Tag Archives: fun dessert

Key Lime Cupcakes

Posted on May 10, 2013 by easybaked

These cupcakes are filled with a sweet key lime filling and topped with key lime buttercream…what could be better than that? Oh, how about a graham cracker crust on the bottom of the cupcake? This dessert is as close to key lime pie as you can get…without it being a pie!

INGREDIENTS:

Filling:

1 c. key lime juice (a labor of love….!)
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
1 egg

Cupcakes:

2 cups of graham crackers (finely crushed)
3 Tablespoons of butter (melted)
1 boxed yellow cake mix (plus water, oil and eggs to make according to package)

Frosting:

2 sticks (8 oz) salted butter (at room temp)
2 sticks (8 oz) unsalted butter (at room temp)
3 cups of powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 Tablespoons of key lime juice

DIRECTIONS:

Filling:

Mix together key lime juice, sweetened condensed milk and egg and pour into a small casserole.
Bake at 325F degrees for 15-20 minutes (until center is set)
Cool completely.

Cupcakes:

Mix crushed graham crackers with melted butter.
Spoon about 1 teaspoon of this mixture into 24 cupcake liners in muffin tins (you’ll have a little left to garnish with at the end)
Press crumbs firmly into bottom of cup (I find my Mini Tart Shaper to be very useful for this)
Make cake mix according to box, and divide batter equally between the 24 cupcake liners.
Bake according to directions on box
Remove from oven and cool completely.
Core cupcakes (I love my Cupcake Plunger- it is so quick to use and saves the core to place back on top of the filling- to see a picture of how it works, click here).
Spoon cooled filling into a zip top bag and clip a corner off.

Pipe filling evenly into each cupcake, saving about 1/4 of a cup of filling to drizzle on the top at the end.
Place top of core back in place (you can trim some of the bottom off to make room for the filling if you need to)

Frosting:

Place butter, powdered sugar, vanilla and 2 Tablespoons of key lime juice into a large bowl.
Using a mixer, beat on high until light and fluffy.
Pipe frosting on top of cupcakes and drizzle remaining filling on top.
Sprinkle with remaining graham crust crumbs and ENJOY!!!!

My thoughts: I created these for a graduation party. The challenge was to create a key lime cupcake for someone who LOVES key lime pie. Key lime pie is one of my favorite desserts, so it was a fun task. These were a big hit. I love the balance between the tart center and the sweet cupcake and frosting.

It’s spring~ you NEED a key lime cupcake!!!

Cream-filled Doughnut Cupcakes

Posted on April 11, 2013 by easybaked

These cream-filled, chocolate glazed, doughnut-flavored cupcakes combine two favorites into one incredible dessert! Use a fun mini-doughnut pan to make adorable decorations to top these yummy cupcakes!

Ingredients: (makes 16- 18 cupcakes)

Cupcakes:

1/2 c. butter, softened
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar (packed)
2 t. vanilla
2 eggs
2 1/3 c. flour
2 1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 c. milk

Cream filling:

1 stick (4 oz) butter
3/4 c. powdered sugar
1 t. vanilla

Chocolate glaze:

1 c. dark chocolate chips
6 T. butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F degrees
In a large mixing bowl, combine butter, both sugars and vanilla. Beat on medium until combined.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating in between.
In a medium bowl combine flour, powder, soda and salt and blend.
Add flour mixture and milk, alternating between the two and beating well in between.
When batter is complete, scoop about 1 c. of batter into a large zip-top bag.
Clip corner and pipe into a Wilton Mini Doughnut Pan- fill each doughnut opening a little less than 1/2 full.
Bake mini doughnuts for about 5-6 minutes and cool on a rack.
Decorate them as desired (cinnamon, powdered sugar…I used a simple powdered sugar/milk glaze with food coloring and sprinkles)
Scoop remaining batter into cupcake liners in a cupcake tin, filling them about 2/3 full.
Bake at 350F degrees for about 18-20 minutes (test them when they come out, the centers took a little time to bake all through)
Cool cupcakes and core them (I use a Cupcake Plunger so that I have nice little circles to set back on top of the filling when I’m done.)
Make filling: Place butter, powdered sugar and vanilla in a medium mixing bowl and beat on high until light and fluffy.
Place filling in a zip top bag and pipe evenly into each cupcake. Place the cut-out top of the cupcake back on.
Make glaze by melting the chocolate chips and butter together in the microwave in 30 second increments stirring until smooth and shiny.
Cool just a little (so its easy to handle) and spoon or pipe onto top of each cupcake.
Before the glaze hardens, place a mini doughnut on top for decoration…so much fun!!!!!
Enjoy!

