Please vote for me....

Go to http://www.ironcupcakemilwaukee.com and vote for all three of my cupcakes, they are listed under "Oh, Just put a cupcake in it". They are the orange crush, pomegranate soda and blue cream cuppies. Thank You!

Lemon Strawberry Cuppie Experiments

Experimenting with two different types of lemon cupcakes today. One was from Warren Brown's "Cake Love" and the other was an adaption from the mojito cupcake that I made last week. In one I put an adapted version of Field of Cakes strawberry buttercream filling topped with a whipped white chocolate ganache buttercream, and in the other I put the whipped WC ganache as a filling (along with some macerated strawberry juice) and then topped with the strawberry buttercream. Both cupcakes are good, but hands down my favorite is the Warren Brown cupcake (the one with the white chocolate top) - It didn't bake up as pretty, but man did it have flavor. I'm not real excited about how the lemon, strawberries and white chocolate tasted together, so next time I make these (on Friday for a wedding) I will not add the white chocolate frosting. I will post recipes later.

Mojitos, with blackberries!

So, I wanted to add mojito to my list of drunken cuppies. I had two recipes that I wanted to try, one was from Warren Brown's Cake Love and the other was from Bakergirl Creations blogsite. I opted this time for the one from Bakergirl. These cupcakes are very flavorful. The recipe calls for a glaze to add after the cupcakes are cool, and I was a little conservative with the glaze - which I think was a mistake, the glaze is amazing, and without it these cupcakes are just a tad dry for my taste - so with a bit more glaze soaked deep in the cuppies, these cupcakes are definitely keepers.

Blackberry Mojito Cupcakes

(adapted/sl tweaked from http://bakergirlcreations.wordpress.com)

3 cups cake flour (sift, then measure)

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp plus pinch salt

1 cup unsalted room temp butter

1 cup plus 1 Tbsp sugar

juice of 2 limes (about 1/4 cup)

zest of 1 lime

1 1/2 Tbsp minced fresh mint

2 Tbsp spiced rum

3 eggs

3/4 cup milk (I used whole)

40 fresh blackberries (2 small containers)

Glaze:

2 Tbsp spiced rum

2 Tbsp lime

2 Tbsp dark brown sugar

1 tsp fresh minced mint

Lime Cream Cheese Icing:

8 oz cream cheese

1 1/2 stick unsalted butter

1 tsp vanilla

2-3 Tbsp lime juice

4 cups powdered sugar

I also added some fresh mint - just a pinch.

lime zest*

Quartered lime slices, blackberries(included in recipe) and small mint leaves for garnish.

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, line cupcake pans - I got 22 out of this recipe

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the cake flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. set aside.

3. In mixer bowl, cream the butter until smooth. add the sugar and beat on med high until light and fluffy (approx 2-3 minutes). As always, scrape bowl as needed throughout recipe.

4. Add in the lime juice, rum, zest and mint, mix to incorporate.

5. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each and scraping bowl as needed. (NOTE: I found at this point my batter curdled...put I perservered, it worked itself out after the flour)

6. Add in the flour mixture in thirds, alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Mix ingredients just long enough to incorporate.

7. Divide into cupcake liners and place 1 blackberry on top of each. Bake 18-20 minutes.

8. Once the cupcakes have cooled, whisk together the glaze ingredients. Bakergirl says you can microwave it for a minute or so to dissolve sugar, I found just as easy to throw it in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. let cool.

9. poke several holes in the top of each cupcake with a skewer and pour the syrup over the cupcakes allow to soak in. (I was not liberal with this step. I highly recommend, making several deep holes in cuppies and be generous with syrup).

10. For the frosting - In bowl, beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Beat in vanilla and lime juice. Beat in powdered sugar, one third at a time. *(I see as I'm typing this that the recipe states fold in lime zest - didn't see this when making, nor did I put in but that would certainly add pizazz.)

