Tag: cupcakes

Cakes · Chocolate · Daily Thoughts · Desserts · Fruit · Uncategorized

Nutella Filled Cupcakes With Raspberry Frosting

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1 Duncan Hines chocolate fudge cake mix
1 small package of chocolate instant pudding mix
4 eggs at room temperature
1/2 cup veggie oil
1 1/4 cup water
Mix all ingredients together and beat for 2 min on high, Line cupcake pan with cupcake liners. Fill each liner about half full. ( I use a large cookie scoop to fill them… so much easier to make them exactly same size and less messy)
Bake until cupcakes are done. Be careful to take them out when there is still a little shine left on top. Chocolate is so easy to be dry so you want to take them out before top looks a dull chocolate color. Cool completely. Repeat until all batter us used.
When cool, using an cupcake corer (under $2 at Walmart, will post picture), make a hole in the center of each cupcake. Fill each hole with Nutella. Set aside.

Frosting
1 box (3 1/2 cups) powdered sugar
1 stick (8 oz) butter at room temperature
Milk or whipping cream to thin frosting (about 1/3 cup)
3 tables raspberry preserves
1 teas raspberry extract

Beat all frosting ingredients together adding milk or cream till frosting is a good consistency to spread over filled cupcakes.

Cakes · Daily Thoughts · Fruit · Uncategorized

Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes

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We have a winner folks. These cupcakes are truly decadent, light, flavorful, beautiful, sunshine in your mouth wonderful!  Everyone who has had one, (and so far that is about 50, (two different times of baking them and taking them to different places) has told me that this is their new favorite flavor of cupcake, or cake, that I have made. The first time i made it, was in a cake with cream cheese frosting for the filling and then wrapped it in whipped cream. As that is, to me, the best way to enjoy anything, (wrapped in whipping cream) these cupcakes just are so light and fluffy, that you could eat 5 of them in one sitting. I wish I could say it is because we have great will power to not do that, but the truth of the matter is, that we are in “stay at home” mode due to the CV. I don’t want to run out of eggs, or flour, which I am being told is very hard to find right now. So thankful I had bought a 10 lb bag  of flour last time I went to the store and 36 eggs. Because I make a shake pretty much every morning for breakfast with frozen blueberries I usually always have frozen blueberries in the freezer so when I began to think yesterday what I would bake, these came to mind, as the sun finally came shining through the kitchen window after about eleven days. So in honor of the beautiful sunshine, lemon blueberries were the baked good of the day.

1 Duncan Hines or Pillsbury lemon cake mix

1 small box of lemon instant pudding mix (yesterday I only had french vanilla pudding mix so used that.)

4 eggs, room temperature

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup water mixed with 1/2 cup lemon juice=1 cup liquid

1 cup frozen blueberries or pint of fresh blueberries, sprinkled with a little flour to keep them from sticking together in batter. (sprinkle about 1/8 cup or 2-3 tablespoons over the blueberries and stir flour to just coat them)

Mix all ingredients, except for blueberries for 2 minutes.  Stir in the blueberries just until they are mixed in well.  Do not stir much. Using large cookie scoop, fill cupcake liners and bake until the tops of cupcakes still have a little shine. Cupcakes continue to bake because of the hot cupcake pan, so you need to always take them out when there is still a little shine on the top and they are soft to the touch. This keeps you from making a dry cupcake.

Remove from pan and continue until all the batter is used. . This recipe makes 28 cupcakes if you use the large cookie scoop.  Cool and Frost.

Frosting

3  1/2 cups of powdered sugar

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

4 oz cream cheese, softened

Whipping cream to thin or milk if you prefer. Takes only about 1/3 cup , (but add this gradually by tablespoons so it doesn’t get to think) to get frosting to spreading consistency.  Add by tablespoon if you need a little more.

Mix all together and continue to mix until frosting is very light and fluffy. Frost cupcakes ( or cake if you have made this into a 9×13 cake). Store in refrigerator, covered.

 

Cakes · Daily Thoughts · Desserts · Uncategorized

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

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HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!!!!! What a great way to say I Love You by dropping off some wonderful homemade cupcakes to friends or family.

