Caramel Apple Cupcakes

Jean jackets, sweaters, crockpotting, football, foilage, haunted houses, anything pumpkin (see previous post). You can now add these little devils to my long list of reasons why fall is my favorite season.


Ever since I made the Snicker's cupcakes, I had been wanting to make the caramel buttercream frosting again. This frosting is so addicting, both times I've made it I've ended up eating WAY to much frosting straight out of the bowl. It is that good.


I got the idea to make a caramel apple cupcake and went on the hunt for an apple cake recipe. I didn't have to look to far, as Every Day with Rachael Ray had one this month (theirs called for the caramel drizzled straight on top, which I'm sure would have been amazing as well).

I had so much fun making these and especially decorating them - I think they turned out so cute! I coated the apple slices in lemon juice and they actually held up and didn't brown or shrivel for about 24 hours, so this would work well if you were making them for a party ahead of time.


Caramel Apple Cupcakes

makes 24 cupcakes

Cupcakes

adapted from Every Day with Rachael Ray

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 4 apples (about 1 pound), peeled and shredded- I used Golden Delicious, you can really use whatever your preference is + 1 extra apple if you are going to garnish (with slices coated in lemon juice)
  

Preheat to 350° and line 2 cupcake pans with baking liners. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, brown sugar and granulated sugar until smooth. Whisk in the oil and vanilla. Stir into the flour mixture until just combined; stir in the apples. Spoon the batter into the pans until almost full. Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Caramel Sauce & Frosting

adapted from Annie's Eat's

Caramel Sauce:

8 tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup heavy cream
¼ tsp. vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

To make the caramel sauce, melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Add the sugar and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sugar begins to foam a bit. It will look and smell like it’s on the verge of burning. Remove from the heat and add the heavy cream. Stir until the sauce is smooth (you may need to return it to the heat to smooth it out), then mix in the vanilla and salt. Let cool.

Caramel Buttercream Frosting:

16 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 lb. confectioners’ sugar
1½ tsp. vanilla extract
1/3 cup caramel sauce
Pinch of coarse salt
2 tbsp. heavy cream

To make the frosting, add the butter to the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on medium-high speed 1 minute until smooth. Blend in the confectioners’ sugar until smooth, 1-2 minutes. Mix in the vanilla, caramel sauce and salt until incorporated. (Note: the caramel sauce should be just warm enough that it is workable, but not warm enough to melt the butter in the frosting.) Add the heavy cream and whip on high speed until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.

Decorate the cupcakes as you'd like, I piped the caramel butter cream, added the apple slices and drizzled the rest of the caramel sauce over.

Snicker's cupcakes - a tasty two-fer

I think the photos and the title can speak for itself. These cupcakes are insanely delicious. But why are they a two-fer? Well I was making cupcakes for co-worker's birthday, and when I asked her what she wanted, she said red velvet. Since I made her red velvet last year and I've already blogged about them, I told her to pick something else so I could blog about it too - you know, so it could be a two-fer (I'm so selfless, I know : ) - but hey I'm a busy girl and I have to be efficient!). Then she said how about a Snicker's cupcake?

I was all set to come up with my own method of making these, when I saw this recipe pop up on Annie's blog last week! I knew Annie's recipe would be great so it took all the guesswork out of it for me.

I brought these cupcakes into work yesterday, and let me tell you - these were met with some RAVE reviews. One co-worker even told me they were probably the best cupcakes he's ever had.



The caramel buttercream frosting on this is AMAZING. I can't wait to try this frosting on another cupcake and I'm already brainstorming ideas of different cupcakes to try this on.

I followed Annie's recipe to the tee, except I used a food processor to chop my snickers bars. I also skipped the caramel drizzle on top (for no other reason than I was just tired by the time these were coming together!).

Also, next time I make these I will probably use a different chocolate cake recipe. The cake recipe she has is great, however the step of dirtying up a sauce pan to melt the butter for the cake batter is probably not worth the effort for an already complex recipe.



