The season of entertaining is upon us. I’ve partnered up with Sauza® Tequila to bring you a new cupcake recipe and some inspiring ideas for a fabulous Holiday Girls’ Night!
The holiday season is well underway. This is the craziest, busiest and most wonderful time of the year! Whether you’re an entertaining newbie or a seasoned pro, the role of hostess can be a stressful assignment. But entertaining doesn’t have to be hard. You just need a plan to make it all happen! So grab your girlfriends and celebrate the season with a fabulous girls’ night in. We’re keeping it elegant and effortless with light angel food cupcakes and a glass of Sparkling Margarita. It’s a refreshing change to the same old, same old holiday party. Let’s start with the cupcakes and move on from there! Priorities, right? Planning the cake always comes first!
Angel food cake is one of my all time favorites. It’s light and sweet and totally unexpected around the holidays. So I thought cupcake sized portions would be a great addition to a girls’ night in. It’s a refreshing change to the heavy desserts we often enjoy during the month of December. And definitely pairs nicely with a bubbly glass of wild berry Sparkling Margarita.
The greatest thing about these cupcakes? They look impressive but they could not be easier to make. We’re taking a classic angel food cake recipe and adding a small touch of lemon zest to brighten the flavors. Then topping with a sweetened whipped cream and fresh raspberries, creating a little airy delight. The only thing hard about these cupcakes… is eating just one.
Snow Angel Cupcakes – light angel food cupcakes with lemon zest topped with whipped cream and fresh raspberries.
Author:Carrie Sellman
Yield:24+ cupcakes
Category:✽ ✽ ✽
Ingredients
For the Angel Food Cupcakes
2 cups granulated sugar, divided
1 ⅓ cups sifted cake flour
12 egg whites, at room temperature
¾ teaspoon salt
1 ½ teaspoons cream of tartar
zest of one organic lemon
When Ready To Serve
16 ounces heavy whipping cream, very cold
4 tablespoons granulated sugar
Fresh Raspberries
Confectioners’ Sugar
Instructions
Make the Cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a food processor, pulse sugar until it is superfine. Roughly two minutes on low.
Combine ½ cup sugar with cake flour and sift together four times. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer filled with the whisk attachment, beat egg whites, salt and cream of tarter until medium firm peaks.
Sprinkle remaining 1 ½cups sugar over egg whites with mixer running. Mix until thick and shiny.
Add lemon zest. Mix several additional minutes until very thick. Remove bowl from stand mixer. Scrape down whisk attachment, removing all egg whites and zest.
Sprinkle ¼ of flour mixture into bowl and gently fold into egg whites using a clean rubber spatula. Repeat until all flour has been added.
Spoon batter into a muffin tin lined with cupcake wrappers. Fill each wrapper almost to the very top. Smooth top.
Bake 17 – 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes and then remove from muffin tin to cool completely.
When Ready To Serve:
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk chilled heavy cream and 4 tablespoons sugar until you have soft peaks.
When ready to serve, spoon a dollop of whipped cream on top of each cupcake. Top with a fresh raspberry and a sprinkle of confectioners sugar, if desired.
Notes
To make whipped cream topping in advance, use mousse powder, gelatin, cream cheese or another stabilizer to prevent the cream from deflating.
Now that we have the cupcakes covered, let’s talk about the rest of our Holiday Girls’ Night In! I love the idea of offering a selection of mini desserts and cookies for guests to nibble while sipping a glass of Sparkling Margarita. Small bites like cookies and cake pops let the girls sample a little bit of everything without the heaviness of a big dessert. Here’s a few ideas to get you started.
When decorating, go for a simple color palette of red and white. This updated twist on the traditional holiday colors has such a fresh look.
Linzer cookies are a classic treat that work nicely with our color scheme. Two almond flavored cookies are sandwiched together with a layer of jam. Get the recipe to make them HERE.
Cake pops get festive with a hint of peppermint and a striped stick. Make your own or cheat and order some HERE.
Serve upSauza® Sparkling Margarita with festive garnishes like cranberries, raspberries or rosemary.
