Inspiration for these came from the 2010 Donna Hay Magazine kid’s issue.  Yes, I’ve had these cupcakes in my head for over one year!  Finally the opportunity came to make them for myself.

I did not use Donna Hay’s cake and frosting recipes.  I will never use a Donna Hay recipe for cakes or frostings as in the past I have repeatedly had issues and failures with them.  The recipes I used for my cupcakes were ones that I love and know will turn out properly and delicious.  The chocolate cupcakes are vegan, and the vanilla buttercream, while not vegan, is my favorite vanilla frosting recipe.  The recipes are below, although feel free to use your own favorite flavor combination.

A quick note about the vegan chocolate cupcakes: these cupcakes are very soft and moist and delicious. They are my favorite cupcake to bake. But I repeat, they are very soft and do fall apart easily. They would not be suitable for a heavy layer of frosting or lots of decorations.

Decorating these is extremely simple.  Use Smarties or M&M’s to place around the outside edges of the cupcakes (I used Smarties, but M&M’s would be smaller and probably would look slightly better).  The “alien” inside is a Starburst Sucks lollipop, in apple flavor.  I had to trim the plastic lollipop stick to fit down into the cupcake.  Finally, top the “alien” off with a tiny shot glass-sized clear plastic cup.  Be sure to also use foil cupcake liners for the full UFO effect!

We placed two candles on our favorite UFO and our little guy blew them out!  Happy Birthday!

These UFO cupcakes would be a hit at any children’s party and being so easy to decorate, anyone at all could do it!  If you make them for yourself or someone else, please share a photo with me – I’d love to see them!

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Last week, Ghermez Cupcakes had a Facebook contest for followers to guess their new cupcake flavor.  The first three followers to name the correct flavor would win one dozen free cupcakes each – in the regular size, not the minis.  This contest was perfect for me.  About three days later, after hundreds of cupcake flavors had been named, it was announced that I was one of the three followers to have named the correct flavor!  YAY!

What was the new flavor?  Mango!  I hadn’t yet heard of a mango cupcake, but this one sounded delicious.  Mango cake, mango puree filling and mango frosting.  Mango lovers, rejoice!

I took my daughter and one of my sons (the other son was at preschool) to the City to collect our free cupcakes.  I also gave my two children a small sightseeing tour of Sydney by walking up Martin Place; watching someone read the news at the Channel 7 TV studios; drooling outside the Lindt Cafe (we didn’t go inside because we were already getting a dozen cupcakes, so didn’t need more sweets!); gazing at the fountain in Hyde Park, which was displaying a huge rainbow in the sprays of water; walking down the tree-lined footpath in Hyde Park; marveling at the beauty of St Mary’s Cathedral, where we were going to go inside, but couldn’t as there was a funeral at that particular time.  On the way back to the train station, we collected our free cupcakes.

Okay, so we ate two of them on the way home!  Here are the flavors, from top left: Chocolate Mud Cake with Dark Chocolate Buttercream and Chocolate Sprinkles, Marshmallow Filled Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Buttercream Icing, Fresh Strawberry Cake with Strawberry Icing, Mango Cake with Mango Puree Filling and Mango Buttercream, Pistachio & Rose Water Cake with White Chocolate Buttercream, Dark Chocolate Cake with Rose Flavoured Chocolate Filling and Chocolate Ganache, Vanilla Cake with Vanilla Buttercream Icing, Red Velvet Chocolate Cake with Coconut Cream Cheese Icing (sorry, this one isn’t pictured because we already ate it before we got home!), Caramel Cake with a Caramel (Dulce de Leche) Layer on top (sorry, this one isn’t pictured either because we ate this one first before we got home!), Vanilla Cake with Milk Chocolate Buttercream Icing, Espresso Cake with Coffee Flavoured Buttercream Icing, White Chocolate Cake with White Chocolate Icing.

Oh, where to start?  First of all, I’ll say that the ladies serving us in the cupcake shop were so friendly and cheerful!  They even gave us a sample of their new brownie and blondie.  Their brownie is made from Belgian dark chocolate with cherries and walnuts – this was out-of-this-world delicious!  The blondie was a pistachio and sour cherry one, and I wasn’t really keen on this one.  It was okay, I thought, but I’d much rather devour a pan of the brownies!  I might try to replicate them myself soon!

