Butterscotch Caramel Cheesecake

Posted on November 16, 2012 by Ruthanne

Creamy butterscotch cheesecake and a thick layer of caramel sauce over a gingersnap crust .  A unique combination of delicious seasonal flavors!!!

Are you ready for Thanksgiving?  Have you decided what you’re having for dessert yet–other than the proverbial pumpkin pie?  This cheesecake combines three unique fall flavors- ginger, butterscotch and caramel- and it simply melts in your mouth.  Wow your guests with an Easybaked cheesecake!!

INGREDIENTS:

Crust:

  • One bag (13 oz.) of Archway ginger snaps, finely crushed. (approximately 2 cups)
  • 1/4 c. butter

Cheesecake:

  • 2 (8oz.) packages of Philadelphia Cream Cheese (softened)
  • 1/2c. sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 c. butterscotch chips (melted)
  • 1 c. heavy whipping cream
  • 3 tsp. vanilla

Caramel Topping:

  • 32 Kraft caramels (unwrapped)
  • 1/2c. butter
  • 1 can (14oz.) sweetened condensed milk

DIRECTIONS:

  • Preheat oven to 325 degrees
  • Crush cookies into fine crumbs and add melted butter.  Combine well and press into the bottom of a 9-Inch Springform Pan
  • Beat softened cream cheese with sugar until smooth.
  • Add eggs one at a time, beating in between each one.
  • Add remaining cheesecake ingredients, beating until smooth.
  • Pour into crust and allow to sit at room temp for 30 minutes.
  • Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 60 minutes,
  • Turn off oven, open oven door a little and allow to sit for another 30 minutes.
  • Remove from oven and run knife around edge of pan.  Remove edge of pan. 
  • Allow to come to room temperature (make caramel topping during this time.)
  • Put caramels, condensed milk and margarine into a saucepan and melt over medium heat, stirring constantly until smooth (6-8 minutes)
  • Pour caramel over the top of the cooled cheesecake, spreading to edges.
  • Refrigerate overnight
  • Remove bottom of pan when cheesecake is thoroughly chilled.
  • Before serving, pipe whipped cream around edges of cheesecake if desired and sprinkle with a little cocoa powder.


My thoughts: A flavorful creamy cheesecake.  I love the gingersnap crust– that adds a lot of the fall spice to this.  I ADORE caramel- so there’s a lot of it on this cheesecake.  If you want less, simply halve the recipe and be happy!!  Have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and friends!!!!  Enjoy!  r~

One last yummy bite…..

Other cheesecake recipes from Easybaked that you might enjoy~ click on the image to be taken to the recipe:

Shop Amazon – Black Friday Deals Week

36 Comments

Posted in Cheesecakes and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

A collection of mini cupcakes and a fundraiser for FUSION!

Posted on November 12, 2012 by Ruthanne

This post is a mid-week collection of cupcake recipes and a celebration for my friend Josh who is a missionary in Slovakia.  Those of you who have followed my blog for awhile will remember my lack of recipe posts for several weeks every summer because I travel to Slovakia to work with a mission organization called Josiah Venture.  This organization helps local churches reach teenagers with the message of God’s love for them.  Two of the ways they do this is through English camps (Americans going and teaching English–which is how I’ve been a part) and also through teaching music at camps.  My friend Josh heads up the music portion of this ministry in Slovakia.  After camps, he is able to go into schools and start clubs that teach music theory and also various instruments.  Many of the kids he works with come from really difficult home situations and they call Fusion “family”.

Easybaked was able to come alongside Josh for a fundraiser for Fusion this past weekend.  He hosted a coffeehouse and we helped provide (800!) mini-cupcakes in 8 different flavors.  It was such a great time to hear about what God is doing in Slovakia though Josh and Josiah Venture, and a lot of support was raised to help him in his work.

I rarely stray from simply sharing my recipes here, but I just had to give a shout-out to Josh and his hard work with these teens.  If you’d like to know more about him just click here.  You’ll be taken to his home page with Josiah Venture and also connected with his blog.

Thanks for giving your life here up to serve God far from home Josh!!!!!

Now cupcakes……

800 would have been impossible to do alone I think (how do bakeries manage?!?) So I enlisted 7 friends to help.  We had a training session in making butter cream and piping it and WOW—they did such a great job!!!!

These were our practice cupcakes….which we promptly ate up!

The night of the event we brought all of our unfrosted cupcakes to the venue and piped and decorated there– it ended up being a lot of fun to do them all together:

!

