Peaches N' Cream Cupcakes

One of the first things John ever cooked for me was a peaches n cream pie. I really don't think I had ever had one before then. It's sweet and creamy with the right touch of cinnamon and fluffy whipped cream. I have such great memories related to that pie because it was when we had just started dating, it was an awesome summer. I wanted to recreate some of that into a cupcake. I think I got all of the flavor components in there. Here is what I did:

1 stick butter, softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 egg, plus 3 egg whites
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 cups AP flour
1 can of peach pie filling (which has nothing to do with the way john makes that pie, but its the best I could come up with.)
1/2 cup milk
I whipped the butter, sugar, salt and eggs together until it was super light and fluffy- maybe 5 minutes- then added in the flour, pie filling and milk. I made sure to let my beaters break up some the of the peach slices in the filling- then scooped the batter into paper lined tins- It made 17 cupcakes and I baked them for 20 minutes at 350. Cooled on a wire rack.


To top them, I made a cinnamon, vanilla butter cream.
1/2 stick softened butter
2/3 cup vegetable shortening
tbsp vanilla extract
tbsp ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
2 tbsp milk
I piped the whipped frosting onto the cakes and then made a small amount of crumb topping- 1/2 cups rolled oats, 3 tbsp soft butter, 4 tbsp dark brown sugar, pinch of cinnamon- I mixed the ingredients together with a fork and made 1/2 tsp sized balls of the mixture and placed it on top of the icing - then I placed a slice of peach on each one as well. I used canned, but if they are in season, fresh would be even better! 

Chocolate Pretzel Cupcakes with Chocolate Butter Cream

As I've mentioned before, I love the combination of sweet and salty. I recently saw a recipe for pretzel cupcakes on cupcakeproject.com and I had to try it out. I didn't use her cake recipe but I borrowed her recipe for the pretzel crust. After this I may want to give everything I bake a pretzel crust. IT'S PHENOMENAL!! To make it here is what I did:

2 cups of crushed pretzels-not pulverized tho, u want some chunks

3 heaping tablespoons of dark brown sugar

1 stick softened butter

Combine everything and line 24 cupcake lines with the mixture- then bake at 350 for 10 minutes. 

Here is where I messed up slightly, I tend to multi-task too much and I totally forgot to set the the timer for 10 minutes so they were a little over cooked but still ok, I probably only left them in 3 minutes too long.

Then onto my chocolate cake***

1 1/2 sticks softened butter

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 ounce melted unsweetened chocolate

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

3 eggs

2 cups AP flour

1 1/2 cups milk

I poured the batter into the pretzel crust-lined cupcake papers- not too full, i'd say about half an ice cream scoops worth. I baked these at 350 for 18 minutes. (I had a little batter left over so when these were done I baked 3 more plain chocolate cupcakes) I let them cool and then made my chocolate butter cream**

1/2 stick softened butter

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips, melted

2 cups powdered sugar 

2 tbsp milk

I topped each cupcake with a cute waffle pretzel so people knew what to expect.

Here is a picture so you can sort of see the crust- Like I said, I over baked the crusts so they got a little too caramelized. I'll make sure to time it better next time so you can see it better and it isn't so dark.

The pretzels stayed crunchy though and the caramelized brown sugar in it gives it a sort of toffee bite. YUM!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

I love the south. John took me to Savannah, GA 3 years ago and I fell in love with it. We've been back every year since.  Red Velvet Cake is such a big deal down there, and yet, I've never really had it or made it. I didn't get what the big deal was... what?. Because it's red? I don't know! Well I figured I'd give it a shot so I looked up about 50 recipes and finally settled on one from the joyofbaking.com- It came out super moist and delicious. I'm still not really sold on fact that it's anything super special but it's definitely good. I apologize for my poor looking cream cheese frosting. It's not as stiff as I'd like (that's what she said, HA) but I didn't have any heavy cream and I used a little milk. I should have skipped adding the milk but you live, you learn.  Here is what I did to make these southern belles:


1 stick butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder (i added that bc i wanted them to rise a little)
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp cocoa powder 
1 cup buttermilk
2 1/2 cups cake flour
2 tbsp red food coloring
I baked at 350 for 20 minutes- batter made 16 cupcakes


For the frosting I used 3 tbsp soft butter, 1/2 cup shortening, 3/4 cup soft cream cheese, 3 cups powdered sugar and 1 tsp vanilla extract (clear vanilla)- I also added about 1/4 cup milk- I wish I hadn't bc it thinned it too much. I piped the icing on the cooled caked and then crumbled a cupcake up and toasted the crumbs slightly and sprinkled on top! Try em out and tell me what you think... 

