Red Velvet Cupcakes

Occasion

This weekend is my mom’s birthday!  Anna came over to my house and picked out a cupcake that she wanted to make as a surprise.  The winning selection was a sunflower from Hello, Cupcake! made out of Red Velvet cupcakes.

Red Velvet Cupcakes
2 1/4 c flour
1/2 c unsweetened cocoa powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 c butter, softened
2 c sugar
4 eggs
1 c sour cream
1/2 c milk
2 t vanilla extract
Red food coloring- lots

Mix dry ingredients and set aside.  Beat butter and sugar in large bowl until light and fluffy.  Beat in eggs, one at a time.  Mix in sour cream, milk, food color, and vanilla.  Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until just blended.  Do not over beat!  Bake 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees.

Cream Cheese Frosting
8 ounces (1 package) cream cheese, softened
1/4 c butter, softened
2 T sour cream
2 t vanilla extract
16 ounces powdered sugar

Decorations: One Oreo cookie (halved) with a ladybug made out of red M&Ms and meticulously decorated with spots by Anna and a bag of chocolate.

Changes for Next Time

• Cream cheese frosting is delicious, but not meant for decorating.  It is much to runny to hold its shape.  We decorated about half of the cupcakes before calling it quits and starting over with buttercream frosting.  We still used the cream cheese for the bottom layer to stick on the oreos, but next time it would be better to use a cupcake recipe that is good with buttercream instead of cream cheese.
• To give the petals more definitions, we ended up refrigerating the cupcakes after the bottom row was added.  Waiting for them to harden before adding the second row helped maintain shape and keep even the buttercream from blending together.
• A variation of large and small Oreos/flowers would add for a nice touch.  We didn’t have any small Oreos at the time, though.

Youth Services–Graduation Cake

Occasion

The Kansas City Associated Youth Services has a neat program where they provide “occasion cakes” for youth involved in the various programs. Every month a list of the events is published and volunteers select a cake to make. I was able to make one for Steven, who was graduating high school and loved cheesecake.

No Bake Cheesecake
16-ounces (2 packages) cream cheese
3/4 c powdered sugar
8-ounces cool whip
1 T vanilla extract
1 T almond extract
Graham cracker pie crust (3/4 c graham cracker crumbs, 2 T sugar, 1/4 c butter)
Chocolate chips, melted and spread on crust.

Mix cream cheese, sugar, and extracts. Fold in cool whip. Bake graham cracker crust for 5 minutes. Cool briefly and spread melted chocolate on crust; freeze until chocolate is hardened. Spread cheesecake into crust.

Changes for Next Time

• I need to remember that with cakes, simpler is often better. I would have preferred this cake with a bit less decoration on top, but when you have a plate of fresh cut strawberries in front of you, that’s hard to remember!
• For delivery, I need to make a portable container so that I can pass the cake off and it can travel to its final destination.

Graduation Cupcakes

Occasion

Shaw graduated with his Masters today, so there was much to celebrate at the Leaches tonight.

Cupcakes: Irish Car Bomb cupcakes for the adults, standard white almond cupcakes with vanilla frosting for the kids.

Changes for Next Time

• Making the Irish Car Bomb cupcakes for the third time, I think I finally got it down…

Latte Love Cupcakes

Occasion

Katie and Derrick Stolee came into town, so I wanted to make cupcakes.  Since we all love coffee, I thought I’d try an espresso-themed cupcake, filling, and frosting… similar to the Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes that were such a success.

Cupcakes: Standard Chocolate Cupcakes, but substituting shots of espresso for the water.  1 shot with water run through to make 2/3 cup, times 2.

Espresso Filling: Mascarpone cheese (tiramisu/coffee flavored), mixed with espresso and thickened with powdered sugar, cream cheese, and cornstarch.

Frosting: Bailey’s Frosting with some of the extra Espresso Filling added to give it a hint of espresso.

Changes for Next Time

• I had a hard time thickening the Espresso filling.  I don’t think the Mascarpone, espresso, and powdered sugar mixed well.  If I had had more cream cheese, it might have worked out, but since I ran out it was a bit grainy and required a lot of cornstarch and fridge time before being ready.

