fruit frosting Archives

Cupcake Couture Blog Party:
Strawberry Camo Cupcakes

May 21, 2013 by Betsy Eves 80 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

Filed Under: blog hop, blog party, contests/giveaways, cupcake recipes, frosting and icing, fruit frosting, fruity cupcakes, recipes, strawberry cupcakes, strawberry frosting

White Velvet Blueberry Cupcakes & My 4th Blogerversary!

January 15, 2013 by Betsy Eves 7 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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Filed Under: berry, blueberry, cupcake recipes, featured, filled cupcakes, frosting and icing, fruit frosting, fruity cupcakes, recipes, velvet, velvet cupcakes

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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Filed Under: buttercream, cupcake recipes, frosting and icing, fruit, fruit frosting, fruity cupcakes, lemon, raspberries, raspberry, recipes

Blood Orange Candy Corn Cupcakes

October 30, 2011 by Betsy Eves 1 Comment

You may have read about the Graveyard cupcakes I made for the Fall Festival at my husband’s work. Well, I also wanted to make candy corn cupcakes. The first batch I made I knew I screwed up. I told myself… hey, there’s citrus in these cupcakes, CHANGE THE RATIO OF BAKING POWDER. Did I listen to myself? No. I also didn’t listen to myself when I KNEW I had over mixed the cupcakes when adding the food coloring. BAD BAKER!

Are you wondering how my errors screwed up my cupcakes? Well, to begin with they sunk in the middle. They also overflowed the edges AND their texture was too light and crumbly for my taste. Not a good combo for a cupcake.

So this morning I decided to have a second try at them and fixed my errors. I omitted the baking soda and added more baking powder (this helps combat the acidity of the citrus) and I also added the coloring BEFORE I mixed in the flour. This allowed me to fold in the flour just until combined, making the perfect cupcake consistency!

These cupcakes are “Blood Orange” Candy Corn cupcakes because I’m using flavored candy corns. My best friend sent them to me…. Blood Orange Candy Corns. Unfortunately, my store didnt’ have any blood oranges, so I used a naval orange. :) I’d suggest using an actual blood orange if you can!

Blood Orange Cupcakes
Makes 18 cupcakes

zest of 1/2 a large Blood orange (I used a Naval orange – read above)
1 cup sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 eggs
1 tsp orange extract
juice of 1/2 a large Blood orange (I used a Naval orange – read above)

2 cups cake flour
(to make cake flour, measure AP flour, remove 4 tbsp and add 4tbsp corn starch. sift together 2-3 times)
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk

Yellow Gel food coloring

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Line your cupcake pan with liners.
In a medium bowl, combine the orange zest and sugar. Press the back of a spatula into the sugar and zest, releasing the oils from the zest into the sugar. Keep doing this until sugar becomes fluffy and fragrant.
Sift together the cake flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and orange sugar.
Add the eggs one at a time, scrape the sides of the bowl and beat on high for 2 minutes.
Mix in the sour cream, orange extract and orange juice.
Add the food coloring and mix until there are no streaks of white batter left.
Fold in the flour in three parts, alternating with the milk. Mix ONLY UNTIL JUST COMBINED. Do not overmix!
Bake for 17-19 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Orange Buttercream

12 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature

1.5 lbs (about 6-7 cups) powdered sugar, sifted

1/4-1/2 cup heavy cream

3-4 tbsp fresh sqeezed orange juice, strained

1 tsp orange extract

1/4 tsp salt

Orange Food Gel food coloring

Blood Orange Candy Corns

Cream the butter.
One cup at a time, add the powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Between each of addition, add the orange juice and extract.
Once all the sugar has been added, add the heavy cream until you get your desired consistency.
Add the salt and mix until combined. Remember to scrape the sides of the bowl.
Remove 1/3 of the white frosting.
Add orange gel food coloring to remaining 2/3 of the frosting and mix until no more white streaks are left.

Assembly

Pipe a large swirl of orange frosting on top of the cupcake.
Place a small dollop of white frosting in the center of the orange frosting.
Garnish with a Blood Orange Candy Corn.

Filed Under: cupcake recipes, decorating ideas, featured, frosting and icing, fruit frosting, fruity cupcakes, orange, recipes, seasonal, seasonal and holiday cupcakes

Apple Cinnamon Cupcakes

October 21, 2011 by Betsy Eves 47 Comments

I’ve made apple cupcakes a million times. I’m most known for my Tree Hugger Apple cupcakes which I debuted at Cupcake Camp Seattle a few years ago. I’ve made them dozens of times for family and friends. The only problem with these cupcakes is the amount of time they take and the number of steps needed to make them. I wanted to come up with a simpler, yet equally as delicious version of an apple cupcake that could be made in one bowl.

Now, there’s no getting around prepping the apples in butter, sugar and spices. That’s just a MUST for these cupcakes, especially if you want them filled. If you wanted to skip the filling step, you could add the cooked apples to your batter before baking and omit the raw apples from the batter. You’d have swirls of cinnamon and apple throughout the cupcake. YUM!

