Mini Caramel Apple Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Filling

Been very quiet around here lately. That's my fault, shame on me! Some time in November I stopped everything else and spent every free minute crocheting Christmas gifts. I don't know what good it did me, since I wound up getting gift cards for most people anyway. :o( Next year I start in September.

So enough of the quiet, I need to catch up. I made these caramel apple cupcakes for my crochet group before the holidays. They were really good, but a lot of work, and would probably work better in standard sized cupcakes! I heart mini cupcakes so much, and these were so cute on the sticks, but with the filling they sort of start to fall apart once they get a little warm. So if you make minis, keep them in the fridge and once you take them out, eat them quick!



 

I also drizzled vanilla bean caramel sauce on these for added caramel-ness. The recipe is here, be careful with it. ;o) 

Lemon Chiffon Layer Cupcakes

This is a repost of a recipe from my other, short-lived blog. I've decided to focus on masquerading domesticity here, so now it will be a one-stop-shop for all my baking cleverness! So here you go!

These are lemon chiffon cupcakes, with a layer of lemon curd in the middle and topped with vanilla glaze and a homemade candied lemon peel!

Lemon love!



So they weren't perfect! I'd never made chiffon cake before and it wasn't that difficult. But I wasn't really sure what to expect when I baked it into a cupcake. First I knew I wanted to slice them in the middle so I could add the layer of lemon curd, so I baked them without wrappers which is ALWAYS a headache! Never have I ever baked a cupcake or muffin where I didn't murder at least 3 before they came out of the pan when they had no wrappers.

Also I expected they would behave a bit more like an angel food cake which creeps up the side of the pan then keeps going. As you can see here, they didn't do that.

And, my vanilla glaze recipe was wrong wrong wrong, so I ended up adding too much milk. I adjusted the recipe below though so you can make a proper vanilla glaze.

Candying the lemon peel was fun though, if not a little stressful! If you're going to take on all parts of this cupcake, I suggest making the candy lemon peel first, then the lemon curd, then the cupcakes and finally the glaze.

Mini Pumpkin Spice Latte Cupcakes

These are quite possibly one of my favorite cupcakes I've ever made. Ever. You can taste both the pumpkin and the coffee. I love the whipped cream frosting and the vanilla bean caramel is super impressive and delicious. These cupcakes look great and they taste incredible.

 

Hummingbird Cupcakes with Honey Cream Cheese Frosting

I made these for an end of summer family bbq! They are denser than most cupcakes (at least mine were anyway). More like a quick bread I think, but delicious none-the-less! As to why they're called hummingbird cupcakes, I really can't tell you! They're made with pineapple, banana, coconut and carrot. Plus I added honey cream cheese frosting. My thinking is the sweet scent plus the colors of the fruit are reminiscent of what attracts hummingbirds? Who knows! It worked for the guests at the party! ;o)



Hummingbird Cupcakes with Honey Creamcheese Frosting
Adapted from 500 Cupcakes and Sprinkle Bakes

Yield 12 cupcakes 

For the cupcakes
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup superfine sugar
1/2 cup safflower oil
2 eggs
1/2 cup (2 medium) mashed bananas
1 1/2 tablespoon grated orange zest
1/2 cup shredded carrot
1/2 cup crushed, drained pineapple
1/2 cup flaked coconut

1. Preheat oven to 350 and place paper liners in cupcake pan
2. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and cinnamon and set aside
3. In a large bowl with electric mixer or stand mixer, cream the sugar and oil together until light and fluffy
4. Beat in the eggs slowly
5. Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix until combined
6. Add the remaining ingredients and mix until combined
7. Spoon the batter into the prepared baking pan and bake about 25 minutes
8. Allow to cool in pan on wire rack for 5 minutes before removing cupcakes to wire rack to cool

For the frosting

8 oz. package cream cheese, room temperature

1 stick of butter, softened

1/4 cup clover honey

3-4 cups confectioners' sugar

1. Place cream cheese, butter and honey in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat until combined
2. Gradually add in confectioners' sugar, mixing until it is spreading consistency.  
3. If frosting is too thin, place in refrigerator until firm enough to spread

Chocolate Marshmallow Cupcakes

I actually made these for 4th of July. They're marshmallow filled chocolate cupcakes with chocolate buttercream frosting! I colored the marshmallow with red and blue food coloring, and piped it into the center in layers, but in most of them you couldn't tell. Anyway, my point is colored marshmallow filling is fun for holidays!



