Sweet & Salty:
Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Cupcakes

May 23, 2013 by Betsy Eves 5 Comments

This week is the “Week of the Dragoon” for the 2nd Cavalry Regiment here in Vilseck, Germany and tomorrow is Family Day. (Basically, my husbands unit is having a giant birthday party for itself before they go on pre-deployment leave.) I decided to donate cupcakes to the event to be sold at the 2/2 CR Cougar Foundation table. The Cougar Foundation is the non profit organization that supports the 2nd Squadron in 2 CR… an organization that I’m a member of.

I decided to make a cupcake that I knew everyone would love… chocolate peanut butter. But hmm… I’ve made that cupcake or cake a bazillion times. Uhmp…. I need to kick it up a notch and add some flair! So, I’ve put a pretzel crust on the bottom of the cupcake and topped it with a chocolate dipped pretzel and a drizzle of chocolate ganache. Om nom nom nom The perfect combination of sweet and salty – chocolatey and peanut buttery. YUM!

Enjoy!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Cupcakes

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 18 minutes

Total Time: 3 hours

Yield: 3 dozen cupcakes

Rich chocolate cupcakes on a pretzel crust topped with peanut butter buttercream, chocolate ganache and a chocolate covered pretzel! Delish!

Ingredients

Pretzel Crust

3 cups salted pretzel sticks
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
2 Tbsp brown sugar

Chocolate Cupcakes

1 cup unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups brewed coffee
1 Tbsp espresso powder
1 Tbsp vanilla
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup sour cream
1/3 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Peanut Butter Buttercream

2 cups unsalted butter, room temperature
2 1/3 cups creamy peanut butter (I use JIF)
6 cups powdered sugar
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tsp salt

Chocolate Ganache

150g 50% cocao Lindt chocolate (any semi-sweet baking chocolate would work)
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla

Chocolate Covered Pretzel (for garnish)

1 bag large thin pretzels
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted

Instructions

Pretzel Crust

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Line cupcake pan with liners.
Using a food processor, pulse the pretzels until they are in small chunks.
Add the melted butter and brown sugar and process on high until combined and the pretzels are in small crumbs.
Press 1 tablespoon of pretzel crust into the bottom of each cupcake liner.
Bake for 10 minutes.

Chocolate Cupcakes

In a medium sauce pan, melt the butter. Add the coffee, espresso powder, cocoa powder, and vanilla and whisk until combined. Set aside to cool slightly.
In a large bowl, sift together the sugar, flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the sour cream, buttermilk and the eggs. SLOWLY add a few tablespoons of the chocolate mixture to the sour cream mixture. Whisk to combine. In a slow stream, whisk in the remaining chocolate mixture until combined completely.
Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in wet. Using a whisk, stir until no more lumps remain.
Scoop batter over the pretzel crust until 3/4 full.
Bake 17-19 minutes.
Allow to cool in pans before removing to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Peanut Butter Buttercream

In the bowl of your stand mixer, cream together the peanut butter and butter for 2 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl several times.
Add the powdered sugar and mix on medium until combined.
Add the salt and heavy cream, mix until smooth.
Beat on high for 1-2 minutes or until fluffy and the color has lightened.

Chocolate Ganache

Chop chocolate into very small pieces and place into a glass bowl.
On medium high heat, bring heavy cream to a simmer.
Immediately pour cream over the chopped chocolate and let sit for 30 seconds to 1 minute.
Stir gently until all the chocolate has melted.
Add the butter and vanilla and stir until combined.

Chocolate Covered Pretzels

Dip half of the pretzel into the melted chocolate. Set on wax paper to harden.

Assembly

Using a large round star tip, pipe swirls of buttercream onto each cupcake.
Drizzle 1 Tbsp chocolate ganache over the buttercream.
Gently press a chocolate covered pretzel into the buttercream.
Add a small dollop of buttercream at the base of the pretzel to help hold it in place.

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Cupcake Couture Blog Party:
Strawberry Camo Cupcakes

May 21, 2013 by Betsy Eves 58 Comments

I am so super excited to announce the launch of the Cupcake Couture Blog Party today! I have teamed up with the owner of Bella Cupcake Couture, Carrie Middlemiss, to bring you this fantastic party. Cupcakes, party displays, Bella Cupcake Couture and…. A HUGE PRIZE! So make sure to read the whole post so you don’t miss a thing!!

Carrie and I, along with 18 other bloggers have created custom cupcakes to coordinate with 20 different Bella Cupcake Couture cupcake wrappers (provided graciously by Carrie – THANK YOU!). Each blogger then created a display for the cupcakes – but here’s the best part… the displays were made of every day items found in each bloggers home! No trips to the store for any fancy props. What that means is that you can recreate all 20 of these cupcakes and party displays by yourself – easily! Maybe you’ll even be inspired to create a cupcake in Bella Cupcake Couture wrapper and a display all of your own!

Please visit all 20 blogs, read all 20 recipes and check out all 20 party displays! Links to each party can be found below!

An American Cupcake in London
Bella Cupcake Couture
Chronicles of a Foodie
Crazy for Crust
Creative Food
Cupcakes Take the Cake
Diary of a Mad Hausfrau
Eat Your Heart Out
Haniela’s
Hoosier Homemade
In Katrina’s Kitchen
Inside BruCrew Life
Java Cupcake
Love From the Oven
Make Bake Celebrate
Not Just a Mommy
Sugar Daze
Sugar Swings! Serve Some
The Baked Equation
The Baking Cup
The Decorated Cookie

For the party, Carrie sent me her Jolene Pink Camoflague cupcake wrappers for this party. For the party, Carrie sent me a package of her pink camo wrappers. Kinda perfect for me since my hubby is in the Army and we’re stationed over here in Germany! All Army – all the time! hehe I decided to make a strawberry cupcake with strawberry buttercream … both made with fresh strawberry puree. It’s almost summertime so I thought this flavor would be a perfect choice… plus, the pink matches the wrappers! Super easy, yet so super delicious!

For the display, I used things I already had at home… didn’t need to run to the store to buy anything. Although, if I had to purchase any of the items I used, it wouldn’t be that expensive to recreate.

Here’s what I used to create the display:

Pink vinyl table cover
Pottery Barn white cake stand trimmed with 1 1/2 inch pink ribbon
Martha Stewart white rectangle platter trimmed with 1 1/2 inch pink ribbom
Pink tissue paper pom pom (watch this tutorial to learn how!) – hung from the wall
Pink curling ribbon – curled & hung from the wall
Cupcakes adorned with Bella Cupcake Couture Pink Camo cupcake wrappers
Army helmet, patrol cap and toy Stryker (You can go to any Military surplus store to look for similar items. Also, any military toy truck would work!)

This display was super simple to put together and I think the addition of the ACU Army equipment really makes the pink POP! And don’t worry if you don’t have access to an Army helmet or patrol hat – just use whatever your kids have already! Got boys? Use their Army trucks in the display! Live near a military surplus store? Run inside there and get some cheap ACU Army gear to put on your table. No need to spend lots of money.

The pink curling ribbon I had in my stash of ribbon already and I think it added some texture and color to the back drop of the display. The pom pom and the curls added much needed height to the entire display.

The cupcakes are a super yummy strawberry cupcake topped with strawberry buttercream and more fresh berries. YUMMMMMMMMOOOO! Seriously. This is THE perfect strawberry cupcake. Everyone who ate one RAVED about it. This recipe makes 3 dozen cupcakes, so you could easily turn it into a cake with 3 8in layers or 2 9in layers. Om nom nom nom

Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream

Prep Time: 2 hours

Cook Time: 18 minutes

Total Time: 4 hours

Yield: 3 dozen cupcakes

Fresh strawberries macerated in honey and sugar are used in the cupcakes and frosting for these super sweet summer treat!

Ingredients

Strawberry Puree

3 cups fresh strawberries, diced
1/4 cup honey
2-3 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt

Strawberry Cupcakes

3 3/4 cups cake flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 + 2 Tbsp cup vegetable oil
1 tsp almond extract
seeds of 1 vanilla bean
12 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
2 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups strawberry puree
pink food coloring (Wilton Gel - Pink) - optional

Strawberry Buttercream

3 sticks (1 1/2 cups) unsalted butter, room temperature
3 lbs powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 cup strawberry puree
1 tsp strawberry extract
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/8 tsp salt

Instructions

Strawberry puree

In a medium bowl, drizzle up to 1/2 cup of honey over the top of the chopped strawberries. Add the sugar, vanilla and salt. Mix with a rubber spatula until the strawberries are completely coated.
Let sit at room temperature for 1-2 hours. You want the sugars to get into the berries to create a delicious syrup.
Puree in a food processor or blender until smooth.

Strawberry Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees and line cupcake pans with liners.
In a medium bowl, sift flour, salt and baking soda and set aside.
In a measuring cup, measure out the buttermilk, oil and almond extract.
In the bowl of your stand mixer, press the vanilla bean seeds into the sugar using the back of your spatula. This will release the oils in the seeds into the sugar.
Add the butter and cream with the vanilla sugar for 1 minute with the mixer on high.
Add the beaten eggs in three parts. Scrape the bowl and mix for 30 seconds after each addition.
Add the buttermilk and oil mixture. Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix until completely incorporated.
Fold in the flour using a rubber spatula until no more white can be seen. DO NOT OVER MIX.
Add the strawberry puree and fold until combined.
Add a few drops of food coloring to amp up the pink color - this is optional.
Fill cupcake liners 1/2-2/3 full. Bake for 17-19 minutes.
Remove from oven and allow to cool in the pans for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Strawberry Buttercream

In the bowl of your stand mixer, cream the butter.
Add the sifted powdered sugar 1-2 cups at a time and beat on high until smooth after each addition. If the frosting gets too hard to mix, add a the extract and a few tablespoons of the strawberry puree.
Once all the sugar has been added, add the extract (if you didn't already), salt and the strawberry puree and mix until combined.
Add up to 1/2 cup heavy cream until you reach your desired consistency. This will vary on the humidity and temperature you're living in.
Beat frosting on high for 2-3 minutes or until light and fluffy.

Assembly

Using a Wilton 1M piping tip, pipe swirls of frosting onto each cupcake.
Top with sprinkles and slices of fresh strawberries.
Set each cupcake in a Pink Camo Cupcake Wrapper from Bella Cupcake Couture

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There were just so many amazing photos of these cupcakes that I just can’t help but share so many with you here! I mean…. how cute are these… really!!?

I can’t decide what I’m more excited about…. the awesome cupcake wrappers from Bella Cupcake Couture, the strawberry cupcakes & the pink camo Army display or the fact that I’m giving away a Prize Pack worth $565!!!!!

Thanks to our amazing Prize Pack sponsors for their generous donations! Please, visit their websites to see more of their fabulous products!

Bella Cupcake Couture
Cupcake Stand
Java Cupcake
Lil’ Punkin Creations
Sweets & Treats Boutique

To enter to WIN this Prize Pack, simply fill out the entry form below.

Contest opens 21May13 at 0700 PST and closes 27May13 at 2359 PST. One winner will be chosen and announced within 24 hours of the contest ending. Winner will be contacted via email to claim their prize.

This contest is open to residents of the USA and Europe only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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{Tutorial} Neapolitan Layer Cake

May 13, 2013 by Betsy Eves 5 Comments

Ooooooooooooh I’ve been in a funk. A baking fun. Last week I make a double chocolate layer cake but since then… nothing. I haven’t even been motivated to make rice krispy treats. (I have 4 boxes of Rice Krispies – thank you WIC.) So today, I opened up my baking cookbooks, browsed Pinterest and checked out a few of my favorite blogs. One of the themes I saw running across all of them – Neapolitian. Chocolate, Strawberry and Vanilla together to make one delicious dessert. So, with Mother’s Day this past weekend, I decided that I’d make a Mother’s Day Neapolitan Layer Cake to celebrate.

Mother's Day Neapolitian Cake by JavaCupcake.com

My mom passed away 3 years ago… so she was definitely on my mind as I was making this cake. Especially when it was time to sit down and enjoy a slice. I’m certain she would have enjoyed this cake with a big glass of milk! Three layers of decadent cake filled with chocolate and strawberry frosting and topped with vanilla buttercream. Eat bite has a unique flavor…. it’s like a party in your mouth with every bite!

What really inspired me to make this particular cake was one of my most favorite bloggers, Amanda of i am baker with her Neapolitan Rose Cake. I’ve used her tutorials to make a rose cake before, but this one was going to be different. I was going to make the neapolitan cake, but I wasn’t going to do roses. Instead, I’d just smooth out the three flavors of frosting over the three different layers of cake. But still, that’s a lot of work! I had a feeling thought it was going to be so worth it in the end. And ya know what… all the hard work was TOTALLY worth it in the end because this cake was delicious!

So, instead of posting detailed recipes for this cake, I decided to write a tutorial on how to assemble and make this cake. I’ve posted the chocolate and vanilla cake recipes several times before, but tried a new strawberry recipe… I’ve linked to all of them below. You’ll also see what supplies you need to make this cake and a detailed tutorial to assemble it.

Enjoy!

{Tutorial} Neapolitan Layer Cake

For the chocolate cake:

I used THIS RECIPE for the chocolate cake. It actually makes too much batter… so when you prepare it, measure out a dozen cupcakes first and then pour the rest in your 9-inch round cake pan. Bake as directed in the recipe.

For the chocolate frosting:

I used my basic chocolate buttercream recipe, found HERE. You’ll probably use ALL of this for the cake, so you might want to make extra to frost the extra cupcakes.

For the strawberry cake:

I tried a new recipe for this cake and I think it turned out amazing! Thanks to the blog, I made that! for the recipe!

For the strawberry frosting:

I took my basic vanilla buttercream recipe and substituted about 1/4 cup strawberry puree (that I had reserved from the cake recipe) for the cream. I also added 1 tsp strawberry extract instead of vanilla extract. It was super yummy!

For the vanilla cake & frosting:

I used a whole batch of batter using my favorite vanilla cupcake recipe. It made a very tall cake & I trimmed off a lot of extra cake. So next time, I’d scoop out 6 cupcakes first, then pour the rest into the pan to bake. I also used this same recipe for the vanilla frosting, but I doubled it.

Neapolitan Cake by JavaCupcake.com

Supplies needed to assemble the cake:

-Cake layers and frosting
-Offset spatula
-Wax paper
-Cake stand or cake turn table
-Paper towels
-1 cup measuring cup
-Spatula/scraper

Assembling the Neapolitan Cake:

Trim the three cake layers so they are the same height.
Place a piece of wax paper on your cake turn table and place the chocolate layer with the trimmed side up.
Place 2 cups of chocolate frosting on to the first layer and spread evenly over the top.
Set the strawberry layer, trimmed side up, on to the chocolate frosting and gently press down.
Place 2 cups of strawberry frosting onto the top and spread evenly.
Place the finally vanilla layer, trimmed side DOWN, onto the strawberry frosting and gently press down.
Crumb coat each layer of cake with the coordinating frosting and place in the freezer for 20 minutes.
Once the cake has set – begin frosting the outside of the cake starting with the chocolate on the bottom and working your way up to the top with the vanilla. Use 2 cups of vanilla frosting on the top layer of the cake. If you need an idea of how to apply the frosting, check out my Ombre Cake Tutorial – see steps 3-6 for how to apply the frosting in layers on the side of the cake.
Make sure to clean off your spatula often with the paper towels. Mixing flavors at the seams will result in smears of color onto the wrong layers.
Using your offset spatula, do your best to smooth the sides of the cake without smudging the colors together. This process takes a steady hand and a lot of time. GO SLOW. Unlike the ombre cake, you don’t want the colors to collide together to create the gradual change of colors… you want three distinct color layers – but still want a smooth, finished look.
To transfer the cake to your cake plate, gently and carefully pull the wax paper and cake off the edge of the cake turn table. Place your hand under the cake as your peel away the wax paper and pull the cake completely off the stand. Transfer the cake to the cake stand and use any additional chocolate frosting you have to touch up the bottom edges.

