Candy-Cane Cupcakes!

Chocolate Candy Cane Cupcake

Can  you believe that Thanksgiving is next week?!?! I can’t!

I feel like just last month I was working on a summer inspired  strawberry lemonade cupcake recipe . Boy how time flies! Today my post is another Holiday inspired recipe. It’s a yummy recipe to top your favorite  chocolate, vanilla, or white cake cupcakes with. Peppermint Twist! Yum!

Peppermint Twist butter-cream is a different type of mint then  my Green Mint Frosting (Recipe Here ) Peppermint Twist tastes just like candy canes!!

Enjoy the recipe. Stay Sweet xoxo

Peppermint Twist Buttercream

 

Peppermint Twist Cupcakes

• 1 stick unsalted butter (softened)
• 1 stick salted butter (softened)
• 1/2 pkg. french vanilla instant pudding mix
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 tsp. peppermint extract (maybe a little bit more depending on how much mint flavor you like..I like a lot)
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• Red food coloring

Set your mixer on medium speed, beat the butter until smooth and silky. Turn the speed to low and add the pudding mix, when it is all incorporated, slowly add the cream, a little at a time. When fully incorporated bring speed up to high and beat for 5-7 minutes. Turn speed back down to low and add peppermint extract and powdered sugar by Tbsp.  Beat again at high speed for a good 5 minutes to ensure creaminess.

If you don’t want red stripes, crunch up some candy canes and sprinkle them on the top of your cupcake!

To get the red stripes in your frosting, draw three (3) red food coloring lines inside your piping bag. Put the frosting in the piping bag and begin to pipe onto your cupcakes. Voila…red and white frosting that is as delicious as it is beautiful!!

The Perfect Mint Buttercream!

Mint-Chocolate Cupcake

I am happy to announce that I perfected my Mint Buttercream recipe. After looking through what seemed like 100’s of online recipes, I found a few I liked and combined them. The result you ask? A really yummy, “I’d put this on anything and eat it” kind of frosting.

Needless to say, I made a batch of Mint-Chocolate cupcakes, ate one, and got them out of the house!!

Mint Chocolate cupcakes are perfect for the Holidays. Enjoy this recipe and make sure you share with others 🙂 Stay sweet xoxo

 

Mint-Chocolate Buttercream

 

Happy Holidays!

 

Ingredients

• 3 sticks of room temperature butter (it’s very important they are room temp)
• 3 cups of powdered sugar (no need to sift)
• 1 tbs of cream of tartar
• 6 tbs of Half and Half
• 1/2 cup of thawed cool whip
• 1/4 tsp mint extract (use a little more depending on how “minty” you want it)
• 2 drops of green food coloring
• Andes mint candies

Directions:

1. Beat the butter in your mixer until very creamy. You will need to scrape the bowl several times
2. Adding one cup of powdered sugar at a time, mix in with the butter.
3. Add the half and half and mint extract. Beat on medium speed for 5 minutes (be patient!)
4. Add the cream of tartar, food color and cool whip.
5. Mix on medium high for another 5 minutes.

**Frosting will be very thick, but it’s supposed to be 🙂 **

These cupcakes are now available on my Etsy shop. Eight (8) cupcakes for $12, plus an extra treat because you read my blog! www.etsy.com/shop/staycalmcupcake  xoxo

Mint Chocolate Madness

Heavenly!!

Ok, so I have to admit….I have been craving the mint-chocolate combo for about the last 30 days! There is something so wintery and “festive” about cool mint and melt-in-your-mouth chocolate. I am a HUGE fan of those little Andes mints and love a York Peppermint Patty. Because I love this combo so much, I have been searching for the perefect chocolate mint cupcake recipe. Unfortunately, I haven’t really found one I like. Tonight though, I am going to try a combination of recipes, add in a few of my own ideas, and then (hopefully) indulge in some yummy chcolate mint goodness.

Until then, enjoy some inspiration for your own chcolate mint cupcakes. I will post the final recipe tomorrow along with some pictures of my treats.

Happy Monday readers. Enjoy!

