Category Archives: Cakes

May 17, 2013 · 10:35 am

Reese’s Cupcakes

Tomorrow is a coworker’s birthday. She asked me to bring chocolate cupcakes. Too boring for me, so I had to get fancy.

These are fun, rich, and look fancy!

Reese’s Cupcakes (yields 24 cupcakes)

The cupcake base is the Hershey’s “Perfectly Chocolate” Chocolate Cake. It’s right on the back of the cocoa box. I have made them a couple times here and here. Aaaannnnnd I just realized I didn’t post the actual recipe either time so here it is:

Chocolate Cupcakes – adapted from Hershey’s “Perfectly Chocolate” Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar

1 3/4 cups flour

3/4 cup Hershey’s Cocoa

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup boiling water

(I know it’s a lot of ingredients but it’s easy – I promise!)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350*. Mix together all dry ingredients in a large bowl (or stand mixer bowl).

2. Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.

3. Carefully add boiling water and mix in thoroughly by hand. (If you try to use the stand mixer, water will splash everywhere. Trust me. Don’t do it.) Batter will be very thin.

4. Fill cupcake liners about 3/4 the way. Bake for 11 minutes. While they are baking, start unwrapping miniature Reese’s cups.

5. After 11 minutes, remove the cupcake pans from the oven. Carefully press a Reese’s cup into the top of each cupcake and return to the oven. Bake for another 11 minutes.

6. Let cool completely before making the frosting.

Some of the cups sank lower than others for the second half of baking…

By the way, how cute are these liners? They are the only non-super-girly liners I could find with orange on them. I felt like orange was necessary because, hello – Reese’s!

Now on to the good stuff….

Peanut Butter Frosting

Ingredients:

1 lb powdered sugar

1 stick (1/2 cup) salted butter

2/3 cup smooth peanut butter

3 tbsp milk + 2 tbsp milk

2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Put powdered sugar in the bowl first. Cut up the butter into small slices or chunks, and spread out on top of the powdered sugar. Add peanut butter, vanilla, and 3 tbsp of the milk to the bowl. (I know this sounds silly, but putting the powdered sugar on the bottom helps the other ingredients incorporate better.)

2. Mix on low until powdered sugar is incorporated and will no longer fly across the kitchen. Beat on medium speed until frosting is smooth. Add the remaining 2 tbsp of milk one at a time until fully incorporated.

I frosted my cupcakes with a large closed star tip. It doesn’t need to be perfect, it just needs to cover the secret Reese’s cup inside the cupcake. Top with other Reese’s cup and ta-da!

These cupcakes are super rich and SO dreamy with the peanut butter frosting. How have I never made peanut butter frosting before?!

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Tagged as buttercream, chocolate, peanut butter, reeses

May 14, 2013 · 8:00 am

Lemon Poke Cupcakes

Poke cake. It’s a great invention.

If you’re unfamiliar, it’s basically a cake with lots of holes poked in the top after it is baked and cooled, then some kind of liquid is poured over the top and allowed to seep into the top and holes.

I made a raspberry lemonade poke cake a while back, see it here.

My mother in law asked me to bring cupcakes to our Mother’s Day lunch, and I immediately decided to make lemon poke cupcakes. Lemon and Mother’s Day just go together to me – I don’t know if its because it’s spring, or if it just reminds me of moms and grandmas, but it always seems to be a big hit so I guess I’m on to something!

These cupcakes couldn’t be easier.

1. Bake lemon cupcakes and let cool completely. I used my favorite boxed mix – Betty! Feel free to use your own recipe. The magic of these is really the glaze anyway.

2. Using a wooden skewer or toothpick, poke 10-12 holes into the top of each cupcake. They should only go about halfway down each cake.

3. Mix together 2/3 cup powdered sugar and 2 tsp lemon juice with a small spatula. (I used bottled lemon juice and it was just as good, though I probably would have used real lemons if I had them.)

