Butterbeer Cupcakes

OK, raise your hand if you're excited about Harry Potter 7.2 coming out this week. I am super excited! Like millions of other people out there, I am a die hard HP fan. I basically grew up with the characters! I can still remember reading the first book in 6th grade and thinking "man...this is amazing...when's the next one coming out???" And every book after that just got better and better, as I became more invested in the character's lives -- I cheered when Harry finally stood up to the Dursleys, groaned when Harry went through all that teenage angst, cried when Dumbledore and Fred died, and whooped when Ron and Hermione finally kissed. It was 10-year long emotional roller coaster! 

But to be honest, I've never been a huge fan of the movies -- books are always better, in my opinion. Still, each of the movies has been better than the one before it, and the actors have really became pretty good at their craft. And, this is the last movie in the franchise!  Can't miss it.

Right now my plan is to see the midnight showing of HP tomorrow night with Amy, and then go see it again on Saturday with Dan and another friend. Is that, perhaps, too much Harry Potter, you ask? Nahhhhh.

To get me in the mood for the Wizarding World of HP, I decided to make some HP-themed food for the movie. A bunch of food blogs have been doing that lately, so I had plenty of inspiration. Cauldron cakes, candy wands, Golden Snitch cake pops -- it all sounded good, but the recipes all seemed pretty complicated. But then I found a recipe for butterbeer cupcakes...

These are perhaps the best cupcakes I've ever eaten in my entire life, bar none. It doesn't matter that there is no chocolate involved -- they're just so good! The cake itself  is incredibly moist and fluffy (probably from the addition of bubbly cream soda to the batter), and the butterscotch frosting is tongue tickling-ly delicious. HP fan or not, you must try this!

Recipe can be found here, courtesy of the amyBites blog.

** BTW, those adorable cupcake stands were hand made by my friend Emily!

S'mores Cupcakes

I have a real soft spot in my heart for s'mores. Yes, they're delicious and evoke happy childhood memories, but they're also what I used to win my way into Dan's heart. Early into our awkward and nerdy courtship (we pretty much fell in love after discovering a mutual obsession with Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series), I figured out that Dan had a wicked sweet tooth -- the man couldn't finish a small burger but could inhale a jumbo box of Junior Mints in about ten seconds. So, every night for weeks, I would just happen to make too many late night s'mores and have to find someone to take the extras off my hands. This had the happy effect of 1) giving me an excuse to go hang out with Dan, and 2) putting me in the good graces of Dan's three roommates, who never complained about me hanging out in their room all the time. Ah, young love.

So are these cupcakes the culmination of my grand love affair with Dan? Nope. The first time I made these cupcakes was for my roommate Shanna's birthday last year. She requested something sweet and chocolate-y that would simultaneously be soft and crunchy -- she's really into that whole textural-contrast thing. I was at a loss for what to do expect maybe make some brownies with nuts in it, but then I found a recipe online for s'mores cupcakes that seemed promising. 

Fresh out of the oven, these cupcakes were soft and gooey, and tasted exactly like the s'mores I grew up eating. If I closed my eyes and lit a match, I could almost believe I was sitting around a campfire. After a night in the fridge, however, they were even better, and fit Shanna's specifications perfectly. The sticky marshmallow frosting oozed into the soft and moist chocolate cake, and the hidden layer of melted chocolate on top of the crumbly graham cracker crust had hardened in the fridge to provide a satisfying snap/crunch with each bite. Definitely a must try.

S'mores Cupcakes (I can't take credit for this recipe, but unfortunately I don't remember which blog I snagged it from...)

Ingredients
(Cupcake)

- 2 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon cocoa powder (not Dutch-processed)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup boiling water
- 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (from about 20 squares)
- 1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 9 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped 

(Frosting)
- 2 egg whites
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 3/4 cups karo syrup (corn syrup)
- 1-1/2 tsp vanilla

Steps:
(1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 standard muffin tins with cupcake liners; set aside.
(2) In a large bowl, combine 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix until well combined.
(3) Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla. Mix well. Scrape down sides of bowl and continue stirring until smooth. Add boiling water and stir to combine; set cake batter aside.
(4) Place graham cracker crumbs, remaining 1/4 cup sugar, and melted butter in a large bowl; stir until well combined.
(5) Spoon 1 tablespoon graham cracker mixture into the bottom of each prepared muffin cup. Use the bottom of a small glass to pack crumbs into the bottom of each cupcake liner. (I used a tall/thin shot glass) Save the rest of the graham cracker mixture for topping.
(6) Sprinkle 2 teaspoons chocolate in each muffin cup. Transfer muffin tins to oven and bake until the edges of the graham cracker mixture is golden, about 5 minutes.
(7) Remove from oven and fill each muffin cup three-quarters full with cake batter. Sprinkle each with remaining chocolate and graham cracker mixture.
(8) Bake for about 18 to 20 minutes. Let cupcakes cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove them from the pan and let cool completely.
(9) While cupcakes are cooling, start making the marshmallow frosting. Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites and salt until very frothy.
(10) Slowly add sugar and beat until smooth and glossy.
(11) Add syrup and beat the mixture until it holds stiff peaks. 
(12) Fold in vanilla extract, combining until smooth and uniform in color.
(13) Spoon frosting onto the tops of the cooled cupcakes. Stick them back into the oven to broil for a minute or two if you want to frosting to get brown/toasted. Or just sprinkle the cupcakes with chopped and/or shaved chocolate.

