Olympic Cupcakes

If you're looking to have some fun with your dessert while watching the Olympics, try this easy cupcake design.

Olympic Cupcakes

What you'll need:

icing in five colors (blue, black, red, yellow, and green)

star decorating tip like #14 or #16

cupcakes (your favorite recipe)

Fill decorating bags with of the five colors in the Olympic rings (blue, black, red, yellow, green). Pipe a circle of icing around the top edge of the cupcake.

Arrange cupcakes so that they are in the same order as the Olympic rings. You can do this as a whole group like I did in the photo to the right, or make an individual grouping of five cupcakes like I did in the first photo. I used mini cupcakes, but you could also do this with full size ones.

Raspberry-Filled Lemon Cupcakes

Cupcakes are good, but cupcakes filled with something sweet are even better.

Raspberry-Filled Lemon Cupcakes

Ingredients:
Lemon cake mix with ingredients listed on box
Raspberry Pastry and Cake Filling
Cool Whip

Tools:
Melon baller
Decorating bag

Bake the lemon cupcakes as directed on the box.

Use the melon baller to scoop out a portion of the top center of each cupcake. Save these scooped-out sections.

Mix some of the raspberry filling with the Cool Whip. Place the mixture into a decorating bag and pipe a small amount into the hollow section in each cupcake. Replace the scooped-out portion.

Ice and decorate the cupcakes as usual.

Easter Cupcakes!

Happy Easter! This post will probably reach you too late to enjoy this year (unless, of course, you're Greek Orthodox and celebrating next weekend), but I thought I'd share anyway. You can always keep it in mind for next year. :)

Easter Cupcakes

There are actually two different designs here. The one requires coconut; the other requires a special decorating tip.

Method #1: Green Coconut Grass

In a small bowl, place the desired amount of coconut. Add a few drops of green food coloring and then toss like you're making a salad. Continue tossing until the green dye has spread as evenly as possible.

Ice your cupcake with white icing. Sprinkle some green coconut on top to be your "Easter grass." Then add a few jelly beans or chocolate candy eggs.


Method #2: Green Icing Grass

Tint your icing green. Fit a decorating bag with Wilton tip #233. (This tip has many tiny openings on top. It's good for making grass as well as hair.) Put your icing in the bag and hold your bag directly above your cupcake. Squeeze and pull up quickly. Release the bag after a short squeeze, and you'll have a little tuft of grass. Continue all over the top of the cupcake and then add your jelly bean or chocolate candy eggs.
If you want a fun way to display them, you can add some colorful plastic grass around the edges like I did in the photo above. Just don't let your guests eat the plastic grass. :)

Flower Cupcakes for a Baby Shower

Looking for a fun cupcake design that would work for a baby shower or bridal shower? Try making these flower cupcakes!

Flower Cupcakes for a Baby Shower

Materials:
Your favorite cake recipe
A full batch of icing
Decorating bags with tips and couplers
Wilton Sugar Pearls
Wilton Cupcake Cups

I found these baking cups in my local Joann's Fabric and Craft Store in the cake decorating aisle and realized they'd be perfect for an upcoming baby shower for a co-worker. Aren't they cute?
The directions on the package said to use three tablespoons of cake batter per cup. My small cookie scoop is one tablespoon, so I scooped three of them into each flower cup.

Then I used tip #32 to make a large rosette on top of each cupcake. In the center of each flower, I put five Wilton Sugar Pearls.

There was enough cake batter left that I was able to fill a six-inch round cake pan. Since I made both chocolate and yellow cupcakes, the little cake I made had a yellow layer on top of a chocolate layer with a raspberry filling in the middle.

My co-workers did a beautiful job arranging the cake and cupcakes on the table with the punch. Yummy!

Shower Dessert: Flower Petit Fours

This afternoon I'm off to a bridal shower with a floral theme, and that reminded me of these flower petit fours that I made last year for a baby shower. (I can't believe it's taken me this long to get this recipe on the blog!)

Because of the mini muffin cups, these petit fours are easier to make than the traditional style of baking a large pan and then cutting it into a bunch of tiny cakes. Plus, they're cute and darn tasty! :)

Flower Petit Fours

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line mini muffin pan with mini muffin cups.

In medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In mixer bowl, beat together butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat thoroughly. Add lemon zest and vanilla. Add flour mixture alternately with sour cream. Mix well. Scoop into mini muffin cups.

Bake for 10-15 minutes. (To be honest, it's been a while since I made these, so keep an eye on your cupcakes as they bake. Use the good old toothpick test.)

Decorating:

To make the flower design, you'll need about 1/2 cup green icing, 1 1/2 cups icing tinted in whatever color you want your flowers to be, and Wilton Sugar Pearl Sprinkles.

I started the decorating by putting three sets of leaves (tip #68) around the edge of each mini cupcake.

Then I used pink and peach icing to make rosettes on top of each cupcake. You can use a star tip like #21 or #32. For the center of each flower, I dropped 3 Wilton Sugar Pearls in the middle of each rosette.


As you can see from the picture below, I served this petit fours with some homemade chocolate-dipped strawberries.

Yields: about 40 petit fours

Summertime Treat: Chocolate Pudding Cupcakes

I came up with this quick dessert idea when I was looking for a way to use up some supplies around the kitchen without having to turn on the oven.

You can serve these straight from the fridge or freeze them. However, the refrigerated version is creamier than the frozen version.

