Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes

Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes

Because what's more Christmassy than chocolate and peppermint? Nothing, obviously. There is no other significance to the holiday. None.

Cupcakes:

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

14 tbsp (1 3/4 sticks) of butter

1 cup + 2/3 cup sugar

2 tsp vanilla paste

1 tbsp peppermint extract

4 eggs, separated

3/4 cup milk

1 bag miniature chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.

Beat butter until fluffy, then add 1 cup sugar and the vanilla and peppermint. Mix well. Add the egg yolks one at a time.

Alternate in the flour mixture and the milk until just combined.

In another bowl, beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Remember that the bowl should be metal or plastic and no yolk may touch the whites or they will not beat properly. Slowly add in the 2/3 cup sugar in a stream and beat until stiff peaks form. The mixture will look like boiled frosting or meringue.

Gently fold the egg whites into the batter until smooth and pale. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Fill cupcake tins about 3/4 full. The cupcakes don't rise that much, surprisingly, so you'll want to adjust the amount of batter depending on how big you want them to be. I had to make another half batch after this one because I needed a certain number of cupcakes for an event, and the second batch I filled the tins much fuller. You can see the results in the split-decorated cupcakes, which were puffy enough to be cut in half and filled.

Bake for 10 minutes, turn, bake 12 minutes.

Let cool.

Makes 32 without the extra half batch.

Frosting:

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter

4-5 cups xxx sugar

3-4 tbsp heavy cream

1 tbsp peppermint extract

About 8 candy canes, crushed into a small pieces

Beat butter until soft and fluffy. Add xxx sugar and cream and beat until everything is well-combined and the cream has started to whip, making the icing extremely fluffy. Add in the peppermint.

Frost cupcakes generously, then roll the frosted part in the crushed candy canes. I did half my cupcakes this way, then ran out of candy canes, so if you want to use that approach get a few more candy canes. 

The other half I decorated with a junior mint candy and green & red sprinkles.

Recipe adapted from We Are Not Martha.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cupcakes with Chocolate Whipped Cream

Chocolate Peanut-Butter Cupcakes with Chocolate Whipped Cream

These cupcakes were made with my friend Liz in mind. The cupcake itself is very dense, so the whipped cream provides a nice contrast. That said, because of the chocolate it will solidify and get kind of a weird texture, so you want to make it right before you serve these cupcakes, and don't let them get too chilled, because it really doesn't thaw well.

Cupcakes:

1 1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 cup (3 sticks) butter, room temp

2 cups sugar

6 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup sour cream

1/2-2/3 cup smooth peanut butter

30 miniature Reese's peanut butter cups

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Sift together cocoa, flour, and baking powder, and set aside. Cream butter and sugar in a mixer until light and fluffy, then add the eggs one at a time, beating until well combined. Add vanilla. Alternate in flour mixture and sour cream until fully combined, then use the mixer to beat in the peanut butter. The batter will be really, really thick.

Scoop the batter into baking tins, about 3/4 full. I used my spiked baking tins to impale the peanut butter cups so they'd sit on top of the batter, but in retrospect because of the thickness of the batter I think you can just press them gently into the top of each cup of batter. Cover the peanut butter cup with a small about of batter.

Bake for 10 minutes, turn, bake for 13 minutes. Let cool.

Makes 30.

Chocolate Whipped Cream:

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 4.5 oz bar of good semi-sweet chocolate (I used Ghirardelli)

Coarsely chopped mini Reese's for garnish

Melt the chocolate carefully in the microwave in intervals of about 20 seconds, stirring after each time. When it is fully melted, remove and let cool.

Whip the cream until thick, being careful not to whip too much, or it will turn into butter. You can sort of tell when you're there because you will see the impression of the whisk in the cream.

Slowly stir in the melted chocolate until combined.

Top each cupcake with a generous helping of whipped cream...

...and sprinkle with chopped peanut butter cups for garnish.

I should note that I made enough whipped cream for only half the cupcakes; the other half are going in the mail to the aforementioned Liz, and since whipped cream probably won't survive the trip to Seattle I'm preparing something else for a topping. You may, therefore, need to double the recipe.

Cupcakes heavily modified from a recipe by Martha Stewart

Frosting by me.

Death by Chocolate Cupcakes

Death by Chocolate Cupcakes

I'm not really a fan of chocolate cake -- it's usually too rich for me -- but these cupcakes were light enough, and the icing was delicious enough, that I actually really enjoyed them. The trick with the icing is definitely to beat it until the cream starts to whip; it's much fluffier and lighter that way.

Cupcakes:

1/2 cup strong brewed coffee

1/2 cup hot water

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 cup flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Stir the cocoa powder into the water until dissolved. Add the coffee, and set aside.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, and baking powder, and set aside.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and mix until combined, then add vanilla. Alternate in the flour and coffee mixture, stirring unit all the ingredients are just incorporated.

