Brown Sugar

Snow Cone Cupcakes

June 20, 2012 Leave a Comment

Who reading this blog entry is crazy about The Food Network like I am? I mean if you are browsing Google or found me byway of another food blog, more than likely, you are a huge fan like me. I would say that 66% of the time, my television is on the Food Network Channel. I am crazy about it. What is your favorite show on the network? Well mine is Chopped, The Pioneer Woman (of course), Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, and Restaurant Impossible. It really is hard for me to decide, but that is the gist of it. Well I am not only crazy about their channel, but I am crazy about the magazine as well. So much so, that I am faithful magazine subscriber. I love me some Food Network.

Anyway, the magazine before the one that just came out this week featured a really clever idea for how to decorate a cupcake like a snow cone. In fact, I thought it was when I saw the picture. Nevertheless, I thought I would give it whirl. It is quite simple. All you do is make your cupcakes, place them in a 4 oz. Styrofoam cup (in my case I took an 8 oz. cup and just cut it down), ice them, and roll the top with colored decorated sugar. For an added effect, you can place a plastic spoon in the cupcake.

Enjoy!

An 8 oz. cup cut down

Place the cupcake inside the cup. You don’t want the cupcake to sink deep inside of the cup. Also, you can cut the edges of the cupcake wrapper or remove it.

Ice the cupcake

Roll in the colored rock sugar

Here is what you get! How cute are they?

Filed Under: Cupcakes

Rose Vanilla Bean Buttercream Cupcakes

May 7, 2012 7 Comments

For Mother’s Day, instead of giving your mom a dozen roses, try giving her a dozen Rose Buttercream cupcakes! Did that sounds corny? I think it did. Anyway, a few months ago I discovered a wonderful gift to all foodies and cooks of the world, Sur la Table, and I bought rose and lavender extract. I hadn’t a clue with what I was going to do with them. I figure that at some point I will make lavender and lemon shortbread cookies, but we will talk about that another day. Rose cupcakes, at first, sounded disgusting, but they are actually pretty delightful. These cupcakes are light, fluffy, buttery, and has a back taste of roses intertwined. I will say that these cupcakes are a pleasant surprise. I used a traditional buttercream icing recipe, but I wanted to try to make Swiss Buttercream Icing. The only reason that I didn’t was because I didn’t have enough butter. I recommend you exploring them if you would like. Anyway, try these cupcakes for bridal a shower, a girl’s night, or for whatever you want. They are very good!

Ingredients

2 sticks unsalted butter
1 ½ c. sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
2 c. cake flour
2 tsp. baking powder
¾ tsp. salt
½ c. milk
½ tsp. rose extract
1 vanilla bean

Icing

3 ½ c. powdered sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. rose extract
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 tbsp. milk
1 drop red food coloring (optional)

Directions

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. In a medium bowl, blend together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy with a standing mixer or a hand-held mixer. One at a time, add the eggs making sure that they are evenly combined after each egg. Then begin to add the cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Once all of those ingredients are blended, begin to add the milk and roe extract. Lastly, split the vanilla bean in half and use the back of a butter knife to shave out the vanilla beans and add into the cupcake batter.

2. Line the cupcake pan with cupcake liners. Fill each liner about 2/3rds a way and bake for 12-15 minutes. Once the cupcakes are complete, remove from pan and place o cooling rack. Allow to completely cool before icing the cupcakes.