Of course, we’ll include our Snow Angel Cupcakes!
Pull out your extra cake stands and top withornaments for a quick and easy centerpiece. Done!
If you’re ready to get the party started, you can find more Girls’ Night inspiration on my Pinterest board HERE.
Disclosure: Compensation was provided by Sauza® via Glam Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Sauza®. Cupcake recipe and photography by Carrie Sellman for The Cake Blog. Thank you for supporting the sponsors who help keep this blog going!
Don't use a plastic bowl, which may have an oily residue that can minimize the volume of beaten egg whites. Add cream of tartar and vanilla to egg whites.Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until soft peaks form (tips curl).
Use room temperature eggs for the best meringue results and separate the eggs, one at a time with three containers. One for yolks, one for quarantine and the final for completely yolk free whites. This will ensure that no fat at all gets into your final mix, even the smallest fat will ruin the rise of the cake.
Cool it upside-down on a cooling rack so it holds its shape and air can reach it. Run a thin knife around the edges to release. Tap the pan on the counter a few times to help loosen the cake, too. Slice with a serrated knife.
"Baking fluffy, moist cupcakes is all about creating air bubbles in your batter that expand in the oven," she says. "If you overmix your batter, you collapse those bubbles and end up with a brick-like cake." Always mix at a low speed to avoid this, stopping just as all ingredients blend.
Be sure to use only fresh eggs; liquid egg whites in a carton have been pasteurized, which can prevent them from whipping into stiff peaks. Cream of Tartar: Stabilizes the egg whites and keeps them from deflating. This helps create that light, fluffy texture.
Do not get any yolk into your egg white and make sure to crack into a completely grease and moisture-free bowl. Even the tiniest bit of yolk or grease can keep your eggs from whipping correctly… that's a lot of eggs to waste! You must beat your egg whites to stiff peaks.
Do not grease the angel food cake tube pan (one in which the center tube is higher than the walls of pan and the bottom is removable.) You want the batter to cling to the side while it is rising. A greased pan will not allow the batter to rise.
Transfer the cake batter to the angel food cake pan. Using a silicone spatula or spoon, gently level the top. Bake the pan in the preheated oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour until the cake rises to the top, turns golden brown, and the top springs back quickly.
If your tube pan has prongs around the rim for lifting, invert the pan onto them. Let the cake cool completely upside down, at least 2 hours. Don't worry – it won't fall out of the pan! To unmold, run a plastic/silicone knife around the edge of the pan, being careful not to separate the crust.
However, if you add too many eggs to your cake batter, then your end result could be spongy, rubbery, or dense. Like flour, eggs build structure in a cake, so they make a cake batter more bonded and dense.
In delicate sponge-type cakes (like chiffon or angel food cake) there are two moments for concern. First, when you're whipping the egg foam, and second, when you're incorporating the flour. An overmixed egg foam will be slack, wet, loose, and unable to hold peaks.
Place the can in the center of a non-non-stick springform pan. It's essential to use a pan without a non-stick coating here—as when making any angel food cake—since the batter clings to the sides of the pan as it rises. A non-stick surface would prevent the cake from reaching its optimal lofty, fluffy ideal.
Why? Until the cake is completely cooled, its spongy structure hasn't set. Flipping it upside down makes sure it doesn't collapse during that process. Some angel food cake pans have feet so you can just flip the pan over and let it cool.
Flour is the main ingredient of the batter and provides the base for the cupcake. Butter or oil provides flavor, tenderizes the batter and helps provide volume.
Most box cake recipes will tell you to add water to the mix. Instead, try adding milk using the same proportions. This will make the cake richer and creamier because it ups the fat content. You can even use buttermilk here for a pleasant tang.
Used by professionals and home bakers alike, these foil cupcake liners have a great look and feel, and perform perfectly. The elegant liners come in eight color options and are sturdy enough to hold up when stacked on a pastry stand.
Introduction: My name is Mrs. Angelic Larkin, I am a cute, charming, funny, determined, inexpensive, joyous, cheerful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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