S'mores Cupcakes

Crumbly graham cracker cake filled with chocolate ganache and topped with gooey marshmallow creme. 

I know its been a while but i'm back! Summer was so nice. There were lots of trips to the beach, my family came to visit and I started a new job that I'm really enjoying. There wasn't much baking, and most cooking project involved simple grilling so you didn't miss much.

I had told the people at my new job that I liked to bake. During my second week there was a bake sale to raise money for charity so it was the perfect opportunity to show off my skills. I decided I wanted to make something summery- so I had the idea of s'mores. I dare you to try to find someone who dislikes s'mores. They don't exist. Everyone loves them and eating them brings back memories of childhood summers. Luckily Bon Appetit had test driven this recipe for me so I only had to make a few adaptions.

S'mores Cupcakes
adapted from Bon Appetit
makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients
1 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs (about 15 whole crackers)
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup whole milk
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
one 8oz jar marshmallow creme

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 12 standard muffin cups with paper liners.

Whisk graham crumbs, flour, baking powder, and pinch of salt in medium bowl. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla with last egg. Add graham-cracker mixture in 3 additions alternately with milk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with graham-cracker mixture.

Divide batter among muffin cups Bake cupcakes until tester inserted into center come out clean, about 22 minutes. Transfer cupcakes to rack; cool completely.

While cupcakes are baking place chocolate in medium bowl. Bring cream just to boil in small saucepan; pour over chocolate. Let stand 1 minute; stir until smooth. Cool ganache until lukewarm.

Use knife to cut holes in cupcakes. Fill with ganache and replace top. Ice with marshmallow creme, and garnish as desired.

A few notes:

I actually piped my marshmallow cream on top of the cupcakes- which turned out to be a total waste of time because it ended up oozing down the sides- but I still though it looked fine. Just know that it won't act like normal frosting would.

The ganache was so simple to make. i had no idea how easy it was. I'm going to have to experiment more with ganache fillings.

The cake, while yummy, isn't your typical cake. It was very delicate and crumbly. I still enjoyed it but thought i'd give fair warning. My cupcake corer didn't work because of the consistency- so I used a small knife.

I used a mini torch to toast the marshmallows. It was my first time using it. Any recipe where you get to use a torch earns you extra awesome points.

Blood Orange Mimosa Cupcakes

Recipe Review: The prefect brunch cupcake! You'll have some leftover champagne so pour a glass and enjoy with your cupcake!

Last year I made my good friend Amber champagne cupcakes for her birthday. This year I took it one step further and made blood orange mimosa cupcakes. They use the champagne cake and buttercream recipes that I followed last year- along with a blood orange filling, and candied blood oranges for garnish.

Champagne Cupcakes
yield: 15 cupcakes

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup champagne

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a bowl cream together butter and sugar with an electric mixer (or in bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment) until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition.  Add vanilla and mix. 

In a medium sized bowl mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt, set aside. In a separate bowl whisk together champagne and sour cream (mixture will fizz and bubble). Add flour 1/3 at a time, alternating with champagne and sour cream mixture. 

Fill cupcake liners with level 1/4 cup of batter. Bake for 17-20 minutes until tops are just beginning to brown. Cool completely before frosting.

Champagne Buttercream Frosting

1 cup champagne plus one tablespoon

1 cup butter softened

2 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

Place 1 cup of champagne in a small saucepan, and simmer over medium high heat until it has reduced to 2 tablespoons. Remove from heat and allow to cool. 

Cream softened butter. Add confectioners sugar in three batches, using a medium high speed. Add in reduced champagne and additional tablespoon champagne and mix well.

printable recipes for Cake & Frosting

Blood Orange Filling

1.5 cups chopped blood oranges, with pith removed

1/4 cup blood orange juice

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

2 tbsp corn syrup

Add orange pieces, sugar and orange juice to a saucepan. Cook on medium low for 5-10 minutes until a syrupy mixture forms. 

Mix corn syrup and water together with a fork or small whisk to make a slurry. Add to the pan, and stir constantly for 5-10 minutes. The mixture will go from opaque to translucent and thicken considerably. When the mixture is thick and goopy, remove from head and allow to cool to room temperature. The mixture will continue to thicken as it cools. Can be made ahead and refrigerated overnight, if desired.

Sugared Orange Slices

2 oranges sliced thin
2 cups sugar
1 cup water

Bring a pot with 2 cups of water to a rolling boil. Thinly slice lemons, add to water and blanch for 5 minutes. Drain lemons and place in a cold water bath.

Add sugar and water to pan and stir until sugar dissolves completely. Add lemons to sugar water and bring to a gentle boil. Reduce heat to a low simmer, and cook for 1 hour.

Spray a cooling rack with non stick spray. Transfer lemons to rack to set for 24 hours. 

Blood Orange Filling and Sugared Orange Slices printable recipes

A few notes- 

I added a little bit of the filling to the frosting to turn it light pink, then piped it own using a IM wilton tip. I also melted some filling and drizzled it on top. The pictures don't really show it that well but there is also edible disco dust glitter that I got at a local baking supply store- Do it with Icing.  I used these adorable baking cups from bake it pretty that I picked up last year but haven't really known what to do with. I really liked the look and think I'm going to have to use more baking cups like these in the future!

