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Friday, August 13, 2010

Tassel Cupcakes - A Classic with a Decadent Twist

The offices of my internship recently moved to the first art nouveau building ever designed – The Hotel Tassel, Brussels, Belgium. Designed by Victor Horta, the Hotel Tassel boasts 4 floors, each with natural “light chimneys”; spiraling metal work adorning staircases and ceilings; stained glass windows, two terraces; and hand-painted walls and mosaic floors…to name just a few features.

To celebrate this, I wanted a classy dessert that mirrored the art nouveau style of Hotel Tassel – light, classic, with a few, well-placed decadents twists. Light, airy vanilla cupcakes, topped with a classic cream-cheese frosting, and adorned with a decadent chocolate-drizzled strawberry… these mini art nouveau masterpieces welcome any and all to the Hotel Tassel.




For the vanilla cupcakes:
Ingredients:
* 1/2-cup butter cut into cubes, softened
*1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
*1-cup sugar
*2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
*1/2-teaspoon salt
*1 egg
*3/4-cup milk
*1-teaspoon vanilla
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Mix butter with flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add ½ cup milk and egg. Beat until the flour is moist. Add the remaining milk and vanilla. Beat for one more minute.

2. Line mini-muffin tins with cupcake liners and fill about ½ way with batter (not more or they bubble over a bit too much).

3. Bake about 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
4. Frost with cream cheese frosting (recipe below) (and chocolate-drizzled strawberries, chilled and cut in half).

Mama Dumke’s Classic Cream Cheese Frosting
*8-ounces cream cheese
*1 stick butter
*3 ½ - 4 cups powdered sugar (1 box)
*1 tsp. vanilla
Combine all ingredients with an electric mixer or some strong arms! Mmmm…..My favorite!

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