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.

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. 

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.

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.  

Red Hott Cupcakes!

Recipe Review: Red Hots Cupcakes. Are you ready to rock?? These cupcakes are!

Some of our good friends play in an 80's cover band called Hott Thing. They describe their music as "80's rock decadence". I was commissioned to make some rocking cupcakes for their  band members birthday. At first I was a bit stumped as to how I was going to make cupcakes that would fit the occasion, but then I came up the the idea of doing a cupcake with pieces of red hots candy in them. Red Hots for Hott Thing- Perfect!! There weren't many recipes online, a few involved adding red pepper and cinnamon to cupcakes, but I wanted that lovely sugary sweet but spicy flavor from Red Hots candy. Also I wasn't digging the effort it would take to melt down the candies into a syrup. What I decided to do was just to put Red Hots into the cupcake batter, and hope for the best. I used a basic vanilla cake recipe, smashed up Red Hots and threw them into the batter. The candy melted and made lovely little bursts of cinnamon spiciness when you took a bite.

Red Hott Cupcakes
adapted from recipe 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

1 cup red hots candy, crushed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare a cupcake pan with paper liners.

In a large bowl cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition. Add vanilla, salt, and baking powder.

Add flour in three batches, alternating with the milk & sour cream. Mix until batter is smooth with no lumps, but do not over beat. Fold in crushed red hots.

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

The best way that I found to crush the red hots was to put them in a plastic bag and to smash them with a rolling pin. You have to use a thick plastic bag (like a freezer one) so the bag doesn't bust apart. The candy still ends up ripping though a little bit but its manageable. I tried putting them in a mini food processor that I have but that smashed them too much and they ended up a powder.

**PS: Ok So I've been assuming that everyone knows what I'm talking about when I talk about Red Hots) I'm talking about these:

You should be able to find them at any grocery store. I used one box and had enough candy for the cupcakes and extra to decorate the frosting with. 

OH and in case you were wondering... 

This is  Hott Thing!

***EXCITING NEWS*** I am now taking orders for cupcakes!! If you live in the San Diego area and would like me to bake cupcakes for your next event please check out my Cupcake Portfolio !!

Red Velvet 4th of July Cupcakes

Recipe Review: Red Velvet cupcakes that are really red, and instructions for 2 tone icing

My first batch of these turned out flat as a pancake. No worries I used them to make delicious cake pops but this is what I learned. I actually sifted together the flour and salt. (Something I hate doing... its so tedious) I added an extra pinch of baking soda, threw in the baking soda and vinegar mix right away and was careful every step of the way not to over mix. Also I hadn't really given any thought to the fact that the bottom rack of my oven had a sheet of aluminum foil on it to catch drips from something a roommate had made earlier in the week. Doing this alters the heat circulation of the oven. (According to Reynolds Wrap's website overtime it could actually melt away and damage the oven, or catch fire from grease, so if you use the foil to catch drips it should be thrown out after each use.) In general these cupcakes have a very delicate composition and if you even look at them wrong they go flat. So be gentle with them, and try not to open the oven door while baking.

I've posted this recipe before (its the same one that I used for the wedding cupcakes I made earlier this month) but I thought I'd throw it up again. Its crazy how different cupcake wrappers, a little food coloring, and different icing tips turn the same exact recipe into two completely unique cupcakes. A tip is that if you want superrrr red cupcakes (like these) add an extra dab of Wilton red gel icing color when you are mixing the food color and cocoa powder. Also If you don't have cider vinegar you can sub plain white vinegar instead.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

adapted from Sprinkle Bakes

yield: 24 cupcakes

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp salt

2 cups of sugar

1 cup butter softened

2 eggs, room temperature

1 tbsp cocoa powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 tbsps liquid red food color

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 tsp plus one pinch baking soda

1 tbsp cider vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare pan with cupcake liners.

Sift flour and salt together. Set aside. In large bowl combine butter and sugar and beat on medium until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition. In a small bowl mix together the red food coloring, cocoa powder and vanilla until a paste forms. Add the food coloring mixture to the butter mixture and blend until color is evening distributed. Add the flour mixture to the bowl 1/3 at a time, alternating with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour.

