s'mores cupcakes.

i made these cupcakes for this first time this past weekend. i found them on pinterest and my mom asked me to make them for the family for fourth of july. 

for someone who isn't completely in love with chocolate...you really wouldn't know it because i sure keep making over-the-top chocolate desserts.  

ultimate brownies.
s'mores bars.
cookie dough topped brownies.
oreo brownies.

yeah. so. anyway.


these cupcakes are made from scratch and are super yummy.


the marshmallow fluff center is creamy and ah-mazing. 


and, the graham cracker buttercream is basically fantastic. 

the recipe is from your cup of cake. this is the first of her recipes that i have made and i have no doubt that it won't be my last. 

s'mores cupcakes:
--recipe from your cup of cake

chocolate cupcakes:

1 ¾ cup sugar

¼ cup brown sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup sour cream

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 cups flour

1 cup cocoa

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder                          

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

¾ cup boiling water

graham cracker crumbs

marshmallow cream centers:

4 oz cream cheese

½ cup marshmallow cream

1 ½-2 cups powdered sugar

craham cracker buttercream:

8 oz cream cheese

½ cup butter, softened

4 cups powdered sugar

¾ cup graham cracker crumbs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2-3 tablespoons whipping cream or milk (i used milk) 


directions: 
preheat your oven to 360 degrees and line two cupcake tins with liners (this makes about twenty four cupcakes).  spoon about a teaspoon of graham cracker crumbs on the bottom of the liner.

in a large bowl, mix sugar, brown sugar, and oil for about three minutes or until smooth. add sour cream and vanilla to sugar mixture.  

add eggs one at a time. gently mix to incorporate. 

in another large bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 

alternating between the two, add dry ingredients and boiling water to the sugar mixture. mix to combine. 

fill liners about 3/4 full.

bake for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
let completely cool before adding the cream centers. 

marshmallow cream centers: 
in a large bowl, beat cream cheese, marshmallow cream, and powdered sugar. add more powdered sugar to taste. 

when cupcakes are cooled, remove a small section in the top and pipe the cream into it. 


graham cracker buttercream: 
in a large bowl, beat cream cheese with the butter until fluffy. add powdered sugar, vanilla, and graham cracker crumbs. the mixture will resemble cookie dough until you add enough milk or cream to create buttercream consistency. pipe frosting on top of marshmallow cream filled cupcakes. 

you can also drizzle chocolate and sprinkle with mini marshmallow, only if you want. 

but seriously, why wouldn't you?  

blueberry lemonade cupcakes.

it feels like forever since the last time that i wrote a post. i definitely miss it! i have missed baking, too! 

i have wanted to make some type of blueberry lemonade cupcake for a while now. since school is out, it hasn't rain today (yay!) and matt is out golfing, i figured today would be a perfect day to bake! i googled recipes for lemonade cupcakes just to see what was out there. most of the ones are for pink lemonade cupcakes. but i found one for strawberry lemonade and decided to go with that version. the original recipe can be found over here at hil's blog. 

i did change a couple things. obviously i used blueberries instead of strawberries. i also added 3 T of thawed lemonade concentrate to my frosting to give it more of a lemonade flavor. i also added some food coloring to get my frosting a funkier bluish/purplish. another thing i tried was adding yellow food coloring to the batter. i only made four cupcakes with the yellow. it ended up being a pretty intense yellow but i kinda like it...definitely looks more lemonade-y than the white cupcakes, for sure. 

so white or yellow?!

 

oh, and the only other thing i would have done had i actually had some, would have been to add blueberry vodka. i think that would be amazing! am i wrong?!

pumpkin cream cheese cupcakes.

i found another amazing pumpkin recipe. i could seriously eat a pumpkin treat every day. so so good. this recipe is really easy which i love. i have another recipe i have made for pumpkin cream cheese muffins which are more "homemade" and definitely take more time. however, these may be my new favorite. they are so soft and light...

ahhh - i could eat them all! which is bad news, especially since matt doesn't really care for much pumpkin. oh well...more for me, i guess =) 

pumpkin cream cheese cupcakes + printable version
--kraftfoods.com  

1 pkg of spice cake 
1 pkg of instant vanilla pudding mix (4 serving box)
1 cup canned pumpkin
+ whatever the spice cake recipe calls for on the box (i needed a couple eggs, some water, and vegetable oil) 


