Baking

Salted caramels, including chocolate varieties, have become quite popular in recent years; a touch of salt draws out caramel’s buttery taste and highlights the sweetness. This cupcake, created with the candy’s popularity in mind, serves as an excellent incentive to try your hand at making caramel at home. The soft caramel centers hide under a piped peak of satiny chocolate frosting. Fleur de sel, a type of sea salt prized for its distinctive flavor, is available at specialty stores; if you can’t find it, you may substitute another sea salt, such as Maldon.

Calling all coconut lovers: These cupcakes get intense flavor from ground sweetened coconut and coconut milk in the batter, billowy seven-minute frosting spiked with coconut extract, and a garnish of unsweetened coconut flakes (available at natural-food stores). Be sure to buy only unsweetened coconut milk, not the sweeter varieties (such as Coco Lopez) used to make mixed drinks.

The old campfire classic takes on a new identity as a charming cupcake. Graham flour, available at health-food stores and specialty markets, flavors the cupcake base, which is topped with chocolate glaze and piled high with piped sticky marshmallow frosting, browned to mimic the effects of toasting over a fire.

You will likely make these cupcakes again and again, varying the frosting (say, dark chocolate, page 302) and sprinkles (sparkly, multicolored, or otherwise) to suit your whim or fancy. Two types of flour contribute to the cupcakes’ singular texture: Cake flour makes for a delicate crumb, while all-purpose flour keeps them from being too tender.

This all-purpose dough bakes rich and dark cutouts, and it can be rolled again and again with little compromise in texture. Follow the recipe below to make your own designs, or cut and bake as directed in specific cupcake recipes.

Fanciful peaks in a spectrum of shades crown cupcakes with a motif inspired by a vintage Russian cookbook. You could also opt to use just one color of frosting, or leave it untinted. White cupcakes, made with egg whites only (instead of whole eggs), are very light and delicate. For a stronger vanilla flavor, scrape the seeds of one vanilla bean (halved lengthwise) into the milk in step one, and omit vanilla extract.

Buttery and crunchy, sugar cookies are delicious on their own and make delightful cupcake toppers when decorated with royal icing. This dough is a favorite of Martha Stewart Living food editors for its flavor and texture, which is just right for rolling out and cutting into shapes. Follow the recipe below to make your own designs, or cut and bake as directed in specific cupcake recipes.

A well-loved American layer cake is scaled down to cupcake form. Golden raisins give these cakes added texture, but you can omit them. You can also add one cup walnuts or pecans; toast them as directed on page 323, let cool, then finely chop before stirring into the batter at the end, after the flour mixture. Unfrosted carrot cupcakes make delicious snacks.

Mint-infused milk, along with mint extract, adds flavor (but not color) to pale buttercream; the dark chocolate cupcakes are also flavored with mint. A cluster of chocolate mint leaves on top suggests the primary flavor component of the finished treat. The leaves may admittedly not be an “any day” endeavor, but they can be prepared a day or so in advance. You can, of course, serve the cupcakes without any topping other than the frosting, or garnish them with a few chocolate curls (see page 323) shaved from a mint-flavored bar.

Use this dough to make gingerbread boys and girls—or other shapes, such as giant dinosaurs—for topping cupcakes (adjust baking time as necessary). The crisp cookies are flavored with a blend of spice—ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg—and sweetened with a combination of molasses and brown sugar. Follow the recipe below to make your own designs, or cut and bake as directed in specific cupcake recipes.

Kids of all ages are bound to adore white cupcakes studded with chocolate morsels. Whipped egg whites folded into the batter produce a light and airy crumb. Tossing the chocolate chips with a bit of flour helps ensure they will be distributed throughout, rather than sink to the bottoms as they bake. The chocolate frosting is so rich and satiny, you’ll want to pair it with other cupcakes in this book, especially yellow buttermilk (page 26) and devil’s food (page 34).

This recipe is used to make the brownie hearts on page 213; some of the batter is baked in muffin tins, the rest in an 8-inch pan for cutting into heart-shaped toppers.

Pastel-colored gelato is used to top mini cupcakes, but you can substitute sorbet or ice cream. The one-bowl vanilla cupcakes are baked in paper nut cups, available at craft-supply stores (see Sources, page 342), or you can use mini muffin tins lined with paper liners. For an authentic Italian touch, serve with small plastic ice-cream spoons.

Perfect for a swanky First Night celebration, these stylish treats can be held in one hand while you sip Champagne with the other.

Chocolate wafers (or nearly any wafer cookie) make a delicious crumb crust, especially for cream pies.

The crumbly texture of a graham cracker crust pairs best with creamy fillings; it is extremely easy to make—just combine cookie crumbs with melted butter and a small amount of sugar, press the mixture into a pie plate, and bake.

Essentially a custard of eggs, cream, and savory fillings baked in a pastry crust, quiche is simple to prepare, and takes well to a variety of flavors. For example, you can follow the recipe below to prepare quiches with the suggested fillings—mushroom, bacon and caramelized onion, or leek and corn—or substitute any other ingredients you prefer. You can bake a quiche in a plain pie plate, but the sharper edges of a tart tin better support the crust’s sides. In addition, blind-baking the shell will prevent the crust from undercooking and getting soggy. A perfectly cooked quiche will be completely set (it shouldn’t jiggle in the center), slightly puffed, and lightly browned across the surface.