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

Occasion

Saint Patrick’s Day, of course! This was my first attempt with the extra large star tip and I LOVE how it turned out. Kudos to Nate for turning down my attempts with other tips, thereby allowing me to branch out and use a new tip.

Guiness Cupcakes:
1 cup Guinness stout
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1½ teaspoons baking soda
¾ teaspoons salt
2 eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 24 cupcake cups with liners. Bring the Guinness and butter to a simmer in a heavy, medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the cocoa powder and whisk until the mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

Whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a large bowl to combine. Using an electric mixer, beat the eggs and sour cream on medium speed until combined. Add the Guinness-chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and beat just to combine. Reduce the speed to low, add the flour mixture and beat briefly. Using a rubber spatula, fold the batter until completely combined. Divide the batter among the cupcake liners. Bake about 17 minutes.

Whiskey Ganache Filling:
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
2 teaspoons Irish whiskey (or to flavor…)

Finely chop the chocolate and transfer it to a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream until simmering and pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit for one minute and then, using a rubber spatula, stir it from the center outward until smooth. Add the butter and whiskey and stir until combined. Let the ganache cool until thick but still soft enough to be piped.

Bailey’s Frosting:
2 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
5 cups powdered sugar
6 tablespoons Baileys Irish Cream (or to flavor…)

Using the whisk attachment of a stand mixer, whip the butter on medium-high speed for 5 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally. Reduce the speed to medium-low and gradually add the powdered sugar until all of it is incorporated. Add the Baileys, increase the speed to medium-high and whip for another 2 to 3 minutes, until it is light and fluffy.

Changes for Next Time

• Nothing!!

Source: BrownEyedBaker.com

Valentine's Day Cupcakes

The Occasion
Valentine's Day... I wanted to make mini cupcakes because I had made some big ones recently and also knew that the Ducks were coming up soon, so didn't want to get burned out on eating large cupcakes. This was also a learning experience for "dipping" cupcakes and making smooth tops!

Cupcakes: Chocolate (Devil's Food mix with extra added)
Frosting: Chocolate Buttercream ('normal' cupcakes) & Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Frosting (heated for the 'smooth' cupcakes)
Toppings: Chocolate-frosting covered marshmallow halves, gummy flower heads, & peanut butter hearts. Pink baking chips were melted and drizzled over the marshmallows and hearts.

Changes for Next Time

• The cupcakes were too fluffy for the heft of toppings on them. More importantly, it was difficult to decorate them without the sides caving in while they were held. A more bundt-like cake batter would have worked better.
  
• Dipped cupcakes: It is worth the extra seconds to make sure the frosting is done dripping before turning them upright. A lot of these were ruined (in look- not taste!) because the frosting continued to drip down the side of the liner.
  
• The chocolate frosting was a bit too runny (hot) when I dipped the marshmallows, so it didn't coat them evenly. It should be a bit thicker to completely cover them.

Horse Cake & Cupcakes

Occasion
Anna's surprise 11th birthday party!  The theme was horses, and I had seen the horse cupcakes in Hello, Cupcake and had been dying to try them!

Cupcakes: White Almond Wedding Cake & Chocolate Bundt Cake (without the chocolate chips) mixed 3 to 1 with the remaining white cake mix.
Cake: Same as chocolate combination above. 12x12 pan.
Frosting: Buttercream- stand mixer recipe with some marshmallow fluff added(?)
Fencing: Crème de Pirouline Artisian Rolled Wafers: Dark Chocolate.  Held together with melted chocolate chips.
Horses: Necks made of two sugar wafers connected with and dipped in almond bark; tails of pretzel pieces; heads of circus peanuts dipped in almond bark; mane/tail of frosting; eyes and nose of melted chocolate chips.

Changes for Next Time

• Give the fence ample time to freeze prior to assembly.
• The cake board is covered in a fondant that did not turn out well.  Still need to find a fondant recipe that spreads well.  This one was oily so it smoothed out ok as a board cover, but wouldn’t work on a cake.