Apple Pie

Apple pie has always been a fall favorite, and fortunately it's not all that difficult to make.

Preheat oven to 425

Filling
6 cups (about 7-8) apple sliced (Spies, Rome, and Empire apples work best)
3/4 sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp cinnamon

Peel apples, core and slice.  Put in large bowl.  In separate bowl combine sugar, flour, nutmeg, and cinnamon.  Pour onto apples, mix and set aside.

Cinnamon Crust
2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 + 2 tbs Crisco solid
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
5-6 tablespoons cold water

Step 1. In large bowl combine flour and salt.  Add crisco.  Using a pastry blender, mix until pea sized particles form.  Sprinkle in water, 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing with fork until all flour is moistened and pastry almost cleans side of bowl (1-2 tablespoons can be added if necessary). 

Step 2. Gather pastry in a bowl; divide in half; shape into flattened rounds on a clean, lightly floured pastry mat or counter top.  Using a flour covered rolling pin, roll pastry 2 inches larger than inverted pie plate.  Once desired size is rolled, place rolling pin on one side of the flattened round and roll part of the pastry up so that the pastry crust hangs about evenly on either side of the rolling pin, then unroll into pie pan. 

Step 3. Press pastry firmly into pie pan. 

Step 4. Pour filling into pastry lined pie plate.  Repeat Step 2 with second ball of dough.  Place upper crust on top of filling.  Cut slits so steam can escape.

Step 5. Trim overhanging edge of pastry 1 inch from the rim of the plate.  Fold and roll top edge under lower edge, pressing on rim to seal; flute.  Cover edge with aluminum foil to prevent excessive browning; remove foil during last 15 minutes of baking.

Step 6. Bake for 40-50 minutes.  Be sure to remove foil during last 15 minutes of baking.  Crust should be slightly brown and juice will begin to bubble through the slits in the top crust. 

Allow to cool on a wire rack.

Chocolate Hazelnut Cupcakes

Cake
Chocolate Hazelnut

I'm a fan of the recipe on the back of the Hershey's cocoa powder box.  The only change I made was by adding about 1/2 cup of ground hazelnuts to the batter.

Frosting
Chocolate hazelnut

I also used the recipe on the back of the Hershey's cocoa powder box.  The big change - I replaced one tablespoon of milk with hazelnut flavoring (the kind you put in coffee).

Decorating
Using Wilton decorating tip 1M, swirl the frosting onto the cupcake starting with the outer edge working towards the middle.  Top with toffee pieces.



Pumpkin Patch Sugar Cookies

Spritz sugar cookies were a holiday staple at my house growing up.  Although the original recipe calls for a cookie press and sprinkles, I have always rolled them out and decorated them with icing. 


Spritz Cookie Dough
3 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups margarine (3 sticks)
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 400

Stir together flour and baking powder.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat butter or margarine for 30 seconds.  Add sugar and beat until fluffy.  Add egg and vanilla; beat well.  Gradually add dry ingredients (about 1/2 a cup at a time) beating well after each addition.  Mix until blended.

Do not chill dough.

Sprinkle flour on a surface (counter top).  Divide dough in half.  Ball half of the dough, press flat between your hands, dust with flour on both sides and then using a rolling pin, roll dough until it is about 1/4 - 1/2 inch thick.  Use cookie cutters and put cookies on a baking sheet.  Add leftover dough to remaining dough in bowl and repeat until all dough has been used.

Bake in oven for approximately 7-8 minutes.  Edges will start to get slightly browned.  Cool on a wire rack, parchment paper or paper towels.

Icing
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Milk

Put powdered sugar in a bowl, add vanilla, add enough milk to make a drizzling consistency.  Add food coloring if desired.

Spread icing on cookies.  If decorating, add all decorations (sprinkles, chocolate chips, etc) immediately after frosting as the icing will harden quickly.

The jack-o-lantern cookies pictured have chocolate chips for the eyes and nose and mini chocolate chips for the mouth. 

