April Fools Cupcakes

I didn’t remember it was April Fools this year until the night before (which is one reason this post is coming after the fact and the other is people from work read this so it would have ruined the surprise). I wanted to do something, but didn’t have time to really thing this up, so I was messing around on the interned and stumbled upon Cupfakes by Willow Bird Baking.

These would be a great idea and I had everything I needed at home except for the avocados and I was lucky enough to find ripe ones at the store.

I made a couple of changes to the biscuit recipe as I didn’t check to make sure I had enough milk at home and ran out =(

Cheddar Bacon “Cupcakes”
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 sugar
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar
3/4 water
2 tbsp skim milk powder (alternatively use milk instead of water)
1 egg
4 tbsp butter, softened
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp vanilla
4 strips bacon, cooked and chopped, divided
1/2 small sweet onion, chopped finely
2 tbsp dried chives


Method:
1. Chop the bacon strips into small chunks and cook on in a pan until brown and slightly crispy. In a pan (you can use the same pan and cook them in the bacon fat if you want or use olive oil) cook the chopped onions until they are soft. Set aside the cooked bacon and onion.
2. In a bowl mix together all ingredients for the “cupcakes” ( flour, sugar, cheese, water/milk, milk powder, egg, butter, baking powder, vanilla, bacon, onion and chives). Mix until the dough hold together and is uniform.
3. Spoon in to cupcake liners.
4. Bake at 400F for about 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
5. Let cool completely before frosting.

Avocado Frosting
3 Avocados
4 ounces cream cheese
1 tsp lemon juice
salt pepper

Method:
In a blender or food processor combine the avocados, cream cheese, lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. Blend until smooth.
Pipe or spread onto the cupcakes before serving, (don’t do it too early or you run the risk of the avocado turning brown.

Reviews:
Alright, these do look like cupcakes, with an albeit interesting choice in colour for the icing. However, everyone was already pretty suspicious of me before I brought these out (it might have something to do with the fact that I had already been playing with computer mice that morning). It took a little convincing that I hadn’t done something horrible to the “cupcakes”, but once people tried them, they loved them! I liked the scone, but not being a big avocado fan myself, I could take or leave the topping.

"Smurf" Cakes

I have no idea why I decided to make these - but the blue cupcake and the white frosting reminded me of Smurfs, and so these have been christened as smurfcakes for no other reason than the colors. The cupcake is a blueberry cupcake topped with a lemon buttercream (don’t you just love the combination of blueberry and lemon?).

The cupcake recipe is of my own making as I was playing around in the kitchen and the frosting is a variation of a recipe from group recipes.



Blueberry Cupcakes

½ cup margerine or butter
¾ cup blueberry puree
½ cup milk
2 large eggs
2 egg whites
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 ½ cup sugar
2 ½ cup all purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
Blue food colouring (optional)

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 350F and fill cupcake pan with liner.
2. In a bowl (much easier with a stand mixer), beat the butter until soft. Beat in the sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Add the eggs and egg whites and bea until a smooth mixture is formed.
3. Add in ½ the flour followed by the milk and the remaining flour and baking powder.
4. Fold in the blueberry puree (and the food colouring if you want to make the cupcakes a brighter blue).
5. Fill the cupcake liners ⅔ to ¾ of the way full.
6. Bake for ~20 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean.


Lemon Buttercream
3 ½ cups icing sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp milk
⅓ cup butter (softened).


Method:
1. In a bowl with a mixer cream the butter and the milk. Slowly add in the icing sugar ½ cup at the time.
2. Mix in the lemon juice. (If it is too runny add a little more icing sugar to help thicken it).
3. Enjoy!

Reviews:
These cupcakes were very cute and the color combination was amazing. The blueberry flavour in the cupcakes was faint, and as such was overwhelmed by the lemon (not that it was a bad thing as the lemon frosting was AMAZING).