Fill cupcake tins about 3/4 full. I used a larger size of cupcake wrapper, but if you are using normal sized cupcake tins you will get more and bake for less time: 10 minutes, turn, 10 minutes. Let cool.

Makes 12 large cupcakes, or 18 normal sized.

Chocolate Ganache:

4 oz semi-sweet chocolate (like Ghirardelli), broken in pieces/chopped

Scant 1/2 cup heavy cream

Bring the cream to a boil slowly. Remove from heat and add the chocolate. Wait a few minutes, then stir until the chocolate is fully dissolved and the mixture is smooth. Let cool slightly.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature

2-3 cups xxx sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

2-3 tbsp heavy cream

Dash of vanilla

Beat the butter until light and fluffy, about 6 minutes. Add the sugar and cream and whip until the frosting is very fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in the cocoa powder and vanilla and beat a few more minutes.

Decorating:

Spoon a generous amount of ganache onto the top of each cupcake. Let it solidify.

Using a wide tip piping bag, pipe little blobs around the outside rim of a cupcake.

Use a small spoon to sort of press each dot gently towards the center, creating a small petal shape.

Pipe a second ring of blobs closer to the center ...

 ... and gently draw them towards the center as well.

The center may pile up with icing, and you will need to scoop it out carefully.

There will be a little hole in the middle afterward. Fill it with a small blob of ganache.

Congratulations! You have made super easy, super pretty chocolate chrysanthemums on your cupcakes!

Repeat with each.

Recipe adapted from Bakingdom.com

Chocolate-Filled Almond Cupcakes

Chocolate-Filled Cupcakes

I didn't have any cocoa powder (WHAT) so I swapped Nutella in as filling for these cupcakes. I actually think that was a mistake, as they were WAY too sweet. I'm going to give the original recipe's chocolate filling, but I'm not sure whether even a bittersweet ganache might have been better.

Cupcakes:

1 1/4 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg + 1 egg white

4 tbsp butter, melted and cooled

1/3 cup plain yogurt

1 tbsp almond extract

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Sift together flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.

Cream butter and sugar, then add eggs. Beat until fully mixed in. Stir in yogurt. Add the dry ingredients and beat until just mixed. Stir in extract.

Fill cupcake tins about 3/4 full. Bake 10 minutes, turn, bake 10 minutes.

Let cool.

Makes 12.

Filling:

1 tsp hot water

3 1/2 oz (about half a 7 oz jar) marshmallow fluff

1/4 cup shortening

3 tbsp xxx sugar

2 tbsp cocoa

1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix all the ingredients together and beat until smooth.

Core a hole in the center of each cupcake and fill with a spoonful of the filling. 

Cap cupcakes with reserved cores.

Frosting:

1/2 stick butter

2 tsp vanilla bean paste

2-3 cups xxx sugar

Cream as needed for consistency

Beat butter until soft, then add xxx sugar and cream and beat until you get a soft, pipeable texture. Add vanilla bean paste. The paste has those little black speck-seeds in it, and gives you frosting that great French vanilla look.

Pipe a spiral on top of each cupcake.

Decorate as desired.

Adapted from Evil Shenanigans

S'mores Cupcakes

S'mores Cupcakes

Although these cupcakes look really great, I kind of wish I had used something with a more marshmallow taste for the topping. I think I will continue to experiment with the recipe and see if I can't use marshmallow cream to make something a little more authentic! This boiled frosting is fine, but it's not really the true s'mores taste.

Cupcakes:

1 1/2 cup flour

1 1/3 cup graham flour (I used Bob's Red Mill from my local whole foods store)

2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 1/4 cup (2 1/2 stick) butter

2 cups packed brown sugar

1/4 cup honey

6 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Sift together both flours, baking powder, and cinnamon. In another bowl, cream butter, brown sugar, and honey until fluffy -- mixture is quite thick. Add in eggs and vanilla, and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add in flour mixture and mix until just combined.

Fill cupcake tins about 3/4 full. Bake 13 min, turn, bake another thirteen minutes. Let cool.

Makes 24

Chocolate Ganache:

6 oz bittersweet chocolate

4 tbsp heavy cream

1 tbsp corn syrup

Cook all the ingredients in a saucepan until fully melted. Let cool.

Spread a generous amount on top of each of your cupcakes, covering the above-the-wrapper part completely.

Marshmallow Frosting:

1 tbsp unflavored gelatin

1/3 cup + 1/4 cup cold water

1 cup sugar

Sprinkle the gelatin over the 1/3 cup water in a mixing bowl. In a saucepan, heat the 1/4 cup water and sugar in a saucepan until the sugar is dissolve. Use a candy thermometer to determine when the mixture gets to 238 F (soft ball if you drip a bit in a cup of cold water). Remove from the heat and pour into the mixing bowl with the gelatin. Use an electric mixer to whip it until it's glossy and stiff. Use right away.

