Mint Chocolate Cupcakes

Lately I have been traveling around on the weekends so I have been hard pressed to be able to set aside some time for this blog.  That and in addition to the trial and error it took on this particular recipe, the month is nearly over and this is only my second post.

This particular recipe is one of the winners in the Cupcake Wars on Food Network.  I do love mint and dark chocolate, but I did not want anything green nor anything artificially flavored.  The real mint did add a slight earthy flavor to these cupcakes.  Also, if you take the flavor too far,then you are getting closer to more of a flavor that is close to toothpaste.  The amount of mint to chocolate flavor is very well balanced.

These cupcakes were a hit with the coworkers.  I was also very happy with the texture of the  cupcakes.  However, please note that the recipe below is in its original state.  Since I had a few issues with the original, my notes at the bottom are very helpful. This recipe makes 1 dz cupcakes.

Mint Chocolate Cupcakes
adapted from Food Network

Ingredients/Cupcakes
2 eggs
2 cups of light cream
6 tbs of butter
1/2 cup of sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups flour
2 sprigs of mint
3.5 oz of dark chocolate mint (refrigerated or frozen)

Ingredients/Mint Buttercream
4 cups confectioners sugar
1 lb butter
1/4 cup mint infused cream

Prepare a 1 dz cavity muffin pan by greasing the top edges of the cavities and lining with standard cupcake liners.  Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Fill a saucepan with the light cream and add the mint sprigs.  Cook on medium heat for 5 minutes and remove.  Set pan aside and leave mint leaves in mixture and let cool.

Add the butter and the sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer.  Then beat on medium high for 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat for another 2 minutes.  Again, scrape down sides of bowl and beat for one minute. Add one egg and beat on medium speed for about 30 seconds.  Scrape down the sides of bowl and add second egg.  Beat again until all is blended. Set aside.

Pour the mint infused cream into a sieve with a bowl underneath.  Discard the mint leaves in the sieve.  In another bowl, sift together salt, baking powder and flour.

Using a wooden spoon or spatula, fold 1/3 of the sifted ingredients into the batter.  Then stir in 1/2 cup of the mint infused cream.  Add 1/2 of the remaining flour mixture and mix until blended.  Pour in another 1/2 cup of mint cream and stir. Reserve the rest of the mint cream for use in the frosting.  Add the last of the flour mixture to the batter and stir until no dry streaks remain.

Take out the chocolate and finely grate using a food processor with a grate attachment.   Fold the grated chocolate into the cupcake batter.  Then evenly fill the lined cavities of the muffin pan, they should be about 2/3 full.

Bake for about 25 minutes or until tester comes out clean.  Cupcakes should cool in pans for about 5 minutes before being transferred to cooling rack.  Frost when completely cooled.

For the frosting, cream the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer with the speed on medium high.  Run mixer for a total of 5 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl at the halfway point.  Then beat in the 1/4 cup of the mint infused cream until all is blended evenly.  Discard the rest of the mint cream.

Sift the confectioners sugar into a medium size bowl.    In 1/2 cup intervals, beat confectioners sugar into butter mixture with the mixer set on medium.  Continue to beat and add confectioners sugar until all is completely smooth.

Then pipe the buttercream frosting onto the cooled cupcakes and serve.

Tips and Notes:

1. I used several types of dairy ratios for the 2 cups of light cream.  Found that 1 cup of heavy whipping cream and 1 cup of 2% milk worked best.

2. Baking time in my oven was 20 minutes, so watch the time closely.

3. Original recipe was a little too dry in texture so 2 tsp of oil was added and beat into the batter right after the addition of the eggs.

4. Note that there is only a hint of mint flavor in the icing, but it paired well with the cupcake flavor and was not overpowering.

5. Do not use any type of dark chocolate with a mint filling.  It will not freeze solid, so it does not work for grating the chocolate.  The Divine brand of chocolate has a great solid dark chocolate mint bar.  As you know, the quality of the chocolate used promises the best flavor.

6.  The recipe states garnish with mint leaves.  You can make chocolate leaves with an extra mint chocolate bar.  Even better yet, mint leaves are edible so you can do both.
                             **LAST YEAR: Elixir Wage Cake**



 



 

Chocolate Hazelnut Cupcakes

Looking in the pantry the other day I noticed that I had two big containers of hazelnut spread, which did inspire me to make use of it.  It has been some time since I actually baked with it or actually eaten any for that matter!

I like the singular aspect of these cupcakes.  Lots of things I bake or make usually are combinations of more than one flavor.  Nothing wrong with that, but sometimes you crave just one flavor.  After baking these and having the aroma of nutella fill my kitchen, you can be I was craving one of these.

The cupcakes actually are crisp on the outside and light on the inside.  The airy texture and subtle flavor of the cupcake goes well with the thick rich taste of the spread on top.  Yes, that strip on top is not some mixed up frosting, it is purely the hazelnut spread. This recipe makes about 16 cupcakes.

Chocolate Hazelnut Cupcakes
adapted from Cupcakes Galore

Ingredients
1/2 cup whole hazelnuts
1 1/2 cups chocolate hazelnut spread
1 3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup milk
3 eggs

Grease the top edge of the cupcake cavities and fill with cupcake liners.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Sift together flour, salt and baking powder.  Set aside.  In another bowl cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy.  Beat in one egg at a time until blended.  Mix in 3/4 cup of the hazelnut spread until  incorporated.

Fold in half of the sifted ingredients so no dry streaks remain.  Mix in the milk and then add the rest of the sifted ingredients.

Fill each cupcake liner 2/3 full with the batter.  The batter was thick, so I tapped the pan on the counter to level it out.  You do not want any peaks or uneven batter, for it will reflect in the shape of the cupcake after baked.  Place pan(s) in the oven and bake until tester comes out clean 20-25 minutes.

Place pan on rack and let cool for 3 minutes, then remove cupcakes from pan cavities.  Place on rack and let cool completely before frosting.

After the cupcakes have cooled, pipe the rest of the hazelnut spread onto the cupcake and place a few nuts on top or you can grind the nuts and sprinkle on top.

Tips and Notes:
1. You can leave to spread off and serve these plain with your morning coffee.
2. The flavor really stands out when these are slightly warmed in the microwave
              **LAST YEAR: Oatmeal Butterscotch Muffins**                  

Delicious Recall #3::Chocolate Italian Wedding Cupcakes

This is another item which has that wonderful trio of flavors that I find hard to resist.  There is one method in this recipe that I will be using more than once.  It is the toasting of the pecans with the coconut.  I always have issues when toasting coconut, having some pieces remain white while others burn.  I am not sure if it is the mixture of the nuts or the measurement that causes the toasting to be more even.

The cupcakes do offer a lot of texture to the bite with having both pecans and coconut in them.  Also, the frosting has an unusual tang to it since it is made with sour cream.  The tang goes well with the dark chocolate..

This particular recipe had some additional suggestions for preparation, so be sure to read the tips at the end. This recipe makes 2 dz cupcakes.

Chocolate Italian Wedding Cakes
adapted from Evil Shenanigans

Ingredients/Cake
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup butter
1.5 oz unsweetened chocolate (melted & cooled)
1 tsp vanilla
3 eggs (yolks separated from whites)
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder

1 2/3 cup flour
3 tbs dutch processed cocoa
2 tbs crushed cocoa nibs
1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut
1/3 cup finely chopped pecans
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar (packed)

Ingredients/Frosting
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup semi-sweet choc chips
1 cup shredded sweetened coconut
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
3 cups powdered sugar

For the cupcakes, grease the top edge of the cavities of two 1 dozen cupcake pans.  Line with paper liners and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Cream together the butter and both sugars until smooth.  Then add the melted chocolate along with the egg yolks.  Stir until all is smooth. Set aside.

In another bowl, sift together the five dry ingredients listed after the eggs on the ingredient list. Using a wooden spoon, fold 1/3 of the sifted ingredients into the batter.  Then stir in 1/4 cup of buttermilk.
Repeat that process and add the last 1/3 of the flour mixture, stirring until no dry streaks remain.

Add the cocoa nibs, vanilla, coconut and pecans and mix until evenly distributed.

Pour the egg whites into a medium size bowl and beat with mixer until stiff peaks form.  Fold in 1/2 of the egg whites to the chocolate batter, mixing so no white streaks show.  Repeat that process.

