I’ve seen recipes lately that call for goat cheese icing, but I wanted to attempt an entire recipe–cake and icing–using only goat dairy. My first attempt at an icing was all goat cheese and the result was simply too much goat flavor. I didn’t use goat butter simply because the grocery store didn’t have any. The final recipe uses a cupcake batter based on buttermilk cake, and the icing combines both goat cheese and cream cheese–resulting in a tart, almost lemon yogurt flavor.

Pre-heat oven to 350°F

Cupcake Batter
1/2 cup softened butter, unsalted
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
zest of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp lemon extract
2 cups cake flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup goat milk (plus 2 tblsp fresh lemon juice)

In small bowl combine goat milk and lemon juice, set aside for 5-10 minutes.

In mixer, beat butter with sugar until light and fluffy; beat in eggs, 1 at a time.  Add lemon zest and extract.

In separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Stir dry ingredients into butter mixture, alternating with goat milk in 2 batches.

Use ice cream scoop to fill cupcake tins. Bake for 16 to 18 minutes. Let cool and ice.

Goat Cheese Icing
8 oz. plain goat cheese
3 oz. plain cream cheese
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar (slightly more if needed)
juice of 1/2 lemon
zest of 2 lemons

Beat goat cheese and cream cheese until smooth, 1-2 minutes. Add sugar and beat on high for another minute. Add in lelmon juice and rind and beat until combined. Mix in more sugar, by the tablespoon, if mixture is too loose or too tart.

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It was my first try at salted caramel frosting, and while it was tasty, there wasn’t enough full bodied, caramel flavor. I used this recipe, and even doubled the amount of caramel as some readers suggested, still a little too bland. I also swapped out the kosher salt for grey sea salt–that choice I was happy with.

Time to find a new frosting recipe.

I also had to retry boiling the sugar several times as it crystalized the first two times–when I used a non-stick pan. It was fine once I switched to a stainless steel pot. Has anyone else had the same problem?

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I made cherry limeade cupcakes for cupcakecamp.

The recipe for the cupcake is here, as noted in the post I use all butter and no shortening. That’s the only difference to my recipe, oh, and I don’t add nuts. Then frost.

Buttercream Frosting 
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 cup butter
3 tablespoons lime juice (fresh)
zest of one lime

In mixer, combine sugar and butter on low speed until blended. Then increase speed and beat for for a few more minutes until smooth
Add lime juice and zest and mix until creamy. I use an Ateco #823 pastry tip to frost.

Edited to add: I injected this batch with lime Jello. To do, bake cupcakes as directed and let cool. Then poke holes in cake and inject warm jello into the cupcake. Put in fridge and let cool before frosting. Photos of process here.

There were hundreds of cupcakes today–some pics up on flickr. Now I must sit down and digest!

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I’ll be attending CupcakeCamp on Sunday here in SF. I’m making the cherry limeade cupcakes for the event–with lime buttercream, of course. Hope to meet some new folks and talk all things geekery and cupcakes!

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I add 2 teaspoons of instant espresso powder to boxed chocolate cake mix and prepare as usual.

Chocolate frosting:
1 cup butter
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons cream

In mixer: cream butter, sugar and cocoa until blended. Add cream and vanilla and whip until smooth.
Piped with an 823 star pastry tip

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