Not Just Cupcakes Anymore!

So I have expanded (and no I don't mean from eating all these cupcakes)! I have ventured out into custom cookies. Now some people might be intimidated by the amount of time it can take to just do even a dozen, but I found it so much fun and creative.If you are going to do designs and get artsy then I would recommend starting with a really good sugar cookie base. Cupcakes defrtyinitely take less time to do but the cookies are just as rewarding! :) There are also endless possibilities! Enjoy :)

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A Cupcaketastrophie- The Dry Cupcake

I recently had a conversation with a co-worker about the differences between cupcakes from scratch and box cupcakes. We both agreed that after baking for so long and eating cupcakes from scratch, scratch is definitely the better way to go. So why is it more people don't bake from scratch? Well, one reason I've been told is moisture. Some have told me that they prefer box over scratch not because of taste but solely because there scratch has come out too dry. So I've done some research and wanted to list some reasons as to why your scratch cupcakes may be too dry and hopefully convert you!

1. Over mixing- Now this is probably the most common reason as to why you may have a dry cupcake. Remember, you don't want to try and get every single lump out of the batter. Lumps are our friends! You just want to make sure all ingredients are incorporated and once they are mixed, STOP.

2. Too much baking powder or baking soda- This will cause your cupcakes to rise to fast and dry out.

3. Uneven ratio- Having too many dry ingredients or not enough liquid  can cause your cake to be dry. If you are a beginner, look for recipes that call more for milk and oil as opposed to butter. Also having too many egg whites, which can dry out your cake.

4. Oven temp.- If your oven temperature is too high, this will almost always dry out your cake. Try baking at a lower temp.

I hope that this will help and make some of you more comfortable with baking from scratch. So, get started and be creative! :)

Need some milk?

Pumpkin Bacon Redone!

          The first cupcake I experimented with was the Pumpkin Bacon cupcake with Maple Butter cream. It was a play on the salty and sweet, and who doesn't love bacon?! Well that was a couple of of years ago, and since then I've done many cupcakes of all different combinations. I decided though to go back to the one that started it all. It was a really good cupcake, but I wanted to make it better. I added more pumpkin flavor, more maple flavor, and of course more BACON! It came out just right! So boys and girls, here is a rough draft of the recipe.

Yes, that's bacon on top!!!!!!

Pumpkin bacon cupcakes with Maple butter cream

Cupcake:
2 1/2 C Flour
3/4 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1 Stick Salted Butter
1 1/4 C Sugar
3 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla
1 C Milk
3/4 Canned Pumpkin
2 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Cloves
1 tsp Nutmeg
1 Package Thick cut bacon

Maple Butter Cream

2 Sticks Salted Butter
2 Cups Powdered Sugar
1/4 C Maple Syrup
1 tsp Vanilla

Mmmmmmm Bananas Foster

Bananas Foster is one of my families favorite treats. They love the brown sugar, bananas, and rum! How the flavors just go so well together. Of course I had to re-create that beloved dessert in cupcake form. I thought it was going to be more complicated than it actually was, but getting the banana flavor to not over power the brown sugar and rum, and keep all the flavors in harmony. Well, it was just magic!
When my husband took that first bite of the cupcake and I saw his eyes light up, I knew I had gotten it right. I'm so glad it turned out to be another hit! What's your favorite banana cupcake?

Blueberry Cupcakes: Ironically, They Make You Feel the Opposite of Blue

I Love blueberry pie. I wanted so badly to re-create that flavor in a cupcake. I took one of my vanilla recipes and tweaked it, adding a little lemon and some frozen blueberries. I created a vanilla cinnamon butter cream to top it off. The finished product? A blueberry pie tasting cupcake! They were moist, the blueberries bursting in every bite. The vanilla cinnamon butter cream was the perfect finish! They were just plain good!

Vegan!

I had been trying to figure out a way to broaden my cupcake variety besides trying new flavors. It wasn't long until I found some vegan cupcake recipes. I noticed that the chocolate recipe I found was a lot like my regular chocolate cupcake. SO, I made the substitutions and voila! The vegan "butter cream" was pretty simple and as easy to make as regular butter cream. I was nervous once they were done. Would they measure up to a regular non-vegan cupcake? Yes! No one even new the difference! Everyone loved them, some even having seconds. I was so excited. Now I can't wait to try the next obvious vegan flavor. Vanilla! lol

Cream filled!

I have to admit at first I was a little intimidated by filling the cupcakes. Now that i feel like I've gotten the hang of it they are so much fun and taste so good. What I have here are the three that people have liked the most. The Banana Fluffernutter, which is a banana cupcake with marshmallow filling and peanut butter butter cream. Next is the Boston Cream (courtesy of my aunt Somari), which is a vanilla cupcake with vanilla cream and a chocolate glaze. Last but not least, is the Coconut Cream cupcake. This one has been my fave of the three. Its a coconut cupcake with coconut custard and a coconut butter cream! Hhhmmmmmmm! All three were moist and yummy.