Cupcake 53 - Carmel Apple Cupcakes

When good cupcakes go bad.

I whipped up a batch of very apple cupcakes over the weekend. It took a while to peel and finely dice the apples. I got my spices just right, the pinch of cardamom was nice. The cupcakes domed perfectly when I baked them. I unwrapped 70+ caramels to get a really gooey topping for the whole caramel apple effect. This recipe took some prep time, but I was pleased overall with the outcome. I carefully packed the cupcakes to take to work, gently sealing them in a wax paper lined airtight plastic container. I pondered if caramel and airtight would play well for about ummm....10 seconds, dismissed the thought, sealed the container and checked out what we had backlogged on TiVo. I opened the container this morning to insert my cute wooden sticks to further simulate the caramel apple effect to find caramel soup with cupcake croutons floating in the middle. Lesson learned: caramel prefers aluminum foil.

Take note of the before and after pictures, they were cute, don't you think?

Cupcakes

3 c AP flour
2 t baking soda
2 t cinnamon
1 t ginger
1/4 t cardamom

1/4 t allspice
1/2 t fresh grated nutmeg
1/2 t cloves
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 c chopped apples
1 c light brown sugar
1/4 c granulated sugar

1/4 c raw sugar
8 T unsalted butter, melted
1/2 c sour cream

3 T apple cider
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together flour, baking soda, spices and salt, set aside.
In second bowl, wisk sugars, butter, sour cream and eggs. Add apples and mix well. Add dry ingredients and stir until combined. Fill wells of 24 lined cupcake pans 2/3 full, you want these to dome. Bake 16 to 22 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Topping

70 caramel cubes

3 T heavy cream

Melt carmels in saucepan over low heat, stirring often. Add cream and stir until smooth. Allow to cool for 2 minutes. Quickly spread the tops of each cupcake with about 2 teaspoons of the caramel mixture.

Cupcake 49 - Hippy Cupcake

I used the Magnolia vanilla cupcake recipe and added streusal.

STREUSAL

2 c. graham cracker crumbs
3/4 c granola
3/4 c light brown sugar
1 1/4 t cinnamon
3/4 c butter, melted and cooled

Mix crumbs, granola, brown sugar, cinnamon and butter. Mix vanilla cake batter of your choice. Fill lined cupcake wells half full, sprinkle 1 T struesel, top with additional batter to fill 3/4 full. Bake 17-22 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Frost with cinnamon buttercream.

Cupcake 52 - Bobbing for Apples - Apple cider cupcake with Apple Creamcheese Frosting

Cupcakes

4 1/2 c apple cider, reduced to half
1 1/8 c butter, room temperature
2 5/8 c sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
3 c AP flour
1/4 t ground cloves
1 1/2 t cinnamon
1 1/2 t baking soda

For the icing
3 c apple cider, reduced to half
9 ounces cream cheese, softened
3/4 c powdered sugar

Cupcakes: Preheat oven to 375. In a large saucepan boil the cider until it is reduced to half and let it cool. In a large bowl of an electric mixer beat together the butter and the sugar until fluffy, add eggs one at a time. In separate bowl sift together the flour, cloves, cinnamon, baking soda, salt. Alternately add flour and cider mixing well. Fill wells of lined cupcake pan 3/4 full. Bake 18-22 minutes. Cool on rack.

Make the icing:
In bowl of electric mixer beat cream cheese and powdered sugar until light and fluffy, add 1/4 c reduced cider and a pinch of salt. Beat on high for 3 minutes.

Cupcake 50 - Sake with Pockey

No story behind these, I'm slightly enamored with the wide variety of Pockey biscuits in the new Asian grocery store. The "Man Pockey" make me giggle. Good moist chocolate cupcakes thanks to the Sake.

Cupcakes
2 c AP flour
1 c unsweetened cocoa powder
1 T espresso powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/4 t ground cinnamon
2 c sugar
1/2 c unsalted butter, room temperature
4 eggs, room temperature
2 t vanilla
1/2 c whole milk
1/2 c sake
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 350. Line the 30 wells with liners. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in bowl, set aside. Dissolve espresso in 1 T warm water, combine with milk, add sake.

In bowl of standing mixer, whip butter until light, add sugar, beat well, about 3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well. Alternately add flour mixture with milk mixture, mixing well with each addition. Fill cupcake wells 3/4 full. Bake 15-19 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Cinnamon Buttercream

1 c unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 c shifted powdered sugar
1 T cinnamon
pinch of salt.

In bowl of standing mixer, whip butter until light and fluffy. Add cinnamon and salt, mix well. Add sugar in one cup increments, mixing well and scraping down sides of bowl. Once all the sugar is added, turn mixer to high and beat for 3-4 minutes.

Frost cupcakes, top with Pocky biscuits

Cupcake 51 - Bailey's Chocolate with Bailey's Mousse and Mocha Buttercream

Sorry, no pix, but these very good, rich and dense

Cupcakes

6 oz unsweetened chocolate
3/4 c light brown sugar
1 1/2 c sugar
4 T espresso powder
3/4 c unsalted butter, room temperature
9 T Bailey's Irish Cream
4 eggs, room temperature
3 c AP flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 c whole milk

Preheat oven to 350. Line 36 wells of cupcake pans with liners.

Combine unsweetened chocolate and brown sugar in sauce pan, melt over low heat, add Bailey's and espresso powder, stir well. Set aside to cool.

Combine flour, baking powder and salt, set aside. In bowl of standing mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one by one, mixing well after each addition. Add flour mixture alternating with milk, mixing well. Fold in chocolate mixture. Fill cupcake wells 2/3 full, bake 20-25 minutes.

