Margarita.. Please !

So this past weekend was one of my big sister's birthdays.  For dinner... taco soup.  What better dessert is there for taco soup then Magarita cupcakes!  So not a lot of hoopla to say today...just going to get straight to it!


Someone pass the salt....

The Recipe



Ingredients

• 3 sticks (12 ounces) butter, softened
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature, plus 1 large egg white
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 3/4 cups flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons whole milk
• Grated peel of 4 limes, plus 1/4 cup lime juice
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 2 tablespoons gold tequila
• 1 drop green food coloring
• 1/2 cup large multicolored sugar crystals
• 24 lime wedge candies

 

In goes the grated lime peel..smelled wonderful!

Mixing..Mixing.. Mixing

As you see... We have our cupcakes.. and icing too :)

 

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees . Line 2 cupcake pans with baking liners. Using an electric mixer, beat 2 sticks butter and the granulated sugar until creamy. Gradually beat in the eggs, egg white and oil. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and 1 teaspoon salt. In a large glass measuring cup, stir together the milk, 2 tablespoons lime juice and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract. On low speed, mix in one-third of the wet mixture, then one-third of the dry mixture. Repeat twice, ending with the dry mixture. Mix in half of the grated lime peel.
3. Fill each baking liner about three-quarters full with batter. Bake until the cupcakes spring back when gently touched, about 25 minutes. Let cool completely, about 30 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, using the electric mixer, beat the remaining 1 stick butter until creamy. Beat in 1 cup confectioners' sugar. Beat in the tequila, and the remaining 2 tablespoons lime juice, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, lime peel, 1 teaspoon salt and the food coloring until smooth and creamy. Beat in the remaining 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar one-third at a time, until just soft enough to spread.
5. Spread the frosting on the cooled cupcakes. Add the sugar crystals to a bowl; lay each frosted cupcake on its side in the bowl and gently rotate to form a rim of sugar. Top each cupcake with a lime wedge candy.

Review and Comments:

Step 5 above was just part of the regular recipe.. I didn't do all the garnishing!  But if you wanted it to be pretty go ahead :)

First off.. The icing... it's yummy.. how could it not be? It is where the tequila is! BUT.... when you make this the icing is super runny... not spreadable or piping friendly at all!  I had to add about 2 more cups to get it to the consistency in the pictures above.  So if you decide to make these... just continue to add powdered sugar until you have reached your desired thickness for the icing.

They definately have a very lime/citrus flavor. Everyone else seemed to like it as well.  We even sat the extra icing on the table with us and added more to our cupcakes (or someone.. I won't name..just wanted to eat the icing alone with a spoon...lol)

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Hey there everyone!  Happy Valentine's to you and everyone you love!  This week I made a cupcake I knew I would personally love.  I am a big fan of pretty much anything that has cinnamon in it.  So when I came across this recipe I knew I was going to have to try it out.  No, its not a typical Valentine's cupcake choice, but I was giving myself a gift.

The Recipe

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

Yields 24 cupcakes
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups cake flour (not self- rising), sifted
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon, plus 1/2 teaspoon for dusting
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 3/4 cups sugar, plus 2 tablespoons for dusting
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups milk

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Sift together both flours, baking powder, salt, and 1 tablespoon cinnamon.
2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of milk, and beating until combined after each.
3. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored up to 2 days at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.

Cinnamon Frosting
2½ sticks unsalted butter, softened
2½ cups Confectioners’ sugar (10 ounces)
1/8 tablespoons table salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons heavy cream
2 tablespoons cinnamon (or to taste)

In standing mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat butter at medium-high speed until smooth, about 20 seconds. Add confectioners’ sugar and salt; beat at medium-low speed until most of the sugar is moistened, about 45 seconds. Scrape down bowl and beat at medium speed until mixture is fully combined, about 15 seconds; scrape bowl, add vanilla, cinnamon, and heavy cream, and beat at medium speed until incorporated, about 10 seconds, then increase speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes, scraping down bowl once or twice.

Reviews and Notes:

My icing turned out perfect on this one!!!! YAY!!! It was light and fluffy, easy to pipe on, and yummy!  My husband is not a huge fan of cinnamon and he ate 2 of these back to back.  That's what was nice about them. There is no doubt it is a cinnamon cupcake, but the taste is not over powering.  I love these, but like I said I love just about everything with cinnamon in it, and these are not an exception to that!



#6 has arrived

Hello everyone! Hope you had a great weekend!  Did you miss me...lol.  Well, I figured I better get back on track this week since I was so behind last week.  I hope I am back on schedule now.  This week I tried to go a little lighter.. I have done so many dark cupcakes with chocolate and such in them.  So I did a classic Coconut Cupcake this week.  I am starting to figure out what flavors are going together, so I can take more liberties and tweek the recipes to my liking. 

