Cupcake Carrier Count...Three

I love baking cupcakes and eating cupcakes, but I love sharing cupcakes the most. But they can be tricky to transport in a tin or a cake carrier.  I remember back in the day when my mom would make cupcakes for the bake sale at school and trying to find a container to bring them in.  The worse part about transport them was that the icing would either end up wasted along the sides of the tin or all over the plastic wrap cover.

These days, cupcake transportation is easy with cupcake specific carriers.  Thanks to my family and friends, I have three GREAT cupcake carriers. The first one I received was the collapsible carrier that fits 24 (thanks SR).  It's a great carrier that is easy to store and has two tiers with individual cupcake holders.  Warning - be careful when you expand the carrier.  The handle isn't all that strong and can easily break, so push it out from the inside.

The second carrier I got was a a three tiered rectangle carrier.  This carrier is not only great because it holds 36 cupcakes, but it also fits square and rectangle cakes (thanks SM and RD).  The trays are really easy to stack and very stable.  It also has individual cupcake holders in each tier.

The last of my cupcake carriers was just recently given to me by a friend of mine (thanks JH).  This carrier is key to work or school survival - the single cupcake carrier.  It fits one cupcake, perfect for a lunch surprise for someone special OR just for yourself.

All in all, I love, love, love all of my cupcake carriers!  They are essential for any baker and I use mine regularly. They are also great just for storing your cupcakes at home.

One of the many cupcakes that have been transported in my cupcake carriers is my Café au Lait Cupcake - recipe coming soon!

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Strawberry Short-Cupcake

Believe it or not, I have never been a fan any dessert whip topping.  It's weird, I know.  I love ice cream, cream sauces and even whip cream on hot drinks, but on or next to a dessert, no thanks.  But I do LOVE strawberries and tarts, so I've often created versions of strawberry shortcake desserts, minus the whip.  This is my version of a  Strawberry Short-Cupcake.  To make this berry-delicious treat you'll need...

• Vanilla Cake Mix (plus ingredients to make the cake...usually eggs, oil, and water)
• Store Bought Vanilla Icing
• 1 package of Active Dry Yeast
• 1 1/2 cups of Freeze Dried Strawberries (1 cup for the cake and 1/2 cup for the icing)
• Butter (room temperate...around 1/2 cup....but it's up to you)
• Icing Sugar (enough to thicken your icing)
• 1 cup of Cool Whip

Recipe time...

Step 1: To start, use the amount of water your cake mix package calls for, but use warm water.  Dissolve your Active Dry Yeast into the warm water. Once the Active Dry Yeast is fully dissolved, follow the rest of the directions for your Vanilla Cake Mix except for the preheating your oven part.

Step 2: Mix the batter until smooth.  Gently fold in 1 cup of the Freeze Dried Strawberries and let your batter thicken for a little while (I've waited as long as 30 minutes).

Step 3: Once your batter has thickened, spoon it into the cupcake liners.  Place in the oven and bake as directed on package.  Once they are done baking, let them cool completely.

Step 4: Before you start making your icing, grind 1/2 cup of Freeze Dried Strawberries into a fine powder using a food processor or mortar & pestle.  Now it's time to make your icing.

Step 5: In a mixing bowl add the 1/2 cup of powdered Freeze Dried Strawberries, Cool Whip, Store Bought Vanilla Icing, and Butter.  Mix on high until smooth.  Add icing sugar to thicken the icing to the desired consistency. 

Step 6: To ice your cupcakes, feel free to use a piping bag, spoon, or knife.  I used a piping bag with tip #12.  You can garnish your cupcake with a chocolate covered strawberry or a strawberry candy, but I thought it looked yummy with it's light pink icing alone.  And that's it! 

Happy Faking!

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Quick Tip #4 - Delightfully Dense Cake Mix

Have you ever noticed how light and fluffy every cake mix seems to be?  Sometimes it's great, but other times it's nice to have a delightfully dense cake that will let you add in a few delicious mix-ins to the batter without having them sink to the bottom.  Don't worry, I have just the fix for your cake mix to create a deliciously dense cake...YEAST.  One package or 2 1/4 teaspoons of active dry yeast turns your moist, bouncy cake mix into a compressed, pound cake like texture.  And if you don't have active dry yeast in the house, beer will also do the trick!

