Hellllloooo!!! Long Time No See!

Hello all!

I promise I didn't forget about procrastinating. I just procrastinated on procrastinating, if that makes sense. So here's what happened.
Life.

Thats what happened.

Finals, Post-Finals Crashing...

You know all that good 'end of the semester' crap.

Anywho,

To make up for my lack of attention to you all, I am posting 2 different recipes!!!

YAY!

In other news, this blog has gotten over 700 views since I started it in March.

700.

So thanks for that. I love you all, and I love that you guys keep coming back, even when I'm not posting!!!

Much Love!

Kathrine

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup......Cake!!!

Hello all!

I have a ton of homework this weekend.
But I also have baking supplies.
Which do you think won?

Anyway, this week I've been on a 'forget the diet, I want chocolate' kick.
It ended up carrying over into my cupcakes for the week.
I had so much fun making filled cupcakes for Easter that I'm at it again.

This week, I made a chocolate cupcake with a peanut butter filling, and chocolate frosting.


Here's what you need:

Reese's Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Filling and Chocolate Frosting

Oven Temp: 350°
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Bake Time: 15-17 minutes
Total Time: ~ 1-1.5 hours

Ingredients:

Cupcake:

• Betty Crocker Milk Chocolate Cake Mix
• 1/3 c. oil
• 1 1/4 c. Water
• 3 Eggs
• Cupcake Corer (or a knife)
• Cupcake liners

Filling:

• 1 Jar Creamy Peanut Butter
• 13 oz Jar of Marshmallow Fluff
• Pastry Bag

Garnish/Frosting

• Sea Salt
• Chopped Peanuts
• 1 can Betty Crocker Whipped Milk Chocolate Frosting

Prepare the cake mix per the directions on the box. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean.

Wait until they are completely cooled to core them.

While you are waiting, make your filling by taking equal parts (no specific measurements here... I made it up as I went along) of peanut butter and marshmallow fluff and mixing them in a bowl. There's no wrong way to do this part. Just make sure that the peanut butter flavor doesn't get masked by the marshmallow. 

*** a while later***

Core your cupcakes, or cut out a hole with a knife.

Put your filling into a pastry bag, (no tip needed) and fill the cores of the cupcakes. Smooth the top a little bit so that the frosting will sit nicely.

The Cupcakes all ready for delivery!

Now frost the cupcakes. (I used a pastry bag) Sprinkle A LITTLE 

sea salt on top of the frosting, and finish with the chopped peanuts.

There you go!!!

Bonus Story: 

I can't take these into work, because of allergies. So I decided I'm going to deliver them to friends and family around town... I can't wait!! :D

What was supposed to be an Easter post turned into an early April post. :)

So I've been pretty upfront about being a master procrastinator. I successfully procrastinated, and baked cupcakes last week  two weeks ago, like I always do. But, I completely forgot to post them.... Whoops...

To be honest, my professional procrastination has caught up to me, and school has taken precedence. :/

BUT! I will bake cupcakes this weekend, if it means using a textbook as a place to rest my batter-covered spatula.

Anyway....

My family had a get together for Easter, and I got put in charge of baking cupcakes.
I wanted to do something fresh, fun, and not 'Easter-y.'


My (awesome) roommate got me this Wilton cupcake book to further expand my knowledge, so I decided it was only fitting to choose my recipe from there. :)

As per usual, I couldn't just follow the recipe. I made my own little tweaks to make what I thought would be a great cupcake.

Fruit Tart Cupcakes 

Oven Temp: 350°
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Bake Time: 18-20 minutes
Total Time: ~ 1.5 Hours

Cupcake Ingredients:

• 1 Box Betty Crocker French Vanilla Cake Mix
• Eggs, Water & Oil to prepare mix
• Cupcake Liners
• Cupcake Pan

Pastry Cream Ingredients:

• 6 T granulated sugar
• 1/4 c. flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 c. milk
• 4 Egg Yolks
• 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
• 2 T. unsalted butter.
• Pastry Bag

Topping Ingredients:

• Strawberries, sliced
• Blueberries
• Kiwi, sliced & peeled
• Whip Cream
• Pastry bag

Additional Items Needed:

Cupcake Corer: 

This was an impulse buy at Walmart. I don't think it was more than a couple bucks.

