Everything's Just Peachy...If You've Got Peach Cupcakes with Martha Stewart's Mascarpone Frosting



Ever eat peaches and cream in a bowl with a spoon? That's what these cupcakes taste like...Delish! It's a moist cupcake because of the peach juice and even better eating after a day goes by.

The recipe is from Julie Hasson's 125 Cupcakes book, but I substituted the nectarines she calls for because I couldn't find any really ripe ones. But, the peaches I found at Whole Foods were ripe and sweet, so I came home very happy to begin baking my cupcakes. Her recipe calls for lemon zest, but I used orange zest instead.

But first I must digress to tell you about the place where I bought the mascarpone that I used to make the frosting. It's smply the coolest new business in Washington,D.C...it's called Cowgirl Creamery, which I read about in the Washington Post, and we went to vist. We had the best time there and stayed for quite a while testing out many different types of cheese. They have the cutest aprons. We tried to buy one, but they aren't for sale. We met the nicest people including Erica, shown in this photo on the right! Pop in sometime and tell Erica hi! Here's the address: 919 F St. NW, Washington, DC...it's right near the Spy Museum.


Just before our cheese vist, we hit U Street in search of Cakelove...well, really we were looking for Warren Brown, but we didn't find him, although we heard he had a great party the night before! We were able to find and wrap our lips around these cupcakes: vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, and german chocolate. By far the best was the german chocolate. Suprisingly, the cupcakes themselves weren't that great, but the frostings were all awesome!


Here's the recipe for the cupcakes...Layla especially lked the mascarpone (Martha Stewart's recipe below).

Peach Cupcakes with Martha Stewart's Mascarpone Frosting

Makes 12 cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C)

1-1/2 cups (375 mL) all purpose flour
1 tsp (5 mL) baking powder
1/2 tsp (2 mL) ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp (1 mL) salt
1-1/4 cups (300 mL) granulated sugar
1/2 cup (125 mL) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 eggs
1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla
2 tsp (10 mL) grated orange zest
3/4 cup (175 mL) milk
2 peaches or nectarines, pitted and thinly sliced and cut into thirds

1. In a small bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, nutmeg and salt.

2. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together sugar and butter until well combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition until light and fluffly. Add vanilla and orange zest, beating well. Alternately beat in flour mixture and milk, making three additions of flour mixture and two of milk, beating until smooth. Fold in peaches or nectarines.

3. Scoop batter into prepared pan. Bake in preheated over for 23-28 minutes or until golden brown and tops of cupcakes spring back when lightly touched.

Let cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool completely on rack.

Martha Stewart's Mascarpone Frosting

1 pound mascarpone cheese (always buy from Cowgirl Creamery)
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1-1/4 cups heavy cream

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (I didn't have this and just used the regular beaters), beat themascarpone, cream and confectioners' sugar until medium-soft peaks form, 1 to 2 minutes. Be careful no to overbeat. Use immediately.

My note: I started out beating at medium speed...bad news...then I poured on the speed to almost the highest my mixer would go. Success! It has to be beaten high speed to get thicker. I also think it was the awesome mascarpone I bought from Cowgirl Creamery!

Rock On!
CQ

28 comments:

  1. Ok, I admit, I love your blog and check it (almost) daily. I have yet to try one of the recipes, because I am no where near as dedicated as you are. BUT, there is another reason. They all seem delicious. HOW is it that you don't weigh a bazillion pounds? I swear, I gain weight just from looking at your pictures!

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  2. That sounds like heaven...my concern would be the juices making the cake kinda goopy but I guess not! And that mascarpone icing sounds GOOD! Yum!

    I love Layla sneaking up! hehehe!

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  3. Yummy!!!!!

    Smooch,
    The Tart
    ; )

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  4. i LOVE your blog! i visit your site almost daily! i'll definitely make a note of the places you recommend!

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  5. Tag, Cupcake Queen: http://www.travelerslunchbox.com/journal/2006/8/21/calling-all-bloggers-things-to-eat-before-you-die.html

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  6. Anonymous5:15 PM

    You had me at "mascarpone."

    Your review of Cake Love's cupcakes is consistent with all the others I've heard. Bummer.

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  7. Anonymous3:33 AM

    i think you have amazing recipes! if i could reach into the computer screen and grab one, i would!
    thanks for visiting. i felt very honoured! :)

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  8. You speak truth- the cake at Cakelove is mediocre, but the frostings are luscious!

