Candy Corn Cupcakes

It's that candy corn time of year! Cooler weather (ha! We got a whole 2 days of it), county fairs, and pumpkin everything! I'm not making any guarantees for or against a pumpkin creation showing up on the blog but my goodness Pinterest has been on pumpkin overload for about 2 months now.
Have you noticed how this time of year there are so many good baking flavors to use? Pumpkin, pecan, cinnamon, apple, not to mention fair food inspiration. Any good suggestions you'd like to see me try?

I've got a cute candy corn cupcake for you today. I'll tell you what I did, and give you a suggestion for what will probably be an infinitely easier way!

For the cake:
1 box white cake mix and required ingredients
1 bag candy corn (about 1 cup for the cake, 1 cup for the frosting)
red and yellow food color (1 drop red, 2 drops yellow)

What I did: Melted the candy corn (with oil to keep it soft) and mixed it in with the other *warm or room temp* ingredients. This was mostly a disaster. Candy corn melts great, but it is less than great at staying that way. As soon as it hit the other ingredients we had a solid lump of candy corn goop. So I mixed the mess out of it and got it to workable sized chunks.

Probably a better option: Mix either whole candy corn or chopped candy corn pieces into the prepared batter. Honestly not sure why I thought the other way would be better!

For the frosting:
Since the melted candy corn didn't work out for the cake I decided not to attempt that route for the frosting.
1/2 Crisco bar
1 stick butter
1 tsp vanilla
2-3 tbsp milk
powdered sugar
red and yellow food color

Mix butter and shortening then add other ingredients. If you want to spend a little more time on it you could separate your frosting into 3 bowls and color one orange, one yellow, and leave one white. You could then frost the cupcakes to resemble candy corn. But since I topped the cupcakes with candy corn and mellowcreme pumpkins I opted for just orange frosting.

- Happy Baking!

Pomegranate & Papaya Cupcakes

Pomegranate. Papaya. Both weird fruits that are kind of fun to say. So I decided to throw them together in a cupcake. And it was delicious!

For the cake:
1 box white cake mix
ingredients listed on box, sub milk for water
2 tsp pomegranate flavor
1/4 cup diced dried papaya
Mix it all up, pour in cupcake liners & bake for about that long.

For the frosting: *NOTE* this is a fairly small batch of frosting. I had enough to do about 18 cupcakes, and I didn't put a ton of frosting on them.
1/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter
juice from removing pomegranate seeds (mostly for color)
I also added 1 tsp pomegranate flavor
powdered sugar to reach desired consistency
Mix all this together, frost, and top with pomegranate seeds.

To get your pomegranate seeds (and juice) slice your pomegranate crossways (not through the stem) and whack the back of each half with a spoon. Your seeds will fall into the bowl along with the juice. I suggest straining the juice through a paper towel or something because there will be some little pieces you don't want.

You should try these. They are pretty amazing if I do say so myself.

-Happy Baking!

Cardiology Cupcakes

I just finished up my 3rd rotation. Getting closer!! This month was at the VA Hospital with a cardiology team. Of course I had to make cupcakes for them and I wanted something cardiology related. There aren't very many ideas out there for cardiology cupcakes though. I was thinking EKG or something, but then I decided to check chocolate molds online. I found one on amazon with anatomical hearts. Score! I opted for a red velvet cake with cream cheese buttercream.

For the cake:
1 box white cake mix
Red velvet bakery emulsion

So the easiest thing to tell you is to follow the box instructions. I did not measure anything so I'm of no help on this one. I did use the red velvet bakery emulsion (I found it at Hobby Lobby) thinking it would be easier than food coloring and cocoa powder. It was not. I used almost half a bottle and still had to add cocoa powder. Or I guess you could just start with a red velvet mix :)

For the frosting:
1 stick butter
8 oz whipped cream cheese
2-4 tbsp milk
powdered sugar
vanilla & almond flavoring

You know the drill. Mix it all up, add powdered sugar until you reach the desired consistency. Vanilla and/or almond are optional. I used just a tiny bit of each.

For the hearts:
red, blue, and milk chocolate candy melts
candy mold

First I painted the blue in the mold, just randomly across the veins for a little color and at the top for contrast. Then I painted a layer over that with red candy melts. Make sure you allow time for each color to set before starting with the next one or they'll start running together. I filled the rest of the cavity with milk chocolate just for taste. I don't think the vanilla melts taste very good so I always fill in with chocolate. These little hearts would also be good for Halloween which is right around the corner!

-Happy Baking!

Nuts & Bolts & Cupcakes

Wow guys, I really suck at this. Sorry I haven't posted in basically a year (1 month, 5 days to be exact). So to get you up to speed- I've been in South Dakota for the month doing a rotation with Indian Health Services in Ft. Thompson. I absolutely loved it! But I am 15 hours from home and I've really missed KC. But today is the last day here then I'm heading home! So it'll take me a couple days but still. In honor of finally seeing KC again here are some cupcakes I made for him ages ago.

When I came across the nuts and bolts candy mold on amazon I knew I had to have it. KC works for Fastenal so nuts and bolts are his daily life. When doing these cupcakes, I tried to stick with Fastenal's colors as well as I could and still make them in KC's favorite flavor, mint chocolate.

First for the nuts, bolts, and letters I melted white chocolate melts with a little bit of black chocolate melts to get a light gray color. I painted the inside of the molds with the gray chocolate. It looked best with two coats of chocolate. After letting that set I filled the molds the rest of the way with milk chocolate. Once the chocolates were completely set, I painted them with pearl dust. To do this I mixed a few drops of vodka with the pearl dust to get a paint consistency then painted it onto the chocolate. Don't worry, the vodka evaporates! (I think)

The cupcakes-
Pretty boring this time chocolate cake mix, couple drops of mint flavoring. End of story.

