More New Year’s Eve CUpcakes

I found some cutelicious cupcakes I had to feature. So if you’re out shopping for New Year’s Eve goodies, here is some inspiration.

Cupcakes Take the Cake’s Ball Drop Cupcakes

Hoosier Homemade New Year’s Cocktail Cupcakes

 

Low Fat Strawberry Champagne New Year’s Cupcakes

Courtesy of DC Cupcakes and Oprah.com

Servings: Serves 12

Ingredients

Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes (36 mini cupcakes, 3 per champagne flute)

• 1/2 cup fresh strawberries , diced
• 1/2 Tbsp. good Champagne (sweet rose Champagne suggested)
• 2 1/2 cups flour , sifted
• 2 1/2 tsp. baking powder , sifted
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 4 Tbsp. (4 ounces) unsalted butter
• 4 Tbsp. unsweetened applesauce
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 cup zero-calorie sweetener (e.g., Splenda)
• 2 large eggs , at room temperature
• 2 1/4 tsp. pure vanilla extract plus seeds from 1 vanilla bean
• 1 1/4 cups skim milk , at room temperature

Champagne Buttercream Frosting

• 16 Tbsp. (8 ounces) unsalted butter
• 4 cups confectioner's sugar , sifted
• 1 tsp. skim milk
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup good Champagne (sweet rose Champagne suggested)

Strawberry Layer

• 24 fresh strawberries
• 1 cup good Champagne (sweet rose Champagne suggested)

Chocolate Ganache

• 2 cups high-quality dark chocolate

Directions

For Serving:
12 glass Champagne flutes
12 long spoons
12 indoor-safe sparkler candles
Step 1: Baking the Mini Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 350°. Line 2 mini cupcake pans with 36 mini baking cups or grease pans with butter if not using baking cups.
Dice up 1/2 cup of fresh strawberries and soak in 1/2 cup of Champagne. Set aside.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
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.
Mix in applesauce slowly.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing slowly after each addition.
Combine the vanilla extract, vanilla bean seeds and milk in a large liquid measuring cup.
Reduce the speed to low. Add one-third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, then gradually add one-third of the milk mixture, beating until well incorporated. Add another one-third of the flour mixture, followed by one-third of the milk mixture. Stop to scrape down the bowl as needed. Add the remaining flour mixture, followed by the remaining milk mixture, and beat just until combined.
Gently fold in the diced Champagne-soaked strawberries, just until incorporated.
Scoop batter into baking cups and bake for 10 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. If using paper baking cups, peel off all the paper baking cups from the cupcakes at this time.
Step 2: Making the Champagne Buttercream Frosting

Place the unsalted butter in the bowl of a stand mixer or hand-held electric mixer. Add the confectioner's sugar; beat on medium speed until well incorporated.
Add the vanilla extract, milk, salt and Champagne, and beat on high speed until light and fluffy. Place frosting in a disposable piping bag with a large round tip.
Step 3: Preparing the Strawberries

Slice 24 strawberries lengthwise and soak in 1 cup of Champagne for approximately 10 to 15 minutes.
Step 4: Melting the Chocolate Ganache
Break the dark chocolate into small pieces. Fill a medium saucepan with an inch or 2 of water and place over medium-low heat. Place the dark chocolate pieces in a medium glass bowl over the saucepan and melt slowly. Stir occasionally until the chocolate is completely melted. Remove the bowl of melted chocolate from the saucepan. Pour the melted chocolate into a plastic squeeze bottle. (If a squeeze bottle is not available, you can drizzle with a spoon.)
Step 5: Assembling Layers in Champagne Flutes
Line up 12 glass Champagne flutes. Insert 1 mini strawberry Champagne cupcake in the bottom of each glass. Next, pipe a swirl of Champagne buttercream frosting on top of each cupcake. Add several slices of Champagne-soaked strawberries and a drizzle of chocolate. Repeat layers. Finally, place a third mini strawberry Champagne cupcake at the top of each glass, pipe with a final "Georgetown Cupcake signature swirl" of Champagne buttercream frosting, and top with a final drizzle of melted chocolate.
Step 6: Serving

Insert 1 indoor-safe sparkler candle in the top of each glass. Light the candles at midnight, serve with spoons, and enjoy!

