Minion Cupcakes

You guys all know what happens next week, right? Hint: The event that I’m thinking of doesn’t involve fireworks, parades, or cookouts. It does involve a villain with a really long nose and some adorable little yellow guys that do his bidding. That’s right: Despicable Me 2 comes out next Wednesday, and in our house, I think it may be generating more excitement than the upcoming Fourth of July festivities. And not just with my kids! Joe and I are equally excited about this movie, if not more so!

My boys love the first movie so much that I actually made these cupcakes for Will’s birthday, back in January. I thought this would be the perfect time to share them. Needless to say, they were a huge hit with all of the kids that had one, and I’m pretty sure they’re the cutest cupcakes I’ve ever made. There’s no real recipe involved here, and while they do take some time to make, they’re not difficult at all. I used two boxes of Twinkie-like sponge cakes, so I ended up with 16 minions.

Trust me, the little minions in your life are going to love these!

Minion Cupcakes

inspired by tons of pins on Pinterest

1 box cake mix

Water, oil and eggs called for on cake mix box

Prepared vanilla frosting

2 boxes Twinkies (or equivalent)

Black decorating gel

Melted semi-sweet chocolate

White M&Ms (available in the bulk candy aisle)

Chocolate sprinkles

1. Bake cupcakes as directed on box. Frost each cupcake with a layer of frosting, frosting more heavily in the center. Reserve about 1/4 cup of frosting.

2. To make the minions, slice each Twinkie in half cross-wise. Tint the reserved frosting gray with the decorating gel. Place a dot of the now-gray mixture on the back of two M&Ms and place them in the top middle of a Twinkie to make the minions’ eyes.

3. Place the melted chocolate in a plastic bag and use it to pipe the frames of the glasses, the eyeballs, and the mouth.

4. To make the minions’ hair, gently press individual chocolate sprinkles into the top of the Twinkies.

5. Place a minion upright in the center of each cupcake.

Thanksgiving Turkey Cupcakes

If you search for "turkey cupcakes" on Google Images or Pinterest, believe me: You will get a lot of results. You will get lots and lots of results. When faced with the prospect of making a dessert for Andrew's Thanksgiving feast at preschool, I knew I wanted to make cupcakes that looked like turkeys, so I turned to Pinterest and found, unsurprisingly, tons of options. First I thought I'd make turkey dinner cupcakes, using chewy caramels shaped like turkeys, but I could see that getting tedious very quickly. I'm not the most patient or artistic person, so I could just imagine how my turkeys would look.

I ultimately drew my inspiration from lots of the pins I saw and made my own version, and I couldn't be more pleased with how they turned out. They were so cute, and the kids just loved them. By all accounts, they were a huge hit and quite delicious!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! I hope you have wonderful, peaceful days with your families and friends.

Turkey Cupcakes

cupcakes inspired by various pins on Pinterest; frosting from Savory Sweet Life

For the cupcakes:

1 box chocolate or devil's food cake mix

Water, oil, and eggs called for on the box

1 teaspoon vanilla

For the frosting:

1 cup butter, softened

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Pinch of salt

2 teaspoons vanilla

4 tablespoons heavy cream

For the decorations:

Yellow and red colored sugar

Chow mein noodles

Vanilla wafers

White decorating frosting

Miniature chocolate chips

Orange and yellow Dots candies

1. To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven as directed on box and line 24 cupcake tins with paper liners. Combine cake mix with water, oil, eggs, and vanilla and stir until completely combined. Bake according to the directions on the box, usually about 18 to 20 minutes.

2. To make the frosting, cream the butter for a couple of minutes until smooth. Sift 3 cups powdered sugar and cocoa into the mixing bowl. Turn your mixer on the lowest speed (so the dry ingredients do not blow everywhere) until the sugar and cocoa are absorbed by the butter. Increase mixer speed to medium and add vanilla extract, salt, and cream and beat for 3 minutes. If your frosting needs a more stiff consistency, add a little more sugar. If your frosting needs to be thinned out, add additional cream 1 tablespoon at a time. Frost the cooled cupcakes.