On to the cupcakes, there wasn’t any doubt that my daughter and I both wanted the dulce de leche cupcake first.  I wanted it all to myself, but had to share with her, of course!  Oh wow, there is pure dulce de leche on top.  This cupcake was simply to die for and is up there on my most-favorite-ever cupcakes.

The next one we tried was the red velvet and I was really pleased because previously I had tried this in a mini version (read my review on their mini cupcakes – link at the top of this post) and was not happy at all.  It ended up being my least favorite mini cupcake.  But the regular-sized version was delicious.  The cake was crumbly and soft and beautifully red.

The new mango cupcake was a very different experience – as I said, I’ve never heard of a mango cupcake before!  The mango flavor is very soft and delicate, it’s really lovely.  The mango puree filling was delicious.

I was saving the rose chocolate one for one of the last ones because I’d thought I’d really enjoy that one.  I loved it!  The whole cupcake is chocolate, filled with a rose-flavored chocolate ganache.  You don’t smell rose, or taste rose, until you bite right into the center of that ganache.  It’s not a sickly rose flavor either, it’s just right and delicate.

Which reminds me to say that both on my previous visit and this visit, I got a chocolate mud cupcake.  Both times, I have smelled/tasted the faint hint of rose in this cupcake.  There isn’t supposed to be rose in it.  I figured the first time that it must be because it was sitting next to the pistachio & rose cupcake, but the other cupcakes sitting next to the pistachio & rose didn’t taste or smell like rose.  But this is the second time that has happened.  It doesn’t matter, it just seems a little strange.

One of the cupcakes I was really looking forward to was the espresso one.  I expected a strong hit of coffee, but I was slightly disappointed that the strong hit just wasn’t there.  It didn’t taste much like coffee, actually.  There was a very subtle coffee hint though, and the espresso bean on top was delicious, it just didn’t deliver what I wanted in an espresso cupcake.

All the cupcakes were delicious in their own way.  With the minis, I thought they were on the dry side, as is common with mini cupcakes due to their size, so I wasn’t exactly blown away on my first visit.  I’ve done a complete 360 with Ghermez’s regular-sized cupcakes though.  The cakes were moist and had the perfect crumb, in my opinion.  They were not light and airy, but more firm without being dense.  The vanilla cake was delicious – I’d love to have the recipe for it!

Thank you for the free cupcakes, Ghermez Cupcakes!

Again, as with my last review, I totally recommend Ghermez Cupcakes if you need a cupcake fix.  They even serve coffees and have sweet little knee-height tables to have a cupcake and coffee over.  The staff are friendly and will be delighted, I’m sure, to look after you.

If you’ve been to Ghermez Cupcakes, please share your experience in the comments; I’d love to hear what you thought!

I knew these cupcakes would specifically be for children, so I wanted to make something very cute and child-friendly.  Rainbow cupcakes would be perfect!  I don’t mean those cakes that are packed full of food coloring to create some psychedelic rainbow-like patterns, as I’m not a huge fan of those.  No, what I mean is….

A real rainbow cupcake!   This is a classic chocolate cake and vanilla buttercream combo.  I used my favorite chocolate cupcake recipe, which happens to be vegan, and is chocolaty, moist and fluffy.  The vanilla buttercream was, of course, tinted with a touch of food coloring (except for the clouds).  The rainbow part is a sour fruit rainbow strap.

The process to create this cute look is super easy, you don’t even need to have any knowledge of cake decorating.  In fact, you don’t even need to bake cupcakes from scratch – use a boxed mix if you prefer.  While you’re at it, you can even use a tub of pre-made frosting.  The only things you’ll need extra are blue food coloring, a small piping bag or Ziploc bag, and rainbow fruit staps.

The recipes for the chocolate cupcakes and vanilla buttercream can be found by clicking on the respective links, which will take you to previous posts from my blog – the recipes will make 12 cupcakes.  For instructions on putting together the rainbow cupcakes, keep reading!

Now really, the process of putting these cupcakes together is pretty self-explanatory.  After making the frosting, take out about 1/3 cup of it; this will form the clouds.  Set it aside.  For the rest of the frosting, drop in a few drops of blue food coloring and mix really well.  The color you end up with entirely depends on you – if you’re after pastel, only add a few drops; if you want a dark blue sky, add more drops.  Take the blue frosting and spread it on top of the cooled cupcakes.

Spoon the remaining white frosting into a pastry bag or Ziploc bag, snip off a small part of the tip or corner (or use a small-ish pastry tip), then pipe out a cloud-like wisp of frosting on either side of the cupcake.

