Pumpkin Cupcakes

I love anything pumpkin, and these totally fulfilled my craving!  I found the recipe on Martha Stewart's site, so they have some prison cred. to boot...haha

I topped these with cream cheese frosting.  I'm still not 100% happy with the consistency of the frosting I made, so instead of posting the recipe I'll let you choose your own.  As an alternative, these would be killer topped with whipped cream!

I got some dark purple cupcake liners as a Christmas gift, and I thought they were a nice contrast with the orange.  I didn't realize it was so dark in my kitchen until after I took the pictures! lol

The batter was pretty thick, which I always love because it makes scooping the batter out so much easier.  Overall, I loved everything about these!  I went a little heavier with the spices as I love that pumpkin pie flavor, so I did slightly heaped/rounded measuring for the cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice. This is definitely my new go-to pumpkin cupcake recipe!

You'll notice in the bottom picture I line my cooling racks with paper towel sheets.  This gets rid of any moisture on the bottom that accumulated while baking, and keeps the cupcake liners nice.


Pumpkin Cupcakes
Adapted from MarthaStewart.com
http://www.marthastewart.com/317069/pumpkin-cupcakes
Makes 22-24 cupcakes

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (heaping tsp. recommended)
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger (heaping tsp. recommended)
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (heaping 1/4 tsp. recommended)
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice (heaping 1/4 tsp. recommended)
• 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1, 15 ounce can of pumpkin puree

~Preheat oven to 350 °F.  Prepare muffin tins with cupcake liners.

~In a medium bowl mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice.

~In a large bowl whisk together brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter, and eggs. Add dry ingredients, and whisk until smooth. Whisk in pumpkin puree.

~Fill your cupcake liners about two-thirds full and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. (20 minutes was spot on for me)

~Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack and cool completely.  Once cooled, top with your favorite cream cheese frosting, whipped cream, or whatever topping you like, and enjoy!

Bailey's Irish Cream Cupcakes (a.k.a. Old Gregg Cupcakes)

If you are a fan of Irish Cream Liqueur, or know someone who is, try these cupcakes! I may be biased because of my love for Bailey's, but I truly enjoyed this recipe.  If you have access to Coole Swan unlike most of us Americans, I can only imagine that making the recipe even better.

If you don't know the Old Gregg Bailey's connection, I highly recommend going to youtube for a moment and searching for him.  It's a particular episode from the "Mighty Boosh" TV series.

Anywho, it was my friend Crystal's birthday and she was going to be visiting from out of town.  As an avid fan of Old Gregg,  I knew I needed to make her Bailey's cupcakes.  I was able to find a recipe online that had the best reviews I could find, and gave it a shot myself.

Next time I will brush the tops of the naked/baked cupcakes with some Bailey's, but as alcohol doesn't last long in my household, I had just enough for the recipe and frosting.

I tweaked the frosting recipe a tad, and what I changed will be in parenthesis.

Bailey's Cupcakes
Adapted from Cupcake Rehab
http://cupcakerehab.com/2010/03/luck-o-the-irish-baileys-cupcakes/
Makes 26-28 cupcakes

• 2/3 cup unsalted butter, room temp.
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temp.
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/3 cups Bailey’s (or any other Irish Cream Liqueur)
• 2/3 cup water
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons salt

~Preheat the oven to 325 °F.  Prepare muffin tins with cupcake liners.

~In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat well.

~In a separate bowl, combine the liqueur, water, milk and mix together. (I did this in a measuring cup to save on dishes)

~In another bowl, thoroughly combine flour, baking powder, and salt.

~Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture, alternating with the liqueur mixture. Beat on medium speed for approximately 2 minutes. (You should start and end with the flour mixture)

~Fill cupcake liners three-fourths full and bake for 24 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  (These don't rise too much, so feel free to be a little heavy handed. I've been using an automatic ice-cream scooper and it's made my life easier.)

~Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack and cool completely. I recommend topping these with the frosting mentioned below!