Pumpkin Spice Cupcake

Cake

(www.duncanhines.com)

1 box spice cake mix

1 can pumpkin (Libbys pumpkin)

½ cup water

Mix and bake for approximately 21 minutes.  Makes 22-24 cupcakes

Frosting

3 ounces cream cheese

¼ cup butter or margarine

1 tsp vanilla

~3 cups powdered sugar

Cinnamon

Nutmeg

Beat cream cheese and butter until combined and fluffy.  Add vanilla and ½ tsp of cinnamon.  Beat together.  Add powdered sugar ½  cup at a time beating well after each addition until desired consistency is reached (I always add enough sugar so that the frosting is slightly more stiff rather than creamy - reason: frosting needs to be thicker when using decorator tips).  Add a dash or two of nutmeg.  Add additional cinnamon until desired flavor is met. 

Frost cupcakes using a Wilton 1M tip starting from the outer edge and swirling the frosting towards the middle.  Sprinkle with cinnamon. 

Banana's Foster Cupcake

Cake

Part 1

2 bananas

4 tablespoons dark rum

2 tbs butter

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup brown sugar

Part 2

1 box yellow cake mix

Rum

2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 tbs caramel

Part 1

Slice bananas.  In a skillet, heat rum, butter, vanilla and brown sugar on medium heat until mixture bubbles.  Add bananas and cook for 2-3 minutes until bananas are hot..  Set aside.

Part 2

Prepare cake as directed, replacing 1/3 cup of the water with rum.  Add cinnamon, caramel and bananas.  Bake as directed.  Tap the top of a cupcake.  If the top springs back they are done baking.  If an indentation is visible, leave in oven and check again after 2-3 minutes.  Repeat until cupcakes spring back upon touch.

Frosting

Caramel Buttercream

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine

1 tsp vanilla
3-4 cups powdered sugar (1 box)
2-3 tbs milk
2 tbs caramel

Beat the butter and vanilla together.  Alternately add the powdered sugar and milk until desired consistency is reached.  Add caramel and blend into mixture.  When using decorating tips, frosting should have a slightly thicker consistency, otherwise it will look melted on your cupcakes.  Note: if you end up with frosting that is too thin, just add more powdered sugar. 

Decorating
Using Wilton decorating tip 1M squeeze 1 large star of frosting on to the top of each cupcake.  Dust with Cinnamon.

Keep refrigerated. 

Toffee Cupcakes

Toffee Cupcakes
Chocolate dipped and Butterscotch dipped

Cake

Ingredients
1 box yellow cake mix
Eggs
Oil
Water
Caramel sundae syrup
Toffee pieces

Prepare cake as directed.  Add 1/4 cup caramel sundae syrup to batter and 1/2 cup of toffee pieces.  Mix thoroughly.  Bake as directed.

Frosting

Caramel Buttercream
1 1/2 sticks butter or margarine
1 tsp vanilla extract
1.5 lbs confectioners sugar
2 tsp milk
3-5 tsp caramel sundae syrup

Place butter or margarine in a bowl and beat until fluffy.  Add vanilla.  Alternately add confectioners sugar and milk.  Once all milk has been added, alternately add caramel syrup and confectioners sugar until desired flavor and consistency are reached.

Generously frost cupcakes.  It works well to cut a whole in the decorator bag like a large round tip and swirl frosting onto the cupcake.

Set excess frosting aside for later use.

Decorating

Ingredients
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 butterscotch chips
1/2 cup toffee pieces

Place toffee chips in a shallow bowl or on a plate.

Step 1: Place chocolate chips in one small microwave safe bowl.  Heat for 30 seconds, stir.  Repeat until chips have melted.  Note: if you microwave for too long the chips will burn and become chalky and unusable.

Step 2: Dip a cupcake in the warm melted chocolate until the entire top of the cupcake is covered then roll the edges in the toffee.  Decorate one cupcake at a time in order to avoid having the chocolate harden before the toffee has been added.  Repeat for 12 cupcakes.

Repeat steps 1 and 2 with butterscotch chips.

