Cupcakes 101: Yummy Cupcakes At Butter Lane Cupcakes
When it comes to baking, I’m a late bloomer. While most people learned how to bake when they were young, I baked my first cupcake last week. Ha! Even though I try to avoid the kitchen at all costs. I’m slowly warming up to the idea of cooking and baking. So to turn a new leaf, I signed up for “Cupcakes 101” at Butter Lane Cupcakes. I figured joining a class would be more engaging than looking up recipes on my own. I was right!
Butter Lane Cupcakes is a gourmet cupcake shop in New York City. It’s a small specialty bakery that packs a punch. It specializes in cupcakes and uses high-quality ingredients. Butter Lane Cupcakes caters, delivers and hosts classes.
Cupcakes 101 at Butter Lane Cupcakes
Cupcakes 101 is a great place to learn how to make delicious cupcakes and try new recipes. Since you don’t need any experience, this class is perfect for beginners. All you have to do is be open to learning. Butter Lane takes care of the rest.
This 2-hour class is great for groups and couples. It’s fantastic for birthdays, a girl’s night out or date night. If you’re planning to go solo, no worries. You’ll make friends in no time.
The class started at 5 p.m. with a warm welcome and introduction. Our instructor then split us into three groups. Each group made one cupcake recipe – vanilla, chocolate or banana. Each group also made a frosting. This included variations of vanilla, chocolate, and cream cheese.
Banana Delight
All the ingredients we needed to make banana cupcakes were on the table. We could also reference the chalkboard for a list of ingredients. This included butter, granulated sugar, eggs, vanilla, buttermilk, flour, and bananas.
Since our instructor measured all the ingredients ahead of time, all we had to do was combine and mix.
Although this saved a lot of time, this put beginners at a disadvantage. We did not get to practice measuring the ingredients. When I make cupcakes at home, I hope I get the measurements right. In the future, I would love to see attendees more involved in the prep work.
After combining the ingredients it was time to turn on the mixer. This wasn’t any ordinary hand mixer. This was a professional, heavy-duty KitchenAid mixer! We used medium speed until the batter was light and fluffy. We then added the banana purée and mixed again.
The batter smelled and tasted so good!
Delicious cupcake batter ready to go in the oven!
Next, it was time to mix by hand and scoop onto the baking sheets. Our cupcakes baked in an industrial convection oven for 24 minutes.
Our instructor also took some time to show us a vanilla bean – one of the ingredients they use regularly. Since I had never seen one before, this was pretty sweet. We also tasted pure cocoa. Talk about bitter!
Cream Cheese Frosting
While our cupcakes baked, we made the frosting. Each table made two frosting.
My table combined butter and cream cheese. After adding sugar and vanilla extract, we separated the batches. One batch had cream cheese, the other had cream cheese cinnamon.
Next, we learned a frosting swirl technique. Although difficult at first, I mastered it after a few tries. Check out my technique!
Our class had so much fun going around mixing and matching our cupcakes and frosting. There were six frosting and three types of cupcakes to choose from. You could also add sprinkles at the end.
Our cupcakes were soft, fluffy and full of flavor. Vanilla with cream cheese frosting was my favorite. The other students adored the sea salt chocolate banana cupcake.
Cupcake Superstars
Making new friends at Butter Lane Cupcakes!
I am a cupcake superstar!
Cupcakes 101 helped me build my baking confidence. Our class was casual but instructional. It was also a lot of fun. I learned new techniques and an important life skill, patience. You can’t check the oven every few minutes to see if the cupcakes are ready. Whoops! I also learned when to combine ingredients and how to mix ingredients slowly.
Now that I’ve learned how to make cupcakes, the next batch is on me!
I was a guest of this class, of course, all opinions are mines.
Danielle Desir Corbett paid off $63,000 of student loan debt in 4 years, bought a house at 27, and has traveled to 27 countries, including her favorites, Iceland, China, and Bermuda. Go here to learn Danielle’s incredible story, from struggling financially and in debt to finding creative ways to earn more and live on her terms. Listen to The Thought Card Podcast, where Danielle shares how you can creatively travel more and build wealth regardless of your current financial situation. Reach out to Danielle by contacting: thethoughtcard (at) gmail (dot) com.
This look so delicious! I am definitely going to try this one.