Bailey's Buttercream Frosting

• 1 stick unsalted butter, room temp.
• 3 cups powdered sugar (I added a little more because I went heavy on the Bailey's, and because of the addition of vanilla extract that I did)
• 2 tablespoons (maybe more) Bailey’s
• (1/4th teaspoon vanilla extract)
• (Pinch of salt)

~Cream the butter on high speed for approximately 3 minutes.

~Add the Bailey’s and mix thoroughly. Slowly add the powdered sugar until well blended.

~If necessary, add more Bailey’s to thin or more sugar to thicken it to desired texture. (This is the point I tasted the frosting and decided to add a little salt and the vanilla extract.)

~Feel free to brush Bailey's on top of your cupcakes before frosting. Enjoy your soft and creamy beige cupcakes!

(I loved these liners my mom found! Merry Christmas lovelies!)

German Chocolate Cake

Sorry I didn't get any good pictures!  We were too busy eating and drinking, haha, but this gives you a rough idea.

You're going to be stacking layers, so make sure you use straight edged cake pans.

I had made this before for my dad's birthday, and since my own birthday was Oktoberfest themed, I thought it only appropriate to give this cake another whirl.  The chocolate ganache frosting never thickened up for me the first time, but this time I heated the cream for longer and popped the final product in the fridge for a moment, and it worked beautifully.

This is probably the most involved recipe I've posted about so far, but this is the best German Chocolate Cake I have ever had, so I didn't mind the time it took.  I think using unsweetened coconut makes the filling so much better.  It wasn't as sickeningly sweet as other German Chocolate Cakes I have had.  I'll be sure to make this again and get better pictures!


German Chocolate Cake
Adapted from David Lebovitz:  http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2005/09/german-chocolat-1/
Makes a tall 9-inch cake, about 16 servings

For the cake:

• 2 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
• 6 tablespoons water
• 8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp.
• 1 1/2 cups sugar (split into 1 1/4 cup, and 1/4 cup)
• 4 large eggs, separated
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup buttermilk, at room temp.
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

~Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter two 9-inch cake pans, then line the bottoms with rounds of parchment or wax paper.

~Melt both chocolates together with the 6 tablespoons of water. You don't want direct heat, so use either a double-boiler or a microwave. Stir until smooth, then set aside until room temperature.

~In the bowl of an electric mixer, or by hand, beat the butter and 1 1/4 cup of the sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in the melted chocolate, then the egg yolks, one at a time.

~Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

~Mix in half of the dry ingredients into the creamed butter mixture, then the buttermilk and the vanilla extract, then the rest of the dry ingredients.  In other words, you want to start and end with the dry ingredients.

~In a separate metal or glass bowl, beat the egg whites until they hold soft, droopy peaks. Beat in the 1/4 cup of sugar until stiff. (This takes a while by hand!  Bust out the mixer if you have one.)

~Fold about one-third of the egg whites into the cake batter to lighten it, then fold in the remaining egg whites just until there’s no trace of egg white visible.

~Divide the batter into the 2 prepared cake pans, smooth the tops, and bake for about 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. (I tested at 40 minutes)

~Cool cake layers completely.

~While the cakes are baking and cooling, make the filling, syrup, and icing.

Pecan/Coconut Filling:

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 large egg yolks
• 3 ounces butter, cut into small pieces
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup pecans, toasted and finely chopped
• 1 1/3 cups unsweetened coconut, toasted

~Mix the cream, sugar, and egg yolks in a medium saucepan. Put the 3 ounces butter, salt, toasted coconut, and pecan pieces in a large bowl. (The pecans and coconut shreds that I bought have a toasting recipe on the back of the bag.)

~Heat the cream mixture and cook, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom to make sure nothing burns.  Do this until the mixture begins to thicken and coats the spoon (an instant-read thermometer will read 170°F.)

~Pour the hot custard immediately into the pecan-coconut mixture and stir until the butter is melted. Cool completely to room temperature. (It will thicken.)



Rum Simple Syrup:

• 1 cup water
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons dark rum

To make the syrup:

~In a small saucepan, heat the sugar and water until the sugar has melted. Remove from heat and stir in the dark rum.  It's that simple!

Chocolate Ganache Icing:

• 8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 1 1/2 ounces unsalted butter
• 1 cup heavy cream

To make the icing:

~Place the 8 ounces of chopped chocolate in a bowl with the corn syrup and 1 1/2 ounces of butter.

