Reese's Chocolate Cupcake

As you can tell I've been on a cupcake experiment voyage.  This is a great cupcake, very moist and a nice surprise with the Reese's mini peanut butter cup.  The frosting is very tasty.  I've been having a hard time with icing's and I'm one of those people who doesn't give up on something until I get it figured out.
Ingredeints:

Chocolate Cupcakes:

1/2 cup  Dutch-processed cocoa powder

1 cup  boiling hot water

1 1/3 cups  all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup  unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup  granulated white sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions:

 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F . Lightly butter, or line 15 muffin cups with paper liners.

In a small bowl stir until smooth the boiling hot water and the cocoa powder. Let cool to room temperature.

In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Then in the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat only until incorporated. Then add the cooled cocoa mixture and stir until smooth.  Fill pan about 2/3 full.  Bake for 11 minutes, remove from oven, insert Reese's mini peanut butter cup into each cupcake and return to oven for exactly 6 more minutes.  Test with toothpick, from the side when comes out clean they are done.

Chocolate Fudge Frosting:

4 ounces  unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped

2/3 cup  unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/3 cups  confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla 

Directions:

Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

In the bowl of your electric mixer,  or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until smooth and creamy (about 1 minute). Add the sugar and beat until it is light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the chocolate and beat on low speed until incorporated. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until frosting is smooth and glossy (about 2 -3 minutes)

Hope you'll give these a try.  Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful day and Remember to Find the time to do ALL the things YOU love.
Donna

Strawberry Mango Cupcakes with Strawberry Mango butter cream frosting

I think Spring may finally be on it's way.   wooooo hooooo  I was in a puttering  mood the day I made these (the end of March).  I have days when I just jump from one project to another and it seems to take me all day to get all of them done.  I must admit there are days not all the projects get completed.  Not a bigger anymore since I'm retire...there's always tomorrow or the day after that.  :)
I had bought a Mango which I've never cooked with but several times on the Food Network they have used it for different types of things.  I also had just bought some really nice looking strawberries so I thought they sounded like a great combo.  Off to the kitchen to bake.
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup self rising flour
1 tsp. baking powder
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter at room temperature
2 eggs
2 tbsp. yogurt (can also use milk if the mixture is a bit dry)
2/3 cup light pureed mango and strawberries
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Line your muffin pan with cupcake liners
Cream the butter and slowly add the sugar and cream until the sugar are dissolved.  Add the egg, one at a time into the mixture and beat well.  In another bowl, measure the flour and the baking powder.  Slowly pour into the wet mixture and mix well. Then add the mango strawberry puree.   Pour into pan and bake for about 20 min, test with toothpick.

Mango/Strawberry Butter Cream Frosting
1 /2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup mango/strawberry  puree
Zest and juice of 1 orange, lime or lemon *about 2 Tbl.
2 tablespoons honey
4-5 cups of powdered sugar
In a mixing bowl, cream butter until light and fluffy. Add mango/strawberry puree, zest and juice  and honey. Mix well. Add powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, until desired spreading consistency is reach.  (I didn't like the way this came out, it was too sweet for my taste and it looked awful)  :(    Sorry about that.  To me the icing looks sweet.  I may have added to much juice because it didn't really set up.  Oh well, next time.

These are very refreshing and  tasty.  Hope you give them a a try.  I will experiment some more with Mango's in the future.  Already have a couple of ideas going in my head.  Just call me the mad baker.  LOL
Have a wonderful day and Remember to Find the Time to do ALL the things YOU love. 

Pineapple Upside down Cupcakes

Recently I went to my good friend Patsy's house, we get together about once a month to craft.  We both scrapbook and make cards, what fun.  Anyway we usually alternate houses and we also cook a meal.  Well this time we had Turkey Stir Fry, fried rice and I brought egg rolls and these wonderful Cupcakes.  I wanted to bring something different so what better than these.  They go together very quickly  and taste as good as they look.  I used fresh pineapple, because I had one on hand and wanted to use it before it went bad, but you can use canned as well.  Instead of making the norm cupcake I made the big ones so this recipe makes 12 regular or 6 large ones.

