Tag Archives: chocolate

Mocha Cupcakes (in edible coffee cups!)

Posted on June 6, 2013 by Ruthanne

Rich chocolate cupcakes and mocha buttercream nestled in an edible marshmallow mug…how much fun is that??

The past two posts have been full of my adventures with my friend Megan from Happily Ever After Cakes. We made chocolate cut-out cookie pops decorated with royal icing and fondant-covered cupcakes decorated with fun ladybugs and caterpillars. This is the third and final project from that weekend and I just love how it turned out!

This project starts with easy mini mocha cupcakes with mocha buttercream frosting. You can stop there and they are just wonderfully yummy –even without the mug!

The mug uses my new-found love of marshmallow fondant to add a little “wow” factor to the cupcakes.

Let’s start with the cupcakes: (printer friendly recipe)

INGREDIENTS: (makes and frosts 48 mini cupcakes)

One box of chocolate cake mix (plus eggs, oil and water to make according to box)
3 Tablespoons of instant coffee granules (divided)
2 sticks (1 cup) of salted butter- softened to room temperature
2 sticks (1 cup) of unsalted butter- softened to room temperature
3 cups of powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons of vanilla

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350F degrees
Make cake according to box, but add 2 Tablespoons of coffee granules to the water required by cake mix first.
Allow granules to dissolve and then add to cake mix with eggs and oil according to box.
Place mini cupcake liners into mini cupcake pan and spoon batter into liners.
Bake for about 12 minutes until centers are firm.
Cool completely
Make buttercream by placing vanilla and remaining 1 Tablespoon of instant coffee into a small bowl to dissolve.
Add butters and powdered sugar to a large bowl and beat on high until light and fluffy.
Remove a small bit of this vanilla-free icing to garnish the tops of cupcakes and set aside.
Add vanilla/coffee mixture and beat again until well- combined.
To make plain cupcakes, just pipe coffee frosting on top of cooled mini cupcakes and then pipe a tiny bit of the white frosting at the tip of the cupcake.
Sprinkle with cocoa powder if desired.

Yum.

To make the cupcakes into little edible mugs, you will need to make fondant and a thick buttercream ahead of time. My previous post goes into great detail on making fondant and buttercream icing. Click here to see the entire process.

If you’d like to print the recipes for these two things:

Printer friendly recipe for thick buttercream icing

Printer friendly recipe for marshmallow fondant

Once you’ve made both of these items, assembling the little mugs is fairly easy:

Unwrap the mini cupcakes you wish to use in mugs.
Spread thick buttercream icing around the sides of each cupcake.
Roll fondant out fairly thick and trim into rectangles that wrap around mini cupcake and touch without overlapping. (You’ll need to grab a cupcake and experiment until you know how long and high to make these)
Also cut small strips of fondant to use as mug handles.
Wrap sides of mug around the frosted edge of each mini cupcake and seal the edges by brushing with a bit of water and holding together.
Attach the handle over the sealed edge with a bit of water.

Set mugs on a plate or dish with a lipped edge to hold the handle in place until it sets.
Once handle is dried in place, pipe mocha frosting on top of cupcake to fill mug in.
Spread frosting flat and pipe a tiny bit of the white frosting on top.
Sprinkle with cocoa powder if desired.

Megan (more artistic than I!) decorated some mugs to personalize them for us. She used decorating brushes with gel food coloring to paint the cups….aren’t they cute????

My thoughts: These are really yummy cupcakes- even without the mugs. The mugs are a little time consuming, but if you want something REALLY unique and fun they are both! The marshmallow fondant got rave reviews from our friends– they loved it and ate the entire mug with the cupcake.

When you bite in, it is quite the surprise….so fun!!!! Enjoy!!!

You might also enjoy:

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Posted in Cupcakes, Fondant and tagged baking, chocolate, coffee, cupcake in a cup, cupcake in a mug, cupcakes, dessert, dessert photo, edible coffee cups, edible mugs, fondant, fun cupcakes, marshmallow fondant, mocha, mocha buttercream, mocha cupcake, unique cupcakes, unique dessert. Bookmark the permalink.

