Love Cupcake

Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

These cupcakes are delicious. I think I say that about every cupcake recipe I post but, I really do mean it about every recipe. I made these carrot cupcakes in the fall and they were a big hit with my family. And with Easter being tomorrow this recipe may be perfect for your Easter brunch or dessert after dinner.

Carrot Cupcakes

(adapted from Martha Stewart) 

 

1 pound carrots, peeled and grated

3 large eggs, at room temperature

1/3 cup buttermilk

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

1 vanilla bean, halved, seeds scraped and reserved (or 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract)

1/2 cup golden raisins

3 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1. Preheat oven to 325F and line muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together carrots, eggs, buttermilk, sugar, oil, vanilla-bean seeds, and raisins. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Combine and stir the flour mixture into carrot mixture until well combined.

2. Fill lined baking cups evenly and about 3/4 full. Bake for 23 to 28 minutes or until poked with a  toothpick comes out clean. Allow cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.

 

Cream Cheese Frosting

(adapted from Martha Stewart)

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

12 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

1 pound confectioners' sugar, sifted

3/4 tsp pure vanilla extract

In a bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and cream on medium-high speed, until fluffy. Reduce speed to low and add sugar, 1/2 cup at a time and then add vanilla. Mix until smooth and combined and scraping down sides of bowl if needed. Frost cupcakes. Frosting can be kept in a refrigerator for up to 3 days in an airtight container. Before using bring to room temperature and beat on low speed until smooth again.

Enjoy! And Happy Easter!!

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

Yum! Pumpkin is delicious, I love it. I made these cupcakes for Thanksgiving dinner earlier this month and decided to add some little fondant pumpkins on top of the cupcakes. They turned out super cute and really easy to make too.

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

(adapted from

2 2/3 cups all purpose flour

3 tbsp espresso powder

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp salt

1 (15oz) can pumpkin puree

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup canola oil

4 large eggs

 

1. Preheat oven to 350F and line muffin pan with cupcake liners. In a medium bowl, combine flour, espresso powder, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt. Stir together and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, blend together the pumpkin, sugar, brown sugar and oil. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture in two additions, mixing until just incorporated.

2. Fill the cupcake liners about 3/4 full. Bake for about 20 minutes or until cupcakes are golden brown and when inserted with a toothpick, comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before decorating with icing.

For the icing I used my favorite buttercream recipe, again piped with a star tip 1M. And my little fondant pumpkins are made with orange and green fondant. I used a mini pumpkin cookie cutter and a mini heart cookie cutter for the leaves. Some of my pumpkins were brushed with shimmer dust in silver, just to give it a little shine. Enjoy!

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

These cupcakes turned out so cute and delicious. And they look like real ice crem cones. They were so fun and easy to make. I made them for my nieces 2nd birthday and if I do say so myself everyone loved them!!

I used the Confetti Cupcakes recipe to bake inside the cones. I went out and bought two aluminum roaster pans at the dollar store and traced and cut out twelve circles on each pan. I punched out a circle, just used some cardstock scraps, using my 1 1/2 inch circle punch and used that as a template to trace the circles but, you could use something you have around the house, like a cup as a template. Then I took my husbands heavy duty x-acto knife to cut the circles. They're not perfect which is fine, they're just going to hold the cones.

Prepare the batter according to the recipe and pour into the cones to bake. You don't want to fill the cones all the way with batter you still need room for them to bake. Now when I was baking my cupcake cones they took a little longer to bake then the recipe so, keep an eye on them. Allow them to cool and make the frosting. I used my favorite buttercream recipe, you may want to double the recipe to have enough. I piped the frosting using a star tip 1M, to make the swirls of ice cream and an ice cream scoop to make the scoops. Then just added some rainbow and chocolate sprinkles.

I am lucky that my hubby made me a stand for all the cupcakes, kind of like I'm selling ice cream cones, eh? I covered the wood with some of my pretty scrapbook paper and colored duct tape. Looks cute and it was easy to carry to the party!!

All the flavours...

And I have to share one of the birthday girl!! Enjoy!!

Churros

Making churros has been something that I have been wanting to try and make for a long time.They always intimidated me a little bit, they looked hard to make but are actually really easy. They remind me of being in Disneyland when I was little. They are so deliciously sweet, and it''s hard to not just eat one. I have been PVR Giada De Laurentis show Giada at Home. I love her show and watching all the delicious food she makes, I am always hungry at the end of each episode. She made Churros on one of the episodes and made it look so easy that I just had to try.

Churros

(adapted from Giada at Home)

Ingredients:

1 cup water

6 tbsps unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 tbsps sugar

2 tsps cinnamon

pinch of salt

2 eggs, at room temperature

 

1. In a small saucepan heat up the water and add the butter, sugar, cinnamon and salt. Allow to boil.

2. Once the water mixture has come to a boil add 1 cup of flour. Turn off the stove and stir gently. The flour will absorb the liquid. Turn the stove on low and, cook for 2 minutes. The mixture will come together, turn off the heat. Add to a stand mixer and turn on. Add one egg at a time. Continue mixing until the dough has cooled down, you can check by feeling the bottom of the bowl with your hands.

