Red Wine Sangria Cupcakes

Hello friends, for brief while I thought I would launch a new blog where I would investigate "Can it Cupcake?" An exploration of turning things that are not traditionally in cupcake form, into cupcakes! The idea has legs, but I'm not finding the time to maintain two blogs! So I'm going to merge it back into my baking blog here! Sorry for recycling posts! In the end it will make this blog more exciting with more inspiration!

So in case you missed it on Can it Cupcake, here is the Red Wine Sangria post!

I made these cupcakes in honor of Cinco de Mayo. I've seen a lot of margarita cupcakes or Mexican hot chocolate cupcakes, but I hadn't seen sangria cupcakes! These are chocolate red wine cupcakes with a pineapple ring layer, triple sec orange frosting and topped with lemon lime zest!



Fancy! But for as fancy as these sound I think they could have come out better. I don't recommend halfing the chocolate red wine cupcake recipe, it requires weird measurements to half and they came out kind of dense. The pineapple on the bottom could have also cause that, I was a bit worried it may be too juicy. But the frosting is amazing!

So here is the recipe with full measurements that should yield around 24 regular sized cupcakes!

Red Wine Sangria Cupcakes

For the cupcakes
Adapted from We Are Not Martha

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
5 oz. chocolate chips
1/2 cup boiling water
2 sticks butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup red wine (I used a Spanish cabernet sauvignon, for no particular reason other than it was a Spanish red wine and I liked the bottle)
3 cans sliced pineapple rings (my can had 10 rings)

1. Preheat oven to 350 and line cupcake pans with wrappers
2. Drain the pineapple slices, and cut as pictured below then place in the bottom of each wrapper
   
3. In a heatproof bowl combine cocoa powder and chocolate chips and pour in the boiling water. Quickly mix to combine and until chips are melted
4. In a stand mixer or large bowl using a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together.
5. Then beat in each egg one at a time until well combined.
   
6. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.
   
7. Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until combined.
8. Alternate adding the chocolate mixture and wine until all is well combined.
9. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups right over the pineapple
10. Bake for about 20 minutes until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean
11. Cool in pan on wire rack for 5 - 10 minutes then remove to wire rack to cool completly
    

For the Triple Sec orange liqueur buttercream frosting

1 package powdered sugar (16 ounces)
1/2 cup butter, softened
4 tablespoons Triple sec
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon orange extract

1. Cream the butter in a mixer
2. Add all other ingredients and start mixing on slow, increasing speed as ingredients begin to blend together
3. Use more or less milk as necessary to achieve desired consistency

Assembly!

1. Frost cupcakes once completely cool.
2. Combine 1 tablespoon lemon zest, and 1 tablespoon lime zest and mix together
3. Sprinkle zest over frosting and you have sangria cupcakes!

Easter Baking Part 1: Homemade Cadbury Egg Cream Cupcakes

I've seen a lot of great inspiration for Cadbury egg cupcakes this year, but I admit I do sort of want to pat myself on the back for these! I made the filling from scratch (to me it tastes just like the cream inside of the chocolate Cadbury eggs!), and cored about 2 dozen minis, then colored part of the filling to look like the yolk and piped the center into each one. Piping tiny egg yolks is when I started to wonder if I was a little bit crazy, but no! They were worth it and were a big hit!




Mini Chocolate Cadbury Egg Cupcakes
Yields about 2 dozen minis

For the chocolate cupcakes
Adapted from Ming Makes Cupcakes

1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup buttermilk
6 heaping tablespoons cocoa
2 sticks butter
1 cup water
2 cups sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350 and place paper cupcake liners in pan.
   
2. In a small bowl, dissolve baking soda in room-temperature buttermilk.
   
3. In a saucepan, melt butter and cocoa together at a low temperature. Whisking until smooth.
4. Add water and whisk to combine.
5. In a separate bowl, whisk together sugar, flour, and salt.
   
6. Add cocoa mixture and egg and mix at low speed.
   
7. Add buttermilk mixture and vanilla and beat until smooth.
   
8. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean

For the Cadbury egg cream filling
Adapted from Food.com

1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups powdered sugar
1 - 2 tablespoons milk
Yellow food coloring

1. Cream the butter in a large bowl
2. Add the corn syrup, vanilla and salt and beat until smooth.
3. Slowly add the powdered sugar and beat until creamy
4. Add the milk a little at a time until a consistency you can pipe easily is reached.
5. Remove about 1/4 of the sugar mixture and place in a small bowl
6. Add the yellow food coloring to the 1/4 sugar mixture you just set aside and mix well

Fill the cupcakes!

