Strawberry-Filled Cupcakes with Lime Cream Cheese Frosting

Here is the final piece of the Mexican-themed meal! I’m obviously obsessed with dessert so I couldn’t have a meal without it. I debated trying to make some sort of traditional Mexican dessert but decided against it in favor of some cupcakes in hopes that my family would be more likely to eat them quickly!

I decided on these strawberry-filled cupcakes with lime cream cheese frosting to go with the strawberry margaritas.  Feel free to compliment me on how well-planned and clever that was J

For the cupcakes, I just used my standard boxed cake mix with a can of diet soda. I know there are probably a bunch of people who haven’t warmed up to that idea yet. I generally only use it for cupcakes that are filled with something. I figure, if I’m going to be scooping out half of the cupcake anyway, there’s really no point in making something so labor intensive.

The frosting is the real focus here. The combination of cream cheese and lime reminded me of key lime pie. It was creamy and rich with a little bit of a tart bite. The only thing that I might try to do differently is play with the amount of sugar to change the consistency.  It was slightly runny, like almost somewhere between a buttercream and a glaze, so it had to be spread onto the cupcakes rather than piped. This was fine for these cupcakes because a little goes a long way but I’d be interested to see what a thicker frosting would taste like.

Make these, drink the matching margaritas, and be merry!

Strawberry-Filled Cupcakes with Lime Cream Cheese Frosting (16 cupcakes)

·         1 box yellow cake mix

·         1 can diet lemon-lime soda

·         1 pint fresh strawberries

·         1 Tbsp sugar

For the frosting

·         4 oz cream cheese

·         2 ½ Tbsp butter

·         2 ¼ cups powdered sugar

·         1 tsp vanilla

·         1 Tbsp lime juice

·         Zest of one lime

1.       Preheat the oven to the temperature indicated on the cake box. Line muffin tin with cupcake liners.
2.       For the filling: Finely chop the pint of strawberries. Place in a bowl and mix with the sugar.
3.       For the frosting:  In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the cream cheese and butter until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the vanilla, lime juice, and lime zest. Add in the sugar ½ cup at a time and mix until smooth.
4.       Mix the cake mix and the can of soda together until the batter is smooth. Fill cupcake liners ¾ full. Bake as directed.
5.       Allow the cupcakes to cool completely. Cut out the center of the cupcakes and reserve the middles in a separate bowl.
6.       Fill the cupcakes with the diced strawberries. Cover with a small amount of the reserved cupcake.
7.       Frost the cupcakes.
8.       Chill until ready to serve.

it's like a margarita... in a cupcake!

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes

Happy Earth Day!

I love "holidays" because they are an excuse to bake themed goodies. My friend, Michelle, and I decided to get together to bake some earthy cupcakes and drink fruity beverages. We decided on cookies and cream cupcakes and peach bellinis. YUM!

made with $5 Andre champagne and peach Bacardi with frozen blueberries for ice :)

The cupcakes are great for several reasons. The bottom is half of an Oreo cookie, cream side up. The cake portion is a dense vanilla cake with HUGE chunks of Oreo. I'm glad that I decided to go with chunks instead of crushing the Oreos because it gave the cupcake a nice texture. Oh, and the cream cheese frosting. No explanation necessary.

We decorated them with crushed Oreos to look like dirt and stuck some gummy worms on top. We also tried to make flowers on some with Skittles. Not quite as cute as we had envisioned but juuuuust as tasty. 

The only issue with this cupcakes is that we overcooked them a bit. We took them out and noticed that they were a little gooey on top so we decided to throw them back in the oven for a couple minutes. When we took them out and let them cool, the tops and sides were a little hard. That's when we realized that the gooey-ness was probably due to the cream in the Oreos melting. So don't be fooled by the sneaky goo! They still tasted delicious, just not as moist as they could have been.

Cookies and cream is always a crowd pleaser with kids and adults. And the surprise Oreo bottom takes the cupcakes to a whole new level. Making these for someone with a serious cookies and cream addiction? Serve it with a scoop of cookies and cream ice cream for a decadent overdose :)

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes (24 cupcakes) from Beantown Baker

For the cupcakes

• 1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups flour, plus 2 Tbsp for the Oreo chunks
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 2/3 cup sugar
• 3 large egg whites, at room temperature
• 1 pkg Oreo cookies