The birthday was great. We took the ferry to Coronado Island and had lunch then walked around a little. The day started out clear- (see pic above) but then got rainy towards the end of the afternoon. It worked out perfectly for me as I sometimes secretly enjoy rainy afternoons and curling up with a cup of tea and a book. I'm currently re reading Hunger Games after seeing the movie reminded me how much I loved the books.

Thin Mint Chocolate Cupcakes

Warning- these are super duper chocolatey- so if you go into a heavenly chocolate mint coma after eating one, don't blame me. You were warned. 

 The thin mint themed recipes continue with thin mint cupcakes! You know I couldn't resist this one right?? The breakdown of what we have here is, chocolate and mint frosting, on a chocolate cupcake. I used some left over thin mint truffles and popped them in the batter- but honestly that didn't work that great. The fudge was a little too dense. If you want a surprise in the cupcakes I would suggest putting a whole cookie at the bottom of each cupcake before pouring the batter in. That's what I'm gonna do next time! If you can't get your hands on the cookies this will still replicate their classic chocolate mint flavor.

For the base I used my standby Martha one bowl chocolate cake recipe. Its an easy recipe with constant results, but what really makes it is the frosting. Also I've noticed that with this particular recipe the cake is yum day of, but the quality declines rapidly after. This is a great recipe to use for cake pops since its simple and only uses one bowl.

Thin Mint Cupcakes
adapted from- Martha Stewart
yield- 18 to 24 cupcakes

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/ 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup warm water
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
24 thin mint cookies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line pan with cupcake papers and place a cookie in each one.

Sift together cocoa powder, flour, sugar baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Add eggs, warm water, buttermilk & vinegar mixture, oil and vanilla to bowl and mix well until smooth, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the bottom of the bowl to ensure batter is well mixed.

Pour batter into muffin cups, over cookies, filling 2/3rds full. Bake until the tops spring back when pressed lightly, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely before frosting.

printable recipe

Chocolate Mint Frosting
yield- enough for 24 cupcakes. 


adapted from: allrecipies.com
yield: enough frosting for 2 dozen cupcakes

1/2 cup butter
4 oz unsweetened chocolate
4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp peppermint extract

Melt chocolate and butter in the microwave, or in the top of a double boiler. In a large bowl combine sugar vanilla and 1/2 of the milk. Blend in the chocolate mixture. Whip on medium high setting of mixer with whisk attachment. Add peppermint and remaining milk a little at a time until desired consistency is achieved.

 

The best part about this frosting is that you can make it as minty as you want. Be careful. Peppermint extract is really strong. I only used a small amount in because I really wanted the taste to be mostly chocolate with a hint of mint.

In other news... Kevin finished my thin mints. Yep. I woke up last week to find the empty sleeve sitting on the kitchen counter. He claims that he had low blood sugar in the middle of the night and they were the only thing we had. Hummph. While I guess that is sort of a pretty good excuse for eating the last 4 thin mints it still sucks. I still haven't had a chance to make thin mint brownies, so I guess those girl scouts are gonna be getting more of my money.

Thin Mint Truffles

Recipe: Decadent Dark Chocolate and Mint truffles that are a cinch to make!

Welcome to part one of my Thin Mint themed baking experiments. I'm not really sure how many follow ups there will be, but I'm already thinking of some thin mint cupcakes and brownies. Lets start off easy though with some no bake Thin Mint truffles.

These yummy treats are very similar to cake balls, but instead are made with cookies, so they are actually even simpler, and don't require your oven. I think that thin mints are perfect for this- but you can use Oreo's too. If it's not Girl Scout Cookie season, you can find Keebler grasshopper cookies year round .  

(Ummm hey Girl Scouts this box of cookies is a whole lot smaller than when I used to sell them, yet the price is the same. not so cool.)

Thin Mint Truffles
makes about 3 dozen

2 packages of thin mints
8oz cream cheese, softened
1 bag of dark chocolate melts

Dump cookies into food processor and pulse into fine crumbs. In a large bowl combine crumbs and softened cream cheese and mix until thoroughly combined. Roll into small balls and refrigerate for 15- 20 minutes.

According to package directions melt chocolate. Dip cookie balls into chocolate, transfer to a baking sheet lined with wax paper, and allow to set. If desired sprinkle any decorations on before chocolate hardens. Store in fridge for up to a week and enjoy!

printable recipe

These are seriously easy to make if you just master the dip technique. (Which admittedly took me quite a while.) I use a toothpick to dip, and then blob a little more chocolate on top to cover the hole. Sprinkles and other decorations make things cute and cover mistakes and imperfections. Another tip is you should try not to burn your first batch of chocolate. I microwaved on high rather than 50%. Super Fail.

Sidebar: It has always bothered me that truffles means both chocolate and delicious fungus. Truffle french fries and cheese are ah-ma-zing, but would be considerably less so had they been drizzled in chocolate. Turns out the chocolates are named after the fungus (can we classify it as something else? the word fungus grosses me out) because they look similar. Truffles from the ground look sorta like little chocolate lumps. 

Valentine's Day Cake Pops

Recipe Review: Sweet treats to get ready for Valentines Day! They taste as good as they look!