Christmas Cupcakes Galore

This year we made red velvet cupcakes for Christmas and topped them with Gingerbread Women and Houses. Would love for me to share your cupcakes on my facebook page. www.facebook.com/dee.stewart.  In the meantime here are some of my favorite Christmas cupcake pics I’ve seen online.

Brandied Mincemeat Cupcakes From Kuidaore

Hello Cupcake's Maple Brown Pecan

Chocolate Indulgence Santas by Viva La Cupcake

 

 

Love Bakery

 

Southern Vogue who has all the Christmas cupcakes in the world by the looks of this  great pic of her Cupcake Exchange Party.

Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes

Courtesy of Duncan Hines

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Ingredients:

• 12 Duncan Hines® Moist Deluxe Spice cupcakes baked in orange paper liners
• 24 mini Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Spice cupcakes baked in white paper liners
• 2 pieces green licorice twists (e.g. Twizzlers rainbow twists)
• 1 can (16 ounces) plus 1 cup Duncan Hines Creamy Home-Style Classic Vanilla Frosting
• Orange food coloring
• 1 cup orange decorating sugar
• Green licorice laces (e.g. Kellogg's Fruit Streamers, Watermelon Madness)

Baking Instructions:

1. Cut the licorice twists into 3/4 inch pieces to make the pumpkin stems. Tint the vanilla frosting orange with the food coloring. Tint 1/2 cup of the orange frosting a darker shade of orange with more food coloring. Spoon the darker orange frosting into a ziplock bag; set aside.
2. Place orange decorating sugar into a shallow bowl. Spread the orange frosting on top of the cupcakes mounding slightly in the center. Starting on the edge, roll the cupcake tops in the sugar to cover completely.
3. Use a wooden skewer to mark the ridges in the tops of the cupcakes. Starting in the center or slightly off center, lightly press the skewer over the cupcake tops to create 5 to 6 indentations. Snip a very small corner (1/16 inch) from the bag with the darker orange frosting and pipe lines of frosting in the indentations on top of the cupcakes. Insert the cut green twists for the stems and add the green laces, trimmed into shorter pieces, to make the tendrils.

Skeleton Cupcakes & Michael Jackson’s Gloves found in Atlanta

This has been a busy week, but believe me I haven’t forgotten about Halloween cupcakes, Below is a recipe for these Skeleton Cupcakes from Woman’s Day. If you don’t have time I spotlighted two Atlanta cupcakeries that have great Halloween cupcakes you can order and pickup. If you spot any great cupcakes or would like to share your own drop the link here.

• 1 box (18.25 oz) devil's food cake mix
• 1 1/2 cups lowfat buttermilk
• 3 large eggs
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 16 oz each) dark chocolate frosting
• Decoration: black gel or paste food color, 24 marshmallows, 24 (4-in. ) thin breadsticks (grissini) or lollipop sticks, a clean artist's brush, 24 grape fruit leather snacks (like FruitaBu), black decorating sugar, red nonpareil candies

Directions

Heat oven to 350°F. You'll need 24 regular-size muffin cups lined with paper, foil or Halloween-themed liners.

Beat cake mix, buttermilk, eggs and oil in large bowl with mixer on medium speed 2 minutes or until just blended. Divide batter between muffin cups (1/4 cup batter per cup).

Bake 24 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack 15 minutes before removing cupcakes to rack to cool completely.

Tint chocolate frosting black with food color; frost cupcakes.

To decorate: Slightly flatten marshmallows with palm of your hand. Insert a broken length of breadstick or lollipop stick into each marshmallow. Place some black frosting in a microwave-safe custard cup and microwave about 5 seconds, until thin and runny. Paint skeleton faces onto marshmallows with a fine paintbrush.

