Quickie Chocolate Mint Cupcakes, Alice In Wonderland theme

Once again, a "Quickie" recipe means this calls for boxed cake mix and canned frosting.

I got asked to fill in for a Disney Princess themed shoot as Alice, and I of course said yes!  Please take a moment and check out C.TA Glam Couture: http://www.ctaglamcouture.com/

Designer/photographer/super woman Chelsea Tavis was nice enough to provide all of us with food, so I thought bringing some cupcakes was in order.  Didn't have a lot of time, so I went with a quickie recipe.  This one is an adaption on the Quickie Double Devil's Food Cupcakes I posted previously.  Rather than using chocolate chips, I used some chopped up Andes Mints as well.

I knew one of the accessories she had designed was an adorable "Eat Me" necklace, so at the last second I decided to go with an Alice In Wonderland theme rather than normal piping.  If you've never seen the movie, go watch it! haha, but here's the necklace and other accessories, as well as a scene from the movie:

I will definitely be doing these again when I have more time to fool around with the decorating!

Quickie Chocolate Mint Cupcakes

• 1 box Devil's Food Cake Mix, plus ingredients needed for mix (24 cupcakes size, normally you need eggs and vegetable oil)
• 1 can chocolate frosting (2 if piping frosting)
• 1 1/2 cups roughly chopped Andes Mints (feel free to have extra for toppings)
• 2 cups of strong coffee at room temperature, separated (you may not need it all)

~Follow the directions on the mix for preheating and mixing instructions, substituting the coffee for the amount of water the recipe calls for.  Fold the chopped Andes Mints into the batter right before scooping the batter into your muffin tins.  Fold just until incorporated.  (I like larger cupcakes so I got around 22, and as always I checked 2 minutes before the earliest recommended baking time)

~You should have some coffee left over, as the mix I used only used 1 1/3 cups of coffee.  Mix 1 tablespoon of your extra coffee into your frosting.  If this makes the frosting too liquidy for you, pop it in the fridge while the cupcakes are baking and cooling, and it should firm up.  (Worse comes to worst, add in powdered sugar a teaspoon at a time until it reaches the consistency that you want)

~After the cupcakes are fully cooled and frosted, you can start decorating!  If doing traditional piping, I would recommend toping with some extra Andes Mint pieces.  Enjoy!

For the Alice Touches:

~I needed a very smooth surface to pipe the phrases on, so I added a little extra coffee to the frosting.  This allowed me to dip the cupcake tops rather than attempting to smooth the frosting myself. Add the coffee just a little at a time, as you don't want the frosting to become so liquidy that it will drip and run down the sides of the cupcakes.

~I added some violet food dye to a white buttercream frosting for the piped phrases, and used some sugar pearls for fun.

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!

Devil's Food Cupcakes (Baby Shower Test Run)

Can you tell I got a new 1M tip? haha, I had fun piping these!  The more classic swirls, where you start piping on the outside and move in, are in the back.  The rose like swirls are in the front.  First time doing these and I'm really pleased with how they looked.  It's pretty much the reverse, you pipe in the middle for a moment, and then start swirling out.  When you get towards the end release pressure but continue moving the piping bag around.  This prevents you from getting a hard ending point.

Because these are going to be for a baby shower, I went with a buttercream I could tint as opposed to the chocolate glaze that came with the original recipe.  I'll post the buttercream recipe at the end.  I liked this one a lot better than the one I made previously.  Still rich, but not sickeningly so.  Also easier to make in my opinion.

I got the blue color from blue food coloring with a dab of violet icing dye.  The blue food color always seems to have a slight teal tint to it, and the violet cancels this out nicely.  I got this tip from a blue velvet cupcake recipe I will hopefully be baking/posting soon.  Any specialty cooking store, such as Sur La Table, should have a nice selection of icing dyes.

My brother and his girlfriend had asked me to do their baby shower cupcakes, and of course a flavor I had never done was chosen, haha, so I felt required to do a test run to prevent a disaster filled evening the day of.  That and the cupcakes were chosen based on a picture I found, not an actual recipe, so I needed to make sure I could replicate that look as well.  The dark cake I assumed to be Devil's Food Cake, with a light blue buttercream frosting for a nice contrast.

I actually baked two types of Devil's Food Cake Recipes.  I do this whenever I don't have a favorite recipe to fall back on.  However there was a clear winner, so that is the recipe I will be posting.

These turned out very tasty.  Moist and chocolaty like a Devil's Food Cake should be, without being too messy.  I'm hoping they go over well at the baby shower!  I'll be making around 80, so wish me luck.  In the meantime my mom's work will be reaping the benefit of my test run.

Here's to not needing my own baby shower cupcakes for a looooong time. ;]



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 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!