Sweet Treats Saturday: Sugar Cookie Cupcakes

These cupcakes are so decadent. They really emphasize the 'sweet' in 'sweet treats.' But they're so delicious, and would be the perfect compliment to a platter of sugar cookies.

Don't believe me?

That's how I served them.

It was a tough decision.  Sugar cookie... cupcake... alright, one of each.




Sugar Cookie Cupcakes
Recipe from le creme de la crumb
Makes approx 12 cupcakes

Ingredients for the cupcakes:
1/2 c butter (1 stick), softened
1 c sugar
2 large eggs
3 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 c flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
3/4 cup half n' half

Ingredients for the frosting:
2 tbsp cream cheese, room temp
1/2 c butter (1 stick), softened
5 1/2 c powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
4-5 tbsp half n' half
Optional: Food coloring

Directions for the cupcakes:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin tin.
2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Mix in vanilla extract and eggs until blended.
3. In a separate bowl, add flour, baking powder, and salt. Add dry ingredients to the butter mixture, alternating with half n' half. Mix until blended.
4. Spoon batter into cupcake liners. Bake 15-20 minutes until just browning on the edges. Let cool on a wire rack.

Directions for the frosting:
1. In a large bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter. Slowly add powdered sugar and mix until smooth.  Add in vanilla. Slowly add half n' half until frosting is smooth. Mix in food coloring until desired color is achieved. Decorate cupcakes... and enjoy!

Sweet Treats Saturday: White Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Raspberry Frosting

In my ripe old age of... well, early 30's, I've started to like desserts with fruit flavors.  When I was a kid, you couldn't get my to touch them! Well, mainly fruit fillings. Why would you want to ruin a cake with that?? Now, though? Love it.

I saw a similar recipe to this online, but it was in a different language, and the conversion measurements just didn't seem to be adding up to a full batch of cupcakes. So, I improvised! I went off of a combination of multiple recipes that I had in my head, and made my own variation of white chocolate chip cupcakes, topped with a raspberry cream cheese frosting.

I'm even impressed with myself.

I gave these out at a holiday market as a fundraiser for the church that rented us the booth space. The market patrons had nothing but good things to say, and we had snacks on hand in between sales.

We really didn't eat that many... but it was tempting. They're REALLY good! How perfect would these be for Valentine's Day??

Hopefully you'll enjoy them too!

White Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Raspberry Frosting
Makes approx 24 cupcakes

Ingredients for cupcakes:

1/2 c butter (1 stick), softened
1 c sugar
3 large eggs

2 c all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 c milk
3/4 c white chocolate chips

Ingredients for frosting:
1/2 c butter (1 stick), softened
4 oz cream cheese, room temp
3 1/2 c powdered sugar
1/4 c raspberry jelly (seedless)
red food coloring

Directions for cupcakes:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin tin.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy (approx 2 minutes). Slowly add in eggs.
3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt.  Slowly add the dry mixture into the butter mixture, alternating with the milk until blended.  Stir in white chocolate chips.  Spoon mixture into cupcake liners, filling approx 2/3 of the way.
4. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until light golden around the edges and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

Directions for frosting:
1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and cream cheese until smooth. Slowly add in powdered sugar and mix until blended.
2. Add in raspberry jelly and blend. Add red food coloring until desired color is reached. Use to frost cupcakes.

Sweet Treats Saturday: Sugar and Spice Cupcakes

Sugar and spice and everything nice!

I've been craving spice cake. It happens every Fall. Ok, really... year round. But I remember it every Fall when I smell spices in the air or think of mulled cider. This time, I decided to try my hand at a spice cake recipe.

I still feel 'new' in the area. North Carolina, that is. I've met so many new people who don't always know about my love of baking. Well, the word is getting out. These cupcakes brought about some new converts and I can't hide my secret (ok, really, it isn't much of a secret) much longer.

Spice Cake with Brown Sugar Frosting
Frosting recipe from I Wash You Dry
Cupcake recipe makes 24 cupcakes

Cupcake Ingredients:
2 1/2 c cake flour, sifted
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 c butter, room temp
1/2 c light brown sugar, firmly packed
1 c granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 c buttermilk

Cupcake Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line two cupcake pans.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or a mixing bowl and using electric beaters), cream butter and sugars. Once fluffy, slowly add eggs and vanilla extract. Beat at high speed until light and fluffy, approx 5 minutes.
4. Add dry ingredients, alternating with buttermilk, mixing until just combined.
5. Pour batter into lined cupcake pans, filling 2/3 of the way. Bake for 15-18 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool on a wire rack.