A dear friend had requested either red velvet or carrot cake cupcakes when she found out that I was baking her something. Because I had a whole bag of carrots in the fridge, I thought to myself, “self, should you make a kale-carrot smoothie or carrot cake cupcakes with cream cheese frosting?” and guess what won out?  Because I had not made a homemade carrot cake in a long time, I began to go through some old cookbooks and decided to try this recipe which was in an old cookbook I have had since the 70’s. They were passed down to me by my aunt Gladys. The actual print date of the cookbook is 1961. I (I know you are never suppose to begin a sentence with “I” but because it is Valentines, please be kind to forgive me) have to tell you that besides the recipe that I have made before with a can of crushed pineapple in the carrot cake, this one is the best one I have found. It is super moist and light and the flavor is wonderful. Of course, all the cream cheese frosting certainly didn’t hurt the flavor either. So grab a bag of carrots from the grocery store and get the food processor out. These are just delicious and will be a perfect ending to our night at home tonight. Yes, that’s right, Mr. Cupid and I will be at home tonight. We have a dinner planned of Olive Tapenade, Bruchetta with Garlic Bread, Salami and cheese wraps. We plan to celebrate tomorrow night but because my Valentine is now working, I have the feeling he will be so thankful to stay home tonight and then celebrate tomorrow night. Besides, I have to find out what happens in the next episode of A Place to Call Home …..

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup oil

2 cups sugar

4 eggs, well beaten

1 teas vanilla

2 cups flour

2 teas cinnamon

1 heaping teas pumpkin pie spice

2 teas baking soda

2 teas baking powder

1 cup crushed pecans or walnuts (I didn’t put them in the cake, but sprinkled them over the frosting this time

3 cups grated carrots

 

Directions

Mix oil and sugar; beat well. Add beaten eggs. Sift all dry ingredients 2 -3 times. If you add the nuts to the batter, add them to the flour mixture. Mix dry ingredients with the sugar mixture. Add carrots 1 cup at a time and mix in well after each addition. Either bake as cupcakes or layer cakes or one 9×13″ cake. Bake until cake feels firm to the touch but still looks shiny on top. Cool and Frost with Cream Cheese Frosting*

*Frosting

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature

1 8 oz cream cheese, softened

4 cups powdered sugar

1 teas vanilla

Mix all ingredients together until no lumps remain in mixture. I added a little pineapple juice to the frosting and blended it in to give it extra flavor. Sprinkled the crushed pecans over the top.

 

Cakes · Daily Thoughts · Desserts · Holiday Fare · Uncategorized

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Cupcakes

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Having been assigned to bring a dessert to a luncheon today, I quickly started to explore cookbooks for something pumpkin, since it is officially Pumpkin Month here in Pumpkinville. As I leafed through The Cake Doctor, I came across a Pumpkin spice cake, which I used for the cupcake base (making a few adjustments) and then just added a little cream cheese surprise for the middle, topping it off with cream cheese frosting. The result received many compliments.

Preheat oven to 350.
1 Duncan Hines Yellow or Spice cake mix*See below
1 package (3.4 oz) french vanilla instant pudding mix
1 cup pumpkin, canned puree of pumpkin, not pumpkin mix
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup water
3 large eggs at room temperature
1 teas cinnamon
1/2 teas ground ginger
*because I didn’t have a spice cake mix, I used a yellow one and added an additional 1 teas of pumpkin pie seasoning to the mix, if you use spice cake mix, I would leave this out.

Cream cheese filling
1 8 oz softened cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teas vanilla

Frosting
1 (1 lb) box of powdered sugar (equals about 3 1/2 cups)
8 oz (1 stick) softened butter
1 (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream (add a little at a time, as it might not need all of this, but might need a little more, depending on how thick you like the frosting.

Cake:
Mix all ingredients together in large mixing bowl and beat for about 2 minutes on medium. Set aside

Cream cheese filling:
Beat softened cream cheese and powdered sugar together and beat until smooth. Add vanilla and mix well. Beat until no more lumps appear.

