Cupcakes and Ribbons

There was a time when I was baking so many cupcakes I had to beg my husband to bring them to work.  I was just starting out, following recipes to a T, that I was yielding more cupcakes than we could consume in our household.

Anyway, here's one result of that period not-so-long-ago: Brown Sugar Pound Cupcakes from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes.  Recipe yields 28 standard-sized cupcakes.

Ingredients:

3 cups sifted all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp

2 1/4 cups packed light-brown sugar

4 large eggs, room temp

3/4 buttermilk

Procedure:

1. Prehead oven to 325F.  Line standard muffin tins with paper liners (I used mini muffin tins).  Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and brown sugar until pale and fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sids of bowl as needed.  Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of buttermilk, and beating until combined after each.
3. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full.  Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until golden brown and a cake tester (I used a toothpick) inserted in centers comes out clean, about 25 minutes.  Transfer tins to wire racks to cool 10 minutes; turn cupcakes onto racks and let cool completely.  Cupcakes can be stored up to 3 days at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers

The cupcakes came out a nice golden brown.  And like true baby pound cakes, they were not as fluffy as typical cupcakes.  They had a nice, "full" feel and had just enough sweetness in them.

While good ol' Martha recommended using Brown-Butter Glaze, I opted for ready-to-use rolled fondant from Wilton because at the time, I was dying to decorate with fondant.

Instead of tinting the fondant, I used a brush to paint the gel coloring.  The flowers were molded with a floral cookie cutter, sprinkled with sugar crystals in the middle.  The ribbon, "mini cupcake on a cupcake," and shell (which to others looked like a broken heart, for some reason) decorations were entirely handcrafted.  Confectioners' sugar adds a "pretty" touch.

Food, styling and photography by Anji Panganiban.