Caramel Apple Cupcakes: November 21, 2012

Hey everyone! 

So sorry I haven't been on here in a while. I decided to take a little break from the cupcakes. I think I was getting a little overwhelmed. So instead of every week, I'm going to post when I make any kind of new dessert! So now that the holidays are quickly approaching, I'm sure I will have plenty to post!  :)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!! So My husband and I are heading back to WI to visit family on Friday, so some of our soccer family has graciously invited us to spend Thanksgiving with them! I told them I would make something and of course, the only request was for some cupcakes. So I found this recipe on Pinterest and thought it would be a nice fall flavor and would go perfectly with some turkey dinner... yum!

  

Caramel Apple Cupcakes

from:   http://www.yourcupofcake.com/2011/01/caramel-apple-cupcakes_16.html

 

Apple Cake:

1 box French vanilla cake mix (I used regular yellow cake mix)

1 can apple pie filling

1 teaspoon apple pie spice

3 eggs

 

Caramel Cream Cheese Buttercream:

½ cup butter

8 oz cream cheese

¼ cup caramel sauce (store bought)

2 - 3 cups powdered sugar

 

Directions:

 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

      2. Open the can of pie filling.  Using a knife, slice the large pieces of apple into smaller, bite-sized

      pieces. I did this with the filling still in the can by inserting the knife into the center and letting it hit the bottom and then cutting against the wall of the can all the way around. 

      3. In a bowl, mix together the cake mix, eggs, pie filling and apple pie spice.  If you don’t have apple pie spice you can use cinnamon and nutmeg. 

4    4. Spoon batter into cupcake liners and bake for 14-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean (I left mine in the oven for almost 20 minutes).

 

      Buttercream:  Beat butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy, it will take a few minutes.  Add caramel and beat again. Add powdered sugar until you reach the desired taste (mine was probably closer to 5 cups).  The consistency might be too loose to pipe, so refrigerate the buttercream until it stiffens. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes and drizzle with caramel.  

 These cupcakes are so delicious! They're moist and full of flavor. I absolutely love the frosting too.

Week 9: August 22, 2012

Hey everybody! 

Sorry it's been so long again! Lately I've been a little cupcaked out! So last week I made a Butterfinger Blondie Bar! I found the recipe on pinterest and I'll post it on here for the recipe. They were fantastic! LOVED them :)   So then this week, I made a Chocolate Caramel Crunch cupcake. 

But first, the Butterfinger Blondie Bar.... from Six Sisters' Stuff

Ingredients

1 cup butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp coarse sea salt
2 cups coarsely chopped Butterfinger Bars (approx 16 “Fun Size” bars)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°
Cream butter and sugars in mixing bowl.
Add the vanilla and eggs and mix until incorporated.
On low add your dry ingredients (flour, salt and baking soda) until just combined.
Stir in your chopped Butterfinger.
Spread in a 9×13 baking dish and bake for 25 minutes until center is JUST set.
Remove from oven and cool completely.

Preparation time: 5 minute(s)
Cooking time: 25 minute(s)

Butterfinger Buttercream:

Ingredients

1/2 cup room temp butter (1 stick)
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
2 1/2 – 3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup chopped Butterfinger Bars (approx 4 “Fun Size” bars)

Instructions

Cream the butter and shortening together until smooth. Add in you powdered sugar on low speed.  Turn speed up to medium and mix until smooth. Stir in your chopped Butterfinger. Spread on your cooled blondies

 

Preparation time: 5 minute(s)

Now for my Chocolate Caramel Crunch Cupcakes! :)

Cocoa-Buttermilk Cupcakes

Makes 36

2 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 ½ cups sugar
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled (optional)


Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line cupcake pan with liners, set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

Cream together butter and sugar, until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes, scraping sides of bowl as necessary. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing until fully combined and mixture is light and fluffy. Add egg yolks in same manner. Add in vanilla.

Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and mix until combined, again scraping bowl if necessary. Add ½ cup of buttermilk and beat until combined. Continue process of 1/3 flour, ½ the buttermilk, ending with final 1/3 of flour mixture. Mix until fully incorporated. If using melted chocolate, stir in after scraping the bowl.