For the frosting

• 4 oz cream cheese at room temp
• 1/2 stick (4 Tbsp) butter at room temp
• 1/2 Tbsp vanilla
• 2 cups powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Insert liners into a medium cupcake pan.
2. Twist apart 24 Oreos. Place the wafer with filling on it, filling side up, in the bottom of each paper liner.
3. Cut the remaining Oreo cookies into quarters with a sharp knife. Toss with 2 Tbsp flour and set aside.
4. In a large bowl cream the butter until fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Add the milk and vanilla and mix to combine.
5. In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
6. Add the dry ingredients to butter mixture. Mix until integrated. Stir in sugar. With an electric mixer on low speed, beat for 30 seconds. Turn the mixer up to medium speed and beat for 2 minutes. Add the egg whites. Beat for 2 more minutes. Stir in the quartered cookies.
7. Fill the cupcake lines three-quarters full. Bake for about 20 minutes (maybe even 18) or until a toothpick inserted in the center of cupcakes comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in the pan.
8. While the cupcakes are cooling, make the frosting. Place the cream cheese in the bowl of your mixer. Beat on medium-high until completely smooth, 3-4 minutes. Add the butter and continue to cream until fluffy. Add vanilla extract. Add powdered sugar 1/4 cup at a time until desired consistency is reached.
9. Frost the cupcakes. For dirt cupcakes, garnish with crushed Oreos and gummy worms. For regular cupcakes, garnish with crushed Oreos and half of an Oreo.

Oreo bottoms

flour coated Oreos

unbaked

baked

Happy Earth Day!

Soda Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

I can already tell that this is going to be my "go to" cupcake recipe. It's a very simple recipe in terms of baking and flavor. It is perfect for occasions when you want the decorative value of the cupcakes to be the focus.

The cake requires only two ingredients: one box of cake mix and one can of soda. Three, if you want to use food coloring. Don't ask me how it works, but it does. And it yields an extremely delicious and moist cake with less work and calories. Who would have thought that you could further simplify a boxed cake mix?!?! I love it! The only thing to keep in mind is that the cake box says it will make 24 cupcakes but this soda method only yields 12.

For the two sets of cupcakes that I have made so far, I chose to use white cake and a diet lemon-lime soda. I definitely plan to experiment with other soda/cake combinations. White cake with grape soda or raspberry soda. Vanilla cake with root beer, coke, or orange soda. Chocolate cake with cream soda. Strawberry cake with pineapple or cream soda.  

The frosting is homemade. I tried several different recipes for a vanilla buttercream and I finally decided that this one was a keeper based on my own palate and the feedback from others. Every time I make cupcakes with this frosting, people tell me that it's absolutely delicious and ask me for the recipe. I think it's the perfect texture (sort of light and fluffy but thick enough to hold up when piped on to a cupcake) and a wonderful balance of flavors (it's very sugary but you can still taste the butter and vanilla).

As for the decorations, my sister had been talking about these rainbow cupcakes for weeks so I decided to make them for her birthday. I also think they were very fitting for St. Patrick's Day. Rainbows and pots of gold and leprechauns, ya know. Plus I put shamrock sprinkles on them, which makes any baked good festive! I included the technique for making the layers in the recipe. It's pretty tedious but the result is totally worth it.

Ken being a spoiled birthday girl :)

The second cupcakes I made were for The Hunger Games movie. I dyed half of the batter orange and half red and then swirled them. Then I dyed the frosting orange and topped with some red sugar sprinkles. I was channeling both Peeta, the baker, and Katniss, the girl on fire.

You should make these and go CrAzY decorating :)

Rainbow Soda Cupcakes (12 cupcakes) adapted from Budget Bytes and Baked Bree

For the cupcakes

·         White cupcake liners

·         1 box of white cake mix

·         12 oz can of diet lemon-lime soda

·         Food color

For the frosting

• 3 cups of confectioner’s sugar
• 1 cup (2 sticks) of butter
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
• 1-2 tablespoons of whipping cream/half and half/milk

Garnish

• Sprinkles

1.       Preheat your oven according to the directions on the cake mix box. In a large bowl, mix the contents of the box of cake mix and 12 oz. of soda.

2.       Divide the cake mix as equally as possible into 6 small bowls.

3.       Dye each bowl of batter a different color of the rainbow.

•  To make purple: 9 red and 6 blue drops
• To make blue: 12 drops
• To make green: 12 drops
• To make yellow: 12 drops
• To make orange: 12 yellow and 4 red drops
• To make red: 18 drops

4.       Starting with the purple, put about ½ to ¾ of a tablespoon at the bottom of each cupcake liner. Use your finger to completely spread the batter over the bottom of the cupcake liner. Continue with the rest of the colors in rainbow order. Make sure to spread each layer all the way to the sides of the cupcake liner and push the batter into the liner without mixing layers. This is relatively tedious but it will ensure that you will see all of the colored layers when looking at the cupcakes.