4. Using the small spatula, “paint” the glaze on the top of each cupcake. You don’t need a lot, but you do want to get some on on most of the cake. It will slowly seep down into the holes and dry thin.

That’s it!

These cupcakes were so moist and just a little tart. They were a total hit with the family, and I only wish one batch had made more!

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Tagged as icing, lemon, lemon cake

April 30, 2013 · 8:00 am

Angel Food Whoopie Pies

My mommy loves angel food cake. For the past couple years I have made something angel-food-cake related for her birthday. See here and here for past posts.

This year I used my heart whoppie pie pan to make little love cakes.

I used the same recipe as last year for the frosting, but switched it up to make it strawberry flavored. Aaaaand I kind of over-whipped it so it turned out more like a strawberry whipped cream and less like strawberry marshmallow.

Angel Food Whoopie Pies

I used a boxed cake mix. It’s too easy, all you have to add is water. I prepared the batter according to the box directions, then used a medium cookie scoop to dollop batter into each well of my whoopie pie pan.

I tapped it on the counter a few times and jiggled it side to side until it settled into the lumps of the hearts.

Bake at 375* for 10 minutes.

I didn’t want them to fall too much, so once I took it out of the oven I turned the pan upside-down on top of a couple drink glasses. Probably not necessary, but it couldn’t hurt.

Once the pan was cool, I used a butter knife to carefully cut around the edge of each heart. Once the edges were free, they were pretty easy to pop out. Lay bottoms up on a cooling rack until ready to frost.

Strawberry Whipped Frosting - adapted from this frosting recipe

Ingredients:

Some fresh strawberries ( I used about a basket, but it made a lot so I probably only needed a few)

1 cup granulated sugar

about 5 tbsp water

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

2 egg whites

1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Clean, hull, and cut up the strawberries, then puree. I used a manual food processor to pulse them as much as possible. I guess you could blend them, but I didn’t mind a little bit of chunks, it was going to get strained anyway.

2. Cook the strawberry puree in a small pot on low heat for about 30 minutes. I just wanted to reduce it a little… I could have cooked it longer, but I probably could have also skipped this step. I like to think it made a difference so just play along with me.

3. Once the strawberry goop cooled down a bit, I poured it through a strainer to get rid of the big chunks that were still left. Then I poured some into a measuring cup about 1/2 way up to the 1/3 cup mark. This clearly isn’t exact science here… a little more or a little less won’t hurt anything. Pour any remaining goop into a small jar to store in the fridge for later use. (I’m thinking ice cream topping!!)

4. Add enough water to bring it to 1/3 cup and pour back into the small pot. Add the granulated sugar and cream of tartar, and cook on medium heat until sugar is dissolved and the mixture is bubbly.

5. While the syrup is cooking, whip egg whites and vanilla to soft peaks. (Use the whisk attachment if using a stand mixer.)

6. When syrup is bubbly, slowly add to egg whites while mixer is running. Whip for about 7-10 minutes or until stiff peaks form. If you err on the side of less stiff, it will be more of a marshmallow texture. If you over whip (like I did) it will be closer to a whipped cream texture. Either would pair well with these!

OH! and I also added a tad of hot pink coloring because it wasn’t pink enough from just the strawberries for my liking.

7. Put whipped frosting into a piping bag with a large tip (star or round would work fine). Squeeze onto one side of the whoopie pies and top with the other side. If you opted for the softer more marshmallowy texture for the frosting, let it sit for about 30 seconds before you top it with the other piece of whoopie pie. You don’t want to squish your frosting too much.

These were YUMMY. Because angel food cake is typically tall and fluffy, the shortness of these whoopie pies made them a little denser and stickier. It was almost like taking a piece of angel food cake and squishing it up before biting into it.

The strawberry frosting was subtle. Next time I would add even more strawberry. I was just nervous about messing with the liquids in this recipe too much.

