Gingerbread Cocoa Cupcakes with Gingerbread Frosting

Gingerbread Cocoa Cupcakes with Gingerbread Frosting

These cupcakes are SO GOOD. MAKE THEM. Oh my goodness. One of the most delicious things I have ever tasted.

Cupcakes:

1 cup strong brewed hot coffee

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp allspice

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 tbsp molasses

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Stir the cocoa powder into the coffee until it dissolves. Set aside.

Sift together the flour, spices, baking soda, and baking powder.

In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Stir in the molasses, then add the eggs, one at a time. My eggs were too cold, so the mixture didn't really combine properly until I added the flour mixture to thicken it; if this happens to you, don't worry. Add the flour and coffee mixtures and stir until all the ingredients are just incorporated. It will be a very liquid batter.

Fill cupcake tins with 1/4 cup batter each.

Bake 9 minutes, turn, bake 9 minutes. Let cool.

Makes 18.

Frosting:

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter

3 cups xxx sugar

6 tbsp heavy cream (you may need a little more, give or take)

1 tbsp vanilla paste

1 cup crushed gingerbread cookies

Whip the butter in a standing mixture for about 6 minutes on medium speed. It will get very light-colored and creamy-looking.

Add sugar and cream and mix until combined. Add vanilla. Whip again on medium for about 8 minutes. The frosting will get body as the cream starts to whip, so you will know when it's ready; it will be very light and creamy.

Add the crushed cookies (a food processor is your friend: I did the crushing by hand and it takes FOREVER) and mix in well.

Use a piping bag with a wide tip to make spirals of frosting on top of each cupcake.

Garnish with stick cinnamon.

I had several beheaded gingerbread men left over afterwards, so I garnished a few of my cupcakes with them. I just really enjoyed the way they looked sneakily peeking over the top of the frosting. I just couldn't resist.

Recipe adapted from Bakingdom.com

Mocha Cheesecakes

Mocha Cheesecakes

Cheesecake: my eternal go-to for a quick, elegant cupcake. So easy! and everyone likes them so much! That said, I did get some complaints about the strength of the coffee flavor. If you are not a coffee fan, or prefer it to be a bit milder, you may want to adjust the amount of coffee you put in the recipe.

Crust:

1 1/2 cup chocolate graham crackers, finely ground (about 1 sleeve)

3 tbsp sugar

6 tbsp butter, melted

Preheat oven to 325 F.

Mix together all the ingredients until slightly moist. Press a thin layer into the bottom of your prepared cupcake liners.

Bake for 5 minutes.

Sour Cream Mixture:

1 1/2 cup sour cream

2 tsp coffee powder

3 tbsp sugar

Mix together until the coffee powder has dissolved fully into the mixture.

Set aside.

Cheesecakes:

3 tsp instant coffee/espresso powder

1 lb cream cheese (2 8-oz packages)

3/4 cup sugar

3 eggs

3/4 cup sour cream

2 tbsp flour

4 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled

Leave oven at 325 F.

Mix the coffee powder with 2 tsp of warm water and set aside.

Beat cream cheese and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, one a a time. Add sour cream and flour, and mix until well-combined. Add the espresso mixture and the chocolate.

Fill the cupcake tins about 2/3 full. 

Bake for ten minutes, then remove and top with sour cream mixture. 

Bake another 10 minutes. When the cupcakes are done, turn off the oven and let them stand in it for another 25 minutes.

Remove cupcakes from the oven and sprinkle with cocoa powder.

Garnish as desired. Makes 30.

Adapted for cupcakes from rightathome.com

Bonus: This weekend I made fifty mint-chocolate whoopie pies for a library fundraiser!

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes with Mocha Frosting

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes with Mocha Frosting

Cupcakes:

2 cups flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 tsp baking powder

6 tbsp (3/4 stick) butter, room temp

1 cup whole milk

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

24 oreo cookies

Preheat oven to 325 F.

Sift together flour, sugar, and baking powder, then add butter and beat slowly until mixture forms sandy crumbs. Slowly pour in 3/4 cup milk and beat until just mixed.

Whisk together 1/4 cup milk, eggs, and vanilla. Pour into the flour and beat until ingredients are combined and batter is smooth, about one minute. Be careful not to over mix.

Split the oreos in half so that one half has the cream and other is smooth. Take the cream side and place one in the bottom of each cupcake liner in your tins, cream side up.

