Easter Cupcakes

If you give a nine-year-old, six-year-old, and four-year-old a lot of pretty sprinkles and a lot of very tasty frosting, after letting them help make the frosting and therefore taste the frosting (a lot of it), you might have a good time. I did. I love my nieces.

Easter Cupcakes

This part I made aforehand, so that we, as a group, didn’t have to wait around while the cupcakes baked. We started with the fun stuff. So, here’s the “aforehand” stuff for you.

Yields: 24 cupcakes

Inspired by: Smitten Kitchen

2 c + 2 T cake flour
2 c whole white wheat flour
2 t baking powder
1 1/2 t baking soda
1 t salt, small grained
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 c sugar (I used demerara sugar and pulsed it in a spice grinder until finely grained.)
2 t vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)
4 eggs, large, at room temperature
2 c buttermilk (which I didn’t have, so I used milk + lemon juice. Because I used too much lemon juice, these cupcakes tasted a little bit like lemon, but not in a bad way.)

Preheat oven to 35o degrees F.

Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together.

In a separate bowl, beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, then add vanilla.

Add eggs one at a time. Beat until incorporated.

Add buttermilk or milk mixture. Mix. Incorporate.

Then, add the flour mixture.

There it is. The flour mixture. Now, add it in three batches to the batter. Mixing after each addition. Pour the batter into the prepared cupcake cups.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Then, transfer to a cooling rack.

Use your favorite frosting recipe. Go to town. Have at it.

Why, yes, I did put plastic wrap on the counter to ease in clean-up. What’s that? Applause? Applause for brilliance? Oh, thanks. Thanks.

We washed our hands a bunch of times.

A lot of sprinkles were used in the making of these Easter Cupcakes.

Tada.

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Frosting

The snow!!! The majestic snow. The world is icy and bright and fluffy. There was no work and no driving, which made a perfect day for cupcake creating. Today, I made snow day cupcakes. I must say, these are the best cupcakes I have ever made ever. They were perfect.

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Frosting
Inspired by Amy Wisniewski

1 c A-P flour
1 t baking powder
1/2 t fine salt
8 T (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 c granulated sugar
1 T vanilla bean paste, or the insides of 1 vanilla bean
1 large egg white, at room temperature
1 large egg, at room temperature
6 T lowfat vanilla drinkable yogurt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place the rack in the middle position.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.

In order to bring the butter to room temperature, you can put it in the microwave for nine seconds.

Beat on medium-high speed until light for about 3 minutes. Add sugar; beat until combined….

…and vanilla bean paste. Oh, the good stuff.

Beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Add the egg white. Mix until combined.

Add the egg and mix well.

Add the drinkable yogurt in three installments. Mix until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl.

Mix until combined. Scrape down the sides.

Put the beater on low. Add flour mixture in three installments. Mix well and completely incorporate.

Dollop batter into muffin tin (fill about halfway for each).

 

Bake until a fork or toothpick comes out clean, about 18 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting.

Salted Caramel Frosting

1/4 c granulated sugar
2 T water
1/4 c heavy cream
1 t vanilla extract
6 T (or 3/4 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 t kosher salt
1 c powdered sugar

In a small saucepan, stir sugar and water together. Boil over medium-high heat.

Cook about 6 minutes until light amber in color. Remove from heat. Slowly add cream and stir with wooden spoon until smooth.

Let the caramel cool for about 25 minutes until it’s cool to the touch. Add vanilla extract. While cooling, mix the rest of the frosting.

Put room temperature butter into mixing bowl with salt.

Beat on medium-high speed when light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add powdered sugar.

Mix on low until completely incorporated.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Then add the beautiful, beautiful caramel.

Mix until combined.

Once the cupcakes are completely cooled…

…completely,

(And you can choose how to ensure they are completely cooled. If you have a handy winter wonderland, use that, or just let time do its trick.)

…frost them with the oh so magnificent salted caramel delight. When frosting the cupcakes, watch out. That frosting is sneaky.

Sleeve frosting.

But… delicious. So good. So perfect.

**Please note, these were baked in the new house. I was so excited about these. SO excited that I posted these before the first official recipe in the new house. Please forgive me. But enjoy this. And try to understand how perfect these are:: A cake that can stand up on its own and be absolutely, not-too-sweet delicious and is paired with a perfect match. You cannot get better than fluffy icing that’s strong enough for a muffin but made for a cupcake. Ugh. Scratch that last part and just enjoy!

Ginger Snap Cupcakes

Inspiration comes in all forms– music, a passing phrase, a “mis”interpreted glance from the corner of your eye, or a tub of delicious, wonderful, incredible cookies.

Ginger snaps. With three forms of ginger– candied, ground, and fresh. And Thanksgiving just passed. And it was an evening for cupcakes.

I made up a recipe from nothing. Oh, how I love doing this. I consulted quite a few sources. However, this recipe– all me and our house’s need for cupcake. And good ol’ ginger snap.