Papaya Coconut Cupcake

I had some papaya in the fridge that I wanted to use and the oven was already on as I was baking some cinnamon buns for O’s work. What else could I do but try some cupcakes? I found a recipe on Chockylit but decided to make a couple of changes, mainly adding whole wheat flour.


Ingredients:
½ cup oil
2 large eggs
¼ cup coconut milk
1 ⅓ cup sugar
1 ⅓ cup all purpose flour
⅔ cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ cup shredded coconut
6 ounces of pureed papaya

Method:
1. In a bowl mix together the oil, eggs and coconut milk.
2. Add in the sugar followed by the flour and baking soda.
3. Once the flour is mixed in add the coconut and papaya and mix until just incorporated.
4. Fill cupcake cups (the batter will be a little sticky) and bake for 22 minutes at 350F. The cupcakes will be golden on top and a toothpick will come out of the cupcakes clean.
5. Allow to cool, and enjoy!

Reviews:
I enjoyed this but am hesitant to call them a cupcake. The consistency of the cake is much more like a muffin than a light and fluffy cupcake. O thought they were a little bland, but no one else seemed to have that complaint (and I blame this on my papaya - seriously, why did I think I could get a flavorful, sweet, juicy papaya in the middle of Canada in the winter?).

I topped these cupcakes with a strawberry cream cheese frosting which is the hit of the day (it really stole the thunder from the cupcakes themselves) and the recipe for that will be coming shortly.

Lime Coconut Cupcakes

There was a birthday at work this past week, and I hadn’t baked anything in a while, so I figured that was a good enough reason to make something. I wanted something new, not the same old cookies or vanilla cupcakes. Also I didn’t want anything too sweet - that is for next week when Valentines Day hits (still have no idea what I am making for that one - pink cupcakes maybe?)

Anyways, I wanted something a little spring like and upon investigating the contents of my fridge I came across some lime juice. I love lime flavoured deserts and went on the hunt for a lime cupcake recipe. I came across Coconut Lime Cupcakes on the foodnetwork site and decided to try - along with my own modifications of course, I was looking for a lime cupcake not a coconut cupcake!


Lime Coconut Cupcakes (makes ~ 12 to 15 cupcakes)
Ingredients

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 tablespoons lime juice (bottled or freshly squeezed)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cups loosely packed unsweetened shredded coconut


Directions
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

2. With an electric mixer (or a really strong arm) cream together the butter and sugar. The resulting mixture should be light and fluffy (don’t be afraid to let it beat for a couple of minutes to get it this way).

3. Add the eggs one at a time and mix until well incorporated. Add in the vanilla extract and the lime juice, mixing well.

4. In bowl combine the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add ⅓ of the mixture to the wet ingredients and let mix. Add ½ of the butter milk, followed by ⅓ of the dry ingredients. Repeat once so all the milk and flour is used. Mix until a smooth mixture results.

5. Stir in the coconut.

6. Drop the mixture into cupcake holders, filling about ⅔ or ¾ of the way up. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes - until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean.

7. Allow to cool before Icing.

Reviews:
I used a cream cheese icing on these cupcakes and they were great. They got great reviews at work and I didn’t come home with any left! I will be making these again when I want something a little more spring/summery or just that hint of citrus!

Velvet Cupcakes

I have always loved red velvet cupcakes, but never tried making them myself. When I saw the recipe for velvet cupcakes in Jamie Oliver’s new cookbook I thought I would give it a try. After a few batches and a couple of changes (due to the horribly dry climate I live in mostly) and a couple of “ooops” moments, here is what I ended up with.

Makes 12 cupcakes
¼ cup butter (rt)
¾ cup powdered sugar
1 lg egg
1 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp red food colour (optional)
2 heaping tbsp cocoa powder
1 ¼ cup flour
½ cup buttermilk
1 tsp baking soda
1 ½ tsp white vinegar
3 tbsp oil


Directions:
Heat oven to 350F

1. Cream together the butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy. , Gently beat in egg, vanilla and food coloring.

2. Whisk together cocoa and four. Fold half into the butter mix, followed by buttermilk. Repeat for remaining flour and milk.