Btw, this is my favorite chocolate cupcake recipe ever, it comes out excellent every time. As for the marshmallow recipe, the marshmallow filling came out well, but I found the directions for the ganache frosting a little...sparse... I didn't understand it had to completely cool or chill before it could be whipped, and I ended up wasting it, it never firmed up. No worries though! I fell back on my favorite chocolate buttercream recipe and piped it on in little dots since I was afraid I would run low. Everyone thought that was super fancy and cute apparently, so I'll definitely do it again!

Marshmallow Chocolate Cupcakes
Makes 24 standard sized cupcakes

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 20 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean

For the marshmallow filling
From Swanky Pear

1 - 7 oz container marshmallow cream
1/2 cup softened butter
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon water
1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Combine marshmallow cream and butter. Beat together until smooth
2. Add water and salt
3. Slowly add powdered sugar and beat until creamy

Fill cupcakes
When cupcakes have completely cooled, cut out a "cone" from the center of the cupcake. Cut of the bottom of the "cone" and keep the "hat." Spoon a bit of the cookie dough filling into the cupcake and replace the hat. Some nice photos of this method can be found in this post for boston cream cupcakes.

For the frosting
From Cooks.com

6 tablespoons butter
1 cup powdered sugar
4 tablespoons cocoa
2 to 3 tablespoons milk

1. Cream the butter.
2. Combine the sugar and cocoa.
3. Slowly add the sugar and cocoa mixture to the butter and continue beating
4. Add milk one tablespoon at a time to thin frosting if necessary

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!

Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes

This is my second time making these cupcakes! They're Boston cream cupcakes with pastry filling and amazing chocolate glaze! They were a request from my dad for dessert following Father's day dinner.



The first time I made these I was very into making all my cupcakes in minis. I still am, but I made a bunch of these as minis, then used the remaining batter in full size cupcakes. The minis were good, but I recommend making them as regular size cupcakes to get as much pastry cream as possible!

Boston Cream Cupcakes
Shame on me, from a magazine I no longer have

Yield about 28 regular sized cupcakes for me

For the pastry cream filling
1 1/3 cup heavy cream
3 large egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
Pinch salt
4 teaspoons corn starch
2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 2 pieces
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the cupcakes
1 3/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour, plus extra for muffin tin
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
12 tablespoons (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened but still cool
3 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the glaze
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup light corn syrup
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Make the pastry cream

1. 
Bring the cream to a simmer in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
   
2. Meanwhile, whisk the yolks, sugar, and salt together in a medium bowl.
   
3. Add the cornstarch and whisk until mixture is pale yellow and thick, about 15 seconds.
4. When the cream reaches a full simmer, slowly whisk it into the yolk mixture.
   
5. Return the mixture to the saucepan and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until thick and glossy, about 1 1/2 minutes.
   
6. Remove from heat and whisk in the butter and vanilla.
   
7. Transfer the pastry cream to a small bowl and refrigerate, with plastic wrap pressed flush against its surface, until cold and set at least 2 hours or up to 2 days.
   

Make the cupcakes

1. 
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
   
2. Grease and flour a standard cupcake pan (no wrappers lets glaze drip down the sides all pretty-like)
3. In a large bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, combine the flour baking powder, salt, and sugar.
4. Add the butter in small pieces one at a time and combine until the mixture resembles coarse sand.
   Note: I used a pastry cutter to do this, mixer wasn't doing it for me.
5. Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix until combined.
   
6. Add the milk and vanilla, increase the speed to medium, and mix until light and fluffy and no lumps remain, about 3 minutes.
7. Fill the prepared pan about three-quarters full (do not overfill).
   
8. Bake approximately 18 - 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean.
9. Cool the cupcakes in a pan for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
   

Make the chocolate glaze

1. Cook the cream, corn syrup, chocolate and vanilla in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly, until smooth.
   
2. Set aside to cool and thicken for 30 minutes.

Assemble cupcakes!
Note: My first post of this recipe photo documents this method.

1. Insert the tip of a small knife at a 45-degree angle about 1/8 inch from the side of each cupcake and cut all the way around, removing a cone of cake.
   
2. Cut away all but the top 1/4 inch of the cone, leaving only a small disk of cake.
   
3. Fill each cupcake with 2 tablespoons pastry cream and top with the disk of cake.
   
4. Set the filled cupcakes on a wire rack set over parchment.
   
5. Spoon 2 tablespoons of glaze over each cupcake, allowing it to drip down the sides.
6. Refrigerate until set, about 10 minutes

These cupcakes can be stored in fridge for up to two days. Bring to room temperature before serving for best pastry cream consistency.

