Resources: Cupcake Filling Dilemma with Foodily to the Rescue

Cross section of a cupcake.
Fill in the blanks with your descriptions.

Do you wonder what you should put into the middle of your delicious cupcakes?  No baking diva would now serve them with only frosting on top. Expectations for cupcakes have changed in the last few years. Currently your best dressed cupcake has a delicious tender cake, a flavored syrup brushed on after baking for moisture, one or more smooth, sweeping swirls of frosting, color-coordinated sprinkles, a special decorative topper, and a surprise filling. (Not to mention a beautiful wrapper!)

Sometimes choosing a filling is a real dilemma. In order to sort out the possible options I have to ask myself:

• Which is the best flavor combination to go with the frosting and cake? Sweet (raspberry jam, marmalade, fruit butter), or slightly savory (basil-lemon-mascarpone)?
• Should the texture be creamy (frosting, fruit curd, mousse), crunchy (nut butter, dark chocolate ganache with cocoa nibs, praline butter), sticky (marshmallow cream, fruit conserve, chocolate-hazelnut spread, caramel) or something else (maple butter, mouselline, cookie dough, cream filling, Cadbury Cream Egg, a strawberry)?
• Will the color of the filling contrast or blend with the cake?



Go to Things  to see how the cupcake
anatomy chart was made!

• Does the filling require refrigeration, will it be stable at room temperature, or outside at a picnic, wedding, or birthday party where it could get warm prior to eating? (USDA Food Safety and Inspection, Food Danger Zone, Ask.com)
• Are there any allergy concerns:  milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts (such as almonds, cashews, walnuts), soy or gluten (wheat). Food Allergies, What You Need To Know , FoodAllergies and Intolerances Resource List for Consumers. December 2010. (PDF)

I have a wonderful collection of baking and pastry books, but sometimes, they may not reveal the information I want. When in doubt, I look online using various search tools. For instance, an "image" search on Google for "filled cupcakes" may display upwards of 4,430,000 results in 0.42 seconds. Unless I am looking for ideas in general, this shows too many options! Flickr is a good resource for dedicated bakers who also enjoy photographing their work. A search there reveals 17,028 images. Although the pictures are great, it may be troublesome to get to a recipe.

Pinterest, with 61,909 entries, has many stunning images of cupcakes that may lead to new and unexplored sites and recipes. On the About page, Pinterest is described much like a virtual cork board: "Think of Pinterest as a virtual pinboard — a place where you can create collections of things you love and "follow" collections created by people with great taste." I may also check my "go to" sites that rarely let me down such as Epicurious, FoodNetwork, Bon Apetit, or Martha Stewart (MS favorite cupcake collection). After an afternoon of searching and finding stunning eye candy, I still may not have found the best recipe!

My newest best friend online for narrowing down a recipe search is Foodily.  Foodily is "the world's largest recipe network, bringing together recipes from across the web so you can compare any recipe and find the ones your friends like." A search there reveals 125 returns. This is a manageable number of recipes to review, and there are a number of advantages that the other sites do not have. Why do I like this search site? Let me tell you:

• Recipe pictures and ingredient lists are shown side by side.
• You can click to a "details" page, or directly to the web site or blog the recipe is posted.
• Nutritional information is shown. (Now in beta.)
• You can share recipes using social media.
• And, you can eliminate ingredients from the list, on-the-fly. If you don't want recipes using soy, milk, or nuts you can delete it from a recipe and the search will recalibrate and show updated results.

Not only can you search, compare ingredients, and look over nutritional information, you can jump to the original post and maybe find a new "favorite" site to go back to another time. Don't forget to bookmark and print out the recipe!

Now, how do you get the filling into the cupcake?! Take a look at these online videos:

One of my favorite web sites is How2Heros. Follow the link to view the Chocolate Raspberry Cupcake video: "These cupcakes are large, moist and full of flavor with a chocolate ganache and fresh raspberry cream surprise inside. Make them extra beautiful and delicious with a drizzle of ganache, a sprinkling of confectioners sugar and a beautiful fresh raspberry or two on top." Recipe makes 12 jumbo cupcakes with a raspberry cream filling.

Take a look at Vegan Triple Chocolate Cupcakes from "New Vegetarian," and Grandma's Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes. The frosting recipe can be found on the Gluten Free Whoopie Pies page. This recipe does not have a filling. So, prior to icing, you will have to decide what to fill them with!

Cupcake books abound. Here is a list of a few of my favorites:

•  Hello, Cupcake!: Irresistibly Playful Creations Anyone Can Make
• What's New, Cupcake?: Ingeniously Simple Designs for Every Occasion
• Martha Stewart's Cupcakes: 175 Inspired Ideas for Everyone's Favorite Treat
• Gluten-Free Cupcakes: 50 Irresistible Recipes Made with Almond and Coconut Flour

Still not satisfied? Try TasteSpotting.com, my next new best search friend! Described as:
"TasteSpotting is our obsessive, compulsive collection of eye-catching images that link to something deliciously interesting on the other side. Think of TasteSpotting as a highly visual potluck of recipes, references, experiences, stories, articles, products, and anything else that inspires exquisite taste."

Recently added to my "that's interesting" list: check out Bake It in a Cake for surprise centers you would have never thought of!

What are your favorite cupcake fillings, books, blogs, web sites, or online search tools? Post a comment and let me know.

Online: Interesting & Inspiring

So many articles, beautifully composed food images, and delicious recipes!! I just can't stop reading long enough to bake! Saveur has saved me some hunting time so I can concentrate on the gathering of ideas and inspiration: Saveur's 2011 Best Food Blog Awards. You do have to create an account to see the entries. Oh well, what's one more!

"In SAVEUR’s ongoing mission to chronicle “a world of authentic cuisine,” we find what we’re looking for more and more in one place: online. We’re thrilled to shine a light on the very best of the best in the second annual SAVEUR Best Food Blog Awards — and we need your help. After going through all your nominations for the best blogs, posts, and photographs on the web, we’ve narrowed the field down to finalists in each category — and it’s time for you to pick a winner! Voting is open from April 26 – May 12. We’ll reveal the winners on May 17. Start voting today"

17 award categories. Just to name a few: Best Baking and Desserts Blog, Best Original Baking and Desserts Recipe, Best Food Photography, and Best Video Content.

Under Best Baking and Desserts Blog I found Evans's Kitchen Ramblings, and Desserts for Breakfast (love the painted macaroons! Coconut Rose Chocolate Macarons.), blogs I regularly enjoy. Under Best Original Desserts and Baking Recipe I found La Tartine Gourmande: Spiced pumpkin pots de crème with sautéed apples and pistachios. Cannelle at Vanilla:Pear, Apple and Fennel Salad, has a gorgeous photograph of their plated Thanksgiving salad under Best Food Photo.

Along with finding new and interesting ideas, I have found several new sites to follow that I had not known about: Golube, Cafe Fernando,  Not Without Salt, What Katie Ate, Food52, She Simmers, Alinea at Home, The Bitten Word, and Cooking Issues.

Hope you find some new inspirations as well! Add to my list by linking your favorites in a comment.