Super Bowl XLIII Cake

My mom asked me to make a sheet cake for our Super Bowl party today. I hate decorating cakes. So I baked the cake (Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake), made the frosting, and slathered it with green frosting. My parents finished decorating it for me. My mom used to be a cake decorator (she hasn't done it in about 10 years), and my dad always does the handwriting on her cakes. I think they did a pretty good job. We haven't tasted it yet. I just wanted to get it posted before the game starts. I'll update this tomorrow and let you know how yummy it was.

UPDATE! So... The cake fell and became uber dense as it was cooling. Maybe I didn't let it bake long enough. I have a habit of taking things out of the oven before the timer goes off. Or maybe the buttermilk powder trick I used in Dorie's Perfect Party Cake didn't work in this cake. Oh well, either way it was still really good. But it didn't turn out like the first time I made this recipe.


PS: I made the Perfect Party cake for Josh. IT WAS INSANE! SO GOOD! I'll post about it tomorrow or Tuesday. ;)

For the frosting I used Special Buttercream but with 1/2 butter and 1/2 shortening. It makes enough to generously cover this cake with some leftover.

HERSHEY'S "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" Chocolate Cake
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

Directions:
1. Spray 2 9-inch round pans (I used a 13x9) with baking spray. Heat oven to 350°F.
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 into prepared pans.
3. Bake 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on wire rack. Finish cooling completely on wire rack before frosting.

Almond Cupcakes w/ Chocolate Mousse Frosting & Cherry "Bang" Cake

HI WORLD! Wow, it's been a while, huh?? I've been SO freakin busy! Between working at the bakery and working with my parents at the Isle of Wight County Fair, I totalled over 70 hours last week! Needless to say I didn't have the time or the energy to bake. But this week, when I actually got home early from work I finally made the cupcakes that won the poll forever ago... Welllll... I didn't actually make the flavor that won. I didn't know it until the cupcakes were already in the oven, but my mom threw away my raspberries when she cleaned out the refrigerator. So instead, I filled the almond cupcakes with ganache and topped them with chocolate mousse. Then with the leftover batter, I made an 8-inch round cake. I poked holes in it while it was still warm and topped it with triple cherry jam. I frosted it with almond buttercream, which was actually delicious (and I don't even like regular buttercream!). Because I'm nice, here's the recipe for the Almond Raspberry Cream Cupcakes that you voted for, plus some pictures. And I'll post the recipe for what I named "Cherry Bang Cake" at the end of this post as well!

Ingredients for the cupcakes AND my beautiful new "tangerine" colored mixer!
Almond cuppies cooling...
Making the Cherry "Bang" Cake!
So I made lemonade from lemons... well no I didn't... but you get my point. Right?

The cupcake recipe is from Favorite Brand Name: 100 Best Cupcake Recipes. I invented the Cherry "Bang" Cake, mostly because I was bored. And because I had some Lollipop Tree Triple Cherry Jam laying around.

MY NOTES: To make the chocolate ganache and mousse topping: Melt 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips with 1/4 cup heavy cream in the microwave for 60 seconds. Stir until smooth. Cool to room temperature. Beat 2/3 cup cold heavy cream with a mixer on high speed until stiff. Fold half of the cooled ganache into the whipped cream. Fill the cupcakes with the rest of the ganache.

Almond Raspberry Cream Cupcakes
Makes 18 cupcakes

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 1/2 cups milk
Raspberry Cream (recipe follows)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 18 standard (2 1/2-inch) muffin cups with paper baking cups.
Combine flour, baking powder and salt in medium bowl. Beat granulated sugar, butter, almond extract and vanilla in large bowl with electric mixer at medium speed 4 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add eggs and egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Alternately add flour mixture and milk, beating well after each addition (Eff that! Beat just until the flour is incorporate unless you want hockey pucks instead of cupcakes!). Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling three-fourths full.

Bake 20 to 22 minutes (Mine were done at 19 minutes) or until toothpick inserted into centers comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in pans on wire racks 15 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely on wire racks.
Prepare Raspberry Cream. Cut tops off cupcakes; spread with Raspberry Cream. Replace cupcake tops; sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Raspberry Cream: Beat 1 cup cold whipping cream and 1/4 cup powdered sugar in large bowl with electric mixer at high speed 5 minutes (It only takes about 2 minutes with my hand mixer) or until cream is thickened and almost stiff. Place 1 pint fresh raspberries in small bowl; mash lightly with fork. Gently fold raspberries into whipped cream mixture until well blended and evenly colored. Makes about 3 cups.