The eight flavors of cupcakes came either directly from the pages of easybaked- or they were inspired by a recipe here.  Since we are racing toward the holiday season, I thought I’d share each of the recipes with you in a unique way– with free printable recipe cards.  That way you can make them and share the recipe with your friends and family!  Fun!!

Click on the photo to be taken directly to the easybaked recipe that inspired the mini-cupcake.  Click on the words “recipe cards” under each photo to get a pdf that you can print and share.

Red Raspberry Minis — recipe card               Andes Mint Minis  — recipe card

Caramel Apple Minis — recipe card       Cinnamon Roll Minis — recipe card

Strawberry Lemonade — recipe card       Bubble Gum Minis– recipe card

Chocolate Ganache Minis–recipe card     Wedding Cake Minis —recipe card

The very last recipe wasn’t inspired by any recipe in particular, so if you click on the photo you will simply get….a photo.  Sorry about that!  My apologies also for the photography ~ my iphone did all of the work on this post 🙂

I hope you enjoy this collection of cupcake recipes and cards~ and thank you for allowing me to share a little bit of my heart with you in this post!  Back soon– in the meantime….enjoy!  ~r

26 Comments

Posted in Cupcakes and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Fall Acorn Cupcakes

Posted on November 8, 2012 by Ruthanne


A rich vegan cupcake recipe topped with vanilla buttercream and a cute little candy acorn.

INGREDIENTS: (makes about 24 cupcakes)

  • 3 cups of flour
  • 2 cups of sugar
  • 1/2 cup of cocoa
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 2 tablespoons of vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 3/4 cups oil
  • 2 c. water

For acorns:

DIRECTIONS:

  • Add dry cupcake ingredients together and mix to remove lumps.
  • Add liquids and mix until smooth
  • Divide equally into cupcake liners in muffin tins.
  • Bake at 350F degrees for 20-25 minutes.
  • Allow cupcakes to cool completely and frost with your favorite buttercream recipe (click here for mine) tinted with fall food coloring.
  • Make acorns by melting candy melts in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring between.  Dip unwrapped hershey kiss in chocolate and attach to bottom of cookie.  Dip butterscotch/peanut butter chip in chocolate and attach to top of cookie.  (Click HERE for more details on making these)
  • When hardened, gently place one acorn on the top of each cupcake.


My thoughts:  Ever since I posted these cute little acorns last fall I’ve wanted to put them on cupcakes!!  This was that day.  The vegan cupcake recipe is SO yummy.  The buttercream frosting isn’t vegan, but you can drizzle your cupcakes with a bit of powdered sugar glaze to keep them a treat for your vegan friends.  You can use the cupcake recipe to make a yummy bundt cake too– and that is PERFECT with a light sugar glaze on top.  I use this cake/cupcake recipe all the time- it is very moist and flavorful.  Enjoy!!!~r

Other recipes you might enjoy (click on the image to be taken to the recipe):

20 Comments

Posted in Cakes, Candy, Cupcakes and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Chocolate Lava Cupcakes

Posted on November 1, 2012 by Ruthanne

These rich chocolate cupcakes are made with a cake mix, but filled with warm chocolate fudge that pours out when you take a bite~ yum!!!!!

INGREDIENTS: (makes 18-20 cupcakes)

  • One boxed dark chocolate cake mix (plus water, eggs and oil to make according to box)
  • 1 c. semi sweet chocolate chips
  • 1/2 c. whipping cream
  • 1/4 c. cocoa powder
  • 1/2 c. white baking chips

DIRECTIONS:

  • Heat semi-sweet chips and whipping cream in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds until completely melted and smooth, making a ganache.
  • Refrigerate for about 2 hours, until hardened to a soft fudge consistency.
  • Scoop small balls of cold chocolate ganache out of bowl using a small cookie scoop (I highly recommend a small cookie scoop for this job- the chocolate is sticky and hard to work with until it is rolled in cocoa- a scoop makes it so much easier!)
  • Roll balls in cocoa powder and keep refrigerated until use.
  • Preheat oven to 350F degrees
  • Make cake mix according to box and spoon about 1 1/2 tablespoons of batter in 18-20 cupcake liners in tins.
  • Gently press a ball of ganache into the center of each cupcake.

  • Cover each ball with a small scoop of cake batter- just enough to cover the ball completely.
  • Bake at 350F for the time recommended on the box.
  • Remove from oven and serve warm with ice cream and drizzles of white chocolate.

