I hope the sun is shining where ever you are, it sure it is here on Martha’s Vineyard! I spent the day moving a little into my new apartment and then I went to the beach. In honor of the sun and the beach I have 2 different cupcake ideas.
Mr. Sun Cupcakes from the Betty Crocker website.
Shark and Beach Cupcakes from Martha Stewart!
image courtesy of No One Puts Cupcake in the Corner
I was cruising the cupcake blogosphere when I noticed that not only is No One Puts Cupcake in a Corner a good blog with a hilarious title, it is also the host of the cupcake challenges Iron Cupcake Milwaukee and Iron Cupcake: Earth. IC Milwaukee, I expected, seeing as the blog is brought to us by the Milwaukee Cupcake Queen. But Iron Cupcake: Earth? Holy crap. That is like the World Cup of Cupcakes.
Nobody Puts Cupcake in a Corner just announced the IC:E Passion/February winner, Stephanie of the Keckie’s World blog’s Lavender Love Cupcakes. In the words of the champion herself:
If you’re in the mood for a very adult cupcake, this is definitely it! The flavors in this one are mature, subtle, and layered. The cupcakes have a distinct fruity olive oil undertone, which is lighted by lemon and sweetened by the blackberries. The lavender gives the entire cupcake a lightly floral aromatic quality. There is a hint of salt to add the the complexity of the final flavor. These are some serious cupcakes!
That sounds like a fine fancy cupcake. Also, flowers plus cupcakes plus olive oil equals good for your heart!
If you want to throw down the gauntlet with cupcake bakers from around the globe, you too can join the Iron Cupcake: Earth Challenge. Just email the Milwaukee Cupcake Queen your information (first and last name, city/state/country and blog web address) and keep an eye on the Iron Cupcake: Earth blog for announcements about upcoming challenges.
I am an Amy Sedaris fan and have always loved the episode of Martha Stewart where she tells Martha she should have her own show. I came across this recipe for Amy Sedaris’ Cupcakes. If you watch the youtube clip you will quickly learn that Amy is a minimalist and that is reflected in her recipes. There is no sifting, alternating adding of ingredients, or separating eggs because any Amy fan would tell you that’s just more dishes.
I have a long list of cookbooks that I want to add to my collection, one on the top of my list is The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook. I came across this blog which made the chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting. I think they look delicious and the author notes that eaters commented that these were the best cupcakes they had ever eaten. If you’ve tried The Hummingbird Bakery’s Cupcakes and attempt to make these at home, let us know how they compare!
In my opinion, chocolate and caramel make a great pair. That is why I think these Chocolate Dulce de Leche Cupcakes by 6 Bittersweets sound delicious.
Chocolate Dulce de Leche Cupcakes
1 cup minus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon instant coffee powder dissolved in 1/2 cup hot water (or 1/2 cup black coffee)
1/2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar plus milk to equal 1/2 cup
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 – 1 1/2 cups dulce de leche (I make mine in the pressure cooker)
milk or cream, if needed to thin out dulce de leche
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line standard muffin pans with paper liners.
In large bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add the egg, milk, coffee (or reconstituted coffee mixture), oil, and vanilla extract. Beat by hand or with an electric mixer on medium speed until well combined.
Pour the batter, which will be thin, to fill the paper liners about 2/3 full. Tap the pan firmly against the counter one time to remove any air bubbles. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or just until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove them to a wire rack and let them cool completely there.
While the cupcakes are cooling, prepare the dulce de leche topping by stirring to ensure smoothness and adding milk or cream, 1 tablespoon at a time, if needed to thin the dulce de leche to the desired spreading consistency.
Once cupcakes are completely cool, spread the topping on with a spoon or knife, ending by smoothing the stop in a spiral pattern if you like the look.
Chocolate Olive Oil & Blood Orange Cupcakes, Feb./Olive Oil Cupcake Hero!
One issue that cupcakes and cupcake lovers have to perpetually face is that our favorite tasty pastry treat isn’t exactly healthy. But what can you do? One answer that’s been floating around cupcake circles is to use olive oil in place of shortening or butter. While there’s still more than enough sugar to go around (but let’s be honest, we are working with desserts here), olive oil is great for heart health with it being all full of bad-cholesterol-removing monounsaturated fat & delicious antioxidants.
There are a lot of recipes out there, but some of the most interesting & well documented I found via I Heart Cupcakes February [Olive Oil] Cupcake Hero. It looks like there’s not much lost in translation from shortening/butter to olive oil: all the entries look and sound fantastic!