Once all cupcakes have been dipped and rolled in toffee pieces, put the excess frosting in a decorator bag and using Wilton tip 1M add a squeeze of frosting to the top of each cupcake.

Store at room temperature.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Cake

This cake is based off of the science fiction comedy book The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.  

There have been many different covers for his book, but I happen to have the one with this crazy little green guy on it, so that's what my "art" is based on.  For those of you familiar with Deep Thought, this design happens to be pretty funny for anyone turning 42 who is familiar with the book.

Cake
Baker's choice.
Frosting
Baker's choice.

Note - I always frost cakes before adding the fondant for the following reasons:
1. it gives the fondant something to stick to
2. most people (like me) don't like the way fondant tastes, so this way they also get frosting.

Fondant
Ingredients
1 bag marshmallows
3 tbs water
Crisco solid - at least 1/4 cup
powdered sugar - about 2 lbs
food coloring

Other things you'll need
large microwave safe bowl
wooden spoon
Fondant mat, wax paper or parchment paper
Fondant rolling pin
Fondant cutter/knife

Use Crisco to grease large microwave safe bowl.  Add marshmallows and water.  Microwave on high for 2 minutes.

Use Crisco to grease the wooden spoon (you'll want to grease all the way up the handle and you'll most likely want to grease your hands once you've laid out your fondant mat, gotten out the rolling pin, and opened the powdered sugar).

Stir marshmallow mixture with wooden spoon (it should be liquidy).  Add powdered sugar by the cupful, stirring well after each addition, until batter is no longer sticky - it's going to take a lot of powdered sugar and you'll want to keep testing it with your hands to make sure it's not sticking to you.  Once complete, you'll have a giant bowl of white fondant.  Approximately 2/3 will be used for the initial covering of the cake.

Before moving on, grease your hands.  It prevents the fondant from sticking to you.

If you want to color the fondant, take the amount of dough that you'd like to color and stretch it out slightly.  Add a few drops of food coloring to the center and fold dough in on itself (this prevents the color from getting all over you).  You'll end up with a ball of colored dough to work with.  Set aside.  Repeat process with white fondant until you have all desired colors.

On to the messy part..

On your fondant mat (or wax/parchment paper) cover with a layer of powdered sugar.  Roll out the dough so that you have enough to cover the entire cake.  To pick fondant off of the paper, drape the edge of the rolled fondant over your rolling pin and loosely "roll up" the dough from the mat.  Basically, it will end up looking like you've hung a towel over a rack.  Carry over to your cake (or put your cake directly under the draped fondant and smooth the fondant over the cake.  Using a fondant cutter remove the excess fondant from the bottom of the cake. 

If your cake looks a little powdery, all you have to do is get your hands damp and brush the top of the fondant.  The powdered sugar will dissolve into the fondant.

The decorating is easy - just cut out the designs, shapes, etc that you'd like to add to your cake.  Add them to the top and lightly press down so that they adhere to the base fondant.


Note: Since this fondant is made from marshmallows it can be a little bit melty.  It's best to store in the refrigerator if you aren't going to serve it within a few hours.  Also, this fondant is 100% edible although it is incredibly sweet.

Cherry Tarts

Cherry Tart

Preheat oven to 350

Filling
Cherry pie filling - duncan hines (this has the best consistency - homemade cherry pie filling has yet to turn out well for me and this one has a great taste)

Pie Crust Recipe
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup + 1 tbs crisco solid or butter
2-4 tsp cold water

Mix flour and salt.  Cut in crisco using a pastry blender until small pieces start forming.  Add cold water 1 tsp at a time mixing with the pastry blender well after each addition.  Dough will start to cling. 

Once dough is workable, roll out onto a floured surface using a floured rolling pin.

I use a large circle cookie cutter to make circles.  To make "cups" form dough on the OUTSIDE of a cupcake tin and place the tin upside-down in the oven and bake for approximately 10-12 minutes.  Cool for a few minutes before removing from cupcake tin.