1. When cupcakes have completely cooled, put them in the fridge for 10 min or so until they firm up a bit. This cake is delicious and moist and can be a bit crumbly.
2. Fill one pastry bag with the white Cadbury egg cream, and a second pastry bag with the yellow cream.
   
3. Once the cupcakes are sufficiently cold, cut out a "cone" from the center of the cupcake.
   
4. Cut off the bottom of the "cone" and keep the "hat." (I usually eat the cones...or put them in a bowl to make a parfait out of later!)
   
5. Pipe a layer of white cream into the center of the hollowed out cupcake. Then pipe a bit of the yellow cream in the center for the yolk. Then pipe some more of the white on top to cover the yolk, then replace the cupcake hat! Some nice photos of the cone/hat method can be found in this post for Boston cream cupcakes if you like!

Here's my Cadbury egg filling assembly line. It is a little crazy, I know!



For the chocolate buttercream frosting
Adapted from Cooks.com

9 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
6 tablespoons cocoa powder
3 - 4 tablespoons milk

1. Cream the butter in a mixer
2. In a separate bowl, combine sugar and cocoa.
3. Add sugar/cocoa mixture to the butter
4. Slowly add the milk little by little until a nice texture for frosting is reached.
5. Frost your minis!
   

Mini Cham Cham Cupcakes

A cham cham is a glass of champagne with a splash of Chambord, yyyuuummmmm! Try it, it's delicious, and it's what inspired these cupcakes for girls night. They're a pink champagne cupcake with vanilla Chambord buttercream frosting. I heart boozy baking.



I think the pearl sprinkles are a nice touch too, they remind me of champagne bubbles! Also the Chambord adds the slightest purple tint to the frosting!

Cham Cham Cupcakes

For the cupcakes
Adapted from gimee some oven

Yields around 30ish minis

1 cup plus 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup strawberry champagne
3 egg whites
Pink food coloring

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare a cupcake pan with liners.
2. In medium bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, and salt.
   
3. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
   
4. Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter and sugar mixture.
   
5. Mix in the champagne.
   
6. In another clean bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.
   
7. Begin folding the egg whites into the batter. Add your pink food coloring as you fold.
8. Fill the cupcake liners about 2/3 full.
9. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

For the frosting
Adapted from Ming Makes Cupcakes

1/2 stick butter
1 1/2 cup plus 6 tablespoon confectioners sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 cup milk
1/16 cup Chambord plus extra to taste (without wrecking consistency, btw I halved the recipe here, 1/16 is sort of silly to measure, you can just eyeball it)

1. In a saucepan, melt butter at low temperature.
   
2. Add vanilla and milk to melted butter in mixer and beat at low speed until combined.
3. Add confectioners sugar and beat until smooth.
   
4. Mix in Chambord, starting with the 1/16 cup. Slowly add to your taste, being sure the consistency of the frosting holds up and doesn't get too soupy.
   
5. When ready frost away and eat!

Christmas Mini Cupcake Trio

My blog sort of lives in the past, that's not very attractive, but here it's still Christmas apparently! :oD

Dave and I had 3 stops to make on Christmas, so since I'm crazy I baked up 3 different mini cupcakes to cart around to each Christmas party with me! And they all came out incredible!


Mini one: Hot cocoa cupcake
Chocolate cupcake with marshmallow frosting


This site has some amazing cupcakes. No recipes have failed me yet from it! Marshmallow frosting was good, but not as sturdy as I would of hoped. I just didn't see marshmallow cream at the store, so I used the substitution below for marshmallow cream:

For 1 cup marshmallow cream heat 16 large or 160 miniature marshmallows + 2 tsp corn syrup in the top of a double boiler.

Seemed to work out fine? But it never formed hard peaks when I added my whites to the marshmallow cream, perhaps I didn't whip the egg whites enough? I'll try again with more patience.

Mini Two: Gingerbread
Gingerbread cupcake with vanilla buttercream frosting


This was delicious, it might of been my favorite out of the trio. I should of spent more time with the frosting and added more powdered sugar, but had places to go, dammit. I always forget to sprinkle the cupcakes as soon as I frost them! Otherwise the sprinkles just roll off!

