As for me, I am looking forward to fall baking. Gingerbread, pumpkin pie are only a few things that come to mind. The heavier, bold flavors are going to be more prominent in desserts, which brings me to these butterscotch walnut cupcakes. The textures and flavor combination makes this recipe a keeper. The moist texture comes from walnut oil which also adds a nutty flavor to each cupcake. The buttercream is made with gelatin and less sugar than most, giving it a lightness. The caramel on top with the walnut turns up the sweetness along with adding some more crunch.
The recipe below makes about 2 dozen cupcakes.
Butterscotch Walnut Cupcakes
Ingredients/Cupcake
By flourtrader
2 1/2 cups cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup walnut oil
1 cup chopped toasted walnuts
1 1/2 cups half and half
2 tsp vanilla extract
Ingredients/Caramel
Click on this link Caramel recipe
Ingredients/Buttercream
adapted from Cooking Channel
1 1/4 cup or 2 1/2 sticks butter
2 tbs plus 1/4 cup water
1 tsp powdered gelatin
1 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup half and half
1 tsp vanilla extract
24 whole walnuts for topping
Prepare 2 cupcake tins (12 cavity each) by filling each cavity with paper liners. Toss the walnuts in about 1/2 cup of flour and use sieve to remove excess flour and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Separate the yolks from the eggs and place the whites in the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat the whites until they reach soft peak stage. Continue to mix and slowly pour in the granulated sugar until stiff peaks are formed. Set aside.
To make the cupcakes light, take out a large bowl and sift the cake flour first and then measure it out. Sift it a second time with the baking powder. Stir in the brown sugar until evenly distributed. Add the vanilla, egg yolks, half and half and walnut oil and stir together. Then mix in the chopped walnuts.
Add 1/3 of the egg white mixture to the batter and fold it in, continue in 1/3 increments until all is incorporated into the batter.
Using a scoop or spoon, fill each cupcake cavity about 3/4 full of batter. Bake until tester comes out clean, about 15-18 minutes. Place pans on rack to cool about 2 minutes and then transfer cupcakes to rack to completely cool before frosting.
Make the caramel by following the link in the ingredient list above. Set aside to cool.
For the buttercream, start with the gelatin. Sprinkle the gelatin powder over the 2 tablespoons of water and stir. Set aside to bloom for about 5 minutes.
Fill a saucepan with the remaining amount of water, brown sugar and half and half. Stir together and place over medium heat. Stir mixture until the sugar is dissolved. This should take about 5 minutes. Add the gelatin mixture and change to low heat setting. Mix and let cook until gelatin has dissolved. Set aside to cool.
Place the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat until the butter becomes silky in texture, stopping occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Pour in gelatin mixture and beat on medium high speed. The beating time ranges from 10 to 15 minutes. During this time, there will be several texture changes, so do not be alarmed if it curdles or looks grainy. The end result will be a fluffy buttercream.
Once the buttercream is created, pipe decoratively onto cooled cupcakes. Then place a dollop of caramel in the center surface of the top. Lastly, finish with a walnut in the center.
Tips and notes:
1. Feel free to put your own spin on this recipe by variation of nut oil ingredient.
2. Some of the cupcakes will sink a little upon cooling but the buttercream will remedy the appearance.
3. The smaller the pieces of nuts in the batter, the less chance they will sink to the bottom of the cupcake. Dusting the walnut pieces with flour is an important step.
**LAST YEAR: Banana Rum Coffee Cake**