Patent Application
20150157041
1. Field of the Invention
This document describes pre-formed cupcake toppings and related methods. Specifically, this document describes frozen pre-formed cupcake toppings that may be provided to cupcakes or other baked goods.
2. Background of the Invention
Cakes are baked confections that are sometimes served as a desert after a meal or as party favors. A popular cake type—a cupcake—is a small single serving cake that is typically baked in a small paper cup that is peeled off of the cake prior to consumption. Like other types of cakes, the part of cupcakes exposed above the brim of the paper cups after baking (cupcake tops), are typically decorated with icing and other confectionary items, like sprinkles.
Usually, consumers of cupcakes enjoy cakes that are pleasing to the palate and to the eye. While untrained persons can follow the directions of a recipe for a delicious cupcake and frosting, application of the frosting to the cupcake by an untrained hand often results in non-aesthetically pleasing frosting smear instead of a desirable artwork on the cupcake top. For this reason, many people buy professionally made cupcakes. However, professionally made cupcakes may be too expensive or out of the geographical range of many potential cupcake consumers. Thus, a need exists for apparatus and related methods for untrained persons to produce professional looking cupcakes.
In view of the foregoing, many have developed pre-formed frosting or other edible films for placement on cakes. See, e.g.: U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,788,493 (issued Jan. 13, 1931), U.S. Pat. No. 3,503,345 (issued Mar. 31, 1970), U.S. Pat. No. 4,560,562 (issued Dec. 24, 1985), U.S. Pat. No. 5,035,907 (issued Jul. 30, 1991), U.S. Pat. No. 5,089,307 (issued Feb. 18, 1992), U.S. Pat. No. 6,056,982 (issued May 2, 2000), U.S. Pat. No. 6,616,958 (issued Sep. 9, 2003), and U.S. Pat. No. 6,652,897 (issued Nov. 25, 2003); and, U.S. Pub. Pat. App. Nos. 2006/0172046 (published Aug. 3, 2006), U.S. Pub. Pat. App. No. 2008/0305219 (Dec. 11, 2008), and U.S. Pub. Pat. App. No. 2009/0285940 (published Nov. 19, 2009). While capable of imparting professional looking icing to cupcake tops, known pre-formed frosting or other edible films for placement on cakes are often gross, of unpleasant texture, and do not otherwise taste “homemade.” Thus, a need still remains for apparatus and related methods for untrained persons to produce professional looking and tasty cupcakes.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to disclose apparatus and related methods of producing professional looking and tasting cupcakes. In one embodiment, the disclosed apparatus are novel and pre-made butter cream frosting stickers for standard cupcakes. In a preferred mode of operation, the frosting sticker is applied to the top of a baked cupcake and allowed to set. In one mode of preparation, the sticker is prepared via piping frosting into a disk on a pan and freezing the disk.
The manner in which these objectives and other desirable characteristics can be obtained is explained in the following description and attached figures in which:
Disclosed are apparatus and related methods of producing professional looking and tasting cupcakes. In one embodiment, the disclosed apparatus are novel and pre-made butter cream frosting stickers for standard cupcakes. In a preferred mode of operation, the frosting sticker is applied to the top of a baked cupcake and allowed to set. In one mode of preparation, the sticker is prepared via piping frosting into a disk on a pan and freezing the disk. Other details and aspects of the disclosed apparatus and methods are set forth with reference to the figures.
The depicted cupcake 1000 may be of any flavor or recipe known to those of skill in the art. In one embodiment, the cupcakes might be vanilla flavored. Ingredients for twenty four standard sized vanilla cupcakes include: three cups of flour; one and a half teaspoons of baking powder; three-quarters teaspoon salt; twelve tablespoons of butter at room temperature; one and a half cups of sugar; four large eggs; and two teaspoons of vanilla extract; one and a quarter cups of milk. Suitably, the vanilla cupcake may be prepared by: lining a cupcake pan with paper cups; mixing the flower baking powder and salt in a first bowl; mixing the butter and sugar in a second bowl until fluffy; adding eggs, one at a time, to the butter and sugar in the second bowl; mixing in the vanilla extract with the contents of the second bowl; adding the milk and contents of the first bowl to the second bowl; dividing the batter among the paper cups; and baking the batter in the paper cups at three-hundred and fifty degrees for 20 minutes.
As shown, the top 2200 is swirl shape, however, many different shapes of the top may be known to those of skill in the art.
The depicted frosting sticker 2000 may be of any flavor or recipe known to those of skill in the art. In a preferred embodiment, the frosting is of a butter cream type. For instance the frosting sticker might comprise the following ingredients for nine cups of frosting: two and a half cups of sugar; ten large egg whites; four cups of butter; and two teaspoons of vanilla extract. Preferably, the frosting may be prepared by: placing the sugar and egg whites in a first bowl and mixing the ingredients with an electric mixer; setting the bowl of gently simmering water and dissolving the sugar in the egg whites while whisking; whisking the mixture with an electric mixer on high speed for about ten minutes; adding the butter and beating the mixture until incorporated; beating the vanilla into the mixture; finally, beating the mixture with an electric mixer with a paddle attachment at low speed for about five minutes.
A preferred embodiment for vanilla frosting stickers 2000 uses two cups of salted butter, three and a half cups of sifted powdered sugar, two tablespoons of heavy cream, a half tablespoon of vanilla extract and a half teaspoon of salt. All ingredients should be at room temperature.
Preferably the frosting may be prepared by whipping the butter until smooth in a standard mixer on low and adding sugar in thirds until combined; then adding the salt and vanilla and mixing for about fifteen seconds; and adding the cream and mixing the ingredients on medium until there is a smooth consistency to the mixture.
Referring to
The frosting disks 2000 can be formed in an unlimited number of shapes and sizes. For a mini cupcake, the disk 2000 be approximately between two and three centimeters in diameter and approximately two to three and a half centimeters in height. A standard cupcake sticker will be about five to seven centimeters in diameter and between two and four centimeters tall. A jumbo disk 2000 will be approximately seven to nine centimeters in diameter and three to five centimeters in height. The ratio of diameter to height increases as the as the size of the cupcake increases. The larger the cupcake, the more that frosting can overwhelm the taste. For a smaller cupcake, the ratio of frosting diameter to frosting height will be about one to one. For a medium size cupcake the diameter to height ratio will be about two to one and for a jumbo size cupcake the ratio will be three to one. The preferred size diameter for a standard sized cupcake will be approximately 6.25 centimeters in diameter. At this size, the frosting will be able to accommodate the differences in sizes that can occur when cupcakes are baked by an nonprofessional baker.
The disk 2000 may suitably be prepared on a flat sheet pan and placed in a freezer. The frosting disk 2000 should set in approximately 60-90 minutes at 5°-12° F. Once the disk 2000 sets, they can be packaged or used. Discs 2000 may be kept in the freezer for six to nine months or stored in a refrigerator for up to one month. In one embodiment a non-stick coating such as wax-paper, may be positioned between the frosting and sheet pan during freezing of the frosting disk 2000. Once frozen solid, the frosting sticker 2000 is constructed.
While the ideas herein disclosed has been described by means of specific embodiments and applications thereof, numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention set forth in the claims.