So, how do you do it?  Measure out the amount of water the recipe calls for, but make sure it's warm.  Add your yeast and mix it in until it dissolves.  Now add everything else as per usual (eggs, cake mix, oil, etc).  Now that your batter is ready, pre-heat your oven as directed on the package.  In the time it takes your oven to pre-heat, your batter will thicken up.  Bake you cupcakes as directed and you're done.  If you're using beer, just substitute beer for all or most of the water called for on the cake mix package.

I've used this trick in many of my cupcake concoctions, like my Strawberry Short-Cupcake.  Curious?  Stay tuned for the recipe later this week.

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Guinness n' Irish Cream Cupcake

Throwing a St. Patrick's Day party?  Why not cheers with a Guinness n' Irish Cream Cupcake this St. Patty's Day?  This cupcake turned out to be DELICIOUS, if I do say so myself - and I'm not even a beer lover.  Although you can't really taste the Guinness, it gives the cake a great consistency.  Plus the Bailey's icing is the perfect topping for this Irish inspired delight.  Alright, here's what you'll need...

• Chocolate Cake Mix (plus ingredients to make the cake...usually eggs, oil, and water...but you won't need the water for this one!)
• Store bought Vanilla Icing
• 1 can of Guinness (or any Stout) 
• 1/8 cup Bailey's Irish Cream Liqueur (feel free to add more if you want)
• Butter (room temperate...around 1/2 cup....but it's up to you)
• Icing Sugar (optional)

And here's my easy recipe...

Step 1: Preheat your oven as directed on the cake mix package.  Add all the ingredients your Chocolate Cake Mix calls for EXCEPT for the water.  Instead of the water, replace the called for amount with Guinness. Mix the ingredients together until it is smooth.

Step 2: Spoon the batter into your cupcake liners and bake as directed on the package.  Once they are done baking, let them cool completely.

Step 3: On to the Irish Cream icing!!!  Using you mixer, toss in the vanilla icing, butter, and Bailey's Irish Cream Liqueur and mix on high until smooth and fluffy.  Give your icing a taste and if it's too buttery for your liking or too runny, add in some icing sugar.  Also, if you want to add more Bailey's, go for it!  You can always add more icing sugar to thicken it back up if it gets too runny.  If you really want to add some Patty's Day festivity, add in some green food colouring.

Step 4: Now it's time to layer on the icing!  I used a piping bag and tip #1M.  This icing is DELICIOUS, so you'll want to add a lot...or at least I like to add a lot.  You can garnish these with chocolate curls or even a green candy, but I chose to leave them as they were.   

Happy Faking!

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Fancy Flop!

I'm a pretty lucky baker, if I do say so myself.  I love to experiment in the kitchen and I'm usually pretty successful at turning out something edible at the very least!  But, as fate would have it, my lucky streak came to an end this past weekend.  It wasn't disastrous by any stretch, but it has now launched a new recipe search that I'd love your help with.  But first things first, I'll share my fancy flop in hopes of proving that the world doesn't come to an end if you mess up in the kitchen...all you need is a backup plan.

To celebrate St. Patrick's Day, I decided that I wanted to raise a glass cupcake style!  The cake idea was easy: a chocolate and Guinness combo.  I thought the icing should be Irish in spirit and I also wanted to experiment.  So I began to Google in search for a chocolate fudge icing recipe.  I came across one that seemed to fit the bill and started to mix it up.

Now fudge can be a very finicky beast, but surely fudge icing should be easy enough.  Not sure if it was the recipe or me, but this thing I concocted was far from the silky, velvety smooth fudge icing I was hoping for. It was much too grainy and looked less than appetizing, so I decided to do something that I knew wouldn't work, but thought that there was really nothing to loose...I reheated my fudge to make it smoother. Not only did this not work, but it made the once pliable fudge icing rock hard fudge!  Needless to say I spent 15 minutes scraping my pot and said a few choice words.

