Hoppy Easter!

At Easter time, I always like to make something light and fresh.  This year's treat.. Lemon Cupcakes with a Strawberry puree swirl.  I decided to top them with a Lemon Cream Cheese icing, which is less sweet with a slight tang.  Strawberry and Lemon together is a great flavor combination, and really just screams Springtime!  The cream cheese icing pairs wonderfully with these flavors as well.. I simply added a bit of Lemon extract to my regular cream cheese icing and it just completed this cupcake!

These were incredibly popular at our Easter gathering :)

  

Happy St Patty's Day!

In celebration of St. Patrick's Day last weekend, I decided to make a Chocolate Caramel Irish Cream Cupcake. I used my favorite chocolate cake recipe (dark chocolate fudge) dyed green of course.  For my liquid in the batter, I used Bailey's Irish Cream Coffee Creamer (which contains no alcohol).  Then I filled the baked cupcakes with a chocolate caramel ganache and topped them with an Irish cream buttercream (my regular BC recipe but again using the Irish Cream Coffee Creamer as my liquid).  To finish them off, a chocolate caramel drizzle.   These were very rich but very yum!

(green) dark chocolate fudge cupcakes

..filled with chocolate caramel ganache

And here you have it.. Chocolate Caramel Irish Cream Cupcakes :)

Cupcake Trio

Last week my sister placed a cupcake order for the health club she works at.  She wanted to surprise the staff with some Panny Cakes treats .. Yes, I said cupcakes, for a health club.. oh the irony.  Anyway, since she was sort of non-specific about flavors I took it upon myself to try out some new flavor combos.  I have a book with tons of gourmet cupcake recipes in it that I've been dying to try out!  The book is "101 Gourmet Cupcakes in 10 Minutes", by Wendy Paul.  (Here is a link to the book).

I chose a bunch of my faves from the book and then asked my sister for her input.  Finally, we narrowed it down to 3 flavors.  The first would be a French Toast Cupcake topped with Maple Buttercream + crumbled Bacon (how 'healthy' does that sound!)  The next one we chose to do was a Chocolate Cinnamon Cupcake topped with Chocolate Buttercream (at least the Cinnamon is healthy).  And for our third selection, a Lemon Blueberry Cupcake topped with Whipped Cream (I'm thinking this was probably the most healthy of the three). 

 The French Toast Cupcake was actually my favorite.. the cupcake alone was scrumptious!  Then to top it with Maple Buttercream was just amazing.. I didn't actually try the bacon topped ones (I did a few with and without bacon), but I was told they were awesome!

 I actually loved the Chocolate Cinnamon Cupcake as well.. who knew this was such a fabulous flavor combo? ..they really go very well together!

The Lemon Blueberry Cupcake was yummy, but turned out gooey and sort of messy to eat, since the blueberry filling I layered with the lemon batter didn't really 'bake'.  I'm going to work on this one.. perhaps I put too much filling in with the batter?  I definitely want to tweek the recipe because the cupcake itself was delicious.. lemon + blueberry are a tasty pair!

 

 My Cupcake Trio Plate!

   

Mom's Beloved Orange Birthday Cake

Last weekend was my Mom's 70th Birthday!  She always wants me to make her the same birthday cake.. the cake her Mom made for her every year as a child - Orange Cake!  I love doing it because it's a nice break from the chocolate, vanilla, yellow cakes.  This cake is very yummy, with a light taste and texture.  My Grammy always made it with applesauce filling and 7-minute frosting, so of course I make it the same way for Mom.  This is the only cake I've ever made 7-minute frosting for.  It's sort of a finicky frosting that takes some effort to make (for me anyway), but it always turns out good in the end, and it's worth all the work when my Mom bites into her piece of cake and says "You've done it! ..you've taken me back to my childhood." :) 

The cake recipe itself is actually out of my Cake Doctor book, because my Mom has been unable to locate Grammy's original recipe.  It makes enough for two 9-inch pans but I did a 10" round cake so I tripled below.  

  

Orange Cake

1 Yellow cake mix

1 cup fresh orange juice

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup granulated sugar 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 large eggs (the book calls for 4 but I wanted to follow the amount on cake box)

 **I also add the zest of 1 orange to this batter - for additional orange flavor and texture**

 

Filling

 Regular applesauce, drained well in sieve or strainer

 

The 7-minute frosting recipe is one that I've used for the past couple years.  It's actually a Paula Deen recipe, but Mom loves it and claims it tastes just like Grammy's did, so I stick with it.  I also tripled this because I wasn't sure if it would make enough, although it actually made a lot more than I ended up needing for my 10" cake (note to self).

