Spring Cupcakes

Spring is without a doubt my favorite season.  I love the warmth of the sun, the blooming flowers, and the budding trees.  I also love the fresh fruit.  So obviously I had to make spring cupcakes with, what else, but strawberries.

I found a fabulous recipe for strawberry crepe cupcakes on foodgawker, and I had to try it.  I am always a little hesitant to try standard chocolate/vanilla cupcakes, since there are so many other fun options to make, but theses were the perfect combination of classic and exciting.  The vanilla cake is perfect- moist, fluffy and just dense enough, and the nutella frosting is addictive. 

These really taste like a strawberry nutella crepe- and they may be my new favorite cupcakes!  I will definitely be making these again.

Happy Spring,
Margaret

Chai Tea Cupcakes

It's been a little while since I tried out a new cupcake recipe, so last week I decided I wanted to use an unexpectedly quiet evening to experiment a bit.  I came across this recipe from Bakingdom, and decided that Chai Tea Cupcakes sounded perfect.

The first time I made them, I halved the recipe and used pastry flour instead of cake flour (that's all I could find) but otherwise followed it exactly.  The batter was very soupy but I went along with it anyways.  The cupcake were very moist and delicious, but they didn't rise very well.  So this time when I made them (a half recipe again) I added an extra 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour and an extra 1/4 teaspoon baking powder to the dry ingredients.  This definitely did the trick- they came out with beautiful peaks and still had the delicious flavor and moistness of the other batch!

Bon Appétit,

Margaret

Strawberry Valentines

Happy Valentine's Day!  I am definitely one of those people who takes their holidays seriously, and Valentine's day is no exception.  Seriously, it is a day to celebrate all of the people you love, wear pink and red, and eat ungodly amounts of chocolate (and cupcakes).  Because, well, it couldn't be Valentine's Day in the Cupcake Suite without cupcakes.

Last year I lived in a building with no kitchen- all we had to work with was a microwave.  So last year on Valentine's day I made chocolate covered strawberries with my friends.  This year I decided to stick with the same theme, but take it up a couple notches.  So I made chocolate cupcakes with chocolate covered strawberries on top and strawberry cupcakes with a swiss meringue buttercream.  Everything was divine- the fact that nearly all thirty cupcakes were consumed this evening stands as proof.

For the strawberry cupcakes I adapted the Sprinkles Strawberry Cupcake recipe.  They came out beautifully- light and fluffy with a hint of strawberry.  Perfectly pink for Valentine's!

Strawberry Cupcakes

Makes 12-15 cupcakes

1 cup whole fresh or frozen strawberries, minced

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon coarse salt

1/4 cup whole milk, room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 large egg, room temperature

2 large egg whites, room temperature

red food coloring

Place the minced strawberries in a small saucepan and reduce over low heat, stirring often, until the consistency of jam.  Set aside to cool.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar on high until light and fluffy.  Add vanilla and eggs, beating on low until combined.  Add the flour in two batches, alternating with the milk, making sure to mix completely after each addition.  Stir in the strawberry mix.

Fill 12-15 cupcake liners 2/3 full with batter.  Bake at 350 for 16-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

For the frosting, I followed Sweetapolita's Swiss Meringue Buttercream guide.  I divided the recipe she gives by four, and it made enough for my fifteen cupcakes and a little extra.  This frosting is pure airy, buttery goodness.  Seriously, you need to make it.

I also went with my classic Black Magic Chocolate Cupcakes.  They are a staple here in the cupcake suite.  It's hard to go wrong with chocolate, and this is hands down the best chocolate cupcake I've had.  They are also ridiculously easy.

Black Magic Chocolate Cupcakes

(Makes 18-24 cupcakes)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1 3/4 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

pinch of salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

1/2 cup canola oil

1 cup strong coffee

1 cup buttermilk

Stir together flour, sugars, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt with a whisk.

Stir in the vanilla, eggs, oil, coffee, and buttermilk until blended and then beat with an electric mixer on medium for 2 minutes. Batter will be soupy. Pour into cupcake cups.

Bake 20-24 minutes at 350 degrees- or until a toothpick comes out clean.

For the frosting (and the chocolate for the strawberries) I used a super simple chocolate ganache.  All you really need to do is microwave some chocolate chips with a splash of heavy cream.  Make sure to mix it well to let the chocolate completely melt.  Then you can spoon in onto the cupcakes and dip the strawberries.

And voila!  You have a lovely Valentine's Day dessert!