It is perfect for a filled cupcake like this. Otherwise, you can just cut a hole with a knife.

Anyway... on to the baking...

Cupcakes:

Prepare the cake mix according to the box. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, and let cool completely.

Once the cupcakes are cooled, you can cut your holes out for your filling.

Pastry Cream:

In a small saucepan, combine sugar, flour, and salt. Whisk in egg yolks and milk until combined. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a spoon until mixture is thickened. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and butter.

Pour mixture into a bowl, and press plastic wrap down onto the surface of the pastry cream to prevent it from forming a skin.

Place in fridge until chilled, or ready to use.

Toppings: 

Slice strawberries & kiwis. Keep refrigerated until used.

Assembly:

Using a pastry bag, fill the 'holes' in your cupcakes, plus a little extra. Spread the 'extra' around on the top of the cupcake, making sure it is even.

Place a kiwi slice on each cupcake. Then, with a pastry bag, put a little bit of whip cream on top of the kiwi. Then arrange the strawberries and blueberries as you like.

Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

There you have it!

Again, I apologize for the very late post, and will be back at the baking this weekend!

Dark Chocolate Guinness Cupcake with Bailey's Cream Cheese Frosting

Happy St. Patricks Day!

I got myself all dressed up for the occasion.... 
Just kidding, I just had these awesome socks. :) 









Anywho, I felt that it was necessary to make a drunken cupcake with Irish liquor, as one way to celebrate my heritage. If you're not 21, I honestly don't know a substitute for this.




Here's what you need.

Dark Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes with Bailey's Cream Cheese Frosting

Oven Temperature: 350° 
Prep Time: ~15 minutes
Bake Time: 15 minutes per pan
Total Time ~ 1 hour



Cake Ingredients

• 1 box Dark Chocolate Cake Mix
• 12 oz Guinness Beer
• 3 Eggs
• 1/3 C. Oil
• 1 T flour

Frosting Ingredients

• 1 Can Cream Cheese Frosting 
• 2 tsp. (and a splash or two) Bailey's Irish Cream
• Green Food Coloring

For the cake, take the beer, eggs and oil an combine them. Then add the cake mix and flour. Blend well. Scoop into cupcake pan, filling only 2/3 full. Bake 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a cupcake comes out clean. Let cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting, scoop the frosting into a bowl, and add the Bailey's to taste. Mix in food coloring, until you get the green you want. Pipe frosting onto cupcakes, and keep refrigerated.

That's it!! Happy St. Patrick's Day, and may the luck of the Irish be with you!

An Experimental Birthday Gift :)

So, fun fact, I have a roommate.
She has put up with my obsession with baking cupcakes, and she even eats them too.
Her birthday was last Monday, but since she was in California, I decided to bake up a surprise for her to come home to.

I know that she likes 2 things for sure: Rainbows & Cupcakes.
So why not make a rainbow pull-apart cake?


Anywho, Here's what you need.

The Finished Product. :)

Rainbow Pull-Apart Cake

Oven Temp: 350°
Prep Time: ~45 minutes
Bake Time: 15 minutes per pan
Total Time: ~ 1.5 hours


Cake Ingredients

*Note* I didn't want to use Funfetti cake mix, because I wanted to control the amount of sprinkles I had.  Feel free to use Funfetti, because honestly, it is easier.

• 1 Box Betty Crocker Vanilla Cake Mix
• 1 Bottle of Sprinkles
• McCormick's Neon Food Coloring
• Toothpicks
• Cupcake Liners
• Cupcake Pan
• 1 C. Water
• 1/3 C. Oil
• 3 Eggs

Frosting Ingredients

*Note* I used a combination of Kool-Aid and food coloring to color my frosting. If you don't want flavors, food coloring does just fine. :)

• 3 cans Vanilla Frosting
• 5 packets of Kool-Aid
• Strawberry
• Peach-Mango
• Lemonade
• Lemon-Lime
• Tropical Punch
• (I left purple as plain frosting.)
• Plastic Baggies
• Plastic Spoons (if you don't want to wash a ton of spoons)
• Shredded Coconut

The unbaked cupcakes

Ok. So, the cake is pretty simple. Mix the water, oil and eggs, then add the cake mix. Combine until moistened. Then add the sprinkles, and combine well. Scoop into cupcake pan, filling only 2/3 full. Put a few drops of food coloring in each cupcake, and swirl around with a toothpick. 

