The Late Night Gourmet
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This one took me a long time to figure out, so don't be surprised if it takes me a long time to explain. You've probably already guessed that the Lem in Lem Brulee Cupcakes means lemon. That was the easy part. Getting a crème brulee in cupcake form? That was the tricky part.
Search the internet for “Crème Brulee Cupcakes”, and you’ll find several recipes. But, there’s only one problem: NONE OF THEM ARE CRÈME BRULEE CUPCAKES! All of them get the brulee part, where they cover the cupcakes with sugar and then apply the torch to create the glassy sugar coating. This has always been my favorite part. But, what do you get when you crack the sugar surface? You get cake, not cream. In other words, they’re all really….brulee cupcakes. Sprinkling sugar on a cake and setting it on fire is easy. Somehow getting a cream into a cupcake, and then applying the torch? That’s what I’m about to show you.
The logistics of making a true crème brulee and then somehow putting it into a cupcake didn’t seem workable: crème brulee takes 45 minutes to bake and set, while cupcakes typically take half that long. So, I settled on making what amounts to a super thick pudding, putting that into a hollowed-out cupcake shell, and then covering that with sugar and torching it.
The Filling
Crème Brulee consists of egg yolks, cream, sugar, and some sort of flavoring (usually vanilla). Pudding consists of egg yolks, milk, sugar, some sort of flavoring (usually vanilla), and a thickener. So, you can see why I figured this would be a small leap. I’ve made crème brulee several times. I make it with half-and-half, whereas 99.99999% of the world uses heavy cream (which I find too buttery, and not in a good way). It wasn’t that big a step to use half-and-half in the pudding. I used cornstarch (which is pretty standard for pudding), then added xanthan gum to firm up the surface. The result wasn’t quite as firm as crème brulee, but is was very close.
And, this being a lemon challenge, it made sense to get some lemons. I wanted this to explode with lemon flavor, since the flavor filling was going to be reduced somewhat by having a cake as a base. The result was like a lemon meringue pie and a bag of lemon drops candies had a child. A big part of the reason was the massive amount of lemon zest I used (see the dark yellow in the image below). By the way, the other yellow is what happens when you don't read your own directions: I mixed the egg yolks into the sugar and cornstarch before I added the half-and-half. No harm done, though.
The Base
This was the easy part. I just used the cake part of the recipe I recently used for strawberry crumble cupcakes. I wanted the filling to really fill the cake, so I hollowed out the cakes after they cooled a bit, then filled the well with the filling. The carved out insides made tasty bites, which I wish I had tossed in cinnamon-sugar to make them even tastier. Note that cupcakes sometimes have bubbles in them, creating holes, which then need to be pressed closed to keep the filling in.
The Finished Product
There are a few differences in the properties between a true crème brulee and what I made. I tried to more or less flatten out the filling, ala the inspiration for this cupcake, but I didn't see the need to make it perfectly flat:
And, the filling is wetter, so I had to dust a few at a time with sugar to prevent the sugar from being absorbed.
Then, hilariously, I found out the hard way that cupcake wrappers are flammable! So, I had to peel them off the cupcake base before applying the heat.
I still had to redust a few of the cakes with sugar as I went, but extra sugar is hardly a problem. I was concerned that the final result would be a let-down after all the planning (I spent about a month off-and-on thinking about how to pull it off). But, my family gave me their verdict when they ate half of them in the first day.
Recipe
Prep Time: 3 hours
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Yield: 24 cupcakes
Filling Ingredients
4 lemons (or 1 tablespoon lemon zest and 1/2 cup lemon juice)
1/2 cup sugar
1⁄4 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 1/2 cups half-and-half
2 egg yolks
1 1/2 tablespoons light butter, room temperature
Cake Ingredients
3/4 cup light butter, softened
1 1/4 cup brown sugar
3 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, pure
3 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups flour
3/4 cup half-and-half
Finishing Ingredients
8 tablespoons sugar
Required Tools
Brulee torch (not sure if using the broiler will work, since the sugar tends to absorb into the surface so quickly).
Directions
Search the internet for “Crème Brulee Cupcakes”, and you’ll find several recipes. But, there’s only one problem: NONE OF THEM ARE CRÈME BRULEE CUPCAKES! All of them get the brulee part, where they cover the cupcakes with sugar and then apply the torch to create the glassy sugar coating. This has always been my favorite part. But, what do you get when you crack the sugar surface? You get cake, not cream. In other words, they’re all really….brulee cupcakes. Sprinkling sugar on a cake and setting it on fire is easy. Somehow getting a cream into a cupcake, and then applying the torch? That’s what I’m about to show you.
The logistics of making a true crème brulee and then somehow putting it into a cupcake didn’t seem workable: crème brulee takes 45 minutes to bake and set, while cupcakes typically take half that long. So, I settled on making what amounts to a super thick pudding, putting that into a hollowed-out cupcake shell, and then covering that with sugar and torching it.
