Peanut Butter Frosting ...

To continue with frosting recipes, here it is at last the infamous Peanut Butter Buttercream.

This frosting I started making for chocolate cupcakes and it has been a hit ever since. It was also the frosting that I used to fill the bottom layer of the wedding cake.

There are actually two different versions of this frosting. One version uses heavy cream and thusly needs to be refrigerated for storage. The other version is more of a traditional buttercream and you don't have to worry about it being left out on a table if you are having a party and it is warm outside.

Traditional Buttercream Type of frosting -
This tends to be a bit heavier of a frosting.


Ingredients:
- 1 stick butter (room temperature)
- 3/4 C of creamy peanut butter (room temperature - I use Skippy)
- 1 t vanilla
- 3 C powdered sugar (sifted if you are worried about lumps)
- splash of milk
- pinch of salt

In the bowl of your stand mixer with your whisk attachment, cream together the butter and peanut butter. Add the vanilla and one cup of powdered sugar and a pinch of salt. Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time add a splash of milk to help the frosting come together. Once you have added all the powdered sugar mix the frosting on medium speed for 1-2 minutes.

If you need a thinner frosting for piping or a crumb coat you can add more milk or water to reach the consistency that you need.

Seven Minute Frosting ...

I have used this frosting on several of the cupcakes I have made lately since it is so easy to do (at least in my version) and I love the light fluffy texture that it has.

If you search the internet for Seven Minute Frosting you will get a ton of different recipes that people have come up with, many of which require that you do things like whip egg whites using a hand mixer over a double boiler while ensuring that they are at a specific temperature. Well let me tell you I tried this method and unless I spontaneously grow two more arms it is virtually impossible to actually do all the things required at the same time. Or hey it might just be that I am not coordinated enough.

So I figured there had to be a better way.

Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 C sugar
- 2 T corn syrup
- 6 egg whites (I use large eggs)
- 1 T flavor extract (vanilla or anything else you desire)
- 1/4 C water

In your stand mixer, beat egg whites until they form soft peaks. Then add 1/2 C sugar and beat to stiff peaks. I start my mixer running and move on to the next step and just watch the egg whites so I don't overbeat them.

In a small saucepan over medium high heat, combine 1 C sugar, corn syrup, water and flavor extract. Heat to about 225-230 degrees, stirring so you don't burn it.

Usually just as my sugar is getting to the right temperature my egg whites are at stiff peaks. With your mixer set at about medium speed, pour the hot sugar mixture down the side of your mixer bowl, and turn the mixer up to medium/high. Beat the frosting till it is glossy and cool (about 7 minutes).

Then fill a pastry bag or ziplock bag with frosting and pipe onto the top of your cupcakes.

This frosting can be torched or placed under a broiler to be caramelized a bit, like in the s'mores cupcake post. Or just used as is, like I did on the tequila sunrise cupcakes.

This weekend was a little bit crazy ...

and so, although I did make some yummy and quite pretty tequila sunrise cupcakes there is no photographic proof of such.

On the plus side, since I made cupcakes my little brother is at this very moment cleaning my kitchen :) I'll call it a win.

So this was somewhat of a 'cheater' recipe as I used a white cake mix as a base and then altered it since I was short on time and measuring ingredients didn't fit into my schedule.

Here is the recipe:
- One box of white cake mix
- 3 eggs - yes whole eggs (I didn't need the cake to actually be white)
- 3/4 C tequila
- 3/4 C water
- 1/4 C vegetable oil
- 1 splash of orange flavoring
- 1 splash of cherry flavoring

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In the bowl of your stand mixer, mix together cake mix, eggs, tequila, water and oil. Mix for 2 minutes until batter is fluffy. Divide batter 1/4 in a small bowl and leave 3/4 in the bowl. Stir in cherry flavoring to the small bowl and add a drop or two of red food coloring. Stir in orange flavoring to the larger bowl of batter.