3. To make the icing, using a standing mixer or a hand-held mixer, blend together the butter, powdered sugar, milk, salt, and extracts. Depending on the consistency that you prefer your icing you may have to add a little bit more milk. Lastly, add one drop of red food color if you would like. With an icing piping bag or with a flat knife, ice your cupcakes how you see fit. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Yield 24 cupcakes

Filed Under: Cupcakes Tagged With: rose cupcakes

Easter Egg Cupcakes in an Egg Shell

April 7, 2012 1 Comment

Easter Egg Cupcakes

So Easter is tomorrow! Are you excited? Do you have your Eater Sunday outfit laid out? Do you have the Easter Egg Hunt ready for the kids? Well…I don’t! I am excited about Easter but I am going to church today (Saturday), I will be wearing jeans, and I am not on any planning committee for an Easter Egg Hunt. Nevertheless, I have been a bit festive about Easter Lately. I love the pastel colors that you see in everything. I also love gourmet jelly beans and chocolate malt balls (must-stay-away). But I also love seeing the sweet creations that people come up with at home. I have seen blogs where people are making their own Cadbury Eggs, Chocolate Bunny’s, and peeps even! But the one creation that I found to be most interesting was cupcakes in hard egg shells. Hmmm….interesting. Apparently this has been done several times before and I am a little late. But I wanted to challenge myself and make these for my family. Here is the recipe for them. Hurry, it’s not too late to makes these and they don’t take that much time! Go! Go! Go!

Ingredients

9 eggs

½ c. flour

5 tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature

¼ tsp. baking powder

1/8 tsp. baking soda

Pinch of salt

1 egg

½ c. sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

¼ c. milk

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Take the egg with the point facing upward, take the end of a steak knife and prick the top of the egg making a small hole. With your fingers, begin to remove some of the shell leaving a small hole for you to insert the cupcake batter. You don’t want the holes too big. Once you have an entry way from the egg, begin to pour some the contents out of the egg in a separate bowl and place the punctured egg in a separate bowl. Repeat this process for the remaining eight eggs.

2. Now that the hard part is done, take a large bowl and fill it with warm water and salt. Make sure that the salt has dissolved in the water. Sink your egg shells in the water making sure that the inside of the eggs are filled with the salty water. Allow to soak for 35 minutes.

3. Once the eggs are finished soaking, pour out the water and empty the eggs with any excess water and place back in the egg carton or on a paper towel to dry. If you are going to put them back in the egg carton, make sure that the opening is down so it can dry internally. If you would like, once the eggs are dry you can begin to dye them. If you choose to dye your eggs, make sure they are completely dry before adding the cupcake batter.

4. Now that the eggs are prepped, let’s make the cupcake batter. In a medium bowl, add the butter, egg, and sugar and beat until creamy with a mixer. Begin to add the remaining dry ingredients, extract, and milk. Beat until all ingredients are blended well.

5. Take the cupcake pan and insert a square piece of foil inside each cupcake lining. This will give the eggs more stability so they can bake evenly. Place the eggs securely inside each cupcake lining using the foil to secure its place in the pan. In an icing piping bag or cupcake spout, add the cupcake batter. If you do not have either one of those, take a Ziploc bag, pour in the cupcake batter, close the bag, and make a hole at the end of one of the corners of the bag and use that to pipe in the cupcake batter. Begin to pipe the eggs for even distribution of the batter. Bake for 25-30 minutes.

6. Once finished baking, remove from oven and allow cooling. You make ice or decorate the cupcakes however you would like. The point is to enjoy! You can bake them and allow the kids to decorate them however they wish!

Yummy!

Happy Egg Day!

Filed Under: Cupcakes, Sweet Treats Tagged With: easter egg cupcakes

Honey Vanilla Bean Cupcake w/ Honeycomb Pieces

February 23, 2012 Leave a Comment

I was watching Martha Stewart a while ago and she had a guest on her show. I can’t remember the lady’s name or where she was from, but I know that they made a Chiffon cake with honeycomb as the outer layer. Until I watched this episode I only thought that honeycomb was a cereal and where bees lived. But this cake, which I can’t find anywhere, looked so delicious and yummy that I told myself that I would have to try it someday. Well that day was last week when I came up with the concept of making a honey and vanilla bean cupcake with Butter Meringue icing topped with pieces of the honeycomb.

When you make the honeycomb you can not only use them as the topping of your cupcake, but you can also dip them in chocolate, eat them alone, or come up other yummy fun ideas. If you love honey, you will really like this cupcake! Enjoy!

