Sugar and Spice

by Sheryl Berk

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a muffin pan with cupcake liners. For these pink velvets, we like pink liners or shiny metallic ones.

  2. In the bowl of a mixer, cream the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well. Beat in vanilla.

  3. In a separate large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

  4. Add half the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture with half the buttermilk. Finish by adding the rest of the dry ingredient mixture and then the rest of the buttermilk, beating well after each. Beat well after each addition, but be careful not to overbeat! The mixture should be smooth but not soupy.

  5. Finally, add the food coloring till you achieve the perfect shade of pink for your cupcakes. The gel coloring is pretty concentrated, so use a very small amount for a paler pink.

  6. Fill each cupcake liner two-thirds full with batter. Bake approximately twenty-five minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean.

  To make the special, surprise star cake within a cupcake:

  1. Follow the above cake recipe, leaving out the food coloring (or you can use another color like purple for a colored star), and pour the batter into a greased, nonstick nine-inch round cake pan. Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

  2. When the cake is done, allow it to cool. Then use a small, 2-inch star-shaped cookie cutter to cut out mini stars. Remove and set aside twelve of them.

  3. Spoon a tablespoon of the pink velvet batter into each liner. Put one star into each liner, and press it point down into the batter. Spoon the batter on either side of the star and over the top of the star so it is completely covered. (The liner should be approximately two-thirds full with batter.)

  4. Bake approximately twenty-five minutes, or until the top of the cupcake springs back when you push gently on it. (Careful! It will be hot, so have a grown-up check for you.) Checking with a toothpick won’t work well since the baked star is in the middle!

  5. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before frosting. When you bite one, you’ll see stars!

  White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

  1 (4-ounce) white chocolate baking bar

  ⅓ cup heavy cream

  1 cup butter (2 sticks), room temperature

  1 (2-pound) package confectioners’ sugar

  2 teaspoons vanilla extract

  Directions

  1. Break the white chocolate bar into small squares and place them in a microwave-safe bowl. Add ⅓ cup heavy cream, and microwave on medium (50 percent power) for about thirty seconds. Stir the mixture and put it back in the microwave for another thirty seconds, until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Do not overcook! Once the chocolate is melted, allow it to cool for approximately twenty minutes at room temperature.

  2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter at medium speed until it is creamy.

  3. Slowly add in the sugar and the remaining heavy cream (¼ cup), beating at low speed until blended. Beat in chocolate mixture and vanilla until light and fluffy.

  4. Frost your cooled cupcakes with a knife, spatula, or a piping bag. Decorate them with whatever you like: sprinkles, chips, candy, or fondant stars like Lexi’s!

  Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes

  Makes 12 cupcakes

  1 (15-ounce) can of pumpkin

  ½ cup sugar

  ¼ cup brown sugar

  2 eggs

  ¾ cup condensed milk (sweetened)

  ¾ cup all-purpose flour

  1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

  ¼ teaspoon baking powder

  1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

  ¾ teaspoon salt

  ¼ teaspoon baking soda

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a muffin pan with paper cupcake liners.

  2. In the large bowl of a mixer, mix the pumpkin, sugar, brown sugar, eggs, and condensed milk together until combined.

  3. Add the flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda, and mix until well combined.

  4. Fill the liners two-thirds full with batter. Bake about twenty-five minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Cool the cupcakes fifteen minutes before frosting them.

  Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting

  ½ cup butter (1 stick), room temperature

  3¾ cups confectioners’ sugar

  3 tablespoons milk

  1 teaspoon cinnamon

  1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter at medium speed until creamy.

  2. Slowly add in the sugar, one cup at a time, beating on low.

  3. Add the milk, cinnamon, and vanilla. Beat on medium for about two minutes until frosting is smooth and light. If it’s too thick, you can add 1 tablespoon more of milk.