In a small bowl stir together the baking soda and vinegar. This will start to foam up and should be added to the batter immediately. Blend on medium high speed until the batter is consistent. Do not over blend. Spoon 1/4 cup of batter into each cup. Bake for 25 minutes until a tooth pick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Icing

1 8oz package of cream cheese

1 cup butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

4 cups powdered sugar

For Icing: Cream together butter, cream cheese and vanilla. Gradually add in 4 cups of powdered sugar. Increase speed to medium high and beat until frosting has a soft fluffy consistency. (If frosting is too heavy add milk 1 tablespoon at a time while beating until desired consistency is reached.)

printable recipe

Want awesomely impressive two tone icing? First divide your icing in half and tint to desired shades. (I use Wilton Icing colors, they are super concentrated so you can get bold colors without thinning the icing). Next scoop each color of icing into individual bags (no tips attached). Use about half the amount of frosting you normally would, and try to distribute it evenly, so the bag isn't too fat in the bottom. Next prep an empty decorating bag with your desired frosting tip. (I used a Wilton closed star tip for these cupcakes) Snip the ends off the frosting bags about half an inch from the bottom, and put them both into the empty bag prepared with the tip. Twist the top of the bag closed and pipe onto cupcakes!

Ok so I have to admit, I made these cupcakes for Memorial Day and posted later. I don't know how other bloggers do it, posting holiday themed stuff in advance. Do they make everything a second time day of? When I'm doing food for a holiday I want to enjoy it that day- not a week before! I baked these in red cupcake liners from Michael's. For decorations I used firework cupcake picks that I got at Michael's as well. The cupcakes turned out bright and bold and really decorated the table. (I wish I had a picture of the table but my memory card corrupted and I lost a lot of pictures. boooo) Anyways happy 4th of July. I hope everyone enjoys their weekend!!

Lemon Cupcakes

Recipe Review: Lemon cupcakes are sweet and refreshing, with a little zing- The perfect summer cupcake!

I have cupcake fever! I love it!!! I know this blog is becoming a little cupcake centric, but I've been getting a lot of requests for cupcakes, so that’s how it goes. My good friend just moved back into the area and threw a little combo housewarming/ birthday party. She asked me to make her some lemon cupcakes.  I had made lemon cupcakes for the first time earlier this year- I adjusted the recipe a little and this time I completely nailed it.

Wedding Cupcakes

Recipe Review: Red Velvet takes a walk down the aisle 

This weekend I had my very first paid cupcake gig! And an ambitious one at that. My good friends little sister was getting married on a budget and so I was comissioned to bake 13 dozen (aka 156) red velvet cupcakes for the occasion. I have to admit I was incredibly nervous about this. I had never baked anything close to that volume before. It took a few test batches to get the recipe and color just right. The morning of I set out to buy massive quantities of butter, eggs, sugar, cream cheese, and red food coloring. Since there was butter in both the frosting and the cupcakes I needed 32 sticks. I wheeled my crazy cart full of baking supplies to the check out, headed to my friends house (bigger oven), unpacked my KitchenAid and it was time to get baking.

Just in case you are curious, it takes approximately 10 hours to bake, frost, decorate, box, and clean up after the incredible mess making this many cupcakes creates. About half way through I was starting to loose a little steam and get stressed out. Luckily my friends dad came home about half way through the process and urged me to start drinking wine.

While these cupcakes taste amazing I would caution that this recipe is incredibly fincky. To date I have made it 10 times. (Twice for practice, 8 times day of) The first batch I made didn't rise at all. This happened again with one random batch in the middle of baking. A few batches rose too much and turned out having oversized tops. I had read a recipe tip that if you are baking two pans of cupcakes at once you should switch their positions half way though. I think thats a really bad idea. It lets a ton of heat out of the oven and might have contributed to the batch that didn't rise enough. If anyone has any tips on how to get the cupcakes to be consistant I would love to know. Overall I think the project was a success, but for now i'm going to stick to to smaller orders from now on. I can handle a few batches on my own, but I need back up help for this volume.

Red Velvet Cupcakes
adapted from Sprinkle Bakes
yield: 24 cupcakes

2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2 cups of sugar
1 cup butter softened
2 eggs, room temperature
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tbsps liquid red food color
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp plus one pinch baking soda
1 tbsp cider vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare pan with cupcake liners.