3. Place a dollop of the chocolate frosting on the front of each cupcake (this is where the "head" of the turkey will rest). Combine red and yellow sugars and sprinkle over the cupcakes. Stick chow mein noodles in the back of each cupcake for the feathers.

4. To make the faces, add dots of white frosting on the vanilla wafers to make the eyes. Use a miniature chocolate chip for each pupil. Using a rolling pin, roll Dots out into relatively thin layers and use a paring knife to cut them into beak shapes. Secure the beaks with a dot of white frosting. Place the heads on the cupcakes and gently press down to ensure that they're secure.

Celebrating 1000 Posts with Oreo Overload Cheesecake Cupcakes

This is my 1000th post. I'm sitting here in shock as I type this, because I just can't believe that I've reached this milestone. It took me four and a half years, but I did it! I don't share fancy recipes, my photos are only mediocre, and I don't have a grand following or a cookbook deal, but still. This space is mine, and I'm incredibly proud of what it's become. It still gives me a thrill when someone takes the time to comment on one of my posts or to pin a recipe on Pinterest, and I just want to thank each and every one of you who visits me here. Thank you so much for caring about what I'm cooking, and for sharing in a hobby that has come to mean so much to me!

A momentous occasion such as this calls for a momentous dessert, does it not? And these cupcakes are nothing if not momentous. I made them for a co-worker's birthday. I've become the cupcake lady at work, and when I asked this co-worker what type of cupcake he wanted, he told me "something dark chocolate-y, cheesecake-y, and Oreo-y." Done, done, and done. I knew these cupcakes were going to be fantastic the moment this idea popped into my head.

Basically, you take a dark chocolate cupcake (that starts from a boxed mix; see above re: the fact that I'm not fancy, plus I just think boxed cake mixes work best for cupcakes because they're so darn difficult to screw up), stuff it with Oreo cheesecake filling, and top it with chocolate Oreo cream cheese frosting. To up the Oreo flavor even more, I used the special edition cookies and creme Oreos. The result is a sweet, creamy cupcake that more than one person said are the best cupcakes I've ever made.

Oreo Overload Cheesecake Cupcakes

For the cupcakes:

1 box dark chocolate cake mix

Water, oil, and eggs called for on the box

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon vanilla

For the cheesecake filling:

1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup Oreo cookies, crushed

For the frosting:

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup Oreo cookies, crushed

1. To make the cupcakes, combine cake mix, water, oil, eggs, cocoa powder, and vanilla until thoroughly combined. Set aside.

2. To make the cheesecake filling, use a handmixer to mix together the cream cheese and the sugar until smooth. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until completely combined. Gently stir in crushed Oreo cookies.

3. Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners. Add a tablespoon of the cupcake batter to each liner and top with a tablespoon of the cheesecake filling. Use the remaining cupcake batter to fill the muffin cups to 2/3 full. Bake according to the directions on the box and cool completely before frosting.

4. To make the frosting, combine cream cheese and butter in a stand mixer. Add vanilla, powdered sugar and cocoa powder, adding more powdered sugar as needed to reach desired consistency. Gently stir in crushed Oreos. Transfer the frosting to a piping bag and frost the cupcakes. Store in the refrigerator.

Pina Colada Cupcakes

Somehow, I’ve officially become the Birthday Cupcake person at work. It’s my own fault, mostly. I made cupcakes for someone’s birthday, and then realized that there was another birthday coming up and I’d feel bad if I didn’t make some for that person too...etc., etc., etc. It’s a vicious cycle. I don’t really mind, though; I love to bake, and experimenting with new flavor combinations is always really fun for me.

One of my co-workers had a birthday earlier this month, right before she was leaving for vacation in Mexico, so I thought these pina colada cupcakes would be the perfect thing to make to celebrate both her birthday and her impending tropical getaway. The cupcakes themselves are loaded with pineapple and coconut flavor, and they’re topped with a lime/rum/coconut cream cheese frosting. The cupcakes are so moist thanks to the pineapple in the batter, and the frosting has a great tangy bite to it.

I found a lot of recipes for made-from-scratch pina colada cupcakes when I was trying to decide on a recipe, but I have to admit that I really like starting from a boxed mix when I’m making cupcakes. They’re always going to rise perfectly and they always have a great texture. And they can be doctored up in so many ways. These cupcakes were a huge hit (especially with the birthday girl)!