Bake until a toothpick stuck in the middle comes out clean, and cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting, separate 2 of the cans of frosting into 6 separate containers. (I used styrofoam cups)

Each cup represents a different cup/flavor. So, if you're doing flavors, add 1/2 tsp. of Kool- Aid to each respective cup. Combine well. Then, use food coloring to adjust the coloring to your liking. There's not really a science to it, except for normal color mixing rules (red+yellow = orange... etc.) Then put each colored frosting in a separate sandwich bag, (unless you have 7 pastry bags, and want to wash them all.)

Fast forward until the cupcakes are cooled...

Arrange the cupcakes in a rainbow- like shape. If you need to transport it, I recommend a piece of cardboard wrapped in tin foil. If you don't need to move it, a layer of tin foil on your counter does just fine.  This is what I did for the shape:

Once you have the cupcakes arranged, take the other can of frosting, and do a 'base coat' to glue all of the cupcakes together. Make sure that the cupcakes are covered evenly, and that there are no holes between any of the cupcakes.

Then, starting with the red frosting, cut a small piece off of the corner of the bag. Frost the red onto the cake, and then continue with the other colors.

Once this is done, add coconut to the cloud area to give it some texture, and there you go!

Pineapple Cupcakes with Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting

First off, I apologize for not posting last week. I was in no condition to be making cupcakes... or even soup..

Anyway, this week is Spring Break for my friends and I. While my friends have taken off to warm places like California & Arizona for a week, I have 'chosen' to remain in the brisk 20° weather of Northern Minnesota. I'll admit, I'm a little jealous of all the people who get to sip cocktails while laying out in the sun. Not only do I need a drink after midterms, my skin is borderline transparent. :)

So, this brings us to this week's cupcake. I figured if my friends can be in the tropics, I can bake the tropics and watch some summer-esque romantic comedy. Hence pineapple cupcakes frosted with cream cheese, coconut deliciousness.

Here's the finished product!

Pineapple Cupcakes with Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting

Here's what you need.

Prep time: ~20 minutes
Bake time: 15 minutes / pan
Total time: ~ 1 hour
Oven temp: 350°


Cupcakes

• 1 box Betty Crocker White Cake Mix
• 3 Eggs
• 1/2 C. Oil
• 1 C. Water
• 2- 8oz cans of Dole Crushed Pineapple in 100% pineapple juice. (None of that heavy syrup business)
• 4 T. flour
• Cupcake liners
• ~2 T. Pineapple Juice (from the crushed pineapple)
• Strainer/Colander (what's the difference anyway?)

Frosting

• 1 Can Betty Crocker Cream Cheese Frosting
• 1/3 C. Shredded Coconut
• 1 T. Pineapple Juice (from the crushed pineapple)
• Pastry Bag (if desired)

Alright. Combine the oil, water & eggs, then add the cake mix and stir unti moistened. In a seperate bowl, strain the 2 cans of crushed pineapple. Keep the juice, and put the drained pineapple in another bowl. Add the flour to the drained pineapple, to make up for the liquids we are adding to the cake. Combine this until it makes a thick paste-like mixture. Add the mixture to the batter and blend well. Then add the pineapple juice, and blend well.

Scoop the batter into cupcake liners, filling 2/3 full. 

Bake for 15 - 18 minutes, or until a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean. (Mine took exactly 15 minutes) Remove from the oven and let cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting, scoop the frosting into a bowl. Add the pineapple juice, and blend well. Then add the coconut and blend well. Use pastry bag or knife to frost the cupcakes! 

I Got Myself a Gift....

150 page views....

Yeah... In the mere 3 weeks that I have been doing this, you guys have creeped my blog up.
I set a lofty (at the time) goal, that if I got 150 views, I would buy myself a little cupcake decorating gear. This is what I got:

It is a 12 piece Cupcake decorating set that goes with the Wilton pastry bag and accessories I already have. It was only $7 at good old Wal-Mart, so it wasn't a huge investment.

It has four new tips. Three of them are for decorating, and one of them is for filling cupcakes. It also comes with 8 disposable pastry bags for the dish-hating person. (me....)

I'm super excited to use it, and even more excited that you all have taken the time to look at my blog!

Keep it up, and much love!