I only made about a dozen of these as whoopie pies (the rest were just regular cupcakes). It was kind of a pain because angel food cake has to stick to the pan to rise, so I had to cut every single one out of the pan, then wash the pan before I could bake the next batch. It was worth it for a couple batches because they came out so cute! Besides, they were for my mommy.

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Tagged as angel food cake, pink, strawberry

March 26, 2013 · 8:00 am

Santa Cruz Wedding Treats

Last October I made treats for the dessert table for a friend’s Santa Cruz Beach Wedding. Unfortunately I was not able to make it to the wedding because it was out of town and during the week. Another friend who was in the wedding party delivered the goodies for me, but I forgot to take any photos before I handed them over. The wedding photos just came in, so I wanted to share the treats now!

I made 2 different flavors of mini cupcakes. The tiffany blue ones were bubblegum flavored (see here) and the pale yellow ones were lemonade flavored (see here).

Of course I also made cookies. The couple has a beloved boxer that actually took part in the ceremony and was in all the pictures. The bride asked for cookies of their pup, and this is what I came up with.

I had a hard time trying to get the facial features down, so I decided to stick to the basic outline and the coloring. (He has pale grey spots on his body.)

The wedding favors were classic S’more Pops (see here and here). I made simple little tags with the Bride and Groom’s name and their wedding date.

Thanks Katie for letting me use your pictures! Like I mentioned, I forgot to take photos of these treats… all photo credits go to Grandeur Photography.

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Filed under Cakes, Cookies, Marshmallows

Tagged as bubble gum, buttercream, icing, lemon, s'more, sugar cookies, tiffany blue, wedding

March 19, 2013 · 8:00 am

Sesame Street Birthday

Drew just turned 1! He was still in the belly for the baby celebration that I made the green onesies for from this post.

The party theme was Sesame Street, and I got to make all the treats!

Of course there had to be character cookies. I don’t have the cutters, so I made do with what I had. Cookie Monster and Elmo were created with a flower cutter and an egg cutter. For Big Bird I just bent my balloon cutter a bit to make the beak straight.

For these characters, I knew black outlining was the way to go. It really make the features and colors pop.

As always, I free-handed the designs. Cuz that’s how I roll.

Last minute I decided I had to have cookie cereal to go on the cookie monster cookies. I got the idea from cupcakes like this that I’m sure just about everyone has seen at some point. It’s pretty genius whoever thought of it!

I also made cupcakes in the same colors as the characters. Piped simple swirls, and make custom cupcake toppers.

My husband actually made them on the computer for me and I just cut and put them together.

My most favorite part was the smash cake! Mama asked for it to be Cookie Monster, so I swirled it in bright blue frosting and piped the happy little face on the top.

Then I stuck cookie cereal to the sides.

Mama said Drew loved his cake. Once he got started, it was hard to get him to stop!

7 Comments

Filed under Cakes, Cookies

Tagged as blue, boy's birthday, buttercream, icing, red, sugar cookies, yellow, yellow cake

February 26, 2013 · 9:30 am

16th Birthday Cookies & Cake Balls

Alyssah turned 16 this week! Her mom is an old coworker of mine and decided to trick her for her sweet 16. Alyssah was told that there was just no money for a birthday party this year… but in reality there was a huge surprise party planned!

We went with zebra, hot pink, and turquoise as the “theme.”

This was my first time making zebra cookies. I contemplated a few ways I could do it before settling on outlining each stripe and filling them separately.

They came out better than I imagined, and each one was unique because I just free handed the stripes.

The rest of the cookies were filled in hot pink and bright turquoise, with alternating mongrams, 16′s, and her name.

Don’t they look cute together? I am in love with this set.

Last year for Alyssah’s birthday I made these Red Velvet Cake Balls. Her mom asked for cake balls again, so this year I went with yellow cake and chocolate coating.

I colored the chocolate coating black (or as black as I could) so that they would match the cookies. Then I drizzled the tops with turquoise and hot pink to match the cookies.