One year ago: Gooey Butter Cake With Peanut Butter Chips

For other delicious chocolate recipes, click here.

Apple Cheesecake Cupcakes

Last night I was seized with the most irresistible urge to bake something. But what to bake? Nothing chocolate. I'm sick of chocolate, if you can believe it. Maybe a pie? Nah, too much work -- no pre-made pie crusts in the freezer, and I'll be damned if I'm going to start rolling out my own crust at 9pm on a Wednesday. Then I remembered that Dan had been talking earlier in the day about his love of apple turnovers and sugary apple filling. Apple cheesecake cupcakes are topped with something similar to apple pie filling...

The first time I made this recipe was 2 or 3 years ago, the summer of my 1L year. I was working at the FDA in Rockville, MD, but living in DC. My friend Karen, who was also working there, lived down the street from me, and we took the Metro to work together every morning. After several failed attempts to get her to go running with me after work (Dan was living with me that summer, but he is lazy), I devised a plan to change her mind. I whipped up a batch of these cupcakes, then casually started to bring her one every morning "for breakfast." Karen has IBS, so she is generally a light eater, but she has a weakness for cheesecake. After a few days of eating cheesecake for breakfast, she started feeling guilty about indulging her sweet tooth -- but, these cupcakes were too good to resist!  It was easy to bully her into working out with me after that. Love you, Karen!

When I made these cupcakes the Summer of Karen's Downfall, I used peach/mango topping, but any kind of fruit would work just as well. This was my first time using apples, but I think I like them the best. If an apple pie and a cheesecake were to fall in love, mate, and produce a baby, these cupcakes would be it. Dense and creamy, not too sweet, with a hint of tang from sour cream, and topped off with sweet apple pie filling. Yum!

Apple Cheesecake Cupcakes

Ingredients:

(Cheesecake)
- 1-1/2 8oz packages of cream cheese
- 2 eggs
- 2/3 cups sugar
- 1 tbsp vanilla
- 1 tbsp cinnamon

(Sour cream topping)
- 1 cup sour cream
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 3 tbsp sugar

(Apple topping)
- 1 large apple, peeled/cored/diced
- 4 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp white sugar
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp corn starch

Steps:

(1) Preheat oven to 300. Line muffin tin with cupcake liners. Set aside.
(2) In a large bowl, mix cream cheese and sugar until smooth and creamy.
(3) Add eggs, vanilla and cinnamon. Mix well.
(4) Spoon cheesecake mixture into cupcake liners, each about 2/3 full.
(5) Bake for 40 minutes. Pull out of the oven and set aside to cool. Leave oven on, and do not remove cupcakes from the tin.
**Cupcakes will come out puffy, but the middle will sink in drastically -- this is good!
(6) In a small bowl, combine sour cream, sugar, and vanilla. Mix well.
(7) When cupcakes have cooled, spoon about a tablespoon of the sour cream topping into the sunken middles of each cupcake.
**Use more if necessary -- I like to see a heaping mound peeking over the edges of the cupcake.
(8) Stick cupcakes back in the oven for 5 more minutes.
(9) While you're waiting for the cupcakes to cool again, start the apple topping. Place apples in a small pot or saucepan, and cook on high heat.
(10) Add sugars and stir. The apples should start getting juicy right away.
(11) Add lemon juice and cinnamon. Keep stirring.
(12) When the apple pieces start to look soft, throw in the corn starch. This will thicken up the juices and leave you with something similar to preserves.
(13) Let the apple mixture cool before spooning on top of cupcakes.
(14) Cupcakes are good warm, but even better after some time in the fridge/freezer.

Homemade Hostess Cupcakes

Happy Valentine's Day, everybody! Hope you all have someone nice to share it with, and if not, hopefully you have a ton of delicious chocolate treats on hand for immediate consumption. That's the only reason anyone celebrates Valentine's Day, right? An excuse to go on an all-out, gluttonous chocolate binge? Yes? Maybe it's just me.

