Not Just A Cupcake: holidays

Showing posts with label holidays. Show all posts

Friday, September 16, 2011

Pumpkin + Beer + Cupcakes = Is it Fall yet?!

My absolute favorite season is right around the corner! The season of scarves, crunch leaves under your feet, warm coffee beverages, and pumpkin flavored everything... Yes, I am talking about FALL!

One of my favorite things about this season (besides the aforementioned items) is Dogfish Head Punkin Ale. Well, that was before I got pregnant. Now I just get to enjoy watching my hubby drink it. But that doesn't mean I can't bake with it! ;)

I created a heavenly delicious fall inspired cupcake using Punkin Ale. It may just be my new favorite cupcake.

The Punkin Ale Cupcake with Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting! Last year I tried to make these and I put the pumpkin puree in the cupcake, but it completely took over the beer flavor. So I modified my recipe this season and it's a million times better. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

Punkin Ale Cupcake (makes 24)
1 cup Punkin Ale (this can be substituted with any pumpkin flavored beer you can find or like!)
1 cup unsalted butter
1/3 cup brown sugar (for beer/butter mixture)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2/3 cup sour cream
1/4 cup brown sugar (for finished cupcake batter)
ground cinnamon, to taste
ground nutmeg, to taste

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and line your cupcake trays. You can make normal or mini-sized cupcakes.
2. Chop the butter into squares, doesn't have to be perfect it just helps it melt faster, and throw them into a sauce pan over medium heat. Add the Punkin Ale and let it come to a simmer (this helps cook off the alcohol, but not the delicious beer flavor).
3. As the butter and beer are simmering, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt into a large mixing bowl.
4. After the butter and Beer have simmered, remove from heat and add the brown sugar. Let this cool for a minute.
5. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and sour cream together with an electric mixer until smooth. Combine this mixture with the cooled butter and beer concoction.
6. Combine the butter/beer/brown sugar goodness into the bowl of dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt) you have set aside. Gently stir until all is combined.
7. To bring out the flavors in the beer, I added a touch of ground cinnamon and ground nutmeg to the batter.
8. Finally, I wanted my cupcakes a little sweeter, so I added another 1/4 cup brown sugar to the batter. This is optional and depends on how sweet you want them.
9. Fill your cupcake trays, each cup should be 3/4 of the way full.
10. Bake the cupcakes for 15 minutes.
11. Allow the cupcakes to cool before frosting them!

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting
1 8oz package cream cheese (softened)
1/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup unsalted butter (softened)
1 tablespoon orange juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups confectioners sugar

1. In a mixer, beat the cream cheese, pumpkin puree, butter, orange juice, and vanilla extract together.
2. Add in the confectioners sugar one cup at a time.
3. Once everything is mixed together and thickened it is ready to go on top of your cupcakes!
4. I added a sprinkle of cinnamon on top of the cupcakes once they were frosted. Totally optional.

Monday, February 21, 2011

{Chocolate Covered Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes}

I know I have been slacking in the cupcake department, but I got a little sad when my dentist told me to stop eating cupcakes. Pffft, what does she know anyways! So, today I bring you a Valentine's treat that I have been fantasizing over for the past month: Chocolate Covered Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes! I got the idea to make these when we kept neglecting a bottle of Champagne in our fridge. I finally said, "Fine! I'll put them in some cupcakes!" And I did!

I started off my baking by covering some strawberries in chocolate with my hubby. It was a fun way for us to cook and spend time together. So we just melted some white chocolate and some semi-sweet chocolate in a homemade double-broiler (which is just a heat resistant bowl sitting in a pot of boiling water, but not touching the water!). Then we carefully dipped the strawberries in chocolate and drizzled them with the other chocolate with a fork. We let them sit on cookies sheet covered with parchment paper. Easy peasy!

Next comes the cupcakes. I got the recipe from Georgetown Cupcakes (also known as DC Cupcakes if you watch their show on TLC) who made these Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes for New Year's Eve for Oprah. I was really stoked to find a recipe by them because I absolutely adore their shop and their cupcakes are delicious. We frequent their cupcake shop often because it's right by my work. (I truly think Georgetown Cupcake is the only perk to living here.)

Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes:
1/2 cup fresh strawberries, diced
1/2 cup good Champagne (the one I had on hand was really dry, but choose whichever champagne you like, sweet or dry)
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 stick of unsalted butter, room temp
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 eggs, room temp
2 1/4 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 vanilla bean
1 1/4 cups whole milk, room temp

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Line 2 cupcake pans with paper liners.
2. Dice up 1/2 cup of fresh strawberries and soak in 1/2 cup of Champagne. Set aside.
3. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
4. Place the unsalted butter in the bowl of a stand mixer or hand-held electric mixer. Add the sugar; beat on medium speed until well incorporated.
5. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing slowly after each addition.
6. Combine the vanilla extract, vanilla bean seeds and milk in a large liquid measuring cup.
7. Reduce the speed to low. Add a little of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, then gradually add some of the milk mixture, beating until well incorporated. Continuing alternating the addition of the flour and milk until all the ingredients are included. (Always start and end with the dry ingredients!)
8. Gently fold in the diced Champagne-soaked strawberries, just until incorporated.
9. Scoop batter into baking cups and bake for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

Since I really wanted to capture the chocolate covered strawberry aspect in this cupcake, I chose to do two different chocolate butter creme frostings that match my chocolate covered strawberries that I made earlier. I followed this recipe that I posted a few weeks ago and made a white chocolate and a semi sweet chocolate butter creme frosting.

Once my cupcakes were cooled, I covered 12 with the chocolate frosting and 12 with the white chocolate frosting. Then to make it look pretty I topped with opposite covered strawberries. They were so pretty I didn't even want to eat them... But I did! And they were DELICIOUS.

Now, go make these for your sweetie! Just because Valentine's Day is over doesn't mean you have to stop treating your loved ones to yummy baked goods! <3

Sunday, January 9, 2011

I'm not ready for the holiday season to end! {Gingerbread Cupcakes with White Chocolate Butter Creme Frosting}

Happy New Year! It's 2011! I hope you all are as excited about 2011 as I am! :)

For one of my New Year's Resolutions, I told myself that I would do my best to blog at least once a week on both of my blogs. (Yes, I have TWO! Haha. I have considered starting a third blog about cooking, but decided against it.)

As I was scouring my brain and my cupboards for a cupcake to make today, I remembered that I (sadly) did not make anything Gingerbread this Christmas season. Normally, we make a homemade Gingerbread house. However, I did consume a LOT of Gingerbread Lattes. Yum! So, I decided to make a Gingerbread Cupcake. I got the recipe from Martha Stewart. And I have been craving White Chocolate all day, so I went with a White Chocolate Butter Creme Frosting.

AND OMG.... I finally just tried one and this is probably my new favorite cupcake. So delicious!

Gingerbread Cupcakes (makes about 24 cupcakes)

2 teaspoons baking soda
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 stick of unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup packed dark-brown sugar
1 cup molasses
2 large eggs, room temperature

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a small saucepan, bring 1 cup water to a boil. In a bowl, combine boiling water and baking soda; set aside.
3. In a large bowl, sift together flour, ground spices, salt, and baking powder; set aside.
4. In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter until light.
5. Beat in the brown sugar until fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes.
6. Beat in the molasses, baking-soda mixture, and flour mixture.
7. Beat in the eggs.
8. Fill your cupcake trays that are lined with paper three-quarters full.
9. Bake for 15 minutes.
10. Let cool on a wire rack before frosting.

White Chocolate Butter Creme Frosting
1 bag White Chocolate Chips
2 sticks butter
3-4 cups confectioner's sugar

1. In a small saucepan, add about a cup of water. Get a glass bowl that can handle high temperatures and that can fit inside the small saucepan. Make sure that the water in the sauce pan does not touch the bottom of the bowl. Bowl the water in the saucepan and place the bowl on top. Fill the bowl with the White Chocolate Chips. You have just created a double boiler. With a spatchula, stir around the chips until all are melted. Try not to eat the entire bowl of melted white chocolate... ;)
2. Put the butter in a standing mixer and beat until whipped.
3. Slowly add in the melted White Chocolate. Beat until incorporated.
4. Add in the confectioner's sugar one cup at a time until it meets the correct consistency. Try not to eat the entire bowl of frosting...

Once your cupcakes are cooled, frost those babies. Then give them a try. Your taste buds are going to dance. Your house is going to smell like Christmas. It's going to be a really good day for you. Trust me.