Ingredients Cupcake

- 1 ½ sticks unsalted butter

- ¼ c sugar

- ¾ c honey

- 2 eggs

- ½ c buttermilk

- ½ tsp vanilla extract

- 2 cups all purpose flour

- 1 tbsp. baking powder

- ¼ tsp salt

- 1 vanilla bean

Directions

- Pre heat oven to 350 degrees and line the cupcake tin with cupcake liners.

- In a stand mixer or with a handheld mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the honey, egg, buttermilk, vanilla extract, and the vanilla bean. Lastly mix in flour, baking powder, and salt. Pour the batter in the cups evenly and bake for 15 minutes.

- Remove for cupcake pan and place on cooling rack and allow cooling before icing the cupcakes.

Ingredients Butter cream Meringue Icing

- 6 egg whites

- 2 cups white sugar

- 2 cups unsalted butter (room temperature)

- 1 tbsp vanilla extract

Directions

- Go to Sweetapolita’s food blog for instruction and a visual about how the meringue should look.

- Once the icing is complete, ice the cupcakes to your liking.

Ingredients Honeycomb

- 1 ½ c sugar

- ½ c water

- 3 tbsp honey

- ½ c corn syrup

- 4 tsp baking soda, sifted

Directions

- In a large pot combine the sugar, water, honey, and corn syrup. Boil until the mixture has turned into an amber color. Make sure you whisk. Add the baking soda and the mixture will begin to foam a lot. You must react quickly. Turn your honeycomb mixture on a silicon mat or a large baking sheet with parchment paper layered on top. Allow the honeycomb to cool and break into pieces.

- Once you have broken the honeycomb into pieces, top off your cupcake with pieces of the honeycomb and save the rest for later. Enjoy!

Filed Under: Cupcakes, Sweet Treats Tagged With: Cupcakes, honey cupcake

White Chocolate Cupcakes w/ Marscarpone Raspberry Buttercream Icing

February 2, 2012 5 Comments

Insight about myself…I am pretty picky about food. Now I know what you are thinking, “How could that be when you are food blogger?” And the answer is, “I don’t really know”. There are some foods that are simply nasty to the taste such as liver; whereas there are some foods that aren’t nasty they just don’t do appeal to your taste buds such as avocado and mushrooms, for me. Well white chocolate is in the middle of both for me. You probably will never see me eating a white chocolate bar but you will see me eating these cupcakes that I created.

As I have said before, chocolate goes very well with berries. Raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, you name it and it probably will be a good marriage. So in this creative mind of mine, I wondered what it would taste like to join raspberry and white chocolate in holy matrimony. So where did the mascarpone come from you ask? Well, how many of you know what mascarpone is and taste like? Well, I’ll tell you. It has the consistency of cream cheese and it taste like nothing, to me. But it gives the icing a soft sweet cheese taste that is light, enjoyable, without the sharpness or bitterness that cheese sometimes carry. So you combine that flavor with butter and raspberries and you are in cupcake heaven my friend. Make these for Valentines Day for your place of work, parties, or for your Valentine. Trust me, you won’t fail.

Ingredients Cupcakes

1 ¾ cup cake flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup sugar

½ teaspoon salt

1 stick softened unsalted butter

2 large eggs

½ cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 teaspoon raspberry extract

½ cup hot water

8 oz melted white chocolate

Directions

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees

Beat the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add all of the dry ingredients and then adding the melted white chocolate and hot water last. NOTE: White Chocolate is hard to melt so you might have to use a little milk or cream to get it to become creamy.
Fill your ready cupcake tins with the batter about 2/3^rd of the way and bake between 15-20 minutes.
Once your cupcakes are done baking, transfer them to a cooling rack so the heat in the pan doesn’t continue to bake the cupcakes.

Ingredients Icing

1 stick of softened butter

8 oz mascarpone, room temperature

4 cups powdered sugar

1 tablespoon milk or cream (if needed)

½ cup of raspberries

½ cup melted white chocolate

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon raspberry extract

Directions

With your mixer, beat butter and mascarpone to blend. Add white chocolate, extracts, raspberries and powdered sugar slowly. If your icing is too thick, that is where the tablespoon of milk comes into play. Once finished, ice your cupcakes as desired.

Filed Under: Cupcakes, Sweet Treats Tagged With: cupcake

Strawberry Buttercream Cupcakes

January 22, 2012 Leave a Comment

So I think I have developed a thing for bridal showers. I made two different types of cupcakes for a small bridal shower that we had for two ladies at my job and I am planning one for two of my close friends who are getting married in April. Let me tell you, I have never been more excited about anything in my life within these past few years. I really like the strawberry flavor in cakes, but I’m not crazy about them in tarts or pies. I wonder why that is. I definitely recommend using strawberry extract. It will enhance the flavor. I really love this small pastry company’s ingredients called Bakers Kitchen (if you are in the Cincinnati, OH area you can find their goods at Jungle Jims)

Strawberry Extract As most of you food bloggers know, it would take a second job to buy all of the cool pans, extracts, spatulas, appliances, and culinary torches. But whenever I have some extra money, I definitely invest in some wonderful ingredients or cookware. I recommend using their stuff. It is really awesome!

Now back to the cupcakes, enough jibber jabber, here is the recipe. I really hope that you enjoy them.

Strawberry Cupcakes

Ingredients

2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup cake flour (not self-rising)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks butter (unsalted)
2 ¼ cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 large egg white
1 large cup milk
1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon strawberry extract
2 cups finely cut strawberries

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees and line your cupcake pan with the cupcake liners of your choice.
In a large bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients and set aside.
Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Afterwards, add each egg one at a time and then the egg white. Make sure you beat each one into the batter before adding the next one.
Add the remaining wet ingredients and once all wet ingredients are incorporated, slowly add the dry ingredients into the batter (add strawberries last).
Fill your cupcake liners 2/3 of the way and bake for 15-20 minutes.
Allow your cupcakes to completely cool before applying the icing.

Strawberry Glaze

- Store bought (and I’m not ashamed)

Strawberry Buttercream Icing

Ingredients

- 2 sticks unsalted butter

- 5 ½ cups powdered sugar

- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

- 1 teaspoon strawberry extract

- 1 cup finely diced strawberries

- 1 drop of red food coloring (optional)

Directions

- In a large bowl, add all ingredients and mix with an electric mixer. Place within piper or simply ice using a butter knife.

Filed Under: Cupcakes, Sweet Treats Tagged With: Cupcakes, strawberry cupcakes

Pumpkin Spice Latte Cupcakes

January 22, 2012 Leave a Comment

Believe it or not, I do not like coffee or anything with that flavor. It taste like dirt, makes my teeth feel dirty, and it makes my stomach hurt. I don’t event like the Frappacino’s at Starbucks. But because fall is here, which my favorite season, I wanted to make a “fallish” type of cupcake. The first thing that come to mind with me when it comes to making sweet treats for the fall is pumpkin. So I wanted to figure out how to add some flare to them. Thankfully “Annies Eats” gave me a wonderful idea (excellent blog by the way). So I took her Pumpkin Spice Latte cupcake recipe and added a few ideas of my own. I hope you enjoy them.

