German’s Chocolate Cupcakes

My cousin Heather always gets me the most adorable little gifts. Last year as a housewarming gift she sent me these terrific heart shaped silicone heart shaped cupcake molds. What’s great about these not being in a tray is that you can layout the individual molds and make almost 20 cupcakes at a time instead of your usually 12 cup-capacity tray. What’s even better is the fact that they’re heart shaped. Today being Valentine’s Day, it was obviously the perfect occasion to break them out.

how awesome are these baking cups!!

Since I started dating Ariel his office has been reaping the benefits of my baking. We always split the spoils in half and take to our respective work places. Last week I asked him what his co-workers wanted for Valentine’s Day and German Chocolate Cupcakes were requested. Challenge accepted, I present to you… German’s Chocolate Cupcakes. If you want to know why they are German’s Chocolate and not German Chocolate.. check out Wikipedia. Read the rest of this entry »

Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes

When I was up in Vermont for Christmas, my mom and I talked quite a bit about baking.  She’s a great cook, but absolutely hates baking because she thinks there are too many ingredients, too many steps, too many dirty dishes, and she finds the results unreliable.  She recently made these mini cheesecakes from the blog and thought they were way too much work.  I would describe the cheesecakes as pretty simple, but requiring a bit of patience when making the little crusts.  It was a nice reminder that my perspective on the difficulty level for a baking recipe is a bit skewed considering how often I bake and how much I enjoy it.

This recipe is truly easy and since it is just a doctored cake mix is very reliable.  I actually really like yellow cake from a mix, and unlike chocolate cake, think it’s very often better than homemade.

Read the rest of this entry »

Peppermint Patty Cupcakes (vegan)

Last week was Thanksgiving which in my mind marks the end of pumpkin season and the start of peppermint season.  These little cupcakes are the perfect way to kick off a month of holiday baking.  They are adorable, moist, and pack a strong peppermint punch.  Layering chocolate ganache on top of the frosting is a bit more work than a normal cupcake, but this step shouldn’t be skipped.  The chocolate provides the perfect balance to the very sweet and minty frosting.

Read the rest of this entry »

Vegan Maple Walnut Cupcakes – Mini Post #7

I debated whether or not I should include the word “vegan” in the title of this post, because I know that it turns some people off.  And that’s a shame because these cupcakes and every other cupcake I’ve made from “Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World” have been absolutely delicious.  They were a huge hit a vegan’s friend’s birthday party, but they were equally well received by Pat’s coworkers who were shocked to find out that they didn’t contain any butter or eggs.

Read the rest of this entry »

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

My sister got married back in June and I made all of the desserts.  She wanted cupcakes and we decided on red velvet, chocolate with peanut butter frosting, and carrot cake.  I tested desserts the month leading up to the wedding by making two varieties of each cake recipe and giving them to friends with a short survey.  The winning carrot cake was the recipe that I’ve been making for years from the King Arthur Flour Cookbook.  I decided to use maple cream cheese frosting since the wedding was taking place in New Hampshire and we’d grown up eating homemade maple syrup.

The cupcakes were a big hit and I’m so glad I took the time to make little marzipan carrots as decoration.  They were adorable and looked surprisingly realistic to the point where some people thought they were actual carrots.  And to my Aunt Kristina who has been asking me for this recipe since June – I’m sorry it took so long!

Read the rest of this entry »

Vegan Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Last week I co-hosted a baby shower for one of my closest friends.  When I was deciding which treats to make my first idea was baby (miniature) cupcakes.  Since the co-host is vegan I chose to make only vegan desserts for the shower.  I’ve had some really good luck with vegan desserts in the past and it’s a fun challenge to try and make a vegan dessert that tastes as delicious as one saturated with butter.

Read the rest of this entry »

Sweet Potato Cupcakes

One of my favorite bands, The Potatomen, recently reunited to play their first show in ten years.  The other band they were playing with, The Marshmallows, always bring sweet treats to their shows.  I decided to make a potato dessert to celebrate the special occasion.

Read the rest of this entry »

Coffee Lover’s Cupcakes

Although I drink coffee on a fairly regular basis, I’m not sure I would call myself a coffee-lover.  I don’t need to have coffee to start my day, and when I do drink coffee the goal is to add enough half-and-half and Splenda that it has the taste of coffee ice cream.  I love the coffee flavor and aroma, but can not handle the bitterness.  Occasionally I’ll add espresso powder to chocolate desserts, but had never baked anything with coffee as the predominant flavor.  Last week I was trying to decide what to bring one of my best friend’s going away parties.  She loves lemon and I’ve made her many lemon desserts in the past, but what was on my mind was how much I’d miss seeing her around the office every morning with her Starbuck’s coffee and pastry.

Read the rest of this entry »

Mini Red Velvet Cupcakes

Last week Pat’s school was having a potluck.  He asked if I would mind making something.  Really?  Of course I wanted to make something.  I went back and forth trying to figure out what the perfect treat would be and finally settled on mini cupcakes. I’ve always thought that bite size sweets work really well at potlucks and parties.   It allows people to have something sweet, even if they’re full from all of the other food.

Read the rest of this entry »

Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes

I found the recipe for these adorable little cakes on the Coconut and Lime food blog.  I originally noticed this particular recipe because it featured pineapple and I love pineapple, but the reason I decided to make it is because the recipe uses a whole can of pineapple.

The appeal of a recipe that uses a whole can of pineapple may not be obvious, but as a frequent baker I end up with all sorts of containers of various leftover ingredients in my fridge: egg whites, egg yolk, pineapple juice, frosting, cream cheese glaze, dough scraps, chocolate glaze etc.  I put all of these things in little tupperware containers with the intention of using them somehow.  In reality they sit there for weeks (sometimes months) and I give up and throw them away.  The fact that this recipe utilized the whole can of pineapple really appealed to me because I wouldn’t have any leftover pineapple juice to throw away immediately (and feel guilty) or to save (and tie up one of my storage containers).

Read the rest of this entry »