Challenge Day 3: Yellow Buttermilk cupcakes with Fluffy Vanilla Frosting

Day 3: Yellow buttermilk with fluffy vanilla frosting. These were fairly simple, plain cupcakes, a great crowd pleaser. I had run out of cake flour, so I used regular all purpose flour. I think the cake flour yields a more tender, lighter cake, but these were great anyways.
They baked for 17 minutes in my convection oven. The batter made 38, instead of the 36 indicated. A few cupcakes melted over, but most of them came out with a nice domed top.


I frosted them with your traditional american buttercream, butter and powdered sugar plus vanilla, and topped them with yellow sanding sugar. Very cheery I think! This is what people think of when you say cupcake: sweet frosting, great moist cake, very nostalgic.
Probably going to take a few days off, start again on Monday. Next up is coconut cupcakes, although I'm having a hard time finding all the ingredients: I still need coconut milk and coconut extract (they're very coconut-y).

Cupcake Challenge Day 2- Carrot cupcakes with Cream Cheese frosting

Day 2: carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. They turned out so well! The recipe called for golden raisins, which I usually don't add, but I did this time. Again, the recipe yielded exactly what it said it would: 24 cupcakes. And they baked for 19 minutes at 325 degrees convection, instead of 24-28 minutes at 325 conduction as instructed. These were not as heavy as most carrot cake recipes are, and they smelled divine. Although I'm not a fan of carrot cake, I do so love the smell.
Here they are after baking. A few got too big and collapsed, I may have overfilled the cups, even though I used the same scooper for all of them.

Here are a few all frosted and decorated. I love sprinkles! :) These were a cinch to make, didn't even need a mixer, except for the frosting. Also, no butter in carrot cake, just vegetable oil. But the frosting called for 2 sticks of butter and 12 ounces of cream cheese, which seemed like a lot. I did have a bit leftover, which I'll save for the red velvet cupcakes next week !

I brought them to another local fire department, and they were very excited to have them. I'm excited for tomorrow, yellow buttermilk cupcakes with fluffy vanilla frosting. A classic! So far, I'm really having a good time with this project, although I am going through a lot of butter :)

Cupcake Challenge Day 1- Chocolate Chip cupcakes with Dark Chocolate Frosting

Day 1 is complete! After picking up ingredients for the rest of the week this morning, I got started on recipe #1. These are chocolate chip cupcakes with a dark chocolate frosting. I followed the recipe to the letter. The only problem I had was with the egg whites. You're supposed to beat them to stiff peaks, but I wasn't sure what that was, and there wasn't an explanation of what it's supposed to look like or how long it takes. When it got to the stage I thought it should be, I added the rest of the batter, but it all turned liquid again. The cupcakes turned out fine, so I guess I did it well enough. I ended up with 30 cupcakes, just as the recipe indicated. I usually end up with more than usual, so it was nice that this turned out great. I baked them for 16 minutes in a convection oven, although the recipe calls for 22 minutes in a regular conduction oven. The convection really speeds up the baking time.
Here are the cupcakes before they go in:
And after...


Making the frosting was different than I'm used to. The recipe called for 4.5 sticks of butter and 1.5 pounds of chocolate. Wow! The result was a super rich chocolate frosting, although it was a little too runny for my liking. Maybe because it was so hot today? But it tastes amazing! And I love how the chocolate is super shiny and glossy.
Frosted cupcakes:Scrumptious! And I had to sample one myself:All in all, a great recipe. The cupcake is light and airy, since it uses only egg whites, and the frosting is decadent. I piled a lot on, because I had a lot, but it could do with much less, as to not overpower the cupcake. I dropped the 29 cupcakes off at the local fire department, those guys could use a sugar rush :)
Tomorrow... carrot.

Tania/Martha Cupcake Challenge

In honor of the new cookbook, Martha Stewart's Cupcakes, I challenge myself to re-create each of the 175 recipes in the book. This challenge is also inspired by the new movie, Julie/Julia, about a woman who blogged about recreating all of Julia Child's recipes. Since I prefer baking to cooking, I plan on cupcakes only. I'll post pictures each day of my results, along with comments and observations. I plan to give away the cupcakes I make each day to senior homes, firestations, or to anyone who'd like to have them. I look forward to this challenge, and hope that I will inspire others to get in the kitchen and start experimenting. Happy Baking!

Sprinkle overload

So, we'll be moving soon, and I wanted to start getting rid of some excess stuff in the house. So I made chocolate guinness cupcakes, since I already had all the ingredients for that, and topped them with a smorgasboard of sprinkles! Whatever sprinkles that were holiday themed and half-used, they went on the cupcakes.





The result was very colorful. Altho I used a ton of sprinkles, I still have a ton left! I may have to do this a few more times before the move.

Cupcakes in Boulder

On a recent trip to Boulder to scout apartments (we're moving!) I checked out Tee & Cakes, right off Pearl Street Mall. It was nestled between a chocolate store and a gelato store. Sugar overload! The bakery is super cute, selling cupcakes, cakes, various baked goods, and T's! I bought 2 cupcakes, chocolate and vanilla, to give to my friend. Unfortunately, they managed to tip over in transit. :(


Altho they didn't look so great anymore, they still tasted wonderful!

Cinco de Mayo cupcakes- two kinds!

I couldn't decide what to make for Cinco de Mayo, so I polled my friends on facebook and they said to make both choices: spicy chocolate and margarita. So here they are!









Spicy chocolate cupcakes! I used dark Valrhona cocoa powder, a dash of espresso, 1 tbsp cinnamon, and a dash of chili powder to make these decadent treats. Everyone's favorite, and a true Tania invention!












Then, we have margarita cupcakes! Lime and tequila combines for the best, most refreshing sugary bite! The rims are rolled in sugar and salt. I've made these before, and they're always a crowd-pleaser.