wake and bake

ok, not like THAT, but I got your attention right? lately I've been getting the urge to cook and bake a lot, especially on sunday mornings. I was sitting in bed today, trying to think about what I could make when I got up... and I got an idea- cornbread muffins! ok so I know, they're not actually cupcakes. but I mean, why not? they're the same shape, they're usually sweet, you make them in the same pan, aaand I wanted to blog about baking.

SO TAKE WHAT YOU CAN GET. :)

Sweet and Savory Cornbread Muffins

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup finely chopped onions
• 1/2 tsp black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease muffin pan or use cupcake liners.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt, pepper, and baking powder. Stir in egg, milk, onion, and vegetable oil until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
4. This step is up to you, but I always like to sprinkle a little sugar on top when they're about halfway through cooking. It adds just a little extra sweetness and crunch that I love.
   

*I actually made 12 muffins, and a six-inch "corncake," but this should make about 12-18 muffins if you just stick to that. also my original recipe said to bake for about 20-25 min, but like I said- they got a little too done at 20 minutes for me.




I think these turned out super delicious. they actually reminded me a little bit of hush puppies, which made me very happy. you could probably use this as a hush puppy batter, honestly. maybe just make it a little thicker, and drop it in some hot oil. mmmm. I might just have to do that.

I'm pretty happy with this recipe, it's good for breakfast/brunch, dinner, or just a snack. and now more pictures. :) I hope you enjoy!

ni hao, again!

first off, can I just say I sort of want to learn Mandarin now?
secondly, I know I said this was going to happen yesterday, but I had to go see monster trucks. so sue me...

anyhow, CAAAAKE! honestly there's not really too much to write about these bad boys, since I did a bit of an intro friday night. they were super fun to make, and not nearly as melt-down inducing as some other cake projects I've embarked upon.

first, the cupcakes... these were more an accessory to the cake, but just as yummy!


then the actual cake-the frosting ended up getting a little crackle-y in some places, which kind of bummed me out, but I think it still turned out pretty cute... even though I made Kai-lan look like she ate a few too many donuts before her big appearance on cake... haha.






close-up shot... it'd been a while since I've exercised my frosting drawing skillzzz, but I think it turned out ok.
















the most important thing, though is that the "client" is happy. judging by her little excited smile, I think it all worked out.

ni hao, cupcakes

ok, so I'm baking up a new post. this next one is gonna be a little more about a big cake, but there will be cupcakes! oh there will...

I'm making a cake and accompanying cupcakes for a 3 year old's birthday tomorrow. little kid cakes are the best! they're so much fun. anyway, so the theme is:


it should be fun. I'll have an update and pictures tomorrow.

also- tonight I did some cakesperimentation. aaaand it was kind of an epic fail. I don't use that phrase loosely. it was rough. one of my favorite things is making cupcakes with pop (or soda, for you non-midwesterners). it's suuuper, super easy and really delicious. well, it's easy with boxed cake mix. I decided I was going to be adventurous and see if I could make them with a from-scratch mix... hahaha oh man. it was a big mess. I wasn't even mad about it so much as it was kind of just hilarious how ridiculous it turned out. what's that? you want proof? ok, I'll provide tonight's entertainment...

umm, yeah... so hey at least I learned something! that didn't work! I'll keep trying though. I can't take over the world by giving up on easy cupcakes. maybe I'll try out making cake balls or something... maybe. orrrr just go the more barbaric route and scrape them out of the pan and eat them with my hands. only time will tell, really.

well that's it for me tonight, just wanted to check in. see you tomorrow- with ACTUAL cupcakes.

aaaand we're back!

hey everybody! it sure has been a long time since I've worked on this. it's the "slow season" but I'm gonna make good w/my promise about the red velvet cakes.

I think they might just be my favorite cupcakes... like... ever. because chocolate AND wine in a cupcake? um, yes please! oh yeah, by the way they're red velvet Shiraz cupcakes. you could probably use whatever red wine you like, but going off of the bride and groom's preference I used shiraz. boy-oh-boy are they delicious.

first comes the recipe- pictures to follow. :)

Red Velvet Shiraz Cupcakes

*1 and 1/4 cup all purpose flour
*3/4 cup sugar
*1/2 tsp baking soda
*1/2 tsp salt
*2 Tbs cocoa powder
*3/4 cup vegetable oil
*1/2 cup buttermilk (or you could just use regular milk and add about a tsp of wine or vinegar to it, let it sit for at least 5 min before using)
*1 egg
*1 Tbs red food coloring
*1/2 tsp white or cider vinegar
*1 tsp vanilla
*1/4 cup Shiraz (or whatever red you prefer) red wine

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Sift together dry ingredients in separate bowl.

