My favorite though… the bag of pink, white and red M&M’s.  Simple yet so darn cute when used just right!

Today, there is 3 inches of new snow on the ground and it’s a perfect day to stay inside and whip up something sweet with these Valentine themed M&M’s for my daughter and her friends.  They’re spending the afternoon sledding and playing in the snow… so they’re definitely going to need a little energy from these cookie bars!

Normally, when I make sugar cookies, I use a dough that needs to be chilled and rolled… but I thought I’d try something a little different this time.  A sugar cookie that is cut, like a bar or with a cookie cutter, already frosted and decorated… and I use the Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Recipe.  This recipe is just as easy, if not simpler and it gets pressed into a jelly roll pan!

The frosting, it’s my new favorite.  A bit of cream cheese and a lot of Madagascar vanilla!  YUM!

Sweetheart Sugar Cookie Bars
Makes 18+ bars

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp almond extract
the seeds of 1 Madagascar vanilla bean (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)

5 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 drop of Americaolor “Red Red” food gel

1. Preheat oven to 375 F degrees.  Line 13x18x1 in jelly roll pan (really big, deep cookie sheet!) with parchment paper and spray paper and sides of pan with cooking spray.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer using a paddle attachment, cream together the butter, sugar, eggs, almond and vanilla.  You want to beat this mixture on high for 4-5 minutes to get it very light and fluffy!
3. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and baking soda.
4. With the mixer on low, add the flour in three parts.  Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix until incorporated thoroughly.
5. Press the dough into the pan.  NOTE: I used a piece of wax paper to help spread out the dough into the edges and corners.
6. Bake in the center of the oven for 15-20 minutes or until the edges begin to turn golden.
7. Cool completely on a wire rack, in the pan, before frosting.

Madagascar Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

2oz cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 lb powdered sugar
3-5 tbsp Madagascar Vanilla Cream

1. Cream together the cream cheese and butter.
2. Slowly add the powdered sugar and mix until smooth.
3. Add the cream until you get your desired consistency.  I like a thinner, smoother frosting for cookies so I add more cream than less.
4. Beat on high for 5-6 minutes.

To Assemble Cookies: 

Cutting board
Offset spatula
Large knife
Cookie bar
Frosting
M&M candies
Heart shaped cookie cutter

1. Use a knife to loosen cookie from the pan.  Gently slide the cookie out of the pan and onto the counter or a large cutting board.
2. Using an offset spatula, spread a thin layer of frosting evenly over the cookie.
3. Sprinkle whole M&M’s evenly over the cookie bar.  Chop more M&M’s into small pieces, even crushed a bit, and sprinkle evenly over the cookie bar.
4. Cut into squares and serve with a big glass of milk!
5. You could also cut a few using a heart shaped cookie cutter too if you wanted to be really creative!

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

1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 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)
1 large egg
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

1. Preheat oven to 350 F degrees.  Line cupcake pan with liners.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and vanilla sugar for about 2 minutes.
4. 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.
5. Mix in the sour cream, making sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.
6. Add the flour in two parts and mix just until smooth.
7. Add the heavy cream and mix only until incorporated.  DO NOT OVER MIX!
8. Scoop evenly into 12 cupcake liners.
9. Bake 18-19 minutes, rotating pan after 12 minutes.
10. 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

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer using the whisk attachment, cream together the butter and peanut butter.
2. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and add the powdered sugar.  Mix until smooth.
3. 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

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and cream cheese.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and cocoa powder.
3. Add the sugar/cocoa to the butter mixture and beat until smooth.
4. Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix in the vanilla extract.
5. Add up to 1/2 cup heavy cream or until you get the smooth consistency you want.
6. 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

1. 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.
2. Using a small closed star tip, pipe the whipped peanut butter filling into each hole making sure a little bit peeps out the top.
3. 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.
4. Using a Wilton 1M tip, pipe a beautiful pile of creamy chocolate frosting on top of each cupcake.
5. 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.
6. Garnish with half a Tagalong Girl Scout Cookie.
7. EAT!

These beans are so fresh, so moist, and so full of great vanilla flavor…  I really can’t wait to use them in EVERYTHING for the next few months.  I just hope that 1/2lb was enough!

First thing I made took me no time at all.  Vanilla Sugar.  Seriously, get some vanilla beans and make some of this yourself.  It takes 2 minutes and your sugar will thank you!!

Vanilla Sugar
airtight container
5lb bag of sugar
2 Madagascar vanilla beans, split length wise

1. Empty the bag of sugar into the airtight container.
2. Add the two vanilla beans to the sugar.  Put the lid on and shake until the beans are covered in sugar.
3. Let the beans hangout over night in the sugar.
4. Take the lid off, smell, taste, enjoy!  You now have vanilla sugar!

NOTE:  You can just keep adding sugar to the container as you go through it as well as any other used vanilla bean husks as you bake.  Just take the old ones out when they’re all dried up.  You can used the dried up beans in milk/cream to make vanilla cream! Nom nom nom.

And then I made Vanilla Cream.  You can use this cream in place of any recipe that calls for milk or heavy cream.  It will add such a rich, delicious vanilla flavor to whatever it is you’re baking.