Using a spoon or ice cream scoop, fill the cupcake cavities with the batter.  All 24 should be filled equally.  Also make sure that the batter is even so they will bake even. Bake for 12-15 minutes, rotating pans at the halfway mark.  Doneness is indicated by the cupcake springing back when lightly pressed in the center.  Cool cupcakes in pan for 5 minutes and then transfer to rack to finish cooling.

As the cupcakes are cooling, prepare the frosting.  The oven will be left on 350 for the frosting as well.  Mix the coconut and pecans together.  Then spread evenly on a baking sheet.  Place in oven and bake for 5 minutes.  Remove, stir and place pan back in oven for an additional 5 minutes.  The mixture should be a golden brown when done.  Let coconut mixuture cool to room temperature before using.  Take 1/3 cup of the  mixture and set aside.

Place chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl.  Slice butter into 1/4 inch thickness and place slices on top of the chocolate chips.  Microwave for 30 seconds and stir.  Then microwave at 15 second intervals, stirring after each internal until it is all melted and blended smoothly.  Let cool for 5 minutes before using. Transfer the mixture to a larger bowl.

Stir in the sour cream and vanilla until smooth.  Then sift 1 cup of powdered sugar into the chocolate frosting and stir.  Repeat with another cup of the powdered sugar.  There is now 1 cup of powdered sugar left, but you will gradually add and mix it into the frosting until you reach the desired consistency.  Keep in mind that the frosting will thicken upon standing, so gauge the amount of powdered sugar according to preference.  Stir in all but the 1/3 reserved mixture of coconut and pecans.

Put the frosting on the cupcakes, either with a knife or piping method.  Then sprinkle with the reserved coconut/pecan mixture. 

Tips and Notes:
1. since the frosting has coconut and nuts in it,  should you chose to pipe it make sure it is a large tip.
2. In addition to the 1/3 reserved coconut/nut mixture for sprinkling on top, I made another half batch because I found that pressing the cupcake upside down into the topping had better adhesion.
3. you can make this into a cake with two 8 inch round pans, just double the frosting amount.
4. For extra flavor, you can soak the cupcakes lightly with white rum.  2 or 3 tbs should be enough.
              **LAST YEAR: Tequila Sunrise Bars**
 

Cherry Surprise Cupcakes-Delicious Recall #2

If you have been following my blog, you know that I do like cherries and chocolate.  When I came across this recipe several years ago, I saved it but have never made it until now.  I guess that is one of the reasons why I came up with this series.

These particular cupcakes are really rich in flavor.  The cake part is made with cherry brandy, cocoa and chocolate chips.  Also, they are doused with chocolate liqueur.  These elements really do make for a tasty combo.  In fact, the cake part was so delicious on its own, I opted not to fill these with the cherry and whipped cream.  I just topped them with a butter cream frosting that has cherry juice and brandy in it. I have included the instructions for the filling below as in the original recipe.

This recipe hails from a blog called The Cheeky Kitchen hosted by Brooke.  This was a recipe that came from a baking challenge between her and a friend that owns a cupcake shop.   This recipe makes about 15 cupcakes.  Make sure you read this whole recipe before proceeding, especially the tips at the end.

Cherry Surprise Cupcakes
adapted from The Cheeky Kitchen

Ingredients/Cake
1 tsp cherry brandy
1 egg
2/3 cup milk
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup self rising flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup chocolate liqueur
1/2 semi sweet chocolate chips

Ingredients/Filling
2 cups pitted cherries
1/4 cup cherry brandy
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbs vanilla extract

Ingredients/Cherry Buttercream
3 tbs and 1 tsp reserved cherry juice
1/4 tsp cherry extract (optional)
1/2 cup butter
2 tbs vegetable shortening
5 cups powdered sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
15-18 whole cherries with stems (optional)

If you are going to fill the cupcakes, the prep work will need to be done first.  Fill a bowl with the cherries and pour in the brandy.  Cover and place in fridge until all cupcakes have been baked.

To make the cake part of the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grease the upper edge of the cupcake cavities and fill with paper liners.

Sift together the cocoa, flour, salt and baking powder and set aside.  In another bowl cream together both sugars and butter.  Beat in the egg, cherry brandy and vanilla extract.

Fold in 1/2 of the sifted ingredients into the batter.  Then add the milk, stirring until blended.  Fold in the last of the sifted ingredients until no dry streaks remain.  Mix in the chocolate chips.

Using an ice cream scoop, fill each lined cavity about 2/3 full.  You should have about 15 cupcakes.  Put pans in oven and bake for 15-18 minutes or until tester comes out clean.  Remove pans and poke holes in the top of the cupcakes.  Then brush chocolate liqueur over the top.  Let set in pans for an additional 10 minutes and then transfer to rack to cool.

While they are cooling, the filling can be made.  Take out the bowl of cherries with brandy. Reserve the juice in a separate bowl and chop the cherries into 1/4 inch pieces and place back in fridge.

In another bowl, whisk the cream until it becomes a little bit thicker than its original state.  Add the sugar and the extract, then beat until the cream reaches a soft peak stage.  Take the chopped cherries out of fridge and fold into whipped cream.  Cover and refrigerate.

Once the cupcakes are cool, take and core out a center piece about 1/2  to 3/4 inch wide and 1 1/2 inch deep.  Then fill the hole with the whipped cream mixture.

For the buttercream, beat butter and vegetable shortening together until smooth.  Then add one cup of powdered sugar, mixing at medium speed.  In one cup increments add the sugar and beat after each addition.  Lastly, add the cherry juice, cherry extract (optional) and vanilla extract and beat on high speed until frosting is light and fluffy.

Fill piping bag with tip and decorate to your preference.  You can place a whole cherry on top or place a chocolate dipped cherry on top, if you desire.

Tips and Notes:
1. If you do not do the filling, the reserved juice will not be available. Maraschino juice can be used in its place with the cherry extract for your buttercream frosting..
2. These cupcakes are very delicate because of the liqueur brushed on top.  Based on that it is important that you do not overfill and that the top edges of your muffin cavities are well greased.  Original instructions said fill cavities 3/4 full, which was too much due to the rise factor.
3. I found the buttercream to be too thick.  You can add more cherry or maraschino juice until you reach the right consistency.
4. Taste your frosting before adding the cherry extract, to make sure you want to add any more flavor.  The longer the cherries sit in the kirsch, the stronger the flavor of the juice.
                         **LAST YEAR: Italian Dippers**

Royalty Reserve Cakes

Back in the 10th century, royalty did rule.  During this time there were certain delicacies that royalty indulged in that the commoner did not.  Some of the food was rare and expensive and some the opposite.  One of the foods that was cheap and plentiful was pistachios.  However, it was Queen Sheba that determined that these nuts were not to be eaten by the commoners.  Royalty would only be allowed to enjoy pistachios.   A few other lines of royalty also had a high regard for this nut as well. Nebuchadenezzar, King of Babylon, grew pistachio trees.  Akbar the Great (a Mogul Emperor) fed his chickens these nuts 6 weeks prior to having them prepared for a king's feast as a way to enhance their flavor.

Anyhow, I am glad that we all are allowed to partake in eating pistachios!  This particular cupcake is made up of two batters.  The main batter is a cake flavored with pistachios and pistachio oil.  The secondary batter is one I wanted to exude a lot of vanilla flavor, so it has melted vanilla ice cream in it.  The frosting is done with a dual frosting bag.  Each frosting has its own separate flavor much like the cupcake.

Since the main batter is made with oil instead of butter, it really is moist and light.  The other batter, even though made with butter, did go well with the texture of the pistachio cake.  You get a nutty flavor with a touch of vanilla.  The pistachio oil as well as the melted ice cream I think were key in getting these to have the balance of flavor I was looking for.

Before we go on, I have some thanks to give out for the Versatile Blogger Awards:

Nydia at Mividaenundulce
This blogger just reached her year anniversary and did a recap of some of her tasty creations.  Her blog is mostly baked goods with some savory items with the main focus being Peruvian cuisine. A few of my picks were low fat low calorie chocolate ice cream and Mulberry pie.

Maria at Flavors of Mumbai
Maria has been blogging since Oct 2010 and has really introduced me to a whole new world of baked goods.  While she does make savory foods as well, my sweet tooth is drawn to her cakes and ice cream.  Another interesting thing is that she has several recipes out there that are eggless.  I was hard pressed to only pick 2 of her recipes out but the raspberry cake and her Kiwi ice cream are just a few winners.

Thanks again for the awards!  Take some time today to venture into some delicious Peruvian and Indian cuisines by stopping by these two wonderful blogs.

Now for the recipe.  It makes about 1 1/2 dz cupcakes.