Anyway, I've been thinking long and hard about what I wanted to make for my Valentine's post. Something chocolate-y, obviously, but beyond that there were too many possibilities. Chocolate truffles? Maybe. Molten lava cake? Mmmmm. Chocolate covered strawberries? Decadent and healthy-ish, and possibly an aphrodisiac! But at the end of the day I settled on homemade Hostess cupcakes. There's something about reproducing homemade versions of popular commercial brand foods that really tickles me pink. Don't ask, I can't explain it either.

Is there anyone who didn't love Hostess cupcakes as a kid? Tender crumbly cake, sweet creme filling, rich chocolate topping that can be pulled away and eaten separately. Mmmm. Sure, the whole thing was a little too sweet and artificial-tasting, but I loved 'em anyway. I ate them every single day in high school until the day I discovered the wonders of glazed Honey Buns.

So, the homemade version. Awesome, but different. The cake is less sweet, probably because there is not a ton of sugar in the recipe. And, the entire outside is slightly crusty, like the top of a muffin -- I didn't use cupcake wrappers, so that could be why. But the cream filling, ganache topping and piping? Spot on. Tasted exactly like a Hostess cupcake should. 

This was a very time-intensive dessert (so many steps -- baking, filling, icing, piping), but I was very pleased overall, and Dan gave his stamp of approval -- always a win in my book. 

Recipe can be found here.

Maple Fudge Cupcakes

I'm in a great mood this weekend. Dan and I are happily settled into our new condo, the kitty is doing very well, we finally have furniture in our bedroom, and I passed the bar exam. How do I choose to celebrate these wonderful events? Nights of debauchery? Fine dining on the town? Nope! I celebrate by sleeping in until 9:30am and trying out a new Hannah Swensen cupcake recipe.

In terms of taste and texture, these cupcakes taste more like brownies than cake. They're dense, chewy, and intensely fudgy with a nice maple after taste. As for the frosting, I could probably eat it by the spoonful. Even Dan, who isn't nearly as wild about chocolate as I am, ate 3 of these in rapid succession. Now that's a good cupcake.

Maple Fudge Cupcakes (Slightly modified from the Hannah Swensen recipe)

Ingredients:

(Cupcake)

- 4 cups chocolate chips

- 1-1/2 cup white sugar

- 1/2 cup maple syrup

- 1-2/3 cups flour

- 1-1/2 tsp baking powder

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 1/2 cup butter, melted

- 3 large eggs

- 1/3 cup milk

(Frosting)

- 2 cups chocolate chips

- 1 14oz can condensed milk

Steps:

(1) Preheat oven to 350.

(2) Prepare muffin pan with liners, or grease cups if you don't want to use wrappers.

(3) Microwave the chocolate chips, syrup, and 1/4 cup sugar for 1 minute. Stir mixture until chips are melted and everything is smooth.

(4) Add milk, melted butter, and the rest of the sugar. Mix well.

(5) When mixture has cooled a little, add eggs, one at a time. Mix well.

(6) Gradually add flour. Let batter rest for 5 minutes.

(7) Fill  of each cupcake liner 3/4s of the way full.

(8) Bake for 20-25 minutes.

(9) For the frosting, melt chocolate chips and condensed milk in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly to make sure mixture doesn't scorch. Drop large spoonfuls to fill the craters at the center of each cupcake + some extra to cover the rest of the cupcake top. Sprinkle with chopped pecans, or garnish with fresh fruit of choice.

Bridal Shower!

My good friend Charlene is engaged, and this past weekend a few of us threw her a bridal shower in NYC. We were all in charge of different parts of the shower, and my friend Michelle and I were responsible for food/drinks.

What does one serve at a bridal shower? Dainty things! Like chocolate covered strawberries, for example.

And cupcakes. Michelle and I couldn't find red food coloring, so these are "brown velvet" cupcakes. Really, they're just plain ol' chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.

Cucumber sandwiches. These weren't as dainty as the ones I envisioned -- we used peasant bread, and that stuff is huge and hearty. We improvised the filling a little bit, but it turned out to be very tasty. These sandwiches were a hit!

Champagne and strawberries. We're pretty classy.

And just to keep things interesting...jello shots! Strawberry, lime, and peach flavored. Recipe can be found here.

Happy Shower, Charlene! We love you!

Godiva Chocolate Cupcakes with Mint Buttercream Frosting

Happy St. Patty's Day, everyone! Hope you're all having fun getting fantastically sloshed.  I would be out and about with the rest of the city, but my Trusts & Estates professor decided to schedule a make-up class for 9 am tomorrow.  My body no longer bounces back from late nights as quickly as it used to, so instead I am quietly celebrating at home.  Baking.  Seriously guys, my life is out of control.

