Cookie Filled Cupcakes

they look like normal, unassuming cupcakes.
but they have a surprise inside them...

cookie dough!

these are so simple, and so decadent. just make your cupcakes as normal, but put a bit of frozen cookie dough in the batter before you bake them, like so:

you must freeze the cookie dough, at least 2 hours, or else the dough will bake and you'll have an odd crispy mess in the middle instead of a bit of cookie dough.

i'm not gonna lie, i used a chocolate cake mix for these and frozen break-n-bake cookie dough. i broke my own rule and used off-brand cake mix, and i paid the price for it. the cake part wasn't that great, sort of dry, but the cookie dough more than made up for it.

and i topped these with a ganache made with one part (1/2 cup) cream and two parts (1 cup) semisweet chocolate chips. at first, i was thinking i should have used milk chocolate, but the semisweet was perfect. the cupcakes were quite sweet, so the semisweet ganache added a good contrast in sweetness and texture.

i was inspired by recipes on allrecipes.com and cakemixdoctor.com. this is an easy recipe that is easily adaptable, and the possibilities are endless! i had some more break-n-bake dough so i made more cupcakes with yellow cake mix (name brand this time) and ganache topping... so good. just imagine the flavor combinations with this cake, cookie, and frosting/topping combination!

Lemon Cupcakes

mmm.... lemon cupcakes... cue the mouth-watering. i decided to make these as a thank you for somebody who let me swim in his pool while he was at work. i wanted something summery, a bit light, and not too decadent. these fit the bill! and boy, was it easy. how easy was it? well, i'll tell ya.

to make these cupcakes, you'll need:

• 1 box yellow (or white, i guess) cake mix, plus whatever it calls for on the box
• 1 box instant lemon pudding
• lemon buttercream frosting (more on that later)
  

that's it! just add the lemon pudding mix to the cake mix and then prepare the cake as directed. i guess you could just use a lemon cake mix, but i think this method makes a better cupcake. they're a bit dense and extremely moist. and, i think the lemon flavor would be too overwhelming with a lemon cake mix when you combine it with the lemon buttercream frosting (i promise, it's coming).

the batter will be quite thick, but don't worry. it's fine. here's the batter in the cups. see how it isn't settling down:

and when they come out, they fall a little bit, so this recipe probably isn't good for a full sized cake.


but it's great for cupcakes- more frosting! i sort of 'spackled' the dips with frosting to make a flat (ok, slightly rounded) surface to pipe on.

here they are all piped up.



so, what did i frost these puppies with? quite possibly the crown jewel of this whole project: lemon buttercream frosting.

i took this simple buttercream frosting (that i've used before) and added lemon juice. at first, i just added it after the sugar, substituting 2 tbsp lemon juice for the 2 tbsp milk, but the frosting was a little dry. so i added the 2 tbsp milk as well, and it was perfect!
but a word of caution: lemon will curdle milk if they're added together, so make sure you mix in the milk or lemon juice completely before you add the other one, otherwise you might get some nasty results.

you could just use canned buttercream or white frosting, but really, this lemon buttercream frosting really makes these cupcakes shine. my mom said these are her favorite cupcakes of mine so far, largely due to the frosting. so, make the darn frosting!

so, here's some of the cupcake carnage.


it's so good!

Black(berry) Bottom Cupcakes

time for a delightful summertime desset- blackberry bottom cupcakes! i used livinglocurto's fresh blackberry cake recipe (she has a printable recipe there) and modified it a little and made cupcakes... and they were so delicious.

the texture of the cake was a little muffin-y, not as fine as regular cake, and not too terribly sweet, but the buttercream frosting definitely brought it into the cake realm. the cake has two tablespoons of lemon pudding mix in it, so that lightens and freshens the flavor up with just that hint of lemon, giving it another taste dimension.

