Little Miss Cupcakes

French Toast Maple Bacon Cupcakes

2010-11-16T12:36:00.019-05:00

Last month I got my first official cupcake order from my best friend, it still counts right? She wanted some cupcakes for her boyfriends birthday. He doesn't like chocolate so we decided on "french toast maple bacon cupcakes" cause bacon is manly. I made enough for a batch of 12 plus 12 mini's which I brought to work to entice co-workers with. The Office Manager had to have her arm twisted into eating one and then proceeded to have a foodgasam!

I think they turned out pretty good, the only thing I wasn't happy with is the lame liners I had. I think I'm going to try to score some unbleached liners somewhere. You can't really go wrong with the basics.

The Internet is rife with this recipe but I found that I had to scour around for a perfect mix of cake, icing and garnish for me to be happy with it. Anyways, on with the recipe!!

French Toast Cupcakes (from Life is Better With Cake!)

3/4 cup unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups cake flour, sifted
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk, at room temperature
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
3 large eggs, at room temperature, separated

Directions:

Place a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees F. Line a muffin pan with paper liners.

Combine the butter and sugar and mix on low until just incorporated. Raise the speed to high and mix until light and fluffy, about 10 minutes. (Occasionally scrape the sides down with a spatula)

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Set aside. In a small bowl, whisk together the milk and vanilla, and also set aside.

Add the egg yolks to the creamed butter one at a time, waiting for each one to be fully incorporated before adding the next.

Reduce the speed of the mixer to low, Alternately, add the flour mixture in 3 additions and the milk in 2 additions, waiting for each to be fully incorporated before adding the next (scrape the bowl down occasionally). raise the speed to medium and mix briefly until a smooth batter is formed. Transfer the batter to a large bowl.

Clean the bowl of the mixer and put the egg whites inside. Whip the egg whites in high speed, using the whisk attachment, until stiff peaks are formed.

Working in 3 batches, using a rubber spatula, fold the egg whites into the batter, until just incorporated. Fill the liners 3/4 full. Bake, rotating the pan once, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, approximately 30 minutes.

Remove the cupcakes from the oven and cool completely.

I didn't do the 3 batch fold in thing, i just did it all in one shot. I doubt it made much of a difference.

Maple Frosting (taken from Country Living)

1 cup unsalted butter (softened)
3 ounces cream cheese (softened)
2/3 cups dark-brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup maple syrup
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup confectioners' sugar

Directions:

Beat the butter, cream cheese, brown sugar, and salt in a medum bowl with a mixer set on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

contine beating, and add the maple syrup and vanilla.

Gradually add the confectioner's sugar, increase the speed to high, and beat until light and fluffy, about 1 minute.

Chill for 1 hour before using

Using 3/4 tsp of vanilla is bull shit! I've never seen a 3/4 tsp, just use a whole tsp. More vanilla has never been a bad thing. Chilling icing for an hour is also bull shit, just keep adding icing sugar till you get a consitency you can work with, I think I added another 2 cups. I also used demerara sugar and found it a really nice substitution for regular brown sugar, it gave the icing a really nice colour and a little bit of crunch.

Candied Bacon (taken from Closet Cooking)

1 lb thick cut bacon
1/2 cup brown sugar (or maple syrup)

Directions:

line a baking sheet with foil and set a cooling rack in it

Spread the bacon out over the cooling rack

rub the brown sugar onto the bacon

bake in a preheated 350F oven until the bacon reaches the desired crispness, about 15-20 minutes

Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes and then enjoy

There are a lot of different, harder ways to make candied bacon. This was the simplest one I could find that seems pretty much idiot proof, which is perfect for me (I am a total klutz so I could just see me starting a grease fire doing it any other way). I dredged the bacon in demerara sugar before putting it on the rack to ensure both sides were coated. Baked it and then cut it into 2 inch strips which I then curled into cone shapes, put them between the rack grates and cooked for a bit longer.

Happy Humpday/St. Patrick's Day

2010-03-17T13:42:00.005-04:00

"Hump me I'm Irish"

No cupcakes in this post but I just wanted to say, I hope you all have a fantastic day as everyone is considered Irish on St. Patties! Because this is a day everyone generally get's shitfaced I've written some sage advice for you in the form of a limerick:

A pickle's a cure for a hangover
Eat one when bowls are aquiver
I know it seems lewd
But I'm telling you dude
It really is good for your liver

Trust me, this is going to save you tomorrow morning.