Fill liners ¾ of the way full with batter and bake in preheated oven for 18 – 22 minutes, until cakes spring back when lightly touched.

Remove from oven and allow to cool in pans for ten minutes before removing to rack to cool completely.

Caramel Frosting

Makes enough for 48 cupcakes

1 cup(s) (packed) dark brown sugar

6 tablespoon(s) unsalted butter
1/3 cup(s) milk
1 pinch(s) salt
1 3/4 cup(s) confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon(s) vanilla extract


1. In a medium saucepan, combine brown sugar, butter, milk, and salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to medium and boil 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat; cool completely.
2. Stir in confectioners' sugar and vanilla; beat until smooth and thick enough to spread on cupcakes.

 

 After frosting the cupcakes, I then crushed up some pretzels (I had the Goldfish pretzels on hand) and sprinkled them on top. Nice for added saltiness :)  If you plan on serving them the next day, I would suggest waiting to put the pretzels on, and instead of crushing them, maybe just placing on pretzel into the frosting. The frosting stiffens up pretty quickly so sprinkling them will not work.

 Enjoy! And as always, let me know how they are if you make them at home :)

Week 7 & 8: July 31, 2012

Hey everyone, 

Sorry again for the week long delay! It's been slightly hectic in the house lately. We had my mom's dog here for a little over the week (felt like a year)! He's a cutie, but a puppy... a hyper puppy! So anyway... I did get my baking done, just not the post. So here we are today with 2 new flavors! 

1st flavor is Guinness with Bailey's Frosting! A co-worker of mine, Tracy, requested this flavor a couple of months ago. Her husband's birthday was last weekend, so I made these especially for her :) PS... they were delicious!!!! 

                                              Guinness Cupcakes with Bailey's Frosting

Makes 24-30 cupcakes

Ingredients for Cupcakes:

1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup Guinness stout (I did not use Guinness, Tracy gave me a different stout to use and it worked great)
2/3 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder, sifted
1 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon table salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
2 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream

Frosting:

1/2 cup unsalted butter
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 pinch table salt
3 tablespoons irish cream (Bailey's or Carolan's)
1 tablespoon milk

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F Grease 24-30 cupcake cups, or fill with paper liners.
2. In a saucepan, heat the butter, Guinness, cocoa and brown sugar, whisking often, until the butter is melted and the mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
3. Into the work bowl of a stand mixer (or into a large mixing bowl), sift together salt, flour, white sugar and baking soda. Add the cooled Guinness mixture and beat on medium for 1 minute. Add eggs and sour cream and beat on medium for 2 minutes or until smooth.
4. Divide the batter evenly amongst the cupcake cups. Bake in preheated oven 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cake comes out clean. Cool in pan 20 minutes, then remove and transfer to a cooling rack until completely cooled.
5. Meanwhile, in (cleaned) work bowl of stand mixer, cream butter until very light and fluffy. Add salt, and slowly add confectioners sugar. Do not run the mixer above low, or the sugar will spray all over your kitchen. Add a couple of spoonfuls at a time until it has all been absorbed into the butter. Add Bailey's and milk until spreadable consistency is achieved. 

(I did not follow this exact frosting recipe. Instead, I used Bailey's coffee creamer in place of the original Bailey's. Because the flavor wasn't as strong, I used 4T. Bailey's creamer and added a little more powdered sugar until I liked the consistency. I did add the 1T. milk as well. It really did taste good!)

6. Frost cupcakes with Bailey's frosting.

  

Everyone at work really liked them. I was kind of skeptical just because I'm not a beer drinker, but they were really good!

Next up... Tuxedo Cupcakes! 



So today is my 2 year wedding anniversary! Yay! What better way to represent a wedding then with tuxedo cupcakes! I guess just the name alone does that :) 

 Anyway... these guys were pretty easy to make! No frosting required! 