11. Frost cooled cupcakes and garnish with lime, mint and blackberry.

Pineapple Cupcakes

Now, I needed a way to use up all that wonderful pineapple filling I made, so while I was in the throws of making all my other cupcakes I thought why not add to my brown sugar vanilla cupcakes. The result was fantastic....a keeper....another favorite. the pineapple one is in the black and white polka dotted liner.

Sandi Oh's Pineapple Cupcakes

21/2 cups sifted all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 stick room temp unsalted butter

1 cup white sugar

1 cup light brown sugar

3 large room temp eggs

8 oz sour cream

1/2 cup oil

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup pineapple filling (see previous post)

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees F, makes approx 24 cuppies.

whisk together dry ingredients and set aside.

In mixer, cream butter until lite and fluffy, add sugar and beat again until mixture is light (There is a high sugar to butter ratio, so it won't get real light and fluffy, but you want to beat it as well as you can. Add eggs one at a time and beat well between each addition, scraping bowl as needed. Add oil and vanilla, mix until incorporated. Add sour cream and mix until incorporated. Add dry ingredients to batter and mix until incorporated, making sure not to overmix. fold in pineapple. Bake approx 20-22 minutes.

I frosted these with the coconut buttercream frosting that I had made from the Pina Colada cupcakes, which was a fantastic combo. But you could frost with a cream cheese frosting too, I'll bet that would be tasty.

Pina Colada Cupcake Recipe

These are my favorite, so far out of all the cupcakes I have made - well, at least for the mood I'm in lately anyway. But whatever the case, they really are delicious.

Sandi Oh's Pina Colada Cuppies

First we'll start with the coconut cupcake, which I found on Epicurious - Before you start with the cupcakes, you'll need to reduce coconut milk:

2 cans unsweetened coconut milk.

Bring to boil in a large deep saucepan over med-hi heat (milk will boil up in pan). reduce heat to med-lo and simmer until reduced to approx 1 1/2 cups (I actually got 1 2/3 cups exactly both times I did this - which is perfect because it gave me exactly enough to make 1 batch of cuppies and a double batch of frosting). Stirring occasionally, it takes 25 - 30 minutes. Remove from heat, cool completely and refridgerate up to 2 days ahead.

Coconut Cupcakes:

2 cups all purpose flour

2 1/4 tsp b powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 sticks unsalted room temp butter (I accidently added 2 sticks the second time I made these, and they were just a little richer - so you decide)

1 1/3 cups sugar

3 large eggs

seeds from 1 vanilla bean, or 1 1/2 tsp vanilla (I used 1/2 vanilla bean and 1/2 tsp good vanilla)

1 cup reduced coconut milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, line 18 cupcake tins.

Sift together the dry ingredients into seperate bowl.

Cream the butter until fluffy then slowly add the sugar and beat again 2 - 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Add 2 eggs, 1 at a time, beating well between each addition (and as always, scrape your bowl when you need to). Add the last egg with the seeds from the vanilla bean (or extract) and beat well.

Add the cup of coconut milk, mix well. Add 1/2 the flour mixture and mix until blended, then add the remaining flour and mix until blended. (okay, so that's the original directions. I just did the dry, wet, dry method which worked just fine too - just don't overmix your flour). Bake 18 - 20 minutes.

Next comes the Pineapple Buttercream (a new favorite), which is a recipe that I adapted from Fields of Cake, one of my favorite blogsites.

1/4 cup dark rum

1/3 cup dark brown sugar

2 sticks unsalted room temp butter

1 stick salted room temp butter

1/2 box (or 1/7 oz) instant vanilla pudding

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup pineapple filling (see my previous blog)

1/2 - 1 cup powdered sugar

In small sauce pan stir together rum and b. sugar and cook over med heat until sugar is dissolved (I just brought it to a boil). remove from heat and let cool.

In stand mixer with whip attachment, cream both butters until light and fluffy. Add pudding and

rum mixture (make sure you dip your fingers into the rum mixture and savor a piece of heaven while your at it) and mix on low to blend, then turn mixer up and beat 5 - 8 minutes. Bring mixer back to low and add cream and 1/4 cup pineapple, mix to incorporate. Turn mixer back up and beat again for a few minutes. Turn down again and add sugar (I like 1 cup, but you decide how sweet you want it...it does have the brown sugar from the rum and the filling itself). Once again bring mixer back up and beat for another few minutes. When done fold in the other half of the pineapple.

