Pusheen Vanilla-Lemon Swiss Meringue Buttercream Cupcakes

Makes sixteen 2-inch (5cm) cupcakes • Level of difficulty: Easy to medium

Swiss meringue buttercream gets a Pusheen makeover in these cheerful, moist vanilla-lemon cupcakes with
vanilla-lemon Swiss meringue buttercream topping. Every bite bursts with lemon flavor!

 

Vanilla-Lemon Cupcakes
1 cup (120g) cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
8 tablespoons (1 stick/115g) unsalted
butter, cut into cubes and slightly
softened but still cold
²⁄³ cup (135g) superfine sugar
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons whole
milk
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Vanilla-Lemon Swiss Meringue
Buttercream
4 large egg whites
3/4 cup (150g) superfine sugar
3 sticks (12 ounces/345g) unsalted
butter, cut into cubes and slightly
softened but still cold
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Black oil-based food coloring or
unsweetened black cocoa powder

Decorations

5 tablespoons chopped dark coating/
compound chocolate
2 tablespoons chopped white
coating/compound chocolate
Black oil-based food coloring or
unsweetened black cocoa powder

 

 

1. Make the vanilla-lemon cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 340°F (170°C). Place sixteen 2-inch (5cm) baking cups on a sheet pan.
2. Sift the flour and baking powder together into a medium bowl and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, cream the butter, superfine sugar, and lemon zest until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla.

4. In a spouted measuring cup or small bowl, stir together the milk and lemon juice.
5. Fold the flour mixture into the butter mixture in two additions, alternating with the milk mixture. (You can beat the flour and milk mixtures into the butter mixture with the mixer instead, but do not overbeat.)
6. Scrape the batter into the prepared baking cups. Bake for 20 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Remove the cupcakes from the oven and let them cool completely.
7. Make the vanilla-lemon Swiss meringue buttercream: Bring about 1½ inches of water to a simmer in a medium saucepan over low heat. Place the egg whites and sugar in a heatproof bowl and place it on the saucepan (make sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water). Whisk continuously until the sugar dissolves completely and the mixture is warm to the touch, 160°F (71°C) on a candy thermometer. Do not allow the egg whites to scramble/coagulate. To test, rub a bit of the egg white mixture between your fingers; if it is still gritty, the sugar has not fully dissolved. Remove the bowl from the heat.
8. Using an electric mixer, beat the egg white mixture on medium-high speed until very stiff and glossy.The mixture should be cool to the touch at this point.

9. With the mixer running on medium speed, add the butter to the egg whites in three additions and beat until fluffy and firm, like shaving cream. The mixture may initially become watery as the butter is being incorporated, but just continue beating; it will firm up again.
10. Add the lemon juice and vanilla to the buttercream and beat well to combine. Add black food coloring drop by drop or black cocoa powder pinch by pinch until the buttercream is evenly tinted light gray.
11. Fill sixteen 2-inch (5cm) cake pop molds (or cake pop molds with a diameter that matches the top diameter of your cupcake liners) with the buttercream and freeze for at least 2 hours, until the buttercream hardens and is fully frozen. This helps create perfect domes. Reserve the remaining buttercream.
12. Assemble and decorate the cupcakes: Trim the tops of the cupcakes so they’re level. Unmold the frozen buttercream domes and place them on top of the cupcakes.
13. Transfer half of the remaining buttercream to a small piping bag fitted with a ³⁄8-inch (1cm) petal piping tip. Pipe triangular ears onto the buttercream domes.

14. Place the dark chocolate in a small microwave-safe bowl and microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring after each to prevent burning, until melted and smooth. (Alternatively, use a double boiler to melt the chocolate.) Melt the white chocolate as you did the dark chocolate, add a drop of black food coloring or a pinch of black cocoa powder, and stir until smooth and evenly tinted gray.
15. Draw on Pusheen features using a toothpick dipped in the melted chocolate. Use the dark chocolate for the facial features and the gray chocolate for the head stripes.
16. Transfer the remaining buttercream to a small piping bag fitted with a ¹⁄8-inch (3mm) round tip and pipe on small Pusheen hands.

 

 

Recipe extracted from Let's Bake by Claire Belton and Susanne Ng