I have FINALLY figured out how to dip cake pops! I've had so much trouble before. Leave it to Bakerella- the cake pop guru to make a video so it suddenly seems so simple! Turns out I never melted enough chocolate and so I was having to twist the pops all over the place and that's why it wasn't working.

I had a cupcake job this weekend and had some leftover batter. I decided to tint it pink and purple and make some cake pops for valentines day! Cake pops are awesome because you can make them a few days in advance and they stay fresh and yummy. Now that I had mastered the cake pop dip, it was time to decorate. I bought conversation hearts but only a few of them actually looked good, and most of the phrases have been updated to things like "text me" and "tweet me" yuck. What happened to "Be Mine"?? I ended up crushing the heats with a rolling pin and sprinkling them onto the pops. Cute!!!

I've updated my cake pop instructions with hints that I've learned along the way.

Here we go!

1. Bake a normal sheet cake and crumble into a bowl. I like to cut off any hard corners or brown edges.

2. Add frosting. I use about 1 cup for an entire 9 x13 cake. Mix well so that frosting is evenly distributed. Its better to add it a little at a time if you are unsure about how much to add. At this point the mixture should be moist but not heavy and you should be able to easily roll into balls.

3. Roll cake/frosting mix into 1 inch balls, pop them in the fridge for 15-20 minutes. (I have even left them overnight)

4. Melt your chocolate or candy melts according to the directions on packaging.  I like to use a glass measuring cup rather than a bowl because the depth is good for dipping.

5. Press a lollipop stick about halfway through the cake ball. Remove and dip into melted chocolate then reinsert. Place upside down on baking sheet. Once you have dipped all the sticks place in fridge for 5 minutes

6. Dip entire cake ball straight down into melted chocolate. Rock slightly if needed to make sure whole surface is covered but do not twist. Remove from chocolate and gently tap sides while rotating to let any extra chocolate drip off.

7. Sprinkle with any decorations if desired, and carefully place into styrofoam or floral foam to dry.

Only one week till Valentine's Day! Now that I've got the treats and blogging done I should probably figure out what to get Kevin!

P.S. I'm pretty proud of myself for actually doing this ahead of the holiday rather than after. The only downside is that I doubt these will last until Valentine's Day so I'm sure I'll end up baking something else this weekend.

Mexican Chocolate Pecan Bars

Review: Nutty, Chocolaty, Salty and Sweet these bars are a hit!

I first tried Mexican hot chocolate at a little place in Ocean Beach called Ortega's. Its just like regular hot chocolate but with delicious spices that give it a much more complex flavor. Rather then coming in a powder, it starts in chocolate blocks that you melt with milk on the stove. When I needed a dessert to make for a Mexican themed pot luck at Kevin's office I knew I wanted to do something with Mexican Chocolate. Internet searching helped me find a Rick Bayless recipe for Mexican Chocolate Pecan Pie Bars. I'm a big fan of everything Rick Bayless so obviously I had make them.

Chocolate Pecan Pie Bars
yield: 32 2-inch bars
source: RickBayless.com

9 ounces (about 2 cups) pecan halves
One 9-ounce bag pretzel rods
4 sticks unsalted butter (divided use)
1/2 cup sugar
8 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped into pieces not larger than 1/4-inch
4.5 oz finely chopped Mexican chocolate
3 tablespoons flour
6 large eggs
1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cups dark corn syrup
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Toast the pecans and prepare the crumb crust. In a 325 degree oven, toast the pecans on a rimmed baking sheet until noticeably darker and toasty smelling, about 10 minutes. Let the pecans cool to lukewarm (but keep the oven heated), then coarsely chop them by hand into1/4 to 1/2-inch pieces. Scrape into a large bowl. Use a food processor to chop the pretzels into fairly fine crumbs. (You should have 2 cups of crumbs.) In a small saucepan over medium heat or in a microwave at 50% power, melt 2 sticks of the butter. Scrape into the processor, along with the 1/2 cup sugar. Pulse until everything is combined. Butter the bottom and sides of two 8 x 8-inch baking pans. Cut a piece of parchment to fit the bottom of each pan, then press them firmly in place. Butter the parchment paper. Divide the crumb mixture between the two pans and pat into an even layer covering the bottom completely.

Make the filling. To the pecans, add the 2 chocolates and the flour. Stir to combine, then divide evenly between the 2 pans. In your small saucepan or microwave, melt the remaining 2 sticks of the butter. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the eggs, brown sugar, corn syrup and vanilla, and beat at medium-low speed (if your mixer has a choice, use the flat beater). Slowly add the melted butter, mixing until the batter looks smooth. Divide the batter between the two pans, pouring it slowly and evenly over the surface to ensure even distribution of the chocolate and pecans through the batter.

Slide into the oven and bake for 45 to 55 minutes, until the center has just set. Let cool to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate until firm for easy cutting. Cut into 2-inch squares. Keep them stored in the refrigerator until just before serving.

original recipe link

I made a major mistake in putting these into cupcake papers. I thought that it would make it easier so I wouldn't have to cut up the bars. WRONG! It was awful, the papers stuck, and shredded when I tried to take them off, so finally I resorted to cutting them off, which unfortunately meant lots of wasted yumminess. Oh well- next time I'll make them in one large pan and cut them into bars.

