This ones a keeper...

So I tried a new cupcake recipe yesterday. I had a tiny bit of peaches left and plenty of yummy peach/cream cheese frosting. So I decided to try a basic cupcake recipe, puree my remaining peaches and add them in, and then frost them with the peach/cream cheese icing.

When I was looking for recipes, it only made sense to use a cream cheese cupcake recipe, so this is what I used (from the blog Schweet 'N Savory):

Vanilla Cream Cheese Cupcakes
1 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
8oz package cream cheese, softened
1 stick unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 egg whites
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

To make these deliciously scrumptious cupcakes, begin by preheating your oven to 350 degrees.
Grease and lightly flour 14 muffin cups.
Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat together the cream cheese, butter and sugar until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs and beat well.
Add the dry ingredients in two parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla.

The only thing I changed was adding about 1/2 c of peach puree. And they were awesome! I think this will become my go-to white cupcake recipe!

The first part of my big weekend...

So I had a huge weekend last weekend as I had 100 cupcakes to get finished and a trip to Atlanta with Jesco and Mamie.  For this first blog (as I'm sure there will be several involving the weekend), I'm gonna stick with the easiest to explain and discuss, the cupcakes.

First off, I was off on Friday since it was West Virginia Day (woo hoo!) and my parents were on vacation with my kids so Not-So-Ex and I invaded their house Thursday after work to finish my baking.  I was a paranoid wreck since the carefully paced schedule of cupcake baking had completely gone to hell so I had a LOT to do.

I had already made Red, White, and Blue Cupcakes, which were inspired by a recipe on the blog I Heart Cuppycakes.  Instead of that recipe, I used one from Martha Stewart!  And I frosted them with my standard cream cheese frosting (recipe here).  So here's the cupcake recipe (with my oh so incredibly slight modification)!

RED, WHITE, AND BLUE CUPCAKES

• 4 1/2 cups sifted cake flour (not self-rising)
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (2 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 1/4 cups sugar
• 7 large egg whites
• red and blue food coloring

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake or muffin tins with papers; set aside. Into a medium bowl, sift together cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Combine milk and vanilla in a glass measuring cup.
2. Place butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, and beat until pale and creamy. With mixer on medium speed, gradually add sugar in a steady stream; continue beating until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low.
3. Add flour mixture to butter mixture in three batches, alternating with the milk mixture and starting and ending with the flour. Do not overbeat.
4. In a clean bowl of electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat egg whites on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form. Fold one-third of the whites into flour mixture to lighten. Fold in remaining egg whites in two batches, being careful not to deflate the whites.
5. Split batter into 3 equal portions and add blue food coloring to one and red food coloring to the other, leaving one without any coloring.
6. Scoop equal amounts of the three colors into the muffin cups, filling cups to about 1/2 inch from the tops. Bake until a cake tester inserted near the centers comes out clean and the tops spring back when pressed lightly in the center, 18 to 20 minutes. Remove from oven; let cool completely before icing or storing.

Another new recipe was the Key Lime Pie Cupcakes, which came from the blog Cupcake Project.  I tried to make these early but left them in the oven just a bit too long so the bottoms got just a bit burnt.  Since this just would not do for Steph's party, I gave them to the fam and some work friends who all agreed they were wonderful.  I think, once they were frosted, they were probably my favorite because they were both incredibly cute and yummy.  So here's that recipe too!

Key Lime Pie Cupcakes

• 1/2 C butter (room temperature)
• 1 C sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 C milk
• 1 C flour
• 1 1/2 C graham cracker crumbs (I used my homemade graham crackers.)
• 1 t baking soda
• 1 t baking powder
• 1/8 t salt
• 5 egg yolks
• 1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 C lime or key lime juice

1. Beat the butter for about 30 seconds until creamed.
2. Add the sugar and mix for 3 minutes until light and fluffy.
3. Add the eggs, one at a time, being sure to beat for 30 seconds for each egg.
4. Use food processor or a potato masher or whatever you have on hand to grind the graham crackers into tiny crumbs and powder.
5. Sift the flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking soda and powder, and salt. (I didn't actually sift the graham cracker crumbs. While mine were small, I don't think they would have fit through the sifter.)
6. Add about 1/4 of the mixture to the butter mixture.
7. Add some of the milk.
8. Continue to add the ingredients in a dry - wet - dry method, ending with the dry.
9. Mix until just combined.
10. In a separate bowl, mix the egg yolks, sweetened condensed milk, and lime juice. (FYI - If you want to make an amazing key lime pie, just mix the ingredients in this step, dump it into a pie shell and bake at 375 for 15 minutes. It's the easiest recipe ever! The pie won't be green and it shouldn't be. Lime juice isn't green.)
11. Dump the key lime mixture into the graham batter and lightly stir. Do NOT fully integrate the key lime and graham batter. You should have clumps of batter in a key lime soup.
12. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full. Make sure each liner has a nice distribution of key lime liquid and graham clumps.
13. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until top bounces back when touched.

I frosted the cupcakes with a cream cheese based Key Lime frosting (just like this cherry frosting recipe but replace the cherry syrup with Key Lime juice) which I tinted just the right shade of light green.