So now I'm turning to you!  Do you have a yummy, silky smooth chocolate fudge icing recipe to share?  If so, please send it along.  And as for my cupcake icing, don't worry, they didn't stay naked.  I always have a backup plan and made an all time favourite that never fails!  So stay tuned for my Guinness n' Irish Cream Cupcake recipe to be posted just in time for your Patty's Day Festivities.

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Lemon Coconut Cupcake

This zippy cupcake is fun and flavourful.  It's so light and refreshing that you'll catch your friends, and even yourself, sneaking a second for good measure.  You can make this recipe with a few twists, like adding Coconut or Lemon Curd to the icing, but here's how I made this winning treat!  First you'll need...

• White Cake Mix (plus ingredients to make the cake...usually eggs, oil, and water)
• Store bought Vanilla Icing
• 1/3 cup of Sweetened Coconut Flakes (plus more to sprinkle on top of your cupcake)
  
• 1 cup of Lemon Curd (some for the batter and some for the top of your cupcake - the store bought stuff is perfect)
• Butter (room temperate...around 1/2 cup....but it's up to you)
• Icing Sugar (optional)

Now it's time to mix things up...

Step 1: Follow the directions of your White Cake Mix - from preheating your oven through to adding the eggs, oil, water, etc.  You'll notice that White Cake Mixes call for egg whites only and not the whole egg.  I usually don't bother with that and add the whole egg.  Mix together the batter until smooth. 

Step 2: Now it's time to add some tropical flavour.  Add 1/2 cup of Lemon Curd and mix it into the batter until fully incorporated. Add in 1/3 cup of Sweetened Coconut Flakes and mix through batter.  Spoon the batter into your cupcake liners and bake as directed on the package.  Once they are done baking, let them cool completely.

Step 3: While you're waiting for your cupcakes to cool, you might as well make the icing!  Using you mixer, throw in the vanilla icing and butter and mix on high until smooth.  Feel free to add in some Coconut and or Lemon Curd to flavour your icing - just because I didn't, it doesn't mean you can't!  Give your icing a taste and if it's too buttery for your liking, add in some icing sugar.

Step 4: Take your cooled cupcakes and spread some Lemon Curd over the top.  Now it's time to top them with your icing.  If you wanted, you could use a piping bag to ice your cupcakes, or you can just spoon it on and carefully spread it over top of the Lemon Curd.  Then, take the back of your spoon, press it gently into the icing and lift it quickly to make spikes that look like meringue.  Sprinkle with the rest of your Coconut and you're done!  For added class, you can toast your Coconut before sprinkling it over the top.  And that's it!    

Happy Faking!

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Ultimate Bake Sale

Well, it's official.  No one is safe from my cupcake experimentation.  I have crossed over from friends, family, and coworkers to my fellow Ultimate Frisbee players.  Everyone seems to be more then happy to try my concoctions and voice their opinions, but this past weekend I even managed to help raise a few dollars for Feed Nova Scotia selling these fun, tasty experiments.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the world of Ultimate Frisbee and are EXTREMELY confused as to why it makes perfect sense to have bake sale at a Frisbee tournament, allow me to explain.  As part of a bid (or application) to get your team accepted for a tournament, you usually need to offer to do or bring something to add value to the tournament.  For instance, a team may offer to help organize the tournament, plan an after party, compile a video recapping the tournament, etc.  So, as part of my friends' bid, they organized a bake sale to collect funds for Feed Nova Scotia.  And, although it wasn't my team, I'll never turn down an opportunity to bake and, more importantly, experiment with more recipes!  Plus, the money collected was going to a great cause.

Both the tournament and the bake sale were a great time and great success.  I don't have a tally to share on our fundraising efforts, but I do know that my four new flavours were thoroughly enjoyed.  I promised a few players that I'd post a recipe this week.  And, for those of you who don't know me, I never break a promise.  So, later this week I'll be sharing my Lemon Coconut Cupcake recipe.