I found at times the frosting looked a little coagulated, but keep beating. It ends up great.

Next is the Coconut Buttercream (OMG...it's sooooo good)

(also from Epicurious)

2 sticks unsalted room temp butter (I actually use 1 stick salted and 1 stick unsalted)

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup reduced coconut milk (from above)

seeds from vanilla bean or 1 1/2 tsp vanilla (good quality)

1/8 tsp salt

beat butter until fluffy, add sugar, milk, vanilla and salt and mix on med low until well blended and scraping bowl as needed. Increase mixer to med high and beat until light and fluffy.

I have to double this recipe when I make it because it's sooooo fantastic.

Now to assemble cupcakes.

1. Take cooled cupcakes and fill with pineapple buttercream, by either cutting a cone in the middle and filling or by taking a size 12 decorating tip and shoving it in the middle of your cupcake and filling until it oozes out the top. The cone method is more tedious, but you get more filling - but then you lose part of your yummy cupcake. I just used the tip, and tried to get as much as I could in the cupcake before it cracked.

2. Top with coconut frosting. I did sprinkle a little bit of sweetened coconut on top after this.

Pineapple Filling - A Beautiful Thing....

Okay, so in the last few days I have made alot of cupcakes. Inspiration for quite a few of these cupcakes has come from this wonderful recipe for pineapple filling that I found in "Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes". I tweaked it a little to make it jive with what I was doing and the result was the best damn filling that I have ever made. In the picture above, the pineapple filling is obviously on the left. On the right is the reduced coconut milk that I made for my Pina Colada cuppies (recipe to come).

Pineapple Filling

(Adapted from "Sky High")

1 can crushed pineapple in natural juice (approx 560 g)

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp brown sugar (use dark or light)

1 1/2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

2 Tbsp Spiced rum

1/2 vanilla bean - scrape seeds out and add, then throw in the pod while cooking.

Put all ingredients into large pan. On low heat cook and stir until sugar is dissolved. Turn the heat up to medium and simmer until juice is evaporated and pineapple is jam like and thickened (approx 20 -25 minutes). Cool, take out vanilla pod. I stored mine in a glass jar and used after a couple of days.

Pina Colada

I made 9 dozen cupcakes today. They ranged from Frickin' Awesome (Pina colada cuppies) to so-so (almond with cherry filling and milk chocolate ganache buttercream). Recipes to come, I'm working 7pm to 7am this weekend, so probably in a few days.

If you like Pina Coladas,.......

Getting ready for some Pina Colada Cuppies tomorrow, as well as some celebration cupcakes. I made pineapple filling and reduced some coconut milk. I also made some sugar cookies in the shape of letters that will spell out "Congratulations Ahmed, RN" ontop of cupcakes. I will post recipes later.....

Final Entry for Iron Cupcake: Soda Pop

Sandi Oh's Orange Crush Cuppie -

My final entry, inspired by Ms. Frostie, is an orange dreamsicle like cupcake. Made with orange "Crush", it is vanilla and orange filled with the same orange candy studded white chocolate ganache as my Pomegranate cuppies, and topped with a white chocolate cream cheese frosting, dipped into an orange glaze. Very tasty little number.

Orange Crush Cuppies

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 Tbsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 stick softened unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup whole milk

1/2 cup orange soda

Preheat oven to 350 deg F, line 12 muffin tins.

Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in small bowl. In glass measuring cup mix milk and soda together.

In mixer, cream butter until light and fluffy, add sugar and cream again until light and fluffy, approx 3 minutes. Always scraping bowl when needed. add eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition. Add vanilla, mix until well incorporated. On low speed, beat in the flour in three additions, alternating with the milk and soda mixture in two additions and mixing until just incorporated. At this point I added a little orange food coloring. but you don't really need to.

fill muffin tins 2/3 full and bake 18 - 22 minutes.