Chocolate Fudge Cut-Out Cookies!!

Posted on May 24, 2013 by Ruthanne

The rich dark cocoa flavor of these cut-out cookies sets them apart as one of the yummiest cookies I’ve ever had!!

This weekend was a special treat — my good friend (and fellow baker/blogger) Megan came to visit me from Pennsylvania. We met in 2010 on a mission trip to Russia and we have been best of friends ever since.

Megan and her mom and sisters create the most beautiful and unique cakes I’ve ever seen, and they blog about life and caking on their blog Happily Ever Cakes. Megan has such great decorating ideas and she promised to share some of her recipes and techniques with me this weekend.

We spent hours in the kitchen (often accompanied with friends who wanted to help and learn too!) It was so much fun, and I’m so excited to share with you all the things I learned!!

Holding our personalized mug cupcakes–technique coming soon to Easybaked!
Such a fun weekend!

I wasn’t sure which project to tell you about first, so I decided to begin by dedicating this post to some truly yummy chocolate cut-out cookies.

Megan wanted to prove to me that royal icing isn’t always a tedious mess…. but honestly, royal icing is a tedious mess no matter what your technique or recipe (in my humble opinion!)

They are cute. Super super cute cookies. But 24 cookies took three of us about 3 hours….which means if I’d done them alone they would have taken me 9 hours….yeah.

So there are a lot of pictures because this will likely never happen again.

We even put some of them on lollipop sticks which was a really fun way to display them.

When Megan suggested a royal icing project I immediately thought of this great family recipe. I’d never made them as a cut-out cookie or attempted to bake them with sticks inserted, but I thought it would be worth experimenting with since they taste SO good. The verdict?? These dense chocolate cookies are easy to cut into shapes and worked great with or without lollipop sticks. The dark cookie really made all the fun colors in our frosting stand out too!

Ready for the recipe? (printer friendly recipe)

INGREDIENTS: (makes 24 large cookies)

2 sticks (1 cup) butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
Add butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla and cocoa together in large mixing bowl.
Blend on medium speed with a mixer until smooth.
Gradually add dry ingredients and mix until smooth (use clean hands at the end, to knead into a soft ball of dough)
Wrap in plastic and chill for at least one hour.
Allow cookie dough to soften a little at room temperature
Roll out cookie dough on floured counter. If you are adding sticks, you will want to roll the cookies out thick (about 1/3″)
Cut into desired shapes and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Insert lollipop sticks, if desired, by gently pushing stick into cookie about 1- 1 1/2 inches. You will need to arrange cookies to fit with sticks on top of cookie sheet.
Bake for 8 to 11 minutes until the edges are firm.
Gently slide parchment paper off of cookie sheet and onto a flat surface. Cool completely before moving- this allows the cookie to “set” around the stick. Even when it is cooled, handle it with care. It takes a little time for the cookie to harden around the stick.
Frost as desired. A simple powdered sugar glaze will be delicious on these, or if you want to get fancy (and have a nice hard surface on your cookie) click here for Megan’s royal icing recipe and instructions for use.

Fun chocolate cookie cut-outs My thoughts: These cookies are SO yummy. I’m not usually a huge fan of cut-out cookies, but these are truly worth the effort of rolling out and cutting! I like them thick- even if you don’t add sticks to make them into pops. They are so much fun all set up in a vase~ what a perfect way to serve cookies at a party! You could wrap these in cello bags and tie them with cute ribbons too- a perfect favor for a wedding or shower! Hope you have fun with these treats!!! Enjoy!! ~r

Other fun cut-out cookies to try:

17 Comments

Posted in Cookies and tagged baking, chocolate, chocolate cookies, chocolate cut-out cookies, cocoa, cookie pops, cut-out cookies, dark cocoa, fun cookies, icing gels, lollipop sticks, party favors, recipe, royal icing, sugar. Bookmark the permalink.