Royalty Reserve Cakes
by flourtrader

Ingredients/ Pistachio cake batter
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsalted pistachios
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tsp pistachio oil extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup sour cream
1 1/4 cups flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder

Ingredients/Vanilla Cake batter
2/3 cup plus 4 tsp flour
1 tsp baking powder
5 tbs plus 1 tsp butter (room temp)
1/3 plus 1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract or 1/2 tsp ground vanilla beans
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup melted vanilla ice cream

For the pistachio cake batter, take 1/4 cup of the sugar and pistachios and blend in a food processor until nuts are fine. Beat together 3/4 cup of sugar, egg, egg yolk and nut mixture for two minutes. It should become thicker and lighter in color.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl.  Then on low speed, blend in the oil and pistachio extract.   Lastly, fold in the sour cream until evenly blended.  Set aside.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and baking powder.  Set this aside also.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease the top edges of muffin pans and line with cupcake papers.

To make the vanilla cake batter, cream together butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy.  Then beat in the egg.  In another bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder.  Fold in 1/3 of the sifted ingredients to the batter.  Then stir in the melted ice cream.  Add another 1/3 of the dry ingredients, blending batter.  Mix in the milk until all is absorbed into batter.  Then fold in the last of the flour mixture.

Go back to your sifted ingredients for the pistachio cakes and fold into the wet pistachio batter until no dry streaks remain.

Using an ice cream scoop or big spoon, fill each cupcake cavity 2/3 full of pistachio batter.  Then, using a melon baller or a tablespoon, place a scoop of the vanilla batter on top.  Continue until all batter is in cavities.

Place pans in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until tester comes out clean.  Mine took about 18 minutes.  Remove pans from oven and let rest for 2 minutes.  Then transfer cupcakes to a rack to finish cooling.  Frost when completely cooled.

Creamy Frosting
adapted from Better Homes and Gardens

Ingredients
1 cup of shortening
1 1/2 tsp of vanilla
1 lb powdered sugar (about 4 cups)
3-4 tbs milk

At medium speed beat together shortening and vanilla extract for about 30 seconds.  If using a stand mixer let run at low speed and slowly add powdered sugar.  For a handheld mixer, blend in 1/4 cup at a time.  Once all is blended, beat in 2 tbs of milk.  Then beat in the rest of the powdered sugar and add milk until you have reached the desired consistency.  This yields about 3 cups of frosting.

My frosting process for this particular cupcake:
I made the above and then took out half of the frosting and placed it in a separate bowl.  Then I added 1/4 tsp of pistachio oil to the mixer bowl and beat for about 30 seconds. Continuing to beat on low, I added leaf green food coloring little by little until I reached my desired color.
Then I used a dual piping bag with a and filled each half with the different icings.  I then piped the frosting on with a #7 Wilton tip.

Extra Tips:
-only make what you can bake at one time.  The batters instructions here is made here to insure that they do not sit very long prior to baking.  Batter is to be used immediately once dry ingredients are mixed in.
-The dual icing bags came without instructions, so  I still am not sure of the precise instructions for using these to date. I did not find the process easy.
-you will have some vanilla batter left over, so you can make about 1 or two vanilla cupcakes.
                           **LAST YEAR: Lemon Blueberry Loaf**
 

Crunchy Rooftop Cupcakes

This particular recipe is a creation of a craving I had for a certain combo of flavors.  I wanted something that had the rich taste of graham and cinnamon with a pop of tart lemon.

The graham/cinnamon combo was easily found in the biscoff spread and the cookies.  To add the lemon, I poked holes in the cakes and soaked them with a lemon syrup.  Then the topping is made even better when it is dipped in the sugary cinnamon.  Lastly a touch of whipped cream holds half of a Biscoff cookie on top

As you bite into one of these, you will have the crunch of the cinnamon topping, the tartness of the lemon and then the deep graham flavor of the cake. The syrup is an exact mimic of the flavor your get in a lemon drop. Needless to say, this recipe hit the mark in what I wanted in flavor as well as texture.

Also, I had to quickly pack them away so I would have enough for the pot luck.  It seems that I am building a reputation at the monthly event , for upon arrival it is "what did you bring this time?".  There is a lot of curiosity around the creations I bring, mainly due to the fact the attendees are people that stick with making the tried and true classic recipes.  A small country town does not have that much exposure to the big variety that exists beyond the classics.

Crunchy Rooftop Cupcakes (makes 16-18 standard cupcakes)
by flourtrader

Ingredients/Cakes
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup Biscoff spread
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
2/3 cup of sour cream
1/2 cup ground Biscoff cookies (do not pack)
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Ingredients/Topping & Syrup
juice from 2 lemons
zest from 1 lemon
1/2 cup sugar (for syrup)
1 tbs cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
whipped cream
8-9 cookies broken in half

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grease the top edge of muffin cavities and line with cupcake papers

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon.  Then stir in the ground Biscoff cookies. Set aside.

 In a mixing bowl, cream together sugar, butter and Biscoff spread. Then beat in one egg and vanilla extract for 30 seconds.  Add the additional egg and beat for another 30 seconds.  Take a wooden spoon and fold in 1/3 of the sifted ingredients.  Take 1/3 cup of the sour cream and fold into batter.  Continue with the process of adding and mixing, ending with the last 1/3 of the sifted ingredients.

Using an ice cream scoop or a spoon, fill cupcake liners 2/3 full with batter.  Place in oven and bake for 12-15 minutes or until tester indicates cupcakes are done.

While the cupcakes are baking, make the simple syrup.  Place the lemon, lemon zest and 1/2 of sugar in a sauce pan and place over medium high heat.  Let the mixture come to a boil.  Turn down heat and stir until mixture turns to a syrup type consistency.  Remove from heat.

Remove cupcakes from the oven and let rest for 2 minutes then transfer to a rack.  Let cool for about 5 minutes.  Using a wooden skewer, poke holes in the top of the cupcake about 1 1/2 inches in depth.  Then take a pastry brush and brush syrup on cupcakes.  Brush twice and then let set for another 5 minutes.  During this time the syrup will get thicker.  Then brush the tops again. All cupcake tops should be coated.

In a small bowl mix together the cinnamon and 1/2 cup of sugar.  Take each cupcake and dip the top in the mixture, making sure it is well coated.  Place cupcake back on cooling rack.  Continue until all cupcakes are topped with cinnamon.

Then take 1/2 cup of whipped cream and pipe or drop a dollop on the center of each cupcake.  Stick 1/2 a cookie upright into the whipped cream.

Tips:
Cupcakes do need a day for flavors to meld, so do the whipped cream and cookie the following day prior to serving.
Keep a careful eye on the syrup while cooking as well as cooling, the consistency can become too thick very quickly.
The baking powder and baking soda do react quickly, so it is wise to only prepare what you can bake at one time.
I was not pleased at the taste of these warm from the oven, so reserve your taste testing for the next day when all the flavors have melded.

Enjoy!                    

Ivory Castle Cakes

There are so many different kinds of poppy flowering plants out there.  One of them is an ivory color, called Ivory Castle.

This particular cupcake has a vanilla and poppy seed batter and is filled with lemon curd.  On top is a white chocolate ganache with poppy seeds.  The cupcake was an experiment in the use of cornstarch in a baked good.  It does give the cake part a unique texture, however, I found that you need to be exacting in certain areas or you will not attain the proper texture.

The lemon curd filling as well as the icing is what makes these extra special.  The white chocolate and the filling do add some extra notes of flavor as well as sweetness.  The cupcake by itself is not very sweet at all.

I am still working on my white chocolate topping recipe, so I have provided you with another recipe that was not used when I made these. That recipe may not be the same consistency, so your cupcakes may not look like the above when completed. However, it does have the same flavor.  This particular recipe yields about 2 1/2 dozen cupcakes.

As a side note, I am behind in thanking my blogger friends for bestowing me with some awards.  Based on that, I will make note of two every Wednesday in my blog until I am done.

The Versatile Blogger Award was given to me by:
Mary Kay at Just For Cooking- While some of us are blogging hoping to get discovered, this person came to the blogging world after already having her recipes published. In reviewing her blog, I noticed that she does explore various cuisines, but has the most filed under "comfort food".  After finding such gems as Chicken Paprikash and Cuban style Surf and Turf, I would say dinner at her table would make for a delicious evening.

