Week 43, November 23, 2014 ~ Almond Joy Hi Hats

This was one of the more technical cupcakes that I have done. Hi hats are made with a meringue frosting and then they are dipped in chocolate and then the chocolate shell hardens. I wanted to try it for a while and this seemed like the perfect cupcake for it--like the outside of a candy bar. So my take on an almond joy is my go to chocolate cupcake with a coconut filling, topped with a coconut meringue frosting dipped in chocolate and sprinkled with sliced almonds. The most challenging part of the cupcake is the frosting because you have to beat it on the stove at the right temperature, my frosting came out kind of gritty so I think the temperature was too low so the sugar didn't dissolve completely. Hence the importance of a candy thermometer.

This recipe makes 14-16 cupcakes

For the chocolate cake:

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temp

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar, packed

2 ounces dark chocolate ( I used an 80%)

2 large eggs, room temp

2 large egg yolks, room temp

1/2 cup + 1 tbsp vegetable or canola oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/3 cup sour cream

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup cocoa powder--I use Hershey's Special Dark

1/2 cup brewed coffee, room temp

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Melt the chocolate and set aside to cool.
3. Beat butter and sugar until fully combined and looks like wet sand; add the melted chocolate once cooled and mix to combine.
4. Mix in eggs and egg yolks one at a time until just combined.
5. Mix in oil, vanilla, and sour cream until just combined.
6. Sift flour, salt, baking soda, and cocoa powder in a separate bowl.
7. Add dry ingredients to the wet mixture a little at a time until just combined.
8. Add the coffee and mix till combined.
9. Fill cupcake liners and bake with 18 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.
10. Set aside on a wire rack and let cool.

For the coconut filling:

• 2 cups shredded coconut
• 1 cup cream of coconut

Combine the 2 ingredients and mix well and then fill each cooled cupcake with about a tbsp of filling.

For the frosting and coating:

• 1 3/4 cups sugar 
• 3 large egg whites 
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar 
• 1 teaspoon coconut extract 
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1.  In a large heatproof bowl, combine sugar, 1/4 cup water, egg whites, and cream of tartar. Using a handheld electric mixer, beat on high speed until foamy, about 1 minute. Set bowl over a pan of barely simmering water. Beat on high speed until frosting forms stiff peaks, about 12 minutes; frosting should register 160 degrees.on a candy thermometer. Remove from heat; stir in coconut and almond extracts, and beat for 2 minutes more until frosting thickens.
2. Transfer frosting to a large pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain pastry tip. Leaving a 1/8-inch border on each cupcake, pipe a spiral of frosting into a 2-inch-high cone shape, using about 1/2 cup of frosting per cupcake. Transfer cupcakes to a baking sheet, and refrigerate while preparing the chocolate coating.

For the chocolate coating

• 2 cups chopped (about 12 ounces) semisweet chocolate 
• 3 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
• 1. Combine chocolate and oil in a medium heat-proof bowl set over a medium saucepan of barely simmering water; stir until melted and smooth. Transfer to a small bowl, and let cool about 15 minutes.
  2. Holding each cupcake by its bottom, dip cupcake in the chocolate to coat frosting, allowing excess to drip off. Transfer to a baking sheet fitted with a wire rack. Spoon more coating around edge of cupcake and any exposed frosting; none of the frosting should show. Let cupcakes stand at room temperature 15 minutes.
     
     

The frosting was adapted from Martha Stewart.com

Week 42, November 16, 2014 ~ Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

This cupcake is basically a chocolate chip cookie dough lovers dream! It is a chocolate cake with a cookie dough center and a cookie dough cream cheese frosting. I could not stop eating this frosting, it was addictive and the best part is that their is obviously no raw egg in it so you can eat all you want and not get sick! (I probably shouldn't encourage that though) The cookie dough center is an eggless cookie dough that is frozen and then baked into the cupcake so that it still is a little doughy but the rest of the cupcake is cooked.

This recipe makes 16 cupcakes!

