Bite Me! The Best Cupcake EVER! (According to my husband who knows his sweets!)

 

 

 

Best Ever Vanilla Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups of flour

1 1/2 cups of sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cups of canola oil

1 cup of buttermilk

2 large eggs

3 small drops of red food coloring -- for pink cupcakes

3 small drops of green food coloring -- for green cupcakes

1 tsp vanilla

Sprinkles!

The secret to the lightness of these cupcakes is the buttermilk and the crunchiness of the top is from the canola oil. Crunchy, light and sweet these cupcakes are pure delight!

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a large mixing bowl beat together oil, buttermilk, eggs and sugar and vanilla. Add baking powder and flour, in small cup by cup. If desired add food coloring. Note: if more than one color is desired, separate the batter into equal parts and add desired food coloring.

Line muffin tins with cupcake liners and fill approximately 3/4 to the top.
Bake in oven for 25 minutes.
Make 20 nicely sized cupcakes

ButterCream Frosting
3 cups of powdered sugar
2 sticks of butter
2 tsp vanilla
3 - 4 tbs of milk

Place butter and vanilla in mixing bowl and beat well. Add sugar slowly, and milk. Beat till light and fluffy. Add food coloring if desired.

I fought the Chocolate Cupcake and LOST!

 

I heard it calling my name... I walked away...

and then it called ... louder and louder and it started taunting me...

Each time I tried to resist and walk away... I try to be a lover not a fighter...

But then they all got together, en masse...

So I was neither lover nor fighter,
just a great big biter!

Ingredients:
For the cupcake part

1 1/2 Cup of flour
1 1/2 Cup of sugar
6 oz yogurt or sour cream
1  1/2 Cup milk
2 eggs

1 Cup of oil

3/4 Cup of cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla

For the frosting:

1 stick of butter, softened to room temperature
4 cubes of unsweetened chocolate (Baker's)

2 cups of confectioners sugar
2 tsp vanilla

1/3 Cup of milk

Rainbow sprinkles, optional!

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350

Line cupcake tins with 20 - 24 liners

In a large mixing bowl mix together eggs, oil, milk, yogurt (sour cream) and vanilla
Slowly beat in baking powder, sugar, flour and cocoa

Pour batter in to cupcake liners, about 3/4 full

Bake for about 25 minutes. Insert toothpick to make sure it comes out clean. Do not over-bake.

Set cupcakes aside to cool.

Clean out mixing bowl.

Melt chocolate in microwave for about 2 minutes on high. (Stir once or twice after one minute)
When all is melted place in mixing bowl with vanilla, butter, sugar and milk.
Beat on high until frosting is smooth and fluffy.

When cupcakes are cool spread frosting using a butter knife, small frosting spreader or place in pastry bag fitted with a wide tip and squeeze in a circular motion.

Add sprinkles and eat!

March of the Penguin Cupcakes

Every year I get suckered make cupcakes for my kids and their class on their Birthdays. We've come a long way from the simple cupcakes with pretty frosting. Not sure when the cupcakes morphed from simple cupcake to painstaking time consuming pain in the ass something that rivals a work of art. As the children have grown I have truly enjoyed creating mini edible masterpieces. There was no way I could compete with last year's slumbering children with monogrammed blankets cupcakes. This year I did not want to disappoint my oldest who is turning 11, but I also simply do not have the time that I have in years past. I used the internet to help me find some simple yet fun ideas. And when I stumbled across the adorable penguin cupcakes featured on the Family Fun website I knew I had found my pot of cupcake gold. These were simple and Rebecca adores penguins!

 

 

 

 

 

These were so simple. I used a boxed cake mix, Betty Crocker yellow, and baked the cupcakes per the directions on the box. I used a canned vanilla frosting, Keebler grashopper cookies (Girl Scout Thin Mints would work as well) m&ms, and orange slices. From start to finish (including baking time) I don't think I spent more than a couple of hours on these.

Ingredients:
1 large bag of m&ms
2 boxes of Keebler Grasshopper cookies
1 package of orange slices
2 cans of vanilla frosting
2 boxes of yellow cake mix

1. Bake cupcakes per directions on the box. Let cool.
2. Spread icing over each cupcake
3. Using a sharp knife, cut chocolate cookies in half
4. Place one half cookie as the head and two halves as the wings
5. Cut the orange slices using two slices for the feet and one for the beak
6. Place a small amount of frosting on the orange wedge for the beak and place on the head
7. Place orange wedges on feet
8. Place a small amount of frosting on each m&m to secure onto the penguin's head.