Using liqueur in cake is basically the same as drinking, right?  Right.  I would have actually preferred to use Bailey's Irish Cream to keep up the whole St. Patty's Day theme, but I didn't have any on hand. It was either Kahlua or Godiva, and I just didn't think coffee would taste as good with mint.

After my carrot cake cupcake debacle, I made sure not to overfill the baking cups this time, and the cupcakes turned out beautifully.  They looked adorable, and smelled glorious -- you could actually smell the liqueur quite a bit, but the whole chocolate-liqueur thing really works.

The most important part of this particular cupcake was the frosting. I mean, I can make chocolate cupcakes any day, but it's St. Patty's Day, so clearly the frosting had to be green. And since the frosting was green, that obviously meant it had to be mint-flavored.  This recipe made about 3 cups of frosting -- way more than I needed for the cupcakes, so now I have a ziplock baggy fully of mint buttercream chilling in the freezer.

These pictures really don't do the cupcake justice -- the frosting was actually a little more green, not quite so pale and pastel-y.  Very holiday appropriate.  The only thing missing from the picture is a nice four leaf clover decoration.  Do they make four leaf clover sprinkles?

All I have to say about these cupcakes is...chocolate + liqueur + mint = yum.  The cake itself wasn't very sweet, so it was perfectly balanced by the minty sweetness of the frosting.  Each bite was moist and fluffy, and accompanied by surprising whiffs of alcohol.  Definitely a good St. Patty's Day treat.

Godiva Chocolate Cupcakes (Adapted from AllRecipes.com's Chocolate Cupcake recipe)

Ingredients:

- 3 tbsp butter
- 1 cup sugar, softened
- 1-1/3 cups flour

- 1/4 tsp baking soda

- 2 tsp baking powder

- 3/4 cup cocoa powder

- 1/8 tsp salt

- 2 large eggs

- 3/4 tsp vanilla extract

- 2/3 cup milk

- 1/3 cup Godiva Chocolate Liqueur

Steps:

(1) Preheat oven to 350.

(2) In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla.

(3) In a medium bowl, sift together dry ingredients. Add to the wet mixture gradually, alternating with the milk and liqueur. Beat well.

(4) Fill muffin cups a little over 1/2 full.

(5) Bake for 15 to 17 minutes.

Mint Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:

- 1/2 cup vegetable shortening

- 1 stick butter or margarine (I actually prefer "I can't believe it's not butter!")

- 1 tsp vanilla extract

- 1 tbsp mint extract

- 3 cups powdered sugar

Steps:

(1) Cream together shortening and butter.

(2) Add vanilla and mint extracts.

(3) Gradually stir in powdered sugar. Mix until smooth.

(4) For a nice green color, add about 10 drops of green food coloring.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

I'm constantly looking for reasons to bake, and friends' birthdays are the best excuse to do it.  Yesterday was my good friend Smriti's special day, and she put in a request for carrot cake cupcakes.  I love carrot cake and have a great recipe for it, so I was more than happy to oblige.

Note to self: when grating carrots for carrot cake, don't use baby carrots -- it takes forever to grate 2 cups' worth, and when you're in a time crunch like I was, it's easy to get scraped fingers/knuckles.

No nuts. No raisins. These two things have no place in carrot cake, and you'll never get me to admit otherwise!  The best kind of carrot cake is dense, moist, and is all about the spices.  As you can tell from the picture above, I like cinnamon and I use it a lot -- it's definitely a crucial ingredient for carrot cake.  Cardamom, nutmeg and ginger, on the other hand, are pretty overpowering flavors, so when it comes to utilizing these particular spices, less is definitely more.

These cupcakes are great because they're dense and chewy, but the tops have a slight crustiness that, combined with the silky/sticky frosting, adds interesting (and delicious) texture to the whole experience.  Even the most anti-putting-vegetables-in-cake of my friends had to admit that these cupcakes are pretty fantastic.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Ingredients:
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 4 large eggs
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp cardamom
- 1/2 tsp ginger
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 2 cups grated carrots

Steps:
(1) Preheat oven to 350.

(2) Mix sugar, oil and eggs in a large bowl. Set aside.

(3) Sift together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and spices in a medium bowl.  Add to wet mixture and combine.

(4) Add carrots and mix well.

(5) Spoon batter into lined cupcake tins. (The cake rises a lot, so I would suggest filling cups a little over 1/2 full to avoid cupcakes that overflow their paper liners.)

(6) Bake for 25, or until toothpick inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:
- 8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 stick of butter (I actually prefer margarine because it's easier to mash)
- 1 1/3 cups powdered sugar (Rough estimate -- I usually add by taste)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon

Steps:
(1) Cream together butter and cream cheese in a medium sized bowl.

(2) Gradually mix in powdered sugar.

(3) Add vanilla and ground cinnamon. Mix until smooth.