Bailey's Mousse

4 eggs
1/3 c sugar
12 ounces white chocolate, chopped
1 1/2 c chilled whipping cream
1/4 c Bailey's Irish Cream

Whisk eggs and sugar in large metal bowl. Place bowl over saucepan of simmering water and whisk until candy thermometer reaches 60, about five minutes. Remove bowl from water. Using electric mixer, beat egg mixture until cool and very thick about 10 minutes. Place chocolate in top of another bowl, over simmering water, stir until melted and smooth. Remove and cool until lukewarm.

In bowl of standing mixer, combine Bailey's and cream, beat until stiff peaks form. Combine egg mixture and chocolate, gently fold into whipped cream. Cover, chill until set.

Bailey's Syrup
2/3 c sugar
5 T water
5 T Bailey's Irish Cream

Combine water and sugar in saucepan. Stir over low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat and bring to boil. Remove from heat add Bailey's. Mix well. Allow to cool to room temperature.

Mocha Frosting
6 T cocoa
6 T espresso powder dissolved in 6 T hot water
8 T butter, room temperature
1 t vanilla
4 C powdered sugar

Combine cocoa and coffee. Add butter and vanilla, beat until smooth. Add powdered sugar mixing well. Beat on high for minutes.

To assemble, brush tops of each cupcake with Bailey's syrup. Using cone method, fill each cupcake with 1 T Bailey's mousse; frost with Mocha Frosting, dust with cocoa.

Cupcake 48 - Christmas Vacation

This cupcake was born out my desire to enter the Cupcake Hero callenge this month. The challenge was to use two of the past challenges' random ingreidents. Knowing I had some cranberries stashed away in the freezer, I wanted to work them into the receipe. To add a little fire to cranberry chutney I added a chopped jalapeno. Tart, spicey and sweet. I baked lime cupcakes to go along with the cranberry chutney. The lime and cranberry played well together.

Makes 20 cupcakes

2 1/2 c AP flour
1 c lime sugar*
1 t vanilla
1 c miniature marshmallows
1 c butter
1/2 t salt
1 t baking powder
1/2 c whole milk
3 T lime juice
2 t lime zest

*A day in advance, combine sugar and lime zest, cover and set aside. This allows the oils in the lime zest to penetrate the sugar.

Preheat oven to 350. Line the wells of two cupcake pans with liners. Combine flour, baking powder and salt, set aside. In bowl of standing mixer whip butter and lime sugar until light and fluffy. Add flour mixture alternating with milk and lime juice until well combined. Stir in marshmallows. Fill wells of cupcake pan 1/2 full, bake 18-20 minutes until pick inserted comes out clean.

Cranberry Jalapeno Chutney

12 ozs whole cranberries, in a bag, not a can
1/3 c light brown sugar
1/3 c sugar
1/3 c apricot jam
1 c fresh orange juice
1 t orange zest
pinch of cinnamon
1 jalapeno finely chopped

Rinse cranberries, drain well. In medium saucepan combine orange juice, brown sugar and apricot preserves, bring to a boil, stir until sugar is dissolved. Add cranberries and jalapeno, bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10-12 minutes. Add cinnamon and orange zest, allow to cool and thicken. This can be made several days ahead of time.

Lime Buttercream

1 c butter, room temperature
2 T lime zest
3 c powdered sugar
pinch of salt
2 T lime juice

Combine butter and lime zest in bowl of standing mixer, mix until light, add salt and powdered sugar in three increments, mixing well between each addition. Turn mixer to high and beat for 4 minutes.

Using cone method, fill cupcakes with 1 T chutney. Pipe frosting to conceal hole.

Cupcake 47 - Gettin' Figgy with it (sorry I could'nt help myself)

I'd been planning to make this cupcakes for a while, inspired by a gift of fig preserves, the name sealed the deal. I've seen a lot of chatter on food blogs lately around figs, its put me in a fig mood. Several failed attempts to procure fresh figs derailed me for a couple of weeks. Wegman's the go-to for all things upscale had sold out early in the day. A friend at work brought me a couple from his neighbor's fig tree mid-week, but I didn't have time turn them into cupcakes, so I ate them (and they were good!) I picked up several Korean Figs at the international market, but the taste was just not the same as traditional figs. Not bad, just different, not what I was looking for. I was just about ready to forget the fresh figs and use dried when I stumbled across the last two baskets in a new organic market in my neighborhood. This recipe triples the fig-iness with fresh, dried and preserves. Lots of good feed back too.

Makes 32 cupcakes

1 c canola oil
2 c AP flour
1 t baking soda
1 1/2 c sugar
1 t salt
1 t cinnamon
1 t cloves
1 t nutmeg
1 c buttermilk
1 t vanilla
1 c fig preserves
1 c chopped walnuts
1/2 c chopped fresh figs
1/2 c chopped dried figs, (kitchen shears make this sticky job easy)

Preheat oven to 350. Line the wells of cupcake pans with liners, set aside. Combine flour, sugar, salt, soda, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Set aside.

In bowl of standing mixer add oil and gradually add flour alternating with buttermilk an vanilla. Mix until combined. Add fig preserves and mix well. Stir in figs and nuts. Fill cupcake pans 3/4 full, bake 20 minutes until pick comes out clean. Cool on wire rack.

1/2 c soft goat cheese
1/2 c soft cream cheese
1/2 c soft butter
3 c powdered sugar
1 t cinnamon
pinch of salt
2 T cream

Combine cheeses and butter in bowl of standing mixer, whip until combined. Add salt and cinnamon, beat well. Add sugar in three increments, beating well between each addition. Add cream until frosting reaches desired consistency. Turn mixer to high beat for 2 minutes.
Frost cooled cupcakes with generous amount of frosting. This frosting did not pipe well. Top with a chunk of fig.