As if cream doesn’t have enough fat … well truly it doesn’t. When I first came to the United States, I noticed how thin “heavy” whipping creams were over here. They also took forever to whip into a peak and didn’t hold it very well once formed either. Turns out most creams in the U.S. are less than the 40% butterfat than most countries use. I longed for that luxurious flavor of full fat whipped cream and luckily, I found Rose Levy Beranbaum’s Real old-fashioned whipped cream.

I had a ton of raspberries to use. I was going to make Pierre Herme’s Ispahan Emotion but woke up late Sunday and was lazy to go through all the stages of making this. Raspberries have a very short shelf life so I decided to make raspberries and cream cupcakes instead.

I wanted to play with a new recipe for cupcake- picking out RLB’s almond cake one. I did not have sour cream but had 6 lbs of mascarpone cream that I did not know what to do with (please don’t say tiramisu) – so I substituted that instead.

Raspberries and Cream Cupcakes

Golden Almond Cupcakes

• 2 large eggs
• 2/3 cup sour cream (I used mascarpone)
• ¼ tsp vanilla
• 1 2/3 cups sifted cake flour
• 1/3-cup ground almonds
• 1-cup sugar
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 12 tbs unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a medium bowl, lightly combine the eggs, ¼ of the sour cream, and the extract.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients and mix on low speed for 30 seconds to blend. Add the butter and remaining sour cream. Mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened. Increase to medium speed and beat for 1-½ minutes to aerate and develop the cake’s structure. Scrape down the sides, and gradually add the egg mixture in 3 batches, beating for 20 seconds after each addition to incorporate the ingredients and strengthen the structure. Scrape down the sides. Fill the cupcake liners and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.

Makes 12 cupcakes.

Real old-fashioned Whipped Cream

• 1-cup heavy cream
• ¼ cup unsalted butter, softened
• ½ tsp. vanilla
• 1 tbs. sugar

Refrigerate the mixing bowl and beater for at least 15 minutes.

In a small saucepan melt together ¼ cup cream and the butter, stirring constantly until the butter is fully melted. Pour into a small heatproof measuring cup and cool to room temperature. Add vanilla.

In a chilled mixing bowl beat the remaining ¾ cup cream and sugar just until traces of the beater marks begin to show distinctly. Add the butter mixture on low speed in a steady stream beating constantly. Beat until stiff peaks just form when the beater is raised.

Cooking Notes:

The almond cupcakes were very easy to make. I did notice though that my cupcake had a very dense crumb. I think because I used mascarpone it did not have enough acid in it to activate the baking soda, as the sour cream would have. It was also a bit too rich for my taste. The cream as expected was heavenly, it was thicker than your average heavy cream but still have a very light mouthfeel. If you were going to leave the cupcakes out for longer than 30 minutes then it is best to stabilize the cream with gelatin (½ tsp dissolved in 4 tsp. of water).

Update:

Took the cupcakes to work this morning. I’ve never seen cupcakes disappear so fast. The modified whipped cream frosting was a big hit – a typical comment was: fluffy yet rich!