Sundae Cupcakes

I'm finally posting the cupcakes I made for Cupcake Camp 2010 a few months ago. Aren't they pretty? I chose to make sundae cupcakes since I love making ice cream so much! I'm really looking forward to participate in the competition next year!

I used the devil's food cake recipe from David Lebovitz and the vanilla buttercream recipe below for the cupcakes. I made the Classic Hot Fudge from The Perfect Scoop and drizzled it on top of the frosted cupcakes after it had cooled a bit. Decorate with sprinkles and maraschino cherries!

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Sundae Cupcakes

Makes about 48 frosted cupcakes

Chocolate Cupcakes

Adapted from Annie's Eats, originally from David Lebovitz

18 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

3 cups cake flour

1 tsp salt

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

16 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature

3 cups granulated sugar

4 large eggs, at room temperature

1 cup strong coffee (or water)

1 cup whole or low-fat milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 4 cupcake pans with papers liners. In a medium bowl, sift together the cocoa powder, cake flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Mix in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl between additions.

In a large measuring cup, combine the coffee and milk. Add half of the dry ingredients to the mixer and mix on low speed just until incorporated. Stir in the coffee-milk mixture and mix until combined. Add in the remaining dry ingredients, again mixing until just incorporated. Divide the batter evenly between the cupcake liners, filling the cups not more than 3/4 full. Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

Vanilla Buttercream

Adapted from Milk and Honey Cafe

1-1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

3-4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp heavy cream

In a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the butter at medium-high speed until smooth, for about 20 seconds. Add half the confectioners' sugar, beat at medium-low speed until most of the sugar is moistened, about 45 seconds. Scrape down the bowl and beat at medium-high speed until mixture is fully combined, about 15 seconds. Add the rest of the confectioners' sugar and mix again. Scrape the bowl, add the vanilla extract and heavy cream, and beat at medium-high speed until incorporated, about 10 seconds. Then increase the speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes, scraping down the bowl once or twice. Add more confectioners' sugar if you find your frosting isn't thick enough, or more heavy cream if you find it too thick.

Cupcakes for a Celebration!

My boyfriend's niece was baptized a few weeks ago and her mother had asked me to make some cupcakes for the reception. Me? Make cupcakes for a baptism? I was so honoured!!

She wanted vanilla cake with three types of icing. After a few hours of searching blogs and a bit of brainstorming I came up with these three:

Vanilla bean buttercream with heart-shaped fondant cutouts (S for Sofia)

Chocolate buttercream topped with purple flowers

Strawberry buttercream

You can click on the links under the photos to be directed to the recipes! I didn't follow all the buttercream recipes to the letter. When I made the strawberry one, I found that the strawberry purée didn't give the frosting a strong taste so I added some strawberry flavour. For the chocolate and vanilla bean, I added more milk or powdered sugar until I got the consistency I wanted.

Sofia and her family really loved the cupcakes. Ok maybe not Sofia, she still only has milk! But I have to admit my favorite was the one with chocolate buttercream!

Cupcake Camp 2010

My first foodie event!! I really didn't expect there to be that many people at Cupcake Camp 2010! There was a huge lineup, starting outside, continuing down the halls of the Queen Elizabeth Hotel and leading upstairs! I even bumped into a few friends there! I have never seen that many people go crazy over cupcakes... And the event turned out to be a huge success according to their website. Isn't that amazing? A completely volunteer run event that raised over 34,500$, shared 25,000 cupcakes with 2,500 people for the Kids Help Phone and La Tablée des Chefs!!

Two chefs from the Food Network: Nadia G. from Bitchin' Kitchen and Ricardo Larrivée from Ricardo and Friends. They were both really nice and let me take pictures!

There was also a cupcake competition. Take a look at these cupcakes! Amazing!

These are some of the cupcakes I got to take home. This one my friend made (yes, she donated over 200 cupcakes!!) and it was one of my favorite: white velvet with pomegranate filling and white chocolate frosting if I remember correctly!

This one I didn't get to try. I only had the fondant jalapeño and my sister decide to eat it cause she thought it was chocolate and got a nice surprise! Apparently it was quite hot!

I can't wait for next year's event! My friend and I really want to participate in the competition but we're going to have to work hard to come up with something creative. I'll make sure I post the cupcakes I donated soon!

