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!

Our conversations covered many topics as we calmed our hungry bellies, but there was always one topic that came up every time – my mom’s lifelong habit of dipping her French fries into her Frosty/milkshake/ice cream and then eating them.  I found it appalling, yet somewhere deep inside, secretly, I knew exactly what she meant.  I liked to drink a big swig of my milkshake after eating a handful of fries.  But never, never, would I ever blatantly dip a French fry into my milkshake like that.  The very act was offensive, to say the least.

Back then, I had no appreciation of food.  I knew what I liked and I ate it.  I knew that my mom was dipping fried potatoes into chocolate ice cream and I did not like that at all.  Now, however, I understand that my mom liked the combination of salty and sweet.  It wasn’t just a potato being dipped in ice cream – it was the saltiness and the sweetness that she liked.

These days (and perhaps its been happing for years?) people are dipping their pretzels and bacon in melted chocolate, and adding salt to caramels and chocolates.  Perhaps they like the sweet and salty taste, or perhaps they understand that the salt can help enhance the flavors of the chocolate, or perhaps they just like trying something a bit out of the ordinary.  It certainly is a confusing treat for the senses when you eat a salty dessert – it looks sweet, it smells sweet, it tastes sweet, but yet it’s got a saltiness to it that your senses would normally expect to find in a savory dish, rather than a sweet one.  How interesting!

I’ve been wanting to create something chocolatey and salty so that I could experience this myself.  I was inspired by Lindt’s A Touch Of Sea Salt chocolate bar, which I found on special at the grocery store and impulsively snatched up a handful of.  This chocolate bar is the best I have ever tasted.  Lindt describes it, “The complexity of dark chocolate is enhanced by the addition of Fleur de Sel”.  I ate one whole bar over the course of a week, savoring each square that I broke off.  Eventually I decided that I wanted to use it in a ganache.

And this was born. Delicious, crumbly, buttery chocolate shortbread made with Green & Black’s Dutch cocoa and iced with Lindt’s fleur de sel chocolate ganache. Topped with a tiny sprinkle of pink sea salt flakes.  A delicious, luxurious not-too-sweet treat geared toward a more sophisticated palette.  Or so I described it on Flickr!

It is truly amazing, if I do say so myself.  The addition of the pink sea salt on top of the ganache lent a subtle crunch and delicate saltiness – you could definitely leave off the salt sprinkles if you’d like to make this yourself.  In fact, if you’re still too frightened of the sweet and salty combination, feel free to use regular chocolate in the ganache recipe.  I’m sure it’ll taste just as nice, but I feel that the addition of the salt adds an extra dimension to the flavor of the chocolate and I highly recommend trying it.  At least once.

Chocolate Shortbread
Adapted from Valli Little
Makes 12 slices

Ingredients
300g unsalted butter
1 cup (220g) caster sugar
2 1/2 cups (375g) plain flour
5 tablespoons good-quality cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
Icing sugar, to dust

Method
Grease and line base and sides of a 18cm x 28cm lamington pan. Beat butter and sugar in a bowl with electric beaters until pale. Sift in flour, cocoa and soda and beat slowly until just combined. Spread in pan and smooth with a spatula. Prick all over with a fork. Chill for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 180°C. Cook shortbread for 25 minutes or until firm to touch. Cool completely.

Salted Chocolate Ganache
Adapted from myself
Makes enough to frost the chocolate shortbread in the recommended size pan, as above

Ingredients
2 100g Lindt A Touch Of Sea Salt chocolate bars, finely chopped
2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into small cubes
sea salt flakes

Method
Place chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream until just under a simmer (do not boil), then pour the cream over the chopped chocolate. Sit for 1 minute, then stir until smooth. Add butter and stir until combined. Place bowl in refrigerator for approximately 20-30 minutes to firm up, stirring every 5-10 minutes. The ganache will need to be at just a spreadable consistency. Test it by running the back of a spoon across the top of the ganache – when the lines from the spoon remain indented in the ganache, it is ready. Use an offset spatula to smooth the ganache on top of the cooled shortbread. Let it set for about 30 minutes, or until the ganache is firm to touch. Cut the shortbread into 12 squares, wiping the knife clean after each cut to keep crumbs out of the ganache. Just before serving, sprinkle the ganache lightly with sea salt flakes.

I can’t get Rishi Tea in Australia though, so I needed a replacement. Luckily for me, there is an awesome tea shop at my local shopping center called T2 Tea, and right next door to the tea shop is the T2 Tea Teahouse which not only can make you a cup of any of their teas, but also sells a variety of delicious foods. You can get something savory made up for you, but hey, you know me, I’m more interested in the sweets and they have a tantalizing variety of those, including some beautiful cupcakes.

