TOOTHPASTE CUPCAKES!!!

Made ya look!

Haahahahhahahaha

*No toothpaste was harmed in the making of these cupcakes*

I've seen a ton of posts on Mint and Chip cupcakes so I decided to make my own.  Originally I wanted to make these with Thin Mints however, I decided too late and there was not a Girl Scout in sight to sell me some cookies.  How is it I can avoid them for months and when I want to find one they are done selling.!

So onto the cupcakes.  I'm not sure what to call them but DELICIOUS!  Just kidding but they were (see Hubby Rating below).  I don't have time to add the recipe but essentially I had a recipe for Triple Chocolate Cupcakes, added crushed mint oreos to the batter instead of the chocolate chips called for in the recipe, sandwiched an Andes Mint in the middle of the cake, topped with mint buttercream, drizzled with chocolate glaze and finished with white nonpareil (Definition:  a small pellet of colored sugar for decorating candy, cake, and cookies Thank you Dictionary.com).

Can you see the Andes Mint in there?!

Onto Hubby Rating..

Hubby Rating

Cake Texture:  9 

Cake Taste:  9

Filling:  (Extra Credit Bonus) "I don't consider it a true filling" - Husband 3/27/2011

Frosting:  8.5

Appearance:  10

Topping:  9

Overall:  9.5

"It's a very good all around cupcake.  But, in my opinion you have to be in the mood for mint."  - Hubby

-Kristi

Top O' the Cupcake To Ya

Ok so this is VERY late but oh well. 

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, my husband signed me up to make cupcakes for his work.  Just kidding.  However he did pick his day to bring treats based on the fact that he wanted to take the Guinness/Bailey's cupcakes.  They are Guinness Chocolate Cake, filled with Bailey's Ganache, topped with Bailey's Irish Cream Buttercream Frosting.

Here they are...

I made a stop to the cake shop and bought new food coloring to make a nice mint and leaf green two-tone frosting.  To be honest it kind of reminds me of an avocado :)  Which are also delicious.

Here is the cupcake corer in action.  It's pretty awesome.  You screw the corer in place until the flower part touches the top of the cupcake. 

Then you remove the "core" and it stays in the corer until you put it back on.  Pretty awesome again.

Then you fill the cupcake with your favorite filling.  In this case it was Bailey's Chocolate Ganache deliciousness.

Then you put the lid back on.

Then you frost them with your favorite frosting.  For the day of the Irish the frosting of choice was Bailey's Buttercream dyed green.

Then you cut it open and see all the moist yuminess inside. 

Then you celebrate!

Here's the link for the cupcake recipe:

http://www.irishcentral.com/food-and-drink/Guinness-and-Baileys-Irish-cupcakes-65781932.html

Husband Rating

Cake:  6 (dry b/c I forgot to cover them overnight)

Filling:  7 (it needed more Bailey's)

Frosting:  9

Overall:  8 Shamrocks

-Kristi

TOOLS: Cupcake Corer

This is a Cupcake Corer

You spin the "sharp" edge into the cupcake until it hits the "petal" looking portion.  Then you remove the core, fill, and press the red button to push the core back out and put your cupcake back together.

WARNING:  Does not work for all types of cupcakes. 

Cake needs to be pretty dense and not gooey.

You can buy one here:  http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/cuisipro-cupcake-corer/

I think I bought mine at Sur La Table. 

They are evil and put it at the register as an "impulse buy" and guess who bought it....

FYI - Christmas is only a few months away, makes a good stocking stuffer.

-Kristi

FYI

FYI

I entered some of my photos of my creations in the 2nd Annual Cupcake Cup.

http://www.food2.com/challenges/second-annual-cupcake-cup

Voting begins soon!

Thanks!

-Kristi

Who Knew Butterscotch Was So Popular?

So I've never had Butterscotch before but I found this recipe for "Butterbeer Cupcakes" and decided to try it. 

You may recognize Butterbeer from the ever popular Harry Potter Series.  Personally I have never read the books but I have seen all of the movies so that's close enough right?



http://inform.com/culture-and-lifestyle/food-harry-potter-butterbeer-2309828p



Adapted from http://amybites.com/?p=623

Butterbeer CupcakesMakes 24 normal size and 6 minis
.For the cupcakes:
.
4 cups flour
3 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
6 large eggs
3 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoon butter flavoring
1 cup buttermilk
1cup cream soda
.For the ganache:.
2 11-oz. package butterscotch chips
2 cup heavy cream
.For the buttercream frosting:.
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup butterscotch ganache
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons butter flavoring
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 16-oz. packages powdered sugar
Splash of milk or cream (as needed)  I needed a lot to thin it out
.
For the cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake pans with paper liners. 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.
.
Alternate adding your buttermilk, cream soda, and dry ingredients in batches until all are well incorporated.

The batter all mixed together

 Fill each cupcake liner 3/4 full, then bake for 15 to 17 minutes until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean and cake springs back to the touch. Cool completely on wire racks.
.
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.
.
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 (I used quite a bit of cream to thin it down to the correct consistency). Frost cupcakes and top with a drizzle of butterscotch ganache.

The cake was nice and dense, not too sweet and I got to use my cupcake corer!  Awesome! 

When the cake was COMPLETELY cool, I cored out the center of the cupcakes and filled them with Butterscotch Ganache (basically butterscotch chips and heavy cream that is allowed to thicken).  Then I put the cores back on and made the frosting.  Once I frosted the cupcakes, I drizzled them with the left over ganache (there was a ton) and added sprinkles. 