Chocolate Sour Cream Pound Cake Cupcakes

It felt like a chocolate kind of day! Here are my chocolate pound cakes made with sour cream. 

1 stick of butter, softened
1 heaping cup of sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
heaping 1/2 cup light sour cream
1/2 cup cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1/4 cup milk
The batter made 15 cupcakes that I baked for 30 minutes @ 325 degrees
I really think that using the cake flour lightened it up, which I liked. They came out very fluffy and not as dense as a traditional pound cake. I frosted them with my usual whipped topping only I added more sugar then usual. I wanted the icing super sweet today for some reason. 
3 tbsp softened butter
2/3 cup vegetable shortening
3 1/2 cups powders sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Charlotte couldn't wait to try one! She was running around the house yelling "Azul, Azul!" She always says her colors in Spanish. She was covered in icing when she was done and butter and shortening are a bitch to clean! Watching her enjoy it is so worth it though!

Banana Peanut Butter Protein Muffins

We've been trying to be healthy over here lately. Summer is coming and the farm has all their veggies getting started which means, lots of salads and then maybe some grilled chicken, steak or pork. I've been making a huge effort to try and eat more protein. In light of this I have been looking for recipes that can boost protein intake. Here is a muffin that I found online and switched up. They are perfect- not too sweet, not too heavy and not too boring where you don't feel like you are getting something as a treat. Here is what I did:
2 bananas mashed
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 stick butter melted
1 cup skim milk
1 1/2 cups flour- I'd rather use whole wheat but I didn't have any today
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup vanilla whey protein powder
3 eggs white
I whisked all the ingredients together and baked them at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. ENJOY!

Ginger Snap Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Icing

I know we are on the brink of summer and ginger is not exactly a summery flavor. However, I had a few gingersnap cookies in my house and wanted to try them out in a cupcake. Gingersnaps are such a delicious cookie but I never even think about them. In fact, I wouldn't even have these cookies in my house if John's Gram hadn't sent them home with John a few weeks ago. I hadn't had them in so long and what's awesome about them is that they are sort if spicy. The sweetness from the molasses is there but eat two in a row and your tongue is definitely feeling the spice. I made this cupcakes this morning and they are very good- although, I'd like them to be a little bit denser in my opinion. I think maybe I'll add more eggs next time.
Here is what I did-
1 stick of butter, softened
3/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3 heaping tbsp dark corn syrup
about 10 gingersnaps that i ground very fine in my food processor
1 cup cake flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup milk
I beat all of this together and baked for 20 minutes at 350- it made 12 cupcakes


For the icing I ended up finding a recipe online that didn't call for powdered sugar which is what I needed b/c I'm all out right now. I was skeptical of it but it came out awesome. 
I made it with:
1/2 stick softened butter
6 tbsp vegetable shortening
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 cups packed dark brown sugar
3 tsp dark corn syrup
4 1/2 tsp flour
1/2 cup milk
1 packet of artificial sweetener
First, I whisked the milk and flour together over low heat in saucepan until it thickened- just like you'd do if you were making a bechamel sauce for pasta or something- once it was thick, I turned the heat off and let it cool.  I them creamed the rest of the ingredients together in another bowl and added in the thickened milk sauce at the end- I beat it for about 5 minutes till all the sugar was dissolved and it had a very smooth consistency. I also added about a tsp of   edible glitter into it so it'd have a little bit of shimmer.I added in the packet of sweetener because i still felt it wasn't sweet enough and it really wasn't going to get sweeter with more brown sugar- the packet was just the boost it needed. I piped the icing on top of the cooled cupcakes and then put on Christmas carols while Charlotte and I taste tested them. Just kidding- no Christmas music but we did eat one..or two.. and they are awesome! I will bake them again only using more egg and AP flour instead of cake flour next time to see if I can get them a bit denser though.

Vanilla Rum Cake with Caramel Icing

So it's not a cupcake and it's not so much for Charlotte (having rum and all). But, it's still a dessert and I could totally make this recipe into cupcakes, I just REALLY wanted to try out my new silicone cake pan. That thing is awesome- the cake just cake popped right out- no sticking, no breaking, easy peasy. Let me just first say caramel scares me. Any hot sugar situation scares me, yet I am extremely intrigued by it. Last night, John and I were watching Amazing Cakes (on TLC i think) and I was in such shock and amazement watching these artsist/pastry chefs make sugar flowers, gems, shoes, etc.. It's incredible what can be done with just SUGAR!!! Anyway- it still scares me, because I don't want to burn myself. I took baby steps this morning and instead of making my own caramel from scratch, I opted to melt some caramels with some condensed milk and some vanilla. It came out awesome! I will eventually get a candy thermometer and make it on my own...one day. Here is what I did for this beautiful little confection:
1 1/2 stick butter softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 1/2 cups AP flour
1 1/4 cups milk
1/2 cup Captain Morgans Spiced Rum