Well, unfortunately, on the day I went there, they didn’t have any of those cupcakes.  I decided on a chocolate chai cake instead.  Pictured above is said cake, a tall glass of iced chocolate tea, and a sample of gundpowder green tea.  All were very delicious.

I’ve been obsessing over T2 Tea for quite a while now and peruse their little tea catalog often.  A couple of my favorites that I have yet to try are Choc Chip Chai and Gorgeous Geisha teas.  Choc Chip Chai is obviously a chai tea but it has chocolate in it as well; I bet this is just decadent!  Gorgeous Geisha is a strawberry flavored green tea and a tea I’d so much like to try.  I have quite a few green tea recipes on this site, and even a strawberry green tea cupcake which is my second favorite cupcake that I’ve made (my first favorite are the pumpkin dulce de leche ones, of course).

The Choc Chip Chai tea got me thinking though a few weeks ago about a chocolate chip chai cupcake.  I was sure this would be a great combination of flavors and was looking forward to try it.

And wow, they are fantastic!  These cupcakes aren’t just flavored with ground chai spices, but actually infused with real chai tea from a T2 Tea Chai T-bag.  These cupcakes pack an immense chai flavor and the chocolate makes a brilliant match.  They tasted surprisingly similar to the chocolate chai cake I ate from T2 Tea’s Teahouse earlier this week.

Note that I would have used their Choc Chip Chai tea in these cupcakes, but I haven’t gotten any of it yet!  Long story on that actually.  If you care to hear it, I’ll try to sum it up.  I gave my mom a T2 Tea wishlist and she ordered from their online shop for my birthday.  I never got it in time for my birthday, so a week later I called T2 Tea (this was yesterday) and found out it actually had been delivered in time for my birthday – but to the wrong address!  This address was just 5 houses down from mine, so I went to ask them about it.  They had given it back to the post office since the package wasn’t in their name.  But I had already called the post office and they didn’t have my tea.  This is where I’m at in the matter right now, just waiting on the post office and T2 Tea to open to call them each again today.  I hope I am able to still get my birthday tea, which will probably include Choc Chip Chai or Gorgeous Geisha! Update – both the post office and T2 Tea tracked down my package (it is in transit back to T2 Tea) and T2 Tea is resending it, so I hope to have it within the next few days! Yay!

Back to the cupcakes now… In order to infuse the chai tea in these cupcakes, I brewed the chai T-bag with the amount of milk called for in the recipe, in this case 1/2 cup of whole milk.  This needs to come down to room temperature before using it in the recipe.  I also used a chai T-bag to infuse the ganache frosting by brewing the T-bag in the heavy cream; the ganache (which is made from Green & Black’s 70% chocolate) also has a healthy dose of cinnamon brewed into it.

Please know that you can use any brand of chai tea for these cupcakes, but T2 Tea is highly recommended!  :)

Chai Spice Mixture
Adapted from Dessert First

Ingredients
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cardamon

Method
Combine the spices together in a small bowl.

Vanilla Chai Cupcakes
Adapted from Dessert First
Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons chai spice mixture
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 egg whites
1/2 cup whole milk
1 chai tea bag
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

Method
Place 1/2 cup whole milk in a small saucepan with 1 chai tea bag. Brew, stirring occasionally, until just before it starts to simmer. Remove from heat, let cool completely to room temperature, and remove tea bag before using in the recipe.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners.

Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together into a medium bowl. Stir in the chai spice mixture.

Cream the butter and sugar together in a stand mixer with paddle attachment on medium speed until soft and creamy.

Add in egg and egg whites, one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition to combine before adding the next.

Add in the flour mixture and chai milk mixture in three alternating additions, starting and ending with the flour mixture. Beat just to combine each addition before adding the next. Gently fold in chocolate chips.

Using an ice cream scoop or a spoon, fill each cupcake liner about 3/4 full with batter. Bake in oven for 15 to 18 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through, until a toothpick inserted in the cupcakes comes out clean.

Let cupcakes cool in tin on a wire rack until cool before decorating.

Whipped Chocolate Cinnamon Ganache
Adapted from Dessert First
Makes just enough to frost 12 cupcakes

Ingredients
4 ounces dark chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 chai tea bag

Method
Place chocolate into a medium heatproof bowl.

Combine cream, cinnamon and chai tea bag in a medium saucepan and place over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Heat just until it comes to a simmer.

