Cupcake Misfortune

So today has been a great day. Well except for the cupcake misfortune, I'll get to that in a few. First though, the weather is beautiful. The windows are open. I got a new necklace. I've had a cupcake or 2 or...10. Well only little bites of them! So I call it 1 cupcake! And I got to spend a few hours with one of my most favorite people on the planet. My Mom.

 
 Mom & I decided that we needed a girls day out. Lunch, a bit of shopping (okay we didn't get that part done), and cupcakes! There's a new cupcake store that I've wanted to check out for a while so today was the day. After a fantastic stir-fry lunch(bd Mongolian Grill is awesome) it was off to the cupcake store (that shall remain nameless).

Now here's a little bit about my mom. Everything I know about baking and cooking I learned from her. I remember that somehow, every single day, after coming home from 8 long hours in a factory, she would have dinner ready and on the table for my dad, my brother and I. And it always tasted great. I can't honestly remember very many nights that mom didn't cook (who can say that for today's households).

And she's always loved baking. In fact each and every year, right around December 1st she recieves a demand request for a box of her most beloved cookies and candies from my family that lives on the other side of the country. And every year, the box is filled with love and shipped off. My mom is the greatest. She is always there for me, no matter what. Even when she's on a diet and I need someone to try cupcakes with me :o)

Cupcake Tin Necklace

So back to the cupcakes. I had decided I was going to purchase 4 different flavors to try. Besides that's about all I could afford before having to stop at the bank for a loan. They were a bit pricy. Mom, being the mom she is, decided she'd go for 6 different ones so that we could try all 10 of them. We picked out our flavors and they wrapped them in their nice little personalized boxes. We had decided on Coconut Cream, Raspberries & Cream, Hot Fudge Sundae, Wedding Cake, Birthday Surprise, Hot Chocolate Mama, a Pecan Pie-esq one, Banana, Amaretto, and Maple Walnut. Now this cupcake shop is about 40 minutes from our house. The clerks suggestion as we walked out the door, "place the cupcakes flat on the floor board of your car for the trip home and you should have no problem!" Was she crazy, apparently she doesn't know us too well, and didn't notice the new necklace I had hanging around my neck. There was no way that these cupcakes were going to make it home, heck I don't even think they will make it 1 mile from the store.

We graciously said "thank you", with two forks in hand, out the door we went. It was about 1/2 mile from the store when mom said, "so what flavor are we going to try first?" I was trying not to seem too anxious to try these little gems, so I told her to decide. 30 minutes later we had eaten our way through 10 cupcakes. Critiquing each and every one of them. It was a great time! I loved every single minute of it. Not because I was eating cupcakes, but because I was eating cupcakes with my Mom.

Here's where the misfortune comes in. I was planning on bringing home what we had left, doing nice pictures of the products, sharing what I had gotten, and giving a verdict on these cupcakes. Here's what I came home with.

You see there was a slight malfunction with the cupcake box handles and Mom accidentally dropped the boxes of cupcakes when we got home. But from what I can tell, dropping them didn't affect the taste.

So what's the verdict on this round of sampling. It was an adorable little store. Everything that I keep imagining for my store some day. And although a couple of the cakes tasted pretty good, overall, they had too much frosting and were slightly overpriced. I guess I'll stick to my homemade, simple, tasty cupcakes (and I hope all of you will too).

80 miles worth of gas...$19.00
Lunch...$30.00
10 Cupcakes...$32.50
A day spent with Mom...PRICELESS!  Thanks Mom!

Pomegranate Cupcakes

So after my last entry I was trying to figure out what to do with my leftover pomegranate seeds, and but-of-course I had to do a cupcake! How though was I going to incorporate this tart, yet sweet flavor into this recipe. And then it hit me! Let me take you back a year or so ago.

I'm the type of person who would pefer her beverage be from a glass with an umbrella rather than a shot glass. I'm not really a beer or whisky person, unless it's in a cupcake of course. So about a year ago I had my first Pomegranate Martini (ok, so no umbrella). Immediately I went out and purchased a bottle of PAMA pomegranate liquor to make them at home (I guess I'm a bit of a tightwad, I can't see spending $7 per drink for something I can make at home). So for this cupcake I turned to my half-empty bottle of PAMA liquor. But have no fear, these can be made kid-friendly too!