  Magnolia has always been one of my fave cupcakeries in NYC. I never cease to be wowed by how pretty their cupcakes are. They have mastered the art of frosting with an offset spatula (kind of like a long, flat metal paddle). No matter what the holiday or occasion, Magnolia creates cupcakes that are mini works of art. I’m also a big fan of their pies, muffins, and banana pudding! You can imagine how excited I was to meet Bobbie and ask her to tell me all about her amazing job. We talked all things cupcake…

  Carrie: How did you get started in cupcakes? Were you always into baking as a kid?

  Bobbie: I started baking with my mother, grandmother, and even my great-grandmother when I was a little girl. I have always loved baking something—cake, bread, pies, and cookies for friends, family, and neighbors. It seemed to be a natural transition to make this a career.

  Carrie: Why are cupcakes so popular? And how did Magnolia start making them?

  Bobbie: We have all grown up with cupcakes as part of the American culture. At Magnolia Bakery they became an extension of a product line based on cakes. A little leftover batter one day turned into an entire product line because people wanted it.

  Carrie: What makes Magnolia Bakery so special?

  Bobbie: Everything! The moment you walk into our stores, you are transported by the smells and the activity of baking in the store. Watching our cake and cupcake icers is part theater and part production. It’s a sensory experience from the minute you walk in to when you taste the perfect confection.

  Carrie: What are your fave Magnolia flavors? What are the most popular ones in the stores?

  Bobbie: Our bestselling cupcake is always the vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream. I think people just love a classic cupcake. For me, I love all things peanut butter. At Magnolia Bakery we serve the most amazing peanut-butter-and-jelly cupcake. I could eat the peanut-butter buttercream by the cupful, it’s so good.

  Carrie: How do you come up with your ideas for new cupcakes? What have been some really fun ones?

  Bobbie: I usually think about what the season offers. For example, we recently did a harvest apple cupcake for October. The recipe was based on our most popular muffin, the apple walnut muffin. When I thought about what everyone loves about this muffin, I created a cupcake using the same flavor profile of tart apples and cranberries with the warm spice combination of an apple pie. Perfection!

  Carrie: You’ve judged The Next Great Baker for Cake Boss—I know, because I was one of the kids helping judge that episode! In your opinion, what makes a great cake?

  Bobbie: I had so much fun as a judge on The Next Great Baker. The bakers and decorators that competed on the show came with a huge variation in skill levels. Some were better bakers, and some were better at decorating with no baking skill at all. For me, a cake is all about taste and texture, but of course you want the cake to be beautiful. In the end, you are eating a cake after all. To make the amazing sculptural cakes for the show, you have to us
e fondant and other ingredients that may not taste great but provide the structure you need for a large cake.

  Carrie: Magnolia has a really great way of frosting its cupcakes. Can you share your secret?

  Bobbie: There really are no secrets to the famous Magnolia swirl. It takes hours to learn the technique, which is a ten-step process. The right type of buttercream, the right texture, and of course, the right tools will set you on the right path. Then it’s just hours of practice. I compare our process to Olympic training. We make it look easy in the end because we are fast and consistent, but there are hours of practice behind what we make look so easy.

  Carrie: How many Magnolia stores are there?

  Bobbie: There are five in NYC, one in Chicago, and one in LA. We have eight stores in the Middle East, and one each in Japan, Moscow, and Mexico City. In 2015 we have about another eighteen stores planned to open.

  Carrie: How can we get some of those Magnolia recipes to bake at home? Do you have a cookbook?

  Bobbie: The original owner of Magnolia Bakery, Allysa Torrey, has three books. The most recent one is called The Complete Magnolia Bakery Cookbook. You can find it at www.magnoliabakery.com or your favorite bookstore.

  Carrie: Thanks so much, Bobbie!

  Me, my camp bestie Ally, and Magnolia Bakery’s Bobbie Lloyd

  Bobbie Lloyd

  Many thanks to our family, the Berks, Saps, and Kahns! Jason: you always wanted a boy to be in PLC… We gave you Herbie! Brad: our new robotics whiz of an advisor was inspired by you (minus the red hair!).

  Many thanks to Carrie’s TDS teachers and friends! Ms. McNally, Ms. Murphy, Ms. Rathbone, Mr. Sullivan, Mr. Danenburg: hope you get a kick out of your “names” in the book ;-) What a great year it’s been in seventh grade!

  To our good friends at East Coast USA Pageants/East Coast Starz (http://eastcoaststarz.com/) for making Carrie feel beautiful and confident. You helped her find her voice, just like Lexi! You were our first pageant and will always have a special place in our hearts. Lauren Handler, Stacie Fitzgerald, Elizabeth Percy, and Mr. Tim, hugs and sprinkles! Now you’ve all been immortalized in the Cupcake Club! Lilly and Paige: you are the sweetest! We’ll be seeing you starring on Broadway and the big screen one day soon…

  Kim Gravel and the gang at Pageant Place (Amy, Allisyn, Miss Jo): You have the biggest hearts and the biggest crowns! We love you all and Kim of Queens. Kim, you are ah-may-zing. There is nothing you can’t do! We believe in you!

  Hannah Stark: Carrie is so glad she found her “sister.” Harleigh is for you! You are such an incredible, caring, loving, brilliant, sweet soul. We know your Barbie Mama is proud of you. We are too! Your faith is incredible.

  Amaryllis “Lilly” Rodriguez: our fave American Idol contender, pageant queen, and coach. You are such a star! Can we say we knew you when…?

  To Jennifer Curfman: We promised and here it is—your very own shout-out and your very own character (Miss Jen)! You have done the most amazing job in bringing the girls of PLC to life onstage at Vital! We can’t thank you enough! XO

  Christina Jackson and Meghan Ross: We had to put Meredith and Lexi head-to-head for you guys! Hope you loved their rematch as much as we did. We just need to picture you two onstage and the characters write themselves!

  To the gang at Sourcebooks, Steve Geck, Kate Prosswimmer, Elizabeth Boyer: thanks for making every book such a fun and fabulous experience. We hope Cupcake Club never ends!

  Katherine Latshaw at Folio: wish we could give you a lifetime supply of cupcakes for all your hard work and encouragement. Thanks as always…

  Sheryl Berk is the New York Times bestselling co-author of Soul Surfer. An entertainment editor and journalist, she has written dozens of books with celebrities including Britney Spears, Jenna Ushkowitz, and Zendaya. Her daughter, Carrie Berk, is a renowned cupcake connoisseur and blogger (www.facebook.com/PLCCupcakeClub; www.carriescupakecritique.shutterfly.com; Instagram @ ) with over 105K followers at the tender young age of 12! Carrie cooked up the idea for the Cupcake Club series while in second grade. To date, they have written seven books together (with many more in the works!). Peace, Love, and Cupcakes had its world premiere as a delicious new musical at New York City’s Vital Theatre in 2014. The Berk ladies are also hard at work on a new series, The Fashion Academy, due out on shelves Spring 2015. Stay tuned!

  Here’s a sneak peek of the next Cupcake Club book

  Cupcake Countdown

  1

  Okay, this is one hula-larious cupcake order!” Jenna held up her phone and showed an email to her fellow cupcake clubbers. “It’s for a surprise thirtieth birthday party this weekend with a Hawaiian luau theme.

  “Ooh! I can pipe those pretty Hawaiian flowers,” Lexi said, grabbing the phone out of her hand to read the details. “You know, white, pink, and yellow plumeria.”

  “I think we should use a decorating tip and make green grass icing,” Delaney suggested. “Like those grass skirts the hula girls wear.” She snatched Sadie’s fringed scarf from around her neck and tied it around her waist. “Aloha…OY! Aloha...OY!” She sang and swayed around Kylie’s kitchen, waving her arms in the air.

  “Aloha, ay dios mío!” Jenna quipped. “You look like you’re swatting mosquitos!”

  “I believe it’s ‘Aloha O’e,’” Herbie pointed out. “It means ‘farewell to thee.’”

  “And you know this because you are a human search engine of weird facts?” Kylie asked. Her new advisor was a bit of a know-it-all—and she couldn’t help calling him out on it.