Place cupcake liners in cupcake pan. Add enough batter to liner to cover bottom. Drop about a tablespoon of cream cheese mixture into middle of the batter. Cover this mixture with more of the pumpkin batter until cupcake holder is about a little more than 1/2 full. Bake in preheated 350 oven until cupcakes test done. About 20 minutes, depending on your oven. I always take mine out when the tops look a little shiny but still feel done to the touch. Let cool and continue using batter and filling until all is used. (You will probably have some of the filling left over, but just keep covered in fridge for another use or you can actually add it to your frosting ingredients, as it is just cream cheese and powdered sugar.)

Frosting

Beat all ingredients until smooth and then frost cooled cupcakes. Keep covered in fridge. Remove from refrigerator about an hour before serving time.

Breads · Cakes · Desserts · Holiday Fare · Uncategorized

Pumpkin & Cream Cheese Muffins

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These will be called Cupcakes in our house, as I am so not a muffin person, but would eat these no matter what they are called. If they are not served and waiting for us at the Wedding Feast in Heaven, I don’t know what would be….they are heavenly! I ate one with butter melted all over it, as soon as I could put the pot holder down and get a napkin out. Honestly, they are just so good. Perfect for breakfast with butter and jam. For lunch, I would just eat one, just plain, while I am making sandwiches. Then for dessert at night, I think I will frost them with a little buttercream frosting. That makes them the perfect little muffin, snack, dessert for the Fall Season! Every day I scan FaceBook for new recipes and this one caught my attention. Then my daughter saw it on FB and tagged me saying that she wished I would make them. So here they are folks, I think you’re gonna like this.

Ingredients (this made 21 muffins for me, but maybe you could get about 23 if you didn’t fill the cups as full as I did)

1 3/4 cup flour

1 tables (yes tables not teaspoon) pumpkin pie spice

1 teas baking soda

1/2 teas salt

1 (15 oz) can pumpkin (pure pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie mix that has added sugar and spices already in it)

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed

2 large eggs, room temp

1/2 cup oil (vegetable)

1 tables vanilla (there it is again, not teas)

Cream Cheese Filling

8 oz softened cream cheese

1 egg yolk

1/4 cup sugar

2 teas vanilla

Preheat oven to 375. Place paper liners in cupcake pan. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, salt and pumpkin spice. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine sugars and pumpkin and whisk together until there are no lumps. Add the eggs and oil and vanilla. Whisk until batter is smooth and combined. Add flour mixture slowly, whisking until no more lumps are there and batter is mixed thoroughly.

In a medium bowl, with electric mixer cream together the cream cheese, egg yolk, sugar and vanilla. Beat until smooth.

Using a large cookie scoop or measuring cup, fill each cupcake liner 2/3 full with the pumpkin mixture. Then place about 1 1/2 -2 teas of cream cheese mixture on top. Swirl with a toothpick into pumpkin batter.

Bake 18-20 minutes or until muffin tests done. Let cool (I didn’t do this, as I just couldn’t wait. I slapped on a dab of butter and grabbed my glass of tea and gobbled it upI

Cakes · Desserts · Uncategorized
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Can you tell I’m loving the new Fall Baking magazine? If you see one at your grocery store, you really should pick one up. It has just a bunch of fabulous recipes. These almond cupcakes are so good and finish off beautifully with a great buttercream frosting.(NO…you cannot use store bought frosting, this time I will tell on you)

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup finely ground almonds

1/2 teas baking powder

1/2 teas baking soda

1/4 teas salt

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 large egg

1/2 teas almond extract

1/2 teas vanilla

1 cup whole buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, almonds, baking powder, baking soda and salt, whisking to combine well. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Add egg and extracts, beating until smooth. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture in thirds, alternating with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture and beating one medium speed until well combined. Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups.

Bake until cupcakes tests done (about 15-18 minutes)

Let cool for 30 min. Remove from the pan and let cool completely on wire rack but out of drafts (to avoid becoming dry)

Frost with frosting and chopped almonds, if desired.

Frosting

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds scraped and reserved

In a large bowl, beat butter with mixer at high speed until creamy. Add powdered sugar,1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Add cream and beat until smooth. Add vanilla seeds (or 1 teas vanilla extract OR 1/2 teas almond extract and 1/2 teas vanilla)

Cakes · Daily Thoughts · Desserts

Princess Payton Cupcakes

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Last week, our daughter in law, Mandy had ask if I would make the cupcakes for our granddaughter’s 1st birthday party. All the relatives would be coming into town from near and far and it was a joyous occasion. Of course, we wanted everything to be pink so the cupcakes were going to be strawberry. I began to look for cupcake pics that would go with the theme, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and found these precious pink netting with glitter piks at Hobby Lobby and then made star pics for some cupcakes as well.