8 oz pkg of cream cheese, softened 
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg 

preheat oven to 350. line cupcake tins with 24 liners. 


in a large bowl, prepare cake batter according to directions on box. blend in pudding mix and pumpkin.


spoon mix into prepared liners. 


in a large bowl, whip cream cheese until creamy. add egg and sugar until blended. drop spoonfuls of cream cheese mixture on top of pumpkin batter.


bake for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. cool in tins for five minutes. remove and place on cooling racks until completely cool. 

peach cupcakes with brown sugar frosting.

i made these a few weeks ago when my boyfriend was out of town. i was bored and needed something to do. instead of my homework for the next day or working on my paper that was due later in the week. things that are actually productive. i chose baking. it so much more fun. i was excited to try this recipe out. i found it on a site called smitten kitchen. this is the first recipe i have made from her. i really, really liked the frosting. i will definitely use that recipe again. but the peach cupcakes were okay. they weren't bad. just okay. i was expecting a bolder peach flavor and it just wasn't there. maybe my peaches weren't ripe enough?? 


**i wouldn't normally want to post something that i am not 100% in love with...BUT i got to thinking...for someone else these might be amazing...so why not? plus, i would hate to waste some good pics =)

peach cupcakes with brown sugar frosting + printable version
-- recipe from smitten kitchen 

cupcake batter:

3 cups cake flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
Pinch of nutmeg
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks or 6 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup dark or light brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups (12 ounces) buttermilk, sour cream or full-fat yogurt
3 large peaches, peeled, cored, and chopped smallish 

in a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg and set aside. in a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugars together, beating until fluffy. add eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl between each addition, and then vanilla. gently mix in the buttermilk, sour cream or yogurt. add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and carefully fold in the peach chunks.

divide the batter evenly among the prepared cupcake liners. bake for 18 to 22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of cupcakes comes out clean. cool the cupcakes for five minutes in the tin, then turn them out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

frosting:
1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 8-ounce packages of cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup (4 ounces or 8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 

in a small bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, cornstarch and powdered sugar. in a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter until fluffy. add the sugar-cornstarch mixture and vanilla, and beat until smooth. you may need to chill the bowl in the refrigerator until the frosting thickens back up, maybe 30 minutes, then frost/decorate cooled cupcakes. 

 

diet cherry 7up cupcakes.

i know what you are thinking. how in the world can a cupcake be diet? but seriously, it can. kind of. i first heard about diet cupcakes from hungry girl. i also saw it on one of my favorite sites grin and bake it. she has a couple variations that i am dying to try out. she also has a ton of non-diet cupcakes i am also dying to make! so since we have been eating a lot of sweets around here...and since i can't seem to stay away from baking, i figured this was the perfect cupcake for me! plus, these are the easiest cupcakes in the world to make. that immediately makes them a winner in my book. you should definitely try them out. and you can totally play with the flavor combos...another good one would be lemon cake with slice or diet 7up...or if you are chocolate fanatic, maybe try chocolate cake and diet cherry coke??

diet cherry 7up cupcakes + printable version
--recipe from grin and bake it

1 box of white cake mix
1 can of diet cherry 7up
2 egg whites *optional but i would use them if you can!

preheat oven to 350 degrees. add cake mix and egg whites to mixing bowl. pour in can of cherry 7up. follow the cake box directions for amount of mixing time. line 24 cupcakes tins with paper liners, if using. fill each one about 2/3. bake for about 15-16 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

lowfat cream cheese frosting: 
--recipe from grin and bake it

8 oz. lowfat cream cheese, softened
1 cup marshmallow fluff
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar

mix cream cheese, marshmallow, lemon juice and vanilla in mixing bowl until combined. gradually add powdered sugar. 

strawberry lemon cupcakes.

