June Cupkins Double Whammy: Part 1

It's the first Monday of the month!  Welcome to CUPKINS, a collaboration between Meg at Mega•Crafty and I.  Each month, Meg shares a muffin recipe and I share a cupcake recipe with the same theme.  This month, we're giving you a double whammy of Cupkins with today's post themed around Father's Day, and a second installment in two weeks featuring 4th July themed cupcakes and muffins!

Check out my Chocolate Banana "Dad" Cupcakes and Meg's Chocolate Stout Muffins!

Chocolate Banana "Dad" Cupcakes

My Dad loves all things banana, and when we were kids my Mum used to make chocolate banana cake (it's a super easy recipe, made in a blender of all things!  I'll have to share it with you sometime...)  These cupcakes are a little bit of an homage to that cake.

To bake these cupakes, I simply used a box of chocolate cupcake mix and added one cup of mashed, ripe bananas.  This makes for a pretty moist cupcake, and some of the banana will rise to the top of the cupcakes making them a little sticky, so these are best eaten as soon as possible.  They don't keep long.

The decorating was the fun part.  I tinted some fondant a yellow-ish color (you can either make your own or buy the fondant pre-made at JoAnn's, Michaels, Hobby Lobby, etc) and cut out lots of two inch circles using a fondant cutter (a metal cookie color will work fine as well)

Use plenty of powdered sugar when rolling and cutting your fondant.  When you have everything cute out, wipe the powdered sugar off with a paper towel spritzed with a little bit of butter flavored cooking spray.  It will clean up the fondant and give it a nice sheen.

I then used a tube of decorating gel (like this) to write "dad" on each circle of fondant.  So easy!

Using a piping bag filled with white buttercream (you could tint yours, or flavor it.  I stuck with white vanilla) and pipe a circle of frosting on the top of each cupcake.  Gently place a fondant circle on the top of the frosting.

Present your dad with customized cupcakes for Father's Day in whatever flavor, displaying whatever greeting you'd like!  They're easy to do and sure to be a hit!

Now hop on over to Meg's place to check out her Father's Day inspired muffins by clicking on the Cupkins logo below...

May Cupkins: Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes!

It's the first Monday of the month!  Welcome to the May edition of CUPKINS, a collaboration between Meg at Mega•Crafty and I.  Each month, Meg shares a muffin recipe and I share a cupcake recipe with the same theme.  This month's theme is strawberries - my favorite fruit!  Check out my Strawberry Lemonade cupcakes, then head over to Meg's to see her Strawberry Rhubarb crumble top muffins!

Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes

These cupcakes leave me longing for summertime (yup, the weather is still not quite summery here in Michigan!) and a cool glass of lemonade.  They're easy to make and deliciously light to eat!

Ingredients for the frosting...

4 cups confectioners sugar, 2 tbsp whipping cream, 1 cup butter, 1 cup shortening, strawberries, lemon (recipe based on Saucy's never fail buttercream recipe)

Ingredients for the cupcakes...

White cake mix, 6 strawberries, zest of 1 lemon, 1/2 cup 7up or similar citrus soda, 3 eggs, 1/2 cup butter.

Let's get started!

Check out these uber-cute cupcake liners!  They're Reynolds brand and I got mine in the regular baking aisle at the grocery store.  Cute AND inexpensive... I love it!  Whatever liners you choose to use, go ahead and line those cupcake pans now and set aside...

To make the cupcakes...

Combine white cake mix, 7-Up, butter, and eggs.  Dice about six large strawberries and zest one lemon.  Add to mix and stir gently...

Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake at 325 for 18-20 minutes.  Look how pretty!

To make the frosting...

Cut three to four large strawberries into quarters and blend in a food processor until liquid.  Do not discard solids or seeds!

Make Saucy's never-fail buttercream according to her directions minus the vanilla, then split the batch in two.  Gently stir in strawberries to one half-batch, and add 2 tbsp lemon juice (freshly squeezed) and a dab of yellow food coloring to the second half-batch.

Now it's time to frost...

Fill a piping bag with the lemon frosting and a 2D or 1M tip, and pipe one and a half circles on the top of each cupcake...

Fill another piping bag (fitted with the same tip you used for the lemon) with strawberry frosting and pipe the rest of the swirl.  Garnish cupcakes with strawberry halves and lemon slice quarters!

Have you ever seen something so delicious-looking?!  Enjoy!

Now hop on over to Meg's to check out her Strawberry Rhubarb crumble top Muffins.  Just click on the Cupkins logo to head over to her place!  Have a great day!

April Cupkins - Spring Swirl Cupcakes

It's the first Monday of the month!  Welcome to the April edition of CUPKINS, a collaboration between Meg at Mega•Crafty and I.  Each month, Meg shares a muffin recipe and I share a cupcake recipe with the same theme.  This month's theme is SPRING!

Spring Swirl Cupcakes
These are more of a technique than a recipe - I'm swamped this month!  These swirled cupcakes are as much fun to make as they are to eat though - and kids are amazed by them!  