Place tart cups on a cookie sheet, fill with cherry filling.  Bake for 5-10 minutes.

Place tarts on a cooling rack until completely cool.  Refridgerate.

Fun with Fondant

Yellow cake with vanilla buttercream.  Wilton fondant. 

Summer Dessert

One of my favorite summer desserts -

angel food cake topped with sliced strawberries and cool whip

Patriotic Cupcake

An easy cupcake for the 4th of July....

Chocolate cake
white vanilla buttercream frosting
red sprinkles
blueberry.

Strawberry Pink Champagne Cupcakes

Cake
1 box white cake mix
1 1/3 cup champagne
3 egg whites
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup chopped strawberries


Combine all ingredients, add red food coloring until desired color is reached, bake as directed.

Frosting
1/2 cup butter or margarine (1 stick)
1 lb (1 box) powdered sugar
3-5 tablespoons pink champagne
Red food coloring

Beat butter with electric mixer.  Alternately add powdered sugar and champagne.  Add 5-10 drops of red food coloring until desired color is reached. 

Decorating
Using Wilton tip #1M start from the outside edge and swirl frosting in.  Top with sugar crystals. 

Cupcake does not require refrigeration.

Fruit Cupcake

Cake
1 box yellow cake mix
8 oz can of crushed pineapple in juice

Prepare cake as directed replacing water with juice from crushed pineapple.  If not enough to replace, add additional water to make up the difference.  Mix and add the crushed pineapple.

Bake as directed.

Filling
1 4 serving size cook and serve vanilla pudding
4 oz cool whip
1 jar marshmellow fluff

Prepare vanilla pudding.  Allow to cool.  Once cooled add the cool whip and marshmellow fluff, stiring with a spatula to combine.  Set aside and refrigerate.

Decorating
1 can mandarin orange segments - drain liquid and pat segments dry with a paper towel
3 kiwis - sliced to produce 24 slices
blueberries

Once cupcakes have cooled take out the center/middle (approximately 1 teaspoon).  Fill with the pudding mixture.  Top with a slice of kiwi, one orange segment and blueberries.  Refrigerate until serving.

Note: Cupcakes can be made the day before, however, fruit should not be added until a few hours before serving.

"Clancy the Caterpillar" Cupcakes

This is hands down one of my favorite "kid birthday" cupcake themes.  My mom made this for me when I was in elementary school and it was always a success (although, I have to admit, a bit of a pain to transport).  It's easy, can be for a boy or girl, and no matter how many guests you plan to have, it can be made to be as long or short as needed.

"Clancy the Caterpillar" Cupcakes

Basic cupcake (any flavor, these happen to be strawberry and yellow cake) in matching wrappers.  By using solid colors it will make the design look less busy.

Frost with basic vanilla buttercream dyed with any color of food coloring.  Decorate using the decorating tip of your choice - I like the star tip because it looks fancy.

Wrap a cake board with wrapping paper and plastic wrap.  I like to use green in order to stick with the theme.  Press and Seal plastic wrap works well as a topper (less folding and sticking to itself).

Creating Clancy...


What you'll need
- Two M&Ms
- Shoestring licorice (or pull & peel)
- Gum drops
- Toothpick


On the first cupcake, use M&Ms for the eyes and either frosting or a piece of licorice for the mouth. 


Using a toothpick, make small holes in the side of each cupcake wrapper of the "body".


Cut licorice into pieces long enough to insert into the cupcake and hit the cake board.  About 2 inches

Match up gumdrops so that each cupcake will have a matching set of "shoes".  Using a toothpick, make a hole in the top of the gumdrop.  Insert a pice of licorice into each gumdrop.  Then insert the other end into the cupcakes. 

Arrange on the wrapped cakeboard. 

To make it a little more creative - arrange the gumdrops around the cake board and use frosting dyed green to make some grass. 

Mint Cookie Cupcake

Mint chocolate happens to be one of my favorite flavors of pretty much everything - ice cream, cookies, and now.. cupcakes!