i honestly had never heard of cupcakes in a jar before -- they are so flipping cute. my mom's good friend, merry introduced me to this funky way to do dessert. she's pretty awesome like that. her endeavors include a smores one, which i'm sure is to die for, pina colada, and turtles. she may have more but i just haven't heard about them yet! anyway, when my mom told me about merry's cupcake in a jar, i was intrigued. after sneaking a peek of merry's creations on her facebook page (thanks, mom!) i began envisioning flavor combos in my head. i know for sure i want to try some type of pumpkin and spice cake but i figured that should be for later in the fall. so i tried to figured out something summer-y and one thing that came to mind was strawberry lemonade. so i began searching for inspiration for my strawberry lemonade cupcakes and i remembered these babies. i had wanted to make these earlier this year, and never got around to it. so i thought maybe i should turn this "crunkcake" into a cupcake in jar. i did some more research and found another blogger who had made these for a bachelorette party. she commented that the lemon cupcakes turned out "lopsided" and if she made these again, she would probably use a different lemon cake recipe. i decided to find a different recipe and ended up using one i found on your home based mom's blog. the cupcakes were definitely yummy and i would make them again!

i was a little intimidated by the frosting recipe. i had never made meringue frosting before but i am happy to say that it worked great! i loved the hint of malibu (coconut) flavor and thought it was perfect with the lemon and strawberry flavors. i would definitely recommend it!

i am going to have to practice my technique for assembling the cupcakes in jar. i wasn't super please with how they "looked" even though i thought they were delicious. oh well, just means more baking and i'm okay with that =)


strawberry lemon cupcakes + printable version

lemon cupcakes:

1 package lemon cake mix 1 C sour cream
3/4 C water
3/4 C oil 4 eggs
1 small package lemon instant pudding

mix together dry ingredients in large bowl (preferably something like your kitchen aid mixer). add wet ingredients. mix on medium speed for about two minutes. it is a pretty thick mixture.

pour batter into prepared cupcake tins, either with paper liners or nonstick spray. i ended up with 24 full cupcakes.

bake them at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. don't over bake.

** the original recipe said that the cupcakes will fall after they come out of the oven. this is normal and you just need to fill up the indentation with more frosting. i definitely had this happen but i wasn't to worried since i knew they were going into the jars.

malibu italian meringue buttercream:

2 egg whites, room temperature
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
12 tbsp (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces and softened
1-2 tablespoons malibu caribbean rum, coconut flavor, to taste

beat the egg whites in the bowl of your mixer with the whisk attachment until frothy, then add the cream of tartar and beat just before stiff peaks form.

while that is going on, stir together the sugar and water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over moderately high heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved. when syrup reaches a boil, put your candy thermometer into it and continue boiling, without stirring, until it reaches about 238-242 degrees fahrenheit.

immediately remove from heat and with your mixer on, slowly pour the hot syrup in a thin stream into the egg whites, beating constantly at high speed and making sure to not pour directly on the side of the bowl. beat meringue until the bowl is cool to the touch.

change out your whisk for your paddle attachment and scrapes down the sides of the bowl. on medium speed, gradually add butter about two pieces at a time, beating well after each addition until incorporated. continue beating until buttercream is smooth. **don't worry if your mixture may look curdled before all butter is added - it will come back together before beating is finished. if that doesn’t work, try chilling it a bit in case your meringue was too hot.

finally, add the malibu and mix thoroughly.

strawberry puree:

5 ounces frozen strawberries, thawed - i ended up using fresh 1 teaspoons sugar, more or less (to taste) - i probably ended up using more, big surprise 1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice, more or less (to taste)
in a blender, pulse strawberries a few times until pureed. stir in the sugar and lemon juice until it taste like you want it to.

sliced strawberries

i only had a few strawberries and i just cut them into slices so only a few of the jars ended up with layers of strawberries.

to assemble: **i used 8 oz jelly jars (i found mine at walmart in the canning section)

because i had never made these before, i definitely experimented a little with how to put these together. my first couple jars, i sliced a cupcake into thirds, horizontally, and put the bottom piece into the bottom of the jar. i then layered sliced strawberries, frosting, another layer of cupcake, some more strawberries and frosting, finishing up with a swirl of frosting (i just used a ziploc bag) and i drizzled strawberry puree on top. i also tried not slicing the cupcake and just used two cupcakes as the layers. another variation was to drizzle strawberry puree in the first layer to soak into the cupcake layer.