Pandora

2010-03-05T18:10:00.012-05:00

Have you heard of Pandora? It's this cute charm jewelry company. You get a base piece and just start adding charms to it. I recently bought a bracelet for a friend of mine's birthday and saw the cupcake charm while I was there. Adorable!!

Flour Girls

2010-03-05T16:20:00.011-05:00

A cupcake bakeshop called Flour Girls opened up in my quaint little suburb a couple years ago and I was pretty excited to sample their wares. I even braved a snowstorm to try them out on their opening day.

I was mega disappointed. The cake was a little on the dry side and the meringue buttercream icing tasted like chemicals to me. Maybe my tastebuds are fucked up cause they assure me that the cupcakes are made from all natural ingredients. So I thought maybe they were just having an off day, or maybe I was just having an off day. So I gave them a second chance and bought a 6 pack of various flavours.

They were all pretty much the same as the first one I'd tired with one exception. Their carrot cupcake called "Pass the Carrots Please" is awesome (cream cheese icing FTW!). I've also heard their red velvet cupcake called "Seeing Red" is tastey.

If you are ever in the neighbourhood (which I doubt cause we're on the outskirts of subrbia to the point of being subparburbia) I highly recomend picking up a six pack of those two, leave everything else and pretend it dosen't exist

(pictures borrowed from My Happy Cupcake Co.)

First Birthday Cupcakes

2010-02-08T14:36:00.005-05:00

So, I have two kids now (which partially explains the long absence) and my youngest is already a year and a half old. But for her first birthday I made some scrummy vanilla cupcakes with organic raspberry buttercream frosting. I was seriously surprised at how PINK the icing came out with just using raspberries.

She liked them so much she had two

The Cupcake Courier

2010-02-08T14:06:00.005-05:00

I got a cupcake courier with the intention of, well I'm not too sure really since I have little time to bake large quantities of anything these days. I've wanted one for awhile now though and thought I'd have to order it online. But I came across one in Winners and it just follwed me home.

I promise I'll use you one day cupcake courier!!

http://www.cupcakecourier.com/

Image from - http://www.cakejournal.com/archives/the-cupcake-courier

The peanut butter banana cupcake

2010-02-08T08:54:00.011-05:00

The peanut butter banana cupcake started out as a muffin but it looked so cold and naked that I had to clothe it with icing. What goes better with bananas then peanut butter? NOTHING, that's what!! Sorry if you have a peanut allergy, or an aversion to bananas (OMG penor fruit!) but you're missing out!

Banana Muffin

1 cup butter
2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsp mayo
6 very ripe bananas, mashed
3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350F. Line muffin tins.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter & sugar until light and fluffy.
Stir the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the mayo & bananas. Stir together the flour, salt, baking powder & baking soda.
Blend the flour mixture into the banana mixture. Stir just enough to evenly combine.
Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcakes come out clean, about 16 minutes.

Peanut Butter Buttercream Icing

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup peanut butter
3 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp milk or cream

Cream peanut butter and butter together
Add in powdered sugar and mix on high for about 1 minute
add vanilla, mix again
add the milk or cream and mix on high for about 3 minutes

The ATTACK of the pink globules!

2010-02-08T08:11:00.010-05:00

Well it indeed has been forever since my previous post and I do have a few things that I should have posted on here! I'll start with the most recent cupcake encounter... cupcakes from the grocery store bakery *shudder*. Now kids are not usually picky when it comes to treats and my kids are no exception! They ate those globs of disgusting icing nestled on top of the teeniest of "cakes" with utter abandon. Like "OmNomNom" style! Which of course made me think of this video, it fills me with a sense of happiness :D

Now I can forgive them for the cake itself, it wasn't half bad, I can even forgive them for the horrible "buttercream" icing. What I can't forgive is the crazy food colouring!!! That shit got everywhere and my kids faces are still stained pink 2 days later. What the hell? I personally vow to try my very best to never use the stuff now that I've gone through a half bottle of stain remover.

With Valentines Day coming up I was thinking of making some cookies so we'll see how I do with that. I'm thinking of adding some raspberry jam to the icing to make it pink-ish and avoid this whole food colouring situation again. We'll see how that experiment goes.

What does one do with a bare naked cupcake?

2008-09-13T12:00:00.002-04:00

Ok I know it's been forever since I posted in here but I had to go back to work. I'm on mat leave again and it's #1's 2nd birthday this weekend so of course it's cupcake making time again.