Love,

Margaret

Back to Cupcakes

These are by no means the first cupcakes that I have made since I have moved back to school.  These are just the first ones that lasted long enough for me to photograph them.  Cupcakes don't last long in the cupcake suite.

I made my classic chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting the day after moving back, but those were gone before I got my camera unpacked.

I wanted to try something a bit different so I went for Martha Stewart's maple walnut cupcakes.  They were decent, not anything spectacular though.  The cake was a bit dense and not very fluffy.  That being said, my suite still ate them up.  No complaints on their end!

Happy Baking,
Margaret

Baking with Friends

When I see my friends from home during breaks one of our most important tasks is to bake new cupcakes.  Two of my dear friends and I absolutely can't stay out of the kitchen when we are together.  They are a big part of the reason why my cupcake obsession exists.  We always end up making more than one type of cupcake, so this time we went for lemon and chocolate toffee!

Light Lemon Cupcakes

Adapted From Gourmet

Makes about 2 dozen

1 cup canola oil

2 cups white flour

1/2 cup cake flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest

2 cups granulated sugar

4 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350° and line cupcake pans.

Whisk together flours, salt, and baking powder.  Stir together milk, canola oil, vanilla, and zest in another bowl.  Beat together sugar and eggs in a large bowl with an electric mixer until just combined.  Reduce speed to low and add flour and milk mixtures alternately in batches, beginning and ending with flour mixture.  Bake in muffin pans for 16-20 minutes.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Adapted From Gourmet

Makes enough to frost 1 dozen cupcakes

2 cups confectioners sugar

8 ounces cream cheese

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon lemon zest

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy.  Add sugar 1/2 cup at a time, beating well after each addition.  Add vanilla, lemon zest, and lemon juice and beat until well combined.  Refrigerate frosting for at least 30 minutes before frosting.

The recipe for the chocolate toffee came from Lighter and Local.  The cupcakes were quite good!  The frosting recipe calls for a ton of butter, but don't be afraid to add it all!  I didn't add it all and my frosting was a bit too thick and hard to pipe.

Happy Baking!
Margaret

Another Year of Cupcakes

Happy New Year!  2012 should be a wonderful year filled with lots of friends, family, and cupcakes.  To celebrate the end of 2011,  I made a couple different cupcakes to serve at my family's New Year's Eve dinner party.  Since it seemed so festive and appropriate, I chose the champagne cupcakes and decided to pair them with some lavender glazed brownies.  It was the perfect way to watch the ball drop and welcome in the new year- with a cupcake in hand!

Lavender-Iced Brownie Cupcakes

From Martha Stewart's Cupcakes

Makes 24

3/4 cup plus 2 tbs flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

12/ tsp salt

1/2 cup plus 2 1/2 tbs butter, softened

3 1/2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped

1 1/3 cups sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350°.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.  Melt butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water; stir until smooth.  Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

With an electric mixer on medium, beat chocolate and sugar until combined.  Add eggs and vanilla.  Reduce speed to low.  Add flour mixture and beat until just combined.

Bake brownies for about 17 minutes.

Lavender Icing

Adapted from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes

1/3 cup milk

3 cups confectioners sugar

1/2 teaspoon lavender extract

Bring milk just to a boil in a saucepan.  Remove from heat and stir in lavender.  Whisk in confectioners sugar until smooth.  Use immediately.

 Champagne Cupcakes

From Crazy About Cupcakes

Makes 18

2/3 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 3/4 cups flour

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

3/4 cup champagne

6 large egg whites

Preheat oven to 350°.

Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy.  In a separate bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.  Blend the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture alternately with the champagne.

In a large clean bowl beat the egg whites on high speed until stiff peaks form.  Fold one-third of the egg whites into the batter until blended, then fold the remaining whites.

Bake for 16-20 minutes.

Champagne Buttercream

From Crazy About Cupcakes

3/4 cup vegetable shortening

12 tbs butter

3 tbs champagne

4 1/2 cup confectioners sugar

Beat shortening and butter until light.  Add confectioners sugar 1/2 cup at a time, beating until thoroughly combined.  Add champagne once half of the sugar has been added.

Happy 2012!
Margaret

Christmas Eve Baking

Merry Christmas Eve!  Today there was something very important that my family needed to do- we had to bake all of our Christmas cupcakes and cookies!  My mom, sister, and I got right to work this morning.  We had mixed up our cookie dough in advance, so all we had to do was make the cupcakes and bake the cookies.  Everything came out beautifully and incredibly festive!

The peppermint cupcakes and buttercream are from a wonderful recipe from Bakingdom.

