Blueberry Pancake Cupcake

Blueberries + Pancakes x cupcakes?

Sounds like a good equation to me! 

My most recent bake? You guessed it! Blueberry pancake cupcakes! (with maple buttercream)!!

These cupcakes tasted halfway between a cupcake and a muffin, and they were dang good!

I really want you to see them...so I am going to start this post off with a big ol' picture of these cupcakes. 

 They got a little dark, but I used my new paper liners. They are circus, you like them? :)

I just love when Michael's has cupcake liners in the dollar section. Can't beat that!

Ok so you want to make these? I really think you should! Even if you don't like blueberries, add a different fruit! They would all taste great!

Here is what you will need:

For the cupcakes~

1 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 eggs

2 egg whites

3 1/3 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup sour cream

1/3 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

For the frosting~

1/2 cup butter, softened

8 ounces cream cheese

2 teaspoons maple extract

4 cups powdered sugar

milk, as needed

A little cinnamon sugar to sprinkle on top

Now here is what you will do:

For the cupcakes~

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 muffin pans with liners.

2. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

3. On low speed, add eggs and egg whites one at a time until each is fully incorporated.

4. In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg together.

5. Add dry ingredients to the butter mixture in thirds, alternating with the wet (milk, vanilla and sour cream). Let each ingredient fully mix in before adding another. Do not over mix.

6. Fold in blueberries. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for about 18 minutes. 

For the maple buttercream frosting~

1. Beat butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. 

2. Add maple extract and powdered sugar and let beat again.

3. If needed, add 1 tablespoon of milk. Add more if needed.

4. Pipe buttercream onto cooled cupcakes and top with cinnamon sugar.

Pretty easy peasy huh? I will say that I made these at night time, woke up the next morning and they made a wonderful breakfast treat! 

The cinnamon sugar on top really made it great. I used frozen blueberries and you couldn't even tell. These were in one word: wonderful. Seriously, just wonderful and typing about them makes me want them again already. Yikes! 

Here's another peek!

 See that zebra riding the bicycle? ;)

Go ahead and make yourself a good breakfast! Enjoy!

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Double Almond Cupcakes

Almond extract is the bomb! 

Whenever I make frosting, I love to have that almond flavor and almost always end up adding a little almond extract. I wanted to whip up a quick batch of cupcakes, not because I was craving them or anything :) I came across these Betty Crocker double almond wedding cupcakes and instantly had my shoes on and was in the car headed to the grocery store to gather my ingredients.

Now, I don't like to cheat and use box mixes, but in this case I was looking for something fast and easy. I found the recipe on the Betty Crocker website here.

Here is what you need:

Cupcakes:

1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® white cake mix

Water, vegetable oil and egg whites called for on cake mix box

1 tablespoon almond extract

Frosting:

1 1/4 cups butter, softened

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

2 tablespoons whipping cream

2 teaspoons almond extract

 Now here is the process:

1. Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pans). Place paper baking cup in each of 18 regular-size muffin cups. Make cake batter as directed on box, adding 1 tablespoon almond extract. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups, filling each about three-fourths full.

2. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cupcake comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes; remove from pans to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.

3. In medium bowl, beat butter and powdered sugar with electric mixer on low speed until blended. Add whipping cream and 2 teaspoons almond extract; beat on high speed until well blended. Fit a #46 tip in a decorating bag and fill with frosting. Use tip, with smooth side facing down, to generously pipe frosting in circular motion. Store loosely covered. 

These cupcakes turned out so light and fluffy, they were awesome!

 Now I really wanted to frost these and make them look really pretty so I tried the 3 color in one gig.

I might start frosting all my cupcakes like this because I LOVE the way they turned out.

I also tried that fancy new way to frost cupcakes using saran wrap so you can reuse your bag. 

Very nice trick indeed.

I'm sure you've all seen the trick but I'll explain in pictures :)

 One word...brilliant! I will most likely use this technique every time just to save a bag!

Now onto the finished product. Are you ready?

 I might have went a little snap happy with these cupcakes, but I honestly felt like I couldn't help but get every angle of them! Each side had a different mix of the colors and I just wanted to capture them all!

 Well, that is my show & tell for today. I hope you enjoyed these colorful cupcakes as much as I did!

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Cadbury Cream Egg Cupcakes

SPRING IS IN THE AIR

It is about dang time!

I am a Cadbury cream egg lover and that is no lie.

I wanted to share with you all (which I am sure you have seen dozens of times out there on Pinterest & other blogs) cadbury cream egg cupcakes.

These were soo good! And so very simple to do.

