Posts tagged ‘Frosting’

Aug 12

Strawberry & Chocolate Cupcakes

I was inspired to make these cupcakes from a post at My Sweet Cupcakes. The temptation of chocolate cupcakes with strawberry frosting was too strong! I made these cupcakes for my husband to take to his office at work to share, and I only got to keep four of them for myself.

They are really good, the chocolate ones are my favorite! The chocolate cupcakes are made from my new standard chocolate cupcake recipe, found on Cupcakes Take The Cake. Both the strawberry cupcakes and strawberry frosting recipe come from Sprinkles. The only thing I did differently was strain the strawberry puree to get out the seeds – the recipe did not say to do this.

My opinion on the Sprinkles cupcakes is that they are okay. Strangely, I didn’t taste any strawberry while chewing the cupcakes, but once I swallowed a bite I got a strawberry taste. The cupcake is nice and moist, but not very pink, or not as pink as I’d like a strawberry cupcake to be. The frosting was very nice (though very sweet) and was a very light shade of pink, as you can see in the above photo.

My classic individual cupcake photos here – chocolate cupcake with strawberry frosting and strawberry cupcake with strawberry frosting.

Aug 6

1 Comment

Mint Chocolate Cupcakes

The cupcakes that I had originally planned for this week had to be put on hold because my daughter spilled a nearly full bottle of vanilla extract, so I couldn’t make any cupcakes with vanilla. So I decided to go with mint chocolate cupcakes instead since the recipe called for mint extract instead of vanilla.

I chose this particular recipe because it was supposed to taste like a mint Aero chocolate bar, which I really like, and the recipe also had good (but few) reviews; I found the recipe at nigella.com.

Now I admit that these cupcakes look very pretty, but I have to tell you that I just don’t like them! Definitely not happy with the way these turned out. The cupcake itself is sort of bland, tasteless and very dry. The frosting, however, is fine.

I did alter the recipe slightly by adding less mint extract than was called for in the cupcakes.

To try to moisten them up a bit, I filled a few of them with white mint buttercream, using the cone method.

It didn’t really help much! I definitely do not recommend using this recipe if you’re after mint chocolate cupcakes.

Aug 1

15 Comments

Red Velvet Cupcakes

I had never heard of red velvet cake (RVC) until a few months ago (I must have been living under a rock!) and at first I thought it was a bit tacky. I also didn’t like the idea of all that food coloring being added (although I understand that RVC can also be colored with beets or strawberries). But eventually my curiosity won and I had to make these for myself.

After reading a post at Bake & Destroy about Magnolia Bakery’s RVC recipe I decided that this would be the recipe I would use. I am so glad I chose this recipe, so thank you Bake & Destroy for posting your review of these!

I used Magnolia Bakery’s cream cheese frosting recipe as well, and topped them with RVC crumbs. I had to hurry to take these photos because the cream cheese frosting was quickly melting into a goopy mess!

But, wow, these cupcakes are fantastic! So moist and delicious, and the red color is perfect for my tastes.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Ingredients
3 1/3 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 1/4 cups sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
6 tablespoons red food coloring
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoons cider vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease and lightly flour three 9 x 2-inch round cake pans, then line the bottoms with waxed paper.

To make the cake: In a small bowl, sift the cake flour and set aside. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

In a small bowl, whisk together the red food coloring, cocoa, and vanilla. Add to the batter and beat well.

In a measuring cup, stir the salt into the buttermilk. Add to the batter in three parts, alternating with the flour. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated, but do not overheat.

In a small bowl, stir together the cider vinegar and baking soda. Add to the batter and mix well. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl, making sure the ingredients are well blended and the batter is smooth.

Divide the batter among the prepared pans. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Let the layers cool in the pans for 1 hour. Remove from the pans and cool completely on a wire rack.

When the cake has cooled, spread the frosting between the layers, then the ice top and sides of the cake with frosting.

Makes one 3-layer 9-inch cake. (Or about three dozen cupcakes.)

* I cut the recipe into thirds and ended up with 11 cupcakes. For help with recipe calculations, visit this page.

* I made my own buttermilk by adding 1 tablespoon of white vinegar to 1 cup of milk, then let it sit for 5 minutes.

* I used regular white vinegar instead of cider vinegar.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients
1 pound (two 8-ounce packages) cream cheese, softened and cut into small pieces
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened and cut into small pieces
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
5 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar

Method
In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add the vanilla and beat well. Gradually add the sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating continuously until smooth and creamy. Cover and refrigerate icing for 2 to 3 hours, but no longer, to thicken before using.

Makes enough for one 2- or 3-layer 9-inch cake.

*I cut this recipe in half and was able to use most of the frosting for my 11 cupcakes.

Jul 23

1 Comment

Congrats, It's A Girl! Cupcakes

A friend of mine recently had a baby girl and a group of friends got together to bring the new mom meals and treats in these first few weeks. Of course I volunteered to bring cupcakes!