Snicker's Cupcakes

Source: Annie's Eats

Yield: 20 cupcakes
For the cupcakes:
½ cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
½ cup hot water
2 cups all-purpose flour
¾ tsp. baking soda
¾ tsp. baking powder
¾ tsp. coarse salt
16 tbsp. unsalted butter
1½ cups sugar
2 large eggs plus 1 egg yolk
1¾ tsp. vanilla extract
2/3 cup sour cream, at room temperature

For the caramel sauce:
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 cup sugar
1 cup heavy cream
¼ tsp. vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

For the filling:
24 fun-size Snickers bars, chopped

For the frosting:
16 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 lb. confectioners’ sugar
1½ tsp. vanilla extract
1/3 cup caramel sauce
Pinch of coarse salt
2 tbsp. heavy cream

For garnish:
8 fun-size Snickers bars, chopped

Directions:
To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Line standard cupcake pans with paper liners. In a small bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder and hot water until smooth. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In a medium saucepan, combine the butter and the sugar over medium heat. Heat, stirring occasionally to combine, until the butter is melted. Remove the mixture from the heat and transfer to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat on medium-low speed, 4-5 minutes, until the mixture is cooled. Mix in the eggs and egg yolk, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed and beating well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla and then the cocoa mixture and beat until incorporated. With the mixer on low speed add in the dry ingredients in two batches, alternating with the sour cream, beating just until combined.

Divide the batter between the prepared cupcake liners, filling them about ¾ of the way full. Bake 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, rotating the pans halfway through baking. Allow the cupcakes to cool in the pan 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the caramel sauce, melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Add the sugar and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sugar begins to foam a bit. It will look and smell like it’s on the verge of burning. Remove from the heat and add the heavy cream. Stir until the sauce is smooth (you may need to return it to the heat to smooth it out), then mix in the vanilla and salt. Let cool. (This can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.)

To fill the cupcakes, cut a cone out of the center of each cupcake with a paring knife.

To make the filling, combine the chopped Snickers bars in a bowl with 1/3-½ cup of the caramel sauce, and mix to coat.

Drop a spoonful of the filling mixture into each cupcake.

To make the frosting, add the butter to the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on medium-high speed 1 minute until smooth. Blend in the confectioners’ sugar until smooth, 1-2 minutes. Mix in the vanilla, caramel sauce and salt until incorporated. (Note: the caramel sauce should be just warm enough that it is workable, but not warm enough to melt the butter in the frosting.) Add the heavy cream and whip on high speed until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.

Transfer the frosting to a pastry bag fitted with a decorative tip. Drizzle the frosted cupcakes with additional caramel sauce and garnish with chopped Snickers bars.

Sorry Dear...(Margarita Cupcakes)

Joe had to go out of town for work this past week and while I missed him terribly (and still do since I'm in London now - terrible timing!), I enjoyed a week full of Joe-free food (lots of feta cheese, whole grains and veggies and hardly any meat - and I might have had popcorn for dinner one night). All kinds of stuff that he wouldn't feel jealous in the slightest about missing.

Except for these cupcakes that is.

Some friends and I had plans to go to Movies in the Park (if you don't live in Chicago its something they do in the summer with a free movie playing on a jumbo screen in a park - basically an excuse to have a picnic in the city) one night and I had been dying to try this recipe.



So while my friends (and co-workers) happily devoured them, poor Joe didn't get a single one. I guess I'll just have to make them again : )

I got this recipe on Annie's Eats and knew I would love it when I saw the frosting was a swiss buttercream. These cakes are seriously delicious and have a good kick to them. I opted for a green sugar garnish to mimic decorative rim salt, but as Annie noted, a sprinkling of coarse salt would actually work too - I just wasn't brave enough!



