Oh So Sweet Potato

I keep accidentally calling these Pumpking cupcakes. I think it's because people (myself included) forget how amazing a sweet potato is and how much it tastes like pumpkin. I was bored at work one day looking up some creative icing recipes when I stumbled across this little jem. Ginger Honey Buttercream. Initially I wasn't all that interested in making the cupcakes, just stealing the icing recipe but the reviews at the bottom convinced me. To be honest I think I made these the same day I made the Mint Oreo, I was in the baking mood. They were a little time consuming just because I had to boil the sweet potatoes, mash them, blah.
These are so amazing, I can't even describe. Especially when they were fresh out of the oven with the cool icing on top...mmmm. I didn't pipe the icing like I normally do, it was much too soft. Maybe if I refrigerate it next time it would be more manageable. Who knows. Anyway, needless to say I'll be making these again.

Oreo Mint- It's a Hit!

Like the near-rhyme?
So I mentioned in my last post that I was going to try and tackle Mint Oreo cupcakes. A co-worker has requested them a few times as that is his favorite cupcake from Georgetown Cupcake. I've never had GTCC but I'm not really a fan. They are, after all, my competition. Eventually I'll have to try one of their cupcakes but I have zero desire to wait in line for 20+ minutes for something I could bake myself. Also I'm not too interested in paying $3 for a cupcake. But anyway...



Georgetown Cupcake

 The pressure was really on for these cupcakes. I'm not a globally recognized organization with my own reality show, I barely get views on this! I've blown off my co-workers request quite a bit since I started bringing in cupcakes to work so I finally felt obligated to try it out. I did my research and this is what I came up with.

In addition to half an Oreo on the top I also put half an Oreo on the bottom, like this blog did. Co-worker said he liked the oreo on the bottom a lot. It was a nice little surprise. He said he thought it was on par with GTCC. I was hoping to hear it was better but as the ladies are running a million dollar business, I accept. I think in the future I wont add such a big chunk of Oreo on the top, I didn't have one but I imagine it was tough to eat around. My biggest concern was feedback from Co-worker but everyone had great things to say.

Blueberries and Cream

Well, hello. It's been awhile hasn't it? Before you get upset and curse me for being lazy, slow your roll. I legitimately haven't baked since my last post. I've made meals but this is a cupcake blog not a "what's for dinner" blog. BTW, the answer is beef. Initially it was a nice break, I felt like I was baking a lot for a while there. However, the last few weeks I've had an itch to try something new, cupcake-wise. I had two exciting events to attend this week, the perfect opportunity. The first was a friends going-away-to-school party on Friday and the second was a bridal shower on Saturday. Obviously I'm going to bake something for the two, but what? The age-old cupcake question, do I get creative with the flavors, or decor? After much internal debate I decided to try a new flavor and keep the decorations to a minimum, less is more. Okay, vanilla cupcakes, that's an easy go-to flavor. Should something go inside? Yes, but what, fruit? Okay fruit. Strawberries? No I've done that. What frozen fruit do I have at home? I'm not going to the store. Mango? Would that be any good? No that's too exotic, maybe berries? Yea okay berries I like that, raspberries? Maybe-oh wait blueberries! Do we have blueberries?? What icing, honey? Maybe, but it needs something creamier. OMG- BLUEBERRIES AND CREAM! Done. Decision made.
On a more serious bakers note, I wanted to keep the cupcakes white without the purple tint that frozen blueberries tend to add. To do this I added a spoonful of batter then dropped in 3-4 blueberries, then another spoonful of batter, then 3-4 more blueberries, and a final spoonful of batter. This seems like common sense but I was excited with the idea of individually dropping blueberries in the batter. As you can see in the picture, no purple swirls! The icing was traditional cream cheese frosting but to give it that awesome pearl-like glow I bought this stuff at Fran's , a bakery supply store in NoVA. It comes in a can, like a spray paint can and works wonderfully! I tried to Google it so I can tell you what the name is but I can't find it. And no, it's not that cheap ColorMist shit you find at Wal-Mart. Bought the candied flowers at Fran's (because I haven't mastered fondant) and voila. People flipped over them. Folks at the going away party helped themselves to some of my business cards and my mom wants me to bake a batch for her to take to an event at work- I can't wait!!

What's next on my list? Mastering Mint Oreo Cupcakes. Stay tuned...