Cookie Dough Whoopie Pies

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Ruthanne

Rich cocoa whoopie pies filled with a creamy cookie dough frosting. Yum.

One of the benefits of being a food blogger is that all of your friends see cool kitchen stuff and get it for you! My sweet friend Danielle gave me a Whoopie Pie Pan for my birthday and I had to google what a whoopie pie was because I’d never had one. Now, I am obsessed with this incredible dessert. Oh. My. Word.

A few months ago I made a cupcake that is my FAVORITE recipe on this blog (yes, I have a favorite!) It’s a cookie dough cupcake and I so wanted an excuse to make that frosting again, so I made it for these! Perfect! Everyone loves them….and I am eating the leftover frosting out of a bowl while I write this post…really– right out of the bowl {sigh of pure joy}

You know you want to try these….here’s how: (printer friendly recipe)

INGREDIENTS: (makes 16-18 whoopie pies)

Whoopie Pie:

2 sticks (8 oz) salted butter (softened)
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
2 Tablespoons vanilla
3 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder

Cookie Dough Filling:

2 sticks (8 oz.) unsalted butter(softened)
2 sticks (8 oz.) salted butter(softened)
2 cups powered sugar
1 cup brown sugar (packed)
3 Tablespoons vanilla
1/3 cup flour
1 12 oz bag of mini chocolate chips.

Directions:

Whoopie Pie:

This recipe can be made on a cookie sheet, but to get that perfectly shaped, every-one-is-the-same-size look you really should invest in a Whoopie Pie Pan. They aren’t terribly expensive and these turn out SO much better if you use one!

Preheat oven to 400F degrees
Spray a whoopie pie pan with non-stick cooking spray.
Use a mixer to cream together butter and sugar.
Add milk, eggs and vanilla and beat until combined.
Add dry ingredients (add flour last and gradually) and beat until smooth. (My mixer had a hard time with this, as it is a thick cookie-like mixture. My mixer is 15 years old though and died the next day….so …? I finished mixing by hand…)
Use a large Cookie Scoop (2-3 Tablespoons) to drop dough into each whoopie pie cavity. Gently press dough into cavity.

Bake for 8-10 minutes- don’t overbake- cake should be springy to the touch, not hard like a cookie.
Cool on a wire rack.

Filling:

Place all filling ingredients except mini chips into a large mixing bowl and beat with mixer on low until combined and then high until light and fluffy.
Add half of mini chips and blend in well.
Scoop about 2 Tablespoons of filling onto one half of a whoopie pie.
Press the other half on top very gently until filling spreads to edges.
Pour remaining mini chips into a bowl and roll edges of filling in them to coat the sides.

My thoughts: These are just exactly right, in my book. I love the deep cocoa flavor in the cake and that FROSTING….!

If you want to reduce the amount of filling you can certainly cut the recipe for it in half. I was very generous with the filling and had just a little left at the end. I hope you get a chance to try these– and if you want a similar flavor in smaller bites hop over to the cookie dough cupcake recipe and give them a try. Happy baking, friends!!!

Alfajores (Peruvian Caramel Cookies)

Posted on May 3, 2013 by Ruthanne

These shortbread-like cookies are sandwiched around caramel and topped with chocolate and sugar…yum!

Machu Picchu!

I’m back! For those of you who follow the comings and goings of Easybaked you know that I spent about 10 days in Peru. It was a wonderful trip. I visited my childhood friend Deb in Lima and then the two of us toured Machu Picchu and spent a few days in the Amazon jungle. The foods were incredible, especially the fresh fruits! I will add some pictures of our trip at the end….

One of the treats we had in Peru was a cookie called an Alfajore. The cookie is very subtle- not too sweet- and very dense. It is served with a caramel filling called Manjarblanco. I had this filling in a variety of desserts and kept thinking that it tasted like Dulce de Leche. When I returned home and looked it up I found that it is Dulce de Leche- in a convenient little pouch and ready to eat.