Finally, take the rainbow straps and chop them in half if they are longer straps, bend into a rainbow shape, line up the ends of the rainbow with the clouds and firmly, but gently, push the ends down into the blue frosting.  Easy!

When I came back to school that day to collect my daughter and bring her home, the ladies told me that my cupcakes were the first to sell out!  Hooray!  I hope my little donation will help with the fundraiser.

If you’re after ideas for something to do on a rainy day or a super easy last-minute idea for a child’s birthday party, I totally recommend trying out these rainbow cupcakes.  They are sure to be a huge hit with the kids!

I took my daughter back there over the weekend – a trip into the city just for cupcakes!  The straight lines of the design inside Ghermez Cupcakes, paired with a delicious shade of red, give this shop a very modern and sexy appearance.  It’s quite beautiful, actually!

The guy behind the counter was really friendly and welcoming – it seems that friendly staff is hard to come by these days, so I was really appreciative of this.

The display case offered a tempting display of flavors, including their brand new blueberry cupcake, which is made with fresh blueberries both in the cake and the white chocolate frosting.  Most of the cupcakes have a little decoration on top in the shape of the lowercase letter “G”.

On offer were mini cupcakes ($2.20) and regular cupcakes ($3.80).  After a good look at all the beautiful cupcakes on display, my daughter and I chose one dozen mini cupcakes – one of each flavor they had!

Aren’t they gorgeous!  Starting from the top left, we have a Carrot and Walnut Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Icing, Blueberry Cake with Blueberry and White Chocolate Buttercream Icing, Pistachio and Rose Water Cake with White Chocolate Buttercream, Sticky Date with Caramel Icing, Chocolate Mud Cake with Dark Chocolate Buttercream and Chocolate Sprinkles, Vanilla Cake with Vanilla Buttercream Icing, Fresh Banana Cake with Chocolate Buttercream Icing, Lemon Cake with Lemon Frosting, Red Velvet Chocolate Cake with Coconut Cream Cheese Icing, Fresh Strawberry Cake with Strawberry Icing, Vanilla Cake with Milk Chocolate Buttercream Icing, and Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Buttercream Icing and Marshmallow Topping.

We couldn’t resist eating a few on the train home!

My daughter basically loved each mini cupcake she ate, but I did have my favorites of the dozen.  First off all, I will reluctantly admit that the cakes were slightly drier than I expected/liked.  However, they still tasted fabulous!  My favorites were the blueberry, sticky date, chocolate mud, carrot cake, lemon, and strawberry ones.  My least favorite was the red velvet one…. I think because the frosting was too cream cheesy for my tastes, and I’m not a huge fan of cream cheese.

We had five cupcakes leftover on the next day, so I took the opportunity to get some nice photographs of them with my new cupcake stands by Hello Hanna that I bought from Mon Tresor.

The wooden utensils, ribbon and doily is also from Mon Tresor.  I think that the cupcakes were slightly more moist and flavorful on the next day, to be honest.  It sounds strange, but they really were!  The frosting was a bit more dry, but I didn’t mind much.  The cupcakes above were the ones we had remaining on the next day.  The lemon one at the very top of the photo was accidentally dropped back into the box, which is why the frosting’s a bit messed up!

I would definitely recommend stopping by Ghermez Cupcakes if you find yourself near one of their three shops around Sydney.  They have different flavors each day of the week (you can see their weekly flavor chart on their website), including a dulce de leche one, which I just have to have!

Note that these pictures were not taken with my new camera – I made these before it arrived!

I’m proud to say that they turned out wonderful!  Here is what this cupcake is made up of:

• A Devil’s food chocolate cake made with Droste Dutch-processed cocoa powder and that has had 1/4 cup (plus a touch more) of the flour replaced with finely ground pistachios.
• A filling of homemade Lindt milk chocolate pistachio truffles.
• A chocolate olive oil mousse frosting that is made from 50% Lindt chocolate and 70% Lindt chocolate.
• A topping of chopped pistachios and leftover finely ground pistachios.

These cupcakes are not over-the-top sweet, despite how it looks with all of that chocolate!  The big hit of sweetness comes from the milk chocolate in the truffle filling.  However, most of the sweetness is hidden with that chocolate olive oil mousse (recipe is below).  The mousse frosting is actually a real mousse that you’re supposed to spoon into glasses to serve, but I thought it’d be great as a frosting.  This mousse is delicious and is definitely an adult version of chocolate mousse, so don’t waste it on the kids!

