S'mores cupcakes- hold the campfire!

Katie's second order of cupcakes, I am so glad I made these. I took a combination of a few recipes for the cake and the frosting and made it sort of my own. They are my favorite ones yet, and my Mom's too. The perfect taste of s'mores without being overly sweet. It's half graham cracker cake and half chocolate with a marshmallow buttercream frosting, topped with the essentials of a s'more. The frosting is so deliciously creamy, oh my god, I could eat a spoonful by itself, which is rare. I will definitely be making more of these in the near future. Good thing I have a couple extra left over!

Pink Lemonade

I just finished making two dozen cupcakes for my lovely friend Katie. Her first request were these tart yet sweet pink lemonade cupcakes with pink lemonade buttercream. It's a more distinct lemon-y flavor than the lemon ones I made recently. They were so fun to make and it was a nice reminder that summer will eventually be here, even with this dreary weather. It's currently snowing/raining, and I hate it. Even if we can't have sunshine, at least we can have some lemonade!

Hm. These go nicely with the color scheme of the blog too. Pretty, pretty cute.

Lemon Cupcakes

Lemon Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting and lemon curd filling

 My first cupcake order!

I think they were a little to lemon-y for me (I'm not a huge fan of lemon desserts), but I got good reviews from Hannah and my parents who taste tested for me. So if you do fancy lemon cake, indulge in these!

• 2 cup(s) of sugar
• 1 cup(s) of water
• 3 tbsp. of cornstarch
• 1 juice of a single lemon, freshly squeezed
• 1 pound(s) of butter
• 4 eggs
• 1 zest of a single lemon
• 1 vanilla bean, seeded
• 1/2 tsp. of salt
• 1/2 tsp. of baking powder
• 1 1/2 cup(s) of flour
• 3/4 cup(s) of buttermilk
• 4 ounce(s) of cream cheese
• 6 cup(s) of powdered sugar
• 1 jar pre-made lemon curd (available in the jelly section of most grocery stores)

1. In a large saucepan, whisk together 1/2 c. sugar, water, cornstarch, lemon juice, and a pinch of salt over medium heat until boiling and thickened. Remove from heat, and allow to cool. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together 2 sticks of butter, eggs, and the remaining granulated sugar until very light a fluffy.
3. To the creamed mixture, add lemon zest, vanilla bean seeds (discard pod), salt, baking powder, flour and buttermilk.
4. Beat batter together just until well mixed. Be careful to not overbeat the mixture!
5. Spoon batter into a standard-sized muffin tin which has been lined with paper cupcake liners
6. Bake cupcakes in an oven preheated to 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes, or just until the centers have set and spring back to the light touch.
7. In another large bowl, spoon the cooled cornstarch and lemon juice mixuture made in Step 1.
8. Add 2 sticks of butter, the cream cheese and 4 cups of powdered sugar to the cornstarch mixture. Beat with an electric mixer until frosting is very light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar by the quarter cup, if a thicker frosting consistency is desired
9. Spoon frosting mixture into a large plastic, zip-top bag, snipping off the corner of the bag so the frosting can be easily piped onto the top of the cupcakes.
10. To complete cupcakes: Scoop a small amount of cake from the center of each cooled cupcake. A grapefruit spoon usually works quite well. Place a scoop of lemon curd into the center of each cupcake. Pipe cream cheese frosting over each cupcake.
11. Serve immediately, or store well-covered in the fridge for up to three days.

**Note: the frosting tends to melt fast. Before piping on, stick it in the fridge for about 40 minutes. As soon as you're done frosting, stick the cupcakes back in the fridge.

My Kind of Anatomy

 

My friend Delaney showed me this. Too cute!

First day of Spring

And what a crappy day it was outside. The warm weather just puts everyone in a good mood, so I hope it arrives soon! Pippin went very well this weekend! I didn't hear one bad review. Although exhausted from the hectic schedule I've had recently I miss it already.
For Caroline's on Friday, I made these Pippin edition!:

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Blackberry Buttercream
They might be one of my new favorites, I haven't decided yet. Everyone seemed to like them, I got really sweet reviews. My only issue what figuring how to get the seeds out of the vanilla bean (having never used one before). It was kind of a pain in the ass, but very worth it. You have to split the bean down the middle all the way, and the use a knife to scrape every tiny clump of seeds out. The pictures aren't the best because I was in a rush to get to Caroline's after the Friday show.

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes
3 cups baker’s (superfine) sugar
3 eggs
3 egg whites
3 and 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 and 1/2 cups milk
1 cup vegetable oil
3 and 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 vanillla bean

1.   Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line muffin tins with baking cups.
2. In a large mixing bowl, with an electric mixer, beat sugar and eggs/whites together until slightly thickened, about 2 minutes. 
3. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl. 
4. Add the flour mixture, milk, oil, and vanilla to the eggs. 
5. Split the vanilla bean from end to end and scrape the seeds out with a knife. Add to the mix and incorporate the ingredients together slowly, just until the batter is smooth. 
6. Fill each cup 2/3 full.

Bake in preheated oven for 12-14 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool completely while preparing the frosting.

Blackberry Buttercream
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
1 8 ounce package cream cheese
5 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup seedless blackberry preserves
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Place the butter and cream cheese in a mixer bowl and whip together until creamy. 
2. Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time. When combined, add the blackberry preserves and the vanilla and mix well. 
3. Can be held in the refrigerator overnight and re-whipped prior to frosting the cupcakes.

Makes 3 dozen frosted cupcakes
Check these out to aid your baking:

The troublesome vanilla bean

 See the pretty little black flecks of vanilla bean?

 

If you saw Pippin, you'll understand my ducks. 

 

I made some minis too!

Snickerdoodlee-doo

I made these snickerdoodle cupcakes for Coffeehouse last Friday. I made 30 or so, but I probably should have made more! They all went, and pretty quickly too, which made me ecstatic.

Pretty huh? Wanna make 'em? Go ahead! Try it, it's fun.

 

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (room temp)
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs (room temp)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup milk (room temp)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Line your trays with paper liners
In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and cinnamon. Set aside.
In a mixer, cream butter and sugar on medium speed for 2 minutes
Add eggs one at a time and mix until combined
Add vanilla and mix until combined
Add flour mixture to creamed butter/sugar in three additions and alternate with milk in two additions
Fill baking cups about 3/4 full
Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Honey Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
• 4 Tbsp. butter, at room temperature
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. honey (add more to taste if you like)

In a medium bowl, mix together cream cheese, butter, and vanilla. Gradually add powdered sugar and cinnamon, and honey mixing well until it’s all incorporated.  Use immediately or refrigerate. 
Oh and extra cinnamon to dust on top immediately after frosting or it will harden and not stick nicely. Enjoy!!

On the Right Track...

I got my first customer for cupcake orders today! Yay!!! For my friend Hannah's Dad's birthday next week! I'm so psyched I have something to bake for! They're going to be some kind of lemon...I'm currently looking up recipes now. Gah, simply joys.

Now that's two Pippin allusions in one post. Tomorrow is opening night so I guess it's acceptable. Pippin is the wackiest musical I have ever seen. So sadistic and twisted, but the music is great, and it's been crazy fun with all the cast this year.

For one of the cast parties I am making vanilla bean cupcakes with blackberry butter cream. And I'll be documenting the process to post on this here site. Woo! They're going to look uber fantastic, I know it.
Here's to musicals and their ridiculousness, cupcakes and their deliciousness, and the people I'm going to share them with!