Mini Party Cupcakes

Miniature Party Bites!

I love these miniature little cupcakes for several reasons:

1) They are so darn easy  to make!!

2) They look beautiful and require little to no decorating skills

3) They add the perfect amount of “pazzaz” to any birthday party!

So let’s get started! For these cupcake you will need a miniature cupcake pan and miniature cupcake liners.

I chose to make a vanilla butter cake as my base – you can use whatever yummy recipe you feel comfortable with.

Vanilla Butter Cake:

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter or margarine, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. In medium bowl, stir together flour, baking powder and salt. In measuring cup, mix milk and vanilla.
3. In large bowl, with mixer at medium-high speed, beat butter and sugar until light and creamy, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Reduce speed to low; add flour mixture alternately with milk mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Beat just until smooth, scraping the bowl occasionally with a  spatula.
4. Pour batter into cupcake liners (I usually fill them close to the top of the liner that way they puff up nicely) and bake for about 18-20 minutes.
5. Let cool completely before frosting the cupcakes.

 

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting: 

• 3 1/4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 cup butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tbs of heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 tsp of lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp of orange juice
• Rainbow colored sanding sugar

1. With an electric mixer, beat together sugar and butter. Mix on low until well blended.
2. Continue mixer on medium for another two minutes. 
3. Add vanilla and whipping cream, beating on medium for another minute.
4. Now here’s my secret…I add a little bit of lemon and orange juice to this frosting. This gives it a hint of fruity flavor that makes the mini cupcake even more fun! Kids love it too! Omit this step if you want a pure vanilla buttercream
5. Frosting should be light and fluffy.

Fill a piping bag with your frosting. Cut the tip off so there is a small hole. Pipe the frosting onto each cupcake – leaving only a dollop of frosting on each – do not worry about spreading out or piping in a design.

Pour your multi-colored sanding sugar onto a plate.

Dip each frosted cupcake into the sprinkles – smashing the frosting down around the top of the cupcake.

And there you have it – gorgeous, colorful, and delicious cupcakes that were super easy to make!! You’re cupcakes are going to be a hit at any party you bring them too. I just know it!

Stay sweet xoxo

Stay Calm Cupcake!

** Follow me on Twitter @ StayCalmCupcake – I only need 27 more followers and I will give away 2 free cupcake kits!! **

Mini Coconut Lime Cupcakes

This wonderful recipe landed in my inbox and absolutely made my day  today! If I didn’t already have plans tonight, I would head home after work and bake these immediatly! Tomorrow is Saturday though, so you can bet I will be baking up these little lime goodies! Enjoy the recipe – let me know how they turn out 🙂

Coconut Lime Cupcake – Mini Version!

Makes approx 48 mini’s and one dozen (12) regular size cupcakes

Cupcakes:

 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

 2 cups sugar

Zest of one lime

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 ½ tsp baking powder

 1 ½ tps baking soda

 1 ½ tsp salt

4 large eggs, room temperature

2 tsp vanilla

¾ cup milk

The juice of one lime

¾ cup Toasted Coconut + 2 cups for garnish

 Lime mini wedges

Green food coloring

1. Preheat oven to BROIL. 
2. Line cupcake pans with liners.
3. On an ungreased cookie sheet, lay coconut spread out on sheet.  Put in the oven and broil until about 1/5 of the coconut has browned.  Move around the coconut after 30 seconds to get more even browning. Watch carefully and DO NOT OVER TOAST!!!!! It should only take a minute or two. Set aside to cool.
4. Turn oven down to 300 degrees.
5. Measure sugar into a medium bowl.
6. Prepare the sugar by working the lime zest into sugar by pressing the back of a spatula down into sugar, thus releasing the oils from the zest into the sugar.  This process should take about five minutes, and the sugar will become very fragrant.  
7. Cream the butter for 2-3 minutes using electric mixer and the paddle attachment.  Add the sugar to the butter mixture and continue creaming until fluffy.
8. While butter/sugar are creaming, in another bowl sift together flour, salt baking soda and baking powder and set aside. Sift at least twice to ensure all ingredients are combined.
9. Add eggs one at a time to butter and sugar, mixing thoroughly after each egg.
10. In a measuring cup that pours, mix together the milk, lime juice and vanilla. 
11. SLOWLY alternate adding the flour and milk mixture to the butter/sugar.  Begin and end with the flour and make sure to mix very well after each addition. Do not over mix.
12. Fold in the toasted coconut.
13. Add 6-10 drops of green food coloring and fold in until you get the desired green color you want.
14. Fill liners 1/2 full with batter.  DO NOT OVER FILL!!!
15. For Minis: Bake for 8 minutes and rotate pan 180 degrees in oven. Bake another 2-3 minutes.
16. For Regular: Bake at 325 degrees for 15 minutes and rotate pan 180 degrees in oven.  Bake another 3-5 minutes.
17. Cool in pans for 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to completely cool.