my edits: i didn't have self-rising flour, but no problem. to make self-rising flour, you just add 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt for each cup of all purpose flour. and, i'll even do the math for you- 4 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1 1/2 tsp salt and 3 c. all purpose flour for this recipe.
also, i used frozen blackberries instead of fresh, because i'm cheap, but i otherwise followed her recipe.

so, here we go. ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups frozen blackberries (about 1-16 oz package), thawed and drained and blotted
  
• 1 pinch of cinnamon
• 2 1/4 cups sugar (split)
• 1 cup softened butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 eggs at room temperature
• 3 cups all purpose flour, mixed with 4 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1 1/2 tsp salt
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons lemon instant pudding mix (you can make pudding later with the rest of the mix and 1 3/4 c milk)
  
• 1 cup of milk

-defrost, drain, and blot the blackberries. sprinkle with 1/4 c. sugar and a pinch cinnamon. set aside.
-preheat oven to 350. line as many cupcake tins as you have with cupcake papers (this recipe makes about 42 cupcakes, so you'll do several batches).
-mix together flour, powder, salt, and pudding mix. set aside.
-beat butter with a mixer until fluffy, then add the 2 c. sugar and vanilla and beat well.
-add eggs, one at a time, beating to incorporate after each addition.
-add dry ingredients about 1 cup at a time, alternating with milk, and beating after each addition of dry or milk.
-put about 2-4 berries in each cupcake paper, then cover with a scoop of batter, filling about 1/2 to 2/3 full, like this:



-bake about 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. it's ok if it comes out with blackberry juice on it, just as long as it doesn't have cake batter on it. this is what they'll look like, hopefully.


the blackberries sort of leak through the papers and leave some juice in the pan, so you should wipe it out with a damp paper towel before moving onto the next batch. be careful when you're eating the final product as well, lest you have sticky blue fingers!

-let cool completely, preferably on a wire rack, then frost with buttercream frosting. the recipe i used is below, but i am certainly not one to judge you if you use a canned buttercream frosting. nobody will notice, especially since you put so much effort into the cake part!


so, if you're inclined to make your own buttercream frosting, here's a really simple recipe from allrecipes.com that makes for a really fabulous frosting.

-1/2 cup shortening
-1/2 cup butter, softened
-1 tsp vanilla (i added a little extra splash, because i like vanilla)
-4 cups powdered sugar (that's about 1 lb, so you can use just one box or half a 2 lb bag or something)
-2 tbsp milk

beat together the shortening and butter until smooth.
add the vanilla and beat until incorporated.
add the sugar, about one cup at a time, incorporating well after each addition.
after all the sugar is in, or with the last 1 cup addition, add the 2 tablespoons of milk.
that's it! spread it on or pipe it if you want to be extra fancy. it's fairly stiff, so it lends itself well to piping.

here's a piped batch, ready to be shared with co-workers.


needless to say, these made me an office baking legend.

Patriotic Cupcakes

(picture from the salty cod)

what's more patriotic and american than apple pie? the answer is simple: cupcakes.

cupcakes came about in the 1800's in america, making them another great american invention. the name comes both from the small proportions--the original ones were baked in earthenware cups and such--and from their proportions, measured in cups. the original cupcake recipe is 1 cup butter, 2 cups sugar, 3 cups flour, 4 eggs. and, this was a big switch from weighing ingredients to measuring them by volume, using the anglo-american 'cup' instead of the metric system. this switch made them easier for the everyman (well, everywoman really) to make, as did the cupcake's diminutive size, because big cakes often took a really long time to cook over a hearth and often burned, but those problems were reduced with cupcakes. (thanks to food timeline and cupcakes take the cake for the history!)

alright, enough with the history lesson, let's get to the baked goods! i made some patriotic cupcakes for the fourth of july (which i fully realize was a good two weeks ago). first, i made some delicious red velvet cake cupcakes (yes, from a mix), and piped on some (canned) cream cheese frosting, and topped with blue sugar for a patriotic flair--red cake, white frosting, and blue sugar!


