Posted by HeatherLynn on January 13th, 2010 . Filed under: Cupcake Ideas . (edit)

WOW … is all I can say when I ate these yummy yummy in my tummy cupcakes. It’s the perfect mixture of sweet and tangy.  So here it is … brace yourself, here is how I baked them!

First we start with the cupcake itself …

Chocolate Cupcake Recipe

• 2 cups sugar
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup  Cocoa
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 can of cherry pie filling

Line muffin tin with cupcake liner, make about 24 cupcakes. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Strain cherry pie filling as best you can. Reserve the liquid from the filling to decorate with and set cherries aside.

Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water. Fold in cherries.

Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full. Bake for about 2o minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Let sit for 5 minutes then put on cooling rack.

And on to the frosting….

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, at room temperature
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 4 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

Place the cream cheese and butter in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed until combined, 30 seconds. Stop the machine. Add the cocoa powder, extract, and confectioners’ sugar and blend with the mixer on low speed until the ingredients are moistened, 30 seconds. Increase the speed to medium and beat until the frosting is fluffy.

Once cupcakes are cooled completey you can frost them. I used a 1M tip to frost mine. You do it anyway you like.  Once all frosted is all on you can go ahead and add a lil extra with the cherry filling. The technique i used was to put all of the reserved filling in a small disposable decorating bag and cut off a TINY piece of the tip, just enough for  a thin line of filling. And then make lines over the frosting for a cool effect … and it adds a bit of a tang to the frosting!

And Viola!

Ready for the cupcake explosion?  Each year in the months of January, May and October, the Taylor’s Bakery in Auburn, Alabama creates 20 distinct flavors of cupcakes. The bakery bakes about 50 dozens of cupcakes for the January explosion, but for the other two months, the scale is increased to 120 dozens.

The event in January is celebrated to welcome the students back in the town.  Jan Taylor, who is the founder of the bakery says that through this event, they want to show the people that their bakery is much more than just a bake shop.

She says, “It’s about a three day event in the kitchen. This morning, when we put them in the case it was like, ‘Whew, we can breathe!’” The thirteen year old event has been a part of the bakery’s calendar ever since it opened. Taylor says that even though she loves the classic cupcakes flavors, but she also likes to add innovative tastes to the menu.

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Deanna and Phil Watkins started a small bakery in their hometown, St. Charles four years ago. It started as very small establishment, but slowly the craze started to rise and has now reached a height that even the Watkins can’t believe.

The craze for their cupcakes has made them reach a milestone that most bakeries in the world would envy.
The Sweet Dream Desserts bakery has now officially sold one million cupcakes. Their cupcakes are so popular that they have now opened a branch at Route 64 in a town called Wasco which is near St. Charles.

Even Deanna Watkins can’t believe her own success. She says, “People have gone crazy for our cupcakes. I knew cupcakes were trendy but I had no idea.” They sell many varieties of cupcakes including vanilla, chocolate, red velvet and chocolate ganache among others. All cupcakes are baked by Watkins herself from scratch.

Katja’s Kupcakes offers a wholly bespoke design service to ensure your cake is crafted to your specific requirements and is truly unique.

Unlike other British cake-confectioners, Katja hand-pipes each decoration using American Butter Cream instead of the more commonly used sugar craft. Katja can work with any given theme or idea; drawing on her background as an Arts graduate to ensure that each cake is a truly different and inspiring work of art.

Before returning to the UK Katja spent three years training at Manhattan’s famous Cupcake Cafe where she decorated cakes for the likes of Madonna, Bill Clinton and Oprah Winfrey.

Award winning chef, Duncan Poyser of the 39 Steps Restaurant & The Baker adds his artisan touch to baking the cakes so they taste as good as they look. This also means that your choice of cake is as bespoke as the decoration.

Please visit Katja’s Kupcakes for more information.

I love getting catalogs in the mail and looking through all the pages just hoping to see something wonderful (and cupcake!)  I recently got my Pottery Barn Kids catalog and found this lovely children’s quilted bedding.

The set is called Darcie Quilted Bedding and it comes in lavender or pink.  So adorable!

Hi there, its Holli. I just wanted to share my Vanilla Cinnamon New Years cupcakes with you guys! I did a simple vanilla cake mix ( I was on vacation so I cheated! ) and added a tablespoon of cinnamon to the mix! Poured the batter into gold liners, then sprinkled them with cinnamon sugar before baking! Then for the frosting I used a simple butter+powered sugar recipe then added a little vanilla and cinnamon! I used a plastic bag to pipe the frosting ( I left my piping bags at home =[ ) and decorated them with silver edible glitter and ivory pearlized sugar candy. Topped with a Happy New Years sign! =]

<3Holli

sent two pictures of the cupcakes, and one of me and my cousin who helped me make them! I’m on the left! =] hope your new years was awesome!

Mini Cupcake Maker

This easy-to-use non stick design serves up the fastest and hottest home made cupcake treats, ready in five minutes! Cleans up in a snap; instant fun for kids or for adding a special touch to any meal. Makes seven mini cupcakes at a time. UL listed. 8″ diameter.