Thought a post of some of the ideas that helped might be helpful to you, if you are so inclined to be giving a party for a princess in the near future.

Cupcakes: Made from a strawberry cake mix, substituting strawberry juice for the water that the mix called for. Also, buy a package of Dream Whip and make the cupcakes according to the recipe on the Dream Whip Box. They will be so much lighter and fluffier.

1 envelope of Dream Whip (it is boxed whipping cream which is found on the baking good aisle at grocery store)

4 eggs

1 cup cold water (I used cold strawberry juice)

1 strawberry cake mix

Beat on medium for 4 full minutes and pour into cupcake lined cupcake pans. Bake about 13 minutes or until they test done. Cool completely before frosting.

Frosting:

1 stick butter

1 box or 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 teas vanilla

Enough strawberry juice (I got the juice from thawing out frozen strawberries that you get in a container in the frozen food aisle and just draining off the juice after they have thawed)

Beat all until creamy adjusting the powdered sugar and juice until the frosting is able to hold its shape when placed in a cake decorator to be piped onto cupcake. *I doubled the amount of frosting, as I was making 48 cupcakes! Had just enough after doubling recipe for frosting.

Take about 1/2 cup of the frosting and place in a glass bowl. Place it in the microwave for about 10 to 15 seconds, until it is melted. Take each cupcake and turn them upside down, dipping the tops in the melted frosting. This seals the cupcake and keeps it fresh longer. Then, using your star tip cake decorator, fill tube with frosting and make a big enough swirl to put a cupcake pic in the middle of it.

Repeat until all cupcakes have been frosted. If you have a container that will hold the frosted cupcakes, cover them and place in fridge until about an hour before serving. This also helps to keep them moist. Then remove from fridge and place a pic in each cupcake. The cupcake stand also came from Hobby Lobby!

Princess Payton Cupcakes
Princess Payton Cupcakes

Cakes · Desserts

Strawberry Cream Cheese Cupcakes

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*2015-03-17 15.55.50

Strawberry and Cream Cheese make such a delightful Spring flavor. I am catering a luncheon for a friend tomorrow and since it is suppose to be raining all day, I wanted to end the lunch time with something that would put a “spring” in their step, so I decided to make strawberry cream cheese cupcakes with strawberry cream cheese frosting. Each lady has a little pink bag to take away, filled with the chocolate-toffee biscotti I posted a couple of days ago.

Cupcakes:

1 box of Duncan Hines Strawberry Cake mix. *This was the ingredients on the cake mix I bought, but which ever brand you use, use ingredients listed on back of box.*

*3 eggs

1 cup cold water

1/2 cup oil

Filling:

4 oz of cream cheese, softened

2 teas flour

1/3 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 teas vanilla

Mix all filling ingredients together until well mixed.

Mix cake mix according to directions. (different brands call for different measurements, so be sure to follow the ingredients on the back of the cake mix you buy.

Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full. Drop about 1 tables cream cheese filling in center of batter. Bake about 18 min or until cupcakes tests done. Cool on wire rack and frost with frosting given below.

Frosting:

4 cups powdered sugar

1 (8 oz) cream cheese, softened

1 stick butter, softened

Small container of frozen strawberries, thawed. Drain off some of the juice in a small container to use in frosting. You can use the strawberries for another use.

Enough of strawberry juice that you have drained off frozen strawberries to get frosting  the consistency you need to cover cupcakes. I used about probably 2 tables of juice. If it gets too thin, just add a little more powdered sugar.

Be sure cupcakes are completely cool before frosting and store in covered container in fridge.

*I bought the heavy cupcake liners that you can actually bake in. Just set them on a baking sheet and fill them according to the instructions. They make such a pretty presentation, other than just cupcake liners.