Spoon red cherry flavored batter into the bottom of the cupcake liners (just enough to cover the bottom of the liner) top with orange flavored batter to fill to 2/3 full.

Bake for 16-18 minutes.

While those are baking make 7-minute frosting (see next post for recipe) and frost once they are cool.

Success ...

Woohoo! S'mores cupcakes version 2 are sooo much prettier than yesterdays failed attempt.

Here they are just frosted with a vanilla frosting that has the marshmallow-y texture, perfect for a s'more.
And then all golden brown and toasty...

And all tasty and ready to eat...

Ugly ... but oh so tasty...

So I have wanted to make S'mores cupcakes for a while now, so I thought I would make a batch today.

I started by making a graham cracker crust for the bottom of the cupcake, just graham cracker crumbs and melted butter pressed into the bottom of the cupcake liner.

Then I placed a marshmallow into each cupcake, and covered with a flourless chocolate cake batter. Baked in a 350 degree oven for 12 minutes.

The cupcakes looked quite good as they were baking and as they came out of the oven.

If only they had stayed looking just like this, I could have topped them with frosting and they would have been perfect.

Instead I pulled the cupcakes out of the tin and set them on the cooling rack. When I came back into the kitchen 5 minutes later they looked a little bit different. See how much it shrank back down after the marshmallow cooled. This would make it way too difficult to frost.

So I figured that I might as well taste one... so I cut it in half so you could see the layers first. Yum, a perfect graham cracker crust which gives it texture then moist chocolate cake and goooey marshmallow.
So although they are ugly, I don't think I will have any problem eating them today.

Chocolate Apricot/Strawberry Cream Cheese Cupcakes...

Wow long title for a short post today, just lots of pictures...


Chocolate cupcakes filled with apricot/strawberry jam and covered with cream cheese whipped cream frosting.

Adding cream cheese to the whipped cream frosting helps the whipped cream hold its shape and also adds that little bit of unexpected flavor.

The little toppers on the cupcake are raspberry hard candy that I made from scratch.

Drunken Raspberry Cupcakes…

I went on vacation for almost all of June and therefore missed the bridal shower for my friend for whom I am making the wedding cake in a week. So I didn’t get to make her pretty cupcakes. But then about two days before the bachelorette party my other friend said “Did I ask you to make cupcakes for the party?” Well I don’t remember her asking but heck cupcakes are easy. So what kind of cupcakes do you make for a bachelorette party, well boozy ones of course. And as the wedding flowers are going to be fuchsia hydrangeas, I thought it has to be pink.

So I made my normal yellow cake recipe, substituting out a bit (ok a lot) of the liquid with Chambord and tinting the batter pink. Now to frost them I made a basic buttercream but used chambord as flavoring instead of vanilla. Using a #2D piping tip I piped on flower petals to achieve a hydrangea look and sprinkled with a bit of clear sugar sprinkles.

These cupcakes have quite a bit of frosting on them and as I have a couple of friends that don’t like a lot of frosting (I know … it’s a bit weird) I rolled out some fondant in a light blue/teal color and cut out a cupcake topper and used a bit of buttercream to attach the fondant to the cupcake and a bit of white royal icing to make a heart on top.

Cute on a Stick...

Ok... so I don't actually have time to tell you all about this but I couldn't go to bed without posting this awesome overload of cuteness.

More tomorrow...

So ... about them cupcakes...

I realize that this will be my 7th blog post on a blog titled Art and Cupcakes and THERE ARE NO CUPCAKES!

So without further ado...

Remember how much you loved having a Creamsicle on a hot summer day, that yummy orange popsicle goodness wrapped around creamy vanilla ice cream.

Well I thought that this would make a great cupcake flavor. Obviously, I am not the first person to think of this idea but I wanted to put my own spin on it. So here it is, orange cake with orange cream cheese frosting and a final dollop of vanilla whipped cream frosting.