recipe: margarita cupcakes

pre-july 4 birthday bbq snack... cake, booze & fruit all in one, can't go wrong. i was short on time so used a doctored box cake mix for the base, but they tasted so yum i didn't miss making them from scratch. the icing recipe was from Brown Eyed Baker, and they legit ended up tasting just like a margarita. cupcake + booze = winner.

ingredients list:
- 1 box lemon cake mix
- water (amnt called for on box)
- eggs (amnt called for on box)
- vegetable oil (amnt called for on box)
- margarita mix, divided
- 1 cup butter, at room temp
- 2 & 3/4 cups powdered sugar
- 4 tbsp lime juice, divided
- pinch of coarse salt
- 3 tsp zested lime, divided

to make: preheat oven to 350 degrees. prepare lemon cake mix according to package directions. add 1-2 tbsp margarita mix, 1 tbsp lime juice, and 1 tsp lime zest to batter. pour into cupcake cups about 3/4 full, and bake 15-23 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean. allow to cool 5-10 minutes, then brush each cake with margarita mix.

to make frosting, whip the butter with an electric mixer for 5 minutes on medium-high speed reduce to low, then gradually add in the powdered sugar until fully incorporated. mix for about 30 seconds additional, then add in the remaining lime juice, 1-2 tbsp margarita mix, and remaining zested lime. mix on high speed until incorporated andn fully - if it is too thin, add in additional sugar.

allow cupcakes to fully cool before frosting, and garnish with lime wedges, coarse salt, and whatever else you wish.
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recipe: guinness stout cupcakes

was making chocolate cupcakes for a b-day party on st. paddy's day. only seemed right that they were injected with a lil bit of booze. i snagged this Irish Car Bomb cupcake recipe from Red Shallot Kitchen.

ingredients list: 
- 1 cup Guinness beer
- 1 cup butter
- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 cups flour
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 & 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 2 large eggs
- 2/3 cup sour cream


to make: preheat oven to 350 degrees. line 24 cupcake tins with liners (or 60 or so mini cupcake liners). bring 1 cup of Guinness and 1 cup butter to simmer in a large saucepan over medium heat. add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. set aside to cool.


whisk flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in large bowl and blend. using a mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in a large bowl. add Guinness butter mixture to the egg mixture and beat until just combined. add flour mixture little by little and stir until completely combined. pour into cupcake liners, filling 3/4 of the way full.

bake about 15-17 minutes if doing full sized cupcakes, or about 11 minutes to mini cupcakes, until a toothpick comes out clean. cool on a wire rack.


i iced most cupcakes with a vanilla icing, then when i ran out used chocolate ganache on the rest. the Bailey's frosting on the site sounded great, but i didn't test it out this time. 
***
these cake out OK... they were not very sweet, but had a good flavor overall. i think next time i would add some chocolate chips so they have a little more chocolatey-ness to em. 5*****.

recipe: chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting

decided to make some cupcakes last night for work today... if i'm eating poorly in the new year, everyone should eat poorly in the new year (or eating fantastically, however you want to look at it).  i had made this peanut butter frosting from Brown Eyed Baker before when i made peanut butter ice cream cupcakes and LOVED it. so creamy, light (tasting : ) , and perfectly peanut buttery and sweet. i didn't have a go-to chocolate cupcake base recipe, but after i lot of time trying to find a PLAIN chocolate cupcake recipe saw a solid one at Bakerella. 

ingredients list (for 12 cupcakes): 

cake: 

- half of (18.5) pkg dark chocolate cake mix

- half of (3.4) pkg instant chocolate pudding

- 1/2 cup sour cream

- 1/4 cup warm water

- half of 1/3 cup vegetable oil (i don't know what half of 1/3 equates to...!)

- 2 eggs

- 3/4 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

icing:

- 1 cup confectioners' sugar

- 1 cup creamy peanut butter

- 5 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature

- 3/4 tsp vanilla extract

- 1/4 tsp kosher salt

- 1/3 cup heavy cream

to make cakes: preheat oven to 350 degrees. prep cupcake pan with baking cups. in large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients except chocolate chips and mix 2 minutes on medium speed, then 3 minutes on medium-high. stir in chocolate chips. spoon into cupcakes pans, then bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. 

to make icing: place the confectioners' sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla & salt in the bowl of an electric mixer with a paddle attachment. mix on medium-low speed until creamy, then add in the cream and beat on high speed until mixture is light & creamy. 

ice the cakes & decorate them up.

