Having recently feasted on a Cumbs Bake Shop “Almond Bliss” cupcake (pictured), I thought to gather some almond cupcake recipes for you.

How about a Vegan Chocolate Cupcake with Almond Buttercream and Raspberry Glaze?    The “Oh She Glows” blog site has both the recipe and fantastic photographs for step-by-step instructions, including a video to guide you through piping.

Or, how about Honey, Lavender, and Almond Cupcakes, complete with the directions for making your own lavender milk for the frosting?  The recipe from Lily Vanilli in England is in metrics, but worth the math exercise to get you there!

Finally, from the Love & Olive Oil site, let’s go for the Vanilla Almond Cupcakes with Blackberry Buttercream Frosting.  This yummy recipe includes almond extract, vanilla bean seeds, and coconut milk.

Drink your booze and eat it too — in your cupcakes! Think of all the different liquors and beers there are out there. Now think of all of the cupcake flavors out there. Put them together and the recipes are endless.

Pastry Artist Kate Legere’s passion for baking lead her to experiment with cupcakes and liquor – which lead her to constructing this cook book!

Intoxicated Cupcakes: 41 Tipsy Treats from Amazon.

As opposed to heavy chocolate cupcakes these lemon cupcakes with lime & ginger whipped cream sound light and perfect for summer.  These cupcakes were created by Rachel from The Pleasure Monger.   If you’re not a ginger fan I’m sure you could make these cupcakes without the ginger in the whipped cream for a purely citrus cupcakes.

Rosewater.  A near completely forgotten about ingredient, except that I was daydreaming of France and how often the bakeries feature edible flowers.

So, a petit selection of the loveliest of the rosewater cupcake recipes I could find.

How about Organic White Chocolate Rosewater Cupcakes?  Yum.  The cupcake includes the white chocolate and coconut milk.  The frosting is a meringue buttercream with 3T of rosewater.

Then, let’s get a little carried away with Persian Love Cupcakes.  Candied rose petals on top.  Lemon peel and cardamon seeds within.  A frosting with rosewater, saffron threads, and pistachios.  C’est l’amour!

Just in case you don’t have rosewater handy, here’s a recipe to make your own rosewater at home.  Note that every type of rose creates a different rose water, naturally, so this, too, becomes a lovely opportunity to play in the kitchen.  From one batch of cupcakes to the next, using a different rose’s water will create a different flavor.

Papaya.  I never buy this fruit here in Upstate New York, having convinced myself that to enjoy it, I would need to be somewhere tropical.

Not true, ATC readers! and here are the papaya cupcake recipes to prove it.

Start with Coconut Rice Pudding Stuffed Cupcakes with Ginger Cream Cheese Frosting & Papaya.  A long name for papaya used as a garnish to top off an unusual cupcake.  You’ll also notice that I’m continuing my recent penchant for lime…

Get more adventurous with Papaya Cupcake.  This recipe appears in Spanish, but, if you’re using Google Chrome as your Internet browser, this nifty top bar pops up asking if you want the page translated into English – answer? yes.  The tip on putting a dye tube inside the frosting piping bag to get the beautiful swirls is just OTT.  I discovered La Depensa del Gnomo during my global cupcakes week, and he never fails to impress.

May this inspire you to venture into the land of tropical fruits this summer no matter your climate!

The lemon slices in my iced tea got me started on a recipe quest for lemons and limes.  The raspberries and blackberries were bonuses from the hunt. And remember, I’m out for fresh-picked berries, here in Upstate New York.

In the lemon category, I came across “Lemon-Limoncello Cupcakes.”  Yum.  These tangy delights include lemon zest, lemon juice, and limoncello.  They’re topped with raspberries and lemon slices.

In the lime category, how about “Key Lime Cupcakes with Blackberry Frosting?”  Yowee!  We’re talking lime juice, lime zest, lemon juice, and blackberries.

Now, the only question is whether it’s lemon followed by lime or lime followed by lemon?

