Clouds & Cotton Candy.  That’s the texture I’m talkin’ about.  If the coagulation of the egg whites doesn’t scare you off, you not only win the bravery badge, you win the yummy one as well.  Everyone seems to get so freaked out about whipping up egg whites and I tend to think that it whittles down to just being a bit apprehensive about doing something you’ve never done before, that’s all.  I’m here to tell you that you can do it and also provide you with a few basic guidelines to help you along the way.

When Whipping Egg Whites:

• Separating the white from the yolk is easier when the eggs are cold.  However, room temperature whites whip up better.
• Keep in mind that even a speck of yolk/fat ruins the whole she-bang.  Make sure you swipe everything down to make double-sure.  It’s a good (but not absolutely necessary) practice to reserve a separate spatula for meringues.  If you flub up, don’t despair!  Try using a bit of shell to catch the yolk that strayed as it’s coated with a protein keratin that attracts the protein in the yolks.
• Stainless steel or copper are the only ways to go.  Proper chefs only use copper as it’s said to be the best when dealing with whipping.
• Cream of Tartar might be your best friend here.  It will help maintain those hard earned peaks and stabilize everything.  (Just don’t use it or any other acid when utilizing a copper bowl).  Not to mention, the stuff lasts forever and is great for a variety of cleaning uses.
• A whisk works best.  Start from low and work your way up.
• Never over beat (you just want to achieve the appropriate peaks your recipe calls for) otherwise,  the entire bowl will destabilize.
• Use right away.

5.0 from 1 reviews

White Cupcakes & Chocolate Buttercream

 

Save Print

Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

17 mins

Total time

32 mins

 

Author: The Squishy Monster

Recipe type: Cupcakes

Ingredients

For the Cake:

• 1½ c Cake Flour
• 2 ts Baking Powder
• ¼ ts fine Salt
• 2 Egg Whites + ⅛ ts Cream of Tartar + Pinch of Salt
• ¾ c Sugar
• 6 tb Butter
• ½ c room temperature Milk
• 2 ts Vanilla or a scraped Vanilla Bean

For the Chocolate Buttercream:

• 1 st soft, unsalted Butter
• 1½ c Powdered Sugar
• ¼ c Unsweetened Cocoa
• 2 ts Vanilla
• Pinch of Salt
• 1-2 tb Cream or Milk

Instructions

1. Assemble your dry ingredients and sift together.
2. In a separate bowl, begin whisking your whites. When they get frothy, sprinkle in your Cream of Tartar and Salt. You want to achieve stiff peaks.
3. In your third bowl, beat your Sugar and Butter together (for at least 5 minutes).
4. Tip in your Vanilla.
5. Begin to slowly add your dry ingredients in separate additions.
6. Alternate with your milk but you want to start and end with your flour mixture.
7. Don’t over beat or over fill and bake at 350. Mine took 17 minutes but everyone’s oven is different. *Don’t overbake.* You want the centers to spring back when you press your fingers lightly on top and they will have a slight, not loose jiggle.
8. *For the Buttercream* sift together your powdered sugar, cocoa, and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together your butter and vanilla and slowly add in you first, dry bowl to your butter bowl. Take a look at the consistency, if necessary, add in a bit of cream of milk at the end.

3.1.09

Life may not always be cotton candy or butterflies, but this part of it can be

Have a blessed weekend!

Love,

Your Squishy Monster