Alyssah was so surprised at her party! Her parents told her they were going to her aunt’s house for dinner. All her friends were hiding under the tables and behind furniture so they could pop out as she walked through the door!

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Filed under Cakes, Cookies

Tagged as blue, cake balls, chocolate, girl's birthday, pink, sugar cookies, yellow cake, zebra stripes

December 24, 2012 · 9:50 pm

Chocolate Cookie Dough Cheesecake

Merry Christmas (Eve) friends!

Bringing this to my parents’ house for our Christmas Eve dinner. Needed something decadent because my family loves rich, heavy desserts.

I guess I am into chocolate chip cookie dough lately. I can’t help it, the stuff is so addicting! And way too easy to slap together.

Chocolate Cookie Dough Cheesecake

Cookie Dough Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 tsp vanilla

scant 1/3 cup milk (little less than 1/3 cup)

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used reg size but mini would work!)

Chocolate Cheesecake Ingredients: (adapted recipe from taste of home)

-For the crust-

1 1/3 cups crushed chocolate chip cookies (I used crunchy Chips Ahoy)

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 stick (4 tbsp) butter, melted

-For the filling-

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 (8oz) packages 1/3 less fat cream cheese

3/4 cup sugar

2 tbsp flour

2 eggs, lightly beaten

2 tsp vanilla

whipped cream and/or chocolate drizzle for serving (optional)

Cookie Dough Directions:

1. Beat together butter and sugars until combined. Add vanilla and milk and beat, scraping if necessary. Whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda. Slowly add flour to wet mixture until completely combined. Stir in chocolate chips by hand.

2. Chill dough for about an hour to make dough easier to handle. Roll into 1″ sized dough balls, and place on a waxed paper lined cookie sheet. Place the whole pan in the freezer until balls are frozen solid.

**At this point the balls can be moved to a zip top bag and saved for later use. I actually used dough balls that had been in my freezer waiting for something spectacular to become a part of. Just make sure your roommates know not to eat them!**

3. You will only need about 25-30 cookie dough balls for this cheesecake. Cut frozen cookie dough balls into quarters, and place back in the freezer until ready for use. (Keeping the dough absolutely frozen until baking will ensure it doesn’t bake into cookies instead of staying cookie dough.)

Cheesecake Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350*F. Spray 9″ springform pan with non-stick spray if necessary.

2. In a small bowl, combine cookie crumbs, sugar, and melted butter. Press into bottom and halfway up the sides of the pan. Set aside.

3. Microwave chocolate chips in 30 second intervals, stirring until smooth. Let cool slightly.

4. Beat the cream cheese, sugar, and flour in a large bowl until smooth. Add eggs and beat until just combined. Stir in vanilla then melted chocolate by hand. Be careful not to overbeat – overbeating will cause the cheesecake to crack while cooking.

5. Carefully fold frozen cookie dough chunks into cream cheese mixture. Pour into prepared crust and smooth out the top as best as possible.

(Sorry, forgot to take a photo here, I was anxious to get it in the oven!)

6. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until top looks dry and center is almost set.

7. Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the cake to loosen from the pan. Let cool completely, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

8. Remove from fridge 1-2 hours before serving. Remove springform ring and place on a cake plate or large platter. Top with whipped cream or chocolate drizzle if desired.

This dessert was SO rich that most of us couldn’t finish a slice. I should have cut it into smaller slices! It’s super moist and creamy, and the cookie dough is just heavenly tucked away in the rich chocolate.

Hope everyone has a fantastic Christmas!

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Tagged as cheesecake, chocolate, cookie dough

November 13, 2012 · 8:00 am

Yellow Chocolate Lava Cupcakes

Have you ever had a chocolate lava cake? Basically, it’s a chocolate lover’s dream. Moist, warm, dark chocolate cake with a hot, gooey, chocolate ganache center.

This recipe was originally posted as the standard Chocolate Lava Cupcake by Ruthanne of easybaked. I just loved the idea, but I don’t like chocolate much, so I decided to switch it up.