For the cookie dough center:

• 1 cup flour
• 1/6 tsp baking soda
• 1/6 tsp salt
• 6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 1/2 Tbsp sugar
• 2 1/2 Tbsp milk
• 1 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips

1. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt into a small bowl.
2. In a medium bowl, beat together the butter, sugars, milk and vanilla until smooth.
3. Beat the dry ingredients and the chocolate chips into the butter mixture until smooth.
4. Refrigerate for 15 to 30 minutes until it is firm enough to handle.
5. Scoop out dough into 16 balls. and freeze for 30+ minutes.

For the chocolate cake:

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temp

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar, packed

2 ounces dark chocolate ( I used an 80%)

2 large eggs, room temp

2 large egg yolks, room temp

1/2 cup + 1 tbsp vegetable or canola oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/3 cup sour cream

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup cocoa powder--I use Hershey's Special Dark

1/2 cup brewed coffee, room temp

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Melt the chocolate and set aside to cool.
3. Beat butter and sugar until fully combined and looks like wet sand; add the melted chocolate once cooled and mix to combine.
4. Mix in eggs and egg yolks one at a time until just combined.
5. Mix in oil, vanilla, and sour cream until just combined.
6. Sift flour, salt, baking soda, and cocoa powder in a separate bowl.
7. Add dry ingredients to the wet mixture a little at a time until just combined.
8. Add the coffee and mix till combined.
9. Fill cupcake liners half way and then place a frozen cookie dough ball into the center and press down till covered and bake with 18 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.
10. Set aside on a wire rack and let cool.

For the Cookie Dough Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 4 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 5 Tbsp. butter, softened
• ⅔ cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 Tbsp. milk
• ½ cup flour
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• ⅔ cup mini chocolate chips

Cream softened cream cheese and butter together in a large bowl.

Add brown sugar, vanilla and Dream Whip and evenly beat together.

Add milk, flour and powdered sugar and beat to evenly incorporate until smooth. If necessary add more powdered sugar to thicken it or more milk to thin it. Add the chocolate chips.

Wrap the bowl in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes so it firms up a bit/

Frost cupcakes...I went for a messier raw dough look. 

Week 41, November 9, 2014 ~ Pumpkin Pecan Pie Cupcakes

I guess this cupcake is similar to the first pumpkin cupcake I made ( the pumpkin praline cupcakes) but I don't care because pumpkin cupcakes are delicious! The cake is my go to pumpkin cupcake recipe. Then it is filled with pecan pie filling and topped with a pumpkin spice mascarpone whipped cream. Since is a heavier cupcake I wanted to top them with a lighter frosting. Then I topped with with pecans leftover from the filling. For the filling I baked a crust less pecan pie and once it cooled a little bit I filled the cupcakes with it. 

The recipe makes 24 cupcakes

- 1C karo light corn syrup

- 1C sugar

- 3 eggs, well beaten

- 2 tbsp butter, melted

- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

- 1 1/2 C pecan halves

1. Preheat oven to 350

2. Mix all the ingredients except for the pecans with a spoon and then fold in pecan halves

3. Pour mixture into a pie pan and bake for 60 minutes.

4. Let cool on a wire rack while preparing the cupcakes.

For the Pumpkin Cake

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 can pumpkin puree (15 oz)
• 4 large eggs
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1. In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices. Set aside.
2. In the mixer, cream together the sugar, oil, vanilla and pumpkin. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each. 
3. Add the flour mixture and blend until well incorporated. Use a rubber spatula to scrape the bowl and make sure it's all mixed in.
4. Fill cupcake tins 2/3rds full.
5. Bake for about 20 minutes until tops spring back when lightly touched. Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes before removing to rack to cool completely.
6. Core the cupcakes and fill with a tablespoon or so of filling. Reserve some of the pecans from the edges of the pie pan to garnish the cupcakes.

