Posts tagged ‘Cupcakes’

Feb 24

Banana Cupcakes With Caramel Buttercream

The first cupcakes I decided to try from February 2009′s issue of Martha Stewart Living were the banana cupcakes with caramel buttercream.

And they are really yummy! The cupcakes: they ended up more muffin-like in texture than I expected; they are soft and moist; they did not rise much while baking; they have an extreme banana taste; they don’t need frosting on them, they taste amazing. The frosting: was a little bit daunting, seeing as how there are so many steps, but was actually quite easy as I went along; is actually a caramel Swiss meringue buttercream; is best prepared with a stand mixer; tastes beautiful.

Just a tip for the buttercream… the directions say to make the caramel first. I had read on the comments section of the recipe that the caramel becomes hard by the time you add it to the buttercream, which is the very last step. Of course you want the caramel to be cool, but you also don’t want to hard bits of caramel in your frosting. What I did was stir the caramel occasionally as I went through the steps and kept it near, but not on, the burner I had cooked it on, to keep it a little bit runnier. It was quite cool by the time I added it to the buttercream, but chunks of caramel still formed in the buttercream. This was basically solved by just beating with the mixer at a speed higher and beating for a little bit longer, although there were still a few caramel chunks. Personally, I don’t mind them, however – this caramel is simply dreamy!

And one other tip – the more caramel buttercream you put on the cupcakes, the better! The banana and caramel combination is a lovely taste.

Recipes at marthastewart.com – banana cupcakes and caramel buttercream.

Feb 5

2 Comments

Happy World Nutella Day

As if you didn’t already know, today is World Nutella Day. I suggest you start celebrating and eat some Nutella! We have!

That is my 3 1/2-year-old daughter enjoying this once-in-a-blue-moon treat straight from the jar.

I also want to point everyone in the direction of my Nutella recipes here at The Sweetest Kitchen; namely my peanut butter & Nutella swirl cookies:

my Nutella coffee frosting:

and my Nutella cupcake that was worthy enough to be posted on Cupcakes Take The Cake:

So what are you waiting for? Go celebrate World Nutella Day!

See Ms Adventures In Italy, Bleeding Espresso and World Nutella Day for more information.

Jan 19

4 Comments

Crumb Cupcakes

To be honest, I haven’t really been craving sweet stuff lately. This is another reason that posting here has been slow over the past month. I found out on Christmas morning that I’m pregnant with our third child; I had the first ultrasound this past Thursday and I am currently 9 weeks along. The due date is August 23, and I think baby #3 will be a girl!

Anyway, I have been craving savory stuff, rather than sweets. When it comes to cupcakes at the moment, frosting makes me feel queasy. Remembering a few recipes in the book Cupcakes! that do not use frosting, I decided to try one out today and they really hit the spot.

Crumb cupcakes! They remind me of those Hostess crumb cakes, although this particular cupcake has a much crunchier top. While I used the recipe for the crumbs, I could not use the recipe for the yellow cake because I did not have all the listed ingredients. To substitute, I chose Bakerella’s moist yellow cake recipe, and it did live up to its name! It’s a great yellow cake, one that I will now use time and time again when I need a yellow cake. Very soft, very moist.

I don’t have two cupcake pans, so I used leftover cake batter and crumbs in a loaf pan to bake at the same time as the cupcakes, so I ended up with a little crumb loaf.

I sliced an end off and stuck it on top so you could see how beautiful that yellow cake is.

I don’t feel comfortable posting the recipe for these cupcakes (except of course for linking to Bakerella’s yellow cake recipe) because it came from a cookbook, and while apparently it is not illegal to post the actual recipe, I would just rather not. Go grab the book if you’re interested, or I’m sure you can find another similiar crumb cupcake recipe by searching online.

Update next day: These crumb cupcakes are fantastic reheated in the microwave for breakfast! I would definitely make these again, but next time I will not put crumbs on the bottom of the cupcakes; the crumbs are crunchier on the bottom than on the top, and I personally don’t like that crunch. I’ll just put extra crumbs on top!

I’m not sure how things are going to be, cupcake-wise, for a while, since I’d much rather eat an entire bag of something like sour cream & onion potato chips, but I’ll try to update with cupcakes a bit more than what I have, even if I have to pawn them off to neighbors!