After cupcakes are cooled, you can cut a hole out of the center of the cuppies, fill the hole with the White chocolate ganache (recipe in previous post) and the recover with the piece you took out.

Frost with the White Chocolate Cream Cheese frosting (recipe also in previous post). Let sit while you prepare the orange glaze.....Or you can put them in the fridge to harden up the frosting a bit to prepare for the dipping.

Glaze

(Martha Stewart, Oh yeah....)

4 1/2 Tbsp unsalted butter

1/4 cup milk (I used half and half...but do what you want, I don't really think it'll matter)

2 cups powdered sugar

orange food coloring

Put sugar in medium sized bowl, melt butter over medium heat, remove from heat and whisk in milk. Add to sugar and whisk together. Add food coloring add this point. the longer you let this sit, the more hardened it becomes, so you wanna dip your cuppies at this point.

Check out my two previous two posts for my other entries to iron cupcake and the prizes available for this months winner, and also here for other great stuff.

More Iron Cupcake: soda pop

Sandi Oh's Pomegranate Soda Cuppies.

My second entry for "iron cupcake: soda pop" is a vanilla cupcake made with Pomegranate Italian Soda filled with an orange candy studded white chocolate ganache and topped with a white chocolate cream cheese icing drizzled with thickened Pomegranate soda. They turned out really tasty....I was impressed.

Pomegranate cuppies

11/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 Tbsp baking powder

1/4 tsp sea salt

1 stick softened unsalted butter

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup whole milk

1/2 cup Pomegranate soda

Preheat oven to 350 deg F, line 12 cupcake cups.

Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in small bowl. In another bowl put milk and soda together (my milk curdled - it's all good tho)

Beat the butter and sugar on med speed until light and fluff 2 - 3 minutes, scraping sides of bowl as needed. Add eggs one at a time, beating and scraping well between each addition. Beat in vanilla extract. On low speed, mix in flour in three additions, alternating with the milk and soda in two additions and mixing just unitl incorporated.

Fill muffin tins 2/3 full and bake for 18 -22 minutes.

Orange Candy White Chocolate Ganache

(adapted from Fields of Cake's, candy cane WC ganache)

14 oz white chocolate chopped

2/3 cup heavy cream

10-12 orange and tangerine lifesavers hard candy, crushed.

Place white chocolate in a heat proof bowl. Heat cream in saucepan until almost a boil, pour over chocolate and let sit for 5 minutes without stirring. After 5 minutes, stir until smooth then allow to cool. Add candy when cool. Use right away or refrigerate for a few days to let candies form pools of liquid in ganache. (It did not work for the orange candies, it must work for the candy canes in the original recipe). When ready to use, bring to room temp and beat until fluffy.

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

(also adapted from Fields of Cake, who I think is the bomb!)

1 stick salted butter softened

8 0z cream cheese softened

1/2 3 0z. box of white chocolate instant pudding

1/2 cup cream

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup powdered sugar

Cream together butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add the pudding mix and beat for 8 minutes, until no longer grainy. On low add cream and vanilla until incorporated and then turn up mixer and beat for another 2-3 minutes. Add sugar on low until incorporated and then turn up mixer again and beat until light and fluffy (4 minutes). My frosting was soft and held its form, but next time I make this, I might add another 1/2 cup of sugar. So evaluate your consistency and decide from there how much sugar you want.

Pomegranate syrup - enough powdered sugar in about 1/4 cup of soda to make it slightly thickened to pour on top. It's whatever you want.....

To check out more fun stuff visit http://www.ironcupcakemilwaukee.com/.

Prizes for this month were listed in my first iron cupcake entry, so check it out!!!

Iron Cupcake: Soda Pop

Sandi Oh's Ode to a Blue Cream Nehi.

When I found out we were doing soda pop for Iron Cupcake the first thing I thought of was Blue Nehi. I don't think they make them anymore, and honestly it's been so long since I had one, that I forgot if the Blue Nehi's were vanilla or blue raspberry - so I made my cupcake a little of both. Check out http://www.ironcupcakemilwaukee.com for more cool cupcake stuff.

