Banana Butterscotch Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Glaze

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

I was inspired by Tanya yet again! She made red velvet cupcakes the other day, and I have been meaning to try a homemade recipe. I was recently told by a friend that she has made both boxed red velvet and homemade red velvet, and she will choose the box every time. After trying one of these red velvet cupcakes from scratch (which is something I never do!) I think I'm going to have to make homemade red velvet from now on! The recipe was easy, and man these cupcakes taste AMAZING!!!

When I decided I wanted to do this recipe, I didn't know if I had regular cocoa powder, but I knew I had Dutch cocoa powder, so I googled "Red Velvet Cupcakes with Dutch Cocoa" and found the recipe here.  I made a 1 1/2 batch of cupcakes and a double batch of frosting (because I never have enough frosting). All of the measurements are for a single batch of cupcakes, which makes 15 cupcakes.

All in all, this recipe was VERY easy and VERY tasty!!

Chocolate Covered Coffee Meltaway Cupcakes

This was supposed to be Chocolate Covered Mint Meltaway Cupcakes, but I forgot the mint at the store. So, I went with coffee instead! I know mint would have been absolutely perfect for this recipe, but I know coffee goes very well with chocolate, too. Especially the way I do it. :)

This recipe was for a co-worker's birthday, which is actually next week. Since I will be gone next week, I will -not be able to bake for everybody, but I wanted to give her a little something for her birthday. I asked her what she wanted and she gave me a look as if to say "Um, duh?" Her answer was chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate, which really should have been obvious to me! This recipe is perfect! Let's see: Chocolate? Check. Chocolate? Check. And chocolate? Check! This recipe makes 12 large cupcakes, but I only did a half batch for 6 large cupcakes. For some reason, these cupcakes (AGAIN!!) deflated in the center. I used brand new baking soda and baking powder. But, I have a solution! I flipped the cupcakes over, cut off the edges (that overflowed!!) and worked it that way!

See how the cupcake centers deflated?? I don't know why this keeps happening!!

The following is the recipe.

Cupcakes: 
1 batch of Classic Chocolate Cupcakes, found here.
Make the cupcakes as the recipe says. (But, of course, since my friend likes chocolate, I added about 4 or 5 oz of chocolate chips to the batter!)

Filling:
1 batch of fudge sauce, found here.
1 tsp mint extract (I used 2* tsp of instant coffee in the heavy whipping cream.
    * 2 tsp for a 1/2 batch of filling)
Make the filling as the recipe says, add the coffee with the cream or the extract with the chocolate. Let the filling cool in the fridge for 1 1/2 hours

Chocolate Cover:
2 batches of fudge sauce, found here.
Make the filling as the recipe says. Make the chocolate covering right before you cover the cupcakes so it's hot and easy to cover the cupcakes.

Decoration:
2 oz white chocolate
1 tsp honey
1 tbsp heavy whipping cream
Microwave for 45 seconds, stir. Microwave for an additional 45 seconds and hand-whip until smooth and there are no more clumps.

Assembly:

Cut the cupcakes in half horizontally. Hand-whip the filling so it's fluffy and spreadable. Spread the filling on the bottom half of the cupcake. (I used the top of the cupcake as the bottom of the cupcake.) Place the top of the cupcake on top of the filling. Cover the cupcakes with the chocolate covering, thoroughly. Don't feel like you have to use all of the sauce, but definitely do a couple of layers and make sure everything is covered. I placed the cupcakes on a wire rack and had a piece of parchment paper underneath to let the chocolate drip off, but the bottoms of the cupcake are not covered in chocolate this way. If you want the bottoms covered in chocolate, freeze the covered cupcakes for an hour, flip them over, then cover the bottoms generously. Freeze the cupcakes for another hour before flipping them upright again. I drizzled the white chocolate generously on top. Freeze or refrigerate until serving, then serve with a fork (or a spoon)!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Also known as "Nicole Needed Chocolate and Ended Up with a Mess"

I want to start out by saying, I don't bake everyday and only post the good recipes with good pictures. If I bake something, I am going to blog about the experience, so that I might learn from it, but also so that you don't make the same mistakes I did!

Sometimes I get bored with the same old recipes, so I mix it up a bit. Tonight I did it out of necessity. I decided to take my own advice, and use ingredients I already had. Back up. I didn't just say that.... I used ingredients I already had, yes, but it wasn't actually my idea. The credit goes to Tanya, my co-cupcake-conspirator. She is going to do a few Cupcakes on a Budget (I think... Don't quote me!) and so I was inspired to NOT SHOP for once!

My first attempt at buttercream several weeks ago left me with a lumpy over-sweet mass, and I wanted to give it another shot. Unfortunately, this wasn't the only "attempt" tonight. I had a bad day at work, and I wanted to pig-out on chocolate cupcakes, so I decided to try again at the buttercream for this recipe. I made a 1/2 batch of cupcakes, making 6 large cupcakes. It wasn't until my second try tonight that I noticed what went wrong the first time: water. I forgot to add the water to the recipe! I had wondered if it was the possibly-expired sour cream, or the extra dash of rising agents I added.