Filed Under: cake, cakes, chocolate, chocolate cake, chocolate frosting, family, frosting and icing, fruit, fruit filled cake, layer cake, life, recipes, strawberry cake, strawberry frosting, vanilla cake, vanilla frosting

Peanut Butter M&M Chocolate Cupcakes

May 9, 2013 by Betsy Eves 6 Comments

These cupcakes came together on a whim this morning. I was making the chocolate cake layer for an upcoming cake project and had extra batter so I made 10 chocolate cupcakes. About a week ago I bought a bag of Peanut Butter M&M (under the influence of PMS HAHA!) and thought that they’d make an excellent addition to a peanut butter filling for chocolate cupcakes. But… as I was whipping up the filling I realized that what I was making would make an even better frosting! So these Peanut Butter M&M Chocolate Cupcakes were born!

You can use any chocolate cupcake recipe you want for these. Heck, use a box mix. Cause let’s be honest here… it’s the frosting that’s the highlight of these cupcakes. Giant mound of peanut buttery, chunky candy goodness. I even used crunchy peanut butter for this frosting to add a little texture to each bite!

Yummmmmm-o!

Peanut Butter M&M Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients

Chocolate Cupcakes

Use this recipe ! It makes 2-3 dozen cupcakes so either HALF this recipe of DOUBLE the frosting recipe.

Peanut Butter M&M Frosting

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 heaping cup crunchy peanut butter (I used JIF)
2 cups powdered sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla
2 Tbsp milk
pinch of salt
1/2 cup Peanut Butter M&M's
1/4 cup Peanut Butter M&M's for garnish

Instructions

Prepare your chocolate cupcakes and allow to cool completely before frosting.
Using a food processor, crush 1/2 cup of M&Ms until they are broken into very fine pieces. Remove from food processor and set aside. Repeat with 1/4 cup of M&M's and set aside for garnish.
In a medium mixing bowl, using your hand mixer on high, cream together the peanut butter and butter.
Add half the powdered sugar and mix until smooth. Mix in the vanilla, salt, and milk.
Add the remaining powdered sugar and combine until incorporated. Turn your mixer to high and whip for 1-2 minutes until the frosting lightens in color and becomes fluffy.
Add the 1/2 cup crushed M&Ms and mix until incorporated.
Using an open star tip, pipe frosting onto each cupcake. Sprinkle more crushed M&Ms on top and garnish with a single M&M in the center of the frosting.
Eat and enjoy!

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Almost as good as Mom’s –
Double Chocolate Layer Cake

April 30, 2013 by Betsy Eves 6 Comments

When I want to bake but I’m not quite sure what to make I usually tend to make something that I’m craving. Today – chocolate cake. I am IN LOVE with my chocolate cake recipe. It’s decadent, rich – but light and moist. All things I love in a great cake!

I am pairing my favorite chocolate cake with a creamy whipped dark chocolate buttercream. It’s a very simple recipe, but it’s so stinkin’ delicious that I’m pretty certain I may consume half the cake myself!

Mostly though, I love this cake because of the memories it brings me. Growing up, I would request a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting every year for my birthday. My mom, without fail, would make it for me… from scratch and with love every time. Our birthdays were only 2 days apart, so we always shared a birthday cake. I don’t know if she loved this cake as much as I did, because she never asked for anything different… or maybe she was just being a good mom and letting me have what I wanted. Either way… nothing could ever beat her chocolate cake. Not even this recipe.

My mom passed away a few years ago… but, every time I make a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting I am reminded of her and how we shared this cake on our birthdays.

Enjoy!

Almost as good as Mom's - Double Chocolate Layer Cake

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 3 hours

Yield: 1 2-layer 9-inch cake

Ingredients

Dark Chocolate Cake

Chocolate Cake

1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)
1 1/2 cups brewed coffee
1 Tbsp espresso powder
1 Tbsp vanilla
3/4 cup dark chocolate cocoa powder
2/3 cup sour cream
2 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Whipped Chocolate Frosting

1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup dark chocolate cocoa powder (I used Hershey's)
5 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup + 3-4 Tbsp heavy whipping cream
chocolate shavings (garnish)

Instructions

Dark Chocolate Cake

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Grease, line with parchment paper and flour 2 9-inch cake pans.
In a medium sauce pan, melt the butter. Add the coffee, espresso powder, cocoa powder, and vanilla and whisk until combined. Set aside to cool slightly.
In a large bowl, sift together the sugar, flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the sour cream and the eggs. SLOWLY add a few tablespoons of the chocolate mixture to the sour cream and eggs. Whisk to combine. In a slow stream, whisk in the remaining chocolate mixture until combined completely.
Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in wet. Using a whisk, stir until no more lumps remain.
Divide the batter evenly into the 2 prepared pans. Each pan should get 3 cups of batter.
Bake 26-28 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing from the pans to cool on a wire rack.
Once the cakes have cooled, but are still warm, use a cake leveler to cut off the round mound on the top of the cake. Make sure both layers are the same height.

Whipped Chocolate Frosting

In the bowl of your stand mixer, whip the butter until smooth.
Add the dark chocolate cocoa powder and mix on medium-high until combined.
Add the sugar and salt and mix until incorporated. The frosting will be very thick.
Mix in the vanilla extract and 1/4 cup of heavy whipping cream and mix until smooth. Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix again for 20 seconds.
Add 3-4 Tbsp more of heavy cream until you have reached your desired consistency. Scrape the sides of the bowl and whip on high for 3-4 minutes.

Assembly

Place a piece of wax paper on your rotating cake prep stand and place the flattest side of one layer on it. Spread a thick layer of frosting on the top of this layer of cake.
Place the second layer, flat side UP, on top of the frosting.
Crumb coat the entire cake. (A crumb coat is a very thin layer of frosting that seals in the crumbs.) Place cake in the freezer for about 10 minutes.
Spread a 1/2 inch layer of frosting on the top and side of the cake. Using an offset spatula, smooth out the sides.
Spread an even layer of chocolate shavings on the top of the cake. Place cake back in freezer for 10-15 minutes.
Gently slide the cake off the wax paper and place it onto your cake stand.
Press remaining chocolate shavings onto the bottom edge of the cake closets to the cake stand.
Serve with a giant glass of milk and a big scoop of vanilla ice cream!

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{Tutorial} Royal Icing Flowers

April 24, 2013 by Betsy Eves 1 Comment

I am making vanilla cupcakes today for a friend and I wanted to do more than just a white cake with white frosting… so, I decided to try something new! Royal Icing Flowers! Yup – you know those sugar flowers you can buy at the grocery store? Well – you can make them yourself at home… and it’s super easy!

The great thing about these flowers is that you can make a lot of them at once… store them… and then use them all year round. You can top cupcakes with these flowers or even decorate cakes with them! Super simple, super fun and super cute!

Supplies:

Disposable piping bags
Wilton #1M tip
Wilton #4 tip
Royal Icing (see recipe below)
Wax paper
Flat surface

Prepare your work area:

Cut the tip of your disposable bags off and place the piping tips inside.
Fill the bag with the Wilton #4 tip with the yellow icing and fill the bags with the #1M tips with the other colors.
Place a large piece of wax paper on a flat surface – if you have something to hold the corners of the paper down, do so.

Technique:

Hold a filled piping bag fitting with a #1M tip at a 90 degree angle to the wax paper. Place the tip directly above but not touching the wax paper.
Apply firm pressure to the bag so that the icing flows out. Immediately begin to rotate the bag, keeping it straight and continually pressing icing out. After the bag has been rotated about a quarter turn, release pressure and pull the bag straight up. Repeat this process with each color of icing.
Using the yellow icing with the #4 tip, pipe a small yellow dot in the center of each flower.
Let flowers set out over night to dry.

Storage:

After the flowers have set out to dry overnight, store them in an air tight container.
If stored properly, they will keep for up to a year.

Royal Icing for Flowers

Total Time: 15 minutes

Yield: 3-4 cups of Royal Icing

Ingredients

4 cups powdered sugar
3 Tbsp meringue powder
6-9 Tbsp room temperature water
Wilton gel coloring (yellow for center of flowers + any other colors you want)

Instructions

In the bowl of your stand mixer with the whisk attachment, combine the powdered sugar and meringue powder. Mix on low for 30 seconds.
Add 6 Tbsp of the water to the sugar and mix on low until it becomes clumpy and all the sugar is wet.
1/2 a Tbsp at a time, add water until the mixture becomes smooth. GO SLOW and be sure not to add too much water. You want a stuff frosting. I added about 2 Tbsp more water at this point, but depending on the temperature and humidity of where you're at, you may need less or more water.
Beat on high for 7 minutes. Lift the whisk out, scrape the sides of the bowl and test the texture and consistency of the royal icing. You want a thick icing - but not so thick that you can't push it through a piping bag & tip. Add 1/2 Tbsp of water if necessary to loosen it up.
Beat on high for 2 more minutes.
Separate icing into the # of bowls you are coloring. For example if you are making pink and purple flowers, you'll need three bowls of icing. Two for the flowers and one for the center dots in yellow.
Using a toothpic, add a very small dollop of gel coloring into each bowl and mix in with a spoon until uniform in color.

Notes

I watched these videos before I made this royal icing to help familiarize myself with the technique.

Royal Icing Basics: http://youtu.be/ux5hfEn2o7Q

How to make Royal Icing: http://youtu.be/RnxHBne-uVo

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White Chocolate Twix Cupcakes

April 11, 2013 by Betsy Eves 16 Comments

Several months ago, my husband and I were shopping at the German market Edeka and we spotted a candy bar we had never seen before. White Chocolate Twix! WOAH! My husband LOVES Twix and he LOVES white chocolate… but together, in the same candy bar… HOLY COW! Of course the first thing to pop in my mind was how these would make the BEST cupcakes!

I really wanted to get that Twix cookie flavor into the cake part – so I used a basic sponge cake recipe and then incorporated crushed shortbread cookies into the batter. The result is perfect – it’s hard to describe, but it’s almost like a soft cookie. It has a thick crumb and tastes just like shortbread. YUM!

The cupcake is filled with caramel sauce. Now – since I wasn’t trying to spend ALL day in the kitchen, I used a jar of premade sauce, but you could definitely make your own. Dulce de leche would be great in the middle of these cupcakes too! When taking a bite into these cupcakes, instead of caramel oozing out all over the place, it was soaked up into the cake… so you get a burst of caramel flavor without the mess! Perfect!

Topping these little yummies is a whipped white chocolate frosting. I call it whipped because that’s what I did to it – whipped the heck out of it making it a light and fluffy frosting. And on top of the frosting, a 1/3 of a White Chocolate Twix candy bar!

And – if I’m not mistaken, I’m pretty certain no one has ever made these before… I think it may actually be a cupcake first!!

Enjoy!

White Chocolate Twix Cupcakes

Total Time: 2 hours

Yield: 24-30 cupcakes

Shortbread cake filled with caramel sauce and topped with whipped white chocolate frosting!

Ingredients

Shortbread Cupcakes

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 3/4 cup sugar
4 eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
1 cup whole milk
1 Tbsp vanilla
1 package (250g) Walkers Shortbread Cookies, crushed (both fine and chunky pieces)
1 12.25oz jar Smuckers caramel sauce

Whipped White Chocolate Frosting

200g Lindt white chocolate (you can use any brand of white chocolate, just not chips or candy melts)
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
750g (about 4 1/2 cups) powdered sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
pinch of salt

Instructions

Shortbread Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Line cupcake pan with liners.
In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
In the bowl of your stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy - about 3-4 minutes.
Add the eggs, one at a time and mix until incorporated. Beat on high for 3-4 minutes.
In a measuring cup, combine the milk and vanilla.
In three parts add the flour mixture and mix on low... between each addition of flour, add half the milk. Mix only until just combined.
Fold in the crushed shortbread cookies.
Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for 16-18 minutes.
Allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
Core each cupcake with an apple corer. Reserve the cake from the middle.
Fill each cupcake with about a tablespoon of caramel sauce and place the cored cake on top of the caramel - filling the hole.

Whipped White Chocolate Frosting

Place chopped chocolate in a microwave safe glass bowl. Microwave in 30 second bursts at 60% heat until 80% melted. Stir until all the chocolate has melted. Set aside to cool.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter until smooth. Add the powdered sugar and mix on high until combined.
Mix in the vanilla.
With the mixer on low, pour in the white chocolate. Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix on medium speed until incorporated.
Add the heavy cream & salt and whip for 4-5 minutes or until light and fluffy.
If the frosting seems too soft, place it in the refrigerator for 10 minutes to slightly firm up.
Use a large open, star tip (such as Wilton B8) to pipe a swirl of frosting onto each cupcake. Top the cupcake with 1/3 of a white chocolate Twix candy bar.

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Carrot Cupcakes + DIY Carrot Toppers

March 26, 2013 by Betsy Eves 2 Comments

It’s the week before Easter and I wanted to make something super special for my daughter to take to school to share with her teachers. I’ve never made carrot cake before… honestly, I’ve never really eaten it either because usually when it’s served somewhere, it has nuts… and I’m allergic. Boo. So this carrot cupcakes have no nuts but LOTS of flavor!

I searched and searched and searched the internet for a recipe. There are LOTS of carrot cake and cupcake recipes. A LOT. Some had pineapple, some apple sauce, some coconut or raisins. WHICH DO I CHOOSE?!?!

Finally, I settled on this recipe from the Food Network – 24 Karrot Gold Cupcakes. There wasn’t one negative review on the recipe, so that had to be a plus. But – of course I couldn’t help but doctor it up a little bit and put my own spin on things.

They turned out SO YUM! Why haven’t I made carrot cake before!?!?

I also decided after seeing this tutorial by No Biggie for DIY carrot cupcake toppers that I wanted to make my own version of them to top these cupcakes! I mean how much more perfect are carrot cupcakes topped with carrots? At the bottom of this post you’ll find my adaptation of this No Biggie’s tutorial!

Happy Easter!

Enjoy!

Carrot Cupcakes

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 18 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours, 30 minutes

Yield: 18 cupcakes

Ingredients

Carrot Cupcakes

2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger
2 large eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup crushed pineapple, strained (I also wrang it out in a paper towel to get as much juice out as I could)
1/4 cup milk
2 cups grated carrots (2-3 large carrots)

Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting

6oz cream cheese, room temperature
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
1 Tbsp heavy whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
the seeds from 1 vanilla bean
pinch of salt
3 cups powered sugar

Decorating Supplies

Disposable piping bag
large round piping tip
orange, green and yellow sprinkles
PEEPS bunnies
DIY Carrot Toppers
Sugar flowers

Instructions

Carrot Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Line cupcake pan with liners.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger.
In another large bowl, beat the eggs. Add the oil and mix together.
Add the sugars and whisk until smooth and there are no more sugar clumps.
Add the vanilla, pineapple, carrots and milk and whisk until combined.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Fold until completely combined. Do not overmix.
Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake 17-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Cool in pan for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting

In the bowl of your stand mixer, cream together the butter and cream cheese.
Add the vanilla bean seeds, vanilla extract, salt and heavy cream and beat until incorporated - about 2 minutes.
Mix in the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, until smooth. Beat on high for 2 minutes.
Using a large round tip fitted on a disposable piping bag, squeeze a large round dollop of frosting on to the top of each cupcake.
Top cupcakes with sugar flowers, PEEPS bunnies and DIY carrots.

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DIY Carrot Cupcake Toppers by JavaCupcake.com

For all the ins and outs to make these carrot cupcake toppers, visit No Biggie’s blog for the full tutorial! I didn’t have all the supplies and tools she had to make them exactly the same, so I used what was in my house and I still think they turned out great!

Supplies

Orange & green card stock
Lollipop sticks
Glue stick
Scissors

Instructions

Cut strips of orange card stock the long length of your paper. I cut mine about 1/3″, but you can cut whatever size works best for you. If you use a paper that isn’t color on both sides, make sure that any lines you draw to help you cut your paper are not visible on the white side. (I learned this the hard way once I started assembling them and had to trim the edges so you couldn’t see my lines.)
Cut 3×2″ rectangles of green card stock. Cut fringe up one side of the paper, making sure to leave about 1/4″ uncut. (See pictures in the No Biggie tutorial for a better description.)
Spread the glue stick on the uncut length of the green card stock. Wrap that tightly around the end of the lollipop stick and hold for 30 seconds for the glue to adhere. Fray out the fringe.
Wrap the orange paper around the center of the lollipop stick and hold for 30 seconds. Let go of the paper, it will be curled up like ribbon. Glue the outer edge of the curled paper to the top of the stick at the base of the wrapped green fringe. Glue the bottom inner edge about half way down the stick. You may want to move the paper up/down or adjust it to how it looks best before gluing the bottom to the stick. Hold the paper in place to let the glue adhere.