My thoughts: These cupcakes are a little work with the filling and the topping (and notice, dear fans, that I did NOT use a cake mix for these!!) The extra effort really pays off in how good these cupcakes are. Oh my. Like doughnuts in cupcake form…perfect! Enjoy!!! ~r

Try some of Easybaked’s other cupcake ideas. Click on an image to get the recipe:

23 Comments

Posted in Cupcakes and tagged baking, cake doughnuts, chocolate glaze, cupcakes, dessert, doughnut cupcakes, doughnuts, fun dessert, kids party ideas, unique baking ideas. Bookmark the permalink.

Rainbow Cake Roll

Posted on March 7, 2013 by easybaked

Fun rainbow-colored cake swirled with rich buttercream- a perfect St. Patrick’s Day treat!

~~I had so much fun making this cake~~ this cake was torture.

I love cake rolls like crazy, but I could not find a recipe that tasted good AND didn’t crack terribly when rolled up. I tried 4 recipes and finally settled on plain old cake mix again– it still cracked, but tasted soooo yummy and it was definitely the easiest.

I hesitated to post this, as it is essentially a recipe experiment *fail*, but then I thought it would be a good chance to ask all of YOU if you have a fail-safe vanilla cake roll recipe…? I love the technique and the colors- I just need a good recipe.

For now, we will go with the cake mix version~

Things to keep in mind if you want to try this recipe:

1. Use my buttercream recipe. When it is refrigerated it gets nice and hard, cementing your happy little cracked roll together and holding it together even at room temperature.

2. Set aside several hours and take your time.

3. Use color gels. You will not get the vibrant colors with liquid color.

Honestly, people loved this cake. Once it is cut you can barely tell it cracked. I made this one for my friend Dawn’s birthday and it was such a fun and cheery cake. She only likes white cake with vanilla frosting…this is a great way to spice up that combination with color!

Here we go:

INGREDIENTS:

1 boxed white cake mix (with oil, water and eggs according to box)
Gel icing colors (I use Wilton Brand gels)
2 sticks (8 oz) butter
1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
3. t. clear vanilla flavoring
Cool Whip Topping and sprinkles for garnish.

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350F degrees
Make boxed cake mix, but add just a little less oil and water. My Pillsbury mix called for 1 cup of water and 1/3 cup of oil. I used 3/4 c. water and 1/4 c. oil instead. I used the same # of eggs (3)
Scoop about 3/4 c. of mix into 6 or 7 small bowls and color as desired.

Cover the bottom of a standard jellyroll pan (mine is about 12″ by 17″, and about 1″ deep) with waxed paper- allowing the paper to extend just a bit over each end.
Lightly spray with non-stick cooking spray.
Spoon each color of batter into a small ziptop bag and gently pipe colors into pan in stripes. Just settle in and take your time here. This is a labor of love. Use paper towel to wipe up drips and remember that you are piping a THIN layer of cake– you don’t want to make it so thick you run out before you get to the end of the pan. Patience is the key…believe me, I’ve done this 4 times now with different cake recipes and it just takes time.

(It also involves a lot of dishes…pretty, colorful, messy dishes.)

Bake your cake at 350F degrees for 12-15 minutes– check often- you can’t roll a crunchy over-baked cake!
Remove from oven and place a clean towel that has been sprinkled with powdered sugar over the roll. Tip the pan over onto the towel and peel away the wax paper.
Gently roll cake up in towel from one short end to the other.

Refrigerate for one hour.
While cake is cooling, make buttercream icing.
Put softened butter, powdered sugar and vanilla in a large mixing bowl and beat on high until light and fluffy.
When cake is cooled, gently unroll (here is where the cracking happens…be gentle and patient)
VERY carefully, spread buttercream over entire surface of the cake and re-roll. I had cracks that went the entire length of the cake and still just gently rolled it together, letting the buttercream hold it together.