I've decided sprinkles give cupcakes a much needed C-R-U-N-C-H!

So basically they were all gone in about 2.5 seconds on Monday when I took them to work.  I fully expected people to say "Oh I don't really like butterscotch."  However the typical reaction was "BUTTERSCOTCH?! I L-O-V-E Butterscotch!"  Weird.

Anyways they are all gone and so far they are several people's favorite.  Up next is either Tiramisu or Mint Chocolate....Still deciding. 

I am accumulating a nice collection of odd ingredients like "butter flavoring".  Not sure what other applications this little bottle will have.  It kinda smells like the fake butter you pump on your popcorn at the movie theater.

Oh I almost forgot...

Hubby Rating

1-10 (new as requested by Hubby)

Cake:  7

Frosting:  9

Filling:  8

Overall:  8.8

-Kristi

Review: Cupcake Couture

So today I got to pick up a treat after work.  Cupcake Couture cupcakes!

This is a cupcake shop in Manhattan Beach, CA and was also featured on Cupcake Wars!


My dad brought us home a bunch to try.  So far we've tasted 2 (one each).


I'm guessing at what I had but I'm pretty sure I know which one hubby had.


I think this is the Glitz and Glamour Cupcake which the website describes as follows:
"Roasted Tahitian Vanilla Bean Cake with a creamy Vanilla frosting garnished with Candied Madagascar Vanilla Bean."

I really like the pink wrappers.  They were really pretty to look at.  They even smelled good.  This one smelled like a florist.  I think it had to do with the Madagascar vanilla.  Fact:  According to Wikipedia...Madagascar is responsible for 97% of the world's vanilla bean production.

Anyways there was some type of fruit in it.  It may have been apples but it tasted good.  Overall it was OK, the "exotic" flavor tasted a little like I imagined a carnation flower to taste...spicy sweet.  Don't think I'd get this one again.  But you live and learn.

Hubby had this one...

I think it was the Hot Chocolate described as

"Blackout cake filled with a liquid chocolate center and topped with toasted marshmallow"

It looks soo cute.  The cracker thing is some type of cookie.  He said he was disappointed by the marshmallow because it wasn't what he was expecting.  Also the saving grace to this cupcake was the liquid center.  Without the center he said it "tastes like a little Debbie".  Isn't he cruel?  He did say he wanted to try another one of the cupcakes so they couldn't be terrible. 

More to come...

Kristi

Put the Coconut in the Cupcakes

Don't know why I opted for coconut but why not?


I found this recipe for coconut cupcakes and gave it a try.


Bon Appetit Vanilla Coconut Cupcakes


Apparently the secret to this recipe was the "reduced coconut milk".  If you don't know where to buy coconut milk, check the Asian food aisle at your local grocery store.  Do not buy light coconut milk you need the fat.


Anywhosers...


Here is a clip of the coconut milk boiling away...

They warn in the recipe that the coconut milk will boil higher than you think, which is true, so use a bigger pan than you think you should use. 


The reduction time is about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Sweet Home Alabama was on so I was able to pass the time quickly. 


When done, let the milk cool and when it's cool, put it in the fridge!


Then make your cupcakes....

 Eww the coconut milk is kinda gray... Don't worry it's fine

Don't overfill your liners or you will have cupcake hats.  These are not conducive to traveling with cupcakes...

To kick it up, I added some melted semi-sweet chocolate and swirled it around.

Therefore making Chocolate Coconut Swirl Cupcakes!

 All dressed up with the Coconut Buttercream frosting and Toasted Coconut

 Loving the Houndstooth cupcake liners

SOOOOOO stinking good!  You should make them.

Cupcake Rating Time

1-5 (1 low, 5 high)

Hubby

Cake Texture:  3
Cake Flavor:  4

Frosting:  5+

Topping:  4

Appearance:  4
Overall:  4

Birthday Cakes!

So I've done quite a bit of baking and haven't really posted.  By "quite a bit" I mean 2 batches since the last post :)  One is a repeat and one is new!


Birthday Cakes:


Since I had already tried out my Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes on my co-workers and family I knew they were good to go so I made them for a trip to a bar to celebrate a birthday!  This time I made two different colors of frosting for the flowers.  Overall I was happy with them and L-O-V-E-D the way they tasted!  I really like lemon soooooooo they were perfect.  I highly recommend them.  If you see the previous post you will see hubby did too.  Here's some pictures

AHHHHH don't you love them?!!!


I don't think I posted pictures of the lemon curd being made last time so here it is.  The recipe is soooo super easy. 

Light Lemon Curd via Baking Bites
(from Chocolate and the Art of Low Fat Desserts)
1/3 cup strained, fresh lemon juice
2 tsp fresh lemon zest
5 tbsp sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Bring the Lemon Juice, Sugar, and Zest to a boil on the stove

 Whisk the egg in a small bowl, slowly, SLOWLY add the hot lemon sugar mixture and whisk for two minutes.

Strain the mixture back into the pot on the stove and heat until it looks like it's thickening. 

Put in small container and let cool.

Put in fridge

Get ready to pipe into cupcakes

Try not to eat it

This recipe is perfect for filling two dozen cupcakes!

Happy Birthday Nicole!

Available for your next birthday festivities