                                                              Tuxedo Cupcakes

Makes 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature


1 egg, room temperature


1/3 cup plus 1 cup granulated sugar


1 cup mini chocolate chips

1 1/2 cups flour


1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder


1 teaspoon baking soda


1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup warm water


1/3 cup vegetable oil


1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar


1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Line 24 muffin cups with cupcake liners.
2. Beat cream cheese, egg, and 1/3 cup sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). 

3. Stir in the chocolate chips. Set aside.
4.In a large bowl, combine flour, 1 cup sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. 

5.Make a well in the center, and add water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla. Mix just until blended.
6. Fill each muffin cup one-third full with the chocolate batter. Top with a spoonful of cream cheese mixture, until cups are about two-thirds full. DO NOT OVERFILL OR THESE WON’T LOOK AS PRETTY. 

7. Bake 22 to 28 minutes, until the tops spring back lightly when touched. (I did 22 minutes at first then added an extra 3 minutes because they didn't look ready. Should have stuck to the 22 minutes. They ended up a little browned on the top.)

Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

         Yummmm..... 

I will definitely make these again! Fantastic! :)

Keep me posted if you try any of these flavors!! I'd like to know how they turn out for you! :) 

Week 4, 5, & 6: July 17, 2012 Part 3

Sorry again :) 

                                                         S'Mores Cupcakes

For Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 stick Butter, room temperature
1 1/4 C. Sugar
2 Eggs, room temperature
3/4 C. Flour
1 t. Baking Powder
1/4 t. Salt
1/2 C. Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1/2 C. Whole Milk
1 t. Vanilla
 

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375F, then turn it down to 350F just prior to baking

2.Beat the butter with an electric mixer until it is soft, then add sugar. Beat about 3 minutes.

3. Add the eggs, one at a time beating until they are well combined.

4. In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients and whisk them to incorporate them.

5. Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the butter and sugar and beat it just to combine. 

6. Add 1/2 of the liquids (milk & vanilla), scrape down bowl and beat to combine. Continue adding the dry and wet ingredients alternately making sure you END WITH THE DRY.

7. Fill muffin tins 2/3 full and bake for about 20-22 minutes. Cool.

 Marshmallow Frosting

Ingredients:

4 sticks (1 pound) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (optional)
1 16 ounce tub  marshmallow cream (such as Marshmallow Fluff brand)

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter until creamy.
2. Beat in one-fourth of the sugar until fluffy, then repeat with the remaining sugar.
3. Beat in the vanilla, then stir in the marshmallow cream until well blended.

Frost your cupcakes, then I topped mine with crushed up graham crackers and a square of Hershey chocolate!

YUM-MY! These were good!

 

I think if I make these again, I would do layers of graham cracker and cake mix in the liner. It needs more of the graham cracker flavor. Use your imagination and see what you can come up with! :)

If you try any of these flavors at home, leave me a comment and let me know! Hope you all have a great week, and I'll see you next Tuesday :) 

Later :)

Week 4, 5, & 6: July 17, 2012 Part 2

I didn't realize I only had so much space to use.  :) So here we are finally to 3 NEW cupcake flavors! 

                       I'm going to start out with this one... Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup! 

                                            (Sorry, only picture I have of this one)

This cupcake is amazing! I made these for my husbands birthday back in May. I've been saving the recipe for when I knew I wouldn't be able to bake. Ps... this is the only cupcake I've cheated on so far! 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes

For Cupcakes

Ingredients: 

1 box devils food cake mix and whatever ingredients needed 

1 bag miniature Reeses Peanut Butter cups 

Preheat oven to 350F. Line muffin tin with liners. Make cake mix according to box. Spoon batter into liners until they are 3/4 full. Add a miniature Reeses Peanut Butter Cup to the mix. Don't press it all the way down, just lay it in the batter.  Bake according to box. Cool. 

Peanut Butter Buttercream Frosting
 

Ingredients:

 3/4 cup vegetable shortening


 3/4 cup salted butter - softened


1 cup creamy peanut butter (more if you want a stronger peanut butter flavor)


2 teaspoons of vanilla


6 - 8 cups (approx. 1 ½ - 2 lb.) powdered sugar


6 - 8 tablespoons milk
 

Directions:
 

1. Cream shortening and butter together with an electric mixer.


2. Add peanut butter and mix well.


3. Add vanilla.


4. Gradually add powdered sugar, one cup at a time, beating well after each cup.


5. When all sugar is added, stir in milk, 1 tablespoon at a time until you get the desired consistency you are looking for.
 