Missy at Mrs Maki Cooks- this girl is one busy bee.  As a catering director and hosting a food talk radio show, she still manages to find time to share her talent by food blogging.  She started blogging in October of 2011. The blog has recipes that are great go to dishes for the every day cook or baker.  Pumpkin spice cookies and simple healthy fried rice are a few winners I found. Also her writing style does convey her warm friendly personality.

If you have not heard of these two, then it is time to hook up-so pop on over and introduce yourself.  Also, thanks again you two for passing along the awards to me.

Now, on to the recipe.... 

Ivory Castle Cakes
by Flourtrader

Ingredients/Cake
1/4 cup poppy seeds
1/2 tsp ground vanilla beans (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
1 tbs baking powder
1 cup cornstarch
2 1/3 cups cake flour
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1 cup butter
2 tsp oil
5 eggs
1/2 cup milk
11 oz jar of lemon curd (I purchased but you can make your own)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grease top edge cavities of muffin tins and line with cupcake papers.

Sift together cornstarch, flour, salt, baking powder and ground vanilla beans (if using).  Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, preferably from a stand mixer, add butter,sugar and oil.  Beat for 5 minutes at medium speed.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl occasionally during the beating process.

Then add one egg and beat for 30 seconds.  Continue this process until all the eggs are beaten into the batter.  Then, if using, stir in the vanilla extract.

Add 1/3 of the sifted ingredients and fold into the batter.  Pour in 1/4 cup of milk and stir until all is blended.  Then fold in 2 tbs of poppy seeds.  Repeat this whole process of adding and stirring, ending with the last 1/3 of the sifted ingredients.

Using an ice cream scoop or a spoon, fill each of the liners 2/3 full with the batter.  Then dampen your fingertips and smooth the top of the batter in each cavity.  Place in oven and bake until tester comes out clean, about 10-15 minutes.  Remove pan and let rest for 1 minute, then transfer cupcakes to a cooling rack.  Let cool completely before filling and frosting.

Ingredients/White Chocolate Ganache (makes 1 cup)
by Dorie Greenspan
2/3 cup of heavy cream
10 oz premium white chocolate (finely chopped)
1 1/2 tbs unsalted butter, cubed

poppy seeds for sprinkling  on top(optional)

Place the white chocolate in a large, heatproof bowl.  Then take a saucepan and fill it with cream and bring it to a boil.  Remove and pour over the white chocolate.  Let sit for about 30 seconds and then whisk together.  Whisk from the center in small circles, slowing moving your way to the outer edge.  Once all is smooth, add one cube of butter and stir until melted and blended.  Follow that same process with all the cubes.

Then let the ganache sit until it reaches the consistency you want.  You can speed up the process by placing it in the fridge, but check often so it does not get too thick.

To assemble, take a ziplock bag and cut off a small piece of the corner.  Set aside.  Using a paring knife or a cupcake corer, cut  a small circular piece from the center out of each cupcake.  Then you will have a small cone.  Cut off the top slice and reserve it keeping it by the proper cupcake.

Take the ziplock bag and fill with the lemon curd.  Holding bag over the cupcake hole, squeeze until hole is filled.  Then place the reserved cap over the hole.  Continue with this process for each
cupcake until all are filled and capped.

Then frost as desired with white chocolate ganache.  Also, if you prefer you can sprinkle a stripe of poppy seeds down the center.

Helpful tips:
-do not pack the cornstarch when measuring, use a soup spoon to scoop and fill the one cup cavity
-do not over bake, cupcakes should not have brown edges but edges should be the same hue as the rest of the cupcake when done
-Fold dry ingredients into batter lightly.
-do not use white chocolate chips in ganache, the recipe requires good quality bar chocolate to work per Dorie.
                            **LAST YEAR: Blueberry Hand Pies***

Bleeding Heart Cakes

Well it has been some time since I used my spike pan, so I decided to pull it out for another go round.  This particular recipe has a little bit more work to it than just regular cupcakes, but I think it is well worth it.

The batter comes together with a mix of blood orange juice and zest, ground pecans, cinnamon and orange liqueur.  The inside heart is a blood orange segment that is coated in a mix of cinnamon sugar and pecans.  On top is a dusting of confectioners sugar and piped lattice icing with the flavor of blood oranges and cinnamon.

I really do like the distinctive taste of blood oranges. These little cakes definitely give you a pop of that great flavor with the orange segment cooked inside. This recipe makes a little over 1 1/2 dozen.

Bleeding Heart Cakes
by flourtrader

Ingredients/Filling
13 blood orange segments, pith and membrane removed
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup ground pecans (I used a blender to grind mine)
1/4 cup sugar

To prepare your filling, line a baking sheet with waxed paper.  In a shallow bowl, mix together cinnamon, pecans and sugar.  Cut each segment in half, cutting the width.  Then roll each piece in the cinnamon mixture and place on the baking sheet.  Place in fridge while the rest is prepared.

Ingredients/ Cake batter
1/2 cup orange liqueur ( I used Grand Marnier)
1/2 cup blood orange juice
2 tbs blood orange zest
1/2 cup ground pecans
3/4 cup butter, room temp
3 eggs, whites and yolks separated
2 cups sugar
4 tsp baking powder
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare spike pans by greasing top edges of cavities and putting in cupcake liners, letting the spike poke through the center.

 In a medium size bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Stir in the ground nuts.  Set aside.  In another bowl, cream together the sugar, orange zest and butter.  Then beat in the egg yolks one by one.

In a small bowl stir together the orange liqueur and the orange juice.

Then fold in 1/3 of the sifted ingredients into the sugar mixture.  Mix in 1/2 of the orange liqueur and juice mixture.  Continue with the same mixing process, ending with the last third of the sifted ingredients.  Set aside.

In a small bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.  Then fold the whites into the batter.  Using a scoop, fill each of the cupcake cavities with a heaping tablespoon of batter.  Then take the orange segments from the fridge and slide a piece onto the spike so it just touches the top of the batter.  Segment should be on its side rather than upright.  After all the segments are spiked, place another scoop of batter on top.  Cavity should be about 3/4 full.

Place pan in oven and bake for 12-18 minutes or until tester (poked outside of the orange segment in the center) comes out clean.  Mine took exactly 15 minutes.  Remove pan and let cool for 1 minute and then transfer to rack to finish cooling.

Ingredients/Lattice Icing
2-3 tbs blood orange juice
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbs grated zest
1 cup powdered sugar (more for dusting)
3-4 drops of red food coloring
Stir together cinnamon and zest in a small bowl.  Sift in the confectioners sugar, then add 1 tbs orange juice and stir.  Add red food coloring and more orange juice until it reaches the desired consistency and color.  I used a squirt bottle to make the lattice, so my icing was not as thick as you would need if you piped it.

Once cupcakes are cool, dust with powdered sugar and frost, making a design on top of the cupcake with the icing.

             LAST YEAR: Boardwalk Cinnamon Rolls

Mixology Cupcakes

With New Years right around the corner, I thought it would only be appropriate if I mixed up some spirits to make a cupcake treat.  This one has 3 types of alcohol in it, so I did not skimp on the mixer at all!  Even though I am not a certified mixologist when it comes to bar drinks, I think these are well worth presenting at a New Year's Eve party.

The base is a cupcake made with port wine.  Then, I poked holes in the top with a wooden skewer and brushed some syrup on top made out of Godiva liqueur.  It not only made the cupcakes have more flavor, it made them very moist.  Instead of leaving it at that, I frosted them with a fluffy Amaretto frosting.  The final touch was chocolate sprinkles on top.  The recipe makes 20 cupcakes.

Before I get to the recipe, I wanted to write a few thoughts about the coming of the New Year.  It is a time when the door is open to set things straight.  In other words, to get your house in order before 2012 gets here.  This may mean settling differences you may have with family or friends.  Or it may mean that you fix that door that has been creaking for the last 6 months. By doing that, the new year will be a fresh start.  Once your house is in order, then it is time to sit down and raise a glass to say goodbye to 2011 and hello to 2012! I wish all of you a happy New Year and that at midnight tonight, you are ringing in the New Year the best way you know how! Cheers!

Mixology Cupcakes
by fhourtrader

Ingredients/Cupcakes
4 eggs, separated
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup red wine
1 2/3 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt, plus 1 pinch

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare muffin pan by greasing the top edge of the cavities.  Then line with cupcake papers.  Set aside.

Sift together flour, baking soda and 1/4 tsp of salt.  Then whisk in the sugar.  Pour in 1/4 cup of vegetable oil and stir until all is blended.  Mix in 1/4 cup of red wine.  Then repeat the same, adding the two liquids in 1/4 cup intervals until all the wine and oil is mixed in.

