Mimosa Cupcakes

These Mimosa cupcakes remind me of our honeymoon so much.  I tried my first mimosa on our honeymoon to Antigua when almost every morning we would be offered a flute at breakfast.  We would wake up and step out into the cool island breeze and dine on an airy patio next to the beach and sip our mimosas...relaxation and luxury.  So, I will forever associate mimosas with a calm, breezy, wonderful tropical island vacation.

These cupcakes have that fresh orange tang and pack a bit of punch with their bold orange flavor.  For the frosting, I used champagne flavoring.  But, the more I thought about it the more I realized I can't really explain what champagne actually tastes like, it is more of a texture to me.  Same with the frosting.  The blend of frosting and cupcake is perfect, but I have trouble explaining exactly what it tastes like.  You'll just have to try it!

Neapolitan Cupcakes!

These are coconut cupcakes topped with chocolate, coconut, and strawberry cream cheese frosting.  This is by far my best attempt at strawberry cream cheese frosting.  I don't normally use imitation flavorings, but I tried imitation strawberry this time.  The flavor was great, but the only problem was that the extract did not color the frosting pink, and I ran out of red food coloring!  Luckily, I had a few strawberries in the fridge and so I smashed one and mixed it into the frosting - it worked!  It also added an extra punch to the flavoring of the frosting. 

I also don't normally use cocoa powder.  All my chocolate cupcakes are made with melted Baker's or Ghirardeli (my favorite!) chocolate.  But, I didn't feel like doing the extra dishes it would take to melt chocolate (making 3 different flavors of frosting already produces way too many dishes - dishes are the only thing I don't like about baking) and I had a trustworthy recipe using cocoa powder.  It turns out, I liked the cocoa powder in the frosting!  And, it made it easier to pipe than adding melted chocolate.  Another surprising success!

An Easter Cupcake and My First Attempt at Cake Pops

These are my Chai Cupcakes topped with Cinnamon Buttercream, chocolate birds nests, and carrot cake blue bird eggs.  I melted chocolate and piped it into free-form birds nests.  At the time, I was also making my first attempt at cake pops for our family Easter dinner.  So, I used the extra cake pop batter to roll out the mini bird's eggs and dipped them in white chocolate. 

My first attempt at the now-popular cake pops was a success!  An interesting and time-consuming task, but a successful one with rave reviews!

Mint Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

I love the way these cupcakes look - simple elegance.  But, I am still trying to work on the mint flavoring, it is not quite perfect, yet!  But, as it stands it is a chocolate chip cupcake with mint buttercream with chocolate chips hidden between the layers of frosting.  Generally speaking, I am not good at making buttercream (I like cream cheese frosting better anyway), but my last two have been impressive.  I think I'm improving.

Chocolate Chip Nutella Cupcakes - Need I Say More?

These are delicious - they may be one of my favorites.  They are simple, but let's face it, Nutella is just always delicious.  The cupcakes are a lite and fluffy chocolate cake with chocolate chips topped with a thin layer of Nutella and Nutella cream cheese frosting.

St. Patrick's Day take 2. Chocolate Mint Cheesecake Cupcakes

I have been wanting to try to make a cheesecake cupcake and figured a no-bake cheesecake recipe would be perfect to start with.  These cupcakes have an oreo crust bottom and a mint cheesecake center topped with mint chocolate ganache.  I am not big on non-edible decorations, but I made these with the kids at my afterschool program and they loved the easy decorations and, most importantly, the cupcakes!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Green Tea Cupcakes!

Matcha powder is the key to green tea cupcakes.  I searched far and wide for matcha and was met with blank stares all around.  On attempt #5 I went to a local Asian Market and the clerk knew exactly what I was talking about - finally!  Mission accomplished!  These green tea cupcakes are filled with a green tea buttercream to give the cupcakes a greater concentration of the green tea flavor.  Whenever I drink green tea, I always choose one with an added flavoring, my favorite being Lipton's mango green tea; therefore, the cupcakes are topped with mango whipped cream!

Caramel Apple Cupcakes - cheesecake or pie?

A friend of mine asked me to make caramel apple cupcakes.  I had made them before, but I thought that I could do better.  I definitely did!  These cupcakes start with a vanilla cupcake base.  The middle of the cupcake is scooped out and apple pie filling is spooned in.  The cupcake is then frosted with a caramel cream cheese frosting and a thick caramel drizzle.  So the cupcake contains apple pie filling, but a cream cheese frosting, should I call it a pie or a cheesecake cupcake?

Pumpkin Cheesecake Cupcakes

One school vacation week in the fall a friend and I were traveling home from college.  She had baked pumpkin muffins for the journey.  My whole car was filled with the spice and scents of fall - pumpkin, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice.  What a wonderful ride it was.  She was kind enough to give me this moist pumpkin muffin recipe which I topped with cream cheese frosting.  I got creative and attempted almond slice flowers on top. 

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes

 

Chocolate covered strawberries are so decadent and elegant, yet so simple.  These are chocolate brownie cupcakes with chocolate chips and strawberries baked into the batter.  These cupcakes came out amazingly moist.   The cupcakes are frosted with a strawberry cream cheese frosting and a chocolate covered strawberry (covered in Ghirardelli chocolate of course!).  You;ll come to realize that Ghirardelli chocolate is my absolute favorite.

