Cupcakes for any Occasion

I made two types of cupcakes to bring into my office and they both came out amazing. I brought them in for St Patricks Day however they will work for any event or reason to bake.

The first type I made was a Vanilla cupcake with thick Chocolate Icing. This came up so beautifully, the cupcake stayed so moist and the frosting honestly stayed fresh for days. The second cupcake was a chocolate cupcake with an oreo cream frosting, which just came out so fun and very tasty. Below are the recipes for each cupcake.

Vanilla Cupcake with the Chocolate Frosting

Servings: Between 12-18 Cupcakes
Ingredients
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp Baking powder
1/2 cup Melted Unsalted Butter
1 cup Granulated sugar
1 Egg Large
1/4 cup sour cream
3/4 cup whole milk
1 tbsp Vanilla extract
Instructions

  1. In a mixing bowl, mix together the flour and baking powder, I tend to use a whisk to mix everything together.
  2. In another mixing bowl or Kitchen Aid, mix together melted butter and sugar until everything is combined. Make sure the sugar is completely combined with no clumps or when you get to the bottom of your batter you will be scooping a ton of sugar.
  3. I add in the Vanilla extract next let that combine with everything for a little.
  4. Then add the egg, sour cream, and the whole milk, and mix until smooth.
  5. Slowly add the dry mixture into the wet mixture until everything is combined smoothly.
  6. Pour batter in cupcake liners.
  7. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-22 minutes or until an inserted toothpick in the center comes out clean. I tend to wait until the edge is golden.
  8. Normally while the cupcakes are cooling, I start to work on the frost this typically allows enough time for the cupcakes to cool and the frosting to be fresh when applying to the cupcake.

Chocolate Buttercream Recipe
• 2 Sticks Unsalted Butter – Make sure your butter is at room temperature. I normally take the butter out when I start making the cupcake batter. Normally this is enough time to allow the butter to soften.
• 5 Cups Powdered Sugar – Add each cup in slowly to allow everything to mix everything properly.
• 1/2 Cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder – Whichever Cocoa powder is your favorite will work perfectly.
• 1/2 Cup Heavy Cream – I tried heavy cream with this recipe and I am never turning back it worked perfectly to create such a beautiful texture. However other types of milk or milk alternatives can be used instead and will work just as well.
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract

Moist Chocolate Cupcakes

Servings: About 14 cupcakes
Ingredients:
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 1/2 cup buttermilk, room temperature
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup very hot water

Instructions:

  1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cupcake pan with paper liners.
  2. Combine the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a bowl and whisk together.
  3. Combine the egg, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla in another bowl or Kitchen Aid and mix.
  4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients slowly.
  5. Then add the hot water to the batter and mix again, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary, until combined. The batter will be thin once the water is added.
  6. Fill cupcake liners half full, then bake between 18-21 minutes,
  7. I normally use a toothpick to make sure everything has been baked thoroughly.
  8. Cool completely before frosting.

Oreo Cream frosting
Ingredients
• 1 cup unsalted butter softened
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 Tablespoons heavy cream
• Full sleeve of double stuffed Oreos make sure you crush them firmly.


Instructions

  1. In a Kitchen Aid, mix the butter until smooth, creamy, and light, which normally takes about 4-5 minutes if you have it on a slower speed.
  2. Add 2 of the cups of the powdered sugar, beating until combined. Then beat in the remaining powdered sugar, and vanilla, then add just enough heavy cream or milk to get the frosting for a nice consistency.
  3. Stir in the Oreos, allow everything to blend together for a good 5 minutes.
  4. If you want to you can also add a whole Oreo to the top of each cupcake.

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Keep Calm and Bake!

One of the best ways for me to get out energy or when I’m really upset is to bake. I can throw my focus my mind into creating something delicious.  Also, if you are doing any part of it by hand it becomes a workout. For me this is a perfect way of having alone time, not talking to anyone if I am not in the mood to but still do something that’s in a positive way.  Whenever I am upset, I decide to try a new recipe something completely different then I have tried before.

This allows me to not think solely about whatever issue I maybe dealing with at the time. I can work on processing everything out but not overthinking because I have to make sure I’m adding in the correct amount of sugar or flour at the same time.  Hand mixing cookie dough has become my favorite way to release aggression. Below is one of my most recent recipes, which turned out amazing Oreo cupcakes with an Oreo frosting.

 The one trick I have learned is to never bake for myself. When I bake i will always give the desserts to others which in the very end gives me such joy.  Do not get me wrong sometimes I wish I was just eating everything I was baking and maybe i will cheat here and there and eat a little bit. When i start the process it maybe creating something from a place of hurt or just so overly stressed but in the end, it becomes something that turns into great good. Seeing people enjoy the item I baked, fills my heart each time. It has become the perfect recipe of a healthy way to release whatever i am going through at the very least it has for me.

Cupcake Recipe below:
Cupcake Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
2 cups granulated sugar
½ cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
½ cup sour cream
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cups milk (I tend to use 2%)
Crushed 15 Double stuffed Oreo’s

For the frosting:
3 sticks (1 ½ cups) Unsalted butter
2 cups powdered sugar
13 double stuff Oreo’s, crushed
1–2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream.

Instructions:
For the cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the sugar, vegetable oil, eggs and vanilla extract. Beat on medium speed until the eggs and oil are well incorporated and the batter is lighter in color, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the bowl as needed.
Next mix in the sour cream and beat until well combined.
Add baking powder and salt and beat on low speed, once you have everything mixed together add half the flour and the while pouring in half of the milk and mix just until the flour starts to incorporate.
Finally add the remaining flour, mixing on low speed while pouring in the remaining milk and beating until all the ingredients are well combined.


Use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl and stir the batter from the bottom to the top to ensure it’s well mixed


In a large Ziploc bag, crush the Oreos into small pieces using a spoon, your hands, a rolling pin or anything you really want. Fold the crushed Oreos into the cupcake batter.
I took a Pyrex Measuring Cup filling it with the cupcake batter and started to pour it into the cupcake tray. This allowed me to control how much I was putting into each section and caused such less mess for me it was amazing.


Bake at 350°F for 18-22 minutes depending on the type of stove you have so for mine I set my timer to 20 minutes and then judged from there. Test the cupcakes by inserting a toothpick into the center of the cupcake. Once the toothpick comes out clean, that’s your proof that the cupcakes are done.
For the frosting: Cut the butter into small pieces, I normally leave the butter out as I am making the cupcake batter to allow it to soften. If you have a kitchen Aid just use the paddle attachment, whip the butter for 3-4 minutes, check the paddle every once in a while, to see if you need to scrape down the butter that maybe on the paddle or on the sides of the bowl. You are going to want to beat the butter until it looks lighter in color or fluffier.


Then I will add the powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, mixing on low speed until it’s incorporated into the butter. Slowly increase the speed to high and beat for 30-60 seconds. Repeat until all your powdered sugar has been added. I then let the mixer keep going after i added in all of the sugar while I started to crush the Oreo’s.
Put the Oreo’s in a large freeze zip lock bag and crush them. Add the crushed Oreo’s to the frosting along with the heavy whipping cream. Slowly beat the crumbs into the frosting then beat at a high speed for 60 seconds. I added the heavy whipping cream slowly and did not measure it out, I just added as much as I felt it needed a little at a time.


In a large piping bag fitted with a large closed star tip, pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes or you can take a spatula and spread the icing directly onto the cupcake in a circles motion if you do not have anything to pipe the frosting with.


NOTES:
You can you one family style double stuffed Oreo pack.
I basically just used a spoon and my hands to crumble the cookies until I was happy with the size of everything.

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