The filling-
1 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup marshmallow cream
1/2 can sweetened condensed milk
creme de menthe flavoring oil to taste

Melt chocolate chips and mix with marshmallow cream and condensed milk. Add creme de menthe oil as desired. After the cupcakes cool completely, core them and spoon in this filling. Save about 1/2 cup for the frosting.

The frosting-
remaining filling
1/2 cup shortening
1-2 tbsp milk
creme de menthe flavoring oil to taste
powdered sugar

Mix it all up to the desired consistency and frost those babies!

-Happy Baking!

Cherry Mash Cupcakes

Guys, I'm obviously the worst blogger ever. It's been a crazy couple weeks..ER visits, shigellosis (love that the wiki page for that says not to be confused with shingles. Trust me, no confusion there). Oh and bugs. Bedbugs to be exact. So yeah...the worst part is this post was all ready to go and I couldn't even click one button to make it live. Forgive me?

Anyway, on to more appropriate topics. My mom and my sister both love the cherry mash candy. I'm talking they put one in the fridge and anybody who values their life won't touch it. I like them too, but I never get to have any :( Nah, I'm joking. Mom buys them for me too. It may be that cherry mash just isn't that popular of a candy (outside of my family) but I've never seen them featured in any recipe. So here we go!

For the cake:
1 box chocolate cake mix, prepared per box directions (sub milk for water)
1 drop of cherry flavoring oil
      Seriously, this stuff is strong and you don't want too much!

For the cherry mash fudge filling:
1 cup cherry chips
1/2 cup marshmallow cream
1/2 can sweetened condensed milk

Melt the cherry chips in the microwave. I found that they didn't melt well until I added the sweetened condensed milk. Stir in the marshmallow cream. This will stay un-set at room temp. I suggest letting your cupcakes cool *completely* before filling them. I did not and most of my filling melted into the cupcake. Core your cupcakes and add the filling. Save about 1/2 cup to start your frosting.

For the frosting:
fudge filling from above
1 cup shortening
1-2 tbsp milk
1 drop cherry flavoring oil
1 cherry mash candy, melted
powdered sugar

Mix the first 4 ingredients then add the melted cherry mash. Add powdered sugar until you reach the desired consistency/flavor.

                             source: Wikipedia

I stupidly forgot my frosting gun but I had tips so I decided to use a ziplock bag for a frosting bag. That worked well for 1.5 cupcakes before the bag split down the side :( So here is my one prettily frosted one.

-Happy Baking!

Graduation Cupcakes

Yesterday was my first day of my last year of school EVER! So it was a pretty exciting day. But it also means that I won't be able to do a lot of cupcake baking, especially over the next two months since I'm living in hotels for the time being. I've got a couple things to post about during that time, but I need you guys to tell me what you want to see. I've got a stovetop and a microwave, so it's going to take some creativity :)

For today's post though, I've got some cupcakes I made for my little brother's graduation a couple weeks ago. Congratulations Eddie!

He wanted sour cupcakes, like the sour patch kids type candy. I went with a white cake and totally cheated and bought pre-made, colored buttercream. I did make my own sour sugar (does that even make sense?) with citric acid and colored sugar. I also colored my own sugar, because I didn't feel like driving to Hobby Lobby. Plus, money. So my process on this- Pour 1/2 cup sugar in a ziplock bag. Add some red food coloring. Shake it up. Add 1-2 tsp citric acid. Shake it up. I just tasted and added until it was sour enough. It doesn't take much!

This was probably the most basic cupcake I've made in a while. I focused more on decoration for this one. I used a white cake mix, prepared per box instructions (sub milk for water). And as I mentioned I bought the frosting.

I found a neat decorating bag set a while back and decided this would be the perfect time to use it. Each bag has a divider in the center so you can do two colors simultaneously. Since our high school's colors are red and white the contrast worked well for the frosting.

I also used some sour candy pieces on top of some of the cupcakes.

I hope you guys will give me some ideas of what you'd like to see while I'm not able to bake.

-Happy baking!

Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes

I'd promised some friends strawberry cupcakes a looong time ago. Just plain strawberry cupcakes sounded a bit boring for my taste though so I decided to turn this into a cheesecake deal. Not in that it is actually cheesecake, but the frosting is cheescake-y.

I love, love, love these frozen strawberries in syrup. I use them all the time- waffles, cupcakes, toast, even frosting. I got them at Kroger, but I'm pretty sure you can find them in any grocery store.

So here's the deal. Boxed cake. Strawberries. Done.
Cake:
1 box golden vanilla cake mix
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
*1 cup strawberry milk
frozen strawberries- let them thaw. Your life will be much easier. I did not.

*For the strawberry milk- I poured up about 1/8 cup of the syrup from the frozen strawberries and added milk to get 1 cup.

I mixed the cake with the liquids. I mixed by hand because I the cake turns out much better because I'm too lazy to clean the beaters twice. Then I stirred in a few spoonfuls of strawberries. I'd tell you how much but mine were still pretty frozen so I just stirred a little in. Feel free to add a lot for more strawberryness.
Threw them in the oven at 350 for... about that long (sorry, somebody buy me a kitchen timer).

Frosting:
1 tub of Strawberry cream cheese
1 stick butter
3 tbsp syrup from the frozen strawberries
Powdered sugar to reach desired consistency
Add strawberry pieces to taste

I did a really thin frosting and spooned it on, but go ahead and add more powdered sugar if you want to pipe on some pretty frosting.

Use a cupcake corer (or a knife) to core the cupcakes. Fill the resulting hole with strawberries, then cover with frosting. Top with a sliced strawberry.

-Happy Baking!