Yellow cake and chocolate are one of the best pairings that exist in the dessert world. So why not flow that chocolate lava from yellow cake instead of more chocolate?

I hope I’ve convinced you.

Yellow Chocolate Lava Cupcakes - recipe adapted from easybaked

Ingredients

1 box yellow cake + water, eggs, and oil to make

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup cocoa powder (I used special dark)

1/2 cup dark chocolate candy melts (or semi-sweet choc. chips)

Directions

1. In a small bowl, combine heavy whipping cream and chocolate chips. Melt in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds until smooth. Refrigerate at least 2 hours, or until firm. (I left mine in the fridge for 3 days before I had time to make these.)

2. Using a tablespoon, grab a hunk of hardened ganache and roll into a small ball. Roll ball in cocoa powder and set on a wax lined baking sheet or plate. (Makes about 18-20 balls.) Leave in the fridge until ready for use.

**This step was a little messy!

3. Make cake batter according to box directions, using a little less water than the recipe calls for. (I didn’t do this, and my batter was a little too thin. You’ll see why at the end.)

4. Preheat oven to 350*.

5. Scoop or pour batter into cupcake liners to about 1/3-1/2 way. Drop a ganache ball into each cupcake.

6. Pour or scoop just enough batter over the ball to cover completely.

7. Bake according to package directions, or until tops of cupcakes are dry and spring back to the touch.

8. Melt candy melts or chocolate chips in a zip top bag for 30 seconds. Massage with your fingers until completely smooth, melting for another 15 seconds if necessary. Cut the corner of the bag and squeeze chocolate drizzle on top the cupcakes.

9. Let cool about 10 minutes, then eat one warm. TRUST ME on this.

**Best served warm. If not serving immediately, heat in the microwave for 15-20 seconds before consuming. You want the lava flowing!

My cake batter was a little too thin, so my chocolate lava ball sank completely to the bottom.

Of course this didn’t effect the taste at all, it just required the use of a spoon or fork to eat. Which worked out well because the liners I used are sturdy and held up like a cup.

Whether you’re a chocolate lover or sometimes liker, I hope these cupcakes have converted some of you to the yellow chocolate lava side!

My coworkers LOVED these.

My best and most reliable cupcake judge (hi Terrence!) said “that was reeally special.” And then he told me he has to go to the gym tonight now. Haha…

4 Comments

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Tagged as chocolate, yellow cake

October 29, 2012 · 8:00 am

Trick (or Treat) Cupcakes

Sooo this isn’t exactly a recipe, just an awesome idea I had that I wanted to share.

I made these cupcakes for my Halloween party over the weekend. Plain white mini cupcakes are the perfect vehicle for fun flavored frostings… and much easier than making multiple flavors of cake AND frosting.

The TRICK here for these special Halloween cupcakes is that the flavors I used do not match the bright Halloween colors!

Tasters didn’t know what to expect from an innocent little looking cupcake… and then BAM! Surprise flavor explosion!

The orange ones are strawberry, and the green ones are cinnamon!

The only problem that we ended up with is that the strawberry ones had to be eaten first, otherwise the cinnamon totally overpowered your taste buds and you couldn’t taste the next one.

These were so much fun and I know I will be doing this again… it’s fun to be able to TRICK somebody with a TREAT!

In addition to regular food, I also made Fun & Easy No-Icing Sugar Cookies, Homemade Kettle Corn, and something else that I am still perfecting, so no recipe yet…

5 Comments

Filed under Cakes

Tagged as buttercream, halloween

Category Archives: Cakes

Reese’s Cupcakes

Lemon Poke Cupcakes

Angel Food Whoopie Pies

Santa Cruz Wedding Treats

Sesame Street Birthday

16th Birthday Cookies & Cake Balls

Yellow Chocolate Lava Cupcakes

Trick (or Treat) Cupcakes

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