Crumble all but 8 of the remaining naked sides and stir them into the batter.

Fill each liner about 2/3 full -- these rise a fair amount, so don't overfill.

Bake for 14 minutes, turn, bake 14 minutes.

Let cool.

Makes about 24 cupcakes.

Frosting:

2 cups xxx sugar, sifted

8 tbsp cocoa powder

3 tbsp butter, room temp

3 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup strong coffee

Sift together xxx sugar and cocoa powder, then beat in vanilla and butter. Add coffee slowly until icing reaches a spreadable consistency.

In retrospect, I was reminded of why I generally steer clear of cocoa powder in frostings: I think that the confectioner's sugar tends to blend with the cocoa powder in a way that brings out the cocoa powder's less pleasant qualities. The recipe would be less quick, but I think considerably better tasting, if you used bittersweet chocolate, melted with the butter, and blended that into the sugar. If someone tries this recipe, you will have to report!

To finish:

Take the remaining 8 naked-sided oreos and process them in a food processor -- or just crush them really finely using a mortar and pestle or something -- until they become fine crumbs.

Ice each cupcake moderately and sprinkle with oreo crumbs.

Cupcake recipe adapted from The Kitchen is My Playground.

Chocolate Porter Cupcakes with Irish Whiskey Ganache and Baileys Irish Cream Frosting

Boondock Saintcakes
(Chocolate Porter Cupcakes with Irish Whiskey Ganache and Baileys Irish Cream Frosting)

Cupcakes:
1 cup porter or stout (I used my sister's home-brewed coffee porter, which was excellent)
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1 cup cocoa powder
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 F. Over medium heat, bring beer and butter to simmer. Whisk in cocoa powder until smooth (actually it doesn't get completely smooth, since the oil in the butter makes the cocoa powder "clump" somewhat) and remove from heat.

In another bowl, sift together flour, sugar, and baking soda. In a mixer, beat the eggs and sour cream until smooth. Add the chocolate mixture and beat until just combined. Add the dries and beat until just combined.

Divide batter into cupcake tin. Bake 10 minutes, turn, bake 10 minutes. Makes 24.

Irish Whiskey Ganache:
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup Baileys Irish Cream
1 tbsp butter
2 tsp Irish whiskey

Heat the cream in a small saucepan until it simmers -- there will be bubbles around the edge of the saucepan. Stir together chocolate and cream in a heatproof bowl; you will probably have to make a double boiler to get the two to combine smoothly. Once smooth, add the butter, Baileys, and whiskey and stir until combined. Let cool.

Frosting:
6 cups xxx sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temp.
8 tbsp Baileys Irish Cream

Cream the butter until it's pale and fluffy. Sift in the powdered sugar, then add the Baileys and beat until smooth. The icing will have a very pale brown color.


To complete:

Take the cooled cupcakes and cut a small hole in the center of each. I used a coring knife, as pictured. Fill the center holes with the ganache. There should be just enough -- I ran out on the last two and had to use some ganache I had saved from another recipe, so you may want to make your holes a little shallower or use less ganache. Or just make an oz more chocolate, it's pretty much up to you.

Using a piping bag, pipe the frosting onto the tops of the cupcakes to cover the holes and leave a little point on top. Filled cupcakes are better pipe than to spread, but you can always do that as well. I only had a little icing left over at the end. Decorate according to your preference.

WARNING: these cupcakes are very alcoholic and are almost 100% definitely unsuitable for kids.

All recipes from we are not martha

Mocha Cupcakes with Seven-Minute Frosting and Coffee-Bean Garnish

Mocha Cupcakes with Seven-Minute Frosting and Coffee-Bean Garnish

Cupcakes:

2 1/4 cup flour, sifted

2 tbsp cocoa

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

1 1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup sour cream

3/4 cup espresso

Preheat the oven to 325 F.

Whisk together flour and cocoa. In another bowl, cream butter until smooth. Add brown sugar and eggs and beat until well-mixed. My recipe says "fluffy", but the batter was actually unnervingly grainy at this point. It's okay! Add vanilla and baking soda, beat until combined.

Add flour alternating with sour cream. I did not have enough sour cream, so I did halvies with plain yogurt and it worked great, no problem. Still got that nice moist texture. By now the batter also was starting to get smooth and not as weird-looking. Add the espresso (I just used super-strong coffee). The recipe also calls for 1 tbsp of espresso powder, which I didn't use because I didn't have any. I think the coffee flavor is still there, but if you like stuff really strongly flavored you may want to add the espresso powder. I will note the recipe says NOT INSANT COFFEE!!11!, idk the difference myself.