5.       Bake according to the directions on the box.

6.       For the frosting: In a standing mixer or in a bowl with a hand mixer, cream the butter. Mix in the powdered sugar ½ cup at a time. Mix on medium speed until well blended. Add vanilla and cream and continue to beat on medium speed for 1 minute more, adding more cream if needed for spreading consistency.

7.       When the cupcakes are completely cooled, pipe or spread on the frosting.

all of the ingredients. can you believe it?!?

gorgeous

look at those layers!!!

these would be the treat at the end of my Irish rainbow :)

magical remnants of a rainbow cupcake that has been devoured!

fire cupcake batter

girl on fire cupcakes and mockingjays :)

Andes Cupcakes

 Another green-ish dessert for St. Patrick's Day!  I'm thinking of starting an official petition to make St. Patrick's Day a "holiday season" like Christmas. This could be huge.

Andes mints make me think of my great-grandfather. He always had them on his coffee table in his living room. I spent countless days munching on Andes, eating corn chowder, and sipping ginger beer on his front porch.

So these cupcakes are dedicated to him.  Love you and miss you Curt :)

In general, I'm not a huge fan of mint in my desserts. It belongs in toothpaste and gum. It does not belong in my desserts messing with my chocolate. I think that's because the mint in candy, like York Patties or Junior Mints, is just way too strong. Andes is the only candy that I think got it right. Also, it's the one that's green rather than white. Green mint desserts are the only ones that are acceptable. Period.

However, I realize that I'm in the minority here. My whole family loves mint flavored desserts. Especially mint chocolate chip ice cream (the green kind... obviously). Because it's such a popular flavor combination, I knew that I needed to be able to make some minty recipes for them. And I wanted to provide something delicious for any mint-lovers who read my blog :)

The mint in this recipe isn't too overpowering because it is in the frosting and ganache but not in the cake.  The cream cheese and butter in the frosting really mutes the mint flavor so it is refreshing but not overpowering.

If you like mint, you'll probably love these. Plus, look how pretty they are! If you want more of a green color, put green food coloring in the frosting. I just really wanted to use a lot of green sprinkles!

Andes Cupcakes (24 cupcakes) adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

Cupcakes: 

• 2 cups sugar
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup HERSHEY’S Cocoa
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water

Chocolate Mint Filling:

• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 3 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
• 1/3 cup powdered sugar

Mint Buttercream:

• 1 cup (2 sticks, 16 tablespoons) butter, softened to room temperature
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
• 32 ounces powdered sugar (about 7 cups)
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoons peppermint extract
• 24 Andes mints for garnish

1.       For the cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350°F. Line muffin cups with paper baking cups. In a large bowl, stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Using a handheld electric mixer or an electric stand mixer, beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water. The batter will be VERY thin (Don't fret, it works out fine somehow). Fill the muffin cups 2/3 full and bake for 18-20 minutes. Let the cupcakes cool completely on a wire rack, after removing them from the muffin tin.

2.       For the mint filling: While the cupcakes are baking, place the chocolate chips and heavy cream in a small microwave-safe bowl and heat for 1 minute at 50% power. Stir. Repeat the process until the mixture is smooth. Stir in the peppermint extract and powdered sugar, whisking until smooth. Let the mixture cool to room temperature (but don’t let it get too stiff) and pour it into a piping bag.

3.       When the cupcakes are cool, insert the tip of the piping bag into the center of the cupcake and press gently to fill the middle of the cupcake with the mint ganache.

4.       For the frosting, in a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar and mix until smooth. Add the heavy cream and peppermint and vanilla extracts. Beat until light and fluffy.

5.      Frost the cooled, filled cupcakes. Garnish with an unwrapped Andes mint. 

see how thin the batter is? strange...

baked cupcakes

ganache

filling the cupcakes with ganache

me trying to be a piping pro.

frosted!

final product :)

 

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

Happy March, everyone!

I love St. Patrick's Day. I love four leaf clovers. And dark beer. And Bailey's. And green. And corned beef. And potatoes. And drinking. And eating. A lot.

I just love it.

So I've decided that this month will be completely dedicated to St. Patrick's Day. All of the recipes that I post during March will be St. Patty's Day themed.

GET. EXCITED. Because I'm already there.

I didn't actually make this first recipe. My friend had the idea to make them so I found her the recipe, she made them, and we ate them. But she gave me permission to blog about it.