Overall rating on a scale of 1-5
Moistness: 5
Tenderness: 4
Frosting (Chocolate Mousse): 5

Cherry "Bang" Cake
1 (8-inch) round cake (You can bake the whole recipe above as 2 (8-inch) rounds, OR make 12 cupcakes plus 1 round like I did)
1/2 cup cherry jam
1-2 tablespoons hot water

Almond Buttercream
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
3 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon almond extract

Make 12 cupcakes and pour the rest of the batter into a greased 8" round pan. Bake until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 25-30 minutes, rotating pan halfway through. Remove pan from oven and cool on wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove cake from pan and place it on a serving dish. Poke holes in the warm cake with the end of a wooden spoon. Dilute 1/2 cup of cherry jam with 1 or 2 tablespoons of hot water. Spread over cake. Lift the cake plate up and bang it on the table a few times until most of the jam seeps into the holes. Cover tightly and refrigerate until cool. To make frosting, beat butter, sugar, and extract for 3 minutes on high speed until light and fluffy. (Makes enough to frost a 2-layer cake).

Overall rating on a scale of 1-5
Moistness: 5
Tenderness: 4
Frosting: 4 (I prefer it less sweet)

Mountain Dew Cupcakes & JOB UPDATE!

One will never know the maximum joy of licking the beaters until after being told you can't... Not that I had to be told. But it's common sense that when you work in a bakery you DON'T lick the beaters! At work I'm surrounded by cake mix, cookie dough, chocolate ganache, etc. all day. It's torture holding my tongue back from what it truly desires! (PS: I LOVE MY JOB!) So naturally when I got home today, I began my usual Tuesday cupcakes with an unusual sense of intensity. As soon as the cupcakes hit the oven, my heart became filled with satisfaction as I proceeded to lick every speck of batter off the beaters, spatulas, bowls, hands, elbows, and ice cream scoop. Oh the wonders of being a home baker! Anyways... let's get to the cupcakes! Mountain Dew Cupcakes won with 51% of the votes. Awesome! I used a recipe from Quirky Cupcakes (ya know, the genius behind Cupcake Hero!). I tweaked it just a bit because Mt. Dew is an orange based soda, and the recipe was solely lemon/lime. I cut back on some of the lemon/lime flavor and added orange juice concentrate. They came out great! I completely invented the frosting. I kinda made it up as I went along. I know if Natalie (from Bake & Destroy) reads this, she'll probably have a myocardial infarction when she sees the high fructose corn syrup cocktail that goes into it!

Ingredients...Ready to be baked!Cooling and smelling good!Citrus waiting to fulfill it's destiny...
A small scoop of frosting on each one...

(There are only 11 because one "accidentally" broke when I was taking it out of the pan)

Flatten out the top...Throw on some sprinkles... and BAM!
Mr. Mountain Dew Cupcake, welcome to the world.

So overall, these cupcakes do not taste like Mt. Dew... but as close as you can get without having access to the wondrous ingredients that make Dew so tasty! They are a delicious triple citrus cupcake. So suck on that.

Mountain Dew Cupcakes (adapted from Quirky Cupcake)
Makes 12 cupcakes

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temp
1 cup sugar (could cut back to 3/4 next time because the Dew adds sweetness)
2 large eggs, at room temp
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons Mountain Dew
2 tablespoons frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed (do not use ready-to-drink orange juice)
zest from 1/2 lemon and 1/2 lime (you will used the zest from the other half in the frosting)
1 1/4 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 325 F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper or foil liners.
2. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. In a measuring cup, combine Mt. Dew and concentrated orange juice.
3. Combine butter, sugar, and zest in a large bowl. With a hand mixer on medium-high speed, beat until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. Scrape the sides of the bowl before adding flour.
4. Add dry mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the wet in 2 additions, beating on low speed until just combined. (I like to finish mixing with a spatula after the last addition of flour.)
5. Pour batter into cupcake papers about 2/3 full. Bake for 16-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on wire racks.

For the frosting (invented by me):
1 cup Mountain Dew
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temp
2 cups confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons heavy cream
2 teaspoons frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
zest from 1/2 lemon and 1/2 lime (you might not use all of it)

1. In a saucepan, bring 1 cup of Mt. Dew to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat until it no longer bubbles (medium-low or low depending on your stove). Let Mt. Dew evaporate for about 15 minutes. It should reduce by 3/4. You should end up with between 2 tablespoons and 1/4 cup of syrup. Pour it in a small glass measuring cup to cool.