Spoon the mixture into a piping bag with a wide tip and pipe a spiral on top of each cupcake. I didn't get my stiff enough, so as you can see my spirals kind of melted. 

But no matter! After the cupcakes are topped, use a kitchen torch to brown the marshmallow so it gets that campfire look.  As I said before, I was worried that there wasn't enough of a marshmallow taste, so for the last few cupcakes I torched some old marshmallows that we had lying around. I'm not sure I recommend it. 

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes

Almond-Hazelnut Cupcakes with Secret Fudge Frosting

Almond Hazelnut Cupcakes with Secret Fudge Frosting

I've had some really bad experiences using ground nuts/nut flour in recipes, so I was reluctant to try this recipe at first. I'm glad I did! The use of two other flours takes care, I think, of some of the problems I've had in the past, and the chocolate frosting really pulls it together. Unfortunately, the frosting is one of my mother's old Charleston receipts, and I did not get permission to share it -- in fact, I didn't even make it. After one unsuccessful attempt, I had to ask her to make it for me.

Cupcakes:

1/2 cup toasted almonds

1/2 cup  toasted hazelnuts

3/4 cup flour

3/4 cup cake flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup milk

4 egg whites

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Using a food processor or something roughly equivalent, pulse nuts until they are finely ground. Be careful not to go too long, or the oils in the nuts create a kind of paste. Sift together both flours and baking powder, then whisk in the ground nuts.

Cream butter and sugars. Beat in vanilla. Alternate in flour mixture and milk and beat until well combined.

In a separate bowl, whisk egg whites until they reach soft peaks. Gently fold them into the batter, being careful not to over mix. The egg whites lighten the batter because of all the air in them, and if you are too rough with them they'll just flatten out again.

Fill cupcake tins about 3/4 full. Bake for 13 minutes, then turn tins and bake 13 minutes. Let cool.

Makes 18.

Frosting:

Martha Stewart suggests a dark chocolate frosting. Her recipe is just a simple butter cream with cocoa and melted bittersweet chocolate added. You can also do a more complicated cooked frosting (that's what my mother's is). Honestly, simply spreading nutella on these babies would work.

When the cupcakes are cool, gently slice them in half using a serrated knife. Spread the centers generously with your favorite frosting, then press the two halves together and frost on top. Decorate with a toasted hazelnut.

Cupcakes adapted from Martha Stewart.

Frosting recipe a closely-guarded family secret.

Creepcakes

Creepcakes

Happy Halloween! These cupcakes are just two easy chocolate and vanilla recipes; it's the decorating that really matters. My mom and I did the decorations, and we really had a lot of fun with it -- it was so cool to see the different directions we went with the idea and how her monsters looked different from mine.

Vanilla Cupcakes:

1 1/2 cup cake flour

3/4 cup regular flour

3/8 tsp baking soda

1 1/8 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup (1 stick) + 1 tbsp butter

1 1/8 cup sugar

3 small eggs + 2 egg yolks

1 cup buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350.

Sift together flours, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, then yolks, one at a time. Add flour mixture and buttermilk, alternating until combined. Beat in vanilla.

Divide batter between 12 regular size cupcakes and 12 minis. Bake the large cupcakes for 10 minutes, then turn the tin and bake another 10 minutes. Let cool.

Chocolate Cupcakes:

1 1/2 cup flour

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp baking powder

2 eggs

3/4 cup buttermilk

3 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup warm water

Sift together flour, cocoa powder, sugar, soda, and baking powder. While mixing, add eggs, buttermilk, oil, vanilla, and water until all combined.

Divide batter between 12 regular cupcakes and 12 minis. My mini pan holds 24 cupcakes, so I waited until I had it completely filled with chocolate and vanilla batter before baking. It, like the regular size chocolate and vanilla cupcakes, goes 10 minutes, turn, 10 minutes.

Let cool.

Fluffy Buttercream Frosting:

2 sticka butter

1 tbsp vanilla

4-5 cups xxx sugar

cream as needed

Beat the butter until soft, then add xxx sugar and vanilla (i don't usually measure my xxx sugar, which is why I always kind of have to estimate the amount -- I just throw it in until I judge I have enough). Add in cream, in very small increments, until you reach a spreadable texture. Add food color to tint icing as desired.

Decorating:

Ice cupcakes generously, then decorate as grotesquely as possible with various candies! We used Mike and Ike candies, gummy worms, gummy fruit slices, Nerds, Laffy Taffy, Sweet-Tarts, and decorating candies that I already had on hand -- something we didn't have, but probably could have benefitted from, was Twizzlers or some other kind of licorice rope.

Have fun! and have a happy & safe Halloween.

Cupcakes and frosting adapted from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes.