cupcakes......GALORE!

Time to dust off this blog..and talk about cupcakes. Many of my friends, etc were responding to my post of making these jewels....with recipes etc. So I thought I would blog about it. Now let me say this. To make things easier...I have stuck with ONE recipe for my chocolate cake base. It's my favorite so I just stick with it. Funny because it's the recipe from the back of a Hershey's cocoa box. The only change is that with these recipes, instead of adding 1 c boiling water, I do 1 c strong coffee. Also I have a large mixer, so I do 2 batches at once. Then I divide it evenly between how many types I have. So one bowl will be for Peppermint Mocha, one for Creme De Minte, reeces, etc. Then I add the flavorings etc. Perfectly Chocolate Cake (Hershey's recipe): Ingredients 2 cups sugar 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour 3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 2 eggs 1 cup milk 1/2 cup vegetable oil 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 cup boiling water (this is where I do the strong coffee instead!!) Directions 1 Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans. 2 Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans. 3 Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. VARIATIONS: ONE-PAN CAKE: Grease and flour 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Heat oven to 350° F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely. Frost. THREE LAYER CAKE: Grease and flour three 8-inch round baking pans. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost. BUNDT CAKE: Grease and flour 12-cup Bundt pan. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 50 to 55 minutes. Cool 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely. Frost. CUPCAKES: Line muffin cups (2-1/2 inches in diameter) with paper bake cups. Heat oven to 350°F. Fill cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely. Frost. About 30 cupcakes. "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING (you can use this for chocolate/chocolate chip cupcakes....use mini chocolate chips as the garnish! 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine 2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa 3 cups powdered sugar 1/3 cup milk 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting. My basic frosting recipe is this: 1/3 c crisco 1 stick butter, soft 1 tsp vanilla 3 c powdered sugar 1/3 c milk (I have been using half and half or heavy whipping cream lately and like it much better)

Now for the Reeces cupcakes, I omit the crisco and add in peanut butter (creamy)for the frosting. Also for this when you are doing the cake batter, I add in several tablespoons of creamy peanut butter and whip it until smooth (it will thicken). I garnish with a Reeces Mini's.

For the Peppermint Mocha latte, I add 1 1/2 tbsp of expresso powder and about 10 drops of Peppermint oil (I use pure oil). OR you can use this recipe found Here: Peppermint Mocha Latte Cupcakes The cake recipe is much more complicated (I am all for simple), but I did use the frosting. I found it not to be sweet enough and too soft to put on the cupcake, so I added some powdered sugar to it. I did NOT do the genache...maybe next time but I did garnish with the peppermint.

For the Creme De Minte, I added Creme de minte oil (from Michaels in the baking section) to the chocolate batter and then to my frosting recipe with green food coloring. I garnish with 1/2 of a Andes mint.

So for the Double Chocolate Raspberry, I just used the base chocolate recipe. Then hollowed out the center with a large frosting couplet (the bottom). I put in some of my yummy homemade Raspberry Marnier jam in there but you can use any raspberry jam. Garnish with a fresh raspberry. For the frosting, I did this: 16 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature (that's 2 sticks of butter) 6 cups powdered sugar 1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam

So for the Salted Caramel, I use this recipe: Cupcakes 1 1/2 cups flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon sea salt 1 stick of unsalted butter, at room temperature 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar 2 large eggs, at room temperature 1 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk Preheat oven to 325 °F. Line muffin tin with paper or foil liners. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each until fully incorporated. Mix in vanilla extract. Add flour mixture to wet ingredients in 3 batches, alternating with 1/2 of the buttermilk, stirring after each until everything is combined. Pour batter into prepared muffin tin until each liner is 3/4 full. Bake for around 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. For the frosting here it is: Salted Caramel Buttercream Frosting 1/4 cup granulated sugar 2 tablespoons water 1/4 cup heavy cream 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 stick salted butter 1 stick unsalted butter 1/2 teaspoon sea salt 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted Fleur de sel for sprinkling (optional) In a medium saucepan, combine sugar and water and cook over medium-high heat. Boil without stirring until it turns a deep amber color. Remove from heat and slowly pour in cream and vanilla, whisking until it is very smooth. Let cool for around 20 minutes, until it’s just barely warm and still pourable. Meanwhile, beat butter and salt together until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar and beat until thoroughly combined. Pour in the cooled caramel and beat on medium-high speed until light and airy (around 2 minutes). Spread or pipe onto filled cupcakes (if frosting is too runny, the caramel was too warm when added – refrigerate for around 15-20 minutes until frosting is stiffer). Now for the garnish, I use homemade fresh caramel. Make ahead of time and let cool. 1/4 cup granulated sugar 2 tablespoons water 1/4 cup heavy cream 1 teaspoon vanilla extract I use this and drizzle over the top....yummo!