Chocolate Covered Pretzel Cupcakes for Krystal’s Virtual Shower

May 6, 2013 by 15 Comments

Today I’m participating in another virtual baby shower! This one is for my sweet friend Krystal, of Mrs. Regueiro’s Plate! She is on her way to 2 under 2! Last year she had a sweet baby girl, Elena, and now she is expecting another little one. When she was pregnant with Elena she was Team Green and it was torture waiting to find out what she had. Not knowing what she was having she lovingly referred to baby as Cookie. This time around they decided to find out ahead of time and they are having a baby boy! Of course it only seemed appropriate for him to have a fun foodie nickname as well, so he is lovingly referred to as Cupcake.

To honor Krystal and her little Cupcake, Eva has graciously offered to host this virtual shower. The theme is… cupcakes! So each of the shower participants is contributing a different cupcake recipe. Originally I was thinking of a more delicate cherry vanilla cupcake. Then I thought, she’s having a boy! He needs a strong and powerful cupcake. Thus was born the Chocolate Covered Pretzel Cupcake. Rich and chocolatey, sweet and salty, with a powerful presence.

krystalelenajess

Krystal, Elena, and me just a few weeks ago!

Krystal, I am so happy that we have become friends over these past few years. Your support and positive outlook has meant so much to me! I’m lucky to have a fellow SoCal blogging girl as a friend! Congratulations on your sweet baby boy. I can’t wait to meet him!!

Don’t forget to check out Eva’s blog to see the rest of the yummy cupcakes!

 

Chocolate Covered Pretzel Cupcakes

Pretzel Crust

Ingredients
3 cups pretzel twists
3 Tbsp brown sugar
3/4 cup butter, melted

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with cupcake liners.

Place pretzel twists in the bowl of a food processor. Process in 15-20 second spurts until well broken up. Add the brown sugar and process for an additional 10 seconds to combine. Stream in the melted butter while processing

Press the pretzel mixture into the bottom of each cupcake liner. Bake for 10 minutes, then allow to cool completely.

As seen on Cupcake Project, originally from Allrecipes

Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients
1/2 cup plus 1 Tbsp Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 cup plus 1 Tbsp hot water
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
3.4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 sticks plus 1 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
1 2/3 cups sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup sour cream

Directions
While the pretzel crusts are cooling, leave oven on heated to 350 degrees.

In a glass measuring cup, stir together the cocoa powder and hot water until smooth. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a medium sauce pan over medium heat, combine the butter and sugar. Whisk constantly until butter is melted and combined with the sugar and the mixture looks smooth and shiny. Pour into the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat until cooled to room temperature, about 4 minutes. Add the eggs, one at time, mixing until each is incorporated before adding the next. Beat in the vanilla just until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Next alternate adding the dry ingredients in 3 additions and the sour cream in 2 additions (beginning and ending with the dry ingredients). Mix just until combined.

Divide the batter evenly among the tins (mine were a little more than 2/3 full, I was a little worried they may spill over, but they rose perfectly and stayed in their liners). Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Source: Annie’s Eats, originally from Martha Stewart Cupcakes

Whipped Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients
3/4 cup heavy cream
9 oz semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped

Directions
Place chocolate in a heat-proof bowl, set aside. In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, bring heavy cream to a boil. Pour the hot heavy cream over the chocolate and stir until the chocolate is smooth and melted. Allow the ganache to cool to room temperature then refrigerate until solid. Once solid, place in the bowl of a standing mixer and beat until light and fluffy and a good texture for piping.

As posted previously on Sunny Side Up, originally from Savory Sweet Life

To assemble

Ingredients
Additional crushed pretzels
Chocolate covered pretzels

Directions
Pipe whipped ganache onto cupcakes. When you’re ready to serve cupcakes*, sprinkle with crushed pretzels and top with a chocolate covered pretzel.

*Pretzels will start to get a little soggy and less crunchy the longer they are on the cupcake, so it’s best to wait as long as possible before adding them.