Our April ETSY PRIZE-PACK is from artists:
A creation by FRUITFLYPIE, http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=16748
a pair of cupcake earrings from LOTS OF SPRINKLES at http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6057281.
a sweet surprise from Sweet Cuppin' Cakes Cupcakery, http://www.acupcakery.com/
PLUS, IronCupcake:Earth can not forget our good friend, CAKESPY, http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5243382, who is now going to be doing a piece for our winner each month until further notice - sweet!Last and certainly not least, don’t forget our corporate prize providers: HEAD CHEFS by FIESTA PRODUCTS, http://www.fiestaproducts.com, HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, http://blog.hellocupcakebook.com, JESSIE STEELE APRONS http://www.jessiesteele.com; TASTE OF HOME books, http://www.tasteofhome.com; a t-shirt from UPWITHCUPCAKES.COM http://www.upwithcupcakes.com/. Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers, http://www.1800flowers.com .

Cola Cupcakes

(from Cupcakerecipes.com)

Ingredients

Part One

•1 cup coca cola or other cola drink (I used Dad's Blue Cream Soda)

• 1/2 cup butter

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

• 1/4 cup powdered cocoa (did not use)

• 22 large marshmallows

Part two

• 2 cups all purpose flour (plus 2 Tbsp, since I did not use cocoa)

• 2 cups sugar

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• 1 cup buttermilk

• 2 large eggs, beaten

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners. These cupcakes work best with the silver metallic liners.

Part one
In a small saucepan mix cola, butter, vegetable oil and cocoa. Bring to a boil, remove from heat, and add marshmallows. Place lid on saucepan and leave until marshmallows begin to melt. Stir well.
Part two
Mix flour, sugar, and baking soda in a large mixing bowl. Add buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla. Mix well. (I added a little blue food coloring at this point).
Combine Part One and Part Two in the mixing bowl. Spoon cupcake batter into cupcake pan liners until they are 1/2 to 2/3 full.
Bake at 325 degrees for approximately 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Vanilla Cream Filling

(From Baking Bites)

3 tbsp all purpose flour

1/2 cup milk (low fat is fine)

1/2 cup butter (or trans fat-free shortening)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 scraped vanilla bean or 1 tsp vanilla extract

Whisk together the flour and milk and cook in a small saucepan over medium heat until thick. This will only take a few minutes. Sir continuously to prevent the mixture from clumping and do not bring all the way to a boil. When thickened (consistency will be that of a thin pudding or custard), strain with a mesh strainer into a small bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let cool completely to room temperature.

When the milk mixture is cool, cream the butter (or shortening) and sugar together in a medium bowl until light. Add in the milk/flour mixture and the scraped vanilla bean seeds (or vanilla extract) and beat at high speed with an electric mixer for 7 minutes, until light and fluffy. Scrape into a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip, or a large ziplock bag with the corner cut off, and set aside until ready to fill your cupcakes.

Marshmallow Frosting

(from the Cupcake Doctor)

2 egg whites

2 Tbsp water

1/2 cup sugar

1 jar marshmallow creme (7 ozs)

over low heat in medium sauce pan, beat with electric mixer egg whites, water and sugar until soft peaks form, approx 2 - 3 minutes (although, seriously I was beating for at least 7 minutes).

take off heat and add creme and beat some more until stiff peaks form, approx 3 minutes.

The blue raspberry sauce is actually just a Blue raspberry freezie thickened with some powdered sugar!!!