Raspberry Swirl Cheesecakes

My taste in food has changed a lot since I was little. My favorite cheese used to be Kraft Cheese but now I can't get enough of Brie, Jarlsberg and Kefalogaviera!

Cheesecake would be the last thing I would have chosen to eat. I remember I didn't appreciate its thickness and creaminess and would only eat the glazed strawberries on the top of the cake. Recently I started liking it though. These cheesecake cupcakes turned out cute and were pretty easy to make. I had halved the recipe because I didn't want to be stuck with too many of them but surprisingly, they disappeared very fast!

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Raspberry Swirl Cheesecakes

Adapted from Cupcakes by Martha Stewart

Makes 32 cupcakes

1 1/2 cups finely ground graham crackers

3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

1 1/2 cups + 5 tbsp sugar

6 ounces fresh raspberries

2 lbs cream cheese, at room temperature

pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

4 large eggs, at room temperature

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line muffin tins with paper liners. Stir together ground graham crackers, butter and 3 tbsp sugar. Press 1 tbsp of crust mixture firmly into the bottom of each lined cup. Bake for 5 minutes until set and place tins on a wire rack to cool.

Process raspberries in a food processor until smooth and strain the mixture into a small bowl to remove seeds. Whisk in 2 tbsp sugar.

Beat cream cheese until fluffy with a mixer on medium-high speed (scrape down sides of bowl if needed). With mixer on low speed, add remaining 1 1/2 cups of sugar gradually. Add eggs one at a time, beating until just combined after each.

Spoon 3 tbsp filling over crust in each cup. Dollop 1/2 tsp raspberry puree in a few dots on each. Swirl sauce into filling with a toothpick in each cup. Place each tin into a roasting pan and pour enough hot water into the pan to come to three-quarters of the way up sides of cups.

Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until filling is set, between 22-24 minutes. Remove tins from water bath and transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Refrigerate (in tins) for at least 4 hours and remove from tins just before serving.

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins

I don't know why I put off making these muffins. First, I should tell you that these are the zucchini cupcakes from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes book. They are usually frosted with cream cheese frosting, but I decided to make them without the frosting and add chocolate chips instead. These muffins are really easy to make, and you don't even have to take out the mixer!

I've been avoiding Martha Stewart's books mostly because the last few time I've been following her recipes, they hadn't turned out well. But I can definitely tell you now that these muffins have turned things around!

At this point of the batter preparation, it felt like Christmas in our kitchen. The mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves brought back sweet memories of warm gingerbread cookies!

Once I took the muffins out of the oven, I was so relieved they hadn't overflowed because I was debating if I should fill them over the usual three-quarters-full suggestion. I had halved the recipe down to 12 muffins but go ahead and make all 24 cause they go by fast!!

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Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins

Adapted from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes via Big City Cooking

Makes 24 muffins

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1 cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 tbsp vanilla extract

3/4 tsp grated lemon zest

2 cups sugar (original recipe had packed brown sugar but I was out!)

3 cups packed grated zucchini

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line muffin tins with paper liners.

Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. In another bowl, whisk together oil, eggs, vanilla and lemon zest until well blended. Whisk in brown sugar until smooth. Stir in zucchini and then add flour mixture and stir until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

Divide the batter evenly into muffin tins. Bake for 20 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Transfer muffins on a wire rack to cool.

Raspberry-Filled Vanilla Cupcakes with Almond Buttercream

Cupcake Bakeshop is my go-to blog for anything and everything to do with cupcakes. You can tell that the author knows her cupcakes when:

a) her entire site is devoted to them

b) she compares and tests different recipes (flavor, texture, dryness...)

c) she uses ingredients such as fennel, papaya, grapefruit

So I had my eye on these Cherry Vanilla Cupcakes for a while now and decided to make them for a very special occasion: my good friend's baby shower. I chose to make them cause they look cute and sort of girly (she is having a baby girl!). The cupcakes turned out really good and the raspberry filling paired well with the almond buttercream frosting! I would fill the cupcakes a bit more next time though.

I chose raspberries instead of cherries for the filling since cherries are out of season now and I couldn't find them anywhere (not even frozen!). Also I completely omitted the salt for the vanilla cupcakes. I once put the amount of salt written on a recipe and my cookies had turned out really salty so I usually leave it out or use very very little.