Wondering where I got some of these cupcake supplies?

Orange zigzag liners – Sweets & Treats Boutique
Sugar flowers – Lucks Food Decorating Company
Orange marshmallow bunnies – PEEPS & Co.

Filed Under: carrot, carrot cupcakes, cream cheese, cream cheese frosting, cupcake recipes, frosting and icing, perfect for spring, recipes

Basic Chocolate Buttercream

March 20, 2013 by Betsy Eves 4 Comments

I needed my recipe for basic chocolate buttercream today and as I went to look for it on my blog, I realized I haven’t dedicated a post just to this frosting! I didn’t feel like digging through all the recipes to find it, so I made it from memory and decided I needed to share it here with you!

This recipe is so super easy to make, you’d think it took a long time when you taste it though! The ingredients are basic, yet very specific. I use a dark chocolate cocoa powder, heavy cream and a pinch of salt. These three ingredients (versus regular cocoa powder, milk and no salt) really take this buttercream to the next level.

I’ve used this recipe for cakes, cookies, cupcakes… anything really! It’s so yum!

Enjoy

Basic Chocolate Buttercream

Yield: Enough to frost 12+ cupcakes

Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup Hershey's dark chocolate cocoa powder, sifted
3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt

Instructions

In the bowl of your stand mixer, whip the butter on high until smooth.
While that is whipping, sift together the cocoa powder and powdered sugar.
Add the salt, sugar and cocoa to the butter and mix on low-medium until incorporated.
Add the vanilla and half the heavy cream. Whip until smooth.
Scrape the sides of the bowl.
Add the remaining cream slowly until you reach your desired thickness. You may or may not use all the cream.
Whip on high for 3-4 minutes. Frosting will lighten in color and become fluffy.
Store in airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week. Bring back to room temperature again before using.

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Irish Stout Cake with Bailey’s Ganache

March 15, 2013 by Betsy Eves 6 Comments

It’s that time of year again… the time where I stock up on Guinness beer and Bailey’s Irish cream and Jameson whiskey. And why? you may be wondering… well, it’s St. Patrick’s Day! The day American’s celebrate their Irish heritage by getting sloshed! HA! I don’t particularly drink too much… so I like to use my liquor in my baking and this year made a chocolate Guinness Irish stout cake filled with Bailey’s cream cheese frosting and covered in white chocolate Bailey’s ganache.

OOooooooooooooooooooooh yeah.

This chocolate cake is seriously one of my all time favorites. I mean, I could make this cake over and over and over again (and trust me, I already have) and NEVER get tired of it.

At first, I just wanted to make a single layer of cake and cover it in a simple white chocolate Bailey’s ganache. BUT… I didn’t have a large enough round pan (I wanted a 10in round pan, but I only had an 8in round). Boo. So, two 8in rounds it was. Between the two layers of cake is a Bailey’s Irish cream & white chocolate ganache that I let set up overnight in the fridge so that I could spread it. On top is hot ganache poured over the cake and down the sides. I love that you can see the chocolate layers of this cake too. Yaahh… this cake is good.

I brought it over to my neighbor Chrissy’s house to share with her family. I served a big ole slice to her husband with a Guinness… HUGE hit!

Enjoy!

Irish Stout Cake with Bailey’s Ganache

Total Time: 24 hours

Yield: 1 2-layer 8-inch cake

Dark chocolate Guinness Stout cake filled with Bailey's cream cheese frosting topped with Bailey's ganache and white chocolate shavings - the perfect St. Patrick's Day dessert!

Ingredients

Irish Stout Cake

2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup unsalted butter
1 12oz bottle of Guinness Stout beer
3/4 cup dark chocolate cocoa powder (I used Hershey's)
1 Tbsp espresso powder

Bailey's Cream Cheese Frosting

6oz cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup shortening
2 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 Tbsp Bailey's Irish Cream

Bailey's Ganahe

6oz high quality white chocolate (not white chocolate chips)
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup Bailey's Irish Cream
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
White chocolate shavings (garnish)

Instructions

Irish Stout Cake

Preheat oven to 375 F degrees. Grease and flour 2 8in round cake pans. I also lined mine with parchment paper.
In a medium pot, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Whisk in the beer, cocoa powder and espresso powder until smooth. Bring to a simmmer and let bubble 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly. Set aside to cool 5-10 minutes.
While it's cooling, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.
In another large bowl, whisk together the vanilla, eggs and buttermilk.
Once the chocolate mixture has slightly cooled, add 1-2 Tbsp of it to the eggs and milk and whisk until smooth. This is going to temper the eggs so they don't scramble. Slowly pour the remaining chocolate in with the eggs and whisk until incorporated.
Make a well in the flour and pour in the chocolate. Use a spatula to fold together until no more flour can be seen. It will still be clumpy at this point. With your whisk, quickly stir the batter 20 strokes. Do not over mix. The batter may still have a few lumps in it, but that's okay.
Divide the batter evenly into the prepared pans. (I got about 2 3/4 cup of batter into each pan.)
Bake at 375 F degrees for 15 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350 F degrees and cook another 14-16 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Cool cake in the pans for 10 minutes until removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
Once cooled, trim the tops so that each cake is level and the same height.
Wrap cake layers and freezer for several hours or over night.

Bailey's Irish Cream Frosting

Using your stand mixer, cream together the cream cheese, butter and shortening until smooth.
Add the powdered sugar and beat on high for 2 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl to ensure everything is incorporated.
Add the Bailey's and salt and mix for 1 more minute.
Chill in the freezer for about 10 minutes or until firm and easily spreadable without being too soft.

Bailey's Ganache

Run the white chocolate though the food processor until it is in very small, fine pieces. If you don't have a food processor you can just chop the chocolate into very small, fine pieces. Place them in a medium glass bowl.
In a medium pot, bring the heavy cream, Bailey's and butter to a simmer. DO NOT BOIL. Pour cream over the chocolate and let it stand for 1 minute.
Stir chocolate and cream slowly and smoothly until all the chocolate has melted. Do not over-stir the chocolate... you don't want to create air bubbles.
Place the bowl in a ice bath until it has come to room temperature. Cover and chill for 1 hour or until it has thickened.

Assembly

Place first layer of cold from the freezer cake on your cake stand, cut side up. Using all the cream cheese frosting, spread an even, flat layer across the top of the cake to the edges. Place the second layer of cake, cut side down on top of the frosting. Press down gently until the top is level. Put cake in the freezer for 10-15 minutes.
Remove the cake from the freezer and spoon ganache on the top of the cake. Using an offset spatula, GENTLY AND SLOWLY spread the ganache to the sides of the cake. Add more ganache when needed to create an even layer. You'll want the ganache to slightly drip off the sides, but most of it to remain on top. Pop any air bubbles with a toothpick.
Garnish the top of the cake with white chocolate shavings.
Store cake in refrigerator until ready to serve. Remove 15-20 minutes before you want to cut the cake.
Store in an air tight container up to 2 days.

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Butterfinger Cupcakes

March 11, 2013 by Betsy Eves 3 Comments

So my husband is gone for 3 weeks training for his upcoming deployment… one could call these three weeks training for the Army Wives who are left at home too. It’s like a trial run for how things will be when the one man who holds our whole world together – isn’t there anymore. Last Friday night, about 20 of us Army Wives got together for an evening of food, drinks and lots of fun… just a few hours to help take our minds off our husbands being away and a chance to build community and make new friends. I wanted to bring something to the party that the women could really indulge themselves… so I made Butterfinger Cupcakes!

I used my standard dark chocolate cake recipe for the cupcake, dipped each cupcake in chocolate ganache and swirled Butterfinger buttercream on top… of course all topped with a Butterfinger egg!

I also thought I’d dress these cupcakes up for Spring! It has been sunny and 50F here the last week and it’s gotten me excited for warmer weather! Come on Spring!

Enjoy!

Butterfinger Cupcakes

Total Time: 3 hours

Yield: 2 dozen cupcakes

Ingredients

Chocolate Cupcakes

Use THIS RECIPE

Chocolate Ganache

100g chocolate (I used Lindt Excellence 50% cocoa)
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla

Butterfinger Buttercream

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup creamy peanut butter
3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
pinch salt
3 Butterfinger candy bars - regular size
24 Butterfinger Nesting Eggs

Instructions

Chocolate Cake

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Line cupcake pan with liners.
Prepare batter as directed in the instructions found in the link above.
Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pans for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Ganache

Chop chocolate into very fine pieces and place into a medium glass bowl.
Over medium-high heat, heat the cream, butter and vanilla until just simmering. Do not let it come to a complete boil.
Pour cream over chocolate and let it set for 1 minute untouched.
Stir gently until smooth and all the chocolate has melted. Be careful not to allow any air bubbles to form.
Immediately dip the top of each cooled cupcake in the ganache. Allow to sit 1 hour or until the chocolate has set.

Butterfinger Buttercream

Cream together the peanut butter and butter for 2-3 minutes.
Add the powdered sugar and mix until smooth. Scrape the sides of the bowl and add the heavy cream and salt.
Mix on high 4-5 minutes or until light and fluffy and has become lighter in color.
Using your food processor, chop up the candy bars until they have broken up into small, very fine pieces.
Fold the Butterfinger into the frosting.
Using a large round tip, pipe a round of frosting onto each cupcake. Top with a Butterfinger Egg.

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Filed Under: candy cupcakes, candy frosting, chocolate cupcakes, cupcake recipes, frosting and icing, peanut butter, peanut butter frosting, recipes

The Perfect Peanut Butter Buttercream

February 27, 2013 by Betsy Eves 13 Comments

I am a lover of all things peanut butter… and if you haven’t gathered by the dozens of peanut butter recipes I have on my blog… I’m kinda obsessed with my recipe for peanut butter buttercream. I’ve been in search of the perfect recipe for some time now… I’ve tried lots from baker friends recipes and recipes from blogs but finally, with some fine tuning of several recipes put together, I’ve found the perfect recipe! It’s what I consider to be the Perfect Peanut Butter Buttercream.

It’s creamy, light, fluffy, smooth, not too sweet and FULL of peanut butter flavor. I can’t ask for anything more in a peanut butter frosting. This recipe is really so delicious, you could use it as a dip for fruit, top chucks of chocolate with it, frost cakes or cupcakes with it, or even make cookie sandwiches and fill them with this buttercream. Or… you can do like I do and eat it by the spoonful!

Go make some. Just cause.

PS… If you want to see some recent recipes using this buttercream, check out these PB&J Chocolate Cupcakes or these Peanut Butter Buttercream Tagalong Cookie Sandwiches or these Triple Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes!

Enjoy!

The Perfect Peanut Butter Buttercream

Yield: Enough to frost 2 dozen cupcakes or 1 2-layer 8-in round cake

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 heaping cup creamy peanut butter (I use JIF)
3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
pinch of salt

Instructions

In the bowl of your stand mixer, cream together the peanut butter and butter for 2-3 minutes. You want the color to lighten by a few shades.
Add the powdered sugar, scrape the sides of the bowl and mix until combined.
Pour in the heavy cream and beat until smooth. Scrape the bowl again.
Mix in the salt.
Beat on high for 3-4 minutes or until the buttercream has become light and fluffy.
Use immediately.

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Mint Chocolate Chip Cake

February 22, 2013 by Betsy Eves 10 Comments

I’m heading out of town this weekend to Garmish, Germany for a marriage retreat courtesy of the US Army. Three days and two nights at the Edelweiss Resort all on the Army’s dime. When they offer these kinds of weekends – you don’t tell the Army no. You say, THANK YOU and enjoy yourself!

Unfortunately, by going on this retreat I’ll be missing my dear friend Chasity’s birthday on Sunday. Sad, yes. BUT – being the awesome friend I am… I’m making her birthday cake before I head out of town! Her husband asked me last week if I’d make the cake for her and of course I jumped at the chance. Chasity’s favorite flavors are mint & chocolate chip. No lie about this too. We went to Poland together last weekend and stopped in Dresden and she ate two giant scoops of mint chocolate chip ice cream. She LOVES this stuff! (PS Sorry, Chasity for calling you out on the ice cream haha!)

I started with a basic two layer 8-in chocolate cake. You can use any recipe you like… for a quick cake, I like chocolate fudge box mix or you can use my favorite recipe for chocolate cake. Since most of the awesomeness of this cake comes from the frosting and the decorations… the cake part wasn’t my primary focus. I frosted the cake with buttercream – but kicked it up a million notches by adding mint and chocolate chunks to create the mint chocolate chip aspect of the cake. For garnish I made a mint chocolate bark that was super simple yet so darn yummy. Overall – this cake ruled!

Enjoy!

Mint Chocolate Chip Cake

Total Time: 6 hours

Yield: 1 2-layer 8-inch cake

Ingredients

Chocolate Cake

Click on this LINK for the RECIPE

Mint Chocolate Chip Buttercream

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup shortening
2lbs powdered sugar
1 Tbsp mint extract
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup heavy cream
Wilton Food Coloring Gel - Green
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate, chopped

Chocolate Ganache

4oz semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp vanilla

Mint Chocolate Chip Bark

Click on this LINK for the RECIPE

Instructions

Chocolate Cake

Make 1/2 the recipe for the chocolate cake using the recipe in the link above.
Cover and freeze layers for several hours or overnight.

Mint Chocolate Chip Buttercream

Cream butter and shortening together until smooth.
Add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition.
Mix in the mint, salt, and heavy cream. Scrape the sides of the bowl and beat on high for 4-5 minutes or until light and fluffy. If the mixture is too thick, add more heavy cream.
Add the food coloring and mix until the color is uniform.
Fold in the chocolate chunks.

Chocolate Ganache

Place chocolate chunks in a medium glass bowl.
In a small sauce pan, heat the milk, butter and vanilla until it boils.
Pour immediately over the chocolate and let stand for 2 minutes.
Using a metal spoon, stir slowly and gently until all the chocolate has melted making sure not to incorporate any air into the ganache.

Mint Chocolate Chip Bark

Follow the recipe found in the link above.

Assembly

Trim off the rounded edges of the top of both layers of cake.
Using an offset spatula, spread a 1/2 inch layer of buttercream over the first layer of cake. Make sure to spread it flat and evenly all the way across the edge of the cake.
Spread a thin crumb coat of buttercream around the outside of the cake. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.
Generously spread more buttercream around the outside of the cake until you have about a 1/2 inch layer of frosting. Smooth out the buttercream.
Prepare the ganache on the top of the cake in the center. Using an offset spatula, gently bring the ganache to the edge of the cake and let it pour over. Start by pouring a small amount of ganache, you can always add more if necessary.
Garnish with a stack of mint chocolate chip bark.

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PB&J Chocolate Birthday Cupcakes

February 10, 2013 by Betsy Eves 5 Comments

Today is my 35th 29th birthday and to celebrate I made cupcakes! Peanut Butter & Jelly Chocolate cupcakes to be exact!

But… before I get to the cupcakes, I have to tell you a story… a sad, sad story. You see, yesterday I had big lofty plans to make myself a super fancy birthday cake. It was going to be three layers of Valhrona chocolate cake filled with fresh raspberries and topped with a Disaronno buttercream. It was a fail.

I mean, the cake tasted really good. The raspberry filling was AMAZING. But when it came time to assemble the cake, it was just so moist that it fell apart as soon as I filled and stacked it. I was rushing. I didn’t want to chill the cake layers first. It was a disaster. Everyone who was following my struggle on my Facebook page suggested that I turn the cake into a trifle… but, by the time I had calmed down from being so mad… it was too late. The cake was in the trash. Bummer.

You know – it’s probably a good thing though that I had to start over, because if we’re being honest here… that cake isn’t what I really wanted. Huh? You might be saying to yourself? What? Yah… I know. I’m a little nutty. I wanted the same ole chocolate cake I’ve made a hundred times before. That dark chocolate cake that is so efffffffing delicious, I dream about it when I haven’t had it in a while. And yeah- that’s what I should have made yesterday.

So this morning… I did. I got up early and whipped up a dozen dark chocolate cupcakes using my most favorite cupcake recipe. I then filled those cupcakes with the raspberry filling I made for yesterdays cake and then topped it all off with my favorite peanut butter buttercream.

Since I’ve made all of these ingredients on my blog before… I’m not going to rewrite everything here… instead, I’ll just give you links and explain to you how I assembled them all.

FYI- those liners I’m using came from Sweets & Treats Boutique! They sent me a sampler pack and I can’t stop using them! I LOVE how they look with chocolate cupcakes and I love the variety in designs!