Lemon Chiffon Layer Cupcake on Can It Cupcake?

I attempted to see if lemon chiffon cake could work out as a cupcake!

These are lemon chiffon cupcakes with a layer of lemon curd topped with vanilla glaze and a homemade candied lemon peel!

Please check them out at Can It Cupcake?!

Peach Stawberry Coffee-Cupcakes at Can it Cupcake?

Dear readers,

I have started a new blog! It's called Can it Cupcake? and it will answer just that! I'll be taking non-traditional cupcake recipes and turning them into cupcakes and baking up cupcakes inspired by treats that are not cupcakes at all! Sangria and angel food cupcakes are in the near future, so please go ahead and follow!

I have plenty of baking adventures in mind to go around though, so I will continue to post here as well!

To kick it off I just posted a recipe for Peach Strawberry Coffee-Cupcakes where I thought I'd try out how coffee cake handled being in a cupcake wrapper. Please check it out!



Hope you drop by!

Best,

Kim

Easter Baking Part 2: Vanilla Bean Lavender Cupcakes

To accompany my Cadbury egg cupcakes, I baked up these white velvet vanilla bean cupcakes topped with lavender cream and a homemade chocolate covered marshmallow bunny!



They were 4 days in the making! Thursday I made the marshmallows. Friday I coated them in chocolate. Saturday I baked the cupcakes, and on Sunday I finished the lavender cream and assembled for Easter dessert! Not that you have to take 4 days to make them, but the lavender needs to steep for 24 hours and the marshmallows have to set out over night, so it's a process!

In case you're wondering what lavender cream tastes like...it tastes pretty much just like it smells (in my opinion, anyway). Which is good news if you like the scent of lavender! The taste is very mild and you can smell the lavender in the cream, but it is something different! My family are always willing taste testers in my baking adventures, and I'll certainly make the cupcake again! But if I were to make these for a crowd, I'd probably also offer a regular or vanilla whipped cream cupcake as an option as well. A little something for everyone!

For now I'll just link to the marshmallow recipe here. I have more marshmallow creations to share that I'll wrap up in another post! Until then, on to the cupcakes! Please be sure to read the full recipe first, since the lavender cream has to be prepared a day ahead! Also please note the whipped lavender cream is pretty delicate and will start to melt if out of the fridge for too long. Keep your travel and serving plans in mind. ;o)

Vanilla Bean Lavender Cupcakes

Yields about 24 regular sized cupcakes

For white velvet vanilla bean cupcakes
Adapted from Java Cupcakes

1 1/4 cup milk (divided)
1/4 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla
1 vanilla bean
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 large egg whites
3 cups sifted cake flour (if you can't find cake flour, substitute 2 1/4 all purpose flour plus 6 tablespoons cornstarch sifted together, but try to find the cake flour! It comes in a box!)
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 375 and line cupcake pans with liners.
2. Put 1 cup of the milk in a small sauce pan and set on medium heat.
   
3. Slice the vanilla bean down the center and scrape out as many seeds as you can and add to the cream. Then, add the whole vanilla bean pod to the cream.
   
4. Add the sour cream and vanilla extract to the sauce pan
5. Continue to cook until the milk starts to steam and bubbles begin to form around the outer edge of the milk, whisking occasionally.
   
6. Remove from heat immediately and let cool for 5-10 minutes.
   
7. Remove the vanilla bean pod from the sauce pan and discard.
   
8. In a large bowl, combine cake flour, baking powder and salt whisk together.
9. In the bowl of an electric mixer cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
10. Add the eggs and mix on high just until they start to whip up like frosting.
    
11. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture on low and continue mixing to combine. Add half the vanilla cream, then another 1/3 flour mixture, then the second half of the cream, and finally the last 1/3 of the flour mixture. Be careful not to over mix.
    
12. Add the last 1/4 cup of milk and mix just until combined.
    
13. Fill each cupcake liner about 2/3 full.
    
14. Bake 15-18 minutes.
    
15. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes before removing to a wire wrack to cool completely. They should be 100% cool before you try to top them with the lavender cream!