The milk chocolate pistachio truffles are so easy to make (recipe is below), and delicious on their own as well as for the filling in these cupcakes.  I know I could have just filled the cakes with ganache, but I really wanted a truffle.  I at first planned on putting the truffle inside the batter before baking, to see if the truffles would end up like the center of a molten cake.  I changed my mind at the very last minute though, and waited until the baked cupcakes were cooled before stuffing in the truffle.

If you do want a molten cake-like texture with ganache-filled cupcakes though, here’s a hint.  Refrigerate the cupcakes until everything – the cake, filling and frosting – is firm (4-6 hours, or overnight is best).  When you’re ready for a delicious treat, place the cold cupcake straight from the refrigerator into the microwave and turn it on for around 10-14 seconds (if you have really soft frosting, like mousse, go for the shorter time).  When you take out the cupcake and cut into it, the ganache filling should ooze out like it does in a molten cake.  I’ve done that with quite a few of my cupcakes!

The cake recipe is from Martha Stewart.  1/4 cup of the flour was replaced with finely ground pistachios.  This is one of my favorite chocolate cake recipes as it’s very chocolatey, and although it is a firm cake that holds up well for fillings and heavier frostings, it is still very moist and soft.  The recipe is below.

And there you have it, the cupcake I would have entered into my own cupcake challenge – the quadruple chocolate pistachio cupcakes!

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It inspired me.  I had to make my own tiramisu.  Well, I decided to just make a little foray into the world of tiramisu first and make a batch of tiramisu cupcakes, recipe courtesy of who else but Martha Stewart.

The cake recipe is a little more time-consuming that your average cake recipe.  It isn’t tricky, it’s just that there are a few more steps involved.  It is totally worth it in the end though.  Don’t try to substitute an average cake recipe; definitely use this one to experience a more tiramisu-like flavor.

After the cakes come out of the oven, you’ll need to prick them all over their tops with a fork and then drizzle over a coffee-Marsala syrup.  This is easy – just stir together freshly brewed coffee, Marsala and sugar.  As I planned on letting my children sample these, I omitted the Marsala altogether and it still tasted wonderful.

The frosting is super easy as well.  It’s just a mix of heavy cream, mascarpone and confectioners’ sugar.  This tastes lovely and I could have just eaten the whole bowl full of it rather than frost the cupcakes with it!  The frosting is dusted with cocoa powder and decorated with chocolate shavings.

While this isn’t a classic tiramisu (as classic tiramisu is not a cupcake!) this can pretty much hit the spot for any tiramisu craving you may have.  I definitely recommend these and I would definitely make them again.  The recipe can be found on the Martha Stewart website and in Martha’s Cupcakes book.

I took two days to make these – the cakes and ganache filling on Christmas Eve, and the frosting on Christmas morning while the kids were occupied playing with their new toys.

The cakes are definitely as fudgey as Our Best Bites says they are.  In fact, they are very similar in taste to a fudgey brownie.  I was very pleased with the cake recipe and will most likely be using it again in other creations.  Although Our Best Bites says the recipe will make 12 cupcakes, I only got 10.

I did not use the ganache recipe provided from Our Best Bites, but instead I used my own favorite recipe and added peppermint extract to it.  I ended up adding about 3/4-1 teaspoon of peppermint extract, and I noted that the peppermint taste seemed to be stronger after the ganache had cooled.

My only problem with these cupcakes was the frosting.  I had never made a cooked frosting before (unless you count Swiss meringue buttercream), so I wasn’t feeling overly confident as I only had enough ingredients and time for one batch of frosting.  It looked easy enough to make however.  Everything went along smoothly until about the end of the mixing time.  The recipe says that the mixture will at first look curdled and separated, but will eventually, after 7-8 minutes, all come together in a silky, smooth frosting.  I mixed with my whisk on my KitchenAid stand mixer, but after 8 minutes, it still looked a little separated.  I didn’t have a lot of time to keep mixing, so I tasted it, and it tasted just fine, and it looked as if it would pipe just fine, so I went ahead and piped it onto the cupcakes.  The end result is what you see in the photo above – you can see it isn’t smooth and silky!