In a small bowl, beat one egg yolk with a fork and then add to batter.  Stir batter with a wooden spoon until mixture is smooth and the egg is mixed in.  Continue with the same process for each of the egg yolks, so all is blended into the batter.  Set aside.

Fill a separate bowl with the egg whites and a pinch of salt.  Then beat at a high speed until the egg whites hold stiff, but not dry, peaks.  Fold the egg white mixture into the sugar/wine batter until no white streaks remain.

Then fill the cupcake liners with the batter. You can either pour it into the paper liners or use an ice cream scoop.  The cups should be filled evenly, about 3/4 full.

Place cupcakes in oven and bake until a tester comes out clean, about 20 minutes.  Remove and let cool in pan for 1 minute and then transfer to rack to finish cooling.

Once cool, take a wooden skewer and poke holes in the top of the cupcakes.  The holes should be about 3/4 the depth of the entire cupcake.

Ingredients/Godiva Syrup
1/2 cup Godiva Chocolate Liqueur
2 tsp sugar

Stir together ingredients in a small saucepan and place over medium heat.  Let cook and stir until sugar is completely dissolved.  Then remove from heat and let cool for 30 minutes.

Using a pastry brush, brush syrup over the top of the cupcakes and let soak in.  Continue with the process until no more syrup is left.

Regarding the frosting below, it cannot be made in advance.  It must be prepared and used immediately.

Ingredients/Frosting
adapted from Martha Stewart

1 1/3 cups sugar
1 1/2 cup plus 2 tbs of butter (room temp)
4 egg whites
3 tbs and 1 tsp water
2/3 tsp vanilla
pinch of cream of tartar
2 tbs Amaretto
pinch of salt

Place sugar and water in a saucepan and stir. Put over medium high heat and let come to a boil until the sugar dissolves.  Then let cook until it reaches the soft ball stage or 238 degrees.  This can happen very quickly and if your mixture turns from white or clear to an amber color, it probably has gone past the soft ball stage.  Once proper consistency and temperature is reached, remove from heat.  Then pour into a heat proof bowl to let cool.

In a medium size bowl, beat egg whites for 30 seconds.  Then add the cream of tartar and salt.  Then beat on medium high until stiff peaks form but mixture is not dry.

Once the sugar syrup has cooled to lukewarm temperature or cooler, pour 2 tablespoons into the egg white mixture and beat for 30 seconds.  Then add the rest of the syrup and beat for 3 minutes.  Set aside.

In another bowl, cream the butter till fluffy. Add 1/4 cup of the butter to the sugar batter and beat for 2 minutes.  Continue with this process of beating the butter into the sugar batter in intervals.  Lastly add vanilla extract and amaretto and beat for 1 minute.

Then cut the corner off a gallon zip lock bag and place decorating tip inside, sticking out of the corner.  Fill the bag with the frosting and then ice the cupcakes.  Lastly, top with chocolate sprinkles.
                              **LAST YEAR: Pink Champagne Cupcakes**

Gingerbread Latte Cupcakes

Coffee combos have been popping up everywhere in baked goods since the cold season has hit.  I was slated for another donation, so I was looking for something that had a little pizzaz rather than just a standard chocolate cupcake.

I had saved this recipe a few years ago, but it was originally posted in a blog back in 2007.  It has a nice blend of spices as well as a touch of chocolate and coffee.  Definitely packed with flavor and the cupcake texture is just right.  The only ingredient change I made was to sub espresso powder for the coffee extract.  The recipe below does not have that reflect any ingredient changes but I have switched around some of the steps which I feel makes things easier.

The special process with the baking soda on the cupcakes is a must, I made the mistake of sifting it in with the flour on the first batch and had poor results.  This recipe makes 1 dozen, but I made 4 batches so I am now quite familiar with the process!

Oh and those specks in the frosting is none other than coffee grinds.  So coffee lovers rejoice!  For those that are no so keen on the coffee, you can skip the syrup and coffee frosting.  Just use double the amount of the spice frosting.

Today, I am off to Central Market for some great produce and specialty food and ingredients for this holiday season!  While I have a list, I am sure there will be a few impulse buys as well.  While it is a long drive, the visit has always been well worth it.

Gingerbread Latte Cupcakes
adapted from Cupcake Project 

Ingredients/Simple Syrup
2/3 cup water
1 tsp coffee extract
2/3 cup of sugar

Mix sugar and water in a saucepan and then place over medium high heat.  Stir constantly until the sugar is dissolved and mixture comes to a boil.  Remove from heat and stir in extract.  Let cool.

Ingredients/Cupcakes
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 1/4 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbs Dutch cocoa
1 1/4 cup flour
1 egg yolk
1 egg
5 tbs unsalted butter, room temp
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp baking soda

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grease top edges of muffin cavities of a 12 cup muffin pan and line with paper liners.

In a medium size bowl, sift together the first 7 ingredients and set aside.  In another bowl, beat together the sugar and the butter until light and fluffy.  This should take about 2 minutes.  Then beat in the egg yolk, egg and molasses until evenly distributed.

Fold the sifted flour mixture into the batter, making sure no dry streaks remain.  Take out a small microwavable bowl and add milk.  Heat in microwave about 30 seconds.  Sprinkle the baking soda into the milk and let foam up and then stir once and pour into batter.  Blend milk mixture into the batter until smooth.

Fill the 12 muffin cavities evenly with the batter.  They should be about 3/4 full.  Place muffin tin in oven and bake until tester comes out clean.  Mine were done in exactly 20 minutes.

Remove tin from oven and let cool for 2 minutes and transfer cupcakes to rack to finish cooling.  While they are cooling, you can start on your frosting.

Ingredients/Coffee Frosting

1/2 cup mascarpone
1/2 cup whipping cream
2 tsp of coffee extract
2 tbs coffee grinds
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

With a mixer on high speed, beat cream until it reaches a soft peak consistency.  Then fold in the mascarpone with a wooden spoon. Add the coffee grinds and extract, stirring so all is evenly distributed.  Sift 1/2 cups of powdered sugar into cream mixture and beat on low speed for 30 seconds.  Repeat process 2 more times until powdered sugar is mixed into frosting.  Cover and place in fridge while you prepare other frosting.

Ingredients/Spice Frosting
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp Dutch cocoa
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup marscapone
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Regarding the measurements for the first five ingredients, the instructions say to use only a total of 2 teaspoons of the whole mix..  Instead of wasting anything, I halved the measurements on those 5 and had 2 1/2 teaspoons total and used it all.  You can decide which and then blend those first five ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside.

Whip the cream and fold in the mascarpone as stated in the first frosting recipe.  Stir in 2 or 2 1/2 teaspoons of the spice mix.  Sift in 1/2 cup of the powdered sugar and beat on low speed for 30 seconds.  Continue with the same process until all the powdered sugar is blended.  Cover and place in fridge.

Assembly

Using a wooden skewer, poke holes in the top of each of the cupcake and ladle about 2 teaspoons of the syrup on top.  Let soak in for about 15 minutes.

Now, if you have a special piping bag that allows for duo frosting, fill as instructed with both frostings.  If you do not, follow the instructions below. While the method below is not perfect, it can help in making the two separate frostings flow together evenly. 

Cut a small corner out of a gallon freezer bag and place a large piping tip inside the bag and poke part of it through the hole.  Put the bag in a large cup, fold it over the top and lay the cup on its side..  Take out one of the bowls of frosting and spoon it all into the bottom side, being careful not to touch the opposite side.  Take out the other bowl of frosting and spoon the frosting into the bag and on top of the other.  Set cup upright and unfold top edges and squeeze icing down to tip.

Now your are ready to frost the cupcakes and enjoy!
                             **LAST YEAR: Red Velvet Cupcakes**

Hawaiian Zephyr Cupcakes

These cupcakes get their name because of two things.  The first thing-pineapple, it makes me think of Hawaii.  I remember staying on the island of Kauai and the place had no air conditioning, just these big windows with shutters.  You could open the shutters and get a nice cool breeze.  The gentle breeze, or zephyr, is the second thing.

This cupcake is very moist and gets its pineapple flavor from pineapple soda in the batter as well as pineapple juice that it brushed on over the top while the cupcake is still warm.  The top has a honey rum glaze sprinkled with toasted pecans.  Also, the crowning touch is a dollup of cinnamon whipped cream with fresh pineapple bits on top.

I am very happy with the results and I will definitely be making these again! The recipe makes about 1 dz cupcakes.

