Taco-topped Cupcakes is a modern American recipe for a vanilla cupcake with a meringue buttercream icing and a decoration made to look like a taco that's excellent for any Cinco de Mayo celebration. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic American version of: Taco-topped Cupcakes.
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This is an American recipe for cupcakes decorated with split biscuits and coloured sprinkles to resemble tacos… what’s not to like? These pretty little cupcakes are ideal for serving at Cinco de Mayo festivities.
Ingredients:
For the Cupcakes:
100g unsalted butter, softened
200g white granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
250g Cake Flour, sifted
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
180ml milk
Swiss Meringue Buttercream Icing:
6 large egg whites
200g granulated sugar
400g unsalted butter at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp salt
For the ‘tacos’
20 plain vanilla biscuits
food colouring
decorating sprinkles
shredded coconut
Method:
Pre-heat your oven to 180°C. Butter & lightly flour 20 muffin wells or place paper liners in the well of cupcake tins.
Sift together the cake flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl.
Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating thoroughly to combine after each addition. If the mixture looks like it might split scatter over and mix in a tablespoon of flour. Add the vanilla and beat to combine.
Now mix in the flour, adding it alternately with the milk and beating well after each addition (begin and end with the flour mixture).
Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin wells or paper cases, filling each well no more than 2/3 full.
Transfer to the centre of your pre-heated oven and bake for 20–25 minutes, until set and springy to the touch.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool in their tins for 10 minutes then remove from the tin and set aside to cool completely.
If you would prefer chocolate cupcakes either mix in 3 tbsp of cocoa powder or 85g of melted dark chocolate into the cake batter.
For spice cupcakes sift 2 tsp of mixed in with the flour.
To ice the cupcakes: Combine the egg whites and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Place the bowl over just simmering water, making sure the bowl does not touch the surface of the water. Whisk the eggs over the simmering water with a balloon whisk until the sugar has dissolved completely. Check to ensure that the sugar has dissolved by taking a little of the mixture and rubbing it between thumb and forefinger. If it feels gritty it’s not ready yet.
At this water remove the bowl from the water and place under a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Whisk over medium-high speed until stiff, glossy, peaks form and bowl has cooled to room temperature (about 10 to 15 minutes).
Remove the whisk attachment from the mixer and replace it with a paddle attachment. Add butter 1 tablespoon at a time, waiting until each addition is incorporated before adding the next. Scrape the bottom of the bowl and increase the speed to medium-high for 3 to 4 minutes, until the mixture is thick and smooth. Add the vanilla extract and salt and mix on high for 30 to 60 seconds.
Spoon the icing mixture into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle and pipe on top of the cooled cupcakes. Now take the leftover icing and divide between four small bowls, colouring them brown (for meat), yellow (for cheese), red (for tomatoes) and green (for lettuce), and place each into piping bags. (Alternatively, sprinkles can be used for the cheese and tomatoes and green-tinted coconut for the lettuce.)
Slice each biscuit in half. Pipe a rope of brown frosting along the cut edge of one half and attach the other half to form a V-shape resembling a taco. Using the other colours, pipe on the taco ‘fillings’ to resemble a loaded taco.