You could also use it as coffee creamer.  Nom nom nom

Vanilla Cream
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 Madagascar vanilla bean

1. Split the vanilla beans open length wise using a sharp knife.  Scrape out the vanilla bean paste from inside the pod.
2. In a small heavy bottomed pot, whisk together the heavy cream, vanilla bean pod and paste.
3. Cook on LOW for about 10 minutes, whisking often.
4. Increase heat to medium until the milk just begins to simmer and bubble.  NOTE:  You don’t not want it to reach a full boil or burn.  Just a nice, slow simmer.
5. As soon as the milk begins to bubble up, remove it from the heat and whisk.
6. Allow to cool to room temperature.
7. A film may form on the top of the cream, just whisk it until it’s smooth again.
8. Remove the vanilla bean pod if you’re going to use all the cream immediately.  If you plan to store the cream for later use, leave the bean in the cream until you’re ready to use it.

I like to think that less is more… so I’m not going to hate on lots of sprinkles or anything like that… but I prefer a little bit of fancy that goes a long way.  These cupcakes were for a 1st birthday party with a bumblebee theme.  I saw a bunch of tutorials online that made super cute bumblebees but I didn’t really feel like messing around with fondant and I didn’t really want them to be cartoony… so I went with a modified version of a Martha Stewart tutorial.

I don’t have pics of how I piped everything, because good grief is it hard to take pics without a timer lol, but I will tell you what I did and hopefully that helps a bit! I’m making lady bugs this weekend with the same concept, so I’ll let you know how they turn out!

Cupcake Classic-Chocolate & Vanilla

• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 cups flour
• ½ cup Dutch process  cocoa powder
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs, plus 2 egg yolks
• 1 tablespoon vanilla

1. Cream the butter and sugar in a standing bowl mixer with the paddle attachment on medium until light and fluffy at least 3 minutes.
2. With the mixer on low, slowly add the powdered sugar and mix until combined.
3. Add the vanilla and 3 tablespoons of heavy cream and beat until on low until combined.
4. Beat the frosting on high for at least 4-5 minutes until it is light and fluffy.  If needed, add more heavy cream to reach your desired consistency.

Source: My Baking Addiction

Itty Bitty Bumblebee:

• Vanilla buttercream
• Yellow food coloring
• Almond slices(2 for each cupcake)
• Black Decorating Frosting

1. Place 1 cup of buttercream in a small bowl and mix with 2-3 drops of yellow food coloring.  You can use more as needed to achieve your desired shade of yellow.
2. Pipe buttercream onto cooled cupcakes with a large round tip.  You want them to sort of look like clouds.  I used my large round tip from Bake It Pretty.
3. Using a Wilton #12 create a small yellow bumblebee on each cupcake.  I started at the “front” of the bumblebee and then squeezed a small amount of frosting out until I had a little bit more than a circle and pulled up towards the back of the of the bumblebee to get a “stinger” of sorts.
4. Place the black decorating frosting in a piping bag with a small round tip (Wilton #4) and draw 2 small lines over each bumblebee.
5. After all of the bumblebees are completed, add 2 almonds to each bumblebee for wings.  Try to match the almond slices, you want them to be relatively the same size.

Happy cupcakin’ …

x0-Jenn

It’s such a decadent and smooth dessert, rich but not overpowering… basically it’s perfection.  I love the vanilla bean flecks in the custard and the hard sugar shell is so fun to make.  Yay for an excuse to use the butane torch! If you’ve never had crème brûlée before (Betsy, I’m looking at you!) then go to your kitchen now.  I mean like NOW, NOW and MAKE THIS DESSERT! If you’ve never made crème brûlée before, please don’t stress… it’s actually pretty easy and totally worth the time.  You’ll need a lot heavy cream and a lot of egg yolks (so find some cupcakes to make that call for egg whites-so you don’t have to waste anything) but that’s about it!

Crème Brûlée (Recipe Source: Alton Brown)

• 1 quart heavy cream
• 1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
• 1/2 cup vanilla sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 6 large egg yolks
• 2 quarts hot water
• 6 tablespoons sugar in the raw

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Place the cream, vanilla bean and its pulp into a medium saucepan set over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, cover and allow to sit for 15 minutes. Remove the vanilla bean and reserve for another use.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup sugar and the egg yolks until well blended and it just starts to lighten in color. Add the cream a little at a time, stirring continually. Pour the liquid into 6 (7 to 8-ounce) ramekins. Place the ramekins into a large cake pan or roasting pan. Pour enough hot water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake just until the creme brulee is set, but still trembling in the center, approximately 40 to 45 minutes. Remove the ramekins from the roasting pan and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 3 days.
4. Remove the creme brulee from the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes prior to browning the sugar on top.  Evenly sprinkle 1 tablespoon of sugar in the raw on each ramekin. Using a torch, melt the sugar and form a crispy top. Allow the creme brulee to sit for at least 5 minutes before serving.

Hope you like…. if you have any questions, please let me know!

Happy ALOHA Friday, Javacupcakers! xo-Jenn

My god-daughter turned 1 a few weeks ago and I had the privilege of making cupcakes for her big day!  I went with a trio of flavors, wanted to keep it kind of simple but still tasty.  Unfortunately the weather was ALL kinds of terrible that day, so it was super cold outside, but the cupcakes were a big hit and they were also fun to make

I made 6 dozen total, 2 dozen of each flavor… Vanilla with Dark Chocolate Buttercream, Banana with Caramel Buttercream and Strawberries and Cream.  I don’t think there was a favorite, but I wanted to eat all of the Strawberries and Cream by. myself. no. sharing.  They were pretty delish they’ll definitely be a summer staple in my house.

