Mud Pie Cupcakes

One day, while browsing through endless internet pictures of scrumptious looking cupcakes I saw one that I knew I'd want to recreate....you know, when I got the rare free time away from my five kids, endless baking orders, cub scout duties, and sports. Turns out that day was today (less than 12 hours after seeing the picture). Okay, I didn't actually have free time. In fact, I've been up for a solid 72 hours baking for orders and babysitting for friends and trying to keep my house somewhat presentable. But I knew I wanted that cupcake and even if it meant I'd have to go another two hours without that long sought for sleep...I was going to get that cupcake!

Mud Pie Cupcake: Moist Chocolate cake filled with fudge pudding, topped with chocolate mousse, rimmed with Oreo crumbs, and sprinkled with chocolate shavings.

Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper

We've had this recipe ear marked for a while and I finally had the motivation to get it done (on top of the endless orders for RumChata and Black Forest Cupcakes we had today). I think I just needed to get in the kitchen and escape from reality today: last night my youngest son got sick...all over his new comforter and today my keys got locked in my van while it was running and I was half an hour away from home, on an old farm road covered in snow, mud, and ice.
To clarify for anyone wondering...no do the cupcakes do NOT taste like Dr. Pepper. The Dr. Pepper makes the chocolate cake super moist.

Dr Pepper Cupcakes:

1 c. butter
1 c. Dr. Pepper
4 tbsp. cocoa
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. sugar
1/2 c. buttermilk
1 tsp. soda
2 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 325.

Heat butter, cocoa and Dr. Pepper. Mix well and set aside.Cream eggs, sugar and butter, milk and soda. Add flour and cinnamon alternately with Dr. Pepper mixture, then vanilla. Line cupcake pans and fill 2/3 of the way full.
*Makes 2 dzn.

Vanilla Buttercream
     2 sticks butter, softened
     4 tablespoons Vanilla flavored syrup (the kind you use for soda/coffee)
     4 cups powdered sugar

In the bowl of a mixer, beat butter and syrup on medium speed until combined. Slowly add powdered sugar, beating on low until just mixed. Increase speed to high and beat for about two minutes.

Cherry Buttercream
     2 sticks butter, softened
     1 jar maraschino cherries
     3 cups powdered sugar
     red food coloring, optional

In the bowl of a mixer, combine butter and 4 tablespoons cherry juice. Slowly add powdered sugar, beating on low until just combined. Increase speed to high and beat for about two minutes. I added red food coloring to deepen the frosting color, but it's not necessary

You can assemble the cupcakes anyway you choose. I chose to fill them with the cherry buttercream, ice with a large swirl of vanilla buttercream and a small swirl of the cherry buttercream. Then garnish with a cherry.

RumChata cupcakes!

We've had multiple people request RumChata cupcakes. They all sent me the same recipe off of Pinterest. So once I got some free time, I tried it. And I did not like it. Don't get me wrong...they tasted good. I just did not like the way they baked up. And the icing had WAY too much sugar in it for my liking. So we adjusted our tried and true recipes to make our new RumChata cupcakes:

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cups sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
2/3 cups RumChata
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 325° F.  

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the cake flour, baking powder, and cinnamon.  Whisk together and set aside.  Add the butter to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Scrape the vanilla bean seeds into the bowl of the mixer with the butter and discard the pod (or reserve for another use.)  Beat on medium-high speed for 3 minutes, until light and creamy in color.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat for one more minute.

Add the sugar to the butter mixture, ¼ cup at a time, beating 1 minute after each addition.  Mix in the eggs one at a time until incorporated.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl after each addition.  Combine the RumChata and the vanilla extract in a liquid measuring cup.  With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients alternately with the wet ingredients, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients and mixing just until incorporated.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix for 15 seconds longer.

Divide the batter between the prepared paper liners, filling each about 2/3 of the way full. Bake 18-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Allow to cool in the pans 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.  Makes 18 standard size cupcakes.

RumChata Cream Cheese Icing:
8oz cream cheese, at room temperatur

1/2 c. butter, softened

1/3 - 1/2 c. RumChata

4-5 c. powdered sugar

Cream together butter and cream cheese. Add powdered sugar and RumChata, alternating. Adjust to your needs (more powdered sugar for a thicker icing or more RumChata for a thinner, creamier icing). Ice cupcakes and garnish with a sprinkle of ground cinnamon.

Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cupcakes

Wow! It has been crazy busy the last few months plus my computer crashed so I haven't been able to make any posts but boy do I have a LOT of recipes to start sharing! Today's recipe is a brand new one but it was so delicious I just had to share!
Chocolate cake with a raspberry white chocolate buttercream filling and swirl on top and then topped with a swirl of whipped chocolate ganache. Decadent to say the least!

Chocolate Cake:
Make your favorite chocolate cupcake recipe. Personally I'm a fan of Hersheys's Perfectly Chocolate Cake recipe but by all means you can also just use a box of Betty Crocker cake mix.

Raspberry White Chocolate Buttercream:
1 lb frozen raspberries, thawed
8 oz white chocolate, melted
1 c butter, softened
1 c powdered sugar

Puree raspberries in food processor. Strain through a mesh collander to remove as many seeds as possible. Measure 2/3 c of the raspberry juice. Put the raspberry 'juice' in your mixing bowl. Add the white chocolate and mix until combined. Add sugar and mix on low. With your mixer on low, slowly add the butter little by little. Whip until light and fluffy.