***

LOOOVE these. i dropped a mini reeses PB cup into the middle of the cupcake batter for an extra hit of PB. the cupcakes themselves tasted like gigantic peanut butter cups. they are so messy to eat (i had PB on my nose, mouth, and chin), but that makes it all the better. these weren't my cutest cupcakes (i put the wrong tip on the icing bag and couldn't get a handle on it), but they tasted yum so it's OK. 8.5********~. 

the case of the vanishing cupcake

... hint: it's in my tummy! 

mmm... courtesy of a good will elf that visited Zacharys Pastry Shoppe, Albany.

national vanilla cupcake day

this week is a big week. BIG big. yesterday, 11/9 was national chocolate cupcake day, today, 11/10 national vanilla cupcake day. mind: blown. now, i looove baking cupcakes (well, not so much baking, but dressing them up all cutesy and cooing at them after). and then i'll have one, and love every morsel of it, but yep that's it i'm done for a while... just not that into the sweety stuff. which leaves another 11 or 23 cupcakes sitting around all dressed with no place to go, unless i have somewhere to bring said cupcakes (which is hard when almost everyone you know is trying to "eat healthy"... we're getting so old & lame).

in lieu of all that, today i'm just posting a picture of some of my cuter cupcakes from my stash of cupcake porn. i had made these for a 60th birthday party... they are of the vanilla, chocolate, and blended varieties, which truly make for a quintessential representation of this glorious week.

some besties if you're in the mood to celebrate:

Baking: Vanilla Cupcake Recipe: Magnolia's Vanilla Cupcakes

Biggest: World's Largest Cupcake (it's really not that big (that's what she said))

Blinging: Tiffany Cupcake Necklace

Browsing: Cupcake Project

Buying:(Albany, NY) Cupcake Bakery: Zacharys Pastry Shoppe

recipe: tiramisu cupcakes

i was home alone today, which after i finished my domestic duties meant it was drink some wine, bake some cupcakes, and listen to some gangster tunes day. i wanted to shrink my favorite Tiramisu Layer Cake recipe from allrecipes.com down to cupcake proportions. i took the long way making layered mini-cakes with 2 different layers of cake and filling... if you wanted a quicker version with same flavor, you could stick to one cake flavor and just inject the filling in the middle.

ingredients list (i made this scaled for 12 cupcakes):
- 1/2 package moist white cake mix (i didn't have any boxed so used this Simple White Cake recipe - it was perfect for 12 cupcakes)
- 1.5 tsp instant coffee powder
- 1/4 cup coffee
- 5 tbsp coffee flavored liquor, divided (i used some Kahlua, some Bailey's)
- 4 oz. marscapone cheese
- 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar, divided
- 1 cup heavy cream


to make:
cake: preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a large 12-cup cupcake tray or prep it with liners. prep cake mix according to directions (whether boxed or from scratch. remember to divide the boxed package in half (along with all ingredients) if you're only making this for 12 which is what the rest of this recipe is based on). divide batter into two bowls, adding the instant coffee powder into one of the bowls. pour batters into the cupcake pan (6 of each batter), and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick test comes out clean. allow to cool. pour 1.5 tbsp coffee liquor into the 1/4 cup coffee, and set aside.


filling: blend marscapone, 1/4 cup confectioners sugar, and 1.5 tbsp coffee liquor in a small bowl until smooth.


icing: mix heavy cream, 1/4 cup confectioners sugar, and 2 tbsp coffee liquor with electric mixer over medium-low speed until stiff.


to assemble: cut the round tops off of the cooled cupcakes (note: all of the cake cutting & frosting will be easier if you freeze the cakes first. just refrigerate the filling/icing if you do this), then cut the cupcakes horizontally in half. drizzle coffee mixture over the tops of all of the cake halves. spread filling over the large bottom halves of the cupcakes, then add the 'top' cupcake layer on top (making sure to use one each of the white cake & coffee flavored cake for each layer). spread icing over all sides of the cakes, and place onto cupcake wrapper. garnish with shaved chocolate, coco powder, or whatever chocolately goodness you desire.


verdict: taste-wise, these were great. total tiramisu goodness, 7.5******~. presentation-wise, they looked like blobs and were a nightmare to ice... not the statuesque mini-cakes i was envisioning. in part, it's because they are SO small. if i was working with a jumbo-sized cupcake and firmer icing, i think they would take shape better. as well... since they are so tiny, having the layers really goes unnoticed - you don't really get a white cake-filling-coffee cake variation when you bite in, it's all there at once. if you just stuck to an all-coffee cake base & injected the filling, i don't think anything would be lost at all for the flavor & you'd save a ton of time. for those aspects, rating is much lower. in the meantime, the remaining cakes may be ugly, but my fridge is full of them and i can't wait to have another tomorrow they are so yummles.

recipe: cupcake martini

cupcakes. martinis. these are a few of my favorite things. only seems natural to combine them. i'm providing the basic ingredients, but not quantities as each person as a diff opinion on how strong they like their drinks. play with it to see what works best for you. since the flavors (vanilla, chocolate, etc combinations in the icecream and liquor) are endless, there's a lot of ways this one can go.

general ingredient list - vanilla cupcake:
- 1 part Godiva White Chocolate Liquor
- 1 part Pinnacle Whipped Cream Vodka
- 1 part Vanilla icecream (or whatever you have in the freezer)
- whipped cream (alcohol infused preferrably)
- vanilla icing
- Sprinkles

to make: Blend all ingredients in a blender. Prep martini glass with icing rim; pour blender mix into glass. top off with whipped cream and sprinkles.

the first time we made these, we made them extremely strong, but the icing rim of the glass really cut the burn of the vodka. whipped cream (non-alcoholic) kinda sank on the glass, but it was still delish.

second time, didn't have any icing rim but a buddy brought over alcohol infused whipped cream. holy F that is goood stuff. love these!