They took a few hours to make, but I was able to get everything done Friday night and ready to go for the party the next day!  My strategy for making so many cupcakes was to bake first and then frost everything last.  I felt like it was easier to make each cupcake flavor, let it cool, start on a new batch and then by the time they were all done baking I started on the frosting.  Most of the time I prefer to have everything uniform, cause I’m a little crazy like that… but that would have meant washing the piping tip too and that didn’t seem like a fun time! lol… The colors were lime green & hot pink so I went w/ a pattern for 2 and a plain liner for the 3rd.

Banana Cupcakes (Source: Martha Stewart) with Caramel Buttercream:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, (spooned and leveled)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• 1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (about 4 ripe bananas), plus 1 whole banana, for garnish (optional)
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
2. Make a well in center of flour mixture. In well, mix together butter, mashed bananas, eggs, and vanilla. Stir to incorporate flour mixture (do not overmix). Dividing evenly, spoon batter into muffin cups.
3. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan; cool completely on a wire rack.

(Yield: 12 cupcakes)

*If you’ve been keeping up with the blog, then you know that I heart heart heart these banana cupcakes like crazy, why fix something if it ain’t broke, right? They’re super easy to make, taste delish and I haven’t found a banana cupcake/frosting combo that I don’t like yet… so, basically what I’m saying is don’t get mad if they keep showing up lol

Caramel Buttercream (Source: Joy the Baker)

*Disclaimner #2: I didn’t actually use caramel for these… I used the dulche de leche that I still had in a jar, because *miracle*music* I still had some left over from the last time I baked with it.  But, you can’t really tell the difference AND you don’t have to ask me twice to eat more dulce de leche than is neccessary

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 cup dulce de leche, plus more for drizzling
• 2 to 3 cups powdered sugar

1. Cream butter & cream cheese together in a standing mixer until light and fluffy about 2-3 minutes.
2. Add dulce de leche to the mixture and cream together for 30 seconds.
3. Add powdered sugar to the mixture, on low speed, and mix until incorporated.
4. Pipe with a large star tip.

Vanilla Cupcakes (Source: Joy the Baker) with Dark Chocolate Buttercream

• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Yield: 2 dozen

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line two cupcake pans with paper liners and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together milk and vanilla extract.  Set aside.
4. In a stand mixer, fit with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy 3 to 5 minutes.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure everything is well incorporated.
5. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for one minute after each addition.  The batter may look like it’s curdled, that’s okay (true story, so don’t let it stress you out)
6. On low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and the vanilla milk mixture in three batches, starting and ending with the flour.  When the batter is almost combined, stop the mixer and finish mixing the batter with a spatula.
7. Fill liners 3/4 full with batter and bake 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

*I decided not to use the vanilla bean this recipe calls for, because I wanted to save what I had on hand for creme brulee

Dark Chocolate Buttercream (Recipe Source: Bakerella)

• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (recommended: Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa)
• 1 box (1 lb) confectioner’s sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1-3 Tbsp milk (*if needed)

1. Cream the butter and cream cheese with a mixer.
2. Add the cocoa and vanilla.
3. Add the confectioner’s sugar in small batches and blend on low until combined. Scrape down sides with each addition.
4. Add 1 tablespoon of milk at a time until you get the consistency you desire.

You’ve seen this before here too… it’s such a tasty frosting, nice & rich, the perfect compliment, in my opinion to these cupcakes!

Strawberries and Cream (Source: Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes Book)

• 2 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cake flour (not self rising)
• 1 tbs baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 large who eggs plus 1 egg white
• 1 cup milk
• 2 cups finely chopped strawberries (about 20)

Yield: 34 cupcakes

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Line muffin pans with cupcake liners.  Sift together both flours, baking powder and salt.
2. Using a standing bowl mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter, sugar and vanilla until pale and fluffy.  Add whole eggs and white, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Reduce speed to low, add flour in 2 batches, alternating with milk and beating until combined.  Fold in chopped strawberries by hand.
3. Divide batter evenly among liners, filling 3/4 way full.  Bake, rotating pans 1/2 way through for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Frosting:

• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/4 cup strawberry puree (I used my blender to puree the strawberries and probably used about 10-15)
• 2-3 cups powdered sugar

1. In a standing bowl mixer, cream together the butter and cream cheese on medium speed, about 2-3 minutes, until light and fluffy.
2. Add 1/2 of the strawberry puree to the mixer and blend until combined (*you may or may not use all of the puree, keep an eye on the consistency of your frosting.)
3. With the mixer on low, add the powdered sugar and mix until combined.

*I used more strawberry puree than I probably needed, so my frosting wasn’t very stiff, but I liked the consistency and the flavor, so that worked for me.  If you would like to pipe your frosting into a pretty shape, I would suggest using less puree and more powdered sugar.  Ps. This isn’t the frosting from the book, I’m still not quiet brave enough to make a Swiss Meringue Buttercream, but one day soon

I know this was a long post, if you’re still with me, then I thank you I hope that you’re having a great week… I’ll be back soon with more good stuff!  Can’t stay away too long! *hugs*

xo-Jenn

Just an FYI, I used these marble cupcakes (minus the pastry cream) and a basic vanilla buttercream (butter, cream cheese, vanilla extract, powdered sugar and heavy cream-as needed) for my “spaghetti.”