Also, thanks to all of you that voted me in to Top 9 yesterday, it made my day!
Hawaiian Zephyr Cupcakes
by flourtrader

Ingredients/Cupcakes
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1/2 cup pineapple soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
6 tbs butter, cubed
1 1/4 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
pineapple juice (drained from 8 oz can of pineapple tidbits)

Ingredients/Glaze
3 tbs honey
2 tbs rum
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup toasted ground pecans

Ingredients/topper
1/4 cup whipping cream
1 tbs sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
8 oz can of drained pineapple tidbits

For cupcakes, grease the top edge of muffin cavities and fill with paper liners.

Sift together baking soda, salt, baking powder and flour.  Whisk in sugar and set aside.   Take out a small saucepan and fill with butter cubes and soda.  Place over medium heat and cook until the butter is melted and mixture starts to boil.  Remove from heat and let cool.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Also place a cooling rack over a sheet of wax paper, making sure all the space below the rack is covered.

In a small bowl, beat together egg, buttermilk and the vanilla extract.  Set aside.  Then pour the cooled pineapple butter into the flour blend.  Stir with a wooden spoon until no dry streaks remain.  Lastly, blend the buttermilk/egg mixture into the batter.

Pour the batter evenly into the 12 liners.  Each liner should be about 2/3 full.  Place in oven and bake until tester comes out clean, which is about 15-20 minutes. Once baked, let cool in pan for about 2 minutes then remove and place on cooling rack.

Using a pastry brush, brush the pineapple juice over the tops of the warm muffins.  Let soak in and then brush a second layer over the top.  Let cupcakes cool completely before glazing.

To prepare the glaze, fill a small sauce pan with honey and rum.  Place over medium heat and let come to a simmer.  Remove and add powdered sugar.  Stir with a wooden spoon until no dry streaks remain and then beat for 2 minutes to make sure all the powdered sugar lumps are dissolved.

Then dip the tops of the cooled cupcakes in the glaze, making sure the excess drips off before placing upright on cooling rack. You may have to tip the saucepan to get complete coverage.  Also, when you get down to the last one or two, you may have to pour the glaze onto the cupcakes because there is not enough to dip the cupcake into.

After they all are glazed, sprinkle with the toasted pecans. It will take a few hours for the glaze to set.

The topper is something you will want to do right before serving.  Fresh fruit as well as whipped cream is better when eaten right away than stored in the fridge for hours.

In a small bowl beat cream, sugar and cinnamon together until soft peaks form.  Place a dollup or pipe the cream onto the center of the top of the cupcake.  Then place a few pieces of pineapple tidbits on top.  Now they are ready to serve!
                                          **LAST YEAR: Chinese Chews**            

Midnight Tropic Cupcakes

I know, taking a picture of a single cupcake is getting old, but I do have some photo changes in the works that I am excited to bring you later on in the month, but until then the single cupcake will have to do.

This is a double cocoa cupcake with a coconut cream filling.  The cupcake is moist and rich while the filling is much like a coconut cream pie.  I topped it all off with a light whipped cream icing.

To be honest, I was contemplating leaving the filling out because the cake part was so delicious by itself, almost like a chocolate brownie.  However, I do like coconut cream pie, so I went ahead with the filling.  If you like those two flavors, I am sure you will enjoy these cupcakes. This recipe makes two dozen cupcakes.

Midnight Tropic Cupcakes
 by flourtrader

Ingredients/Cream Filling
2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 stick or 4 tbs butter
1 tbs cornstarch
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp coconut extract
1 1/2 tsp milk

Ingredients/Cupcakes
3 eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 2/3 cups water
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened natural cocoa
1/2 cup dutch processed cocoa
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Ingredients/Whipped Cream Icing
1 eight oz package of cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp coconut extract
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 cups heavy whipping cream

The coconut cream filling will need to chill at least 6 hours before using, so you might want to make it the night before. The first thing you will need to do is check your coconut.  The brand I got had strands up to 2 1/2 inches long.  Since the coconut is a part of the filling, you do not want the strands that long.  Take 1/4 cup of the coconut and place in blender or small food processor and pulse about 10 times.  Then empty into a bowl.  Continue with this method until all coconut has been processed into smaller strands. Set bowl of coconut aside.

Fill a saucepan with the buttermilk, cream, sugar, butter and salt and place over medium heat.  As the mixture comes to a simmer, stir periodically until all the sugar has dissolved.  Take out a small bowl and whisk together the cornstarch, milk and both extracts.  Once mixed, pour into cream/sugar mixture and stir constantly.  The mixture should thicken in about 2 minutes.

Remove from heat and pour through a sieve into a  shallow heat proof bowl.  Push out any cornstarch lumps through the sieve with a spoon. Then stir in the coconut.  Let cool for 15 minutes, stir and then cover the surface of the filling with plastic wrap and place in fridge to cool for 6 hours or overnight.

To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Grease the top edges of 24 muffin cavities and then line with cupcake papers.

Measure out both types of cocoa into a small bowl. Bring the water to a boil and whisk into the cocoa.  Cool the cocoa mixture to room temperature.  To speed up the process, I placed the bowl in the fridge on a trivet and checked the temperature every 15 minutes.  The cocoa cooled off in about 30 minutes.

In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.  Using an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy.  Then add extract and beat for 30 seconds. Lastly, beat in the eggs, one at a time until completely blended.

Fold 1/3 of the flour mixture into the butter/sugar batter.  Then fold in 1/2 of the cooled cocoa mixture.  Repeat process, ending with the flour mixture.

Pour batter into prepared muffin cavities, making sure that each cavity is 3/4 full.  Bake cupcakes for about 15-20 minutes or until tester indicates done.  Let cupcakes cool in cavities for about 3 minutes, then remove and place on rack to finish cooling.

After the cupcakes and the filling have cooled, core the center out of the cupcake using a corer or a pairing knife.  Then take a ziplock bag and snip off the corner.  Put filling into bag and then pipe filling into the center of the cupcakes.

Once they are filled, you will need to make the icing.  Fill a bowl with all the ingredients except the whipping cream.  Using an electric mixer, beat until smooth. Slowly add the whipping cream, beating constantly until stiff peaks form.  Frost cupcakes as desired.

                                              **LAST YEAR:Brookies**

Dynamic Duo Cupcakes

Do not let the above picture fool you.  You might say that this cupcake has a split personality. The left half is chocolate with ground chocolate chips and the right half is mint.  If that was not enough, I have topped this with dark chocolate ganache and mint butter cream icing.

I have wanted a way to have 2 distinct cakes in one cupcake for awhile, but the idea of cutting an layering was out of the question.  I wanted the cake parts to bake together, but still be as one solid cupcake.  To my surprise they have cupcake and cake dividers.  You just put them in middle of the cavity and pour your batter into each side.  Then remove the divider prior to baking.

Sounds pretty simple, but what I did not realize is all the other factors.  With two different batters, there may be different textures, each side may rise to a different height and they may bake at two different temperatures and times.  It was not going to be as easy as I thought. A boxed cake mix would have been perfect to use, but I did not give in.

I made two batters of similar ingredients.  However, the textures and thickness did turn out different.  One was like a brownie batter and the other batter was thin enough to be poured.  I still went on and surprisingly the cupcakes did turn out well.

 These cupcakes were for donation, so the recipe makes about 4 dozen.

Dynamic Duo Cupcakes
by flourtrader

Ingredients/ Chocolate Cake
3 eggs
1 3/4 cup milk
1 cup or 2 sticks of butter (room temperature)
1 3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2  tsp vegetable oil
1 cup ground semi sweet chocolate (I used food processor and chocolate chips)
1/4 cup cocoa
2 cups plus 2 tbs of flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbs baking powder

Ingredients/Mint Cake
3 eggs
1 3/4 cup milk
1 cup or two sticks of butter
1 3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp mint extract
2 1/4 cup flour
1 tbs baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Ganache Topping
see filling recipe here 
or use a mix of 8 oz semi sweet chocolate melted in a double boiler with 1 tsp shortening.

Ingredients/Mint Buttercream Frosting
courtesy of Cupcake Bake Shop
1 1/2 cups or 3 sticks of butter
6-7 cups sifted powdered sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 tbs milk
1/8 tsp mint extract or more to taste
green food coloring

If you are making the ganache topping, this will need to be done first.  Click over to the link and prepare as stated.  Once it is in the fridge chilling, then you can start on making the cupcakes. 

For the chocolate batter, cream together the butter and sugar.  Then beat one egg into the batter for about 30 seconds.  Continue this process with the remaining eggs, one by one.  Then add the extract and vegetable oil and stir until blended.  Set aside.

Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder.  Then fold 1/3 of the flour mixture into the butter/sugar batter.  Stir in 1 cup of the milk until all is evenly blended.  Mix in 1/3 of the flour and continue to mix, adding the rest of the milk.  Fold in the last part of the flour and stir until no dry streaks remain.  Lastly, fold in the ground chocolate.  Cover and place in fridge.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease top edge of cavities in muffin pan.  Then line with cupcake papers and place the plastic dividers in the center of the cavities.

To make the mint cake, follow the same process as stated for the chocolate, except for the ingredient changes.  Leave out the vegetable oil, cocoa and ground chocolate.  You will replace the vanilla extract with mint.  Also note that this cake does call for a little bit more flour than the chocolate.

Take out the chocolate batter and fill one side of each muffin cavity to the top.  Continue until each cavity has chocolate batter on one side of the divider.  Then fill the other side of each divider in the cavity to the top with the mint batter.  Carefully pull out the batter dividers.

Bake cupcakes for 23-30 minutes or when tester comes out clean.  If you chose to do a chocolate drizzle on top of the cupcakes, now is the time to melt the ingredients in a double boiler. Once melted, remove pan from heat and pour into a heat proof bowl to cool.  Let cool at least 20 minutes prior to putting on cupcakes.

Once cakes are done baking, let cool in pan for 2 minutes then transfer to rack to cool.

After cooling, you can drizzle the melted chocolate or spread a thin layer of cold ganache on top.  Let topping set for about 1 hour.

To prepare the frosting, cream the butter until smooth.  Then add the rest of the ingredients and beat until all is evenly distributed. Taste to see if you want to add more mint extract.  After making the extract adjustment, add 3 drops of food coloring and beat again.  Continue to add the food coloring and beat until you reach the color you want. Frost cupcakes as desired.

                                           **LAST YEAR: Walnut Pillow Cookies**

Jazzy Jam Cupcakes

Well, if any of you make your own jam, this recipe has a use for that!  Most of the times when you hear about jam being used in a baked good, it usually is a filling between cake layers or a pastry filling. However, in this case, the jam is actually mixed and cooked into the batter.

The cake part reminds me of a hummingbird cake. The subtle flavor of the pineapple jam goes well with the cinnamon and ginger spices.  The icing on top tastes much like a praline, especially since the edges are rolled in ground pecans.

I am now thinking of all the other jams that could be used to flavor a cake or cupcakes and the different icing combinations you can come up with. The only concern on a variation is the type of jam. It would need to be seedless, so you may have to do some straining. This recipe makes 3 dz cupcakes.

Jazzy Jam Cupcakes
by flourtrader

Ingredients/cupcakes
1 cup chopped toasted pecans
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 cup of pineapple jam
6 eggs
2 cups light brown sugar
1 cup or 2 sticks of butter (room temp)
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda

Ingredients/Frosting
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2  tsp rum
1/2 cup ground pecans

To make your cupcakes, preheat the oven to 325 degrees and grease the top edge of the cavities of a muffin tin.  Line the cavities with paper liners.  Set aside.

With an electric mixer, beat butter until it reaches a creamy consistency.  Slowly add the light brown sugar and beat for an additional 2 minutes.  Beat in the eggs one at a time for about 30 seconds each.
Fold the jam in the batter with a wooden spoon until evenly dispersed, then beat for 1 minute.  Set aside.

In a medium size bowl, sift the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and ginger together.  Fold in 1/4 of the dry mixture to the wet batter, then add 1/4 cup of buttermilk.  Continue with this process of adding and mixing in the dry mixture and buttermilk-ending with the addition of the last bit of flour.
Then stir in the pecan pieces.

Fill each cavity of the pan with the batter. Batter should be nearly to the top edge of each cavity.   Place pan in oven and bake until done, or when tester comes out clean.  Mine took about 20-25 minutes.

Remove pan and let cupcakes cool for about 3 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.

To make the frosting, place first three ingredients into a saucepan over medium high heat.  Stir the mixture until the butter is melted.  As you stir, let the mixture come to a boil and then
boil for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in rum.  Let cool for 20 minutes.

Then add wet frosting mixture to powdered sugar, stirring to blend.  Place a sieve over a large bowl and strain frosting mixture into bowl, using a spatula to stir out any lumps from the powdered sugar.

Using a spoon, smooth the frosting over the top of the first cupcake, making sure that the edges are covered. You should let excess frosting drip down into a bowl.  Place the cupcakes on a cooling rack for about 3 minutes for the icing to start to set up.  After about 3 minutes, roll iced cupcake edges into the bowl of ground nuts, pressing lightly. If icing still drips off into pecan crumbs, stop and wait another 3 minutes and resume rolling in the crumbs. I was able to frost about 6 cupcakes at each interval before rolling in nuts. After all the cupcakes are frosted and decorated with nuts, allow the frosting to set up. This should take about an hour.

Then you are ready to serve.

Piedmont Hazelnut Cupcakes

This cupcake gets its name from a location in Italy that is famous for their hazelnuts.  Like my Amaretto bundt cake, I was on a quest to get a rich nut flavor into a cupcake and accent it lightly with chocolate-but this time it would be with hazelnuts.

There was a lot of experimentation involved, especially since nuts have a lot of oil in them.  In addition, I had hazelnut oil, not extract.  The first batch ended with pools of oil underneath the cupcake paper after baked, so I had to make modifications.

This recipe does not make airy cupcakes.  This means that the cupcake liners need to be filled full, because there is not a lot of rising in baking.

The end result was a moist cupcake with fairly tight crumb.  The true flavor of the hazelnuts really comes through.  These could actually stand alone as a breakfast treat, but the addition of the shiny chocolate frosting does move them into the dessert category.

The recipe is for exactly 20 cupcakes and the frosting (from Martha Stewart) makes 5 cups.  I have found that when using a decorating tip, the 5 cups will frost about 32 cupcakes.  So if you plan to just ice the cupcakes with a knife, you should 1/2 the recipe.

Piedmont Hazelnut Cupcakes
by flourtrader

Ingredients/Cupcakes
1 cup of sour cream
4 eggs
1 1/4 cups or 2 1/2 sticks of butter (room temp)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp hazelnut flavoring (I used Lorann oil brand from King Arthur Flour)
1 tablespoon of baking powder
2 cups of flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup hazelnut flour

Ingredients/Frosting
(courtesy of Martha Stewart)
1 1/2 lbs of semi-sweet chocolate chips (melted in a double boiler and cooled for 30 minutes)
1 cup plus 1 tbs dutch process cocoa
1/2 cup plus 1 tbs boiling water
2 1/4 cups or 4 1/2 sticks butter (room temp)
3/4 cup confectioners sugar (sifted)
1/4 tsp salt

To make cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grease top edges of cupcake cavities of cupcake pan(s).  Fill cavities with 20 cupcake liners and fill the empty cavities with a little water.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium size bowl.  Then whisk in the hazelnut flour and set aside.

Fill a larger mixing bowl with butter and sugar.  With an electric mixer, beat until it becomes light and fluffy.  In another bowl, lightly beat one egg with a fork and then add it to the batter and beat for 30 seconds.  Continue to follow this process for the remaining eggs.  After all the eggs are blended, beat in the vanilla extract, hazelnut oil and sour cream.  Your batter should be quite smooth at this point.

Using a wooden spoon, fold the dry mixture into the batter until no dry streaks remain.  Scoop out batter and fill lined cupcake cavities to the top.  All batter should be evenly distributed in only 20 liners.

Place pan in oven and bake for about 15-20 minutes or when top of cupcake springs back when lightly touched.  My bake time was exactly 18 minutes.

When done, remove pan and let cupcakes cool for about 3 minutes, then transfer to rack to finish cooling.  Repeat same baking and cooling process if using additional cupcake pans.

For the frosting, place cocoa into bowl of boiling water. Stir until mixture is completely dissolved and there are no lumps.  Set aside.

Using an electric mixer, cream together butter, sifted confectioners sugar and salt until smooth.  This should take about 2 minutes.  Then pour in the melted chocolate chips, using a spatula to scrape all the chocolate into the bowl. Beat at low until chocolate is completely blended into the butter mixture,  stopping a few times to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Lastly, add the cocoa mixture and beat for about 30 seconds.  Now it is ready to be used, so you can frost your cupcakes as desired.  If you have extra frosting, you can freeze for one month or refrigerate for 5 days.  Either way, you will need to bring it to room temperature and beat it again until it returns to a smooth consistency.