Here is my version of this yummy cookie. If you like things that aren’t overwhelmingly sweet, this is your dessert!

INGREDIENTS:

Cookies (makes about 24 sandwich cookies)

1/2stick (2 oz) butter (softened)
1/4c. sugar
1 whole egg
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla
a few drops of rum (optional)
2 1/2 c. flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Dulce de Leche:

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk (or Manjarblanco if you live in an area that offers this!)

DIRECTIONS:

{If you can’t purchase ready-made manjarblanco (dulce de leche), you will need to make your own. Do this before making your cookies as it takes some time and will need to cool. My favorite method of making dulce de leche involves boiling cans of sweetened condensed milk, and I have detailed instructions if you click here.}

Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
Cream together sugar and butter.
Add eggs, corn syrup, vanilla and rum.
Add flour and baking soda last, and knead dough together with clean hands. (The dough will be dry- a little like play-dough in consistency. You can add a little water to soften it up if necessary.)
Roll dough out to about 1/8 inch thick and cut using a 1 1/2 inch or 2 inch cookie cutter.
Place on an un-greased cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes until just turning brown on top.
Remove from cookie sheet and cool on a rack.
Spread cookies with cooled caramel and sprinkle with powdered sugar/ drizzle with a little chocolate if you like.

My thoughts: I love international recipes. One of my favorite parts of travel is trying new foods and hearing stories about how those foods fit in with the lives of the people I meet. These cookies are really good, and available all over in Peru. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!!!

A few glimpses at Peru…such a beautiful country full of kind and beautiful people!

Sunrise at Machu Picchu

Stairs up Wayana Picchu

Beautiful Machu Picchu!!!

Amazon Village

Piranha fishing!!

Jungle hike…baby ferns

Fresh watermelon in the market at Iquitos

Sloth cuddles 🙂

Anaconda!

Amazon sampler: Jungle pig, Cayman and Paiche (Arapayma)

Deb and I – we’ve been friends since we were two! Fun trip!!

29 Comments

Posted in Cookies, Travel Recipes and tagged alfajores, amazon, baking, caramel, caramel cookies, chocolate, dessert, dulce de leche, machu picchu, peru, peruvian cookies, shortbread cookies. Bookmark the permalink.

Frosty Almond Joy Cups

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Ruthanne

These adorable frozen cups are layered with chocolate, coconut and almonds. A new twist on some favorite flavors!! These use a mini cheesecake pan that is SO much fun, but if you want, you can make these in muffin tins lined with cupcake papers instead. This recipe makes 12 frozen cups.

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 c. of crushed Oreo cookies
1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 c. whipping cream
About 2 cups of shredded, sweetened coconut
About 1 cup of slivered almonds
1 1/2 c. cold milk
1 box (4 servings, 3.9 oz) instant coconut pudding
1 (8 oz) container of Cool Whip (thawed in fridge)
1/4 c. Wilton’s Candy Melts (to drizzle on top as decoration)

DIRECTIONS

Crush Oreos into fine crumbs. (I love my KitchenAid food chopper for this job!)
Prepare mini cheesecake pan by placing disks into the bottom of each cup.
Evenly divide crust mixture into all 12 cups (I used a Mini Tart Shaper to press crumbs firmly into the bottom of each cup).
Place semi-sweet chocolate chips and whipping cream into a small bowl and microwave in 30 second increments, stirring in between, until melted and smooth.
Spoon chocolate into a zip top bag, cut a tip off and evenly pipe chocolate into the center of each cup, on top of the crust.
Sprinkle about a tablespoon of coconut and slivered almonds into each cup