If you have any questions, please let me know! Thanks!!

Inspiration: Hello, Cupcake!

I used a simple recipe for the cupcakes and mixed in my favorite raspberry jam then topped them with a vanilla bean buttercream. But… to fancy them up, I piped flowers, rosettes and some sweet decorations. They turned out pretty cute if you ask me!

Happy Mother's Day!

JavaCucpake’s Raspberry Jam Cupcakes
Makes about 30 cupcakes

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup sour cream

3 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

1/4-1/2 cup of your favorite raspberry jam

1. Preheat oven to 350 F degrees.  Line your cupcake pans with liners.
2. Cream together the sugar and butter.  Add the eggs one at a time and mix until light and fluffy.
3. Mix in the vanilla and sour cream and beat until fluffy again.  Don’t forget to scrape the sides of the bowl.
4. In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
5. In thirds, add the flour to the wet mixture alternating with the milk.  Begin and end with the flour.  Mix only until combined.
6. Scoop about a tablespoon of batter into the cupcake liner, making sure it covers the bottom of the liner.  Scoop 1 teaspoon of jam on top of the batter then top with another tablespoon of batter.  With a toothpic, gently mix the jam and batter together in the liner.  Don’t mix too much, you want nice ribbons of jam running through the cupcake when it’s done.
   

   Swirled jam and batter

7. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpic comes out clean.
   

   Fresh out of the oven

8. Cool completely before frosting.

Vanilla Bean Buttercream

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 lbs of powdered sugar, sifted
2 vanilla beans, split and scraped of the seeds
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 scant cup milk

1. Cream the butter.
2. One cup at a time add the powdered sugar. Once it becomes too stiff to beat, slowly add a tablespoon of milk to loosen it up.
3. Add the vanilla beans and vanilla extract.
4. Add the rest of the sugar and milk. You may not need all the milk, only add enough until you get the consistency you desire.
5. Mix on high for 3-4 minutes.
6. Color with food coloring gel and frost your cupcakes!

*Tips & Tricks*
To make rosette’s use a large star tip (Wilton 1M is what I used). Start in the center of the cupcake, holding the bag straight up (90 degree angle from the cupcake), and apply pressure to the bag pushing frosting out creating a star. Without decreasing pressure, pipe frosting clockwise around the star beginning and 9:00, then 12:00, then 3:00, then 6:00 and back at 9:00. I found that the rosettes looked better when I piped the outter circle really close to the star. If you search on YouTube, you’ll be able to find video tutorials on how to make rosettes! Good luck!

Simple sweet rosettes

Simple dots and a candy heart

Pretty flowers made using a "pedal" tip

Just for Mom adorned with pink pearls

Celebrity Cake Studio, a bakery in Tacoma donated a full sheet cake for the event.  Not only was it super delicious, it was also super pretty Yay & yay! Check it out:

It was a marble cake with an eclair filling and a vanilla buttercream frosting.  Right?! Super tasty.  So, anyways… after having this amazing cake and forgetting to take some home with me, I was totally inspired to make my own.  Well, not a big cake, cause me and big cakes don’t have the best history together.  But marble cupcakes sounded just as good  The recipe I used is from Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes, instead of doing an eclair filling, I used her pastry cream recipe, also from the book that actually goes with the Boston Cream Pie recipe and a regular vanilla buttercream.

Sometimes, I’m not really sure how I bake because I’m not really a patient person… but, I’ve picked up a few tips and tricks along the way to help me out-like keeping butter out on my counter all the time because I bake so much.

This time, I didn’t really follow all the rules, so they weren’t the most aesthetically pleasing cupcakes, but they still tasted great and SOMETIMES that’s just enough for me I *realllllly* should have waited for the pastry cream to cool & firm up in the fridge, but I didn’t, cause I was being lazy.  Long story short, I piped the pasty cream into my cupcakes before it cooled and the pastry cream made my frosting melt, ugh.  I was able to get a few good pics before they had to be tossed into the fridge to keep their shape!  Technically these don’t really call for frosting, but I’ll take any good excuse to use my ginormous pastry tips from Bake it Pretty

Marble Cupcakes

• 1 3/4 cupscake flour (not self-rising), sifted
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup milk, room temperature
• 1/3 cup heavy cream, room temperature
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup boiling water

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.  Line 16 muffin tins with paper liners.  Sift together flour, baking powder & salt.  Combine milk and heavy cream.
2. With a standing bowl mixer on high speed, cream together butter & sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.  Add the vanilla.  Add flour in 3 batches, alternating with milk mixture until batter is combined.
3. To make chocolate: measure 1 cup batter into a bowl.  Combine cocoa and boiling water in a bowl.  Stir into reserved batter.
4. Fill cups alternating with spoonfuls of vanilla and chocolate batter filling each tin 3/4 full.  Run a wooden skewer through the batter in a figure 8 motion to make swirls.
5. Bake until tops are golden, a cake tester comes out clean, about 2o mins.
6. Transfer to a cooling rack.
7. Core the center of each cupcake to make room for the filling.
8. Reserve core to cover the pastry cream filling.