I made 40 cupcakes

A Perfectly Preppy Party Animal!

Forgive me if you read both my blogs and saw this post already. But I love this little guy! I made it last year for Alexander's class party. He loved it so much that he asked for his "Dragon" (it's really a gator!) as Birthday cupcakes for his class party tomorrow. (Was supposed to be last week but both boys were taken ill.)

I just love this guy! I got the idea from my Hello Cupcake cookbook. It really is easy and requires only a few basic items that are readily available. I used 2 cans (1 1/2 really) of white frosting that I colored green and 1 box of cake mix. I spread the frosting on each cupcake with a spatula, then piped the scales on afterwards. The teeth and eyes are made of marshmallow. The eye balls are Junior Caramels. The claws and nose are made from Sugar Babies. (Called for Banana Runts and jelly beans but I had a hard time finding the runts and didn't want a box of jelly bellies lying around.) The scales were made by using Andes Mints (because I could not find the square cookies that were suggested) each rectangle cut in half. After Eights would be great and Hershey squares work well too. If you like to bake but don't have a ton of time to dedicate and have kids you ought to pick up a copy of Hello Cupcake!

I made the Slumbering Children and the Spaghetti and Meatballs featured in the book... I even got a comment from one of the book's creators!

Spaghetti and meatballs...

...Cupcakes!!!

Christopher had his eyes on these a month ago. This is what he wanted for his class party. It fits his personality -- ever the jokester! The idea came from the Hello Cupcake cookbook (bible!) and they could not have been easier to make! I used a boxed cake mix to make 21 cupcakes and 2 containers of white frosting with 2 drops (no more!) of yellow food coloring in frosting. I placed all the cupcakes on a platter so that they were touching and frosted them lightly. Then using a small pastry tip I attached it to a plastic bag (Ziploc) and squeezed the frosting out to have it resemble spaghetti! Oh what fun that was! Then I used a chocolate donut hole from a local bakery and cut each one in half. I rolled them in a mixture of strawberry and raspberry preserves (3/4 cup) and placed each "meatball" on top of the spaghetti. The grated Parmesan was created by taking a handful of white chocolate chips and placing them in the mini food processor until the result I wanted was achieved! I sprinkled the cheese on ever so gingerly! The original recipe calls for the Ferraro Rocher chocolates, but our school is a nut-free one, so I went with the donut holes -- I think I like my choice better. And Hello Cupcake suggested grating a block of white chocolate with a grater. I did not have a block of white chocolate and I did have the chips. I thought my idea achieved equally as good results.

Ingredients:

1 box yellow or white cake mix -- follow directions on package as indicated
2 containers of white frosting
Yellow food coloring
About 1 dozen donut holes
raspberry/strawberry preserves, 3/4 cup
1 handful of white chocolate chips
pastry tip and Ziploc bag

Hello CUPCAKES!

Rebecca wanted me to make cupcakes for her class. She wanted something fun, special and something I had not done before. As I searched for ideas -- none really appealing to me, I decided to head out to buy a book on cupcakes. As I searched the rows upon rows of such books one called Hello Cupcake jumped out at me. Rebecca and I poured over the pages again and again. She chose the sleeping children. We decided to have each slumbering child represent each child in her classroom. We (I!)added individual features and monogrammed their blankets. I am thrilled with the end result! If you have any interest in baking and like to create fun, whimsical things this book is an absolutely must have.

Now They didn’t come out quite as perfectly as they are in the book, but I am happy with the results none the less. Because I was making these for the entire 4th Grade Class for Rebecca’s 10th Birthday (which is today!) I used Betty Crocker cake mix and frosting.

Ingredients:

1 box of cake mix (or your favorite cake recipe)
2 cans of white (vanilla) frosting
1 can of chocolate frosting
1 bag of small Jelly beans
1 bag of Starburst fruit chews
1 small bag of mini Oreos — chocolate, if necessary
1 small bag of mini golden Oreos or mini Nilla wafers
1 small bag of Teddy Grahams

First we baked the cupcakes per the directions on the box and frosted them with vanilla frosting (which we also used as glue to secure the bears and slippers)

I had extra vanilla frosting that I colored using food coloring for additional decoration. I used small Ziploc bags and snipped a hole in the bottom where I attached the pastry tips, using only those with the smallest openings.