2. Sift the confectioners' sugar into a mixing bowl. Add butter and beat, gradually increasing speed to high, until combined. Pour in heavy cream and Mt. Dew syrup. Continue mixing on high until fluffy. Add OJ concentrate, zest (and food coloring). Mix on low speed until combined.

Overall rating on a scale of 1-5
Moistness: 5
Tenderness: 5
Frosting: 4 (too sweet for me!)

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes (From Scratch)

Mother’s Day weekend, my mom and I went to my grandma’s house in North Carolina. Saturday, we had a surprise baby shower for my cousin and a 4th birthday party for my second cousin. I made Cookies and Cream cupcakes for both; Blue and green minis for the baby shower, and hot pink and lime green cupcakes for the birthday party! The cupcakes were okay, but I like the kind made with cake mix a little more (Ahh blasphemy! Oh well…). Then for Mother’s Day I made a “Better Than Sex” layer cake. It was yellow cake, layered with pineapple and vanilla pudding, and topped with whipped cream, coconut, and walnuts (Sorry, no picture). I finished it off this morning for breakfast!

IngredientsReeeaaally delicious batter!

Baby shower minis

Birthday cuppies

The cupcake recipe is from Crazy About Cupcakes by Krystina Castella. I think this recipe was written wrong. It’s not the first typo I’ve noticed in this book. The first recipe below is copied straight from the book. The italicized instructions are the way I made the cupcakes. If anyone has made these exactly how the book tells you to, let me know that it’s not a mistake. It just seemed very odd to me.

I frosted them with vanilla buttercream. Most of you probably know how much I hate regular buttercream, but I was making them mostly for children who LOVE sweet frosting. I searched allrecipes.com for the highest rated buttercream frosting. I came across a recipe for "Special Buttercream Frosting." Guess who doesn't hate buttercream anymore!! It's really delicious!

MY NOTES: I got 16 regular sized cupcakes and 21 minis. The frosting recipe makes enough to frost them all and have about 1 cup leftover. Keep the frosting refrigerated.

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
3 large egg whites, at room temperature
1 cup chocolate sandwich cookies (about 10), lightly crushed

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Insert liners into a medium cupcake pan.
2. In a large bowl cream together the butter, milk, and vanilla with an electric mixer until fluffy, about 3-5 minutes.
3. In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. Add the dry ingredients to butter mixture. Mix until integrated. Stir in the sugar. With an electric mixer on low speed, beat for 30 sec­onds. Turn the mixer up to medium speed and beat for 2 minutes. Add the egg whites. Beat for 2 more minutes. Stir in the crushed cookies.
5. Fill the cupcake liners three-quarters full. Bake for about 20 min­utes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of cupcakes comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in the pan.

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Insert liners into a medium cupcake pan.
2. In a large bowl cream together the butter, sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer until fluffy, about 3-5 minutes.
3. In a separate bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. Slowly add egg whites to butter mixture, mixing well between each addition. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl. Alternate adding the dry ingredients and the milk to the butter mixture, beginning and ending with the dry. Mix until only a few streaks of flour remain. Stir in the crushed cookies until batter is evenly blended.
5. Fill the cupcake liners 2/3 to 3/4 full. Bake for about 15 min­utes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of cupcakes comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in the pan for 5 minutes. Finish cooling on a wire rack.

Special Buttercream Frosting
2 cups shortening (I used butter flavored Crisco)
8 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons clear imitation vanilla extract
6 fluid ounces heavy cream

1. Cream shortening until fluffy. Add confectioner's sugar and continue creaming until well blended.
2. Add salt, vanilla, and whipping cream blend on low speed until moistened. Add additional whipping cream if necessary (up to 2 ounces).
3. Beat at high speed until frosting is fluffy.

Overall rating on a scale of 1-5
Moistness: 4
Tenderness: 3
Frosting: 4

Reese's Pieces® Cupcakes

Over the weekend, Josh and I went to the movies to see "Horton Hears a Who" (fyi, cute movie). While we were there he helped me rekindle my love for Reese's Pieces buy spending a zillion dollars for a bag of them! It takes me forever to eat candy, so I still had half the bag yesterday morning. I decided to use them in these chocolate peanut butter cupcakes. I don't use cake mix very often, but I had some just sitting in the cabinet getting dusty. I spruced up the yellow cake mix with some peanut butter. I frosted them with chocolate buttercream (to which I added a bit of peanut butter). I'm not typically a "frosting lover." I usually scrape most of it off (except SMBC of course!). However, I was literally eating this chocolate PB buttercream by the spoonful out of the bowl. It's so creamy and good!! These cupcakes are extreeemely delicious. I couldn't eat them quietly... if you know what I'm saying. And the Reese's Pieces on top are a perfect crunchy surprise.

ingredientsbefore...