In stand mixer, or w/hand mixer, mix together oil, milk, egg, food coloring, vinegar, wine, and vanilla- at medium speed.

Gradually add dry mixture into the wet ingredients until just combined, don't over mix.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean


ok, now for the pictures! I wish I could take credit for these photos, but my camera died halfway through the wedding. so big thanks to alaskaphotographyanddesign.com for taking these great photos!

the little chocolate airplanes were so fun to make and definitely added a super cute extra bit of personality.

I'd really love to see/hear how these cupcakes turn out if you try them!

red red velvet

This post is gonna be fairly short and sweet- ba dum chhhhhh....

So next weekend I'm lucky enough to be taking a trip to Alaska for my cousin's wedding. I seriously could not be more excited about it! Anyway, I've been asked to make cupcakes for the future Mr. and Mrs... Specifically carrot cake and red velvet. oooooohhhhhh red velvet... Now, I've never made red velvet before, so I needed to do a practice batch, and that was tonight. These aren't just any red velvet cupcakes though- I wanted to add a little umph to them. Queue the red wine! This is another instance of combining two of my favorite things.

They turned out... umm... AWESOME. They weren't very red, but that was because I thought I had enough red dye to play with, however that was not true. Didn't matter though, it was just a test for texture and taste- and boy did they ever pass it.

Pictures and recipe to come later, just wanted to give you all a little teaser.

Goodnight, my little cupcakes!

The Devil's Frenchman

Or... The best freaking cupcake you've ever put in your face...

Either of those could be the name of this post, or the cupcakes I'm writing about.

What's up, internet? Long time no see! Sorry about that, I've been super duper busy lately- but don't worry, I'm back from hiatus... and I brought cupcakes! Woo! Also, since I've been away so long, there are lots of pictures in this post to make up for it.

So a friend of mine asked me to make some cupcakes for his sister-in-law, the only specifics were something w/coffee and chocolate. Well, I can handle that- two of my most favorite things in the world, sure.

I had something in mind, so I decided to look through a bunch of recipes and kind of put together the pieces I wanted, added some things, and this is what I ended up with (and yes, I'm sharing it w/you because I'm such a nice girl):

*oh, and before we get started- this recipe makes about 32 cupcakes, so if you only need a dozen or so, you'll want to cut it in half*

Devil's food cupcakes w/French roast coffee

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 12 tablespoons (a stick and a half) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  
• 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder (my 3/4 looked more like a whole cup, but who's counting?)
  
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 1/4 cups strong hot brewed coffee (preferably French roast) *I used allegro super dark french roast
• 1/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a standing mixer, beat butter at medium speed until smooth, or about 2 minutes. Increase the speed to medium-high and slowly add the sugar. Continue beating until light and smooth, or about 4 minutes. Turn the mixer off and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add cocoa powder and vanilla and beat at medium speed for 1 minute more. (Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl again, if needed.) With the mixer running at medium-low speed, add your eggs, one at a time, beating for 1 minute between each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Heat the milk just till very hot (not boiling) in either a small saucepan on the stove, or in a microwave safe dish in the microwave for about 45 to 60 seconds. Combine the hot coffee and milk together in a large measuring cup, or cereal sized bowl.

With the mixer at low speed, add the flour mixture, about a 1/4 cup at a time. Carefully pour the hot liquid into the batter, let mix for about 30 seconds, then stop mixer.

Remove the bowl from the mixer and,

using a large rubber spatula, finish combining the batter until smooth.

Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, scoop batter into cupcake liners. Bake for 18-20 minutes.

Yay, cupcakes! They turned out awesome. Picking them up, they feel like they're really light, but they taste really rich and chocolately, and fluffy, and lovely. Oh and there's a picture of the inside as I tried it. :) drooool...

Onto frosting! Ok, so I totally just made up the frosting, it's not from a recipe or anything... but I'll totally give you a run down of what I used and how I did it. You don't have to follow it to the T, frosting has a lot more room for screwing around with than cake does.

The frosting ended up more like a cross between a glaze and a mousse (a glousse? yes, please) than a regular butter cream, but I think it actually suits the cupcake better anyway. Much like the cake itself, it looks and feels nice and light and airy, but tastes super rich and decadent, and such.