Store left over icing in an airtight container. Rewhip before you use it next.

And voila... OMG these cupcakes are awesome! No lie! This frosting is to die for! Love it!!! :) 

                           White Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes with White Chocolate Frosting

For Cupcakes:

1 and 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
4 ounces good-quality white chocolate, chopped and melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon milk

Instructions
 

1. For the cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
2. Line a cupcake pan (or two) with the cupcake liners of your choice.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
4. In the bowl of your standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
5. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
6. Add the melted white chocolate and vanilla, mixing well.
7. Alternately add the dry ingredients with the milk in 2-3 portions, mixing well after each addition.
8. Divide the batter evenly into the prepared cupcake pan.
Bake the cupcakes until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20-22 minutes or so.  Let cool completely before frosting.
 

For Frosting:

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/3 cup cream cheese
3 to 3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon soy milk
6 ounces white chocolate, melted
12 fresh raspberries

Instructions:

Beat butter or margarine and cream cheese until fluffy. Slowly add confectioners sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, until creamy. Melt white chocolate as before, and mix in vanilla. Add to frosting and mix well. Add soy milk, and beat until fluffy (add more sugar and/or soy milk if you need it, until you get the right texture). Generously pipe or spread onto filled cupcakes. Top each cupcake with a single fresh raspberry.

 Filling: 

8 ounces frozen raspberries
1 tablespoon water
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 1/4 cup water

Instructions:
Combine frozen raspberries with water, sugar, and lemon juice in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat until raspberries begin to break down. Add 1 tablespoon cornstarch mixture and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat, and strain mixture through a fine mesh sieve, pressing as much through as possible. Return strained mixture to heat once again. Add another tablespoon of cornstarch mixture, and bring to a simmer. If mixture still seems thin, add more cornstarch as necessary. It will thicken more upon cooling. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely.

These cupcakes are great! They have a really nice flavor and the density of the cupcakes are good too! I love the frosting!!!

And last but not least... I made a S'Mores Cupcake for Tristan's Soccer Meet and Greet! Sorry, I ran out of room again... so on to the next part...

                                                          

Week 4, 5, & 6: July 17, 2012 Part 1

Hi cupcake lovers!

       I'm so sorry I didn't get the chance to blog when I was in Colorado! So this week is definitely jam packed with yumminess!
        I do want to start off with saying thank you to Allison and Logan for letting Jason and I stay with them and showing us around while we were in Colorado! We had a lot of fun and I have a ton of pictures from our day trips :) Like this one...

                                           Logan showed me how to do waterfall pictures!

So here's one I tried on my own...

  This was at Rocky Mountain National Park. I had a lot of pictures from here, including the waterfall ones. 

I can not remember for the life of me what the name of this pass was. This spot was the highest elevation we got too, I think it was about 11,900 ft. This was our second to last day (the best weather too). So pretty there. 

This was at Horsetooth Naional Park. A lot of the wild fires were here, so Logan took Jason and I on our last day to go see some of the damage done.   I loved this picture. It looks like the tree is holding on to the rock! 

This was also Horsetooth National Park.  The sand by the river was almost completely black! It was crazy. 

Colorado was a lot of fun! We had a great time and while we were there... we got news that my friend, Sara, had her baby! So I had to stop and meet her and got a few pictures of her as well :)

Welcome... Navianna La Toriz Davis. Born July 6, 2012 at 6:55 am,  8lb 4 oz, 20 in long. 