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Raspberry-Filled Vanilla Cupcakes with Almond Buttercream

Adapted and slightly modified from Cupcake Bakeshop

Makes 24 frosted cupcakes

Vanilla Cupcakes

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 cups sugar

4 large eggs

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 cup whole milk

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat butter on high for about 30 seconds until soft. Add the sugar and beat on high until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time and beat 30 seconds between each.

Sift flour and baking powder in a bowl and whisk together. Add to mixer bowl and when well combined, add the milk and vanilla.

Scoop into cupcake papers about half to two-thirds full since they rise a bit. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until cake tester comes out clean. (I baked them for 20 minutes.)

Raspberry Filling

2 cups raspberries, fresh or frozen

1/2 cup water

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup sugar

2 tbsp cornstarch

Add raspberries, water and vanilla to a pot. Cook for 10 minutes over medium-high heat. Stir from time to time.

Stir together sugar and cornstarch and then add to the pot with raspberries. Cook until thick, for about 20 minutes. Make sure nothing sticks to the bottom of the pot by stirring occasionally and not overcooking.

Using the cone method mentioned on Baking Bites, fill the cupcakes with raspberry filling when both the filling and the cupcakes have cooled completely.

Almond Buttercream Frosting

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

6-8 cups sifted powdered sugar

1 1/2 tsp almond extract

1/4 cup milk

Beat butter at medium-high speed until creamy. Add half of the sifted powdered sugar, the almond extract and the milk. Beat until combined. Gradually add powdered sugar until desired consistency and sweetness.

Frost filled cupcakes and top with maraschino cherries that have been rinsed and well dried.

Allergen-Free Chocolate Cupcakes

I want to like Martha. I really do. I mean I do own her "Martha Stewart Cupcakes" and "Martha Stewart Cookies" books. But it's really hard to like her when it's 10pm and the swiss meringue buttercream is curdled. It even says so in the book that the mixture might appear to curdle after adding the butter and to keep on beating. So I kept beating and what was I left with? Some sort of mixture that tastes like butter. How will I frost the cupcakes with this? So I sort of turned the swiss meringue buttercream into a buttercream simply by adding sifted powdered sugar until I got the consistency I wanted. And it tasted better too! I don't know if you would call it a buttercream though because it had egg whites in it too.. But I really want to get that swiss meringue buttercream right! It looks really nice on the pictures, I would try it again another time. Has anyone ever tried it and succeeded? I'm sure I'm doing something wrong!

Anyways so I made these cupcakes for the daycare my mom is working at and anything brought there for the children must not contain any nuts. So I figured I can't go wrong with this recipe! I had my doubts with the cupcakes when I ended up with a very liquid batter and they did turn out a bit dense, but they tasted good. I don't know if I would remake them again though, I like my cupcakes moist and cakey!

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Allergen-Free Chocolate Cupcakes

Adapted from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes

Makes 12

1 1/2 cups cake flour

3/4 cups granulated sugar

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tbsp distilled white vinegar

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a muffin tin with paper liners. Sift together cake flour, granulated sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt.

With electric mixer on medium-high speed, mix together oil, vinegar, vanilla and water until well combined. Add flour mixture and mix until smooth (batter will be very thin).

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each 3/4 full. Bake, rotating tin halfway through, until a toothpick inserted into centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Place cupcakes onto wire rack until cooled completely.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Adapted from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes

Makes about 5 cups

5 large egg whites

1 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar

pinch salt

4 sticks unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Combine egg whites, sugar and salt in heatproof bowl of a standing mixer set over a pan of simmering water. Whisk constantly by hand until mixture is warm to the touch and sugar has dissolved.

Attach bowl to mixer fitted with whisk attachment. Starting on low and slowly increasing to medium-high speed, whisk until stiff (but not dry) peaks form. Continue mixing until the mixture is fluffy and glossy and completely cool, about 10 minutes.

With mixer on medium-low speed, add the butter a few tablespoons at a time, mixing well after each addition. Once all butter had been added, whisk in vanilla (I used lemon extract). Switch to paddle attachment and continue beating on low speed until all air bubbles are eliminated, about 2 minutes. This is when I added the sifted powdered sugar. Add gel-paste food color, a drop at a time (I use toothpick to add a dab at a time).