For anyone wondering about my Iron Cupcake: Earth prizes, I haven’t yet received them all. Once I receive everything I’ll post pictures of them in one big post.

Dec 29

Chocolate Cupcakes With Instant Pudding Frosting

It’s been a while since I made a great cupcake, with the exception of the gingerbread cupcakes I made for Christmas – I made gingerbread cupcakes, frosted them with Bakerella’s buttercream (with a dash of salt added), and topped them all with a mini gingerbread man from Martha Stewart’s gingerbread cookie recipe. They tasted great.

But the chocolate ones I made for Christmas, like so many of my previous batches of cupcakes in the past weeks, were flat, short, tasteless and sort of rubbery-like. It’s really been a huge disappointment; even the red velvet cupcakes I made for my husband’s work were flat, short and rubbery.

I think the reason I have been baking cupcakes like this is that my baking powder expired 3 months ago. I only found this out within the past few days, and I encourage everyone to take note of their baking powder expiry dates! I did do a test by putting a teaspoon of baking powder in some tepid water, and it did fizz, hinting that it is still active, but I really think that it is not. There’s no other explanation to my recent string of cupcake failures.

Well, I still have no new baking powder, but I needed to bake cupcakes today because there are no other sweets in the house! I chose the chocolate mayonnaise cupcake, which uses baking soda, not powder. They rose just fine, have a nice soft texture and are very chocolatey. This is my second time baking this cupcake.

I intended on making blueberry frosting for these cupcakes, but realized that I was about 1.5 cups short of confectioners’ sugar. I did have French vanilla instant pudding, however, and knew I could make frosting out of this:

Instant Pudding Frosting

1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup milk
1 package Jello instant pudding, any flavor

Pour all ingredients into a mixing bowl and mix with whisk attachment on high speed until the frosting is thick and spreadable.

It won’t be pipeable, though. It’s airy and light and will thicken somewhat after a time in the refrigerator. Be sure to keep any cupcakes frosted with this frosting in the refrigerator.

I know, it’s a strange combination – mayonnaise, chocolate and French vanilla pudding, but as I have done before, I assure you that you cannot taste the mayonnaise in the cupcakes.

The matching liner and frosting was a total fluke, by the way.

Dec 29

3 Comments

Amy Sedaris Vanilla Cupcakes

In my search for a perfect vanilla cupcake recipe, I realized I haven’t yet tried Amy Sedaris’ vanilla cupcakes. I baked up a batch before Christmas, with Bakerella’s favorite buttercream.

I did like Amy Sedaris’ recipe, and would use it again for my next batch of vanilla cupcakes. However, the addition of Bakerella’s favorite buttercream made it too sweet; next time I would add a dash of salt to her buttercream recipe.

Nov 30

Chocolate & Coconut Cupcakes

Today I took six more cupcakes out of the freezer from the box cake mix that I made last week. I made the vanilla frosting from this recipe (but divided the recipe in half) and coated the frosting with sweetened shredded coconut.

And of course a bright red maraschino cherry sits on top. Once again, you can use any chocolate cupcake recipe to make these cupcakes, and also any vanilla frosting. It might even be a good idea to replace the milk in the vanilla frosting with coconut milk for extra coconut flavor.

Nov 24

4 Comments

Chocolate & PB Cupcakes

I will start this particular post by noting that I am not of those cakers who vehemently abhor box cake mixes. While it is true that I would much rather bake a cake from scratch, I have no problem with a box cake mix.

And I did have a box cake mix sitting in the cabinet, due to expire on December 8. I couldn’t think what to do with it, so I decided I’d bake cupcakes with it, frost six of them and freeze the rest for when I need a quick cupcake fix. Let me tell you that I needed a quick cupcake fix on Saturday, the day I baked these cupcakes. I caught the cold that my daughter, son and and husband had last week and I could barely manage to eat anything; the only thing that sounded good was a cupcake.

So, I quickly mixed and baked two dozen chocolate fudge cupcakes. On top of the six cupcakes I planned to eat, I evenly placed about 10 semisweet chocolate chips the very second I took the cupcakes out of the oven. After a minute or so, the chips were melted and I took a knife to spread them into a thin layer on top of the cupcake.