3. In a bowl mix the baking soda and vinegar, stir into cake mix.

4. Divide into 12 liners in muffin tins, bake for 20 minutes. Cool 5 minutes in the pan then transfer to a wire rack.

Let cool before frosting.

Reviews:
Even after playing with the recipe, the cupcakes were denser than I would have liked. However I seem to be the only one that had an issue with the cupcakes - everyone else loved them (even when I had an oops moment and used apple cider vinegar!). This is a good cupcake, but won’t be my go to recipe.

Chocolate Cupcakes, White Chocolate Icing

The chocolate cupcakes

For the wedding I decided to do a twist on the chocolate cupcake – a chocolate cupcake with a white chocolate icing (who doesn’t love chocolate on more chocolate). For the cupcakes I used a one bowl chocolate cupcake recipe from iheartcuppycakes. I adapted the recipe for the icing from Cupcakes take the Cake

Chocolate Cupcakes:

Ingredients:
1 ½ cup flour
¾ cup cocoa powder
1 ½ cup sugar
1 ½ tsp baking soda
¾ tsp baking powder
2 large eggs
¾ cup milk
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 ½ tsp oil
¾ cup warm water

Directions:
1.Preheat the oven to 350F and prepare your cupcake pan (this recipe doesn’t take long to put together).
2.On medium speed of an electric mixture (or by hand) combine flour, cocoa, sugar baking soda, baking powder in a bowl.
3.Reduce the speed and add in the eggs, milk, oil, vanilla and water. Mix until combined.
4.Fill cupcake liners ½ to 2/3 full (I put about ¼ cup cup of batter, not scraping out what sticks in the cup) into a large cupcake liner and this works well.
5.Bake 17-20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
6.Let cool on a wire rack before icing.

White Chocolate Frosting:

Ingredients:
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
5 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
4 - 5 ounces white chocolate, melted and cooled to tepid
1/3 cup milk, heated to tepid
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions:
1.In a bowl beat the butter for 1 -2 minutes (works best with the paddle attachment of an electric stand mixer on medium speed).
2.Beat in 1 1/3 cup sugar.
3.Mix in the melted chocolate.
4.Blend in 1 1/3 cup of sugar and the milk.
5.Beat for 2 minutes on medium high speed.
6.Beat in the vanilla and 1 1/3 cup of sugar.
7.Beat for 2 minutes and check the consistency – if it is not thick enough (mine was not) add the remaining icing sugar ¼ cup at a time until it reaches the desired consistency.
8.Frost cupcakes.

Reviews:

These cupcakes were delicious and were a big hit at the wedding (especially with the kids!)

I used the leftover icing to fill some chocolate oreo cookies and they were fantastic!

Cupcakes and a Wedding

So the last few weeks I have been busy making cupcakes, testing icings to see how they stand up to the heat without losing it's shape (or melting all together). Why all the testing and baking? Well in a moment of insanity I offered to bake the cupcakes for my friends wedding. Why on earth did I think that was a good I deal, well I guess I will never know. But I ended up making about 100 cupcakes, icing them, transporting them 1.5 hours to the wedding, and setting them up before driving another 20 minutes to try and make the ceremony in time! Thankfully I got there in time, the icing didn't melt and nothing was destroyed in transport.



I ended up making a chocolate cupcake with a white chocolate icing and a vanilla bean cupcake with a strawberry buttercream icing. They were pretty, and held up well. Everyone seemed to enjoy them.



So I hope you enjoy the pictures and I will hopefully get the recipes up soon!

Hanky Panky Cupcakes

Alright, so I am in love with I Heart Cuppycakes - I rarely look anywhere else when i want to make cupcakes anymore. I will often browse through old posts when I am waiting for something to finish at work, and that is how I stumbled upon these delightful little cupcakes.

