Featured on "Cupcakes Take the Cake"

What a wonderful surprise!!! That's all I can say. One of my personal favorite cupcakes - my Lemon Meringue Cupcake is featured today on Cupcakes Take the Cake for National Lemon Meringue Pie Day. Click on the link to go to the mention. I am really honored to have had four of my cupcakes featured on this amazing Blog all about cupcakes.

These Lemon Meringue Cupcakes are absolutely delicious. Click here to go to my post with the recipe. Thanks again Cupcakes Take the Cake for the shout out!

Cannoli Cupcakes - A taste of Italy

The second cupcake inspired by my trip to Italy is a Cannoli Cupcake.  I discovered Cannoli's when I moved to New York City after I graduated from college.  Ferrara's in Little Italy was a favorite place to enjoy these delicious Italian pastries. 

Cannoli are Sicilian pastry desserts. The singular is cannolo, meaning "little tube". Cannoli originated in Sicily and are an essential part of Sicilian cuisine. They are also popular in Italian American cuisine and in the United States are known as a general Italian pastry, while they are specifically Sicilian in origin. In Italy they are commonly known as "cannoli siciliani", Sicilian cannoli.

Cannoli consist of tube-shaped shells of fried pastry dough, filled with a sweet, creamy filling usually containing ricotta cheese. They range in size from "cannulicchi", no bigger than a finger, to the fist-sized proportions typically found in Piana degli Albanesi, south of Palermo, Sicily.

These little pastries are a bit of Italian heaven and so are these Cannoli Cupcakes.

Cannoli Cupcakes

recipe adapted from Sugarcrafter

Bake at 375 degrees

Makes 24 Cupcakes

Cupcakes:

2 1/2 cups flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 3/4 cups sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

3 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 Tablespoon Marsala wine

1 cup milk

1 cup ricotta cheese

1 teaspoon orange zest

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line two cupcake pans with cupcake wrappers; set aside.

Combine all of the dry cake ingredients together in a medium bowl. In a different, larger bowl, mix together the butter, eggs, vanilla, Marsala wine, and milk. Add in the ricotta cheese, orange zest, and powdered sugar to the wet ingredients and then add in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until combined.

Pour the batter into cupcake liners, 24 in total. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Remove the cupcakes from the muffin pans to a cooling rack. While the cupcakes are cooling, make the cannoli filling.

Cannoli filling:

1 (15 ounce) container ricotta cheese

1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

1 tablespoon zest of one orange

1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips, chopped fine

To make the cannoli filling, stir together the ricotta cheese and confectioners' sugar by hand using a spoon. Do not use a mixer. Fold in the orange zest and chopped chocolate.

When the cupcakes are cool, cut out the middles of each cupcake and using a pastry bag, pipe the cannoli filling into each cupcake, about 1 heaping tablespoon. After all the cupcakes have been filled, make the buttercream frosting.

Vanilla Bean Buttercream Frosting:

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1/2 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise

1 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar (10 ounces)

Pinch salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon heavy cream

1 cup pistachios, chopped for garnish

In a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the butter at medium-high speed until smooth, about 20 seconds. Using a paring knife, scrape seeds from vanilla bean into butter and beat mixture at medium-high speed to combine, about 15 seconds.

Add confectioners’ sugar and salt; beat at medium-low speed until most of the sugar is moistened, about 1 minute. Scrape down the bowl and beat at medium speed until mixture is fully incorporated, about 30 seconds; scrape bowl, add vanilla and heavy cream, and beat at medium speed until incorporated, about 20 seconds, then increase speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes, scraping down bowl once or twice. Place the filling into a pastry bag and pipe the frosting on to the filled cupcakes as desired. Garnish with chopped pistachios. If you like your frosting piled high (like I do) double this recipe.

* If not serving right away, store chilled since the filling involves ricotta cheese. These cupcakes will hold at room temp for up to 4 hours safely

Enjoy!