Margarita Cupcakes

For the cupcakes:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
3 limes, zested and juiced
½ tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk

For the frosting:
2 cups sugar
8 large egg whites
Pinch fleur de sel (coarse salt)
1½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2½ tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice
2-4 tbsp. tequila

Source: Annie's Eat's

Directions:
To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 325˚ F. Line two cupcake pans with paper liners. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt; stir with a fork to blend. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes. Blend in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in the lime zest, lime juice and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, mix in the dry ingredients in three additions alternating with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Beat each addition just until incorporated.

Divide the batter between the prepared cupcake liners, filling each about ¾ full. Bake 20-24 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. If desired, brush the cooled cakes with tequila to emphasize the true margarita flavor.

To make the frosting, combine the sugar, egg whites, and salt in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Heat, whisking frequently, until the mixture reaches 160° F and the sugar has dissolved.

Transfer the mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form and the mixture has cooled to room temperature, about 8 minutes.

Reduce the speed to medium and add the butter, 2 tablespoons at a time, adding more once each addition has been incorporated. If the frosting looks soupy or curdled, continue to beat on medium-high speed until thick and smooth again, about 3-5 minutes more (don’t worry, it will come together, though it may take a long time!) Stir in the lime juice and tequila and mix until fully incorporated and smooth.

Keep buttercream at room temperature if using the same day, or transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate up to 3 days or freeze up to 1 month. Before using, bring to room temperature and beat with paddle attachment on low speed until smooth again, about 5 minutes.

Frost the cooled cupcakes with the buttercream and garnish as desired.

Cupcake

German Chocolate "Thank You" Cupcakes

I've previously made this in cake form, and have been visualizing these cupcakes in my mind ever since just waiting for the opportunity to make them.

Luckily, someone did Joe and I a HUGE favor, so of course we owed them baked goods. Once I confirmed that said person was a fan of German chocolate cake, I got down to business.



I made these using the same recipe as the cake (omitting the syrup), baked the cakes for 20 minutes and decorated just like you would the cake.

These were slightly less time consuming than the cake but not much. I was really pleased with the way they came out, this is a fun, more portable way of making one of the most delicious cakes ever!

Easter baking: Egg Shaped Cakes and Pretty Pastel cupcakes

Help!!!!! I've started baking and I can't stop!!!!!

Okay, if you follow my blog, you know that baking is a relatively new concept for me. I get so much inspiration from other blogs though, it has really encouraged me to do more of it.

Since Joe and I stayed in the city for Easter and didn't have a lot planned, I found myself baking on multiple occasions this weekend!



It started on Friday night, I decided to whip up some cupcakes and make a bunch of different pastel colors for the frosting.



I used the much raved about Hershey Chocolate Cupcake recipe (let me tell you, this is my go-to chocolate cake recipe now!) and just a standard buttercream frosting.

Since it was just Joe and I, logically I only made a dozen cupcakes. Uh yeah, I was seriously regretting that decision 24 hours later, after we had an impromptu dinner party (Joe got his Omaha steak order on Friday and we had to share!) but only had one cupcake left! Yeah, you do the math, but the two of us took down quite a few cupcakes.

Anyway, Joe caught me sneaking the last cupcake into the bedroom while our friends were still over because I was "too tired" to play another game of Yahtzee. Bad host!

So because we didn't get enough sweets, I decided to make these egg shaped cakes for us on Sunday.

I found this via Tastespotting.com on The Kitchen. This was such an easy process to follow, thanks to the step-by-step pics on the Kitchen.

I was pretty impressed with my novice carving technique!



So I took the author's suggestion on recipes and used Lemon Poundcake from Gale Gand and Swiss Buttercream from Smitten Kitchen for the egg coating and a basic buttercream for the decorations.

OH. MY. GOD. SWISS BUTTERCREAM.

This stuff is amazing! I re-read SK's post a few times before deciding I was brave enough to attempt this. It really was not that difficult, her tutorial is very helpful, and this was just delicous.

I am a big frosting fan and when I tasted this I realized it was my favorite frosting, I just never knew what it was called! If you don't like super sweet, immediately feel like you need to brush your teeth frostings, you have to try this, it is truly amazing.

