Whipped Icing Trial
There are tons of different ways to make icing, Buttercream, whipped, marshmallow, confectioners sugar, granulated sugar, butter, shortening, etc. And there are tons of ways to flavor what ever style of icing you choose to make, vanilla extract, almond extract, fresh strawberries, overripe bananas, coconut, peanut butter, cocoa powder, spices, lemon, etc, etc.
There is a lot of variety in icing.
I thought it would be fun to do a little experimenting with some different flavors. And since I would have to do a lot of taste testing I wanted to do it with a lighter icing. So I opted for a whipped icing.
I made a classic vanilla cupcake batter for this project. I think its a little heavy on the vanilla extract and I will probably cut it down to 1 1/2 teaspoons vs 2 full teaspoons if I use this recipe again.
Vanilla Cupcake Recipe:
Oven 375, makes about 18 cupcakes
- 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter (room temp)
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 eggs (room temp)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (the real stuff)
- 1/2 tea almond extract
- 2 1/2 teas baking powder
- 1/4 tea salt
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 3/4 cup milk
Cream the butter, add the sugar and mix until fluffy, add the eggs, vanilla and almond, mix some more. Now add the baking powder and salt, stir and then add the flour and milks and mix until combined.
Spoon into cupcake papers and pop in the oven.
After the cupcakes were completely cooled to room temperature I started messing around with the icing.
The basic recipe I used covered about 4 cupcakes, doubling, tripling, etc, would be fine.
I used granulated sugar because I really like the texture it gives icing. But confectioners would work well for a smoother slightly more structured icing.
Whipped Icing
Whipped Icing:
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/4 cup sugar
Beat the cream until it whips up into a whipped cream. Takes maybe 2 minutes with a hand mixer. Add the sugar and mix a bit more.
Then I added an item to give it a specific flavor. I started with Almond Extract because I love almond flavored icing. It worked well as a sort of control icing.
Almond Whipped Icing – plus 1/4 tea almond extract
Mix for a few moments and then apply the icing to cooled cupcake.
Almond Whipped Icing
It just so happens to be New Years Eve and Rich and I made adult smoothies to aid our celebration. Yep, we are wild. Drinking alcoholic smoothies and making cupcakes and homemade pizza on NYE. Wooo! You better watch out world! We had two strawberries left from our drink mixing, so I chopped those up for the next batch.
Strawberry Whipped Icing – plus 2 chopped up strawberries.
Mix for a few moments and then apply the icing to cooled cupcake.
Strawberry Whipped Icing
Right about the time I needed something for my third batch, Daisy Dog came into the kitchen and asked for a treat. I went to get her one and saw the peanut butter sitting there. Bing Bing!
Peanut Butter Whipped Icing – plus 1/2 a tablespoon of peanut butter and a tablespoon of peanut butter chips
Mix in the peanut butter for a few moments. Stir in the chips and then apply the icing to the cooled cupcakes.
Peanut Butter Whipped Icing
I still had a couple naked cupcakes left and figured I should go for a fourth and final batch. We also happen to be putting bananas into our smoothies so I grabbed a 1/2 a banana that was left over and it became batch number four’s special ingredient.
Banana Whipped Icing – plus 1/2 a banana
Mix for a few moments and then apply the icing to cooled cupcakes.
Banana Whipped Icing
I really liked all of the whipped icing renditions. I would like to try combining the banana and peanut butter together. Maybe work it into a thicker more sculptable icing. Top it off with a little drizzle of chocolate syrup? Hum, might be a fun cupcake to try next. The strawberry icing on a chocolate cupcake would be good too. This trial gave me some inspiration!
Whipped Icing Trial: Almond, Strawberry, Peanut Butter, Banana
Happy New Year!
All Things Krista 