...after

23 ready to be baked!

While the cupcakes were baking, I was reading the

ingredient label on the cake mix and noticed this startling fact...

I wonder what constitutes "excessive consumption."

cooling and smelling fabulous!

topped with Reese's Pieces

The final yummy product!

Who else is fed up with April showers making daylight too dull to get a good picture? I mean seriously, it has rained every single day since April 1. And my herb garden is dying because my seedlings need sunshine! :(

Recipe adapted from Cupcakes from the Cake Mix Doctor by Anne Byrn.

Peanut Butter Surprises
Makes 22-24 cupcakes

24 Hershey's Kisses (I omitted these)
1 package (18.25 ounces) plain yellow cake mix
1 1/3 cups water
1/3 cup smooth peanut butter
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
8 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (.75 ounce each) (I omitted these)
Chocolate Buttercream (I changed this to Chocolate Peanut Butter Buttercream)

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 24 cupcake cups with paper liners. Set the pans aside. Unwrap 24 Hershey's Kisses and set them aside.
2. Place the cake mix, water, peanut but­ter, oil, eggs, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed until blended, 30 seconds. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes longer, scraping down the sides again if necessary. The batter should be well blended. Spoon or scoop 1/4 cup batter into each lined cupcake cup, filling it two-thirds of the way full. (You will get between 22 and 24 cupcakes; remove the empty liners, if any.) Gently place 1 Kiss on top of each cupcake. Do not press the Kiss into the batter. Place the pans in the oven. Meanwhile, place the Peanut Butter Cups in the freezer for at least 30 minutes.
3. Bake the cupcakes until they are golden and spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, 18 to 20 min­utes. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire racks to cool for 5 minutes. Run a dinner knife around the edges of the cupcake liners, lift the cup­cakes up from the bottoms of the cups using the end of the knife, and pick them out of the cups carefully with your finger­tips. Place them on a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes before frosting.
4. Meanwhile, prepare the Chocolate Buttercream. Remove the Peanut Butter Cups from the freezer and coarsely chop them.
5. Place a heaping tablespoon of frosting on each cupcake and swirl to spread it out with a short metal spatula or metal spoon, taking care to cover the tops. Garnish with chopped Peanut Butter Cups. The cupcakes are ready to serve.

Store these cupcakes in a cake saver or under a glass dome at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Or freeze them wrapped in aluminum foil or in a cake saver for up to 6 months. Thaw the cupcakes overnight in the refrigerator before serving.

Chocolate Buttercream (My changes in orange make Chocolate PB Buttercream)

8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter; at room temperature
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 cups confectioners' sugar; sifted
3 to 5 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Place the butter, peanut butter, and cocoa powder in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed until the mixture is soft and well combined, 30 seconds. Stop the machine and add the confectioners sugar (I just guestimated while adding sugar. It was probably more like 2 cups), 3 tablespoons of the milk, and the vanilla. Blend with the mixer on low speed until the sugar is incorporated, 1 minute. Increase the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, 1 minute more. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons more milk if the frost­ing is too stiff.

Overall rating on a scale of 1-5
Moistness: 5
Tenderness: 4
Frosting: 5

Oreo Cookies and Cream Cupcakes

The winning flavor with 55 votes is.... Cookies and Cream! Hallelujah, because I've had a major desire to bake these since I started cupcaking back in April. My original plan was to use the recipe in the book Crazy About Cupcakes, but someone recommended the recipe in Cupcakes From The Cake Mix Doctor. For a little while (a VERY little while) I was one of those "I'm too good for cake mix" types. But I can't deny the deliciousness, so any recipe that uses cake mix is alright by me! Everyone loved these cupcakes, especially my dad who wanted to eat 3, but I convinced him that 2 was a healthier number to stop at.

Also, I got some silicone baking cups last month for my birthday. I was leery about using them, because I've heard some folks say that cupcakes actually do stick to them. However, mine worked perfectly. I love the way the cupcakes baked up and stayed perfectly round on top. If it wasn't such a pain to wash and dry 24 of those things, I'd use them all the time!

ingredients half of an Oreo in the bottom of each cupI didn't completely demolish the Oreos into crumbs.

