It’s been been a few weeks since the end of Games of Thrones and to fill the void, I’m sharing these White Walker Cupcakes I made for the final season premiere! No matter how you felt about this last seaon, it’s been a journey. But what better way to remember it than with a dessert!
I admit, I was one of those people who wasn’t interested in the show for years. I only started watching a few months ago because I was feeling some serious FOMO.
Well, jokes on me because I was hooked immediately! Binged the first 7 seasons (67 episodes) in 39 days to prep for the Season 8 premiere. It was a lot of TV for awhile 😛
For my friend’s season premiere watch party, I made these White Walker Cupcakes – classic yellow cake, cream cheese frosting, raspberry compote filling and…shards of edible dragonglass!
White Walker Dragonglass
For those of you who are diehard GoT fans – yes, I know dragonglass isn’t blue but come on, you can’t tell me that these edible blue glass aren’t super cool! It is just melted sugar with blue food coloring.
The main thing to remember when making edible glass is the temperature you need to heat the sugar to – at least 300° F (149°C). At this temperature, you’ve evaporated virtually all of the water from the sugar so when cooled, it hardens and can crack sharply. If you heat the sugar to anything lower than this, the sugar won’t harden or if it does, it’ll bend before breaking.
We want that nice sharp crack. You know, one that can pierce a White Walker’s heart. 😛
It surprisingly took a long time to get to this temperature so have patience! You will definitely need a candy thermometer. I prefer the ones with a dial vs digital but there are so many types out there! You can get one online for under $20 but the one I have is just $5. ☺️
Flavoring and Coloring Edible Glass
You can flavor the edible glass with any sort of flavoring oils. I put a few drops of lemon extract in these White Walker dragonglass. I also used two drops of blue gel food coloring to get that icy White Walker blue.
You can put in the flavoring and color once the sugar has fully melted and you’re waiting for it to get to that 300° F. Stir well to incorporate!
Yellow Cake & Cream Cheese Frosting
For the base of these White Walker Cupcakes, I decided to stick with some classics! A simple yellow cake and my favorite, cream cheese frosting.
Cream cheese frosting is so wonderfully creamy and tangy, plus so easy to whip up. But the thing that bothers me about most cream cheese recipes is the sugar. I find that most recipes add too much and it becomes too sickly sweet for me. To each their own but I always recommend taste testing your cream cheese frosting as you go. Start with just 1.5 cup of sugar and do a taste before adding more, just a few tablespoons at a time.
Raspberry Compote Filling
I sadly don’t have any photos of the inside of the cupcake as I was all too excited for the GoT premiere and forgot! But, I made a “blood” raspberry compote to fill the cupcakes. To be a bit cheeky. I even put a liiiiitle bit of red cream cheese frosting on the tips of the dragonglass before putting them onto the cakes so when you pulled them out, there was some “blood” on the ends!
There’s a lot of components to this cupcake but in the end, the showstopper is really the sugar glass! I’ve also included the recipe for the cake, frosting, and raspberry compote separately.
Yellow Cakecake, Cream Cheese Frosting, and Raspberry Compote
Ingredients
Yellow Cupcakes
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup buttermilk
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick) softened
- 8 oz cream cheese (1 package) softened
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2-3 cups confectioners sugar
Raspberry Compote
- 2 cups fresh raspberries (1 pint)
- 3 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp water
Instructions
Baking the cupcakes
-
Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C).
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Mix together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.
-
In a mixer, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Make sure to scrap down the slides of the bowl. Then mix in the eggs and vanilla until well incorporated.
-
With the mixer at low speed, alternate adding in the flour mixture and buttermilk. Start and end with the flour mixture. Mix until just incorporated.
-
Scoop batter into the lined cupcake pans until 2/3 full. I like to use a cookie scoop to make sure each cupcake is even – 2 scoops each. This recipe should fill about 14-16 cupcakes.
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Bake for 18-22 minutes until the cupcakes pass the toothpick test – stick a toothpick into a cupcake and when it comes out clean, it's done! Let cool completely before frosting.
Making the cream cheese frosting
Yellow Cakecake, Cream Cheese Frosting, and Raspberry Compote
Ingredients
Yellow Cupcakes
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup buttermilk
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick) softened
- 8 oz cream cheese (1 package) softened
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2-3 cups confectioners sugar
Raspberry Compote
- 2 cups fresh raspberries (1 pint)
- 3 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp water
Instructions
Baking the cupcakes
-
Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C).
-
Mix together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.
-
In a mixer, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Make sure to scrap down the slides of the bowl. Then mix in the eggs and vanilla until well incorporated.
-
With the mixer at low speed, alternate adding in the flour mixture and buttermilk. Start and end with the flour mixture. Mix until just incorporated.
-
Scoop batter into the lined cupcake pans until 2/3 full. I like to use a cookie scoop to make sure each cupcake is even – 2 scoops each. This recipe should fill about 14-16 cupcakes.
-
Bake for 18-22 minutes until the cupcakes pass the toothpick test – stick a toothpick into a cupcake and when it comes out clean, it's done! Let cool completely before frosting.