And here's the whole family...   :)

Week 3: June 26, 2012

Wow... Tuesday's come up way too fast! So here we are with another week of cupcake. But first, I wanted to mention Tristan's friend, Alex's birthday party. On Saturday, Tristan, Jason, and myself, went to see the movie Brave (very cute movie) and ran into Alex and his family afterwards. Alex's dad, George, had mentioned that Coach Nikos had asked if I was making cupcakes again! That was a compliment in itself, so I felt that I needed to do some more! I baked some really good ones (those are next weeks) and I got so many compliments on them! I just wanted to say thank you to all of the kids and parents at the party! I would absolutely love to have my own business one day, and this group of people are all for that! :) Again, thank you! Ok, so now back to this week... My plan was to do a bomb pop flavor (yes, like the red, white, and blue popsicle). After really thinking about it, I realized, there are 3 different flavors to that cupcake. Lemon-lime, blue raspberry, and cherry. So instead, I took two of those flavors and made a really yummy cupcake! So here it is.... Lemon Lime Surprise! (That's what I've decided to name this one)

Lemon Lime Suprise!

Makes 12 cupcakes (Yes, 12 cupcakes! First time I've ever gotten the right amount)

 

Ingredients:

6 T. vegetable oil

3/4 c. sugar

2 T. lemon zest (2 lemons. I only had 1 lemon, so I did 1 T. lemon zest and 1 T. lemon juice)

1/2 t. salt

1 T. lime zest (1 lime)

1 T. lime juice (half of the lime)

2 eggs, at room temperature

1 1/2 c. all purpose flour

1 t. baking powder

1/2 c. milk, at room temperature

1. Preheat oven to 375F.  Line pan with liners. 

2. Beat together oil, sugar, lemon zest, lime zest, and salt for about 2 minutes. 

3. Beat in the lime juice (and lemon juice); then the eggs, one at a time, for about 2 minutes. 

4. In a separate bowl, mix together flour and baking powder. 

5. At a low speed, add the flour mixture 1/3 at a time, alternating with 2 additions of the milk; mix until blended (about 30 seconds). 

6. Fill the liners 2/3 full with the cake batter. 

7. Bake between 16-20 minutes (20 for me). 

8. Let cool in the pan for five minutes, then transfer to wire rack. 

"Surprise" Step

Mix 1 c. boiling water with 1 package of raspberry flavored gelatin. (I just put the water in a coffee mug and microwaved it for 3 minutes) After the cupcakes have cooled completely, poke holes in them. Then take a spoon and very slowly pour the gelatin mix onto the cupcakes (that would be why there is some red in the cupcake). 

Whipped Cream "Frosting"

(This is basically whipped cream)

Ingredients: 

3 c. heavy or whipping cream (I did heavy whipping cream)

5 T. sugar

1 1/2 t. vanilla extract

1. Chill the bowl and hand mixer attachments in the freezer for about 15 minutes (perfect to do while you're doing the surprise step). 

2. Pour heavy cream into the bowl and mix on medium high speed until it starts to thicken, about 2 minutes.

3. Slow the speed down and gradually pour in the sugar (I just put each T. in one at a time). 

4. Add the vanilla extract and continue to whisk by hand until the cream is smooth and stiff peaks form. 

(5. Chill the cream for at least 15 minutes before you top your cupcakes - yes this is my suggestion). 

               (I'm very excited to say that I made whipped cream by hand! And with the recipe I 

        gave you, there's plenty for the cupcakes and extra for maybe dipping some fruits. Yummy!)

                         (I love the look of the gelatin dripping down! It looks like blood! 

                               You could almost do something like this for Halloween!)

Kristin's Review:  Wow, this cupcake is good! I actually really loved it! It's so refreshing and light! I could have eaten 5 of them! I think the next time I make these, I might do a different whipped cream frosting. The frosting I made was literally homemade whipped cream. It's really good, don't get me wrong, but something a little heavier would be good too. Of course, this is the first week that I only did one dozen instead of two :( That's probably a good thing though :) I would definitely give this cupcake 4.5 sprinkles out of 5 (yes, there are that good)! 

So, for the next 2 weeks, it's going to be a little hectic for me! Next week, I'm going back up to WI for a night to drop off my pooch with my parents, so I won't be baking. ::: Passes tissue ::: Don't get too worried though, I have a couple of recipes on stand by for the days I can't bake.   :) 

Until next week...