Chocolate Pudding Cupcakes

Ingredients:
10 Oreos, crushed
6 Oreos, whole
2 tablespoons butter
2 chocolate pudding snack cups
1 1/4 cup Cool Whip, thawed and divided

Finely crush 10 Oreo cookies. I like to put them in a plastic bag and crush them with a rolling pin.

Melt the 2 tablespoons of butter and mix them with the crushed Oreos. Push these into the bottom of muffin tins that have been lined with paper or foil cups.

In a small bowl, mix the 2 pudding snacks with 3/4 cup of the Cool Whip. Spoon over Oreo crusts.

Top with an extra dollop of Cool Whip and one of the whole Oreos.

Yields: 6 servings

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Some friends helped me test these this past weekend. The cake part received mediocre reviews--good but not great--however, a couple friends wanted the recipe for the frosting so they could eat it by the bowl! :) (See below for frosting recipe.)

I have to say the peanut butter frosting reminded me of the peanut butter balls my mom used to make for Christmas. Yummy!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Ingredients:
½ cup milk
1 ½ tablespoons lemon juice
2 cups flour
2/3 cup cocoa
1 ¾ teaspoons baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup peanut butter chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, mix the milk and the lemon juice. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar until fluffy. Then add in the eggs and vanilla.

Alternately fold in the flour mixture and milk mixture. Stir in peanut butter chips.

Spoon into muffin cups lined with baking cups and bake for 20-22 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

Yields: 16-18 cupcakes

Peanut Butter Frosting

Stir together 2 cups powdered sugar, 3 tablespoons peanut butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add 2-3 tablespoons of milk until desired consistency is achieved.

Eggnog Cream Cups

This recipe came from a friend, who doesn't remember where she got it from. If you like eggnog as a drink, you will definitely like it as a cookie!

Eggnog Cups

Ingredients for “cookie cups”:
1 cup flour
1/3 cup sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened

Ingredients for filling:
¾ cup cold whipping cream
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons egg substitute
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon rum extract

Lightly grease 24 mini muffin cups with cooking spray.

Combine flour, ½ cup sugar, salt and ¼ teaspoon nutmeg in large bowl. Add butter and beat with electric mixer on medium speed until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Scoop and roll dough into 1-inch balls. Press into bottoms of muffin cups (I used a shot glass for this). Then press up the sides of the muffin cups. Refrigerate 15 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Bake cups 13-15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes before removing to wire racks.

For the filling, beat cream and 3 tablespoons sugar in another large bowl with electric mixer at high speed until soft peaks form.

Add egg substitute, ¼ teaspoon nutmeg, and rum extract. Beat until stiff peaks form. Do not overbeat. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

When you’re ready to serve, pipe or spoon the filling into each cup. Sprinkle with extra nutmeg.Yields: 24 cookies

Orange Dream Cupcake

I almost made these for Cattapalooza, but the chocolate cupcakes won out. :) This recipe was adapted from a full cake recipe. The frosting was the best part. With some dark chocolate decorations, these cupcakes could be really fun for Halloween.

Orange Dream Cupcakes

Cake Ingredients:
1 yellow cake mix
1 (3 ounce) package vanilla instant pudding
¾ cup orange juice
½ cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons orange zest

Preheat oven to 350. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners.

In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients for the cake. Beat on medium speed for two minutes. Scoop into muffin pan. Bake for 16-20 for full-size cupcakes. Bake for 10-13 minutes for mini cupcakes.

Icing Ingredients:
1 cup cold milk
1 small package vanilla instant pudding
2 teaspoons grated orange zest
2 cups Cool Whip

Whisk milk, pudding, and orange zest for two minutes. Fold in the Cool Whip.

Chocolate Cool Whip Icing

This is the second recipe from "Cattapalooza." This icing made a really nice topping for the cupcakes. I put it in a decorating bag with a star tip and just made a rosette on top of each mini cupcake.

Chocolate Cool Whip Icing

Ingredients:
1 small (3.9-ounce) package of chocolate instant pudding
3/4 cup milk
1 8-ounce container of Cool Whip, thawed

Mix the milk and pudding together. I ended up using the wire whisk on my mixer. Then fold in the Cool Whip. (I had a little problem with the pudding not blending well with the Cool Whip because the smaller amount of milk made the pudding thicker than typical, so I used the mixer with the wire whisk to really smooth out the icing.)

The chocolate cross decorations were made with Wilton Candy Melts. I simply melted about 10 of the chocolate candy pieces in a decorating bag in the microwave. Then I snipped off the end and piped the crosses onto a sheet of parchment paper. An hour in the fridge was enough to harden them.

Chocolate Ganache

I needed some frosting for some cupcakes, and I decided to try something new. There are many recipes for chocolate ganache on the internet, so I combined a few ideas and came up with a recipe I think worked really well.

Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients:
2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
½ cup heavy whipping cream
1 ½ teaspoons dark rum (optional)

Put the chocolate chips into a medium-sized bowl.

In a small saucepan, heat the cream just until it starts to boil. Don’t let it boil away. Then pour the cream over the chocolate chips, and whisk them together until the chips have melted.

If you want, you can stir in the rum after the chips have all melted and you have a nice smooth consistency.

For the cupcakes, I just dipped the tops of them into the ganache. For a cake, you can pour it over the top and let it drip down the sides.