For the cupcakes:
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
3 tbsp. espresso powder
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. grated nutmeg
1/8 tsp. all spice

1/8 tsp. ginger

1 tsp. salt
1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin puree
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup canola or vegetable oil
4 large eggs
¼ cup of hot coffee, for cupcake batter

½ cup coffee or espresso, for brushing

Garnish:

Caramel Sauce

Whipped Cream (store bought but you can make your own)

Cinnamon

Icing:

Cinnamon Buttercream Icing

Ingredients:

3 cups of powdered sugar

Dash of cinnamon

1 stick of unsalted butter

Directions:

-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

In a medium bowl, add all dry ingredients and whisk together (flour, espresso powder, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, all spice, ginger, and salt)
In a separate bowl mix together pumpkin puree, sugar, brown sugar, vegetable oil, and one at a time, the eggs.
Once the wet mixture is mixed well, slowly start to add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin batter. Mix all ingredients together thoroughly. Then add the hot coffee to the batter. It will become a little thin.
Bake the cupcakes for 18-20 minutes or until your toothpick comes out clean.
Once you take the cupcakes out of the oven, brush the cupcakes with the hot coffee 2 times. Make sure that the first coat completely absorbs before you add the second coat.

Icing/ Assembly

- To make the icing, add all of the ingredients together (powdered sugar, cinnamon, and unsalted butter).

- Make sure that the cupcakes are completely cool before adding the icing. Once they are cooled, add the icing and drizzle with caramel sauce (use your preferred recipe).

- Once you have done this, add the whip cream on top of the icing. I used the store bought kind so all I did was squeezed some of the whipped cream on top of the icing and then drizzled more caramel sauce on top of it and sprinkled with cinnamon.

Bon Appetit!

Filed Under: Cupcakes, Sweet Treats Tagged With: Cupcakes, Pumpkin Spice latte Cupcakes

Trentadue Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes

January 22, 2012 Leave a Comment

Trentadue Chocolate Amore is a dessert wine; otherwise known as a port. Ports are sweeter than most regular wines and are suggested to drink alongside desserts or fruit. This port, in particular, was introduced to me by a friend of mine who brought it over for a casual gathering that I was having at my apartment. That was when I fell in love with this drink. So we had vanilla bean ice-cream, cut strawberries, and Delche De Leche Brownies and poured some of the port over this already sugar-high dessert and God opened up the heavens and said to me, “Nicole, use this in your next cupcake recipe!’ So I did. I am not that big of a fan of chocolate mixed with fruit type desserts, in some cases, but I do think that raspberries and strawberries complement chocolate very well. I made a wonderful, moist, and rich Chocolate Raspberry cupcake adding the Chocolate Amore for the added flavor. This is what I call my “Sexy Dessert”. It is very romantic, in my opinion. Enjoy!

Ingredients

- 2 cups sugar
- 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup Dutch Cocoa or Hershey Cocoa
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup milk (room temperature)
- 1/2 vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 teaspoon raspberry extract
- 1 4 oz. bar Ghirardelli Baking Chocolate: 60%Caco Bittersweet (you could use milk chocolate if you want)
- 1 cup boiling water or coffee
- 1/4 cup Trentadue Chocolate Amore (optional…I guess)

Cupcakes

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

1. In a bowl, whisk together all of your dry ingredients

2. In a separate bowl, add your eggs, milk, and oil and beat on low until well incorporated.

3. Add your dry ingredients, to your wet ingredients little by little.

4. Melt the chocolate and add into the mixture.

5. Add your extracts, Chocolate Amore, and mix well.

6. Lastly, add the boiling water or coffee into the mixture and mix well. The batter will be thin.

7. Fill your cupcake tins about 2/3 of the way and bake for 15-17 minutes.

8. Once finished, let cool completely before you add the next great ingredient…CHOCOLATE GANACHE.

Chocolate Ganache

- 9 oz chopped bittersweet chocolate

- 1 cup heavy whipping cream

- 1 teaspoon raspberry extract (optional)

Directions

1. Heat up your cream by adding it into a saucer on the stove and put your burner on medium heat.

-NOTE: If you are not careful, your cream will over boil causing a mess on your stove so be careful.

2. Once your whipping cream is pretty hot, in the bowl where your chocolate should be, pour the whipping cream over the chocolate.

3. With a spoon, you want to stir until the chocolate is completely dissolved and there are no clumps. Do not whisk because this will add air and you do not want air in the ganache.

