{happy fourth!}

{image source}

 

I just wanted to take a little moment to say thank you to those who have fought and continue to fight for our freedoms.

Cheers to America!

 

Love,

Mrs. E

{recipe: hostess with the mostest cupcakes}

Today’s post is on some delicious cupcakes I made for a BBQ we hosted a few weeks ago. Have you ever had a hostess cupcake; those yummy cream filled delights with the little white icing curls on top? They were one of my favorite childhood treats! I had a major craving for one so I thought it might be fun to try and make them myself. I searched throughout the net until I came across this well reviewed recipe. The cake came out very moist and just as I remembered, however the ganache topping and center filling are so much better (sorry hostess). I skipped the frosting curls as I ran out of time (my guests were arriving!) and instead left a cute little filling dot on top. Try them out and let me know what you think. My guests were impressed...hopefully yours will be too!

hostess with the mostest cupcakes:

Servings: 10 – 15 (less if you keep them to yourself…ha!)

Source: Bake at 350

Cake Ingredients:

1 & 1/4 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon coarse salt

1 & 1/4 cups granulated sugar

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped

1 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

How To:

Step 1: Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350.

Step 2: Place paper liners in a muffin tin for about 24 cupcakes. We ended up with a little less as my hubs couldn’t keep his spoon out of the batter.

Step 3: Bring the sugar and 1 cup of water to a boil in a saucepan, stirring until the sugar dissolves.

Step 4: Pour the sugar water 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.

Step 5: Stir in the vanilla.

Step 6: Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.

Step 7: Using a mixer, beat the eggs into the chocolate, then mix in the dry ingredients.

Step 8: 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.

Step 9: Cool in the pans for about 25 minutes, then transfer cupcakes to a rack to cool completely.

marshmallow filling:

Servings: 24 cupcakes

Source: Bake at 350

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 tablespoons heavy cream
1 cup marshmallow crème

How To:

Step 1: Using a mixer, cream the butter until light and fluffy.

Step 2: Beat in 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar.

Step 3: Add the vanilla and 1 tablespoon heavy cream; beat until smooth.

Step 4: Beat in the remaining 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar and 2 tablespoons of heavy cream in batches, alternating after each addition.

Step 5: Beat in the marshmallow crème; set aside or refrigerate.

Step 6: Once your cupcakes have cooled, use the back of a filling tip to cut out the center of each cupcake.

Step 7: Spoon some filling into each hole; don’t worry about the filling showing, the ganache will cover it.

ganache topping:

Servings: 24 cupcakes

Source: Bake at 350

Ganache Ingredients:

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

How To:

Step 1: Place the chocolate in a stainless-steel bowl.

Step 2: Heat the cream and 1 tablespoon of butter until just boiling, then pour over the chocolate; let stand for 5 minutes.

Step 3: Whisk until smooth.

Step 4: Add 2 teaspoons of vanilla; let stand until cool but still glossy and liquid. **Don’t let it cool too much as it will be harder to spoon over your cupcakes.

Step 5: Spoon the ganache carefully over each filled cupcake.

decorating icing:

Servings: 24 cupcakes

Source: Bake at 350

Icing Ingredients:

1 stick unsalted butter
1 & 1/2 - 2 tablespoons milk
2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla

 How To:

Step 1: Using a mixer, beat the butter, 1/4 teaspoon vanilla, milk, and confectioners sugar until smooth, adding more milk if needed.

Step 2: Spoon icing into a pastry bag with the smallest tip you have and pipe onto the cupcakes to decorate. Check out Bake at 350 for a very cute decorating idea.

Make sure you give yourself plenty of time to make these as they can be a little time consuming. They are definitely worth the trouble!

That’s all folks! Enjoy!

Mrs. E



{recipe: key lime cupcakes w/lime cream cheese frosting}

{craving something tart?}

Last week my mom was in town visiting and treated us and some friends to a traditional Dominican dinner. I haven’t had her food in awhile so it was really special and filled a large void in my life. While my mom---the pro---handled the main meal, I decided to make a dessert that would compliment her dinner nicely. I was craving something tart and sweet and key lime cupcakes seemed to fit the bill. I searched everywhere until I landed on this recipe. I saw it on a few blogs so I figured I would give it a try---with my own twist of course. Let me just say…THESE ARE THE BEST CUPCAKES I HAVE EVER MADE. Seriously! I had one tonight and it was perfectly moist, sweet, and tart. Considering they’ve been in the fridge for over a week, I’d say this recipe will be a keeper.

{check out that graham cracker crust}

key lime cupcakes:

Servings: 10 – 15 (less if you keep them to yourself…ha!)

Source: bon appétit w/some modifications

Ingredients:

·         1 cup of all-purpose flour

·         3/4 cup of self-rising flour

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

·         1 1/4 cups of sugar

·         2 large eggs

·         2 1/2 tablespoons of fresh lime juice

·         1 tablespoon of finely grated lime peel

·         3/4 cup of buttermilk

·         3/4 cup of graham cracker crumbs

·         4 tablespoons of unsalted butter, melted

·         1/4 cup of granulated sugar

How To:

Step 1: Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Step 2: Line 2 cupcake pans with 24 cupcake liners.

Step 3: Whisk together both flours in a medium bowl.

Step 4: Beat the butter in a large bowl until smooth.

Step 5: Add 1 1/4 cups of sugar and beat to blend.

