London Fog Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 2 ¼ cups cake flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup whole milk
Earl Grey Infused White Chocolate Ganache
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 2 Earl Grey tea bags
- 3 cups high quality white chocolate chopped
Earl Grey Buttercream
- 2 sticks (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
- 4 Earl Grey tea bags
- ½ cup plus one tablespoon heavy cream
- 5 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla bean paste
Assembly
- 1 recipe Chef Gail Sokol's Candied Lemon Slices halved or quartered with a sharp knife
Instructions
Make Cup Cakes
- Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit. Line 24 muffin tins with paper cupcake liners.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the cake flour, baking powder and salt until well blended. Set aside.
- Using an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium-high speed, cream the butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy.
- Crack the 2 eggs in a liquid measuring cup. Add the vanilla extract to the eggs.
- On low speed, add 1 egg to the butter and sugar. Blend well before adding the remaining egg mixture.
- On low speed, add 1/3 of the dry ingredients into the butter mixture and blend well. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the mixer, if needed, with a rubber spatula.
- Add ½ of the milk. Blend well on low speed, scraping down sides of the bowl as necessary.
- Add another 1/3 of the dry ingredients and mix until incorporated. Add the remaining milk followed by the remaining 1/3 of the dry ingredients. Mix until well blended.
- Using a 2 ounce ice cream scoop, scoop batter into lined cupcake pans.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a small, sharp knife inserted into the center of the cupcakes comes out clean.
- When barely warm, remove cupcakes onto two wax paper lined sheet pans. Cool completely.
Make Earl Grey Infused Ganache Filling
- In a medium saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a boil. Remove from the heat and place the 2 tea bags into the hot cream and allow the mixture to steep for 20 minutes. Press on the tea bags occasionally.
- Squeeze out the tea bags into the cream and discard the tea bags.
- Reheat the infused cream to a simmer.
- Remove from the heat and add the white chocolate, whisking the mixture until all the chocolate has melted.
- Pour the mixture into a medium bowl and chill it in the refrigerator until it reaches a pipeable consistency.
Make the Earl Grey Buttercream
- In a small saucepan, bring heavy cream to a boil.
- Remove cream from the heat and place the 4 tea bags into the hot cream, pressing them down into the cream to steep for 20 minutes.
- Squeeze the tea bags into the cream and discard tea bags.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer using the paddle attachment, cream the butter on medium speed until light and fluffy.
- On low speed, add the tea infused cream and blend well. Add the vanilla bean paste. Blend well.
- On low speed, gradually add confectioners' sugar and blend well. Stop mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
- Buttercream should be light and fluffy.
Fill the Cupcakes
- Using a large plain pastry tip, cut out a center core from each cupcake being sure not to go all the way down to the bottom of the cupcake. Remove the cake piece from the pastry tip from each cupcake. Save the core pieces of cake for snacking.
- Clean and dry the large plain pastry tip. Fill pastry bag fitted with the large plain tip with some of the pipeable white ganache.
- Fill each cupcake with some of the ganache until it just reaches the top of the cupcake.
Assembly
- Transfer the buttercream to a clean pastry bag fitted with a large star pastry tip.
- Pipe a swirl of buttercream over the top of each cupcake.
- Top each cupcake with a candied lemon slice.
Notes
Makes approximately 2 dozen cupcakes