4. Once the ganache is complete, add your extract.

- What I did was allowed the ganache to cool a little bit, which makes it a little thicker (that is what you want). And then I poured it into a squeeze bottle for easy distribution over the cupcakes. Then on top of that…BUTTERCREAM!

Raspberry Butter cream Icing

Ingredients

- 3 Cups Powdered Sugar
- 1 stick unsalted butter (room temperature)
- 1 to 2 tablespoons whipping cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1teaspoon raspberry extract
- 1/4 cup crushed raspberries

Directions

1. In a bowl, mix all the ingredients together, except the whipping cream.

2. Slowly add the whipping cream in the mixture until it is to the consistency that you are wanting.

3. Place the finished icing in a decorating bag and ice as normal.

Finished Product

- You can layer this cupcake in anyway you want. I layered mine, cupcake, ganache, icing, and a fresh raspberry for garnish. Once I did that, the extra ganache I had in my squeeze bottle, I drizzled over the top of the rest of the cupcakes.

I hope that you enjoy this recipe as much my co-workers did!

Filed Under: Cupcakes, Sweet Treats Tagged With: chocolate raspberry cupcakes, Cupcakes

Orange Vanilla Bean Cupcakes

January 22, 2012 Leave a Comment

If you have followed my blog, you would know by now that I am not a big fan of certain fruit flavored dessert. Especially when it comes to cakes. For me to really enjoy baking, I am very picky about what I eat. In any case, I got a wonderful idea for a vanilla bean cupcake with orange flavoring. I don’t know where I got it from. In many of my desserts, cakes in particular, you will see that I add vanilla bean to a lot of them. I think vanilla bean enhances the flavor.

Warning, these cupcakes do take some time. Much like the raspberry cupcake, there are few compartments to this dessert and they are cupcake, ganache, icing, and candied oranges. These are not your typical cupcakes that you make for your average company pot luck. These are cupcakes that you make for a bridal shower, dessert party, or formal shin dig where you are trying to impress people who normally don’t give you the time of day. Let me know how they turn out or if you get that promotion at your job!

Cupcakes

Ingredients

- 3 cups cake flour
- 1 tbsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 vanilla bean split long ways
- 2 sticks unsalted butter (room temperature)
- 2 cups sugar
- 5 large eggs (room temperature)
- 1 1/3 cups buttermilk (room temperature)
- 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp. orange extract
- 1/2 tsp. orange zest

Directions

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. In a bowl, whisk together your dry ingredients (cake flour, baking powder, salt)

2. In a separate bowl, beat the butter until creamy. Add the vanilla beans to the butter and beat.

TIP: Those vanilla bean seeds can be very difficult to get out of its pod. But what I did was split the bean down the middle, split it in half, take one half of the bean and open it up, take the back of a knife (not the sharp part) and scrap the seeds out of it. It is so much easier that way.

3. With the vanilla bean added to the butter, slowly add the sugar. Your mixture should start to become fluffy.

4. Start to beat in the eggs one at a time. Before adding the next egg, make sure that the each one is blended well. Make sure you scrape down the sides of the bowl as you go along.

5. Add the buttermilk and beat.

NOTE: If your buttermilk is cold, your mixture will start to take on curdled effect. It won’t look good. So make sure that your milk is at room temperature. When baking, it is always better that your milk, butter, and milk are at room temperature.

6. Now that all of your wet ingredients are combined, start to add your dry ingredients slowly.

7. Lastly, add your extracts and orange zest.

8. Start to fill your cupcakes tins 2/3 of the way.

- Bake for 15- 18 minutes or until your toothpick is clean.

9. Allow the cupcakes to cool before icing.

Now…THE GANACHE!

Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients

9 oz. chopped bittersweet chocolate
1 cup heavy whipped cream
1 tsp. orange extract

Directions

1. In a saucepan, warm up your cream

2. Once your cream is really warm, pour over chocolate.

3. Begin to stir with a spoon slowly. Keep stirring until the chocolate is dissolved. It will be a little thin. But as it starts to cool down, it will begin to thicken.