The little children’s heads are miniature Oreos — we were racially correct as you can see.
The blankets are made out of Starburst fruit chews that we microwaved for a few (10) seconds and rolled out with rolling pins.
The body lumps under the blankets were constructed by using a large marshmallow and cutting it in half.
The slippers (or socks) poking out from under the blankets were created by inserting small Jelly beans beneath the blanket. (I used Starbust Jelly beans)
The little bears are mini chocolate Teddy Grahams
I used chocolate frosting for the brown chair and brown eyes
I used yellow frosting for the blond hair and blanket decorations
I used blue frosting for the eyes and blanket decorations
I used pink frosting for the lips and blanket decorations

I took the cupcakes a step further by having every child’s monogram on their own cupcake. Apparently this was a huge hit.




Below:

Cupcake with half marshmallow under a Starburst rolled out to look like a blanket, and a finished cupcake

Alexander's "Blue Flower Cupcake"

I always make cupcakes for the kids class parties. I try to make them each a little different. But this year, Alexander would not have it that way. He insisted on the flower cupcakes I made his siblings last winter. Poor kid has been waiting almost 9 months to have these cupcakes "with the lollipops and the worms!" The only difference is that I had to use the Blue's Clues cupcake papers. So these are Blue's Flower Cupcakes. And they are a little different.

Ingredients:

1 box yellow cake mix
add 1 cup of vanilla yogurt
1 package of vanilla pudding mix

1 container white frosting (chocolate is OK too)

green food coloring (if using white frosting)

green sprinkles (or chocolate if using chocolate frosting)
DumDum lollipops (or any kind you please)
gummy worms

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. Follow directions on the back of the cake mix and add the yogurt and pudding mix. Mix well.

2. Pour into lined muffin tins and bake per directions on package plus 3 -5 extra minutes.

Meanwhile:

Mix the desired amount of food coloring and frosting to acheive desired color, set asside.

3. Remove from oven and let cool.

4. Once cooled spread desired amount of frosting on each lollipop and add sprinkles. Place a lollipop in the center of each cupcake and a gummy worm someplace near the flower.

Makes about 18 cupcakes

Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Candy Flowers

I saw these cupcakes on Katie's blog and thought, AHA! I have to make these for the Brownie's end of the year party. She got the idea from this blog. (Both food blogs are fantastic, by the way and you should check them out.) My cupcakes do not look as professional as the other two ladies, but with a two year old tugging at me the entire time, and my other two whiny kids interrupting me, I think that in the end they turned out OK. Next time I will do better.

I cheated and used a boxed cake and frosting mix and followed the directions. (Duncan Hines) I followed the directions for the flowers, except I left out the piping as I was trying to keep it quick and simple for the Brownies. These were a hit with everyone and I will absolutely make them again. Except Alexander. He prefers these because he wants the gummy worm and the lollipop!

Christopher's Miniature Flower Garden Cup Cakes

sorry the pictures are not so great... but you get the idea!

I made these cupcakes for Rebecca's class party and Christopher loved them so much he asked that I make them for his class party yesterday. I love that they are quick and easy to make. With so much on my plate these days I just don't have time for intricate baking/decorating projects, so I was thrilled when he asked me to replicate Rebecca's cupcakes.

Yields 24

If you would like to try your hand at these you will need:

1 box of yellow cupcake mix (unless you have a little chocolaholic on your hands!) If you would like your cupcakes slightly larger use two boxes and then pour remaining batter in to a loaf pan, bake and freeze for future consumption.

1 container of vanilla icing
1 container of chocolate icing
1 container of cupcake liners
1 or 2 packages of lollipops, preferably with pastel colors -- Charms and Dum Dums work well too, but Tootsie Pops and Blow Pops are too top heavy
1 or 2 packages of gummi worms
1 med. container or chocolate sprinkles, unless you are from Massachussets and then you will want Jimmies!
1 med. container of bright green decorating sugars

Optional, 1 box of green roll-ups or fruit leather, to cut into leaf shapes -- I did this for Rebecca's but forgot to pick some up for Christopher's. He did not care but I loved the look of the little green leaves at the base of the lollipop flowers! And unfortunately I never took a picture of Rebecca's... Oh well...


*Bake the cupcakes as indicated on the box, let cool for a good hour
*Frost half with chocolate frosting and half with the vanilla
*Into two separate bowls pour the green and chocolate sprinkles
*Dip the vanilla frosted cupcakes into the green sprinkles -- make sure the entire top is covered
*Repeat above with chocolate frosting and chocolate sprinkles
*In the middle of each cupcake insert your lollipop and if you would like to cut out the leaf form and place at the bottom
*Place your worms on top of your cupcakes, or with a knife, create a slit so that it appears as though the worm is crawling out of the cupcake
*Let dry -- overnight if possible -- before transporting cupcakes