If you aren’t serving immediately, warm each cupcake in the microwave for 15-20 seconds before serving.

My thoughts: I’ve had many a molten lava cake and cupcake before, but usually they fall apart right out of the pan.  These cupcakes hold together beautifully and don’t leak all that warm fudge out until they are cut into.  They are perfect re-heated and sooooo yummy with a little ice cream and raspberry sauce.  A perfect treat for a chilly fall day!!  Enjoy!!  ~r

Other cupcake recipes you might enjoy: (click on the image to be taken to the recipe)

20 Comments

Posted in Cakes, Cupcakes and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Honey Cookies (Medovniky) in fun fall colors!

Posted on October 27, 2012 by Ruthanne

It’s almost too late for these cookies.  Around here the leaves are turning brown and falling fast!  The good news is that these incredibly flavorful cookies can be cut into any shape for any season!

These are a traditional Slovak cookie, generally made around Christmas.  When I traveled to Slovakia I fell in love with a traditional cake called Medovnik (if you want to see my attempt at it, click here).  When I came across this recipe on the Slovak Cooking blog, I knew I had to try them.

They are wonderful.  A little like honey graham crackers, a little like gingerbread cookies, a little like spice cake… an incredibly unique cookie that is SO easy to roll and cut out (I can’t stand sticky, messy cut-out cookie dough!)  They filled my house with wonderful fall scents when I baked them and I will definitely be making them again.  Here’s the recipe:

INGREDIENTS:

  • 4 ¼ cups flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 ¼ sticks (5 oz.) of unsalted butter
  • 3 ½ tablespoons of honey
  • ½ cup of water
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 ½ tablespoons cinnamon
  • ½ tablespoon ginger
  • ½ tablespoon cloves

DIRECTIONS:

  • Heat the sugar, water and honey in a sauce pan until the sugar dissolves, stirring constantly.
  • Stir in the butter, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves.
  • Once the butter has melted, let the mixture cool.
  • In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and baking soda.
  • Pour the sugar-spice mixture over it and mix well.
  • Knead lightly to form a smooth dough.
  • Wrap it in cling film and refrigerate for at least an hour. (the recipe called for refrigeration, but my dough was just perfect to roll out immediately.)
  • Preheat oven to 400F degrees.
  • Roll dough out on a board dusted with flour.
  • Cut cookies in whatever shapes you want and place on a cookie sheet.
  • Bake for 5-8 minutes (they bake fast, so keep an eye on them).
  • Cool and frost with your favorite glaze or frosting (I used Royal Icing, click here for the recipe and for directions on how to use it)

My thoughts:  I really do love these cookies.  The recipe was so different than any other cookie recipe I’ve made before.  I have a love/hate relationship with royal icing.  I hate the 12 years it takes to frost my cookies, but then I LOVE the finished result.  However you ice them, these cookies are a unique addition to your cookie recipe collection.  Enjoy!  ~r

Other recipes you might enjoy: (just click on the image to see the recipe)

 

9 Comments

Posted in Cookies and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Mummy Oreo Pops for Halloween!!

Posted on October 19, 2012 by Ruthanne

These make me smile– aren’t they cute?  I saw the idea on a regular cookie at Mel’s Kitchen Cafe (along with a really cute mummy hot dog idea!) and I immediately thought of my Oreo pops recipe from last spring and decided to turn some Oreos into mummies!  It was a little time consuming, but not difficult.  I think the results were worth the effort!  Here’s how we did it:

INGREDIENTS:

DIRECTIONS:

  • Carefully twist apart all of the Oreo cookies.
  • Using one of the pop sticks, make an indentation in the white filling of each cookie.
  • Melt the Candy Melts in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring until completely melted and smooth.
  • Dip the end of one stick into the melted white chocolate, drizzle a little in the center of the white cookie filling and then gently press it into the indentation made.
  • Place the top of the cookie back on and allow white chocolate to harden (5 minutes or so), cementing the cookie back together with a stick inside.