Here's the recipe.

Pomegranate Cupcakes

Pomegranate Syrup
1/2 cup PAMA 
1/2 cup Pomegranate juice (kid-friendly: eliminate PAMA and use 1 cup juice)
1/2 cup granulated sugar

In a medium sauce pan, bring all ingredients to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes or until the juice has reduced down until you have about a 1/2 cup of syrup.

Cupcakes
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon soda
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 eggs, room temperature
2/3 cup sour cream, room temperature

In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, and soda, set aside. With your mixed beat butter and sugar until well combined. Add in eggs, one at a time until mixed well. Mix sour cream into butter mixture. Alternately add flour mixture and syrup into batter until well incorporated.

Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake at 350 degrees for 16-18 minutes or until the cupcakes bounce back to light touch (do not brown or over bake or they will dry out).

Frosting
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 Tablespoon sour cream, room temperature
1 T PAMA liquor (kid-friendly: just POM juice)
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
pomegranate seeds for topping

Allow cupcakes to cool, frost cupcakes with desired amount of frosting and top with pomegranate seeds.

Yeah! They turned out great! These cupcakes aren't just beautiful to look at, they taste amazing and are very simple to make. No response from the persnickety kids yet though,maybe after dinner.  I'll keep you posted!

Lemon Olive Oil Cupcake with Goat Cheese Frosting

I have been a fan of the show Cucpake Wars since it started a few years ago, but what's with all of the odd flavors. Every time I watch the show it makes me want to get up off of my butt and go into my pantry and find the oddest flavors I can find an throw them into a cupcake. And as all of you know, they would turn out perfect! They would taste wonderful and everyone would want to indulge in a sea of odd cupcake creations right? Yeah, not so much. Well I was inspired after watching all of my DVR'd episodes over Christmas break to actually try making something that I hear so much about on Cupcake Wars. I alway hear them talking about mascarpone cheese and swiss meringue buttercream (I'll get to those someday). And what about goat cheese? Goat Cheese? Really? On a cupcake? Yes! On a cupcake!

I had never tried goat cheese before in my life. I figured I better try it first before putting it on or in a cupcake so that I know if it really tastes the way it should. I went to the grocery and bought a single package of goat cheese. It reminded me a lot of cream cheese but with more of a tang to it. It was very creamy and smooth, but again, I couldn't get past the sour tang that the cheese left behind. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it either, and I figured that anything with powdered sugar and a cupcake behind it wouldn't taste so bad in the end anyway. So now that I've tasted the cheese. What was I going to put with it to make my tastebuds happy? I needed a flavor that wasn't as strong as the cheese, or anything that would overpower it. I did some searching again, on my most favorite cupcake site, http://www.cupcakeproject.com/ and found a recipe for an olive oil cupcake. I thought to myself, I've always wanted to try an olive oil cupcake, sounds like now is the time (and I liked it even more that I had most of the ingredients on hand to make it). Here's the recipe with the changes that I made to it.

Lemon Olive Oil Cupcakes

Makes about 12 cupcakes.

• 2 C all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 t baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 1 C granulated sugar
• 2/3 C extra virgin olive oil
• 1 T lemon zest
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 C lemon juice
• 2 T finely chopped fresh thyme (I left this out of my cupcakes)

1. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine sugar and lemon zest and rub together to extract the fragrant oil from the zest.
3. Add olive oil and mix on high speed until completely combined (preferably with the whisk attachment).
4. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
5. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and mix on slow speed.
6. Add half of the lemon juice and continue mixing.
7. Add another 1/3 of the flour mixture, followed by the rest of the lemon juice and the remaining flour mixture and beat until combined between each addition.
8. Stir in the thyme (Again, I left this out because I didn't have any on hand)
9. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full.
10. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until they bounce back when touched. (This is different from the original recipe. I found that baking things at a higher temp in my oven really dries them out.)

These cupcakes came out nice and fluffy, and had a great lemon flavor to them. I think the next time I make them though, I will use a little more lemon zest in them, but I like my lemon cupcakes to be lemony, you do yours however you like.