Oh – and that fork? Isn’t it TO DIE FOR? Goozeberry Hill custom made it for me!! I absolutely LOVE it! You can have your own custom made… just go HERE!

Enjoy!

PB&J Chocolate Birthday Cupcakes

Yield: 1 dozen cupcakes

Three of my favorite things in one great cupcake - Chocolate, Raspberry & Peanut Butter!

Ingredients

Chocolate Cake

Recipe & Instructions

Raspberry Filling

Recipe & Instructions **You'll only need half of this recipe

Peanut Butter Buttercream

Recipe & Instructions **You'll only need half of this recipe
Fresh raspberries & birthday sprinkles for garnish

Instructions

Make cupcakes as directed in recipe above.
Prepare the raspberry filling while the cupcakes are baking and allow to cool complete.
Core each cupcake using an apple corer.
Fill cupcakes with cooled raspberry filling.
Make buttercream as directed in recipe above.
Using a large star tip, pipe the frosting onto each cupcake.
Garnish with birthday sprinkles and a fresh raspberry on top.

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And cause he’s so darn cute… I had to share a picture of Matthew! He’s 11 months old and practicing for his 1st birthday by licking the peanut butter buttercream off the beater! I love this baby boy!

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Dulce de Leche filled Mocha Cupcakes

January 25, 2013 by Betsy Eves Leave a Comment

Dulce de Leche filled Mocha Cupcakes by JavaCupcake.com

I’m super excited to be a part of a blog that I’ve been reading for 4+ years, Coffee Cup News! CCN has invited me to be an author, sharing my recipes for decadent and delicious coffee desserts and yummies!

For my first post, I’ve made the most amazing mocha cupcake and it’s filled with dulce de leche and topped with a mocha whipped cream. It’s just like having your favorite caramel mocha from Starbucks… but in a cupcake!

So if you love coffee, visit Coffee Cup News, tell them Betsy sent you and enjoy the coffee!

PS… the FULL RECIPE for this cupcake can be found HERE!

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Triple Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

January 17, 2013 by Betsy Eves 8 Comments

One of my very good friends, Margot, is having her baby shower tonight. Her baby was born several months early and we didn’t get a chance to celebrate her baby girl before she arrived… so tonight, we celebrate Evalyn and Margot! Margot loves my cupcakes… how do I know this? Well, she was Emily’s teacher and the recipient of several “thank you” cupcakes thoughout the year and ALL the other teachers at the school were very jealous! tee hee hee

Margot & Evalyn

Now… you might be surprised that I didn’t make these cupcakes 100% from scratch. I know… you’re used to seeing unique recipes for my creations that don’t include a box. But this week I have been super duper busy that I didn’t want to take the chance of a recipe not working out and not having the time to redo the cupcakes.

So, I used Duncan Hines Triple Chocolate Cake Mix. This isn’t your $0.99 box of cake mix. This cake mix produces a rich, dark chocolate cake that has ribbons of fudge and chunks of chocolate in it. Really… for a box… it’s AMAZING! And even more… paired with my favorite peanut butter buttercream it’s OUT OF THIS WORLD!

Have you had my peanut butter buttercream before? Uhm…. it’s light and fluffy with the perfect amount of peanut butter flavor. Not too sweet, not to strong… just perfect! I could eat this by the SPOONFUL!

Oh – and it’s Girl Scout Cookie Season and I just HAD to top these cupcakes with a Tagalong cookie!

Love those liners? I got them from Sweets & Treats Boutique! I LOVE THEM!

Enjoy!

Triple Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Cook Time: 18 minutes

Total Time: 3 hours

Yield: 2 dozen + 9 cupcakes

Ingredients

Triple Chocolate Cupcakes

2 boxes Duncan Hines Triple Chocolate Cake Mix
Oil
Eggs
Water

Peanut Butter Buttercream

3 sticks (1 1/2 cups) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter (I used Jiff)
4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/3-1/2 cup heavy cream
1/8 tsp salt
Chocolate jimmies
Tagalong Girl Scout Cookies - quartered

Instructions

Triple Chocolate Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Line cupcake pan with liners.
Prepare the fudge filling and the batter as directed on the box.
Scoop the batter into the cupcake liners.
Dollop a scan tablespoon of fudge filling on top of the batter. Use a toothpick to swirl fudge into the batter. You want to make sure that the batter is covering the fudge filling.
Bake 18-20 minutes, rotating the pan after 12 minutes.
Cool in pan for at least 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Peanut Butter Buttercream

Cream together the peanut butter and butter.
Add the powdered sugar and mix on high until incorporated.
Add 1/3 cup of heavy cream and mix until smooth. Add more cream until you reach your desired consistency.
Scrape the sides of the bowl and beat on high for 4-5 minutes. The frosting will lighten in color and become smooth and fluffy.
Using a Wilton 1M tip, pipe frosting onto each cupcake.
Top with chocolate jimmies and a Tagalong cookie piece.

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White Velvet Blueberry Cupcakes & My 4th Blogerversary!

January 15, 2013 by Betsy Eves 6 Comments

One of my goals of the New Year was to get off the couch and get a life. Ha! With that said… I may have over done myself just a little bit. My blogs 4th Anniversary came and went and I was so consumed with my new life and responsibilities, that it took me over a week to bake, frost, take pictures of and blog the cupcakes that I had planned to celebrate my Blogerversary! ACK!

Better late than never, right?

Now that I’ve finally had a moment to breathe and blog… let me tell you about these cupcakes. The original idea for these came from the liners. I took a trip to the IKEA in Regensburg to get a new coffee table for my living room. My little man has started moving around way too much for that little table we had, so a bigger one was in order! While we were there, I spotted these new liners for their one of a kind cupcake pans. If you haven’t seen them before they make a really tall, skinny cupcake and a big muffin top! I love them for special occasions and novelty cupcakes. Unfortunately, they don’t have much of a selection in the liner department. I used this pan a few years ago to make Red Velvet Cupcakes and now again with these blueberry cupcakes. The blue and purple in the liners are really what inspired the flavors of this cupcake!

My husband decided a white velvet cake would be best but I wanted to incorporate blueberry in some way. So, I came up with a white velvet cake filled with blueberry compote and then top it all off with blueberry frosting! YUM! They turned out super delish and the blueberry compote is TO DIE FOR!

But seriously… can you believe it’s been FOUR YEARS of blogging at JavaCupcake! It’s been an AMAZING journey so for that’s brought me so much joy! I can’t believe the connections it has made me both professionally and personally. THANK YOU to everyone who has been so committed to reading my blog and who has stuck by me for four years! My readers are really truly amazing!!

Here’s to another great year of blogging!!

Enjoy!

White Velvet Blueberry Cupcakes

Total Time: 3 hours

Yield: 18 cupcakes

Ingredients

White Velvet Cupcakes

3 egg whites
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/3 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
9 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature & cubed
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vinegar

Blueberry Compote

Use THIS RECIPE
Before the compote cools, put it through a strainer. You just want some of the juice to come through, you don't need to strain it all. The goal is have a thick, juicy compote for filling and syrup for the frosting. You only need to do this step if using the compote for this recipe.

Blueberry Frosting

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup shortening
1lb powdered sugar
3 Tbsp blueberry syrup from the compote
1 Tbsp heavy cream
1/8 tsp salt
Wilton food dye gel in purple (optional)
Purple and blue sugar sprinkles
Fresh blueberries for garnish

Instructions

White Velvet Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Line cupcake pan with liners.
In a small bowl, whisk together the egg whites, vanilla and 1/4 cup milk.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Stir in the sugar.
Add the cubed butter and 1/2 cup milk and mix on medium speed for 1 minute.
Add the egg mixture in 4 parts and mix on medium-low after each addition until just incorporated.
Fold in the vinegar making sure to scrape the sides of the bowl. DO NOT OVER MIX. The batter should still have a few small clumps of butter in it.
Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full.
Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Cool in pan for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
Core out the center of each cupcake and fill with blueberry compote.

Blueberry Frosting

Cream together the butter and shortening.
Beat in the powdered sugar until smooth.
Add the blueberry syrup, heavy cream and salt and mix until combined.
Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix frosting on high until light and fluffy.
OPTIONAL: Add a few drops of food coloring dye to enhance the purple of the frosting. Mix until incorporated.
Using a wide open star tip, frost cupcakes and top with sprinkles and a blueberry to garnish

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Chocolate Mint “Frango” Cupcakes

January 3, 2013 by Betsy Eves 5 Comments

During the holiday season, my parents would take me and my brother and sister to Frederick and Nelson to get our picture taken with Santa. While we were there, Mom and Dad would pick up a couple boxes of Frango chocolates, the mint ones. If we were good with Santa, we’d get to have a few of these super yummy chocolates on the drive home. Of course, we were always good and always got to get a chocolate treat!

Now, Frederick and Nelson has long closed and when I’m in Seattle, I take my kids to Nordstrom to see Santa. BUT… the chocolates can be found at Macy’s! My dad surprised me with two boxes of chocolates in a care package yesterday! I was so excited to see them!

Mint Chocolate Frango Cupcakes by JavaCupcake

These chocolates are bite size… perfect for popping one in your mouth when you want a hit of smooth, creamy mint chocolate goodness. Seriously, they are one of my favorites. I wondered though, could I melt down these chocolates and put them in a cupcake?

So this morning, I did just that! I took one of my most favorite recipes for chocolate cake and adapted it to include the Frango Mint Chocolates! YUM! Since I’ve done a chocolate mint cupcake before that was topped with a green mint buttercream, I wanted to do something different with these and top them with a chocolate frosting that had more of the Frangos melted and added to the butter and sugar. Soooooo good.

I’m sure if you can’t find any of these chocolates, you could just a good bar of your favorite mint chocolate. I’m pretty certain Lindt has a 4oz bar that would be perfect!

See those pretty green liners I’m using? I was given those by Shannon Harvey, owner of Sweets & Treats Boutique to test out! Sweets & Treats makes greaseproof liners that are supposed to stand up to the discoloration that often happens when baking cupcakes, especially chocolate and other dark colored cake. Shannon sent me 4 sleeves of liners in all kinds of patterns and colors. For these cupcakes, I chose the solid green liners to bring out the mint aspect of the cupcake. Since I was baking chocolate cupcakes, I wasn’t too sure how much color these liners would hold… but, I was happily surprised! They held their color really well and stuck to the cupcake nicely! Especially with this dark cake, I was happy that I could still see a lot of green in these liners! I would definitely use them again! Thanks Shannon for sending them to me!

Enjoy!

Chocolate Mint “Frango” Cupcakes

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 18 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours

Yield: 12-15 cupcakes

Rich chocolate mint cupcake made with Mint Chocolate Frangos!

Ingredients

Chocolate Mint "Frango" Cupcakes

4oz Frango Mint Chocolates (about 14 pieces), roughly chopped
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup brewed coffee
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp mint extract
1/4 cup dark chocolate cocoa powder
1/3 cup sour cream
1 egg
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Chocolate Mint Buttercream

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup shortening
1/3 heaping cup dark chocolate cocoa powder
1 lb powdered sugar
1 tsp mint extract
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/8 tsp salt
12-15 Frango Mint Chocolates
chocolate jimmies
green sugar crystals

Instructions

Chocolate Mint "Frango" Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Line cupcake pan with liners.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg, sour cream, and the vanilla & mint extracts.
Using a double boiler, melt together the Frango chopped chocolates and butter.
Once the chocolate is smooth, whisk in the cocoa powder and brewed coffee completely incorporated.
Slowly, add a few tablespoons of the hot chocolate mixture to the sour cream/egg and whisk until combined. This is going to temper the egg so it doesn't cook. Add the remaining chocolate and whisk until smooth.
Make a well in the flour mixture and pour in the chocolate. Mix with the whisk until just combined. Do not over mix.
Pour into cupcake liners 3/4 full.
Bake for 17-19 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Let cool in pan for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Chocolate Mint Buttercream

Cream together the salt and shortening.
Add the cocoa powder and powdered sugar and mix until incorporated.
Add the extracts and mix to combine. The mixture will be clumpy at this point.
Add enough cream until you reach the consistency of frosting you desire.
Beat on high for 4-5 minutes or until the frosting lightens in color and becomes light and fluffy.
Using a star tip, frost each cupcake. Top with chocolate jimmies, green sugar crystals and a Chocolate Mint Frango.

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Spiced Pumpkin Cupcakes topped with Acorns

November 4, 2012 by Betsy Eves 5 Comments

You know what I realized this weekend? I haven’t posted a basic pumpkin cupcake recipe on my blog yet! How can that be, right? I’ve posted a bazillion other pumpkin recipes, including two other pumpkin cupcakes (but those were fancy), but not one that was just deliciously full of flavor and easy!

So this weekend, my daughter’s Girl Scout troop is having a bake sale and I decided to take this opportunity to whip up a batch of Spiced Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese frosting topped with handmade candy acorns!

The recipes for these cupcakes come from Annie’s Eats… but I’ve made it even simpler omitting the mixer and just using bowls and a whisk!

I’ve seen similar acorns topping cupcakes that used mini Nilla Wafers as the “lid” to the acorn, but since I didn’t have access to the the mini’s Nilla’s here… my husband spotted the mini Nutter Butter bites and I think they worked even better with these acorns! The bites have a textured top which was more realistic and a peanut butter center which made attaching it to the Kiss even easier! No frosting “glue” required!

Not only are these cupcakes super simple to make and the acorns super fun and cute… this entire cupcake is so delicious! I will be bringing these to a Bake Sale today to support my daughter’s Girl Scout Troop! I hope they sell out!

Enjoy!

Spiced Pumpkin Cupcakes topped with Acorns

Ingredients

Cupcakes

2 2/3 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
1 15oz can pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix)
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 eggs, room temperature

Frosting

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
8oz cream cheese, room temperature
1lb powdered sugar, sifted
1/4 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

Acorns

Hershey Kiss chocolate candies
Nutter Butter Bites mini cookies
Mini chocolate chips

Instructions

Cupcakes

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.
In a large bowl, whisk together the sugars, oil, pumpkin puree and vanilla extract until smooth.
One at a time, crack the eggs into the mixture and whisk until incorporated.
In three parts, add the flour mixture and whisk just until combined. After all the flour has been added, give the batter a good 10 whisks. DO NOT OVER MIX though!
Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake for 17-19 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Leave cupcakes in pan at least 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Frosting

In the bowl of your stand mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter together.
Add the sifted flour 1 cup at a time and beat until smooth.
Mix in the vanilla and cinnamon.
Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix on high for 1 minute.

Acorns

Unwrap the Hershey Kiss candies.
Twist apart a Nutter Butter Bite. Using the side of the cookie that still has peanut butter on it, press it onto of the Kiss with the textured side up.
Press a mini chocolate chip onto the center of the Nutter Butter Bite for the stem. The warmth from your fingers should just barely warm the chocolate enough for it to stick on the cookie.
Arrange 2 acorns on top of each cupcake to garnish.

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Crown Royal Cupcakes

October 17, 2012 by Betsy Eves 12 Comments

I am in love with my chocolate cake recipe. It is so versatile. I mean seriously. I’ve made this chocolate cake so may different ways now… It’s gone mocha/coffee, dark chocolate, Guinness, cream, and now Crown Royal Reserve. I love the fact that just replacing this one ingredient, substituting just this one aspect of the cake can change the flavor so drastically. It’s amazing!

The cupcakes I made today are full of Crown Royal Reserve flavor. The aroma of the batter was extremely intense and tasted so incredibly delicious. The whiskey flavor was strong, but not over powering. It was perfection.

Inside these cupcakes is a spiced chocolate cream I had left over from the pumpkin spice cupcakes I made last week. I just whipped it up until it was smooth, added a tablespoon of Crown Royal to it and it was silky, smooth and perfect to fill these cupcakes with.

Topping these cupcakes is a cream cheese frosting with nothing but Crown Royal Reserve as the flavoring garnished with a dollop of the same chocolate cream as in the middle of the cake.

My neighbor got to sample one of the “rejects” as I call them and she said it was delish! (I usually don’t even eat a whole cupcake when I make them for clients. lol I’ve made these types of cupcakes so many times that I know what it all tastes like already! I’d be 325lbs again if I ate a cupcake everytime I made them haha)

Enjoy!

