Tag Archives: mini cupcakes

Mini Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing

Posted on November 23, 2015 by Ruthanne

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These cute little bites of pumpkin and sweet cream cheese frosting are a perfect Fall treat! Top them with a little Hershey Kiss acorn, and they are a sweet place setting for Thanksgiving!

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If you have followed this blog for very long, you know that I hate pumpkin. I cave in to autumn recipes though and sometimes create pumpkin treats for you all. I rely on others to tell me how they taste, and these got RAVE reviews from my taste-testing friends.

They are an adaptation of my mom’s delicious Pumpkin Roll, but in cute and bite-size portions!

And then there are those cute little acorns- easy and fun to make for your fall celebrations.

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Here’s how we created all of this yummy-ness! (printable recipe)

INGREDIENTS: (makes about 38-40 mini cupcakes)

Cupcakes:

2/3 cup pumpkin
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup flour
1/2tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. baking soda

Frosting: (halve this if you don’t like piles of frosting as shown in my photos!)

8 oz (1 package) cream cheese (softened)
1/2 cup of butter (softened)
1 teaspoon vanilla
dash of salt
4 cups powdered sugar
1 cup white chocolate chips (melted)

Acorns:

40 Hershey kisses
40 mini Nilla Wafers
about 1/2 cup of chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

Cupcakes:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Mix together all of the cupcake ingredients, adding the flour, cinnamon and soda last. Blend well.
Spoon into mini cupcake liners, filling each about 3/4 full.
Bake for 14-16 minutes
Cool completely and frost.

Frosting:

On medium speed, beat together cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and salt until creamy.
Gradually add powdered sugar, beating until smooth.
Melt white chocolate chips in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring between, until smooth.
Add melted white chocolate to icing and beat on low until completely combined.
Place in a zip-top bag fitted with a decorating tip and pipe frosting on top of cooled mini cupcakes.
Add leaf sprinkles and acorn (if desired)

Acorns:

Count out about 40 chocolate chips, Nilla Wafers and (unwrapped!) Hershey kisses.
Melt remaining chocolate chips
Set Nilla Wafers flat side up on a plate.
Spread a small amount of melted chocolate on the bottom of a Hershey kiss and set it (melted chocolate side down) on a Nilla Wafer. Repeat until all kisses are placed and refrigerate until hardened together.
Use a toothpick to put a small amount of melted chocolate on a chocolate chip and carefully hold to the top of the Nilla Wafer until it hardens and stays (when the Nilla Wafer is cold from the fridge, this happens in seconds).
Use to decorate your table and your cupcakes!!!

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My thoughts: Cute, easy and (according to my friends!) delicious! I hope you get a chance to try these little bites of fall happiness! Enjoy!! ~r

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Other really fun and cute fall treats: (click on a photo to see the recipe!)

8 Comments

Posted in Cupcakes and tagged acorn, acorn candy, acorn cupcake toppers, cream cheese frosting, cupcake, cupcakes, dessert, fall, fun, leaf sprinkles, mini cupcakes, pumpkin cupcakes, thanksgiving. Bookmark the permalink.

Peanut Butter Fudge Cupcakes

Posted on September 28, 2013 by Ruthanne

These mini fudge cupcakes are topped with the creamiest peanut butter frosting ever! If you like peanut butter and chocolate together you will LOVE this recipe!!

Ah peanut butter… I just crave it sometimes! Add chocolate and you pretty much have achieved perfection in the dessert world (at least in my humble, not-allergic-to-peanuts, view). These cupcakes are easy to make and they won’t last long! Here’s how to make them: (printable recipe)

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

Frosting:

3 sticks (1 1/2 cups) butter (softened to room temperature)
1 cup of creamy peanut butter
3 cups powdered sugar
1 Tablespoon vanilla
One bag of mini Reese cups (optional for decoration)

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 (fill about 3/4 full) and bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.
Remove from oven and cool completely.
To make frosting, place butter, vanilla, and peanut butter into a large bowl and mix on high until smooth (about a minute)
Add powdered sugar and beat on low until combined and then on high until light and fluffy.
Place frosting in a zip-top bag fitted with a decorating tip and pipe on top of each cooled cupcake.
Top each cupcake with a mini Reese Cup and a sprinkle of cocoa powder (as desired)
Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Fudge Cupcakes!!
My thoughts: Yum….! Yep, that pretty much sums up my thoughts…mmmmm….! I hope you enjoy these as much as I am right now!!!

Other peanut butter-y recipes you will love:

25 Comments

Posted in Cupcakes and tagged baking, chocolate, cocoa, cupcakes, dessert, flourless chocolate cake, fudge, mini cupcakes, mini dessert, peanut butter, peanut butter cups, peanut butter frosting, Reese Peanut Butter Cups. 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