The final product went over really well at the work pot luck. They didn't get touched till right at the end, but once one person tried them they got rave reviews and everyone started trying them and loved them! Actually two people asked Kevin if he had more at home that he could bring in the next day. The taste is so perfect, salty, and sweet and nutty. The taste of the Mexican Chocolate is subtle and comes out right at the end. Next time I think I'll add more of the Mexican Chocolate and less of the semi sweet. I still have a few blocks of the Mexican Chocolate left, and while I know I'll be using some of it to make hot chocolate, I'm not sure what to use the rest for. If you have any suggestions let me know!

Flower Pot Cupcakes

Recipe Review: Too cute! Almost look too good to eat- but they taste just as yummy as they look!

Last fall when I got hooked on making cupcake toppers I had visions of these cupcakes. I made the toppers, in early October, but then all the theme holidays kicked in, and there really weren't occasions where these toppers would work, plus it seemed silly to make them in the winter. Finally things calmed down and it was my friend Amanda's birthday. And oh well its not spring yet, but I was making those flower pot cupcakes!!

Basically these were incredibly easy, I made chocolate cupcakes, and then used a grass tip to pipe green frosting on top. After the frosting set I popped them into two inch terra cotta pots, and stuck a flower topper in each one. They turned out just as cute as I had hoped and I had a blast photographing them in our backyard.

Making the toppers wasn't hard, I glued paper flowers to a bamboo stick, and then used a half pearl in the centers. I got all the supplies at Michaels. If you want to save yourself some time I made an extra set and they are will be for sale on my esty site. (sometime soon I hope... I'm a little behind on that)
 

Just in case you need it here is a simple one bowl chocolate cake recipe:

One Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes
 yield: 24 cupcakes
from: Martha Stewart

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups all purpose flower

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs at room temperature

3/4 cup warm water

3/4 cup whole milk

1 tablespoon vinegar

2 tablespoons sour cream

3 tablespoons safflower oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with paper liners.

Sift together cocoa powder, flour, sugar baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Combine milk and vinegar and let sit for 5 minutes. Add eggs, warm water, milk & vinegar mixture, sour cream, oil and vanilla to bowl and mix well until smooth, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the bottom of the bowl to ensure batter is well mixed.

Pour batter into muffin cups, filling 2/3rds full. Bake until the tops spring back when pressed lightly, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely before frosting.

printable recipe

Peppermint Swirl Cupcakes

Recipe Review: Peppermint and Chocolate are the perfect combination for a Holiday treat!

Christmas is here! I've been in total holiday melt down mode ever since Thanksgiving. I had the amazing opportunity to pick up some shifts at my old job throughout November and December. The extra cash has basically made Christmas possible this year- but boy am I worn out. I can't wait till Christmas Eve when my parents get in, (and I have four whole days off from work to relax!) I haven't really had much time to spend in the kitchen, and have been eating way too many meals at the mall food court. Yuck. I can't wait till all the craziness is over and I can get back to home cooking. Christmas will be a nice break to spend time with family, and my family loves food- so I'm sure it will be filled with lots of great meals!

I did manage (I'm still not really sure how) to whip up some treats to bring in to share at work. These are one bowl chocolate cupcakes. (Even so I seem to find a way to make a huge mess in the kitchen.) The batter is too thin to really hold up chocolate chips mixed in so I sprinkle a bunch on top. I whipped up some peppermint cream cheese butter cream frosting, and swirled in some red gel color before I piped on the frosting using a closed star tip. I also sprinkled on some crushed up candy cane bits (I got them at crate & barrel since I was short on time and didn't want to make a bigger mess in the kitchen by smashing the candy canes myself)

Double Chocolate Cupcakes

adapted from Martha Stewart

yield: 18-24 cupcakes

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups all purpose flower

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs at room temperature

3/4 cup warm water

3/4 cup whole milk

1 tablespoon vinegar

2 tablespoons sour cream

3 tablespoons safflower oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups mini semi sweet morsels

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pan with paper liners.

Sift together cocoa powder, flour, suga,r baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Combine milk and vinegar and let sit for 5 minutes.* Add eggs, warm water, milk & vinegar mixture, sour cream, oil and vanilla to bowl and mix well until smooth, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the bottom of the bowl to ensure batter is well mixed. Sprinkle 1/2 of chocolate chips on top of batter. (They will naturally sink because this batter is so thin. Don't stir them or they will all fall to the bottom.)

Pour batter into cups, filling 2/3rds full. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of mini morsels on top. Bake until the tops spring back when pressed lightly, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely before frosting. This recipe tends to rise a lot so make sure to leave about 3/4 of an inch of room in your cupcake pan.

*Note: If you prefer you can skip this step by buying buttermilk

Peppermint Cream Cheese Butter Cream Frosting
yield: enough to frost 2 dozen cupcakes

8oz cream cheese softened (but not hot)
2 sticks of unsalted butter at room temp
8 cups of powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk
peppermint extract to taste


Beat the cream cheese and butter in bowl of stand mixer until light and fluffy.

Add powdered sugar a little at a time and increase speed. If mixture becomes too thick use milk to thin. Add peppermint extract 1/2 tsp at a time until desired taste is reached.