The Filling
Crème Brulee consists of egg yolks, cream, sugar, and some sort of flavoring (usually vanilla). Pudding consists of egg yolks, milk, sugar, some sort of flavoring (usually vanilla), and a thickener. So, you can see why I figured this would be a small leap. I’ve made crème brulee several times. I make it with half-and-half, whereas 99.99999% of the world uses heavy cream (which I find too buttery, and not in a good way). It wasn’t that big a step to use half-and-half in the pudding. I used cornstarch (which is pretty standard for pudding), then added xanthan gum to firm up the surface. The result wasn’t quite as firm as crème brulee, but is was very close.
And, this being a lemon challenge, it made sense to get some lemons. I wanted this to explode with lemon flavor, since the flavor filling was going to be reduced somewhat by having a cake as a base. The result was like a lemon meringue pie and a bag of lemon drops candies had a child. A big part of the reason was the massive amount of lemon zest I used (see the dark yellow in the image below). By the way, the other yellow is what happens when you don't read your own directions: I mixed the egg yolks into the sugar and cornstarch before I added the half-and-half. No harm done, though.
The Base
This was the easy part. I just used the cake part of the recipe I recently used for strawberry crumble cupcakes. I wanted the filling to really fill the cake, so I hollowed out the cakes after they cooled a bit, then filled the well with the filling. The carved out insides made tasty bites, which I wish I had tossed in cinnamon-sugar to make them even tastier. Note that cupcakes sometimes have bubbles in them, creating holes, which then need to be pressed closed to keep the filling in.
The Finished Product
There are a few differences in the properties between a true crème brulee and what I made. I tried to more or less flatten out the filling, ala the inspiration for this cupcake, but I didn't see the need to make it perfectly flat:
And, the filling is wetter, so I had to dust a few at a time with sugar to prevent the sugar from being absorbed.
Then, hilariously, I found out the hard way that cupcake wrappers are flammable! So, I had to peel them off the cupcake base before applying the heat.
I still had to redust a few of the cakes with sugar as I went, but extra sugar is hardly a problem. I was concerned that the final result would be a let-down after all the planning (I spent about a month off-and-on thinking about how to pull it off). But, my family gave me their verdict when they ate half of them in the first day.
Recipe
Prep Time: 3 hours
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Yield: 24 cupcakes
Filling Ingredients
4 lemons (or 1 tablespoon lemon zest and 1/2 cup lemon juice)
1/2 cup sugar
1⁄4 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 1/2 cups half-and-half
2 egg yolks
1 1/2 tablespoons light butter, room temperature
Cake Ingredients
3/4 cup light butter, softened
1 1/4 cup brown sugar
3 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, pure
3 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups flour
3/4 cup half-and-half
Finishing Ingredients
8 tablespoons sugar
Required Tools
Brulee torch (not sure if using the broiler will work, since the sugar tends to absorb into the surface so quickly).
Directions
- Zest lemons into a small bowl and set aside. Juice lemons into a separate bowl and set aside.
- Whisk sugar and cornstarch together in a medium saucepan. Add half-and-half and whisk until fully combined. Add egg yolks and lemon zest and whisk thoroughly. While continuously stirring, sprinkle in xanthan gum.
- Cook on medium heat, stirring frequently with a large spoon. Continue stirring until liquid thickly coats the back of the spoon.
- Remove from heat. Stir in lemon juice and butter until blended. Pour through strainer into a container. Allow to cool to room temperature. Refrigerate, loosely covered, for at least 2 hours, until set.
- Once filling is set, preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Combine butter with brown sugar in a mixing bowl. Blend in eggs, vanilla extract, salt, and half-and-half.
- With a mixer running on low, gradually blend in baking powder and flour, scraping down the sides if needed.
- Place 24 cupcake papers in cupcake tins, and spoon batter evenly into each.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out cleanly from the cupcakes. Remove from cupcake tin and allow to cool somewhat.
- Remove wrappers from the cakes. This is necessary to keep the paper from buring when the torch is used.
- Scoop out some of the cake to make a well, ensuring it's about a 1/4 inch thick (thinner than that may cause the filling to leak through the sides). Press together any holes that bubbles may have formed in the carved-out cake to ensure the filling stays in the cake.
- Spoon enough filling to fill the well, and smooth out to make a level surface. Don't spend too much time with making it perfectly smooth.
- Sprinkle a teaspoon of sugar on a few cupcakes at a time. Don't do more than a few at a time because the sugar will start to be absorbed by the filling. Tap the sides of the cupcake to level out the sugar if needed. Using a brulee torch, melt the sugar on the surface of the first cupcake. When it starts to smoke, move on to the next cupcake. Return to the first cake, if needed, to melt the remaining sugar. Repeat, doing a few at a time, until done.
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