Frosting Ingredients:
1 c brown sugar, packed
1/4 c water
1/2 c light corn syrup
4 egg whites
2 tsp vanilla extract

Frosting Directions:
1. Mix brown sugar, water, and corn syrup in a medium saucepan. Bring to a rolling boil (being careful not to burn yourself as the mixture will rise). Let it boil at medium heat until the syrup drizzles from the spoon in a hair-like string. This will take approx 10 minutes but may vary so keep an eye on the mix. Remove from the burner and set aside to cool.
2. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff.
3. While beating the egg whites, slowly pour the hot syrup in a thin stream into the egg whites. Don't rush this step! Continue beating until the icing holds peaks, then add the vanilla.
4. Let cool until room temp and frost the cupcakes when ready to serve.

Sweet Treats Saturday: Pink Lady Cupcakes

It's that time of year again... the time when I start craving strawberry cake.  

Every year I seem to get this strawberry craving - maybe because I don't see strawberry desserts all that often?  I mean when you go out to eat, it's usually chocolate cake or creme brûlée or something along those lines.  But strawberries? Nope.  So time to bust out the mixer and make my own!

I think I actually stumbled across this recipe on Pinterest.  I was inspired by the idea of a pink cake with a mint colored frosting.  Unfortunately I was a little light on the colors - I could have done a bit more of both the pink in the cake and green in the frosting, but I still like how they turned out visually.  Taste?  Amazing!  I brought these in to work and dance class and both audiences were gushing over them!  The strawberry taste is subtle but combined with the cream cheese - sooo good!

Pink Lady Cupcakes

Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Print Friendly

Ingredients for the cake:
4 1/2 cups cake flour
3 cups sugar
5 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups pureed frozen strawberries (I thawed them at room temperature then pureed them)
8 egg whites
2/3 cup milk
1 to 2 drops red food dye, if using (to make the pink color pop more)

Ingredients for the cream cheese frosting:
3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks; 6 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
3 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions for the cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 3 cupcake pans (the recipe will make 3 dozen total).

2. Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large mixer bowl. With the electric mixer on low speed, blend for 30 seconds. Add the butter and strawberry puree and mix to blend the ingredients. Raise the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes; the batter will resemble strawberry ice cream at this point. (Deb note: I must warn you not to try the batter at this point. Not even a smear of it. How unbearably good it is will shock you, and lead to more dipping. Only you can stop this from coming to pass.)

3. In another large bowl, whisk together the egg whites, milk and red food dye, if using, to blend. Add the whites to the batter in two or three additions, scraping down the sides of the bowl well and mixing only to incorporate after each addition. Divide the batter among the three prepared pans.

4. Bake the cakes for 30 to 34 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow the layers to cool in the pans for 10 to 15 minutes. Invert and turn out onto wire racks and peel off the paper liners. Let stand until completely cooled before assembling the cake, at least an hour.

Directions for the cream cheese frosting:
1. In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. 

2. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners’ sugar until smooth.

This post will be participating in the following Linky parties:

Tatertots & Jello * Think Pink Sundays * Sundae Scoop * Sunday Showcase Party *Watcha Got Weekend * Family Ever After * Nifty Thrifty Sunday * Making the World Cuter * Home Savvy * Just Something I Whipped Up * Mix It Up Monday * Made by You Mondays *Tuesday Time Out * Sew Cute Tuesday * Talent Tuesday * We Did It Wednesday * Whatcha Baking Wednesday * Hoo’s Got Talent * Look What I Made * The Trendy Treehouse * Thrilling Thursday * It’s a Hodgepodge * Petals to Picots

Sweet Treats Saturday: Sheep... I Mean, Coconut Cupcakes

I looove sheep! Seriously, I have a sheep collection.  Well, not of real sheep, but plush sheep.  I think it ties in with my love of Ireland.  


Anyways, when I saw the blog post from Fowl Single file of their sheep cake and cupcakes, I instantly flagged it to make... and soon!  Luckily, Easter presented the perfect opportunity. Spring, Easter, sheep... the perfect combination!

I went with coconut cupcakes.  In case I couldn't get the frosting to work properly, I could use the shredded coconut to act as the sheep wool.  I ended up not having to do that (as you'll see), but I did also use almond marzipan from my local grocery store to shape the sheep face.  


Coconut Cupcakes
Recipe from Ina Garten

Ingredients

• 3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 5 extra-large eggs at room temperature
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure almond extract
• 3 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 7 ounces sweetened, shredded coconut (additional coconut can be used for the frosting, if desired)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.


