Monkey Cupcakes

I first saw these cupcakes in a Taste of Home magazine I bought a few months ago. I thought they were so darn cute that I could not wait for a chance to make them. Last Saturday night was my monthly scrapbooking meet-up with some friends and I thought these would be the perfect treat to share.

I used this funfetti cupcake recipe (although I left the sprinkles out), because I love the almond flavor and thought it would be great with the chocolate frosting. Since pastel M&M's are not in season I grabbed a bag of Crazy Cores Skittles for the eyeballs. For the ears I bought a regular sized and mini sized bag of Nutter Butter cookies because I could not decide which size/shape I liked better for the ears. It turns out that I think both are super cute and now I have all kinds of cookies left that I have no clue what to do with.

It was fun giving all of the monkeys different faces, some were cross-eyed, some had kissy lips and one even had a beard. These cupcakes were a hit at scrapbooking night, everyone enjoyed them and thought they were really cute. For as cute as these cupcakes are they took pretty much no time to put together. Definitely a crowd pleaser.


Monkey Cupcakes
adapted from Taste of Home

Ingredients
1 package cake mix
1 can chocolate frosting
Vanilla wafers (one per cupcake)
Black and red decorating gel
Pastel blue and/or green milk chocolate candies (2 pcs per cupcake)
Nutter Butter, peanut butter cream filled sandwich cookies (regular or mini size)

Directions
Prepare and bake cake batter according to directions for cupcakes. Cool completely on wire racks. Set aside 1/4 cup frosting. Frost cupcakes with remaining frosting.
With a serrated knife, cut off and discard a fourth from each vanilla wafer. Place a wafer on each cupcake, with the rounded edge of wafer near edge of cupcake, for face. Add dots of black gel for nostrils. With red gel, pipe a mouth on each. Place candies above wafers for eyes; add dots of black gel for pupils. Using reserved frosting and a #16 star tip, pipe hair. Carefully separate sandwich cookies; cut each in half. Position one on each side of cupcakes for ears.

Red White and Blue Explosion

These cupcakes look like some crazy 4th of July firework exploded on them. Let's just say that I was trying to play around with swirling things. I tried to swirl some color into the actual cakes, to make them festive, but I managed to forget what I had planned to do in my head and do it the wrong way which resulted in color only on the top of the cake. So the tops of the cakes themselves are festive. Some are red, some are white and some are blue. Then I felt antsy, I thought, "oh boy, won't it be fun to have red white and blue frosting all on top of one cupcake". Ha, what a mess I made. LOL


These cupcakes were moist and wonderful. One guest described them as tasting like a big fluffy sugar cookie and I had to agree, they kind of do. I am just glad that my guests actually thought it would be fun to have red and blue (purple perhaps) tongues. :)


White Cupcakes
Source: A Baker's Field Guide to Cupcakes By Dede Wilson

Yield: 12 cupcakes

Ingredients
12 paper liners
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large egg whites
3/4 cup milk, at room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into small pieces
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350. Place paper liners in all wells of one 12-cup cupcake tin.
2. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in a small bowl to aerate and combine; set aside. 3. Whisk egg whites and milk together in a small bowl to combine; set aside.
4. In a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium high speed, beat butter until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add sugar gradually, beating until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the bowl once or twice. Beat in vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture in 4 additions, alternately with the egg white-milk mixture. Begin and end with the flour mixture, and beat briefly until smooth on low-medium speed after each addition.
5. Divide batter evenly among cupcake wells. Bake or about 20 minutes, or until edges turn light golden brown; a toothpick inserted in the center will show a few moist crumbs.
6. Cool pan on rack for 5 minutes, then remove cupcakes to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Recipe Notes: This is a simple, moist white cake that can be varied endlessly. The cupcakes will keep for 2 days at room temperature in an airtight container or for 1 week frozen in an airtight container.

Buttercream Icing
Source: Wilton.com

Yield: 3 cups icing

Ingredients
1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 teaspoon Clear Vanilla Extract
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (approx. 1 lb.)
2 tablespoons milk

Directions
1. Cream butter and shortening with electric mixer.
2. Add vanilla.
3. 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.
4. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy.

Recipe Notes: Keep icing 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.

Strawberry Cupcakes

Strawberry season makes me happy. I love going to the store and seeing beautiful red strawberries on display in the produce section, it makes me even more happy when they are on sale. :) I have seen this cupcake recipe raved about lately and figured it would be the perfect match for the beautiful strawberries I brought home from the store this past weekend. My husband and I were having another couple over for a cookout so I had the perfect excuse to make dessert and not have to eat it all myself.