I learned from the first time making this frosting that the peppermint extract is really strong!! When I made Kevin's birthday cupcakes the peppermint scent hit you the second you walked into the kitchen. This time I was a little more careful. Also I think the cream cheese really makes a nice flavor combination with the peppermint so that its not just straight up sugar.


I doubt that I'll get another post up before the 25th so Merry Christmas! -Love Christie

Pink Velvet

Recipie Review: same great taste as red velvet but with a fun pink color

I was sorta over red velvet- I've baked them about a million times this year (Including the 6 dozen a made for a wedding- phew!) But it was requested for a friends birthday. I double checked that she liked pink- and used it as a chance experiment with gel colors. (I also got to play with fire... you'll see that pic a little later) The cupcakes weren't quite as hot pink as I would have liked, so I guess I'll keep experimenting, but they still tasted great. The red velvet recipe was a new one for me too, and I liked it much more than the one I was using before. This recipe seems a little less dense, and cake rose really nicely.

The baking supply store that I go to had some new fabulous edible glitter that I snagged. Its a little expensive but I really think that it makes the cupcakes look amazing.

Pink Velvet
adapted from Sprinklebakes.com
yield: 24 cupcakes

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tbsp liquid food coloring
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt 1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon white vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare muffin pan with paper liners.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla, mixing well after each addition. In a small condiment cup, stir together liquid food coloring and cocoa powder until smooth and then add to the butter mixture.**

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add flour to butter mixture in three additions, alternating with the buttermilk. Begin and end with flour.

In a small cup, combine baking soda and vinegar. Mixture will bubble and foam. Pour into the cake batter and mix until well incorporated.

** if you are using gel food coloring add it after the flour, a little at a time until desired color is achieved

printable recipe

How awesome is that picture? Lighting sparklers indoors is probably not one of the smartest things  I've ever done but I love the photo!!

I updated my cream cheese frosting recipe- before I was using a 2:1 cream cheese to butter ratio- I've upped the butter and it at 1:1 ratio. It has a very very mellow flavor- but the cream cheese really cuts the sticky sweetness of the powdered sugar in plain buttercream.

Cream Cheese Frosting

8oz cream cheese, softened
2 sticks butter at room temperature
6-8 cups of powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk

Combine cream cheese and butter and cream until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar a little at a time until you reach your desired consistency. If frosting is too thick add milk to thin.

Chocolate Mousse

Recipie Review: Light and airy chocolate mousse, I used it to fill cupcakes, but its great on its own.

I was hired by a friend to do cupcakes for a babyshower they were having at her work. Horay! Cupcake jobs make me happy. I found some awesome liners at Bake it Pretty (I have such a crush on that website, their stuff is the best), matched them with some blue non pareils, and we were in business! I did a home made funfetti by putting blue sprinkles into my vanilla cake, I filled the cupcakes with chocolate mousse, and topped with dark chocolate frosting. Yummmmmm! You can make your own custom funfetti by adding 1/4 cup of sprinkles to any vanilla cake recipe. You need to use the traditional sprinkles, rather than the non pareils for it to work right. It really dosen't effect the taste of your cake- just adds a fun pop of color.

 

Chocolate Mousse
yield: 8 servings
from: Ghiradelli

2 cups Heavy Whipping cream

12 oz bag semi sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup coffee, hot
4 eggs, room temperature
2 tablespoons sugar

Whip the cream until it forms light peaks, set aside in fridge.

Melt the chips a double boiler, over barely simmering water. Meanwhile whip the eggs and sugar until they are very light and fluffy, about 10 minutes.

Stir the coffee into the chocolate chips, the mixture will start to thicken. Quickly stir in the egg mixture, then fold in the whipped cream. Pour into cups and chill until firm, about two hours.

printable recipe

I had never made chocolate mousse before. It was pretty easy, especially if you have a kitchen aid mixer because it does most of the work for you. I was pretty pleased by how the cupcakes turned out! You can get the basic vanilla cake recipe that I used here, and the chocolate frosting recipe here.

Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes

Recipe Review- If you like pumpkin this is the cupcake for you.

Optional game: Take a drink for every time I say "Pumpkin" in this post. (Disclaimer: you really probably shouldn't do this. Drinking that much would be hazardous to the safety of any baked goods. Do not operate an oven while under the influence of alcohol)

Oh yea its pumpkin time. I literally just can't get enough of everything pumpkin so it wasn't good enough to make just pumpkin cupcakes- I made pumpkin cupcakes, with pumpkin pie filling, and pumpkin cream cheese frosting. That's a whole lotta pumpkin- and that's the way I like it.

I already knew I would be making pumpkin cupcakes with pumpkin frosting (super easy, you just sub some canned pumpkin for some of the wet ingredients in your recipes. I will share mine at the end of the post) but gee that just wasn't enough. I briefly debated filling them with pumpkin mousse since I had good results from the chocolate mousse filled cupcakes that I made the week before. I don't know that just didn't seem special enough. I took a page from cupcakeproject.com who used pumpkin pie filling as frosting, but instead I used it to fill the cupcakes. I had limited time to make these so I used a store bought pie and scooped the filling out. A quick turn in the mixer and my pumpkin pie filling was ready!

Pumpkin Cupcakes
adapted from "I like You: Hospitality Under the Influence" by Amy Sedaris 
yield: 24 cupcakes

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup pumpkin

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease or line a cupcake pan with paper liners.

