Chocolate velvet cupcakes

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• We have a new legal clerk starting Monday so I decided to make some cupcakes to celebrate. I like red velvet but I hate using a whole bottle of food coloring so these are red velvet without the red.
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• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup milk

 

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Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Set aside.
2. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Mix in sour cream, milk, and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until just blended. Do not overbeat. Spoon batter into 30 paper-lined muffin cups, filling each cup 2/3 full.
3. Bake 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted into cupcake comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire rack 5 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely.

Frosting

Use mixer to combine one cup of confectioners sugar and one stick of room temperature butter. Add two teaspoons of red wine and one teaspoon of vanilla. Mix well and add half cup of confectioners sugar. 

Chocolate mint cupcakes

I just made French toast cupcakes yesterday but to more is jimmys birthday sooooo I needed to bake more cupcakes, new cupcakes... Some,thing different. A look through my cabinets and a little cupcake wars inspiration and I decided on tiramisu which I don't have all the ingredients so, oddly I decided on an Andes mint inspired cupcake. Random story, I know. 

Chocolate mint cupcake 

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour
7 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, at room temperature
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup boiling water

Directions:

Add all dry ingredients into mixer and combine well. In a separate bowl combine all wet ingredients except for the water, mix well. Pour wet ingredients into dry and beat for three minutes. Add boiling water and combine. Add 2 tablespoons of flour and teaspoon of sugar, mix. Pour into a prepared cupcake tin with liners. Bake at 350 for 23 minutes. Cool and then frost.

Frosting

One stick of room temperature butter, 

One to two cups of powdered sugar

One teaspoon vanilla extract

One teaspoon peppermint extract

2 tablespoons water

Hot chocolate cupcakes

For Black Friday weekend I decided to contribute to the yummmies on hand in the break room, this is the result

Cupcakes ingredients 

3/4 cup unsalted butter
• 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 
• 3/4 cup canola oil
• 4-1/2 oz. bittersweet chocolate
• 3 cups granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 2 Tbs. pure vanilla extract
• 2-1/2 tsp. baking soda
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frosting ingredients 
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 6 large egg whites
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Heat the oven to 350°F. Place cupcake liners into cupcake pans.
2. In a medium saucepan, combine the butter, oil, chopped chocolate, and 1 cup water. Heat over medium heat until melted and fully combined.
3. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, and cocoa powder. Pour the hot chocolate mixture into the sugar mixture and whisk until combined.
4. Whisk in the eggs, one at a time (making sure to keep whisking - you don’t want the eggs to scramble), then whisk in the buttermilk, vanilla, baking soda, and salt.
5.  Fill each cupcake liner about 2/3 full.
6. Bake cupcakes for 17-22 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center. Cool on racks for 10 minutes.


For the frosting
7. In a double broiler, combine sugar, corn syrup, 1/4 cup water, and egg whites. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, about 2 minutes.
8. Transfer bowl to a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat mixture on high speed until glossy and voluminous, about 5 minutes. Beat in vanilla. Use immediately. 
9. After frosting, use a handheld kitchen torch to lightly toast the top of the frosting if desired.

Recipe adapted from bakerita.com

Gluten free banana muffins with chocolate chips

I made these for my far-away coworker, Kristen, upon the occasion of her visit to learn the new system. Gluten free and "real" sugar, as requested! :-)

2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, optional
1 3/4 cups Gluten-Free "Sweet" White Sorgum  Flour
1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) soft butter
2/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons molasses or honey
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cup very mashed ripe bananas (about 2 medium bananas)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, optional
1) Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease a 12-cup muffin pan, or line the pan with papers, and grease the papers.

2) Whisk together the baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and flour. Set aside.

3) Beat together the soft butter, sugar, and molasses (and/or honey).

4) Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl between additions.

5) Add the dry ingredients to the mixture in the bowl in three parts, alternately with the mashed bananas, beating well between additions and scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl one or two times during this process.

6) After everything is added, scrape the bowl again and beat at medium high speed for 30 seconds

7) Stir in the walnuts.

8) Scoop the batter into the prepared pan, mounding the cups full. The batter will rise above the level of each cup; that's fine.

9) Bake the muffins for 22 to 25 minutes, until the middle springs back when lightly touched. Remove from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes before removing from the pan. Best served warm.

Yield: 12 muffins.

Recipe adapted from King Arthur Flour.



In this recipe where it called for molasses or honey, I added the required molasses and then dribbled a little honey as well.

 

 

Chocolate whiskey cupcakes

Sunday I was off from work and my plans were cancelled so after watching copious amounts of anime, I decided to do something productive and make something yummy. I made bread pudding and ziti. Unfortunately I have leftover whiskey sauce from my bread pudding, so I decided to use the sauce instead of sticking it in the fridge and being forgotten. Desert crossover! Leftover whiskey sauce is now becoming my filling for Chocolate whiskey cupcakes. (curious about the bread pudding or ziti, ask me.)

 

 

Ingredients

 

1 cup flour

2 tbsp cocoa powder
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate soy milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup whiskey (approximate)

 

 Whiskey sauce filling

Ingredients

1 cup sugar

1 cup whip cream

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

2 tbsp. butter (I used earth balance, soy free butter)

1 tbsp. corn starch

1 tsp. vanilla extract

 

Combine sugar, cream, spices and butter in a saucepan and bring to gentle boil.

When the butter is melted, on the side add the whiskey, corn starch and vanilla together in a small bowl and then add the saucepan. Slowly whisk mixture.

 

 

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 350°. Prepare cupcake tin with liners or grease with spray.