Crown Royal Reserve Cupcakes

Yield: 2 dozen cupcakes

Crown Royal infused dark chocolate cake filled with spiced dark chocolate cream topped with Crown Royal frosting. Perfect for the CR lover in your life!

Ingredients

Crown Royal Cupcakes

3/4 cup Crown Royal
1 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup dark chocolate cocoa powder
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk

Dark Chocolate Cream for the filling

Recipe can be found here!
NOTE: You'll only need about half of what the recipe makes, so save the rest for later or only make half
1 Tbsp heavy cream

Crown Royal Frosting

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
4 oz cream cheese, room temperature
2 lbs powdered sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp Crown Royal (more if you want a thinner frosting)

Instructions

Crown Royal Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Line cupcake pans with liners.
In a medium sauce pan, melt the butter over medium heat.
Once melted, add the Crown Royal and cocoa powder and whisk until smooth. Bring just to a boil then remove from the heat to cool slightly.
While cooling, whisk together the eggs, sour cream and milk in a medium bowl.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.
Slowly pour 2-3 Tbsp of the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture and whisk until smooth. Pour the rest in and whisk until combined.
Make a well in the flour and pour in the wet mix. Whisk until smooth.
Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full. Bake for about 18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Allow to cool in pan for 5 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool completely.

Dark Chocolate Cream

Using about half of the frosting from the this recipe, add 1 Tbsp of heavy cream.
Using the whisk attachment on your stand mixer, whip frosting until light and fluffy.
Core each cupcake and fill with the chocolate cream.

Crown Royal Frosting

In the bowl of your stand mixer, cream together the butter and cream cheese.
Add the powdered sugar and beat on high until smooth. If it becomes too thick to mix, add the Crown Royal to loosen up.
Mix in the salt and beat on high for 3-4 minutes.
Pipe frosting onto cupcakes and top with a dollop of the dark chocolate cream to garnish.

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Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes and an Owl Tutorial

October 5, 2012 by Betsy Eves 4 Comments

The winds are blowing, the leaves are rustling around the streets and the rain is falling from the grey skies. Fall is upon us here in Bavaria!

And what is better for Fall than another pumpkin recipe! This cupcake is a one bowl batter that tastes just like pumpkin pie! Because I wanted to decorate these with owls, I had to top them with a chocolate frosting. Instead of my favorite chocolate fudge frosting that calls for melted butter and baking chocolate, I used a basic chocolate buttercream which used cocoa powder. I needed something that I could easily pipe and spread and my chocolate fudge recipe can get a bit thick. This buttercream worked perfectly!

I know these cute owls on top have been floating around the internet, but I just had to give them a try! Especially since I kind of have this fascination with owls. (Our son Matthew, now 7 months old, well his baby theme is owls!) Below the recipe, you’ll find a full tutorial on how I made them!

Enjoy!

Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 17 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours

Yield: 12-16 cupcakes

Cupcakes that taste like pumpkin pie topped with a spicy chocolate buttercream! Nothing better!

Ingredients

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/3 cup milk
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp nutmeg

Dark Chocolate Cinnamon Frosting

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup Hershey's Dark Chocolate cocoa
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1lb powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 cup heavy cream
pinch of salt

Instructions

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees and line cupcake pan with liners.
In a medium bowl, melt the butter in your microwave.
Whisk in the sugars, eggs, vanilla and pumpkin puree.
Sift the dry ingredients onto the pumpkin mixture and whisk until just combined. It will still be lumpy at this point.
Add the milk and whisk until smooth.
Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full. NOTE: Don't be afraid to fill these liners full! These cupcakes do better with more batter in the cups and puff up nicely!
Bake 16-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Dark Chocolate Cinnamon Frosting

Cream together the butter, cocoa, cinnamon and vanilla.
One cup at a time, add the sugar and beat on high until smooth.
With the mixer on low, slowly add the heavy cream until you reach your desired consistency. NOTE: If you're just going to basically frost your cupcakes, you'll want the frosting stiff enough to pipe onto your cupcakes. If you're making the owls, make it a little looser so that you can easily decorate your owls.
Mix on high for 4-5 minutes or until fluffy.

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Owl Cupcake Tutorial

Supplies:

1 package OREO cookies
1 box Junior Mints candy
1 box Reese’s Pieces candy
Frosting (recipe above)
Spatula or knife

Directions:

Prepare the OREO cookies by separating one cookie layer from the cream center, leaving the center in tact.
Pipe a drop of frosting onto each cream center and place a Junior Mint candy on top. This will create the eyes for the owl.
Separate out the orange Reese’s Pieces candies and set aside.
Using the spatula or knife, frost cupcake creating a flat surface. At the top of the cupcake, make two little points with the frosting for the owl ears.
Place two eyes on the cupcake, making sure to leave room for the beak and not to cover the ears.
Place an orange candy under and between the eyes for the beak.

Filed Under: buttercream, chocolate, chocolate frosting, cupcake recipes, dark chocolate, frosting and icing, halloween, holiday, pumpkin, pumpkin cupcakes, recipes, seasonal, spiced

The Best Chocolate Cake You’ll Ever Eat

September 27, 2012 by Betsy Eves 19 Comments

Or… at least the best chocolate cake I’ll ever eat!!!

I crave my chocolate cake. I mean, I think about it every day. Dream about it. Drool about it. Everyone who ever needs a cake recipe, I tell them to use this one. It’s by far the BEST chocolate cake I’ve ever made. The best part of it… it’s so incredibly simple to make. It takes just a few minutes to put together and you don’t even need a mixer. Two bowls, sauce pan and a whisk.

I’ve made this recipe so many times that I have it memorized. Which is saying a lot for me because I don’t have ANY other recipes of mine memorized. I always have to bring the tablet to the kitchen and look up the recipe on my blog.

Because this cake is just for me… I’m not decorating it fancy or doing anything special with it. I am just baking it in a 9×13 pan and frosting it with my favorite chocolate fudge frosting (recipe from my Mamma) and garnishing with simple sprinkles. I’m pretty sure my daughter and I will finish off a big slice tonight with a giant glass of milk and the rest will be gone by the weekend. Hmmm, maybe I’ll even invite my neighbors over for a slice. Maybe not.

This cake… this is the cake that you make when you want chocolate. When you just need a fix of that rich decadence that is chocolate but you don’t want a candy bar or cookies and you definitely don’t want to spend 100 hours in the kitchen making something. This is the chocolate cake you make when you know you want to eat it straight from the pan with a fork.

This is…

The Best Chocolate Cake You’ll Ever Eat!

The Best Chocolate Cake You’ll Ever Eat

Total Time: 2 hours, 30 minutes

Yield: 1 9x13 cake

In my world, a quarter of the cake! hehe

The moist delicious chocolate cake you'll ever eat!

Ingredients

Chocolate Cake

1/2 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup strong brewed coffee
1/2 cup dark chocolate cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp espresso powder
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1/2 cup sour cream

Chocolate Fudge Frosting

½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
4 1oz squares baking chocolate
1 lb sifted powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup whipping cream

Instructions

Chocolate Cake

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Grease and flour 9x13 pan. I also lined mine with parchment paper.
In a medium sauce pan, melt the butter. Add the coffee, espresso powder, cocoa powder, and vanilla and whisk until combined. Set aside to cool slightly.
In a large bowl, sift together the sugar, flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the sour cream and the eggs. SLOWLY add a few tablespoons of the chocolate mixture to the sour cream and eggs. Whisk to combine. In a slow stream, whisk in the remaining chocolate mixture until combined completely.
Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in wet. Using a whisk, stir until no more lumps remain.
Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan.
Bake 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan completely before frosting.

Chocolate Fudge Frosting

Once the cake has cooled completely, prepare the frosting.
Sift sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer with a paddle attachment.
In a double boiler, melt the butter and chocolate together. Stir in the vanilla.
With the mixer on low, slowly pour the chocolate into the powdered sugar. The frosting will be very thick and hard to mix.
Add the whipping cream and beat until smooth. You may not need all the whipping cream, so add it slowly.
As the frosting cools it will thicken so spread over cooled cake immediately.

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Chocolate Nutter Butter Cupcakes

September 21, 2012 by Betsy Eves 7 Comments

I wasn’t going to write up a blog post for these cupcakes, but they came out really awesome looking, so here it is. I had a request for my Tagalong Cucpakes, which was easy enough… but because Girl Scout cookies aren’t exactly in season right now, I wanted to top the cupcakes with another cookie, equally as delicious as a Tagalong. I thought that Keebler made a cookie that was similar to the Tagalong, but of course the commissary here in Germany didn’t sell them. So while paroozing the cookie isle at the store, I came across the Nutter Butters and thought they would be perfect!

I decided to jazz them up a bit (Wait, how old am I? Did I just say “jazz them up?” hahaha) by dipping them in chocolate and nuts. I thought that made for a very dramatic effect on the top of these cupcakes!

I used the same recipe for the Nutter Butter cupcakes that I used for the Tagalong cupcakes… so you can find that recipe HERE. I did make a few changes though…

I used 1 1/2 sticks of butter in the chocolate buttercream instead of just 1 stick.
I used Hershey’s Special Dark chocolate cocoa powder in the buttercream instead of regular chocolate and cut it back to about 1/2 a cup.
Not only did I fill all the cupcakes, but I piped a layer of peanut butter on top of every cupcake before frosting with the chocolate buttercream.
Topped each cupcake with a Nutter Butter cookie dipped in melted chocolate and chopped nuts.

Filed Under: buttercream, chocolate, chocolate frosting, cookie cupcakes, cookie cupcakes, cupcake recipes, dark chocolate, filled cupcakes, frosting and icing, peanut butter, peanut butter frosting, recipes

Caramel Apple Milky Way Cupcakes

September 10, 2012 by Betsy Eves 12 Comments

The Fall season is right around the corner and all the yummy seasonal candies are out in the stores already! I posted a link to my Fall Recipe Round-Up that I put together last year and I’ll be adding all of this year’s recipes to it as I make them. This cupcake is the first one of the season!

I saw a bag of new mini Milky Way candy bars at the PX last week… Caramel Apple in flavor. Interesting… very interesting, I thought. But once I popped one in my mouth, the combination of smooth caramel and the apple flavored nougat all covered in chocolate I knew I needed to make a cupcake!

So, I took my favorite chocolate cake recipe for the cupcake, filled with the chopped apples covered in caramel sauce and topped it with a caramel buttercream, caramel drizzle and a Caramel Apple Milky Way bar. I’ve done some apple cupcakes in the past, but none with a chocolate base…. GENIUS I tell you!! DELICIOUS even more!

So… run to Target and find a bag of these and make these cupcakes! Perfect transition into Fall flavors!

Caramel Apple Milky Way Cupcakes

Yield: 12-16 cupcakes

Perfect cupcake to transition into Fall! Chocolate cake filled with caramel apples topped with caramel buttercream, caramel sauce and a Caramel Apple Milky Way bar!

Ingredients

Chocolate Cupcakes

3/4 cup strong coffee
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1/2 cup sour cream

Caramel Apple Filling

2 Gala apples (or your favorite), diced/chopped
1/4 cup brown sugar, loose
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
juice of 1/2 lemon (optional - I didn't have any time time, but I really recommend it if you have it!)
1 Tbsp flour

Caramel Buttercream

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1.5lbs powdered sugar
2-3 Tbsp heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla
3-4 Tbsp caramel syrup (I used Smuckers)

Garnish

Caramel syrup
Caramel Apple Milky Way bars, halved

Instructions

Chocolate Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Line cupcake pan with liners.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg and sour cream.
In a small sauce pan, melt the butter on medium-low heat. Add the coffee, cocoa and vanilla and whisk together. Cook for 2 minutes until cocoa has melted and you have a smooth consistency.
Slowly pour a few tablespoons of the chocolate mixture into the egg/sour cream and whisk until combined. You're tempering the egg with this step. Add the remaining chocolate and whisk until combined.
Make a well in the flour mixture and pour in the wet. Whisk together until smooth, about 2 minutes.
Pour batter into cupcake liners 3/4 full. Bake about 17 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Cool completely on a wire rack.
Use an apple corer or core out the center of each cupcake.

Caramel Apple Filling

In a large frying pan, melt the butter.
Add the apples, sugars, cinnamon and lemon. Mix until combine and the sugar is completely melted. Cook for 3-4 minutes on medium heat until bubbly, stirring constantly. You don't want it to burn, but you want the apples to get semi-soft, but not mushy.
Add the flour and mix until the sauce on the apples thicken.
Remove from heat, transfer to a glass bowl and allow to cool completely.
Fill each cored cupcake with the apple filling.

Caramel Buttercream

Cream together the butter and brown sugar until smooth.
Add the powdered sugar, vanilla and heavy cream and beat until smooth. Scrape the sides and bottom of bowl to make sure everything is incorporated.
Add the caramel sauce until you reach your desired consistency. Beat on high for 3-4 minutes.
Top each cupcake with a swirl of buttercream.
Garnish with with a drizzle of caramel sauce and the halved Milky Way bars.

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S’mores Cupcakes

September 6, 2012 by Betsy Eves 9 Comments

Last weekend my neighbors had us over for one big BBQ before school started. Toward the end of the evening, the fire pit was lit and the marshmallows were brought out. It was S’more time!!!

I couldn’t tell you the last time I had a s’more. It had probably been years, to be honest. At first, I wasn’t going to eat one… I was just going to let the kids enjoy it and watch. But, then my wonderful husband roasted the perfect marshmallow. You know… golden on the outside, soft and gooey on the middle… perfect. And, I wanted it. So, I made him give it to me… smushed next to a hunk of Hershey’s chocolate inbetween two graham crackers.

First bite. Heaven. Why don’t we make these more often? I ended up eating two whole s’mores. Yeah. I know, why did I stop at two? haha But… all this s’more goodness got me to thinking about making a s’mores cupcake. One last tribute to the summer, the neighborhood bbq’s and the amazing deliciousness that is graham cracker, chocolate and marshmallow.

So… this cupcake was born. The “End of Summer S’mores Cupcake.” It’s simple in it’s ingredients. Graham cracker crust, my favorite chocolate cake topped with toasted marshmallow frosting and garnished with a chunk of graham cracker and chocolate… but the flavor is all s’mores!! YUM!

Before the summer is over… make these for your family or neighborhood friends. One last tribute to summer and all it’s fun!

Enjoy!

S’mores Cupcakes

Yield: 18 cupcakes

Chocolate cake with a graham cracker crust topped with gooey marshmallow frosting, melty chocolate and a graham cracker! Perfect s'mores treat!

Ingredients

Graham Cracker Crust

5 graham crackers
3 Tbsp melted butter
1/4 cup sugar

Chocolate Cake

3/4 cup strong coffee
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup dark chocolate cocoa powder
1 tsp espresso powder (optional)
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1/2 cup sour cream

Marshmallow Frosting

1 7oz jar marshmallow fluff/creme
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups powdered sugar
pinch of salt
1-2 Tbsp heavy cream/milk

Other

6 Hershey Chocolate Bars
1 box Graham Crackers

Instructions

Graham Cracker Crust

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Line cupcake pan with liners.
In a food processor, crush graham crackers until almost like a flour. Add the sugar and combine with a full pulses. Pour in the butter and pulse until incorporated.
Press 1 Tbsp of crust into the bottom of each cupcake liner.
Bake for about 10 minutes or until golden. Set aside to cool.

Chocolate Cake

In a small sauce pan, melt the butter.
Add the coffee, cocoa powder, espresso powder and vanilla. Whisk to combine and bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat and cool slightly.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar and baking soda.
In another bowl, whisk together the egg and sour cream. Slowly pour the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture and whisk until combined.
Make a well in the flour and add the wet. Whisk until fully incorporated and no lumps remain.
Scoop batter directly over the baked crust in the liners. Bake about 18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Cool on a wire rack until ready to frost.

Marshmallow Frosting

Cream together the butter and marshmallow fluff.
Add the sugar, vanilla and salt and mix on high until combined.
Add enough cream until you get your desired consistency.
Beat on high for 5 minutes or until light and fluffy.

Assembly

Pipe a dollop of frosting on top of each cupcake. Top with three squares of chocolate and place under the broiler for 10 seconds. DO NOT heat these longer than 10 seconds.... depending on the temperature of your broiler, this may be too long. Heat only until the marshmallow and chocolate turn glossy and barely start to soften and melt. They will continue to melt after you remove them from the broiler. It also helps if you do them 1-2 at a time to better control the heat.
Place a graham cracker on top of the cupcake.