Decorating these was so much fun and I was quite pleased with the result.

Happy Easter!

Lemon Cupcakes and Bathroom Renovation

So Joe and I have been in the midst of a  (1.5) DIY bathroom renovation  for the last few weeks, so things have been a little messy around our place lately.  This weekend, Joe's brother and his family (his wife and 3 kids) came up so he could help Joe tile the shower.

That means there were 4 adults and 3 kids in our 2 bedroom condo with no shower!

So what do you do to entertain kids when your place looks like this?

Make cupcakes!

I was all set to make some good old chocolate cupcakes when 6 year old Noah politely said "Um, Aunt Mel, I really like lemons.  Do you think you could make lemon cupcakes?"  Luckily, I had lemons, and really, how could I say no?  Plus, I've seen them on a few blogs lately and have been wanting to try them.

So I found a couple of recipes online, I used a cake recipe from epicurious, and found a non-cream cheese (since I didn't have any) lemon frosting recipe here.

I doubled the cake recipe (since it only made 4 cupcakes!) and omitted the cream part. 

Joe, who was initially upset that he lost out to a 6 year old and was not getting chocolate cupcakes, said they were the best cupcakes ever, even better than the Irish Car Bomb cupcakes I recently made.  I don't know about that....but they were pretty darn good, and very light and fresh tasting for cupcakes.

Me with my helpers, note we did not have a working shower so please excuse the greasy hair : )

So  - here's some pics of the bathroom status so far.  

The master bathroom is not yet done, and I also didn't think to start taking before pictures until after we had taken out the hideous green tile and ripped out the toilet.

Pseudo-before shots:

I came home early from work one day and was surprised to see our shower ripped down to the studs.  Joe didn't want me to see it : )  Poor guy is a little afraid of me during this project.

But the original owner put regular drywall in and it was all moldy, so of course we had no other choice so Joe had to re-drywall with cement drywall.

Finished shower and floor tile and toilet:

LOVE the new shower tile.....

So, we've still got some more projects in the master, new countertops, sinks and shower door but its coming along.

Onto the guest bathroom, formerly known as Joe's man-room (when you live in the city your options are limited, one day we'll have a basement and he can put all his crap up again).

Before shots:

UGLY countertop

Sports jerseys, memorabilia, etc.

Jackalope, dogs playing poker, must haves for every man room.

I was out of town for work this week and when I got back on Friday, Joe surprised me with a finished guest bathroom!

Notice no dogs playing poker in the reflection?  We need to get some gender neutral art now....

Aren't I lucky to have such a handy husband?

Speaking of renovations....like the template change?  I think the white background looks much cleaner.

Happy St Patricks Day! And Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes....

I know, I know. Its March 17th and this is my first March post! I have excuses of course! I was in Mexico the first week of March and last week, well last week was just crazy getting caught up.


So I'm done being a blog slacker and making excuses though so let's move on.



HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY! I did all my celebrating on Saturday at my brother's party, where my contribution was these Irish Car Bomb cupcakes.

I saw these on Smitten Kitchen a few months ago and knew I had to make them for my favorite holiday. These were, needless to say a huge hit. I actually doubled the recipe (gasp!) because I knew I'd want to bring some to work today too. I brought about 30 cupcakes to my brother's party (which started at 7 AM) and they were gone by noon, if that gives you any indication.


I froze the rest of the batch and frosted them last night to bring to work today, I'm hoping they will help me motivate some software developers!

These little devils consist of a chocolate cake with Guinness in the batter, chocolate ganache center with Irish whiskey, and a rich buttercream frosting with Bailey's.

Since I followed the recipe exactly, here is the link to the original from SK's blog. The only change I would make, as also noted in Cooking This and That, I would add more whiskey to the filling next time, because these cupcakes just don't have enough booze in them! Seriously though, delicious as it was, it was hard to taste the whiskey so I'd add a little more.



Also, as noted on CTT, a paring knife worked just fine to get the centers out for the filling.