For the lavender cream

2 cups heavy cream (whipping cream)
5 tablespoons dried lavender
2 tablespoons sugar
Purple/blue food coloring (optional)

1. Pour the cream into a bowl or measuring cup and whisk in the dried lavender.
   
2. Leave it to steep for at least 24 hours in the fridge
3. When ready, strain the lavender out of the cream and add the cream to a metal bowl (it will whip up better if it stays cold)
4. Whisk in the food coloring if desired - if you choose not to use food coloring, the cream won't be pure white, but it won't really be lavender either :o)
   
5. Using the whisk attachment or a hand mixer, start to whip the cream on high.
6. It will start to form bubbles, then start to look foamy, then become smoother and start to increase in size.
7. One it has passed the foamy stage, keep whipping on high and slowly add the sugar
8. Keep whipping until stiff peaks are just about formed then STOP! You don't want to over whip the cream since it will start to turn to butter, that would be sad.
9. Top the cupcakes with a dollop of cream and serve immediately, or pop em in the fridge til ready! (I also considered keeping the cream in the metal bowl and bringing it with me to assemble there, but it was just too many things to pack up!)

Happy lavendering!

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!

Chocolate Chocolate Cookie Dough Filled Cupcakes

These are chocolate cupcakes, with chocolate chocolate chip cookie dough filling, frosted with brown sugar chocolate chip cookie frosting! OMG! So good, I die.



The chocolate cake recipe I used is THE BEST I have ever tried. I had intended to put mini chips in the batter, but it is a very thin batter, so the chips would likely sink to the bottom. If you have a chocolate cake recipe you love that would support the chips, go ahead and throw then in!

Note that I adapted the recipes by doubling the cupcake recipe and halving the cookie dough filling and frosting recipes.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

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 20 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean

For the chocolate chocolate chip cookie dough filling
Adapted from Frosted!

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 tablespoons light brown sugar, packed
1 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
3.5 oz. sweetened condensed milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

1. Combine the butter and sugars in a mixing bowl and cream on medium-high speed until light and fluffy.
   
2. Beat in the flour, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla until incorporated and smooth.
3. Stir in the chocolate chips.
   
4. Cover with plastic wrap and chill until ready to use.

Fill with cookie dough!
When cupcakes have completely cooled, cut out a "cone" from the center of the cupcake. Cut of the bottom of the "cone" and keep the "hat." Spoon a bit of the cookie dough filling into the cupcake and replace the hat. Some nice photos of this method can be found in this post for boston cream cupcakes.

For the frosting
Adapted from Frosted!

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 tablespoons cup light brown sugar, packed
1 3/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons milk (or a touch more if necessary)
1 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Beat together the butter and brown sugar until creamy.
   
2. Mix in the confectioners’ sugar until smooth.
   
3. Beat in the flour and salt.
   
4. Mix in the milk and vanilla extract until smooth and well blended.
5. Frost away!
   

Chocolate Irish Whiskey Ice Cream Cupcakes

This is the St. Patrick's Day treat post! Chocolate Irish whiskey cupcakes, filled with chocolate ice cream and topped with chocolate Bailey's Irish cream glaze. So good.



Chocolate Irish Whiskey Ice Cream Cupcakes with Baileys Chocolate Glaze
Adapted from Sprinkle Bakes and 500 Cupcakes
Yields approx. 2 1/2 dozen regular size cupcakes

For the cupcakes:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups strongly brewed coffee (I used two packets of Starbucks Via in the 1 1/2 cup water)
1/2 cup Irish whiskey (Jameson, of course)
1 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Chocolate ice cream (I suggest Breyers)

1. Preheat oven to 325. Line regular size cupcake pan with wrappers.
2. Whisk together flour, baking soda and salt and set aside.
   
3. In a medium saucepan combine butter, coffee, whiskey, cinnamon, and cocoa powder over low/medium heat until melted. Whisking until smooth.
   
4. Remove from heat and whisk in the sugar. Allow to cool slightly.
5. In a mixer, mix together the eggs and vanilla.
6. Slowly pour in the chocolate mixture.
   
7. Add flour mixture and whisk until just combined. Mixture will be very thin.
8. Pour into prepared cupcake pan until cups are around 2/3 full
9. Bake 15 - 17 until cake springs back when touched and cake tester inserted in the center of the cupcakes comes out almost clean.
10. Set on wire rack in pan to cool for 5 - 10 min.
11. Remove from pan and leave on wire rack to cool completely.

Fill with ice cream!
A good photo tutorial can be found here where I used the same method making Boston cream cupcakes!

