Cherry Coke Cupcakes

We had a dessert pot luck at work this past Friday.  It seemed like a good idea, IN THEORY!  I’m so glad someone brought some fruit.  Normally I’m all like “EW FRUIT!”, but when you have tables of sweets it’s nice to be able to offset that with a strawberry or two. I of course made cupcakes.

I came across this recipe for Coca-Cola cupcakes with Salted Peanut Butter Frosting on pinterest a couple weeks ago and felt inspired.  I’d never thought of a pop flavoured cupcake before and the thought of doing a cherry coke cupcake seemed like the perfect fit for an end of summer sweet snackfest so I sought out what looked like a decent cherry buttercream icing recipe and some adorable cupcake liners and was all set.

Those liners are too adorable

I followed the instructions exactly for the cupcake base of the Coca-Cola cupcakes with the following exceptions:

• After 5 minutes of baking I took them out of the oven to add a dollop of cherry pie filling to the top of each one.
• I put them back in to bake for another 10 minutes (I find the cook time for cupcakes usually a lot longer than they need to be and you wind up with a super dry cupcake).  They came out perfectly moist and delicious!

I followed the cherry buttercream icing recipe exactly except instead of adding milk I just added more maraschino cherry juice.

“I normally hate cupcakes, but your’s always taste amazing” – Our Director of IT

The Chocolate Chocolate Vanilla Cupcakes

Haley’s 4th birthday cupcakes: chocolate with Hershey’s kiss centers and vanilla buttercream frosting in fun cotton candy colours with classic rainbow round sprinkles and teeny forest creatures who love you. WARNING: THESE WILL MAKE YOU FAT!

Last week I asked Haley what kind of cupcakes she wanted and this is what she said:

“Uuuuuuum” she placed a thoughtful finger on her chin “I want vanilla, no chocolate, CHOCOLATE with purple icing, no PINK. YA!”  and then she jumped around all crazy like.  So, she got purple pink and blue chocolate chocolate cupcakes.  See what I did there?  Her indecisiveness made these even crazier than necessary!

I think they turned out really pretty.  I’ve definitely gotten a lot more comfortable with the piping bag that’s for sure.  I found this time around that listening to great music while you bake makes your baking MUCH better!  That, and finding little tips to make your life easier for things like filling a piping bag, or not cleaning stuff out until absolutely necessary.

I used the Martha’s One Bowl Chocolate Cupcake recipe for the cake base but cooked them for 5 minutes, pulled them out and inserted Hershey’s kiss chocolates into the centre, then popped them back into the oven to bake for an additional 10 minutes.  The recipe says to bake for 20 minutes, but I found that 15 minutes was enough and the cake was nice and moist, which anyone who bakes cupcakes knows is usually not the case.  I was really pleased with the texture this time. I’ve found for a lot of baking recipes the bake time is much longer than it needs to be and the end product is a lot dryer then I like it.  Here is my playlist for baking cupcakes:

Now, onto the frosting.  For the frosting I used the Billy’s Vanilla Buttercream recipe which is one of those frostings that’s always going to turn out amazing.  Here is my frosting playlist:

For colouring the frosting I used just red and blue food colouring from the grocery store.  I’m not really a fan of food colouring, mostly just because of the mess and I’m accident prone.  This time was no different!  I dropped the blue on the floor with the cap off and it got all over my skirt 😦

I started with filling a bowl and mixing in the red for pink icing.  I popped on a large star tip on my piping bag, placed it inside a vase and folded down the edges, then filled it with a spatula.  I did it again for the purple by mixing the red and blue together, and then did a batch of blue.  I didn’t clean out anything as I went, I had a couple cupcakes that had two colours on it which looked great.

I obviously liked the blue ones best, something about blue and brown together appeals to me.

I have WAY too many cupcakes left though, someone come help me eat them!!!

French Toast Maple Bacon Cupcakes

I got my first official cupcake order from my best friend, it still counts right? She wanted some cupcakes for her boyfriends birthday. He doesn’t like chocolate so we decided on “french toast maple bacon cupcakes” cause bacon is manly right? I made enough for a batch of 12 plus 12 mini’s which I brought to work to entice co-workers with. The Office Manager had to have her arm twisted into eating one and then proceeded to have a foodgasam!

I think they turned out pretty good, the only thing I wasn’t happy with is the lame liners I had. I think I’m going to try to score some unbleached liners somewhere. You can’t really go wrong with the basics.

