Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

The first fall-ish recipe of the season is here, and it's a good one. I can't get enough pumpkin desserts (unless it's pumpkin pie..maybe if it's slathered in whipped cream but even then..) and baked goods. Mostly the baked stuff though, I love how it makes the final product so moist.

My husband's birthday is this weekend, the big 2-8. When did we get so old?? It wasn't that long ago that he turned 24 (about 2 weeks after we started dating). So I wanted to make him something to take to work. He didn't want me to. I didn't care. And guess what? He also doesn't want a birthday cake. Like that's gonna happen. How were they? I suppose it's a good sign when he comes home empty handed, right?

PS- Just FYI, but my index needs to be updated, baaadly. The last couple months of posts aren't in there. I'll try to work on it when I have some time..which isn't often.

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

from Martha Stewart as seen on My Baking Addiction

Pumpkin Cupcakes
yields: approximately 20-24 cupcakes

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon coarse salt

1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1 cup packed light-brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

4 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin puree

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and pumpkin pie spice; set aside.2. In a large bowl, whisk together, brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter, and eggs. Add dry ingredients, and whisk until smooth. Whisk in pumpkin puree.3. Divide batter evenly among liners, filling each about halfway. Bake until tops spring back when touched, and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes, rotating pans once if needed. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients:

2 (8) ounce package cream cheese, softened

1 stick butter, softened

2 lbs. confectioners’ sugar

1 TBS ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

Using a mixer, blend the butter and cream cheese together until well combined. Gradually add in the confectioners’ sugar until fully incorporated. Finally mix in vanilla and cinnamon

*Note that the frosting makes a ton. If you plan on only using it for 1 batch of cupcakes, half the recipe. I realized it would make a large bowl so I set aside half of the frosting and kept it plain, without the cinnamon and plan on using it to frost the cake, too.

Snickers Cupcakes

See the cupcake stand? I made it. It's really easy, you can make one a number of ways and you can find step by step tutorials online. I even reused this one from Landon's baby blessing by recovering it with a different color cardstock and changing the ribbon. It makes things a lot easier that way.
I've posted this cupcake recipe before, when I made the chocolate covered strawberry cupcakes. It's a great doctored up cake mix and the cupcakes turn out incredibly moist. With sourcream and pudding in the mix, how could they not?? I'm not so much a fan of the candy bars baked into the middle. They melt into the cupcake so you can't tell so much that it was a candy bar. Except I have put a whole reese's cup into the bottom of a cupcake before and baked it and that was really good, it held pretty well. So next time I would just skip baking it in and just put them on the top. It's up to you, either way they're good!

Snickers Cupcakes
My Baking Addiction


Makes 24-30 cupcakes
For the cake:
1 (18.25 ounce) package devil’s food cake mix
1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs; lightly beaten
1/2 cup warm water
1 teaspoon of vanilla
24-30 frozen Snickers Miniatures

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Line (2) 12 cup muffin tins with paper liners.
3. In a large bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs, vanilla and water.
4. Evenly divide the batter amongst the prepared pans.
5. Gently push a frozen Snickers Miniature bar into the center of the batter and smooth the surface making sure to cover the candy bar with batter.
6. Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until top is springy to the touch and a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean.
7. Cool cupcakes thoroughly on wire rack.

Caramel Buttercream Frosting:
2 sticks unsalted butter; room temperature
1/2 cup shortening
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 pounds confectioners’ sugar
1/3 cup caramel topping; plus more for drizzling
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:
1. Cream the butter and shortening in the bowl of an electric or stand mixer. Add the vanilla extract, salt and caramel syrup and combine well.
2. Begin adding in the sugar and mixing thoroughly after each addition. After all of the sugar has been added and mixed thoroughly, give it a taste and decide if you want to add in more caramel syrup. For thicker frosting you can gradually add in a little more sugar.
Garnish with chopped Snickers bars and a drizzle of caramel of caramel syrup.