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Left over marshmallow frosting and chocolate? Make real s’mores!

Filed Under: candy cupcakes, chocolate cupcakes, cupcake recipes, frosting and icing, marshmallow, marshmallow frosting, seasonal, seasonal and holiday cupcakes, smores

Chocolate Cupcakes with Biscoff Milka Cream Cheese Frosting

September 5, 2012 by Betsy Eves 20 Comments

Ok. I’ll have to admit. Before today I had never tasted a Biscoff cookie. I’d seem them at the German restaurants and in the stores but had never tasted one. To be honest, I didn’t even really know what flavor to even expect. But today, once I actually tried one I realized what the obsession with Biscoff is. Caramel. Yup. These cookies taste like caramel!! NO WONDER!

I looked all over the internet for someone else who had made a Biscoff cupcake and I really wasn’t impressed with what I had found. None incorporated the cookie into the batter, just the spread and none of them had the appearance I was looking to achieve. So, I set out to make a recipe of my own.

Peanut butter is a lot like Biscoff spread in texture and consistency, so I researched peanut butter cake recipes. I found this recipe for Peanut Butter Cake by Paula Deen that called for crushed graham crackers in the cake and thought that could be easily substituted for crushed Biscoff cookies and the peanut. So I made it the batter, altered the sugar to include some brown sugar, substituted Biscoff for the peanut butter and crushed Biscoff cookies for the graham crackers. The recipe FAILED miserably. I think there was too much leavening (baking powder) in this recipe and the cupcakes all sank like the Titanic.

I seriously hate it when recipes fail. I mean REALLY hate it. It feels like such a waste of ingredients and like I should of known better or something. Seems like lately I’ve just had too many epic fails with recipes. (Most of those I don’t even mention on the blog or Facebook, btw.)

Well… I had about 2/3 cup of Biscoff spread left and decided to try again, but this time I’d make my chocolate cupcakes and top it with Biscoff buttercream. I bought Milka chocolate cream cheese at the German store and thought that’d pair well with the Biscoff in the buttercream. Damn. This buttercream is so good… definitely glad I decided to go with the chocolate cake though…. pairs perfectly with it!!

I created cute little tags and attached them to these cups with some ribbon and gave a cupcake to each of Emily’s 7th grade teachers at her Open House last night. They were all very shocked and surprised and loved them!! I’m pretty sure that Emily’s teachers will be getting treats from me until she graduates from college!!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Biscoff Milka Cream Cheese Frosting

Yield: At least 12 cupcakes

Decadent chocolate cake topped with a smooth frosting bursting with Biscoff flavor!

Ingredients

Chocolate Cupcakes

1 cup flour
1/2 cup dark chocolate cocoa powder
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp espresso powder (optional)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup hot water

Biscoff Milka Cream Cheese Frosting

1 package Philadelphia Cream Cheese with Milka
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup Biscoff spread
1lb powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp heavy cream
crushed Biscoff cookies (for garnish)

Instructions

Chocolate Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 375 F degrees. Line cupcake pan with 12 liners.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.
In a small bowl, whisk together the oil, egg and vanilla.
Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the oil mixture. Whisk until you can't anymore.
Add the hot water and whisk until smooth.
Fill liners 2/3 full with batter. Bake about 16-18 minutes or until a toothpic comes out clean.
Cool completely before frosting.

Biscoff Milka Cream Cheese Frosting

Cream together the cream cheese, butter and Biscoff spread. Scrape the sides of the bowl.
Add the sugar, vanilla and heavy cream. Mix until combined and crape the sides of the bowl again.
Beat on high for 4-5 minutes or until light and fluffy.
Pipe a swirl of frosting onto each cupcake and rim the sides with crushed cookies.

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Blue Ombre Cake Tutorial

August 26, 2012 by Betsy Eves 22 Comments

One of my closest friends celebrated her husbands birthday this past weekend and asked me to make his birthday cake and cupcakes. Jody didn’t want anything special, “just something simple… vanilla is good!” he told me. Hmmm… I don’t do simple . Ha! But… I do make a killer vanilla cake and vanilla buttercream! And a blue ombre cake would be even better! This is an easy ombre cake tutorial that anyone can follow!

So, simple cake it is… but definitely not simple decorating! I decided that I’d use this cake as another opportunity to make an Ombre style cake. This cake, however, couldn’t be like my last cake… pink and girly. This cake had to be fit for a soldier and a man! Blue ombre cake layers covered in blue ombre buttercream. PERFECT!

I found the process to make this cake pretty easy. Only a few extra steps were needed to color the cake layers and the buttercream frosting. Having a cake turntable and the right supplies really helped the process too!

How to Blue Make Ombre Cake Layers

Supplies:
Perfect Vanilla Cupcakes & Buttercream (I used a double batch)
Wilton Food Color Gel in Sky Blue
Toothpics
4 bowls & spatulas

Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Use 4 8in cake pans and grease, flour and line the bottom with parchment paper.

Step 2: Prepare batter as recipe described. Divide batter evenly into 4 bowls. Set one bowl aside, it will not be colored.

Step 3: Dip a toothpick into the food coloring gel and transfer a very small amount of food color gel into one bowl of batter. Use spatula to incorporate until uniform in color. Set aside.

Step 4: Dip another toothpick into the food color gel and transfer a slightly larger amount of gel into a second bowl of batter. Use spatula to incorporate until uniform in color. Set aside.

Step 5: Finally, dip one last toothpick into the food color gel and transfer a large amount of gel into the last bowl of batter. Use a spatula to incorporate until uniform in color.

Step 6: Spread batters evenly in the 4 pans. Bake about 10-12 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Step 7: Cool in pans for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

How to Frost a Blue Ombre Cake

Supplies:
4 Cake layers (double batch of the recipe above)
Buttercream (triple batch of the recipe above)
Wilton Food Color Gel in Sky Blue
Toothpicks
4 bowls & spatulas
Small offset spatula
Cake turn table

Step 1: Wrap the cake layers in plastic wrap & freeze for about 30 minutes or until ready to use. Spread a generous layer of buttercream between each layer of cake and apply a crumb coat of buttercream to the outside. Freeze for another 30 minutes. Remove from freezer and place cake on a cake turntable.

Step 2: To prepare buttercream into Ombre colors (light to dark), separate the buttercream into 4 parts (reserve a little extra for the white) and place in 4 bowls. Set aside the white buttercream. Using Wilton Food Color Gel in Sky Blue, dip a toothpick into the food gel getting a VERY SMALL amount of color onto the pic. Smear the pic into one bowl of the buttercream and use a spatula to incorporate until uniform. Set aside. Repeat this process for the rest of the buttercream, but use a little bit more gel color on the tooth pic each time. In the end, you should have three shades of blue and white buttercream.

Step 3: Begin with the darkest shade of blue. Using a small spatula (I used an offset spatula), spread an even 1/2 inch thick layer of buttercream around the bottom 1/3 of the cake. Using the edge, hold the spatula flush against the dark layer to smooth out any massive bumps of buttercream. Wipe the spatula clean before moving on to the next color.

Step 4 & 5: Repeat Step 3 using first the next lightest shade of blue buttercream to spread on second 1/3 of the cake. Overlap just slightly the two colors where they meet. Finally, use the lightest shade of blue buttercream to spread on final 1/3 of the cake. Remember to smooth the sides with the edge of the spatula.

NOTE: Leave a 1/4 border of non-frosted cake at the top. You’ll need room for the white to come down from the top in the next step.

Step 6: Using the white buttercream, spread 1/2 inch layer of bc on the top of the cake making sure to cover all the way to the edges. It’s okay if the buttercream goes over the edge, you want to fill in that 1/4 inch of cake that you left unfrosted in Step 5. Using the edge of the spatula, smooth side and top of the white buttercream.

Step 7: Create the ribbon effect by holding the tip your spatula sideways against the darkest color & bottom edge of the cake. Pressing gently, slowly & smoothly spin the cake turntable while simultaneously dragging the spatula up the side of the cake. You may need to stop and wipe any excess frosting after each revolution if you are pressing too hard. Continue turning the cake and dragging the spatula up until you reach the top of the cake.

Step 8: Wipe the spatula clean. Gently press the tip of the spatula into the middle of the top of the cake and spin the turntable while simultaneously dragging the spatula towards the outside of the cake. You may have some excess frosting along the edges, simply press your spatula on the edge where the top and side meet and spin the turn table until it is smooth.

NOTE: Imperfections are very easy to cover up with with style of decorating. Don’t be afraid to go over the ribbon of swirls until the colors have smoothed together how you want them.

Step 9: Place cake back in freezer for about 20 minutes so that the buttercream sets up. Transfer cake to your cake stand or plate for serving.

Filed Under: buttercream, buttercream, cakes, decorating ideas, desserts, frosting and icing, ombre, tips & tricks, tutorials

Peanut Butter & M&M Cookie Dough Filled Cupcakes

August 7, 2012 by Betsy Eves 5 Comments

Today’s a big day in my little world. My husband joined a squadron unit last week and tonight is the first FRG meeting for me with his new troop. If none of that makes sense to you… don’t worry…. I’ll explain.

My husband is in the Army and got moved to a new unit. Each unit has an FRG or Family Readiness Group which help to create a community among the spouses and families as well as provide important information about training, community events, and deployments. I’ve always been the FRG Leader in the unit my husband has been in… so this will be a bit of an adjustment for me, not being in charge. Tonight is the first meeting and I thought I’d make a good impression and bring cupcakes.

(Side note: I was not in the mood to set up and take fancy photos of these cupcakes… just didn’t have time after I made them, honestly! Had to get to the meeting! So… you get camera phone/Instagram pictures!)

I’ve made cupcakes similar to these before, so I had a pretty good idea how to make them. They turned out pretty good… next time though I think I’ll use a cake recipe that’s a little denser… this cake is pretty light and the frosting and cookie dough ball are a bit heavy in comparison. Cake doesn’t quite hold up to them. BUT… it’s still darn delicious!

They’re chocolate cake with a peanut butter m&m cookie ball baked inside…. topped with peanut butter cookie dough frosting and more m&m’s.

VERY RICH! You need a HUGE glass of milk with these cupcakes!

I’m bringing 2 dozen of these cupcakes to the FRG meeting with me tonight. I hope the ladies enjoy them!!!

Wish me luck!

Peanut Butter & M&M Cookie Dough Filled Cupcakes

Prep Time: 1 hour

Cook Time: 18 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours

Yield: 2 dozen cupcakes

Ingredients

Cookie Dough Balls

1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 1/2 tsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup M&M candies

Chocolate Cupcakes

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar, NOT packed
2 eggs, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup sour cream
1 3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup dark chocolate cocoa powder
1 Tbsp espresso powder (optional)
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk

Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Frosting

1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1 cup flour
1 lb powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1/2-3/4 cup heavy cream
M&M candies to garnish

Instructions

Cookie Dough Balls

Cream together the butter and sugars.
Beat in the milk and vanilla until combined.
Add the flour and mix until combined.
Fold in the M&Ms.
Roll into 1 inch balls and place on a piece of wax paper on a cookie sheet.
Freeze at least an hour or until ready to use in cupcakes.

Chocolate Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Line cupcake pan with liners.
In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix together the oil, sugars, eggs, vanilla and sour cream until smooth.
Add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the milk. Begin and end with the flour. Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix only until combined.
Fill cupcake liners HALF full and push a cookie dough ball into the batter to the bottom of each cup.
Bake for 17-19 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Cool in pan for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Frosting

Cream together the peanut butter and butter.
Add the brown sugar and beat until smooth.
Mix in the flour and vanilla until incorporated.
Add the powdered sugar and mix until combined. NOTE: It will be VERY thick at this point and your mixer may not like you very much. hehe
Add the cream until you reach your desired consistency. I used almost 200ml of cream (about 3/4 cup) and it was a thick, moist mixture, just like dough!
Using a large round tip, pipe a dollop of frosting onto each cupcake. Garnish with three M&M candies.

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Rainbow Pom Pom Cake

July 29, 2012 by Betsy Eves 5 Comments

Last week I had my first adventure in making a real cake. Not just slapping on frosting and calling it a day… but really putting time, thought and effort into creating something beautiful. I researched and read about how to make i am baker‘s vertical layer cake and frosted it using her rose buttercream tutorial. It turned out beautifully (click here for the whole blog post on that cake)! It also left me with a half a cake that needed frosting since I only used half for the rose cake.

My neighbors daughter, Katie, celebrated her 4th birthday this weekend and I offered to frost my extra cake for her party. Katie’s party theme was rainbow and I had a pretty good idea of how to decorate it. Immediately, I turned to i am baker again and searched for a cake she made that looked like it had little pom poms of frosting in a rainbow of colors all over the cake. The cake used a Wilton grass tip to create the little pom poms that completely covered the came. Seemed simple enough.

So, I took my extra cake and made a batch of buttercream frosting. I separated the frosting into 6 bowls and used Wilton Gel Coloring in every color of the rainbow… red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple… then put that frosting into disposable bags fitted with a coupler to fit Wilton tip #233, the grass tip.

And… off to frosting I went! This cake took about an hour to completely cover, but it was well worth it. It came out beautifully and the birthday girl LOVED it!

The cake was so cute, but it didn’t have much height so I decided to add a banner to the cake. I’d never made one before, but I figured it couldn’t be too difficult. I turned to Joy the Baker for her tutorial on how to make cake banners. I cut triangles out of card stock, wrote the birthday girl’s name on them and attached to string. I used two paper straws to anchor them to then placed them on top of the cake. Super cute, easy and added the height I wanted to the cake!

Here’s the breakdown on how I made this cake…

Vertical Layer Cake Tutorial

Using Wilton tip #233 (grass tip) Tutorial to frost a cake

Cake Banner Tutorial

Filed Under: cakes, decorating ideas, frosting and icing, vertical layer cake

Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Cupcakes

July 20, 2012 by Betsy Eves 5 Comments

Don’t let these cupcakes fool you. Yes, that may look like a perfect peanut butter cookie on top of this cupcake… but, it’s not! It’s frosting! Can you believe it? (A big shoutout to Annie’s Eats for inspiring me to make my own version of this cupcake after she posted hers!)

When I made my Dark Chocolate Raspberry Curd cupcakes, I saved about a dozen chocolate cupcakes aside so I could turn them into these beauties. I spread a whipped dark chocolate ganache on top of each cupcake and then placed a peanut butter cookie on top. The cookie is actually a scoop of peanut butter frosting formed into a ball, pressed down and embellished with the traditional fork stamping of a peanut butter cookie! Genius, right?!

My husband doesn’t typically enjoy anything I make with peanut butter, but he ate the entire cookie frosting off this cupcake and left the rest. He said it tasted like peanut butter fudge, which he absolutely loves.

I tasted all the ingredients separately and really, this is one cupcake that all three parts really taste better…. together. Don’t get me wrong, the cupcake is awesome, the dark chocolate ganache is yummy and the peanut butter cookie frosting is heaven… but all together in one bite….. OUT OF THIS WORLD!

Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Cupcakes

Total Time: 2 hours

Yield: 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

Dark Chocolate Cake

I used a dozen cupcakes from this recipe.

Dark Chocolate Ganache

9oz 100% cacao dark chocolate (or the darkest you can find)
1/2 cup heavy cream (you might need more.... the darker the chocolate, the more cream you'll need)
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature

Peanut Butter Cookie Frosting

9 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
1½ cups peanut butter
3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1-2 Tbsp heavy cream
pinch of salt

Instructions

Dark Chocolate Cake

Follow the directions to make the cake in the recipe here

Dark Chocolate Ganache

Chop chocolate into very small pieces and place in the bottom of a glass bowl.
Heat the heavy cream until just boiling/bubbling.
Pour hot cream over the chocolate and let it set for 3-4 minutes without touching or stirring it.
Using a spatula, stir the chocolate and cream together until smooth.
Stir in the butter and vanilla.
If the ganache isn't as smooth as you'd like it... add more warmed cream to the mixture and continue to stir until you get your desired consistency. NOTE: The consistency you're looking for a a smooth, yet thick, spreadable consistency.
Use a wire whisk to whip up the ganache until it's fluffed up a bit. YUM!
Spread a 1/4 inch layer of ganache over each cooled cupcake.