Peppermint Cupcakes

Makes 2 dozen

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup butter

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

1-2 tsp peppermint extract

1 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line muffin pan with cupcake papers.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.

In the bowl of a standing mixer, cream the butter and sugar.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating until just combined.  Add the peppermint extract and stir.  Add the flour mixture in three batches, alternating with the sour cream in two batches.

To marble the cupcakes, stir in red food coloring to 1/2 of the batter.  Add a scoop of each color batter to the cupcake tins and swirl with a toothpick.

Bake for 14-18 minutes.

Peppermint Buttercream

1/2 cup butter

4-5 cups powdered sugar

3-4 tablespoons milk

1 tsp peppermint extract

Cream the butter until light and fluffy.  Add the powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time, beating until well combined.  If the frosting gets too thick, add milk 1 tablespoon at a time.  Add peppermint extract.

 We also made molasses cookies and sugar cookies- all we had to do was shape the cookies and pop them in the oven, since we had already made the dough.  Both doughs  needs to be refrigerated for awhile, so it's easy to make in advance.

Molasses Cookies

3/4 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup molasses

1 egg

2 tsp baking soda

2 cups sifted flour

1/2 tsp ground clove

1/2 tsp ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 375°.

Melt shortening and let cool.  Add sugar, molasses, egg to a large bowl and beat.  Sift together remaining ingredients and add to mixing bowl.  Mix until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

Roll into small balls, coat in sugar, and bake for 8-10 minutes.

Sugar Cookies

(from Joy of Cooking)

1 cup butter

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 cup sifted flour

Cream butter, sugar, and salt.  Add egg and vanilla, beating until just combined.  Slowly stir in flour.  Refrigerate dough for at least 3-4 hours before rolling out.

To roll out, dust with flour and roll out to 1/4" thickness.

Bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes.

Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tablespoon corn syrup

2 tablespoons water

Combine ingredients and spread onto cookies.

Merry Christmas Eve,

Margaret

Glorious and Edgy

As many of you probably know, I am a dancer, and this weekend I performed with two of Columbia's dance groups.  One of them was Orchesis, Columbia's largest student-run dance group.  One of the pieces I was in was choreographed by a good friend to Lady Gaga's Edge of Glory.  It was one of the most wonderful pieces I have danced in, so my cast decided we needed to do something special for our choreographer.  Since he always brought us candy or snacks at rehearsal we decided on these cupcakes that my friend found.

Not only are they cupcakes- they have a candy bar baked inside of them.  We used snickers- our choreographer's favorite!  Since they sunk a little, we added some chocolate ganache in the middle and then frosted them with chocolate buttercream.  Hopefully they are good- I actually haven't tried them since they were a gift!

From the Edge of Glory,

Margaret

A Year of Cupcakes

Tomorrow is a rather special day- it is my birthday!  Since I am turning 19 tomorrow, I decided that I needed to spend my last day of being 18 doing something special.  My 18th year was truly incredible- I had just made my way through half of my first semester at Columbia, and had met some of the most amazing people.

I had my first cupcake baking parties with my friends from high school over break.  18 was when I really began to experiment with baking, and fell in love with baking cupcakes.  Whenever I was home I tried out new recipes, always hesitant to repeat a recipe just because there were so many new ones I hadn't tried yet.

Then, over the summer I started my blog.  The summer was full of cupcakes and treats, which continued right up until the fall.  Then I moved into The Cupcake Suite.  We have become a sort of cupcake family, spending evenings together, cooking dinner for each other and enjoying, what else, lots and lots of cupcakes.  So of course, today I decided to bake.  I spent the afternoon in the kitchen, making scones and cupcakes and enjoying a rare relaxing day.

We got more jalapeños this week in our CSA farm share, so I decided to make the cheddar jalapeño scones again, since those were a hit last time.  They went perfectly with a bowl of chili that the guys made last night.

For the cupcakes, I decided to make my classic (and favorite) black magic cupcakes, but this time i decided to go with a mocha frosting, since there is coffee in the cupcake recipe already.  They came out really well, according to my taste testers, and were a wonderful way to end my 18th year.

Mocha Frosting

Enough for 12 cupcakes

5 tbs butter, softened

6 oz cream cheese

1 1/2 tsp coffee grounds

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tbs cocoa powder

Cream butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer until fluffy.  Add brown sugar and mix thoroughly.  Add powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time, mixing well after each addition.  Add coffee grounds and cocoa powder, mix, and refrigerate until firm enough to frost with.

Bon Appétit,
Margaret