Butterfinger Cupcakes?!

So did you see how large that Crushed Butterfinger bag was in my last post?! Yea, needless to say I have some of that left over after making some brownies. 

So, it's a good thing I have cupcakes (regular and minis!) at the ready. I keep already baked cupcakes in the freezer, wrapped in plastic wrap then in a freezer bag. They thaw in minutes, literally, and are still moist if you froze them as soon as they cooled! Smart!!

This isn't really a recipe but a quick suggestion on how to use up ingredients.

First I heated up my ganache I buy already made. Get it nice and runny.

Have a bowl of crushed candy, extra sprinkles, etc at the ready too.

Dip the cupcake in the ganache...

Then in the candy...

Easy, quick and yummy! Half the plate was gone before the end of the night!

Sometimes you just need a quick snack!

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting!

So for my dad's **th bday he requested some red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. Now for his **th bday, I wanted it to be special so I pulled out my Martha book!!!

I had to modify both recipes because, well, I'm picky... and I forgot an ingredient... but the cupcakes were the best I've made thus far!!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

INGREDIENTS (makes 12 cupcakes)

1 1/4 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cups vegetable oil
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon red gel food coloring
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup buttermilk* (I had to make my own. 1/2 cup of milk, 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice, let sit five minutes.)
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. In an electric mixer whisk together sugar and oil. Add egg, food coloring and vanilla. Scrape down the sides as needed.

2. Reduce speed and gradually add in the salt, cocoa and flour (mix together in a bowl first). Add buttermilk half way through the dry mix and then the rest at the end.

3. Stir together, in a separate bowl, vinegar and baking soda until it foams. Add to batter and mix for 10 seconds.

4. In a cupcake pan, put in cup liners then fill 3/4 with batter.

5. Bake for 20 minutes.

6. Let cool. :)

Cream Cheese Frosting

INGREDIENTS (you will have extra)

1 cup butter, room temp
12 ounces cream cheese
1 1/2 pound powdered sugar
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. With a mixer, cream together cream cheese and butter until fluffy.

2. Reduce speed and slowly add in the powdered sugar and vanilla. Mix until smooth, scraping down sides as you go.

3. Put in on a freakin cupcake!!!

And watch them be devoured!

Cup.Cake

Sometimes you just need to treat yourself right? I agree. So after an annoying day at work I drove out to Royal Oak and picked up some cupcakes from a new place I found online Cup.Cake.

From top left, going clockwise: Brownie Cup with Lavender Icing, Banana Split, Creme Filled Chocolate and Blueberry with Rose Buttercream.

Everyday they have traditional flavors like Vanilla with Vanilla Buttercream, Red Velvet with Cream Cheese Frosting and Chocolate with Chocolate Buttercream to name just a few. Everyday they also have four specialty cupcake flavors along with macaroons and whoopie pies!!! I still have to try those.

The even better part was when I ordered the lady behind the register saw my name badge and work scan card on my hip and said I got a 10% discount for wearing those... then she gave me this...

Buy a dozen cupcakes and get one free!! Who doesn't love FREE!

As for the cupcakes, my BF and I split them all. My favorite was the Blueberry with Rose Buttercream. Something about it was so fresh! He LOVED the Banana Split and almost didn't share! The banana cupcake was so moist!

Want more info... or directions?! Check them out at www.cupdotcake.com or you can friend them on Facebook too! I did!

Caramel Filled Cupcake

Now doesn't that just look delish?!

It took two days to make... seriously. But it was worth it. My boss loves caramel so for his birthday I figured I'd bring in some cupcakes... caramel filled cupcakes! And even though they took two days to complete, they are quite simple!!

First the...

Caramel Filling:

INGREDIENTS

1 can of sweetened condensed milk

4 TBSP butter

1. First, boil a pot of water. Once boiling, lower the temp to simmer and submerge the whole can of condensed milk in the pot of simmering water. Make sure there is at least 2 inches of water over the top of the can. Put a lid on the pot and simmer for 3-5 hours. I did three, wish I had done 5 (assuming it would have thickened it a bit)

2. Once done, take the can out of the pot and allow to cool overnight.

3. Open can and mix with melted butter. Whisk well.

This was awesome and would make a great ice cream topping!!

For the cupcakes, I did a semi-homemade thing... they're from a box. Just follow directions! :)

Then I use a small round cookie cutter to hollow out my cupcakes. Just press in, flip onto it's side and pull out!

Like so!

Once all the cupcakes are hollowed out, fill with your caramel almost to the top.

Then I pull a bit of the cupcake off the top (thin it a bit) and place the rest of the top back on the cupcake. At this point I put them in the fridge to set the cake and caramel a bit.

My favorite topping for cupcakes lately is this... Spred N Gloss. I find it at my local baking supply shop and it is delish! It's like a ganache but stays soft like the top of a hostess cupcake.

You just microwave it for 30 sec or until runny and then tip the cupcake in it, let the excess drip off and cover with sprinkles or let dry by itself!

Now the only thing I would have done differently is boil the can of sweetened condensed milk the full five hours. I ate a cupcake and realized the caramel had seeped into the cupcake more that I would have liked. Maybe if it were boiled longer it would be thicker and would have stayed in the center of the cupcake!

Either way, they were a hit and super delicious!

A trip to the new Just Baked!

So for my first official post I wanted to do something that was... me. And nothing screams me more than cupcakes!! I recently moved and what happened to pop up down the street (and around the corner and down a lil further) but a Just Baked!!! I had to resist getting the full dozen and stop at the half dozen! Delish!! The six flavors I got were Lemon, Samoa, Strawberry Cheesecake, German Chocolate, Grasshopper and Orange Creamsicle!

I cannot wait to go back and try a few more! I really wanted the Key Lime but they were out... must mean they're good!