Peach Cupcakes with Peach Buttercream

I bet you didn't think I'd be back this soon. Well, you were wrong! Booyah!
I had planned to do great things yesterday. I wanted to get all my homework done, or at least started so that I can relax on Sunday, when I'll be trying out for the Queen's Equestrian Team, and when Anders gets back from his race. Instead, I spent most of the afternoon in front of my computer and then I decided to bake cupcakes and then I spent five hours at the front desk of a residence building keeping my best friend, who works there, company. What this means, though, is that you get another entry and recipe! AND, before I sat down to write this, I did do most of my German homework. So not all is lost.
Let's get started though, yes? So, do you remember how I said my chocolate cake recipe is very versatile? And then how I took that recipe and made it into lemon cake? Well, yesterday, I realised that the peaches Anders bought on Tuesday were quickly growing soft and I decided to take that recipe and change it again, to include peaches!

It started with the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder and baking soda.


Once I'd measured that all out, I washed some peaches and cut them up into the blender.

This blender rocks. It belongs to Anders' brother, so we're only lucky enough to have it until he comes back to Canada. But I really do love it.

Then I pushed a series of buttons because this blender is super high tech, and the peaches were more of less instantly turned to liquid.


Next, I strained the liquefied peaches.




The other liquid ingredients consisted of oil and vanilla.


I threw everything together in a big bowl, and mixed it up.

I ended up having to add some water, because the peach puree was a bit too thick. Also, right before I poured it into the muffin tin, I added some vinegar to activate the baking soda.

And then I poured the batter into my lined muffin tin.


Twenty minutes later, I pulled them out and they looked and smelled excellent!


While they were cooling (on a windowsill, no less!), I got to work on making some peach buttercream. I started by whipping some room temperature butter.


To that, I added a whole bunch of confectioner's sugar.


Finally, I added some vanilla and peach puree for flavour.


I also added a bit of red and yellow gel food colouring to give it a nicer colour and whipped it up again until it looked like this:

Mmm.

When the cakes were cool, I used a large star tip in my piping bag and piped on the buttercream.


From here on out, it's just food porn:








Did I mention how much I love my chocolate cake recipe, and how I can pretty much make it into whatever I want?
These cupcakes turned out really well. They're extremely moist inside, and while the peach flavour is pretty subtle, they taste great. I also love this buttercream icing. It's nice because you can always just omit the cream that it calls for, and use some flavoured liquid instead, which is what I did in this case. The only problem, of course, is that it's very rich, and there's no way to make it even remotely healthy.
All in all, though, a nice treat... especially if you have over-ripe peaches sitting around!

Recipe

Peach Cupcakes with Peach Buttercream

Cupcakes
2-2 ½ cups unbleached white flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
¾ cup sugar
1 cup fresh peach puree
½ cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2/3 cup water
2 tablespoons vinegar

Buttercream
¾ cup butter, at room temperature
1 ½ cups confectioner’s sugar
¼ cup peach puree
Vanilla, to taste


×××

Cake
Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a muffin tin, or lightly grease and flour a 9-inch round or 8-inch square cake pan. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and sugar into a bowl. In a measuring cup, mix together the peach puree, oil and vanilla. Add the peach mixture to the dry ingredients and whisk together until combined. At this point, you may want to add some yellow and food colouring to achieve a peachier colour. When the batter is smooth, add the vinegar and stir quickly. The batter will foam slightly where the baking soda and vinegar are reacting. Stir just until the vinegar is evenly distributed throughout the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for 20 minutes if making cupcakes, or 25 to 30 minutes it making cake. Allow to cool before glazing or frosting.

Peach Buttercream
Whip the butter until light and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat until well combined. Add peach puree and vanilla and beat again until smooth. You may want to add some yellow and red food colouring to achieve a peachier colour.
Can be piped or spread onto cakes.

Guten Appetit!