but you can really do it however you want!

i was not super happy with how the end product looked from the side view. i thought they ended up being a little too messy so next time i will have to figure out a better way to add the frosting without smearing the glass. i'll let you know what i figure out!

salted caramel cupcakes.

so i have been wanting to make these forever. literally. i first saw these on my favorite blog, our best bites whenever i first started obsessing over food blogs. i thought they sounded absolutely amazing. so yesterday, when i was racking my brain for something to bring to cookie club, i suddenly remembered i had always wanted to try these! by the way, i totally realize that i am bringing cupcakes to a "cookie" club. this isn't the first time and i know it won't be the last. i haven't heard anyone complain. anyway, i am so glad i did. i found a couple different websites with salted caramel cupcakes recipes. the recipe for the cupcake was generally the same. what differed was the frosting. some made their own caramel. fancy, huh? others used buttercream icing. in the end, i decided to go with the original recipe i found on our best bites. i had made sarah's perfect frosting before and loved it - so i knew it would be yummy. so if you can't decide between something salty and sweet...this just might be the answer!

salted caramel cupcakes + printable version

cupcakes:

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar (make sure you use DARK brown!)

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 large eggs, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup milk (i used whole milk)

frosting:
3 Tbsp flour 1/2 cup milk (try to use whole milk, if you can)
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 t vanilla extract, or whatever other flavor you want

caramel sauce: whatever kind you want- i used smucker's, you could even make your own

kosher salt

preheat oven to 350 degrees. prepare muffin tins with cupcake liners, if using. i was able to make between 14 and 16 but the original recipes says 18. so who knows.

in an medium to large size bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. umm, so the first time i made these i definitely put in baking soda and didn't realize it until i went to make the second batch and re-read the directions. yeah, dumb. moving on.

p.s. the first batch was already in the oven when i caught my mistake. i ended up baking them all the way because my boyfriend was dying to try them and didn't want any to go to "waste." he's sweet like that. he loved them. and i loved that it kept him from eating the "real" cupcakes.

in another bowl, like your kitchen aid mixer, cream butter and sugars together until nice and fluffy. add eggs and vanilla until combined.

add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in three additions. alternating with the milk. beat low until just combined.

divide cupcake batter among muffin tins, 2/3 full. like i said earlier, i only ended up with between 14 and 16 cupcakes and i generally always have more than what the recipe says. whatever.

bake the cupcakes for between 20 to 22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. cool cupcakes in pan for about 5 minutes. transfer cupcakes to wire rack and let cool completely.

while the cupcakes are cooling, start on the caramel swirled frosting. like i said earlier, i used the frosting found on our best bites. they have an awesome post with pictures to explain how to make this frosting, in case you need help.

in a small sauce pan, whisk flour and milk together. heat over medium high heat. continue to whisk until the mixture starts to thicken. it is okay if there are lumps but it still needs to be a little liquid-ish.

next, you will need to pour the flour mixture into a mesh strainer and push the mixture through into a bowl. this will remove the lumps. pop the bowl into the fridge to make sure it is completely cool before you add it to the next step.

in your kitchen aid bowl (that you have had to wash for the third time now!) or whatever bowl you are using, cream the butter and sugar together until nice & fluffy using the whisk attachment. when the flour mixture is completely cool, add it to the butter mixture. also add in the vanilla or whatever flavoring you are using. beat on medium to high speed for 7 to 8 minutes. and that's it! so easy! and so good! i promise! sorry about the !...i can't help it! oh, and when the frosting is nice and fluffy, gently stir in caramel sauce. i just used the smucker's brand caramel syrup that you get for ice cream. i definitely didn't measure this but just use whatever you feel like. i wasn't happy with how much caramel flavor there was...so i decided to drizzle the caramel over the icing.

finally, sprinkle a tiny bit of kosher salt over the frosting. this is where the salted part comes in. in case you were wondering.

also, if you take a look at the post on our best bites, you will see that they did a super cute thing with soft caramel dipped in chocolate for a garnish. so cute. i did it too. on some of them. but of course, i didn't get any pictures of those. maybe next time.