Pina Colada Cupcakes

cupcakes adapted from Betty Crocker; frosting is my recipe

For the cupcakes:

1 box yellow cake mix

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup water

3 teaspoons rum

2 teaspoons coconut extract

1 8-ounce can crushed pineapple, undrained

3 eggs

For the frosting:

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

1 8-ounce package cream cheese at room temperature

Zest of 1 lime

1 teaspoon rum

1 teaspoon coconut extract

4 cups powdered sugar

Lime slices, for garnish

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place paper baking cup in each of 24 regular-size muffin cups.

2. In a large bowl, beat cake mix, oil, water, rum, coconut extract, pineapple, and eggs with electric mixer until well-blended, scraping the bowl occasionally. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.

3. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes; remove from pans to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.

4. To make the frosting, beat butter and cream cheese until smooth and creamy. Add lime zest, rum, and coconut extract and blend. Gradually add powdered sugar, a cup at a time, until the frosting reaches the desired consistency. Frost cooled cupcakes and garnish with slices of lime, if desired.



Bananas Foster Cupcakes with Cinnamon Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting

I’m not posting the meal plan today, because I didn’t cook a single night last week. Okay, I think I made sloppy joes one night, but that’s it. All the various things we’ve had going on lately, added to the fact that I have a sinus infection and feel only slightly better than death, have equaled not a lot of time in the kitchen. So basically, I am back to cooking this week, but we’ll just be eating everything I’d planned to make last week. So if you came looking for a meal plan, just check out last week’s.

If, however, you came for the best cupcakes you’ve ever tasted in your life, then I can help you out right now. I made these cupcakes recently for a work birthday (Bananas Foster is the birthday girl’s favorite dessert), and weeks later, everyone is still raving about them. The recipe actually calls for making Bananas Foster, complete with flambéing, then stirring the mixture directly into the cupcake batter. It’s the first time I’ve ever flambéed in my kitchen, and Andrew is still talking about how cool it was. I think I went up quite a few points on the Cool Mom scale when he witnessed me deliberately set something on fire (in a controlled environment, of course).

Anyway, these cupcakes are amazing. The cupcakes themselves are moist and rich, with the barest hint of rum. The frosting is super-sweet and pairs perfectly with the not-as-sweet cupcakes. They’re seriously some of the best cupcakes I’ve ever made – definitely worth the extra steps it took to make them.

Bananas Foster Cupcakes with Cinnamon Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting

adapted from The Little Things

For the Bananas Foster:

3/4 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 firm but ripe bananas, sliced

4 tablespoons rum

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the cupcakes:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 teaspoons rum

3/4 cup sour cream

For the frosting:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup caramel sauce

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

6-7 cups powdered sugar

1-2 tablespoons milk

For the Bananas Foster:

1. In a saute pan over medium heat, combine the butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Cook until butter melts and sugar is dissolved (4 to 5 minutes).

2. Add the banana slices and cook until tender, turning once for 1 to 2 minutes per side.

3. Stir together rum and vanilla. Turn off the burner and add the rum mixture to the pan. Using a long match, light the alcohol by placing the flame just in the outer edge of the pan. Stand as far back as possible. The flame should extinguish in a few seconds. Gently shake the pan from side to side to coat the bananas with the sauce. Spoon the bananas into a bowl and set aside.

For the cupcakes:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla, rum and banana mixture. Mix well.

3. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt.

4. Add flour mixture alternately with sour cream; blend thoroughly but do not overmix.

5. Pour into prepared cupcake pans.

6. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool for 3 minutes in pan on rack. Remove and cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting:

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat the softened butter and cream cheese together until fluffy; add the caramel sauce and cinnamon and beat until fully incorporated.

2. Slowly add powdered sugar into the bowl, 1/2 cup at a time and beating after each addition. Continue adding the sugar until you have a thick frosting of your preferred consistency. If the frosting becomes too thick, add a tablespoon or more of milk to thin out.

Tiramisu Cupcakes

I have a confession that I know is going to put me very, very far in the minority of food bloggers: I’m not crazy about mascarpone cheese.