Chocolate Banana

Family was in town this weekend for my dad's retirement party so of course I took it upon myself to do some baking... actually the real reason I got to cooking in the kitchen was that a beloved coworker of mine had her last day on Friday. I bring cupcakes into work so much that it only seemed right to bring a batch in to her one last time. She wasn't specific about flavors so I made strawberry vanilla. The cupcakes were vanilla flavor with a strawberry on the inside and strawberry icing. I was such a spaz about getting the treats into work that I completely forgot to take a picture. Whoops.
Anyway so with my family in town my cousin and I got to talking. He's getting married October 2012 (congrats Jack!) and he mentioned me maybe making some cupcakes for his wedding. We talked a little bit about flavors, nothing too in depth, and he mentioned a friend of his had some chocolate banana cupcakes that were to die for. Why didn't I think of that!?! Inspired with a new cupcake idea I hit the kitchen. It took me a minute to figure out how to flavor the cupcakes, mashed banana and banana pudding. After that it was only a matter of dipping them in my chocolate ganache frosting. Rave reviews. Disappointed I didn't get to share the joy of this new flavor with work, I'll have to bring them in something this week. I promised Kyle I'd give a shot at mint cookies and cream. We shall see.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

If I ever make another batch of C-Cake Cupcakes it will be too soon. While these are very delicious, even for you non-carrot cake lovers, homemade carrot cake is the biggest pain in the ass, ever! I have to grate 3 cups of carrots per recipe. In case you didn't catch that, 3 cups! That is so time consuming, especially since I use baby carrots. Regular carrots are fine but because they come to a point they're as equally time consuming as baby carrots. I did get lots of compliments when I tried them out on my guinea pigs at work. I suppose that should make the hard work worth it but I some how ended up making 3 batches of this stuff in like 2 weeks. I should buy stock in baby carrots.
The cream cheese frosting might be one of my new favorite frosting recipes. It wasn't overwhelmingly cream cheesy but it was sweet and had a nice texture. Definitely a recipe I'll be using again. Maybe for Red Velvet? I haven't made that before but you use cream cheese frosting for Red Velvet right? Maybe a lemon cupcake! I'm not a fan of tart deserts but I have a feeling lemon cream cheese cupcakes will be delish! Definitely something tart with the cream cheese, raspberry might be good. I have family coming in this weekend I think I'm going to have to experiment and try these recipes out on them.

Happy Late Easter!

This is the cake I made for some friends that I spent this past Easter with, everyone loved it. I've had requests ever since to make another one. I am not going to lie this is probably the best chocolate cake I have ever made and probably top 10 as far as chocolate cakes I've ever had. Except cheesecakes because let's face it, cheesecake is always amazing and at the top of my list.

I think the best part about this cake is the grass that is used to make a nest for the marshmallow chicks and used to surround the cake. It's eatable! And by eatable I mean you can eat it. It had a weird, plain taste but was oddly addicting. My friend Nick was munching on it the whole ride to WV. Fortunately for him I was able to get a picture of the finished product before he cleaned the grass off one side of the cake.

This was the first time I successfully made a really good homemade chocolate frosting. I tend to use dark chocolate and I forget that the bitter dark chocolate tends to have is more of an acquired taste. So this time I mixed powdered sugar and heavy cream to balance it out.

I have no problem being cocky about this cake because basically it was awesome and if you know me I'd suggest you ask me to make you one.

:]

St. Patty's Day

It's been a while so I'm going to try and update some holiday themed goodies for events that have already passed.
These are from a St. Patrick's Day potluck at work, they were a hit!
The ones with the green icing are vanilla cupcakes with green tinted buttercream frosting while the chocolate ones are a little bit more exotic. They are double chocolate cupcakes with a pistachio truffle on the inside, sprinkled with pistachios on top. The combination of the salty nuts with the bittersweet dark chocolate was a amazing but you have to be a chocolate fan to like them. I think it was a bit much for the folks at work.
Thinking back the icing on top of the chocolate ones wasn't that great, I just whipped the chocolate and cream mixture that I use for my chocolate ganache and it was way too bitter for a cupcake that was so rich to begin with. In the future I'll be sure to use the frosting recipe I mention in my Easter post.

I tend to switch off between calling it frosting or icing, wtf is the difference?