(For a picture tutorial on this click here)

  • Before dipping the entire cookie, unwrap your fondant, split it in half and immediately place one half in an air-tight zip-top bag (you will only use half of the fondant).
  • Roll the remaining  fondant out with a rolling pin as directed on the box.  Using a sharp knife, cut strips (about as wide as an oreo) in the fondant and then cut narrow strips across (see photo)

  • Now it is time to dip your Oreo pops (you may need to put your candy melts back in the microwave for a few seconds to remelt them)
  • Holding the stick, lower the entire Oreo into the bowl of melted white chocolate, spooning it over the top and sides to cover it completely.
  • Allow the excess chocolate to drain off and gently place covered Oreo on a piece of parchment paper to harden. 
  • Immediately place two eyes on the front and gently lay strips of fondant back and forth across the cookie.  It took me a little bit to figure out a pattern that looked good and worked– copy mine if you want!!
  • Allow everything to harden and place in treat bags with ties.

My thoughts:  These are a little time-consuming, but if you enjoy the process  (I do!) and you have a free afternoon (I did!) these are just really fun to put together.  The smiles when people see them make all that work worthwhile!  Enjoy!  ~r

Other recipes you might enjoy (click on the image to see the recipe):

30 Comments

Posted in Cake Pops, Candy, Cookies and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Caramel Apple Cupcakes (with Halloween MISfortune cookies!)

Posted on October 13, 2012 by Ruthanne

Caramel cupcakes dipped in gooey caramel cream and topped with tangy green apple frosting~ yum!  Add a caramel MISfortune cookie on top to celebrate Halloween with some laughs.

INGREDIENTS:

  • One box of Duncan Hines Caramel cake mix (plus water, oil and eggs to make according to box)
  • One bag (14 oz) Kraft Caramels
  • 1/2c. sweetened condensed milk
  • 1/4c. butter or margarine
  • 1 stick (4oz) salted butter
  • 1 stick (4 oz) unsalted butter
  • 2 c. powdered sugar
  • 2 t. clear vanilla flavoring
  • 1 packet of Crystal Light drink mix- Appletini flavor

DIRECTIONS:

  • Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
  • Make cake mix according to box and divide into 24 cupcake liners in a cupcake tin.
  • Bake according to box. Remove from oven and cool completely.
  • In a small saucepan, combine 16 unwrapped Caramels, 1/2c. sweetened condensed milk and 1/4 c. butter.
  • Melt (stirring constantly) until creamy and smooth.
  • Pour warm caramel into a small bowl.  Dip tops of cooled cupcakes into caramel to coat the top.  Stir caramel occasionally to keep it smooth.  (I had to spoon the remaining caramel onto the last few cucpcakes instead of dipping them)

  • Allow caramel to cool completely.
  • Make frosting by adding butters, powdered sugar, vanilla and Crystal Light drink mix together in a mixing bowl.  Beat together on low until combined and then beat on high until light and fluffy.  **note: the apple flavor in the drink mix is strong and tart– I LOVED it, but you might want to add it a little at a time and taste as you go to decide how strong a flavor you want.**
  • Pipe frosting over the caramel on each cupcake and enjoy!!!

To add fun little misfortune cookies on the top for Halloween party: 

  • Unwrap the rest of your Kraft Caramels and place about 15 in a large ziplock bag.  Microwave for about 15 seconds to soften them, remove them from the bag and knead them into a ball.
  • Place the ball back in the bag and using a rolling pin, roll the caramel out flat and thin.

  • Carefully remove the flattened caramel from the bag and use a round cookie or fondant cutter to cut circles out of the caramel.

  • Slide a funny misfortune in the center and fold into a fortune cookie shape (fold lightly in half and then pull the corners back and together).

Need ideas for MISfortunes?  Print a free PDF of my favorites here

  • Place each MISfortune cookie on a cupcake and enjoy!

To give credit where it is due: this GENIUS idea of using Kraft Caramels to make fortune cookies came from a wonderful book called  What’s New, Cupcake?  I was browsing the  cookbook aisle a few weeks ago and came across this book- it is AMAZING.  If you click on the title it will take you to Amazon and you can see pictures of some of the cupcakes other people have made using this book…..amazing creativity!

My thoughts:  These are such a unique cupcake– the tart green apple frosting is the perfect balance to the sweet caramel and the misfortune cookies just make everyone laugh. The frosting is a tart and strong green apple flavor- a little like Jolly Rancher candies.  You can add less drink mix to tone it down if you’d like- just add a little at a time and taste as you go.  I loved it exactly the way it turned out!

 I want to apologize ahead of time to my international fans.  I’m pretty sure you are going to have a hard time finding caramel cake mix and almost positive you won’t be able to get your hands on the Appletini drink mix.  A homemade caramel cake would work, and any powdered drink mix with a green apple flavor..?  As I said- my apologies!!!  

