Martha Challenge #47- Turkey cupcakes (fail)

So to get ready for Thanksgiving next week, I wanted to make cute turkey cupcakes. Turkey-looking, not turkey-tasting. Ew.

So Martha has a cute recipe in her book, I went out and bought all the ingredients, and got started.

These were the hardest cupcakes I've made in a long time. The first batch of chocolate cupcakes exploded in the oven. They all overflowed and merged into one big cake mess. Threw it out.

Second batch, I didn't fill the cups as much, but there was still some overflow, not nearly as much as before. I think it's because I used cake flour instead of regular flour. Weird!

So now I had chocolate cupcakes, and some leftover vanilla frosting from the vanilla taste test. I followed the instructions exactly, seen here. They look so cute, I couldn't wait to start decorating!
I couldn't find coconut marshmallows, so I used regular white marshmallows. I poked holes and inserted chocolate sprinkles for the eyes, came out perfect. Then I cut up the swedish fish and tried to attach the beaks. Didn't work. They didn't stick to the marshmallows. I tried wetting the cut end of the fish, tried attaching it with frosting, nothing worked. After seeing 21 droopy beaks, I gave up. Ate the marshmallows instead :)


I was tired and frustrated at that point, so I just made the vanilla frosting chocolate, spread it on top of the cupcakes, and rolled them in toasted coconut. So, turkey cupcakes became chocolate coconut cupcakes. Still yummy, less cute. OH well!

Martha Challenge #45- German Chocolate Cupcakes

In honor of Oktoberfest and to remember our recent trip to Germany, I decided to make Martha's German chocolate cupcake recipe. According to her cookbook, German chocolate isn't German at all! It's merely the name of the kind of chocolate used in the cake. Oh well, they're still German to me!

First I made the coconut-pecan frosting. It's a cooked frosting, made of evaporated milk, egg yolks, brown sugar, vanilla, and of course, coconut and pecans. It came out very chunky and thick, maybe I added too much coconut or pecans, because it wasn't exactly a spreadable frosting. But the last recipe I used to make it, was too runny and went everywhere. I prefer this one.
Then, the cupcakes. These are a traditional buttermilk cupcake with Baker's German chocolate. The recipe called for 5 ounces, but the bars come in 4 ounces, so I added one more ounce of regular semisweet chocolate. Didn't seem to make a difference. Excellent batter, very light and fluffy, and it baked up perfectly, slightly domed. I usually have problems with chocolate cupcakes, they either rise too much and overflow or not enough. These were great.

Martha's method is to cut the cupcakes in half horizontally and sandwich the filling in between as well as on top, but that's a bit messy for me. Instead, I filled the cupcakes with about a teaspoon or so of filling, and piled the rest on top.
I had just enough frosting for 24 cupcakes, even though I baked 27. Oh well, plain cupcakes for me!
I reserved 24 toasted pecans to put on top, so there was no mistaking what these beauties are. I know people love German chocolate cake, because the filling is very rich but the chocolate isn't overpowering. All in all, a good recipe, worth saving.

I'm planning on more German-inspired cupcakes, including black forest cake, maybe an apple strudel, and some kind of beer and pretzel cupcake. Stay tuned!

Lime and Coconut Cupcakes

This is a departure from Martha's recipes. I wanted to bake today, but didn't want to go out to get ingredients. So I looked around the kitchen, and here's what I came up with: lime and coconut! I had plenty of both, plus all the staples to make vanilla cupcakes. So I altered my coconut cupcake recipe and it came out great.

These cupcakes have shredded coconut, lime zest, and lime juice in them. The frosting is lime buttercream, and it's topped with coconut chips. Makes me want a cocktail...Yum!

I was pleased with how these all came out. The cupcakes are moist and fluffy, and you can see the flecks of lime zest in them.

I tinted the frosting to emphasize the lime-ness. It's super tart, so the coconut helps balance the flavor so it's not too overwhelming.
I had plenty of frosting, so I was generous with the piping. Plus, it's so pretty!