All you have to do is pick your favorite chocolate cupcake recipe, mix it up, fill your cupcake liners and stick a mini cadbury cream egg in the center.

(Freeze your eggs for about an hour before baking so they don't completely melt in the middle.)

After you stick them in the middles, cover the egg with some more batter..

Now bake them up and they will come out smelling awesome!

Next, just whip up some frosting. I used a plain buttercream and added some almond extract and it tasted very good with the chocolate and Cadbury egg inside.

I thought the whole frosting the cupcake like an egg was such a cute idea, that I took that route. Take a looksie!

 I used both the caramel Cadbury cream eggs and the original Cadbury cream eggs.

Had to leave one outside for the Easter Bunny. Might as well butter him up a bit so he leaves me all sorts of treats on Easter right?

Ha, I'm an Easter Bunny suck up! Cool.

There are too many Easter cupcakes out there, I don't think this will be my only one so keep comin back for more!

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Chocolate Malt Cupcakes

I'd be lying if I said I haven't been a bit absent lately..

It has been 70 or higher the past couple days, so can you blame me?!

Oh how I love the SUN!

And as I sit here and write this blog post I can smell the grills cookin' outside, hear kids playing and feel the breeze blowing in through the windows. Nothing could be better!

So what is the one thing I love most about summertime?

Green grass? No.

Birds chirping? Nope.

Sandals and cute little outfits? I like that, but I have something else in mind....

So what then you ask?

ICECREAM!

Icecream just is not that cool in winter time because you are already cold and trying to stay warm, so when the warm weather starts coming, I get the icecream itch!

I know I'm not alone. :)

I wanted to make a treat to bring to work so I decided on some chocolate malt cupcakes. I've seen these little guys floating around on many blogs out there and decided it was finally the perfect time to make them.

Look at those cuties!

Here is the recipe I used...which I got from

thatwinsomegirl.blogspot.com

Ingredients for the cupcakes:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose baking flour

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

1 1/2 cups malted milk powder (I used the chocolate)

1 cup vegetable oil

3 large eggs, room temp.

1 cup sour cream, room temp.

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Ingredients for the buttercream:

1 cup unsalted butter, room temp.

1 cup vegetable shortening, room temp.

1/2 cup malted milk powder

4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

5 cups confectioners' sugar

Directions for the cupcakes:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a standard muffin tin with paper liners. (This will make 24)

2. Whisk together flour, cocoa, both sugars, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, whisk together milk and malted milk powder until powder is dissolved.

3. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat flour mixture, milk mixture and oil until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated. Add sour cream and vanilla, and beat just until combined.

4. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each about halfway full. Bake for 18-20 minutes.

Perfection. Or so I like to tell myself. :)

Directions for buttercream:

1. In a large mixing bowl, whip butter and shortening for several minutes until very light and fluffy.

2. Sprinkle in malted milk powder and cocoa powder. Whip for 1 minute.

3. Slowly add in the powdered sugar. I did not use all 5 cups, you can stop when you feel the frosting is thick enough.

4. Frost cupcakes and top with a malted milk ball.

I looked for some cute straws to stick in the cupcakes but could not find any...next time!

The frosting was perfect for these cupcakes and I just thought they were adorable!

So if you are like me and got the icecream itch, go ahead and make yourself a batch of these chocolate malt cupcakes. They satisfied everyone who tried one!

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Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

Is anybody else getting into the St. Patty's Day mood? I have just been seeing so much green lately...could be that all the snow is finally melting and the grass is starting to show that has me in the green mood too...hmm...well anywho, I had some extra whiskey laying around and I figured it was finally time to make these Irish Car Bomb cupcakes that I have had the recipe laying around now for along time now. These would make great St. Patty's Day treats! I got this recipe over at Smitten Kitchen, which I am going to go back and visit for more great recipes!

There are 3 different parts to this cupcake...and they all include alcohol, awesome!
First, there is the chocolate cupcake which has Guinness in it...then there is the ganache filling which includes whiskey...and finally the frosting which has Bailey's mixed in...eat one of these and you will have a buzz goin on!

Here is what you will need:

For the cupcakes:

1 cup stout (such as Guinness)

1 cup unsalted butter

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 cups all purpose flour

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

2/3 cup sour cream

For the ganache filling:

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

2/3 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons butter, room temperature

2 tablespoons Irish Whiskey (I used Jameson)

For the frosting:

4 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

4-6 tablespoons Bailey's Irish Cream (I used Rum Chata)

pinch of salt

Now here is what you do:

For the cupcakes:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 24 cupcake cups with liners.

2. Bring Stout and butter to simmer in heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

mmmmm!

3. Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a large bowl to blend.

4. Using an electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend.

5. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed.