You can see some distinguishable cookie pieces. filled silicone cups ready for the ovenCheck out the beautiful rounded tops that did not sink while they cooled!TADA! Oreo cookie, meet your new fate! Soooo delicious! I know you can't wait for the recipe!

The cupcakes are really incredible! They're so easy to make. You gotta try them! The recipe in the book says to use regular buttercream frosting with the cookie pieces pressed into the tops. But I knew that would be tooth-achingly. Instead, I used the whipped buttercream recipe from Bake & Destroy. I mixed the Oreos pieces into the frosting.

Cupcake recipe from Cupcakes From The Cake Mix Doctor by Anne Byrn.
Frosting recipe adapted from Bake & Destroy.

MY NOTES: The recipe didn't specify, but I let my sour cream come to room temp. I don't know if it was because of the silicone cups, but my cupcakes took about 22 minutes to bake thoroughly.

COOKIES AND CREAM CUPCAKES
MAKES 22 TO 24

30 Oreo cookies
1 package (18.25 ounces) plain white cake mix
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 24 cupcake cups with paper liners. Set the pans aside.
2. Count out 12 Oreos and separate the top and bottom wafers. Make sure each has some of the icing on it. Place one wafer, icing side up, in the bottom of each paper liner. Set them aside. Place the remaining 18 Oreos between sheets of waxed paper or in a large, closed zipper-lock bag and crush them by rolling over them with a rolling pin. Set these crumbs aside.
3. Place the cake mix, sour cream, oil, eggs, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 1 1/2 minutes more, scraping down the sides again if needed. Measure out 1 1/2 cups of the crushed Oreos and fold these into the batter until well incorporated. Set aside the remaining crushed Oreos for the frosting. Spoon or scoop 1/3 cup batter into each lined cup­cake cup, filling it three quarters of the way full. (You will get between 22 and 24 cupcakes; remove the empty liners, if any.) Place the pans in the oven.
4. Bake the cupcakes until they are lightly golden and spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, 18 to 20 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire racks to cool for 5 minutes. Run a dinner knife around the edges of the cupcake liners, lift the cup­cakes up from the bottoms of the cups using the end of the knife, and pick them out of the cups carefully with your finger­tips. Place them on a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes before frosting.

Store these cupcakes, in a cake saver or under a glass dome, at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. If you plan to freeze them, don't add the cookie-crumb topping. Wrap them I in aluminum foil or in a cake saver and freeze for up to 6 months. Thaw the cup­cakes overnight in the refrigerator and top with cookie crumbs before serving.

COOKIES AND CREAM FROSTING

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 3/4 cup confectioners sugar, sifted
a pinch of salt
1/3 cup whipping cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
remaining crushed Oreos

Mix together butter, confectioners sugar, and a pinch of salt until it’s creamy. Increase your mixer speed to high and beat until its light and fluffy. Add whipping cream and vanilla. Beat until its smooth. Fold in crushed Oreos. Makes enough to frost 24 cupcakes.

Hershey's Dark Chocolate Minis w/ Dark Chocolate and Peanut Butter Frosting

I also made mini cupcakes for my dad's birthday party. I used the Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake recipe. It was light, fluffy, and moist just like a box mix (and people say it cannot be done... pshh)! This recipe would've made about 100 minis, but after 96 I got sick of pouring the batter into the tiny cups... yeah yeah I'm that lazy. The reason I labeled them as "Dark Chocolate Minis" is because I used Hershey's Dark Chocolate cocoa powder in both the cupcakes and the chocolate frosting. It was deliciously chocolatey, but it's one of those things where some people loved it and others didn't really care for it. I frosted half of them with Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Frosting recipe. I frosted the other half with a peanut butter frosting recipe I found at Bake & Destroy. Her husband is totally right about wanting to eat this stuff with a spoon!

dark chocolate w/ dark chocolate dark chocolate w/ peanut butter

Cake and chocolate frosting recipe from Hersheys.com. Peanut butter frosting recipe from Bake & Destroy.

MY NOTES: Like I said, I used Hershey's Dark Chocolate cocoa powder. And as the recipe states, this IS a very thin batter. Don't freak out!

