Red, White, and Blue!

These are quite possibly my favorite cupcakes that I have ever made. They are festive for the 4th of July, and oh so tasty. Now, the cake itself is not from scratch because I had an extra box of white cake mix laying around for some cake balls that never happened. Plus, I always know that the boxed cake mix will be wonderful, so that only leaves me to worry about how the new icing recipe will turn out. I did however, add some sprinkles to the cake mix to make it festive on in the inside too!

In the picture below are some of the main things
needed to make these cupcakes...sparklers? Yup!

After you make your cake batter, pour in some sprinkles!

The cupcakes waiting to go in the oven...

And they're done!

The icing recipe I used is below, and it is DELICIOUS! It is a white chocolate cream cheese frosting, and my taste testers loved it!

White Chocolate Frosting
Adapted from Taste Duds

• 7oz (approx. 1 heaping cup) white chocolate chips
• 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups powdered sugar

1. Melt white chocolate chips in a bowl in the microwave in 20-second bursts. Cool for about 10 minutes.
2. Cream butter and cream cheese together using an electric mixture (make sure they are both room temperture or they won't cream properly).
3. Add the white chocolate and vanilla and beat until combined.
4. Carefully add in the powdered sugar and beat at low speed until combined.
5. Turn off mixer and give it a good stir to make sure everything is combined.

Then pour into a pastry bag with a large star tip and pipe away! To get the colors in the frosting I took a paint brush and painted red and blue lines inside the pastry bag using the Wilton Icing colors, and then filled the bag with icing. However, it didn't work as well as I had hoped. The first cupcake was pretty much just white then the next ones were really dark and then the color kind of faded away. You may have to add more paint when you refill the bag if you want them all to have similar color, or just use two bags.

(The sparkler was just for photography sake, and any
cupcakes with sparklers in them should not be eaten!)

Enjoy and have a wonderful 4th of July!!
-amanda

Chocolate Raspberry Tarts

I found this recipe on the Food Network site and could not wait to try it. The recipe yields 6 regular muffin size tarts, but I thought that would be too much richness for one person. I ended up making two in the large size so I could put a raspberry in the center like the recipe calls for and then made 12 mini ones as well.

Overall, I didn't think they were sweet enough. I wish now that I would have used semi-sweet chocolate instead of bittersweet.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups chocolate wafer crumbs (I used Oreos)
• 6 tablespoons melted butter
• 1 recipe Dark Chocolate Truffle mixture, recipe below
• 6 fresh raspberries, plus extra for serving

Mix together the chocolate wafer crumbs and melted butter. Spray the cups of a 6-muffin tins (or mini tins if you choose) with a vegetable spray. Line the cups with strips of parchment or waxed paper, cut so that they are as wide as the diameter of each cup and long enough to overhang the sides (you'll need this overhang to remove the tarts).

Use the bottom of a small glass (I used the back of a measuring table spoon for the minis) to press the crumbs over the bottom and sides of the muffin cups, building the sides up. Place a raspberry in the center of each crust and with a pastry bag fill the tarts with the truffle mixture. Smooth the tops and refrigerate until set, about 2 hours.

Dark Chocolate Truffle Mixture:

• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 8 ounces good-quality (70 percent) bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

In a saucepan, bring the cream just to a simmer over low heat. stir to avoid getting a skin on the cream. Pour the cream over the chocolate in a bowl and let stand about 10 minutes to melt the chocolate. (I had to put mine in the microwave for about 15 secs or so because it was still chunky.) Add the vanilla and stir until smooth. Set aside to cool for 1 hour at room temperature. Then beat the chocolate at medium speed until it gets thick and light colored.

-amanda

Cupcake Bites

I made these yummy little cupcake bites using the delicious and simple Duncan Hines Butter Fudge cake mix. For detailed instructions on how to make the cupcake bites check out Bakerella.



I decided that I didn't want to make a million cupcake bites so I used the rest of the batter to make a small cake. Ta-daaa!



Also for your viewing pleasure, here are some previous cupcake bites that I made:


Thanks for visiting!
-amanda

Happy Birthday to you...

I made these little cheesecakes for my friend's birthday (Happy Birthday!). I used the same recipe that I used for Valentine's Day however, I altered them by making different flavors. In my opinion (and the boyfriends) they were to die for delicious! Hopefully my friend will enjoy them just as much! :)

Left to Right: Strawberry (swirled with jam and topped with a strawberry), Chocolate (Oreo crust and swirled with chocolate sauce), Plain cheesecake (topped with fresh fruit), Oreo (Oreo crust and Oreo crumbs mixed in).

-amanda

Mother's Day Cupcakes

Yes, I know this is late. Mother's Day was very busy with work, baking, cleaning, and other mom projects. Since then I have been busy with my new fast paced pastry class. Anywho....on with the Mother's Day Cupcakes!!!

Ta-Da! So pretty on the outside :)

Not so pretty on the inside :( Boooo!

They were supposed to be bright pink and purple on the inside.
However, I decided to make the white cake batter from scratch,
which ended up being yellowish cake instead...grrrr!

But don't they look cute in their to-go container?! I love it :)

So even though I was pleased with the outer appearance, and the inner faded pink and purple were good enough this time around, I wasn't loving the recipes I used. They were decent tasting but I have yet to find a buttercream icing that I LOVE. Although both recipes were VERY easy and fast, so that was nice. If I make the icing again I will use less cream.

Quick Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
Simple White Cake (remember this is not like the white you will get from a store bought mix. it's yellowish)


-amanda

Strawberry Shortcake Cookies

I found this recipe in my Martha Stewart Living magazine and I had a lot of strawberries in the fridge so I figured I should make these cookies. :)

(Batch 2)

2 cups strawberries (hulled and cut into 1/4 inch dice)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
9 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking power
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
6 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter (cut into small pieces)
2/3 cup heavy cream
Sanding sugar, for sprinkling

1. Preheat oven to 375. Combine strawberries, lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons granulated sugar. Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and remaining 7 tablespoons granulated sugar in a large bowl. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter, or rub in with your fingers, until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in cream until dough starts to come together, then stir in strawberry mixture.
2. Using a tablespoon drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment, spacing evenly apart. Sprinkle with sanding sugar, and bake until golden brown, 24 to 25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool. Cookies are best served immediately, but can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 day.

(Batch 1)

My take on this recipe: My cookies didn't spread like I thought they would so for the second batch I flattened them out a little and that helped. I also think that 24 minutes is too long as the first batch burnt on the bottom, especially if there was a berry on the bottom. So for the second batch I did 10 minutes and then let the cookies continue cooking on the baking sheet. They didn't burn and they were nice and soft (and edible). Overall I was disappointed, but perhaps it was just operator error. :)

As for the family, everyone seemed to like the round burnt batch better, so maybe I did do it right? The boyfriend suggest 23 minutes would be perfect. Either way I don't know if I will ever make these again. lol

-amanda

Strawberry Cream Cheese Cupcakes

I had purchased a box of strawberry cake mix to make some Easter cake pops but that never happened, so I decided just to make some cupcakes. You can find the Duncan Hines strawberry cake mix at your local grocery store. :)

Cream Cheese Frosting from Bunny's Warm Oven

• 1 pkg ( 8 oz) cream cheese
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup confectioners sugar

Let cream cheese and butter warm to room temperature. Beat them together and add vanilla. Gradually beat in sugar.

I also made some hearts using Wilton's Candy Melts and added them to some of the cupcakes:

-amanda