Ingredients:

Topping:

 1/2 fresh pineapple cut into pieces or1 can (20 ounces) pineapple chunks
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted

Cupcake Batter:

1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup reserved pineapple juice or milk (I took the fresh pineapple with a bit of water  and put it in the blender to get a liquid puree)
1 egg Makes 12 regular cupcakes or 6 large cupcakes

Don't use paper  liners for these, or the pineapple will be hidden. 
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray or grease a nonstick muffin pan.
Drain the pineapple chunks, reserving 1/2 cup juice for the batter, if desired. Place the pineapple on a double layer of paper towels to drain completely.
In a small bowl, mix together the brown sugar and melted butter. Divide evenly among the muffin pan cups. Arrange the pineapple chunks decoratively on top of the sugar mixture. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, and baking powder. With an electric mixer, mix in the butter and pineapple juice, beating for 2 minutes to make a smooth batter. Beat in the egg.
Spoon the batter over the fruit in the muffin pan, filling each cup three-quarters full. Bake in the center of the oven for 30 minutes, or until a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean.
Cool for 10 minutes in pan then flip them out to rack to cool completely.
Enjoy

 Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful day and hopefully it's starting to look like Spring in your part of the world.  Remember to Find the time to do ALL the things YOU love.
Donna

Oreo Cupcakes

When I made these (one day last week) it had been  yet another winter day in Kansas.  We had been having 70 degree weather and as usual for Kansas we had a snow storm the next day.  So what better to do than to bake.  I have made oreo cookies before and have been on a cupcake kick so thought I would made an oreo cupcake.  I adapted a recipe from good ole Betty Crocker, which is a basic vanilla cupcake and then after I had them in the oven thought I would search the net for an icing to put on them.  Didn't have much luck but did find a blog that made these cupcakes just like I did.  Here is her link, she has some great things.  Pop over and visit.  Guess great cooks and bakers get on the same wave length at times.  Yes, I think I'm a great baker and cook. :)  In the end I made a vanilla butter cream frosting with a tiny bit of Chocolate Liqueur. If I didn't tell you, you would never know it's there.
Makes 24 cupcakes or 48 mini's.
Bake 350 degrees for approximately 20-22 minutes (until tester comes out clean)
You'll need 24 oreo cookies or you can do 12 without the cookie on the bottom and 12 with just the crumble mixture.
Dough:
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup half and half mixed with 1/2 cup water( *can use reg. or 2% milk)1/2 tsp salt
1 2/3 cup sugar
7 TBL egg whites (I buy the egg whites in the container)
In a bowl beat butter until fluffy.
In a separate bowl combine, flour, salt and baking powder, set aside.
Add the vanilla and milk to the butter and beat for about 2 minutes.  Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture and beat for about 2 minutes.  Add the sugar and beat until well incorporated.  Before putting batter into cupcake liners twist the cookie apart and put the side with the cream on the bottom of the liner, cover with mixture to about 3/4 full.  As you can see I did 12 square cupcakes and 12 regular ones.  The round ones have the cookie in the bottom.
See...

 Here they are without the icing.

And them iced

And a peek without the liner.

These would be a great treat for the kids.  They just love finding a surprise in the snacks.  With the cookie part on the bottom it gives it a bit of a crunch too.  This is a fun cupcake.  Hope you'll give it a try.
Thanks for stopping by, have a wonder day and Remember to Find the Time to Do all the things YOU love.
Donna

Orange Cupcakes with a hint of Grand Marnier (liqueur)

Seems lately a day can't go by that I don't bake something.  Kind of like withdrawls I guess.  I've been on this French Bread kick and think I have made two loaves everyday for the past 3 days.  I have also been craving sandwiches so the bread has worked out great.  I give one loaf to the kids, which they eat in one night.  I will share that recipe with you soon.  They are soooooooooooooooo yummy and a slice right out the oven is just like heaven.  If someone offered me a piece of chocolate or a piece of fresh baked bread, I'd have to take the bread.  A huge downfall for me.
I had some oranges that I needed to eat or make something with so I took one of them, zested it and made these wonderful cupcakes.  You can't really taste the liqueur but it gives it a nice flavor.  I adapted this recipe from Joy of Baking, I substituted yogurt for the milk.  Trying to tell myself they are healthier.  :)  Which I'm sure they are, they say yogurt is good for you, right?
I must admit the Orange butter cream frosting is a bit sweet for me so maybe if I make it again I will cut back on the sugar a little.  If you just frost the center of the cupcake it seems ok, not overpowering.  Again personal opinion.  Everyone else thought they were just fine.  :)
Printable Recipe
Ingredients
1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup (130 grams) granulated white sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon Grand Marnier (can use pure orange extract instead)
Zest of 1 orange
2 segments of orange finely chopped with juice
2 tsp juice from orange
1 1/2 cups (195 grams) all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup plain yogurt
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and lightly butter or line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.  Place the sugar and orange zest into the bowl of your mixer and blend until moist and fragrant. Add in butter and beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and liquor, add the orange segments and juice.
In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.  With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and yogurt, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.  Evenly fill the muffin cups with the batter and bake for about 18-20 minutes or until nicely browned and a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Once the cupcakes have completely cooled, frost with icing.
-Makes 12 cupcakes
Frosting:
5 oz softened butter
7 oz. icing sugar
2 tsp hot water
1 tsp orange extract
1/8 tsp Grand Marnier
Beat all above ingredients until creamy, either frost or put in piping bag and decorate.  Zest a little orange on top of each frosted cupcake.
A photo without the icing.

