Birthday Cupcake Order

A couple days ago a friend of mine from High School asked me to make some cupcakes for her Boss' birthday. She wanted vanilla cupcakes with vanilla frosting so I decided to use this recipe which is my favorite go to vanilla cupcake and buttercream. Not quite as easy as these, but when I'm filling an order I like to do everything from scratch! 

She told me her Boss' favorite colors were purple and teal so I used my Americolor Food Colors to tint the frosting to those colors! I love using White Pearl Candy Beads I think they dress up a cupcake and tend to look better than just sprinkles. 

I needed to be able to transport these about 10 miles, already decorated, so I melted some white chocolate and used it as "glue" to keep the cupcakes in their place in the box so that I wouldn't end up with any tipped over or smushed! I like to use white chocolate on white boxes because I think it looks nicer when the cupcakes are taken out then milk chocolate does. 

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Vanilla Cake/Cupcakes and Buttercream

Ingredients

Cupcakes:

2 cups sugar

1 cup butter

4 eggs

1 tbsp. vanilla extract

3 cups flour- sifted

3½ tsp. baking powder

1 cup milk

⅓cup heavy cream 

Vanilla Buttercream:

1 cup butter

4-5 cups powdered sugar- sifted

1 tbsp. vanilla extract

3-4 tbsp. heavy cream

Directions

Cupcakes:

1.    Preheat oven to 350º, line cupcake pans with paper liners.

2.    In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

3.    Add eggs one at a time, being sure to mix well after each addition.

4.    In a separate bowl whisk together flour and baking powder.

5.    With mixer on low slowly add flour mixture to butter, mix well.

6.    Add milk and heavy cream and beat on medium until well incorporated.

7.    Divide batter between cups, place pan in oven and immediately turn it down to 325º. Bake 15-20 minutes.

Buttercream:

1.    In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter until smooth.

2.    With mixer on low, add powdered sugar, once incorporated beat on medium.

3.    Beat in vanilla extract.

4.    Beat in heavy cream using only amount necessary to reach the desired consistency.

5.    Using food coloring, tint frosting to desired colors.

Thanks for coming, stay awhile, and return often! xoxo

Super Easy Perfect Vanilla Cupcakes

There is nothing better than a fluffy, moist vanilla cupcake--especially when they are super easy to make! And let me tell you, yumm! These are just that! Starting with a box mix makes these so easy and yet they are delicious and don't have the taste or texture of a normal box mix cupcake!

These whipped up to be a nice thick batter so I once again used my cookie scoop to fill the cups. The cookie scoop I bought was like $8 or $9 dollars and it is by far one of the best "tools" I've ever bought! It is so convenient and so much cleaner than trying to spoon batter from the bowl to each cup and trying to make them even! 

I tend to bake my vanilla cupcakes a little longer than I would another flavor because I like when they get golden brown and slightly crisp on top... but definitely watch them closely, they can quickly go from deliciously golden brown to disgustingly burnt. 

Although chocolate, strawberry, or some other flavor buttercream or cream cheese frosting can be tasty, I LOVE vanilla buttercream on vanilla cupcakes. Call me plain jane if you must, but it is simply divine! 

Super Easy Perfect Vanilla Cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcakes:

1 box of vanilla cake mix

3 eggs

½ cup melted butter-cooled

¾ cup milk

¼ cup heavy cream

Frosting:

1 can of buttercream

1 tsp. vanilla

1-2 tbsp. heavy cream

3-4 cups powdered sugar-sifted

Directions

Cupcakes:

1.     Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pan with paper liners.

2.     Add cake mix, eggs, butter, milk and heavy cream to the bowl of your stand mixer.

3.     Beat on medium for 2-3 minutes, scraping bowl as needed.

4.     Divide between cups, about ⅔ full.

5.     Place pans in oven and immediately turn the oven down to 325º. Bake for 16-20 minutes, turning half way through if needed.

Frosting:

1.     Add buttercream, vanilla and heavy cream to stand mixer.

2.     Beat on medium until well mixed.

3.     Add powder sugar until desired consistency.

Rocky Road Cupcakes

My niece spent the last 9 days and 10 nights with us and went home this morning; seriously depressing!!! :( I was under strict orders from her mom to not bring her home without cupcakes-- she said if I send her without cupcakes she won't open the door.... so I had two options, keep her forever or send her home with cupcakes. If it weren't for kidnapping being a crime I probably would have chosen to keep her forever. When she is around we seem to frequent Baskin Robbins and her favorite is always Rocky Road ice cream in a chocolate dipped cake cone... and there we have Rocky Road cupcakes!