In a large bowl cream together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add vanilla, salt, and baking powder. Add flour in three batches, alternating with the milk. Add pumpkin and mix until batter is smooth with no lumps, but do not over beat. 

Divide batter evenly among cups, and bake for 18- 20 minutes or until tops are just golden and toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool on rack to room temperature before frosting.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting
from: cupcakeproject.com
yield: frosts 24 cupcakes and then some

8oz cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup pumpkin
1 tsp vanilla
6 cups powdered sugar

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in pumpkin and vanilla.

Mix in powdered sugar a little at a time, gradually increasing speed until desired consistency is reached.

printable recipe 

I brought these to a pumpkin carving party that a friend hosted and they were quickly gobbled up! We carved pumpkins and then toasted the seeds and ate all sorts of pumpkin treats. Here are our jack-o-lanterns!

Happy Halloween Everyone!


PS-Just in case you were playing- you should have drank 22 times. I hope you weren't doing shots. 

Brownie Stuffed Cookies

Recipe Review: woah. 

When I saw these on Bakerella I seriously had a small heart attack. How simple and genius and I had never seen it before. Why on earth haven't people been stuffing cookies all along?

Bakerella called these "pillow cookies" and made them jumbo sized. I did this at first, and while they tasted AMAZING I didn't like that they were oversized, and they didn't look aesthetically pleasing. I played around with different batches and different ways to combine the brownies and cookie dough before coming up with something that I liked.

Eventually I devised a way to make the cookies just about normal sized, with a bite of brownie in the middle. In person the cookies have noticable bump in the middle so you can tell that there is something in them- for whatever reason the photo doesn't relaly represent that, so I just wanted to warn you ahead of time that it's normal!

How to make brownie stuffed cookies

1. Bake some brownies.

• I used fudge brownie mix- not really sure what kind, whatever was on sale. Use your favorite! You don't want the brownies to be too thick so be sure to bake them in an 13x9 pan. Be sure not to overbake them- they're gonna go in the oven again with the cookies, so if they are on the slightly underdone side its ok.

2. Make your cookie dough.

• I've been baking chocolate chip cookies using the recipie on the back of the Nestle chocolate chip morsels bag since I was a kid. I never change it. My tips however are to let your butter soften to room temperature rather than microwaving it. The butter's temperature and consistancy makes a big difference in how the cookies turn out. Also bake the cookies on parchment paper, and always start with a cool baking pan or the cookies will spread too much and turn out thin.

3. Assemble cookie/brownie stacks.

• Use a 1inch circle cookie cutter to cut out brownie circles. Scoop cookie dough into balls using a dough scoop.  Pinch a little bit of dough into a pea sized ball. Squish the brownie down a little to compress, but don't flatten completely. Stack ball of cookie dough directly on top, smoosh the cookie dough down on to brownie to get it to stick. You'll want the cookie to be directly on top because if it is off center the ball of dough will fall off in the oven. Flatten the pea sized dough and use it to stick the brownie to the sheet. 

4. Bake according to your cookie recipe, cool, and enjoy!

Nautical Cupcakes

It's A Boy!

Last weekend I made some baby shower cupcakes for a friend of a friend. It had a nautical theme, and she found the cutest little cupcake toppers on etsy. I used my go to vanilla cupcake recipe- along with a two toned vanilla butter cream and a strawberry filling. I tinted the frosting with Wilton Cornflower Blue Icing color. The baking cups I ordered off Bake it Pretty- my guilty pleasure baking supply website. 

Vanilla Cupcakes
adapted from "I like You: Hospitality Under the Influence" by Amy Sedaris
Makes 24 cupcakes

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease or line a cupcake pan with paper liners

in a large bowl cream together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add vanilla, salt, and baking powder.

Add flour in three batches, alternating with the milk. Add sour cream with last milk addition. Mix until batter is smooth with no lumps, but do not over beat.

Divide batter evenly among cups, and bake for 18- 20 minutes or until tops are just golden and toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool on rack to room temperature before frosting.

printable recipe

I just started a new job and now I have weekends free!! Basically I will have less time for blogging (which I used to do from the old job in my downtime) but more time for weekend cooking projects and cupcake jobs. I'm excited to be trying something new and hope that it'll work out to be more of a career. I wish my career was cupcakes and crafts all day long. (But hey at least that can be my weekends!)

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Peppermint Frosting

Recipe Review: Rich dark chocolate cupcakes with peppermint buttercream frosting.

About a month ago Kevin woke me up in the middle of the night (not exaggerating- this happened somewhere between 1am and 3am). Obviously this must have been for something really important right? No... It was to tell me that he wanted me to make dark chocolate cupcakes with peppermint frosting "Like a peppermint patty- but a cupcake." Awesomeeee- Can I go back to sleep now? He has mentioned these dream cupcakes multiple times since then, so I knew I had to make them for his birthday.

Last year I made Kevin birthday cupcakes themed for the Hartford Whalers- his favorite hockey team (that now is no longer). It was one of my early attempts at artful cupcakes, and they were cute... but not really professional looking. This year I knew I wanted to do a better job, so I made Whalers themed  cupcake toppers.