The Internet is rife with this recipe but I found that I had to scour around for a perfect mix of cake, icing and garnish for me to be happy with it. Anyways, on with the recipe!!

French Toast Cupcakes (from Life is Better With Cake!)

3/4 cup unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups cake flour, sifted
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk, at room temperature
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
3 large eggs, at room temperature, separated

Directions:

Place a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees F. Line a muffin pan with paper liners.
Combine the butter and sugar and mix on low until just incorporated. Raise the speed to high and mix until light and fluffy, about 10 minutes. (Occasionally scrape the sides down with a spatula)
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Set aside. In a small bowl, whisk together the milk and vanilla, and also set aside.
Add the egg yolks to the creamed butter one at a time, waiting for each one to be fully incorporated before adding the next.
Reduce the speed of the mixer to low, Alternately, add the flour mixture in 3 additions and the milk in 2 additions, waiting for each to be fully incorporated before adding the next (scrape the bowl down occasionally). raise the speed to medium and mix briefly until a smooth batter is formed. Transfer the batter to a large bowl.
Clean the bowl of the mixer and put the egg whites inside. Whip the egg whites in high speed, using the whisk attachment, until stiff peaks are formed.
Working in 3 batches, using a rubber spatula, fold the egg whites into the batter, until just incorporated. Fill the liners 3/4 full. Bake, rotating the pan once, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, approximately 30 minutes.
Remove the cupcakes from the oven and cool completely.

I didn’t do the 3 batch fold in thing, i just did it all in one shot. I doubt it made much of a difference.

Maple Frosting (taken from Country Living)

1 cup unsalted butter (softened)
3 ounces cream cheese (softened)
2/3 cups dark-brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup maple syrup
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup confectioners’ sugar

Directions:

Beat the butter, cream cheese, brown sugar, and salt in a medum bowl with a mixer set on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
contine beating, and add the maple syrup and vanilla.
Gradually add the confectioner’s sugar, increase the speed to high, and beat until light and fluffy, about 1 minute.
Chill for 1 hour before using

Using 3/4 tsp of vanilla is bull shit! I’ve never seen a 3/4 tsp, just use a whole tsp. More vanilla has never been a bad thing. Chilling icing for an hour is also bull shit, just keep adding icing sugar till you get a consitency you can work with, I think I added another 2 cups. I also used demerara sugar and found it a really nice substitution for regular brown sugar, it gave the icing a really nice colour and a little bit of crunch.

Candied Bacon (taken from Closet Cooking)

1 lb thick cut bacon
1/2 cup brown sugar (or maple syrup)

Directions:

line a baking sheet with foil and set a cooling rack in it
Spread the bacon out over the cooling rack
rub the brown sugar onto the bacon
bake in a preheated 350F oven until the bacon reaches the desired crispness, about 15-20 minutes
Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes and then enjoy

There are a lot of different, harder ways to make candied bacon. This was the simplest one I could find that seems pretty much idiot proof, which is perfect for me (I am a total klutz so I could just see me starting a grease fire doing it any other way). I dredged the bacon in demerara sugar before putting it on the rack to ensure both sides were coated. Baked it and then cut it into 2 inch strips which I then curled into cone shapes, put them between the rack grates and cooked for a bit longer.

The peanut butter banana cupcake

The peanut butter banana cupcake started out as a muffin but it looked so cold and naked that I had to clothe it with icing. What goes better with bananas then peanut butter? NOTHING, that’s what!! Sorry if you have a peanut allergy, or an aversion to bananas (OMG penor fruit!) but you’re missing out!

Banana Muffin

1 cup butter
2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsp mayo
6 very ripe bananas, mashed
3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350F. Line muffin tins.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter & sugar until light and fluffy.
Stir the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the mayo & bananas. Stir together the flour, salt, baking powder & baking soda.
Blend the flour mixture into the banana mixture. Stir just enough to evenly combine.
Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcakes come out clean, about 16 minutes.

Peanut Butter Buttercream Icing

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup peanut butter
3 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp milk or cream

Cream peanut butter and butter together
Add in powdered sugar and mix on high for about 1 minute
add vanilla, mix again
add the milk or cream and mix on high for about 3 minutes

The Raspberry Cupcake

So I made some raspberry cupcakes to use up the rest of the marshmallow icing from the S’mores cupcake recipe. I found a good vanilla cupcake recipe at 52 Cupcakes and just adjusted it. Adjustments are in PINK

Billy’s Vanilla Cupcakes Makes about 30 cupcakes

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups cake flour, not self-rising
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
4 large eggs
1 cup whole milk (I used 1% milk)
1 single serving cup of raspberry yogurt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup of frozen raspberries

1. Preheat oven to 325°. Line cupcake pans with paper liners; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt; mix on low speed until combined. Add butter, mixing until just coated with flour. I don’t have a mixer with a paddle attachment (boo hoo!) so I sifted the dry ingredients and than tossed them in my Braun mixer.

