Chocolate Buttermilk Cupcakes with Ghirardelli Chocolate Butterm Frosting

When I was a little girl, I used to pronounce 'chocolate' as 'osh-quit'. I knew I loved it even before I knew how to say it!  I was wandering about Trader Joe's one day and came across Trader Joe's Unsweetened Cocoa Powder so I decided to give it a whirl.  THEN I look on the back and see a recipe titled, "The Greatest & Easiest Chocolate Cake" and I couldn't resist.  This recipe uses a great deal of buttermilk, more than I have ever used in a cupcake recipe, so I new this would turn out with a great texture.  I disregarded the directions and followed my own preferred steps and just used the ingredient list.  I topped these little cakes off Chocolate Buttercream made with Ghirardelli's 60% cacoa baking chips.  So delightful! You MUST try!

Chocolate Buttermilk Cupcakes
(Makes 48 cupcakes, or 24 cupcakes and one 9 inch round cake)

3 1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 1/3 cup Trader Joe's Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
3 cups sugar
1 Tablespoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
12 ounces (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
3 cups buttermilk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla (as always, I only use Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla from Nielsen-Massey)
5 eggs, room temperature

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tin(s) with cupcake liners and grease 9 inch round cake pan (s).
2. Beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add in vanilla.
4. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.
5. Alternating between the dry flour mixture and buttermilk, pour in each in thirds and wait until well blended before each addition. Be sure to start and end with adding the dry flour mixture.
6. Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 18-20 minutes for cupcakes, or 50-55 minutes in cake pans.
7. Frost and DEVOUR!

Ghirardelli Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Find the recipe in a previous post HERE :)

All set with equipment and ingredients!

Have a wonderful week!



A Baby Shower's Dr. Suess Themed Cupcakes- Red Velvet and Blue Velvet with Vanilla Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting

 
I was sooo excited to do cupcakes for a friend of mine who was hosting a baby shower. The theme? Dr. Suess!! I made 2 dozen cupcakes: Red and Blue Velvet. The moist Red Velvet Cupcakes were adapted from blogger, Carrot Top Mom. I didn't want to just replicate the same recipe and just add blue food coloring, so I hunted and pecked for the best Blue Velvet recipe. My goal was to find a recipe that had a true 'blue velvet' hue as apposed to just an ultra bright blue cake. It paid off with the fantastic recipe I found from Sprinkle Bakes who also was in search of the same thing and succeeded!

Vanilla Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting

For recipe and directions, jump to my previous post here!



Red Velvet Cupcakes
Makes 12 cupcakes

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder  [I like Trader Joe's Unsweetened Cocoa Powder...until I can get my hands on some Valhrona!]
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temerature
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon red food coloring
2 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract  [Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla of course! The only kind I use I found at Williams Sonoma]


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare cupcake pan with liners.
2. Mix flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl.
3. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. 4. Beat in eggs, one at a time. In a separate bowl, mix in sour cream, milk, food color and vanilla.
5. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until just blended. Do not overbeat.
6. Using a spring-loaded ice cream scoop, scoop into cupcake liners.
7. Bake 18 to 22 minutes or until toothpick inserted into cupcake comes out clean. Gently remove from oven (these are super-moist, and will collapse if you aren’t careful). Cool in pans on wire rack at least 5 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely. Frost and devour!

I looooove the texture of Red Velvet batter!

Blue Velvet Cupcakes
Makes 12 cupcakes

2 cups sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 eggs

1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon Pure Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Extract

1 tablespoon Wilton royal blue gel food coloring gel

1 small dab of Wilton violet gel food coloring gel

2 1/2 cups cake flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

4 teasepoons of fresh lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare cupcake pan with liners.

2. In a large bowl, cream the sugar and butter, mix until light and fluffy.

3. Add the eggs 1 at a time, mixing well after each addition.

4. In a small bowl mix cocoa, vanilla and food colorings together to form a paste. Add paste to butter/sugar mixture and mix well.

5. Sift together flour and salt. Add flour mixture to the sugar mixture in two batches alternating with buttermilk.

6. In a small bowl, combine baking soda and vinegar and add to batter and mix until well blended. Batter will be thicker than a mix cake, and slightly doughy.