~Heat the cream until it just begins to boil. Remove from heat and pour over the chocolate. Let stand one minute, then stir until smooth. Let sit until room temperature.  (I popped mine in the fridge for a moment. If you do this check often!  It can stiffen up quickly.  No sex jokes please ;])

To assemble the cake:

~Remove the cake layers from the pans and cut both cake layers in half horizontally.  Using a serrated knife is the easiest.

~Set the first cake layer on a cake plate. Brush well with syrup. Spread 3/4 cup of the coconut filling over the cake layer, making sure to reach to the edges. Set another cake layer on top.
(I would divide the filling into 4 sections to ensure each layer gets an even amount.  I found the first time I used too much early on and the top was lacking.)

~Repeat, using the syrup to brush each cake layer, then spreading 3/4 cup of the coconut filling over each layer, including the top.

~Ice the sides with the chocolate icing, then pipe a decorative border of chocolate icing around the top, encircling the coconut topping.

~Last but not least, enjoy all of your hard work!

Devil's Food Baby Shower Cupcakes (It's a boy!)

These are how the cupcakes for my brother's baby shower turned out! The only differences from the test run that I did are I used foil liners, and I topped the cupcakes with white sugar pearls.  That and the quantity of course, since this time I septupled the original recipe which only yielded 12 cupcakes.  I did three batches doubled, and then one the original size.  I got to sample a cupcake from each batch, since 80 cupcakes had been requested, poor me. ;]

I've noticed paper liners pretty much get dominated by any dark batter, so I love foil liners for this purpose.  They also add some elegance since they keep a clean, crisp appearance even after baking.

I go easy on the sugar pearls because I don't want to take away from the frosting at all, but they make a beautiful accent!  That and not everyone wants a slight crunch to their cupcakes, haha, if you've never used them before I suggest tasting one so you know their consistency.  5-8 was a perfect amount for me.  I was told later people at the party were actually asking if they were edible, which I had to smile at, since I've never seen a beaded cupcake, haha, these are the ones I used:

I stuck with the blue food color and violet icing dye to get a baby blue color.  Being a person on the verge of OCD, this means I made a giant batch of frosting to ensure that all of the cupcakes matched in color.  Remember, less is more!  Go easy on the violet.  If you're not familiar with icing dyes, here is an example of what to look for:

I used large foil pans to store these, which were perfect.  They were sturdy and deep enough to keep the cupcakes safe for their car trip.  I kept them in the fridge over night, and arrived a little early at the baby shower so they had plenty of time to get back to room temperature.

I have the recipes in my last post, but here they are again just in case!

Devil's Food Cupcakes 
Adapted from Cupcakes by Shelly Kaldunski
Makes 12 cupcakes

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temp.
• 1 large egg, room temp.
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup lukewarm water
• 1/4 cup buttermilk

~Preheat oven to 350°F.  Prepare muffin tins with cupcake liners.

~Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.  I don't normally sift, but cocoa powder always clumps up for me.

~In a large bowl beat together the sugar, brown sugar, and butter until light and fluffy.  Add the egg and vanilla and mix until combined.  

~At this point add about 1/3 of your flour mixture, alternating with the water and buttermilk.  You should start and end this process with the flour mixture.  Beat just until combined.  Spoon your batter into your prepared muffin tins, no less than two-thirds full.

~Pop these in the oven and bake for 18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  (Mine needed the full 18 minutes this time around, but I did still check after 16.)

~Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack and cool completely.

~Once cooled, top with frosting and decorations of your choice.  Enjoy and indulge in these chocolate goodies!

Basic Buttercream Frosting

C&H Recipe

Frosts 10-12 cupcakes

• 1 lb. box powdered sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup butter (2/3 stick), room temp.

~Combine all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.  I'd recommend an electric mixer to start on this one, scraping the bowl often.  If it seems too stiff to spread or pipe easily, beat in milk a few drops at a time.

~To get the color of mine it took roughly 3-6 drops of blue food coloring, and a small dab of violet icing dye.  Less is more with this, you can always add more later!