Remove tea bag and pour cream over chocolate. Let sit for a minute before stirring to combine. Stir until chocolate is fully melted and the mixture is smooth.

Pour into a container and chill in refrigerator for an hour or until it is firm.

Place ganache in a stand mixer and whip with whisk attachment until it is light and fluffy. Do not overwhip or it will become dry and crumbly, just like overwhipped cream.

I’m leaving my family behind here in Indiana and moving to Sydney, Australia this weekend.  I have lived in Sydney before, from 2001-2006 and it was fabulous.  It’s definitely a place I feel happy spending my life in.  I know my kids will love it as well.

This will be my last post from the US; expect all future posts to be from Australia and upside down! 

Anyway, a friend of mine requested one last batch of cupcakes from me before we left.  She wanted cookie dough cupcakes and chocolate/white chocolate cupcakes.  Of course I’ve done cookie dough cupcakes before, so I won’t post about them again, but I made the chocolate/white chocolate cupcakes into white chocolate mocha cupcakes.  I was inspired to do this because my friend is a big fan of Starbucks’ white chocolate mochas.  These were the last cupcakes I made in the US.

I know, the photos aren’t that great because it was late afternoon and there wasn’t enough natural light from the sun so I didn’t even bother with my usual set up.

These are chocolate cupcakes, filled with chocolate coffee ganache and frosted with white chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream (SMBC).  I’m really proud of these because while most mocha cupcakes have coffee in the cake where it cannot be tasted, I put my coffee into the ganache and the coffee flavor is quite prominent.  This isn’t just any chocolate coffee ganache, by the way.  It was made using the brand new Starbucks VIA Italian Roast instant coffee.

The white chocolate really came through in the SMBC, as well.  SMBC is always an extra effort to make, but the results are so rewarding.  The texture was silky smooth and full of white chocolate flavor.

My main point of this post is to share the coffee ganache tip with you.  If you want coffee flavor in your cupcakes, don’t put the coffee in the cake (or well, you can, just be aware that the taste isn’t going to be very noticeable) – fill the cupcakes with coffee-flavored ganache!

If you’d like to try the ultimate white chocolate cupcake, the recipes are below.  Just choose your own favorite chocolate cupcake recipe (mine is Hershey’s or Martha’s Devil’s food cupcakes) and follow these recipes.

Chocolate Coffee Ganache Filling
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Makes enough to fill 12 cupcakes (with a little leftover)

Ingredients
4 ounces semisweet chocolate
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 packet Starbucks VIA Italian Roast
1 tablespoon butter, room temperature

Method
Chop the chocolate and transfer it to a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream until simmering then empty the packet of Starbucks VIA into the cream and stir until dissolved.  Remove from heat and pour the cream over the chocolate. Let it sit for one minute and then stir until smooth. (If this has not sufficiently melted the chocolate, you can return it to a double-boiler to gently melt what remains. 20 seconds in the microwave, watching carefully, will also work.) Add the butter and stir until combined.

White Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Adapted from Whisk Kid
Makes enough to frost about 18 cupcakes

Ingredients
1 cup sugar
5 egg whites
18 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened slightly and sliced
1/4 cup white chocolate, melted and cooled

Method
Cook the egg whites and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the sugar is completely dissolved (test by rubbing some between your fingers. If it’s completely smooth, it’s done).

Pour into another bowl (a stand mixer is preferable) and whip on high speed until room temp.

Then, on a medium-slow speed, add the butter, waiting until each piece is completely incorporated before adding the next. The buttercream may turn into a soupy curdled mess, but I assure you it will be ok; just beat it for a few minutes longer. It’ll come together!

When the buttercream has reached the ideal consistency, add the melted and cooled white chocolate carefully. Try not to get any on the walls of the bowl as it will cool and harden there. Whip to incorporate.

My 4-year-old daughter, even at just 4, seems much older than she really is.  She is a pro at playing computer games, she wants to do everything herself, she’s bossy, and it’s hilarious to hear her say grown-up words and phrases, such as “That’s not dignified!”.  Not long ago, she was crawling through the living room babbling out baby words, “dum dum diggum” was one of her baby word phrases.  At that point in time, I could not picture her as she is now – walking, talking, having conversations with her.

My 2-year-old son isn’t talking yet, although he’s excellent at saying “dada” and “mama”.  I couldn’t believe it when he turned 2 in July.  He is such a trouble-maker.  He is into everything, constantly.  He’s just figured out how to open the refrigerator and yesterday morning he grabbed a piece of leftover pizza for breakfast!  I didn’t have any ideas on how to keep the refrigerator door locked, so we’ve taped the refrigerator shut!