My regular 12 count muffin pan is missing in action at the moment so I cut the recipe in half and made 24 mini cupcakes and 6 regular sized cupcakes. The only liners I had for the mini muffin pan were brown and I thought that would look weird, so I just decided to make them without liners.



These cupcakes were a hit and very good. The fresh strawberries in the cakes and in the frosting gave them such a delicious strawberry flavor. These will definitely be made again in my house!

Angie's Famous Strawberry Cupcakes
Source: Good Things Catered

Ingredients
2 1/2 c. cake flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c. unsalted butter
1 1/2 c. sugar (or a little less)
2 eggs
1/3 c. buttermilk
1/4 c. oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 c. chopped strawberries

1/4 c. strawberries
1 Tbsp. strawberry liquor
1/2 tsp lemon juice
8 oz. cream cheese, room temp
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp
1 3/4 c. powdered sugar
1/2 Tbsp vanilla

Directions
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare 2 cupcake pans.
-Sift flour, salt, and baking soda in medium bowl.
-In bowl of mixer, cream butter and sugar until fluffy.
-Add eggs one at a time until combined.
-Add buttermilk, oil and vanilla until combined.
-Add flour mixture and stir until just combined.
-Fold in berries.
-Fill cupcake pans 3/4 way.
-Bake for 20 minutes.
-For frosting, put berries, liquor, and juice in saucepan.
-Bring to a boil over medium heat and then reduce to a simmer for 5 mins.
-Let cool then blend until smooth.
-In bowl of mixer mix cream cheese and butter until creamy.
-Add sugar, then vanilla.
-Add berry puree until smooth.
-Frost cupcakes when they are completely cooled.

Self Frosting Cupcakes

The baking bug has hit me again. I had purchased some nutella, a chocolate hazlenut spread, at the grocery store so I knew that I was going to make something with that but I had no clue what. I searched the internet for Nutella recipes and the recipe I found the most was for these "self frosting cupcakes." Sounds pretty interesting and less work for me, since I would not have to make a frosting. :) Self Frosting Cupcakes it is.


These little gems were a breeze to mix up, I think the most time consuming part was swirling the nutella into the batter. I thought that they were a little dry but my husband did not agree with me. Regardless they were tasty.

Self Frosting (Nutella) Cupcakes
(Source: Found on PieKnits; orignal source unknown)

Ingredients
10 tbsp butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cups sifted flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup Nutella

Directions
- Preheat oven to 325F and line 12 muffin tins with paper liners.

- Cream together butter and sugar until light, about 2 minutes. Add in eggs on at a time, until fully incorporated. The batter may not look smooth, this is fine. Add vanilla.

- Stir in flour, salt, and baking powder until batter is smooth and all flour is blended. Using an ice cream scoop, fill each muffin liner with batter. Cups should be 3/4 full if you're not using a scoop. - Top each cake with 1 1/2 tsp Nutella. Swirl Nutella in with a toothpick, folding a little batter up and over the Nutella as well.Bake for 20 minutes. Remove to wire rack and allow to cool.

- Makes 12.

Cupcake time

Last Tuesday I picked up a cupcake cookbook while I was attending an essentail knife skills class at a local cooking store. I opened the sample book on display, drooled a little, grabbed a copy and headed towards the register. Once I actaully looked through the book I was in awe at all the recipes. There are 7 basic cupcake recipes, 8 different glaze/frosting/icng recipes, and 60 "specialty" cupcake recipes!!! Wow, I will be in cupcake heaven.

This morning I let my husband do the honors of picking the first cupcake recipe for me to make. Well first I bribed him by making him breakfast in bed. ;) He picked one for Chocolate Turtle Cupcakes. His mom and dad were coming over for dinner and he knew they would love that one.
If you want to make the Chocolate turtle cupcakes you will need all 3 of the following recipes. But you can make the brownie cupcakes all by themselves or just use the ganache recipe if you want to do that.

I am not sure if I slightly overcooked the cupcakes or if they would always be like this but some of them were stuck to the wrappers pretty good. So just make sure you do not overbake the cupcakes. Maybe even use a foil liner instead of the paper.

Brownie Cupcakes
(Source: A Bakers Field Guide to Cupcakes; By Dede Wilson)

This is a classic brownie batter in a cupcake shape. These cupcakes are very rich and fudgy and bake up with a flat top. The cupcakes will keep for 2 days at room temperature in an airtight container or for 1 week frozen in an airtight container.

Yield: 18 cupcakes

Ingredients:
18 paper liners
8 oz. semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into pieces.
2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
4 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp salt
1 cup all purpose flour
¾ cup pecan halves (optional), toasted and finely chopped.

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 F. Place paper liners in all wells of one 12 cup and one 6 cup cupcake tin.