After the cupcakes were cooled, I froze the leftovers and frosted my six with my favorite peanut butter frosting, which can be found in this post (except I made a little creamier with a little more milk). Then I melted a small palmful of the semisweet chocolate chips, spooned the melted chocolate into a ziploc bag, cut off the corner of the bottom of the bag, leaving a very small opening, and piped a swirly chocolate circle on top of the six cupcakes.

As a note, of course you can make any type of chocolate cupcakes for these, it doesn’t have to be a box cake mix. The melted chocolate chip layer gives a nice sublte crunch to the cupcake, which I liked. I used Ghirardelli chocolate chips – I think that they are softer than the average chocolate chip. Another brand might give a harder crunch to these cupcakes.

Nov 17

Earth Cupcakes

My second, and final, entry into the solar system cupcake contest is one dozen Earth cupcakes.

A section of our beautiful home planet is represented in cupcake form. This edible Earth is a brown sugar cupcake, filled with two layers – a layer of chocolate ganache to represent Earth’s solid rocky core and a layer of caramel cream to represent Earth’s molten core. The cupcake is then coated in a layer of chocolate ganche to represent Earth’s crust. On top of the “crust” on half of the cupcakes is a layer of ocean blue-tinted vanilla frosting to resemble Earth’s oceans. The other half of the cupcakes have been frosted in caramel cream and sprinkled with finely ground golden Oreos and green sprinkles to resemble Earth’s land and vegetation. The mountains, as well as the volcano, have been structured with the caramel cream and coated in regular chocolate Oreos and the snowcaps are made from melted white chocolate; a few orange sprinkles sit inside the volcano to resemble molten lava. Marshmallows have been hand-formed to resemble clouds hanging above this section of Earth.

Recipes:

Brown Sugar Cupcakes
Makes 12-16

Ingredients
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat butter on high until soft, about 30 seconds. Add sugar. Beat on medium-high until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beat for 30 seconds after each.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Measure out milk and vanilla together.

Add about a fourth of the flour to the butter/sugar mixture and beat to combine. Add about one third the milk/vanilla mixture and beat until combined. Repeat above, alternating flour and milk and ending with the flour mixture.

Bake for 20-22 minutes until golden and the cake springs back when lightly touched.

Chocolate ganache
Makes enough to fill and frost 16 cupcakes with a thin layer

Ingredients
4 oz semisweet chocolate, broken into small pieces
4 oz heavy whipping cream

Method
Place chocolate and cream into a saucepan and heat on low heat. Stir until all the chocolate is melted and the chocolate and cream are fully combined. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature for 2 hours or until a spreadable consistency.

Fill the cupcakes by cutting a cone shape out of the top of the cupcake, and place a small amount (1/4 tsp, approx.) of ganache inside.

Caramel cream
Makes about 3 cups

Ingredients
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons water
Pinch of coarse salt
2 cups heavy cream

Method
Prepare an ice bath; set aside. Cook sugar, water, and salt in saucepan over medium heat, stirring once, until sugar is dissolved. Continue cooking, without stirring, until sugar turns golden amber. Remove pan from heat; slowly pour cream down sides of pan in a slow, steady stream (it will spatter). Return pan to medium heat, and stir with a wooden spoon until combined.

Transfer caramel cream to a mixing bowl set in ice bath; let sit until very cold, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes. Mixture can be refrigerated overnight. Before serving, whip the caramel cream until stiff peaks form. Use immediately.

Place a small amount (1/4 tsp approx.) on top of chocolate ganache layer inside of cupcake, then place the top of the cone shape back on top of the cupcake. Use the rest of the cream to frost the “land” cupcakes and sculpt mountains.

Vanilla whipped frosting
Makes enough to generously frost about 16 cupcakes

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Method
Put cream, sugar, and vanilla into the clean bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on medium speed until medium peaks form. Use blue food coloring to turn the frosting an ocean-blue color and use a knife to kick up some waves.

Notes
*Use golden Oreos and chocolate Oreos with the cream fillings removed to sprinkle the “land” cupcakes – simply place them in a food processor until finely ground, or place them into a strong ziploc bag and roll a rolling pin over the bag until the cookies are finely ground.

*Use green sprinkles to resemble vegetation on the “land” cupcakes and a few blue sprinkles on the “ocean” cupcakes.