7. Using a spring-loaded ice cream scoop, scoop batter into cupcake liners.

8. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.

Get the perfect color combination with the gel colors from Wilton:

Step #4: Mixing cocoa, gel colors and vanila to form a colored paste.

Step #4 continued: Adding paste into sugar/butter mixture.

Step #7: Loading cupcake liners with the Blue Velvet batter!

Cat in the Hat & Green Eggs and Ham!!!

One Fish, Two Fish.......

Red Fish, Blue Fish!

The Assortment:

Dr. Suess Themed Baby Shower Cupcakes

The Cupcakes in Action :)

Here is the Mommy To Be!

Seattle Seahawk Cupcakes - Carrot Cupcakes with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

Yes, this is entirely free-handed using food color markers!

GOOOO SEAHAWKS!

I had my *first* real order of cupcakes!  I usually make them unsolicited for friends, family, and just for sweets and giggles :-P but when a friend asked me to make some for her boyfriend's birthday, I was thrilled.  His favorite flavor cake is carrot.  Also, he's a huge Seattle Sea Hawks fan.  So the flavor was set, the decor ideas were running through my head and I was ready to bake!

Mike (birthday boy) doesn't like nuts and she (Jessica) preferred his cupcakes without raisins, since his liking for them was unknown.  Sounds like he really likes his carrot cake to be uber carrot-y!  So I searched for a recipe with a substantial amount of carrots as well as spices.  I found the Carrot Cupcake recipe from AllRecipes.com and just removed the 1 cup of walnuts.  I adapted the recipe for Orange Cream Cheese Frosting from the book Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery.  The combination of both was fantastic!  I will definitely be using this in the future!  And I topped the cupcakes of delish off with decor made of homemade marshmallow fondant.


Carrot Cupcakes
Makes about 18 cupcakes

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 1/8 cups white sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon pur vanilla extract

2 cups shredded carrots [ I shredded about 1/4 extra a saved for the frosting]

1/2 cup crushed pineapple

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1 cup chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line 18 muffin tine with cupcake liners.
2. Beat together the eggs, both white and brown sugars until light and fluffy.  Mix in the oil and vanilla. Fold in carrots and pineapple.
3. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. Mix flour mixture into the carrot mixture until evenly moist. Fold in 1/2 cup walnuts. Fill cupcakes liners using a spring-loaded ice cream scoop.
4. Bake 22-25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool completely on wire racks before topping with the icing and sprinkling with remaining walnuts.

The most timw consuming part? Shredding the carrots!!!

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting
Makes enough for 15-20 cupcakes

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, room temperature
4 1/2 cups powedered sugar, sifted 9 Tablespoons (1 stick plus 1 Tbs) unsalted butter, room temperature
Greated zest of 1 orange
1/4 cup shredded carrots

1.  Combine all ingredients in a stand mixer on medium speed, beating well until thouroughly combined and frosting is smooth and pale.  This can take several minutes.
2.  Frost cupcakes!  Frosting can be stored in the refridgerator.  Bring back to room temperature to use.

My favorite picture! 

You can see both the orange zest and carrots infused in the frosting.

I kinda wanted to just eat them all.  BUT they weren't for me!

The Carrot Cupcakes before they suited up in football gear...

For a true Seattle Seahawk Fan!

The 12th man: Not sure exactly the meaning, but its a 'Seahawk thing'

Tada! The cupcakes are complete!

GOOOOO TEAM!!

Star Spangled Cupcakes: Memorial Day Chocolate Cupcake with White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting and Patriotic Motif

If it's a holiday that is patriotic, it's definitely celebrated in this house! We celebrated Memorial Day and honored those who serve our country with good 'ole American traditions: BBQ steak, kabobs, water sports, and beer! Let's not forget my favorite part: Patriotic Cupcakes! You can never go wrong with chocolate cupcakes for the boys. I was anxious to try Valrhona's Chocoalte Cupcake Recipe found on their site. I wanted to try my dutch processed cocoa for the first time, so what better way than to use a recipe from the master of the product! The White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting is (hooray!) my own recipe and is a great alternative to classic Vanilla Buttercream.  Finishing these off were Blue and Red Sprinkles as well as White stars made of homemade Marshmallow Fondant.