Wait wait wait, come back, don’t leave! I’ve tried to love it, believe me, I really have. And I don’t completely hate it; in fact, it turns out that when it’s combined with powdered sugar and heavy cream and dolloped on top of booze-soaked cupcakes, I really sort of love it. There. Are we friends again?

I’ve mentioned my cooking club before, and when I asked you guys for dessert recommendations for our Italian-themed feast last month, you came through again. My friend Jessie (a different Jessie from the one who suggested the Mexican spinach dip – you Jessies are awesome!) pointed me towards this tiramisu cake, which looked absolutely amazing. It was just a bit too labor- and time-intensive for me, though, when I sat down and actually read the recipe, so I opted to go for these cupcakes instead. Annie of Annie’s Eats raved about them – and something I’ve learned over the years is that if Annie raves about something, you know it’s really, really good. She came through again, in a big way; these cupcakes are phenomenal.

I think what I love most about these cupcakes is that they’re not too sweet. They’re sweet enough, but not cloying, so the flavors of the coffee and the Kahlua really come through without being overshadowed by sugar. The texture of the cupcakes is perfect, eggy and spongey, and the soaking syrup gives them such an incredible flavor. My father-in-law gave us some of his homemade Kahlua for Christmas, so I used that in the syrup, and it was absolutely perfect. The mascarpone frosting is so creamy and pairs so well with the cupcakes; one of my friends actually said she just wanted to eat the frosting with a spoon, and I wouldn’t have blamed her if she did. Although traditional tiramisu is topped with cocoa powder, I opted instead for miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips, which added a great textural element. These were a huge hit with the ladies in my cooking club and with Joe, but I think Andrew and Will are still ticked at me for making “grown-up” cupcakes that they couldn’t eat.

So, for our meal this month our cooking club is doing vegan food. Hit me with your best suggestions for side dishes or appetizers!

Tiramisu Cupcakes
adapted from Annie’s Eats

For the cupcakes:

1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons cake flour, sifted
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon coarse salt
6 tablespoons milk
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into pieces
5 large whole eggs plus 4 large egg yolks
1 1/2 cups sugar

For the soaking syrup:

1/2 cup freshly brewed very strong coffee
3 tablespoons Kahlua
6 tablespoons sugar

For the frosting:

1 1/2 cups heavy cream
12 ounces mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
Miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners. Combine the cake flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk to blend; set aside. Add the milk to a small saucepan. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean pod into the pan, and add the scraped pod to the pan as well. Heat over medium-high heat just until bubbles appear around the edge of the pan. Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter until melted. Let stand 15 minutes. Remove the vanilla bean pod and discard.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the eggs, egg yolks, and sugar. Whisk lightly to blend. Set the bowl over an inch or two of simmering water and heat, whisking occasionally, until the mixture is warm and the sugar is dissolved, about 6 minutes. Return the bowl to the mixer base. Whisk on high speed until the mixture is pale yellow and fluffy, and able to hold a ribbon when the whisk is lifted.

3. Gently fold the dry ingredients into the egg mixture in three additions. Stir 3/4 cup of the batter into the milk mixture to thicken, then fold the milk mixture into the batter just until evenly incorporated. Divide the batter between the prepared liners, filling them about three-quarters full. Bake, rotating the pans halfway through baking, until the cakes are set and light golden, about 20 minutes. Transfer pans to wire racks to cool slightly before removing from the pans.

4. To make the soaking syrup, combine the hot coffee, Kahlua, and sugar, and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Place the warm cupcakes on a wire rack and place a baking sheet underneath to catch dripping liquid. Use a pastry brush to brush the soaking liquid onto the tops of the cupcakes, repeating until the syrup is used up. If necessary, poke each cupcake a few times with a wooden skewer or toothpick to help the syrup soak in. Let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting.

5. To make the frosting, add the heavy cream to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whip on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form. Transfer to a separate bowl and return the mixer bowl to its base. In the mixer bowl, combine the mascarpone and confectioners’ sugar and beat with the paddle attachment on medium-high speed until smooth and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Gently fold in the whipped cream until evenly incorporated.

