Monkey La La

These are a coconut based cupcake with Kahlua, Baileys and Vanilla Vodka added to the batter, topped with a similar frosting - coconut, vanilla, Baileys, Kahlue and Vanilla vodka.....All in tribute to the Monkey La La.

It's a yummy cupcake, but next time I'm gonna try it in a chocolate based cupcake. Recipe to come...

Happy Birthday Jonah!

Here's the birthday boy with the cupakes I made for him.

HOLY MOJITO, BATMAN!!!!

FOR IRON CUPCAKE - BERRIES

I would like to insert swear words into this description of the best #*@! cuppies. I'm pretty proud of these, cuz I LOVE THE TASTE, don't care if anyone else does.......

They are for Iron Cupcake Earth - Berries. (Unfortunately the digital camera is not here today, so I had to take a regular picture - I'll scan it and post it after I get it developed.)

Introducing Strawberry Mojito Cupcakes with a swirled Strawberry and Mojito swiss meringue buttercream:

I used the Blackberry Mojito recipe I had posted before from Baker Girl and played with it a little, here it is:

3 cups sifted cake flour
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 tsp b powder
1/2 tsp soda
1 cup (2 sticks) RT US butter
1 cup + 1 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 limes, segmented
zest of 1 lime
1 oz spiced rum
1 1/2 Tbsp frest mint, minced
3 eggs
3/4 cup half and half
1/2 cup pureed strawberries (I used leftover macerated strawberries, you can see my previous post for that recipe)

Glaze
2 Tbsp spiced rum
1/2 juice of lime and zest
2 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp fresh minced mint

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pan, I got 24 smaller cupcakes.
Mix dry ingredients together in seperate bowl. Put half and half, mint, lime, rum and strawberries in large glass measuring cup.
Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, scraping bowl as needed.
Alternately add dry and wet ingredients together, beg and ending with dry (do quickly over 60 seconds), stop mixer and scrape bowl, mix a few seconds on low, then turn up mixer to med and beat for 10 seconds.
Bake 18 - 20 minutes.
Stir together glaze ingredients into small saucepan and bring to boil, stirring as needed. Take off heat and let cool.
When cupcakes are cool, poke holes into tops, then brush glaze on top. Let sit for a bit, then frost.
Mojito Swiss Meringue Buttercream:
adapted from How To Eat A Cupcake:
5 egg whites
pinch of salt
1 1/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 sticks softened, but still cool, unsalted butter cut into tbsp chunks
1/2 lime juice and zest
2 Tbsp spiced rum
1 Tbsp fresh minced mint

In double boiler over simmering water, whisk egg whites, salt and sugar. whisk constantly until mixture reaches 160 degrees.
Transfer to mixing bowl and with whisk attachment beat on high for approx 7 minutes, mixture should have stiff, but shiny stiff peaks, continue beating for another 7 minutes until mixture is cool (feel bottom of bowl, it should be cool, not warm at all).
Stop mixer and put on paddle attachment. On med speed, add butter 2 Tbsp at a time, mixing well after each addition, after all butter is in turn up mixer to med high and beat for another 2 - 3 minutes.
On low speed, add lime, rum and mint. mix until incorporated (If it curdles, turn up mixer to med and let it come back together - it might take a few minutes).

Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Exactly the same as above, only instead of adding the mint, rum and lime, I added 3/4 cup macerated strawberry puree. (See my previous post for that recipe).

I put the strawberry and mojito buttercream and piped it on the cupcake, creating a swirl effect. You could add food coloring to strawberry to make it a more pronounced color difference.

As always check out Iron Cupcake at http://www.ironcupcakemilwaukee.com/

Our June ETSY PRIZE-PACK is from artists:
A sweet cupcake ID bracelet by INSANEJELLYFISH, http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5021935
A groovy linocut piece from BLOCKHEAD PRESS http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6108705
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/ .

More birthday cupcakes!

I made vanilla and chocolate 'Cars' themed cupcakes with the "Chocolate Method", as well as chocolate and vanilla with strawberry buttercream Tiara cupcakes.

Inside the dinosaur cake...

Vanilla cake with strawberry buttercream filling.....

I made two different vanilla cakes for this project. the first was Warren Brown's Yellow Butter Cake, which was a huge disappointment. There is one layer in the middle of this cake.

The other recipe is my Vanilla, and it didn't translate well into cake either...It deflated after it came out of the oven, and really pulled away from the sides, However, it was yummy. Dense, moist and flavorful....definitely pound cake like, which is what I prefer. It is the top and bottom layer.

Dinosaur Cake

I did some dinosaurs out of melted chocolate wafers, by way of Whimsical Bakehouse. I made a dinosaur cake as you can see...I made the Trex too big, and his tail broke as you can also see. I made the mountains and the rocks out of chocolate marshmallow fondant, so everything on the cake is not only edible, but yummy.

Happy Birthday Grayson...

The birthday boy with his cupcakes.
I learned a lesson with these cuppies. Fondant cannot be put into a sealed container or it will go soft.....as you can see by some of the fins in this picture.