3. While the dough is cooling down in the mixer, prepare your sugar mixture. Place the following ingredients in a shallow bowl and sitr together.

1/2 cup sugar

2 tbsps ground cinnamon

4. Place canola oil in a large pot and clip a thermometer to the side of pot and allow to reach 350F.

5. Place dough in a pastry bag with a large star tip (Wilton 1M). The dough will thick and smooth in texture. With one hand pipe the dough into the oil and cut off at desired length with your other hand using scissors. The churros should take about 3 minutes to fry. Once the churros have fried, place immediately in the sugar mixture and spoon the mixture over top the churros. Transfer to a paper toweled plate to allow the extra oil to absorb.

Enjoy and, try not to eat all of them in one sitting!!

Stout Cupcakes

These cupcakes are amazing. I know I probably say that about every cupcake recipe I post but, with these I totally mean it. There is absolutely no unique taste than these cupcakes. Moist, soft, rich and with the addition of the Guiness beer, ahhh!! Like I said nothing like it. You will have to try baking them and tell me what you think. And with St. Paddy's day coming up next week these will be perfect!!

Stout Cupcakes

(adapted from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes Book)

3 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon baking soda

1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 1/4 teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg

1 1/4 cups vegetable oil

1 1/4 cups unsulfured molasses

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon packed light brown sugar

2 large whole eggs plus 1 egg yolk

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest

1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) stout beer, poured and settled ( I used Guiness)

 

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.

2. With an electric mixer on medium-low speed, beat oil, molasses, brown sugar, whole eggs, yolk, zest and stout until combined. Reduce speed to low and gradually add flour mixture, beating until it is all combined.

3. Divide batter evenly among lined cups. Fill each one about 3/4 full. Bake, for about 20 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Take cupcakes out of pan and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

 Cream Cheese Frosting

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

1 pound (4 cups) confectioners' sugar, sifted

3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

 

With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter and cream cheese until fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low, add sugar about half a cup at a time. Add vanilla and mix until smooth and combined.

I piped the frosting with my ususal Wilton 1M tip. Super easy, delicious and they go down easy. Enjoy!!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

I think these cupcakes are one of my fave. They are so delicious, and I just LOVE the color. Especially as your mixing it in th mixer, the color comes out almost pink. I made these for Valentine's Day to give away to family and friends and I know they were devoured.

 

Red Velvet Cupcakes

(adapted from Martha Stewart)

2 1/2 cups cake flour(not self rising), sifted

2 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

2 large eggs, room temperature

1/2 teaspoon red gel-paste food color

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup buttermilk

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar

 

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line standard muffin tin with paper liners. Whisk together cake four, cocoa, and salt.

2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, whisk together sugar and oil until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorportaed, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Mix in food color and vanilla.

3. Reducing speed to low, add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions buttermilk and whisking well after each. In a small bowl stir together the baking soda and vinegar, it will foam and add mixture to the batter. Mix on medium speed for 10 seconds.

4. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, and bake for about 20 minutes. Allow to cool completely on wire racks.

(the lovely re/pink batter)

 Cream Cheese Frosting

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

1 pound (4 cups) confectioners' sugar, sifted

3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

 

With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter and cream cheese until fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low, add sugar about half a cup at a time. Add vanilla and mix until smooth and combined.

 

I used a Wilton tip 1M and just piped the cream cheese frosting onto the cupcake. The combination of the Red Velvet cupcake and cream cheese go very well together. Delicious. Enjoy!

Champagne Blackberry Cupcakes

I have had this recipe saved since last years, new year's and I have been waiting for new year's again so, I could make them. And was it ever worth the wait. Kind of. Very delicious!! I was even thinking about these cupcakes this past summer because I made sure to save and freeze some blackberries from my garden.

Champagne and Blackberry Cupcakes

(adapted from High Heels and Aprons)

2 3/4 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

1 cup butter, room temperature

2 cups sugar

3 eggs, at room temperature

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup champagne

Soaked blackberries

2 cups blackberries

1 1/2 cups champagne

1 tbsp sugar

1/2 lemon

 

1. Place blackberries into a bowl, add 1 tbsp sugar and squeeze 1/2 a lemon over mixture. Pour 1 1/2 cups champagne in the bowl and let soak while preparing batter.

2. Preheat oven to 350F and line muffin tin with cupcake liners.

3. In a small bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In a mixer cream butter and sugar until well mixed and airy. Add eggs one at a time making sure each one is fully incorporated before adding the next. Slowly add in flour mixture. Stir in vanilla and champagne.