Ohhhh, saaaaay can you.... BAKE! :D

 Dark Chocolate Cupcakes
(Makes 12 Cupcakes)
  

1 1/3 cup sugar

1 cup all purpose flour

Pinch sea salt

1 cup coco

1/3 teaspoon baking soda

1/3 teaspoon baking powder

1/3 cup buttermilk

1 each whole egg, room temperature

3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

1/3 cup coffee, warm  [I used the 'Volluto' (sweet & fruity notes) espresso pod from the best ever espresso machine, Nespresso. Then filled the rest of the 1/3 cup volume with water]

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees and line muffin pan with cupcake liners.
2. Sift all dry ingredients together into a bowl. In separate bowl, mix eggs and buttermilk.

3. Melt butter in a pot and then add the coffee.

4. Add to butter/coffee mixture to the buttermilk mixture.

5. Pour liquid mixture over dry ingredients and mix until just combined, about 1 minute (do not over mix).

6. Using a spoon or ice cream scoop, scoop into cupcake liners, about 2/3 full.

7. Bake for about 20 minutes. Insert a toothpick into the center to check for doneness.

White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Frosts about 12 cupcakes

6 ounces white chocolate chips

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room termperature

1 Tablespoon milk, room termperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (Madagascar Bourbon of course!)

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

1. Melt white chocolate in microwave safe bowl in 30 second intervals, stirring between each to prevent burning.  Melt until smooth and in a thick pouring consitency.

2. Using a stand up mixer, beat butter, milk, vanilla, powdered sugar until smooth which can take several minutes.

3. Add in melted white chocolae and continue to mix until thick and creamy.  If it appears too runny, just keep mixing!  Frosting will thicken.

ConGRADulations! Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Buttercream frosting AND Cosmopolitan Cupcakes!!

It's that time of year my friends where years of hard work boil down to the final steps down the yellow brick road...GRADUATION!  My long time friend, Dorothy, graduated with her Master's in Social Work from Arizona State University.  CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

So in celebration, I baked her two delicious batches of cupcakes: Red Velvet Cupcakes, using the same recipe found in my previous post for CBRE's Softball Cupcakes. I was hesitant to make a pure Cream Cheese Frosting since I wasn't sure how long they would be out without refrigeration, so I looked to nifty ole Martha Stewart for a Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting which is basically the one I usually make, less the sour cream.  I finished these off with homemade ASU Graduation Caps made of Marshmallow Fondant!!

And if you knew Dorothy and I when we're hanging together, if it's not MAC, Marc Jacobs, or a Betsey Johnson product in hand, it's a cocktail :-P   So making Cosmopolitan Cupcakes for her was just the intuitive thing to do. I am proud to say that this recipe is my very FIRST fully personal recipe, so I'm going to be pretty stingy on this one and leave it just for me ;-)


Red Velvet Cupcakes
(Makes 30 cupcakes)

2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk
1 bottle (1 ounce) McCormick® Red Food Color
2 teaspoons McCormick® Pure Vanilla Extract
Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe follows)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Set aside.

2. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Mix in sour cream, milk, food color and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until just blended. Do not overbeat. Using an ice cream scoop with tradition release handle, scoop into 30 paper-lined muffin cups, filling each cup 2/3 full.

3. Bake 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted into cupcake comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire rack 5 minutes. Remove from pans. When completely cooled, frost with Vanilla Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting.

Vanilla Cream Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 box (16 ounces) confectioners' sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Place cream cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat until creamy, about 30 seconds.

2. With the mixer on low, slowly add sugar, scraping down the sides of the bowls as necessary.

3. Add vanilla and increase mixer speed to medium. Blend until frosting is fluffy, about 1 minute. Now FROST!

Cosmopolitan Cupcakes made with Vodka and Cranberry Vodka Buttercream Frosting
(Sorry Friends! This one is going to have to stay in my cupcake diary!)

Maroon & Gold for ASU:

Red Velvet Cupcake with Vanilla Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting and Gold Glitter

NOW it's a party!

Grad Hat Cupcakes accompanied by Cosmopolitan Cupcakes .

Pose #1: Vogue with your Cupcake.

Pose #2: Devour your Cupcake.