Back To The Old House

I attempted to bake again even after all my other failed attempts beforehand. I've been craving carrot cupcakes lately.. so that's what I made. These are a little bit sweeter than traditional carrot cupcakes because of the orange juice and orange zest, but still delicious!

William Sonoma Carrot Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1⁄3 cup butter, at room temperature
3⁄4 cup granulated sugar
1 Tbs. maple syrup or honey
1 Tbs. finely grated orange zest
2 eggs
1 cup grated carrot
1 cup plus 2 Tbs. all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
7 Tbs. fresh orange juice, warmed
1 tsp. baking soda

Directions:

Preheat an oven to 350°F. Line 10 standard muffin cups withpaper liners.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the butter, granulated sugar, maple syrup and orange zest until pale and creamy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Stir in the carrot.

In a bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder. In another small bowl, stir together the orange juice and baking soda. Stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture in two additions, alternating with the orange juice mixture in two additions until smooth. Do not overbeat or the cupcakes will be tough.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups. Bake until the cupcakes are risen and lightly golden, about 20 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let the cupcakes cool for 10 minutes, then turn them out onto a baking sheet and let cool completely, about 1 hour.

To make the mascarpone icing, in the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the butter and confectioners sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in the lemon zest and mascarpone until blended.

When the cupcakes are cool, frost them and garnish with strips of driedmango. Cupcakes may be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Makes 10 cupcakes.

And for the icing I used Wilton Buttercream.

I'm A Cloud Drifting By

Kalaija and I made chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream and fondant bows! God it was so frustrating at first but we think they turned out alright. For our first time at least.

Lady Sings The Blues So Well

For father's day, I decided to make my step-dad a cake using the cake pans I recently recieved, more info here. I decided to go with a chocolate cake. The batter was oddly too thick but I figured oh well and put it in the oven anyway ..

Yeah. They turned into giant circular brownies. So I just shoved it in some tupperware and gave it to my friend haha.

 A few hours after my cake failure, I decided to try again. This time I went with a simple yellow cake. (Sorry I didn't feel like editing the pictures)

It was a success! Except for the fact I burned two of the layers cause I forgot they were in the oven but you can't tell with the frosting. I would say it was a success.

Yay, pretty, good quality pictures!

Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

Recently, I recieved some bakeware products from CSN stores in order to conduct a review! I chose a Silicone Solutions 5 Piece Black Bakeware Set. I figured, why not review them all? I'm starting first with the muffin pan! Let me just start off my saying I love that it's silicone; the paper liners fit nice and snug and it's the easiest thing to wash. Anyway, I decided to make chocolate chip cupcakes with chocolate buttercream frosting.

Martha Stewart Chocolate Chip Frosting

Makes 30

3 1/4 cups sifted cake flour (not self-rising)

1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

7 ounces (1 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 3/4 cups sugar

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

5 large egg whites, room temperature

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1. Make cupcakes as directed in Basic Cupcake How-To, omitting eggs and using milk and vanilla for wet ingredients. Beat egg whites to stiff peaks, and fold into batter. Fold in chocolate chips. Bake cupcakes about 22 minutes. Frost with buttercream, and serve immediately.

Wilton Chocolate Buttercream

Makes 3 cups

1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened

3/4 cup cocoa or three 1 oz. unsweetened chocolate squares, melted

1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract

4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (approximately 1 lb.)

3-4 tablespoons milk

Stiff Consistency: In large bowl, cream shortening and butter with electric mixer. Add cocoa and vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use. For best results, keep icing bowl in refrigerator when not in use. Refrigerated in an airtight container, this icing can be stored 2 weeks. Rewhip before using.

Overall, it was a great success and I would recommend the product to anyone, baker or not!

My Boy Builds Coffins For The Rich And The Poor

Tomorrow I'm having a party with some friends from treatment and so is my brother with some of his friends at my uncle's house on the beach so I made cupcakes! I'm not so much making them for myself and my friends as I am for my brother and his friends .. 5 adolescent growing boys. I made chocolate and vanilla with buttercream frosting.

There was like a total of 80 o.0

Can We Ever Go Back Again?

Debating what I should do with my next baking expedition ..