But, I wanted filled cupcakes this time so I chopped up half a large apple and put that in the batter. I’ll fill the cupcakes when they’re cool with the cooked apple mixture.

I topped these cupcakes with an apple, cinnamon and caramel buttercream… it took has chunks of apples running through it. Super good… super sweet!

Enjoy!

Apple Cinnamon Cupcakes
Makes 12 cupcakes

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup milk (you could use apple juice too)
1/2 cup chopped apples

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Line your cupcake pan with liners.
Cream together the butter and sugars.
One at a time, mix in the eggs. Add the vanilla then beat on high for 2 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl.
Sift into the batter the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Mix by hand about 5-6 strokes.
Add the milk and mix only until all the flour and milk are incorporated.
Gently fold in the apples. Do not over mix!
Bake for 17-19 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Leave in pan for 3-4 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Filling
1 large apple, chopped
2 tbsp butter
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp milk mixed with 1 heaping tbsp corn starch

In a medium pan, melt the butter on medium-high heat.
Add the apples, sugars and vanilla and stir. Cook until bubbling, about 5 minutes.
Add the milk + cornstarch mixture and bring to a bubble. Cook for 1-2 minutes until thickens.
Remove from heat and continue to stir for about 1 minute.
Set aside to cool.
Fill cupcakes and reserve remaining apple mixture for buttercream.

Apple Cinnamon Buttercream

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1/4 cup vegetable shortening

1 lb powdered sugar, sifted

2-3 tbsp heavy cream

remaining apple mixture

1/8 tsp salt

1/8 tsp cinnamon

Cream together the butter and shortening.
Add about 1/2 the powdered sugar and mix until smooth.
Add 1-2 tbsp cream and mix until combined.
Add all of the remaining apple mixture, cinnamon and salt. Mix until smooth.
Add remaining powdered sugar and beat until smooth.
Add enough cream until you get the consistency you desire.
Scrape sides of bowl and mix on high for 1 minute.
Frost cupcakes and drizzle your favorite caramel sauce over frosting.

Assembly

Core the center of your cupcakes out.
Fill with apple filling.
Top with apple cinnamon buttercream.
Drizzle with your favorite caramel syrup.

Filed Under: apple, buttercream, buttercream, caramel, cinnamon, cupcake recipes, filled cupcakes, frosting and icing, fruit frosting, fruity cupcakes, recipes, seasonal, spiced, top posts sidebar

Cherry Limeade Cupcakes

July 29, 2011 by Betsy Eves 43 Comments

As soon as I saw the recipe for Cherry Limeade cupcakes on Annie’s Eats I was certain it would make it into the rotation sometime this summer. I put the call out to my friends that I’d be making them this week and got a couple orders for these little summer goodies.

The recipe from Annie’s Eats was a pretty basic recipe, but I wanted to kick things up a bit and really bring out the lime flavor. In the original recipe, they noted that most of the lime flavor came from the lime syrup that was drizzed on top, but I really wanted a punch of lime to come through in the cake itself. I zested two limes and pressed that into the sugar, bringing out the natural oils and flavors creating a lime sugar. I also added the juice of the two limes into the batter. I also added a bit more lime juice concentrate than the original recipe called for too. :) And a few other tricks.

I’m really happy with the intense lime flavor of these cupcakes. Paired with the sweet cherry frosting, it’s a perfect summer treat!

Enjoy!

Cherry Limeade Cupcakes
Makes 4 dozen cupcakes

Cake
5 1/4 cups flour*
3/4 cup corn starch*
1 tsp salt
2 tsps baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
2 limes, zested and juiced

10 oz can of limeade concentrate or lime margarita concentrate, thawed and at room temperature

6 eggs

1 cup milk
1/3 cup hot water

*NOTE: This combo of corn starch and flour is to make cake flour. If you have cake flour on hand, use 6 cups of it.

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Line cupcake pan with liners.
In a medium bowl, prepare the sugar by working the lime zest into sugar by pressing the back of a spatula down into sugar, thus releasing the oils from the zest into the sugar. This process should take about five minutes, and the sugar will become very fragrant. Set aside.
In another large bowl, sift together the flour, corn starch, salt, baking powder and soda three times. You really want to make sure the corn starch is very incorporated into the flour. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the lime sugar and mix on high until light and fluffy.
Add the entire can of limeade concentrate and lime juice. Mix until combined. Don’t worry if it appears curdled… it’s normal at this point!
Add the eggs one at a time and mix until incorporated.
In three parts, add the flour mixture. Between each addition of flour, add half the milk. Mix only until the flour is just combined.
Add the hot water and mix by hand until incorporated. DO NOT OVER MIX!
Fill liners 2/3 full, or use an ice cream scoop to distribute one full scoop into each liner.
Bake for 17-19 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Cool in pans for 5-10 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool completely.