P.S. I am sponsoring a new blog, and she’s offering a great give-away! Go check it out, she has some fabulous posts!  http://itssimplelove.blogspot.com/

 

Cookies-N-Cream Cupcakes

Happy Monday! Well, as happy as a Monday could possibly be, I guess. I trust everyone had a fun Halloween filled with sweet candies, fun costumes, and lots of laughter.

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes!

Since I don’t have any little ones, and I’m much to old to go Trick-or-Treating by myself, I didn’t get any candy this Halloween! In all fairness though, I could have bought myself a bag of treats from Target, but It just would not have been the same 🙂 So last night I whipped up a batch of Cookies and Cream Cupcakes! They were delicious! The absolute perfect late night snack. Here’s the recipe – I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes

Vanilla  Cupcake (adpted from a vanilla cake recipe on foodnetwork.com)

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 eggs
• 3 cups sifted cake flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk
• Regular or silver cupcake paper liners

** I add 2 tbs of lemon juice to this recipe. You can’t taste the lemon in the cupcake, it just improves the vanilla flavor. Make sure to not put more then 2 tbs though, or you’ll end up with lemon cake instead of vanilla

Make the Cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a mixer with a whip attachment, cream the butter until light and fluffy. Add the sugar and continue to cream. Gradually add the vanilla and eggs and mix in well. Sift together the dry ingredients; then mix into the butter mixture alternating with the milk. Pour batter into cupcake paper-lined muffin tins filling them 3/4 full. Bake until puffed and firm in the center and light golden brown on top, about 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool.

Cookies and Cream Frosting

• 5 oreo cookies
• Marshmallow Whip Frosting (https://fontgirl.wordpress.com/2010/10/11/marshmallow-whip-and-mingle-monday/)
• Milk Chocolate Frosting (https://fontgirl.wordpress.com/2010/09/13/chocolate-caramel-cupcakes/)

Directions

1. Mix the Marhmallow and Milk Chocolate frostings together in a large mixing bowl.
2. Mix until the frosting is a light brown color.
3. Crumble the oreo cookies into very small pieces. I put my oreos in a zip-loc bag and rolled over them with a rolling pin. You don’t want large chunks, you want small crumbles.
4. Add the cookie crumbs to the frosting. Mix on medium speed until well combined
5. Place in piping bag and decorate your cupcakes!

This frosting is a great one to make if you have some leftover chocolate and vanilla frosting. While I used Marhmallow and Milk Chocolate frosting, you could easily use any kind of vanilla frosting and mix it in wth a choclate one.

** Don’t forget to enter my Stay Calm Cupcake Kit Giveaway!! TWO Winners will be announced on Nov. 8th https://fontgirl.wordpress.com/2010/10/27/619/

Until Next Time, Stay Sweet! xoxo

Strawberry White Chocolate Cupcakes

Hello Readers!

I am so sorry for being absent for over a week. I have been busy traveling for work, baking for birthday parties, and celebrating my boyfriends 25th! No worries, though, I am back…and with a fabulous recipe to share!

Strawberry White Chocolate Cupcakes - Yum!

I made these cupcakes for my cousins birthday this month. These decadent white chocolate cupcakes are topped with a yummy strawberry vanilla swirl frosting and can add the perfect touch of “girly” to any party.

Enjoy the recipe! xoxo

White Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6 (1 ounce) squares white chocolate, chopped
• 1/2 cup hot water
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Sift together the 2 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
3. In small saucepan, melt 6 ounces white chocolate and hot water over low heat. Stir until smooth, and allow to cool to room temperature. You can also melt the chocolate in your microwave for 1 min (in incriments of 30 seconds)
4. In a large bowl, cream 1 cup butter and 1 1/2 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition.
5. Stir in flour mixture alternately with buttermilk. Mix in melted white chocolate and 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla.
6. Pour batter into cupcake liners and bake for 18-22 minutes. The tops will be slighlty browned.

Strawberry Vanilla Frosting

Vanilla

• 2/3 cup butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream

Beat 2/3 cup of butter in a bowl until smooth and glossy. Beat in the vanilla, followed by the confectioners’ sugar. Add the cream and  whip on high speed until light and fluffy.