I hope you really enjoy surprising people with these unique cupcakes!!  ~r

23 Comments

Posted in Candy, Cupcakes, Seasonal dessert and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Tie-Dye Cake with Blue Raspberry Frosting

Posted on October 10, 2012 by Ruthanne

Swirls of colors plus a blue raspberry frosting make everyone smile when they see this cake!

This recipe is dedicated to my nephew Marshal, who informed me a few weeks ago that today, October 10, 2012 is an important day:  it marks the 2 year anniversary of the release of  “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” TV show.

Confused?  I was!  Apparently this show, targeted toward young girls, has gained a cult following among teenage boys– they call themselves “Bronies”…I guess Bro+ponies= Bronies.  Um…yeah. Learned all of that on Wikipedia… SO Marshal was telling me that he and his friends wanted to make a rainbow cake (for the pony “Rainbow Dash”, of course) to celebrate the day.  The thought of making 6 layers of cake in different colors sounded exhausting, so instead I made 6 colors and just dumped them on top of each other in the same pan.  I love how it turned out!

Here’s how it was made:

INGREDIENTS: (printer friendly recipe)

  • One boxed white cake mix, plus eggs, water and oil to make it according to the box.
  • Icing colors in Purple, Blue, Green, Red, Orange and Yellow.
  • One stick (4 oz.) salted butter at room temp.
  • One stick (4 oz.) unsalted butter at room temp.
  • 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 teaspoons raspberry flavoring

DIRECTIONS:

  • Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
  • Make cake mix according to box (or make your own favorite white cake recipe!)
  • Grease 2- 9 inch cake pans and place a circle of parchment paper in the bottom of each.
  • Evenly divide batter into 6 bowls (about 1 cup of batter in each)
  • Add icing color gels to color each bowl of batter.
  • Pour 1/2 of the purple batter in the center of one pan.
  • Pour 1/2 of the blue batter into the center of the purple batter (adding the blue will push the purple toward the edges).
  • Continue to pour 1/2 of each color batter into the center using green, yellow, orange and red in that order.
  • In second pan do the same but in the reverse order, starting with the red 1st.
  • Bake at 350 according to package (mine took about 25 minutes)
  • Remove from oven and cool.  Tip over onto a wire cake rack to finish cooling.
  • Make frosting by adding butters, powdered sugar, raspberry flavor and a little blue icing gel color together and beating on high until light and fluffy.
  • Level off the tops of each cake layer and place one layer, cut side up on a serving plate.  Frost the top of this layer.
  • Place the second layer, cut side down on top and frost entire cake.
  • Sprinkle with rainbow sugar or decorate as desired.

ENJOY!!!

My thoughts:  Although this cake was created with Marshal’s celebration in mind, it would be such a fun and colorful addition to any party!!!  Lets hear it for tie-dye rainbow cake!!!!!  Thanks for the idea Marshal!!!

88 Comments

Posted in Cakes and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Halloween Bundt Cake

Posted on October 6, 2012 by Ruthanne

Creepy colors all swirled together inside make this bundt cake a holiday hit!  Drizzle it with gooey frosting and fun colors for a perfect (EASY!) party dessert!

Confession:  I needed a fast dessert a few nights ago, saw this online and decided to use a recipe rather than create a new idea.  Its a FABULOUS and EASY idea, so I just couldn’t help but share it!  Kudos to Lets get Cookin’ for this idea- wonderfully creative!  Here’s how I made my own: (printable recipe)

INGREDIENTS:

  • One box of white cake mix (and oil, water and eggs to make according to box)
  • One box of chocolate cake mix (and oil, water and eggs to make according to box)
  • Orange, Black and Purple gel icing colors (these gel colors give the batter the vibrant colors you see without having to add much–I invested in the Wilton set of 12 colors months ago and I LOVE them.  Click here to see them on Amazon.  You can order them there or sometimes find them at craft or cake decorating stores).
  • One tub of chocolate pre-made frosting
  • Wiltons Candy Melts in purple (and orange too if you want!)