I figured I would try frosting them with a spatula this time so I found this video on you tube of one of the people at Magnolia's Bakery and decided that maybe I don't have the skills to pull that off just yet.

Then I found this other video on filling cupcakes with sweet sweet innards. So easy, I can do that!

and then I found this video on making skully cupcake toppers, something to keep in mind for next month perhaps (so cute)

Anyhoo, I'm off to finish off these cupcakes. I'll post an update post party.

Her birthday came and went and I went with a classic double chocolate with m&m's on top. You can't really go wrong with that...nobody was really around to help me eat most of them though and I ate WAY more of them then I should have (uuuugh, my tummy!). I should really start baking half batches when I know I don't have people closeby to give some to. LOL, who am I kidding??

It's been too f-in' hot to bake!!

2007-08-19T13:45:00.000-04:00

My Birthday was last month and I've just been a combination of too busy/lazy and am finally getting to posting my birthday cupcakes. I made Martha's One Bowl Chocolate Cupcake, filled them each with a dab of cherry pie filling and frosted them with chocolate icing. I bought a piping bag and STILL wound up using a Glad bag to pipe the frosting (the piping bag I bought plainly sucks ass!!). If anyone has suggestions on a good quality bag to invest in let me know please <3

The sweet, sweet innards

Martha Stewart's One Bowl Chocolate Cupcake
Ingredients
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt2 large eggs
3/4 cup warm water
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Sift dry ingredients into a large bowl. Mix in wet ingredients. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Let the cupcakes cool completely before icing them. (Makes 2 dozen)

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients
1 stick (1/2 cup) of butter
1/2 cup cocoa (I used "red cocoa" for this that I got at my local bulkfood store, if you can get some of this I really recomend trying it out!)
4 cups confectioners sugar
1/4 cup milk

Beat butter on high for about 30 seconds until soft.

Add cocoa & 1 cup of sugar. Beat till incorporated.

Add half of the milk & remainder of sugar. Beat till incorporated.

Continue to add milk till you get the consistency you want. (I added it all and got a really wonderfully creamy frosing)

Adding the sweet, sweet innards

Once your cupcakes have cooled use a small serrated knife to cut out a funnel shaped piece of cake from the top. Don't cut all the way to the edge, leave a bit of room so that the seam will be covered by the icing once the cakes are done. cut the cone part of the funnel off the cake you cut out. Spoon a small amout of pie filling (or jam or nutella or whatever...) into the hole you made and place the top back on pressing it so a little of the filling comes out of the seam (I found this was the best way to keep the top on). Let your unfrosted/filled cupcakes rest for awhile to kinda let the seam dry so the tops stay on firmly. Frost and you're done!

Johnny Cupcakes

2007-06-16T11:43:00.000-04:00

No blog devoted to cupcakes would be worth it's icing sugar without paying homage to Johnny Cupcakes. Now this guy doesn't actually make cupcakes, but he has fantastic t-shirts (and more) that always have some cupcake related thing on them. Some of the designs are limited and become quite the collectors item. You can shop for his stuff online, or if you're in the Boston area you can stop by his flagship store.

I totally wish he made aprons!! Maybe someday :D

fluffy/fudgy/crispy

2007-06-10T18:11:00.000-04:00

Kyle, my good friend from College gave me the following challenge

"Make me a chocolate cupcake that is nice and fluffy with a bit of a crisp top (not burnt) BUT FUDGY in the middle! That's the shit I'm after"

So now I've been really thinking about how I can make this a reality. I promised him that once it was developed I would send him a sample. I'll probably have to let him name it too I suppose. For the top I'm thinking kind like the top of coffee cake would be really nice, but the fluffy/fudgy combo is making me scrath my head! So far all I could think of was doing a regular chocolate cupcake batter and dropping a teaspoon of brownie batter in the middle before baking, but I think it'll sink to the bottom. I don't want to cut the tops because if I use the coffee cake idea the cake will pretty much be exposed and it'll look kinda frankensteinish!

If anyone has any idea's on way's I can make this work let me know, I'd totally apprecieate it! <3

Blue Q & Fionna Hewitt

2007-06-08T17:47:00.000-04:00

Blue Q has a line called "Miso Pretty" and in it is this fantastic cupcake flavoured lip gloss!

Also worth noting is the artist who's responsible for the illustrations on Miso Pretty's packaging. Fiona Hewitt's art is fun and whimsical and of course she has a great print called "cupcakes" for £150!