As a kid one of my favorite cakes at potlucks and 4H lunches was the skor cake, essentially chocolate cake covered in caramel sauce, broken skor bars and topped with whipped cream. Not a dessert you can eat everyday! I hadn't given this dessert much though in the last few years, but when I saw them adapted into Hankie Pankie Cupcakes the cravings began and it was only a matter of time before I had to try it.

I was in a hurry the day I went to make these, and did use a cake mix (added touch devils food mix - made 12 cupcakes), but they were fantastic. A trip back to the good old days - just in a form that is a little more limiting than the giant cake I was used to. I did fill my cups a little too full and ended up with a rather messy end product, as the caramel leaked down the sides of the dome before it could all melt into the cupcake. However they were still delicious and an extra cup quickly remedied the problem of the sticky bottoms.

Strawberry Surprise Cupcakes

I saw these Straw-Berried Treasure Cupcakes on I Heart Cuppycakes blog (oh how I love her blog. She is a genius), and I have a friends birthday coming up. I love to make fun cupcakes for people's birthday and these seemed like so much fun, and the strawberries would be a great surprise when you bite into the cupcakes.

However, I didn't need 18 cupcakes as I was also planning on doing some Canada day baking later this week, and I really just needed a few for my friends birthday, so I cut down the recipe a bit. I ended up with 9 cupcakes which was a great amount.

Chocolate Cupcake:
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup, 2 tbsp cocoa powder
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/8 tsp baking powder (this is an estimate when measuring)
3/8 tsp salt
1 lg egg
1 1/2 tbsp safflower oil ( you can use any vegetable oil)
1/4 cup, 2 tbsp butter milk (I used skim + a little lemon juice)
1/4 cup, 2 tbsp warm water
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Filling:
9 strawberries, washed and tops removed

Frosting:
1 7oz jar marshmallow creme
1 8oz block cream cheese, softened

Garnish:
Brown sugar (optional, I didn't put it on all cupcakes and they were still delicious)

How To:
Cupcakes:
1. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.
2. Add the wet ingredients and mix with a mixer on low until all ingredients are incorporated.
3. Pour into cups (2/3 to 3/4 full), and bake for 17 - 20 min (I needed 19 minutes) at 350F.
4. Allow to cool completely.

Frosting:
Combine marshmallow creme and cream cheese in bowl of mixer and mix with flat beater until smooth.

Assembly:
1. Remove a cone from the cupcake about the size of the strawberry ( I placed the strawberry on top and went quickly around it with a knife and then removed the cone. This way the strawberries fit snug in the whole I made for them).
2. Place strawberry in the whole of the cupcake.

3. Top with frosting ( I squirted a little frosting into the hollow strawberry as well).


Reviews:
These were delicious. I love this chocolate cupcake recipe and it is going to be a recipe I go back to again and again. It is easy and makes a delicious dark chocolate cake. The topping was not to sweet and worked really well, the strawberries are a fun surprise when you bite into the cupcake.

Owen loved these, he decided he wanted the extras to himself, and ate 2 in the first hour after I had made them. He loved the strawberry in the middle, and loved that the whole thing wasn't too sweet. I can't remember the last time he ate so many cupcakes so quickly.

Rum and Coke Cupcakes

I am still proving to my H that cupcakes are just as good if not better than brownies, and so I decided to do a more grownup version of cupcakes – and these were perfect. He always appreciates a good rum and coke (not to mention so do I), and I happened to actually have some coke in the house for once. This grown up version of a cupcake is also perfect for my friends birthday that was on the weekend – Happy 25th!

I found the recipe for Rum and Coke Cupcakes on I Heart Cuppycakes site and couldn’t wait to try them. I followed her recipe (well I halved everything, but otherwise didn’t make any changes), and the turned out great!

Reviews:
I loved these, H loved these, my friend loved these and H’s coworkers loved these. Even his boss couldn’t wait to get his hands on one. One of his coworkers told me “oooooh, they are just like a rum and coke! I knew they tasted familiar” after a couple of bites, so they were bang on.

Thanks for the great recipe Clara.