I love that these sort of taste AND look like an Irish car bomb shot. It doesn't have any whiskey in it but that's fine by me because whiskey is the one alcoholic beverage that I just cannot stomach. The cake has a really dark and rich flavor from the Guinness. The frosting has a strong Bailey's flavor and a lot of sweetness to counteract the slight bitterness of the cake.

And here's a funny Irish car bomb story: On my 21st birthday, I went out with my whole family. I had always wanted to try an Irish car bomb but the bar I worked at didn't have Jameson so I couldn't. So after about 4 hours of drinking a deadly combination of liquor, I decided to order one. I dropped the Bailey's/Jameson shot into the Guinness. It curdled immediately and, as I took the first sip, I decided that my stomach couldn't handle it. My mother sauntered over and casually goes "Oh, stop. These are delicious." She proceeded to chug the 16 ounce glass in about two seconds.

I was put to shame by my mother on my 21st birthday. I guess there's no question as to where I got my love for adult beverages.

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes (inspired by Sweet Pea's Kitchen)

For the Cupcakes:

• 1 cup Guinness
• 16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 2 large eggs
• 2/3 cup sour cream

For the Bailey’s Buttercream Frosting:

• 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
• 6 tablespoons Bailey’s Irish cream

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan with paper liners.
2. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine Guinness and butter. Add the cocoa and whisk until smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
3. In a large mixing bow, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt; set aside.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the eggs and sour cream until combined.
5. Add Guinness mixture and beat to combine. Mix in dry ingredients on low speed until incorporated.
6. Fill the cupcake liners about 2/3 full. Bake for 15-17 minutes. Cool completely on wire rack.
7. For the frosting: In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until it is light and fluffy. Add the sugar 1/2 cup at a time. Add the Bailey's one tablespoon at a time. Beat until smooth and creamy. 
8. When the cupcakes are completely cooled, pipe on the frosting. 

perfect portions

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Cupcakes

Happy Valentine's Day! I have a delicious dessert recipe and some thoughts/advice to share.

As mentioned in my last post, I'm newly single for the first time in forever so obviously Valentine's Day isn't the most fun this year. No flowers or chocolate or cards or dinner dates. Ok, so I've had some chocolate. That I gifted to myself.

Last night I was talking to my mom about being in sort of a weird spot in my life. I chose to go to grad school right after undergrad in order to get it out of the way and up my chances of finding a full-time teaching job asap. This has resulted in me living in a overpriced apartment by myself in a town where I don't know anyone while working close to full-time as a substitute teacher and taking 18 credits this semester. Sounds like a blast, right? Not always, but I try to make the best of it by keeping up with the blog and staying busy. Needless to say, it gets a little lonely sometimes. As for the breakup, it's left me feeling pretty exhausted, insecure, lost, bitter, and all kinds of angry. So as I was explaining this to my mom, she gave me some advice - all of it is great, some is warm and fuzzy, and some is just straight up tough love.

#1 - "Quit recycling ex-boyfriends. You broke up with them for a reason and you're not going to change them. Let it go and move on already. Until you stop making the same mistakes over and over, I'm not going to feel bad for you." I have a bad habit of doing this. I go back to what I know and expect that it will be better the second, third, or twentieth time. It never is. I also have a problem letting go. I over-analyze every single second of the relationship and try to figure out where things went wrong and what I should have done different. Life is not a math problem so I should probably stop treating it like one. And, as my mother so delicately pointed out, the analysis isn't working because I keep doing the same things over and over and over and over and expecting them to turn out differently. According to Einstein, that's the definition of insanity so I should probably change that. Starting today :)

#2 - "You can't expect a man to appreciate how hard you work toward your goals if they themselves are unmotivated." This might be the best advice that I have ever been given and I don't know why I didn't think of it myself. You can't expect someone to appreciate a quality that you have if they don't value that quality, in general. I've always wanted a guy that recognizes and appreciates how hard I work to obtain the things that I want. But if I keep choosing guys without a similar drive, they aren't going to care about how hard I work because they don't understand the situation. I don't want to have to request appreciation from someone. I have too much pride for that mess.

#3 - "The people who matter and love you think you're wonderful so who cares what anyone else thinks?" Typical mom advice but it's true. My family and close friends are very supportive and proud of my accomplishments. And that means the world to me.

#4 - "Stop complaining and do something about it. No one is going to approach you if you're mean and angry. You're too young to be this bitter." Tough love. Honestly, if I were a guy, I would not come within 100 yards of me. I'm super angry and I have a habit of taking that anger out on anyone that is of the male gender. I guess I can't expect to receive good things with a bad attitude. One of my New Year's resolutions was to be more positive and I've been doing a pretty good job in terms of work, school, and daily life but I'm having a hard time transferring it over to my love life. I'll work on it. No one wants to be friends with, and definitely not date, an angry biotch.