How to:   

Using a vanilla cupcakes recipe, make cupcake batter then divide the batter into two seperate bowls.  Add food coloring of your choice to each bowl.  I used pink and yellow.  When filling your cupcake liners, add one color first, then the other, using a spoon or small measuring cup.  Continue to alternate
colors until your liners are 2/3 full.
 

Bake per cupcake recipe directions and allow to fully cool.  Look how pretty they are inside!

To Decorate:

Keep it simple.  Swirl on some frosting using a ziploc bag instead of a piping bag.  Cut the tip off a corner of the bag to use to pipe.  I used plain white frosting for this part.

With smaller ziploc bags of each pink and yellow frosting, cut a very small tip off one corner of the bags - as small as you can.  Pipe pink circles to make the flower petals, and yellow circles to make the center of the flowers.

These would be perfect for Mother's Day, too!  The swirl technique can be used in many color combination's for different holidays and events.  Check out examples here and here.

Now hop on over to Meg's place to see her Daffodil Lemon Muffins... they are absolutely AMAZING!

March Cupkins - St. Patrick's Day!

It's the first Monday of the month!  Welcome to the March edition of CUPKINS, a collaboration between Meg at Mega•Crafty and I.  Each month, Meg shares a muffin recipe and I share a cupcake recipe with the same theme.  This month's theme is St. Patrick's Day!

 

Double Chocolate Irish Creme Cupcakes

For this recipe, I started with Martha's one-bowl chocolate cupcake recipe and gave it my own twist to combine two of my favorite things... chocolate and irish creme!

Cupcake Ingredients:  1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 3/4 cup cocoa powder, 1 1/2 cups sugar, 1 1/2 tsp baking soda, 3/4 tsp baking powder, 3/4 teaspoon salt, 2 eggs, 3/4 cup buttermilk, 3 tbsp vegetable oil, 1 tsp vanilla, 3/4 cup warm water

Frosting Ingredients:  2 oz semi-sweet chocolate, 1 stick butter, 16 oz powdered sugar, 3/4 cup irish creme, 1/2 cup cocoa powder

How To:  Make One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes per Martha's recipe... because she's sweet (you could use any chocolate cupcake recipe... but I like this one because it's extra dark and moist)

Be warned that the batter when ready to pour into liners is very wet... a lot sloppier than most cupcake batters.  Don't be scared... trust Martha!

Once cupcakes are cooled, it's time for frosting fun!

Combine the chocolate and butter in a small saucepan over low heat until melted - add the cocoa and stir until smooth. 

Transfer the chocolate mix into your mixer - and whisk in powedered sugar (gradually) and irish creme.  Add a little more of one or the other if you want your frosting a little more or less moist.  I like a pretty sturdy frosting - easier to pipe!

Pipe some of that deliciousness on to your cupcakes, and garnish with some green sprinkles.  Festive!

Now, hop on over to Meg's by clicking on the Cupkins logo below, and check out her Guinness Spiced Muffins!

And for more delicious Cupkins recipes... click on the Cupkins logo in the sidebar to your right! ---------------------->

 

Cupkins: Valentines Edition!

It's the first Monday of the month - welcome to the February edition of CUPKINS, a collaboration between Meg at Mega•Crafty and I.  Each month, Meg shares a muffin recipe and I share a cupcake recipe with the same theme.  

This month's theme is Valentines Day, naturally!  To see Meg's Valentines muffins, click on the Cupkins logo at the bottom of this post!

(left) Joanne's Chocolate Strawberry Cupcakes and (right) Meg's Strawberry & Chocolate Champagne Muffins

Chocolate Strawberry Cupcakes 

(strawberry filled chocolate cupcakes with sweet strawberry frosting)

To begin, bake your favorite chocolate cupcakes.  My favorite recipe is Martha's one bowl chocolate cupcakes, but if you're stretched for time you can go the easy route as well.  I used these cute cupcake liners by Wilton for my cupcakes...

Once your cupcakes are baked and cooled, grab your Wilton tip 230 and some strawberry jam.  Fill up a piping bag.  Insert the tip into the top of your cupcake and give it a good squeeze to fill it.

Yum!  Filled cupcake goodness!  Set them aside while you work on the frosting.

I used the basic buttercream recipe from the book Hello, Cupcake! with a few tweaks.  Whisk one 13oz container of marshmallow fluff, then add 3 sticks of softened butter gradually, and beat until well combined.  Next, add 1tbsp of strawberry extract, your food coloring and 1 cup of powdered sugar.  Beat until fluffy and set aside.

Next it's time to pipe your chocolate... a la Martha's valentine filagree hearts per her February issue of Living.  I used wax paper to pipe my chocolate on, and then key is to pipe out of the smallest hole possible.  Pipe into hearts... or whatever you like!

Put your chocolate in the freezer for fifteen minutes to set.  Then assemble your cupcakes!

And there you have it, a beautiful and delicious Valentines treat!  Don't they look gorgeous on my new cupcake stand?

 

 

Happy (early) Valentines Day, friends!  Now click on the Cupkins logo to head over to Meg's place!