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Rocky Road Cupcake

These ooey gooey cupcake will have you licking your fingers and grabbing another for later.  The marshmallows that are added to the batter bubble up to the top of the cupcake and make a sweet chewy top perfect for layering more marshmallow and chocolate icing goodness.  For this recipe you'll need:

• Chocolate Cake Mix (plus ingredients to make the cake...usually eggs, oil, and water)
• Store bought Chocolate Icing
• 3/4 cup of Mini-Marshmallows (plus more to garnish) 
• 1 jar of Fluff
• Butter (room temperate...around 1/2 cup....but it's up to you)
• Icing Sugar (optional)

And here's the recipe...

Step 1: Surprise! Follow the direction of your Chocolate Cake Mix - from preheating your oven through to adding the eggs, oil, water, etc.  Mix together the batter until smooth..

Step 2: Add 3/4 cup of Mini Marshmallows and stir until fully incorporated.  Spoon the batter into your cupcake pan liners around 3/4 of the way. Don't overfill your cupcake liners because you'll need some space between the cupcake and the top of the liner to act as a barrier to keep the fluff topping from going everywhere.  Place in the oven and bake as directed on package.  Once done, cool completely before icing 

Step 3: And now it is time to top them will ooey gooey fluff and icing - YUM!  But first we need to amp up the chocolate store bought icing by adding butter and mixing it on high until smooth.  Taste the icing and add more icing sugar if it tastes too buttery for your liking.

Step 4: And now it's time to assemble them.  First, spoon around a tablespoon of fluff onto the top of your cupcake.  Then, place your enhanced store bought icing into a piping back and pipe a layer of the chocolate icing over the top of the layer of fluff.  Last, but not least, top it with a mini marshmallow. Enjoy the sticky, but tasty, mess.

Happy Faking! 

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Quick Tip #3 - Fix My Hard Brown Sugar Fast

Have you ever gone to use your brown sugar and noticed that it's as hard as a rock?  Yes, you can try chiseling it with a fork to get it as soft as possible, but there is an easier way.  If you need to use it right way,  put the amount of  brown sugar you need in a  microwave safe container and zap it in the microwave for around 10 seconds to soften it a bit.  If it's extra hard, place the brown sugar in a microwave safe container and fill a separate microwave safe container with water and zap then together for around 15 seconds.  In both cases, if it's still not soft enough, throw it back in the microwave for another few seconds.

To get the rest of your brown sugar back to normal, cut an apple in half and place it in your brown sugar container facing up.  Put the lid on your container and leave the apple in for around 12 hours or so.  It sounds bizarre, but it will bring your brown sugar back to life.  Oh, and on a side note, this week I'll be sharing my recipe for the Rocky Road Cupcake.

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Chocolate Orange Blossom Cupcake

Wondering what delicious treats I made with my Flower Pan?  Well, here is one of many to come!  I called it the Chocolate Orange Blossom Cupcake for a few obvious reasons.  For this recipe I did get a little lazy with the icing and used store bought icing with no additions. But who's going to say something when they get a cute little flower cupcake.  No one... that's who.  For this SIMPLE but tasty recipe I used:

• Chocolate Cake Mix (plus ingredients to make the cake...usually eggs, oil, and water)
• Store bought Vanilla Icing
• 1/2 cup of Orange Juice
• Zest of 2 small Oranges (or one large Orange) 
• Garnish Ideas: Orange Chocolate Melt or Dried Orange Slice

On to the recipe...

Step 1: Kind of  follow the directions on your chocolate cake mix. Go ahead and preheat your oven and add the oil and eggs...but DO NOT add all the water.

Step 2: Replace 1/2 cup of the water it calls for with Orange Juice.  So, if your mix calls for 1 cup of water, then add 1/2 cup of water and 1/2 cup of Orange Juice.  Then, add the zest of two small Oranges (or one large Orange).  Mix the ingredients together until it is smooth.

Step 3: Now it's time to spoon your cupcake batter into your cupcake pan liners.  I used my Flower Pan to make cute little flower shaped cupcakes, but you can just use a regular pan. Place them in the oven and bake as directed on package.  Once they are done baking, let them cool completely.

Step 4: As I mentioned I got lazy with my icing and just used the store bought stuff, but you can always add some butter, icing sugar, and/or orange liqueur if you wanted to jazz it up.  I opted for using piping tip 104 to make flower petals and used an Orange Chocolate Melt as the middle of the flower. And there you have it, my Chocolate Orange Blossom Cupcake.

