Chocolate Cupcakes

There aren’t many social occasions that couldn’t be improved with quality baked goods, especially if it’s a tedious meeting or the type of gathering that people feel obligated to attend. Good food can grease the wheels of many get-togethers, smoothing over tensions or reluctance with mouthfuls of tasty goodness. One of the easiest and most delicious of these options is cupcakes.

Over the past few years, cupcakes have had a renaissance. There are famous cupcake eateries in almost every large city, and even traditional events like weddings, have featured towers of the perfect-sized cakes. Maybe they’re slowly sliding out of the pop culture spotlight, but that doesn’t stop me from baking them for all sorts of occasions.

One of the best aspects of cupcakes is creativity. You can decorate them in a myriad of ways based on the theme you choose. They can be filled or iced, topped with powdered sugar designs or elaborate marzipan. With some simple tweaks of a recipe, you can make them healthy with carrots or fruit or stuff them with peanut butter. Truly, cupcakes offer unlimited opportunities for creativity.

I’ve tried a lot of cupcake recipes over the years, from simple to a thirteen-step process that had me biting my nails with the stress of it all. It was only through trial and error that I discovered what worked best with my personal entertaining style. I believe in feeding my guests good food, but I don’t want to spend all my time in the kitchen. Cupcakes are great for this, because I can make them the day before and ice them well in advance of the gathering. I also realized that I like to spend less time on the cake batter and emphasize the decorating aspect. Nothing works better for this than a one-bowl cake recipe.

You read that right!

This particular recipe has been a family favorite for two generations. In fact, it has been my birthday cake for as long as I can remember. The crumb is delicate and moist, and chocolate is my absolute favorite. Some years I slather peanut butter icing on top (homemade, of course!) while other years inspire me to dust it with powdered sugar and tiny violets from the garden.

One word of caution, don’t bring the water to a full boil. After adding the water, mix everything else into the batter then add the eggs last. I always test the temperature of the batter with a finger. Don’t add the eggs when it’s still really warm or you’ll end up with chocolate cake with tiny pieces of scrambled egg in it. I know this because I served a new boyfriend my famous chocolate cake dotted with yellow, cooked egg. Luckily he had a sense of humor about it, and he asked me out again. Enjoy!

2 cups sugar

2 cups flour

¾ cup cocoa

1 ½ tsp baking soda

1 ½ tsp baking powder

pinch salt

1 ½ cups boiling water

¾ cup corn oil

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

Grease and flour your cake pan, tapping out all the excess flour. Place ingredients in a bowl, mix until smooth. (Add eggs last after batter has cooled slightly to prevent cooking the egg separately.) Bake in a 9×12 pan, in 2 9-inch round cake pans, dozen muffin/cupcake tin (you’ll probably end up with extra batter) or large bread loaf pan. Bake at 350º for 35 minutes for the 9×12 pan. You will need longer baking time if you use the other pans.

Amy L Overley is a freelance writer and editor and explorer of creativity. She’ll try her hand at anything remotely crafty including wedding favors. She blogs regularly about her adventures and the humorous results of her creative exploits.

Cupcakes

Cupcakes have always been popular with children, but in recent years they have been gaining ground with adults.  Cupcake bakeries are sprouting up all over the country, elevating cupcakes from a child’s snack to an elegant dessert for grown-ups.  However, they are easy enough to bake yourself and you don’t need a bakery to make them special.  Just a little extra effort will make your cupcakes unforgettable.

Fillings

Filling your cupcakes is the easiest way to make them more sophisticated.  Simply fill your cupcake tray halfway and then add your favorite center and cover it.  Jams, peanut butter, cookie dough, fudge, or cream cheese are just a few of the possibilities.

Toppings

Sprinkles are the traditional cupcake topping, but edible glitter gives cupcakes an edge.  You can also put something on top of your cupcakes that hints at the filling inside.  For example, if you are making a chocolate chip cookie dough cupcake, add a mini cookie to the top.

Decorating

Gone are the days when applying icing with a knife was sufficient.  A pastry bag and assorted tips are needed to really dress up your cupcakes.  A decorative swirl looks beautiful and is a great canvas for toppings.  To use less icing, try using a star tip in your pastry bag and dotting small or large stars to top your cupcake.

