Cupcake Shipping part 1

Maybe you have stopped by I Heart Cuppycakes blog before, if not, then shame on you. Go check it out. I'll wait. Really I can't get too far. dum de dum de dum de dum. Ok? You're back?

So you may have noticed Clara had been working a while on figuring out the best way to ship cupcakes to people. And she is brilliant! She figured out that if you let gravity work for you the cupcakes will stay lovely. The secret involves an inverted disposable plastic cup. Now I usually make far more cupcakes than I really need to eat and so I've been fearlessly handing them out around town. The new cupcake shipping method however opens a world of opportunities for me. SO I decided I would give it a try. I modified Clara's method some. She loosely wrapped her cupcakes in plastic wrap and had cardboard inserts in her box. You can read about her method here. I decided that if I put the cup in a tightly fitting Ziploc baggie that it would hold the cupcake in and I wouldn't have to worry about it escaping from the the cup. I also used a smaller cup I think. Like so...

I also froze the cupcakes before shipping and then packed them in a box that I stuffed with crosscut shredding from my shredder in the home office. I figure if the people on CSI and CSI Miami can't put cross cut shredding together again it would be a safe bet that no identity thieves out there will be able to. And really I know the people I send cupcakes to have much better things to do than put my shredding back together.

So, we are testing an effective and economical method of shipping cupcakes. I must say that my first attempt was a definite success. I mailed these chocolate orange cupcakes with chocolate orange ganache to my friend S, the Queen Geek. She says the were delicious and that there was very little damage to the frosting.

It occurred to me that these were a very sturdy cupcake and frosting and even though it was shipped with a small loaf of Julia's French Bread, (that bread is SO yummy!) that these had a very good shot at coming through unscathed. Tune in next time to see how a softer cupcake and frosting did.

Chocolate Orange Cupcakes

adapted from A Baker's Field Guide to Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature

1 1/3 cup sugar

1/2 tsp orange extract

2 large eggs

1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place paper liners in 18 cupcake pan wells.

Whisk flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl beat butter until creamy about 2 minutes. Add sugar gradually and continue beating for 3 minutes until light and fluffy, scraping the sides of the bowl once or twice. Beat in the orange extract. Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping the bowl after each addition and allowing each egg to become completely incorporated. Add the flour in 4 additions, alternating with the milk. Begin and end with the flour. Beat briefly until smooth after each addition.

Divide the batter among the cupcake wells and bake in preheated oven for 22 minutes.

Chocolate Orange Ganache Frosting

adapted from A Baker's Field Guide to Cupcakes

2/3 cup heavy cream

10 ounces chocolate chips

1/2 tsp orange extract

1 cup powdered sugar

Heat the cream until just at a simmer. While cream is heating place chocolate chips in a medium mixing bowl. Pour hot cream over chips and let sit for 1 minute. Stir until chocolate is all melted and mixture is smooth. Add orange extract. Chill chocolate mixture in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Then using a handheld mixer beat in 1 cup of powdered sugar. Add more powdered sugar as necessary to get frosting to spreading consistency.