Ginger Snap Cupcakes

For the batter::
2 c cake flour
2 t baking powder
3/4 t salt
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 t ground ginger
1/4 t groung cloves

3/4 c plus a little more milk

1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c granulated sugar
1/2 c (1 stick) unsalted butter

3 large eggs, room temperature
2 t vanilla extract

For the frosting::
**Note: There was twice as much frosting as I needed. If you don’t want extra frosting, halve this recipe.

1/4 c brown sugar
1 c powdered sugar
2 (8-oz) packages cream cheese
1/4 c butter
2 t cinnamon
1 t vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

The dry team:: Sift it all together– cake flour, baking powder, salt, ground ginger, ground cinnamon, and ground cloves.

Next, cream the brown sugar, granulated sugar, and butter together.

Cream, cream, cream.

It’ll start to look crumbly. Don’t stop yet.

Then, it’ll look a little smoother. Keep on mixing.

Ahh. Smooth sailing. Now, you’ll mix in one egg at a time. Crack the egg into the bowl, then mix until completely incorporated. Repeat. Repeat.

Now, I have a confession to make. The second egg was twins!!!

I wasn’t sure what to do at first. So, I thought of all the friends I have who are twins. What would they do in a situation like this? As a twin, it is important to be treated as an individual. Instead of counting this egg as one egg, I thought I need to count it as two. What would you have done in this situation?? Did I do the right thing?

As soon as I got past the soul delving, I went on with cooking. We can go on, too.

Add a portion of the dry into the wet ingredients. Mix until completely incorporated.

Add a splash of milk. Mix until completely incorporated.

Repeat.

Keep repeating until dry mix and milk are gone:: dry, mix, milk, mix, dry, mix, milk, mix, dry, mix, milk, mix.

Now dollop batter into prepared muffin tins. Fill 3/4 to the top.

Cook for 20 minutes. But start checking on them at 15 minutes.

While they are baking, make the caramel!!!

For the Caramel Sauce::

4 T butter
1/2 c brown sugar

In a sauce pan, melt butter with heat on medium. Add brown sugar, stir until everything is all mixed up. Allow to cook for two minutes, continuing to stir the whole time. Then, set aside.

Then continue on to the frosting.

Put sugars and cinnamon into mixing bowl.

Add cream cheeses and butter. And cream all together. Oh, yeah. Add vanilla extract, too.

Look! It’s all creamed together. Oh, man. Look at that cinnamon. Place in the refrigerator, covered until you’re ready to use it.

Core out the cupcakes once they get a chance to cool a bit. I just used a knife. I don’t have one of those neato cupcake corers, but I didn’t need one. I just used a knife to core the cupcakes and then added the caramel to the center.

Smush up some ginger snap cookies.

Top with frosting and smushed ginger snaps.

Enjoy!

Make sure you put the frosting away really quickly. Before you discover how delicious the frosting is with ginger snaps. Store it in the refrigerator. And have someone else put it in there so he or she knows where it is but you don’t… just so you don’t eat all of it by yourself.

 

Peach Cupcakes, Brown Sugar Frosting

This recipe is nearly directly from Deb at SmittenKitchen.com. Oh, goodness. She might be my favorite food blogger out there. I usually try to twist and change recipes to my liking or for the sake of experimentation. However, her recipes…. How can you change a masterpiece??

I give it to you with minor adjustments based on what I had on hand (and I don’t like nutmeg). And I will also link you to her exact version of it.

Peach Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Frosting

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
Pinch of cinnamon
3/4 cup (or 1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup dark or light brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups (12 ounces) Greek yogurt (I think I used half plain and half vanilla flavored.)
3 large peaches cored and chopped into fairly small bits (Not too small!)

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare about 28 muffin tins– line them with paper or spray them with cooking spray.**

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon and set aside. Cream the butter and sugars together, beating until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl between each addition, and then the vanilla. Gently mix in the yogurt. Stir in the dry ingredients and fold in the peach bits. (That’s a “b,” not a “p.” Be careful, people.)

Divide the batter evenly among the prepared cupcake tins. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center of cupcakes comes out clean. Cool the cupcakes for five minutes in the tin, then turn them out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

**I have to cook muffins and cupcakes in batches, because we only have 2 six muffin pans. If you, too, can only bake twelve cupcakes at a time, cover the cupcake batter and place in fridge until you’re ready for it. Make sure that you wash your cupcake tin and use cool water to bring the pan back to normal temperatures before baking your next batch.

Brown Sugar Frosting (a.k.a. The Best Frosting Ever, a.k.a. The Most Dangerous Delicious to Have Just Sitting In Your Fridge, a.k.a. Dinner)

1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 8-ounce packages of cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup (4 ounces or 8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a small bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, cornstarch and powdered sugar. In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add the sugar-cornstarch mixture and vanilla, beat until frosting is smooth and light. Chill the bowl in the refrigerator about 30 minutes, then spread on cooled cupcakes.

[Deb, If you read this, then thank you for brown sugar frosting. And for peach cupcakes. Who would’ve thought?]