Yield: 16 cupcakes

Pastry Cream

• 4 large egg yolks
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• pinch of salt
• 2 cups milk
• 1 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract

1. Whisk egg yolks until smooth in a large bowl.  Combine sugar, corn starch, and salt in a medium saucepan and heat over medium.  Stirring constantly, gradually add milk in a slow, steady stream and cook until mixture begins to thicken and bubble, about 5 mins.
2. Whisking constantly, slowly pour 1/3 of milk mixture into the eggs yolks.  Temper the egg yolks so they do not curdle.  Pour mixture into remaining milk mixture in the saucepan.  Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until mixture comes to a full boil and is thick enough to hold shape when lifted with a spoon, 2-4 minutes.  Remove from heat, stir in vanilla.
3. Strain mixture through a fine sieve into a heatproof bowl.  Cover with parchment paper or plastic wrap, pressing it directly on surface to prevent a skin from forming.   Refrigerate until chilled and firm, at least 2 hours (or up to 2 days).
4. Pipe pastry cream into each cupcake.
5. Press reserved cupcake cores over the pastry cream filling.
6. Add your favorite vanilla buttercream frosting
7. Enjoy.

Recipe Source: Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes

Ps. If you’re interested, we raised almost $800 at the Showcase for Japan and will continue to collect money all Spring Quarter.  All the proceeds are going to Peace Winds America.  A non-profit organization that is working in tandem with their sister organization Peace Winds Japan to provide relief and recovery operations to the hardest hit areas in Japan.   Every little bit helps, whether it’s a monetary contribution or just spreading the word….

Pss.  Lots of love to Celebrity Cake Studio, once again for the *AMAZING* cake and supporting the event!  Mahalo!

xoxo-Jenn

I used Sutton Gourmet Paper liners in black and white and used a light pink cream and white pearls, and red, pink, white nonparrells.  If you haven’t tried Sutton Gourmet Paper liners for your chocolate cupcakes yet, you MUST!  They hold their color, shape, texture with a dark cake unlike any grocery store liner ever will!!  Don’t these look amazing?

The cupcakes are a chocolate cake, filled with cream topped with a dark chocolate ganache.  I used a slightly different cake recipe than before, but both are great recipes.

After the Love cupcakes were ready for the order, I wanted to mix things up a bit and decorate the rest a little different for Emily’s class.  So, I printed some toppers, cut them and pasted onto sticks and made some buttercream (a new recipe – I’ll post it at the bottom of this post!).

I love the idea of black and white with red/pink and I really love how these turned out!  They’ve got a shiney layer of ganache topped with buttercream.  Oh YUM!

Vanilla Buttercream
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temp
1/2 cup vegetable shortening (like Crisco)
2 lbs sifted (1 bag) powered sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
Scant 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
dash of salt

1. Cream together butter and shortening.
2. A cup or so at a time, mix in the sifted sugar.  Scrape down the sides after each addition.  After the first addition, add the vanilla.  Add the cream after each next addition.  IMPORTANT:  You may not need all the cream, so add it SLOWLY.
3. Add the salt then beat on high for 3-4 minutes.

Here’s what I came up with…

A football field made from 10×14 cake boards covered in astroturf paper and custom endzones and 50 yard line logo
Custom handmade toppers/picks
Green and gold foil liners
Yard line cupcakes topped with a football pick
Green and yellow swirled cupcakes
Green and yellow sugar crystals lined cupcakes with hand piped birthday message

The recipe I’ve used for these cupcakes I’ve made before… but this time, I spiced things up a bit with the milk and vanilla.  I really think that steeping the milk in the vanilla bean and adding it warm to the batter and buttercream make such a HUGE difference in the outcome!!!  So here’s the updated recipe for you!

JavaCupcake’s White Velvet Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Buttercream
Makes approx. 24 cupcakes

1 cup skim milk
¼ cup sour cream
½ teaspoon pure vanilla
1 vanilla bean

12 tbsp (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1½ cups sugar
4 liquid oz of egg whites (approx 3 jumbo or 4 large egg whites)

3 cups sifted cake flour
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt

¼ cup skim milk

1. Preheat oven to 375F and line cupcake pans with liners.
2. Prep vanilla bean by scoring the bean down one side and scraping the inside of the bean out. In a small sauce pan, add 1 cup milk, sour cream, vanilla, vanilla bean and inside scrapings.  Cook on medium high heat until the milk starts to steam and bubbles begin to form around the outer edge of the milk, whisking occasionally.  Remove from heat immediately and let cool for 5-10 minutes.  You want warm but not scalding hot milk.  Remove the vanilla bean shell before adding to the batter.
3. In a large bowl, combine cake flour, baking powder and salt and mix together to blend.  Set aside.
4. In the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
5. Add the eggs and mix on high just until they start to whip up like frosting.  You want them to be light, but not too whipped.
6. In thirds, slowly add the flour mixture.  In between each addition, slowly add half the milk/vanilla mixture.  Begin and end with the flour. Make sure to scrape the sides of the bowl and thoroughly incorporate (without over mixing) the batter with each addition.
7. By hand, fold in remaining ¼ cup milk.
8. Fill each cupcake liner using an ice cream scoop with batter, about 2/3 full.
9. Bake 15-18 minutes.  After 10 minutes of baking, rotate pan 180 degrees to ensure even baking.
10. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes before removing to a wire wrack to cool completely.