I also made German Chocolate Cupcakes, which I had made before but the recipe was posted on my old blog so here it is again.

And, last but not least, I made one other recipe from the old blog.  It's actually the recipe that started my obsession with cupcakes.  So, if you like PB&J, give this recipe a try.

Anyway, I got the cupcakes done just in the nick of time and was on the road (with quite a few left over cupcakes for the crew guys) with Jesco soon after!

The cupcakes that made the grade...

So I have to make 9 dozen cupcakes before I leave for Atlanta at noon on Friday.  I have been trying recipes for weeks now to pick out the 9 different cupcakes I will be making and am preparing for the marathon of baking that will occur.  As the cupcakes are finished, I will post pictures and recipes for the ones that haven't already been posted.

So cross your fingers and toes for me over the next couple days as I make:

Rainbow Cupcakes

Key Lime Cupcakes

German Chocolate Cupcakes

Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes

Cherry Vanilla Cupcakes

Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Creamsicle Cupcakes

Peanut Butter and Jelly

Cupcake Experiment # Awesome

When I was baking these Chocolate Chip cupcakes, my son was not pleased.  He wandered down the steps and asked where the cookies I was baking were.  That was my first indication that this recipe was a keeper.  A few minutes later, when I convinced him to at least give it a try, I was proven correct and he deemed them the best cupcakes ever!

So here is the recipe (taken from 52 Cupcakes by way of Cupcake Rehab):

8 oz. unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

2-1/3 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

12 oz semisweet chocolate chips

1-1/4 cups milk

1. preheat the over to 375 degrees and prepare the muffin pans with nonstick spray or paper

cups

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter, sugars, and eggs and mix on high speed

for 10 minutes. Add the vanilla.

3. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt and stir them into the butter mixture.

4. Stir in the chocolate chips.

5. Add the milk and stir just until combined.

6. Pour the batter into pans, filling at least halfway. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick

inserted comes out clean.

7. Turn out the cupcakes onto a wire rack to cool.

And for the frosting, I went back to my old fave from allrecipes.com:

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup butter 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar 2 tablespoons milk

DIRECTIONS:

1.	In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in cocoa and vanilla. Place confectioners' sugar in a large bowl. Pour in cocoa mixture. Beat well (mixture will be extremely thick). Beat in milk, a teaspoon at a time, until desired consistency is achieved.

Cupcake Experiment #... aw hell I lost track...

So this one doesn't even get a picture. 

A co-worker, who's birthday is tomorrow, mentioned their love of strawberry cake so I decided to make some strawberry cupcakes.  The cupcakes taste ok, but the frosting is a bit too thin so it did not turn out to be the prettiest of cupcakes (of course the fact that the Not-So-Ex refused to put them in the fridge for me didn't help either... prick... LOL).

Anyway, here's the recipe for the cupcakes (from allrecipes.com):

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups white sugar 1 (3 ounce) package strawberry flavored gelatin 1 cup butter, softened 4 eggs (room temperature) 2 3/4 cups sifted cake flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1 cup whole milk, room temperature 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 1/2 cup strawberry puree made from frozen sweetened strawberries

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 9 inch round cake pans.
2.	In a large bowl, cream together the butter, sugar and dry strawberry gelatin until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. Combine the flour and baking powder; stir into the batter alternately with the milk. Blend in vanilla and strawberry puree. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans.
3.	Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a small knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow cakes to cool in their pans over a wire rack for at least 10 minutes, before tapping out to cool completely. And here's the recipe for the frosting I used (modified from allrecipes.com): INGREDIENTS: 4 ounces cream cheese 1/4 cup butter, softened 1 cup confectioners' sugar 2 tablespoons strawberry puree 2 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar DIRECTIONS: 1. Beat cream cheese and butter in a bowl until combined. Beat in powdered sugar and lemon juice. 2. Beat in 2-1/4 to 2-1/2 cups more of powdered sugar till frosting is of spreading consistency.

I've used this frosting recipe a million times with a million different flavors but this is the first time I've ever had it turn out so runny.  I doubled it, so I guess that could have something to do with it but I don't know for sure.  But damn I'm disappointed!

Something from the oven (that's not a cupcake)...

I'm gonna keep this one short (especially since I forgot to take pics before my co-workers and fam made them disappear) but I made some kick-ass blueberry muffins.  I had never made them from scratch before but they were awesome.

So here's the recipe, taken from allrecipes.com:

To Die For Blueberry Muffins

Rated: Submitted By: Colleen Photo By: chibi chef Prep Time: 15 Minutes Cook Time: 25 Minutes Ready In: 40 Minutes Servings: 8

"Big blueberry flavor warrants big muffins, so fill the cups right up for oversized muffins that will please everyone. The cinnamon-sugar streusel is the crowning glory."

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 3/4 cup white sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/3 cup vegetable oil 1 egg

1/3 cup milk 1 cup fresh blueberries 1/2 cup white sugar 1/3 cup all-purpose flour 1/4 cup butter, cubed 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.
2.	Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.
3.	To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.
4.	Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.