Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

It is that time of year again! Pumpkin season!!! One of my friends requested coffee cupcakes and I had a coffee frosting recipe that I decided to spice up. Haha! The recipe calls for instant coffee and I added Starbucks Pumpkin Spice instant coffee instead. My recipe was flawed because it called for only a quarter cup of confectioners' sugar. I don't remember where I found this recipe but I knew I needed more sugar. Most frosting recipes call for 4 to 5 cups of powdered sugar. Not sure exactly how much sugar I used but just add enough until it is spreadable. I frosted chocolate cupcakes because for some reason in my head chocolate and coffee go together.

Coffee frosting:
Ingredients:
8 tablespoons of butter (room temperature)
2-4 cups of confectioners' sugar

1/4 cup of milk

3/4 teaspoon of instant coffee

1/4 teaspoon of salt

1. Heat milk for 30 seconds in the microwave and then add instant coffee and salt. Whisk the mixture until the coffee is dissolved.

2. Beat butter in the bowl of an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy. 

3. Reduce mixer speed to low.  Add confectioners' sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating for a few seconds between each addition.  Increase mixer speed to medium and beat for about 3 minutes. 

4. Add the coffee mixture and beat on low speed to combine. 

5. Scrape down sides and bottom of the bowl.  Increase mixer speed to medium and beat until fluffy.

Happy Fall Ya'll!

Chocolate and Raspberry Cupcakes

I love chocolate and raspberry as a flavor combination!!! At Christmas my mom is always stuffing my stocking with Ghirardelli raspberry squares. And now Mars company is meeting my craving needs with dark chocolate and raspberry M&Ms. When I read Diane's recipe I knew I had to give it a try!

My first challenge was to locate raspberry extract. For some reason I thought I saw some at Publix a while back and oh was I wrong. (Always seems to be the case when trying to eliminate multiple stops on the way home.) Michael's is across the street from my Publix so I gave them a ring to only be let down. Luckily not a mile from my house is a fabulous store called Cake Art and they have almost everything you need for baking including raspberry extract. I say almost because while I was there I asked them to order University of Georgia baking pans. If you are not a Bulldog fan, then they do have everything you need!

The recipe is a doctored cake mix which is a good thing when trying to save time over a long holiday weekend. (I baked these over my 5 day Labor Day weekend.) All went well with the cupcakes. Then came the icing! My mom and I contemplated whether or not to leave out the raspberry jello in the icing. Needless to say it tastes a little gritty. Not sure if we should have mixed it longer. The next day when I shared some with my small group the icing had a more pleasing texture. It is up to you if you want to experiment with jello in frosting. Next time I will leave it out. With all my baking experiences there are bound to be some failures. Doesn't help that I'm a perfectionist. Let's just say my parents, coworkers, and small group were not complaining when it came time for the taste test!

Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes with Raspberry M&M’s

Ingredients

• 1 Chocolate Cake Mix (Betty Crocker’s Devils Food)
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3 eggs
• 3 tablespoons raspberry jello*
• 1 teaspoon raspberry extract

Raspberry Frosting

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup shortening
• 5 cups powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons raspberry extract and 3 tablespoons raspberry jello*
• 3 tablespoons milk
• Beat butter and shortening, add in sugar, milk and extract and coloring. Mix until smooth and creamy.

Instructions

1. Prepare cake mix with butter and milk instead of oil and water that it suggests and add eggs one at a time until incorporated.
2. Place mix in cupcake lined cupcake pan and bake according to package and oven temperature. Test cupcakes at minimum time to be sure they won’t be dry. I bake mine at 325 degrees as mine pans are dark and my cupcakes are finished at the minimum time it suggests.

Sweet Dee's Bakeshop

Tucker, GA  has a cupcake shop!!! I didn't think I would ever see the day. They have spent a lot of money revitalizing downtown Tucker to include sidewalks, benches, and new lamp posts. So fancy! This sleepy train town is coming to life!