I topped them all with coconut flakes, which will also add a bit of crunch when you bite into them. All in all, these were a great experiment, and I'll make sure to write down the recipe so I don't forget.
Yay for creativity!

Martha Challenge #41- Coconut Rum Raisin Cupcakes

So, since I had leftover coconut from the last cupcakes, I wanted to use it up, and the only other coconut recipe I hadn't tried yet was this one. These are decadent!

First, you have to soak the raisins in rum. The recipe calls for dark rum, but since I only needed a little, I bought a small bottle, and the store only had gold rum. I figured it would be ok.

This recipes makes a lot of cupcakes, I got 32, even though it says it makes 36. It's a basic vanilla recipe, with the rum-soaked raisins, the rum they soaked in, coconut, and heavy cream. Yum!
They baked up quickly, after only 15 minutes, perfectly done! I was surprised at how domed they got considering there was only 1/2 tsp of baking soda in the whole recipe.

After cooling, I made the caramel-rum glaze to put on top. See? I told you they were decadent! Not sure if this turned out right, since I had a lump of hardened sugar at the end, but I just fished it out and used the glaze anyways. Wow, this stuff is strong! The rum isn't completely cooked out, so you can taste it. Whoo hooo!

So I spooned the glaze over the cupcakes and had the perfect amount. Martha says to let them set a while before serving.


I also topped a few with coconut flakes, to enhance the coconut flavor in the cupcakes. I bet these are even better after a few hours, once the glaze has a chance to soak into the cupcakes.

And the best part is, I have enough rum left over for 2 rum and cokes. Bonus!

Martha Challenge #40- Coconut-Pecan Cupcakes

Next up in the Martha installment: Coconut-Pecan cupcakes with Chocolate ganache. Yum! Her description says these are candy-bar inspired, but I don't know what candy bar that might be. Mounds?

Anyways, I had to get some special ingredients for these, since I don't have coconut anything on hand. Shredded coconut, flaked coconut, and coconut milk. The recipe also called for creamed coconut, but the people at Whole Foods didn't know what it was. So I substituted butter instead.

So the cupcakes have shredded coconut and ground up pecans, in a vanilla cupcake. They smelled great and came out perfectly, although I got only 30 instead of 36. That's more than enough anyways.
After cooling, I made the chocolate ganache and dipped the tops of the cupcakes in. I had about the perfect amount, which is rare. Then I topped them with coconut flakes. Martha says to toast them, but I forgot until I was halfway done, so I just finished up.


I got these cute cupcakes boxes on clearance and had to test them out. Love the polka dots! So summery.
Jason tried one last night and when I asked him if he liked them, he just smiled with a mouth full of cupcake and said "mmm-hmmm". So I guess that's good!

Cupcake Challenge #4- Triple coconut cupcakes

So, I took a bit of a break over the weekend, but here I am back again! These are coconut cupcakes with coconut frosting topped with shaved coconut, hence triple coconut cupcakes! The cakes themselves were easy enough, but the frosting was difficult. It's a traditional 7 minute frosting, except mine took more like 20 minutes. Although I had a few mishaps along the way, these turned out great! I didn't have a can opener to open the can of coconut milk, and my candy thermometer broke just as I was ready to use it, so I had to eyeball the cooked sugar mixture for the right temperature. The frosting took much longer than expected, and made a lot more than I needed. Unfortunately, you can't save this kind of frosting, it must be used immediately. I needed about 6 more cupcakes to use it all up. Oh well! They all turned out great anyways.

The cupcakes right out of the oven. This recipe made exactly 20.

Whipping the frosting- 20 minutes (or more) at full speed! My poor tired mixer!
One cupcake frosted, pre- coconut flakes.
A few comments on Martha's recipes so far: I like how each recipe yields exactly the right number of cupcakes, but some are 20, some 24, and some 36! I would have preferred just a dozen. Also, when the instructions say, beat till soft peaks form, an estimated time frame would be nice too. So if I think they're soft peaks but it hasn't been as long as the book recommends, I'd go a little longer. See what I mean? Tomorrow, everyone's favorite... red velvet!