Creme Brulee Cupcakes

Thursday, April 16, 2009

For Hubby’s birthday, I told him I’d make a treat for him to take in to work. As I’ve mentioned before, his favorite dessert is creme brulee. I’ve made it twice for him already. But, creme brulee doesn’t travel to work very well. So instead, I gave him a list of 10 desserts that are at the top of my must-bake list.

When I added this recipe as the last option for him, I knew there was no point in even giving him the list. Sure enough, he chose his favorite dessert in cupcake form for his birthday treat.

I have to admit that I’m very glad he chose this recipe, because it’s amazing. The cupcakes really do taste like creme brulee. I made the cupcakes and frosting the night before his birthday and then we torched them in the morning before heading to work. Hubby said they only lasted about 10 minutes in the kitchen at work.

The other great thing about these cupcakes is that I found my new favorite way to frost a cupcake. I just loved how the cupcakes looked with a good portion of the cake peaking out, but there still being plenty of frosting. I decided at that point that I will be frosting cupcakes like this again (as I did for my Red Velvet cupcakes).

As a side note, for those of you who know, Hubby’s birthday is in February. This post is going up in April. I tend to do this unless there is a deadline for a blogging event. When I make something to be blogged, I add the pictures, recipe and link to the original source, then save it as a draft. Then on some random day, I go back and finish up the post and set it to publish at some point in the future. So on an evening like tonight, I can bust out about 10 posts while Hubby plays video games with his buddy. Then if I don’t have time to write blog posts for another month, it’s ok.

Creme Brulee Cupcakes – Adapted from Clara, originally from How to Eat a Cupcake
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus a pinch for the egg whites
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs, separated
1 cup milk – I used 1/4 c water + 3/4 c heavy cream
3 tablespoons caramel syrup – I used Smuckers ice cream topping
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Mix flour, baking powder, and salt together and set aside. Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Alternately beat in dry ingredients and milk.

Add caramel syrup and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Beat egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff but not dry. Gently fold whites into batter.

Spoon batter into cupcake papers, filling cups about 2/3 full. Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool.

Brown sugar swiss meringue buttercream
1 cup light brown sugar
4 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

Put sugar, egg whites and salt into the top of a double boiler over a pan of simmering water. Whisking constantly, cook until sugar has dissolved and mixture is warm (about 160 degrees). Pour heated egg whites into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat egg white mixture on high speed until it forms stiff (but not dry) peaks. Continue beating until fluffy and cooled, about 7 minutes total.

Switch to the paddle attachment. With mixer on medium-low, add butter two tablespoons at a time, beating well after each addition. Increase speed to medium-high; continue beating until frosting appears thick, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low and continue beating 1 minute to reduce air bubbles.

To assemble cupcakes
Remove center of cupcake using the cone method. Fill cupcake with buttercream. Sprinkle brown sugar on top and caramelize with creme brulee torch.

I’m entering this in Joelen’s Tasty Tools event for April. She’s featuring muffin pans this month!

Cupcakes, Dessert, Family Favorites

27 comments »

41 Responses to “Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes with Cream Cheese frosting”

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What's Cookin Stacey?? — August 18, 2009 at 12:41 pm

These sound soo good!!!
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2

oneordinaryday — August 18, 2009 at 12:43 pm

I haven’t conquered my fear of yeast yet, but these look like a yummy way to try to.
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Jigginjessica — August 18, 2009 at 12:50 pm

They look great!
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Stephanie — August 18, 2009 at 2:06 pm

These look like the most delicious thing I could ever eat.
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Jen — August 18, 2009 at 2:07 pm

Yeast is definitely become less and less scarey for me…

Steph – you should so whip these up. They’re not too hard and worth the effort!
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Katie — August 18, 2009 at 2:33 pm

OH MY GOODNESS WOW! This is seriously the BESST idea!! THey look sooooo good!!
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Xiaolu — August 18, 2009 at 2:37 pm

I’m glad you’re starting to conquer your fear of yeast! Those cupcakes are so photogenic. I’m getting hungry just looking at them.
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Cathy — August 18, 2009 at 2:42 pm

what a great idea! They look great!
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nutmegnanny — August 18, 2009 at 3:36 pm

OMG these look awesome! I need one right now:)
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Katrina — August 18, 2009 at 3:49 pm

Awesome!
And I saw on Cake Wrecks that today is National Cupcake Day.
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Erin — August 18, 2009 at 5:12 pm

These look so cute!
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jesstyler — August 18, 2009 at 5:34 pm

oh my gosh! YUM! Hubby LOVES cinnamon rolls. I’ll have to make these for him. He’ll probably eat 1/2 of them in a sitting!
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biz319 — August 18, 2009 at 7:57 pm

My step son would go ape shit over these!!