Peanut Butter Cookie Frosting

Cream together the peanut butter and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer.
Add the powdered sugar and mix until incorporated. NOTE: The frosting will be very thick.
Add a 1-2 Tbsp of heavy cream to loosen up the mixture and make it a little smoother. NOTE: You still want the frosting to be thick, so don't add too much cream.
Mix in a pinch of salt to cut back on the sweetness of the sugar. You want the frosting to be full of peanut butter flavor!
Roll a generous tablespoon of dough into a ball and press flat with your hands. Using a fork, press the traditional peanut butter cookie lines into the cookies.
Place a frosting cookie on top of each ganache covered cupcake.

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Dark Chocolate Raspberry Curd Filled Cupcakes

July 15, 2012 by Betsy Eves 30 Comments

Dark Chocolate + Raspberry = Heaven

100% Dark Chocolate from a little chocolate shop in Southern Germany + Fresh picked German raspberries turned into raspberry curd = Heaven x1000000!

These cupcakes are probably one of the most decadent, sophisticated cupcakes I’ve ever made. The intense dark chocolate paired with the tart raspberry curd plus the sweet buttercream are a combination unlike anything I’ve ever had before.

I made the raspberry curd a few days before I made the cupcakes, so it made for really easy assembly.

And the vanilla buttercream is my most favorite recipe for vanilla buttercream EVER! I’ve made it before and it’s become my “go-to” recipe for vanilla.

The chunk of chocolate on top… yeah, that’s a German chocolate. Raspberry Chocolate. PERFECT for this cupcake.

Dark Chocolate Raspberry Curd Filled Cupcakes

Yield: 2 dozen cupcakes

Decadent, rich, dense chocolate cake filled with fresh, tart raspberry curd topped with sweet vanilla buttercrea.

Ingredients

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes

1/2 cup strong brewed coffee
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup 100% Edel-Kakao extra brut chocolate cocoa powder (or the darkest cocoa powder you can find)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

Vanilla Buttercream

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
4 Tbsp cream cheese, room temperature
2 lbs powdered sugar, sifted
1/4-1/2 cup heavy cream infused/steeped with vanilla beans
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt

Raspberry Curd

Recipe can be found HERE

Dark Chocolate

Cut dark chocolate into chunks to top each cupcake.

Instructions

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Line cupcake pans with liners.
In a medium sauce pan, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in the cocoa powder until smooth. Add the heavy cream, brewed coffee and vanilla extract. Heat until just barely simmering. Remove from heat and allow to cool as you prep the other ingredients.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In another medium bowl, whisk together the sour cream and eggs.
Slowly pour the slightly cooled chocolate mixture into the egg/sour cream mixture and whisk until smooth. NOTE: DO THIS SLOW! You don’t want to cook the eggs, so start pouring a very small amount of the warm chocolate mixture into the egg mixture… DO NOT DUMP IT IN ALL AT ONCE.
Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture. In three parts, add the chocolate mixture to the flour. Whisk until just combined and smooth after each addition. Scrape the sides of the bowl to ensure everything is incorporated. Finally, whisk batter about 20 strokes.
Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full with batter. Bake 17-19 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Cool in pans for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Vanilla Buttercream

Cream together the butter and cream cheese.
While that is creaming, steep your heavy cream with 1 vanilla bean. To steep: Split the vanilla bean and scrape the seeds and add to the cream. Whisk. Bring the bean/cream to a simmer, remove from heat and cool slightly. Remove the pod.
Add the sugar, one cup at a time, to the butter/cream cheese. Mix on high until smooth.
Add the vanilla extract and beat until incorporated.
Add 1/4-1/2 cup vanilla cream until you get the desired consistency you desire. Beat on high for 3-4 minutes until light and fluffy.
Mix in the pinch of salt.

Assembly

Core the center of each cupcake using an apple corer.
Spoon in raspberry curd into each opening.
Pipe frosting using a Wilton 1M tip onto each cupcake.
Top each cupcake with a chunk of dark chocolate.

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Lemoncino Raspberry Cupcakes

July 2, 2012 by Betsy Eves 10 Comments

Lemoncello. Oh, how I love you. You’re tart and delicious and are perfect in my cupcakes. I’ve been looking all around Germany for Lemoncello liqour, but have failed to find any. Yes, I know I could make my own (thank you to many readers who suggested it to me!), but I just don’t have the patience to wait until it’s ready. I wanted to bake with this delicious liquor ASAP!

While in Italy, I finally found a lemon liquor called Lemoncino and of course brought home a big huge bottle of it. I haven’t even been home for a week and I’ve already come up with the most delicious use for this liqour… cupcakes. Yup, of course… a Lemoncino cupcake paired with a raspberry buttercream. Those two things sound delicious enough by themselves… but you know me, I can’t go simple. I go big. Always.

I made candied lemon zest to go on top. Yeah, I did it. Candied. Lemon. Zest. (You can see how I made the zest HERE.) And with that lemon zest is a fresh red, ripe, local German raspberry. I had my Dad try these cupcakes last night…. he didn’t even make it out of the kitchen before the cupcake was in his belly. Four bites and it was gone! I’m thinking he liked it.

I think this is my new favorite summer cupcake. It really is a perfect combination of sweet and tart with the lemon and raspberry!

Lemoncino Raspberry Cupcakes

Prep Time: 45 minutes

Cook Time: 18 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours

Yield: 12 cupcakes

Perfect summertime treat combining two classic flavors, lemon and raspberry.

Ingredients

Lemoncino Cupcakes

1 cup flour + 2 Tbsp corn starch
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup buttermilk
2 large egg whites
Zest of one lemon
3/4 cup sugar
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup Lemoncino liquor (Lemoncello works too or any lemon liquor you have)

Raspberry Syrup

1/2 cup frozen or fresh raspberries
2 Tbsp sugar
Juice of one lemon

Raspberry Buttercream

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
4 Tbsp vegetable shortening (you could use butter instead, but the shortening adds stability)
1lb powdered sugar
Raspberry syrup
1/8 tsp salt
2-3 Tbsp heavy cream

Instructions

Lemoncino Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Line cupcake pan with liners.
In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, corn starch, baking powder and salt at least three times. Set aside.
In a measuring cup that pours, measure out the milk. Add the egg whites and whisk together. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, press the sugar into the zest of the lemon until it's fluffy and full of flavor. Add the butter and mix together on high until smooth.
Add the Lemoncino to the butter and sugar and continue to mix on high until it lightens in color, about 4 minutes. You really want these ingredients to cream together well.
Add the flour and the milk alternating, beginning and ending with the flour. Mix until just combined after each addition. Scrape the sides of the bowl to make sure all the flour has been incorporated. Mix 20 seconds on medium speed. Do not overmix!
Divide batter between 12 cupcake cups filling them about 2/3 full.
Bake for 17-19 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Cool in pan for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
NOTE: While these are baking would be a perfect time to make the raspberry syrup for your buttercream!

Raspberry Syrup

In a small pot, combine the berries, sugar and lemon.
Heat until simmering, breaking up the berries with a wooden spoon.
Simmer for about 7 minutes until the syrup thickens.
Pour through a strainer to remove the seeds.
Set aside remaining syrup to cool.

Raspberry Buttercream

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the shortening and butter.
Add the powdered sugar and mix on high until smooth.
Add all the raspberry syrup you made earlier to the butter and sugar and beat until smooth.
Add 2-3 Tbsp of heavy cream until you get your desired consistency.
Beat on high for 3-4 minutes or until the buttercream has lightened in color and is fluffy and smooth.

Assembly

Using a large round tip, pipe circles of buttercream on top of each cupcake.
Top with candied lemon zest (recipe can be found HERE) and a fresh raspberry.

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Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

April 23, 2012 by Betsy Eves 38 Comments

I don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve actually baked a cupcake. Weeks… probably more like months. I’ve baked cookies, scones and crescent rolls, but no cupcakes! Crazy, huh? Cause this is supposed to be a cupcake blog, right?

Hmmm… So yeah. I made cupcakes today. And, I didn’t start back into baking cupcakes slowly. No, I didn’t ease into things. I went BIG!

Chocolate cupcake + Cookie Dough = HOLY GOODNESS!!!

Baked inside this cupcake is a chocolate chip cookie dough ball. Yah, you read me right. Cookie Dough. The best thing that God ever created inside this cupcake.

And to make things even better…. the frosting. Cookie Dough. Both my hubby and my neighbor told me I needed to just make this frosting. A big giant bowl of it so they could take a spoon and scoop it out and shove it in their mouth. It’s that good.

Personally, I found the bottom of the cupcake to be the best. But hey, everyone has their preferences.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours, 30 minutes

Yield: 12 cupcakes

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Ingredients

Cookie Dough Filling:

3/4 cup flour
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Chocolate Cupcakes:

1 cup flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp espresso powder (optional)
3/4 cup hot water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg
2 tsp vanilla extract

Cookie Dough Frosting:

12 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 3/4 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 Tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
Decorate:
additional mini chocolate chips
12 mini chocolate chip cookies (I used Chips Ahoy)

Instructions

Cookie Dough Filling:

In a small bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the butter, sugars, milk and vanilla until smooth.
Whisk in the dry ingredients and the chocolate chips until smooth.
Refrigerate for 15 to 30 minutes or until firm.
Scoop out dough into 12 balls. Freeze for at least 30 minutes.

Chocolate Cupcakes:

Preheat the oven to 375 F degrees. Line a cupcake pan with 12 liners.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda and salt.
Add the water, oil, egg and vanilla and whisk until smooth. Use a spatula to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure all ingredients are combined.
Fill each cupcake liner 1/2-2/3 full. NOTE: You may have extra batter... no worries, make extra cupcakes!
Gently press a cookie dough ball into the center of each cupcake, only submerging the ball 1/2 way.
Bake the cupcakes for 19-21 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cupcake portion of the cupcake (not tested through the center where the dough is), comes out fairly dry. Chunks/pieces of cake are okay, just not moist batter.

Cool the cupcakes completely before frosting.

Cookie Dough Frosting:

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugars until smooth and creamy.
Add the flour, milk and vanilla and beat on high until well combined.

To Assemble:

Pipe swirls of frosting onto each cupcake.
Sprinkle mini chocolate chips on top and garnish with a mini chocolate chip cookie.

Notes

Source: cupcakes & frosting slightly adapted from RecipeGirl

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Rainbow Funfetti Birthday Cake Oreo Cupcakes

March 19, 2012 by Betsy Eves 5 Comments

Being out here in Germany has its disadvantages. As a baker, the lack of access to seasonal and special products that my favorite companies make is a huge disadvantage. So when Oreo celebrated it’s 100th birthday with special confetti cake flavored Oreos I BEGGED my friends back home to send me some. Luckily, one fantastic friend (CARRIE!) sent me TWO packages of these special cookies!

When I first opened the bag, I noticed the smell… they were different from the regular Oreos. Then, I tasted them. OH EM GEE. They taste like birthday cake! Those Oreo people are GENIUS!

So, into my cupcakes these cookies went. I made a basic vanilla cupcake batter, added a birthday Oreo to the bottom of each cupcake and filled the batter with funfetti rainbow sprinkles. I then topped the cupcake with a basic vanilla cream cheese buttercream topped with more funfetti rainbow sprinkles and a birthday Oreo!

Simple. Cute. Delicious.

Rainbow Funfetti Birthday Cake Oreo Cupcakes

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Yield: 12 cupcakes

Happy Birthday to Oreo!

Ingredients

Rainbow Funfetti Cupcakes

2 egg whites, room temperature
1/2 cup milk, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups cake flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup rainbow jimmies
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, soft/room temperature
12 birthday Oreo cookies

Rainbow Cream Cheese Buttercream

2oz cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 lb powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2-4 Tbsp heavy cream
pinch of salt
Wilton food color, gel - various colors
rainbow jimmies

Instructions

Rainbow Funfetti Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Line cupcake pan with liners.
Separate egg whites and whisk together with milk and vanilla. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
Add the softened butter and half the milk mixture and mix on medium until combined.
Pour in the remaining milk mixture and mix on high until combined, about 10-15 seconds. DO NOT OVER MIX! Scrape the sides of the bowl.
Gently fold in the funfetti jimmies, 4-5 strokes.
Place one Oreo at the bottom of each cupcake liner. Fill the liner 2/3 full with batter.
Bake 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Allow to cool in pan for 4-5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Rainbow Cream Cheese Buttercream

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and cream cheese.
Add the powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time and mix on high until smooth.
Add the vanilla and salt and mix until combined.
Mix in 2 Tbsp of vanilla. Add more, if necessary, to get your desired consistency.
Beat on high for 4-5 minutes until light and fluffy.
Separate buttercream into 4 small bowls. Add color and mix until combined.

To make rainbow frosting:

Prepare a large piping bag and a star tip.
Spoon in a dollop of each color into the bag, pressing it against the side of the bag to make room for the other colors. Continue layering in the colors into the bag.
Slowly press the frosting out of the star tip. Be careful not to press too hard, you don't want the colors to mix too much and come out brown.

To Assemble:

Pipe a swirl of rainbow frosting on top of each cooled cupcake.
Garnish with rainbow jimmies and half a birthday Oreo.

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PS… I was in a hurry and didn’t bring my eggs and milk to room temperature and didn’t bake them quite long enough, so my cupcakes didn’t rise like I wanted them to. :( Bummer. Make sure yours are room temperature and be patient!!

Filed Under: buttercream, cookie cupcakes, cookie cupcakes, cream cheese frosting, cupcake recipes, frosting and icing, funfetti and sprinkles, rainbow, recipes, vanilla cupcakes, vanilla frosting

Mardi Gras Cupcakes

February 20, 2012 by Betsy Eves 12 Comments

Tomorrow, I’ll be ON THE RADIO!!!! AFN Bavaria here in Germany is hosting me for a 2 hour segment to talk cupcakes and baking! And, well… since it’s Mardi Gras tomorrow, I thought it’d be a perfect reason to make some party cupcakes!

Since I needed to color the batter, I needed a basic white base to start with. So, I whipped up a simple vanilla buttermilk cupcake. But… you know me, nothing I do is ever basic. These cupcakes have my favorite Madagascar vanilla beans, buttermilk and some added sour cream for flavor. There is nothing basic about the flavor of these bad boys!

I topped them with a cinnamon cream cheese frosting and them embellished them with some fun sprinkles and mini cupcakes made with pb cups. Topsy Turvy Cupcakes!

These cupcakes will be READY TO PARTY tomorrow morning! I hope the radio station is ready for the sugar rush!

Mardi Gras Cupcakes

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 18 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Yield: 2 dozen cupcakes

These cupcakes are ready to PARTY for Mardi Gras!

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
the seeds of 2 Madagascar vanilla beans
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 ¼ cups Buttermilk
¼ cup sour cream
3 cups cake flour
3 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
Green, Purple and Yellow food coloring gel (I used Wilton brand)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Line cupcake pans with white liners.
In the bowl of your stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar for 3-4 minutes.
While that is creaming, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
In another medium bowl, whisk the eggs. Add the buttermilk, vanilla beans, vanilla extract and sour cream. Whisk until combined. It will look lumpy, which is okay.
Add the wet mixture to the butter/sugar and mix on medium speed. Scrape the sides of the bowl and make sure everything is incorporated. NOTE: It will look curdled. DO NOT FRET! It will smooth out once you add the flour.
Add all the flour at once and mix on low to medium speed until smooth. Don't over mix!!
Separate batter evenly into three bowls.
Add food coloring and mix until uniform in color.
Using a tablespoon, scoop one color into the liner against one edge. Quickly, scoop the second color next to/overlapping the first color. Finally, add the third color. NOTE: By the time you get to scooping the third color, you should still be able to see a 1/3 of the bottom of the liner.
Add another smaller scoop of each color until the liners are 1/2-2/3 full. NOTE: Do not fill these more than 2/3 full. They puff up nicely and you don't want overflow!
Bake 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Rotate pan after 12 minutes.
Cool in pans for 7-8 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting and decorating.

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Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Yield: Enough to frost 2 dozen cupcakes

Is there anything better than cinnamon and cream cheese together?

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
4 oz cream cheese, room temperature
2 lbs powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4-1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
pinch of salt
green, purple and yellow sprinkles
Rolo candies
Mini Reese's peanut butter cups

Instructions

In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, cream together the butter and cream cheese.
1/4lb at a time, add the powdered sugar. After the first addition, add the vanilla extract and cinnamon. Beat until smooth.
After the next additions of powdered sugar, add whipping cream and beat on high until smooth. After the last addition of sugar, add enough cream until you get your desired consistency.
Add the pinch of salt and beat on high for 5 minutes.