French Roast Chocolate Frosting

• 4 tablespoons (half a stick) room temperature butter
  
• 3-4 cups powdered sugar, depending on taste and how thick or thin you want the frosting
  
• 1/4 cup hot brewed coffee (same as the coffee for the cake)
• 3-5 tablespoons cocoa powder, depending on how chocolatey or super chocolately you want your frosting
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  

In a stand mixer start out by mixing/beating the butter for about a minute. The order you put in all the other ingredients doesn't matter all that much as long as you start out by creaming the butter w/about 1/4 cup of the powdered sugar. Then just make sure to slowly add the rest of the ingredients gradually while still mixing on low to medium speed until the frosting is well blended,smooth,

and fluffy.And... Voila!

The cupcake + frosting combo ended up being seriously delicious. I added a little coffee

bean to the top of each one for decoration, and extra coffee aroma... mmmm.

I think these ended up being one of my most favorite cupcake flavors, and that's saying something. I wouldn't be upset if somebody made these for me... Just saying... Well hopefully you don't feel so neglected now, I promise I'm still around. If you try these out, I'd love to see them/hear how they turned out for you. Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Jelly Time!

You don't have to be a kid to love pb&j. Well, at least I don't. I've always loved peanut butter and jelly, I just crave it sometimes. So it was only fitting to me to combine two important comfort foods to make a super comfort food; Peanut butter and jelly cupcakes! It's kind of the perfect dessert, or snack, or hey-maybe even breakfast, depends on how you roll. If you hadn't guessed, I totally roll that way. :)

I had tried out the pb&j cakes a few months back, that's actually what the picture at the top of the blog is. They were so good, and pretty much exactly what I'd hoped for. My brother told me it was the best cupcake he'd ever had, so I'd say they turned out well.

The first time I tried them out I just used a boxed yellow cake mix, but I made the cake from scratch this time. Yellow cake is my favorite. It's so simple, but so delicious. I always like to add a little cinnamon in my yellow cake too, mmmm... The batter was a little whiter than I expected, but it was still pretty. It was kind of a relaxing color, as weird as it sounds... maybe it had something to do with the smell too, who knows?

I also did the filling a little differently this time. Before I kind of injected the jelly into the cupcake with a piping bag and a sharp tip, after the cake was baked. I thought I would try a different technique this time, and I put the jelly in with the batter before baking. It was easier this way, but the jelly ended up sort of sinking to the bottom while baking, so I might go back to the injection method next time. I don't think it really affected the taste, or the whole pbj experience, but I'd prefer for the jelly to be more in the middle of my cupcake. I think either way is fine, though.

They baked up very nicely, but the recipe I used takes a little longer to bake than most, about 30 minutes. Personally I find 30 minutes a LONG time to wait for cupcakes, but I'm impatient, and really like to eat them. It's probably not that big of a deal for normal people. Haha. Anyway, they came out nice and pretty and golden-y brown, and YUMMY.Mmm, I can practically smell them... Now, onto the frosting! This is where the peanut butter part comes in, in case you were wondering. Ok, I'm not gonna lie, I don't have a set recipe for this frosting, and the first batch I tried making this time was a big time FAIL. When I made it a few months back I put a little butter in, along with the peanut butter, sugar, and milk, and it turned out perfectly fine. I didn't have anymore butter this time, so I thought I'd put in a little margarine, instead. Um, yeah... DON'T DO THAT. It was a big ol' clumpy, super oily, gross mess. Yeah, I mean, really, don't do it. Luckily when I started out this time, I had a full, unopened jar of peanut butter, and I used about half for the screw-up "frosting." Totally lame that I wasted a half jar of peanut butter, but hey, I learned a lesson.

Second try... *crosses fingers* PHEW! It turned out absolutely beautiful and perfect, not to mention super tasty. I just used about a cup of creamy peanut butter, a little vanilla, powdered sugar, and a little soy milk. I didn't have any regular milk, I just don't use it that often, but the soy milk worked out great. And I could breath again, so that was also a plus. The color was really nice too, kind of a light, butterscotch-ish color. Mmmm... butterscotch... Sorry, that's for another time. The frosted cupcakes turned out so nice and pretty, and swirly and smooth. Yum.

Ok one last step, I swear. Now obviously, chocolate and peanut butter go together like, well, peanut butter and jelly... But chocolate and jelly-some folks might not be so sure. Well I'm here to assure you the pb, chocolate, and jelly three-way combo of deliciousness is just that. Deeeelicious. I melted about a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips in the microwave, and drizzled it over the top of the cupcakes with a toothpick. Man-oh-man, was it good.


Are you ready for it, the finished project? I sure was. I was really happy with the result, and the chocolate wasn't overpowering, like you might be worried about. It was just right. I was told, today, that the cupcake tasted like a candy bar, and I am totally ok with that. I'm definitely going to have to make these again. Thank goodness for pb&j!