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Filed Under: Chocolate, Cupcakes, Dessert, Uncategorized, Virtual Baby Shower

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting

November 15, 2012 by 9 Comments

I know, I just posted a pumpkin recipe last week. But can you really have too many pumpkin recipes? I think not. Especially in the world of food blogging, there is always room for more pumpkin recipes.

Actually, I’m kind of surprised I’ve never posted a recipe for pumpkin cupcakes before. It’s well known on my dad’s side of the family that every year I will bring pumpkin cupcakes and/or cookies to the family meal. This year I am not able to make it in person, but I’m there in spirit and sending virtual pumpkin love.

This particular pumpkin cupcake recipe is actually different than the one I’ve used in the past. Once I tried it, I knew my old recipe was old news. This recipe creates a perfectly domed cupcake, with a moist interior, and the perfect cupcake crumb. I made this particular batch for a work party at Jesse’s office and I heard that they were a huge hit. He certainly didn’t bring home any leftover cupcakes for me…. Good thing I got my taste tests in before he took them! 🙂

Pumpkin Cupcakes

Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 large eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin purée
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 batch brown sugar cream cheese frosting (recipe below)

Cinnamon Sugar for sprinkling (optional)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tin with cupcake liners.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Set aside.

In the bowl of standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs, pumpkin, sugars, and vegetable oil until well combined, scraping down sides of bowl as necessary. Gradually add the dry ingredients and mix just until combined.

Fill each liner with about 1/3 a cup of batter.* Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before frosting. After frosting, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar for garnish.

This recipe makes about 12 cupcakes.

Adapted from Sweetopia

Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter, softened
2 heaping Tbsp brown sugar
2-3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla


Directions
In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Add the brown sugar and beat until combined. Gradually add the powdered sugar (starting on a lower speed when first adding, then increasing speed as it is combined) and beat until combined. Start with 2 cups and increase as needed to create desired consistency. Add the vanilla and beat for about 1 minute.

Adapted from Michelle Wilson Brown via Food Network Cupcake Wars

 

 

Filed Under: Cupcakes, Dessert, Pumpkin, Thanksgiving Tagged With: , , , ,

Homemade Funfetti Cupcakes

September 30, 2011 by 4 Comments




How about another sweet Friday? Sounds good to me. Get the weekend started off right with these customizable Funfetti Cupcakes!

It’s football season and regardless of whether or not you enjoy watching football games, I think that most people can get down with festive and spirited tailgate/party food. We are Bengals fans (Who Dey!) so for our Sunday radio broadcast streaming (no NFL cable package for us, we have to stream to hear the game) I went with black and orange sprinkles. But the beauty of homemade Funfetti is that you can use any color sprinkles you like! If you’re a Chargers fan all you need are blue and yellow (gold) sprinkles. If you’re not a football fan, you can go for traditional rainbow sprinkles or celebrate the season and stick with my black and orange and call it Halloween. It’s totally up to you!

As for the cake part of the cupcake, it was nice and sturdy and not overly sweet. The tops domed nicely and the middle was moist and light. I did use jumbo liners so mine took forever and I think the outsides might have been a little overcooked, but they still tasted great. I tried something new with my frosting and I didn’t love it so I won’t be sharing that today, but I think the Fluffy Vanilla Frosting I have already posted would be perfect.


Now onto cupcake size. The cupcakes I made were giant. You see, a few weeks ago I needed cupcake liners and sent the boys to the grocery to pick up white liners. They followed my instructions to a T and brought back the stores only white liners – jumbo size. I don’t have a jumbo muffin tin but the box of liners said they would fit in a regular pan, so that’s what I did. They had a heck of a time baking so I highly recommend sticking with regular size cupcakes or even minis, just not jumbos. They still tasted great but like I said, the outside was just a little overcooked.

Homemade Funfetti Cupcakes
(Adapted from Simply Scratch)

Ingredients
4 whole egg whites
1 cup whole milk
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups cake flour, sifted
1 1/2 cups sugar, sifted
1 Tbsp plus 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Kosher Salt
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted Butter, softened
1/3 cup Sprinkles, plus more for garnish

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake liners.

In a large measuring cup or small mixing bowl, whisk together the egg whites, milk, and vanilla. Set aside.

Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and kosher salt, into the bowl of standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment*. Add the butter and half of the milk mixture and mix until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then, with the mixer on slow speed, add the last half of the milk mixture. Mix on slow-medium speed just until combined. Scrape down sides one more time to make sure it is thoroughly mixed. Now add the sprinkles and gently fold into the batter.

Divide the batter evenly into the cupcake liners, filling each one just a tiny bit more than halfway. Bake for 17-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Allow to cool all the way before frosting. Finish each cupcake with a few more sprinkles.

Sit back, enjoy, and cheer on your favorite team!

* Most cakes can be made without a standing mixer by using a large mixing bowl and a hand held mixer, just be careful not to over mix.

Filed Under: Cupcakes, Dessert Tagged With: , , , , ,

Cherry Coke Cupcakes

September 9, 2011 by 8 Comments

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I think that Fridays are a great day to share sweet treats. I know I do a lot of my heavy baking on the weekends, so a lot of you probably do to. If you’re looking for something to make this weekend you can stop right now. You are really going to want to try these cupcakes.

I made these cupcakes for one of Jesse’s coworkers birthday, but I think these would also make a great bring along dessert for the next party you go to. Chocolate and cherry are a pretty well received flavor combination and just look how pretty they are. If you’re worried about people not liking the cherry in the middle, you can make a few without cherries, like I did.
I will admit that the flavor reminds me more of a Black Forest cake than of Coca-Cola, but the Coke is a fun ingredient and really contributes to light spongy texture of the cake. I happened to have Cherry Coke on hand, but Annie made them with regular Coke. You can use whichever you prefer. Also, I used my new fluffy vanilla frosting instead of whipped cream for two reasons. One, it’s flavor is light and fluffy like whipped cream with maybe just a few fewer calories. Two, it is sturdier and held up well to being transported in the heat.

Cherry Coke Cupcakes
(Cupcake adapted from Annie’s Eats, frosting as I previously posted it here)

Ingredients:
For the cupcakes*:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 Tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup sugar
8 Tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 large egg
1/2 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup Cherry Coca-Cola
1 tsp maraschino cherry juice
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Maraschino cherries, stemless

For the glaze (optional):
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 Tbsp Coca-Cola

Frosting recipe below

* As is, this recipe makes 12 cupcakes, for 24 cupcakes double this recipe

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350° F and prepare a muffin pan with foil or paper liners.

In a medium bowl sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside

In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add the egg and mix until incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. In a bowl or large measuring cup, combine the buttermilk, Cherry Coke, maraschino cherry juice, and vanilla extract; stir to combine. (At this point the mixture was foamy and looked a little curdled, don’t be scared)

Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the butter and mix on low speed. Add half of the liquid and continue to mix. Repeat until all of the dry and liquid ingredients are combined (the last addition should be the dry ingredients), scraping down the bowl as needed.

Fill each muffin cup 2/3 full. Drop 1-2 maraschino cherries into each cupcake and push them down into the batter. Bake for 17-19 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely before frosting.

To make the glaze, whisk together the confectioners sugar and Coca-Cola until smooth. Drizzle a little bit over each cupcake and allow to set, frost as desired. Top each cupcake with a maraschino cherry.


Fluffy Vanilla Frosting
Ingredients
5 Tbsp Flour
1 cup Milk
1 tsp Vanilla *
1 cup Butter, softened
1 cup Granulated Sugar

* For an extra kick add an additional teaspoon of maraschino cherry juice to the frosting when you add the vanilla
Directions
In a saucepan, whisk together the flour and milk and cook over medium heat until the mixture thickens (I would compare it to mashed potatoes). It is very important to whisk continuously so clumps don’t form. This took me about 4-5 minutes, but it’s best to go by texture.

Set milk mixture aside in an ice bath and allow to cool completely.

In a medium bowl, (or bowl of a standing mixture fitted with a whisk) beat together the butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and beat for 1 minute. Add the cooled milk mixture and beat on high for 3-5 minutes. If it looks separated, keep beating.

Filed Under: Chocolate, Cupcakes, Dessert Tagged With: , , , ,