Living in Upstate New York this time of year, we’re blessed with an abundance of fruits, like raspberries and blueberries. 

Inspired, I paraded through the Internet to locate recipes that have me headed straight for fresh picking tomorrow morning early so that I can head to the kitchen.

How about Raspberry Cupcakes with Champagne Buttercream Frosting?  Wow!  But with only 4T of champagne in the frosting recipe…I better pass along my personal note that you can toss a few fresh raspberries into a flute of champagne et voila!  It’s time to have over your girlfriends in spades.

For the blueberries…did you know that freezing fresh blueberries for a few hours will stop them from sinking in the cupcake batter while baking?  Another idea is to dip them in flour, also to prevent sinking.  I settled on Chocolate Blueberry Cupcakes with a recipe calling for both bitter and sweet chocolates, goat cheese, and cinnamon.  Who needs a partner with this much comfort in a cup?

Enjoy the fresh pickings!

Ever since I found this recipe, I can’t stop thinking about whipping up a batch of Cuckoo Coconut Cupcakes. I think I see a few of these and some piña coladas in my future — my immediate future. Stay out of the hot sun and have a great weekend!

Love fudge?  Been eating hot fudge sundaes?  How about cooling down while heating up some “Lava Fudge Cupcakes” in your kitchen?

Lava Fudge Cupcake

Georgetown Cupcake’s Sophie has a 2-minute video, courtesy of The Learning Channel, claiming to “reveal the secrets behind their famous Lava Fudge cupcake.”

While she doesn’t provide the recipe, Sophie does provide several excellent tips, from using apple corers to hollow out cupcakes before pouring in the fudge, to easy-pour tops for filling and decorating.

So I dug around the Internet at bit…and found the Georgetown Cupcakes recipe for their chocolate cupcake with vanilla cream cheese frostings with variations!  Add your own fudge and, “By George!  I think we’ve got it!”

Ice Cream Sundae Cupcakes are the best of both worlds.

You get the look of a sundae but the flavor of a cupcakes with a moist chocolate cake, frosting that won’t melt instead of ice cream that forces you to eat quickly and hot fudge! In my opinion you can not go wrong with this dessert! And Love From The Oven used really cute sundae cups by Meri Meri, purchased from Sur La Table.  Don’t forget there are free printable tags included in Love From The Oven’s original post!

Are you ever walking down the street and all of the sudden get a massive craving for a cupcake? Well, I do and did today! I shall be giving into my craving tonight after work. Ah yes, I am just dreaming of it right now! Sometimes the cupcakes from my local bakery are a bit to heavy and rich for such hot summer days as we have been having, not to say that I wont be getting one tonight. But it got me thinking about a nice, light, summery, fruity cupcake that I could cake make that wont weigh me down on a brutally hot summer day. Low and behold, I found just the right cupcake recipe thanks to The Food Network (UK)

Strawberry-Lime Stuffed Cupcakes

Bonjour!  Aujourd’hui, nous sommes a Paris!  Good morning ~ today, we go to Paris.  On our week-long trip abroad for cupcakes, we’ve been to Spain and Holland, and now on to la belle France.

“Elo les Cupcakes” is the name of the blog and the recipes range from “cupcakes a la clementine et mousse au chocolat” – we all know “mousse au chocolat” – to “les croquants gingembre et caramel.”

Avec mousse au chocolat!

Just a moment on the “croquants gingembre et caramel” (croquants ginger and caramel).  The flavor ingredients are the crystalized ginger, caramels, and “golden syrup.”  In England, “golden syrup” means the brand Lyle’s.  It is sweeter, thicker, and smoother flowing than natural honey.  It is a processed sugar product.  You can use honey as a direct substitute.

A demain mes amis du cupcake!  Until tomorrow!