7-Minute Frosting

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup water
2 egg whites
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 

Place sugar, cream of tartar, salt, water, and egg whites in heat proof bowl and beat for 1 minute.  Place bowl over boiling water (homemade double boiler since I don't have an actual double boiler), being sure that boiling water does not touch the bottom of the top pan. (If this happens, it could cause your frosting to become grainy). Beat constantly on high speed with electric mixer for 7 minutes.  

**I always have to beat longer than 7 minutes.. it was more like 14!  Even then the frosting was still too soft to frost a cake with, so I placed the frosting in my Kitchen Aid and whipped it with the whisk attachment on high for another 5-10 minutes.. until it finally started to stiffen up.  I'm sure I just need more practice with this frosting, as I don't make it that often (think this was only my second time).  Once you're done beating/whipping, and the frosting is the consistency you want, gently stir/fold in your vanilla extract.  

Here are some pics of my Mom's cake.. I decided to add some orange peel embellishments as well.  I made shamrocks using a mini heart cutter and rolled up pieces of mint!  The base of the cake is decorated with grated orange zest and more sprigs of mint.

 

 

Caramel Latte Cake

Last week was my hubby's birthday.. for his cake I knew I wanted to do something coffee related, since he's a coffee nut!  I mulled over several ideas and recipes before finally settling on a 'Caramel Latte' Cake!

I started with a golden butter yellow cake batter, to which I added a bit of espresso (espresso powder dissolved in hot water).. the cake was rich and very tasty but I think I would add a bit more espresso next time for a stronger coffee flavor (it was my first time making this so I didn't want to go overboard with the espresso ;)

For the caramel filling, I chose a Paula Deen recipe (below) I came across in my research, which was amazing in this cake!

1 cup (2 sticks) butter
2 cups packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

In a saucepan, combine butter, brown sugar, and milk. Cook and stir over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.   The filling will seem too liquidy to put in between cake layers, but because it's caramel, it stiffens up and stays in place quite well.

The frosting was a Caramel/Espresso combination that I sort of created:

 1 cup butter (2 sticks)

2 cups packed dark brown sugar

1/3 cup heavy cream x2 (more if needed for consistency)

7 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

3 tsp espresso powder, dissolved in 3 tsp hot water

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat and stir in brown sugar and cream. Bring to a boil, and transfer to a mixing bowl. Add confectioners' sugar and coffee mixture. Beat until it reaches a spreading consistency. At this time it may be necessary to add a tablespoon of heavy cream, or more, if frosting gets too thick.

I had never made a 'caramel' frosting before and discovered it can be tricky to work with.  The frosting hardens pretty quickly after being put together, so if you're not going to be frosting right away (as I didn't), there are a few tips I can offer to make working with caramel frosting a bit easier.  First, I added a bit more heavy cream and re-whipped it with a spoon.  I also heated it frequently in the microwave, as I was frosting, at 30 second intervals which worked very well.. just heat and give it a stir each time.  I actually frosted the cake with a tip (which is how I frost all my cakes but I typically smooth them afterward).. I didn't smooth this one because I liked the 'piped-on' frosting look.  The cake was yummy and the hubby loved it :)

Walking Dead Cake

Two weeks ago I completed a 'Walking Dead' cake for my long-time friend's bf.  Apparently he is a huge fan of the show.  A while back she had mentioned that this was what she wanted to do for his birthday cake.. which meant some research on my part.  While I knew it was a TV show, I had no idea what the heck it was all about.  I used some online pictures I found of 'walking dead' cakes for inspiration.  My friend decided on a chocolate/peanut butter cake, so I made my specialty - dark chocolate fudge cake with peanut butter filling and peanut butter buttercream.

The topper is made of fondant, with some edible painting going on.  The bloodwork is red Wilton icing color painted on with a small brush (which I use only for cakes of course).  My friend came to the house to pick it up and loved it! {Yay!}  ..I asked her to let me know what her bf thought of it, since I wouldn't get to see his reaction.  I was later told he loved it as well.. and that it tasted awesome! {Yay again!}  ..here are some pics of the cake.

 

  

    

'baby' cakes

Last weekend I hosted a 'Girls Night/Baby Celebration' for my step-daughter, Michaela, who is expecting.  I had so much fun with this party!  ..(should be getting up some photos soon on my Parties page).  Of course I couldn't have a party without some sort of sweet treat.  I decided minis ('baby' cupcakes) would be most appropriate ;)

I picked my step-daughter's brain for some flavor ideas.. the first flavors she mentioned when I asked her were 'chocolate and vanilla'.. easy enough.. I made dark chocolate fudge minis iced with vanilla buttercream.  She had previously mentioned liking the look of 'ombre' cakes (basically just a graduating tint of the same color), so I frosted the 'baby cakes' in this fashion, using pink because that was one of the main color schemes at the party.. she loves pink and what better color for a girls night!