Sweet Potato Cupcakes with Five Toppings

Sweet Potato Cupcakes with Five Toppings

My last cupcake recipe of the year! Can you believe I've done 53 of them altogether? I have no idea what I'll do with all my new-found free time! I am, however, really excited that I managed to stick with this and do a recipe every week. Go me!

Cupcakes:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

16 oz sweet potatoes, drained and mashed (I cooked down fresh sweet potatoes but if you need to save time canned works just as well, with the added bonus that you don't have to strain out the fiber!)

2/3 cup apple cider

1 tsp vanilla

3 cups flour

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp nutmeg (if you don't have nutmeg, allspice will substitute)

Preheat oven to 350 F.

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

Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time.

In another bowl, mix sweet potatoes, apple cider, and vanilla until smooth. If you used a fresh sweet potato, you will need to strain it through a sieve of some kind to get out all the fibers before you mix it in.

Alternate in the sweet potato and flour mixtures, beating until just blended. The batter will be a gorgeous golden-orange color.

Fill cupcake liners about 3/4 of the way full. 

Bake for 13 minutes, turn, bake for 13 minutes.

Let cool.

Makes 30.

Caramel Topping:

6 soft caramels

Spread the caramels very thin with your fingers, then lay them over top of the cupcakes.

Vanilla Topping

3 tbsp butter, soft

1 1/2 cups xxx sugar

Dash of vanilla

2-3 tbsp cream

Beat all the ingredients until smooth. Frost generously.

Chocolate Topping:

2 oz fine chocolate, semisweet

1/4 cup cream

Melt the chocolate in the cream using a double boiler. Remove from heat and stir until smooth. Let cool slightly before using. Drizzle over cupcakes.

Cinnamon Topping:

2 tbsp butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup xxx sugar

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Melt the butter and brown sugar together over low heat (between 2-4 on a stove dial). Add the cinnamon and stir until mixture begins to boil. Remove from heat and whisk in the xxx sugar.

Frost cupcakes immediately, as topping will set up fast.

Whipped Cream Topping:

Make or buy whipped cream (I cheated and bought because I was in a hurry). Top generously.

Cupcakes adapted from FoodNetwork.com.

And there you have it! Five different toppings, six cupcakes each. I couldn't decide which one would go best with the cupcakes when I was making them, so I decided to use all three. In retrospect, I think the cinnamon or the whipped cream would be best, but it's really up to you and what tastes good.

Also, I didn't have time to make them, but sprinkling some toasted pecans over the vanilla frosted cupcakes would have been divine!

I hope you enjoyed this foray into the world of cupcake baking; I definitely had a blast. Any future recipes will definitely be documented for this blog, but I'm not going to keep the same rigorous schedule at this point.

Thanks for reading!

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

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

Thin Mint Cupcakes

Thin Mint Cupcakes

Cupcakes:

2 3/4 cups flour, sifted

1 tbsp baking powder

1 1/2 cups sugar

2/3 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

5 egg whites

12 thin mint or other chocolate-mint cookies, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Sift together flour and baking powder in a bowl. In another bowl, whisk together one cup sugar and oil. Alternate whisking in the flour mixture and the milk. Add the vanilla, then the cookie pieces.

In a metal bowl, whip the egg whites until they are foamy. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar into the egg whites while continuing to beat them, until they form soft peaks -- if you lift the beater out of the bowl the egg whites should hold their shape. When they're ready, slowly fold them into the batter. You want to do this as gently as possible, and be careful not to over mix; the egg whites make the batter fluffy, but if you mix them in too hard it will negate the fluffiness.

Divide the batter into cupcake tins, filling them about 2/3 full. Bake for 10 minutes, turn tins, bake for another 10 minutes. Let cool.

Makes 24.

Ganache:

1 cup heavy cream

8 oz bittersweet chocolate

1 tbsp butter

Bring cream to a simmer over medium heat. Remove from heat, add chocolate and butter. Let sit for a little while, then whisk until smooth. Let cool.

Mint Icing:

1/4 cup flour

1 cup half-and-half cream

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temp

1 cup superfine sugar (also sold as baker's sugar or extra fine sugar; you can make your own by putting regular sugar in a food processor)

2 tbsp Creme de menthe

Green food color

Sprinkles for decorating

Whisk the flour and cream together in a bowl over medium heat until it thickens. This happens fairly quickly, about five minutes. Move it to a container of some kind and put it in the fridge for about twenty minutes until cool.

Meanwhile, beat the sugar and butter together until fluffy. When the flour mixture is cool, whip it in until the icing is smooth. Add the Creme de menthe and food color.

To combine:

Using a spoon or spatula, spread about 2 tbsp of ganache on top of the cooled cupcakes.

Put the icing in a piping bag with a star tip and pipe a spiral of icing on top of each cupcake. Decorate with sprinkles and leftover thin mint cookies.

I'm not going to lie, I think these were some of the best cupcakes I have made so far in this project. The icing especially is totally amazing -- it has a wonderful airy texture but it tastes great, and it holds its shape perfectly, plus it really has no flavor until you add extracts or liqueurs to it so you can make it to go with any type of cupcake you want. I'm definitely going to be using the recipe again.

Adapted from Zoebakes.com

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

Chocolate-Almond Cupcakes with Chocolate Almond Ganache

Chocolate-Almond Cupcakes with Chocolate Almond Ganache

Cupcakes:
2/3 cup finely ground bittersweet chocolate
1/2 cup finely ground almonds
3/4 cup self-rising flour, sifted
4 eggs, separated
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp warm milk

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Mix together chocolate, almonds, and flour. In another bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar under thick and pale. Stir in the chocolate mixture, then the milk. The mixture will be incredibly thick at this point. I did not thin it, but in retrospect I think I would add a little more milk to make the batter thinner and more liquid.