I love toffee and have always liked Heath Bars and Skor Bars; which is why these Heath Bar Cupcakes sound delicious to me!  Jamie on My Baking Addition blogged about these chocolate candy bar cupcakes.  One of the best parts of these cupcakes is that they are a doctored cake mix will help save you time.  My Baking Addition has tons of other great recipes so be sure to check out the website.

More in my week-long series, using foreign blogs for summer cupcake ideas.  Yesterday, we were speaking Spanish for super cute, beach umbrella cupcakes.  Today, we’re working in Dutch to figure out baking cupcakes in sea shells!

Sea Shell Cupcakes

Even if you’re land-locked in South Dakota, you can find sea shells for this recipe at cooking shops.  Primarily used for dishes like Coquilles Saint-Jacques, leave it to Carola Damen in Boskoop, Netherlands to think to use sea shells in lieu of cupcake wrappers!

And, take note that Carola starts the cupcake by placing an edible “pearl” under the cupcake batter and ends with chocolate sea shell decorations on top.  Carola makes use of edible body paint to achieve her silvers and golds.

If anyone speaks Dutch and would care to help us understand even more about the recipe, please let us know.

We’ve shared several ideas for how to turn your favorite breakfast foods into cupcakes.  Remember the pancake cupcakes, or the donut cupcakes? How about the cinnamon roll cupcakes?  Well until I came across this recipe I had not thought of turning breakfast cereal into cupcakes.  Multiply Delicious took a classic cereal and turned it into Cap’n Crunch Cookie cupcakes topped with vanilla ice cream.  Below is the recipe for the captain crunch cookie cupcakes but be sure to check out Multiply Delicious for other cupcake recipes! Read the rest of this entry »

From these fleetingly hot days of summer in Upstate New York, I thought I’d take you on a getaway this week to go baking cupcakes in kitchens in foreign countries.  I’ve scouted out the bloggs for the best-looking cupcakes with photo instructions and recipes.

Summer Cupcakes

We start our tour with the cutest summer cupcakes on the planet!  How creative are these?  La Despensa Del Gnomo blog uses the universal image of the drink umbrella with fondants to create beach scenes, from towels to starfish to shovels.  The cupcakes are bottomed-off with palm tree wrappers.

Can any of our Spanish-speaking readers act as our translator tour guide?  One of the ingredients is that yum word “Nutella.”  But just how it fits into the cupcake is the question.

Do take a moment to click on her “cupcakes” category in the blog.  One of her recipes is for Papaya cupcakes – another great summer cupcake idea.  How fun to wander through foreign kitchens to bring their local flavors to our own!

It’s summer.  It’s hot.  The kids want a soda.  You want them to drink water, organic fruit juice, and local milk.

Orangina cupcakes

How about a compromise?

Coca Cola Cupcakes.  What if you win on the beverage and the kids win on taste?  Here’s a recipe for Coca Cola cupcakes that spreads 1C of soda through a dozen or more cupcakes.

Root Beer Float Cupcakes. Here is a super recipe for root beer float cupcakes with step-by-step photo instructions, including scooping off a section for a little scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Orangina Cupcakes. On this one, I have to confess, I’m an Orangina nut.  I’m going to be drinking any excess product while these Orangina cupcakes are baking.

And while you’re at it?  Use range free chicken eggs from the local farmer’s market.  They’ll thank you for it when they start baking for their kids!

Cupcake in a Cone!

Wow!  Here’s a novel idea:  it’s a cupcake in an ice cream cone!

Variations?

How about bubble gum cupcake, instead of bubble gum ice cream?  Turns out you can make bubble gum cupcakes using either bubble gum extract or bubble gum flavored soda.

Or, how about Oreo cookie cupcake, instead of Oreo cookie ice cream?  Bake it using the cookie, the cream, or both!

What’s your ice cream flavor and how can you turn into a cupcake in a cone?

Fourth of July batter

Red, white, and blue profusion!  If the cupcake isn’t the ultimate Fourth of July treat for everyone in the family.