Next onto the goat cheese frosting. I figured that I couldn't use just the goat cheese by itself, so I added in some cream cheese. Here's the recipe I used for the frosting.

Goat Cheese Frosting

8 oz of goat cheese, room temperature
8 oz of cream cheese, room temperature
3 cups of confectioner's sugar

Combine goat cheese and cream cheese in a large mixing bowl with whisk attahcment. The cheeses will become very creamy the more you mix them. Slowly add in the powdered sugar until it is well combined and easy to spread or pipe onto the cupcakes.

That's it! Easy peasy lemon squeezy! I piped the frosting on the cupcakes and topped with these cute little sugar bees that I found here.

These were such a different tasting cupcake. The cake itself had a nice olive oil taste to it along with the lemon and then the tang of the goat cheese just played nicely with the cupcakes. I'm still trying to figure out another flavor of cupcake that would compliment this tangy yet smooth frosting. I guess I'm going to have to keep trying!!

A Man's Cupcake

So a few months ago dear hubby went to a little get together with some of his best buddies. Me being the wife that I am and the cupcake fanatic I am I decided to send along some of my most favorite Chocolate Stout Cupcakes. Although all of the guys devoured them (like most people would), one of our good friends sent home a challenge made just for me. He requested at their next "man party" that I make Meatloaf Cupcakes with Brown Gravy and Mashed Potatoes. Well, that can't be too hard. Let's give it a shot. Now let me give you a little back ground here.

I, myself grew up on meatloaf and mashed potatoes. I've loved it since before I even knew what meatloaf was, and even after I knew I still love it. However, in my current household, I never get to make it. Dear hubby is anti-meatloaf, in fact he's anti-anything with the word loaf in it, kind of guy. Well, except for bread. Anyways, I rarely get the opportunity to make meatloaf so this challenge was not only exciting to figure out, but a scrumptious idea because, did I mention, I LOVE MEATLOAF!

I did some searching online and came across a website that I knew had to have tasty, sinful recipes on it, besides the name is http://www.stickygooeycreamychewy.com/ that just screams goodness! She infact had a meatloaf and mashed potatoes cupcake recipe. I headed right to the grocery and meat market! I used her recipe and changed it up a little bit to accomodate the request for brown gravy. Here's what we ended up with.

Meatloaf Cupcakes filled with brown gravy topped with mashed potates and more gravy. Oh yeah, and baked in bacon "cupcake liners"!

This recipe is very easy to follow. Here's their recipe with my changes added in.

For the meatloaf:

1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork
1 small onion, grated
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup panko crumbs
2-3 splashes Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoons parsley
1/4 cup milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten

For the sauce:

1 package brown gravy mix
1 cup of cold water

For the potato “icing”:

3 cups potatoes, chopped into chunks
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup heavy cream
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons melted butter

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 F.
Prepare the meatloaf by combining all ingredients together in a large bowl.  Mix until incorporated.  Don’t over handle the mixture or the meatloaf may be too dense. Lightly spray a cupcake tin with nonstick cooking spray.  Fill each cup with a small handful of the meat mixture, gently pressing it down until it is completely filled. (If you want the bacon "cupcake liners" simply cut a strip of bacon in half and make an "X" in the bottom of the cupcake tin pressing down gently and then add in the meatloaf mixture). Bake for 40 min or until the meat is cooked through.

While the meat is baking, boil the potatoes until tender, drain. Place potatoes back in pan or in a bowl and whip with egg yolk, heavy cream, salt and butter.  Fit a pastry bag with a large star or round tip (I had to use a round tip, I still had some chunks in my potatoes) and fill with the potato mixture. I placed the bag of potatoes in the fridge until the meatloaves were done.

On the stove combine the brown gravy mix and water according to the package directions. Let cool slightly.

Turn the broiler in the oven on and set the rack to the highest setting.

Using a sharp knife hollow out the center of each cupcake making a well to place some brown gravy in. Spoon about a teaspoon/tablespoon (whatever will fit without running out) into the well. Pipe some potato “icing” on top of each cupcake.  Put the cupcakes under the broiler for a few minutes until the potatoes are lightly browned.