Yup, thats the actual cupcake right in the middle.. blends with the towel pretty well, huh




The Recipe

Coconut Cupcakes with Coconut Frosting
recipe by Baked Perfection

makes 15 cupcakes

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cups sugar
1 egg
1 egg white
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup coconut milk (full fat)
1 cup shredded coconut

In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In a separate mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Beat in the egg and egg white, one at a time. Add the vanilla and almond extract; mix well. Add the flour mixture to creamed mixture alternately with coconut milk (batter will be thick). Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups with 1/4 cup of batter. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

Coconut Frosting
recipe from Baked Perfection

1 stick butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
3 cups powdered sugar
generous pinch of salt
4 tablespoons coconut milk
pinch of salt

Beat butter, vanilla, and almond extract until creamy. Add salt. Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, alternating with coconut milk, beating until combined.

(this recipe doesn't tell you how to toast the coconut as far as temp and time.. so here is what i did.  Put your desired amount of coconut spread on a bakin sheet. I set my oven to 275 degrees. Put the coconut in and stir about every 10 minutes. You will see some start to turn golden brown, at that point its just letting it go until its your desired toastiness.  Mine was toasty but not completely brown.)

Reviews and Notes:

Alright... I still haven't figured out what I am not doing quite right when it comes to these types of frostings.  Mine always turn out a little too runny.. Albeit they still take fantastic but not quite the correct consistancy.  Hopefully, I will get it figured out. 

Another thing I did with this recipe was make a white chocolate ganache filling (totally optional).  If you choose to do that then you will need to cut a small well in the cupcake once it has completely cooled.

My Ganache Recipe (and yes... I figured this one out all on my own)

1/2 c. Heavy cream
6 oz. white chocolate chips
2 tbsp butter

Bring cream to a light boil.  Once it begins to boil, take it off and pour it over the white chocolate chips in the bowl.  Let that sit for about 3 minutes (giving it a chance to melt the chocolate).  After 3 minutes add the 2 tbsp of butter and whisk together.  Let sit and wisk periodically until it thickens or you can stick it in the fridge and stir about every 10 minutes until it thickens ups.

After it was ready I just poured it into the wells with a spoon.

Something else I did with the recipe was sprinkly a tiny bit of sea salt on each one of the cupcakes.  And for me this was the perfect finish, that little sprinkle made it a sweet with touch of salty goodness!

Personally,  this recipe is a runner up for my favorite so far!  My husband enjoyed this cupcake so much he said it literally turned him on... lol.  His reaction was hilarious!  I love watching people eating my cupcakes and knowing they enjoy eating them as much as I do making them.

MMMMMMMMmmmmmm... Is All I can Say!

Ok! Here I am with my much anticipated weekly recipe!  And let me tell you I think it was worth the wait!  I have to thank R.T. for sharing this recipe with me a while back! So thank you R.T.

This recipe is super easy at that!  The worst part is the expense of the ingredients. But it's still not too bad...

Ok.. This particular pic is not of mine.. But in all honesty mine did actually look like this!


Here is the recipe!

Chocolate Syrup Cupcakes from Ina Garten

• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 11 fluid ounces Hershey's chocolate syrup
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour

Line muffin pans with 15 paper liners. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, 1 at a time. Mix in the chocolate syrup and vanilla. Add the flour and mix until just combined. Don't overbeat, or the cupcakes will be tough. Scoop the batter into the muffin cups and bake for 30 minutes, or until just set in the middle. Don't overbake! Let the cupcakes cool thoroughly in the pan.
Makes 15 cupcakes.

Frosting!

1 jar of 13 oz Nutella ( It only took me about half the jar-- but it depends on how much you prefer)
15 Ferrero Rocher Candies

Once your Cupcakes are cooled thoroughly, you are then going to use a pearing knife and make a shallow well in the top of each cupcake.  Once you have done that, pipe the nutella into the hole and allow some over flow.  You want it to overflow so that when you add the candy the excess pushes outward. (like the pic above)  Once you have done that just top with the candies and.. there you have it!

Notes and Reviews:

I like the simplicity of this cupcake.  Even though it's simple the flavor is just... WOW!!!  Just remember when you make these, and it says to just combine, you will notice your batter looks a little clumpy when you start spooning into the pan.. not to worry.. it still bakes correctly.  I add that little tidbit, because I was worried something was wrong with mine.  These are much sweeter than the first chocolate cupcake I made, very rich and decadant (in my opinion).

These are a chocolate lover's heaven!