**TIME OUT**

A note on cupcake toppers- I wish I could tell you that I have crafting superpowers, and that's why these turned out so well, but- Holy crap these were easy to make! And I even impressed myself with how well they turned out. People thought that they were store bought. Loveeee when that happens, its an awesome compliment. I followed these instructions from a tutorial on CakeJournal.com. A couple lolly pop sticks, paper punches and a little glue gunning and I had custom Whalers cupcake toppers!

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes
adapted from allrecipes.com
yeild: about 30-32 cupcakes

2 cups boiling water
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 3/4 cups all purpose flower
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter at room temperature
2 1/4 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups dark chocolate morsels
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In small saucepan on stove boil water. Remove from heat and add cocoa, whisking until smooth. Set aside to cool.

Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs, one at at time, mixing well after each addition. Add the flour mixture, alternating with the cocoa mixture, beating on medium low until batter is fully combined. Fold in chocolate morsels.

Bake for 18-20 minutes in cupcake pan lined with baking cups. Allow to cool before frosting.

printable recipe

For the buttercream icing I just subbed peppermint extract instead of vanilla, adding it a little bit at a time till I got the right taste. Make sure you buy peppermint extract, not just mint extract which is a mix of peppermint and spearmint so it basically tastes like toothpaste.

Raspberry Cheesecake Brownies

Recipe Review- make ordinary brownies extrodinary with rapsberry cheesecake topping!

Whattt??? A baked goods post that isn't about cupcakes?? Yep- I actually make other desserts too! I hadn't planned this as a blog, but I made some brownies that got rave reviews so I thought I'd share. I think I need to be up front and say that this is not a from scratch recipe. (gasp!) I needed to make gluten free brownies, and if you've even seen gluten free reciepes they are incredibly intimidating. I've never done any gluten free baking so I decided to play it safe and go with a mix- but I doctored it up a bit.

I chose the Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Brownie mix from Henry's. (I guess is going to be called Sprout's soon, but the sign still says Henry's for now.) After searching online I subbed the melted butter for vegetable oil, and the water for milk. The instructions suggested adding in mini chocolate chips, so I threw in some of those too. I also made a cheesecake topping with raspberry swirls. This could be added on top of any brownie recipe to change it up a little. I loved it! 

Raspberry Cheesecake Topping for Brownies

yield: enough topping for an 8x8 inch pan

8oz of cream cheese at room temperature

1 egg

1/3 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup raspberry preserves

In a medium bowl beat cream cheese, sugar, egg, and vanilla until smooth. Pour on top of uncooked brownies and smooth with a spatula for even distribution.  Drop dollops of raspberry preserves onto cheesecake mixture and swirl with a knife. Bake according to brownie recipe. 

How to make pretty swirly patterns: Drop dollops of raspberry jam onto the surface of the cheesecake. Using a rubber spatula or knife draw parallel lines across the surface of the cheesecake. Next cross those lines, alternating the direction each time to make pretty swirls. Don't mess with it too much or it will all blend together.

I used a round cookie cutter to cut the brownies, which made them look super cute, but wasted a bunch of brownie. Obviously I couldn't let something that yummy go to waste- so I had to eat the scraps!

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

Recipe Review- The perfect summer cupcake- tastes just like a glass of pink lemonade.

I've taken a break from cupcakes lately. It's summer and with that comes a million social obligations and the calendar fills up fast. Also its the busiest season for my job so I've been putting in some extra hours. To top it all off we don't have air conditioning- its usually not too bad, but turn the oven on and it gets HOT. Well it had been about a month and I got the cupcake itch again. My good friend Liz was leaving her job to go back to school, so I decided to make some cupcakes to help her celebrate. I needed a summer-ey cupcake, that was refreshing and bright. Whats more summer than Lemonade! Specifically Pink Lemondae, just so I could make the cupcakes super pretty and girly for Liz.

After referencing various blogs online I deciding on adding powdered lemonade mix to my go to vanilla cupcake recipe. The result? Cupcakes that tasted exactly like lemondae! They were sweet with a little sour zing at the end. Really refreshing.

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

adapted from Vanilla Cupcakes by Amy Sedaris

yield: 24 cupcakes

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature

1 3/4 cups sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

2 1/2 cups flour

1 cup milk 

2 packets of Pink Lemonade flavor "On The Go" Crystal Light

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease or line a cupcake pan with paper liners.

In a large bowl cream together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add salt, and baking powder.

Add Crystal Light to the milk and stir until combined. Add flour in three batches, alternating with the milk mixture. Mix until batter is smooth with no lumps, but do not over beat.

Divide batter evenly among cups, and bake for 18- 20 minutes or until tops are just golden and toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool on rack to room temperature before frosting.

printable recipe

I frosted with a basic butter cream, and added another packet of crystal light to it. The frosting really absorbed the lemonade flavor so be careful and add it a little at a time. The cake batter tasted too sour before baking, but it mellowed a bunch so don't worry about that. I added a little bit of pink Wilton Gel Color to both the frosting and the batter, to give it a better pink color. I piped the frosting on with a closed star tip,  and then topped with some gummy candy that I got a local candy store.

So pretty! Love it :-)

P.S. feeling lazy? A bunch of the recipes that I referenced online were adding the crystal light to a boxed vanilla cake mix. I made them from scratch but I thought that I'd throw the info out there.  