He loves carrot cake, but no nuts or raisins – and cinnamon is his favorite spice so I made a cinnamon cream cheese frosting that would go perfect with these!!

Thanks for the idea!
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Sunshine — August 18, 2009 at 9:35 pm

I got my jam in the mail today. thank you so much! They were super yummy. I’ll be posting about it in the next couple of days. Rhubarb is my favorite and the vanilla peach bourbon….GENIUS! I’m a follower now. Thanks again.
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Kerstin — August 18, 2009 at 10:19 pm

What a cool idea, they look fabulous – yum!
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Megan — August 18, 2009 at 11:27 pm

Adorable! Love cinnamon rolls and cupcakes… bet these are amazing… and add that cream cheese frosting…yum! I so need these the next time I actually have time to make breakfast! Great job!
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Stephanie Wagner — August 19, 2009 at 12:40 am

These are perfect for the office since they are served in their own paper! Not to mention, they are so cute…
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Ingrid — August 19, 2009 at 5:11 pm

They are SUPER cute! Kudos to you on working out your yeast fears! 🙂
~ingrid
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Sara @ Our Best Bites — August 20, 2009 at 5:01 am

adorable! But not too cute not to eat 😉
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The Food Librarian — August 20, 2009 at 5:10 am

Super cute and beautiful!
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Siobhán — August 20, 2009 at 1:21 pm

Oh wow, these look amazing! I love cinnamon rolls… mmm… Great idea to bake them in cupcake liners! 🙂
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Fuji Mama — August 20, 2009 at 2:03 pm

So glad you liked them!
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Liesl — August 20, 2009 at 2:27 pm

Great idea! They look so cute and delicious!
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Donna @ Way More Homemade — August 20, 2009 at 7:30 pm

What a wonderful alternative to those expensive “bake and give” paper baking molds. THanks for the idea. (found you thru taste spotting.)
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Heavenly Housewife — August 20, 2009 at 8:48 pm

fabulous!! i’m going to bookmark this one!
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bonvivant — August 20, 2009 at 10:30 pm

These are so gorgeous! You’ve given me a great idea to try out for the next batch of cinnamon rolls I’m whipping up! 🙂
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Linsey M. — August 21, 2009 at 12:47 am

those are ADORABLE!!
LOVE THEM!
They would be good for my kid’s teachers!
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Jada — August 21, 2009 at 5:29 am

YUM! Can’t wait to try this recipe and the strawberry basil ones also! Beautiful!
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Swirly — August 21, 2009 at 6:56 am

These are so ridiculously adorable! I bet they taste amazing simply because they’re so cute.
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Peggy — August 21, 2009 at 11:05 am

these look and sound soooo good! I’ll definitely have to try them soon!
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Ashley — August 24, 2009 at 4:09 pm

These are adorable! Can’t wait to try them out 🙂
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grace_mitchell — August 25, 2009 at 7:21 am

Those look AMAZING. I’m definitely gonna try those tomorrow morning. They would go amazing with coffee for breakfast. 🙂

I don’t bake much, but I have some wonderful recipes on my website you should check out.

http://www.nowthatsgood.net

Thanks!
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Pat — August 25, 2009 at 11:27 am

Try using real Cinnamon in your recipe and reduce on the sugar.

The Cinnamon that we buy in the US is actually Cassia.
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Fahrenheit 350° — August 25, 2009 at 7:21 pm

Breakfast? How about, snacks – lunch – and dinner!
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Charisse — August 27, 2009 at 5:40 pm

I totally made these from her website and looved them so much. They were so delicious and smelled so good.
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Jen — August 30, 2009 at 3:32 am

Yep Pat, most of what we use in the US is Cassia. I thank Alton Brown for knowing that little fact. You can find really good cinnamon at spice stores like Penzeys.
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Carol309 — September 9, 2009 at 12:21 am

It’s been twenty years since I’ve baked anything that didn’t come from a box. I had some time today and tried these rolls. Not bad!! They came out pretty and my husband is taking them to work tomorrow. Husband says these are really great.
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Alexandra — December 11, 2009 at 12:46 am

Those are adorable!!! Such an amazing idea I’m making these for my Mommy christmas party! 🙂

Idea for the frosting, try melting it a bit and then dipping the rolls in it. We used to do this at the bakery I worked at really quick way to make them look really professional! I also like the rustic look but it’s a fun way to make your coworkers jealous of your skills!
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Jen — December 11, 2009 at 1:49 am

Great tip Alexandra!
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sara — February 22, 2010 at 12:15 am

These were great – made them last night to serve for a brunch this morning. 15 seconds in the microwave was all they needed to go from good to amazing and gooey. This was also my first time using yeast and now feeling confident. Thanks!
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cakeje van eigen deeg — November 14, 2010 at 9:44 pm

they look so good. I am looking for a good recipe, but the yeast scares me. but I think I will it give it a try soon…