This may be one of my favorite cakes to date, even though I haven't even had the opportunity to try them yet (I've heard from others that they are a success). I guess the deciding factor in that is the frosting; it is so fluffy and shiny, and surprisingly not too sweet (because I did have a chance to lick the beater after I was done with them, of course!). The cloud cakes have a special surprise in them, mostly adhering to the recipe but because of my awesome Grandma, mine will be just a little bit better than yours... haha! You'll see. :-)
^Ready to start our newest creation.... Cloud Cakes!
^Your list of ingredients for the whole thing, eggs, softened butter, vanilla, sugar, self-rising flour, milk and one secret ingredient to be revealed soon. I have the food coloring in the shot because I wasn't sure how the frosting would turn out... it was fine so I didn't need my plan B and you won't need the food coloring unless you want some colorful clouds.
^Beat the eggs, milk, flour, sugar, and the softened butter together until just blended on low speed. The amp it up to medium until the mixture pales a bit.
^Slightly paler and smooth. This particular mix seemed a little thick, but it was just fine otherwise.
^Now for my secret ingredient... real strawberry jam. My Grandma Wanda cans this herself, and it's really amazing! The real strawberries in the jam were a PERFECT special touch.
^As I was really trying to "put my foot in it" as the guys at work say... I tried to get a real strawberry into each cupcake.
^Use a toothpick to swirl the jam and strawberry around. The cakes come out pretty sticky but I think it's definitely worth the special touch.
^While the cakes are baking (20 minutes for small cakes, 30 for large ones), you can start the frosting. One cup of sugar and 1/3 cup of water need to be heated together and stirred on medium heat until the sugar is dissolved.
^Once it is dissolved, bring the pot to boil for 5 minutes or until the temperature hits 240 degrees on a candy thermometer. The 5 minutes worked fine as I didn't have a candy thermometer.
^While the sugar/water is boiling, or cooling (after 5 minutes, you should remove it from the heat to sit until the bubbles subside), you separate two egg whiles and beat them until they cream up, like this!
^Add the sugar/water (still warm) in a thin stream as you continue to beat the egg whites (a two hand job, sorry for no photos of that!). This gets to be tedious because you have to beat the mixture for 10 minutes. It really makes a difference to for that whole time because the frosting really thickens up as it cools. Put the extra time in, it really is worth it!
^By now the cakes should be ready! I made mine a little larger than I should have and they grew out of the baking cups. Because of the sticky jam, they were a lot harder to remove, so try to keep them smaller. You'll get more that way anyways!
^Check out how thick that frosting is! I actually made a double batch of cupcakes and only a single batch of the frosting, which was enough to frost the extra ones twice (and I'm not kidding, I really did go back and refrost them the next day... don't leave your frosted cakes uncovered in the fridge! The frosting gets gummy!).
^The eggs whites keep the frosting looking shiny and fluffy. The recipe showed the cakes with extra frosting. I didn't do quite that much, but because you get so much extra and because it isn't terribley sweet, that would work out find.
^To add some color, sprinkle with decorating sugar. I did some in pick and a couple in red.
Another tastey success! Happy Cupcaking and Merry Christmas!