Choc full of pumpkin loooooove

I live in a little town, not far from where I grew up - in another little town. I actually attended Elementary school in the school that my kids currently attend. It's funny, because I always swore that once I could get out of here, I would. Interestingly enough, I've ended up back where I started. Granted, I'd move to Seattle at the drop of a hat, if I could, but currently I can't. Fingers crossed, I'll be able to go sooner than later.

Anyway, every year the local fire department sponsors a chili supper so they can raise money for the department, and the EMT's. I was asked if I would be willing to donate baked goods for the bake sale, and of course, I did! Since I wasn't over my pumpkin love yet, I wanted to make something pumpkiny, yet unique. These Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes seemed like the way to go. Not only was I satisfying my pumpkin craving, I was also making something kinda off the wall. I wouldn't have thought these flavors would have melted together as well as they did, until I tasted one. Big thumbs up over here!!

Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes

pired by Phemomenon.com

For the cupcakes:

2 c all-purpose flour

3 Tbsp cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp kosher salt

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp ground cloves

1 1/4 c dark brown sugar

2/3 c granulated sugar

3/4 c canola oil

3 large egs

1 can (15oz) pumpkin puree

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 c sour cream

For Salted Caramel Sauce

3/4 c granulated sugar

2 tsp light corn sugar

1 stick salted butter, cubed

2 Tbsp heavy cream

1/4 tsp sea salt

For the Cream Cheese Buttercream

1 8oz pkg cream cheese, softened

1 stick unsatled butter, softened

6 c confectioners' sugar

1 1/2 Tbsp vanilla

For the ganache

4 oz semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 c heavy cream

2 Tbsp confectioners' sugar

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and prep your cupcake pans with liners. Combine all your dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Whisk until blended, and set aside.

In your mixer bowl, beat together oil and sugars until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, and blend for about 2 minutes until smooth. Add pumpkin, vanilla, then sour cream to bowl. Mix for about 1 minute, scraping bowl down as necessary. Turn mixer down to low, and slowly add dry ingredients.

Scoop batter into cupcake pans and bake for 15-17 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 7 minutes, then remove to cooling rack.

For your carmel sauce, place sugar and corn syrup in a medium saucepan. Set heat to medium low and melt sugar crystals. You don't want to stir this, directly. If you need to shift the sugar a bit, simply swirl your pan around a few times. After about 5 minutes or so, grab a spatula and stir the contents gently, to make sure everything is melting, and nothing is burning. Once all the sugar is melted, add cream and watch it bubble! Stir the cream, then add the butter pieces and salt. Continue stirring until it thickens. Make sure that as soon as it begins to thicken up, remove from heat! It took me twice to do this right. The first time, I totally burnt my caramel. How did I know? It got REALLY dark REALLY fast, and when it was cool enough for me to taste, it tasted awful. My 2nd go at it was delish. Here are a few pics of my carmel making process (the 2nd time around) Allow this to cool completely before you prepare your frosting with it.

Sugar melting

Butter & Salt Added

Beginning to go Amber

Perfect!!

For your frosting whip together cream cheese and butter. Add your vanilla, and half of your sugar. Continue adding your sugar, until it's a nice consistency (about 5 1/2 c sugar for me!) Increase mixer speed to medium and pour carmel sauce into bowl, along inside of mixer bowl. Once desired amount of sauce is in, increase mixer speed to medium high and mix for another minute or so, until it's nice and smooth. Once frosting is complete, remove from mixer and chill in the fridge. This will make it a lot easier to pipe or spread on cupcakes. Fill piping bag (if using) with frosting and pipe your cakes.

Last, but not least, the ganache! Put all the ganache ingredients in a microwave safe bowl and heat on high for 30 seconds, or until warm to the touch (not HOT....waaaarm!) Remove from micro and whisk together until sugar is completely dissolved. Place in the refrigerator and chill for about 20-25 minutes, until cool. Not COLD....cooooool! Once ganache is cooled, spoon over our frosted cupcakes.

You may want these to set for a few seconds before you dig in, to allow ganache to set up....then again, maybe not. Enjoy!

The Hostess with the Mostest

When I first started entertaining the idea of this "cupcake of the week" project, I came across a recipe for a mock-Hostess cupcake. I knew I would eventually make these, mainly for my kids amusement. I mean, seriously, are there any parents who's kids do not ask for these when they walk by them in a store? Heck, even I find myself eyeballing them!

Well, I finally worked them into my schedule and the reaction was worth the many steps required to prepare them! The kids think I'm the best mom/baker EVER and those taste testers lucky enough to get one indicated that they were "better than Hostess" Woo hoo! These were winners!

