Auburn Neapolitan Cupcakes

I recently was asked to make some red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese icing for a friend. However, when I made them, I think I may have added too much liquid, so they ended up...ummm...not right. Tasting OK, but I would never deliver them to anyone & be all right with it.

But somewhere it made me start thinking that I might be able to try a red velvet icing...hmmm...

So I baked vanilla cupcakes with a strawberry flavored buttercream icing, topped with a red velvet buttercream. I call them Auburn Neapolitan Cupcakes! Like the ice cream, but with red velvet instead...so it's auburn...like my hair!

This time around, my red velvet icing attempt didn't set well, so I need to keep the cupcakes very cold! I added a little bit of sour cream...however, I think I got fat free sour cream, so it was separating within the frosting. Bummer. Cuz the flavor is really good!

They need a couple of tweaks, but the flavor is pretty good! Apparently...they taste like ice cream for sure!

S'More Cupcakes

Well, Happy National S'mores Day, everyone!

How should we celebrate such a day when it's too hot to sit around a campfire to toast your marshmallows? You make 'em into cupcakes, that's what!

I have wanted to make these for quite some time now. But my Rocky Road Cupcakes kept distracting me. But I had to be focused enough to make these cuties...so I did!
I made a rich devil's food chocolate batch of cupcakes with a crushed graham crust on the bottom of each cake. I left space in the middle to put my filling in...my marshmallow buttercream that I finally made on my tweaked Rocky Road cupcakes. I wanted to top these off with a couple of mini marshmallows...but then discovered that someone ate my mini marshmallows. Bummer. I had planned on toasting the marshmallows on top, but attempted to toast the marshmallow buttercream. It slightly melted into a film on top, but not the results I'd hoped for. I then made a delightful chocolate buttercream to surround the filling. I sprinkled a little more crushed graham on top & placed a Hershey bar piece in the center for the perfect garnish.
They are so adorable & so yummy! I want to make these again when I have some mini marshmallows to toast on top.

On that note...I wish you Happy National S'mores Day again, and hope you had a chance to have s'more, too!

Rocky Road Cupcakes - Tweaked

When I made root beer float cupcakes for my boys, I had to make something that my daughter & I could eat since we don't like root beer.

She had been wanting some Rocky Road Cupcakes that I have done before, but I felt it needed a bit of a tweak & I am very happy with how they came out!
Instead of just marshmallow fluff this time, I made a marshmallow buttercream for the filling! Oh, yes I did! Tried it after the marshmallow fluff expanded & dripped everywhere last time; the buttercream seemed to give it much better stability. I kept the almond crust at the bottom of each cake, then topped each with a ring of chocolate buttercream, mini marshmallows & sliced almonds on top. I baked these beauties in elegant black & gold baking liners.

Gourmet & Gorgeous!

Root Beer Float Cupcakes

Sometimes, you find yourself doing & creating things out of love, so you sacrifice yourself a bit & endure things you despise. These cupcakes fall into that category for me: Root Beer. Just the words turn my stomach, but the boys in my house love it. So...my 13-year-old son brought it up in passing once & thought, "Why not?"

I wanted to make these to taste like *gag* a root beer float. So, I found root beer flavoring & knew that's what I should use. I wanted to use my vanilla buttercream icing as the "ice cream" topper. I had plans to use some leftover Twizzlers as straws, like I do for my slushie cakes.

Keep in mind that I love doing quality control on my cupcakes...but not this time. I had to solely rely on my root beer lovers to give me their opinions & critiques. I served 'em up cold (root beer float - DUH!) but without the Twizzler straws. Apparently my hubby knew we had some & finished them off. Go figure.

As it turns out, as strong as they smelled to me (and made want to lose my lunch), the baking process weakened the root beer taste. So, I will have to try these again, against MY best judgement, and make sure to include the Twizzler straws next time, too.

I know that by becoming a cupcaker, people are going to ask for some odd flavors once in a while, and sometimes flavors we despise. Guess I gotta learn to suck it up & dive in for the clientele!

Margarita Cupcakes

It's been a little while since I've posted any cupcakes! Sorry for anyone who has been looking for new posts...but here you go!

Not too long ago, we were having guests over & I wanted to try a particular flavor of cupcake that would allow me to try the piping gel recipe I'd come across. Margarita Cupcakes! The cupcakes tasted like a margarita, I actually had a rim of a sugar/salt mixture around the edge, then I placed a dab of my homemade piping gel (margarita flavored, of course) in the center & topped it with a sugared lime slice candy.

Sadly, my piping gel didn't set well at all...and it melted over everything! However, sticky mess or not, they were tasty!! Our guests were surprised about the salty rim!

I just need to find a good piping gel recipe so I can flavor it on my own. If you have one I can follow, I would be greatly appreciative!

