Categories: BakingCupcakesOffice Thursday

Streusel filled sour cream coffee cake cupcakes

We have been talking too much savory around here on the blog. It’s time to get the sweet stuff out!

I saw this cake on Foodgawker (those sinners, corrupting the minds of us who are always struggling with our weight) and well, I just had to make the cake. Alison just describes it so well, that I knew the recipe had to be tested out.

But I didn’t want to make cake.

I wanted to make cupcakes.

Why?

Well, because they are just fun.

Fun to look at.

Fun to eat.

And fun to share!

Most cake recipes can be modified to make cupcakes- the baking time just needs to be adjusted accordingly.

So I knew I could tweak this one to make cupcakes.

And that’s exactly what I did.

They came out nice.

They smelled great.

In fact they smelled pretty awesome. And tasted even better.

Plus, it used the sour cream tub that I wanted to get over with before its expiry.

Now the original recipe calls for a maple syrup glaze on top of the baked cake. Yum, right?

And, honestly I really wanted to do that. But then when you make cupcakes, you are tempted to frost them. And I was tempted to frost my cupcakes too.

Why?

Because frosting is pretty.

Pretty to look at.

Pretty to eat.

And pretty for the person you are sharing with!

Fresh out of the oven, these tasted great on their own, and I am sure the maple syrup glaze would have been great on it. I even debated whether the glaze would actually be a better addition but I really wanted to try frosting. Not only because its pretty, but honestly and more importantly because I want to get more practice on my piping skills. My frosting skills have definitely got better since I started, but it’s not nearly as good. My skills will never be the best in the world, but the lady can try, can’t she!. And any practice I can get, I would like to grab.

Before leaving you with the recipe, I wanted to share my tips about getting cupcake domes. Ever since I learnt about these tips, I have been getting domed cupcakes. Always. I don’t know what the chemistry is, but here’s what I do.

I keep the cupcake batter out for 15 minutes before putting in the oven that is preheated at 400F and bake them at 400F for five minutes before decreasing the temperature. Doing these two things- keeping the batter out and playing with the temperatures a bit, results in domed cupcakes. It works for me. If you try it or have tried and it works for you too do let me know. Let me know even if it doesn’t. And if anyone can explain the science behind it, that would be a bonus!

Note: Photo inspiration for this post came from Baker Royale’s post. I love her site and photography and recipes.

STREUSEL FILLED SOUR CREAM CUPCAKES

Recipe Type: dessert, cupcakes, sweets, frosting

Author: inspired from the recipe here that is adapted from the recipe here. Frosting recipe adapted from here

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 25 mins

Total time: 40 mins

Serves: 18 cupcakes

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:

1/2 cup (113 gm) butter, room temperature
1 cup (200 gm) sugar
2 eggs
2 cups (300 gms) all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup ( or 1 16 oz/453g pack) sour cream (I used light sour cream)
1 tbsp vanilla extract

For the streusel :

1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup chopped walnuts

For the glaze

1/2 cup powdered sugar
2-3 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp- 1 tbsp milk

For the frosting:

1 8 ounce pkg cream cheese, softened ( I used 1/3 less fat Neufchatel cheese)
1.5 cups powdered sugar
1.5 cups heavy whipping cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

Grease 2 cupcake trays.
In a bowl, combine the streusel ingredients.
In a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla essence.
In another bowl, sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together.
Add the dry ingredients to the butter-sugar-egg mix, alternating with the sour cream.
Fold gently until combined.
Fill 18 of the cupcake tray cavities with 1 heaping tbsp batter at the bottom. Sprinkle with 1 tsp of the streusel mixture. Top with another tbsp of batter. Sprinkle any remaining streusel topping on the top.
Preheat oven to 400 F. While the oven is preheating let the batter filled trays sit for 10-15 min (see notes above). If your oven takes longer to preheat, then preheat the oven in step 1 and let the trays sit for 15 minutes after filling them.
Once the oven is preheated to 400F, bake the cupcakes for 5 minutes at 400F and then decrease temperature to 325 F and bake for another 15-20 minutes, until golden brown and tester comes out clean.
Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes in the tray. Remove from tray and let cool completely on wire rack.
Either glaze them, or if you are frosting, then whip the heavy cream on high speed for 1-2 minutes until peaks are formed. Beat the cream cheese and powdered sugar in another bowl. Add in the vanilla extract. Fold in whipped cream into cream cheese mix. Frost the cooled cupcakes. I used a 1M tip for frosting.