Vanilla Latte Cupcakes

 

It is one of my work bestie's birthday this weekend and we are celebrating tomorrow! She is a coffee lover too so I'm hoping these Vanilla Latte cupcakes will go over well! It is a surprise!

The recipe is from Annie's Eats, so it was sure to be a good one. The cake has espresso powder AND brewed coffee in the mix (I skipped the Kahlua, since it was for WORK. BOO!) and the frosting is a Swiss Meringue frosting. Half of the frosting got a concentrated espresso powder boost and it was piped prettily in a swirl. The vanilla bean flecks are just lovely! I just LOVE fresh vanilla.

 

The cake was moist and fluffy, with just a subtle coffee flavor. I expected it to be a heavy flavor and I was very glad it was not. The frosting is one of my favorite kinds- the Swiss Meringue has to be cooked in a double boiler, and then ultra whipped by my KitchenAid mixer for a good eight minutes into stiff peaks and to cool down. It is a silky, lovely, not-too-sweet frosting. YUM.

Thumbs up!

Click here for the stolen recipe for Vanilla Latte Cupcakes.

 

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Mess Cake

My Mom would always make this cake for us when we were young, for birthdays. We loved it. The devil's food/chocolate cake would chill just right with the bananas, pudding, and cool whip. It was a chilly gooey mess on your plate.

I fancied it up by putting it in a trifle bowl and using the best chocolate cake recipe I know, instead of a box mix. James really loves cake but he prefers his "plain". He wasn't sure what to think of the Mess Cake even though he loves each component individually. Silly kid.

 

You must serve this kind of cake in a bowl. You'll never get a perfect slice on a plate. Just put it in a bowl and swirl it all around so you get chocolate, banana, and cake goodness on each spoonful.

 

My baby sis Kiki makes a version with oreos. She's such a rebel.

Click here for the BEST basic chocolate cake recipe.

 

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Chocolate Buttermilk Cupcakes for Dad

When James and I have a secret we used hushed voices and whisper loudly to each other, within Jim's earshot, "Shhhhh!!! Don't tell him the secret!" So it would be pretty hard for Jim not to know that something is in the works.

We made James' Daddy some special birthday cupcakes. Of course James thought they should be Star Wars cupcakes and they should be chocolate.

I did most of the measuring and running around. James got to stand on his stool and smile prettily :)

Jim took this picture, so obviously he's on to us.

James rolled his head around like the mixer. Faster faster!

A good chef always tastes as he goes.

Yum. Cake batter. (But not too much.)

The cupcakes need to cool. Time to play for a bit.

Later, frosting.

Decorating. "This one is for Daddy."

I have these SW stencils. They didn't work so well on this sticky frosting. The stencil stuck to the frosting and didn't lift off well. I should have known. I'll use the stencils next time on a firmer frosting, like buttercream.

James prefers his cupcakes plain so we didn't decorate all of them.

Jim was a good sport and walked into the kitchen covering his eyes.

"Surprise!"

James is so proud of himself. Good work!

And mellow, fluffy and moist chocolate cupcakes with simple white frosting.

Click here for the stolen recipe for Chocolate Buttermilk Cupcakes.

Click here for the stolen recipe for Fluffy Vanilla Frosting.

German Chocolate Layer Cake

My husband's family came over for a belated birthday celebration dinner on Sunday. I asked him to choose a cake for his day. I was happy that he asked for German Chocolate- I mean, I just don't get to bake with coconut often enough!

I didn't show Jim the cake but just put in the fridge. You can see that the cake looks GOOD.

4 thin layers of moist chocolate cake and loads of coconut pecan filling.

The chocolate cake was very light- not too chocolatey. It was made with a bit of espresso powder for a deep, not too sweet taste. The filling was made lots of egg yolks, sugar, and butter. It is gooey and delicious.

Even after our dinner guests we are left with half of the cake. What to do??? :)

The recipe is from one of my best cookbooks, Baking Illustrated, but I found the recipe online.

Click here for the stolen recipe for German Chocolate Cake.