Mix cold milk with pudding on medium speed for 2 minutes. Fold in 1/2 of the Cool Whip container (the rest will be used as topping).
Spoon filling into a large zip top bag (and ZIP it or you might have a mess!) Clip a corner off and pipe pudding into each cup evenly. Try to pipe it in between the coconut and almonds so that the whole cup is filled. I did have a little left over (which was really tasty straight out of the bag!)
Use a knife to smooth the tops level with the top of the pan.
Freeze for at least a couple of hours.
Allow the pan to warm just a bit before popping each dessert cup out. Poke a finger up through the hole in the bottom of the pan and grab that Almond Joy cup by its crust. Remove the disk from the bottom and you are ready to add topping.
For topping, I just piped a little bit of the left over Cool Whip on each dessert using a decorating tip. Then I topped it off with a little melted chocolate (Wilton’s candy melts) and a whole almond with some coconut. You could decorate yours however you want!
Serve cold right away– or put them in a sealed container and freeze until you are ready to serve.

My thoughts: I love Almond Joy candy bars…I love Oreos and anything frozen….so I love these! These were inspired by an earlier recipe, Frosty S’mores Cups. I ran across coconut pudding in the store the other day and the wheels started turning. I think it turned out perfectly– it’s like a coconut cream pie with Almond Joy bars mixed in. mmmmm…….! I hope you enjoy these little treats!

Do you like coconut? We LOVE it here at Easybaked! Click on a picture to see other recipes with this yummy ingredient:

5 Comments

Posted in Cookie Cups, Frozen desserts and tagged Almond Joy dessert, almonds, baking, chocolate, coconut, coconut pudding, cool whip, dessert, fun frozen dessert, mini cheesecake pan recipe, oreo crust, Oreos, pudding recipe, semi-sweet chocolate, slivered almonds. Bookmark the permalink.

Turtle Brownie Bars

Posted on April 19, 2013 by Ruthanne

Everyone loves a good bar dessert. These are absolutely stuffed full of yummy goodness. Caramel and three kinds of chocolate mixed with chocolate cake….these will certainly satisfy your sweet tooth!!!!

INGREDIENTS:

1 box of chocolate cake mix
1/3c. oil
2 eggs
1c. each of white chips, semi-sweet chips, milk chocolate chips and dark chocolate chips
1/2 c. margarine or butter
32 unwrapped Kraft caramels
1 (14oz.) can of sweetened condensed milk

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13pan.
Combine cake mix, oil and eggs. Blend well and stir in all of the chips (mixture will be very thick).
Press half of the mixture into bottom of pan (it will press into a very thin layer). Bake for 10 minutes and then remove from oven.
While this is baking, in a medium saucepan, combine butter, caramels and condensed milk.
Cook over low/medium heat until melted and smooth (stir constantly!)
Spread caramel over partially baked cake mixture.
Top with remaining cake/chip mixture (it will not completely cover, but you can press the mixture flat with your fingers and lay it in small sections over the caramel.)
Bake an additional 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cool 20 minutes.
Run knife around edges. Cool completely before cutting. Makes about 20 bars.

My thoughts: I make this recipe with a variety of cake mix flavors every time I start accumulating odds and ends of chips in my pantry. When you bake a lot, you end up with lots of almost-empty bags of baking chips in all sort of flavors. I just use them all up in this recipe! I’ve made this with yellow, chocolate and caramel cake mix. I’ve used dark, milk, white, swirled, peanut butter, cinnamon and butterscotch chips. Each time I make it there’s a whole new flavor and look. I *love* recipes like that! It’s like having so many recipes all in one. I hope you have fun – both following this recipe AND experimenting with it! Enjoy!! ~r

We love chocolate and caramel here at Easybaked!! Check out some of our other recipes that use this favorite combination. Just click on an image to be taken to the recipe.

*****SPECIAL NOTE****** Ruthanne will be wandering the Amazon Jungle when this recipe posts. If you don’t get replies to your comments or questions it is because I have no internet….I’ll be back soon though!!!!

10 Comments

Posted in Bar cookies, Brownies and tagged baking, brownie, cake mix, caramel, caramel sauce, chocolate, chocolate chips, dessert, dessert bars, easy bar dessert, Kraft caramels, white chocolate. Bookmark the permalink.