I used Magnolia Bakery’s vanilla cupcake recipe and the following vanilla frosting recipe…

Vanilla Buttercream
makes enough to frost 12 cupcakes

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, chilled
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon milk

Method
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine 1 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar, unsalted butter, salt, and vanilla, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as necessary. Add milk and continue mixing until well combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula, as necessary. With the mixer running, slowly add remaining 1/2 cup confectioners sugar, mix until well combined.

I tinted half the frosting pink. To get the pink and white swirl, simply place pink frosting on one side inside of a pastry bag and white frosting on the other side so that the pink and white frostings are side by side. You’ll need to squeeze a bit of the frosting out at first to get to the swirled part. It’s a really nice effect!

The swirled stars on the white frosted cupcakes were made simply by squeezing out a small amount of frosting and twisting the pastry bag at the same time.

Jul 23

4 Comments

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

My inspiration for my chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes came from How To Eat A Cupcake. I love chocolate chip cookie dough and had never heard of this type of cupcake, so when I saw this recipe I just had to make it for myself! I didn’t follow the same recipe as How To Eat A Cupcake because I personally didn’t to use a boxed cake mix, and mainly because I didn’t want that many cupcakes.

So what I did was this… I bought a package of refrigerated Nestle chocolate chip cookie dough (the kind that is pre-cut) and immediately put it into the freezer when I got home from the store. This is the dough that will be baked into the cupcakes and it must be completely frozen when placed into the cupcake batter.

A few days later, when I was ready to make these cupcakes, I whipped up a batch of Magnolia Bakery’s vanilla cupcakes (I halved the recipe to get 12 cupcakes, though ended up with 14).

I filled my cupcake liners with batter, then cut seven little squares of frozen cookie dough in half so that I would get 14 and placed them each on top of the cupcake batter. I cut them in half because I personally didn’t want to end up with the majority of the cupcake being cookie dough, and the original recipe had also instructed to do this. I also didn’t want my cupcakes to overflow, so I slightly underfilled them to allow room for the cookie dough to bake.

In the meantime, I prepared the cookie dough that I would be mixing into the frosting. This is the same cookie dough recipe that How To Eat A Cupcake used in her chocolate chip cookie dough frosting (see recipe in her post), but I used a different frosting base (my recipe is at the end of this post). The cookie dough itself needs to sit in the freezer for about 30 minutes to become firm, then broken into chunks, and then placed in the refrigerator until it is ready to be used. Just mix the chunks into the frosting when it has been made, then spread onto the cupcake.

The look of the frosting reminds me of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream!

The inside of the cupcake…

These cupcakes are very very good, but also very very sweet. And they definitely require a glass of milk after eating! I think that it would be just fine if you made your own cookie dough for this, and I also think that it could be baked into any flavor cupcake. In fact, I need to make these again sometime and think I will bake them into a chocolate cupcake.

Vanilla Buttercream
makes enough to frost 12 cupcakes

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, chilled
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon milk

At this point you can mix in your cookie dough that you made while the cupcakes were baking. Mix in enough cookie dough to suit your taste, because I believe the recipe posted on How To Eat A Cupcake is for two dozen cupcakes, and if you’re only making 12 you’ll have some cookie dough leftover (unless you halve the cookie dough recipe). The best thing to do with the leftover cookie dough – eat it! There are no eggs in it so it is safe to eat. Yum!

Jul 6

Independence Day/Birthday Cupcakes

My son’s first birthday was on July 5, the day after Independence Day, so I made him some patriotic cupcakes.

The red and blue dots are supposed to represent fireworks. Just trying to keep it fun for him and his 3-year-old sister, who told me that the cupcakes were so pretty!

I layered red, white (plain) and blue batter in the silver foil cupcake liners to get this effect.

I used, yet again, Magnolia Bakery’s vanilla cupcake recipe and for the first time Magnolia Bakery’s vanilla frosting. This is the third time I’ve made these cupcakes and I’m getting the opinion that the cupcakes don’t taste very vanilla-y. I might try adding more vanilla the next I bake these. The texture of the cupcakes is nice, but I’d like it to be a little lighter; also the cupcake seem sticky – it sticks to my fingers more so than other cupcakes. The frosting is very, very sweet, but I like its texture, even on the second day.

Okay, this might be it on the cupcakes until my daughter’s birthday on July 19, for which I am making Bakerella’s cupcake pops, but a friend of mine had a new baby daughter on July 3, and I may bake baby girl-themed cupcakes to take to her sometime in the coming couple of weeks too.

Next on my own list, besides the cupcake pops are chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes and red velvet cupcakes.

Jun 29

10 Comments

Watermelon Cupcakes

So I lied – I do have some cupcakes for you after all! Watermelon ones – cross section is pictured so it would look more watermelony.

