Butterfinger Shower Cake

This one isn't really a jr. cake... It's a full size cupcake! And this post is going to be more about the decoration/frosting than the cake itself. But it was still yummy and so I'm still posting it :)

I made this giant cupcake cake for a friend's baby shower. I knew it had to be chocolate. And  I knew I had to incorporate Butterfingers candies, as it was the baby mama's favorite! I couldn't find any butterfinger cake recipes, so I went the frosting/filling route. The cake pan I have has an insert where I can hallow out a bit in the center for a filling. I baked the chocolate cake recipe from the Better Homes and Garden's cookbook, with the filling piece in. After the cake cooled, I carved the top and bottom flat so they would fit together. Then I went about filling it. I took the bite size Butterfinger bars and smashed them to pieces with a meat tenderizer. This part is messy. And don't try to do it with your hands- it hurts! Those candies are harder than they look! I put a heavy layer of chocolate frosting on the bottom half of the cupcake, and then poured in my Butterfinger pieces.

That's a lot of Butterfinger!

Next, a layer of chocolate frosting on the top, to make it all stick together

Now, put both pieces together

To top it off, another layer of chocolate frosting on the top

A few more pieces of Butterfinger sprinkled on top. And since this is a baby shower, a few blue sprinkles and some baby decorations. 

(A side note- these decorations were plastic, as I couldn't find any edible ones. Be sure to let your guests know- don't want any broken teeth, or ingested rubber duckies!)

And there you have it! A Butterfinger chocolate cake worthy of any craving!

Irish Carbomb Cupcakes

Happy St. Patrick's Day! For all you looking to celebrate with something sweet, these are NOT your kid's cupcakes. I repeat. These are NOT your kid's cupcakes! 

I've been making a Guinness cake/cupcake for my husband and his friends/coworkers/whoever will eat them for the past couple of years, and last year I thought it would be really great to add some Baileys. I wasn't sure how exactly, but it sounded delicious. So in getting my recipe together for this year's batch, I came across this one. And boy. I may have out done myself. The cupcakes alone are yummy. The ganache for the center- DE-licious. But the frosting! Oh my the frosting! I may be dreaming of it tonight.

 

The usual cast of characters, with a few Irish friends

 I'm better at baking. Not so much opening a can of Guinness...

First up, we heat the Guinness with the butter

Until it looks like this

Add the cocoa and mix until it's nice and smooth

Next up- the dry ingredients

Then, mix the eggs with the sour cream until blended

 

 After mixing the egg and sour cream, add in the chocolate/beer mixture and combine

Add the dry ingredients, a little bit at a time, and combine until mixed

When it's all done, it will look like this- although it was thicker in person

Fifteen minutes later, you will get these delicious looking things

Onto the filling. 8 oz of bittersweet chocolate chopped into small pieces. Some pieces may have gone missing during this step... quality control :)

Heat up some heavy cream. I did about a minute in the microwave

Pour the heated cream over the chocolate pieces and stir. The heat from the cream will melt the chocolate into a nice creaminess

Oh yeah

Now we are going to add the good stuff. A little whiskey never hurt anyone

You're really not putting in a lot, so if this doesn't sound good, don't worry, you can't taste it. As someone who is not a fan of whiskey, I can honestly say that it takes nothing from the overall deliciousness of the cupcake.

Once the filling has cooled and is stiff, you're going to cut out the center of the cupcakes. Don't go all the way to the bottom, just about 3/4 of the way. An apple corer works really well. But I don't have one, so I used a knife, and two teaspoons to dig them out. Thank you English silverware set!

Now take that yummy filling you made and fill up those holes until the goodness is oozing out

Last step is the frosting. A little butter

After beating the butter until it's nice and fluffy, add the powdered sugar in half cup increments

And now, the best part. Bailey's Irish Cream

While you're whipping up the frosting, you can keep the cupcakes in the fridge, so the filling can harden before you frost them

And voila!

Now, go make these. Right now. Because they are amazing.

Makes 24 to 30 cupcakes

Cupcakes

1 cup stout (such as Guinness)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

Ganache Filling

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 to 2 teaspoons Irish whiskey (optional)- I put in one... and whatever spilled into the bowl

Bailey's Frosting

3 to 4 cups confections sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperatue
3 to 4 tablespoons Baileys (or milk, or heavy cream, or a combination thereof)- I put in 3

Make the cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 24 cupcake cups with liners. Bring 1 cup stout and 1 cup butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in large bowl to blend. In another large bowl, beat eggs and sour cream. Add stout-chocolate mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Divide batter among cupcake liners, and bake for 15-17 minutes.

Make the filling: Chop the chocolate and transfer it to a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream until simmering and pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit for one minute and then stir until smooth. (If this has not sufficiently melted the chocolate, you can return it to a double-boiler to gently melt what remains. 20 seconds in the microwave, watching carefully, will also work.) Add the butter and whiskey (if you’re using it) and stir until combined.

Fill the cupcakes: Let the ganache cool until thick but still soft enough to be piped (the fridge will speed this along but you must stir it every 10 minutes). Meanwhile, using your 1-inch round cookie cutter or an apple corer, cut the centers out of the cooled cupcakes. You want to go most of the way down the cupcake but not cut through the bottom — aim for 2/3 of the way. A slim spoon or grapefruit knife will help you get the center out. Those are your “tasters”. Put the ganache into a piping bag with a wide tip and fill the holes in each cupcake to the top.

Make the frosting: Whip the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, for several minutes. You want to get it very light and fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar, a half cup at a time. When the frosting looks thick enough to spread, add the Baileys (or milk) and beat until combined. If this has made the frosting too thin (it shouldn’t, but just in case) beat in another spoonful or two of powdered sugar.

Gingerbread Cupcakes

I have been in the kitchen since last week, making some Star of David cakes for the other December holiday. And somehow I managed to not get a single picture. I will see if I can find some from last year. But with Christmas just around the corner, I went into a baking superdrive last night, and whipped up 2 batches for my husbands work. The Snickerdoodle was on request for an encore presentation, and then I added in some Gingerbread because, well it just felt right. I'm not a huge fan of gingerbread cookies myself, but it smells good, so I went for it. This was by far the stickiest, thickest cupcake batter I have ever seen, but they turned out cute in the end :)

First up- the ingredients... well almost all of them anyways....

Somehow this one missed the call for pictures. But of course we need Ginger!

Combine the flour with all the spices

Next up, butter and sugar. We're going to cream until they are nice and fluffy

Like this!

Now here's where it gets sticky... 3 tablespoons of Grandma's Molasses

See what I mean about sticky?

The eggs softened it up a little bit, but maybe some vanilla will help

Now for the flour mix. I like to fold it in a little so I don't inhale it all when I turn on the mixer

All blended into one happy batter

See what I mean about thick?!

In the oven and finally starting to look like a regular batter after a couple of minutes

And here they are! Now we just need them to cool so we can add some pretty finishing touches

Like these guys! What's a Gingerbread Cupcake with a Gingerbread Man?

Merry Christmas!

Now, this receipe is from the Martha Stewart Cupcakes book, and she has lovely gingerbread cookie cutouts on top of her cupcakes. But she makes hers by hand. Who has time for that?! I had these little packaged cookies around the house, and they worked lovely. So did Betty's Fluffy White Frosting :) Shhhh... I won't tell anyone!

Gingerbread Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 tablespoons ground ginger

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) of butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 tablespoons unsulfured molasses

4 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350

Sift together flour and all the spices. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the molasses and beat until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat until each is combined. Beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low and slowly add in flour mixture, beating until just combined.

Bake for 25 minutes, or until tester comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting on wire racks.

To decorate, add vanilla or white frosting, and gingerbread men.

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

Brown Butter Pumpkin Cupcakes

I know this is a little late, but maybe you're sick of all the pie and need another outlet for your pumpkin cravings. If so, I have the recipe for you. I'm not a huge fan of pumpkin myself, but they tasted good, and my taste testers we're approving, so it must be good. They were fairly simple to make, and although I really wanted to try the brown butter frosting the recipe suggested, the transportation logistics called for Betty again. Hopefully this recipe isn't too late for you to enjoy!

The usual suspects- flour, butter, eggs, sugar, brown sugar and pumpkin of course

Making the butter into a lovely golden brown

Next up, mix all the dry ingredients into a lovely white and brown combo

Checking in on the butter. It's getting closer

Next up, the eggs and sugars

And the ingredient of the day- pumpkin. I will admit that right about now, this smelled like baby food...

Mix it all together. This might have been the first recipe that didn't call for the mixer

Letting the butter cool slightly

Now mixing it all together

Starting to look like delicious batter

We're using the silicone baking cups this time so we can pop out these jr cakes nice and easy

Fill them and up and get into the oven!

This batter was on the thick side, so don't be worried

And they even frost themselves! Just kidding. But they look great

Ready for their close up

If it's not too late, here is the recipe:

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground gloves
1 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees, and either grease muffin tins with butter and flour, or you can use silicone cups.

Over medium-low heat, melt butter in a saucepan. Swirl occasionally and cook until the butter is a golden brown. Remove from heat and pour into a bowl to stop the cooking.

In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. In another bowl, whisk together both sugars, eggs, pumpkin and brown butter. This might not want to mix nicely, but just keep whisking. Add the flour mix and whisk until just combined.

Fill the tins. Bake for 20 minutes, rotating after 10 minutes. Makes 18. Frost with Brown Butter frosting if serving immediately, otherwise, Betty Crocker Vanilla works just as good.