Cupcake Recipe of the Month: July

Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes

Happy Christmas in July! It is interesting that more people say Happy 'Christmas in July' whereas during the winter Christmas season we commonly say Merry Christmas. Even though in the July Christmas is like saying "It's Christmas in July, yay", the words happy/merry occur in front of Christmas and is just interesting that we used different words for these similar events. Now to the baking!

Makes 18 cupcake's

Cupcake Ingredients:

1 cup packed brown sugar

6 Tbsp. butter, softened

2 large eggs

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened powder

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

Frosting Ingredients:

2 cups powdered sugar 

1/2 cream cheese

1/8 tsp peppermint extract

red food coloring

Cupcake Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place sugar and butter in large bowl and mix with a mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add eggs one at a time. Combine flour, cocoa, powder, soda, and salt in a bowl, stir with a fork or whisk. Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk, starting and ending with flour. Stir in vanilla extract. Spoon batter into prepared pans and bake for 12 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes on a wire rack. Remove from pan until completely cool.  

Frosting Directions:

Combine powdered sugar,cheese, extract, and a few drops of red color in a bowl until smooth. The color should be a dark pink to light red. Top with light green sprinkles.  

Cupcake Recipe of the Month: June

Cupcake Recipe of the Month: June

Sorry, about last month's not baked cupcake recipe. May was quite a crazy month. This July I will post last month's Chocolate Peppermint Cupcake. Now on to this month's!

Makes 12-24 Cupcakes

Cupcake Ingredients:

1 5/8 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

2 ripe bananas mashed

8 tablespoons butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar 

1/2 teaspoon vanilla 

2 eggs

4 tablespoons sour cream

1/2 chopped pecans

Cupcake Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Put 24 baking liners in a muffin pan. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Put the butter, sugar, and vanilla in a bowl and beat until light and fluffy. Gradually add eggs, beating well after each addition. Stir in the mashed bananas and sour cream. Fold in the flour mixture and chopped nuts. Bake the cupcakes for 20 minutes or until golden brown. transfer to a wire rack and let cool.

*Tip-  For perfect timed mashed bananas, freeze perfectly ripe bananas until hard. Let soften for 5 minutes. Use a cutting board and knife to cut off the skin and membrane-like outer parts of the banana. Cut into thick slices. Use the side of the knife or a  fork to mash the banana on the cutting board. Transfer both the bananas to a bowl and mash together again. Add to the recipe as instructed above.

Frosting: 

This recipe says to beat 8 tablespoons of butter until fluffy. Sift in 1 cup of confectioners' sugar and together well. Top frosted cupcake with chopped pecans.

I just topped with fresh whipped cream and pecans. You could even use made whipped topping.

Keep Baking! Until Next Month!

April Cupcake of the Month

Key Lime Cupcakes

Makes 18 cupcakes

Cupcake Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 cups self-rising* flour

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

*The self- rising flour is key. If you just use all-purpose flour (which you can) you will end up with a denser smaller cupcake. The self-rising flour makes it rise and lighter.

Filling Ingredients:

1/3 cup key lime juice

14 oz. can condensed milk

*I would half this recipe because I had a lot of leftover filling but it you want a lot of filling in each cupcake use the given amounts.

**You can find key limes a specialty grocery market and sometimes a normal grocery store. Instead of trying to find key lime juice I bought key limes and juiced them by hand. It took a little longer but that is because these limes are the size of a quarter!

Meringue Ingredients:

3 egg whites

1/4 tsp. cream of tartar

1/3 cup sugar

Cupcake Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare muffin pans with baking cups or spray. Place all the cupcake ingredients in a large bowl, and beat with an electric mixer until smooth and pale (2 to 3 minutes).

Spoon the batter in the cup and bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven, cool for 5 minutes then, remove the cupcakes from the pan and place on a rack to finish cooling.

Directions for Filling/Meringue:

Combine lime juice and condensed milk in a small bowl. Remove the center of each cupcake and spoon the filling in the hole. For the Meringue, beat eggs and cream of tartar until peaks form. Add 1/3 of the sugar and beat for a minute. Continue until all the sugar has been added. Pipe the Meringue on each cupcake and put in a preheated, 450 degree oven for 5 minutes, until golden brown.