Limoncello Cupcakes - A trip to Italy

I had the wonderful opportunity to travel to Italy the end of June with two of my nieces. We visited Florence, the Cinque Terre and Venice. To say I was inspired by the sights, sounds and food of Italy is an understatement. Since I have been home, I have baked three Italian inspired cupcakes.

When we visited the Cinque Terre, there was a wonderful town called Monterosso that is known for its Limoncello, a liqueur made from lemons. Many people in our tour group bought bottles of Limoncello to bring back to the States. 

 

Today I am going to share the first cupcake with you inspired by our day trip to the Cinque Terre – Limoncello Cupcakes filled with Lemon Curd and topped with a Limoncello Cream Cheese Frosting.

Limoncello Cupcakes

Yield: 2 dozen

For the cupcakes:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
6 large eggs
4 tablespoons Limoncello
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup lemon juice
Zest of one lemon

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and position a rack in the center.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, cream cheese and sugar on medium speed until light and creamy, 2-3 minutes.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add the Limoncello and beat an additional minute.

On low speed, add flour mixture and buttermilk alternatively, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Add the lemon juice and zest and mix on low speed just until incorporated.

Divide the batter between 24 muffin tins. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the middle comes out clean. Let cool completely.

Lemon Curd:

Zest of 4 lemons

1 cup lemon juice

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 egg + 2 egg yolk

In a heavy medium saucepan, stir together the lemon zest, juice and sugar and bring to a simmer over medium heat.

In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and egg yolk. Whisk the lemon mixture into the eggs to temper them. Scrape the mixture back into the saucepan and place over medium heat, whisking constantly until it thickens, about 5 minutes.

Remove from the heat, and let cool completely.

Limoncello Cream Cheese Frosting:

4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

2 tablespoon Limoncello

4 cups powdered sugar, sifted

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and cream cheese on medium speed until light and creamy, about 2-3 minutes.

Add the Limoncello and beat for an additional minute. Reduce the speed to low and gradually add the sifted powdered sugar and beat until fully incorporated and smooth.

Assemble the Cupcakes:

Cut a hole into each cupcake with the large end of a melon baller or the back end of a large pastry tip. Fill each cavity with the lemon curd. Fill a pastry bag with a piping tip (I used Ateco #885) with the cream cheese Limoncello frosting and pipe onto each cupcake. Decorate with a lemon slice and dust with yellow sanding sugar, if desired.

Enjoy!

Salted Caramel Cupcakes - Life Changing!

Having lived 13 years in New York City, I try to visit as often as possible.  Now that one of my best friends has moved to NYC, I have more reason to visit.  I spent this past Memorial Day in NYC visiting and we had a great time.  

Whenever I'm in the city, I have to visit as many cupcake shops and bakeries as possible. This trip was no exception. A new shop on my list is Georgetown Cupcake in Soho.  I first visited this delightful shop in March and I knew I had to go back on this trip.

The shop is beautiful and offers it's customers some very delicious cupcakes.  On this trip I wanted to try their Red Velvet which is their #1 seller.  Their cupcakes are temptingly displayed and I eyed the Red Velvets.

We perused the cupcake flavors.  My friend selected the Maple cupcake, as he's a Fall flavor kind of guy.  I was ready to order the Red Velvet when all of a sudden the Salted Caramel Cupcake began calling my name.  I was under it's spell...

I ordered the Salted Caramel.  We shared our cupcakes so we could each try both flavors.  We started with the Maple.  It had a delicate Maple flavor and was the perfect combination of cake and frosting. This was one delicious cupcake.  Next came the Salted Caramel. We each bit into our half cupcake. Sheer ecstasy. This was no ordinary cupcake. This cupcake was life changing. A light vanilla cake with a swirl of caramel topped with a salted caramel buttercream and another drizzle of caramel.  This was the best cupcake I have ever eaten at a commercial cupcake shop.  I was in heaven.  We bought another one and devoured that one as quickly as the first. We left the shop and could not stop talking about those Salted Caramel Cupcakes. I was becoming obsessed and started plotting how I could recreate this delicious cupcake once I got home.