  Herbie shook his head. “I know this because I’ve seen Disney’s Lilo and Stitch a dozen times. Did I mention that I love animated movies as much as monster ones?”

  “I saw that movie too!” Delaney weighed in. “That’s the one where the little Hawaiian girl adopts a puppy who turns out to actually be an extraterrestrial?”

  “Precisely,” Herbie replied. “A classic.”

  “I’m all for creatures from outer space,” Kylie said, “but this email says the birthday boy is a lifeguard who works at Todd’s Point Beach in the summer. I don’t think aliens say sand and surf, do you?”

  “What if we sprinkled blue frosting with something that looked like sand?” Lexi piped up. “Like crushed graham crackers.”

  “We could top that with one of those little drink umbrellas,” Delaney jumped in. “That says beachy.”

  “And a maraschino cherry would look just like a beach ball,” Sadie added.

  Jenna smacked her lips together. “The flavors could be very Hawaiian: pineapple coconut or passion fruit—which is known as lilikoi in Hawaii, FYI.”

  Kylie climbed up on a step stool and rummaged through her mom’s pantry shelves. “I know I saw some cans of crushed pineapple in here,” she said. “We used it for that pineapple upside down cupcake order a few weeks ago.”

  “Toss me down some shredded coconut while you’re at it,” Jenna said. “And some brown sugar and cream of coconut too. We can do a test batch of the pineapple coconut ones tonight and pick up the rest of the ingredients tomorrow.”

  “Hey, Lanie. Luau’s over.” Lexi snapped her fingers. “I need help making the frosting and filling the piping bags.

  “Aw, you guys are no fun,” Delaney said, taking off her makeshift hula skirt and handing it back to Sadie. “I think it would be awesome to go to a luau.”

  Kylie knew her theatrical friend could never resist an opportunity to perform—and she had a great idea how to make this cupcake order extra-special. “You know what would be fun? Delivering these cupcakes wearing Hawaiian hula costumes,” she suggested.

  “My mom could sew them,” Jenna volunteered. “No problema. I’m thinking some really loud Hawaiian-print halter tops, silk flower leis, and grass skirts.”

  Herbie held up his hand in protest. “Oh, no! I draw the line at wearing a coconut shell bikini.”

/>   “You’re off the hook, Herbie,” Kylie assured him, trying not to crack up. “You can drive us to the country club where they’re having the party, but we’ll do the actual hula entrance and cupcake hand-off.”

  “Phew!” Herbie mopped his brow with the back of his sleeve. “I’d be happy, however, to accompany you on the ukulele for your presentation.”

  Jenna rolled her eyes. “You play the ukulele? Seriously?”

  “I’ve been known to dabble,” Herbie answered.

  “Sand…hula skirts…Hawaiian flavors, Herbie’s ukulele,” Kylie jotted down a list. “Are we leaving anything out?

  “Hello? The Big 3-0!” Lexi reminded her. “It’s a thirtieth birthday party. How do we represent that?”

  “We could use thirty ingredients in each cupcake!” Delaney piped up.

  “And we could be up all night baking!” Jenna corrected her. “That’s a whole lotta ingredients to pack in one tiny cupcake.”

  “I get fifteen or sixteen max,” Kylie said, listing the sugar, butter, eggs, milk, flour, and all the rest of the necessary fruits and spices on a sheet of paper. “Nice try, Lanie.”

  “What about arranging the cupcakes so they form the numbers three and zero?” Lexi said, using her colored pencils to whip up a quick sketch.

  “Anything with math and numbers scares me,” Sadie said, covering her eyes.

  “No—it’s good! Really good!” Kylie patted her friend on the back. “We could build a wooden sandbox, fill it with our cookie crumb sand, and arrange the cupcakes to form a thirty in it.”

  “My dad can build it for us,” Sadie assured them. “As long as you promise there are no algebra equations involved.”

  Lexi crossed her fingers over her heart. “Promise!”

  “Then it’s a plan,” Kylie said, shutting the cover to her Peace, Love, and Cupcakes club binder. “And a pretty cool one at that!”

  Thank you for reading!