Using the photo as a guide, cut fruit leather into bat wings with scissors; press in decorating sugar to coat. Roll fruit leather scraps into small balls, then shape into bat heads with ears; coat heads in sugar. Attach 2 nonpareil candies for eyes with a dab of frosting.

To assemble: Using photo as guide, stand bat wings upright in frosting on top of cupcakes. Insert a skeleton head behind wings into middle of cupcake. Attach a bat head in middle of wings with frosting.

Plan Ahead: You can bake cupcakes 2 weeks ahead and freeze. Frost and decorate up to 1 day ahead, cover and keep at room temperature.

Read more: http://www.kitchendaily.com/recipe/skeleton-cupcakes-82822#ixzz13bYaqCWx

Halloween Cupcakes from Lenox Cupcakes

Simply Sweet & More’s Michael Jackson glove cupcakes

Twilight Cupcakes

Halloween’s  coming and we got cupcakes on the brain.  And a good book, of course. So when I saw these  photo of vampire bite cupcakes from Homemaker’s Habit,  I got tickled. Twilight is one of my favorite books. My BFF Natasha and I read the whole series and had the nerve to sit through a triple feature with teeny boppers screaming at the top of their lungs. I'll make these for girlee and re-read Breaking Dawn.









Here’s the recipe:
Red Velvet "Vampire Bite" Cupcakes
makes 22 regular size cupcakes

2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 oz. red food coloring (one full bottle)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon baking soda
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake liners and set aside. In a medium bowl, sift together cake flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the food coloring and cocoa powder to form a thin paste and set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer (or large bowl that can be used with a hand mixer), beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, then beat in vanilla and the red cocoa paste, scraping down the bowl with a spatula as you go.
Next, with the mixer on low speed, add one third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, beat well, then beat in half of the buttermilk. Beat in another third of flour mixture, then second half of buttermilk. End with the last third of the flour mixture, beating until well combined, and continuing to scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
In a small bowl, mix vinegar and baking soda. The mixture will fizz when combined so be sure to use a bowl large enough to contain it. Add vinegar mixture to the cake batter and stir well to combine. Fill cupcake cups with cake batter until they are a little under 3/4 full -- an ice cream scoop measures the perfect size.
Place cupcakes in the oven and bake for approximately 20, rotating pans halfway through. To check doneness, insert a toothpick in the center of a cupcake in the middle of the tin. If it comes out clean, the cupcakes are ready. Remove from oven and let cool in the muffin tins for a few minutes, then move to wire rack to cool completely. Frost with cream cheese frosting (below) and, if desired, decorate with vampire bite marks.
Cream Cheese Frosting
frosts apx. 2 dozen cupcakes
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 8oz. package cream cheese (or lite cream cheese), softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons whipping cream (more or less as needed to acheive the consistency you desire)
Using a stand or hand mixer, cream together butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add in vanilla. With the mixture on low speed, gradually add in powdered sugar, a little at a time until smooth and fluffy. Add in whipping cream and whip on high until frosting is smooth and creamy. Spoon frosting into a pastry bag (I just use a 1 qt Ziploc bag with the tip sliced off) and pipe onto cooled cupcakes. Decorate as desired and enjoy.
Also visit Homemaker’s Habitat. It is a fun blog.

Cocktail Cupcake

When my editor offered my three book deal  for A Good Excuse to Be Bad this spring the first thing that came to my main was I had to throw a Cocktail Cupcake Party. Little did I know at the time that a Cocktail Cupcake Company existed right here in Atlanta.  Now I’m not a drinker, but I they’re cute. Hopefully, they could make me some mocktail cupcakes. (hint)

So here’s the scoop:

Website: http://www.cocktailcupcakes.net/

Menu items that peak my interest:

Patron
Lime cake laced with Patron Tequila, Topped with Patron & Lime Buttercream Frosting.

Cosmopolitan
Cranberry Cosmopolitan cake laced with Vodka, topped with Cosmopolitan Buttercream frosting.

