Mimosa Cupcakes

I found these delicious cupcakes one day while browsing the nest for decorating ideas.
These are my favorite cupcakes I have made this year, and if you're counting I've made 17 other cupcakes up until now.
I LOVE Mimosas. Our love story began when I was living with my HLM, Maddy, and watching Desperate Housewives every Sunday before our school and work weeks began. We decided that we needed to up our classy factor since most of the time we were sitting on a twin bed that we turned into a couch and wearing our pajamas that looked nothing like the scimpy lingerie that Gabby was wearing every Sunday. Mimosas became our Sunday evening tradition.
I was pretty skeptical of this recipe but was more than willing to try it. First of all, how could a cupcake ever be as good as a cupcake? Second of all, it was found on a random newly-wed website, who knows where they get these from?! I am happy to say that all of my doubts were never confirmed. This cupcake was a moist citrusy-champagne taste of Heaven. As a point of reference, Mr. T's co-workers would now like me to bake both these and the Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes that started my cupcake insanity so that they can do a side by side comparison.

You'll want to start with a sweet champagne, it can be an inexpensive bottle.

Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form

The Batter

This recipe yields around 20, I got 22.

I figured that it would only be appropriate to drink a mimosa while baking mimosa cupcakes...

I would recommend making this recipe in the winter when it's easier to find ripe oranges, like in your backyard if you're me.

Brush the still-warm cupcakes with champagne for an extra kick of flavor.

Making the orange curd

Champagne Buttercream Frosting, aka the Mother of all Buttercreams

I refridgerated the orange-curd for a little extra to make it stand up a bit better.

Don't mind the dab of chocolate cupcake batter that got onto one of them.... Ooops

It was a pretty hot day, the buttercream doesn't like the heat.

Pretty pink sparkles to distract the eye from the melting frosting and orange curd.

I love people that let me put pictures of them eating on this blog :) Thanks Holly

You'd look like this if you got ignored every Saturday night and didn't even get to try a cupcake for your suffering.

Mini Cheesecake Cupcakes and the Proposal

I've been looking forward to trying these ever since I laid my eyes on the recipe last December. The only reason I hadn't made these earlier is due to my cupboard's lack of extra large cupcake tin. Finally I was able to remember it on a shopping trip and picked one up at Target. The only problem? They don't sell liners for their extra-large cupcake tin, and neither does anyone else! So I had to improvise. You can use parchment paper, cut into large squares, your cupcakes will just look a little funny. And we all know that I'm not opposed to funny looking cupcakes.

I made these cupcakes while visiting my brother J and his (at the time) girlfriend A with my Mom, youngest brother K and his girlfriend, also K.

It was a very important weekend. The mimosas were flowing.

That's a glass of the finest champagne we could find right there. I believe it had "duck" in the title.

Vanilla Cheesecake Crunch-Top Cupcakes 
found in The (now famous) Cupcake Deck

Egg, Egg Yolk and Sugar. I don't know why I wasn't using an electric mixer like the recipe calls for...

Sifted dry ingredients

I don't know how I got sideways, but this is the filling. Cream Cheese, Sugar and egg.

Fresh out of the oven. Notice the improvised parchment paper liners.

Delicious!

In honor of my making cupcakes my brother J thought it would be a good time to propose.

Oh, you think he had planned it before I mentioned cheesecake?

Okay, maybe you're right. It probably took him a little time to find that beautiful ring...

Even the dogs were excited.

Well, all the dogs except Bretta. She had to stay home that weekend.

Congratulations you two. Love you both. 

Mostly because you let me take pictures of you in sage brush.

Strawberry shortcake cupcakes

To celebrate the season opening of our favorite Strawberry patch I had to make some kind of cupcake involving Strawberries. I hit the jack pot when I found this one in the cupcake deck.

I read through the recipe (as always) prior to making these and thought that it looked pretty straight-forward, and couldn't understand what all the fuss was about over making sponge cake. Well let me tell you, it's kind of a bitch. Maybe it was my circumstances: trying to make them mini, and not having the proper tools for the job (specifically jumbo cupcake liners) but these were by far my most interesting project. Even when I've gotten the recipe wrong, or over baked, cupcakes before they have never come out so.... Disappointing. Sponge cake is Mr. T's favorite and I think that fact is the only thing that kept him from realizing that my sponge cake was sub par. Or maybe it was the heaping spoon fulls of strawberries and whipped cream... Don't tell him okay?

Even if they did turn out less than fabulous in my opinion, the flavor was good. Mr. T will be taking the remaining cupcakes that he doesn't eat to work tomorrow to get a real reading, I'll update this post after I get some feedback. In the mean time, see for yourself:

Strawberry Short Cake Cupcakes from the Cupcake Deck

you'll need 8 cups of strawberries, cleaned, de-stemmed and sliced

start by beating the eggs and sugar

and then adding the dry ingredients, followed by the warmed milk

I couldn't find extra large muffin tin liners in my town, so instead I improvised by cutting squares of parchment paper. It worked out pretty well.

this recipe was supposed to yield 12 extra large cupcakes.

the actual yield was 10 and I probably could have used a regular sized muffin tin.