Coconut cupcakes

(from Jacki's Bento blog)

14 1/4 oz cake flour,approximately 3 cups
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup coconut cream
8 oz butter, room temperature
16 oz sugar, approximately 2 1/4 cups
1 tsp coconut extract
4 egg whites

For the Cupcakes:Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tins with paper liners. Makes about 30 cupcakes. (I only got 22)
Place the flour, baking powder and salt into a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine.
Combine the coconut milk and coconut cream in small bowl and set aside.
Place the butter into the bowl of a stand mixer and using the paddle attachment, cream on medium speed until fluffy, approximately 1 minute. Decrease the speed to low and gradually add the sugar slowly over 1 to 2 minutes. Once all of the sugar has been added, stop the mixer and scrape down the sides. Turn the mixer back on to medium speed and continue creaming until the mixture noticeably lightens in texture and increases slightly in volume, approximately 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the coconut extract.
With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture alternately with the milk mixture to the butter and sugar in 3 batches, ending with the milk mixture. Do not over mix.
In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Fold the egg whites into the batter, just until combined. Fill cupcake cups about 2/3 full. Place in the oven on the middle rack. Bake for 25 minutes or until cupcakes start to become golden brown around the edges and a toothpick pressed in the center comes out clean.
Cool the cupcakes in the pans for 10 minutes then remove and transfer to a cooling rack.

Whipped Cream - Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz softened cream cheese

1 cup sifted powdered sugar

1 pint whipping cream, whipped seperately

Cream cream cheese and sugar together, then fold into whipped cream. simple and tasty.

Spread onto cooled cupcakes and top with shredded coconut of your choice. I like to top mine off with a cherry.

Mocha, mocha, mocha....

My devils food cupcakes made with coffee instead of water and a coffee buttercream garnished with some Starbuck's Mocha chocolate. YUM.

Happy 21st birthday Zeo!!!!

My son turned 21 on April 7th, he requested Guinness cupcakes with Bailey's Irish Cream frosting - and of course it was my pleasure to make them. I've made these quite a few times now, and they always turn out great (man I love that Bailey's frosting).

For the post below, I am sorry, but I tried and tried to seperate the recipes better, but for whatever reason, it continually published all bunched together. Any suggestions?

Yoga, Cupcakes and Facials Party

We had a party at my friend, Sandy Mmmm's place. First was yoga, then there was cupcakes and facials. And oh yeah, there was wine throughout. I made my Banoffee cuppies, my white chocolate poundcake cuppies with vanilla buttercream, Blackberry Pie cuppies and chocolate with strawberry frosting. I, as usual, made way too many and had to bring the leftovers to the Emergency Room I work at.....I don't think they minded.

The chocolate cuppies were my best Devils Food cuppies, listed previously in my posts and the strawberry icing was from http://www.fieldsofcake.blogspot.com/, although I did modify the strawberry icing somewhat, here's what I did:

Strawberry Frosting

from Fields of Cake

2 sticks unsalted butter (room temp)

1 stick salted butter (room temp)

1/2 box of 3 0z. white chocolate pudding

1/2 cup strawberry puree (see below)

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup macerated strawberries

1 cup sifted powdered sugar

Beat the butters and pudding for approx 8 minutes, turn to low and add puree and cream until incorporated, turn up mixer and beat another 3 -4 minutes, add sugar and incorporate on low, and then beat another couple of minutes. Fold in strawberry chunks (it takes a little bit of folding to actually get these incorporated and have your frosting settle down).

Macerated Strawberries

(As I did it, see Fields of Cake for the original version)

1 pound strawberries, cleaned, hulled and diced

2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice (or more)

2 Tbsp sugar

1/8 tsp sea salt

stir and refrigerate for several hours.

for the strawberry puree, just take some of the above and blend in a food processor.

I used some of the leftover Macerated strawberries to spoon over the top of my cupcake when I was done icing it.

Now, for my Blackberry Pie Cuppies (I loved these)

1 stick unsalted butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

3 large eggs

1/2 cup canola oil

8 oz carton of sour cream

1 tsp vanilla

1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

2 1/2 cups sifted AP flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

pre heat oven to 350 degrees.

Make sure all ingredients are at room temperature.

Cream butter until light and fluffy, add sugars and cream again until light and fluffy (scraping bowl as needed) 2-3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, scraping bowl as needed, beating well between each addition. Stir in oil, vanilla and lemon and mix until well incorporated. Mix in sour cream until incorporated.