6. Transfer the frosting to a pastry bag fitted with a plain round tip (or a plastic bag with a generous corner cut away, which is what I used). Pipe a large dollop of frosting on top of each cupcake. Sprinkle the cupcakes with chocolate chips. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Lovely Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Hello, my name is Cassie, and I have a Seasonal Sprinkles Addiction.

It all started with these sugar cookie bars, the first time I made them for Christmas. I just had to buy festive sprinkles to adorn them. When I made them again for Valentine’s Day, they were just begging for a sweet topping of tiny hearts, colored sugar, and festive nonpareils. By the time the Easter goodies hit the shelves, I was completely addicted to sprinkles. I bought a giant multi-pack of Easter-themed sprinkles at the grocery store, and when I saw some different ones a few weeks later at another store, I bought another one. The question then became: What am I going to do with all these Easter sprinkles? A secondary question was: Is there some sort of Sprinkle-holics Anonymous meeting I can attend?

I’ve been craving lemon baked goods for I don’t know how long now, and when my stepmom hosted a family dinner recently and asked me to bring dessert, these cupcakes seemed like the perfect thing to make. In addition to fulfilling my craving (and making my family happy, too, since they’re lemon-loving people), it would also be a great way to use up my surplus of sprinkles.

These cupcakes are delicious. Yes, they start with a boxed mix, but the additions of sour cream and the zest and juice of a lemon make them taste homemade. They’re moist and fluffy, with the perfect balance of sweet and tangy elements. The frosting is a lemon cream cheese frosting that I wanted to (and did, actually) eat with a spoon. It was creamy and sweet and just perfect to go on top of the cupcakes. And not only did my extended family love them, my sons did, too. This thrilled me, since their father is not a lemon fan. I’m happy to report that the boys seem to have inherited my lemon love.

Happy Easter, everyone!

Lovely Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
cupcakes adapted from Sugar Plum; frosting is my recipe

For the cupcakes:

3 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 box lemon pudding mix
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 box lemon cake mix

For the frosting:

1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 teaspoons grated lemon zest
5 cups powdered sugar
Splashes of heavy cream
Yellow food coloring, if desired

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.

2. In a large mixing bowl, using a mixer on medium speed, beat together the eggs, sour cream, pudding mix, oil and milk until well combined. Reduce mixer speed to low and beat in lemon juice, lemon zest and cake mix until moistened. Increase mixer speed to medium and beat an additional 1 minute.

3. Divide batter into muffin cups. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until well risen, and a toothpick inserted into cake comes out with moist crumbs attached (mine definitely took the full 20 minutes). Cool 5 minutes in pans before transferring to wire racks to cool.

4. To make the frosting, in a large mixing bowl, using a mixer on medium speed, beat together butter and cream cheese until fluffy. Beat in vanilla, lemon zest, and powdered sugar 1 cup at a time. Use heavy cream to thin out the frosting, if needed. Tint the frosting yellow with food coloring, if desired. Pipe frosting onto cupcakes, and decorate with sprinkles if desired. Makes 2 dozen cupcakes.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Coffee Buttercream

Here’s an impossible question for you: If you had to choose, what would you say your favorite part of a cupcake or cake is – the cake itself, or the frosting? If I had to choose, I’d have to say my favorite part is the frosting. Especially when the frosting is as sweet and luscious as this coffee buttercream is.

I can’t even begin to describe how delicious these cupcakes are. I made them with my sister (who loves coffee and also works for a large coffee chain) in mind, and she absolutely loved them. Coffee and chocolate is one of those perfect flavor combinations (hello, mocha?!), and these cupcakes are the perfect thing to highlight the complementary flavors. The cupcakes are richly chocolate, and the frosting is sweet, with a slight bitterness from the coffee. Absolutely perfect.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Coffee Buttercream
cake adapted from The Cake Mix Doctor; frosting from Eat at Home

For the cake:

1 package triple chocolate fudge cake mix
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/3 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup miniature chocolate chips

For the frosting:

1 stick butter, softened
3 3/4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 to 4 tablespoons strong brewed coffee, cooled

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 cupcake pans with 24 paper liners.