I did try to swirl some red into the frosting, but I couldn’t find red gel food coloring, so I used liquid and I’ll just say that it didn’t work as well as the gel would have!

I have to say that I’m not a big fan of peppermint cupcakes in general, but these tasted quite nice.  However, I absolutely loved the leftovers – after storing them in the refrigerator, I stuck them in the microwave for about 12 seconds.  When I cut into the cupcake with a fork, I was surprised to see the ganache oozing out, just like a lava cake!  It was delicious and was actually a perfect match for a cup of coffee – almost like a peppermint mocha!

When it comes to the frosting, if I were to make these again, I’d probably make peppermint Swiss meringue buttercream to accompany these, instead of the frosting I used here.

You can find the recipe, as well as step-by-step photos, for these cupcakes at Our Best Bites!

In October 2009 there were two cupcake challenges that I participated in.  One was Iron Cupcake: Earth, where the theme was “music”; the other was Cupcake Hero, where the theme was “Halloween/pumpkin”.  I wanted to compete in both.  I also had a package of zombie hands and spiders cupcake toppers that I had ordered from Bake It Pretty.  Hm, how to put them to good use while coming up with an idea for both competitions….

This scary zombie cupcake was thus born.  I entered it into Iron Cupcake: Earth, and the song I chose to go with it was one of the best all-time songs ever, Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”.  It was perfect!  I entered it into Cupcake Hero as well.  It wasn’t very popular in the voting polls, but that’s okay because since posting it on my blog, this cupcake has received thousands of more views than any other recipe I’ve posted.  I’m surprised to see that this year, my zombie hand cupcake is once again the most popular recipe on my blog so far in October.  It was even listed in the St Louis River Front Times in the Best Twelve Halloween-Themed Cupcakes (at #9) on October 12, 2010.

Click here to view the original post with  more pictures and details.  To sum it up, the zombie hand cupcake is made up of a chocolate pumpkin cupcake filled with pumpkin buttercream.  It is frosted in a mound of chocolate frosting which is completely coated with finely crushed Oreos.  The “tombstone” is one half of an Oreo Fudgee cookie.

Okay, so that cupcake took care of my zombie hands, but I still had the spiders to use…

These are one of THE best cupcakes I have EVER had the pleasure of eating and making.  These little cuppies blew my mind.  The inspiration for the combination of flavors came from looking at one simple recipe for a caramel pumpkin pie.  A little later, I turned that idea into these pumpkin dulce de leche cupcakes.  They start with a pumpkin cupcake that is filled with dulce de leche.  They are frosted with dulce de leche buttercream and the spiderweb design is simply melted chocolate with a smidgen of shortening mixed in.  The spiders looked great on them.  And I entered these into Cupcake Hero as well, which won me a place in the throwdown with Samantha of Sweet Remedy – we ended up tying for first place!

I just can’t express in words how delicious these were, you just have to make them for yourself!

Now back in October of 2010, I still have the zombie hands and spiders, but I haven’t made any Halloween cupcakes this year.  I’m not even sure if I will at all.  Halloween isn’t so big in Australia, and making Autumn-themed food is a little out of season, as it is Spring here!  But, while I haven’t been inspired to make a Halloween cupcake, I was inspired to make an Autumn one.  I grew up in Indiana, I’ve spent a huge majority of my life there, so this time of year is naturally Autumn to me.  I wanted to make a contribution to Autumn-themed food in the Northern Hemisphere, even though I’m not there to enjoy the beautiful red, orange and yellow trees, the pumpkin pies and festivals…

So I bring you a little pumpkin cupcake with white chocolate frosting, drizzled in caramel sauce and topped off with a shard of walnut praline.  It’s the first cupcake picture I’ve ever taken outside.  It’s sort of a contrast in a way, to me, with this Autumn-themed cupcake, sitting on bright green grass.  Autumn should be chilly, the deciduous vegetation should be turning brown, but here in Sydney, it is Spring, and whatever was dormant over the Winter is now coming back to life in brilliant shades of green.  Beautiful, yes, but it’s completely backwards to me.  It’s something I will never get used to.

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He doesn’t like pureed food.  I believe it’s because he has to be spoon-fed to eat it properly, and when he sees his older sister and brother eating with their fingers or a fork or spoon, he wants to eat like they are.  After all, spoon-feeding is for babies!