Mix dry ingredients together and stir into wet mixture until incorporated, making sure not to overmix.

Blackberry filling

1 can Oregon Blackberries, drained

1 Tbsp brown sugar

2 Tbsp white sugar

1 Tbsp flour

1 Tbsp lemon juice

mix together.

Fill cupcakes 2/3 full, add 1 heaping Tbsp of blackberry mixture to middle of cuppie. Bake at 35o for approx 20 - 25 minutes.

Lemon Brown Sugar buttercream

2 sticks softened butter

2 Tbsp brown sugar

5 cups sifted powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Cream butter until light and fluffy, add brown sugar and beat well, until sugar is incorporated (2 - 3 minutes), add half of powdered sugar and vanilla, cream until well blended, add the rest of the sugar and lemon juice and beat again until well incorporated. If you find you need more liquid you can add cream or whole milk (1 Tbsp at a time).

Blackberry Syrup

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup water

2 cups fresh or frozen blackberries

zest of one lemon

Heat in sauce pan and bring to boil, reduce heat to med low and simmer 5 minutes, stirring occassionally until sugar is dissolved. At this point, I added 2 Tbsp cornstarch mixed with a little water and drizzled it into syrup and continued to stir until syrup was thickened. I think I could have let the sugar mixture reduce, but I ran out of patience. (ha ha)

Blackberry garnish.

wash the blackberry, brush it with some alcohol (I used Bacardi Limon, but I suppose you could just use lemon juice) and sprinkle some fine sugar on it.

Frost cupcake, drizzle sauce and top with a drunken blackberry and Whalah, you have a blackberry pie cuppie.

Banoffee success!!!

Banoffee Cupcakes

(adapted from Elinor Kinvans, Cupcakes!)

1 stick room temp unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar (I used lite brown, packed)

3 eggs

1/2 cup oil

1 - 3 tsp vanilla

1- 8 oz container sour cream

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 cup mashed bananas (2 medium)

16 caramels chopped (I nuked them for 15 sec first)

Cream together butter with sugars until lite and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition (and of course, always scraping bowl when needed). beat well for 2 - 3 minutes. mix in oil and vanilla until well blended then fold in sour cream.

Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Mix into butter mixture until incorporated. Fold in bananas, followed by caramels (you can roll your caramels in the flour mixture first if you want to, supposedly keeping the caramels from falling to the bottom of the cuppie).

Bake at 350 degrees for 18-21 minutes. I got 28 cuppies out of this batch.

Sandi Oh's Cream Cheese Frosting

1 stick salted butter, room temp

1/2 stick unsalted butter, room temp

8 oz cream cheese, softened

pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla

3 - 4 cups sifted powdered sugar

Beat butter and cream cheese until well blended and creamy, add salt and vanilla and cream again until well blended. Add 3 cups sugar and blend well. evaluate now if you want more consistency to frosting and add more sugar accordingly. Sometimes if I want to stretch out my frosting a little more, I will add up to 5 cups sugar and then put in a splash of cream or whole milk. This gave me enough to frost all of the cuppies above.

Caramel Sauce

1/2 brown sugar (lite and packed)

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1/4 cup heavy cream

Bring ingredients to boil in small heavy bottomed sauce pan, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. remove from heat and add 1 tsp vanilla. Let cool before drizzling on cuppies. If you let it sit too long and it doesnt drizzle well, put it in a bowl and nuke it for 10 seconds.

Pecan Toffee

2 Tbsp water

1/2 cup unsalted butter cut into chunks

pinch of salt

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp soda

1 cup chopped toasted pecans.

Put foil onto cookie sheet and lightly grease with butter. Spread nuts into a 8 x 11 area on foil.

Have soda and vanilla ready , then in a medium heavy bottomed sauce pan fitted with a candy thermometer, bring the water, butter, salt and sugars to a boil (I used med to med high heat) until candy therm reaches 300 degrees. Take off heat and immediately add soda and vanilla. Immediately spread over top of nuts and let cool.