*For white chocolate mountain snowcaps, simply melt a couple squares of white chocolate for 20-30 seconds in a microwave, then use a spoon to place a small amount on the mountaintops.

Nov 9

12 Comments

Iron Cupcake Earth: Cranberry

I’m going to admit first thing that I do not like the taste of cranberries, so I was a bit apprehensive about creating a cupcake for this particular Iron Cupcake: Earth challenge. It didn’t deter me, however, from my first entry into the cranberry challenge (I will submitting another entry this month); my green tea cupcakes, filled with cranberry cream cheese filling and frosted with cranberry buttercream with a drizzle of white chocolate.

I think the green tea and cranberry is a nice pairing. The overall taste of the cupcake is very sweet; the cranberry taste of the frosting is very subtle, while the strongest cranberry taste comes from the filling. I will also note that I used a small amount of red food coloring in the cranberry parts of the cupcake.

The Iron Cupcake: Earth prizes this month are from Etsy artists Lollipop Workshop, Cookie Sunshine, Lots of Sprinkles and Cakespy. Corporate prizes are from Fiesta Products, Hello, Cupcake, Jessie Steele, Cupcake Courier, and Taste of Home. For this month only we have an added bonus from Sweet Cuppin Cakes Bakery and Cupcakery Supply.

Iron Cupcake: Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers.

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Recipes:

Green Tea Cupcakes
based on Magnolia Bakery’s vanilla cupcake, and the same cupcake recipe I used for my my green tea cupcakes. What I did differently was divide the recipe by thirds; I ended up with eight cupcakes. For the green tea, add 1.5 teaspoons of green tea (matcha) powder to the flour mix.

Cranberry Cream Cheese Filling

Ingredients
* 1.5 ounces cream cheese
* 2 tablespoons cranberry sauce
* pinch of salt
* 6 ounces confectioners’ sugar

Method
Soften cream cheese and cranberry sauce together in medium sized bowl. Add salt. Gradually add sugar, beating with electric mixer until creamy. Add red food coloring, if desired, for a brighter color.

Cranberry Buttercream

Ingredients
* 1/2 cup cranberry juice
* 1/4 cup sweetened dried cranberries
* 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
* 1 3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar, more if desired for firmer texture
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method
In a small saucepan, combine the juice and cranberries. Simmer over medium heat for 5 minutes, or until softened. Let cool and either strain cranberry juice, pressing the berries until most of the juice is gone, or chop the cranberries finley.

In a large bowl, combine the butter, sugar and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer until light and creamy. Beat in the cranberries. Add more confectioners’ sugar for a firmer texture, if desired. Add red food coloring, if desired, for a brighter color.

White Chocolate Drizzle

Ingredients
* 2-3 squares Ghirardelli White Chocolate

Method
Melt white chocolate in small microwave safe bowl, microwaving in short bursts of 15 seconds, stirring after each 15 seconds. Shouldn’t take more than 30 seconds total. Spoon into sturdy sandwich bag, or piping bag, cut off a small tip of one corner and squeeze white chocolate in a quick sweeping motion on top of frosted cupcakes. Top each cupcake with a fresh cranberry, if desired.

Oct 27

Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes

I’ve really been in the mood for pumpkin ever since my pumpkin cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese frosting turned out so well. I bought a can of pumpkin at the store the last time I was there and I’ve been trying to think of what to do with it. I decided on chocolate pumpkin cupcakes with pumpkin buttercream frosting.

For the cupcakes, I used a recipe I found from Country Living magazine online and divided the recipe into fourths. The recipe said it would make 36 cupcakes, so I intended on getting 9 cupcakes; I actually ended up with 15! I added about 1/8 teaspoon of ginger to the recipe. The cupcakes rose to a very nice dome, I was very pleased. The cake itself is fluffy and moist.

For the frosting, I found a wonderful, no, awesome, pumpkin buttercream recipe from A Year In The Kitchen, originally created for pumpkin sandwich cookies. This frosting really added the flavor to the cupcakes; it’s a perfect pairing. I’m so glad I found this recipe!

I’ll also add that my daughter greatly approves of this recipe. She normally only eats the frosting off cupcakes, but with these cupcakes she ate the whole thing! She gives them two thumbs up!