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes

Here's another continuation of my strawberry obsession (especially when chocolate is involved). We had our 3rd anniversary a few days ago and what a great reason to make these. The chocolate cake is a doctored up box mix which makes things a lot easier and the result is the moistest cupcake i've probably ever had. The frosting is a fresh strawberry buttercream and it's pretty amazing.
Normally when I make chocolate covered strawberries I just lay them on parchment paper after I dip them, but this time I didn't want a flat side. I didn't have any styrofoam so I had to get creative. I ended up using an apple placed in a plastic cup to poke the berries into to hold up. There wasn't a lot of room on the apples to hold a lot of berries, but they dried fast enough that I didn't need a whole lot of room. It was a little difficult making sure the apple didn't tip over..but it ended up working fine and I didn't get the flat side! Now i'm just wishing I didn't toss my 40% off at Michaels because I need to go get some styrofoam for an upcoming project.

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes
My Baking Addition

Ingredients:

1 (18.25 ounce) package devil’s food cake mix

1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix

1 cup sour cream

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs, lightly beaten

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup warm water

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tin with paper liners or spray with non-stick cooking spray.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, eggs, vanilla and water. Beat for about two minutes on medium speed until well combined.

3. Using a large cookie scoop, distribute the batter between 24 muffin wells; about 3 tablespoons of batter per well.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick entered into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Allow cupcakes to cool inside muffin tins for about 10 minutes.

5. Remove cupcakes from muffin tins and allow to fully cool on a wire rack. Once cupcakes are cool, prepare your frosting.

For the buttercream frosting:
Ingredients:

3 sticks unsalted butter, softened

pinch of fine grain sea salt

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 pounds confectioners’ sugar, sifted

6 ounces strawberries, pureed

4-6 tablespoons heavy cream

Directions:

1. Cream butter on medium speed until fluffy. Turn your mixer down to low speed and slowly add in the confectioner’s sugar, and continue mixing until well blended.

2. Add salt, vanilla, 3 tablespoons of heavy cream and strawberry puree. Blend on low speed until moistened. Add an additional 1 to 3 tablespoons of heavy cream until you reach the desired consistency. Beat at high speed until frosting is smooth and fluffy

3. Pipe frosting onto cooled cupcakes and finish with a chocolate covered strawberry.

Fauxtess Cupcakes

These cupcakes are a home made version of the Hostess cupcakes. And I gotta say they are pretty spot on, but even better! It's more work than regular cupcakes, but it's not that bad, and definitely worth it! The cupcakes are chocolatey and moist, the marshmallow filling inside creamy and delicious and the ganache was perfect. The icing design could easily be left off, but it makes them that much cuter :)

Fauxtess Cupcakes
Loves To Eat





Ingredients:
For the Cupcakes
11/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
11/4 cups granulated sugar
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs, lightly beaten

For the Filling
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 tablespoons heavy cream
1 cup marshmallow cream

For the Ganache and Icing (I would half the icing recipe, I had enough left over I think it would be ok)
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 stick plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
21/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon milk
2 cups confectioners’ sugar

Directions:
Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350. Place paper liners in two 12-cup muffin pans.

Prepare the cupcakes: Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Bring the sugar and 1 cup water to a boil in a saucepan, stirring until the sugar dissolves, about 3 minutes. Pour into a large bowl; add the chocolate and butter and let sit, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate is melted and the mixture has cooled slightly. Stir in the vanilla. Using a mixer, beat in the eggs, then mix in the dry ingredients.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans (about 1/4 cup batter per cupcake) and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool in the pans for about 25 minutes, then transfer cupcakes to a rack to cool completely.

Meanwhile, prepare the filling: Using a mixer, cream the butter until light and fluffy. Beat in 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar. Add the vanilla and 1 tablespoon heavy cream; beat until smooth. Beat in the remaining 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar and 2 tablespoons heavy cream in batches, alternating after each addition. Beat in the marshmallow creme; set aside.

Prepare the ganache: Place the chocolate in a stainless-steel bowl. Heat the cream and 1 tablespoon butter until just boiling, then pour over the chocolate; let stand for 5 minutes. Whisk until smooth. Add 2 teaspoons vanilla; let stand until cool but still glossy and liquid.