Gender Reveal (Surprise!) Cupcakes

Posted on March 14, 2013 by Ruthanne

These cupcakes hold a secret—- is it a boy, or is it a girl? The latest trend of having a gender reveal party is SO much fun when the gender is revealed with a yummy dessert! Plus, I’ve included free printable cupcake toppers to go along with your party theme!

A few weeks ago, Easybaked featured a Polka Dot Cake using a Cake pop maker. It was so much fun that I couldn’t help but think of other ways to use the idea. These cupcakes are just wonderful– when you bite in the color is seamless- you can’t even tell that the cake pop was baked ahead. Want to know how to do this?

Here we go:

INGREDIENTS:

1 white cake mix (for about 18 cupcakes) or 1 white/ one chocolate for a combo and about 36 cupcakes
The oil, eggs and water required by your boxed mix(es)
Gel food coloring
Frosting (I used my buttercream recipe ~double it if you add the second cake mix)

This little chart should help you see how many cupcakes are made with just the white mix and how many are made when you use both a white and chocolate mix (I’m bad with math…I need visuals!!):

DIRECTIONS:

Plug in/heat up your cake pop maker
Make white cake mix according to box.
Take about 3/4 cup (1 1/4 cup for the double batch!) of batter and place it into a smaller bowl.
Color the batter using color gel (I like Wilton brand of Gel food coloring because they always come out bright. Try Aqua or Pink.)
Follow the directions on your cake pop maker to use the colored batter to make cake balls. Helpful hints: work fast and use a small cookie scoop to evenly spoon batter into cups, and check them- I burnt my 1st batch following the directions! You should have enough batter to have a practice round and adjust.

While cake balls cool, spoon small amounts of your remaining white cake mix into 12-18 cupcake liners in a cupcake tin. (start with 12 and see how much batter you have left for the rest).
Spread the batter out along the bottom so you have a thin layer in each liner.
Set a cooled cake ball in the center of each liner and carefully scoop batter over the top (I found a medium cookie scoop to make this job MUCH easier!)

After your 12 are filled, continue on until you have used up all of your cake batter.
Bake at 350F degrees for about 20 minutes.
(If you are making the double batch, make your chocolate cake mix while the white cupcakes bake. Set these up with the cake balls hidden inside the batter and bake for the same amount of time.)
Remove from tins immediately and cool on the counter. Frost and decorate as desired.

Do you see how I piped the two-tone icing colors? I’m sure there must be a better method than this…I am so not a cake decorator. It turned out ok- but it was a little fussy to keep equal pressure on both colors at the same time.

The toppers are easy and inexpensive to make. Simply click here to get a free pdf file of the owl toppers. Print them on a heavy card stock paper, cut them out and use double sided tape to stick them back to back around a toothpick (one boy owl and one girl, back to back).

It’s a boy!!!

My thoughts: I love how the final cupcake is….just a cupcake. It isn’t anything fancy or cream-filled…just a cupcake with a surprise. These would be fun cupcakes for any party- you could even incorporate them in a game—whoever gets the (__color___) cupcake gets a prize! I hope these make their way into a party of yours soon! Enjoy!!! ~r

It’s a girl!!!

Want some other shower ideas from easybaked? Click on the image to be taken to the recipe.

18 Comments

Posted in Cupcakes and tagged baby shower, baby shower dessert, baking, buttercream frosting, buttercream recipe, cake pop, cake pop maker, chocolate, cupcake, cupcake liners, cupcake toppers, cupcakes, dessert, desserts, food, free printable, gender reveal cupcakes, gender reveal party, owls, polka dot cupcakes, two-color frosting, unique cupcakes, vanilla, yummy dessert. Bookmark the permalink.

Chocolate Strawberry Layer Cake!

Posted on March 1, 2013 by Ruthanne

Such an easy and refreshing dessert! If you need something beautiful but quick, this is your recipe!