For my second attempt at the cupcakes, I left out the possibly-expired sour cream, and opted for whipped cream instead! I whipped up approximately 9-10 ounces of heavy whipping cream and used that (all of it) instead of the sour cream. Yes, for a half batch, the recipe would only call for 1/2 C sour cream, but I didn't want to waste the whipped cream and I wanted to be adventurous. I made sure to add in the water to this recipe, which made the batter a little thin. I folded in the whipped cream, instead of beating or whipping, for fear of over-beating. This made 21 cupcakes.

I used the Classic Chocolate Cupcake Mix, except for sour cream, I used whipped cream (which could be the reason that I ended up with a mess.....)

Frosting:
Information:
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
Makes: about 2 C

Ingredients:
3 oz unsweetened chocolate
2 1/2 C powdered sugar
1 1/2 tbs Dutch cocoa powder
1 1/2 C butter, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 C heavy whipping cream

This frosting was absolutely lickable! I almost licked the bowl clean!!

Directions:
1. Heat the chocolate in a double boiler, and set aside to cool.
2. Beat the butter, sugar, and cocoa powder until smooth and creamy.
3. Beat in the melted chocolate until smooth and creamy.
4. Add the cream and vanilla and yet again, beat until smooth and creamy.
5. On medium speed, continue to beat for 3 minutes, until the frosting looks smooth and the color has lightened.

The buttercream came out great!! Smooth and chocolatey, I could almost eat it by itself! The second set of cupcakes, however, came out worse than the first. I don't know if it was the whipped cream that ruined these cupcakes, too, or not. These cupcakes came out looking like a crater. I have a feeling my baking powder and baking soda may be out-dated. I will pick some up soon and try this recipe again until I am successful. The pictures are of my horrible failure. Unfortunately, I have no chocolate and am now extremely frustrated!

UPDATE 7/22: I had one cupcake from the first batch of cupcakes, with some frosting on top, and it actually wasn't too bad. The edges were a bit crispy, which my husband really liked, but the rest tasted like a cupcake should. I am still going to buy more baking soda and baking powder and try again sometime. I really don't know what happened to the second batch of cupcakes.

Do-It-Yourself Cupcake Wrappers

It's Tanya again, bringing you Do-It-Yourself Cupcake Wrappers! Now, you can't have a cupcake wrapper without a cupcake to put inside it so today we're working with Fudge Marble Swirl Cupcakes with Hazelnut Cream Cheese Frosting.


First off, as you may or may not know, Nicole has already posted a recipe for Fudge Marble Cupcakes. (And guess what?! That same recipe is in the top 5 hits on Google when searching for Fudge Marble Cupcakes! Hooray!)

After reading through Nicole's version of Fudge Marble Cupcakes I noted she found the recipe a tad frustrating and while she did achieve a marble blend it was almost too blended and didn't offer the visual effect she was hoping for. (Not that any of our taste buds mind.) So, I decided to approach these cupcakes a little differently.

First off, lets start with Nicole's recipe for Classic Yellow Cupcakes. I won't repost it here, in order to save space, but just follow the link and you'll find all the information you need.

I personally swapped the sour cream for milk, because I'm a Budget Baker and we don't really use sour cream for anything else in our family so it wasn't worth buying.

1. Set aside 1 cup of the finished batter and then proceed with filling the tins with the rest of your batter.

2. Mix 1/3 C. of cocoa powder with the 1 cup of set aside batter, until smooth to create your fudge.

3. Then drop a dollop of the "fudge" into center of each filled cupcake tin. Using a butter knife gently swirl the fudge and batter together, taking care not to over mix. (If you over mix there won't be any swirl design or distinctive flavor difference between sections.)

4. Bake according to recipe! Tada! This is an easy way for any budget savvy chef to turn basic cupcakes into fun ones.

In true Budget Baker fashion, I made a last minute substitution to Nicole's wonderful Original Cream Cheese Frosting recipe because I had run out of vanilla extract! In order to replace the vanilla in the recipe I included two Splenda Flavors for Coffee (Hazelnut) packets into frosting. That's literally the only change I made to create Hazelnut Cream Cheese Frosting.

As for the Do-It-Yourself Cupcake Wrappers, well it's as easy as the rest. This tutorial (if you will) comes straight from Martha Stewart herself!

Parchment Paper Cupcake Wrappers
From the June issue of Martha Stewart Living

1. Cut 5-inch square pieces of parchment paper.

2. Spray a muffin/cupcake tin with vegetable oil cooking spray to hold parchment in place.

3. Place 1 piece of parchment into 1 cup of the tin, pressing along folds to crease. Repeat with other cups and parchment pieces.

4. Scoop batter into cups, and bake.

This is what they look like after baking! These wrappers are easy, affordable, and offer a rustic country charm to any cupcakes you bake. I find it's much easier to cool cupcakes because the tall sides of these homemade wrappers allow you to easily slide them out of the pan and cool on a separate rack or counter.

Happy baking, Cupcake Lovers!
Tanya