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!

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

Mini Pumpkin Cupcakes

Mini Pumpkin Cupcakes

My mom makes these amazing pumpkin cookies, and this was my attempt to replicate them as cupcakes. I decided to do mini cupcakes on the grounds that that would get the cupcake/icing ratio closer to the ratio of the cookies. I also used a few more spices in the cupcakes themselves, but I don't think that hurt anything. The soft crumbly texture of the cupcakes goes great with the crunch of pecans, and the brown sugar icing provides moisture and some extra sweetness.

Cupcakes:

2 cups cake flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp cloves

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/4 tsp cardamom

1/2 cup buttermilk

vanilla

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

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1/3 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 1/3 cup pumpkin

1 bag (12 oz) pecans

Preheat oven to 350 F.

In a bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and spices. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars. Add eggs, one a time. Stir in half the flour mixture, then the buttermilk and vanilla. Add the rest of the flour. Fold in the pumpkin, then the pecans, stirring by hand.

Spoon the batter into mini cupcake tin. Fill cups most of the way full. Bake for 10 minutes, turn, bake for 10 minutes.

Let cool.

Makes 48.

Brown Sugar Icing:

1 cup brown sugar, packed

6 tbsp butter

8 tbsp milk

1 1/2 cups xxx sugar

vanilla

In a saucepan over medium heat, bring sugar, butter, and milk to a boil, stirring frequently to avoid burning. After 2 minutes of boiling, remove from heat and whisk in the xxx sugar and the vanilla.

Use immediately, spooning generously over each cupcake.

Decorate as desired.

Cupcake recipe adapted from The Baking Robot

Icing recipe by my mother

Apple Pie Cupcakes

Apple Pie Cupcakes

My dad's birthday is on Monday, and he loves apple pie. I decided to try and make something that would blend the greatness of my mom's apple pie with my own cupcake project. I'm really excited about this recipe: it's the first one I've made where the inspiration didn't really come from anybody else's blog. This is all me.

Cupcakes:

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

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

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 tbsp vanilla

1 1/4 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Sift together flour, baking powder, and baking sugar.

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla. Alternate sour cream and flour mixture. Be careful not to over mix.

Fill cupcake tins about 2/3 full.

Bake 10 minutes, turn, bake 10 minutes.

Let cool.

Makes 24.

Filling:

3 large granny smith or other tart apples, cut into small pieces

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp cinnamon

Dash of vanilla

Cook the apples, sugar, butter, and cinnamon in a saucepan over medium heat until the apples are soft enough to give way to a fork. The mixture will be pretty mushy at this point, but not to applesauce proportions. Add the vanilla and let cool.

Pie Crust Toppers:

1 pie crust (recipe to follow)

cinnamon

sugar

[pie crust recipe:

4 cup flour

1 tbsp sugar

1 3/4 cup lard or butter

1 egg

1 tbsp white vinegar

1/2 cup ice water

Mix together flour and sugar. Use the lard into the dries using a pastry cutter or two knives, until it forms a crumb texture. Mix the egg and vinegar in with a spoon, then add just enough water for the crust to form a ball when you knead it. Be careful not to over knead. Let the dough chill in the fridge at least four hours; freeze any unused portion.

Makes 4 crusts]

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Using a round cookie cutter, cut out 24 small pie crusts. I made a few through lattice, but that's time-consuming and takes a lot of crust -- if you go that route, you may need two pie crusts instead of one.

Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper and place the cut-out little crusts on the paper.

Spray the crusts with cooking spray,

then sprinkle generously with cinnamon and sugar.

Bake for about 8-10 minutes. You can tell when the crusts are finished because they will feel firm, rather than yielding, when you touch them with your fingertips. For thinner crusts you will need to bake less time, for thicker crusts more.

Remove crusts from oven and let cool.

To combine:

Slice the tops off the cupcakes to level them, using a serrated knife.

Spoon a generous helping of the apple mixture onto each cupcake, then top with one of the crusts.

Before serving, warm the cupcakes for a few minutes in the oven or microwave.

Enjoy!

Cupcake recipe adapted from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes

Piecrust recipe from my mom.

Apple pie mixture by me.

Caramel Apple Cupcakes

Caramel Apple Cupcakes

These cupcakes are SO GOOD. I had no idea they were going to be so delicious and I was completely blown away. That said, summer is not the best time to make them, because they melt in the heat.

Cupcakes:

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp almond extract

3/4 cup cake flour

5/8 (about 2/3) cup flour

1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened and cuber

2 eggs

1/2 granny smith apple, cut into small pieces

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Stir together milk and almond extract.

In a mixing bowl, sift together flours, sugar, bp, and spices. At in cubed butter a little at a time, mixing on low speed, until the batter looks sandy in texture.

Add eggs, then milk mixture. Mix until combined. Add apple pieces.

Fill cupcake tins 2/3 of the way full. Bake for 10 minutes, turn, bake 12 minutes. The cupcakes will be brown around the edges. Remove from oven and let cool completely.

Makes 18.

Cinnamon Frosting:

1 stick butter, room temperature

3 cups powdered sugar

3 tbsp cream or whole milk

1 tsp cinnamon

green food coloring, if desired

Beat butter until soft and fluffy. Sift in powdered sugar and cinnamon, then add cream. Beat until frosting reaches the correct consistency for piping. Add one or two drops of food color.

Caramel coating:

1 bag unwrapped caramel pieces

2 tsp cream or milk

Melt the caramel and milk together. If you do this in the microwave, be careful to do it in small increments and with lots of stirring to prevent the caramel from burning. It may take a while for the ingredients to combine fully. Let the mixture cool for a little while.

When the cupcakes are cool, pipe a spiral of frosting on top of each. Dip the frosted cupcakes upside down into the caramel. You need to do this somewhat quickly, especially if the caramel is still warm, or it will melt the icing. Let some of the excess caramel drip off if possible.

As soon as the cupcakes are coated, move them to freezer and let them sit for a while so the caramel can sit. The milk will keep it from becoming crunchy, but it will firm up enough to look really good. In this weather, they will melt almost immediately, so keep them in the fridge or freezer until you are ready to serve them.

Warning: these cupcakes are super messy!

Adapted from The Baking Robot.

Black Walnut Cupcakes

Black Walnut Cupcakes

This week I'm traveling! I had to borrow a friend's kitchen, and I'm always a little out of my depth when I'm not in my own baking stuff. So I picked a really easy recipe (one bowl) that can be topped with an ice cream of your preferred flavor.

Cupcakes:

1/3 cup shortening

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar, packed

2 eggs

1 1/2 cup cake flour (or regular flour, sifted three times)

2/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp nutmeg

3/4 cup buttermilk

3/4 cup walnuts

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Cream shortening and sugars until fluffy. Beat in eggs one by one. Sift together flour, baking soda, and nutmeg in a bowl, then add to batter alternating with buttermilk. Add in walnuts and vanilla.

Fill cupcake tins about 3/4 full. Bake for 15 minutes, turn, bake for 15 minutes. 

Makes 14.

While cupcakes are still warm, remove from wrappers and top with a scoop of ice cream (I used cookie dough at the request of a housemate). The subtle crunch of the walnuts contrasting with the fluffy cupcakes is a great texture, and the ice cream kind of gets everything soggy in a delicious way.

Adapted from Cooks.com.