    The peach cupcake recipe sounds lovely. Mascarpone is a great addition- not too sweet. Yum! :)

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  9. Anonymous10:52 PM

    Look at you with your new C.Q. signature! With all of this creativity oozing out, one would think that you didn't slave all day for the man. In those off hours, boy, you're as imaginative as a 3-yr-old hopped up on fruity pebbles. And oh, the cupcakes, as always, look like a must-try thing.

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  10. I'll be tagging you shortly, the tag is Happy Blog Day 2006! I am glad I found your blog! :)

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  11. Anonymous12:53 PM

    Peaches! Yum! Maybe I can be reincarnated as Layla so I can sample all the cupcakes!

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  12. Anonymous11:21 PM

    Made these cupcakes this weekend. The cupcake is great -- moist, and not-too-sweet. I used fairly ripe peaches and they weren't runny at all after baking. These would be perfect for a brunch. The frosting was good too, although I added more powdered sugar (I'm shameless when it comes to sweet icing!). The whole package is like eating peaches and cream with a bite of a good butter/pound cake.

    I got 18 cupcakes out of the batter, and I cut the frosting recipe in half and still had plenty leftover (stuffing for baked apples with carmel sauce anyone???). I'd make this again.

    The Cupcake Queen rules!

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  13. hi there! i love your blog. and that picture of your dog waiting for the cupcake is great. =) keep up the good work!

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  14. Anonymous8:28 PM

    Those look incredible!!!

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  15. Everytime I visit your blog it makes me forget about my diet! SOoo delicious!

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  16. That is exactly what I thought when I had my first long-awaited taste of Cakelove cupcakes; hard, dry cake but divine icing. While the icing was fantastic, I don't know if it really makes up for the cake. Frankly, if they are so dang scientific about their cupcakes, you would think they could devise a slightly more tender cake recepie.

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  17. oh yummy...mmm...peaches 'n cream! (i just made choco cupcakes with marscapone cream last weekend!) and i didn't know cowgirl was in dc now, that's great!

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  18. i made these last night, and wow, these are great. that frosting is divine and can work on so many cakes, but i have to make these again. i should use more ripe fruit, though. it didn't work as well as it could have with my not quite ripe peaches.

    everyone who tried them loved them. a great recipe.

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  19. I'm beginner in making cupcakes. Thanks for your blog which give me many inspirations. Please check my blog sometimes http://mycupcakecreation.blogspot.com

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  20. I'm making these tomorrow on a whim with some fresh georgia peaches!

    I love your blog sooo much, but I hope you already know that! :)

    <33

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  21. thank you forever for posting this recipe! i love it!

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  22. Anonymous1:30 AM

    I made this recipe using pureed peaches. The 20(!) cupcakes took 35 minutes to turn golden brown, then when I took them out, they fell and were tasty, but a little on the weird side, texturally speaking. Do they turn out infinitely better with sliced peaches? How do the peaches get distributed if they're not chopped or pureed? Did you leave the skins on the peaches? I was so excited to find this recipe and want to make these for my baby's first birthday (she loves peaches). Thanks!

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  23. My boyfriend and his bandmates polished a batch of these off in a day. Well, a batch minus a couple I saved for myself. :P I didn't try the mascarpone frosting, but I'll have to next time!

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  24. I just love your cupcake blog!! You are my inspiration. I have tried several recipes on your website and they are always consistently amazing. Thank you. Kathleen
    www.bigfatcupcake.blogspot.com

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  25. just made these. they were yum.

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  26. i just tried to make them with whole wheat flour. they taste like orange muffins. i have a second batch in the oven with 1 t. lemon zest and white flour. hope they turn out better than the first batch! thanks for the recipe.

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  27. Anonymous7:44 PM

    Made these today; thanks for the recipe! Very nice. Next time I think I'll sub out half the orange zest for a bit more vanilla.

    We were able to fill our second batch of cupcake cups nearly to the top; these did not rise much for us.

    For the frosting - be forewarned it is in large measure whipped cream - keep in fridge or it will melt. We added more powdered sugar to keep it a bit stiffer. Delicious, though - it tastes like whipped cream too!

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  28. I made these today with White Peaches, I got about twenty four cupcakes out of the recipe. Of course a few had to be sacrificed for quality control.

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