Mini Three: Red Velvet Peppermint
Red velvet cupcake with peppermint buttercream frosting


This is the second time I've made these red velvet cupcakes and they turned out great this time around as well. (Here was the first try.) I think they were everyone's favorite out of the trio.

Funfetti!

Tis the season for holiday treats, but it was also my friend Kristine's birthday last weekend!


Perfect occasion for homemade funfetti cupcakes! I used my standard go to for some vanilla buttercream too.

They came out great, only issue was the color on my sprinkles started to run and pretty soon they were mostly tye dye cupcakes. Then, well, when all colors start to mix, you get gray. But they still tasted good!

That is all! Lots more and super cute on the flickr page. Back to Christmas crafting! good night!

Fall baking round up

work has me stressed out, so haven't been keeping up with my little blogger or much baking/crafting for that matter. Flickr has been updated thought!

Here's some cool photos from the season!


Pumpkin muffins!


Apple cider mini donuts! Yes! I got a mini donut pan! <3
My first apple pie all by my big self. With apples we picked from the orchard.


Sexy apple pie slice with homemade ginger ice cream, without and ice cream maker. Still a success! Doesn't go as well with the apple pie as I thought but it's tasty. :oD


Homemade apple butter, would of been great except don't use black pepper in your all spice substitute, worst idea ever.


Vanilla and apple butter swiss meringue buttercream macaron. That's cinnamon on top, did it taste like apple cinnamon? No...just sugar. Still looking for a decent macaron recipe, baking instructions are all wrong for the ones I tried so far!


Ghost shaped Count Chocula cereal treats for a halloween party. They were awesome.

my first french macarons: pumpkin with cinnamon buttercream filling

I love mini desserts. I haven't known about french macarons for long but they're so damn cute I had to learn how to make them. in googling some recipes I saw another blogger mention this book, I Love Macarons by Hisako Ogita which is apparently the macaron bible. Although I have a wishpot which is mostly books, I've sort of sworn off buying baking books or magazines, since there's ssssooooooooo many recipes online. But since my new obsession I decided to stop by Barnes and Noble to see if they had any macaron-ing books, and it was there!

I actually brought it home and read it. Like from cover to cover. I read a review on it later which said something about it originally being published in Japanese? Then translated...this was clearly translated. :o)

Anyway, on to the macarons!


I am pretty impressed they worked the first time around! It was not without incident though. In the book, she describes this method for making butter cream where you make syrup (I guess) by microwaving the hell out of sugar and water for 4 minutes!? This is crazy, I actually did it and burned the hell out of the sugar, surprise, and thought my measuring cup was not going to be salvaged. It was, but that's just a bad idea.

I stuck a bunch of sticky notes all over the pages as well, here are what some of them said, in case you're a first time macaron maker as well:

1. Seriously...just sift it (she says sift the almond meal and powdered sugar twice, i half assedly did it once...but it makes it much lighter and fluffier...so just sift it, once should do it...)
2. Cut the damn parchment so it's flat, otherwise macarons may run when piped
3. Don't pipe onto the same side as the circles are drawn on, it comes off on the macron, oops. Either flip parchment over or make a template on a new piece of paper that you remove after piping.
4. When getting ready to stir 15 or 20 (or whatever gets the job done, hello) times, add the food coloring at this point
5. When piping, don't swirl. pipe straight down until it spreads out and fills the circle
6. Really, make sure the oven racks are in the center, my bottom rack burned. And check em! Mine baked way faster than 15 minutes

Those are my macaron gems of wisdom for you.


But beware when good macarons go bad. Here's what happened to mine that were on the bottom rack and piped by swirling, it's hard to look at...


Yikes! Sad... this one is better. :o) They even baked up with the little "foot," without which they can't be called macarons apparently. They're (by "they" I guess I mean the French?) referring to the little crinkley baked up looking part at the bottom of the macaron.


Oh, by the way, to get the pumpkin flavor I used two teaspoons of pureed pumpkin added to the meringue. I have many many bags of pumpkin puree, as it is also the first year I've pureed my own pumpkins and Dave bought me 3. :o) We'll be having pumpkin treats until into the new year I think. :o)

Also here is the recipe I used for the cinnamon buttercream. Good, but super sweet, maybe too sweet? I made a note to try with less sugar next time. Dave confirmed the macrons over all had a nice pumpkin pie taste, so for my first time these were certainly a success. I've decided this winter will be the year of the macaron, so I have more macaron plans to come.

One more sexy macaron picture and the rest are on flickr.