4. Place the ganache in a squeeze bottle so you can squeeze over the cupcakes.

Butter Cream Icing

Ingredients

- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 stick unsalted butter (room temperature)
- 2 tbsp. whipping cream
- 1 tsp. orange zest
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 tsp. orange extract

Directions

Add all ingredients together and blend slowly pouring in the whipping cream to reach desired consistency.

Add food coloring if you would like.

Now…let’s candy those orange slices!

Candied Orange Slices

- If you plan on making these as a garnish, I would probably make them first. If you didn’t that is okay. Just make sure that they are chilled before adding.

Ingredients

- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1/2 cup sugar
- Orange slices

Directions

1. In a large heavy skillet, bring the water and sugar to a boil. Then add the orange slices.

2. Turn every few minutes and let simmer for about 30 minutes.

- The water and sugar will start to look “syrupy” and your orange slices will start to look glassy. That is how you know they are just about done.

3. Place the orange slices on a cooling rack and save the rest of the syrup for later use. You can use the syrup for whatever you like.

4. Once the orange slices are cooled just enough to move, place them in the refrigerator until it is time to garnish.

- Now that you have all the compartments complete, let’s assemble this cupcake.

Assembly

- Pour the ganache over the cupcakes. It is okay if it runs off the sides. Before icing the cupcakes, allow to cool.

- Ice the cupcakes with the butter cream icing. Finally, add the candied orange slices. Before you serve let chill once again. And TA-DA! There you have it!

Boy, am I pooped! These cupcakes take some time don’t they?

Enjoy!

Filed Under: Cupcakes, Sweet Treats Tagged With: Cupcakes, Orange vanilla Bean Cupcakes

Green Tea Cupcakes

January 22, 2012 Leave a Comment

I came across the idea of green tea cupcakes and became immediately curious. So, I looked up a recipe to bake them and I must say…they were AAAMMMMAAAAZZZIIING! I wanted to share my wealth of knowledge with all of you so I posted the recipe and some pictures of the process along the way for those who like visual effects when cooking something new to make sure that you are doing it right, like myself. Enjoy!

Ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 cups sugar

2 large eggs

2 large egg yolks

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

2 tablespoons matcha tea

Process

1. Beat unsalted butter until soft, for about 30 seconds.

2. Add sugar and beat until butter and sugar are well blended and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

3. Add eggs and egg yolks one at a time and beat for 30 seconds each.

3. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and add batter to mix well.

TIP: Whisking helps prevents large clumps from forming in your batter.

4. Mix Matcha with milk (I use soy milk) and combine.

Fact: Matcha is a finely-milled and ground green tea, which is most popular in Japan. Matcha is used for making green tea ice cream and other green tea inspired recipes.

Tip: You can buy a bag of Matcha this size from Jungle Jim’s. You can also add it to smoothies. It is very high in protein.

Tip: How I make my cupcakes and cakes so moist is that I beat them very well until all lumps are out of the matter.

6. Now scoop batter into a ready cupcake pan with papers already in tact.

7. Bake for about 20-22 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.

Tip: Another practice I use to make sure that my cakes and cookies are moist is never cook them to the maximum time that is suggested unless it necessary. For instance, I hardly ever let my cookies bake completely through. I don’t know the science behind it, but they are still cooked thoroughly.

8. Once the cupcakes are finished. Let cool and ice as necessary.

Tip: For icing, I use a sandwich bag and place my icing in the bag. At the tip of the bag, cut open a small hole to allow the icing to be squeezed through. This cause less mess. You can use this method if you do not have a professional decorative icing bag.

Place the sandwich bag inside of a cup to avoid access mess.

I added green food coloring to go with recipe. There is a Matcha butter cream icing recipe to go along with this recipe if you would like to use that instead ( I will next time. I was tired).