Candy Corn Cupcakes

A Halloween party at work means I got to bake last night. It's been a while.

I didn't do anything too exciting (as I was also carving pumpkins last night).

I just did a basic white cake, with a little vanilla and almond extract. I hadn't used this recipe before and it looks like they ended up rising more than I thought they would, next time with this recipe I'll probably just fill the cups half full.

I had some fun with the frosting though and made them look as much like a candy corn as I could. I've started using gel dies and I'm loving them. You get great colors and it doesn't change the consistency of your frosting.

I haven't actually tasted them yet (bad baker!), so hopefully they are a yummy treat!

S'more Cupcakes

Since it's fall and I'm in the mood for fall foods I decided to try my hand at a s'more cupcake. All the recipes I've seen around have a marshmallow topping with a chocolate center. I decided to switch it around and put the chocolate on top and cream in the center.

I was also planning on decorating the top with some of the remaining graham cracker crumbs but I just forgot. I think they would look good on top though.

Anyway, here is the recipe if you would like to try it:


Graham Cracker Cupcakes
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt

Creme Filling
1-7 oz container marshmallow cream
1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 T water
1-4 tsp salt

Ganache Frosting
12 oz semi sweet chocolate chips or chocolate chopped into small pieces
1 cup heavy cream

Instructions
Beat the butter until well creamed. Add the sugar and mix for 3 minutes or until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a time, be sure to beat for about 30 seconds for each egg.

Place the graham cracker crumbs in a food processor, or if you're poor like me and don't have one you can crush them in a ziploc bag using a rolling pin. Ground them into small crumbs and powder. You'll probably need around 15 whole crackers.

Sift together the flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

Add the flour/cracker mixture and milk into the butter/sugar/egg mixture alternating between the wet and try ingredients, ending with dry.

Bake at 350 F for 15-18 minutes. This made about 18 cupcakes.

While the cakes are baking you can make the cream and frosting.


Mix all ingredients for the creme filling with an electric mixer (believe me, you'll want it on this one) until fluffy. Fill the center of the cupcakes with the mixture after they have completely cooled.

For the frosting, heat the heavy cream up in the microwave or on the stove, be careful not to scorch it. Pour hot cream over the chocolate chips and let sit a minute or so to let it all melt. Stir. Let the chocolate get back to room temperature (I actually put my in the refrigerator). With an electric mixer (again, you'll really want it) beat until fluffy. Decorate as you wish.

I really enjoyed this recipe and I think it's something that adults and kids would both like. It's perfect for fall. Have fun!

Sangria Cupcakes

So I have totally fallen in love with the idea of this blog, Spain In a Cupcake. I seriously want to try everything she has posted so far.

I started last night by making her version of a sangria cupcake. I was really excited for these, they sounded very interesting.

Well, let's just say that there were aspects of this experiment that were successful and some that were a total disaster. But I'm still new to baking, and learning along the way.

First off, let's start with the good points:

I really liked the flavor of these treats. They were unlike any other cake I've ever had. It was quite dense and very moist with some dark notes from the red wine coming out. Since I used an actual sangria wine instead of just a red wine the citrus flavors really came out without me actually having to add anything.

The fruit that was added I felt was unnecessary, especially because I had used sangria that already had the citrus in it.

Now comes the failure part. My buttercream. I've made some pretty awesome buttercream frostings in the past (remember the Bailey's one? Yum!). I don't know what happened with this one. It literally started melting everywhere the minute I put it in the bag to start piping. Looking back I'm thinking I didn't cream the butter enough and it just separated. I remember looking at it when I put the die in and it didn't look quite right.

The buttercream tasted pretty good, it just didn't look good. I took a picture anyway, so I can remember this little lesson and move on.

I wish it had turned out better because I thought these would look so pretty, I even created some cute little toppers that looked like wine glasses made from white chocolate and red sprinkles.

So I will actually be trying this recipe again tonight. Leaving out the fruit and trying my buttercream again. Hopefully they look better. Even if they don't they still tasted good.

Red Velvet

I can tell just by that picture I over mixed. I'm still learning.

Cooling before the decorating

When out of piping bags a ziploc works nicely

All ready to eat

Tasty!