These simple tips will make your cupcakes standout.  By adding a variety of fillings, toppings, or decorations you can make a delicious grown-up dessert.

If it’s holiday time, it’s baking time in my kitchen.  My friend Susanne (The Hillbilly Housewife) created an instructive collection of baking books.  I’ve used them often.

You can get your copy here:

Baking Made Simple

Here is a favorite cupcake recipe I like to fix for Easter.  It comes from Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook .  I always fall back on Martha!!

Cupcake Recipes

Have you noticed that the food revolution is bringing us new trendy and tasty foods all the time? We seem to favorite certain treats and this helps us get really creative in the kitchen. If we look at what sweet treats are doing well now, we can see that cupcakes are definitely the ‘plat du jour’. Cupcakes were supposedly invented in Britain in the Victorian times, where maids used to scrap together left over batter and cook small cakes in teacups for themselves. This obviously developed from here, and what we have today are fun and tasty treats with endless combinations.

We continue to innovate and push the boat out which has led to some fantastic creations that show off the flexibility of the humble cupcakes. Here are 3 varieties you can try to make yourself, and I hope you can take away some inspiration for your next home baking project.

Coffee Cupcakes with Irish Cream Frosting

Coffee lovers can indulge in these rich and adult treats. Make a standard cake batter from flour, eggs, caster sugar, unsalted butter and a little baking powder, and then just add some coffee essence. You’ll find this in the coffee aisle and it comes in a glass bottle. Bake the cakes until spongy and then make a syrup using more coffee syrup and sugar. You can do this by just melting them together on the hob. Pour a little syrup on the cakes and leave them to cool.

To make the frosting you need to make two mixtures. Mix mascarpone cheese with some Irish cream (use as much as your tastes desire but not too much that it will liquidate the frosting). The second mixture is simple whisked icing sugar and whipping cream. When these are both well mixed and thick, just fold them together and pipe the frosting on top of the cakes.

Cookie Monster Cupcakes

These are a great novelty cakes for a party, and they really have the wow factor. Simply create plain vanilla cupcakes indicated above and then also make a plain buttercream. You can do this by mixing equal parts of unsalted butter with icing sugar and a little vanilla extract. Pipe or spoon this mixture on and form a smooth dome shape.

The secret with cookie monster cupcakes is in the decoration which can take some time. First of all mix some desiccated coconut with some blue food coloring, so you have a sandy light blue mixture that resembles the cookie monster. You must liberally sprinkle this over the cakes until they are completely coated and you cannot see the icing underneath. From here you can buy or make some small cookies and insert 1 straight into the topping (carefully) so it protrudes out like a cookie in a mouth. From here just make eyes from white chocolate buttons, and use a dark chocolate chip fixed to the button to make the pupil. Stick these into the cupcakes at angles and voila. The cupcakes look like cookie monster!

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

For a combination of classic deserts, it has to be my lemon meringue cupcakes. Start with making the cake mixture, but use some lemon zest and flavouring in the batter instead of the vanilla. This will create your basic lemon cake mixture. Once the cakes are made you simply need to buy some lemon curd and spread a little on top. You can alternatively inject it into the middle of the cake as a filling if you have a cook’s syringe.

To make the meringue you simply need to mix plenty of egg whites with some caster sugar in a clean and cool bowl. Keep mixing and add a couple of drops of lemon juice which breaks down the egg whites. If you keep whisking it will start to get a lot thicker and it will ‘peak’ eventually and look nice and shiny and stiff. You can pipe a peak or swirl on top of the cupcakes and then put them back in the oven on a low heat for another 10 minutes or so until the meringue forms a solid shell. You can use a blowtorch (or grill) for just a couple of seconds to add some colour to the topping to make it look really professional.

Francesca is a keen home baker and loves cupcakes. It’s traditional fair when it comes to baking but she loves Leeds Indian takeaway after a good baking session. Alternatively depending on taste, she might order Leeds Chinese takeaway. New cupcake ideas are always coming to mind and there are plenty of chances to get creative!

If you enjoy making cupcakes, you will enjoy this Cupcake Recipe Book by Patty Cake Patty Cake.  It’s priced at only $9.95 and well worth it. This hands-on, step-by-step instruction of how to create perfect cupcakes means you can bake these cupcakes over and over and over again. Comes with a money back guarantee.
Click Here!