Basil Infused Olive Oil Cupcakes with White Wine
I especially like Cupcake Project’s entry, Basil-Infused Olive Oil Cupcakes with White Wine – that kind of flavor combination in a cupcake sounds intriguing. Cupcake Project also has a recipe for Lemon & Thyme Olive Oil Cupcakes with Balsamic Vinegar Whipped Cream. I am a big fan of balsamic vinegar, and I can definitely see how the sweet tang of the balsamic would work beautifully with whipped cream.
If these semi-savory recipes don’t sound like your cup of…cupcake, I Heart Cupcake’s February Cupcake Hero gives you plenty more to choose from. Three cheers for this month’s heart-healthier Cupcake Heroes!
Annie of Frites and Fries brings us these tasty treats, an invention she created for her roommate. Not only does she give us lots of delicious looking pictures, she includes her recipe in her post, an altered version of the butter cake recipe featured in Gourmet in 2008 with Slashfood’s cream cheese frosting. And that wee little cinnamon roll on top just makes it as cute as all get out (yes, Annie has a recipe for that too!). This opens the door to a some other interesting alterations of the base butter cake recipe…crumb cupcakes, anyone?
Since as we recently told you how popular red velvet cupcakes are right now, here is a recipe for “Shortcut” Red Velvet Cupcakes. These cupcakes were posted on Alice Q. Foodie’s blog last year for Valentine’s Day but is sure to please any Valentine this year!
Cannelle et Vanille is one of my favorite blogs, the food and pictures combine to make amazing recipes. Recently she made Chocolate, Banana, and Teff Cupcakes. According to her these cupcakes are not only delicious but also packed full of nutrients provided by the Teff and bananas. Additionaly, the cupcakes are gluten free because Teff is used.
Teff is a grass that is cultivated in Northeast Africa. The grass contains various nutrients including fiber, iron, protein, and calcium.
Chocolate, Banana and Teff Cupcakes
Makes 1 loaf and 12 cupcakes
3 eggs
200 grams natural cane sugar
300 grams ripe bananas, mashed
175 grams light olive oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
100 grams teff flour
50 grams sweet rice flour
50 grams hazelnut meal
15 grams cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
100 grams chocolate chips
In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, banana puree, oil and vanilla.
In a large bowl, whisk together the teff, sweet rice flour, hazelnut meal, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and whisk until all combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.
Divide the batter between the loaf pan and cupcake molds. Bake at 350F for about 45 minutes for the loaf pan and 20 minutes for the cupcakes.
For the icing, I used my basic buttercream recipe and added cocoa powder to it.
Here is a quick guide to 46 different cupcake ideas! There is just about every type of cupcake and cupcake design for every holiday and occasion.
Picture this you have 10 seconds to live … what do you want the most in the world? Well if you answered a CUPCAKE than I have the fastest way to decorate a cupcake! I found these tips in the February issue of Woman’s Day!
Red Velvet Cupcakes
Yesterday was my cousin’s 24th birthday! Happpppy Birthday Meghan!
Her lovely hubby made her cupcakes while she was at work and he was at home with their baby! So Sweet!
They were Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes. Aaron was nice enough to give me the recipe.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
1 (18.25 ounce) box yellow cake mix
1 1/3 cups water
1/3 cup canola oil
3 eggs
Directions
Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and sea salt; set aside. Beat the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until smooth. Add 1 egg and the vanilla extract and beat until smooth. Mix in the flour mixture until just incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips; mixing just enough to evenly combine. Form the dough into tablespoon-sized balls; place onto a baking sheet, and freeze until solid, about 2 hours.
Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.
Beat 3 eggs in a large bowl with an electric mixer to break up. Add the cake mix, water, and canola oil; continue beating for 2 minutes on medium speed. Spoon into the prepared cupcake liners, filling each 2/3 full. Place a frozen cookie dough ball on the top center of each cupcake.
Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the cake portion of the cupcake (not the cookie dough ball) comes clean, about 20 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.
For the frosting he just used store bought frosting and whipped some milk into it to thin it out.
This is a picture of the happy lil’ family!
Aaron, Meghan & David Joshua!
Taste of Home recently posted this yummy looking Chocolate Cookie Cake recipe.
Most cake recipes can be easily modified to make cupcakes and Sassybellewares recently blogged about how she did this. She called them Crazy Good Cupcakes so they are definitely worth a try!
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
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
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!
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.