Sift flour and salt together. Set aside. In large bowl combine butter and sugar and beat on medium until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition. In a small bowl mix together the red food coloring, cocoa powder and vanilla until a paste forms. Add the food coloring mixture to the butter mixture and blend until color is evening distributed. Add the flour mixture to the bowl 1/3 at a time, alternating with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour.

In a small bowl stir together the baking soda and vinegar. This will start to foam up and should be added to the batter immediately. Blend on medium high speed until the batter is consistent. Do not over blend. Spoon 1/4 cup of batter into each cup. Bake for 25 minutes until a tooth pick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

1 8oz package of cream cheese
1 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 cups powdered sugar

Cream together butter, cream cheese and vanilla. Gradually add in 4 cups of powdered sugar. Increase speed to medium high and beat until frosting has a soft fluffy consistency. (If frosting is too heavy add milk 1 tablespoon at a time while beating until desired consistency is reached.)

 
printable recipe

Congratulations to the lovely bride and groom!! I hope you and your guests enjoyed the cupcakes. Thank you for letting me be a part of your wedding- it was a pleasure baking for such lovely people.

Blue Velvet Cupcakes

Recipe Review: OMG BLUE CUPCAKES! and they taste yummy too

I needed to test a red velvet recipe for some cupcakes that i'll be doing next month, and my friends birthday was this week so it was perfect timing. Well except for the fact that my friend is a guy- and red velvet cupcakes aren't really that manly. The solution- Blue Velvet Cupcakes! Ever since I stumbled upon the recipe foron Sprinkles Bakes I have been dying to try making them. I was a bit dubious- Are they really going to turn out that color? Were the colors of the photos on the blog tweaked? I had baked Blackberry Cupcakes this year an while the batter was an amazing purple color it changed a lot while baking. I went into this not really knowing what to expect. The recipe is the same as the traditional red velvet except it uses blue food coloring instead of red. The cupcakes turned out a dark denim blue on the outside and a brighter blue once you bit into them. I was very pleased with the results.

Double Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

Recipe Review: Chocolate and Peanut Butter- the perfect combination. 

I had been planning on making cupcakes for Easter every since I got into cupcake decorating. There were so many cute ideas, I wanted to make them all and I couldn't decide. Also I couldn't figure out what flavor to try and make. I started out trying to make the plastic Easter egg cupcakes featured in Whats New Cupcake. What you're supposed to do is coat the inside of plastic eggs with melting candy to make a candy egg that looks like a plastic egg. That was a great big fail. The chocolate stuck in the egg and wouldn't come out without breaking even though I had followed the directions to a T. Realizing this was just going to stress me out I scrapped that idea and moved on to the much simpler birds nest cupcakes. Although its Easter and that lends itself to light fruit flavors I decided to try a chocolate cupcake since I hadn't done one yet.

Champagne Cupcakes

Recipe Review: Light and airy Champagne Cupcakes with Champagne Buttercream Frosting are the perfect treat for a special occasion. 

March seems to be the month for birthdays- including my best friend Amber's. Amber is a really amazing person and a really great friend to me, so when I volunteered to make cupcakes for her birthday party I knew that they had to be something spectacular. Since we were celebrating a birthday I thought it would only fitting to make Champagne Cupcakes. I found an amazing recipe on SprinkleBakes and was so excited to try it out.

Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Recipe Review: Classic Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting and a hidden pudding center.

It was a rainy day and since I had conquered traditional buttercream last week I decided to take on chocolate buttercream frosting. I've been doing lots of new things with cupcakes and baking from scratch, and while its been really fun and the results have been incredibly encouraging, when I make something and its not perfect, I get pouty. I also get really stressed from not knowing how a recipe will work the first time that I make it, so I decided to test this one out ahead of time. This is how I ended up baking cupcakes for no reason on a Monday (Kevin and his co-workers got to reap the benefits of this little project).

Blackberry Cupcakes

Recipe Review: Fresh Blackberry puree paints basic vanilla cupcakes pretty purple! 

My friend Ashley's birthday was yesterday so I thought it would be a perfect time to make some cupcakes (now that I know how easy it is to make them from scratch!) and give buttercream another shot (last time it had good taste, but poor texture) I had originally wanted to make peach cupcakes but there were no ripe peaches at the store so I did a last minute switch up to blackberry. I loved how the blackberries turned the cupcakes bright purple- and they were still pretty after baking.