Cakes · Chocolate · Daily Thoughts · Desserts

Sweet & Salty Caramel-Chocolate Cupcakes

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On our last trip out to California a couple of weeks ago, some friends and I celebrated a good friend’s birthday at a well-known restaurant in downtown Pasadena called, La Orange, where they have platters of the best(and free, which I know you are suppose to only take one, but since I don’t live there anymore and if they kick me out, well,) chocolate chip cookies that have sea salt sprinkled on top. So I candidly kept making excuses to pass the front door and took a cookie each trip I made. I told the hostess I was just going to go look outside to see if any more of our party had arrived., I wonder if she noticed that as soon as the platter was empty, I didn’t come to see If any more friends would be arriving? All that to say that I have come to love the flavor of salt on desserts. When I saw these cupcakes, I knew that they would be awesome. When my son comes over and teaches me how to download pics from my new Note 3 to my computer will post a picture. These cupcakes have a simple homemade caramel sauce that can ben made up to 2 weeks before so when you have a minute, whip the filling up so when you are ready to make the cupcakes, the filling will be ready for you to use.

*If you are in a time crunch make a box of Duncan Hines Fudge cupcakes because with the homemade filling and frosting, no one will guess the cupcakes are from a box. I do this sometimes and just substitute milk for the water the directions call for, and add about 1/4 cup sugar to the boxed mix before mixing.

Cupcakes

1 cup butter

1 1/4 cups unsweetened cocoa

3 cups sugar

3 large eggs

1 tables vanilla

2 3/4 cup flour

2 teas baking soda

1 teas salt

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1 1/2 cups boiling water

Salted Caramel Filling:

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup water

2 tables light corn syrup

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup butter

1 tables sea salt

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting:

3 (4 oz) boxes semisweet chocolate, chopped

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

1 1/2 cups butter, softened

6 cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Line 3 (12 cup) muffin pans with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the melted butter and cocoa powder until smooth. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat sugar, eggs and vanilla with mixer at medium speed until fluffy. Gradually beat in butter mixture.

In a medium bowl, c.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt. Gradually add flour mixture to sugar mixture with buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture; beating until just combined after each addition.

Spoon Salted Caramel filling into a squeeze bottle with a long narrow tip. Insert tip of squeeze bottle into center of each cupcake and allow about 1 teas caramel to fill center of each cupcake.

Spread or pipe frosting over cooled filled cupcakes.

Frosting:

In a small saucepan cook chocolate and cream over low heat, stirring constantly until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and let cool for 30 minutes.

In a large bowl, beat butter with mixer on medium speed with the chocolate mixture until smooth. Gradually add the powdered sugar and mix until combined and smooth. Frost cupcakes immediately.

Pour batter into prepared muffin cups, filling 3/4 full. Bake for about 15 minutes or until cupcakes tests done in center. Remove from pans and cool completely

Cakes · Desserts · Holiday Fare

Mini Macaroon Cupcakes

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Looking through a Land o Lakes Holiday cookbook, I found these little gems which I will bake to take Thursday. They are just perfect for the Springtime brunch/lunches. Since Easter is Sunday, I will be using a little colored coconut to sprinkle on the top.

Cupcake Batter:

1 3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup softened  Land o Lakes butter

1 (3 oz) package of cream cheese, room temperature

1/4 cup milk

3 eggs at room temp

1 teas vanilla

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup sweetened coconut

Frosting:

1/3 cup butter, softened

4 oz white chocolate, melted, cooled slightly

3 cups powdered sugar

3 to 4 tables Land O Lakes half & half

3/4 cup sweetened coconut (I will tint mine light pink)

White edible glitter or sparkling decorator sugar

Heat oven to 350. Place mini paper baking cup liners into 48 mini-muffin pan cups; set aside.

Combine sugar, 3/4 butter and cream cheese in a large bowl; beat at medium speed until creamy. Add milk, eggs and vanilla. Continue beating until well mixed. Stir in flour and1 cup coconut. Spoon batter into prepared pan cups. Bake for abut 13-17 minutes, depending on your oven, until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.

Cool 5 -10 minutes on cooling rack.

Meanwhile, combine butter and white chocolate; mix well. Add powdered sugar and half & half, 1 tables at a time until desired spreading consistency.  Since I like the flavor of almond, I add 1 teas almond extract to the frosting. Frost cooled cupcakes by piping on frosting and then sprinkling a little coconut on top with the decorator sugar.