Purple Ombre Birthday Cake

Last Sunday my favorite little girl turned 10 and we didn't get to celebrate with her since we live about 90 miles away. She came tonight to spend the weekend and so I decided to make her a cake and decorate to celebrate the big one-oh!! Double digits is a big deal! I love making cupcakes, it's kinda my thing- but I wanted to do something special to celebrate so I decided to make a cake! And what's better than an ombre cake?!?!? 

I used my favorite go-to vanilla cupcake recipe and just doubled it to ensure I'd have enough cake! I also used my favorite, super easy vanilla buttercream and not only is it delicious, but it is so pretty!! It even earned me a free hug and kiss-- and I usually have to hold her down and tickle her for those! 

I made one large batch of vanilla cake and then divided it as evenly as possible 5 ways. I left one white and did the other 4 in varying shades of purple to create the ombre effect. I only have 2 9-inch rounds so it was quite time consuming, but other than that, it was very easy. 

I started by building the cake by stacking the layers with thin layers of buttercream in between each layer. I then did a think crumb coat to ensure I would have a smooth surface to work with. After I crumb coated it I put it in the fridge for a couple hours while I did something else, even though 30 minutes would probably be enough time. 

After I made the buttercream I started by adding a little purple and then piping on the light layers, and then I added a little more, piped it on, and then more and did the final darker layers. It would probably be smarter to work at the bottom and go up, but I really didn't want to have to divide the icing into separate bowels to color it. 

After it was done I again chilled it to let the frosting set and pulled it out just before she got here to add her personalized candles! I can't believe my little baby niece is 10!!! Makes me want to cry! 

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Vanilla Cake 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 

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 and grease 9-inch round pan(s).

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.    Split batter evenly between 4 bowls and the amount left in stand mixer.

8.    Using food coloring, tint cake batter to colors of your choice.

9.    Using a frosting spatula evenly spread each color into a separate 9-inch round pan.

10. Depending on thickness of layers, bake for about 13-15 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 

Cinnamon Apple Pie Cupcakes

Our next door neighbors yard has a TON of fruit trees in it. We just had new neighbors move in and in between them moving in and our old neighbors moving out there was some time with no one living in the house... because of that their fruit trees are just overflowing with yummy fresh fruit and luckily for us they keep bringing us bags full! :) This last batch had a ton of apples, more than we could eat before they would go bad so I just had to come up with some way to use them!

I know it's not fall time and apple pie in the end of July just doesn't make sense-- but I just had to try! I've never made these before and I was very happy with how they turned out! I love making homemade  pie during the "normal" times- Thanksgiving and Christmas- so I decided to try and turn pie into a cupcake! I made the filling the same way I would for a pie, I just diced up the apples much smaller! 

I started with a box mix again as my base but didn't want an overwhelming vanilla flavor for the cake so I decided to make it a cinnamon cupcake. I started by adding very little cinnamon since it is so overpowering and worked up to 2 tsp. which I thought was a perfect amount; you could add more or less depending on how strong you want the cinnamon flavor. 

Once I divided the batter amount the cups I then used a tablespoon to spoon in the filling. I didn't attempt to push it down, but think next time I might. Once the cupcakes were baked the apple filling wasn't as in the center as I would have liked but they sure are yummy! 

Once they were out of the oven and cooled they weren't exactly that pretty cupcake look that I like; but of course, frosting could cover any imperfection! When I think of apple pie, I think of it being topped with ice cream and thus- creamy, vanilla buttercream! 

