frosting Posts

03Sep
0

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Frosting

I can’t believe it’s almost been a year since I’ve started this blog! It’s been so much fun baking and updating every week. I hope I can do this for many more years! In honor of the beginning of September, this week I made pumpkin cupcakes (which, loyal readers, I hope you remember was the first recipe I ever posted on the blog). Hopefully these turned out a lot better.

I don’t know about where you are, but here in Upstate New York this week has been a scorcher, which is why I wasn’t sure if the world was ready for pumpkin quite yet. Yes, it’s September. Yes, pumpkin beer and pumpkin lattes have already been rolled out at most retail locations. It just seems a little weird eating pumpkin-and-cinnamon-flavored treats when it’s a hot and hazy 93 degrees outside. Nevertheless, pumpkin is just too good to put off any longer, so here they are!

I’ve posted the original pumpkin cupcake recipe again after the jump. You’ll also find my improved frosting recipe – this time, a cinnamon buttercream instead of that brown sugar monstrosity from last year. If it wasn’t my first post, I’d delete it. Why did you guys eat those things?!

These are much more adorable:

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Frosting

Keep reading and get the recipe…

Posted by Suzy in Cupcakes and tagged with , , , , ,
29Aug
0

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Despite last week’s creativity, this week I’m going with a classic: red velvet cake. I’m rather embarrassed to admit that I didn’t realize that red velvet is really just chocolate cake with red food dye :-/ But it’s delicious!

Red velvet cake always reminds me of the holidays when my great aunt would bring an aaaaaa-mazing red velvet cake to Christmas dinner. It’s such a comfort food! The rich texture, the treacly-sweet frosting…so good. Even though it’s summer (just barely anymore!), red velvet cake instantly brings me back.

This is my second attempt, and everyone has their own version of the red velvet cupcake. Although, I want to vent about something that I encountered a lot while looking for recipes: people bitching about the red food dye. They wanted something “natural” and “healthier”. Dude…you’re making cupcakes. They’re not exactly beacons of health.

Anyway, let’s ooh and ahh over cupcakes. I made these with cream cheese frosting, and I’ve found it absolutely necessary to mix in the cream cheese while it’s cold (not softened like many recipes call for). Warm cream cheese is runny and gross, so keep it cold!

This recipe is mildly adapted from Joy the Baker‘s website, who got it from the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook!

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Keep reading and get the recipe…

Posted by Suzy in Cupcakes and tagged with , , ,
20Aug
4

French Toast Cupcakes with Maple Buttercream Frosting

I was full of baking inspiration this week! After getting sick of making the same-old vanilla cupcakes, I wanted to do something exciting. Not a copycat recipe, not something shamelessly stolen from Magnolia Bakery…something somewhat original. And it is very hard to find something that no one else has baked before. There are a lot of creative bakers out there. Even though this recipe has been done, I think this recipe has an edge.

When I came up with this recipe, I tried to think about what makes French toast, French toast: cinnamon, egg, and maple syrup. I added an extra yolk to the cupcake batter, and maple extract to the super-decadent mascarpone frosting, since most stuffed French toast is filled with mascarpone or cream cheese. Okay, the mascarpone frosting didn’t work out, so I adapted the famous Magnolia buttercream to taste like maple syrup!

And these cupcakes taste exactly like French toast. It’s almost a little weird.

But, that means they count as breakfast, right?

French Toast Cupcakes

Recipe after the jump.

Keep reading and get the recipe…

Posted by Suzy in Cupcakes and tagged with , ,
11Aug
1

Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

…so I lied in my last post. Meant to post these right after Independence Day but summer got in the way. Nevertheless, here they are: my patriotic Magnolia vanilla cupcakes with complementary vanilla buttercream!

Apologies for the distant photograph; was enjoying the Fourth of July party far too much to take pictures. Sparklers are from a local party store, and sugar lime cookies courtesy of my wonderful friend Ashley, who accompanied me on my baking and Fourth of July journeys this year. It was wonderful having her back in town, if only for a few days! No one (other than my mom) appreciates baking in the kitchen watching good movies more than her.

Embarrassingly enough, on my first attempt making these cupcakes that night, I dropped an entire egg into the batter, and my beloved KitchenAid mixer dutifully chopped the eggshell into bits within seconds. I tried picking out the bits of shell, but soon admitted defeat and started over again. Such is life.