Ahhh … finally home with my family in good ol’ New Hampshire. After a long day of traveling yesterday I was ready to get back to my parents house and settle in with a cup of hot chocolate, or maybe eggnog or even hot mulled apple cider, that would be perfect! But what if you could have any of these in the form of the Cupcake? Well no need for you to look up the recipe, I have done that for you.
Eggnog Cupcakes from Baking Bites
Hot Cocoa Cupcakes from The Food Network
Apple Cider Cupcakes from Epicurious
Eggnog Cupcakes
Hot Cocoa Cupcakes
Happy Holidays! Enjoy one another during this holiday season!
In honor of National Cupcake Day (yesterday) I wanted to share with you my favorite cupcake recipe. It comes from Hershey’s and is more often used for cakes rather than cupcakes. However, Hershey’s does give you info on how to modify it for perfect chocolate cupcakes. This recipe is also on the back of all Hershey’s cocoa containers. I make them ever few months and have found that doubling the frosting recipe is much needed for the frosting addicts in my house.
Hershey’s “Perfectly Chocolate” Chocolate Cake Recipe
Here’s my most recent batch.
If you have a favorite cupcake recipe we’d love to see it! Leave a link to it in our comment area below or leave it on our Facebook fan page.
December 15th is officially National Cupcake Day. Yes, there are other cupcake days, but they are centered around certain flavors:
National Chocolate Cupcake Day on Oct 18
National Vanilla Cupcake Day on Nov 10
In this spirit, I also want to share my favorite Monkey Face Cupcakes. I’ve had a blast making these with my kids, and they had a great time eating and playing with the fondant as if it was Playdoh.
Any cupcake cake or icing would be fine as the fun part really lies within making the monkey faces toppers; hoever, if I were making this to impress, I would match it with this Banana Bread Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting recipe.
For the topper itself, Aine explains the process:
Another option would be to not make an entire head, but just the face. The face can then be applied on top of the cupcake and icing similar to these cupcake below from prettysweet boutique.
Cannelle et Vanille made these delicious looking Sweet Potato, Yogurt and Hazelnut cakes. I generally do not like sweet potatoes but these look so good I am tempted to make them. Possibly when my whole family is together for Christmas since the post says that the first time she made the recipe it was gone before she could style or photograph them. The cupcakes shown were topped with a simple mascarpone and mace icing.
Tis’ the season for Christmas Trees & Christmas Decorating! I spent a good part of my day yesterday buying Christmas Tree decorations, so in honor of this lovely season I thought I would find some Christmas Tree Cupcakes. They are from none other than Martha Stewart.
Enjoy!
So I’m not sure if you are, but I am a Twilight fan, and in honor of New Moon coming out I made caramel apple cupcakes! I baked apple cupcakes, cut out the center &added caramel, then topped them with cream cheese frosting. I dipped them in red sugar, then added a pretzel and a mint leaf! I used the recipe found at iheartcuppycakes.My boyfriend even took a picture of me holding one of the cupcakes in my hand and edited it like the first bookcover! =]-Holli Risvold
Hi there! Yesterday I made Sweet Potato cupcakes using fresh baked yams, and topped them with mounds of roasted marshmallows! I used the sweet potato cupcake recipe in Martha Stewart’s Cupcake book! My grandma ALWAYS makes sweet potatoes with marshmallows on Thanksgiving, so i figured this would be a perfect fall treat for my family and friends! I attached a picture to this email!-Holli Risvold
Sometimes I get overwhelmed by all the recipes there are out there because I want to make all of them and I know I will never have enough time to do so. While looking around Design Sponge I quickly had dozens of tabs open with all of the recipes I wanted to try. The “In the Kitchen with” section is loaded with recipes and photography that looks amazing. In the Kitchen with Sarah Magid includes the recipe for dark chocolate cupcakes with espresso whipped buttercream and hand-sculpted sugar flowers. The recipe comes from Magid’s book: Organic and Chic and the blog post kindly includes a video on how to make the sugar flowers.
I can’t help but want to try White Cake Supreme Cupcakes by Looolo, a textile designer, when the description claims that they are fun and easy to make!
I had never heard of Enjoy Cupcakes, a cute little cupcakery located in California. Design Sponge has beautiful pictures of the location, making me wish even more that I lived in California.
Enjoy Cupcakes
There are lots more cupcake related posts on Design Sponge, that I couldn’t possibly include them all in this post. Which is why I encourage you to check out the website, it seems to have so much more to offer then just cupcakes.