Whipped Chocolate Ganache:
8 oz high quality chocolate (I use Ghirardelli chocolate chips)
1 c heavy cream

Place chocolate chips in your mixing bowl. Heat cream on the stove until simmering. Pour over chocolate and stir until chocolate is melted. Let sit until it thickens to a peanut butter consistency then whip.

To assemble: Core chocolate cupcakes (an apple corer works great!). Fill each cupcake with the raspberry white chocolate buttercream and make one swirl of buttercream on top. Then top cupcakes with swirls of the whipped chocolate ganache.

Red Velvet ~ A Southern Classic

Yikes! It's been a while since we've made a post. We have had an insanely busy two months with non stop orders and deliveries. That doesn't mean we haven't been taste testing new recipes. I've found a made from scratch Devil's Food cake recipe that I love but it does need to be tinkered with to adjust to our climate so I won't post that recipe yet.
Instead, I thought I'd share with you our Red Velvet recipe. I'll be honest, the first time we tried a red velvet cake, it was from a box mix and I was just NOT impressed so I never tried again. I thought, "Really? What is all the fuss about?" because I know people who will gush over red velvet cake. I finally searched out several recipes and spent a weekend baking away to get the perfect recipe. I absolutely LOVE this recipe! The recipe makes 36 cupcakes so we are almost always guaranteed to have a few leftover...which makes me happy!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

• 2 1/2 cups flour (I use all-purpose)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 1/4 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup buttermilk (or milk with 2 teaspoons lemon juice)
• 1 ounce red food coloring** (okay, that is a lot of red food coloring!) It doesn’t change the taste, so I only use 1 teaspoon unless the red color is really important to me.
• 4 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 330 degrees F. Mix flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Set aside.
2. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Mix in sour cream, milk, food color and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until just blended. Do not overbeat. Spoon batter into 24 paper-lined muffin cups, filling each cup 2/3 full.
3. Bake 18 to 22 minutes or until toothpick inserted into cupcake comes out clean. Gently remove from oven (these are super-moist, and will collapse if you aren’t careful). Cool in pans on wire rack at least 5 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely. Frost with Cream Cheese Frosting.

Sweet Saturdays ~ Root Beer Float Cupcakes

I was a little hesitant about trying these. I'm usually pretty excited about new flavors but when we start changing the texture of a classic...like turning a root beer float into a cupcake, I am always leery. I have a hard time getting past the fact that root beer is supposed to be a drink and I can't imagine eating eat. I don't even eat the root beer candies. I know...I have issues. But I really wanted to try these! So I sucked it up, went grocery shopping and whipped up a batch of these. And I don't regret it!

I looked up several different recipes and they all were basically the same thing. White cake mix mixed with a can/bottle of soda. So I tried it. Again...another doctored cake mix recipe. I really need to find a made from scratch recipe that can be subbed for a cake mix.
The first batch of cupcakes I made, I followed the directions: 1 box of white cake mix + 1 bottle of root beer. They smelled good before being baked and you could definitely taste the root beer. But once it was baked the root beer flavor was much less intense. And the cakes came out with an odd texture. So I altered the altered cake mix recipe :-)
You know the saying "Third time is a charm"? Well, I didn't need a third time! These were amazing and I couldn't keep my family from eating them. Considering that I run a home bakery, that was a bit problematic. I even had a few customers come back for seconds and thirds (And when my customers order, it's by the 6-pk!).

Root Beer Float Cupcakes:
1 box Pillsbury white cake mix
1 cup root beer
3 eggs
1/3 cup oil
2 Tbsp. root beer extract

Prepare cake mix using the ingredients listed (if you can't tell, I followed the directions on the box subbing root beer for water and adding root beer extract). You may be able to get away with using less root beer extract (it wound up being about 1/2 the bottle). I just used 2 Tbsp to make sure I got a good root beer flavor. Bake as directed and let cool. Top with an ice cream buttercream.

Ice Cream Buttercream
Vanilla Ice Cream, melted (the premium brands taste better than the store bought)
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup shortening
2# powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt

Cream together the butter, shortening, vanilla, and salt until smooth. Slowly add in half of the powdered sugar. At this point I like to mix in half of my liquid, in this case the melted ice cream. The amount that you mix in will depend on the brand of ice cream you are using. Some thicker than others. I usually start with 1/3 cup and go from there. Once the melted ice cream is blended in (be sure to scrape sides and  bottom of bowl!) add the other half of the powdered sugar. Blend until creamy and smooth. Mix in more melted ice cream until you reach the consistency you would like. It should be another 1/3 cup but again, it will depend on the brand of ice cream you used.

Sweet Saturdays ~ Chunky Monkey Cupcakes

These. Are. Amazing. I'll leave it at that. Unfortunately (I hate to admit this) this recipe is a doctored cake mix. Which I have nothing against, but I love made from scratch foods so I try to do as much home-made as possible. I'm working my way through recipes to see if I can get a good homemade vanilla mix that would work as a substitute for doctored cake mix recipes. But for now, the box mix will have to work.
This cupcake is full of Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey awesomeness. It has a great banana flavor, big chunks of walnuts and lots of chocolate. It just can't go wrong!