In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs, 1 at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and mix well.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In 3 parts, alternately add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk to the batter, beginning and ending with the dry. Mix until just combined. Fold in 7 ounces of coconut.

Line a muffin pan with paper liners. Fill each liner 3/4 with batter. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes (I only needed to cook it for 20, but it depends on your oven), until the tops are brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Remove to a baking rack and cool completely.

Cream Cheese Frosting
Recipe from Ina Garten

Ingredients

• 1 pound cream cheese at room temperature
• 3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
• 1 1/2 pounds confectioners' sugar, sifted

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, on low speed, cream together the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla and almond extracts. Add the confectioners' sugar and mix until smooth.

Decorating Instructions

Now, to make the sheep.  

First, I used a star tip to make swirls of frosting all around the top of the cupcake.  I started from the center, then did little swirls all around it.  Then, I took a small piece of marzapan, about 2x the size of a pea and shaped it into an oval. 

Then I squished down one end, which then became the bottom of the face.  I took two tiny pieces of marzapan and also made them into ovals - then I flattened them and attached them to the top of the head.  

For the eyes, I used little sprinkles that I gently pressed into the face.  

Then, I took the head and placed it on one side of the cupcake. That's it! Easy peasy and oh so cute!

This post will be participating in the following Linky parties:

Tatertots & Jello * Think Pink Sundays * Sundae Scoop * Sunday Showcase Party * Watcha Got Weekend * Nifty Thrifty Sunday * Making the World Cuter * Just Something I Whipped Up * Made by You Mondays *Sew Cute Tuesday * Talent Tuesday * I Made This * We Did It Wednesday * Hoo’s Got Talent * Look What I Made * The Trendy Treehouse * Thrilling Thursday * It’s a Hodgepodge Friday

Sweet Treats Saturday: Champagne Cupcakes

What better treat for Valentine's Day then some champagne cupcakes? When a friend showed me this recipe, I was instantly looking for an occasion to make it.

The cupcakes and pastry cream filling have a light champagne taste. I made a slight tweak to the frosting because I thought it was a little too sweet.  You can try either way and adjust it after you taste it.

The champagne combined with sour cream, and the dry ingredients in a separate bowl.

The recipe can be found at the Sprinkle Bakes Blog.  My revised version of the frosting is below.

Just out of the oven.

The pastry cream filling. I carved out the filling with a spoon.

Champagne Cupcakes Frosting (Revised):
1 cup plus 1 tbsp champagne or prosecco
2 sticks of butter softened
3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
2  oz. cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla

Prepare frosting as in the original directions, but add the additional cream cheese, confectioner's sugar and vanilla.

Beautiful champagne cupcakes.

Also, I had plenty of the pastry cream filling for another batch of the cupcake batter.

This post will be participating in the following Linky parties:

Making the World Cuter * Just Something I Whipped Up * Made by You Mondays * Sew Cute Tuesday * Talent Tuesday * I Made This * We Did It Wednesday * Hoo’s Got Talent * The Trendy Treehouse * Tatertots & Jello * Thrilling Thursday * It’s a Hodgepodge Friday

Sweet Treats Saturday: Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

As you can see, I'm on a cupcake roll.  Not only that, but I thought I would try something completely new. I love to bake, but there are a few things I haven't made yet for a few reasons:

1. Creme Brulee: I have a torch, but playing with fire scares me.
2. French macaroons: There's only so many steps I can take while making something, and the thought of making it look so uniform makes me grimace.
3. Meringue: a) That's a whole lot of egg whites, b) what do you do with all of those yolks? c) it's just intimidated me.

Well, I stumbled upon a lemon cupcake recipe the other day while surfing the Cake Journal blog that had a meringue frosting.  Normally I would have just substituted the frosting for another kind, but I was feeling gutsy, and had a lot of eggs in the fridge.

Lemon zest

Spring liners

The cupcakes were your standard vanilla cupcakes with a lemon full of fresh zest.  That was the easy part.  I baked them in some cute spring wrappers (it's a beautiful, sunny day in the California Bay Area), and started inching towards the eggs that were glaring at me.

The hubby separated all of the whites and yolks for me (I keep him around for things like this), and placed them in a cute little lemon bowl (to stay on theme of course).

Lemon bowl filled with egg whites.

Add a bucket load of sugar, some vanilla, and mix.  So far so good.  Now onto the scary part - the double broiler.  I've done this method for plenty of things but the thought of doing it for finicky eggs was a daunting task.  I made sure to keep the water at a simmer and stirred constantly.  I couldn't find my candy thermometer so I just eyeballed it to see when the sugar was dissolved.