I started with my favorite chocolate cupcake and added marshmallows and almonds for traditional Rocky Road cupcakes, just marshmallows for those who don't like nuts and added white chocolate chips to a few to experiment. 

When I scoop cupcakes into the cups I'm not exactly careful or clean about it which then leads to the extra work of having to wipe up my pans before they go in the oven. In order to avoid that mess, with runny batters I use this pancake pen-- and it works great! The only downside is I can't mix in my mix-ins until the batter is already in the cups. I added the mix-ins directly to the cups and then added batter, gave them a quick stir and then stuck them in the oven! 

 They came out delicious! Yumm, yumm, yumm!! I love the gooey melted marshmallows mixed with the moist chocolate cake! 

 I used a vanilla buttercream and garnished with almonds and marshmallows!

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Rocky Road Cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcakes:

2 cups sugar 

1¾ cups all-purpose flour- sifted

¾ cup Hershey's cocoa

1½ tsp. baking soda

1½ tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

½ cup vegetable oil

2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup boiling water

1-2 cups Mini marshmallows

1-2 cups Almonds, chopped or slivered

½- 1 cup White chocolate chips (if desired)

Frosting:

1 can of buttercream frosting

2-3 tbsp. heavy cream

1-2tsp. vanilla

4-6 cups powdered sugar- sifted

Directions

Cupcakes:

1.     Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pan with paper liners.

2.     In the bowl of your stand mixer stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 

3.     Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla; beat on medium for 2 minutes (until well mixed).  

4.     Stir in boiling water until batter is mixed (it will be a runny consistency).

5.     In the cups divide marshmallows, almonds, and white chocolate chips (if desired).

6.     Divide batter between cups, filling them about ⅔ full.

7.     Place pans in oven and immediately turn oven down to 325º. Bake for 20-25 minutes, turning half way if your oven (like mine) doesn’t cook evenly.

Frosting:

1.     Add buttercream, vanilla and heavy cream to stand mixer.

2.     Beat on medium until well mixed.

3.     Add powder sugar until desired consistency.

Thanks for coming, stay awhile and return often! xoxo 

Mint Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

Short post tonight and I apologize in advance for the picture quality/lack of pictures. I was rushing and multitasking because I was trying to make and get dinner ready at the same time.... I don't recommend that! The other day I was thinking about a new flavor/idea to try and I was thinking about ice cream flavors... ice cream flavors are usually great cupcake flavors! Now, personally, I am not a mint chocolate chip fan but I know others are and so I decided to go with it! 

I made a chocolate cupcake with chopped up Andes mints mixed in to get the minty flavor throughout the cupcake but keeping the chocolate as the stronger flavor of the cake. 

The chocolate cupcakes turned out great and the candy melted nicely into the batter! 

I used mint extract and a little green food gel for the frosting and mixed in mini chocolate chips at the end to get a good minty chocolate flavor! 

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Mint Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcakes:

2 cups sugar 

1¾ cups all-purpose flour- sifted

¾ cup Hershey's cocoa

1½ tsp. baking soda

1½ tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

½ cup vegetable oil

2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup boiling water

30-40 chopped up Andes Mints

­Frostings:

1 can buttercream

¼ tsp. mint extract

4-6 cups powder sugar- sifted

2-3 tbsp. heavy cream

Green food coloring (if desired)

¾ bag of mini chocolate chips

Directions

Cupcakes:

1.     Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pan with paper liners.

2.     In the bowl of your stand mixer stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 

3.     Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla; beat on medium for 2 minutes (until well mixed).  

4.     Stir in boiling water until batter is mixed (it will be a runny consistency).

5.     Divide batter between cups, filling them about ⅔ full.

6.     Divide and add chopped up Andes mints between cupcakes.

7.     Place pans in oven and immediately turn oven down to 325º. Bake for 20-25 minutes, turning half way if your oven (like mine) doesn’t cook evenly.

Frosting:

1.     Add buttercream, mint extract, green food gel (if desired) and heavy cream to stand mixer.

2.     Beat on medium until well mixed.

3.     Add powder sugar until desired consistency.

4.     Fold in mini chocolate chips.

Thanks for coming, stay awhile, and return often. xoxo