#5 - "The fact that you're letting a man determine your self-worth is stupid." Blunt and to the point. Especially considering the fact that it's a person that is no long a part of my life. So eff that, I'm awesome. You have to believe that yourself before anyone else can see it.

So there's my two cents for the day. Now you know you know everything that's running through my head right this very second.  Except....

CUPCAKES! Now I can share these!  They were absolutely wonderful. As you know, chocolate and peanut butter is, hands down, my favorite flavor combination. And this is a chocolate cupcake stuffed with a peanut butter filling and topped with a peanut butter frosting.  Heaven.

I chose to use boxed chocolate cake. I scooped the majority of the cupcake out in order to make room for the filling anyway so who cares? Not I. I try not to make life harder for myself. The filling is very rich and makes the cupcakes feel like they weigh a pound. I love the crunch that the pretzels add to the filling. Next time I might even use chunky peanut butter for more texture.

The frosting is a fluffy peanut butter frosting. It's light and has a very subtle peanut butter flavor so it's not overwhelming with everything else that's going on in this dessert. I dyed the frosting pink in anticipation of using this recipe as a Valentine's Day post :)

I topped the cupcake with a super cute and easy chocolate peanut butter pretzel garnish.  You just lay some pretzels on a baking sheet and put a Hershey's hug/kiss on each one. Pop them in the oven at 350 for about a minute (I left mine in for about two minutes which is why they look a little melty-er than they should). Then take them out and put an M&M in the middle of the melty chocolate. For this I used, traditional pretzels, Hershey's hugs, and Valentine's Day peanut Butter M&Ms. I put one on each cupcake and put the rest in a container for people to snack on.  These, in and of themselves, are a great sweet treat and can be thrown together really quickly but still have a very nice presentation.

You should make these. Make them for the people you love. Whether that's your boyfriend, your family, your friends, or just yourself.  Or bake them to show your exes that, in addition to all of your other endearing qualities that make you a total catch, you're a whiz in the kitchen. And they can have fun eating the Little Debbie snacks that their mommies buy them :)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Cupcakes (makes 18 cupcakes)

For the cupcakes

·         your favorite chocolate cake mix

For the filling

·         1 cup peanut butter

·         1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

·         1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

·         2 cups confectioner’s sugar

·         2 large chocolate covered pretzels, crushed, enough for a 1/2 cup of crushed pretzel

For the frosting

·         1/2 cup butter, softened

• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 3 tablespoons milk, or as needed
• 1 ½ - 2 cups confectioners' sugar

For the pretzel garnish

·         18 pretzels

·         18 Hersey’s hugs

·         18 peanut butter M&Ms (I used about 36… one for the pretzels, one for my mouth…)

1. Bake the cupcakes as directed on the box.  Allow the cupcakes to cool completely.
2. As the cupcakes are cooling, make the filling.  Melt the peanut butter and butter in a sausage pan, stirring constantly. Remove the peanut butter mixture from heat and mix in the confectioner’s sugar and vanilla extract. Add the pretzels and mix together until it becomes an even mixture.
3. When the cupcakes are completely cooled, use a knife to hollow out the middle of the cupcakes (I cut a pretty big hole because the recipe makes a lot of filling and I looooooooove peanut butter). Save the cake in a separate bowl.
4. Fill the cupcakes with the peanut butter pretzel filling. Cover the top of the filling with a small amount of the reserved cake.
5. For the frosting: Place the butter and peanut butter into a medium bowl, and beat with an electric mixer. Gradually mix in the sugar, and when it starts to get thick, incorporate milk one tablespoon at a time until all of the sugar is mixed in and the frosting is thick and spreadable. Beat for at least 3 minutes for it to get good and fluffy.
6. Frost the cupcakes (generously!).
7. For the garnish: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lay out 18 pretzels on a baking sheet. Place one unwrapped Hershey’s hug on each pretzel. Put in the oven for about 1 minute (or until starting to melt). Take out of the oven and immediately put one peanut butter M&M in the center of each Hershey’s hug.
8. Place one pretzel garnish on each cupcake. 

best. frosting. ever.

finished product :)

I made my mom's boyfriend stop eating mid-cupcake to take a picture of the filling.

My beautiful little sister. Eating her second cupcake. She's the best. 

Oh and this is me. Making myself a personal Valentine's Day treat. SANGRIA!