Cream Puff Cupcakes [My 500th Post!]

FIVE HUNDRED posts. Wow.

That is a lot of food, people! I am amazed that the little food blog I started on a whim in September of 2008 has survived (and thrived!) until today. 

There's been a little bit of everything here on Oven Love, hasn't there? Lots of sweet desserts, tons of breakfast and brunch recipes, a fair amount of Dorie Greenspan recipes (thanks to TWD), some vegetables every once in a while, a rainbow cake, some lessons in freezer cooking, and everything in between. I can't believe I've filled 500 posts with my culinary ramblings.

To celebrate, I thought I'd take you back to my roots with some help from Dorie. I came up with the idea for these cream puff cupcakes after randomly seeing Meg's post and I knew I could count on Dorie's recipes to guide me through transforming the classic cream puff into a cupcake.

Please understand that this is not a recipe that you can whip up in a few hours. This one takes time and planning. This one should be reserved for special occasions and special people. This one should be savored and enjoyed until the last bit of ganache is licked off the wrapper.

First, you'll prepare the cream puffs. Or you'll skip that part and buy them at the store. Then, you'll bake the cupcakes, fill them with pastry cream, cover them with gorgeous, dripping ganache and top them with a cream puff. Be sure to sit back and enjoy your beautiful creation before diving mouth-first into this indulgence. You WILL be full after eating this cupcake, but I make no promises about keeping yourself from eating another one.

I have so loved this blog and the joy that comes with sharing my recipes with the world. This 500th post is just a milestone on the way to greater things. There is so much more in store for Oven Love- and you will get to hear all about it soon enough. Thank you for always visiting, putting me in your reader, pinning my posts, sharing Oven Love with friends, and for all of your encouraging and thoughtful comments over the years. I really do cherish this little blog and all the eyes that fall upon it. Here's to 500 more!

Buckle your seat belts- there are a lot of recipes below.

Cream Puff Cupcakes
by Oven Love
makes about 16 cupcakes

*If you plan to make the cream puffs from scratch, I would do those first before you start the cupcakes. You can make the cream puffs ahead and refrigerate or freeze them until you're ready to use them.*

To assemble, you need:

• 1 batch Vanilla Cupcakes, baked and cooled
• 1 cup Vanilla Pastry Cream (in addition to the pastry cream used to fill the cream puffs, if you are making them from scratch)
• 1 batch Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream
• 2 batches Chocolate Ganache Glaze, cooled slightly (2 batches is an estimate, you made need more/less)
• 16 Cream Puffs (purchased or made with the Cream Puff Dough and Pastry Cream below)
• powdered sugar, for dusting

Directions

1. Use a small, serrated knife to cut a round hole into the top of your cupcake. Remove cake from the hole with a spoon.
2. Fill the cupcake with pastry cream. You can do this with a spoon or with a pastry bag.
3. Pipe the buttercream in a circular motion on top of the cupcake, covering the pastry cream filling. Let set in the refrigerator until frosting seems firm.
4. Remove the cupcakes from the fridge. Using a spoon, drip the ganache on top of the cold buttercream and top with a cream puff. Let cool in the fridge until set. These cupcakes are best enjoyed at room temperature, so if you are storing them in the refrigerator, allow them to come to room temperature before you serve them. Add a dusting of powdered sugar and enjoy.

Vanilla Cupcakes
slightly adapted from The Cupcake Project
makes 16 cupcakes


Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups (175 grams) cake flour, not self-rising
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (225 grams) granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup (57 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1/3 cup (75 grams) full-fat sour cream
• 1/4 cup canola oil or vegetable oil (60 ml)
• 1 tablespoon pure (not imitation) vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup (160 ml) whole milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. In a medium-sized mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, mix together cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. Add the sugar and mix until well combined.
4. Add butter and mix on medium-low speed for three minutes.  Because there is so little butter, you'll end up with a very fine crumb texture.
5. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, sour cream, oil, and vanilla extract until smooth.
6. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined.
7. Slowly add milk and mix on low speed until just combined.  The batter will be liquid.  (Don't worry, you didn't do anything wrong.  It's supposed to be that way.)
8. Fill cupcake liners just over 1/2 full.
9. Bake for 14 minutes and then test to see if they are done. They are done when a toothpick comes out without wet batter stuck to it.  The cupcakes should appear white with specks of vanilla bean. They should not turn a golden brown.  If they are not done, test again in two minutes.  If they are still not done, test again in another two minutes.
10. When the cupcakes are done, remove them immediately from the tins and leave them on a cooling rack (or just on your counter if you don't own a cooling rack) to cool.

Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream

via Sweetapolita (click the link for a full rundown on SMBC)
makes 15 cups (enough to frost and fill approximately three 8″round cakes) *This is more than enough for the cream puff cupcakes. The buttercream freezes well, so you can make the extra and save it for later.*

Ingredients

• 16 large egg whites (30g each–total 450g, or 2 cups)
• 4 cups granulated sugar (800g)
• 5 cups (2.5 lbs, 10 sticks) of unsalted butter, softened but cool, cut into cubes
• 30 ml (2 tablespoons) pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp salt

Directions

1. Wipe the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk attachment, small bowl, and whisk with paper towel and lemon juice (or vinegar), to remove any trace of grease. Add egg whites and sugar,  and simmer over a pot of water (not boiling), whisking constantly but gently, until temperature reaches 140 degrees F, or if you don’t have a candy thermometer, until the sugar has completely dissolved and the egg whites are hot (you can feel a drop in between your fingers to ensure no granules.).
2. Take off of stove, and place bowl back on electric mixer fitted with whisk attachment, begin to whip until the mixture is thick, glossy, and neutral (you can feel outside of the bowl to test temperature). 
3. Switch over to paddle attachment and, while mixing on low speed continously, add butter one cube at a time until incorporated, and mix until it has reached a silky smooth texture (if curdles, keep mixing and it will come back to smooth).  
4. Add vanilla and salt, mix well. If buttercream is too runny, the butter was possibly too soft–place into the refrigerator for about 15 minutes, then beat again. If still too runny, add a few more cubes of butter and keep beating until it reaches Use immediately, or refrigerate/freeze.

Cream Puff Dough (Pate A Choux)
from Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table
Makes about 24 large or 50 small puffs


Ingredients

• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 large eggs at room temperature
  

Directions

1. Bring the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt to the boil in a heavy-bottomed 2-quart saucepan.  When the mixture is boiling rapidly, add the flour all at once, reduce the heat to medium and, without a second's hesitation, start stirring the mixture like mad with a wooden spoon.  The dough will come together very quickly and a slight crust will form on the bottom of the pan, but you have to keep stirring - vigorously - another 2 to 3 minutes to dry the dough.  At the end of this time, the dough will be very smooth.
2. Turn the dough into the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or, if you've still got some elbow grease left, you can continue by hand.  One by one, add the eggs to the dough, beating until each egg is thoroughly incorporated.  Don't be discouraged - as soon as you add the first egg, your lovely dough will separate.  Keep working and by the time you add the third egg it will start coming together again.  When all the eggs are incorporated, the dough will be thick and shiny and, when you lift some of it up it will fall back into the bowl in a ribbon.  The dough will still be warm - it's supposed to be - and now is the time to use it. ]
3. Using about 1 tablespoon of dough for each puff, drop the dough from the spoon onto the lined baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches of space between each mound of dough.
4. Slide the baking sheets into the oven, bake for 15 minutes, then rotate the sheets from top to bottom and front to back.  Continue baking until the puffs are golden and firm, another 10 to 15 minutes.  Transfer the cream puffs to a cooling rack.
5. When the puffs are cool, use a pastry bag with a small tip to poke a hole into each cream puff and fill them with Vanilla Pastry Cream (see recipe below). Store in the refrigerator or freezer until ready to eat.

Vanilla Pastry Cream
from Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table
makes about 2 cups

Ingredients

• 2 cups whole milk
• 6 large egg yolks
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup cornstarch
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 3 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into bits, at room temperature

Directions

1. Bring the milk to a boil in a small saucepan.
2. Meanwhile, in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan, whisk the yolks together with the sugar and cornstarch until thick and well blended. Whisking without stop, drizzle in about 1/4 cup of the hot milk- this will temper, or warm, the yolks- then, still whisking, add the remainder of the milk in a steady stream. Put the pan over medium heat and, whisking vigorously, constantly and thoroughly (make sure to get into the edges of the pan), bring the mixture to a boil. Keep at a boil- still whisking- for 1-2 minutes, then pull the pan from the heat.
3. Whisk in the vanilla extract. Let stand for 5 minutes, then whisk in the bits of butter, stirring until the butter is fully incorporated and the pastry cream is smooth and silky. Scrape the cream into a bowl. You can press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the custard to create an airtight seal and refrigerate the pastry cream until cold.

Chocolate Ganache Glaze
from Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home to Yours

Ingredients

• 4 oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons water

Directions

1. Put the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl.
2. Bring the cream, sugar and water to a full boil, then pour the liquid over the chocolate and let sit for 30 seconds. Working with a whisk or rubber spatula, gently stir the chocolate and cream together in small circles, starting at the center of the bowl and working your way out in increasingly larger concentric circles.
3. If you are pouring the glaze over a chilled cake or cupcakes that is already frosted, the glaze can be used soon after it is blended. If you are pouring it over a room temperature cake or cupcakes, leave the glaze on the counter until it thickens just enough to pour in a ribbon.