Scraping the Bean

The lure of baking products is always high for me, from intricate cake pans to gadgets and extracts. I generally manage to control my spending and buy just a few things at a time. This weekend I picked up a "vial" of bourbon vanilla beans and decided to make some vanilla bean cupcakes, topped off with cherry blossoms I made out of gum paste.

I've admired Cake Journal's cupcakes covered with poured fondant, and since she gives such a great tutorial on the process, I decided to give it a try. I used Chockylit's basic vanilla cupcake recipe, with the addition of my vanilla bean and a little extra vanilla extract to give them a little more vanilla-y oomph, and used the following pour fondant recipe (although there are a lot of variations out there):

Pour Fondant
1/4 c water
1/8 c light corn syrup
2 1/2 c powdered sugar
Combine the water and corn syrup in a sauce pan and heat over medium/medium high heat until it comes to a boil. Whisk in powdered sugar, cup by cup, until mixture is smooth. Add food coloring if desired.

If making a large batch of cupcakes I would double or triple the recipe (I made a small batch because I only baked up a dozen cupcakes).


These were an amazing sugary treat for a Sunday afternoon, and I would definitely give this a try again. I think the trick to the fondant is getting the right temperature and consistency. Amazingly, one kitchen gadget I haven't purchased (but is next on the list) is a candy thermometer, which will help me pinpoint correct temperature. At the right temperature I think it will be easier to cover the cupcakes more evenly.

Oh, if only I weren't on a diet...

Check out my review of bourbon vanilla beans on Sazze.com!