When I got home to Utah, I pulled out my copy of "The Cupcake Diaries" by Katherine Kallinis and Sophie Kallinis LaMontagne the owners of Georgetown Cupcake.  I had just bought this book before my trip to NYC but hadn't even opened it before I left. I remembered that the book jacket had mentioned Recipes in the book.  

I turned to the Index with my fingers crossed and a prayer on my lips. "Dear Cupcake Gods, please let their Salted Caramel Cupcake and Salted Caramel Buttercream recipes be in this book", I silently whispered. My prayer was answered. The recipe was listed in the Index.  I immediately turned to it in anticipation.  It was all there.  The recipes for the Caramel, the Cupcake and the Buttercream.  I quickly wrote down the recipe ingredients I didn't have on hand.  

My sister's birthday was in a couple of days and her very favorite flavors are Caramel and Butterscotch. This was the perfect cupcake to make for her. The next day I stopped at the grocery store on my way home from work to pick up the missing ingredients and headed home to bake these beauties.  These recipes lived up to my memories of that amazing cupcake I devoured in their Soho Shop.  So much so, that I have made these cupcakes twice in three days.  Here are the recipes and photos of my creations.

Georgetown Cupcakes Salted Caramel Cupcakes

For the Caramel

Makes 2 1/2 cups caramel

2 cups sugar

1 tablespoon water

12 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup heavy cream, at room temperature

Pour the sugar and water into a large saucepan.  Heat on medium high heat and stir constantly until the sugar completely liquefies.  Stir constantly and be careful not to burn the sugar.  After all the sugar has dissolved, add the butter and vanilla extract to the saucepan and mix thoroughly.  Once the butter has melted and the butter and sugar are completely mixed, remove from heat and, using a whisk, slowly whisk in the heavy cream until you reach a beautiful golden brown caramel color. Set aside and let cool and thicken for 5 minutes at room temperature.  Refrigerate for 20 minutes (or longer) to thicken further before using in the cupcake and buttercream recipes and for drizzling on the finished cupcakes.

For the Cupcakes

Makes 24-30 cupcakes

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder (cut in half for High Altitude)

1/4 teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 3/4 cups sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

2 1/4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups whole milk, at room temperature

1/2 cup caramel (recipe above)

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Line cupcake pan(s) with paper baking cups, or grease the pan with butter if not using baking cups

2.  Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt on a sheet of parchment paper or wax paper and set aside.

3.  Cream together the butter and sugar for 3 to 5 minutes, until light and fluffy.

4.  Add the eggs one at a time, mixing slowly after each addition.

5.  Add the vanilla extract.

6.  Slowly add one third of the dry ingredients followed by one third of the milk.  Mix slowly, and then add another third of the dry ingredients, followed by on third of the milk.  Mix slowly until incorporated.  Stop to scrape down the bowl as needed.  Then, finally, add the last third of the dry ingredients, followed by the last third of the milk.  Mix slowly until fully incorporated.

7.  Add the caramel by hand and mix slowly, swirling it into the batter, but not mixing it in completely.

8.  Using a standard size ice cream scoop, scoop the batter into the cupcake pan no more than 2/3 full and bake for 18-21 minutes (start checking at 16 minutes).  Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the Salted Caramel Buttercream

Enough to frost 24-30 cupcakes

1 lb. unsalted butter, at room temperature

8 cups powdered sugar

2 teaspoons whole milk

2 teaspoons salt

1 cup caramel (recipe above), plus additional for drizzling on top

Add all the ingredients to the bowl of a stand mixer or to a bowl with a handheld electric mixer, and mix on high speed until light and airy.  Frost cupcakes with your favorite piping tip, drizzle caramel on top of the cupcakes. I added a little extra saltiness with a sprinkle of Fleu De Sel.  Yum!

