Blowtorch

Certain people prefer salty flavors to sweet. Generally speaking I am perplexed by such a concept; salty is wonderful and necessary, but sweets are like breaths of fresh air. That said, it was recently the birthdate of one such saltophile: the delightful Emma. While Emma does not shun cookies when they are placed in front of her, the thought of sugar mounds does not increase her heart rate and widen her eyes with glee. That is, with the exception of creme brulée. She waxes poetic at the thought of this treat, often scheming to cross the city in search of the torched dessert. Alas, I myself don't own the essential ingredient for Creme brulée: a blowtorch. I was not sure how impressed Emma would be by a non bruleed Creme dish. I researched a tad on foodnetwork and found the answer in a cupcake wars winner recipe for Creme brûlée cupcakes. It was going to be quite an undertaking; not only was there a cake, a filling and a frosting component, but most of the ingredients were listed in ounces. Furthermore, I was unable to obtain the dulce de leche component crucial to the caramel frosting. Nonetheless, Emma's birthday joy (birthjoy) was worth all the conversions and assemblages. Here's how it went:

Creme Bruleé Cupcakes

adapted from Cupcake Wars contestant Megan Faulkner Brown (I did the conversions for you)

Cake part

- 2 1/4 cups flour

- 1 cup brown sugar

- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda

- 1 tsp salt

- 1 cup sour cream

- 2 1/2 eggs (5 oz of eggs? Really? I used 3)

- scant 1/2 cup vegetable oil

- scant half cup ready made vanilla pudding

- 1/4 cup buttermilk

- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Filling part

- 1/4 cup white sugar

- 1 tsp vanilla bean (the recipe called for vanilla bean paste. I couldn't find this (and assumed it would be ridiculously expensive). Luckily, I had a whole vanilla bean lying around and scraped out the inside)

- 4 eggs yolks

- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Frosting part

- 2 sticks butter, room temp

- 4 oz cream cheese, room temp

- 1 pound powdered sugar

- 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp caramel (recipe below)

- 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp evaporated milk

- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla

First, make the cupcakes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cupcake pan with cupcake holders. Mix flour, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt in a mixing bowl. Add the sour cream, eggs, vegetable oil, pudding, buttermilk and vanilla to the bowl and mix on low speed until combined. Do a quick scrape and mix with a spatula. Fill the cupcake holders about 2/3 full (or a little more). Bake for about 20 minutes, or until slightly browned. Cool the cupcakes on a rack.

Next make the creme bruleé filling. Reduce oven heat to 325 degrees. Whisk together the sugar, vanilla bean and egg yolks together in a bowl. 

Add the cream slowly and continue whisking until combined. Pour the mixture into a 9x9 baking dish. Place the dish on a baking sheet in the oven. Pour 2 cups of water onto the baking sheet (water bath). Bake until the pudding has set. Cool the creme bruleé completely.

Lastly, make the frosting. In order to this, I had to improvise. I looked up a recipe for dulce de leche, but it took a very long time and required additional ingredients. My laziness problem obliged me to investigate other forms of caramel. I landed on a basic caramel recipe:

Caramel Sauce

from simplyrecipes.com

- 1 cup sugar

- 6 tbsp butter

- 1/2 cup heavy cream

Heat the sugar in a heavy bottomed pan. Whisk the sugar as it starts to melt. When the sugar comes to a boil, stop stirring. Once all the sugar is melted and is a "dark amber" color, add the butter immediately and whisk together. Remove the pan from the heat, count to three and slowly add the cream. The sauce will bubble somewhat violently, so watch your hands. Allow the caramel to cool for a time, then proceed with the frosting.

Beat together the butter and cream cheese in a stand mixer until combined. Slowly add half the powdered sugar. Mix on low for 30 seconds, then on medium until fully combined. Add the rest of the powdered sugar, the caramel, evaporated milk and the vanilla. Beat again until fully mixed and creamy.

To turn these components into creme bruleé cupcakes, obtain piping tips and a plastic bag (if you have pastry bags, all the better). Fill the bag with the creme brulee. Use a knife to carefully cut small holes in the cupcakes and pipe the filling into these holes. Frost the cupcakes (you can either use another piping bag, or just use a knife, which is what I did, obviously). Sprinkle each frosted top with about 1 tsp granulated sugar. Use the handy torch lighter you purchased earlier that day to bruleé the tops of cupcakes. Pat yourself on the back and share with the birthday girl.