INGREDIENTS:

One boxed chocolate cake mix (with water, oil and eggs to make according to package)
One (8 oz) container of Cool Whip
One (7 oz) container of Jet Puffed Marshmallow fluff
One tub of ready-made chocolate frosting
About 25 ripe strawberries.

DIRECTIONS:

Make cake according to box and bake in 2- 8 or 9 inch round pans.
Cool cakes, trim off tops to level each cake and cut each cake into two layers
Mix Cool Whip and marshmallow fluff together until smooth.
Spoon frosting into bowl and heat for about 30 seconds in microwave. Stir. It should be a hot fudge consistency.
Wash and slice strawberries lengthwise (I used an egg slicer to make this easier).

Place one layer of cake on serving plate. Spread with a bit of melted frosting and a bit of the cream mixture.
Place strawberries along the edge with points facing out. Use small pieces to fill in the middle.

Do this with each layer and then top final layer with remaining cream and frosting.
Decorate as desired.
Keep refrigerated until serving.

My thoughts: I miss summer. I’ve been craving strawberries and this yummy cake did the trick! It is easy and delicious and you’ll impress everyone you serve it to! Enjoy!!! ~r

Other strawberry desserts you’ll love ~ click on the image to get to the recipe:

26 Comments

Posted in Cakes and tagged cake, chocolate, chocolate cake, chocolate cake mix, chocolate covered strawberry, chocolate frosting, cool whip, dessert, easy dessert recipe, fruit desserts, fun cakes, jet puffed marshmallow, layer cake, marshmallow fluff, ripe strawberries, slice strawberries, strawberry, strawberry dessert. Bookmark the permalink.

Mocha Caramel Cream Cupcakes

Posted on February 22, 2013 by Ruthanne

It’s that time of year here…that yummy cup of frou frou coffee just whispers your name until you find yourself nestled into an armchair at the local coffee shop watching it snow and sipping a mocha or a latte. One with chocolate drizzled on top…or caramel.

Why not capture those flavors in a cupcake?

These yummy treats are coffee-infused chocolate cupcakes filled with creamy caramel and topped with coffee buttercream.

Oh. My.

Bring it on winter!

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:

One boxed chocolate cake mix (plus water, oil and eggs to make according to box)
1/4c milk (warmed)
2 T instant coffee granules

Caramel Cream Filling:

1 cup sugar
1/2 c. water
1 c. heavy whipping cream
1 T. powdered sugar

Frosting:

2 sticks (8 oz.) salted butter
2 sticks (8 oz.) unsalted butter
3 c. powdered sugar
2 T. vanilla
2 T. instant coffee granules

Directions:

Cupcakes:

Place 2 T. instant coffee granules into milk and stir. Allow this to sit and dissolve.
Make mix according to box
Add coffee/ milk mixture to cake batter and blend well.
Scoop into 24 cupcake liners in cupcake tins and bake at 350F degrees for about 20 minutes.
Remove from tins immediately and allow to cool on counter.

Caramel Filling:

Combine sugar and water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir constantly and cook until mixture turns a caramel brown color. (about 10 minutes)
Remove from heat and slowly add cream, whisking vigorously (this will spit and splatter as you add it, so use caution!).

Chill in refrigerator until cold. (I did this the night before and just left it overnight)
When mixture is cold, add powdered sugar and beat on high until creamy and smooth.

Frosting:

Add 2T vanilla and 2T instant coffee granules together in a small bowl and allow the coffee to dissolve.
Place butters and powdered sugar in a large mixing bowl and beat on high until very fluffy.
Add vanilla/coffee mixture and beat until well combined.
Core cupcakes and pipe caramel filling inside.
Pipe frosting on top and sprinkle with a little cocoa powder.

My thoughts: Goodness, I love these cupcakes. The filling is a touch fussy since you need to chill it until cold, but I have to say that it is WORTH the wait. I’m on a diet and I took ONE bite (to get a picture of the filling, of course..!) and I couldn’t stop. I had to finish the cupcake. I blew my diet for this cupcake…it is just so good. Two people have asked for *just* a bowl of the coffee buttercream frosting…haha!

