Today it's raining. AGAIN!!! It's been raining for days and I keep telling myself it's just because it's April, but it really is a downer. Anyway, this morning when I went to get Charlotte out of her crib, she was wide eyed and bushy tailed and asked me - "Mommy, can we make the upcakes today? I want chocolatey." That's what she calls them- upcakes and she says chocolate in spanish. It's adorable. So of course I said yes! What I didn't tell her is that I had a big surprise for her today. Her cousin was coming over! I didn't tell her 'till he got here and she was beyond PSYCHED! They love each other, he is 5 and she is 2 so everything he does is just fantastic in her eyes. They didn't wanna help me bake, they were too busy chasing each other around the house and then snuggling. I still made them for them though because I knew they'd want a sweet treat after lunch. I made them chocolate mint cupcakes with chocolate icing. Here's what I did:
2 cups AP flour
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
3/4 cup butter, softened
2 1/2 tsp mint extract
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups milk
3/4 cups cocoa
Beat butter and sugar together. Add each egg, beating afterwards and then beat until very fluffy. Add in extract, baking soda, powder, salt and cocoa. Then alternate the milk and flour until fully mixed. I baked these for 17 minutes at 350. You could smell the mint - I was nervous they'd be too minty, but no, it was delicious. I frosted these cakes with a Chocolate Whipped Icing that I added a hint of mint extract into.
3 tbsp of softened butter
2/3 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 cup cocoa
3 1/3 cups powdered sugar
1/4 tsp mint extract
1/3 cup heavy cream- Beat together till smooth and fluffy. This chocolate icing came out so much better than the last one I did. I think the shortening really helps instead of using all butter. I did a bit of filing in the center and then iced the tops. The kids absolutely loved them and from what John told me, so did all the guys at work!
No comments:
Post a Comment