Cake

I'm a fan of the recipe on the Hershey's Cocoa Powder box and then adding to it.

Preheat oven to 350.

Dry Ingredients
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup Hershey's Cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda                         
1 tsp salt
1 cup crushed chocolate mint cookies

Wet Ingredients
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla.  Beat with electric mixer on medium speed.  Stir in boiling water. 

Evenly distribute batter into approximately 30 cupcake liners.  Bake for 23-27 minutes.


Frosting/Decorating

Mint Buttercream

1 stick (1/2 cup) margarine
1 pound powdered sugar (~4 cups)
3-4 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon peppermint extract

Using electric mixer, beat margarine until fluffy, alternately add powdered sugar and milk.  Add peppermint extract.  Add additional powdered sugar/milk until desired consistency is reached.

Frost cupcakes - I cut a whole in a plastic baggy and squeezed it onto the cupcake, swirling from the outside edge towards the center

Chocolate Ganache and Cookie Crumbs

1/3 cup heavy cream
1 cup mini chocolate chips

Place chocolate chips in a bowl.  Heat heavy cream in a separate container (either in a sauce pan on the stove or microwave - I prefer stove top) to boiling.  Pour heavy cream into chocolate chips and stir with a whisk until mixture is smooth.

Set aside ganache in order for it to cool slightly.

Crush up oreos (about 20).  I use a food processor to make fine crumbs.  Place in a bowl.

Dip cupcakes into chocolate ganache until frosting is covered then dip into cookie crumbs.

Flower Cake

Sometimes you just need a pretty cake.  This one was inspired by my love affair with warm weather and spring flowers.

Basic yellow cake with chocolate buttercream frosting and decorated with colored vanilla buttercream

Twix Cupcake

Candy bars are tasty, so why not a cupcake inspired by one?

Cake

Yellow cake mix - prepare as instructed adding 1/4 cup caramel sundae syrup to the batter. 

Frosting

Caramel Chocolate Frosting (I use the Hershey's Cocoa Powder recipe as my guide)

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter or margarine
2/3 cup cocoa powder
3 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup caramel sundae syrup

Melt butter.  Stir in cocoa.  Alternately add 1-2 cups of the powdered sugar and enough milk to make frosting relatively thin.  Add vanilla and caramel.  Mix thoroughly and alternately add the rest of the powdered sugar and milk until desired consistency is reached. 

Decorating

Using Wilton tip #1M frost cupcakes swirling frosting inward from outside edge.  Top with chopped Twix bar pieces and drizzle with caramel sundae syrup.

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

Inspired by the drink, this recipe was sent to me by a friend who found it on Pinterest (thank you www.smittenkitchen.com) and then I modified a few modifications
Makes 24 cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350.  Line muffin pan (s) with liners.

Guiness Chocolate Cake

Part 1 Ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup Guinness
3/4 cup cocoa powder

Part 2 Ingredients
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt

Part 3 Ingredients
2 eggs
2/3 cups sour cream

In a medium size sauce pan, bring butter and Guinness to a simmer.  Once simmering, stir in cocoa powder and whisk until smooth.  Once smooth, remove from heat and allow to cool while completing next steps.

Combine Part 2 Ingredients in a bowl.  Be sure to stir in order to mix all parts for even distribution of ingredients.

In a separate large mixer bowl, using an electric mixer (stand mixer works great for this recipe - use the burnished flat beater instead of the wire whip) blend Part 3 ingredients. 

Once Part 3 ingredients are blended, add Part 1 ingredients until just combined.  Add Part 2 ingredients (dry ingredients) one cupful at a time and continue to stir on low speed until blended.  Once ingredients are blended, use a rubber spatula to fold batter until completely combined.

Evenly distribute batter into cupcake liners.  Bake for approximately 18 minutes.  To test if done, tap the top of the cupcake.  If the cake springs back, the cupcake is finished baking, if it leaves an indent, continue to bake and recheck at 1-2 minute intervals until finished.

Once cupcakes have finished baking, set aside and cool completely on wire rack.