For the Pumpkin Spice Whipped Cream:

• 12 oz Mascarpone cheese
• 1 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• splash of vanilla
• 3/4 cup of sugar

1. in a bowl of an electric mixer, whisk the mascarpone cheese, heavy whipping cream and vanilla extract. Gradually increase the speed over a few seconds till on medium-high.  Slowly pour in the sugar and vanilla. Beat on medium-high until soft peaks form--this should not take more than a minute or 2...gradually lower the speed until you turn off the mixer.
2. Frost cupcakes and top with the pecans.

Week 40, November 3, 2014 ~ Red Velvet Rocky Road

For this cupcake I put my own spin on a classic flavor--Rocky Road! using red velvet instead of the typical chocolate. I thought rocky road would of been a more typical cupcake flavor but when I was on Pinterest (like always) trying to see what other people have done with this flavor there was not much there. So anyways this is a red velvet cupcake with walnuts and a marshmallow cream cheese frosting, since cream cheese frosting is classically paired with red velvet cake. I then topped the cupcakes with some walnuts--though I only did that because I leave the cupcakes at work and the topping usually acts as an identifier so I don't kill anyone, because that would be bad! 

This recipe makes 12 cupcakes

For the red velvet cupcake:

• 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup buttermilk, room temperature
• 1 large eggs, room temperature
• 1-2 T red food coloring (or any color I actually made mine more of a pink)--less if using gel gel food coloring 
• 1/2 tsp distilled white vinegar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350. 
2. In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. 
3. In a large bowl gently beat the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the went and mix until smooth.
5. Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake papers, about 2/3 full.
6. Bake in oven 20 to 22 minutes, turning the pans once halfway through.
7. Let cool before filling and frosting

For the Marshmallow Cream Cheese Buttercream:

1/2 (4-ounce) package cream cheese

1/2 stick un salted butter, softened

1 cups mini marshmallows, melted

2-3 cups powdered sugar

1. Blend cream cheese and butter together in a mixing bowl. Add melted marshmallows and sugar and blend for 2-3 minutes. Pipe and decorate how you want!

Week 39 , October 27, 2014 ~ Candy Bar Cupcakes

As you can see these were my Halloween week cupcakes. I wish I had done something a little crazier but I wasn't really feelin it...I instead did something that reminds me of a candy bar. No specific candy bar just all the things i like in a candy bar. The cake is a Hazelnut Devils Food, I love all things Nutella so I really like it. Then I threw some peanut butter chips inside and I think I also threw some Heath bar bits in to ( I honestly can't remember but it sounds like something I would do and couldn't be a bad thing). I then topped them off with a caramel cream cheese frosting. I wish I had more to say about this cupcake I just don't remember it very well unfortunately. Luckily I have an abundance of time off over the next few weeks so I can actually take a day and get completely caught up! In real time my year is almost up! I know everyone would like me to continue on the cupcake train I think I will expand my horizons and make other things but still keep to making something every week! I'm not cruel I wouldn't cut people off completely :) 

This recipe makes 16 cupcakes:

For the hazelnut devil's food:

1. 1/4 cup butter( room temperature)
2. 1 cups sugar
3. 1 egg + 1 yolk
4. 6 tbsp sour cream
5. 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
6. 1 cup all purpose flour
7. 2 tsp baking soda
8. 1/4 tsp salt
9. 1/8 cup cocoa powder
10. 1/4 cup nutella
11. 1/2 cup water( boiling)
12. 1/2-1 cup various chips (depending on ow much you like and what flavors you want - I did peanut butter and toffee)

1. Preheat the oven to 350F

2. cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in eggs one at a time. 

3. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. 

4. Add half of flour mixture to the butter mixture, followed by the sour cream and vanilla extract, followed by the addition of the rest of the flour mix. Stir well between each addition and mix until no streaks of flour remain.