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake Balls

All your cake and frosting in one little bite- Yum! Plus- Starting to Simmer's first giveaway!

Guess what- I'm alive and blogging again! Earlier this month I was really freaking busy abducted by aliens so I couldn't blog. I'm back with some cake balls for everyone. Cake balls and I have a bit of a love/hate relationship going on right now. I love the idea of them. Compact and cute, very portable, and more durable with a longer lifespan than cupcakes. Ok that was the love part. I hate dipping the little suckers! I cannot figure out how to do it right. The chocolate was really too thick to pour (I tried) and without making up a huge vat, it would be tough to actually completely submerge them in chocolate, and I would hate to waste chocolate! The best method I could come up with was to dip half the ball, and let it harden, then flip, and dip the other half. Simple right? No. This involved much swearing and the kitchen looked like some sort of chocolate grenade had gone off inside it. It also caused me to stay up much later than intended. So I need help. Does anyone have tips for dipping cake balls?? At the point its just such a labor intensive process that its not something I would do regularly. If I found a better way to do it I would be much happier and much more inclined make more cake balls!

The first step to making cake balls is to make your cake, icing, and filling. Once you have all the components ready you can start making the cake balls. In addition to the cake, frosting, and filling you will need candy or chocolate melts to dip the cake balls in, so be sure to pick up a few bags of those. You can use any cake and frosting combo, and you don't have to fill them if you don't want. I used chocolate cake, chocolate frosting and a peanut butter filling. I dipped some of the balls in chocolate and some in peanut butter candy  melts. 

One Bowl Chocolate Cake
adapted from: allrecipes.com
yield: one 13x9 cake

2 cups white sugar
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 13x9 inch cake pan.

In a large bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the eggs, milk oil and vanilla. Mix for 2 minutes on medium speed of mixer. Stir in the boiling water. Batter will be very thin. Pour into cake pan

Bake for 30 - 35 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and allow to cool completely.

printable recipe

Chocolate Fudge Frosting

adapted from: allrecipies.com

yield: enough frosting for one cake

1/2 cup butter

4 oz  unsweetened chocolate

4 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup milk

Melt chocolate and butter in the microwave, or in the top of a double boiler. In a large bowl combine sugar vanilla and 1/2 cup of the milk. Blend in the chocolate mixture. Whip on medium high setting of mixer with whisk attachment.  Add remaining milk a little at a time until desired consistency is achieved.

printable recipe

Peanut Butter Filling

adapted from joyofbaking.com

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 tablespoon butter at room temp

1 pinch salt

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 - 1 cup powdered sugar

Place the peanut butter, butter and salt in a microwaveable bowl. Heat for about 1 minute, stirring every 20 seconds until warm and soft, but not hot. Stir in the vanilla extract and powdered sugar and mix until it has reached the consistency of cookie dough, adding more sugar if necessary.

printable recipe

Cake Ball assembly instructions

Ok now that you have all the cake ball elements its assembly time. Break the cake into large pieces and pulse in a food processor to make crumbs. Transfer to a mixing bowl. Add frosting one scoop at a time, mixing until the dough will hold together.(Kneading with clean hands may be helpful.) Keep testing by trying to make a ball, if its crumbly you need more frosting. At this point you can form the cake/frosting dough into 1 inch balls. If you want filled cake balls use your knuckle to press a dent into the ball. (Don't be shy, you want the dent to go down half way into the cake) Take a pinch of the peanut butter and roll it into a ball the size of a marble. Push the peanut butter ball into the dent and pinch the cake closed over it. Assemble all cake balls and pop into the fridge to chill for at least 10 minutes.

While cake balls are chilling melt chocolate, following the instructions on the bag. Remove cake balls from fridge, and dip one side into the chocolate. Let set in fridge for about 5 minutes. Dip other side in chocolate using a small spatula to fill in any gaps. Add any sprinkles or decorations while the chocolate is still soft.

I've done a little research on my problem with dipping the cake balls. People suggest adding vegetable oil or shortening, but caution that it can cause the chocolate to taste funny, or not set up. So I'm stuck. I really hope people have some suggestions!! The good thing was even though they were a bit frustrating to make, these tasted great! I was afraid when I was baking the cake since the batter was so so thin, but it tasted great. This frosting was much more fudgy and decadent than cocoa based chocolate buttercreams. I'm completely in favor of using melted chocolate in frosting instead of cocoa powder now. To get the chocolate drizzle on top of the cake balls I melted a contrasting color of chocolate, and put it in a frosting bag, snipped off the end and then drizzled across the cake balls. Another tip is that you can skip the cake all together and just dip the peanut butter filling if you want!

***CAKE BALL GIVEAWAY***

I was inspired by the comment from Galexi Cupcakes and have decided to do an impromptu giveaway!

Here's how it works:

1. Leave a comment on this post

2. "Like" Starting to Simmer on facebook (use the link on the right side of the blog)

Next Monday August 1st a winner will be randomly selected and I will send them some Cake Balls!

To participate you must live in the continental USA. One entry per person. Only comments left before 11:59pm 7/31/11 will be entered in the drawing. Family members who I have already mailed cake balls to are ineligible. Make sure to leave a link to your blog, or a way for me to get in contact with you if you win!