Remove from the oven, drizzle some more gravy over the top if you so desire, and get ready to enjoy a most manly, fantastic meatloaf and mashed potatoes cupcake!

Makes 12-16 meatloaf cupcakes.

This meatloaf recipe was so good. It will be my go to recipe for those few times that I actually get to make it here at the Campbell House. Oh, and the verdict is still out on whether I won the challenge or not. I'm thinking I did, and I'm waiting to hear what the next challenge will be!

http://stickygooeycreamychewy.com/2011/01/20/meatloaf-cupcakes-recipe/

Pink Champagne and Raspberries

When I think of Pink Champagne all I can think about is the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's. I've never seen the movie and I have no idea what the movie is about, but I know Pink Champagne plays a role in the film.  I've never had pink champagne, but I do know that I like the white kind so I figured that I'd probably like pink one just as well. When I started thinking of new ideas for cupcake flavors I decided to try a Pink Champagne Cupcake. I googled the idea I came across alot of different recipes. Some from scratch, some from a box mix and decided to stick with my usual and go with the scratch recipe that I found.

I came across a website that first struck me with the images of a beautifully designed Pink Champagne Cupcake. Then I started reading. This website was started in 2011 with hopes of raising awareness and funds for cancer research. I encourage each of you to go this website and read more about it. It is amazing all of the stories and recipes that are posted there.

I went ahead and did an inventory of the recipe and found that I had all of the products in my pantry to make these cupcakes, but of course decided to change it just a little. Here's the recipe that I used. It was adapted from Intoxicated Cupcakes by Kate Legere. The recipe said that it makes about 20 cupcakes. However, I ended up with 30 standard size cupcakes.

Pink Champagne Cupcakes with Raspberry Buttercream Frosting

For the Cupcakes
6 large egg whites (save 3 yolks)
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
5 ounces (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups sugar, divided
3 egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)
2 2/3  cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup Pink Champagne

4 drops red food coloring (optional, but it does make it pink)

For the filling
1 - 1.4 oz package instant vanilla pudding mix (try the white chocolate for a whiter center)
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup Pink Champagne

For the buttercream
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup fresh red raspberries

1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)
1-2 tbsp Pink Champagne
4 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven at 350, line cupcake pan, set aside
2. In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks, then slowly beat in 1/4 cup sugar.  Beat until glossy stiff peaks, but not dry.  Set aside.

3.  In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the egg yolks, vanilla bean paste and red food coloring and beat well. 

4. Sift the dry ingredients together.  Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, alternating with the Pink Champagne, mixing well after each addition.

5. Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites to lighten the batter.  Fold in the remaining egg whites carefully not to deflate the egg whites.

6. Use an ice cream scoop to fill the prepared cups.  You want them about 3/4 full.  Bake for 16-18 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  They should not be brown on the top.  Springy.  Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then remove from the pan and cool completely before filling.

7. Combine the filling ingredients together and whisk for about a minute until smooth.  Refrigerate until set, about 5 minutes.  Place in a piping bag or a zip-top bag.

8. Remove a core of each cupcake. I just used a sharp knife to carve out a cone shape from the top of the cupcake. Keep the cored piece.  Fill each hole with some cream filling, and replace the cored piece, gently pressing down.

9. For the buttercream, in a bowl of an electric mixer cream the butter, and vanilla.  Mix on low speed, until well combined. Increase speed to medium and beat for 1 minute.

10. Add the sifted confectioners’ sugar slowly on low speed.  Beat for 1 minute, scrape the sides, and slowly increase the speed to medium. Add in the raspberries and continue mixing until they are mixed well into the frosting.

12.  Spread or pipe on cupcakes. 

Here is what they look like on the inside. A nice fluffy cupcake, filled with a creamy vanilla champagne center and topped with fresh raspberry frosting, what could be better than that!

 I wish I could capture in pictures just how good these cupcakes are. When they came out of the oven it was like a time machine for me, it took me back to a time when my mom worked at a local bakery. The smell of the cupcakes was exactly what the bakery used to smell like. I'm wondering if Mr. Daniel used champagne for anything??