It’s impossible to know how your kids will change as the years roll by, but you can always be certain of at least one thing – they love birthdays!  Everything about a child’s birthday is a dream come true for them.  There’s cake, ice cream, presents, fancy decorations, friends and family.  What’s not to love about that?

I was honored to have been asked to bake cupcakes for a friend’s son’s birthday earlier this month.  It was his 4th birthday, and as my little girl is 4, I know how special it must have been for him and his family, and I was so happy to have been asked to provide the cupcakes for his special day.

My friend didn’t have a solid idea as to what kind of cupcakes she wanted for her son except that the cupcakes had to be filled; she basically left the design up to me.  After a bit of a think, I asked her how they would like ice cream sundae cupcakes, to which she replied that that would be great!

These couldn’t really have been more perfect for a child’s birthday – ice cream in cupcake form!  And they really look like sundaes!  These chocolate cupcakes are filled with chocolate ganache, frosted with vanilla buttercream, swirled with more chocolate ganache and decorated with sprinkles and maraschino cherries.  They tasted fantastic!

I have to be honest.  I baked extras of these cupcakes so that we could have some too!  Well, I had to taste them to make sure they were good enough for my friend’s son’s birthday!  And they were good enough, of course; everyone loved them.

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So, at the very next opportunity I had, I made my own version.

I used Martha Stewart’s devil’s food cupcake recipe for the cake.  I really like this particular recipe.  It makes a beautiful smooth batter and a very nice firm, yet moist and tender, chocolately cake.  I divided the original recipe in half and ended up with 17 cupcakes!

For the cream filling, I used Annie’s Eat’s marshmallow filling recipe that she used in her faux Hostess cupcakes.  I chose this because I didn’t want to take the time to make the 7-minute frosting that I have mainly seen used for filling in these cupcakes (next time I will use it though).  I have to agree with Annie that the filling isn’t as light as in the commercial version, but it is definitely suitable, and yummy, to use in these cupcakes.  As per Annie’s recipe, I also used the filling to pipe the swirls on top of the cupcakes (with added cream).

For the chocolate glaze I also used the same one that Annie used in her faux Hostess cupcakes.  I used the full recipe and ended up with exactly enough glaze to double-dip all of the 17 cupcakes.

They are reminiscent of the real Hostess cupcakes, but no, they are definitely not an exact replica!  However, they are extremely delicious!  I preferred the taste of these the day after baking.  I stored them in the refrigerator and also preferred them at room temperature.

They are a little time-consuming, but they are oh so worth it!

The first cupcakes I’d like to absolutely rave about are these peanut butter cupcakes with chocolate glaze from I Heart Cuppycakes.

These are amazing!  I’ve been reluctant to make peanut butter cupcakes because I thought that the peanut butter might make the cake heavy or dense.  But these cupcakes are so incredibly moist and soft and so full of rich peanut butter flavor!  I was blown away, this is one awesome cupcake!

This will definitely not be the last time I make these.  If you love peanut butter and chocolate, I highly recommend you bake a batch of these right now!  And make sure you have a tall glass of milk to go with them!

Now for the second cupcake.  The peanut butter cupcakes got me thinking about Nutella cupcakes.  Nutella can often be substituted for peanut butter in recipes, so I decided to give it a go with these cupcakes.  I used the same amount of Nutella, but I did decrease the sugar by about 1/4 cup because Nutella is much sweeter than peanut butter.  I did everything else the same as for the peanut butter cupcakes.

What I found was that the Nutella cupcakes sank slightly in the middle when they were done baking.  They seemed to rise higher as well, so next time I wouldn’t use a full 1/4 cup of batter in each liner; my Nutella cupcakes overflowed a little bit!

But, the cake did taste of Nutella and still came out very moist and soft.

I wasn’t sure of the type of frosting to use on Nutella cupcakes.  I didn’t really want to use more Nutella in case it ended up being a bit too much.  A friend suggested marshmallow frosting, which sounded like a winning combination!  I guess sort of like a fluffernutter cupcake, only with Nutella instead of peanut butter!

To finish off the Nutella cupcake, I spooned a dollop (or about a teaspoon) of fresh Nutella into the middle of the top of the cupcake and frosted them with marshmallowy Swiss meringue from the queen of Swiss meringues at How To Eat A Cupcake.  This frosting is definitely a keeper, it was fantastic!

The Nutella cupcake is quite sweet, but a flavor combination I haven’t yet experienced.  Next time I probably wouldn’t use so much frosting on each cupcake, but instead just spread a light layer on top.

