Cupcake Hero - Squash

So, it's obviously been a while since I've blogged, but not since I've baked! I'm just lazy with getting my photos and recipes online.

This month's cupcake hero is squash, and though I've only participated once, I was excited to give it a go again. And my department hosted a breakfast for the building with a "harvest theme," which worked out well! I was asked for the recipe by coworkers, so that's got to be a good sign :)

Butternut Squash Cream Cheese Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Glaze

1.5 cups flour

1.5 tsp baking powder

.5 tsp cinnamon

.25 tsp salt

.5 cup granulated sugar

.5 cup dark brown sugar

.5 cup butter, melted and cooled

2 eggs

.5 cup milk (I used almond milk)

5 oz frozen butternut squash (half a box)

4 oz cream cheese (half a package_

-preheat oven to 350

-Heat squash in microwave per package. Mix in cream cheese and cool slightly

-Mix dry ingredients in a small bowl

-Mix butter, eggs and milk

-Alternate adding dry mix and butternut mix, ending with dry mix.

-Bake 20-25 minutes

*I doubled the recipe and used mini cupcakes, so it made a lot of cupcakes! Not sure how many it would make normally

Cream Cheese Glaze
1 pack cream cheese room temp
Half stick butter room temp
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp brown sugar

-Place cream cheese and butter in a large mixing bowl, blend until combined

-Add powdered sugar, a little at a time, mixing on low

-Add brown sugar and blend until fluffy.

This is supposed to be a frosting, however, I think I over mixed and it ended up being more soupy, like a glaze

Happy Easter Peep Cupcakes

This month I'm entering my first Cupcake Hero contest, and like the procrastinator I am, I'm sending in my entry the day it's due. The theme is marshmallows, so I made Chocolate Peep cupcakes for Easter dinner.

I was originally going to go with fluffernutter cupcakes, but then my mom suggested baking a peep into a cupcake. That got me thinking of the chocolate covered marshmallow candies out for Christmas (the ones shaped like Santa, I'm sure they have Easter Bunny ones too), and how some are strawberry flavored. And so came the chocolate cupcake with strawberry Peep filling, and a Peep buttercream frosting.

First, the attempt to bake a Peep. Poor pink chick. Luckily there wasn't a lot of splatter in the oven.

For the cupcakes, I use the Magnolia's Chocolate Cupcake Recipe. I don't think I used enough chocolate chips, but I liked the recipe otherwise.

Makes about 2 dozen cupcakes (depending on the size of your cupcake papers and muffin tins)

CUPCAKES:
-2 cups all-purpose flour
-1 teaspoon baking soda
-1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
-1 cup granulated sugar
-1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
-4 large eggs, at room temperature
-6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted (see Note)
-1 cup buttermilk
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-Peep mixture*

* I melted 4 peeps with 2tbsp of butter and a couple handfuls of big marshmallows. I used too much butter, especially since I added strawberry syrup (to taste), so I added marshmallows until I got the consistency I wanted

Note: To melt the chocolate, place in a double boiler over simmering water on low heat for approximately 5–10 minutes. Stir occasionally until completely smooth and no pieces of chocolate remain. Remove from the heat and let cool to lukewarm 5–10 minutes. (I melted in the microwave :30 second, stir, repeat until melted)

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

-Line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake papers. Set aside.

-In a small bowl, sift together the flour and baking soda. Set aside.

-In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugars and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the chocolate, mixing until well incorporated. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the buttermilk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated, but do not overbeat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended and the batter is smooth.

-Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, just to cover bottom. Add spoonful of Peep mix, then cover with batter until three-fourths full.

-Bake for 20–25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean.

-Cool the cupcakes in the tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

For the icing, I used Wilton's Caramel Buttercream icing recipe as a base

2 sticks butter
2/3 cup (approx) melted peeps *
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (approx. 1 lb.)
Yield: 3 cups icing.

* I melted 5 peeps with 1tbsp of butter and a handfuls of big marshmallows.

Directions
-Cream butter with electric mixer.

-Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often.

-Add water and vanilla (I would use less water next time, though it worked well for spreading)

-Fold in Peep mixture. I added a little more pink food coloring to even out the color from the Peep sugar.

I was really proud because it was the first time my decorating techniques turned out how I wanted

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

Irish Car Bombs

Cupcake Calendar 2/12/08

I've been a little slacking on the baking lately, but a couple weeks ago I made White Chocolate and Vanilla Chai cupcakes. The cupcakes could have used a little more spice since the frosting was so sweet, but over all they were pretty good.

White Chocolate and Vanilla Chai Cupcakes
(from the book 500 Cupcakes)

For the cupcakes:
- 2 cups self-rising flour
-1/4 tsp baking powder
-pinch of salt
-1 tbsp chai tea powder (mine was chai latte powder, don't know if that made a difference??)
-1/4 cup (1/2 stick) sweet butter, softened
-3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
-2 egg whites
-2/3 cup buttermilk
-1/2 cup white chocolate chips
-1 tsp vanilla extract

For the frosting:
-1 cup cream cheese, softened
-1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
-1 tbsp lemon juice
-1 tsp vanilla extract

Cupcakes:
-Preheat the oven to 350.
-In medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt and chai powder
-In a separate bowl, beat the butter and sugar until smooth
-Add egg whites slowly, beating well
-Slowly add the flour mixture and buttermilk. Mix until combined
-Add the white chocolate chips and vanilla extract
-Bake 20 minutes

Frosting:
-Mix cream cheese and confectioners' sugar together in medium bowl and beat until soft and light.
-Add lemon and vanilla, and beat until smooth
-Spoon over cupcakes

Makes 12 cupcakes. Store unfrosted in airtight container for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.

Cupcake Calendar 1/30/08 Superbowl Cupcakes!

I'm glad that both teams had the same colors this year :) I split the batter in half and used blue and red coloring. The recipe says that it makes 1 dozen regular sized cupcakes. For minis, it made over 48.

The cupcake calendar recipes are from 500 Cupcakes by Fergal Conolly

Ricotta Cheesecake Cupcakes
-1 cup graham cracker crumbs
-3 tbsp margarine, melted
-2 tbsp honey
-4 cups part-skim ricotta cheese
-4 eggs
-1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
-1 tsp orange extract (I omitted)
-1/2 cup (3 1/2 ox) walnut halves (I used pecans)

-Preheat the oven to 325 degrees
-In a food processor, combine the cracker crumbs, margarine, and honey. Spoon 1 tablespoon of the mixture into each cup (about 1 tsp for mini cupcakes), pressing firmly into the bottom. Chill until set.
-In a large bowl, beat the ricotta with an electric mixer until soft. Then beat in the eggs, confectioners' sugar, and orange extract. Fold in the walnuts. Spoon the mixture into the cups.
-Bake for 23 minutes. Remove pan from the oven and cool for 5 minutes. Then remove the cupcakes and cool on a rack. Chill until ready to serve.

Failed Birthday Cake for Mom

So, my birthday present for my mom this year was supposed to be a yummy homemade and beautifully decorated cake. I used the red-wine cupcake recipe I have with raspberry wine. The filling was raspberry preserves mixed with Nutella. Might have tasted good, but as you can see from it falling apart in the picture, the recipe is better suited to stay in cupcake cups.

Besides that, the buttercream just did not turn out, after coloring looked like Slimer from Ghostbusters, and the piping bag for my chocolate frosting broke. It was going to be green with a chocolate basketweave on the sides. The sunflowers on my flourless cupcakes were supposed to go on the cake.

Luckily Safeway makes good cakes!