Passion Fruit Chocolate Filled Cupcakes

I noticed that I had a baked goods donation coming up, so I went to the market.  When I saw that they had passion fruit, I couldn't pass it up.  I still had unused bottles of the nectar in my fridge that I bought previously.

I decided to make cupcakes with the nectar and icing with the pureed fruit.  In addition, I wanted them to have a dark chocolate filling. I also got some chocolate sprinkles to top off the icing.  It looks I got a little impatient with the above photo because I could not get a clean cut.  The frosting went down over the tunnel of chocolate.

The cake part turned out light and airy due to the egg whites.  I was glad because it was a good palette, allowing for the tartness of the icing and the rich chocolate filling to really be the leading acts of flavor.

The recipe below makes about 20 cupcakes.

Passion Fruit Cupcakes
by flourtrader

Ingredients/for cake
6 egg whites
3/4 cup passion fruit nectar
red & yellow food coloring (orange colored cake is optional)
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
8 tbs or 1 stick of butter (room temp)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/8 tsp cream of tartar

Ingredients/Dark Chocolate Filling

2 tsp of butter
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 lb or 8 oz semisweet chocolate chips

Ingredients/Passion Fruit icing
1 tbs butter
1 tsp passion fruit nectar
1 passion fruit (mine was the size of an apricot)
1 cup of sifted powdered sugar

To make the cake, take out 2 muffin tins and grease the top edge of the holders and then line with cupcake papers.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Place butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl and beat with electric mixer until the batter becomes light and fluffy.  It should take about 3 minutes on medium speed.  Set aside.

In another bowl, sift flour, salt and baking power together.  Sift one more time. Then pour half of this dry mixture into the sugar batter.  Fold the flour into the batter by using a spatula or wooden spoon until no dry streaks remain. Stir in the fruit nectar until well blended. Pour the remaining dry flour mixture into the batter and mix thoroughly.  If using food coloring, stir in a few drops at a time, checking the color.  Continue adding drops and stirring until desired color is met.  Set aside..

Pull out another bowl and fill with egg whites and cream of tartar.  Using clean mixer beaters, whip eggs whites on high until stiff peaks are formed but mixture is still shiny and not dry.  Fold the egg whites into the batter with a spatula until evenly blended.

Fill the cavities of the prepared pan and bake for 20-25 minutes or until tester comes out clean.  Cool in pan for 2 minutes.  Then remove cupcakes and place on rack to finish cooling.

After the cupcakes have cooled, use a knife or cupcake corer to take out a small cylinder or cone of cake from the center of the cupcake.  Now you are prepared for the next step of the filling.

To make the filling, place a saucepan over medium high heat.  Put the cream and the butter in the saucepan and let cook until it comes to a rolling boil.  Then add the chocolate and stir for 1 minute and remove from heat.  Continue to stir an additional 5 minutes.  This will result in a smooth and shiny filling.  Set aside and let cool to room temperature.

After the filling has cooled, get out a gallon freezer bag and cut off a small piece of the corner.  Using a large spoon, put filling into bag. Then pipe chocolate into cupcake cavities until chocolate reaches the top.  Let filled cupcakes sit for at least an hour before frosting.

To prepare the filling, cut passion fruit in half and pull out interior fruit and place in a blender.  Pulse a few times and then put into a mesh strainer.  Push pulp through strainer into a small bowl, leaving the seeds behind.

Add sugar, butter and pulp to a small bowl and beat with an electric mixer.  Add the nectar and beat again.  At this point you can add more nectar or add more sugar-depending on what consistency you want.  However, you do not want a grainy texture nor do you want the sugar to overpower the flavor of the passion fruit.  My icing was, as you can see by the picture, medium texture.  It was not thick and stiff nor was it like a glaze.

Decorate and frost cupcakes as desired.  I added sprinkles on top of the frosting.

Lemon Lattice White Chocolate Cupcakes

This recipe was originally for a 3 layer white cake.  There have been several comments that this is a good recipe for a wedding cake.  The assembly of the cake is cake layer, then curd, then frosting.  The top of my cupcakes is the same as the cake would be and, of course, the cake sides would need to be frosted.

The texture of the cake is like a pound cake.  Even though it is dense, it is quite moist. If my actions are any indication how good the cake is, note that I greased the inside of the cupcake papers prior to baking. I just wanted to make sure that very little of the cake was wasted by being stuck to the paper!

The frosting and curd do require a minimum of 6 hours for chilling prior to putting on cupcakes.  I found it best to make the frosting and curd one day before.  The next day you can bake and decorate the cupcakes.  This recipe makes about 2 1/2 dozen cupcakes.

Lemon Lattice White Chocolate Cupcakes
courtesy of Bon Appetit /Feb 1991

Ingredients/Lemon Curd
2 tbs grated lemon zest
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tbs cornstarch
1 cup and 2 tbs sugar
3 eggs
6 egg yolks
1/2 cup (1 stick) and 2 tbs butter (room temp/cut into cubes)

Ingredients/Frosting
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups whipping cream
4.5 oz imported white chocolate, chopped

Ingredients/Cake
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup plus 2 tbs milk
1 cup whipping cream
4 oz imported white chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter (room temp)
2 cups sugar
4 eggs (separated)
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 3/4 cup flour

Due to the required chilling time, the curd and frosting will be made first.  For the curd, take out a medium size saucepan.  Fill with cornstarch and lemon juice and blend until cornstarch dissolves.  Add all the other ingredients and whisk together.  Then place saucepan over medium heat.  Whisk and cook until mixture just comes to a boil. This should take about seven minutes, resulting in a thick smooth texture.  Remove saucepan from heat and pour into strainer over a heat proof bowl.  Once all is strained, cover curd and bowl with plastic wrap.  The wrap will need to be touching all of the surface of the curd, so none of it will dry out.  It is important for the piping that there are no lumps to clog the tip.  Place bowl in fridge to chill for 6 hours or more.

Now, the frosting will need to be mixed and heated.  Take out a small saucepan and fill with only 1/2 cup of the cream and the 4.5 oz of white chocolate.  Place over a low burner and stir until all chocolate is completely melted and mixture is smooth.  Pour the chocolate cream into a large heat proof bowl.  Add the vanilla and rest of the cream, stirring until blended. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in fridge to chill for 6 hours or more.

Prepare your pans by greasing the top edge of the muffin inserts and place cupcake papers inside muffin holders. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Using a medium size bowl, sift together salt, baking powder and flour.  Then sift ingredients a second time. Set aside.

Fill a medium size saucepan with 1/2 cup of cream and 4 oz of chocolate and place over low heat.  This will need to be stirred until chocolate has melted.  Stir in the remaining amount of cream, vanilla and milk until blended.  Set aside.

Using an electric mixer, cream butter and 1 cup of sugar together in a large bowl. Once the mixture has a fluffy texture, add the yolks and continue to beat.  Fold in 1/3 of the sifted ingredients, then mix in 1/2 of the cream chocolate batter.  As you are stirring, continue to add the remaining sifted ingredients and cream chocolate batter in increments, ending with dry.  Set aside this bowl of cake batter.

Find the bowl of egg whites and beat with an electric mixer until the eggs turn into a glossy white mixture that holds soft peaks. Continuing to beat, slowly add the remaining 1 cup of sugar. The egg whites should be beaten until they hold stiff peaks without being dry.  Then fold 1/2 of the whites into the cake batter, repeat until all whites are blended.

Pour batter into each muffin cavity, filling about 3/4 full. There is not a lot of rise in the batter during baking. Place filled pan in oven and bake for 18-24 minutes.  Cupcakes are done when edges are toasty and tester comes out clean.  Remove pan and let cool for 4 minutes, then remove cupcakes and place on racks to finish cooling.

Once cupcakes have cooled as well as frosting and lemon curd, a cone should be cut out of the center of each cupcake.  Discard cone.  Then prepare a pastry bag with a large decorating tip or you can use a plastic freezer bag with the corner cut off.  Add the lemon curd to the bag.  Using the bag, fill each cupcake cavity with the lemon curd.  After filling, smooth top of curd so it is flush with the top of the cupcake.

Take out the frosting and beat with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form.  The consistency should be glossy and thick, not dry.  With a butter knife, frost the tops of the cupcakes.  This will be the bottom layer of the cupcake topping, so just use enough frosting to cover the cupcake (see above picture).

If not serving right away, refrigerate cupcakes.  Let come to room temperature 1/2 hour before serving.