2. Place the cake mix, cocoa powder, buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping the sides down again if needed, until batter is well-blended. Stir in chocolate chips.

3. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full. Bake the cupcakes about 20 minutes, or until they spring back lightly with pressed with your finger, and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove the cupcakes from the oven. Let cool in pan 10 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

4. While cupcakes are cooling, make the frosting. With an electric mixer, beat the butter till smooth. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla and 2 tablespoons coffee. Mix again until well blended. Gradually add more coffee, by the teaspoon until the frosting reaches a spreadable consistency.

5. Spread frosting on cooled cupcakes and garnish with mini chocolate chips.

Browned Butter Pumpkin Cupcakes with Biscoff Cream Cheese Frosting

I’ve had these cupcakes in mind to make since the beginning of September. Unfortunately, I was missing one main component for the recipe – the pumpkin. By the time I finally got my hands on some pumpkin, my fall baking list was a mile long, and I completely forgot about them until just recently. My stepmom and sister usually come over every Sunday night to watch True Blood or Bridezillas or The Vampire Diaries highly educational, sophisticated television programs with me, and I always make us something sweet. When I texted my sister last week to see what she was in the mood for, she said “anything pumpkin,” which immediately reminded me of these cupcakes.

If you’re not familiar with Biscoff Spread, this is what it looks like:

It’s made from Biscoff cookies (I guess the kind they serve on Delta flights? I don’t know from experience, but that’s what I’ve heard), and it tastes spicy and sweet, sort of like a gingersnap but BETTER. I thought putting some of it in the frosting would be the perfect complement to the cupcakes. It turned out to be a really delicious combination!

The cupcakes themselves are dense and moist, more like a muffin in texture than a cupcake, and the browned butter gives them an intense, nutty flavor. They’re not too sweet on their own, so they need a really sweet frosting, and this one is perfect. These were a huge hit, and my sister even said these cupcakes were her favorite out of all the desserts I’ve made.

Browned Butter Pumpkin Cupcakes with Biscoff Cream Cheese Frosting
cupcakes adapted from Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes; frosting is my recipe

For the cupcakes:

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs

For the frosting:

1 stick butter, softened
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 to 1/2 cup Biscoff Spread
1 pound powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line muffin tins with paper liners. In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat and continue to cook, swirling occasionally, until butter turns golden brown. Skim foam from top, and remove from heat. Pour into a bowl to stop the cooking, leaving any burned sediment behind; let cool.

2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin pie spice. In another bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, both sugars, eggs, and browned butter mixture. Add the flour mixture, and whisk until just combined.

3. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes.

4. To make the frosting, cream together the butter, cream cheese and vanilla until thoroughly combined. Add in Biscoff Spread and mix well. Add powdered sugar to desired consistency. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes.

Self-Frosting Nutella Cupcakes

These cupcakes have been on my radar for a while now, and when I found myself with half a jar of Nutella in the pantry and no immediate use for it (aside from eating it by the spoonful), I decided it was time to make them. I’m only sorry I waited so long, because these cupcakes are delicious – every bit as good as you’d expect a yellow cupcake swirled with Nutella to be.

The idea is that the Nutella is swirled into the batter before baking, creating a “frosting” for the cupcakes. But I gotta admit that a cupcake without frosting on top of it is a muffin to me, so I spread some additional Nutella on top of mine. It made it taste that much more delicious.

Self-Frosting Nutella Cupcakes
from Baking Bites

10 tablespoons butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 cups sifted all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
Approximately 1/3 cup Nutella

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners.

2. Cream together butter and sugar until light, 2 minutes. Add in eggs one at a time, until fully incorporated. Don’t worry if the batter doesn’t look smooth. Add vanilla. Stir in flour, salt and baking powder until batter is uniform and no flour remains.

3. Fill each muffin liner with batter about 3/4 full. Top each cake with 1 1/2 teaspoons Nutella. Swirl Nutella in with a toothpick, making sure to fold a bit of batter up over the Nutella.

4. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

One year ago: Fruit and yogurt muffins, still an oft-requested recipe in our house.

Raspberry-Filled Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache and Raspberry Buttercream

It’s been a long week at our house. My littlest man has been sick (again), so no one has been sleeping and everyone is cranky. This is the first time I’ve even looked at my blog all week.