I’ve posted the Magnolia vanilla cupcake recipe previously (when I made my Super Bowl cupcakes earlier this year), but I’m posting the recipe after the jump for convenience. Hopefully Ashley will do a guest post and provide the recipe for her awesome sugar lime cookies!

Keep reading and get the recipe…

Posted by Suzy in Cupcakes and tagged with , , ,
28Feb
6

Reese’s Cupcakes

I’m not going to say I invented these cupcakes. The combination of chocolate and peanut butter has long been replicated in baking recipes. I will, however, say I did this recipe the best I could find. These are not just chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting…these are REESE’S CUPCAKES. As in, just like a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. As in, amazing.

You could use the Magnolia chocolate cupcake recipe (the old standby), but I instead used a devil’s food cake recipe that made for some awesomely fluffy cupcakes. Frosting is simple and completely foolproof, and I crumbled up some peanut butter cups for garnish. I suppose you could use Reese’s Pieces as well, but let’s be serious. Peanut butter cups are way better.

Am I right?

Keep reading and get the recipe…

Posted by Suzy in Cupcakes and tagged with , , , ,
09Feb
1

Superbowl Cupcakes

It’s been a while!  There has been a significant pause in updates for a reason though: a company trip to the Carribbean!  As we all scramble to get swimsuit-ready in just a few weeks, baking for the office has slowed significantly.  However, it’s too hard to stop baking for too long, plus there are plenty of other people in the office to bake for :)

I’m not ashamed to admit that I really don’t give a crap about football.  Never really been my thing.  For me, the best thing about football was having people over so I could cook and bake.  But the Superbowl is a different story.  It’s football, but it’s also commercials AND snacks AND beer all rolled up into one delicious evening.  I didn’t mind the Superbowl this year since I knew I’d be whipping up some kind of baked good.

I am pretty shocked that the original Magnolia cupcake recipe hasn’t turned up on this blog yet.  I beg of you, if you have never had a vanilla Magnolia cupcake, go have one.  Like, now.  No seriously.  A-maz-ing.  The fluffiest, most flavorful cupcake you can make.  Plus they’re the perfect canvas for all kinds of frosting!

Keep reading and get the recipe…

Posted by Suzy in Cupcakes and tagged with , , ,
22Dec
4

Christmas Cookies Galore!

Finally, the Christmas cookie post! And let me tell you, this literally took me ALL day. Not that I’m complaining, it was well worth it.

I baked cookies with my mom every Christmas when I was younger, and it’s something that I try to continue today. Even though I miss spending afternoons in the kitchen with her, elbow-deep in dough and covered in flour, keeping the tradition alive makes me feel like a kid again. It’s when I really start feeling like it’s Christmas!

While traditionally, my mom and I would make classic cookie press cookies, chocolate chip cookies, and oatmeal cookies, I decided to venture a little outside of my comfort zone. Having a pretty strong German heritage, I’d always wanted to try making Linzer tarts. I’d never really had them as a kid, but they are a quintessential Christmas cookie. Since they are pretty Old World-y, I didn’t think I’d get too many takers, but they actually turned out to be the most popular cookie!

Along with the Linzers, I’d decided pretty early on that I wanted to make peanut blossoms (from a recipe I’ve been using for years), sugar cookies, and gingerbread people (they’re not gingerbread MEN, for god’s sake).

Christmas Cookies

Keep reading and get the recipe…

Posted by Suzy in Cookies and tagged with , , , , , ,
03Dec
3

Pumpkin Cookies with Brown Sugar Icing

It’s the beginning of December and I’ve already gone through 3 super-sized cans of pumpkin puree this season…shocker. And there are still 3 weeks of acceptable pumpkin baking left! While the pumpkin cupcakes are pretty damn awesome in their own right, there are times when you don’t want to fuss of a cupcake. The wrapper, the frosting, the maneuvering into your mouth…it can be cumbersome. Sometimes all you want is a cookie. And since these cookies are pretty much little punkin cakes anyway, it all works out in the end.

Next week’s mission: bake something that makes me feel more like Betty Draper. Maybe a pie? Something with booze?

Spoiler alert: I’m making red velvet cupcakes. Recipe and pics on the way.

If only I had my Jessie Steele apron…

Pumpkin Cookies

Keep reading and get the recipe…

Posted by Suzy in Cookies and tagged with , ,