Spoon the filling into a pastry bag with a medium tip. Insert the tip into the center of each cupcake top; fill until the cupcake is heavier (do not overfill). Dip the cupcake tops in the ganache or spoon and frost tops. Chill for at least 15 minutes.

Prepare the icing: Using a mixer, beat the remaining 1 stick butter, 1/4 teaspoon vanilla, the milk and confectioners’ sugar until smooth. Spoon into a pastry bag with a small tip; pipe onto the cupcakes to decorate.

*Linked to Sweets for A Saturday

Chocolate Cupcakes with White Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting

I was looking through my cupboard and spotted my boxes of Guittard chocolate wafers. I noticed on the back there was this recipe and it sounded so good! I especially liked that the yield was 12 so by making half batch I would end up with only 6 cupcakes which is great for just the 2 of us. These are not your typical light, fluffy, super moist cupcakes. Instead they are very dense so it doesn't take quite as many to satisfy. The frosting too wasn't your typical light, fluffy frosting. It was more of a white chocolate layer on top of the cupcake. I've noticed a lot of these Guittard recipes i've tried are very similar. This one in particular reminded me of the Milk Chocolate Decadence Cake I posted here.
Chocolate Cupcakes with White Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting
Guittard


Chocolate Cupcakes
Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups (8 oz.) Guittard 72% Cocoa Bittersweet Chocolate Wafers (or any good quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped)
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
4 large eggs
1 t. vanilla extract
3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 deg F. Line 12 cupcake forms with paper liners.
Melt wafers and butter in top of double boiler over low heat, stirring constantly until melted and smooth. Transfer to a large bowl and beat in sugar, then eggs and vanilla until glossy. Stir in flour just until incorporated.
Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full. Bake 25-30 minutes or until tops are rounded and puffy. A toothpick inserted in center will still have crumbs clinging to it. Cool completely before frosting.

White Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting (makes just enough for above recipe)
Ingredients:
1 cup (6 oz.) Guittard 31% Cacao White Chocolate Wafers (or any good quality white chocolate, chopped)
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 t. vanilla extract

Directions:
Melt white chocolate and sour cream in top of double broiler over low heat stirring constantly until smooth. Stir in vanilla. Transfer to large mixing bowl and chill for 2 hours or overnight. Whip for about 1-2 minutes at high speed, stopping to scrape bottom and sides of bowl, until frosting lightens in color and a good spreading constistency is achieved. Refrigerate until ready to use. Frosting can be prepared in advance.

Angel Food Cupcakes

I wanted to make a light treat to take to lunch with some friends so I went to the store and saw that strawberries were on sale. I decided these cupcakes would be perfect. It worked great since everything is already portioned out, no need to take the cake, whipped cream and berries seperately.

Angel Food Cupcakes

Annie's Eats

Yield: 24 cupcakes (I had a little more than 24)

Ingredients:

1 cup cake flour

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

12 large egg whites

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

Directions:

Adjust oven racks to the two lowest positions. Preheat the oven to 375° F. Line two cupcake pans with paper liners.

In a small mixing bowl, sift together the flour, 3/4 cup of the sugar and the salt; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites with the vanilla and cream of tartar on medium-high speed until soft-medium peaks form. Gradually add the remaining 3/4 cup sugar, continuing to beat until stiff peaks form. Gently fold in the dry ingredients using a rubber spatula, being careful not to deflate the batter.
Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cupcake liners and bake for 12-15 minutes or until light golden. Let cool in the pans for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Serve with whipped cream and fresh berries.

Cookies 'N Cream Cupcakes

Sorry, no story today, just recipe. I found this one on Annie's Eats. She has tons of cupcake recipes. Also, her photos are a lot better. Someday though i'll get a nice camera with super fancy lenses. Until then, this is what you get. We really liked these. I liked how there's half an oreo on the bottom of the cupcake. Usually i'm a huge chocolate fan, but the oreos in these were enough that I didn't feel like it was lacking. If you're going to wait a little while before eating these, I would say to wait to put the 1/2 oreo garnish on top. I noticed they started to get soft after a while. Maybe because I had them in the fridge for a little while? I'm not sure. I also found an oreo cupcake recipe that i'll have to try next time. It's quite different since it has a chocolate base and oreo frosting.