2) Melt chocolate and butter together in top of large double boiler or in large bowl in microwave; stir until smooth and combined, then cool to lukewarm.

3) Whisk in brown sugar until well blended. Then whisk in eggs one at a time, allowing each one to become absorbed before adding next one. Whisk in vanilla extract and salt. Add flour and nuts, if using, at the same time and fold until no streaks of flour remain.

4) Divide batter evenly among cupcake wells. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until inserted in center shows many moist crumbs. The tops will be dry and crackled in appearance and slightly puffed.

5) Cool pans on racks for 5 minutes, then remove cupcakes to cooking racks to cool completely.

Cupcake tips:
-With brownies it is hard to gauge doneness – they will seem wet in the center compared to some other cupcakes – but they are done!
-You may leave out the nuts, of course, or substitute mini chocolate chips or white chocolate chips, or chopped cherries, or whatever add-in you like.

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Chocolate Turtle Cupcakes
(Source: A Bakers Field Guide to Cupcakes; By Dede Wilson)

Description: The basic brownie cupcake recipe is enhanced with caramel, pecans, and bittersweet chocolate ganache to make a cupcake with the flavors of chocolate turtle candies.

Field notes: Anything with chocolate and caramel is worth eating, as far as I am concerned. While the basic recipe for brownie cupcakes yields 18, by the time you add all the extra nuts, chips, and caramel in this recipe, you end up with 2 dozen cupcakes.

Lifespan: Cupcakes may be baked 2 days ahead; glazed cupcakes are best served the same day. Store at room temperature in airtight container.

Yield: 24 candy-like cupcakes

Ingredients:
24 brown paper liners
24 Kraft caramels
1 cup semisweet chocolate morsels
1 batch batter from “Brownie Cupcakes”
1 batch Ganache Glaze and Frosting
2/3 cup pecan halves, toasted and chopped.

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350. Place paper liners in all wells of 2 – 12cup cupcake tins.

2) Chop 12 of the caramels into ¼-inch dice. If the caramel is sticky, spritz your knife with non-stick cooking spray. Fold chopped caramels and chocolate morsels into the cupcake batter. Divide batter evenly among cupcake wells. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center shows many moist crumbs. Cool pans on racks for 5 minutes, then remove cupcakes to cooling racks to cool completely.

3) Melt remaining 12 caramels in top of double boiler or in microwave. Rewarm ganache if necessary to bring it to a fluid state. Drizzle ganache with fork or teaspoon over all and top with remaining buts. Chill cupcakes briefly, until caramel and ganache are set. Cupcakes are not ready to serve.

Cupcake tips
-The caramel, nut and ganache toppings can be layered repeatedly until you have as decadent a topping as you desire. Depending on how decadent you are, you might want extra caramels, nuts, and ganache.

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Ganache Glaze and Frosting
(Source: A Bakers Field Guide to Cupcakes; By Dede Wilson)

This ganache is the darkest, richest, most chocolatey icing in the book. If you use it right away, while it is liquid, you can coat the tops of cupcakes with it for a smooth, shiny, glazed appearance. If you let it lest overnight at a cool room temperature (or refrigerate it briefly), you can place it in a pastry bag fitted with a decorating tip and pipe rosettes, big swirls, or small bead shapes, or even use it for writing or other decorative details. The ganache will keep for 1 week refrigerated in an air tight container or for 1 month frozen in an airtight container.

Yield: 1 ½ cups glaze or frosting

Ingredients:
2/3 cup heavy cream
10 oz semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped.

Directions:
1) Place cream in a medium-large saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat.

2) Remove from the heat and immediately sprinkle chocolate into cream. Cover and allow to sit for 5 minutes. The heat of the cream should melt the chocolate. Gently stir the ganache until smooth. If the chocolate is not melting, place over very low heat, stirring often, until melted, taking care not to burn the chocolate.

3) The ganache is ready to use. You may dip the tops of cupcakes upside down into the ganache, gently swirling them around, before flipping upright. Or you may apply liquid ganache with a spoon directly onto the tops of cupcakes. Alternatively, you may allow the ganache to firm up overnight at room temperature or until it is a spreadable consistency (Between mayonnaise and peanut butter). At this point you may apply it with an icing spatula or place in a pastry bag with decorating tip of choice. If it becomes too firm, or if you would like to return it to a liquid state, simply place over a warm burner or microwave briefly.

Cupcake tips:
- If you are using this as a fluid glaze and it seems thick, just add a little extra cream, a teaspoon at a time until you reach the desired texture. Also, upon reheating, if the texture of the ganache is not smooth, dribble in a tiny bit of cold heavy cream and whisk together until smooth. Keep in mind that different chocolates will produce different textures with this recipe, as well as different flavors.