Beat the egg whites in a separate bowl until soft peaks form. Fold them into the batter until just combined (and this is why I think you could stand to thin the batter; I was not able to fold the egg whites because the batter was so thick, I had to beat them in with an electric mixer).

Bake for 6 minutes, turn, and bake for another 6 minutes. Let cool.

Ganache:
2/3 cup dark chocolate
1/3 cup (5 1/2 tbsp, or about 3/4 of the stick) butter
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp almond extract

Create your own double boiler using a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Melt together chocolate, butter, and cream, and stir until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in almond extract. Chill in the fridge until set.

Take the finished cupcakes and cut a small divot out of the top of each. Spoon in the chilled ganache (or pipe, if desired). If you wish, you can save the part of the cupcake that you scooped out and use it to top the ganache. Decorate with sprinkles.




I found that these cupcakes have a really interesting texture. Because of the bittersweet chocolate, they are not overly sweet, and the nut flour makes them very dense. I made some both mini and regular sized cupcakes, and I found that the mini ones were better because of the denseness.


Cupcake recipe from Cupcakes by Anneka Manning.
Ganache recipe by me.

Mini Boston Cream Cakes with Chocolate Ganache and Creme Patisserie

Mini Boston Cream Cakes with Creme Patisserie and Chocolate Ganache Glaze

Warning: the creme patisserie is the long lead time item here; it has to chill for at least two hours before you can use it. I didn't notice that when I made these, so I had to wait around FOREVER for it to set. DON'T BE ME. Make it ahead.

Cupcakes:

6 tbsp (3/4 stick) butter, cut into pieces

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup milk

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter and flour your cupcake tins. This is really important -- I have baked using spray before, and it just does not work the same. Stuff does not come out nearly as nicely. If you can, definitely do it this way. The cupcakes popped right out with hardly any effort on my part at all.

Sift together flour and bp; set aside. In a saucepan, combined milk and butter. The recipe says to do this over "very low heat", in which case I should warn you that it takes a million years. I ended up turning it up -- first to 1 on a numbered stove, then to 3 and finally 5 (since ultimately you need it to boil).

Edit: I ended up making a second batch of cupcakes because I had ganache/cream left over, and definitely go ahead and heat up the milk faster.

Use an electric mixer to whisk the eggs and sugar until fluffy, pale, and thick enough to hold a ribbon on the surface for a few seconds -- about five minutes. Reduce speed, and add the flour slowly. Don't over mix.

Bring the milk stuff to boil. Again -- this can take a long time, and in the meantime the batter will get all weird and spongy; you may need to mix it again to get it back to the right consistency. When the milk boils, add it slowly to the batter and mix until smooth. Add vanilla.

Fill the prepared tins. The recipe says to fill halfway full, but I found that the cupcakes did not rise as much as I expected, and 3/4 full is probably better. I say this as someone who always overfills the cups, this is actually a recipe where it's better to overfill. Instead of running over, this batter rises up in a dome, so you don't have to worry about a mess. Bake for 8 minutes, turn, and bake for another 8.

I was able to transfer the cupcakes out of the pan immediately, using a knife to go around the edges. You may prefer to wait 10 minutes. When the cupcakes cool a bit, you can cut them in half very gently, using a serrated knife.

Creme Patisserie:

4 egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

pinch of salt

2 cups milk

1 tsp vanilla

Whisk the egg yolks in a bowl; set aside. Combine sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a saucepan, heat over medium; slowly add milk. Cook until mixture thickens, stirring constantly. My recipe suggested this should only take five minutes, but it definitely took longer for me. It will get only slightly thicker, like very watered down glue, but you can see it on your spoon.

Add a third of the milk mixture to the egg yolks while whisking constantly, then add it back and continue to cook it, still whisking constantly, until it comes to a boil and gets really thick. At this point, it is so thick that "boil" is kind of a difficult term. It will make a lot of big thick bubbles that pop grossly, and it is very pale yellow. I found that 5 minutes was about right here.

Take it off the heat, add the vanilla, strain it through a sieve into a heatproof bowl. Cover it with plastic wrap, pressed down onto the surface to keep a skin from forming (note: I did not do this, because I am lazy; the skin can be whisked back into the mixture pretty easily, though). Refrigerate until chilled and firm, anywhere from 2 hours to 2 days.

Ganache:

6 oz. semisweet chocolate, finely chopped (I used mini chocolate chips, which worked well and avoided a lot of extra work)

2/3 cups heavy cream

1 tbsp light corn syrup.

Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Bring cream and corn syrup to simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat, then pour over chocolate. Let stand for a little bit.

Then stir it together slowly until it combines, which make take a little bit. The mixture will get thick and creamy. At this point, you can strain it to get out any remaining chocolate solids (of course I did this, I am anal-retentive about straining things), which leaves it nice and smooth. 

Take your halved cupcakes and put about a spoonful of creme patisserie on the bottom half. For the top half, take a spoonful of ganache and spread it around so the cupcake top is fully covered. Stick them together, et voila!

Caveat: These recipes make about 1/3 more ganache and creme patisserie than cupcakes. I ended up making another half batch of cupcakes to use up the extra. If you don't want to deal with this, you may want to halve or do 2/3 recipes of the former.

ALSO, I would definitely serve these chilled. You can see from the pictures (above: chilled, right: not chilled) that the ones I chilled have a much smoother texture and the creme patisserie is firm enough to hold up without the tops sliding off (which they will definitely try to do). If you are making them for an event, definitely make them ahead and let them sit in the fridge for an hour or so.

Adapted from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes.