Cupcake Experiments #5 & 6...

There was a birthday at my job, which meant I had an excuse for cupcake baking!  So last night I made S'more and Funfetti cupcakes from my new favorite blog Cupcake Rehab.  Now if you look at my picture and say, "Gee I see a S'mores Cupcake but that sure doesn't look like Funfetti..."  That would be correct.

Jake ate the Funfetti Cupcakes.  So we'll focus on the S'mores one...

Here is the recipe, along with one little change I made...

S’MORES CUPCAKES

Get this shit together:

• 7 whole graham crackers, coarsely chopped
• 1 & ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder, sifted
• ¾ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• ¾ cup buttermilk
• 3/4 cup of mini chocolate chips (added by P and just a rough guess on the measurement)

And then you’re gonna:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a cupcake pan with paper liners.
2. Place about 1 tablespoon of chopped graham cracker crumbs in the bottom of each liner. Set aside and reserve the remaining crushed crackers.
3. Mix together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, oil, egg and vanilla until smooth. Alternately whisk in flour mixture and buttermilk until smooth.
4. Scoop batter into pan and bake 22-27 minutes until tops of cupcakes spring back when lightly touched.
5. Cool in pans for 10 minutes, then remove and cool completely on wire rack.

MARSHMALLOW FROSTING

First you get:

• ¼ cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 (7½ ounce) jar Fluff, or similar marshmallow cream
• 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Then you’re gonna:

1. Beat butter in a large bowl with mixer on high speed until creamy. Beat in marshmallow cream. Reduce speed to low, and beat in confectioners’ sugar and vanilla. Increase speed to high; beat until fluffy.
2. Frost cooled cupcakes.
3. Top frosted cupcakes with graham cracker crumbs and a mini chocolate bar, if desired.

Now everyone agreed the cupcakes were awesome.  And I thought the addition of the chocolate chips kinda gave it the bit of ooey, gooey chocolate that S'mores have.

But there is a down side... if you're like me and have a super cheap hand mixer, the marshmallow frosting is super thick and hard to mix.  I burnt up my mixer and had to buy a new one (read as had to send the Not-So-Ex out for a mixer at 1 am).  But there are no regrets and the recipe is definitely gonna be one of the chosen ones for Steph's party.

Now onto the next experiment...

As I mentioned before, Jake ate up my Funfetti Cupcakes so I was kinda screwed.  However, luckily, I had a dr. appt this morning which meant I had an hour of downtime before I had to have the cupcakes at work.  So I decided to do a little cake mix magic and made Cherry Vanilla Cupcakes (which are in the picture).

Cherry Vanilla Cupcakes:

Ingredients:

1 Yellow Cake mix

1 cup water

1/4 cup cherry syrup

1 stick butter

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp almond extract

Some maraschino cherries

Mix 'em all up and beat for 3 minutes.  Pour into cupcake pan and push a cherry into each cupcake.  Bake according to box directions.

Cherry Cream Cheese Frosting (modified from this recipe)

Ingredients:

• 4 ounces cream cheese
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 2 tablespoons cherry syrup
• 2 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
• Some red food coloring

Directions:

1. Beat cream cheese and butter in a bowl until combined. Beat in powdered sugar and cherry syrup.
2. Beat in 2-1/4 to 2-1/2 cups more of powdered sugar till frosting is of spreading consistency. Stir in a few drops of red food coloring.

I know these are incredibly freaking simple but they were also super good!  Now I may try to find a good yellow cake recipe to avoid using a cake mix, but this is still a definite winner!