4. Fill cupcake liners 1/2 full. Insert one blackberry into each cupcake. Cover with enough batter to cover the berry. Bake for 25 minutes. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely.

Champagne Frosting

1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

1/4 cup champagne

Cream butter until smooth. Slowly add sifted powdered sugar. Mixture will bery thick, keep adding champagne to get the consistency you want. Frost cupcakes and top with a blackberry. Sprinkle with white non pareils.

These cupcakes are absolutely amazing. Oh My Gosh!! The champagne adds to the taste of the cupcake, also the batter is moist and light and tastes absolutely divine. These cupcakes may be one of my fave, right along side the Chai Cupcakes. Delicious. Even my Dad commented on these cupcakes, and he always tells me all the cupcakes I make; they're always good, so that's huge!! I also saw you can replace the blackberries with pear, which I think will be as delicious as well. Anything with champagne is always deliocious in my opinion.

Enjoy!

Happy New Year!!

Thankyou to everyone for coming and visiting this little cupcake blog. I am so proud of it and just you wait for 2011, I have so many ideas!!

Cheers,

Valerie

Happy Halloween!!

In honor of Halloween, I thought I would share my spooky Halloween cupcakes that I made to share with some family and friends. Well there not really that scray and spooky. They're cute with spiders. Can spiders be cute? Kind of. These ones are. Okay enough with the rambling, here's the recipes and photos.

 

One Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes

(from Martha Stewart's Website)

Makes 18 to 24 cupcakes

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 safflower oil (I didn't have any safflower oil so, I used canola oil and it was fine)

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

 

1. Preheat oven to 350F and line a standard muffin tin with paper liners and set aside. Sift together cocoa powder, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Add eggs, warm water, buttermilk, oil and vanilla and mix until smooth. About 3 minutes.

2. Divide batter evenly among the muffin cups. Bake about 20 minutes and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

 

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

(from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes Book)

5 large egg whites

1 cup plus 2 teablespoons sugar

1 pound unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons, at room temperature

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

4 1/2 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled*

 

1. Combine egg whites, sugar and salt in the heatproof bowl of a standard mixer set over a pan of simmering water. Whisk constantly by hand until mixture is warm to the touch and the sugar has dissolved. It should feel completely smooth when rubbed between your fingertips.

2. Attach the bowl to the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Starting on low and gradually increasing to medium-high speed, whisk until stiff peaks form. Continue mixing until the mixture is fluffy and glossy and completely cool, about 10 minutes.

3. With mixer on medium-low speed, add the butter a few tablespoons at a time, mixing well after eaxch addition. Once all the butter has been added, add the melted and cooled chocolate and the vanilla.

4. Switch to the paddle attachment and continue beating on low speed until all the air bubbles are gone, about two minutes. Use immiedately or buttercream can be store in air tight container in the fridge for up to 3 days or the freezer for up to a month. Before using, bring to room temperature and beat with paddle attachment on low speed until smooth, about 5 minutes.

*To melt chocolate, chop chocolate and place in a heatproof bowl set over a pain of simmering water. Heat until chocolate is almost melted, then stir with a flexible spatula until completely melted. Remove bowl from pan and let cool completely, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes.

These cupcakes were super easy to make and I love how the whole batter is made in one bowl, hence the name I guess. I piped the buttercream with a Wilton 1M tip and sprinkled on some white non pareils ( I had to use the fancy french word, but they are really white sprinkles) and topped them with plastic orange and black spider rings. Delicious and kind of scary.

Enjoy!! And I hope you have a Happy Hallowen!!

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

They sound delicious don't they? And they are too!! I made these cupcakes for my families Thanksgiving dinner. Pumpkin, cream cheese and maple syrup go very good together. We all enjoyed them :)

Pumpkin Cupcakes

(from Joy of Baking )

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp ground ginger

2 large eggs

1 cup granulated white sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 cup pumpkin puree (canned or fresh)

1/4 cup water

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

 

1. Prehaet oven to 350F. Line 12 regukar sized muffin cups with paper liners.

2. In a large bowl, sift or whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and ginger. In another large bowl, whisk the eggs until lightly beaten. Add the sugar, melted butter and whisk until blended. Whisk or stir in the pumpkin, water and vanilla extract.

3. Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and stir just until the ingredients are combined. Evenly divide the batter among the muffin cups, and bake for about 20 to 25 minutes or until a  toothpick comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

( Adapted from Ina Garten)

6 ounces cream cheese, softened and at room temperature

3 tbsps unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 tsp maple syrup

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups confectioner's sugar

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the cream cheese and butter on low speed wuntil smooth. Stir in the maple syrup and vanilla extract. With the mixer still on low, slowly ass the confectioner's sugar and mix until smooth.

I piped the cream cheese frosting with a Wilton tip 1M and drizzled some more maple syrup on top. Delicious!!