What kind of frosting would you like on a Nutella cupcake, just out of curiosity?

It is a chocolate cake made with raspberry jam, filled with raspberry whipped cream and frosted with chocolate ganache.

I’m not so sure about that purple liner, but that’s what I decided to use for these cupcakes!

I based the recipe on Nigella Lawson’s chocolate cherry cupcakes.  I’ve always loved those cupcakes, and thought that I could easily substitute raspberry jam for the cherry jam in this recipe.  I personally don’t think the raspberry taste was quite as noticeable as the cherry taste in the original recipe, but they’re still quite nice.

They’re quite sweet as well, so if you decide to make these, you may want to cut back a little on the amount of sugar, because the jam will have plenty of sugary goodness to make up for it.

Our June ETSY PRIZE-PACK is from artists:

• A sweet cupcake ID bracelet by INSANEJELLYFISH
• A groovy linocut piece from BLOCKHEAD PRESS
  
• A sweet surprise from Sweet Cuppin’ Cakes Cupcakery
• PLUS, IronCupcake:Earth can not forget our good friend, CAKESPY, who is now going to be doing a piece for our winner each month until further notice – sweet!

Last and certainly not least, don’t forget our corporate prize providers: HEAD CHEFS by FIESTA PRODUCTS; HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson; JESSIE STEELE APRONS ; TASTE OF HOME books; a t-shirt from UPWITHCUPCAKES.COM. Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers.

Here are the recipes I used to make these cupcakes.

Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes
Adapted from Nigella Lawson
Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients
125g soft unsalted butter
100g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
300g raspberry jam, seedless if desired
150g caster sugar
pinch of salt
2 large eggs, beaten
150g self-raising flour

Method
Preheat the oven to 180ºC/gas mark 4.

Put the butter in a heavy-bottomed pan on the heat to melt. When nearly completely melted, stir in the chocolate. Leave for a moment to begin softening, then take the pan off the heat and stir with a wooden spoon until the butter and chocolate are smooth and melted. Now add the raspberry jam, sugar, salt and eggs. Stir with a wooden spoon and when all is pretty well amalgamated stir in the flour.

Scrape and pour into the muffin papers in their tin and bake for 25 minutes. Cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes before turning out.

Cool cupcakes completely.  Fill cupcakes with raspberry whipped cream using the cone method.

Raspberry Whipped Cream
Adapted from Joy of Baking
Makes about 1 cup

Ingredients
1/2 cup ultra-pasteurized heavy whipping cream
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 tablespoon granulated white sugar
1/4 cup lightly sweetened raspberry puree, strained if desired

Method
In a large mixing bowl place the whipping cream, vanilla extract, and sugar and stir to combine. Cover and chill the bowl and beaters in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. When chilled, beat only until soft peaks form. Add the sweetened raspberry puree a little at a time, and beat just until stiff peaks form when the beater is raised. Taste and fold in more sugar or puree, if required.

If you have any leftover, use it as a topping for a cup of hot cocoa or mocha!

Ganache Frosting
Adapted from Nigella Lawson
Makes enough to lightly frost 12 cupcakes

Ingredients
100g dark chocolate
100ml double cream
12 fresh raspberries, optional

Method
Break the chocolate for the icing into little pieces and add them to the cream in a saucepan. Bring to the boil, remove from the heat and then whisk – by hand or electrically – till thick and smooth. Ice the cupcakes, smoothing the tops with the back of a spoon, and stand a raspberry in the centre of each.

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.

These are the chocolate ones. They’re not as pretty as I wanted them to be, but they are definitely tasty. They’re chocolate cupcakes, filled with whipped cream and frosted with a Lindt chocolate ganache.

See the inside of this cupcake here.

I really like how the vanilla cherry ones look. They’re vanilla cupcakes, filled with whipped cream, frosted with vanilla buttercream and topped with a maraschino cherry.

This is the first time I’ve ever baked with nut & party cups and I have to say that I liked it! I think that the cupcakes are generally bigger with the nut & party cups. I also cut a small slit at the top of the cup before I filled them up so that it could be easily unwrapped. See the inside of this cupcake here.

I used Wilton’s bismark tip for filling the cupcakes (which is a brand new toy), and found that this made it incredibly easy to fill them.

Now I know what you’re saying, I should be putting my efforts into this month’s Iron Cupcake Earth challenge, but I’m finding the challenge ingredient to be pretty difficult! I don’t have many days left now, so I’ve really got to get to work if I want to be a part of the competition this month.