Sigh. I will dream of these cupcakes until the diet is over….in two months….and then I will eat 3 of them.

Make these and enjoy them on my behalf!!!! ~r

In other (non-recipe!) news, I finally have a DSLR camera! (Nikon D5200) Yay! I feel like my photos are a little off as I adjust to it though. I had a system for making my point and shoot work for me and now I’m trying to adjust my system to get the right lighting and exposure. I previously used a homemade light box to control my lighting and now I’m just so excited to sit down at a coffee shop and take pictures using natural light. Yesterday I met my friend Ben for coffee and before he could take a bite or sip of his treats I was like, “WAIT!!! I have to take a picture of that!” So much fun. So my apologies for my fairly awful pictures in this post– I’m learning!!!

Yummy coffee shop treats (and practice with my new camera!)

Want some other winter dessert ideas? Click on the image to be taken to the recipe.

52 Comments

Posted in Cupcakes and tagged baking, buttercream, caramel, caramel cream, caramel filling, chocolate, chocolate cake mix, chocolate cupcakes, coffee, coffee buttercream, coffee cupcakes, coffee granules, coffee mixture, cupcake, cupcake liners, dessert, filled cupcake, food, mocha, powdered sugar frosting. Bookmark the permalink.

Cookie Dough Frosted Cupcakes

Posted on February 15, 2013 by Ruthanne

Chocolate cupcakes topped with rich chocolate chip cookie dough frosting….my new favorite thing!

I love cookie dough. When I was a little girl we always got little nibbles of it when mom was baking. Now, of course, we know that those raw eggs could kill us…but I think that cookie dough might be worth that risk!!

The best part of this recipe is that the frosting truly tastes like cookie dough (a light creamy cookie dough) and there are NO eggs in it. So you could just eat it straight out of the bowl and forget the cupcakes….not that I would do that….ever….well…maybe just a little….

I made my cupcakes into minis- simply because I wanted to put a “scoop” of frosting on top and a full-size scoop would be a HUGE amount of frosting…I don’t have a problem with that, but I think most people might 😉

INGREDIENTS:

One boxed chocolate cake mix (plus water, oil and eggs to make according to box)

***OR use your favorite cupcake recipe. This is really all about the frosting– so do your favorite thing with the cupcake recipe/ flavor***

2 sticks (8 oz.) unsalted butter(softened)
2 sticks (8 oz.) salted butter(softened)
2 c. powered sugar
1 c. brown sugar (packed)
3 T. vanilla
1/3c. flour
1 12 oz bag of mini chocolate chips.

DIRECTIONS:

Make cake mix (or your favorite cake recipe) and divide into mini cupcake liners in a mini cupcake tin. (makes about 48 mini cupcakes)
Bake according to box/recipe (mini cupcakes take less time, so adjust accordingly!)
Cool cupcakes completely.
Place all frosting ingredients except mini chips into a large mixing bowl and beat with mixer on low until combined and then high until light and fluffy.
Add mini chips (keep about 1/4 of a cup aside to sprinkle on top) and beat on low until fully combined.
Frost cupcakes. You can use a knife to just spread it on or use a small or medium Cookie Scoop to make your cupcakes look like mine do.
Sprinkle remaining chips on top and gobble these cupcakes up!!!

Cookie Dough Cupcakes2 My thoughts: These are dangerous cupcakes for me. I had to get them out of my house FAST. I seriously wanted to eat them all. Ah….cookie dough….sigh. Enjoy these so much!!!! ~r

6-13-14: Did you know that this yummy recipe is available on adorable blank notecards? With a photo of the cupcakes on the front, the recipe on the back, and plenty of room to write a message inside, these are the PERFECT gift! Why send just a card, when you can send the gift of a recipe as well?!? Click here for more information and to order.