Chocolate Ganache Filling

Ingredients
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips
3-4 tbs Bailey's Irish Cream

Place chocolate chips in a small bowl.

In a small sauce pan (or you can microwave) heat heavy cream until boiling.  Pour boiling cream into chocolate chips and stir.  Once all chocolate chips have melted, add the Baileys stiring until combined.  Allow ganache to cool until it is a thick liquid.

Filling Cupcakes: Use Wilton tip #230 to fill cupcakes with ganache.  Another option to fill these is to use a spoon to scoop out some of the center of the cupcake from the top and then spoon in the ganache.  If you "core" the cupcakes you will have more filling on the inside.  The decorate tip allows for only a small amount of ganache in each cupcake.

Frosting

Ingredients
1 stick butter or margarine
5-6 cups confectioners (powdered) sugar
6-8 tbs Baileys Irish Whiskey

Using an electric mixer, beat butter until fluffy.  Alternately add sugar and Bileys.  I normally add a cup of powdered sugar, blend, and then add a tablespoon of Baileys.  Add sugar/Bailey's until desired consistency is reached.

Decorating

Using Wilton drop flower tip #2D, start from the outside edge of the cupcake and swirl the frosting to the center.  Dust with cocoa powder.

Peanut Butter Mud Cupcakes

Cake

1 box chocolate cake mix.  Note: if you are going to make the cake from scratch make sure it's not a dense cake, otherwise you will not be able to fill these as easily.

Peanut Butter Filling

1 box cook and serve vanilla pudding (4 serving size)

Prepare per directions.  Once pudding comes to a boil, add 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter.  Allow to cool.

Filling Cupcakes: Once chocolate cupcakes and pudding have cooled use Wilton tip #230 to fill chocolate cupcakes.  Another option to fill these is to use a spoon to scoop out some of the center of the cupcake from the top and then scoop in pudding.

Frosting

Peanut Butter - Butter Cream Frosting

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter or margarine (1 stick)
1 cup peanut butter
2-3 cups powdered sugar
3-4 tablespoons milk.

Using a mixer, combine butter and peanut butter.  Once blended, alternately add powdered sugar and milk,  starting with the powdered sugar.  Add powdered sugar and milk until desired consistency and flavor are reached.

Using Wilton tip #22, decorate the top of the tops of the cupcakes using a drop technique - place tip on top of cupcake, do a short squeeze and pull the decorating bag away.  Start in the center of the cupcake and frost around until you get to the edges.  Top with crushed oreos.

Lemon Coconut Cupcakes

These were created for my mom to include her two favorite flavors - lemon and coconut.

Cake

I used a standard yellow cake mix.

Filling

JELL-O Lemon cook and serve pudding works great.  Be sure to stir constantly otherwise it will scorch. 

To fill cupcakes, use Wilton tip #230.  Insert tip about 1/2 way into the cupcake and slowly push the lemon pudding into the cake.  You'll know when the cupcake is filled based on the pressure.

Frosting

Standard Butter Cream - see Strawberry Shortcake Cupcake for recipe

Candied Lemon Zest

Ingredients
Fresh lemons
2 cups water
2 cups sugar
wax paper

Using a lemon zester, or a potato peeler, remove the yellow part of the peel from the lemon(s).  Each piece needs to be about an inch long and relatively thin.

Bring water to a boil in a small pan and add lemon zest.  Let boil for approximately 5 minutes.  Remove peels from water and add the 2 cups of sugar.  Bring mixture to a boil while sugar dissolves.  Add lemon peels.  Let boil until peels become transparent.  They will curl naturally as they are in the sugar water.  Place zest on wax paper and sprinkle with the additional sugar.  Allow to cool.

Decorating

Frost cupcakes with buttercream frosting and top with coconut.  You will only be able to frost a few cupcakes at a time before you need to add the coconut, otherwise the frosting will become stiff.  Once coconut has been added, top with a piece of candied lemon zest.

Chocolate Raspberry Cupcake

Cake

For this cupcake I used a chocolate cake mix.