 Thanks for stopping by.  Sure hope you'll try these and maybe let me know what you think.  Have a wonderful day and Remember to Find the Time to Do ALL the things YOU love.
Donna

Carrot Cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

I made these last week,  Very moist, light and down right yummy. 
They go together quickly too.  Recipe adapted from Joy of Baking.

Printable Recipe
Ingredients:

2 cups (260 grams) all-purpose flour  

1 1/2 teaspoons  baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

4 large eggs

1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar

1 cup (240 ml) safflower, corn, or canola oil

2 cups (210 grams) finely grated raw carrots

1 cup crushed pineapple

1/2 cup (55 grams) walnuts or pecans coarsely chopped

1 cup (100 grams) raisins or currants

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

8 ounces (227 grams) cream cheese, room temperature

3 cups (330 grams) confectioners' (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Carrot Cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Place paper liners in 20 muffin cups.
In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and ground cinnamon. 
In another large bowl whisk the eggs, sugar, and oil until slightly thickened. Fold in the flour mixture until incorporated. With a large rubber spatula fold in the grated carrots, pineapple, chopped nuts, and raisins. Evenly divide the batter between the 24 muffin cups and bake about 20 minutes or until a toothpick  inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean.  
Remove from the oven and let cool completely on a wire rack. Pipe or with a knife or small metal spatula spread the cream cheese frosting on top of each cupcake. Cover and refrigerate the cupcakes until serving time.

Frosting: In the bowl of your electric, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter and cream cheese until very smooth and creamy. Gradually beat in the powdered sugar until fully incorporated and smooth. Beat in the vanilla extract.

Makes 24 cupcakes.

 

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a wonderful day, stay warm if you're in cold weather country (like me) and Remember to Find the Time to Do ALL the things You LOVE.

Donna

Banana cupcakes

I had some bananas that needed to be used and didn't really want to make banana bread so made these instead.  They were very moist and also a bit healthy . ( I added chocolate drizzle, just couldn't help myself.  (haha)  I made a few changes and they are noted in red.   They have yogurt in them, yup that's right yogurt, your family will never know.  :)  The recipe I found here and is from Cooking Light 1999.
Printable Recipe
Yield:  1 dozen (serving size: 1 cupcake) 
Cupcakes:
3/4 cup granulated sugar, divided
1/2 cup mashed ripe banana
1/4 cup butter or stick margarine, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 cup plain fat-free yogurt*I used Greek plain yogurt
Frosting:
1 3/4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup (4 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, chilled*I used regular
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons finely chopped walnuts, toasted

Preheat oven to 350°.
To prepare cupcakes, combine 1/4 cup granulated sugar and banana; set aside. Beat 1/2 cup granulated sugar, butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla at medium speed of a mixer until well-blended (about 3 minutes). Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add banana mixture to sugar mixture, beating well. Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg in a bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture alternately with yogurt, beginning and ending with flour mixture; mix after each addition.
Spoon batter into 12 muffin cups lined with paper liners. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.
To prepare the frosting, beat the powdered sugar, chilled cream cheese, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla at medium speed of a mixer just until blended (do not over beat)
Drizzle with melted chocolate. (optional)

Hope you try these.  Thanks for stopping by.  Have a wonderful day.  Remember to Find the Time to do All the Things YOU love.
Donna