Chocolate Cupcake with Cream filling

Inspired by Babble.com

For the cupcake:

1 1/2 c sugar

2 c all purpose flour

3/4 c Dutch processed cocoa (E. Guittard Cocoa Rouge I purchased at Sur La Table)

1 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 c oil

3/4 c buttermilk

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/4 c medium roast coffee (I used Starbucks Pike's Place blend), warm

For the filling:

4 Tbsp unsalted butter

1 c confectioners' sugar

2 tsp vanilla

8 oz marshmallow creme

For the ganache:

3/4 c whipping cream

7 oz semisweet chocolate

For the icing:

4 oz unsalted butter

1 1/2 c confectioners' sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1-2 tsp water

Preheat oven to 325, and line your muffin pans with cupcake liners. 

In your mixer bowl, combine sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix together for about 30 seconds, on low, to get everything blended. In a large liquid measuring cup, combine eggs, oil, buttermilk, and vanilla. Whisk together, to incorporate, then slowly pour into your mixer, against the inner wall. Bring mixer to medium speed, and mix for about 2 minutes, until everything is completely incorporated. Batter will look like brownie batter, very thick. Remove bowl from mixer, the add your coffee. Whisk in, by hand, until absorbed into batter.

Scoop batter into cupcake liners, filling about 3/4 full. Bake at 325 for 22 minutes. Remove from oven, and cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove cupcakes to a wire rack, and allow to cool completely. 

While cupcakes cool, prepare your filling. In your mixer bowl, combine all of your filling ingredients, and whip until fluffy, which will be about 2 minutes. Scoop into piping bag, and fill each cupcake, using a long filling tip.

Once cupcakes are filled, prepare your ganache. Place cream in a small saucepan, over medium heat. Meanwhile, coarsely chop up chocolate, and place in a heat resistant bowl. When cream comes to a boil, pour over chocolate, and begin whisking, until chocolate has completely melted. Once this happens, stop whisking. Dip cupcakes, upside-down, into ganache, making sure to coat each top evenly. Allow excess to drip off, then return to wire rack, to allow ganache to set.

Prepare frosting while cupcakes set up. Whip together all of the icing ingredients with 1 tsp water. Add more water, until desired consistency is reached. You want icing to be semi-thin, so it is easily pipe-able. Using a #3 tip, pipe squiggles on tops of cupcakes. 

Once cupcakes are set up, dig in! You'll be your kids hero when they open up their lunch boxes the next day!

I Like to "Lance"... Uh, Break it down...

On Aug 7th, 2011, at 7:11pm, my 3rd child was born. Who would have thought that my heart could fill with even more love for my family? AJ has brought so much joy to our already happy family, that when his birthday approached, I knew we had to do something special. First birthday's have become kind of a phenomenon. My sister went CRAZY with her daughter's first birthday, and it was incredible. It took her months to hand make all sorts of party favors and decorations - I was in awe, and a bit worried. I mean...how was I going to top that?!? Well, I quickly decided that I couldn't, so I'd keep it low-key. Besides, I have 3 kids, a husband, 2 cats, a job, and a blog to take care of!

Anyway, one of AJ's favorite things is Yo Gabba Gabba. If you've seen it only once, you probably think it's the most bizarre show ever created. If you've seen it multiple times, you probably love it and know 1/2 of the songs, along with all the character's names! That is where we are. AJ gets sucked into Gabba Land on a daily basis (I know - bad mom who lets her baby watch tv...eeek! Please reference earlier comment about having 3 kits....a husband...pets....you get the picture) Needless to say, we went with a Yo Gabba Gabba theme. I decided early on that his "smash" cake would be the boom box, and that we would serve cupcakes for the other guests. I was hanging out on Etsy and found this lady who sold mini DJ Lance glasses that you could put on cupcakes. I had to have them so we could have DJ Lance cupcakes! Before I knew it, we had DJ Lance cupcakes planned, but no flavor in mind! Panic - "How can we have over the top cupcakes to serve that are chocolate with orange frosting?" We mix the chocolate and orange flavors together and come up with Orange Chocolate Cupcakes...with Orange Buttercream. Yay!!