I added the rum in last and gave a quick mix with my beaters then poured the batter into my cake pan. I baked this at 375 for about 30 minutes. It smelled so amazing when it came out. I bet it'd be even better if I used vanilla beans next time instead of extract.  I let the cake cool and then melted in a microwavable bowl- 22 caramels with 1/2 cup of sweetened condensed milk. I think all in all it was about 2 minutes in the microwave but I kept checking and stirring every 30 seconds so it wouldn't burn. After in was all mixed and melted together I stirred in 1 tsp of vanilla extract- then I poked some holes in my cake with a chopstick and poured and spread the caramel all over the cake. The consistency wasn't too runny which was great b/c it just barely dripped down the side and dried fast enough before it hit my cake stand. Then I made a hard royal icing to decorate the top. 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 3/4 tsp cream of tartar, and 2 egg whites. I beat all of this till it was thick and slightly stiff. I tinted it a light lavender color and piped it messily all over the cake! I added a lil' colored sugar too! So yummy and it so moist and sweet!  It would be fabulous with vanilla ice cream. So excuse me while I text my life partner and ask him to pick up some on his way home tonight!!

Happy Mother's Day! Raspberry Laced Chocolate Mini Cakes and Almond Butter Cream

Yesterday was Mother's Day! It was my 3rd mother's day and it was a fantastic one! John and Charlotte surprised me with beautiful flowers and some awesome new baking tools! I've been eyeing up this mini cake pan for a while and was super excited to see that John had gotten it for me. He also got me a set of piping tips, new bags, 2 off-set spatulas (which I wanted so bad) and a new silicone cake pan. I don't even wanna talk about how pathetic my round cake pan is. It's beyond old and just bent and awful. I definitely needed this new one.  We got up and made breakfast, read the paper and just relaxed for a bit then decided to head out for a while. John and I always have some random thing that we are into for the moment. Right now, it's treasure hunting. I'm not kidding. John bought a metal detector- the kind you see people on the beach with, and we are determined to find something worth millions. We asked Charlotte if she'd like to treasure hunt and she was so effing excited it was hilarious. She really likes pirates and treasure- Thanks dora the explorer! So this was a ton of fun for her. She packed up her back pack with snacks, and then got a little bucket, her garden shovel and garden gloves. She was set to go. So we took her over to the farm so she could run and explore while John and I worked on finding our jackpot! It was a gorgeous day. We didn't find anything great but it was still fun! Hearing Charlotte shout "what'd you find POPPA!?" every time she heard the beep go off, was too funny!

Then we got home, all took naps and then had a little BBQ, just us 3. It was a perfect day. However, I never ended up getting to use my new presents. Today I got up and got started. Here is the thing- I am no professional when it comes to baking and I really didn't know what I was doing. I had no clue how to ice these shaped mini cakes so they came out not looking good at all but I'll learn eventually. Here is what the looked like when they came out:

Cute right?! The cake is delicious, I actually made 10 of them, that's how much my batter made. Here is what I did:
1 1/2 sticks softened butter
1 3/4 cups sugar
5 egg whites
1 1/2 tsp almond extract
3/4 cups dark cocoa powder
1 ounce of melted unsweetened chocolate, melted with 1 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
2 cups AP flour
1 1/2 cups milk
3/4 cups raspberry jam
I beat everything together and then filled my cake pan- I baked them at 350 for 24 minutes. 
I really wanted the raspberry flavor to come through, so I piped about 1 tsp of the raspberry jam into the cakes once they were cooled. 


For the icing, I wish I had raspberry extract but I didn't at the moment so I went with Almond Butter cream. 
1/2 stick butter
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1 1/2 tsp almond extract
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Like I said- they didn't come out like I wanted as far as the icing went- But they tasted amazing!!! Raspberry and chocolate are so good together and the chocolate is so rich in these. I can't wait to actually learn how to decorate these mini cakes correctly so you can see how pretty the really are but for now we are just gonna have to take taste over looks! 

Fig Cupcakes with Prosciutto Chips

I have been dying to make these cupcakes for weeks. I had the flavor idea a while back and I just had a hard time finding fig preserves. I did eventually find what I was looking for so today I decided to try them out. First off, I know they sound totally weird- I mean, it's meat...on a cupcake. I wanted to play to my love of sweet and salty combined though. I also love prosciutto wrapped figs so it didn't seem that weird to me.  I did a basic vanilla cupcake and added in the fig flavor. 
1 1/2 sticks butter, unsalted
1 3/4 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
tbsp honey
2 1/2 cups cake flour
1 1/4 cups milk
heaping 1/2 cup of fig preserves
I beat everything together and added the preserve at the end. The batter made 19 cupcakes . I baked them at 350 for 17 minutes.