HERSHEY'S "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" Chocolate Cake
Makes 30 regular cupcakes OR 96 mini cupcakes

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

Directions:
1. Line muffin cups with paper baking cups. Heat oven to 350°F.
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). Fill cups 2/3 full with batter.
3. Bake 22 to 25 minutes for regular cupcakes, 13-18 minutes for mini-cupcakes. Cool completely on wire rack before frosting.

"PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" Chocolate Frosting
Makes about 2 1/2 - 3 cups

Ingredients:
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter or margarine
2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
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.

PEANUT BUTTER BUTTERCREAM

2 cups confectioner’s sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
pinch salt
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
2 Tbs milk

Beat together sugar, butter and salt until creamy. Add peanut butter, beating well. Add milk and beat until smooth and creamy.

Devil's Food Minis with Buttercream and Cream Cheese Frosting

A friend of my mother had a party last night, and I was asked to bring some cupcakes. Since Stephanie and I just made those cheesecake cupcakes, we weren't in the mood to measuring and sifting flour, soften butter, search for baking powder/soda, etc... I just got Cupcakes From The Cake Mix Doctor, so I found a recipe in her book for Devil's Food cupcakes (I used the cupcake recipe from Halloween Spider cupcakes).

ingredients (had to go to two stores to find that buttermilk)
Simply dump all ingredients into one bowl!
scooping batter into those tiny cups68 (yep 68!!) minis coolingcream cheese frosting on some and light green buttercream on othersWe played around with chocolate transfers for the first time.49 minis ready to party!

I got rave reviews about these cupcakes, mostly about the frosting (which was nice because that was the only part I really made from scratch).

MY NOTES: In the front of Cupcakes From The Cake Mix Doctor it says 1 recipe yeilds about 36 mini cupcakes, so I was fully prepared to make a double batch... but one batch made 68 MINIS!!! The cream cheese frosting was made with the "add & taste" method, so there is no recipe. I couldn't find Dutch process cocoa powder, so I used Hershey's unsweetened.

Whipped buttercream frosting recipe from Bake & Destroy.

Devil's food cupcakes from "Halloween Spider Cupcakes" recipe:

1 package (18.25 ounces) devil's food cake mix
2 tablespoons Dutch process cocoa powder
1 1/3 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350'F. Line muffin pan with paper liners.

Place all ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds. Scrape down sides of bowl with spatula. Blend on medium speed for 2 minutes. Fill the cupcake cups 2/3 to 3/4 full.

Bake cupcakes 16 to 20 minutes (for regular size cupcakes) or until they spring back when lightly pressed. Remove cupcakes from oven and cool in pan for 5 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan and place on wire rack until completely cool.

Chocolate transfers:

The chocolate transfers were made with about 1 cup of Wilton light cocoa candy melts. In a microwave safe bowl melt them in the microwave, stirring often, until completely smooth. Spoon melted chocolate into a piping bag with a small round tip (I used Wilton Round 3), or a ziplock bag with a tiny hole poked in one corner. Pipe small designs onto a piece of parchment paper. Let them harden (a few minutes in the refrigerator should do it). When they are dry, they should easily lift right off the parchment paper.

Amy Sedaris Tattletail's Vanilla Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting

Thanks to the suggestions I got from my first post, I chose Amy Sedaris Tattletail's vanilla cupcakes & her buttercream frosting for my first "from scratch" cupcakes. I read the recipe & decided it wasn't very "novice friendly" as it barely skimmed the surface with information on how to prepare and bake these cupcakes. I did some research and found a recipe on the Wilton website for vanilla cupcakes that was almost the same. After seriously stressing, because Amy's didn't specify the type of flour (usually that means AP flour) and Wilton's said use cake flour (and people were very slow to respond to my question in the cupcake/baking groups on flickr.com), I decided to use cake flour...

ingredients (I took advice and pre-measured)

batter... looking good so far

cups are filled 2/3 full and going into the oven

one minute to go... they're rising beautifully :)

out of the oven and cooling... light golden brown

time for frosting!!

the finished product...

After I baked and frosted the cupcakes, I checked flickr.com to see if anyone replied to my "AP or cake flour" posts. The results were unanimous in favor of AP flour, but my cake flour turned out okay. I'll admit that I used cake flour that was probably 10 years old, and the cupcakes did not keep that a secret. They tasted like old flour, but the frosting was delicious!



I recommend this recipe for a simple vanilla cupcake for anyone who hasn't tried it. However, it would be wise to use flour that hasn't existed for a decade!

Oh, one more thing! Buttercream frosting on the cupcakes... to refrigerate or not to refrigate??