JavaCupcake’s Vanilla Bean Buttercream

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 lbs (approx 6 cups) sifted powdered sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 vanilla bean
1/2 tsp pure vanilla

1. Using the same procedure in the batter recipe above, prepare the milk and the vanilla.  (Don’t add sour cream to this mixture and use only 1/2 cup milk.)  Set milk aside to cool.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter until soft and fluffy. About 3 minutes.
3. One cup at a time, add the sifted powdered sugar, scraping the sides of the bowl after each addition.
4. After the 2nd cup, add a few table spoons of milk.  Continue adding a little more milk after each addition of sugar until all the sugar and milk are in the butter.
5. Mix on high for 2 minutes.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix for 2 more minutes on high.
6. If your buttercream is too soft, put it in the freezer for 5-7 minutes before piping onto your cupcakes.

Brown Sugar – light & dark
Ryan from Ryan’s Baking Blog recently posted a recipe on how to make your own brown sugar.  Now, if I knew this was this easy… I would have been making this a long time ago!

Buttermilk
Joy the Baker has a few amazing homemade recipes for baking.  Buttermilk is one of those ingredients that sometimes you just don’t always have in your refrigerator.  Joy the Baker has several suggestions on how to make your own or what substitutions you can use for buttermilk.

Pumpkin Pie Spice
I know… Thanksgiving is over, but really… Pumpkin Pie Spice is used is so many recipes, that it’s just great to have on hand year round!  Why buy it when you can make it?  Joy the Baker is at it again with this great how-to on putting together your own Pumpkin Pie Spice.  Thanks Joy!

This cupcake is made with milk steeped with Tahitian vanilla beans, homemade vanilla extract and lots of sugar!  It’s super moist and so full of flavor!  The cupcake shrunk up a little bit during cooling, so I might cook them a bit longer next time or add a bit more flour to add stability in the batter.  Still taste good though!

And the frosting, well I tried a new recipe inspired by an article that Jessie Oleson (aka CakeSpy) posted on her Facebook page.  I’m not sure if I like the flavor of this frosting as much as my traditional buttercream, but the texture is so silky smooth.  I think I’ll be tweaking this recipes and trying new way to get less butter flavor and more sweetness.  It definitely has a very strong vanilla taste though!! Just my preference is to have a less buttery taste.

You could use any vanilla beans for this recipe.  I happen to have Tahitian beans left over from my homemade vanilla extract.  The beans keep nicely in the jars I made the extract in so they were moist and full of flavor and vanilla beans still.

Tahitian Vanilla Cupcake
Adapted from Simply Recipes “Double Vanilla Cupcakes”

Makes approx. 20 cupcakes

• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 Tahitian Vanilla bean
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg plus 2 egg whites
• 1 ½ cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 cup hot water

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.  Line at cupcake pans with at least 20 liners.
2. Cut open and scrape out the seeds of the vanilla bean. Place the seeds, empty bean, and the milk into a small saucepan. Heat to just under a simmer for a few minutes being careful not to scald the milk. Remove from heat and allow the milk to steep and cool. Just before you use the milk, remove the bean and save for later use.
3. In an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Add the whole egg and beat until incorporated.
5. One at a time, add the egg whites beating 30 seconds after each egg.
6. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, salt and baking powder.
7. Remove the vanilla beans from the milk.
8. In the saucepan, whisk in vanilla extract and sour cream until smooth.
9. With the mixer on low, add the flour in thirds to the egg mixture.  Between each addition, add half the milk mixture.  Before adding the last third of flour, turn off the mixer and finish by folding in the flour by hand with a large spatula.
10. Continuing by hand, add the water and fold together only until incorporated.  DO NOT OVER MIX.
11. Fill liners 2/3 full.
12. Bake for 18-20 minutes.  Rotate pan 180 degrees after 15 minutes.  Cupcakes will be done when a toothpic comes out clean.

Tahitian Vanilla Frosting
Adapted from “Baked: New Frontiers in Baking” (Stewart, Tabori and Chang, 2008), by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito, founders of the Baked shops in Brooklyn and Charleston, S.C.

Makes enough to frost 24+ cupcakes

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 Tahitian Vanilla bean
• 24 tablespoons (3 sticks) unsalted butter, soft but cool, cut into small pieces
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Cut open and scrape out the seeds of the vanilla bean. Place the seeds, empty bean, the milk and cream into a small saucepan, whisk together.  Cook over medium heat for about 20 minutes, whisking continuously, until the mixture starts bubbling and becomes thick.  Make sure you take it off the heat just as it bubbles and thickens.  If it starts to brown, you’ve cooked it too long and it has burned.  (Trust me, I know.  My first round making this frosting, I burnt it!!!)
2. Strain the mixture into the bowl of stand mixer or hand-held electric mixer. Beat on high speed until cool, about 10-15 minutes.
3. Reduce the speed to medium-low and add the butter in 8 parts; beat until thoroughly after each addition. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat for 5 to 6 minutes, until the frosting is light and fluffy.
4. Half a cup at a time, add the powdered sugar; beat 30 seconds after each addition.
5. Add the vanilla extract and beat to incorporate.
6. Beat another 2 minutes on high.
7. If the frosting is too soft, transfer the bowl to the refrigerator to chill slightly, then beat again until it is the proper consistency. If the frosting is too firm, place the bowl over a pot of barely bubbling water and beat with a wooden spoon until it is the proper consistency.