Since I don’t have a lot of energy left to devote to posting, I’m just going to share a recipe that speaks for itself. These chocolate cupcakes are filled with fresh raspberries, topped with chocolate ganache, and frosted with raspberry buttercream. What’s not to love? They’re rich, decadent, and delicious. I made them for a coworker’s birthday, and everyone raved about them.

They do take a while to prepare, so make sure you have a few hours free if you want to make them all at once. But you could definitely do this process in stages if you needed to. And they’re worth every single second it takes to make them!

Raspberry-Filled Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache and Raspberry Buttercream
cupcakes and buttercream adapted from Baked Perfection; filling and ganache from me

For the cupcakes:

1 package chocolate cake mix
1 package instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1/2 cup warm water (which I now realize I forgot to add…whoops! They turned out fine though.)

For the filling:

2 cups fresh raspberries
1/3 cup sugar

For the chocolate ganache:

1 cup heavy cream
1 12-ounce bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

For the frosting:

2 sticks butter, softened
6 cups powder sugar
Pinch of salt
2/3 cup reserved mashed raspberries
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-3 tablespoons milk or heavy cream

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs, and water. Pour batter into lined muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake for 20 minutes, or until top is springy to the touch and a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool completely.

2. Meanwhile, combine filling ingredients (raspberries and sugar) in a medium bowl. Gently mash raspberries, leaving some whole. Reserve 2/3 cup for the frosting, and refrigerate until ready to use.

3. Make the chocolate ganache: heat 1 cup heavy cream over medium low heat until simmering. Remove from heat and add chocolate chips. Stir in a figure-eight motion until chocolate chips are fully melted. Cool slightly.

4. Make the frosting: Beat the butter and vanilla until creamy. Add a pinch of salt and reserved raspberries. Slowly add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, beating until combined. Add milk or heavy cream 1 tablespoon at a time until you reach desired consistency.

5. Using a knife, gently cut a hole out of the center of each cupcake. Add about 1 teaspoon of the raspberry filling to each cupcake and top with a dollop of chocolate ganache. When ganache has completely cooled, frost cupcakes. Refrigerate to preserve freshness.

Pecan Pie Cupcakes

I know I’ve really sucked at posting lately, and I don’t have a great excuse. If you look to the left, you’ll see I have tons of recipes to share with you, but I just keep forgetting to upload the photos. I haven’t been great at meal planning, either; in fact, it’s only the second week of the year, and I already neglected to plan meals for the week. I really need to get my act together!

Anyway. Today you get…pecan pie cupcakes, because they’re the only recipe for which I actually have a photo uploaded. I need to give them more credit, though, because they really are absolutely delicious. I made a double batch of these for Thanksgiving as an alternative to a traditional pecan pie (that should tell you how back-logged with recipes I am!), and my entire family loved them. True to their name, they taste exactly like pecan pie, but in cute little cupcake form.

Pecan Pie Cupcakes
adapted from Food.com

(makes about 10 standard-sized cupcakes)

1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin with paper liners or spray very well with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Combine all ingredients and mix well. Fill each muffin cup 3/4 full.

3. Bake in preheated oven for about 20 minutes.

Zucchini Week: Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

I’ve had these cupcakes on my list of things to try since last summer, so when I found myself with all that zucchini that needed to be used up, they were the first thing I thought of. And man, am I ever glad I finally got around to making these!

These cupcakes are so incredibly good -- rich and chocolaty, with cinnamon and brown sugar for warmth and walnuts for crunch and chocolate chips to provide those little pockets of gooey deliciousness throughout the entire cupcake. And the frosting is to-die-for delicious: thick, creamy, rich and sweet. I definitely had some intense love for these cupcakes, and my whole family really loved them too. They’ll be a summer baking staple for us from now on.

Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
source: adapted from Real Mom Kitchen

For the cupcakes:

3 eggs

1 3/4 cups packed brown sugar

1 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted and cooled

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

2 cups grated zucchini

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

3/4 cup chopped walnuts

For the frosting:

8 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
1/4 cup butter at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups sifted powdered sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a large bowl, beat eggs with sugar for about 10 minutes or until thickened and pale. Blend oil, vanilla and cooled chocolate into the beaten egg mixture.