If that's a little out of your price range you can pre-order the journal from Chronicle Books (I'm totally doing it right now!!)

I also bought a piping bag, tips and a new muffin tin last night so no more glad bag's for me and I'll be able to cut my baking time way down! YAY ME!!

Raspberry Cupcakes

2007-06-07T11:35:00.001-04:00

So I made some raspberry cupcakes to use up the rest of the marshmallow icing from the S'mores cupcake recipe. I found a good vanilla cupcake recipe at 52 Cupcakes and just adjusted it. Adjustments are in PINK

Billy's Vanilla Cupcakes Makes about 30 cupcakes

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups cake flour, not self-rising
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
4 large eggs
1 cup whole milk (I used 1% milk)
1 single serving cup of raspberry yogurt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup of frozen raspberries

1. Preheat oven to 325°. Line cupcake pans with paper liners; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt; mix on low speed until combined. Add butter, mixing until just coated with flour. I don't have a mixer with a paddle attachment (boo hoo!) so I sifted the dry ingredients and than tossed them in my Braun mixer.

2. In a large glass measuring cup, whisk together eggs, milk, and vanilla and raspberry yogurt. With mixer on medium speed, add wet ingredients in 3 parts, scraping down sides of bowl before each addition; beat until ingredients are incorporated but do not over beat. Add the frozen raspberries.

3. Divide batter evenly among liners, filling about two-thirds full. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 17 to 20 minutes. I ended up baking them for 25 minutes. I'm also lucky enough to have a convection oven so rotating wasn't necessary.

4. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat process with remaining batter. Once cupcakes have cooled, use a small offset spatula to frost tops of each cupcake. Decorate with sprinkles, if desired. Serve at room temperature. I just piped icing onto them with the good ole Glad bag and garnished them with a fresh raspberry.

TAAA DAAAA!!

Pancake Meow

2007-06-05T06:10:00.000-04:00

Aren't these the cutest little things you've ever seen?

Leslie over at Pancake Meow makes the cutest little scented food charms out of polymer clay. Unfortunately the cupcakes are currently "out of stock", which basically means she's up to her eyeballs in orders already. Good for her! Keep your eye out for when she's taking orders again on these little treats cause it's her most popular item!

Welcome to "Little Miss Cupcakes" <3

2007-06-04T14:04:00.002-04:00

Hi all,

I've recently been on a cupcake frenzy and I've decided this is something that I'm getting pretty passionate about. I've decided to start up this space for all good things in cupcakery. I'll be posting cupcakes I've tried baking/eating, links to other cupcake aficionados and cupcake related merchandise. Basically a shrine to all things cupcake.

So to start things off I'd like to show you what I made this past week.

I've been on the hunt for a great S'mores cupcake recipe for over a month now (the first attempt was a horrible failure!). I found one last week that looked perfect at Sew Darn Cute and decided to give it a try.

Check them out, I think they turned out really pretty! The neighbours thought I bought them.

Martha Stewart's One Bowl Chocolate Cupcake

Ingredients
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup warm water
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Sift dry ingredients into a large bowl. Mix in wet ingredients. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Let the cupcakes cool completely before icing them. (Makes 2 dozen)

Marshmallow Icing

Ingredients
1/2 lb. (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
1 cup confectioner's sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
16 oz. tub of marshmallow cream

Cream the butter on high until it's light and fluffy. Add the confectioner's sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, and beat until fluffy each time. Beat in the vanilla until incorporated. Then dump in the Fluff and mix it up 'til it's all creamy. Transfer to pastry bag (if desired) and pipe onto cupcakes! (You can also cut the corner off a Ziploc bag and use that instead, which is totally what I did!)

Garnish with Graham Cracker crumbs and a Hershey chocolate.

I halved the amount of butter and sugar found in the original recipe for the icing cause it didn't taste marshmallowy enough for me and it was FAR too much icing for only 20 cupcakes. Of course you could always go with Sew Darn Cute's original icing recipe, but a pound of butter just seems a tad too much don't cha think?

Another S'mores cupcake recipe can be found at chockylit's blog. It looks fantastic, but also looks like a lot more work! Maybe for another day. I have to find another recipe to use the rest of this marshmallow icing on...I'm thinking something with raspberries maybe.

I also just discovered 52 Cupcakes today, this lady (The Cupcake Queen) is the bee's knees! She's totally inspired me to have a weekly project, maybe not cupcakes, but something...I'll have to try and figure out what that something is.