Step 6: Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, then add fresh lime juice and grated lime peel (batter may look curdled).

Step 7: Beat in flour in 3 additions alternately with buttermilk in 2 additions. Batter should be light and fluffy---make sure not to overbeat.

Step 8: Set mixture aside for a minute and work quickly to mix graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, and 1/4 cup of sugar.

Step 9: Cover the bottoms of your cupcake liners with graham cracker mixture. Add more or less depending on how much of a crust you’d like.

Step 10: Spoon batter on top of your graham cracker and fill liners about 2/3 of the way up.

Step 11: Bake cupcakes 20-25 minutes.

Step 12: Remove from oven, cool for about 10 minutes, then remove from cupcake pans and cool completely before frosting (recipe to follow).   

lime cream cheese frosting:

Servings: 24 cupcakes

Source: bon appétit

Ingredients:

·         1 8oz package of cream cheese, room temperature

·         1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar

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

·         1 tablespoon of finely grated lime peel

·         1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

How To:

Step 1: Beat all of the ingredients together until well blended. Be careful not to overbeat!

Step 2: Refrigerate for at least ten minutes before frosting your cupcakes.

That’s all folks! Enjoy!

Mrs. E

{the perfect blend of sweet and tart}

{recipe: irish i had a car bomb cupcake}

{boozie cupcake anyone?}

Why is she posting St. Patty’s day recipes, after St. Patty’s day you might ask? Well…all last week I had technical difficulties (worst week ever!) which equaled to no internet access outside of my iphone, thus, no blog posts. Bummer! But I’m back and you definitely don’t want to miss out on this recipe. I found it last year around this time at the Brown Eyed Baker’s blog and it intrigued me. I’ve never been a huge fan of the drink since my 22^nd birthday disaster (haha), but I figured it would be much more tolerable in cupcake form.

This was one of the first times I branched out and tried a more complex baking recipe. Luckily I had my trusty friend Giselle by my side (who is an excellent baker in my opinion). Our first batch came out ahhhmazzzing. Our second batch---not so much---that’s when we learned the dutch process cocoa could NOT be substituted and you can’t overbeat the frosting. Every batch since then has turned out wonderful (we got a lot of requests)! This year I was on my own as Giselle is all the way in a land I use to know---Chitown. They were as delicious as I remembered and the perfect treat to celebrate this fun holiday! This time around I found a very good (and slightly pricey) dutch process cocoa, and I could really tell the difference. It’s true what they say---better ingredients = better flavors.

No more talking now. Time for the good stuff!

{i followed the rainbow and found some gold!}

irish i had a car bomb cupcake:

Servings: 10 - 15

Source: brown eyed baker

Ingredients for the cupcakes:

·         1 cup Guinness stout

·         1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

·         3/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder

·         2 cups all-purpose flour

·         2 cups granulated sugar

·         1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

·         3/4 teaspoons salt

·         2 eggs

·         2/3 cup sour cream

Ingredients for the whiskey ganache filling (oh yes!):

·         8 ounces bittersweet chocolate

·         2/3 cup heavy cream

·         2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature

·         2 teaspoons Irish whiskey

Ingredients for the bailey’s frosting:

·         2 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature

·         5 cups powdered sugar

·         6 tablespoons Bailey’s Irish Cream

Cupcake How To:

Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Step 2: Line 24 cupcake cups with liners.

Step 3: Bring the Guinness and butter to a simmer in a medium saucepan over medium heat.

Step 4: Add the cocoa powder to the Guinness and butter and whisk until the mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

Step 5: Whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda and, salt in a large bowl to combine.

Step 6: Using an electric mixer, beat the eggs and sour cream on medium speed until combined.

Step 7: Add the Guinness-chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and beat just to combine.

Step 8: Reduce the speed to low, add the flour mixture and beat briefly.

Step 9: Using a rubber spatula, fold the batter until completely combined.

Step 10: Divide the batter among the cupcake liners. Bake until a thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean, about 17 minutes. Cool the cupcakes (completely) on a rack.

Ganache How To:

Step 1: Finely chop the chocolate and transfer it to a heatproof bowl.

Step 2: Heat the cream until simmering and pour it over the chocolate.

Step 3: Let the cream sit for one minute and then, using a rubber spatula, stir it from the center outward until smooth.

Step 4: Add the butter and whiskey and stir until combined.

Step 5: Let the ganache cool until thick but still soft enough to be piped.

Step 6: Using a 1-inch round cookie cutter (or the bottom of a large decorating tip), cut the centers out of the cooled cupcakes, going about two-thirds of the way down.

Step 7: Transfer the ganache to a piping bag with a wide tip and fill the holes in each cupcake to the top.

Frosting How To:

Step 1: Using the whisk attachment of a stand mixer, whip the butter on medium-high speed for 5 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally.

Step 2: Reduce the speed to medium-low and gradually add the powdered sugar until all of it is incorporated.

Step 3: Add the Baileys, increase the speed to medium-high and whip for another 2 to 3 minutes, until it is light and fluffy. BE CAREFUL NOT TO OVERBEAT!!!

Step 4: Using your favorite decorating tip, or an offset spatula, frost the cupcakes and decorate with sprinkles, if desired. Store the cupcakes in an airtight container.

{happy st. patty’s day}

Not the simplest recipe in the world but it definitely tops the list in terms of best chocolate cake recipes. Well, I’m off to eat another one!

See you later alligators!

The Mrs.