Sweet Dee's Bakeshop is an adorable little space. I went a few weeks ago and created my own cupcake but I ate it before snapping a picture. Whoops! I had a chocolate cupcake with raspberry filling and vanilla buttercream. It was delish!!! Thus far they are the only ones I've encountered that have a "create your own cupcake" option. Each day they have a different selection of cupcakes, icing, filling, and toppings. Once you make your selection they make your cupcake right in front of you!
Friday night I took my mom in and we each got our own cupcake. She chose a lemon cupcake and let me sample it. Wow was it lemon! I'm still trying to figure out how they got the icing so lemon. I selected a chocolate and peanut butter cupcake. The Reese's pieces on top lured me in. (And yes Reese's pieces make me think of E.T. - I'm a big fan). I was slightly disappointed. This was my first time trying a peanut butter cupcake and I guess I didn't know what to expect. I love peanut butter so maybe my expectations were too high. Oh well! Now I know. Next time I'll have to get my very own lemon cupcake.

The next time you are craving a cupcake and happen to be near the Tucker area, swing on by to Sweet Dee's Bakeshop!

S'more Cupcakes

I love s'mores so much so that I typically make them in the microwave. That is not the best way but I'm rarely by a camp fire. Well, actually I'm never by a camp fire because camping is not my thing. Anyway, I just had to try s'more cupcakes! I baked up some chocolate cupcakes, frosted them with marshmallow creme, sprinkled some graham crackers on top, and the final most important part was a Hershey's chocolate square.

Let me just warn you, in case you didn't know, that marshmallow creme is STICKY! And it gets everywhere so beware. The frosting recipe is another one of Betty Crocker's sure things. Don't put the marshmallow creme jar in the microwave as instructed - Jet Puff now sells a plastic jar instead of glass. I halved this recipe because I only had 10 cupcakes (don't even ask what happened to the other 14..hehe) and it worked perfectly! I sampled some of the frosting and felt like I needed to schedule a dentist appointment ASAP. Wow! The powdered sugar and the marshmallow is sweet! To quote one of my fav Food Network personalities, Jamie Deen, "ooooooo dawgies". Not sure if Jamie actually uses the University of Georgia spelling of dog but he is a Bulldog fan so it just seems right.  Go Dawgs!!! Sick 'em. I mean gee wow those cupcakes are delicious.

The weather was dark and stormy when it came time for these guys to have a close up so the pictures are not amazing. I didn't even bother pulling out my Nikon because I knew with the lighting situation that my iphone would do the job.

My small group and coworkers raved about these cupcakes. One of my small group members even said that these are her favorite because she is not a huge frosting fan. Success!

These cupcakes were the perfect treat for such gloomy weather but you could make them anytime you are craving that s'more and camp fire feel. (For the non camping folks like me - just bake it whenever...lol!)

Hamburger Cupcakes

After I completed the Wilton cake decorating class last year I discovered the idea of making hamburger cupcakes and filed it away for later. Well my dad loves hamburgers so I decided to make these for him.

I opted to bake vanilla and chocolate cupcakes from a box. After baking the vanilla cupcakes top them with sesame seeds. Cut the vanilla cupcake in half. Then cut the chocolate cupcakes in half or thirds for the "meat". Pipe red frosting on one end of the vanilla cupcake and yellow frosting on the other end with a large or small round tip. Some bakers added tinted green coconut for lettuce but I'm not crazy about coconut. But I did add a dollop of vanilla frosting to the center of each cupcake to help the cupcakes stick to each other since the "mustard" and "ketchup" are only on the edges.

The end result looks like sliders which kind of plays with your mind because the taste is sweet. Happy Grilling!

Sunflower Cupcakes

Sunflowers are my favorite. I've been wanting to decorate these adorable things for a while now. I had 6 regular cupcakes and 12 mini cupcakes in the freezer - love when that happens! Many options are out there for creating the center. For the mini cupcakes, I had my baking assistant (mom) place dollops of chocolate frosting in the center with a toothpick. Then she put three chocolate chips in the center of the regular size cupcakes. You could always add more chocolate chips but I love frosting. Speaking of frosting, I tinted vanilla buttercream yellow and used the leaf tip to create petals. Overlapping the petals makes for a more realistic sunflower. No mishaps with these cupcakes. I think that may be because the last cake mom and I baked together came out a little too moist. Someone added too much butter but I'm not going to say who. What happens in the kitchen sometimes has to stay in the kitchen, right? Anyway I think we were both paying extra attention this time.