ENJOY!

Yahoo! Mountain Dew. Mountain Dew Cupcakes with Mountain Dew Buttercream That Is...

Mountain Dew is one of my very favorite sodas.  There is nothing better on a hot summer day than an ice cold can of Mountain Dew soda.  Many of my friends in the theater world also love Mountain Dew. When I came across a recipe for Mountain Dew Cupcakes, I knew I had to make them.  These cupcakes are moist, citrus-y and delicious.  And the recipe couldn't be easier!

Mountain Dew Cupcakes
Oven at 350 degrees
Makes 24 cupcakes

Mountain Dew Cupcakes:

1 box lemon cake mix
1 box of instant lemon pudding
4 eggs
1 1/4 cups of mountain dew
1/2 cup vegetable oil

• Mix cake mix, pudding and eggs well.
• Add oil to the batter and mix for 2 minutes.
• Slowly pour in Mountain Dew and mix for another minute.
• Add to cupcake liners and bake at 350 degrees F for 13-17 minutes (or until toothpick inserted comes out clean)
• Allow time to cool before frosting.

 

Mountain Dew Buttercream:

4 cups Confectioners Sugar
2 sticks of salted butter (room temperature)
1/8 cup (approximately) of Mountain Dew
1 tbsp of lemon juice

• Beat your butter till light and fluffy (approximately 5 minutes), slowly add in confectioners sugar and your lemon juice & Mountain Dew.
• Add all the sugar and check for thickness of the frosting. If it is too thick add a teaspoon at a time of Mountain Dew till you reach the correct consistency to pipe or frost your cupcakes.

Enjoy with a tall glass of ice cold Mountain Dew!

Recipe from Food.com

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes for St. Patrick's Day

Last year for St. Patrick's day I made Green Velvet Cupcakes.  This year I wanted to be a little more adventurous so I made Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes.  I was a little wary, as I haven't baked a lot with booze and I didn't want the flavors to be too overpowering.  But these recipes married these flavors perfectly.  The Guinness Stout Chocolate Cupcake on it's own is one of the best chocolate cupcakes I have ever tasted.  This cupcake is now in my top 10 favorites.  I took it to my office's annual Pot O' Luck Luncheon and it received rave reviews.  Give it a try.  I'm sure it will end up as one of your favorites too.

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes
Yield: Approximately 24 cupcakes
Prep Time: 40 minutes ♦ Bake Time: 18 minutes  

Guinness Stout Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients:
1 cup Guinness Stout
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar (granulated)
1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoons salt
2 eggs, room temperature
2/3 cup sour cream (full-fat)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (F). Prepare cupcake tins with 24 liners, and set aside.

In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine Guinness and butter over medium heat. Stir frequently, until the mixture comes to a soft boil. Remove from heat, and add the cocoa powder. Whisk until combined and smooth. Set aside to cool slightly.

In a large bowl, whisk together the salt, flour, baking soda and sugar. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the eggs and sour cream until creamy. Add the Guinness and chocolate mixture to the eggs and beat just until combined. Reduce the speed to low, and slowly add the flour mixture. Beat just until the flour is incorporated, then finish combining using a spatula, folding the mixture together until no white streaks remain.
Fill your cupcake liners no more than half full. Bake for 17 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

Jameson Irish Whiskey Ganache Filling

Ingredients:
8 ounces semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
2 teaspoons Jameson Irish Whiskey

Directions:
Prepare the cupcakes for filling. To do this, hollow out a circle in each cupcake, about 1/2 to 2/3 the depth of the cake. I used the metal edge of my pastry tip, but you can also use a spoon, a knife or a cookie dough scoop:

To make the whiskey ganache, pour the heavy cream into a medium, microwave safe glass bowl. Heat cream in microwave until it's steaming hot, but not boiling. Remove from microwave and add chocolate. Allow the chocolate to sit in the hot cream for 1 minute. Then, using a whisk, stir the chocolate and cream until the chocolate is melted. Add the butter and whiskey and continue to stir until smooth and shiny. Allow the ganache to cool until it's thick but soft. Using a piping bag or a spoon, fill each cupcake with ganache. Prepare frosting.