All in all, these were a huge success, and a pretty big accomplishment for me since I'm new to baking. I don't think I'll be able to wait a year to make them again either!

Red Velvet Obama Cupcakes

Right....so what does Obama have to do with Red Velvet cupcakes? Not much, but bear with me, this is not a shameless attempt to attach the Obama name to my cupcakes just to attract attention...maybe.


Okay, so yesterday, Valentine's Day, was also tax day for me and Joe, our first year doing our taxes as newlyweds (exciting stuff). Something about Joe is that he's one of those guys who has "a guy" for everything; realtors, mortgage guys, accountants, contractors, etc. Well for his taxes his "guy" is actually a very nice woman, who works in Hyde Park (our President's previous home), which is in the south side of Chicago.

So at 9 am, yesterday morning, we were headed down to the south side to get our taxes done. Over time, I've grown to be more skeptical of Joe's "guys". Add the fact that I had to wake up early on Saturday morning and drive to the south side, let's just say I was not a happy camper. We get there and the tax lady is late for our appointment, we're told she'll be there in an hour.

Now I'm even more annoyed - I tell Joe I just want to go home and go the H&R block that is in our neighborhood. He convinces me to wait for her and now we have an hour to kill, and suggests that we find a grocery store to buy the ingredients for my cupcakes. Fine, whatever.

We start driving and immediately realize that getting around is not going to be easy, since Obama was back this weekend - there are police barricades all over the place. Turns out we were just a block away from his house.

Now, I'm just really laying into poor Joe about the whole thing. We get around the barricades and find a grocery store and Joe tries to turn things around by saying "I bet Michelle Obama used to shop here Mel, this was probably their grocery store! Your cupcakes are going to be special Obama cupcakes."

Whatever....he was trying, and I finally came around. The tax lady was fabulous and so were the cupcakes!

I found this recipe on The Way the Cookie Crumbles, Bridget had this amazing red velvet recipe comparison, so I followed her advice and chose the recipe from Apple a Day.

I followed the recipe exactly except:

1) I added a tbl spoon of baking soda instead of a tea spoon - on accident of course. The cakes puffed a bit more but otherwise this didn't have a big effect.

2) Instead of buying cake flour, I substituted with all purpose after doing some research, removed 2 tbl spoons per cup of the flour and added 2 tbl spoons corn starch. I'm not sure I'll do this again, because I could taste corn flavor in the final product.

3) Original recipe, below, is for a whole cake, so it needs less baking time, probably 15 - 20 minutes.

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting (from Apple a Day, who adapted it from www.saveur.com)

For the cake:
2½ cups cake flour
1½ cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1½ cups vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons (1 oz.) red food coloring
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar

For the frosting:
12 ounces cream cheese, softened
12 ounces butter, softened
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
1½ cups chopped pecans (optional)

1. For the cake: Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Sift together flour, sugar, baking soda, cocoa, and salt into a medium bowl.

3. Beat eggs, oil, buttermilk, food coloring, vanilla, and vinegar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until well combined. Add dry ingredients and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes.

4. Divide batter evenly between 3 greased and floured 8″ round cake pans.

5. Bake cakes, rotating halfway through, until a toothpick inserted in the center of each cake comes out clean, 25-30 minutes. Let cakes cool 5 minutes, then invert each onto a plate, then invert again onto a cooling rack. Let cakes cool completely.

6. For the frosting: Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla together in a large bowl with an electric mixer until combined. Add sugar and beat until frosting is light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes.

4. Put 1 cake layer on a cake plate, level off with a serrated knife, and spread one-quarter of the frosting on top. Set another layer on top, level, and repeat frosting. Set remaining layer on top, level, and frost top and sides with the remaining frosting. Press pecans into the sides of the cake, if desired. **Tip: after leveling cake, turn it upside down to reduce numbers of crumbs. I also did a crumb coat on the outside, let it set for ten minutes, then finished with remaining frosting.

5. Chill for 2 hours to set frosting.