then, i made some red, white, and blue cupcakes--the batter itself was red, white, and blue! i divided the white cake batter (again, mine's from a box) and dyed one part red and one part blue (BIG NEWS: i got wilton gel colors! so now my stuff will be nice and bright, not like the weak colors i had on my cupcake burgers). so, i saw this on chica and jo and knew i had to make them. only mine weren't as swirl-y as chica and jo's, but they still looked awesome. and the patriotic cupcake wrappers didn't hurt...


and i frosted mine with (canned) chocolate cream cheese frosting, because i have a penchant for chocolate. i wanted to pipe it on and make it look all spiffy... but after i piped a few, the frosting started melting and sliding off. so after i frantically yelled for my mom to come help me, i scraped all the frosting off and just spread it on with a butter knife. but they still needed a little something extra... so i put sparkle sugar on them, and that did it! i love sparkle sugar... that stuff makes anything better.


here are some of the cupcakes, ready to be transported to work. since i made two different kinds of cupcakes, i had a ton left over after our little independence day cookout, and my coworkers were glad for it!


P.S. why no red, white, and blue sprinkles, you ask? because i scoured every wal-mart, target, michael's, market street, tom thumb, kroger, and party city within a 20 minute drive of my house, and there were none to be had! i find that quite odd, but it's alright. my cupcakes turned out cute anyway, even if they would have been cuter with some darned sprinkles!

I Have Discovered Cupcakes

yes, i have discovered the beauty of cupcakes. little individual servings of cake, wrapped up and ready to go. and portion control is sort of built in. you can eat one for a small-ish piece of cake, or two if you're craving a big ol' piece of cake.

they're easy to transport- put them in a box and you're ready to go (this one is great- super cheap and fits 12-14 cupcakes like a dream). and, you can make just about any cake recipe into cupcakes. i recently made this recipe into cupcakes (blog post coming soon), and they're a hit at my office. and, many more cake recipes are tempting me to more cupcake madness...

Cupcake Burgers

i was inspired by the always-fabulous bakerella to make cupcake burgers for father's day. they're so cute, fairly easy, and pretty darn delicious too! plus, i got some icing tips, one fat star and one plain fat tip, and couplers at wal-mart on clearance, so i could make them look pretty good too. here are my tips on my "pastry bags," aka ziploc bags with their corners cut off (i can only be so fancy).


so, down to the details.
supplies:

• one box white cake mix
  
• one box brownie mix
• one can white frosting
• food coloring
• optional: sparkling sugar (a course sugar; i got mine at wal-mart in the baking aisle next to the other cake decors)
  

yup, it's that easy. but for pete's sake, buy name brand mixes- it's worth the extra quarter. i used a store brand for these, and they were very dry the next day. oh, i ate them, but i didn't like them. i ended up just eating the brownie part with the frosting on it because the cake was so dry. but, moving on...

simply make the cupcakes according to the package directions (using liners so the sides aren't too brown). and make the brownies according to the package directions too, but bake for about 15 minutes in a 13x9 pan (so they'll be thin enough).

when cool, cut the cupcakes in half along their equators (not their international datelines, of course). cut the brownies into circles (i used the lid of my non-stick spray as a brownie cutter) and place in between the cupcake "buns."

meanwhile, divide the frosting into however many different toppings you want (i had three), and dye accordingly. you can use whatever "toppings" you like, but mine ended up having cheese, ketchup, and lettuce. the cheese was supposed to be mustard, but it wasn't quite yellow enough. bakerella used fancy frosting dyes so hers were much brighter, whereas i only had regular food coloring on hand. but, no matter, still cute!

then, frost on the toppings. i used the plain frosting tip for the cheese (just in a circle) and the ketchup (sort of squiggled on, almost like a flower), like so:


and i used the star tip for the lettuce, squiggled on sort of in between the ketchup, so that it would show through when the top was put on, like so:


and here they are with their tops on:


so cute!
and to make them look like sesame seed buns, i brushed a little melted butter (butter makes everything better) on top and sprinkled with sparkling sugar, which tastes much better than the real sesame seeds that bakerella used.


and here's my dear ol' dad about to chomp down on one of these bad little boys!