Orange Chocolate Cupcakes with Orange Buttercream

For the cupcake:
1/2 c butter, softened
1 1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 c flour
1/2 c baking cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c milk
1/4 c water
1/4 c orange juice

For the Frosting:
1/2 c unsalted butter, softened
1/2 c shortening
2-3 tsp water
1-2 tsp pure orange extract (depending on intensity you desire)
4 c confectioners' sugar

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and line your cupcake pans with cupcake liners.
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, which is about 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, combining well. Add vanilla. In a medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa, soda, and salt. In a medium measuring cup combine milk, water, and orange juice.
Turning your mixer on low, begin alternately adding flour mixture and liquids to your mixer bowl, beginning and ending with flour.
Bake cupcakes for 15-17 minutes, or until tops bounce back when touched. Cool in pans for 10 minutes, then remove to wire rack.
While cupcakes cool, you can work on your frosting.
Combine butter, shortening, 1 tsp water, and 1 tsp extract in mixer bowl. Cream together at medium speed, for about 2 minutes. Reduce mixer speed and add sugar, about 1 cup at a time, until incorporated. If frosting is too thick, add more water, until desired consistency is met. If you want more orange flavor, add a few more drops of extract.
Pipe frosting on cooled cupcakes, then enjoy!!

A salty-sweet treat

When I was flipping through my cookbook/magazine last week, looking at the Shamrock Milkshake Cupcake I stumbled upon this recipe. As soon as I saw the word "salt' AND "caramel" in the title I knew this was going to happen asap. I mentioned to a few coworkers last week that this was my plan, and they all started drooling, immediately. All of those weight-watchers instantly made a plan to watch their points for the following Wednesday because a possibly epic cupcake was on it's way.
What is it with salt vs. sweet? Perhaps you're not sure if you're a fan of that combo, yet? Well, if you need some convincing, give this a whirl. You won't be disappointed.

Salted Caramel-Chocolate-Bourbon Cupcake

from BHG Cupcake Magazine, or on their website

For the batter:

1 c butter

3 eggs

2 c all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 1/2 c water

1/3 c bourbon

3 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped

2 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped

2 c sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

For the fudge frosting: 

6 oz bittersweet chocolate, shopped

2 tbsp butter

1/2 c sour cream

2 1/2 c powdered sugar

For the salted caramel:

2 tbsp whipping cream

1 tbsp bourbon

24 unwrapped vanilla caramels

1/4 tsp sea salt

Additional sea salt, for garnish

Allow butter & eggs to sit at room temperature for 30 min. Meanwhile, prep your cupcake pans. This recipe will give you between 32 & 36 cupcakes, no problem. In a medium bowl stir together your flour, soda, and kosher salt. set aside.

In a small microwave-safe bowl, microwave (uncovered) your bittersweet & semisweet chocolate for 1 minute, then stir. Microwaver for another 30 seconds, then stir until smooth. Let cool slightly.

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter by itself for about 30 seconds, then slowly begin to add your sugar, about 1/4 c at a time. Beat at medium speed until combined, scraping as necessary. Slow down your mixer, then add your eggs one at a time, making sure they are fully incorporated after each addition. Beat in melted chocolate and vanilla. Alternately add flour mixture, and bourbon mixture to the chocolate mixer, beating at low speed after each addition, until just combined.

Grab your trusty ice cream scoop and start scooping batter into your cups, filling about 3/4 full. Now, you want to add this much batter because these are not going to rise (and stay risen) like your normal cupcakes. These are going to fall. Little makes my heart as sad as it gets to see my beautiful cupcakes deflate! About 3/4 into cooking time you will look through the window and see some beautifully plump cupcakes. By the time you remove them from the oven, they will be flat as a pancake - maybe even flatter if hey have an indent. Don't cry....don't panic - accept it for what it is, then move on. How could you possibly easily pool a puddle of caramel sauce on top of a rounded cupcake? See...it'll be ok. 

Bake your cupcakes for 18 minutes, or until your toothpick comes out clean, when inserted. Let cool in trays for 5 minutes, then remove them to a wire tray, to finish cooing. While they cool, prep your frosting.

In a medium saucepan melt 6 oz bittersweet chocolate and 2 tbsp butter over low heat. Stir frequently, or you risk it burning. Once melted, remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes. Stir in 1/2 c sour cream. Put your powdered sugar in mixer bowl. Once your sour cream is incorporated into chocolate, pour that into mixer bowl, and mix at low speed, initially, then increase to medium. Mix until combined. Once this is done, I'd go ahead and pipe borders around all of your cupcakes, so they have time to set while you make your caramel.

In a small saucepan combine whipping cream and bourbon. Heat over medium-low heat until steaming (NOT BOILING) Add caramels and 1/4 tsp sea salt. Mix constantly until melted and smooth. Spoon into centers of cupcakes, then garnish with sea salt.