High altitude cupcakes from a sea level book

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High altitude cupcakes from a sea level book

I love baking, but we all know that it can be a little bit difficult to make cakes at high altitude. There are a few high altitude cookbooks, but there are so many more cookbooks that never address the issue.

Besides all the wonderful cake and cookie books, now we also have cupcake cookbooks. Because cupcakes are oh-so-trendy and the flavor combinations are getting so much more interesting than chocolate and vanilla.

Those books are all tempting. But will they work here? Maybe, maybe not. I’ve had a few cake recipes that worked perfectly with no adjustments. Others, however, have been interesting. That’s a polite way of saying they’ve been disasters.

So what’s a baker to do when an new cookbook comes along? Adapt, that’s what.

The Butch Bakery Cookbook is all about making cupcakes that aren’t for little kids. They’re adult cupcakes, and some of them are even … manly. A banana cupcake with peanut butter frosting caught my eye, and I was determined to get it to work. Besides the high-altitude changes, I used cappuccino chips instead of chocolate, but any chips should work just fine. Next time, I might try butterscotch.

Here’s the way I adapted it to work in our thin air.

410 Cupcakes

For the cupcakes:

13/4 cups cake flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup minus 1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon buttermilk

1 cup mashed ripe banana

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips tossed in 1 teaspoon cake flour

For the buttercream frosting:

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup creamy peanut butter

11/3 cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted through a strainer after measuring

11/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/3 cup heavy cream

Pinch of salt

Topping (optional):

3/4 cup peanuts, roughly chopped

Directions: To make the cupcakes:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees with convection on, or to 375 if you don’t have convection. Line 2 12-cup muffin pans with cupcake liners.

Place a strainer over a medium bowl and sift the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together.

In another medium mixing bowl, beat the butter, sugar, and brown sugar together. Scrape down the bowl and add the eggs and vanilla. Beat until well combined.

Add the flour mixture and the buttermilk and beat on low speed until the dry ingredients are incorporated. Stir in the mashed banana until it is well combined, then stir in the chocolate chips.

Fill each muffin cup about 3/4 full. Bake, rotating the pans halfway through. Bake until the tops are firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean — about 18-20 minutes.

Put the pans on racks to cool about 5-10 minutes, then remove the cupcakes from the pan to cool completely on a wire rack before frosting them.

To make the frosting: In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and peanut butter together on medium-high speed until creamy, Reduce the speed to medium and add the confectioners sugar, vanilla, heavy cream, and salt. When they are combined, increase the speed to medium-high until the mixture is very smooth and creamy.

To assemble:

Top each cupcake with a heaping spoon full of frosting, then smooth the frosting with a small spatula or knife. Sprinkle the chopped peanuts on top, if you’re using them.

Adapted from The Butch Bakery Cookbook by David Arrick

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