Mixing bowl in a pot on the stove.

Afterwards, I reattached the bowl to my stand mixer and let it whisk on high for about 5 minutes.  The recipe said it could take up for 12 or more minutes, but mine made it to stiff peaks pretty fast.  And there it is. Beautiful, fluffy, marshmallow like, meringue frosting.

Meringue

I was so pleased with the results, and it made a ton! I definitely could have made a second batch of cupcakes and still had enough.

A beautiful cupcake on my new Crate and Barrel plate.

I piped some extra onto wax paper just to see how it would hold up.  Maybe a treat for later?

This post will be participating in the following Linky parties:

Making the World Cuter * Just Something I Whipped Up * Made by You Mondays * Sew Cute Tuesday * Talent Tuesday * I Made This * We Did It Wednesday * Hoo’s Got Talent * The Trendy Treehouse * Tatertots & Jello * Thrilling Thursday * It’s a Hodgepodge Friday

Sweet Treats Saturday: Chocolate Mascarpone Cupcakes

Merry Christmas everyone!   I hope you are all having a wonderful holiday.  In honor of this lovely day, I am posting a recipe for some decadent mascarpone cupcakes.

This recipe comes from one of my favorite Food Network chef's: Giada de Laurentis.  It's a recipe for her Chocolate Chip Mascarpone Cupcakes.  I made a few adjustments to the recipe as I went along and have written them in.  The recipe is from FoodNetwork.com (you can use the link above).

Cupcakes:

    * 5 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
    * 1 cup water
    * 1/3 cup mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
    * 2 1/4 cups sugar
    * 1 cup vegetable oil
    * 3 large eggs
    * 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
    * 3 cups all-purpose flour
    * 1 teaspoon baking soda
    * 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
    * 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
    * 1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips (recommended: Nestle morsels)

Ganache:

    * 1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips (recommended: Nestle morsels)
    * 2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
    * 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
    * Special equipment: 2 (12-count) muffin pans with paper liners

Directions

For the Cupcakes:

Place an oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F.

Combine the unsweetened chocolate and water in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir constantly until the chocolate is melted, about 2 minutes. Cool for 2 minutes. Whisk in the mascarpone cheese until the mixture is smooth.

Beat the sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla in a large bowl until blended, then add the mascarpone mixture. Whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, and chocolate chips in a medium bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the chocolate mixture. Stir until just blended.

Divide the batter among the prepared muffin pans. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a tester inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Cool the cupcakes completely before dipping, (about 30 minutes).

For the Ganache:
Place the chocolate chips in a small bowl. Combine the heavy cream and vanilla extract in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook until small bubbles appear on the outside edge of the cream. Pour the hot cream mixture over the chocolate chips. Using a fork, gently stir until all the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.

Give the chocolate mixture about 5-10 minutes to thicken before beginning to dip the cupcakes.  Give it a quick stir before you start dipping.  It should be a nice, thick, ganache.

Dip the tops of each cupcake in the ganache and transfer to a baking sheet. Place the dipped cupcakes in the refrigerator to set, about 15 to 20 minutes. Allow cupcakes to return to room temperature before serving.

What's Up, Cupcake?

You may be wondering where the name of this blog comes from.  Let me explain... (insert Princess Bride quote here)

About 5 years ago, a friend and I decided to go into the cupcake business together.  This was right when Sprinkles was being endorsed by Oprah and people were starting to take the world of cupcakes a little more seriously.  As we were avid bakers and connoisseurs of sweet treats, we decided to go into business together, just to see where things would take us and so that we could have a little fun in addition to our regular full-time jobs.  This is when What’s Up Cupcake was born.

Soon, what became an once every couple of weeks occurrence began to be an almost nightly baking frenzy.  Through word of mouth, our business had started to spread like crazy.  We were having a hard time keeping up but were thrilled with our success.  

Ultimately, we had ‘the talk.’  We had to decide if we were ready to put our jobs aside and concentrate on this solely.  We both realized that we were not ready to make that giant leap.  There were too many factors involved for our families, houses, etc. to take such a big risk and we didn’t want this to become something that was no longer fun for us.  

Every once in a while we talk about bringing back the business, but until then we continue to bake for fun.  She’s still my crafty partner in crime and I still love the What’s Up Cupcake name. 

P.S. whatsupcupcake.blogspot.com was our original blog and has our first mission statement still lised, but alas, it was so long ago that I don’t have any of the details to bring it back to life.