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Cinnamon Apple Pie Cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcakes:

Box Mix

½ cup melted butter- cooled

1 cup milk

3 eggs

2 tsp. cinnamon

2 tbsp. brown sugar

2 tbsp. white sugar

Filling:

4 tbsp. butter

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tbsp. brown sugar

1 tbsp. white sugar

2- 3 cups chopped apples

Juice of 1 small lemon

Frosting:

1 can buttercream

2 tsp. vanilla

¼ cup heavy cream

4-6 cups powdered sugar

Directions

Filling:

1.     Peel and chop up apples into dime size squares

2.     Add lemon juice to bowl of apples and stir to coat

3.     Add butter, cinnamon, brown sugar and white sugar to a sauce pan and heat on medium-low, stirring occasionally

4.     Once everything is melted together stir in apples, turn to low heat

5.     Heat until apples are just tender, set aside to cool

Cupcakes:

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

2.     In the bowl of your stand mixer, mix on low the cake mix, cinnamon, brown sugar, and white sugar

3.     Melt butter and set aside to cool

4.     Add milk and butter to dry ingredients and mix on medium

5.     Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition

6.     Mix on medium about 60-90 seconds until well mixed

7.     Divide batter between cupcake pans, filling about ½ full

8.     Scoop about a tbsp. of apple pie filling into each cup

9.     Place cupcake pans in oven and immediately turn oven down to 325º

10.  Bake for 20-23 minutes

Frosting:

1.     Add buttercream, vanilla, and heavy cream to the bowl of your stand mixer

2.     Beat on low until well mixed

3.     Add powdered sugar and mix on low, add more or less powdered sugar based on desired consistency

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

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

I saw these super cute mini breakable cookies at the grocery store and I had to have them... and then I decided, what would be better than a cookie dough cupcake?! In order to keep the cookie dough from being cookies its crucial that the dough be frozen, I let mine freeze for about 2 hours on a cookie sheet prior to baking them. This allowed them to still be cookie dough and for the cupcakes to still look like cupcakes! 

Once the cookie dough was frozen I started working on the cupcakes. We went to WinCo the other day, they just opened one about 20 miles from us, to check it out and reminisce our college days! Nothing beat 10 boxes of Hot Pockets for $10 when we were poor college students! Thats 20 meals at $.50 a meal! Anyways, when we were there cake mixes were on sale so I grabbed a few. Starting with a cake mix definitely makes the process much easier and good results can still be had! 

After I divided the batter between the cups it was time to pull the cookie dough out of the freezer and add it to the batter. I pushed the cookies into the batter to ensure the batter would bake up and around them.  

When I pulled the cupcakes out of the oven I was pleasantly surprised to find majority of them cooked perfectly and only 1 or 2 over flowing the cup! The cookie dough did poke through on most of the cupcakes but since you can't have a cupcake without frosting, it didn't really matter! 

The frosting was very easy to make also! Along with the cake mixes, frosting was also on sale! I started with a can of buttercream as my base and added brown sugar to make that chocolate chip cookie flavor! Adding powdered sugar and heavy cream allows for you to be able to control the consistency of the frosting. This is probably the best piping frosting I've made yet! It is so thick and creamy, holds its shape, and doesn't need to be kept in the fridge to prevent melting! 

 I love the way the cupcakes turned out and I love that when you bite into them you can really see the cookie dough! 

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Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Yield: About 30

Ingredients

Cupcakes:

1 box vanilla cake mix

3-4 tbsp. packed brown sugar

1 cup milk

½ melted butter- cooled

3 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

30 breakable chocolate chip cookie dough, separated and frozen (about 2 hours in the freezer)

Frosting:

1 can store bought buttercream

4-5 tbsp. brown sugar

4-6 cups powdered sugar

3-4 tbsp. heavy cream

Directions

Cupcakes:

1. Preheat oven to 350º, line cupcake pan with paper liners
2. In the bowl of your stand mixer, mix on low the cake mix and brown sugar
3. Melt butter and set aside to cool
4. Stir vanilla into milk
5. Add milk and butter to dry ingredients and mix on medium
6. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition
7. Mix on medium about 60-90 seconds until well mixed
8. Divide batter between cupcake pans, filling about ½ full
9. Push frozen cookie dough into each cupcake
10. Place cupcake pans in oven and immediately turn oven down to 325º
11. Bake for 20-23 minutes 

Frosting:

1. Add buttercream to the bowl of your stand mixer.
2. Add brown sugar, mix on low.
3. With mixer on low, add powdered sugar and heavy cream until desired consistency.

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