For the icing, I beat together 1/2 stick of butter,2/3 cup vegetable shortening, a little over 1/2 cup heavy cream, 3 cups powdered sugar, 1 tbsp vanilla extract, 1 tbsp honey and 1 tbsp of the fig preserve. Its a pretty thick icing- I also used a wide tip to pipe the icing on b/c the preserves have some chunks of fig in them and I didn't want them to get stuck. 
I took 5 very, very thin slices of prosciutto and baked them on a sheet pan at 350 for about 3 minutes I wanted them to get crispy so I could crumble them. Then I thinly sliced 4 dried figs up and used the prosciutto and dried figs on top of the icing for garnish. These cupcakes are unbelievable! It's going to be hard for me to have just one. I may have to cheat a little and not give ALL of them away.

Cappuccinos n' Cream cupcakes

Yesterday was a blah day. I woke up later then usual, it was kinda grey out and I was just in an "I don't feel like doing much" mood. I was having a love relationship with my coffee that morning though so I decided that I should at least make some cupcakes if I wasn't going to do much else and because my coffee was so delicious, I thought I'd try a cappuccino cupcake.  Charlotte loves coffee too so i knew she'd love these. Not that I let my 2 year old drink coffee but if she begs me enough I let her have a lil' sip now and then.

So to make these here is what I did:
6 tbsp softened butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 3/4 cups AP flour 
3/4 cups milk mixed with 6 tbsp of instant espresso powder
Beat everything together and I baked at 350 for about 17 minutes. This batter made 12 cupcakes. They look like a ginger snap color and are very light and fluffy. After I let them cool- I filled and frosted them with a light espresso icing.
3 tbsp butter softened
2/3 cup vegetable shortening
a little over a 1/2 cup of heavy cream mixed with a tbsp of espresso powder
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
They looked a little boring so I also topped em with a few little sugar pearls. Not the most fun looking but these cupcakes are DELICIOUS! Bean ate one in like 10 seconds, and not just the icing, the entire thing and I caught her a few times that night trying to steal another one off the platter!!

"Corny" Pineapple Cupcakes

As I mentioned the other day, we had a big BBQ here at the house on Sunday. It was sort of a 2nd bday party for Charlotte, because we didn't get to have everyone over on her actual bday, and also a little kick-off for bbq season.We had about 30 people here and it was such a good time. I love BBQ'ing. Well John actually does all the grill work, I just love the smell and the taste. We just did a bunch of salads and then burgers, hot dogs and grilled chicken with tortillas. Corn is such a BBQ staple and since corn isn't going to be ready here for a few months, (we have a huge sweet corn farm) I made "Corn on the Cob" cupcakes. I made a pineapple cupcake that I decorated with jelly beans to give the look of butter n'sugar corn. 
For the cupcakes:
1 1/2 sticks butter, softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups cake flour
3/4 cups milk
3/4 cups pineapple juice
1/2 cup lightly toasted coconut
1 8 ounce can of crushed pineapple


Beat together, butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, salt n baking powder. Then alternate the flour and liquids. After everything was well mixed, I folded in the crushed pineapple and 1/2 cup of lightly toasted coconut. I baked these cupcakes (batter made 21) at 350 for 19 minutes. I didn't fill the cupcake tins too high, a lil over half way b/c I didn't want them to rise much. I wanted a flat surface to ice and decorate.
I iced them with a Vanilla frosting- 1/2 stick softened butter, 3/4 cups vegetable shortening, 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar, 1 tbsp clear vanilla extract, 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream. Beat everything together and spread and even layer on each of the cooled cupcakes. 


To create the corn- I finally found Jelly Belly jellybeans at a local specialty grocery store. I went with crushed pineapple, coconut and vanilla bean. The vanilla bean was cool b.c they have lil flecks of vanilla in them and it sort of gave the look of black pepper. However, when I got home with them, I was furious b/c I realized the store had mixed lemon in with the crushed pineapple. Not the hugest problem, but it still really pissed me off. I had to make do though. So you can see from the picture how I did it, But then to make them even cuter, I laid 3 cupcakes side by side in corn husks and decorated the plate with a few limes. Everyone said they were delicious, however, I never got one for myself :( There was one left but before I got  to even bite into it, I dropped it. OH OOPS!! Coulda been the all the beers...
Anyway- they were a hit and the day was just a perfect day for a BBQ. Our family had a great time and I hope all of our guests did too!