She wanted mini’s…. two different kinds…. and in 3 days.  Ok, it’s not like I had much going on… but usually, I like at least a weeks notice for cupcakes because I like to special order liners, wrappers, embellishments, etc etc.  I had to come up with two cupcakes and find everything I needed for them locally!  But… I did it!  I came up with two delicious cupcakes… and this first one:

Mini chocolate cupcakes with a fresh raspberry center topped with a super sweet vanilla buttercream, sugar pearl and sprinkles garnished in a white cup with green ribbon!

Wow, that’s a mouthfull! hehe (and so is the cupcake!)

The recipe was an easy one for me… I used my standard moist chocolate cupcake recipe, put a fresh raspberry inside and topped it with my standard buttercream recipe.  Easy-peasy! For me… a basic cupcake can be spiced up and embellished to become a spectacular cupcake!

Mini Moist Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes

Makes 36 minis and 12 regular cupcakes

½ cup vegetable oil

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup lightly packed brown sugar

1 cup heavy cream

2 tsp vanilla

2 eggs at room temperature

1  ¾ cup all purpose flour

¾ cup cocoa powder

1 ½ tsp baking soda

1 ½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1 cup boiling water

Fresh raspberries (enough for each cupcake)

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Line pans with foil or paper liners.
2. Mix oil, sugars, cream and vanilla until smooth and creamy.
3. Add eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly after each.
4. Beat on medium for about 2 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl.
5. Sift dry ingredients together.
6. Sift them again.  Make sure all the flour and cocoa are thoroughly combined and all clumps are gone and the mixture is very fine.
7. Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture in three parts, scraping the sides of the bowl and thoroughly mixing after each.
8. Beat for about 2 minutes on medium-high speed.
9. Add the boiling water and mix until just blended.  DO NOT BE ALARMED, mixture will be thin.
10. Fill cupcake liners no more than 1/2 full.
11. Add a raspberry to the center of each cup, push in until almost covered.
12. 
13. Bake 8 minutes, rotate pan 180 degrees, and bake an additional 2-3 minutes.
14. Do not over bake! Cupcakes will be done when there are air bubbles in the center and it springs back to the touch.
15. Leave in the pan 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Vanilla Buttercream

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

2 lb bag of confectioners’ sugar, sifted

1/4 cup heavy cream

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 tbsp corn syrup

1. In an electric mixer on medium-high, cream butter until smooth.
2. Mix the vanilla and cream together in a measuring cup and set aside.
3. Add sifted sugar 1 cup at a time, beating until smooth after each cup.  Between each cup of sugar, add the cream/vanilla, beginning and ending with sugar.
4. Slowly pour in corn syrup and mix well.
5. Add more cream, if necessary, to obtain desired consistency.
6. Beat on high for 5 minutes.

With my kids I am always trying to think up new cupcake decorating ideas. Sometimes these ideas get saved and forgotten about. That is what happened with these frog cupcakes I found well over a year ago on Allrecipes.com.

My recipe is a little different than theirs and in my opinion makes a cuter cupcake.
We start with the cupcake a basic vanilla cupcake.

Vanilla Cupcake
1 cup Butter
2 cups Sugar
6 eggs
4t vanilla
zest of one lemon (optional)
3 cups flour
3t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1/2 cup plus 2 TB milk

bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes.

Some note’s about the recipe…

First mix in ingredients in the order listed. You want to first cream the butter and sugar. When it looks like this:

you are done. You want it nice and fluffy.

Next mix in eggs one at a time then vanilla.

The lemon is optional and we like it

I love my mini grater, it is Tupperware.

Next add in your dry ingredients and lastly add your milk. On the milk most people can get by with only a 1/2 cup but I live in the desert. I add 2 extra tablespoons to combat the dryness here. In the end your batter should look like this:

It reminds me of thick vanilla pudding.

Fill cupcake liners 1/2 to 2/3 full and bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Once the cupcakes have cooled comes the fun part decorating.

I use a buttercream to frost-

Buttercream Frosting

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
4 cups confectioners sugar
2t vanilla
4TB milk

cream butter and shortening until fluffy. Slowly add confectioners sugar then vanilla and milk. You can add more or less milk to get the thickness you want. Once you add the milk whip on high speed, the longer you whip it the lighter and fluffier your frosting will be.

In my opinion a kitchen aide with the whip attachment is the best thing to use to make frosting.

Since we are making frogs tint your frosting with green gel food coloring. Frost your cupcakes and sprinkle with greed sugar.

Now it’s time to make the frogs. Gather your cast of characters-

Frosted and sugared cupcake, dark green sugar, large marshmallows (I prefer jet puff), Twizzlers pull and peel (cut in about 2-3 inch segments) and chocolate chips, frosting and water.

First cut marshmallows in half-

These will eventually become the eyes.

Next take water and place in a shallow bowl. Also place the green sugar in a bowl.

Next dip marshmallows in water.

Then dip in sugar

So they look like this-

Add frosting to the bottom and “glue” to the cupcake.

Once eyeballs are glued on peel apart Twizzlers into strands and add mouths.

The final touch is “gluing” chocolate chips with frosting to the center of eyeballs so they look like eyes.

Now you have your own cute little froggie cupcakes.

Enjoy!

