It was a good week for baking.
Sourdough loaf. Gluten-Free banana chocolate chip muffins. Mini vanilla cupcakes with piped buttercream.
Three completely different bakes, but that pretty much encapsulates how I roll in my kitchen.
I tried a new sourdough starter!
My nephew found an Instagram post that indicated if I send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to Oregon Trail Sourdough, PO Box 337602, Greeley, CO 80633, I will get sourdough starter originating from the Oregon Trail. Is it legit? It would appear so!
According to the Interwebs, the active wild yeast and bacteria culture was reportedly carried along the Oregon Trail in 1847 and later preserved by a baker named Carl Griffith. The 1847 Oregon Trail Sourdough Preservation Society (known as Carl’s Friends) does not sell the starter; they mail a small dehydrated sample for free if you send them a self-addressed stamped envelope.
So I did. And then I brought the starter back to life, which only took about 2 days and 2 feedings, by the way. A couple of days later, I made this gorgeous loaf of sourdough! Now I need to make another loaf and ship it as a thank you to my nephew, who lives in North Dakota. (Stay tuned, Davis!)
My Gluten-Free Bakes Continue
Because our son was diagnosed with Celiac a couple of years ago, I have switched a lot of my baking to finding delicious and amazing gluten-free recipes so he can continue to enjoy what I bake. I have become a real aficionado of the MeaningfulEats.com blog. Erin, who has a BS in food science and an MS in nutrition, knows her stuff. All of the recipes I’ve tried from her blog so far have worked beautifully. I highlight recommend!
Saturday morning I threw together MeaningfulEats’ Banana Chocolate Muffins and it was another win. And trust me when I say you would never know these are gluten-free if I didn’t tell you.
Also, consider this permission to use a Christmas cupcake liner anytime of year if you don’t have any regular liners available.
And then I made 9 dozen mini vanilla cupcakes …
Yep, that’s right. 108 mini vanilla cupcakes, all piped with American buttercream. And it was so much fun!!
My business partner’s daughter is getting married on New Year’s Eve and had her bridal shower on Saturday. She asked me to make mini cupcakes for her flower-themed event and I, of course, immediately said yes. One of my baking joys is practicing my cake and cupcake decorating techniques so this was a perfect challenge for me!
I kept the cupcakes simple — all vanilla, but with an elevated twist. I used my homemade vanilla extract along with the seeds scraped from 1/2 of a vanilla bean pod. So yummy! And the cake texture of the cupcakes was truly sublime, if I do say so myself. I share the cupcake recipe below, which comes from Sally’s Baking Addiction, another absolutely stellar baking blog that I love.
(Want to know how to make your own vanilla extract? Check out ZoeBakes blog here. It’s actually super easy!)
I piped the mini cupcakes with two types of roses, a hydrangea, and a zinnia-like flower. Piping flower petals is absolutely SO MUCH HARDER than it looks on Instagram reels but I think I finally found a good groove. Besides my actual technique, my most difficult battle was controlling the heat and humidity in my house. It wasn’t a warm day outside but it did rain all day, so my house got humid. I had to work quickly so that my buttercream didn’t get too soft while I was piping.
All in all, though, I was completely thrilled with how they turned out and these mini bites of absolute goodness were a hit at the bridal shower!
And by the way, I loved these mini cupcake liners I found on Amazon along with my Nordicware petite muffin pans. (Note: these are Amazon Affiliate links. You can visit my Amazon Storefront here for all of my favorites.)
All in all, a great week for baking! Next up on my baking agenda this week is this recipe for Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Cookies. What’s on your baking wish list? I’d love to hear about it!
Lara
Mini Vanilla Cupcakes
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Line two, 24-cup mini muffin pan with cupcake liners. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on high speed until light and creamy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the egg whites, vanilla extract, and vanilla bean seeds (if using) and beat on high speed until smooth and well combined, about 2 minutes. Add the sour cream and beat on medium-high speed until combined, about 1 minute. With the mixer running on low speed, add the dry ingredients, and then slowly pour in the milk and beat just until combined. Do not over-mix. You may need to whisk it by hand a few times to make sure there are no lumps at the bottom of the bowl. The batter will be slightly thick. Pour/spoon the batter into the liners—fill only 2/3 full to avoid spilling over the sides.
- Bake for 12-13 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (For my oven, this was 13 minutes.) Cool the cupcakes in the pan set on a cooling rack for 20 minutes, then remove them from the pan and return to the rack to cool completely before frosting.
- Frost cooled cupcakes with your favorite buttercream frosting!