Cookies N Cream Cupcakes

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:

24 Oreo halves, with cream filling attached

2¼ cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 2/3 cup sugar

3 large egg whites, at room temperature

2 tsp. vanilla extract1 cup milk

20 Oreo cookies, coarsely chopped (I quarter them)

For the frosting:

8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature

6 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 tbsp. vanilla extract
4 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

2 tbsp. heavy cream

For garnish:

Oreo cookie crumbs

24 Oreo cookie halves

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Line the wells of two cupcake pans with 24 paper liners. Place an Oreo halve in the bottom of each liner, cream side up. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt; stir together with a fork to blend and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter and sugar and beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Blend in the egg whites one at a time, beating well after each addition. Blend in the vanilla extract. With the mixer on low speed, beat in half of the dry ingredients just until incorporated. Add the milk and beat just until combined, then mix in the remaining dry ingredients. Gently fold in the chopped Oreos with a rubber spatula until evenly incorporated, being careful not to over-mix.

Evenly divide the batter between the prepared cupcake liners. Bake for 18-20 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pans 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
To make the frosting, combine the cream cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on medium-high speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Blend in the vanilla extract. Beat in the confectioners’ sugar until incorporated and smooth, 1-2 minutes. Add the heavy cream to the bowl and beat on medium-low speed just until incorporated, then increase the speed to medium-high and whip for 4 minutes until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Frost the cooled cupcakes as desired. Sprinkle with Oreo crumbs and garnish with Oreo halves.

Yield: 24 cupcakes, I had quite a bit more though, like 32

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

We haven't done our delivery yet for this week but I thought i'd post a couple recipes I made recently. The first one is a recipe that a neighbor down the street posted on her blog from Annie's Eats. I made these for Matt's sister's graduation since I've heard good things about them. I thought they were good..but the work involved was a little more than how good they were, for me. So these would def be for a special occasion of some kind. But everyone who tried them really liked them. I accidentally looked at the amount of chocolate chips in the filling when I was making the batter and only put 1/4 c. in the batter instead of 1 c. but I made up for it by adding the rest into the filling, and it turned out fine.I forgot to take a picture but here's one from perrysplate. She has a lot of other good pictures so if you want to see more, go check it out.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

For the cupcakes:

3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature

1½ cups light brown sugar, packed

4 large eggs

2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

¼ tsp. salt

1 cup milk

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup chocolate chips (semisweet or bittersweet)

For the filling:

4 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature

6 tbsp. light brown sugar, packed

1 cup plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour

7 oz. sweetened condensed milk

½ tsp. vanilla extract

¼ cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

For the frosting:

3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature

¾ cup light brown sugar, packed

3½ cups confectioners' sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

¾ tsp. salt

3 tbsp. milk

2½ tsp. vanilla extract

For decoration:

Tiny chocolate chip cookies (if you feel ambitious)Mini chocolate chips

To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350° F. Line two cupcake pans with paper liners (24 total). In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and brown sugar. Beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir together to blend. Add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl on low speed, alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, mixing each addition just until incorporated. Blend in the vanilla. Fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula.Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cupcake liners. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the cookie dough filling, combine the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and cream on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the flour, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla until incorporated and smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips. If the mixture is too soft or sticky to handle with your hands, refrigerate for an hour until it firms up. (Mine was just right - no chilling needed, but the original recipe suggested it.)To fill the cupcakes, cut a cone-shaped portion out of the center of each cupcake. Fill each hole with a chunk of the chilled cookie dough mixture. You can be generous with the cookie dough mixture. I had about a 1/2 cup leftover.

To make the frosting, beat together the butter and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until creamy. Mix in the confectioners' sugar until smooth. Beat in the flour and salt. Mix in the milk and vanilla extract until smooth and well blended.Frost the filled cupcakes as desired, sprinkling with mini chocolate chips and topping with mini chocolate chip cookies for decoration.Makes 24 cupcakes. (I had 28)