Lime Buttercream:  

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

 2 lbs (approx 6 cups) powdered sugar

 1/4 -1/2 cup milk

 Zest of a lime

 Juice of a lime

1 tbsp light corn syrup

Mini lime wedges 

1. In an electric mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the butter.
2. One cup at a time, add the powdered sugar.  Between each cup, add a splash of milk.   Mix until smooth & scrape down the sides after each addition
3. Before the last cup of sugar, add the zest and juice of the lime.  Mix until smooth.
4. Add the corn syrup.
5. Add any remaining milk until you get the texture and consistency you want. 
6. Mix on high for 4-5 minutes.

To Assemble:

1. Pipe a dollop of buttercream on the cupcake.
2. Dunk the cupcake upside down in the toasted coconut.
3. Top with a small lime wedge. 

This recipe was created by Betsy Eves, author  of the blog JavaCupcake.com! Thanks Betsy for the fantastic recipe!!

Cupcake “Must – Haves”

One of the reason’s I started this blog, aside from sharing my passion for baking (and all things cupcakes!) was to create a venue wherein ideas are shared, passions are explored, and resources are given often. Over the past couple days I have contemplated deleting my ranting and raving Mel Gibson blog – It just doesn’t seem to fit into my overall goal of what I envisioned my blog to be about. But since I think it might hold some validity for someone (even if it’s only one woman) out there, I am going to leave it.

In order to redeem myself though – I have come up with a fun list of cupcake products (they are all pretty reasonably priced too!!) for you to enjoy. Have fun  “shopping” 🙂

Cupcake Liners! A huge collection of the most adorable cupcake liners ever. They are pretty cheap too, ranging from $3-$4 for 45 liners. http://www.layercakeshop.com/index.php/Shop/Baking/Baking-Cups/View-all-products.html

Sprinkles! All organized by color, these sprinkle options are fabulous. Prices range from $2-$3. I can’t seem to decide which ones I want to buy! http://www.layercakeshop.com/index.php/Shop/Decorating/Sprinkles/View-all-products.html

Bakery Labels! Don’t forget to label your box of cupcakes..these labels are on sale for only $2 (a roll of 25 labels) http://www.bakeitpretty.com/item_33/Bakery-Labels.htm

Cupcake Key Cover! I need one of these for sure 🙂 $8 for a pack of 6 – that means you can share with your friends too. http://www.fredflare.com//customer/product.php?productid=5643&cat=254

Cupcake T-shirts! Some really cute designs and lots of different styles. Price range from $12-$25 http://t-shirts.cafepress.com/Cupcake?cmp=knc–g–us–lib–apparel–search-e–Cupcake_t-shirts&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=lib–apparel&utm_content=search-e&utm_term=cupcake_t-shirts&gclid=COCdmr7j7aICFRrXnAod9UjYdg

Mini Cupcake Maker! Makes batches of 5 mini cupcakes (or muffins) in under 5 minutes – I’m impressed. At only $16 bucks,  I might need to try this thing out. http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&q=cupcake&cid=4994642654940599221&ei=9iA_TN_LH4zywAX0ubWKDg&sa=title&ved=0CDoQ8wIwBjgA#p

Cup-a-Cake! The cutest, individual cupcake holders. Great for lunches, picnics, little surprises, shoot… I might even put one in my purse. These hold a single cupcake in place so well that you can tumble it or even drop it and the cupcake will not move. Prices range from $2-$6. http://www.cupacake.com/

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Well that’s all for now. If you have purchased or tried any of these products and have reviews, please let me know. I’m always interested in what works and what doesn’t.

Til next time, stay sweet! xoxo