Happy Faking!

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Quick Tip #2 - Fast and Mess-Free Batter Pouring Thinger

I don't know about you, but I'm not always the most tidy baker.  I get especially messy when it comes to pouring my batter into the cupcake pan liners.  I usually start off pretty good, being extra careful as I spoon in the batter.  But after filling 4 or 5 cupcake pan liners in a row, I start to get lazy and sloppy!  It gets especially bad when they are the baby cupcakes that are near impossible to fill without pouring half of it on to the sides of the cupcake pan making for wasted batter or burnt on specs.

For those of you who feel my pain, I have a simple and cheap solution.  It's used for making chocolate, but I use it for batter filling.  From what I can tell it has a few different names, but I think the most common name is a chocolate easy pour funnel.  Here's a picture so you know what you're looking for, - I got it at Bulk Barn. It's really easy to use, reduces the amount of spillage onto your pan, and makes baby cupcakes extra quick and easy to fill.  All you do is fill the funnel with your batter, place the funnel over the cupcake liner, pull up on the little lever to get the batter flowing, and push the lever back down when you've filled it as far as you want.  If you're baking alone, place the funnel in a bowl or large measuring cup to make the filling of the funnel a little more manageable.

I used this trick for my Chocolate Orange Blossom Cupcakes which is my next recipe to be featured!

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Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcake

So here it is, my recipe for the Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcake. I know, it's already a childhood classic, so why mess with a good thing? Well, I say why not make a good thing even better by cupcakeifying it. Yes, I just made up the word cupcakeifying, but some day it may be added to Wikipedia making it a legitimate word:) On a side note, this is my cupcake I entered in the Chatelaine contest, so please be sure to vote for it by clicking HERE. The contest closes February 28, 2011, so please vote for me.  I could win a new mixer!  And as a friend of mine said yesterday evening in her pitch for why you should vote for me, "If she wins a mixer, everyone wins" - thanks KM!  How true is that! So please vote.

Alright, now on to the recipe for my Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcake.  Here's what you'll need:

• Marble Cake Mix (plus ingredients to make the cake...usually eggs, oil, and water)
• 1/2 cup of Jam (I used Raspberry Jam without the seeds)
• 1-8oz package of room temperature Cream Cheese (I usually use Light Cream Cheese, but it's up to you) 
• 3/4 cup of Icing Sugar
• 1/2 cup Peanut Butter
• 1 tub of Cool Whip (I usually use light Cool Whip)
• 6 ounces of Semi-Sweet Chocolate

Step 1: Follow the direction of your marble cake mix including: 1) preheating your oven, 2) adding the eggs, oil, water, etc, 3) measuring 1 cup or so of the batter and pouring it into a separate bowl and 4) mixing in the cocoa package to the 1 cup of batter.  With all that out of the way, now it's time to add the jam!

Step 2: In the remaining vanilla batter add around 1/2 a cup of your favourite jam.  Just so that I've put it out there, I have never done this recipe with a chunky jam and have my doubts on how it would turn out, so consider yourself warned:)  Mix the jam in really well with a mixer.

Step 3: Spoon your jam flavoured cupcake batter into your cupcake pan liners, only filling them just over 1/2 way.  Then, spoon a tablespoon or so of the chocolate batter in the centre of the jam flavoured batter.  Place them in the oven and bake as directed on package.  As they bake, the chocolate batter will bake through to the middle of the cupcake.  Once they are done baking, let them cool completely before icing.

Step 4: While your cupcakes are baking, why not make the yummy peanut butter cream cheese icing.  Cream together one package of cream cheese, 3/4 cup of icing sugar, 1/2 cup of peanut butter and 1 cup of Cool Whip until smooth.

Step 5: With the cream cheese icing out of the way, it's on to the chocolate glaze.  Melt together the 6 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate and the last bit of the Cool Whip.  Let it cool while you wait for your cupcakes to cool completely.