Lime Syrup

1 10 oz can of lime juice concentrate or lime margarita concentrate, thawed

1 cup powdered sugar

Whisk together the powdered sugar and thawed concentrate until all the sugar has dissolved into the concentrate.
Once the cupcakes are cool cool, poke 7-10 holes in each cupcake with a toothpick. Drizzle a tablespoon of syrup over each cupcake, allowing it to soak into the cake.

Cherry Buttercream

Double this recipe to have enough to frost 4 dozen lime cupcakes

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 lb powdered sugar, sifted
5-6 tbsp Maraschino cherry juice
3-4 tbsp heavy whipping cream
1/8 tsp Wilton Christmas Red food color gel

Maraschino cherries, for garnish
Lime wedges, for garnish

In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter until smooth.
Add the sifted powdered sugar, one cup at a time, to the butter. Cream after each addition.
After half the sugar has been added, add the cherry juice and mix until combined.
Add enough whipping cream until you get your desired consistency, you may not need all of it, or you might want to add more.
Mix in the coloring.
After everything has been combined, mix on high for 30 seconds.
Pipe onto cupcakes and top with a cherry and lime for garnish.

Tips & Tricks – Lemon & Lime Sugar

When using lemon or lime in a recipe, to really add a punch of flavor, zest the fruit into your sugar before creaming with the butter. By working the zest into the sugar, you’ll create a fragrant sugar full of the oils and acids from the fruit creating an extra dimension of flavor to your cupcakes that will really make them stand out! I do this almost every time I use lemon or lime and it really creates an exceptional product! Good luck!

Filed Under: cherry, cupcake recipes, featured, frosting and icing, fruit, fruit frosting, fruity cupcakes, lime, recipes, tips & tricks, top posts sidebar

Banana Nut Cupcakes – three ways

July 21, 2011 by Betsy Eves Leave a Comment

I don’t have much to say about this cupcake, other than it’s pretty darn delicious and that I really just wanted to share the recipe with you. So, today, instead of talking about my cupcake… I’m going to talk about me. I hope that’s okay with you… if not, click the “x” in the corner. haha

It’s not hard to figure out that I’m not in the grand ole USA anymore. I’ve been here in Germany since March and I can finally say that it’s starting to feel like home. I’m settled into my house, most things are unpacked, and I’ve finally got what seems to be like a routine going. Good news for us… my husband will NOT be deploying with his unit to Afghanistan this time. I got the role of FRG (Family Readiness Group) Leader for my husband’s company and his Commander offered him a job that would keep him with the Rear Detachment, the group that doesn’t deploy. He gracious accepted the job. I’m over the moon about it actually because we just found out we are pregnant with baby #2. Perfect timing for him to take a desk job and be home for the next 2 years. So things here in Germany are good. Really good.

We’ve been fortunate enough to do some traveling since we’ve been here too. Nuremberg, Munich, Eagle’s Nest, Prague, and Salzburg… just to name a few. I hope to get a little more traveling in before baby comes next March.

My daughter, Emily, starts middle school this Fall. I can’t believe how grown she’s getting. Middle school. ACK! Although, it is pretty cool to be here in Europe during her middle school years. How many kids can say they did their school shopping in Prague? HA!!

Ok… on to the recipe!

I made this cupcake in three ways. First, as a regular size cupcake and for the rest, I used my IKEA pan and liners and embellished them a little different.

JavaCupcake’s Banana Goodness Cupcakes
Makes 3 dozen cupcakes

Cupcakes:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
5 large ripe bananas, mashed
4 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp banana extract

1 cup finely chopped mixed nuts
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F. Line cupcake pan with liners.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. In the well whisk together the melted butter, mashed bananas, eggs and vanilla extract. Continue with a spatula to combine the wet with the flour until incorporated. Blend only until incorporated. Do not over mix.
Gently fold in the nuts and chocolate chips.
Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Honey Cream Cheese Frosting
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
1-8oz. package of cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup peanut butter (creamy/smooth, not fresh ground)
½ cup honey
5-6 cups powdered sugar (sifted)
Mixed nuts, finely chopped for garnish
Banana chips, for garnish
Chocolate jimmies, for garnish

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter, peanut butter, honey and cream cheese until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Make sure to scrape the sides of the bowl to make sure everything is incorporated.
Add the vanilla extract and mix. Scrape the sides of the bowl.
Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time and combine on low speed until incorporated.
Pipe frosting with a large star tip, sprinkle with chopped nuts or chocolate jimmies and top with a banana chip.

Filed Under: banana, cream cheese frosting, cupcake recipes, frosting and icing, fruit frosting, fruity cupcakes, recipes

Banana Cupcakes with Honey Cream Cheese Frosting

July 1, 2011 by Jenn Magofna 3 Comments

I hope that you all aren’t tired of banana cupcakes yet… They’re just so easy to make and I have to meet a banana/frosting combo that I don’t like!

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