3. In a small bowl stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon; stir flour mixture into egg mixture until just blended. Stir in zucchini, chocolate chips, and walnuts.

4. Spoon batter into 24 paper-lined or greased muffin cups, filling the cups 2/3 full. Bake for 20 minutes or until fork or toothpick inserted in a cupcake’s center comes out clean. Let cool in pans on rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pans; let cool completely.

5. To make frosting, mix cream cheese, butter and vanilla until smooth and creamy. Mix in powdered sugar one cup at a time. Mix in cocoa powder. Spread or pipe onto cupcakes.

Dr. Seuss-Inspired Cupcakes

This isn't even really a recipe, but I wanted to share these cupcakes with you anyway because they were so much fun to make. Dr. Seuss's birthday was earlier this week, and my son's daycare is celebrating by having a Seuss-themed week. This is right up Andrew's alley, because he loves Dr. Seuss books and is steadily building his library. His favorite by far is The Foot Book, which he got for Christmas last year (and as a matter of fact, we actually read it about 12 times this morning). We're even considering doing a Seuss-themed big boy room for him.

This happened to be my week to make a snack for Andrew's class, and I knew I had to do something Seuss-related. I decided on cupcakes, but most of the recipes I saw on the internet were really fancy and high-maintenance. I considered doing something related to The Foot Book, but something about cupcakes and feet together just sounded unappetizing to me. Finally I decided to make some One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish-themed cupcakes. The fish look nothing like Dr. Seuss's, but I don't think Andrew and his friends will care.

The fish were made with writing icing I bought in the baking aisle, and it was so easy to work with. It dried hard, a lot like royal icing. I think Andrew and his friends are going to love these!

Dr. Seuss-Inspired Cupcakes

1 box funfetti cake mix
Water, oil and eggs called for on cake mix
1 container classic white frosting
Yellow, green, red and blue writing icing
Black decorating gel

1. Prepare cake mix as directed and bake according to cupcake instructions on box. Cool.

2. Frost cupcakes. Using writing icing, pipe fish shapes onto cupcakes and fill in completely. Use black decorating gel for eyes.

Halloween Week: Vampire Cupcakes

Welcome to Halloween Week! This week I thought it would be fun to highlight some quick, easy, and festive Halloween desserts. Halloween is a holiday I'm enjoying a lot more now that I have a little one (and another little one on the way). Everything seems so fresh and fun again -- the candy, the pumpkin carving, the costumes.

For today's recipe, I present to you these vampire cupcakes that I actually made way back in September, for the finale of my favorite TV show, True Blood. How fun are these?! I adapted the recipe from Baking Bites, but made the cupcakes a lot simpler by using boxed cake mix and canned cream cheese frosting (something I probably wouldn't do again, since store-bought cream cheese frosting in no way compares to the real thing). I've never made a white cake from scratch that wasn't dry, but have always had good luck with boxed white cake mixes, and this time was no exception. The bloody cherry center helped make these nice and juicy, too. These cupcakes are delicious and festive, and would be a fabulous addition to any Halloween party.

Vampire Cupcakes
source: adapted from Baking Bites

1 box white cake mix
Oil and eggs called for on cake mix box
1 can cream cheese frosting (or make your own)
1 can cherry pie filling

1. Bake cupcakes according to directions on box. Cool.

2. Meanwhile, puree cherry pie filling in a blender until smooth.

3. Using a paring knife, cut a cone out of the center of each cooled cupcake. Trim off the pointy end of the cone, leaving a flat circle of cake. Set circle aside to use later and repeat this process for all the cupcakes.

4. Spoon about tablespoon or so of the cherry pie filling into each cupcake cavity, filling it almost to the top. Top off with the flat circle of cake you just removed to seal the hole and hold the “blood” filling in place.

5. Frost cupcakes. Dip a wooden toothpick or skewer into some leftover cherry pie filling and poke two fang-holes, about 3/4 inch apart, in the frosting on one side of the cupcake. Dribble a little extra filling from the holes for effect. Repeat process with all cupcakes.