Strawberry Frosting (From MarthaStewart.com)

• 1/2 cup whole frozen strawberries, thawed
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, firm and slightly cold
• Pinch of coarse salt
• 3 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Place strawberries in the bowl of a small food processor; process until pureed. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and salt on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce mixer speed and slowly add confectioners’ sugar; beat until well combined. Add vanilla and 3 tablespoons strawberry puree (save any remaining strawberry puree for another use); mix until just blended. Do not overmix or frosting will incorporate too much air. Frosting consistency should be dense and creamy, like ice cream.

For the two-tone frosting effect, I used the same technique from my “Paintball Cupcakes” (https://fontgirl.wordpress.com/2010/09/17/paintball-cupcakes/)

Til next time, Stay Sweet!!

French Vanilla Berry and Double Fudge Cupcakes

 

Double Fudge Cupcake

 I love chocolate! So it is no suprise to me that I am obsessed with this chocolate cupcake. It’s a moist chocolate cupcake topped with rich chocolate frosting. The recipe is pretty simple too! It’s an adapted version of my Caramel Chocolate Cupcakes(https://fontgirl.wordpress.com/2010/09/13/chocolate-caramel-cupcakes/) Follow the same recipe just leave out  the caramels. For the frosting, I used the same recipe (in the link above) but replaced the 1/4 cup of vegetable shortening with 1/4 cup of butter. I love a recipe that can make two different cupcakes!!

French Vanilla Berry

Now, for my French Vanilla Berry cupcakes! These cupcakes are so perfectly light and fluffy that you almost dont feel guilty for eating 3 of them in one sitting more than one. I used a traditional vanilla cake recipe and added some key ingredients. I used 1 tablespoon of French Vanilla flavoring (I like Wilton’s, but there are many brands that I’m sure will do just fine) and then I add 2 tablespoons of french vanilla cofee creamer. Weird, I know! But it works like a charm.

Now, for the berry part of this cupcake! I have written about my double berry buttercream recipe in a previous post. This frosting is similiar but it is double berry cream cheese rather than buttercream. Both are so delicous, but I find that the buttercream is better for cake filling and the creamcheese is better for cupcakes.

 

Ingredients:

• 1 box of strawberries (at least 15 strawberries)
• 1 bog of blueberries (2 ½ cups)
• 3 cups of sugar
• ¼ cup of cornstarch

1 package of cream cheese (8 oz)

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine softened

2 tsp of vanilla extract

5 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar

2 tablespoons milk

2 tbs of lemon juice

Directions

With the first set ingredients, you are going to make the berry jam.

1. Wash the berries
2. Cut the strawberries
3. Place berries in a bowl and mash them together (I used a potato masher)
4. Pour berries into a pan and add 3 cups of sugar and lemon juice.
5. Stir until combined
6. Let boil (stirring occasionally) for 7-10 minutes until it starts to thicken.
7. Turn to low heat and add cornstarch (be sure to add the cornstarch to cold water before adding it to the hot mixture – reference the directions on the side of the cornstarch box)
8. Remove from heat, let cool completely

Using the second set of ingredients:

1. Cream the creamcheese and butter with electric mixer.
2. Add vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed.
3. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat at medium speed until it appears fluffy.
4. At this point, add in 2 1/2  cups of the cooled berry filling. (You might need more depending on how much of the berry flavor you want to taste)
5. Mix togethert until well combined
6. Refrigerate for 30 minutes before using.

 ** Don’t forget to sign up for the Bake It Pretty Giveaway! Deadline is October 4th.

Read my Sept. 21st post for deatils!!**

Paintball Cupcakes

Packaged up and ready for delivery!

I recently had a lady order cupcakes for her son’s 14th birthday. She ordered “paintball themed” cupcakes. To be honest, I was a little stumped at first. How on earth was I going to pull off, “paintball” cupcakes ?! I have never been paintballing in my life, not to mention the thought of getting hit by an exploding ball of paint makes me cringe! Luckily, I was able to think of some pretty fun ideas and the overall presentation turned out really great! I decided to color the icing in bold colors and used a frosting trick that allowed me to pipe two colors at once. I think this gave the cupcakes a paintball feel. What do you think?