DIRECTIONS:

  • Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
  • Make both cake mixes according to packages.
  • Divide the white cake batter into two bowls, equally.
  • Add black coloring to the chocolate cake to darken it.
  • Add purple to 1/2 of the white batter and orange to the other half.
  • Pour about 1/3 of the chocolate batter into the bottom of a well-greased bundt pan.
  • Pour all of the purple batter over the chocolate
  • Pour all of the orange batter over the purple
  • Pour another 1/3 of the chocolate batter over the colors.  You can use more than 1/3, but you want to give the cake room to rise- so leave a bit of room.  You can discard the remaining chocolate batter or make a couple of cupcakes with it.
  • Bake at 325 degrees for about 45-55 minutes (until the center is set and a cake tester inserted comes out clean).
  • Tip over on a cake rack and cool completely
  • To finish, melt the tub of frosting in the microwave (about 15-30 seconds) and stir well.
  • Place frosting in a zip-top bag, clip a corner and drizzle over entire top of cake.
  • Melt candy melts in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring between until smooth and pipe these colors over the top as well.  I think both purple and orange would be fun, but I only had purple in my cabinet!

My thoughts- quick and easy and yummy moist cake that makes people smile and ask– “how’d you do that”?  Very fun!!  I have to add that the recipe over at Lets Get Cookin’ used vanilla frosting colored with the gels and drizzled over the top.  I decided to use chocolate because its what I had 😉  It was really yummy with the chocolate– I think you would get a better color match doing it with the vanilla frosting though- my candy melts color clashed a little with the inside purple color.  Also, I put a cookie sheet on the rack below the cake while it baked– just in case it dripped over.  It didn’t, but you might want to do that just to save yourself an oven-cleaning day!  Hope you get to try this cake– I think you are gonna love it!!!  ENJOY!  ~r

23 Comments

Posted in Cakes, Easy recipes and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Dark Chocolate Ganache Cupcakes

Posted on September 30, 2012 by Ruthanne

Dark chocolate cupcakes topped with ganache and vanilla buttercream– so rich and smooth because they are flour-less (lets hear it for my gluten-free friends!!)!!!  YUM!

Ingredients: (makes about 40 mini cupcakes)

Cupcakes:

  • 1 1/2 cups of dark chocolate chips
  • 1 stick (4 oz.) salted butter
  • 2 T. cocoa powder
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 6 egg whites
  • pinch of salt
  • 1/2 c. sugar

Ganache:

  • 1/2 c. dark chocolate chips
  • 1/4 c. heavy whipping cream

Frosting:

  • 1 stick (4 oz.) salted butter (room temp)
  • 1 stick (4 oz.) unsalted butter (room temp)
  • 1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
  • 2 t. clear vanilla flavoring

DIRECTIONS:

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees
  • In a microwave safe bowl, melt chocolate with butter in 30 second increments, stirring between until smooth and creamy.
  • Whisk cocoa powder into melted chocolate.
  • Add egg YOLKS and whisk until smooth.  Set aside.
  • Add a pinch of salt to the egg whites and whisk until foamy.
  • Add sugar gradually to egg whites while beating on high until medium peaks form.
  • Add 1/3 of egg whites to chocolate and mix well- until completely combined and smooth.
  • Add remainder of egg whites and fold in gently until completely incorporated.
  • Spoon batter into mini-cupcake liners in tins and bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.
  • Remove from oven and cool completely. (Cupcakes will rise high in oven and as they cool they will sink and even become a little concave— perfect spot for our yummy ganache to sit!!)
  • To make the ganache, heat chips and whipping cream in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring in between, until completely melted and smooth.
  • Gently spoon or pipe ganache into the concave top of each cupcake until all ganache is used up.
  • Allow ganache to cool and harden (place in fridge to speed this process up)
  • Make frosting by combining remaining room temperature butters with powdered sugar and vanilla and beating on high until light and fluffy.
  • Pipe frosting on tops of each cupcake, covering the ganache.
  • Decorate as desired.

My thoughts: Usually, I use a cake mix for my cupcakes and focus on the fillings and frostings for that “wow” factor.  The wow factor in these is definitely the cupcakes themselves….wow.  I tried cupcakes made with a flour-less recipe this past weekend in Chicago at Molly’s cupcakes.  (AMAZING!)  I just had to try making them for myself and the reason I made them mini is because they are SO rich and heavy.  A full-size cupcake would be too much.  These cupcakes are definitely worth the extra effort!  The tiny hearts on top I just made on wax paper using Wilton’s candy melts. Click here for some photos of how to pipe designs in chocolate.  Enjoy!!!  -r

14 Comments

Posted in Cupcakes, Gluten Free and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.
← Older Posts
Newer Posts →