White Butter Cupcakes

Adapted from the Joy of Baking

3 ½ cups sifted cake flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 cups granulated white sugar, divided

½ cup HOT water

4 large eggs, separated

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 cup milk

¼ teaspoon cream of tartar

1)      Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Line cupcake tins with liners.

2)      While eggs are still cold separate the eggs, placing the yolks in one bowl and the whites in another bowl.  Cover the two bowls with plastic wrap and allow the eggs to come to room temperature before using (about 30 minutes).

3)      In a mixing bowl sift or whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside.

4)      In bowl of electric mixer, beat the butter until soft (about 1-2 minutes).  Add 1 ½ cups of the sugar and beat until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes).  Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating after each addition.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.

5)      With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and milk, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour.

6)      Add the hot water and mix just until incorporated.

7)      In a clean bowl of your electric mixer, with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until foamy.  Add the cream of tartar and continue beating until soft peaks form.  Gradually add the remaining ½ cup of sugar and continue to beat until stiff peaks form.  With a rubber spatula gently fold a little of the whites into the batter to lighten it, and then fold in the remaining whites until combined.  Do not over mix the batter or it will deflate.

8)      Using an ice cream scoop, fill cupcake liners ½ full.

9)      Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 16-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

10)   Cool the cupcakes in their pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes before removing and cooling completely on the wire rack.

.

Vanilla Buttercream

2 sticks (1 cup) room temperature unsalted butter

2lbs or 8 cups of sifted powdered sugar

2 tsp of pure vanilla

½ cup of milk

1)      In an electric mixer on medium-high, cream butter until smooth.

2)      Mix the vanilla and milk together in a measuring cup and set aside.

3)      Add sifted sugar 1 cup at a time, beating until smooth after each cup.

4)      Between each cup of sugar, add the milk/vanilla mixture, making sure to end with powdered sugar.

5)      Beat on high for 5 minutes or until light, fluffy and smooth.

6)      Frost cupcakes using Wilton #6B star tip and decorate anyway you want!!

I’m sure you’ve probably seen this everywhere by now, but since it was part of mine and hubby’s homemade Christmas gift baskets this year, I couldn’t post about it until now or I would have spoiled the surprise! When I first learned how easy it is to make your own vanilla extract though, I was so excited. It’s much cheaper than buying it in the store! And since I was about three months away from Christmas at the time, I knew they would make perfect gifts as well. I’ve been using the homemade vanilla extract in my baking ever since, and I don’t think I’ll ever go back to store-bought!
Here’s what you’ll need:

• Vodka (any type will do – I used Skyy)
• 1 vanilla bean per 1/3 cup vodka
• Lidded glass bottles
  

Drop the vanilla beans into the bottles. Mine held about one cup of liquid each, so I put in 3 vanilla beans per bottle. Fill up the bottles with the vodka. And, that’s it! Store the bottles in a cool, dark place for about three months before using, making sure to give them a shake every once in a while. The picture below was taken about a week and a half after making the extract; it’ll get even darker over time.

JavaCupcake side note:  As a part of my goals for 2010, I wanted to create a signature cupcake.  I’m hoping that this recipe (in three months!) can be used as a part of it!  Thank you Tracy for this great recipe!!

3/19/2010 Update:  My vanilla extra is READY and I”ll be using it in all my upcoming recipes!

Click on recipe image above to see ingredients and step by step instructions!

My dad turned 68 this week!!! Happy Birthday Daddy!!! He requested white/vanilla cake with chocolate buttercream frosting… so what did I make?? CUPCAKES!! They were a HUGE hit and everyone at his party loved them!

(hehehe Yes the frosting kinda looks like poop. It sure didn’t taste like poop though!!! DELISH!)

Vanilla Cupcakes

12 tbsp butter, room temperature
1 2/3 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 2/3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
6 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temp
1 large egg, plus 1 large egg white, at room temp
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup+1tsp STRONG brewed coffee (Starbucks Pike Place roast was used for this cupcake)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare pan for 12 cupcakes.

Use mixer to combine sugar and butter until fluffy (3-5 minutes).

While that is mixing, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Add the egg and egg white slowly to the sugar and egg and beat well.

Add 1/3 of the flour mixture, then add the milk. Add 1/3 more flour mixture and then add the coffee.

Mix in the rest of the flour mixture until just combined (don’t overbeat your cupcakes or they will be disgusting).

Using an ice cream scoop, fill 12 cupcake papers with equal amounts of batter. Bake for 18-20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Vanilla Filling
1/2 package instant vanilla pudding
A little less than 1/2 cup milk
A little less than 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
3 tablespoons Bailey’s Irish creme

Mix all ingredients with electric mixture until it has the consistency of thick pudding.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temp
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1-2 tbsp whipping cream

Beat the butter until it’s smooth and creamy.

Slowly add the powdered sugar until it’s smooth.

Add the milk and cocoa.

Scrape down sides of bowl.

Beat on high 3-4 minutes until light and fluffy.

Cupcake Assembly
Cool cupcakes completely.

Cut out a little cone shape in the tops of each cupcake.
Drop in a dollop of Bailey’s filling and squish the top back on the cupcake. If it squirts out the sides a little, no worries.
Pipe the frosting on top, making sure to cover the seams and the filling.
Add espresso bean on top.
Cupcake and Filling recipe adapted from: Frosted Creations
Frosting recipe happens to be the same as Frosted Creations, but is also one I use.