2. Combine soy milk and apple cider vinegar and let it sit. After a few minutes, it should start to curdle.

3. Beat in the sugar, oil, and vanilla and almond extracts.

4. Slowly sift in all of your dry ingredients: flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, baking powder. (ignoring the salt is ok...)

Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick can come out of the center clean.

Optional

Before the cupcakes cool brush whiskey over each cupcake.

 

Whiskey Buttercream Frosting

 

2 cups powdered sugar

1 stick of butter  (I used the equivalent amount of a stick of earth balance soy free butter)

1 tbsp. soy milk

2 tbsp. whiskey

1 tsp vanilla

 

Cream butter. Add the powdered sugar gradually. Add the soy milk. Add the vanilla. add more powdered sugar. Add the whiskey.

 

**Please note: Cupcake and frosting recipe are vegan, but filling is not (it has cream in it).

 

 

Cupcake recipe adapted from Kindofalotocupcakes.blogspot.com

whiskey sauce adapted from about.com , Southern food

Caldron Cupcakes

Cauldron Cakes
 

Another Harry potter treat! 

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 2 teaspoons baking powder 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup butter, softened 1 1/2 cups white sugar 2 eggs 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup buttermilk

Directions:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a muffin pan with paper or foil liners. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa and salt. Set aside.
2.	In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition, then stir in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk; beat well. Fill the muffin cups 3/4 full.
3.	Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Frost with your favorite frosting when cool.

Chocolate Glaze
6 ounces (1 cup) semi-sweet chocolate chips 
4 tablespoons butter

In a double boiler, melt together the chocolate and butter, stirring until smooth. Glaze will be relatively thick. Remove from heat and let sit 5 minutes before use. If chocolate thickens too much, return to heat and stir until smooth and melted once more.

I recommend making two batches of this glaze, using half a cup of chips each time so that you don't lose the consistency of the chocolate. When glazing for the top of the caldron, you want the glaze to be warm still.

Marshmallow Filling
1 cup Marshmallow Fluff (or prepared marshmallow cream)
1/2 cup vegetable shortening (this can be left out and it will still taste good)
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, beat together the marshmallow fluff, shortening, sugar, and vanilla extract until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes.

To assemble
Using a cupcake corer or sharp knife, cut out a cavity in the bottom of the cupcake. When using a knife, I run it in a circular motion around the cupcake, while always pointing the knife towards the center (this will make the cavity cone shaped).
Dip the top of the cupcake into the chocolate glaze. Flip the cupcakes right side up and let rest until the chocolate sets, about 30 minutes. To speed up the process, place cupcakes in the refrigerator.
To make the cauldron feet, take 3 chocolate chips and form a small triangle, placing each chocolate chip roughly an inch from the others. Place the top of a cupcake onto the chocolate chips and push down ever so slightly so the chocolate chips will stick into the chocolate glaze. Repeat for the rest of the cupcakes.
Place remaining chocolate glaze into a piping bag and pipe a chocolate rim around the edge of the opening to the cauldron. If chocolate is too thick to pipe, heat chocolate glaze up until warm and allow to sit until glaze thickens slightly. If chocolate glaze is too runny to pipe, wait a few minutes until the glaze thickens to a pipe-able consistency. Alternatively, you could use a knife to spread the glaze around the edge of the cupcake.
Fill a pastry bag with marshmallow filling and pipe into the cavity of the cupcakes. Garnish the top with edible gold glitter.

To make cauldron handle, melt the remaining chocolate chips, stir until smooth, and place into a pastry bag. You don't need a special tip for this step; I simply cut off the very end of the pastry bag which was sufficient. On a non-stick mat or wax paper, pipe out the handles. Let the chocolate set until hardened, approximately 30 minutes, before very carefully peeling off of the non-stick surface and placing into the top of each cupcake.

recipes adapted from Pastry Affair and allrecipes.com

Butterbeer cupcakes

Happy Birthday Harry Potter!

How old are you now? lol. Here's a cupcake that I made for Harry Potter's Birthday and for our Harry Potter's Birthday Party Barnes and Noble #getpopcultured event. (well, not for public consumption, just for the booksellers really.)

Cupcake ingredients:.
2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon butter extract
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup cream soda
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For the ganache:.
1 11-oz. package butterscotch chips
1 cup heavy cream
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For the buttercream frosting:.
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup butterscotch ganache
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon butter flavoring
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 16-oz. package powdered sugar
Splash of milk or cream (as needed)
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For the cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake pans with paper liners. I used red and yellow liners for Gryffindor colors.
Combine your flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, cream your butter until light and fluffy. Add your sugars and beat until well-combined. Beat in your eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Then beat in your vanilla and butter flavoring.
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Alternate adding your buttermilk, cream soda, and dry ingredients in batches until all are well incorporated. Fill each cupcake liner 1/2 or  nearly 3/4 full, then bake for 17 minutes until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean and cake springs back to the touch. Cool completely on wire racks.
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For butterscotch filling: In a double boiler (heat-proof bowl over a pot of simmering water on the stove), combine butterscotch chips and heavy cream and stir until completely combined and smooth. Cool to room temperature. Fill a squeeze bottle with ganache and insert into the center of each cupcake, squeezing until filling begins to overflow. (You can choose not to use the filing if you forget or do not want to overpowering of a taste and it will still taste delicious)
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For buttercream frosting: Cream butter in a large bowl until fluffy. Add in ganache, vanilla, butter flavoring, and salt and mix until well combined. Beat in powdered sugar 1 cup at a time until reaching desired consistency. Add milk or cream by the Tablespoon as needed. Frost cupcakes and top with a drizzle of butterscotch ganache.

Recipe adapted from amybites.

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