Fill lined baking cups about 3/4 full. The cupcakes do rise nicely, but the ones that overflowed still didn't stick to the pan; this was a nice batter. Bake 11 minutes, rotate, bake another 11 minutes. Let cool.

Frosting:

1 1/2 cups + 2 tbsp sugar

2/3 cup water

2 tbsp light corn syrup

6 egg whites

Combine 1 1/2 cups of sugar with water and corn syrup over medium heat (about 5 on a numbered stove). Use a candy thermometer to tell when the mixture reaches 230 degrees F ("soft ball"). Meanwhile, whisk the egg whites until they are soft peaks. Add 2 tbsp sugar to egg stuff.

When syrup reaches soft ball, take it off the heat immediately and slowly pour it down the side of the bowl of egg whites while beating on medium. When all the syrup is in, raise speed to medium-high and let it go for the proverbial seven minutes (stiff peaks, bowl is cool). I also added a tablespoon or so of the leftover coffee for flavour.

Dollop onto cupcakes; garnish with coffee beans.

Recipe and Frosting adapted from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes.

A word about the frosting: This is how Martha shows it looking on the cupcakes. NO WAY. There is some secret ingredient she is using to get that consistency, and I have NO IDEA what it is. I've made seven-minute frosting many times, and it is always, always the way it looks in my pics, not the way it looks in the book. I would love to be able to do that architectural sculpting, but no way. I have no idea what she did.

Tiramisu Cupcakes with Marsala Syrup and Mascarpone Frosting

Tiramisu Cupcakes with Marsala Syrup and Mascarpone Frosting

adapted from Martha Stewart's cupcake book

Cupcakes:

1 1/4 cups flour, sifted
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup milk
1 vanilla bean, cut up and opened
4 tbsp (1/2 stick) butter, chopped into wee pieces
3 eggs + 3 egg yolks
1 cup sugar

Preheat the oven to 325. Whisk together flour and baking powder (I always sift these ingredients together and I think it makes a big difference; the flour is less likely to form little clumps and the bp gets integrated evenly).

Take the milk and vanilla bean and put them together in a little saucepan; scrape out the vanilla beans so the seeds are mixed into the milk. Cook it on about a 5 (medium) until little bubbles form around the edge. Take it off the heat, whisk in the butter pieces until it's all melted together, then let it sit for a while.

Mix together the eggs and sugar thoroughly, then put your mixing bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Whisk it by hand until the sugar is dissolved. This doesn't take nearly as long as you'd think. It will look basically like it did before. Whip it with an electric mixer until it gets super thick and fluffy. A ribbon of batter will stay on the surface for a couple of seconds.

Fold in the flour slowly. Strain the milk mixture to get out the vanilla pods (if you don't cut them too small, you can really do this by hand just by picking the pieces out), whisk a little batter into the milk, then add the milk mixture back into the batter and whisk it gently until it's folded together.

Put it in your lined cupcake pan. The recipe says it will make about 18; I got 23. Fill the cups about 3/4 of the way. The batter at this point is super fluffy and a little spongy on the bottom.

Bake for 10 minutes, rotate pans, bake another 10 minutes (using this method of turning the cupcakes halfway through has been insanely good for me in terms of getting stuff cooked evenly all the way through). Take them out, let them cool a bit. Now it is time to add the syrup!

Syrup:

1/3 + 1 tbsp very strong coffee or espresso
1 oz. (2 tbsp) marsala or other sweet dessert wine
1/4 cup sugar
Stir them together while the coffee is hot so that the sugar dissolves.

Brush the syrup onto the cooled cupcakes. I poked a few holes in the tops because I thought the syrup would soak in better, but I think that was actually unnecessary.

Frosting:

1 cup heavy cream
8 oz. mascarpone
1/2 cup sifted xxx sugar

Whip the cream until it's stiff peaks. Fold together the cheese and sugar in another bowl. Fold into the whip cream. Use right away -- it plops right down in lumps. I spiked it a little with my fingers, but you can probably smooth it pretty well with a spatula or knife.

Dust with cocoa powder.

If you're like me and you hate creamy cheeses in your desserts, regular whip cream also works just great; sweeten it with a spoonful or two of regular sugar.