10.26.12 Apple Cider Cupcakes with Caramel Icing

Oh Fall, how do I love thee?  The cool breeze & longer nights allow me to wear my cozy sweaters and have a fire going in the living room; there is always the smell of cinnamon and apples in my house; I get to decorate the inside & outside of our home with pumpkins, gourds, & fall leaf garland; and the stores & farmers' markets are now selling APPLE CIDER! 

Enter Apple Cider Cupcakes with Caramel Icing.

Oh. My. God.  These are delicious.  I've actually made these a number of times, as they are a favorite of my friends and coworkers.  I've modified the recipe from Coconut & Lime because I thought it needed more spices & some brown sugar.  Sometimes I add chunks of apples, other times I keep them plain.  Either way, they taste delicious, they are easy to make, and they do NOT taste like apple juice (I love cider, but hate juice).  Apple Cider Cupcakes are everything fall...enjoy.

 

Apple Cider Cupcakes
makes approximately 24 standard

4 eggs, room temperature
3 1/3 cup flour
2 cups apple cider
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar (packed)
1 cup butter (2 sticks), room temperature
4 teaspoons baking powder
3 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350. Line 24 cupcake wells. In large bowl, cream together butter and sugars. Add eggs, beat well. Add the baking powder, spices, and salt. Stir. Add the flour alternately with the apple cider until thoroughly combined. Pour into prepared cupcake pan, filling each cup 3/4 way full. Bake 17-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the center cupcake comes out clean.  Frost with caramel icing when cool.

 

Caramel Icing

I use my grandmother's caramel icing recipe, but my sisters & I agreed that I should not publicly share that family recipe.  So, while I've not tried this recipe, it does come from the same site as the cupcakes & it looks pretty good (for 12 cupcakes): http://coconutlime.blogspot.com/2006/10/caramel-frosting.html).

 

9.23.12 French Toast Cupcakes with Maple Buttercream Icing

I'm super-duper in the fall mood right now.  Anything with cinnamon, maple, pumpkin, apple, or with a Halloween-theme will do.  So, last week I put the cupcake-of-the-week up for a vote on FaceBook.  Butterbeer squeaked by with the win, but French Toast Cupcakes were a very close second.  (I'll be honest, Steve's vote for Butterbeer cupcakes counted for about 5 votes, since he is the one who is my primary taste tester).

So here we are a couple of weeks later, and I finally have a moment to make these delicious breakfast-in-a-wrapper goodies.  These cupcakes will make your house smell AMAZING, and, like many of my recipes, these are very rich.  So, have your glass of milk ready.

I modified the Streusel Topped French Toast Cupcakes with Maple Buttercream from Bakingdom.  Any recipe that uses sour cream in the cake is worth a shot in my book; it keeps the cake so moist.  The icing just wasn't maple-y enough for me, so I upped it with maple extract, which you can find in the baking section of your grocery store with the other extracts.

 

French Toast Cupcakes 
Makes approximately 24 standard cupcakes

Streusel Ingredients
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks

Cupcake Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sour cream
4 eggs, at room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

To make the streusel: In a large bowl, combine the brown sugar, sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt. Mix the cold butter into the mixture by hand, squeezing the pieces in to mix it. Cover and freeze while you prepare the cupcakes.

To make the cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350 degrees (180 C). Line a muffin pan with cupcake liners; set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Add the butter, sour cream, eggs, and vanilla and mix well, until the mixture is smooth, about 30 seconds. Fill baking cups about 1/2 way.*  Divide the streusel evenly among the cupcakes, and sprinkle it on each one. Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

*Do not fill up to 2/3 like you normally would.  I did with the 1st batch and they grew out of the pan!

FYI: these baking cups are WAY too full.

 
Maple Buttercream Icing
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 lb. (about 4 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/4 tsp maple extract
2-3 tablespoons heavy cream

Beat the butter on high speed until light and fluffy. Beat in the sugar until combined. Stir in the vanilla, salt, syrup, & extract. Add the heavy cream and whisk on high for 4 minutes until desired consistency is reached.

Let's face it, these are breakfast cupcakes with maple syrup-y goodness. So go ahead and enjoy one with coffee. I did & they were AMAZING. The coffee seems to cut some of the sugary-ness & gives the cupcakes a nice balance.

9.9.12 I'm baaaaaaaack!!! (and I brought Butterbeer Cupcakes with me)

Hello again!  I've been gone from the Blogosphere almost 2 years to the day.  A lot has happened since my last entry: I now teach Biology part-time at a community college and Science at a high school full-time; Steve & I have bought & moved into a new house; we have a new dog, Molly; and MOST exciting, we have a new baby boy, Mr. H! 

I have still been baking and trying out new recipes; I just haven't been posting about them.  Well, if I'm going to get better at this, I need some feedback, right?  Right.  Also, truth be told, I am sick of trying to find a recipe that I used months earlier, but forgot to bookmark.  I could save myself a heck of a lot of time if I just had this online cookbook of sorts up-to-date.

Tonight is "Going Back to Work Full Time" Eve.  I'm a little sad and very nervous to leave Mr. H at daycare for a full week.  So what better way to unwind and settle the nerves than creaming butter and sugar together!  Since it felt so (relatively) cool today, I decided to give a nod to fall and Harry Potter (cooler weather always make me want to watch the movies again) by making some Butterbeer Cupcakes (adapted from Tennessee Sugar).  These are yummy cupcakes with cream soda in the batter (yum), a butterscotch ganache filling (double yum), and a butterscotch buttercream icing (YUM!!!).

Butterbeer Cupcakes (makes approximately 18 cupcakes)

• 2 cups flour
• 1-1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1-1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp butter flavoring
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup cream soda 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake tins with liners.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugars until light and fluffly, about 2-3 minutes. 

4. Beat in eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl between each.

     5.  Add in vanilla and butter flavoring.
     6.  Combine buttermilk* and cream soda in a small bowl and alternate adding that combination with the flour mixture with the mixer on low, starting and ending with the flour.
 

7. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for 15-17 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely on wire racks.

*You don't have to buy buttermilk, unless you're like my grandfather and actually like to drink sour milk - EW!  Just pour 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice into a measuring cup and then add milk to make 1 cup.  Use what you need!

Butterscotch Ganache

• 1 11-oz package butterscotch chips
• 3/4 cup heavy cream 

1. While the cupcakes are baking, make the ganache: melt butterscotch chips and heavy cream together using a double boiler (or on low heat, stirring constantly) until completely smooth. Cool to room temperature to allow the ganache to slightly thicken.
2. Fill an decorating bag or plastic squeeze bottle with the ganache and once cupcakes are cool insert tip into each cupcake, filling until the ganache starts to slightly overflow.

Butterscotch Buttercream

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/3 cup butterscotch ganache
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp butter flavoring
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 lb powdered sugar (3 /12 - 4 cups)
• Splash of cream (as needed) 

1. Cream butter in the bowl of an electric mixer until light and fluffy.

     2.  Add ganache, vanilla, butter flavoring, and salt and mix until well combined.
     3.  Beat in powdered sugar and allow it to come together for about 2 minutes.
     4.  Add cream a tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached.

     5.  Pipe frosting onto cupcakes and drizzle leftover butterscotch ganache over each.

Do you have some extra butterscotch ganache left over?  Don't throw it out.  Use it as a topping on ice cream or brownies - DELICIOUS!!!