Here's where it got a little worrisome:

notice the color and consistency as compared to the next shot

this is from the same bowl as above.

The ingredients had settled while I prepped the cups, I ended up with my vanilla and almond oil sitting in the bottom of my bowl. Luckily, the taste turned out the same in each batch. *phew!* The batter is very thin, definitely be sure to mix well and often!

Now for the fun part, the whipped cream.

Mix until firm peaks form.

I was pretty happy with how the cream turned out at least!

Et Voila- not exactly picture perfect but not the worst I've done right?

We took Bretta to the "dog beach" for the first time. I don't know who had more fun, her or us.

Patriotic Cupcakes with blueberries, raspberries and fresh whipped cream!

Since we are swiftly approaching the celebration of our nation's independence I thought I would take advantage of the Cupcake Deck's red, white, and blueberry cupcakes. (You'll remember my most recent endeavor from the cupcake deck: White Mountain Chocolate Cupcakes)
A direct quote from one of my tasters: "This could be your best cupcake yet Mrs. T"
I could stand to hear that a few more times and if you would like to, you should make this for your 4th of July BBQ!

What I really loved about these is that they were quick and simple to make, so if you do make these for a party you'll still have plenty of time to prep your other food. Because the frosting is whipped cream I gave the cupcakes extra time to cool, bringing my time from start to finish to about two and a half hours.


Red, White, and Blueberry Cupcakes
Makes 12 Cupcakes (seriously this time!)
Oven @ 350F
For the cupcakes:
1/3 cup fresh blueberries
1 1/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder (not soda)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup (or 1 stick) of unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
4 large egg whites, at room temperature also *side note- what do you do with the extra yolks?*
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/4 cup whole milk
1/4 cup fresh raspberries

For the topping:
2 cups heavy whipping cream
3 tbsp powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup fresh raspberries
1/3 cup fresh blueberries

Put the blueberries (washed, of course) in a small bowl and stir them gently with 1 tbsp of the flour; set aside. Sift the remaining 1 cup plus 3 tbsp of flour, the baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl; set aside.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter and sugar until smoothly blended and lightened in color, about 2 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing. Beat in the egg whites in two additions, mixing until smoothly blended. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and beat for 2 minutes. The batter should look smooth but foamy. On low speed, add half of the flour mixture, mixing just to incorporate it. Mix in the milk. Mix in the remaining flour mixture until it is incorporated and the batter looks smooth. Use a rubber spatula to gently fold the blueberries and raspberries into the batter.

Fill each paper liner with 1/4 cup of batter, to about 1/2 inch below the top of the liner. Bake just until the top feels firm and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool the cupcakes for 10 minutes in the pan on a wire rack, then remove the cupcakes from the pan and set them on the rack to cool completely.

For the topping:
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat the cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla until firm peaks form. (Queen Helen was at home so I had to rep the $7 Long's Proctor Silex hand mixer. What up!)

Use a small spatula (or whatever you have) to spread a generous 3 generous tablespoons of whipped cream evenly over the top of each cupcake. Gently spoon (or hand place, I found that easier) several raspberries and blueberries over the whipped cream. Refrigerate and serve cold. <-- Very important!

We took B over to my in-laws' last night. They have a cat, named cat, that Bretta has seen several times through the glass door but never in a face to face situation.
As you can see, she doesn't quite understand why she can bark at the cat through the glass door.

You can also see that the cat could care less about her at this point, he's just bitter that she's in his house and he's forced to eat outside.

Happy fourth of July everyone! Don't forget to thank a soldier!

Things that make me want to burn someone's house down:

I like to keep it pretty light and fluffy here on the blog but when I stumble across things like this I feel the need to speak up. Thank you www.feministing.com for bringing it to the public eye.
And if you live in Nevada, please don't vote for this moron:
Sharron Angle: You Can't Have An Abortion Because It's God's Plan You Were Raped
(link to article from www.feministing.com)

Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cupcake with Coconut Buttercream Frosting

Hello cupcake lovers! I know that the deliciousness has been MIA the last week, but I do have an excuse, I got a wicked cold on top of my normal seasonal allergies that had me laying on the couch for a couple of days. I would have made cupcakes but I was afraid of:
a- passing out from standing for longer than 5 minutes
b- sneezing all over the cupcakes

Anywho, I got right back to it this weekend when I found the following tasty recipe from a cupcake blogger http://cupcakeblog.com the cupcake link here

I made a few adjustments. I used half the instant espresso powder and used unsweetened shredded coconut instead of flaked sweetened coconut. And, as *almost* always, I came out ahead by 3 cupcakes.

These cupcakes took approximately 2.5 hours from start to finish, cooling time included- not bad!
They were a big hit at work, everyone thought they tasted like a Mounds bar. Yum! The following is how I made them, use the link to see the original recipe.