Gently place on a plate and refrigerate until buttercream hardens.
Once cake roll has hardened it can be easily moved and cut. Top it with whipped cream and sprinkles– that helps to hide some of the cracks

Not perfect, but so much fun!

My thoughts: I feel a little guilty publishing this on a site called EASYbaked, but I couldn’t resist. I would make it again- it just makes me smile. I hope a few of you brave souls will attempt this and enjoy it as much as I did! Please– if you have a good vanilla cake roll recipe I’d love to hear about it. You can link to your recipe if it is on a blog, or post the recipe in the comments or in-box message me on the Easybaked Facebook page. I’m excited to find a way to make this cake “perfect”

Happy Birthday Dawn!

Other happy rainbow desserts you might like for St. Patricks Day:

23 Comments

Posted in Cakes and tagged baking, birthday cake, buttercream frosting, buttercream recipe, cake, cake roll, colorful ideas, dessert, food, fun cake, fun dessert, Rainbow, rainbow cake, rainbow cake roll, St. Patricks Day, vanilla cake, vanilla frosting. Bookmark the permalink.

Mini Pineapple Upside Down Cakes

Posted on July 5, 2012 by easybaked

A fun twist on the traditional pineapple upside down cake– little mini cakes that are so pretty and fun to serve!

The Mini cheesecake pan is back! I love this Chicago Metallic pan so much!!! I know lots of you have gotten this pan for previous recipes (Cookie cheesecakes and Frozen S’mores) and love it– so here’s another! These little cakes could be made in muffin tins- but in the mini cheesecake pan the bottom comes right out and you can keep your toppings in place and pretty– no sticking to the bottom of the pan. Love it! Here’s the recipe: so easy!

Ingredients:

One boxed white cake mix (plus the oil, water and eggs to make according to box)
2/3c. packed dark brown sugar
1/3c. melted butter
1 (20oz.) can of pineapple chunks
24 maraschino cherries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Place disks in the bottom of your Mini cheesecake pan and spray well with non-stick spray.
Mix together brown sugar and melted butter.
Spoon half of the sugar mixture evenly into the bottom of each cup in the pan (this recipe makes 24 mini cakes, so if you only have one pan you will need to do this in 2 batches).
Place one cherry in the center of each cup.
Break apart pineapple chunks and place around cherry in each cup.
Make cake mix according to box (I used the whole egg method)
Spoon half of batter evenly in each cup over cherry and pineapple.
Place pan on a cookie sheet (important– these will leak a little!!!)
Bake at 350 degrees for about 22-24 minutes.
Allow pan to set and cool.
Gently push up on bottom disk and remove each mini-cake from pan.
Place bottom up on a cake rack and gently remove disk from top (replace any fillings that stick)
Wash your sticky fingers and pan and repeat to make 24 cakes (unless you are lucky enough to have two pans- then you can do them all at once!)
Allow these to cool completely. Once they set they hold together beautifully- they are just a little fragile when they are still warm.

My thoughts: Well, I hate cooked fruit. I have to admit that I didn’t try these. I did, however, enlist many friends and coworkers in the tasting process and got a unanimous thumbs up on them. They are (of course!) more work than just a regular cake. They are sticky and the toppings slide off a bit and I wished I had 2 pans so that I could do them all at once. I’m thinking of getting a second one…. the end result was so cute and so much more fun than just a plain cake though. I really like that everyone gets pineapple and a cherry. Enjoy!!!!!!! -r

11 Comments

Posted in Cakes and tagged baking, cake, cake mix, cherry, creative dessert, dessert, fun dessert, mini cakes, mini cheesecake pan, party cakes, pineapple, pineapple upside down cake. Bookmark the permalink.

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Tag Archives: fun dessert

Key Lime Cupcakes

Cream-filled Doughnut Cupcakes

Rainbow Cake Roll

Mini Pineapple Upside Down Cakes

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Tag Archives: fun dessert

Key Lime Cupcakes

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Cream-filled Doughnut Cupcakes

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Rainbow Cake Roll

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Mini Pineapple Upside Down Cakes

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