*Instead of putting the frosted cupcakes in a 450 degree oven, I just put the oven on Broil and bake the cupcakes for 1 to 2 minutes, until golden brown. This way is much faster and gives the meringue a better color. 

Bake On! Until next month! 



Cupcake Recipe of the Month: March

Nothing says spring like a Lemon Cream Cupcake!

Makes 30 cupcakes
Cupcake Ingredients:
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups sour cream

Frosting ingredients:
3 Tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
2 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
2 Tablespoon lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1 Tablespoon milk

Cupcake directions:
Preheat oven 350 degrees F. Mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add lemon peel and vanilla; mix well. Combine dry ingredients ; add to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream (batter will be thick). fill paper- lined muffin tin cups with 1/4 cup of batter. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.
Directions for Frosting:
Cream butter and sugar in small mixing bowl. Add lemon juice, vanilla, lemon peel and milk; beat until smooth. Frost cupcakes!
Hope you try these bright delights!

See you soon! In the mean time... BAKE!

Minecraft Cake

My friend loves the AWESOME game Minecraft; so I made him a cake for his birthday.

First bake the cake/cupcakes:

 

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup water

Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 12 muffin tin cups with paper cupcake liners or spray cake pans.

Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl or the top of a double boiler and place it over, but not touching, a saucepan of barely simmering water or the bottom of the double boiler. Stir until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Remove from the water and set aside to cool slightly.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter and sugar until blended, about 2 minutes. On low speed, mix in the melted chocolate. On medium speed, add eggs one at a time, mixing until each is blended. Add vanilla and beat about 1 minute. Mix in the sour cream until no white streaks remain. On low speed, add half of the flour mixture, mixing to incorporate it. Mix in the water. Mix in the remaining flour mixture until it is incorporated and the batter looks smooth.
(Thank you The Cupcake Deck by Elinor Klivans for this crowd pleasing  recipe)

The cake was very simple to make. Stack and fill three SQUARE cakes. (There are no circles or curved lines in Minecraft, cupcake are... okay.) Then, crumb coat the cake an refrigerate for a few hours to let the frosting harden. Color and roll a strip of brown fondant out and cover the sides in it. Next, roll out a perfect white square and cut out little squares around the edges. Place the white square on top and glue the sides with water. Lastly, cut out various red squares of fondant and place on the top of the cake. Voila! It is fairly easy in our world but, in Minecraft it is a square of cake!

A needed more servings so I made a dozen cupcakes as well as cut out red squares on the top to replica the big cake.

Have a Cake-tastic and Mine-crafty week!

January: Cupcake of the Month

Coconut Cherry Cupcakes

Makes 12 Cupcakes

Cupcake Ingredients:
1 stick of softened butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons milk
2 eggs
5/8 cup self-rising white flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2/3  cup dry unsweetened coconut
4 ounces candied cherries, quartered
12 whole maraschino to decorate

Whipped Cream Ingredients:
2 cups Heavy Whipping Cream
3 Tablespoons Powdered Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla or any other extract (I love to use almond for a nutty flavor)

Cupcake Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line your muffin tin with 12 baking liners. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in milk. Gradually add the eggs, beat until well mixed.
Sift flour and baking powder and fold in coconut and cherries.
Bake the cupcakes for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.
Transfer to a wire and let cool.

Whipped Cream Directions:
Mix all three ingredients together using an electric mixer until cream comes to a peak. Refrigerate or serve immediately on top the cupcake.

** I couldn't find candied cherries so I used canned, pitted cherries and quartered them by hand. You also don't have to top with maraschino but, toast some sweetened coconut and sprinkle on top the whipped cream.**

This was a great way to start the year!

Last Week of 2011 and First Week of 2012

Happy New Year. It is time for a new year and a new year for baking. My baking resolutions are:

• Create one new recipe from scratch
• Bake a new cupcake every month

• MORE CAKE

The last week of December was my sister's birthday. I made her a 3-D owl cake. It was 8 circles of cake tall, cut in half, making the back flat and the belly round. The cake was a plain vanilla cake and vanilla frosting. The owl was covered in over 200 feathers! it turned out very well for my first scuplted cake.

Start the year off right with cake!