First Birthday Cupcakes

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

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

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

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line muffin tins.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter & sugar until light and fluffy.
3. 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.
4. Blend the flour mixture into the banana mixture. Stir just enough to evenly combine.
5. 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

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

The ATTACK of the pink globules!

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?

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!!

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

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

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

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

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!!