Friday, April 13, 2012

The High Price of Cupcakes

Williams-Sonoma came out with a premium cupcake mix and yes, when I looked in the box, that’s all that was in there was the mix.
It says that their cakes have the very best ingredients, starting with America’s finest organic flour, sourced from small family farms and custom-milled by a company dating back to 1856.
Would that inspire you to pay $14.95 for a cupcake mix, $19.95 for the frosting with a $5.00 discount if you buy both? You do the math – that’s about $2.50 per cupcake. Although you pay that for a good cupcake Molly’s or Sprinkles, somehow $30.00 for raw ingredients seems excessive…especially since you still have to add the butter, milk and eggs.
I was curious so I took the leap and tried them today.
The cakes were moist and light but the frosting?
Save yourself $14.95 because it did not taste like butter cream at all. When you say butter, you’ve got to taste like butter.
Bon Appetit!
Easy, Classic Buttercream Frosting
1 cup unsalted FRENCH butter, softened
3-4 cups confectioners (powdered) sugar, SIFTED
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
up to 4 tablespoons milk or heavy cream

Beat butter for a few minutes with a mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed. Add 3 cups of powdered sugar and turn your mixer on the lowest speed (so the sugar doesn’t blow everywhere) until the sugar has been incorporated with the butter. Increase mixer speed to medium and add vanilla extract, salt, and 2 tablespoons of milk/cream and beat for 3 minutes.

If your frosting needs a more stiff consistency, add remaining sugar. If your frosting needs to be thinned out, add remaining milk 1 tablespoons at a time.