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.

Gingerbread Cupcake Fun Fest

Girlee and I had fun today assembling our Gingerbread Granny Cupcake.

Recipe

• 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon of nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves
• 1/8 teaspoon of ground allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick of unsalted butter)
• 1/4 cup of hot water
• 1/2 cup of packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup of unsulphured molasses (not blackstrap)
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 1/4 cup of grated ginger
• if you like moist cupcake add 2 tbs apple sauce to mixture
  

Prep

• preheat oven at 350 degrees
• combine wets, but be careful of eggs don't want them cooking in the hot water
• combine dry
• add dry to wet mixture in parts
• add final mixture to muffin cups
• bake for 18-20 minutes

 Cool then Decorate like you want

Frosting Choices

• Lemon Cream Cheese is great
• Cream Cheese
• Chocolate
• Molasses Cream Cheese
• Mango Buttercream
  

We added Rudolph to top ours off .

Then Selah and I cut loose on these decorations!!