My roommates birthday was today and I asked her what kind of cupcakes she wanted for her birthday and she said, ” Cheesecake!!” and I said, “I can make that happen!” … So I made my famous cheesecake into mini cakes!
Grocery List
From your Cupboards
And GO!
Heat the oven to 325 degrees, find yourself 12 cupcake liners and place them into a cupcake pan! Take vanilla wafer and put one in the bottom of each liner. And then add a sprinkle of chocolate chips on top of the wafer. In a bowl add the cream cheese, 2 eggs, 2/3 cup of sugar and 3 tablespoons lemon juice. Mix until smooth and there are no lumps. Disperse evenly into the cupcake liners. Place a spoonful of raspberry jam on-top of each of the cheesecakes and then add another sprinkle of the chocolate chips as well. Place in oven for about 30-35 minutes. After they are done cooking leave in cupcake pan until they have cooled all the way through and then place in fridge over night.
And ENJOY!
I brought them to work for my roomie and for everyone to enjoy and the went over very well. One of my co-workers said it was very satisfying.
Here is a photo!
I realized yesterday I never posted about the wedding cupcakes I made. Better late then never I guess since the wedding was a few weeks ago now. In the end I made 10 batches of the cupcake recipe for a total of 6 dozen regular sized, 4 dozen mini and 1 giant cupcake. I made the frosting recipe twice and had a little left over.
I worked with the bride to create what she was looking for. Her colors for the wedding were black, white and lime green. She does not like a lot of frosting so she wanted the amount to be minimal and liked the glossy look of glaze. From the time she asked me to make the cupcakes she knew she wanted chocolate cupcakes and lime frosting. The bride ended up making the toppers on her own and showing them to me after they had been made.
The cupcake recipe I used was from Cooks Illustrated 2009 America Classics issue. The bad news is that the first thing the recipe tells you is not to double it (really bad news when you have to do it 10 times). The good news is that every batch came out perfect. Every cupcake had the perfect cupcake shape and everyone said they were good. Here’s the recipe:
Dark Chocolate Cupcakes
Makes 12 cupcakes
Note: Do not double this recipe. Cupcakes made from a double batch yield a slightly compromised rise. It’s best to make to separate batches and bake each separately. Store left over cupcakes (frosted or unfrosted) In the refrigerator, but let them come to room temperature before serving.
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
½ cup (1 ½ oz) Dutch-processed cocoa
¾ cup (3 ¾ oz) unbleached all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon baking powder
2 large eggs
¾ cup (5 ¼ oz) sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon table salt
½ cup (4oz) sour cream
1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position; heat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard-sized muffin pan (cups have ½ cup capacity) with baking-cup liners.
2. Combine butter, chocolate, and cocoa in medium heatproof bowl. Set bowl over saucepan containing barely simmering water; heat mixture until butter and chocolate are melted and whisk until smooth and fully combines. Set aside to cool until just warm to the touch.
3. Whisk flour, baking soda, and baking powder in small bowl to combine.
4. Whisk eggs in second medium bowl to combine, add sugar, vanilla, and salt and whisk until fully incorporated. Add cooled chocolate mixture and whisk until combines. Sift about one-third of flour mixture over chocolate mixture and whisk until combined; whisk in sour cream until combined, then sift in remaining flour mixture and whisk batter until it is homogeneous and thick.
5. Divide batter evenly among muffin pan cups. Bake until skewer inserted into center of cupcakes comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes.
6. Cool cupcakes in muffin pans on wire rack until cooled enough to handle, about 15 minutes. Carefully lift each cupcake from muffin pan and set on wire rack,. Cool to room temperature before icing, about 30 minutes. (To frost: mound about 2 tablespoons icing on center of each cupcake. Using small icing spatula or butter knife, spread icing to edge of cupcake, leaving slight mound in center).
The Bride and her Wedding Cupcake Baker
For the frosting I used Martha Stewart’s recipe for Fluffy Vanilla Frosting. After several sample recipes that used real lime juice, lime extract and bottled lime juice we settled on the bottled. To flavor the frosting lime I did not use an exact measurement, instead you just have to find the right lime flavor by adding some and sampling the frosting. I used my roommate for this so that we could establish a lime flavor that had a hint of lime but was not over powering. Then I left half the frosting uncolored and used lime green food coloring to dye the rest. I melted the frosting in the microwave for a few seconds then dipped the cooled cupcakes into the frosting. For my first time baking in bulk I think the end product turned out pretty well and most importantly, the bride was happy!