6. Using a rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined.

7. Divide batter among cupcake liners filling them 2/3 to 3/4 the way full. Bake 17 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack.

They turned out beautiful, and the chocolate-stout really smelled very good, something that I have never experienced before!

Directions for the ganache:

1. Chop the chocolate and transfer to a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream until simmering and pour it over the chocolate.

2. Let sit for 1 minute and then stir until smooth.

3. Add the butter and whiskey and stir until combined. Cool until thickened, but soft enough to pipe.

4. Cut a hole in center of cupcakes and pour ganache inside or pipe using bag.

I piped!

Directions for frosting:

1. Whip the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer. Add salt.

2. Slowly add the powdered sugar beating until combined.

3. Slowly add the Bailey's (or whatever you use) until you reach your desired consistency.

Frost cupcakes before you eat all the frosting itself! Yikes!! :)

Check out that inside!

Chocolate whiskey...heaven!

The 4 amigos? Possibly the next big thing!

Oh, and I didn't tint the frosting green...a little too early to make those St. Pats cakes, and I just wanted a pretty white. Job well done I do believe!

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Bachelorette party cupcakes!

I was asked by my boss at work if I could make her daughter (who is the maid of honor in her friends wedding) some cupcakes for the bachelorette shower. I responded with a "Heck yes I can!"

A request I had was to have teal frosting on 1 of the cupcakes and have 2 different flavors. I busted out my book of cupcakes I made (pictures and recipes of every one I have made so far!) and let her pick. Red velvet and toffee were the 2 winners! Winner Winner Cupcake Dinner? I'm game! ha!

I just wanted to show you all how they turned out!

Sorry bout the carpeting up there, don't get rug burn...

The red velvets turned out amazing and the cupcake liners which I picked out myself ended up actually matching the brides invitations exact! How does that happen!? I guess it is because I am a genius....;)

Now on to my all time favorite the toffee cupcake, and the teal frosting turned out so pretty!

That last one was actually a leftover and I let the boyfriend try to decorate one. Not bad for his first time, and definately the right amount of frosting! :)

Hope you enjoyed the teal frosting as much as I did, I love making cupcakes pretty!

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Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes

I am going back on low carb (this is actually day 1 of it, blah.) and I wanted to really go out with a bang before I gave up my sweets. I dug into my collection of recipes that I have stored away and came up with Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes. I was not expecting this big of a bang! These cupcakes were purely A - to the WE - to the SOME! Loved them!

I have Confessions of A Cookbook Queen to thank for this recipe, so thank you, seriously, I now know that I cannot live without this recipe. :)

This recipe makes 24 cupcakes, but I didn't want that many (I know, but I really can't eat that many) so I cut the recipe in half. I also used these Texas Sized Cupcake Liners that I found at the grocery store so in the end, I came out with 6 huge cupcakes.

To make these cupcakes you will need:

1 box yellow cake mix

3 eggs

1 cup water

1 stick of butter, melted

&

1 cup brown sugar + 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon, combined

To make the frosting you will need:

8 ounces of cream cheese, softened

1 stick butter

1 tsp vanilla

3 cups powdered sugar

(Double this is you want to pipe it on thick, I did!)

To make the glaze you will need:

1 stick butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions for cupcakes:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line your cupcake tins with liners.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine cake mix, eggs, water and butter and beat on low speed until combined. Increase speed to high and beat for 1 minute.

3. Fill muffin tins about 1/4 way full.

Sprinkle a heaping teaspoon of cinnamon/brown sugar mixture over batter.

Cover with another spoonful of cake batter and then sprinkle another teaspoon of cinnamon/brown sugar mixture over the top of that. Phew!

4. Using a sharp knife, swirl the cinnamon/brown sugar mixture through the batter.

5. Bake for about 15 minutes. Cool on a cooling rack.

Look at those monsters! Are you drooling yet?

Ok, ok, frosting & glaze time!

Directions for frosting:

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat cream cheese, butter and vanilla on medium-low speed until smooth. Add powdered sugar and beat on low until just combined.

2. Scrape the sides of bowl and increase speed to high and beat for 2 minutes.

(I added a little almond extract as well because I love that taste!)

Directions for the glaze:

1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt butter, brown sugar and cinnamon until combined and pourable but not boiling. Spoon over frosted cupcakes and immediately place in refrigerator to set.

Now for the frosting, I piped it on high and thick. I don't think a cinnamon roll could ever have too much frosting!

Now pour that glaze over the tops...

Now you have a seriously delicious mess on your hands :) Enjoy it!

Cinnamon rolls better watch out, cupcakes are taking over!

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