Note: If you're going to do the chocolate cake from scratch make sure it's a light and fluffy recipe, dense cake will not work when filling cupcakes.

Filling

Ingredients

Fresh or frozen raspberries - about a cup or so

Sugar - a few tablespoons at most

Lemon - 1 tsp

Corn starch - 1-3 tablespoons

In a small sauce pan, on low heat, stir the raspberries with a tablespoon of sugar and 1/2 tsp of lemon juice until the mixture becomes a smooth-thin substance.  Taste.  Add sugar and additional lemon juice until desired taste is found.  Add corn starch a tablespoon at a time until desired consistency forms.

Or... you could just use raspberry jam.  That works too.

Frosting

Chocolate Butter Cream

Recipe to be added later

Decorating

Using a Wilton tip #18 start on the outside edge of the cupcake and swirl frosting around to center.  top with a fresh raspberry.

Author's Note

Disclaimer

I suppose I'm a little late in doing this, but I thought it would be best to put a disclaimer on here just in case there was a critic out there that wanted to turn up their nose at me...

This blog is for entertainment purposes only.  I am not a professional pastry chef, nor do I pretend to be; however, I do love baking, decorating, and food in general.  If you're looking for a 100% "from scratch" blog, this is the wrong place.  Most of the recipes on this blog are borrowed or variations of recipes already in existence.  I regularly use boxed cake mix (Duncan Hines, in case you were wondering) and borrow recipes for frosting from the Domino Confectioners Sugar box and the Hershey Cocoa Powder box.  I feel like as long as you're being creative, being 100% from scratch isn't all that necessary.  I mean, let's face it, hardly anyone is churning their own butter these days or making wheat into flour.  It's all relative.

I started posting in order to share my creative outlet and if you're checking out my posts, I hope that you find something worth re-creating on your own.  My goal is to make it possible for anyone reading  to be able to replicate what I've done. 

When it comes down to it, I'm all about presentation.  My goal is for everything that I make to taste good and look pretty.

Superbowl Party Cupcakes

Superbowl Cupcakes

Cake
Chocolate cake - Recipe to be added later

Frosting

Standard Buttercream frosting dyed green (see other posts for recipe)

Decorating

Using wilton tip #233 use short squeezes to make a grass like design.  This tip requires a lot more pressure than most, so make a note of this when making your frosting.  Too thin won't keep the design, but too thick makes it difficult to use this tip. 

I used gold foil wrappers and topped each cupcake with a cut-out football.  They were actually appetizer skewers, but I cut off the ends and stuck them in the cupcakes. 

Pineapple Right-Side-Up Cupcake

Cupcake

Ingredients
Classic Yellow Cake mix
Eggs
Vegetable oil
1 can crushed pineapple
1 can pineapple slices (rings)
1 jar maraschino cherries
1/8 cup brown sugar
2-3 tbs butter or margarine

Preheat oven to 350.

Drain crushed and sliced pineapple, reserving juice in bowl.  Cut each ring into thirds and blot excess juice from the slices.  Set aside.

Cut 12 maraschino cherries in half, blotting excess juice from the fruit.  Set aside.

Prepare cake mix as instructed on box replacing all water with reserved pineapple juice.  Add approximately 1/2 cup of the crushed pineapple to the batter and mix thoroughly.

Fill 24 cupcake cups with the batter.  Bake for 15 minutes.  Remove from oven and place a cherry in the center and a slice of pineapple to the side.  Return to oven, baking for an additional 4-5 minutes.

In a microwave safe bowl (or small sauce pan on the stove) melt butter.  Add brown sugar until a glaze has formed.  Place approximately 1 tsp of glaze on top of each cupcake. 

Keep refrigerated.  Store for no more than 2-3 days or fruit will go bad. 

Note: I warm these up before serving

Valentine's Day Cupcake

Cake

I cheated and used a box of red velvet mix. Follow the directions and they'll turn out just fine.