I thought it was a cute idea that I had for these watermelon cupcakes, so had to try it out. I used Magnolia Bakery’s vanilla cupcake recipe, but halved it to get one dozen cupcakes instead of two (though I ended up with 14, actually). I added 10 drops of red food coloring (give or take a drop) and 1/4 cup plus a tablespoon or so of mini chocolate chips.

I then used the watermelon frosting I found here. Though the taste of the frosting was nice with a subtle hint of watermelon, I was disappointed that it was too liquidy to pipe at all, even after refrigerating, so had to just sort of pour it on the cupcake. Because there is cream cheese in the frosting, I am refrigerating the leftover cupcakes so it should harden up a little, I presume. And even though the watermelon juice turned the frosting a light pink color, I wanted it green so added a few drops of green food coloring to turn it this pastel green color.

I’d like to find a watermelon frosting that is pipeable, so if anyone knows of one, please tell me! If I could have piped this I would have liked to split the frosting into two parts – one the light pink color and the other the light green color, then put the two colors into a pastry bag to get a swirl effect. Also what might be nice is a cute little slice of watermelon made out of fondant, placed on top of the cupcake.

Thank you to Cupcakes Take The Cake for posting about my watermelon cupcakes on their blog!

Jun 19

10 Comments

Green Tea Cupcakes

One week after I placed my order for green tea powder (also called matcha) it arrived in my mailbox, and one day later, today, I baked my green tea cupcakes. With my two wild children running around under my feet, I had some unfortunate mishaps – I spilled flour on the floor, I spilled about a whole tablespoon full of my precious matcha on the floor, and when making coffee while the cupcakes were baking I spilled a bunch of coffee grounds on the floor! Normally I’m not quite as messy, but it was one of those days I guess.

Now anyway, I followed the same recipe I found here – Magnolia Bakery’s vanilla cupcake recipe, which I halved. I somehow ended up with 13 cupcakes though. I added 1.5 tablespoons of matcha to the batter.

I absolutely love this green color, it was perfect. The color darkened slightly once they had cooled. I used Chockylit’s green tea cream cheese frosting, which I also halved, but still ended up with plenty of leftover frosting. I figure this is because I accidentally used 8 ounces of cream cheese instead of 6 ounces. The only other thing I did differently was to use the full amount of matcha (1 tablespoon) instead of halving it. Hey, I wanted to be sure I’d taste the green tea!

Aren’t they beautiful! The frosting was a little too soft to pipe, so I let it sit in the refrigerator for a little while. I love how creamy the frosting is, and I can really taste the matcha.

The cupcake itself is moist and fluffy, and I was a bit worried I had over-mixed the batter, but it turned out perfectly. I am refrigerating the leftovers because of the cream cheese in the frosting. Refrigeration will change the texture of the cupcake, but it will definitely still taste as nice.

A big thank you to Cupcakes Take The Cake for posting my green tea cupcakes on their blog!

Jun 12

Mocha Cupcakes

In my search for a coffee and banana cupcake, I decided to try the following combination.

Mocha cupcakes from Genius of a Cook: Obviously I did not use the Kahlua frosting, but I can say that these are the best mocha cupcakes. They were so soft, delicate and moist and had just a hint of coffee. I would have liked a stronger coffee flavor, but maybe my brewed coffee should have been stronger.

A personal note on these cupcakes – the recipe, I believe, should yield 12 cupcakes if you fill the liners 3/4 full. I did fill my liners to that recommended level, but had overflow while baking. If I make these again, I may try filling the liners a bit less than recommended and end up with a couple extra cupcakes.

Banana frosting from Chef Lilian: I was a bit disappointed with this frosting. While it did taste nice, it ended up looking nothing like the photo on the recipe page. It was very runny, too runny. After researching a bit more, I am wondering if that recipe could be missing an ingredient – perhaps, butter.

Overall, a great tasting cupcake. In future, I might try baking these cupcakes again with Nutella frosting. Also I will eventually try the reverse of this recipe – a banana cupcake with mocha or plain coffee frosting.

May 31

Chocolate Cupcakes For A Bake-Off

My neighborhood group held a cookout today at our playground/park, where they were also having a bake-off and bake sale. I decided to enter in my favorite cupcakes – exactly the same as these, except with dark chocolate shavings instead of sprinkles, and thicker, more stiff frosting. This is how they turned out.

They came in third place, behind handmade chocolate truffles and brownies. I won a Pampered Chef 15-inch round baking stone though, so it’s all good! And there were some cupcakes leftover to take home – they tasted so divine!

Unfortunately, nobody purchased any of the key lime cupcakes that I made for the bake sale. But the entire bake sale was not successful, so a lot of people took home most of what they had made.

I bought two chocolate chip cookies and two chocolate crackle cookies from the bake sale and my daughter and I ate them up!