A Quick Catch Up

So, my picture taking has not been able to keep up with my H’s ability to quickly finish all my baking. If I don’t get a picture before he knows that it is around, it isn’t likely that I am going to get one. Along those lines, I have also been really busy with work and haven’t been as on top of picture taking and writing up the recipes as I would like, so I am going to do a quick review of what I have been making for the past little while.
1. I did make some actual food this week! In flipping through my old posts one day, I found Chicken Lasagna and then wondered why I hadn’t made this again (now I remember why I do this blogging thing). Anyways, I made this earlier this week and it turned out fantastic. Removing the milk from the recipe was a great idea, it wasn’t soupy at all this time. Oh, and I substituted the mozza cheese for some swiss, which was also great.
2. Nutella Cupcakes from I Heart Cuppycakes. Alright, so this is midstream in my campaign to prove to my H that cupcakes are good. Apparently he has never been a cupcake fan and I just had to set him straight. He thinks they are boring as it just cake and icing, and he also doesn’t like all the icing piled up on top (he doesn’t really have a big sweet tooth), so I wanted to make something I knew he couldn’t resist. Now who can resist Nutella? I had a bunch left over from the brownies, and so rather than just pig out with a spoon, I decided to make these lovely cupcakes. They were fantastic, although my mixing in of the nutella could have been better. Oh and Clara, you are right, I didn’t even need the icing.
3. Apple dumplings. So someone not to long ago pointed me in the direction of The Pioneer Woman. I don’t know how I have not come across this before, but hey, at least I am catching up now. I have made these twice now, once for a surprise for the guys that my H’s work (they had been having a slow week) and once for my Dad’s 50th birthday. They worked fantastic and everyone raved about them (actually the guys that H works with almost swarmed me when I brought them in, and it took them no more than 1.5 minutes to polish off the whole batch). At my Dad’s party, a couple people took one look at them and asked if they were from Pioneer Woman, apparently they had been meaning to try them for a while. These were fantastic, a big hit, and are a keeper for those days when I need a quick dessert to take somewhere, thanks Pioneer Woman.
4. Chili Brownies. I love chili and chocolate, and I love the gooeyness of brownies. So I decided to try and make come chili chocolate brownies. I found this recipe on Rachel Ray’s site and decided to try it, it had all the elements I was looking for. I used a yummy 72% cocoa bar instead of the bittersweet baking chocolate, which worked great. The brownies were delicious and gooey, but sadly there was not enough chili powder (or my chili powder is old and needs to be refreshed with I am thinking is a contributor). Everyone liked them, but no one noticed that they had any heat to them. I will have to try again on this one.

Rainbow Cupcakes

Alright, so I know it is past easter, but spring needed some encouragement around here (seriously, why is it snowing on April 27th?), and I wanted to do something fun as three coworkers have birthdays this week.

I used to exact recipe from I Heart Cuppycakes found here, and they turned out great!

I only used four colors for my dough, but the colors were nice and bright.

After baking:



Well alright, I experimented with a new icing recipe, as a lot of people around here don’t like lots of icing on their cupcakes (I know, what is wrong with them?). I got the icing recipe out of an old church cookbook and it looked interesting.

Icing (I halfed their recipe and it was plenty, but it can be stored in the fridge for 3 months apparently)
2 tbsp Cold Water
4 ½ tbsp White sugar

2/3 cup cooking oil
1 egg
1 tps vanilla
4 ½ cups icing sugar

1. Mix the water and white sugar together, set aside and let dissolve (stir often).
2. Beat together the cooking oil, egg, vanilla and icing sugar until it resembles whipped cream (now mine never got light and fluffy, but it did get thick and creamy.)
3. Add in the water and sugar mix. (At this point I had to add another cup of icing sugar to thicken it up a bit, but that seams to always happen, must be something about were I live, or how I measure, which umm, I have to admit a “close enough” method most days)

I really liked this icing, it smoothed itself on the top, and looked really good, as well and really stuck to the sprinkles. My H was really grateful that I hadn’t put a bunch of buttercream on top as well.