 container of white chocolate candy melts that can go straight into the microwave

1.5 cups shredded sweetened coconut

1. Preheat oven to 350 and line 2 muffin tins with cupcake liners. Spray each liner lightly with cooking spray or baker's spray.

2. Prepare the snowballs so they have time to set. Melt your candy melts according the package directions. Using a toothpick to hold the truffle, dip the truffle into the melted white chocolate and then roll into the coconut coating the truffle. Place on a piece of wax paper to call and set. Repeat with all 24.

3. Beat butter and shortening at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until blended after each addition.

4. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt; add to butter mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed until blended after each addition. Stir in vanilla bean paste.

5. Spoon batter into cups, filling about two-thirds full.Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks, and cool completely. 

6. To prepare frosting, beat cream at high speed with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Beat mascarpone, powdered sugar, vanilla, salt, and white chocolate in a large bowl at medium speed with mixer until blended. Gently fold whipped cream into mascarpone mixture until blended.