It took me a little while this evening to find a new twist to bring to the blog.  How about red, white, and blue batter from Baking Bites?  The complete recipe is included and looks Y-U-4thofJuly-MMY!  Did you know that you could layer cupcake batters to put this splash into the presentation?

And, just in case you’re buying, you’ll find Fourth of July specialty cupcakes going on at Sprinkles Cupcakes or try them at Magnolia’s Bakery or, well, just about every bakery in America!

I recently discovered Fantasy Cupcakes on line, a lovely UK bakery that won a gold heart prize in the North West Fine Foods Awards, beating out 400 entries in the general foods competition.

Vegan Mudpie Cupcake

So I e-mailed Fantasy Cupcakes to ask for their secrets at taking a vegan cupcake into the mainstream.  The owner, Melinda, thought that the bitterness of the chocolate was the primary flavor of the cake and that it lingered on the palate.

Here’s a list of Melinda’s tips for vegan mud pie cupcakes:

• Use a little apple cider vinegar in the sponge batter instead of soya milk curdled with vinegar;
• Mix the wet ingredients together and fold in the dry ones; and,
• For the frosting, melt rich, dark chocolate mixed with soya cream, leave it to set, beat in a little powdered sugar until a firm(ish) spreading consistency is reached, spread onto the cupcake in a dome shape with a small palate knife, and dust with a good quality cocoa.

Melinda said the frosting recipe was an adaptation from a recipe for a vegan chocolate torte which was a family favorite for years.

For my two pence, I’d recommend using Cadbury’s cocoa powder.  It’s make in the UK and has more bite to it than its US Hershey counterpart.

LGM cupcakes

I remain an enthusiastic fan of Disney’s Toy Story series and its LGMs (the “Little Green Men”).  Here is the classic out-take of LGMs with “the claw.”

Needless to say, this recipe for LGM cupcakes is a keeper in my book.

In fact, this Disney family website has an entire section of recipes with several terrific cupcake recipes such as Lightning McQueen from “Cars,” Jack Skellington from “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” Owl from “Winnie-the-Pooh,” panda bears from “Mulan,” and more.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcake

Let’s chat on the subject of peanut butter cupcakes, like this lovely one from the Baker Street Bakery.

Smooth or chunky?

I have never met a peanut butter cupcake made with chunky peanut butter.  Have you?

Here’s a sampling of what I could find.  Some recipes create a peanut butter cupcake base and go so far as to say “smooth.”  Other recipes put the peanut butter in the frosting and indicate “creamy.”  Going over the top is a recipe that not only uses peanut butter, it also uses Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.

And I did manage to find one recipe that specified “creamy or chunky.”

Did that title catch your attention?  The name might not sound appetizing (okay, maybe it just sounds downright wrong), but these cupcakes probably aren’t quite what you would expect from the sound of it.  The cupcake and icing themselves can be recipes of your own choosing.  Top the icing off with a circus peanut (hot dog bun), a caramel square (hot dog), yellow icing (mustard), and green gum drops cut into small pieces (pickle relish).  Doesn’t sound too bad, does it?  If you’d like to throw your guests for a loop at your next summer pool party or cook-out, be sure and check out the recipe here.

I have a confession to make, I am a Harry Potter fan.  I have read all the books, seen all the movies, and want to go to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal’s Islands of Adventure park.  One of the reasons I want to go to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is because I have always wanted to try butterbeer, even though it is a fictitious drink.  If you’re at all like me you might want to try out this recipe for Butterbeer Cupcakes.  The recipe comes from AmyBites who was lucky enough to get to go to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter!  Click “continue reading” for the recipe!

Read the rest of this entry »

Coffee and donuts take on a whole new meaning when they are in the form of cupcakes.  Always With Butter is a baking and cooking blog that has such amazing photography and recipes that I want to make everything.  The coffee and donut cupcakes look good enough to eat for breakfast!   The best part is that the recipes are on cute recipe cards with a kitchen utensil banner across the top.