Available at Perpetual Kid!

Its hard to decide whether to eat them or just look at them. Aren’t they gorgeous!

This weekend I made Red Velvet Cupcakes from Stefanie’s Red Velvet Cupcake Mix.  The package comes with just about everything you need to make the cupcakes, the cupcake liners are even included. Read the rest of this entry »

On Sweet Paul’s Etsy he has listed white cupcake paper cups.  The set of 24 paper cups that are made from grease proof paper cost $4.50.  They remind me of Sweet Revenge’s cupcakes that use parchment paper as liners.

sweet revenge cupcakes

My boss recently sent me a few links to some very interesting Packaging ideas for Cupcakes …

Lovely Package – Lola’s Kitchen

luxcrux.com – Billy’s Bakery

Very cool and interesting ideas for Cupcakes!

OurFacebook Community is growing everyday and we are now over 700 strong!   I am amazed by the fan cupcake photos that are posted there.  Here are some of my favorites posted last month by Ro Rie Villa Rama.

Glamasaurus Cupcake Necklaces on Etsy!

These would be great gifts for your valentine!

There is nothing better than a nice cupcake to quench a sudden sugar craving. But do you know that one batch or cupcakes can contain more than one cup of butter? Needless to say, most calorie conscious people see these tiny cute things as one of their worst enemies.

But do you know that by changing few things in the cupcake recipe, you can make it much healthier? Yes, for example, instead of using butter you can use canola oil which is rich in monounsaturated fats. You can also add a cup of applesauce or mixed fruit butter in your cupcake batter and eliminate the oil and butter completely.

Another great way to make the cupcakes healthier is to add whole wheat flour in the batter. You can use the fine flour and whole wheat one in equal proportions. This will increase the fiber content and make them easier to digest.

Now, don’t shy away from eating cupcakes. After all, life is to enjoy the things we love!

The Cupcake Cauldron gave her friends and co-workers some of her favorite Holiday flavors this holiday season. She chose Egg Nog, Peppermint Mocha and Gingerbread with Cream Cheese frosting to give as gifts!

What a great gift idea! They look so delicious! Thank you for sharing your cupcakes with us!

Steelhead Studio celebrated their centennial anniversary with 100 cupcakes of various games.  Can you guess the 100 games by looking at the cupcake?

Some easy ones:

Too easy?  How about a harder one:

96 more cupcakes games to guess at Steelhead Studios.

Cupcake toppers…

Vanilla cupcakes topped with chocolate ganache plus sprinkles of dessicated coconut and fondant topper…

Bonita from Macau sent us an email about her cute ginger family. You can see these photos and more by visiting her Cream Me Bake Shoppe.

Thanks for sharing your creative cupcakes with us! They looks awesome! :)

You can see these cupcake photos and more at Well Kiss MyFrosting’s photostream.

Brilliant assortment of the infamous Hello Kitty and Sanrio friends.  This set was constructed by Gabby Cupcakes.  I also see Keroppi, Badtz-maru, Chococat, but alas.. no Pochacco.

I love how create people can get when it comes to coming up with unique cupcake flavors.  Baa Baa, Cupcake, Have you Any Frosting? has created prickly pear cupcakes.  I have only had prickly pear once and it was with lemonade but this recipe along with the photographs make me think I just might have to try these!  There are tons of fun and different cupcakes on the blog!

The Champagne Cupcakes she made for New Years sound delicious!

Anyone with a sweet tooth is sure to love these Snickers Cupcakes

These Honey Lavendar Cupcakes with Grapefruit would be great to make since it's citrus season.

I love the detail put into decorating these Pistachio and Cardamom with Mango Frosting Cupcakes.

On the fourth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me

Twelve Drummers Drumming

Eleven Pipers Piping
Ten Lords A-leaping
Nine Ladies Dancing
Eight Maids A-Milking
Seven Swans A-Swimming
Six Geese A-Laying
Five Gold Rings
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the fourth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me

Eleven Pipers Piping

Ten Lords A-leaping
Nine Ladies Dancing
Eight Maids A-Milking
Seven Swans A-Swimming
Six Geese A-Laying
Five Gold Rings
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.

A friend of mine said that she saw a brand of wine called Cupcake the other day. At the time I didn’t think much of it. Well later that day I was going through a bunch of my magazines and saw an advertisement for it. So i figured it was calling me to check it out … I went to their website Cupcake Vineyard. They have a great selection of wine and a blog where you can post your wine and cupcake pairings! I think the next time I am out and about I will have to take a look for this!

One of my best friends just announced last week that she is having another baby and I couldn’t be more thrilled for her.  So in honor of this new little life, I found some cute Etsy essential baby items to share. 

Cupcake Pacifier Clip $5

 Cupcake Onesie $6

Cupcake Newborn Mittens $5

Cupcake Baby Blanket $35

Cupcake Diaper Bag $59.95

I read on Eat Me Daily about Aluminum Cupcakes created by Timothy Thompson.  The cupcakes, created out of aluminum and bondo are part of the Camper Contemporary exhibition. The exhibition is in an old camper which means it is mobile! According to the website it was last parked in Baltimore.