Twitter Cupcakes

In my Clark Kent life I’m an editor and reporter for a small education news publication–a publication that just hit over 20K+ followers on Twitter and our CEO decided we should celebrate.

We have a lot of foodies [and by that I mean people who just love to eat good food] in the office, so instead of celebrating with happy hour like normal companies do, we decided to throw a Twitter-themed potluck…basically the color blue exploded all over the conference room.

Now, it’s also understood that whenever potluck is mentioned, Meris will be the one bringing the desserts. And not wanting to sully my reputation as a sugar addict, I made these Twitter cupcakes.

At first, I tried to be lazy and just order a Twitter logo cookie cutter. Yeah…they don’t exist. But my laziness couldn’t be conquered so easily, so I ended up trying to order one from a start-up in Silicone Valley, only to have a rousing email exchange about the legal implications of designing, selling, and purchasing a brand logo. Over a cookie cutter. My life is exciting.

Finally realizing I would have to whip out some old-school Girl Scouts camp arts & crafts talents that had been lying dormant for decades, I managed to create a Twitter bird for my cupcakes. I’ll explain how to do this below. These blue cupcakes are vanilla bean with vanilla frosting [recipes provided below].

I also thought: Okay, if you’re not going to be lazy, then go big or go home, so I also made some cupcakes based on our company’s Twitter logo. These are red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting [recipes provides below].

Was I up until 2 a.m. mid-week? Yes. Do I now know that a cookie cutter could influence legal history? Yes. Did I cover my entire apartment in blue dust? Yes. Are these cupcakes cute? Yes! And that’s all that matters 😉

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

To see the recipe for the red velvet cupcakes, click here.

Cream Cheese Frosting [from Bon Appétit Desserts; makes about 3 cups of frosting]

Equipment:

• Electric Mixer
• Sifter

Ingredients:

• 12 oz. cream cheese, rm. temp.
• 1/2 cup [1 stick] unsalted butter, rm. temp.
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3-4 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla in a large bowl until smooth. Beat in sugar 1 cup at a time, scraping down sides of the bowl occasionally.

*Note: To get perfectly round puffs of icing onto your cupcakes, use a piping bag fitted with Ateco’s 806 round tip or any other large round tip. Hold the piping bag completely vertical and squeeze while not moving the bag up or down–just squeeze and hold steady.

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Vanilla Frosting

The vanilla frosting is from Momofuku Milk Bar and can be found here in this post under the heading “Birthday Cake/ Homemade Store-Bought White Frosting.”

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes [makes (2) 8”, (1) 9” or 24 cupcakes. I tinted the cupcakes blue by adding Americolor’s Sky Blue gel coloring before the egg whites were added]

Equipment:

• Electric mixer

Ingredients:

• 3 cups sifted flour
• 1 Tbl. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, rm. temp.
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs, separated
• 1 cup whole milk
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3 tsp. vanilla bean paste or 1 vanilla bean, split and scraped

Preheat oven to 350. Line cupcake pan with liners.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

In a stand mixer or in a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat butter until soft and smooth. Add sugar and beat until light and smooth. Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating after each addition and scraping down sides. On low, alternate adding flour and milk, beginning and ending with the flour. Stir in vanilla extract and vanilla beans.

In another bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff but not dry. Stir in 1/2 cup whites into the batter, then fold in the rest in several additions.

Divide batter between cups and smooth. Bake 20-25 min.

* Decorations were made using gum paste [tinted black for the black squares] cut with square biscuit cutters and left to dry for 2 days. The eSN logo was piped on using royal icing and the bird logo was made by printing and then cutting out the Twitter logo. Using edible blue petal dust, place the cut out onto the gum paste square and, using outward strokes, dust around the image.

All done!

My coworkers at potluck [Denny, Vince, Carol, Rob, Nancy, Lee, Carla, Shana, Victoria, and Laura]

Someone dared Vince to eat an entire cupcake in one bite. Mission accomplished.

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