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How to assemble Mardi Gras cupcakes

Ingredients

Baked & cooled Mardi Gras cupcakes
Cinnamon Cream Cheese frosting
green, purple and yellow sprinkles and rainbow jimmies
Mini Reese's peanut butter cups
piping bag with star tip
purple food coloring gel

Instructions

Reserve 1/2 cup of frosting and tint with purple food coloring gel. Put it in a piping bag with a small star tip. Set aside.
Using the white frosting and a large star tip, pipe a swirl of frosting on top of each cupcake. Embellish with sprinkles and jimmies.
Put a swirl of the purple frosting on top of the Reese's pb cups and embellish with sprinkles and jimmies. (You want it to look like a mini cupcake.)
Place a pb cup on top of each cupcake, off center.

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Happy Valentine’s Day! Red Velvet Love Cupcakes

February 14, 2012 by Betsy Eves 1 Comment

I had a little bit of extra Red Velvet batter when I made an order for mini’s recently, so I decided to dress up a full size cupcakes for Valentine’s Day.

First, I used my favorite red and white liners from Sutton Gourmet Paper that owner Kellie sent me. Seriously, these make any red and white cupcake so much more beautiful. They hold their color so well… I just love them!

Second, I filled those awesome liners with my recipe for Red Velvet cake… which, I think I’ve pretty much perfected.

Third, I topped them with a simple cream cheese and vanilla bean frosting.

Finally, I added the cutest red heart sprinkles… making these the perfect Valentine treat!

Here’s to wishing all of my fantastic readers a very

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!

Please know how much I love each and every one of you and truly am thankful for your love and support over the years!

Cream Cheese & Vanilla Bean Frosting

Prep Time: 2 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Yield: Enough to frost 12+ cupcakes

Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2oz cream cheese, room temperature
the seeds from one Madagascar vanilla bean
1 tsp vanilla extract
1lb powdered sugar
1/4 cup Madagascar vanilla bean cream (recipe for this cream can be found here)
pinch of salt

Instructions

Cream together the cream cheese and butter until smooth.
Mix in the vanilla bean seeds and vanilla extract. Scrape the sides of the bowl.
Mix in the powered sugar and salt.
Add enough of the cream until you get the consistency you desire and mix until incorporated. Scrape the sides of the bowl.
Beat on high for 4-5 minutes.
Pipe swirls on you the cupcake and top with red hearts.

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Frosted Sugar Cookies for Valentine’s Day

February 13, 2012 by Betsy Eves 8 Comments

One of the things I baked this weekend as a part of the Valentine’s Day Love Boxes I made were my favorite sugar cookies frosted and decorated. I make these cookies several times a year and I devour at least a dozen of them myself every time.

I’ve posted the recipe before (Spring Sugar Cookies) for the cookies, but have since then added my own homemade buttercream to the mix instead of a jar of pre-made frosting.

So, here they are together… my favorite sugar cookie recipe with my favorite vanilla buttercream recipe.

These cookies are full of flavor, soft, and puff up perfectly when baking. The frosting, it’s smooth, creamy and so delicious!!

Roll & Cut Sugar Cookies

Prep Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours

Yield: 5-6 dozen cookies (depending on cookie cutter size)

Ingredients

¾ cup shortening
¾ unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp almond extract
5 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
heart shaped cookie cutters

Instructions

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and shortening.
Add the sugar, eggs, and almond extract and mix on high until light and fluffy – about 4-5 minutes.
In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
Add the flour to the butter mixture and mix until combined. Make sure you are scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl.
Cover and chill at least 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 400 F degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
Roll dough ¼ inch thick on lightly floured surface. Cut with cookie cutter and place on baking sheet.
Bake 6 to 8 minutes or until cookies are a delicate golden color. NOTE: Mine only take 6 minutes! Do not let the edges get too brown, you want the bottoms to just barely start to turn a golden color.
Remove immediately from pan to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

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Perfect Vanilla Buttercream

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Yield: Enough to frost 5-6 dozen cookies with left-overs

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
4oz cream cheese, room temperature
the seeds of one Madagascar vanilla bean
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
2lbs powdered sugar
1/4-1/2 cup Madagascar vanilla bean infused heavy whipping cream (Recipe here)
pink food gel – optional
sprinkles – optional

Instructions

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and cream cheese.
Add the vanilla extract and vanilla bean seeds and mix until combined.
1lb at a time, add the powdered sugar. Begin on low speed and increase speed until mixture becomes smooth. Make sure to scrape the sides of the bowl.
After each addition of sugar, add 3-4 tbsp of cream. Beat on high to combine.
Add as much cream as you want until you have a smooth, spreadable consistency. NOTE: I like to make this buttercream a little thinner than what I’d make if I was using it for cupcakes, so I add more cream.
Once you have your desired consistency, beat on high for 4-5 minutes.
If you want to tint the frosting, add as much gel as you want until you get the color you need. Scrape sides/bottom of bowl to make sure it’s all uniform in color.
Frost cookies and decorate with sprinkles!
EAT!

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Mocha Mocha Cupcakes

February 8, 2012 by Betsy Eves 20 Comments

I had an order for a client today for some decadent Mocha cupcakes. Mmmm coffee and chocolate… you really can’t go wrong with that combo. I decided that I would take my new favorite chocolate recipe that normally calls for the use of a Guinness beer and sub that for brewed coffee to create more of a mocha flavor. I then topped the cupcake with a basic chocolate buttercream but threw in a little bit of cream cheese for some extra tang and smoothness. Really though, this recipe for chocolate cupcakes I’m finding to be very versatile and it creates a moist, dense cupcake… every time! So although this post is short and sweet… these Mocha Mocha cupcakes are FULL of flavor! YUM!

Mocha Mocha Cupcakes

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 18 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes

Yield: 2 dozen cupcakes

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter
1 1/4 cup strong brewed coffee
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tbsp espresso powder (HEAPING tbsps!)
2 eggs
2/3 cup buttermilk (if you don’t have buttermilk, add 1tbsp of vinegar or lemon juice to 1 cup of milk and let sit for 5 minutes)
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Line cupcake pans with liners.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In a medium sauce pan over medium-high, heat and whisk the butter and brewed coffee together until the butter has melted.
Whisk in the cocoa powder and espresso powder and heat until simmering. You want the mixture to thicken, but not boil. Remove from heat and cool slightly.
While the chocolate/butter mix is heating/cooling, in a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk.
SLOWLY pour the chocolate mix into the egg mix, whisking constantly. NOTE: Add only a couple tbsp to temper the eggs. You don’t want to add so much hot liquid too quickly, it will cook the eggs. Scrape the sides of the bowl to make sure everything is incorporated.
Whisk the flour/sugar into the wet mixture in two parts. Whisk about 50 strokes.
Fill cupcake liners 2/3 with batter.
Bake 18-19 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Rotate pan after 12 minutes.
Let cupcakes cool in pan for 4-5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

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Mocha Mocha Buttercream

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Yield: Enough to frost 2 dozen cupcakes

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
4oz cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tbsp espresso powder mixed with 2 tbsp warm whipping/heavy cream
2lbs powdered sugar
1/4 cup whipping/heavy cream
pinch of salt

Instructions

Cream together the butter and cream cheese.
Mix in the cocoa powder and espresso powder/cream. Scrape the sides of the bowl.
Mix in the powdered sugar in two parts. Add a few tbsp of heavy cream after each addition. Beat on high until smooth.
Mix in the salt. Scrape sides of the bowl.
Add the remaining heavy cream until you get the consistency and texture you want.
Beat for 4-5 minutes on high.

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Filed Under: buttercream, chocolate, chocolate cupcakes, chocolate frosting, Coffee, coffee cupcakes, cupcake recipes, featured, frosting and icing, mocha frosting, recipes

Tagalong Cupcakes

January 28, 2012 by Betsy Eves 6 Comments

I had surgery on Thursday… and I was SUPER nervous. It’s nothing too serious, just having 3 teeth pulled that should have been fixed a long time ago. But now, I’m 33 weeks pregnant and in TONS of pain and just can’t wait any longer to have them taken care of.

So… to keep my mind occupied the day before (and hopefully off the throbbing in my mouth), I decided to bake cupcakes! Last week, I made Thin Mint Cupcakes with Girl Scout cookies so today I’m trying out a recipe for Tagalong Cupcakes made with my favorite peanut butter and chocolate GS cookie!

I asked on my Facebook page how exactly I should make this Tagalong cupcake and I really enjoyed the suggestion of one reader to make a thick crumb cake. I’ve never actually tried to purposely make a cake with a big crumb and I thought this might be the perfect time to try that. I did an internet search for thick crumb cake recipes and found lots of recipes for a New York Style Crumb Cake and I thought hmmm…. with a little tweaking, this could be pretty darn good as a cupcake!

And of course, the cupcake has to be filled with peanut butter… just like the cookie! For this filling, I used a variation of my favorite peanut butter buttercream recipe, but made it more creamy and smooth than thick like a frosting.

Oh the frosting. When you see a Tagalong cupcake…. you first see the dark chocolate covering the cookie. It’s shiny and sometimes, I just bite the edges of the cookie off and eat just the chocolate part first. So I knew this cookie had to have that same shine and color. Creamy chocolate was a MUST!

New York Style Vanilla Bean Crumb Cake
Makes 12 cupcakes

Recipe updated: September 2012

1 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

6 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup vanilla sugar (regular sugar is okay too)
2 large eggs
seeds of one vanilla bean or 1 tsp vanilla extract (split bean length wise and scrape out seeds)
1 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup heavy cream (or milk)

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Line cupcake pan with liners.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
In the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and vanilla sugar for about 2 minutes.
Add the vanilla bean seeds egg, scrape the sides of the bowl, and beat on high for at least 3 minutes until light and fluffy.
Mix in the sour cream, making sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.
Add the flour in two parts and mix just until smooth.
Add the heavy cream and mix only until incorporated. DO NOT OVER MIX!
Scoop evenly into 12 cupcake liners.
Bake 18-19 minutes, rotating pan after 12 minutes.
Cool in pan 4-5 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe inspired by: First Look, Then Cook

Whipped Peanut Butter Filling
Makes enough to fill & garnish 12 cupcakes

2 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp heavy cream

In the bowl of a stand mixer using the whisk attachment, cream together the butter and peanut butter.
Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and add the powdered sugar. Mix until smooth.
Scrape sides again, add the vanilla and heavy cream. Whip on high for 3 minutes until light and fluffy.

Creamy Chocolate Frosting
Makes enough to frost 12 cupcakes

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 oz cream cheese
1 lb powdered sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup heavy cream

In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and cream cheese.
In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and cocoa powder.
Add the sugar/cocoa to the butter mixture and beat until smooth.
Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix in the vanilla extract.
Add up to 1/2 cup heavy cream or until you get the smooth consistency you want.
Beat on high for 3 minutes.

To Assemble the Cupcakes:

6 Tagalong Girl Scout Cookies, halved
Whipped Peanut Butter Filling
Creamy Chocolate Frosting
Piping bags & tips

Core the center of each cupcake using an apple corer. I wanted to make sure these cupcakes had LOTS of peanut butter filling, so I cored them all the way down to the bottom liner.
Using a small closed star tip, pipe the whipped peanut butter filling into each hole making sure a little bit peeps out the top.
For half of the cupcakes, I stopped there with the peanut butter filling. On the other half, I piped a small layer of the peanut butter filling on top of the cupcake as well.
Using a Wilton 1M tip, pipe a beautiful pile of creamy chocolate frosting on top of each cupcake.
With the remaining peanut butter filling, pipe a small dollop on top of the chocolate frosting on the cupcakes that are only filled in the middle.
Garnish with half a Tagalong Girl Scout Cookie.
EAT!

Filed Under: buttercream, chocolate, chocolate frosting, cookie cupcakes, cookie cupcakes, cupcake recipes, dark chocolate, frosting and icing, girl scout cookie cupcakes, recipes, vanilla, vanilla cupcakes

Thin Mint Cupcakes

January 25, 2012 by Betsy Eves 26 Comments

It’s totally that time of year… GIRL SCOUT COOKIE TIME!

I can’t resist. I bought 10 boxes. Yes. You read that correctly. 10 boxes.

2 to eat (with in the first 24 hours).

8 to bake with.

Yeah… you read that correctly. 8 boxes to bake with.

Last year I made Samoa Cupcakes and Tagalong Brownies. This year… I started with Thin Mint Cupcakes. These cupcakes are a super decadent chocolate cake filled with a whipped chocolate ganache topped with a mint buttercream. Serious amounts of NOM NOM NOM.

PS…. This is my new favorite chocolate cake recipe. I know it’s got beer in it… but I’m totally using it for every chocolate cake I make from now on!!

Chocolate Stout Cupcakes
Makes 24 cupcakes

1 bottle of Guinness Stout Beer
1 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tbsp espresso powder
1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt

2 eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Line cupcake pans with liners.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.
In a medium sauce pan, melt the butter on medium-high heat. Add the vanilla beer, whisk together and heat until it just begins to simmer. Whisk in the cocoa powder and espresso powder and heat until it just begins to bubble up. DO NOT BOIL. Remove from heat and whisk until smooth. Cool slightly.
In the meantime, in a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and sour cream. Slowly pour in the slightly cooled chocolate mixture. NOTE: DO THIS SLOW! You don’t want to cook the eggs, so start pouring a very small amount of the warm chocolate mixture into the egg mixture… DO NOT DUMP IT IN ALL AT ONCE.
In three parts, add the flour mixture to the chocolate/egg mixture. Whisk until smooth. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, making sure everything is incorporated.
Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full with batter.
Bake 18-20 minutes, rotating pan after 12 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Cool in pan for 3-4 minutes then remove to a wire rack to cool completely before filling and frosting.

Whipped Chocolate Ganache

4 oz dark chocolate, chopped

1/3 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp corn syrup

1 tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla extract

Place the chopped chocolate in a medium glass bowl.
In a small sauce pan, heat the heavy cream and corn syrup just until it bubbles.
Pour heavy cream over chocolate and stir until smooth. If the chocolate doesn’t melt all the way, place the bowl over a double boiler and continue to stir until smooth.
Mix in the butter and extract.
Allow ganache to cool to room temperature.
Using a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, whisk the cooled ganache until fluffy. Don’t over mix or it will get grainy.

Vanilla Bean Peppermint Buttercream

12 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
4 tbsp cream cheese, room temperature
2 lbs powdered sugar
1/2 cup Madagascar Vanilla Bean Cream
1/2 tsp peppermint extract
pinch of salt
Wilton Green Food Gel

Cream together the butter and cream cheese.
Add half the powdered sugar and mix on high until incorporated and smooth.
Beat in half the vanilla bean cream until smooth. Scrape the sides of the bowl, making sure all the sugar is combined.
Add the remaining sugar and the peppermint extract.
Mix in the food gel until it’s the color you desire.
Add remaining vanilla bean cream until you get the consistency you want. Mix on high 3-4 minutes until smooth and fluffy.

To Assemble Cupcakes:

Thin Mint Cookies
Peppermint Buttercream
Chocolate Shavings
Piping bag & large round tip
Apple corer

Core each cupcake using the apple corer.
Fill each cupcake with whipped ganache. (I filled a disposable piping bag, cut off the top and filled each one with that.)
Using a large round tip and a piping bag, pipe a round swirl of buttercream on to each cupcake.
Top with a Thin Mint cookie and chocolate shavings.
EAT! ENJOY!

And this is what you do when you have left over peppermint buttercream. NOM NOM NOM

Filed Under: buttercream, buttercream, chocolate, chocolate cupcakes, cookie cupcakes, cookie cupcakes, cream cheese, cupcake recipes, filled cupcakes, frosting and icing, ganache, ganache, girl scout cookie cupcakes, Madagascar vanilla beans, mint cupcakes, peppermint, peppermint and mint, recipes, top posts sidebar, whipped cream, whipping cream

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{Tutorial} Neapolitan Layer Cake

For the chocolate cake:

For the chocolate frosting:

For the strawberry cake:

For the strawberry frosting:

For the vanilla cake & frosting:

Supplies needed to assemble the cake:

Assembling the Neapolitan Cake:

Supplies:

Prepare your work area:

Technique:

Storage:

Wondering where I got some of these cupcake supplies?

Owl Cupcake Tutorial

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