Recently I went shopping for bigger clothes for Miles with my mother-in-law and bought him a couple of outfits.  You’d think that he could just wear clothes that his 3-year-old brother had grown out of, but don’t forget that we moved to the Southern Hemisphere – the summery clothes that fit his older brother when he was 1 year old will not do in winter Down Under!  Our seasons are completely opposite and this has been a little annoying, as we’ve had to basically buy all new clothing for the baby.  Ah well, it’s not all bad though – shopping for baby clothes is so fun (and terribly addicting)!

For Miles’ first birthday celebration I planned on making a simple batch of colorful cupcakes.  I decided on chocolate-on-chocolate cupcakes with mini rainbow chocolate chip decorations.

The chocolate cake is vegan.  No, we haven’t turned vegan, or even vegetarian.  When I saw these cupcakes at Sweet Tooth I thought they looked so incredibly soft and moist that I wanted to make them straight away.  The cupcakes have no eggs and no butter in them; instead they use coconut milk and canola oil, plus a touch of almond meal.  They sounded fabulous, and they tasted amazing.  They had the most lovely soft texture and the moistness factor was extreme.  I’m seriously considering using this recipe as my go-to chocolate cupcakes.

What I also love about these cupcakes is that they stay soft when refrigerated.  The butter in cupcakes usually make them too firm when eaten straight from the refrigerator, but these vegan cupcakes, with no butter, stayed soft  (okay, well, they firmed up slightly) and tasted great straight out of the refrigerator.

And something else I love about these cupcakes – you don’t have to wait for your butter, eggs and milk to come up to room temperature to begin this recipe. You can grab the ingredients from your pantry and get straight to work.

The frosting on these cupcakes is chocolate cream cheese frosting (not vegan).  It was only so-so.  The recipe is from Martha Stewart and is simply a combination of melted chocolate, cream cheese and confectioners’ sugar.  I won’t be making it again.  I’m not really big on cream cheese, which is possibly why I didn’t like this frosting.

With the cake being so soft and the frosting being so smooth, the crunch of the rainbow chocolate chips was a welcome addition.  And they made these cupcakes very colorful!

My final word – I wholeheartedly recommend making these cupcakes (just the cake part, not the frosting!) no matter if you’re vegan, vegetarian, omnivore or even carnivore!  If you love soft-textured and moist chocolate cakes, this recipe is definitely for you.

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes
Adapted from Sweet Tooth and Love & Olive Oil
Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients
1 cup coconut milk
1/3 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons almond meal
1/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk together, by hand, the coconut milk, sugar, oil, and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, almond meal, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. With the mixer on low-speed, slowly add the dry ingredients to the coconut milk mixture until it is uniform and smooth (do not overmix).

Pour batter in liners, filling cups no more than 2/3 full (3 tablespoons of batter). Bake 18-20 inutes, or until cake tester comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Peanut butter cupcakes with white chocolate frosting and a sprinkling of white chocolate shavings!  I have to say that the peanut butter flavor really overpowers the white chocolate frosting, even though the frosting really does taste like white chocolate.  It still tastes pretty darn good though!

A note about the frosting – make it as soon as you’re ready to eat it.  It starts out nice and white, but after it sits for a few hours, it starts to turn yellowish.

And finally, keep a glass of cold milk nearby because just like straight peanut butter, these cupcakes stick to the roof of your mouth!

Peanut Butter Cupcakes
Adapted from I Heart Cuppycakes
Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients
1 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter, room temp
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk

Method
Preheat oven to 350F. Line muffin tin cupcs with paper cupcake liners

Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl and set aside

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter, peanut butter and brown sugar until smoothly blended and lightened in color, about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing. Mix in egg. Add vanilla and beat for 1 minute or until batter smooth.

On low speed, add the flour mixture in 3 additions and the milk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture and mixing until the flour is incorporated and the batter looks smooth.

Fill each liner with a generous 1/4 cup of batter, to about 1/3 inch below the top of the liner. Bake just until the tops feel firm and are lightly browned and a toothpic inserted in the center comes out clean, about 22 minutes. There will be cracks on the top. Cool cupcakes for 10 minutes in the pan on wire rack.

White Chocolate Buttercream
Adapted from BBC Good Food
Makes enough for 12 cupcakes

Ingredients
100g white chocolate
140g unsalted butter
140g icing sugar

Method
Melt the chocolate over a double boiler, stirring often. Leave to cool. Beat the butter and icing sugar in a large bowl until creamy. Beat in the chocolate. Use immediately.