Step 6: Once your cupcakes are cool, it's time to layer on the icing and glaze.  Use a piping bag with a large circular opening (I like to use tip #12) and build a nice little mound of icing on top of your cupcake.  You could just spoon it on because you'll be topping it with a chocolate glaze that will cover up your laziness. With the icing layered high, it's time for the chocolate glaze.  Place the warm chocolate glaze mixture in a piping bag or a Ziploc bag.  Cut the tip and drizzle as much as you want over the top of each cupcake. Finito!  

Happy Faking!

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Please Vote for My Cupcake!

A friend of mine passed along a link to a cupcake contest a little while ago and on a whim I decided to enter one of my creations. The contest is being judged by votes so I need all the help I can get! And, because I'm completely honest, you do need to create an account to vote, but it's really easy and fast.

Please, please, pretty please vote for my yummy cupcake. I promise to share the recipe this week! It's my Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcake. Super easy and super tasty. Click HERE to vote now. The contest closes February 28, 2011, so vote soon and share the link to my cupcake with your friends. Stay tuned for results and my recipe!

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Fancy Stuff Review #1 - Flower Power!

I have decided that I should have started this blog long ago cuz it just got me a free pan!  Well, kinda free...ok, it was a gift from two good friends of mine (shout out and BIG thank you to MM and NC).  But the gift was inspired by my blog, so it counts:) 

So here it is, my new flower power cupcake pan - love it!  And do you know why...because you can make fancy cupcakes with even less work than lots of my faking fancy cupcake ways.  I mean how much fancier can you get than a shaped cupcake.  You don't even need icing....but that would be foolish because icing is delicious and you should always have a sugary topping on all cupcakes!

There are lots of fun shaped pans out there so feel free to experiment or just send them my way and I'll gladly use them.  Also (shameless plug) I've never used a silicone cupcake pan and have no thoughts on them...YET;)  But for now I will continue to use my metal pans and the next cupcake recipe to be featured is the classic childhood favourite... Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcake.

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Chocolate Chili Cupcake

Looking for something HOT and SWEET to give your Valentine? Well, here's the perfect treat for your someone special. Or, if you're looking to do quite the opposite, you can make this into a pretty mean weapon for the not-so-nice Valentine.  Here's my take on the Chocolate Chili Cupcake.  For this spicy treat you will need:

• Chocolate Cake Mix (plus ingredients to make the cake...usually eggs, oil, and water)
• Store bought Chocolate Icing
• 1 to 2 teaspoons of ground hot chilies (I used chili flakes and ground them myself) 
• Butter (room temperate...around 1/2 cup....but it's up to you)
• Icing Sugar (optional)
• Garnish Ideas: Chili Pepper Flakes, Cinnamon Hearts, or Hot Lips

And here's the recipe...

Step 1: Follow the directions on your chocolate cake mix - from preheating your oven through to adding the eggs, oil, water, etc. Mix together the batter until all the lumps are gone. Now it's time to add some HEAT... and I don't mean the oven.

Step 2: Add in your ground hot chillies. It's up to you just how much you want to put in, but I wouldn't go over the 2 teaspoons.  I've experimented going over that and have made a few people breathe fire (sorry MM and SB - but thanks for being taste testers!).  But, if you're looking to play a mean trick, you'll want to go over the 2 teaspoons. Mix the ground chillies in well...no one wants a chunk of that in their cupcake.

Step 3: Once you're happy with how well you've mixed it all together,spoon your cupcake batter into your cupcake pan liners.  Now it's time for some hot, hot heat!  Place them in the oven and bake as directed on package.  Once they are done baking, let them cool completely.

Step 4: For the icing, I like to make a very plain chocolate frosting to balance the spiciness of the cupcake.  As per usual I take the lazy way out and just jazz up my store bought frosting by adding butter and simply mixing it until smooth.  You'll want to give it a taste and if it's too buttery for you, add some icing sugar until you're happy with the taste.

Step 5: To frost your cupcakes you can do the classic knife spread, lazy man's spoon lump, or use a piping bag.  If you use a piping tip, your cupcake will look even fancier.  But really it's up to you.  To top it off, you can garnish your cupcake with hot chili flakes, a cinnamon heart, or maybe some hot lips.  

Step 6 (optional): Warn your cupcake recipients that these are made with hot chili's and may be a little hot


Happy Faking!

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