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Oh It's Another Overdose

Oh I just love the colors red, white, and blue together! I just love holidays. They're my biggest excuse to make sweets! Nom nom nom. Since I'm spending the holiday with my dad's side of the family, I decided to make an extra batch just for my mom and step-dad .. For the cupcakes and frosting, I used the recipes here.

All I did was divide the batter, dyed it red, white, and blue, and put it on one after the other. Same goes for the frosting.

It Really Is A Wicked Way to Die

Mmm dinner ..

JUST KIDDING. They're cupcakes! What's more perfect then a delicious barbeque on memorial day? Ahem, hamburgers of course. But these taste like sugary sweetness..

Ingredients

Makes about 30 cupcakes.

1 3/4 cups cake flour, not self-rising
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
4 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt; mix on low speed until combined. Add butter, mixing until just coated with flour.

2. In a large glass measuring cup, whisk together eggs, milk, and vanilla. With mixer on medium speed, add wet ingredients in 3 parts, scraping down sides of bowl before each addition; beat until ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat.

3. Divide batter evenly among liners, filling about 2/3 full. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 17 to 20 minutes.

4. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat process with remaining batter. Once cupcakes have cooled, use a small offset spatula to frost tops of each cupcake. Decorate with sprinkles, if desired. Serve at room temperature.

And then I made some brownies (from the box to save time! I hate using already prepared mixes but in order to conserve the little time I had this weekend, I had no choice ..) and use a two-inch circle cookie cutter .

And make a batch of William Sonoma Buttercream Icing from, recipe here. You don't need that much so I cut it in half. Divide the frosting in three bowls and dye it red, yellow, and green. Use the smallest size to pipe the ketchup and mustard ..

And use the tip for making the rose thingies for the lettuce. Yeah I don't know what sizes they're called, I wanted to sound like I know what I'm talking about but I really don't.

And lastly, make french fries out of sugar cookies and drench them in sugar! And viola! On nom ..

Spagetti & Meatball Cupcakes

I think these are by far the best cupcakes I've ever made in my life. Chocolate cupcakes with buttercream icing, faux spagetti, jelly sauce, and cookie meatballs! They were so fun to make!

Chocolate Cupcakes

An msn Delish recipe

• 2 cup(s) all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup(s) unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoon(s) baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon(s) salt
• 1 cup(s) sugar
• 1 cup(s) mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon(s) vanilla extract
• 1 cup(s) cold water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.

2. In a small bowl, whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.

3. In a large bowl, with electric mixer on medium speed, beat sugar, mayonnaise, and vanilla extract until combined. Beat in flour mixture in thirds, alternating with water, until blended. Beat 1 minute, scraping bowl occasionally. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.

4. Bake 22 to 24 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in cupcakes comes out clean. Let cool in pan 5 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool completely. Top with frosting.

William Sonoma Quick Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:

I forgot milk was supposed to be added but I actually like it better without it!

• 3 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 8 Tbs. (1 sticks) unsalted butter
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• Food colorings (optional)

Directions:

Have all the ingredients at room temperature.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, combine the confectioners¿ sugar, butter, the 4 1/2 Tbs. milk, the vanilla and salt and beat on low speed until combined, about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Increase the speed to medium and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes.

If the frosting is dry, add more milk, 1 tsp. at a time, until it is creamy but still holds peaks. Tint with food coloring as desired. Makes about 4 cups.

And here's the recipe for the spagetti and meatballs:

For one cupcake

 

Ingredients

• 1 cupcake (any flavor, homemade or store-bought
• 1/4 cup(s) white frostin
• Yellow food coloring
• 1 tablespoon(s) strawberry jam
• 3 malted milk balls (since I didn't have any I used leftover sugar cookie dough, dyed it brown, and made little balls and cooked them for ten minutes)
• 1 ounce(s) white chocolate

Directions

1. Spread a thin layer of white frosting over cupcake. Tint remaining frosting pale yellow with food coloring and spoon into a resealable plastic bag. Snip off corner of bag (or a piping bag thingy) and pipe squiggly lines onto cupcake to resemble spaghetti.

2. Warm strawberry jam in microwave for a few seconds, until liquefied. Drizzle cupcakes with warm strawberry jam for sauce; arrange 2 or 3 malted-milk balls on top to look like meatballs. (or the cookies!)

3. Grate some white chocolate over cupcakes for a faux Parmesan garnish.

Mamma Mia!