As the saying goes, everything that was old is new again, and that holds true especially for the uniquely American dessert — the cupcake.
Few things combine the nostalgia and just plain delicious goodness of a cupcake. Most adults have the childhood memory of peeling back the cupcake liner and taking a healthy bite of the miniature-sized cake topped with luscious buttercream icing.
Over the past five years or so, cupcakes have experienced a renaissance in the United States. It began with the Magnolia Bakery in New York, continued with famed cupcake seller Sprinkles in Beverly Hills, Calif., and continues in Baltimore with Charm City Cupcakes and The Baltimore Cupcake Company.
For Sandra Long, owner of Charm City Cupcakes, recipes for the diminutive cakes were a bequest from her great-grandmother.
“My great-grandmother left everybody money, but she left me recipes,” Long said. “For me, it is a continuation of her legacy. A lot of the recipes you see — the Carrot Cake, the Red Velvet — are her recipes. It really is in my blood.”
Baking, said Long, is her creative outlet and why the offerings at her Charles Street bakery vary from day to day.
“It’s creativity, you just keep creating,” she said. “A lot of cupcake companies will list every day what they’re going to have. My team won’t do that because every day is different. We feel creatively different every day, so some days you may come and you’ll have 20 choices. But other days you’ll only have the house favorites — Chocolate Ghirardelli, Carrot Cake, Red Velvet, Black-eyed Susan, and in winter Pumpkin Spice,” Long said.
Life-long baker Tracy Rice, owner of The Baltimore Cupcake Company, said it was a trip to the Magnolia Bakery that started her cupcake craze. It was after 9/11, and Rice had just quit her job on Capitol Hill.
“I wanted to bring to Maryland … cupcakes and high-end gifts and a lot of event stands,” she said. “I wanted to do it a little bit different than what they do in bakeries. This is a little exclusive cupcake boutique bakery.”
The popularity of cupcakes has taken off again mostly because of nostalgia, according to Rice.
“Especially after 9/11, people are getting back to the basics,” she said. “It caught on, and all these bakery boutiques opened up. I go to the cupcake bakeries because of the adventure — seeing nothing but cupcakes. And that’s a great thing. It’s a simple, affordable luxury.”
Chocolate cupcakes
This recipe makes 12 cupcakes
1 cup flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 cup sugar
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup sour cream
2/3 cup buttermilk
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a cupcake tin with cupcake liners. Whisk together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In bowl of electric mixer, place butter and sugar, beating on medium speed until mixture is light yellow and fluffy. Reduce speed to low, and add chocolate, mixing until just combined. Scrap down the bowl, and on medium speed add the eggs one at a time, mixing until just combined. Add vanilla and mix, about one minute.
- Add in sour cream and mix well. Reduce to low speed and add half of flour mixture, mixing until just incorporated. Add 1/2 cup buttermilk and mix. Add remaining flour mixture, and mix until just combined. Using a 1/4 cup scoop, fill each cup with batter. Place in oven and bake for 20 to 22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Cool cupcakes in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan, and cool another 10 minutes. Frost with a vanilla or chocolate buttercream.
For more cupcake recipes, go to http://charmcityfoodie.blogspot.com