1. Once cooled to room temperature completely, put the cupcakes into the fridge for about 20 min or so. Meanwhile take the ice cream out of the freezer and let it soften slightly.
2. Remove the cupcakes from the fridge (they'll be easier to work with when they're cold) and use a knife to remove the center of each cupcake and cut the bottom portion of the "cone" off, keeping the "hat" of the cupcake intact.
   
3. Eat the cupcake cake insides you just removed! :oD mmmm...whiskey chocolate cake...
4. Spoon a bit of the softened chocolate ice cream into the center of the cupcake and replace the cupcake hat
5. Place cupcakes into the freezer until ice cream refreezes
   
   

For the Baileys chocolate glaze:
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (Ghirardelli will do the trick, accessible and tasty)
1/2 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons Baileys Irish cream

1. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler over simmering water
2. Remove from the heat and stir in the heavy cream
3. Stir in the Baileys
4. Allow to cool slightly
5. Remove the cupcakes from the freezer and spoon the glaze over each cupcake. Pop em back in the freezer

Once the glaze is set, store them in an air tight container in the freezer for up to 3 months. Before serving, remove from freezer to fridge for about 20 - 30 min or so.



Happy St. Patrick's Day kids!

Baking Party - Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Sometimes I try to bake something different or trendy, or something the boyfriend will like. And he's not too into sweets so it's sort of a losing battle. But when I was invited to a baking party I wanted to make something I liked! That would also be a crowd pleaser as well. Chocolate with peanut butter or chocolate with mint topped the list, and chocolate peanut butter won.

I have a few recipes bookmarked but really if I'm baking to suit my own tastes, this is the recipe I was going to go for.



I made it two thirds of the way there, we never made it to the chocolate shell, we just ate them. If I was baking at home I would have, so this one will reappear one day. But there was so much food already!

These are chocolate cupcakes with a Reeses peanut butter cup baked inside, topped with peanut butter buttercream frosting. This frosting makes you want to die. It was the most incredible, indulgent cupcake ever. And I'm all about serious desserts, and even I think this was intense.

Here's the story via photos:









Yum!

These chocolate peanut butter cupcakes also just joined Sweet as Sugar Cookies' Lisa at her sweet treat link party, btw. Lots more over this way!

Mini Maple Angelfood Cupcakes

These are like little maple clouds from heaven.



They weren't for an occasion, I just made them randomly one night. They also call for maple glaze, which I didn't make. But you definitely should, it will lend to the mapleyness of them.

In all the baking blogs I read, and shows I watch, and this current cupcake craze that has taken over, I can't say I've ever seen an angelfood cupcake. Well I googled it and of course I'm not the first to think of it. So good! It can be done, here's the recipe!

And here are my findings:

1. Cake flour doesn't exist. Do I really need to order it? And why use it when you can just use 1 cup of all purpose flour minus 2 tablespoons (1c – 2tbsp)? Turned out great.
2. USE CUPCAKE WRAPPERS. This is not the first time this has happened to me baking cupcakes without wrappers. Although the cake is baked perfectly on the inside, it's the the pan singes the cake outside and it gets burnt. :o( These photos are from the minis with wrappers that worked out perfectly.
3. Minis only needed 11 min to bake!
4. Make the maple glaze. Delicious and sweet with a hint of maple, but if I didn't tell you it was in there, you might not know.
   
5. If you're too lazy to cover them and wrap them and just put them in a big baking dish and put them back in the oven, tell the boyfriend if he takes them out to use the oven, the oven has to cool before he can put them back in there. :o/ My own fault...
   

The cuteness factor is a lot of the appeal here, but you need to eat like 12 of them to feel satisfied. ;o) Here's one last perfect little bite of maple angel goodness.

Oreo Cheesecake Cupcakes

For Christmas I received 500 Cupcakes. This is one down, 499 to go!



I made these for dessert for one of our girls nights. Plus a birthday dinner the next night and brought some to share with my family for Sunday dinner. :oD

The recipe in 500 Cupcakes is for any standard fruit topped cheesecake with graham cracker crust, but I modified. That's a whole Oreo cookie popped in the bottom of the wrapper for the crust. :oD I wish I could say it was my idea, but I stole it from a friend. It is a good idea, cuts down on baking time when you don't have to mix a crust and press it in the bottom of 24 little cupcakes!



Centers always sink a bit on cheesecakes I think, is that just part of baking a cheesecake? Anyway, I topped these with more crumbled Oreo cookie crumbs and the cheesecake was delicious.

They were a success all around! I'll definitely make them again.

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.