Oreo Truffle Cupcake Bites

one of my very good friends from high school recently graduated from rice university in houston. so, i wanted to bake/make something for him. well, i went to michael's, and went a little crazy. in most people's eyes, i made reasonable purchases, but i could hear my mom saying, "meredith! you don't need all of that stuff!" so, what did i get? some squeeze bottles, and a candy cup mold, and some blue candy melts (rice's colors are blue and white). i guess, all things considered, not that overboard.

anywho, i combined two bakerella inventions to make one awesome gift. i made oreo truffles in the shape of cupcake bites. yummy!

ok, down to the practicalities.
first, i crunched up some oreos. i smushed them in a plastic bag, then used a coffee grinder for any big bits that were left. then i mixed them with softened cream cheese. i only used about 1/3 of the cookies (one row from the package's tray) and about 1/3 of the cream cheese.

second, i melted some blue candy melts in one of the squeeze bottles and squeezed (or squoze?) some of the melted blue into the candy molds. then i put a ball of the oreo mixture into each candy mold well. i used the larger end of a melon baller for this- it worked perfectly.

third, i melted some white candy coating (almond bark from wal-mart) in another squeeze bottle. bakerella dipped her cupcake tops in the 2nd color, but i just squeezed/poured it on top. it overflowed a little, but then they looked like little muffins/cupcakes when they came out. and topped off with some blue sugar for flair.

here's the finished product! they tasted great, and looked fabulous!

Not all cupcakes are created equal.

i was in houston for my friend's graduation from college this weekend. my mom came with me, ostensibly for a mother/daughter weekend, but i think really because she didn't want me to drive the five hours to houston by myself (turns out, she didn't let me drive at all). anywho, it was her birthday on saturday and mother's day on sunday, so i thought we would go to a gourmet cupcake place in houston to celebrate. we went to crave cupcakes, which was in the ritzy part of town by the galleria (of course- where else would a cupcakery be?). based on my prior gourmet cupcake experience, i was excited and had high hopes.

we got a vanilla cupcake with chocolate frosting and a red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting. they were a little bigger than normal cupcakes, and a little pricer than the ones at hello cupcake in dupont ($3.25 versus $3.00), but they were not nearly as good. the cake was pretty good- a little denser than usual cake, but not like pound cake. however, the frosting was a little on the gritty side. i mean, it wasn't terrible, it just wasn't as smooth as the frosting at hello cupcake. when i "chewed" the frosting, i could feel a little sugary grit.

overall assessment: not that crazy about crave cupcakes, and can't wait to get cupcakes from hello cupcake again.

Well, hello, cupcake...

while cookies are my go-to confection, i generally love all dessert items. especially when they're made by somebody else. so yesterday after i finished my property exam, i decided to treat myself to a gourmet cupcake from hello cupcake. i'd been looking forward to trying one of their confections for a while and i finally did it yesterday. i poured some milk in my nalgene bottle and headed on over.

i was afraid that it might not live up to my expectations, which were pretty high, or that $3 might be too much for a cupcake, but i was WRONG! oh, it was so good. i got the"black and white," which is chocolate cake with white chocolate icing. oh man, the cake was so moist with just the right amount of airiness (not too dense, not too fluffy), and the top was a little crunchy like the sugar had caramelized on it, just like a good muffin top. and the frosting was so smooth (i couldn't detect a single sugar crystal) but not too thick so that it gets stuck in your throat.

it was uh-may-zing. it might be one for meredith's food hall of fame, which currently only has one other member- a steak that i had at charlie palmer's in dallas last summer at the end of my internship (my mouth is literally watering just remembering that steak). we'll see if i'm still dreaming about this cupcake after a few months. at any rate, i'm going back next week when my dad comes to visit.