I was going to skip this week's selection, as I don't have a 6x3 spring foam pan. Near the end of the week, I counted how many cakes I've made from HCB. I've made 15 cakes and I've missed 11 cakes. Determined not to miss anymore (well not this weekend at least :)), I decided to make Sybil's Pecan Torte as cupcakes ^_^.
This cake is pretty quick and easy. And it's even easier as I made 1/3 of the recipe. The hardest part is dividing the ingredients, and making sure I divided everything and not miss anything. Toast pecans, grind with some sugar and Starbuck's instant coffee, whip the egg yolks for 5 minutes, fold in the pecan mixture, whip the egg whites, fold these into the rest of the batter. Then onto the silicone cupcake pan it goes.
1/3 of the recipe makes perfectly 6 cupcakes. I fill them up to where the foil liner ends, and they came out tall, a little higher than the rim of the pan. Then they sunk a little in the middle, just as Rose said it would.
I left them cooling on the rack while I make the stabilized whipped cream. Making this was a breeze too. I divided the recipe into 1/4 - the math was easier this way. I also toast extra pecans and then coat them with caramelized sugar for decoration.
Tasting impressions: this is really yummy. It's moist and tender. The coffee flavor is not very strong, which is interesting as last week's Le Succes used the same amount of coffee and it taste much stronger. I suppose it's because in this recipe the coffee is in the batter and is baked in the oven, whereas in Le Succes the coffee is in the ganache. I love the toasted pecan taste on top, hm... should have put more on each cupcakes instead of one only :)).
Jenn, lovely cupcakes! I particularly like the caramelized sugar pecans on top- how did you make those?
ReplyDeleteThanks Julie! The caramelized pecan was sort of improvised. Initially I searched for recipes online but they were more complicated and all involving oil. So I decided to experiment. The pecans were roasted along with the ones that were for the cake. Then I waited until they cool, then placed them (6 pecans) in a pan with about 3 Tbsp of sugar. I waited until they were warm (thought the sugar would melt but nothing happened). So I just put 3 Tbsp of hot water in it, they sizzle and some evaporated of course as the pan were hot. But I did see the sugar start sticking to the pecans. Then I decided to add some more hot water and some more sugar, about 2 Tbps each. I guess by this point there's enough water, because only then I seeing some caramel liquid. And it started looking like on the picture. I carefully spoon each out and placed them on parchment. I am sure there are ways to streamline this but seeing it's my made up recipe this is what happened. I was pretty pleased with the result, and it taste good (taste like toasted sweet pecans). Oh and I have done this with almonds and it is also good.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jenn for the details!
ReplyDeleteThose cupcakes are so cute! It almost inspires me to bake up another batch as cupcakes.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea with the caramelized pecans; they look delicious!
ReplyDeleteWhat cute cupcakes you made. They really turned out well! Love the pecan halves on top!!
ReplyDelete:)
ButterYum
Oh YUM!
ReplyDeleteOh YUM!!!
ReplyDeleteThey look very pretty, Jenn. And I'm glad you liked them, tastewise. Isn't it nice when you improvise and it turns out good? :o) Great job on the caramelized pecans!!
ReplyDeleteב''ה
ReplyDeleteLooks great!