German Chocolate Cupcakes

I have a friend. Let's call him "Pal". His birthday falls on December 31st, New Year's Eve. Instead of thinking that the whole world celebrates his birthday, he thinks the party is just NEVER about him. Also, his birthday falls during our winter break each year so no treats from his work buddies. When I became friends with Pal I told him that I would make him cupcakes one day. I thought about his half birthday, but darn! That falls during our summer break. (We're not constantly on breaks at Anoka-Hennepin, it just works out that way... Well, unless you visit me at school. I'm constantly on breaks then, right, Pal?) So anyway, running joke that I would make him cupcakes. FINALLY today I knew I was going to see my Pal. I surprised him with these German Chocolate Cupcakes. He once told me that they were among his favorite kind of cakes. The recipe is from David Lebovitz, AKA the Ice Cream God. He is also a trained pastry chef. He knows his stuff. The cake was wonderful- nice and fluffy from the whipped egg whites and tasty from the Dutch cocoa and coffee. The frosting? Not like a normal German Chocolate frosting. It was more of a topping. Chocolate, toasted coconut, pecans, and a quick custard of evaporated milk and eggs. Mmmmm. Gooey. A six pack! To take home and share. Happy Birthday Hal! Thanks for giving me an excuse to make one of my favorites too :) Click here for the stolen recipe for German Chocolate Cupcakes.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanila-Salted Caramel Buttercream

I finally tried THE chocolate cake recipe that I've seen so many times on food blogs. THE recipe is on the back of every Hershey's cocoa tin. Wow. I am so glad I tried this recipe. I guess I've been a cocoa snob, thinking my Penzey's Dutch cocoa is sooooo much better than plain old Hershey's cocoa. Maybe so. But this recipe reminds me of the fluffy, moist cake that you can can easily make with a boxed mix. Boxed mix is okay, and call me a snob again but I just think a homemade recipe with ingredients that you can pronounce is definitely the way to go.

So moist fluffy chocolate cake. Yum. And then there is a salted caramel sauce. A little bit of it went into the vanilla buttercream. And then a little is drizzled on top of the cupcake. Oh yum! Buttercream is usually a little too sweet for me so the saltiness of the caramel was good, cutting that sweetness a bit.

I'm so glad that (one of) my BFF's birthday is this week and I could make some cupcakes to share. I hope she likes them. Happy Birthday Bobbi! You better be at work tomorrow :)

Click here for the stolen recipe for Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla-Salted Caramel Buttercream.

Birthday Dessert

Jim requested his favorite dessert, his beloved Chocolate Intensity Cake. I also just had to make an ice cream and I decided to make a ginger flavored ice cream- White Chocolate & Fresh Ginger. I used an extra little bit of ginger because he loves it so much and I also added a splash of his ginger liqueur, knowing that alcohol helps an ice cream stay smooth and creamy (it doesn't freeze rock solid).

The Chocolate Intensity Cake is a cake I've made several times. It's a flourless chocolate cake- I don't even know if it's cake-like, its a buttery chocolate :) The ingredient list is short- lots of butter, lots of bittersweet chocolate, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Like the name, its just chocolate intensity. And then there is a chocolate ganache on top. Yum.

So the ice cream was pretty intense too. It was definitely gingery. The picture may look simple but the flavors were very in your face. A little of each goes a long way! The cake makes a single 9 inch cake, and it probably has 8-10 servings.

Click here for the stolen recipe for Chocolate Intensity Cake.

Click here for the stolen recipe for White Chocolate & Fresh Ginger Ice Cream, from none other than David Lebovitz, though this is NOT in the ice cream bible The Perfect Scoop.

This Chocolate Intensity cake was from last year's Father's Day. I wonder why I didn't blog about it before??

Vegetable Fried Rice

For my husband's birthday today he requested a few things- Sweet and Sour Chicken, Chocolate Intensity Cake (have I really not blogged about this one yet?? tomorrow...), and White Chocolate Ginger Ice cream (will blog about this one tomorrow). I decided that I would try to make a fried rice side dish and found a perfect recipe on a cooking blog. I liked that I used mostly fresh vegetables and didn't use a frozen mix. I could have, but I actually kind of like my vegetables tender crisp. The peas were frozen though. I love me some peas.

My in-laws came over for dinner so I wanted to make a dinner that was relatively low fuss while they were here. I hate to be fussing in the kitchen when there are guests. I chopped all of the vegetables ahead of time, made the steamed rice in the morning, and then made the entire dish early. I reheated the fried rice, which kind of felt like cheating, but it was worth it. The sweet and sour chicken was also made ahead of time because it does take an hour to slow bake.