Here's to sweet summer time!

Two Blueberry Recipes!

Last  year I went to Berry Patch Farms and picked blueberries with my sorority alum chapter. I tried to talk my mom into going back with me but she was not interested. Luckily this year I was able to talk her into going to Washington Farms in Watkinsville, GA. We had so much fun on Wednesday picking blueberries and strawberries. Sadly all the ripe blackberries were gone by the time we arrived (only two hours after they opened). I guess that means I just have to go back.

With half a gallon of blueberries in the refrigerator (may be a little less since mom and I split them), I started searching the food blogs for ideas of what to bake. I discovered a fabulous recipe for a Lemon Curd Blueberry Tart at Foodologie. This was my second attempt at making a tart and the first at preparing homemade lemon curd. My mom wanted me to buy lemon curd at the grocery store which I considered for a split second given that I'm not a double boiler expert. I committed to the homemade option after learning that lemon curd is $3.69 for a 10 oz. jar at Publix. Homemade just seems "healthier" when you read the ingredients of the store bought version. Mom and I struggled to get the lemon curd to thicken. After 15 minutes we took it off the stove, added the butter, and hoped for the best. It turned out great! Such an amazing flavor with blueberries and the graham cracker crust.

My great grandmother's tart pan did not have such a happy ending though. She gave the pan to my mom decades ago after asking my mom, "Do you know what to do with this?" About five years ago I found the pan buried under all the other pans in my mom's kitchen and gave it a go with a Kraft foods recipe that consisted of jello and fruit. It was good but we didn't know how to get it out of the pan neatly. The same thing happened this time and I decided it was time for us part ways with the tart pan. Other tarts I've seen online do no look like this pan. It was sentimental but I think I'm better off purchasing a new tart pan or maybe some tartlets. Sorry I didn't post more pics but I think you can understand given the pan situation.

Lemon Blueberry Tartlets
1 package graham crackers
6 tbsp melted butter
3 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup lemon juice (about the juice of 2 lemons)
4 tbsp butter, softened
zest of 2 lemons
1-2 cups blueberries
Make your crust:
Crush the graham crackers, pour melted butter over graham cracker crumbs.  Toss to combine and press into one large tart pan or about 5 mini tartlet pans.  Refrigerate.
Make Lemon Filling:
Place a stainless steel or glass bowl over a pot of boiling water.  In the bowl, combine the eggs, sugar, and lemon juice.  Stir over the double boiler until thick.  This will take about 10 minutes.  Carefully remove from heat and stir in the butter and lemon zest.  Set aside and allow to cool completely.  You can make this a day or two in advance and just keep it refrigerated.
Assemble Tartlets:
Spoon lemon filling into prepared graham cracker crusts.  Arrange blueberries over the filling.  Sprinkle with a little powdered sugar to make it look extra special.
Serve immediately or refrigerate.  Makes 5 mini tartlets or 1 large tart.

Next up is blueberry scones. Anything dough like is intimidating to me. Thankfully my mom mastered my great grandmother's biscuit recipe recently and she was present for the scone making. I found this recipe at www.tasteofhome.com This was much easier than the lemon curd. Lol. Mom was not understanding how to cut the dough into wedges but once I compared it to pizza she was on board. Someone commented on the site that these freeze well so we shall find out the next time I'm ready to sit down with one of these delicious scones and a hot cup of tea or coffee.

Blueberry Scones

Ingredients

• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 6 tablespoons sugar
• 4-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons cold butter
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk, divided
• 1-1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

Directions

• In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt; cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. In a bowl, whisk eggs and 3/4 cup milk; add to dry ingredients just until moistened. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; gently knead in the blueberries.
• Divide the dough in half. Pat each portion into an 8-in. circle; cut each into eight wedges. Place on greased baking sheets. Brush with remaining milk. Bake at 375° for 15-20 minutes or until tops are golden brown. Serve warm. Yield: 16 scones.

One cup of blueberries remain in the refrigerator. I may freeze them but then again I may bake blueberry muffins. Oh how I love berries!

Happy Summer!!!