For mini cupcakes, bake for 12-14 minutes. To test if they are done, lightly tap on the top of the cake with your finger tip while they are still in the oven to see if the cake "springs back". If it does, they're done. The top of the cupcake should feel dry to the touch. Cool as instructed.

Frosting

Cream cheese frosting is a classic to go with red velvet cake.

3 tbs cream cheese

1/4 cup margarine or butter (1/2 stick)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2-3 cups powdered sugar
Food coloring

Beat cream cheese, butter and vanilla. Add powdered sugar gradually. Add food coloring several drops at a time until desired color is achieved.

Note: for these cupcakes I multiplied the frosting recipe by 1.5

(4.5 tbs cream cheese, 3/4 stick margarine, 1.5 tsp vanilla and 4-5 cups powdered sugar)

Decorating

These are mini cupcakes, and even though you can't tell, the wrappers are white with tiny red and pink hearts along the sides of the wrapper.

Frosting Design: I always use Wilton decorating tools - bags, tips, etc. For this cupcake I used the Wilton Round Tip #12, swirled the cream cheese frosting around the cupcake starting with the outer edge and then topped with a large heart sprinkle.

Tiramisu Cupcake

Cake

Ingredients

Classic yellow cake mix

Eggs

Vegetable oil

Dark Rum

Kahlua

Lady finger cookies

Preheat oven to 350. 

In a shallow container (think cookie sheet as long as it has a little bit of an edge) place approximately 12 lady fingers in a single row.  Add Kahlua to the lady fingers until they are thoroughly soaked.  About a tablespoon of Kahlua per lady finger, add more as needed.

While the cookies are soaking, prepare the yellow cake mix as instructed on the box, replacing some of the water with rum.  Note: I replaced a 1/2 cup of the water with rum.  Basically, you're replacing the water with rum to your taste preference.  I'm not a huge rum fan, so I like it to "hint" rather than "smack you in the face" with rum flavor.

Place approximately 1 tablespoon of cake batter in the bottom of all 24 cupcake cups.  Add 1/2 of a Kahlua soaked lady finger to each cup. Cover the cookie with the remaining cupcake batter.  Be sure all cups are evenly filled and not overflowing.  You may have some extra batter.

 

Bake for 18-21 minutes.  Baking time may increase depending on how much rum was used.  Cupcakes are done when they are dry to the touch and "spring back" rather than "sink" when you touch the tops.

Cool completely before frosting.

Frosting

Coming soon!  As soon as I figure out how I made this...

Decorating

Using a Wilton #1M decorating tip, start from the outside and swirl the frosting towards the center.   Dust with cocoa powder.

Keep refrigerated until serving.

Strawberry Shortcake Cupcake

Cake

I cheated and used a box of strawberry cake mix. 

Once cooled, I filled these cupcakes with strawberry jelly (jelly, not jam - jelly is smooth and jam has lumps - in order to avoid having your kitchen have strawberry filling all over it, definitely stick with jelly when filling cupcakes)  I used Wilton round tip #230 to fill the strawberry cupcake with strawberry jelly.

Frosting

Classic Butter cream

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
1 tsp vanilla
3-4 cups powdered sugar (1 box)
2-3 tbs milk

Beat the butter and vanilla together.  Alternately add the powdered sugar and milk until desired consistency is reached.  When using decorating tips, frosting should have a slightly thicker consistency, otherwise it will look melted on your cupcakes.  Note: if you end up with frosting that is too thin, just add more powdered sugar. 

For this recipe, I multiplied the frosting recipe by 1.5
(3/4 cup butter - 1 stick plus 1/2 stick, 1/5 tsp vanilla, 6 cups powdered sugar, 4-5 tbs milk)


Decorating

Wilton drop flower tip #2D.  Start from the outside of edge and swirl the frosting to the center.

Clean fresh strawberries.  Slice in half and dry the berry with paper towel.  Place a 1/2 strawberry on top of each cupcake.

Note: Add strawberries right before serving.  The juice from the berry will make the frosting look mushy and melted if added too long before serving.