Chocolate Martini
Chocolate cake laced with Chocolate Liquer, topped with Chocolate Vodka frosting.

Caramel Appletini
Cinnamon Apple cake laced with Apple Vodka, topped with Apple Vodka frosting.

Party planning underway. I’ll let you know what happens with the book party.

The Great Cupcake Smackdown

The Great Cupcake Smackdown was Deliciouso!!!!

The Winners in a Nut Cup Shell:

Peoples' Choice:

 

Red Velvet & Judges' Choice Freestyle (Marie Antoinette) winner: Little Cake Bakery.

 

 

 

 

Peoples' Choice Freestyle (Better Than Sex) & Judges' Choice Red Velvet winner: Pink Cupcake Dreams.

I will blog in more detail about each participant this week. It was such big fun. My girlee can’t stop talking about it.

The Great Cupcake Smackdown & Two Delicious Divas

This Sunday, just after church service Girlee and I are attending The Great Cupcake Smackdown. Can’t wait. My favorite Cupcake Eateries here in Atlanta and some of you, who read the blog will be there and so will I. 

I’ll live blog from there so stay tuned. If you’re attending, let me know here on on the Smackdown Facebook Page.

Picture: Some Red Velvet & Oreo Cupcakes I made for my graduating Cousins.I’ll post up the recipe soon.

Dee

Grill Cupcakes for Fourth of July Menu

This cute pic is from Team Sugar

Check out these kabob grill pics from gastronamlies!

 

 

 

 

Found these cuties in my June/July issue of Family Fun Magazine. I recommend you subscribe.

Ingredients

• Brownie batter
• Black food coloring
• White frosting
• Orange sugar

• Caramel creams
• Red, yellow, and green candy fruit slices
• Hot Tamales candies

Instructions

1. To make a batch of 12, place liners in a muffin pan, oil them, and fill them two thirds full of your favorite brownie batter, then bake according to the recipe directions. Let the brownies cool.

2. In a small bowl, mix one or two drops of black food coloring with 1/4 cup white frosting. Transfer the frosting to a ziplock bag and snip a small section from the corner. Pipe grate lines onto each brownie and let them set for 20 minutes. Add embers with a sprinkle of orange sugar.

3. Prepare the grill food as instructed below and press it in place atop each brownie.

   Kebabs = A caramel cream and red, yellow, and green candy fruit slices, cut into small pieces + toothpick skewers

   Pork chop = two thirds of a caramel cream, molded with fingers + black food coloring, applied with a toothpick

   Hot dogs = Hot Tamales candies + black food coloring, applied with a toothpick

O Magazine has Cupcake Decorating Tips in this Issue

Bake Sale Pies. These are cute. The recipe is below. Click here to get more from O Mag or pick a copy. I will tomorrow.

Ingredients:

Bake-Sale Pie Cupcakes

• 24 vanilla cupcakes , baked in silver foil liners
• 2 cans (16 ounces each) vanilla frosting
• Yellow food coloring
• 1 tsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 cup each red and blue candy (M&M's, Jelly Belly)

Directions:
Tint the vanilla frosting with 3 or 4 drops of the yellow food coloring and the cocoa powder to make a light brown for the piecrust. Spread some of the frosting on top of a cupcake, leaving 1/4 inch of the cupcake edge exposed. For the filling, arrange about 25 like-colored candies close together on top of the cupcake. Repeat with the remaining cupcakes and like-colored candies.
Spoon the remaining light brown frosting into a ziplock bag, press out the excess air and seal. Snip a small (1/8-inch) corner from the bag. For the lattice crust, pipe 4 or 5 lines across the top of a cupcake, about 1/2 inch apart. Pipe 4 or 5 more lines, on the diagonal. Pipe a beaded edge around the top of the cupcake. Repeat with the remaining cupcakes and frosting.
Arrange the cupcakes on a wire rack and make several bake-sale tags to put with the cupcakes.
© 2010 What's New, Cupcake? by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson.

Just ordered the cookbook. Woot! So cute.