Mint Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

OK...this is the first cupcake flavor I have done by request outside of family. The flavor? Mint Chocolate Chip!

I made up white cake mix & added 2 tablespoons of mint extract. I then added several drops of green food coloring. After I mixed that together, I added half a bag of mini chocolate chips. I just so happened to have these adorable green baking liners that I decided to use. I baked them up & they were smelling minty-delicious!

I then made up some creamy mint chocolate buttercream to top these little cuties off! Plus a few mini chocolate chips on top, too.
This request was also my first delivery, too! Super excited to hear how my buddy enjoyed his flavor. For the ones that stayed home...the family really enjoyed them! (Well, the ones who like mint, anyway.)

PB&J Cupcakes - Tweaked

I recently baked my PB&J cupcakes again, this time adding the strawberry filling, too, along with the grape jam filling I used before.

I also made a PB&J buttercream to go along with their respective flavors.

Next time...I may add a pie-like crust to the bottom, much like I used with the blackberry cobbler cupcakes!

It's so much fun tweaking & playing to make possible upgrades!

Oh, these were taken for a church potluck & then again for a church meeting. They were finished off & people were "smuggling" some home with them. I'd say they went over pretty well!

Blackberry Cobbler Cupcakes

Lately my kids have been having idea inspirations for cupcakes & my husband has been feeling left out. But he couldn't figure out what flavor he wanted.

Well it's Father's Day weekend & I wanted to find a flavor of cupcake just for him...but maybe one he wasn't expecting.

I dug into his childhood memories & remembered one of his favorite desserts: Blackberry Cobbler!

I rolled out, cut out & baked mini pie crusts in each baking liner, then added yellow cake batter on top of the baked crusts. I made room for filling to put the blackberries in. I also had my daughter help me cut out mini "leaves" from the rolled out crust remainder. I placed & arranged 3 leaves on the top of each cupcake before baking to be reminiscent of a pie/cobbler
While those were baking, I took fresh blackberries & began to make them into a syrup. Once the cupcakes were done & looking adorable, I spooned in about 3 berries into each center.

Now my hubby thinks that vanilla buttercream chilled tastes like vanilla icecream. I made a batch of vanilla buttercream & chilled it. With a melon baller, the chilled icing can be scooped & placed on top of a warm blackberry cobbler cupcake.

They are adorable & so yummy!! Happy Father's Day, honey!

Here he thought that I had planned carrot cake or pumpkin cake roll flavored cupcakes. He was pleasantly surprised!

Plus this is a perfect summer dessert, too!

M&M Cupcakes

My lil guy is getting creative with cupcakes too!

After being inspired with the banana cupcakes, he was really excited to do M&M cupcakes this time!

These are chocolate (devil's food) with mini M&M's inside. He then wanted to add chocolate icing on top & topped with more mini M&M's.

They were baked in liners that contained NO pink or purple! They are fun liners with a mod, geometric, circular pattern in blue, green, orange & white. Just perfect to hold an M&M cupcake!
The M&M's that were baked into the cupcakes acted as chocolate chips!

It's like you are eating a really big M&M!

Now my older kids are getting inspired too...be watching for upcoming cupcakes that they have been wanting!

Popcorn Cupcakes

When I made my cornbread cupcakes, it was to tide me over until I could try to make popcorn cupcakes! I wanted to do them ever since I found the red & white striped cupcake liners that made me think of a popcorn box. I have also seen some super cute popcorn decor for them online (which I used), but, if you haven't yet figured out, I have to go beyond that & make the cupcakes TASTE like popcorn, too! But how?

I used white cake mix & popped some salted popcorn. I then added margarine to it to help break it down a bit & give it a great buttery flavor. Then it went directly to the batter, handpicked to make sure no unpopped kernels made it into the cupcakes.

When those baked up, I made sure to use my filling "corks" to make way to fill the centers with a coconut buttercream. After I filled the popcorn cupcakes with the coconut buttercream, I spread a layer of it on top of each cake. This would be the "glue" for mini marshmallow topper. As I learned from other sites, you take the marshmallows & rip them in half; take 2-3 (3 works best) of the torn pieces, squish them together & it forms a "kernel". After each "kernel" was formed, I placed them all over the top of each cupcake, making sure to secure them to the icing. When the top of the cupcake was covered (about 15 "kernels" per cake), I had to take it a step further...I sprayed the tops with butter-flavored cooking spray.

It took 2 hours to arrange the tops of 24 cupcakes, but it did look like movie popcorn!

Not only to they look like a tub of movie popcorn, but it has a really great taste that isn't too sweet & isn't too over-the-top. I used the coconut in the buttercream to be reminiscent of the movie days of using coconut oil to pop the corn. YUM!

However, since there is actual popcorn in it...keep some floss around...you still get the fun pieces stuck in your teeth.