Two-Tone Frosting

 

To create the two-tone effect, I wrapped the blue icing in plastic wrap and rolled it into a thin tube. I did the same thing for the yellow icing. I then cut the tips of the plastic wrapped frosting “tubes” and put both colors of icing in one piping bag. Voila, two-tone icing!! This trick is really easy and saves from a big mess!!

 I hope the birthday boy liked his cupcakes and had a great birthday!

      Until next time, stay sweet! xo

Chocolate Caramel Cupcakes

Chocolate Caramel Goodness!

Happy Monday readers!

Last night I made Chocolate Caramel Cupcakes – complete with gooey caramel centers, milk chocolate mousse, and rich chocolate cake. The recipe took me longer than I had hoped, and I had to make some adjustments along the way, but I came out with a great cupcake and a flawless recipe. Please enjoy!! I’m warning you though, the milk chocolate mousse is really good…I was tempted to pipe the frosting straight to my mouth and skip the cupcake all together. Don’t worry…I didn’t 😉

 

 

 

Chocolate Caramel Mousse Cupcakes (makes 24)

Ingredients:

Chocolate Caramel Cupcake    

24 Kraft Caramel squares

1 1/2 cup (170 g) all-purpose flour
5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 pinches salt
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs

Caramel Sauce

10-14 Kraft Caramel Squares

¼ cup of Half and Half

Milk Chocolate Mousse Frosting

1 cup of milk chocolate chips

2 cups of Nestle Toll House Cocoa Powder

1 stick of softened butter

¼ cup of vegetable shortening

1 cup of whipping cream

1 ½ cups of powder sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Mix flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, sugar and vanilla essence in a bowl.
3. Add milk, vegetable oil and eggs.
4. Mix everything together until smooth, either by hand or by using an electric mixer at slow speed. If the batter is too thin – add a little bit more flour.
5. Pour batter into cupcake liners, making them half full.
6. Bake for 15 minutes
7. Take cupcake from the oven and place a caramel square on the top of each cupcake. Bake for 5 more minutes, until the caramel has melted onto the cupcake.

Before baking the caramels

Mousse

1. Cream together the butter, vegetable shortening, and powdered sugar
2. Slowly add in cocoa powder and whipping cream
3. Beat on medium high speed until soft peaks form
4. In a microwave safe bowl, put your chocolate chips and ½ tbs of butter – Heat on high for 30 seconds. Stir until completely combined and melted.
5. Add melted chocolate mixture to the mixing bowl – mix until well combined

**Note: Do not over mix this frosting, if you do, it will begin to curdle and separate. It takes about 10 minutes for the mixture to form soft peaks and become frosting like **

Caramel Sauce

1. In a saucepan on medium heat, melt the caramel squares with the half and half. Stir continuously or else your caramel will burn.

Pipe your frosting on the cupcake and drizzle with caramel. Now enjoy!!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

What is better than a moist chocolate cake? I’ll tell you….a moist chocolate cake, colored red, and topped with the creamiest cream-cheese frosting you could imagine. That my friends, is better than moist chocolate cake!

Red Velvet cake and I used to have a bittersweet relationship…I could never get the recipe right. That was until I found a recipe that I actually like. I adapted this recipe from Bobbly Flay’s show “Throwdown with Bobby Flay” . Enjoy the recipe, and enjoy all the praises you get when you pass these little guys out. Happy tuesday!!

My Red Velvet Masterpieces

Red Velvet Cupcakes (adapted from “Throwdown with Bobby Flay”)

Makes 16 Large cupcakes – 24 regular size cupcakes

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 4 tbs unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 1 ½  granulated sugar
• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
• 3  large eggs
• 2 tsp of red food coloring
• 1/8 cup of water
• 2 tsp of vanilla
• 1 ¼ tsp of vinegar (white or apple cider)

Directions

Preheat oven 350 degrees F.

Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder into a bowl and set aside. (**Sifting is very important here – I usually skip sifting, but I don’t skip it in this recipe because without sifting, your cupcakes won’t be fluffy and moist.)