5. Stir the cocoa powder and the nutella into the boiling water (easiest in a large measuring cup). Pour chocolate water into the rest of the batter and stir until uniform. Add the chips and gently fold into the batter.
6. Evenly distribute batter into prepared baking cups. Bake for 13-15 minutes, until a tester comes out clean and the cakes spring back when lightly pressed. Cool cupcakes on wire rack before frosting

For the caramel cream cheese buttercream:

• -1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened 
• -4 ounces (½ 8-ounce package) cream cheese, softened
• -½ cup  homemade or prepared caramel, thick at room temperature--I usually make my own but I used store bought this time
• -2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• -4 cups confectioners’ sugar

1. Using an electric stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, or handheld mixer and large bowl, beat butter on medium speed until creamy. Add cream cheese, caramel and vanilla; beat until fully incorporated.

2. Gradually increase mixer speed to high and continue beating until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of bowl as necessary with rubber spatula.

3. Gradually add confectioners’ sugar, beating on low speed (stir), until well combined. Beat on high speed until well combined and smooth while scraping down sides of bowl as necessary, about 2 minutes.

4. Decorate anyway you want!

Week 38 ~ October 19, 2014 ~ Chocolate Vanilla Swirl Cupcakes

I wish I could take creative credit for these cupcakes but they didnt not come from my brain even a little bit. I mean I guess I can take credit in that some of the components are things I have made before but that's about it. I do take requests but they are usually broad but nope not this one. This is pretty much a direct quote- " I want a vanilla cupcake filled with chocolate pudding and topped with chocolate ganache and vanilla mascarpone whipped cream swirled together, are you taking notes?". I can really only take credit for the execution and they did come out excellent. And if it didn't want to do it then I wouldn't have! This is a perfect chocolate and vanilla cupcake and a more sophisticated approach to a classic. I will say it was difficult to get the whipped ganache and mascarpone to come out at the same time because the ganache is a lot heavier but I eventually got the hang of it. I had to squeeze harder on the chocolate side but once it got going to was easier. 

This recipe makes 12-15 cupcakes:

For the Chocolate Pudding: 

• 2 cups whole milk or half-and-half, divided
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• Pinch of salt
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. In a medium saucepan, stir together 1¾ cups of the milk, the sugar, chocolate and salt, and place over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate is completely melted.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining ¼ cup milk and cornstarch until no lumps remain. Pour the cornstarch mixture into the saucepan and whisk to combine. Cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture thickens and begins to boil. Reduce the heat to low and continue to cook for an additional minute, whisking constantly. Remove from the heat and whisk in the vanilla extract.

3. Pour the pudding mixture into a clean bowl, and press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the pudding to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate the pudding until completely chilled, at least 4 hours.

For the Vanilla Cupcake:

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 
• 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup buttermilk 

Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a cupcake/muffin pan with cupcake liners.

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together 1¼ cups flour, 1¼ tsp baking powder, ½ tsp baking soda and ½ tsp salt. Set flour mix aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat 2 eggs with the whisk attachment on medium speed
3. Add ¾ cup sugar and continue to beat on medium speed 
4. Add vanilla and oil and beat on medium speed 
5. Reduce mixer speed to medium/low and slowly add about half of the flour mixture. Add half of the buttermilk, then the rest of the flour mix and the rest of the milk. Beat until just combined and smooth, scraping down the sides of the mixing bowl. The batter should be thin.
6. Pour batter into a lined muffin pan. Fill to about ½ full.
7. Bake for 12 -14 minutes at 350°F. Let them cool in the pan for a couple minutes, then remove.
8. Once cool fill with the Chocolate pudding.

For the Whipped Chocolate Ganache:

• 2 2/3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 1/3 cups heavy whipping cream

1. Heat the heavy cream in a small saucepan until it begins to simmer. 
2. Pour the heavy cream over the chocolate chips. Let it stand for a couple minutes to melt the chips and then stir until smooth.
3. Let it cool to room temperature then whip with a mixer until it is firm enough to hold shape.