Baileys Irish Cream Buttercream

Ingredients:
2 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
5 cups confectioners sugar
6-10 Tablespoons Bailey's Irish Cream

Directions:
To make the frosting, in the bowl of a stand mixer, whip the softened butter until it's pale and fluffy. Scrape the bowl as needed. Reduce the speed to low and add the confectioners sugar. Add the Irish cream and beat the frosting for 3-4 minutes, until very light and fluffy. Frost cupcakes and decorate as desired.  I dusted mine with gold edible glitter and crowned it them with golden sixlets.  These are delicious!!!

Enjoy!!!

The Ultimate Vanilla Cupcake Recipe

This past year Stef over at the Cupcake Project set out on a quest for the Ultimate Vanilla Cupcake recipe.  I was completely intrigued by this, Vanilla being my absolute favorite cupcake flavor.  When she posted the recipe for, what she declared, was the Ultimate Vanilla Cupcake, I immediately printed it out and placed it in my "must try" stack of recipes.  That was at the end of September 2011.

It is now six months later and I have finally gotten around to testing out this recipe.  It is delicious!  I have made it twice this week already, it is that good.  I have posted other Vanilla Cupcake recipes on this blog and they are good, even great but this is the Ultimate Vanilla Cupcake!  Thanks Cupcake Project for this amazing Vanilla Cupcake.

The Ultimate Vanilla Cupcake Recipe

by Stef at the Cupcake Project

Yield: 16 cupcakes / Preheat oven to 350 F

Ingredients:

1 cup granulated sugar

1 vanilla bean

1 3/4 cups cake flour, not self-rising

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

 2 large eggs, room temperature

1/3 cup full-fat sour cream

1/4 cup canola oil or vegetable oil

1 tablespoon pure (not imitation) vanilla extract

2/3 cup whole milk

Just look at those flecks of Vanilla Bean in the batter.  Yum!

In a small bowl, combine sugar and seeds from the vanilla bean. (For those of you who are new to using vanilla beans, check out this video to learn how to get the seeds out of the bean.)

Using the back of a spoon, move around the bowl and apply pressure to break up any clumps of seeds and to better infuse the vanilla flavor into the sugar. Set aside.

In a medium-sized mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, mix together cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Add the vanilla bean sugar and mix until well combined.

Add butter and mix on medium-low speed for three minutes.  Because there is so little butter, you'll end up with a very fine crumb texture.

In a small mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, sour cream, oil, and vanilla extract until smooth.

Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined.

Slowly add milk and mix on low speed until just combined.  The batter will be liquid.  (Don't worry, you didn't do anything wrong.  It's supposed to be that way.)

Fill cupcake liners just over 1/2 full.

Bake for 14 minutes and then test to see if they are done. They are done when a toothpick comes out without wet batter stuck to it.  The cupcakes should appear white with specks of vanilla bean. They should not turn a golden brown.  If they are not done, test again in two minutes.  If they are still not done, test again in another two minutes.

When the cupcakes are done, remove them immediately from the tins and leave them on a cooling rack (or just on your counter if you don't own a cooling rack) to cool. Once cool, frost with your favorite frosting and decorate with your favorite sprinkles.  I chose to frost these with my Vanilla Buttercream.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:
1 lb unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup shortening, not butter flavored
3 tbls milk
2 tsp vanilla
Pinch of salt
2 lbs powdered sugar

Directions:
In the bowl of an electric mixer using the paddle attachment beat butter and shortening on high until light and fluffy, at least 5 minutes.  Mix in milk, vanilla and salt.  Gradually add powdered sugar until frosting is of the desired consistency for piping.  Using your favorite piping tip, pipe frosting onto cupcakes, sprinkle with your favorite decors.

ENJOY!