Banana Toffee Dulce Cupcakes

This is a banana cupcake with Heath milk chocolate toffee bits folded into the batter.  The cupcake is frosted with a Dulce de Leche cream cheese frosting.  Prepared Dulce de Leche is extremely hard to find!  I searched in all the local grocery store, and finally found a sauce made by Stonewall Kitchen.  I have heard that you can make the sauce using a can of sweetened condensed milk, boiling water, and possibly a pressure cooker - I haven't tried that method yet.  The cupcake is drizzled with more Dulce de Leche and is topped with a chocolate covered banana sprinkled with the milk chocolate toffee bits.  Yum!  This recipe is adapted from a Food Network Cupcake Wars recipe.

Chocolate Covered Pretzel: A Pretzel Crust and Chocolate Cake covered in a Ghirardelli Chocolate Ganache

Chocolate covered pretzels are delicious.  There is something about the combination of salt, chocolate, and crunch.  This cupcake has it all!  The cupcake has a baked pretzel crust topped with a chocolate cupcake and dipped into a Ghirardelli dark chocolate ganache.  My first ganache!  According to Wikipedia, "ganache is a glaze, icing, or sauce made from chocolate and cream.  Ganache is normally made by heating cream, then pouring it over chopped dark semi-sweet chocolate. The mixture is stirred or blended until smooth, with liquors or extracts added, if desired."  This recipe is from my very favorite cupcake blog - The Cupcake Project by Steph.

Chocolate Brownie Cupcakes with Raspberry Buttercream: Happy Valentine's Day!

Greek Yogurt and Honey Cupcakes: A tribute to my study abroad

I called Stephanie that morning to tell her that I had searched far and wide for match powder to no avail.  She was planning to come over that afternoon to make green tea cupcakes (coming soon!) , but I couldn't get my hands on the matcha powder, so I decided we would make these cupcakes.  I had all the ingredients, since I eat chobani vanilla yogurt every morning.  She was a little skeptical, as you might be.  These are a Greek yogurt and honey cupcake topped with only chobani vanilla yogurt and honey!  When you bake this many cupcakes, sometimes you have to do a healthier version!  The cupcakes turned out fantastic.  The soft and warm honey cake paired beautifully with the cool, creamy yogurt.  The yogurt got a kick of sweetness by the final honey drizzle - yum!  Now, Stephanie is hooked on Chobani yogurt and these cupcakes!

Philipi

Monemvasia with Brittany, Me, and Erin

I strongly dislike this picture of myself, but I had to put it up.  This was the place where we had the most delicious Greek yogurt drizzled with honey as our dessert.

The Acropolis

Canoli Cupcakes: Inspired by our week in Boston

Nate and I recently spent some time in Boston.  The Coast Guard base 9where we can get parking) is perpendicular to Hanover Street-the little Italy of Boston.  Naturally, we found ourselves eating canoli and learning of the feud between Mike's and Modern Pastry.  We decided to join in the fun and do a taste comparison ourselves.  We tried canoli from both places and the winner is...Mike's Pastry!  Well, all this canoli eating inspired me to make a canoli cupcake!  I am so proud of these cupcakes.  To me, they are truly a work of genius.

The process:
1.  Baking vanilla bean cupcakes.  I used a real vanilla bean for the first time, thus making me feel legit. 
2. Using "the cupcake plunger" to make holes for filling.  I was a little confused by the little contraption at first, but I got the hang of it.
3. Dip canoli shells in chocolate.
4. Put a piece of canoli shell and chocolate chips at the bottom of the cupcake filling hole.
5. Pipe ricotta canoli filling into the cupcake.
6. Add more chocolate chips.
7. Pipe more ricotta canoli filling onto the top of the cupcake.
8. Garnish with a chocolate dipped canoli shell.
9. Eat and be amazed.



Here is the final product!  I made a few with whole canoli on top!

Chocolate Brownie Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Cream Frosting: One of my top three

In my quest to out-do myself and impress Nate, I made these chocolate peanut butter cupcakes.  I am trying to make a cupcake that Nate likes even more than the cookies and cream cupcakes, but I am still unsuccessful.  This is one of my top three favorites, though.  My top three, in no particular order, are Chai Cupcakes with Cinnamon Buttercream (my best buttercream to date), these chocolate brownie cupcakes with peanut butter cream frosting, and my canoli cupcakes.  So, how did these cupcakes earn a spot in the top three.  Well. each part of the cupcake is delicious on it's own.  Especially that peanut butter cream frosting.  The frosting recipe I have always makes extra frosting, so I keep a jar of it in my refridgerator and snack on it all by itself!  I also use Ghirardelli chocolate chips in this recipe, Ghirardelli is my favorite chocolate.  And, lastly, chocolate and peanut butter is just always a delicious combination.

 

Decorated with a cupcake topping a cupcake - an idea from "Confessions of a Cookbook Queen"

Lemon Cupcakes with Whipped Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting: An early anniversary cupcake

Nate and I were married in May of 2011.  Our wedding color was yellow and, therefore, our had a little bit of a lemon theme going.  For our favors we gave out Trader Joes lemon curd.  Generally, no one had any idea what that was, but when our guests tried it on toast, yogurt, ice-cream, and cheesecakes, they fell in love!  We had some extra lemon curd and one day I looked at the label and realized it was about the expire!  So, I had to make our anniversary cupcakes a little early.