2. In a large glass measuring cup, whisk together eggs, milk, and vanilla and raspberry yogurt. With mixer on medium speed, add wet ingredients in 3 parts, scraping down sides of bowl before each addition; beat until ingredients are incorporated but do not over beat. Add the frozen raspberries.

3. Divide batter evenly among liners, filling about two-thirds full. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 17 to 20 minutes. I ended up baking them for 25 minutes. I’m also lucky enough to have a convection oven so rotating wasn’t necessary.

4. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat process with remaining batter. Once cupcakes have cooled, use a small offset spatula to frost tops of each cupcake. Decorate with sprinkles, if desired. Serve at room temperature. I just piped icing onto them with the good ole Glad bag and garnished them with a fresh raspberry.

TAAA DAAAA!!

The S’mores Cupcake (attempt 2)

I’m transferring all of my posts worth keeping off of my old blog and I’m going to close it.  Starting fresh here 😀

This was my second S’mores cupcake attempt (the first try was a horrible failure, so bad I can’t even acknowledge it!). I found one that looked perfect at Sew Darn Cute ages ago, and decided to give it a try.

Check them out, I think they turned out really pretty! The neighbors thought I bought them.

Martha Stewart’s One Bowl Chocolate Cupcake

Ingredients
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 pure vanilla extract

Sift dry ingredients into a large bowl. Mix in wet ingredients. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Let the cupcakes cool completely before icing them. (Makes 2 dozen)

Marshmallow Icing

Ingredients
1/2 lb. (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
16 oz. tub of marshmallow cream

Cream the butter on high until it’s light and fluffy. Add the confectioner’s sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, and beat until fluffy each time. Beat in the vanilla until incorporated. Then dump in the Fluff and mix it up ’til it’s all creamy. Transfer to pastry bag (if desired) and pipe onto cupcakes! (You can also cut the corner off a Ziploc bag and use that instead, which is totally what I did!)

Garnish with Graham Cracker crumbs and a Hershey chocolate.

I halved the amount of butter and sugar found in the original recipe for the icing cause it didn’t taste marshmallowy enough for me and it was FAR too much icing for only 20 cupcakes. Of course you could always go with Sew Darn Cute’s original icing recipe, but a pound of butter just seems a tad too much don’t cha think?

Another S’mores cupcake recipe that looks great, but a lot more work can be found at chockylit’s blog.  Maybe for another day.

Choclate Cherry Cupcakes

I made Martha’s One Bowl Chocolate Cupcake, filled them each with a dab of cherry pie filling and frosted them with chocolate icing.

The sweet, sweet innards

Martha Stewart’s One Bowl Chocolate Cupcake
Ingredients
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 salt2 large eggs
3/4 cup warm water
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Sift dry ingredients into a large bowl. Mix in wet ingredients. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Let the cupcakes cool completely before icing them. (Makes 2 dozen)

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients
1 stick (1/2 cup) of butter
1/2 cup cocoa (I used “red cocoa” for this that I got at my local bulkfood store, if you can get some of this I really recommend trying it out!)
4 cups confectioners sugar
1/4 cup milk

Beat butter on high for about 30 seconds until soft.

Add cocoa & 1 cup of sugar. Beat till incorporated.

Add half of the milk & remainder of sugar. Beat till incorporated.

Continue to add milk till you get the consistency you want. (I added it all and got a really wonderfully creamy frosting)

Adding the sweet, sweet innards

Once your cupcakes have cooled use a small serrated knife to cut out a funnel shaped piece of cake from the top. Don’t cut all the way to the edge, leave a bit of room so that the seam will be covered by the icing once the cakes are done. cut the cone part of the funnel off the cake you cut out. Spoon a small amount of pie filling (or jam or Nutella or whatever…) into the hole you made and place the top back on pressing it so a little of the filling comes out of the seam (I found this was the best way to keep the top on). Let your unfrosted/filled cupcakes rest for awhile to kinda let the seam dry so the tops stay on firmly. Frost and you’re done!