350F oven, makes *27 cupcakes, or 24 that are slightly big

Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cupcakes

3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 cups unbleached flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup cocoa powdered
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
1-1/2 cups milk
2 teaspoons vanilla

Beat butter until softened. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating 30 seconds after each addition.
Measure the flour, baking soda, salt, cocoa powder, and espresso powder into a medium sized bowl and whisk to combine.
Measure the milk and vanilla into a measuring cup (or anything else that will make it easy to pour in together.) Add about a third of the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar and beat to combine. Add about a half of the milk/vanilla and beat to combine. Continue adding, alternating between dry and wet and finishing with the dry.
Scoop batter into cupcake cups about 3/4’s full. Bake at 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Coconut Buttercream Frosting
1-1/2 sticks butter, room temperature
1/4 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar
1-1/2 cups coconut, shredded and unsweetened

Beat butter briefly, scrape bowl. Add the sifted powdered sugar and milk. Beat until smooth. Add coconut and mix until combined.

Top cooled cupcakes with coconut-buttercream frosting. Top with more cocoa powder (or forget to if you're like me...)

Once finished, go cuddle with darling puppy and make a mental note to sketch her silhouette some day to hang over your future mantle.

Did I mention that I recommend milk with the cupcakes?
Well I do.
Thanks to this weeks tester, you'll see her review below. I'll let her introduce herself.

Home, home on the range

My Grandmother has informed me that I am not supposed to call home "home" anymore since I am now married. She says it's an insult to my husband.
But what if my husband likes it *almost* as much as I do?

Yesterday we went home. For a day. For my Dad and older, temporarily crippled brother David (seen above, I'll let you guess which one) to look at my car and tell me that I need a new alternator. And for Mr. T to fix Mom's computer. 
You may think that is a very illogical way of getting things taken care of but hundreds of dollars were saved by Mr. T and I and my Mom, by us driving home for the day. Even if it did mean that Mr. T and I slept until 11 today after getting home at 3ish this morning.  It also meant swimming in my Dad's pool (not in that gorgeous lake you see above) and eating the best broccoli I have ever tasted in my life. And I love broccoli.
It also meant Bretta got to spend the day with her BFF Jasper, you remember him from my last one day trip home. I didn't take any pictures, but here's one of B meeting her long lost twin for the first time. She seemed a little confused.

Don't you see the resemblance?

50/50 Cupcakes: AKA Orange Cupcakes with Vanilla Frosting

As it started heating up here in Sonoma I was reminded of the 50/50 bars my Mom used to buy in a gigantic bag that seemed to take up half of our freezer. They are a perfect summer treat, orange sherbert on the outside and sweet vanilla ice cream on the inside. Now obviously a cupcake isn't going to be as refreshing as a popsicle (or is it?) but once I settle on a flavor combination there's no turning back. So I scoured the internet and was surprised to find quite a few listings for the very combination I was looking for. Sidenote- a ton of listings for Orange Vanilla but barely any for the Lemon Raspberry cupcakes I made a few months back. Strange, no?
After reading through a few posts, and their comments I settled on this delicious sounding recipe from www.chow.com. It sounded like just the recipe to bring my 50/50 cupcake to life.

Orange Vanilla Cupcakes
Yield: 24 Cupcakes (really!)

Ingredients for both the cupcakes and the frosting:

• 1½ cups self-rising flour
• 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon freshly grated orange zest
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup orange juice (use a variety without pulp)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Oven @ 350F
To make the cupcakes:
In a small bowl, combine the flours and set aside. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar and zest gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the orange juice and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended.

Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about three-quarters full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean. Cool the cupcakes in the tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

 

To make the icing:

 In a medium-size saucepan, whisk the flour into the milk until smooth. Place over medium heat and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture becomes very thick and begins to bubble, 8 to 10 minutes. Make sure that you stir constantly, otherwise you'll get a weird milky film in your pan. Yuck

Cover with waxed paper placed directly on the surface, and cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes.

 

At this point, this is the most high-maintenance frosting I've made yet and I'm hoping that it's going to be the best tasting.....

In a large bowl, on the medium-high speed of an electric mixer, beat the butter for 3 minutes, until smooth and creamy. Gradually add the sugar, beating continuously, and mix until fluffy, for 3 minutes. Add the vanilla and beat well. Add the cooled milk mixture, and beat for 5 minutes, until very smooth and noticeably whiter in color. Cover and refrigerate for 15 minutes (no less and no longer—set a timer!). Use immediately to frost the cupcakes. The original recipe calls for shredded coconut as garnish at this point which I chose not to add.

The frosting did not mix together well, as you may be able to tell from the picture of the frosted cupcake above. After all the effort put into the frosting I was pretty disappointed with the results. The cupcake itself was fabulous but I will definitely be using a different frosting recipe if I make these in the future. All in all the usual taste testers (people at my day job) thought they tasted fine. 

Summer is coming!

And I am excited...