So dinner was a success! Jim said he really, really liked the fried rice. It was some effort to assemble but I like having the option of making all of this at home instead of ordering take-out :) I know, take-out is easier but I'm sure my version was healthier!

Click here for the stolen recipe for Vegetable Fried Rice.

Birthday Red Velvet Cake & Ice Cream

I had an opportunity to make a layer cake! I was so excited. I tend to make cupcakes and other desserts that are easily transported. A layer cake! So exciting.

This recipe made THREE layers but the third layer put this over the top. The dome of my cake stand wouldn't even fit over the third layer so I took it off, to my husband's delight. He was then able to have a small piece of the cake early :)

The cake was RED. Really a beautiful red. My husband really, really liked this cake. It was moist and delicious. He even mentioned that maybe I should make this again for Father's Day. I think he'll change his mind and ask for his favorite chocolate cake. We'll see :)

This cake was one of the easiest cakes I've ever made. It was simply mixing the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients, and then baking! The amount of red food color concerns me (a 1 ounce bottle) but I think it's normal for red velvet.

Click here for the stolen recipe for Red Velvet Cake.

I took this first picture as I was frosting the cake. I wanted to take a picture of the inside.


Frosted. Plain but just enough.


The third layer that didn't make it into the birthday cake. I also had a small piece before the birthday girl came over. I don't think I admitted that to her!


Birthday cake and ice creams. I didn't mean to show off and make TWO ice cream flavors but I really wanted the mint ice cream (see earlier post) and then I thought the chocolate ice cream would go well with the red velvet. So that is why there are two ice creams. No one complained! I've made the Chocolate Ice Cream before- it is the BEST chocolate ice cream I think I've ever had. My friend mentioned that it was creamy and rich, nothing like store-bought.



Happy Birthday, Friend!

Double Chocolate Cupcakes

The second cupcake are these delicious Double Chocolate Cupcakes. The original recipe called them Triple Chocolate Cupcakes but I left out the chocolate ganache filling, just to make it easier for myself. I don't know if the Double chocolate part is that it's a devil's food cupcake with chocolate cream cheese frosting or the fact that I had to use two different chocolates in this recipe- Dutch cocoa (Penzey's) and lots and lots of bittersweet chocolate. You just can't go wrong with all that chocolate. I think this is one of the best chocolate frostings EVER!

Sprinkles make everything festive!



I love my new cupcake carrier! I am now the proud owner of TWO of them, so I'm able to transport SIX dozen cupcakes very nicely now. Wow, I could go into business :)

There is a dome top with a handle, I didn't have it attached in this picture.



Click here for the stolen recipe for Triple Chocolate Cupcakes (though I only made the Double)!

Oreo Cupcakes

I'll be blogging about the three different cupcakes that I made for my dear brother-in-law's 40th birthday party. The first cupcakes are Oreo Cupcakes. Yum. An Oreo on the bottom of the cupcake liner, topped with white cake with Oreos crumbled in, and then a cream cheese frosting with Oreo crumbs and an Oreo wedge on top. Oh yum!

Click here for the stolen recipe for Oreo Cupcakes!

Happy Birthday Richie!

Cookie Monster cupcakes

I made these Cookie Monsters for my son's birthday. He didn't really have a favorite character so I just chose a theme that was easy and I had these cupcakes on my list of treats to make so it was a perfect opportunity to experiment.

I was not and am still not an expert with pastry tips and frostings but these were surprisingly easy with this tip:


The bottom tip has tiny little holes to make the "fur". It was simply squeeze and lift, over and over again.

And guess what Adia, you have a surprise coming to you in your mailbox soon so that you can make the same cupcakes and more!

I can't find the original link to the technique that I used but I did find TONS of pictures of other Cookie Monster cupcakes. You can make the fur frosting but you could also use blue sanding sugar to just color the cupcake tops. Well, check out the link.

I made the cupcakes as usual and after they were cooled I cut a slit in the side of each cupcake, to insert the mini cookie (in the mouth). I piped the fur frosting all around the cookie. I used white candy melts (flat discs, found at Michael's or any crafting store I think) for the eyes and used black icing (tube I bought at the grocery store) for the eye pupils.

I think they turned out very cute!
Click here for the stolen recipe for Martha's One-Bowl Chocolate cupcakes.
Click here for the stolen recipe for Martha's Swiss Meringue Buttercream frosting.

Good luck Adia! I hope the package will arrive soon and you can bake away!