For the Vanilla Bean Mascarpone:

• 8 oz Mascarpone cheese
• 1 cup of heavy whipping cream
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
• 1/2 cup of sugar

In a bowl of an electric mixer, whisk the mascarpone cheese, heavy whipping cream and vanilla bean. Gradually increase the speed over a few seconds till on medium-high.  Slowly pour in the sugar. Beat on medium-high until soft peaks form--this should not take more than a minute or 2...gradually lower the speed until you turn off the mixer.

Now comes the super technical part! You need:

•  two 12' pastry bags
• one 16' pastry bag
• a pastry tip- I used Wilton 1M 
• You don't NEED it but a large coupler makes it easier

First fill the 2 12' pastry bags with the two frostings and then set up the larger bag like you would normally and then cut the tips off the bags filled with frosting and carefully place them in the larger bag next to each other. Test the bag and squeeze until both frostings come out at the same time! It is like a soft serve swirl ice cream in frosting form! It is honestly not that hard and it looks cool...Though you could also pipe the ganache first and then the whipped cream on top. I do wish I topped the cupcakes with jimmies or chocolate curls but oh well! 

Week 37, October 12, 2014 ~ Chocolate Orange Cupcakes

These are basically like those chocolate oranges that you have to crack open and get at christmas but in a cupcake and more grownup because I used Grand Marnier! I love orange flavored everything so I liked them a lot. I did kind of phone it in with the decorations. Originally I wanted to do candied oranges but those were a big time commitment and I didn't have the right type of oranges, then I wanted to dip orange slices in chocolate, which I did with one, but I didn't think they would hold up over the few days it takes the cupcakes to usually disappear.  So in the end I just went with some gold sparkles that I had. This is just a chocolate cupcake with a chocolate orange mousse filling and a chocolate orange ganache. I do with I went with a cupcake that wasn't so moist and would have held up better to the mousse filling but I didn't really give it much thought at the time and just used my goto chocolate cake recipe.

This recipe makes 16 cupcakes!

For the chocolate cake:

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temp

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar, packed

2 ounces dark chocolate ( I used an 80%)

2 large eggs, room temp

2 large egg yolks, room temp

1/2 cup + 1 tbsp vegetable or canola oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/3 cup sour cream

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup cocoa powder--I use Hershey's Special Dark

1/2 cup brewed coffee, room temp

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Melt the chocolate and set aside to cool.
3. Beat butter and sugar until fully combined and looks like wet sand; add the melted chocolate once cooled and mix to combine.
4. Mix in eggs and egg yolks one at a time until just combined.
5. Mix in oil, vanilla, and sour cream until just combined.
6. Sift flour, salt, baking soda, and cocoa powder in a separate bowl.
7. Add dry ingredients to the wet mixture a little at a time until just combined.
8. Add the coffee and mix till combined.
9. Fill cupcake liners and bake with 18 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.
10. Set aside on a wire rack and let cool.

For the Mousse filling:

• 3 cups dark chocolate chips
• ½ cup heavy cream
• Zest of 2 oranges, very finely minced
• 1 ½ cups whipping cream

1. Melt the dark chocolate chips, 1/2 cup heavy cream, and orange zest together in the microwave and let cool to room temperature.

2. Whip the remaining heavy cream into firm peaks. Slowly fold in the chocolate mixture a little at a time. If this mixture is too runny chill it in the fridge for a few minutes and then whip again until it is firm. You may need to repeat this a couple of times. 

3. Fill the cooled cupcakes with a tablespoon or so of the filling

Chocolate Orange Liqueur Ganache Glaze
1 1/3 cups dark chocolate chips
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 ounce orange liqueur
2 tbsp honey

1. Scald the whipping cream almost to the boiling point and pour the hot cream over the chocolate chips in a small bowl. Let stand for 4-5 minutes, then stir until smooth.
2. Add the liqueur and honey to the chocolate mixture and stir well until completely smooth. Dip each cupcake into the glaze and smooth out if necessary.

3. Garnish as you see fit and if you want you can put them in the fridge so the glaze firms up.

Is this not the cutest little bottle of alcohol?