In a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix oil, sugar, and buttermilk until combined. Add eggs, food coloring, vinegar, vanilla and water and mix well. Add the dry ingredients a little bit at a time and mix on low, scraping down sides occasionally, and mix until just combined. Be sure not to over mix, or the batter will come out tough.

Line a 16-cup cupcake pan with paper liners, scoop the batter into the liners and bake at 350 degrees F for 20 to 30 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean. Let cool

Creamy Dreamy Crean Cheese Frosting

• 2 packages of 8 oz. Cream Cheese
• 3 cups of powdered sugar
• 1 tbs of vanilla extract
• 2 Sticks of unsalted Butter

Cream together cream cheese and butter – Mix on high speed up soft and well combined

Add the powder sugar one cup at a time – mixing thoroughly after each cup

Add in the vanilla and mix well

Beat on medium high speed until desired consistency is achieved.

ENJOY!!

Lemon Berry Treats

Can someone please tell me how this summer flew by so quickly?? It’s so true that the older you get, the faster time goes. I don’t like it one bit! The only solace I find is that with the end of summer comes the arrival of Fall, which means an entirely new palette of flavors to work with. Not to mention all the holidays I will be baking for. When I think of Fall I think of carrot cake, and spice cake, and oatmeal cookies, and all sorts of “feel-good” homemade treats. While I am excited to start baking new flavors of the season, I am sad that I have to say goodbye to the whims of summer fun.

I created this recipe for Lemon Berry cupcakes because to me, it truly represents all things summer. Enjoy the recipe!

Lemon Berry Cupcakes decorated with a pink and black theme for a bridal shower.

Lemon Cupcakes (the quick version)  

1 Box of Duncan Hines Lemon Supreme Cake Mix

1/3 cup of vegetable oil

3 eggs

1 1/3 cup of water

1 lemon

1 tsp. Vanilla extract

(**For 100% homemade cupcakes, I enjoy this lemon cake recipe: http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/lemon-cream-cupcakes/Detail.aspx**)

Directions

1. Prepare the batter according to the directions on the back of the box.
2. Add 1 tsp of vanilla to the batter, mix well
3. Add ¼ cup of lemon juice
4. Add lemon zest of one medium size lemon
5. Mix all ingredients together and pour into baking cups.
6. Bake as directed on the box.

Berry Filling

1 box of strawberries (at least 15 strawberries)

1 bog of blueberries (2 ½ cups)

3 cups of sugar

¼ cup of cornstarch

Directions

1. Wash the berries
2. Cut the strawberries
3. Place berries in a bowl and mash them together (I used a potato masher)
4. Pour berries into a pan and add 3 cups of sugar.
5. Stir until combined
6. Let boil (stirring occasionally) for 7-10 minutes until it starts to thicken.
7. Turn to low heat and add cornstarch (be sure to add the cornstarch to cold water before adding it to the hot mixture – reference the directions on the side of the cornstarch box)
8. Remove from heat, let cool completely

Berry filling - yum!!

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 2 packages (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
• 8 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar (about 2 lbs.)
• 2 tablespoons milk

 Makes: About 5 1/2 cups of icing.

 In medium mixer bowl, cream butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Add sugar one cup at a time and milk. Mix well. Beat on high until smooth (only 30 seconds to 1 minute). Thin to ice cake smooth; use full strength for piping borders.

NOTE: Do not use light cream cheese or butter substitute. If margarine is used, icing will be softer.

Now, for the fun part! Use an apple corer (or a small knife) to carve out little holes in each cupcake – don’t throw away the part of the cupcake you remove, you will need to use it to fill the hole once the filling has been inserted.

Once you have a hole in each cupcake, fill the cupcake with berry filling. It is easiest to put the filling in a piping bag (a Ziploc bag will work too). Be sure you don’t  overfill the cupcakes. Once filled – cover the hole with the piece of cupcake you removed.

Pipe cream-cheese frosting on the cupcake and decorate as desired.

Cupcakes should be refrigerated.

Enjoy!! Till Next time, stay sweet. xoxo