Neopolitan Cupcakes

If you know me, you know I love cupcakes. They are my favorite baked good to make. They are my favorite baked good to eat. Delicious.

Of all the cupcakes in the world, these are my favorite. The concept comes from my favorite cupcake blog, How to Eat a Cupcake. The cupcake recipe is a modified version of Magnolia's cupcakes. The frosting is all Martha Stewart. With their powers combined, this cupcake is out of this world!

Neapolitan Cupcakes

Vanilla Batter

• 3/4 cup self-rising flour
• 1/2 cup and 2 Tbsps all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (1 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Chocolate Batter

• 3/4 cup self-rising flour
• 1/2 cup and 2 Tbsps cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup (1 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Line 2 muffin tins with cupcake papers.
3. Start with the vanilla batter.
4. In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside.
5. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes.
6. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.
7. Add the dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla.
8. Repeat steps 4 - 7 with the chocolate batter substituting the all-purpose flour for cocoa powder.
   
9. With a batter scoop, spoon one scoop of each vanilla and chocolate batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about 3/4 full.
10. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.
11. Cool the cupcakes in tins for 15 minutes.
12. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

Strawberry Frosting

• 1/2 cup whole frozen strawberries, thawed
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, firm and slightly cold
• Pinch of coarse salt
• 3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Place strawberries in the bowl of a small food processor; process until pureed.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and salt on medium speed until light and fluffy.
3. Reduce mixer speed and slowly add confectioners' sugar; beat until well combined.
4. Add vanilla and 3 tablespoons strawberry puree; mix until just blended.

Manhattan Cupcakes

Last year for a friend's birthday cocktail party, we decided to combine the two best things about birthdays - cake and drinking - by making these gin and tonic cupcakes.

This year we wanted to turn that brilliant idea into a tradition. The only problem is that there's a dearth of cocktail cupcake recipes out there -- only these few from Baking Bites seemed up to our standards, and even they are pretty mainstream. Our bag is classic cocktails, and we really wanted to try something a little different. So we made it up.
The cocktail: Manhattan (2 oz whiskey, 1/2 oz sweet vermouth, 2 dashes Angostura bitters, shaken and strained, garnished with orange peel and a maraschino cherry). The origin recipe: Burnt-Butter Brown Sugar Cupcakes Now, our recipe isn't perfect yet, so we're looking for another excuse to make these and tweak them a bit. They don't have quite as strong a whiskey flavor as we're looking for, but they're delicious nonetheless.


1 stick unsalted butter
3/4 cup self-rising cake flour
3 Tablespoons sugar
5 Tablespoons light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 Tablespoons whiskey

1 tbsp milk (in the future, we're thinking of substituting whiskey here too)

Preheat the oven to 400F and start burning your butter. Put it in a small saucepan on medium heat, stirring all the time until it turns dark golden color. Take the pan off the heat and let the butter solidify, but stay soft.

When the butter is solid but still soft, put all the cake ingredients except the whiskey and milk in a food processor or blender and blend to a smooth batter. Add the whiskey and milk down the funnel, pulsing sparingly to form a soft, dropping mixture.

Divide among lined cupcake tins, and cook for 15-20 minutes for regular-size cupcakes, 8-10 for mini.

We used a basic cream cheese frosting to top these (buttercream would be too much, well, butter for these cakes) with one little difference: sweet vermouth. That's an integral part of a Manhattan, and we were pretty excited about figuring it into the cupcakes. However, it turns out that the vermouth makes the frosting too sweet, so it's best to leave it out until we do a little more research.

Frost the cupcakes and top with just a little orange zest and a sliver of maraschino cherry.

And if anyone knows of any cocktail baked good recipes, or a way to figure in bitters, please send them our way.

Candy Cane Chocolate Cupcakes

I love cupcakes. They are my favorite thing in the whole world to bake. The inspiration for these came from a Mint Chocolate Cake my future mother-and-law made last Christmas. I took the recipe and cupcake-a-fied them. They are delightful and perfect for my work Holiday Party this evening!

Candy Cane Chocolate Cupcakes
Makes 36 cupcakes

Cake

• 1 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate morsels
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened
• 1 (16oz) package light brown sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 (8oz) container sour cream
• 1 cup hot water
• 2 tsps vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 3 cupcake tins with cupcake liners
2. Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt
3. Beat butter and brown sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer, beating about 5 minutes or until well blended
4. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition
5. Melt semisweet chocolate morsels in a microwave-safe bowl at high for 30-second intervals until melted (about 1 1/2 minutes total time). Stir until smooth
6. Add melted chocolate, beating just until blended
7. Gradually add to chocolate mixture alternately with sour cream, beginning and ending with flour mixture
8. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition
9. Gradually add 1 cup hot water in a slow, steady stream, beating at low speed just until blended
10. Stir in vanilla
11. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees or until toothpick inserted comes out clean
12. Cool in pan for 5 minutes, finish cooling on wire rack

Peppermint Butter Cream Frosting

• 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened
• 1 (16oz) packages powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp peppermint oil (or substitute 1 tsp peppermint extract)

Directions

1. Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy
2. Gradually add powdered sugar alternately with milk
3. Beating at low speed until blended after each addition
4. Stir in vanilla extract and peppermint oil

Chocolate Ganache Frosting

• 1 (12oz) package semisweet chocolate morsels
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 3 tbsp butter

Directions

1. Microwave semisweet chocolate morsels and whipping cream in a 2-quart microwave-safe bowl at medium (50% power) for 2 1/2 to 3 minutes or until chocolate begins to melt
2. Whisk until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth
3. Whisk in butter; let stand 20 minutes
4. Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer 3 to 4 minutes or until mixture forms soft peaks

Assemble

1. Scoop peppermint frosting into a large ziplock bag
2. Use a pairing knife to cut a small circle in the top of one of your cupcakes. Angle the knife toward the center of the cupcake, so a small cone of cake can be removed. Do not throw this away
3. Take the bag of peppermint frosting and clip away a very small piece of one corner of the bag
4. Pipe a small amount of peppermint frosting into the center of the cupcake
5. Replace the removed piece of cake to cover the peppermint frosting
6. Repeat for all cupcakes
7. Frost the top of each cupcake with Chocolate Ganache frosting

Finishing Touches

• 3 Peppermint Candy Canes

Directions

• Place 3 candy canes in a large plastic bag.
• Using a rolling pin, beat candy canes till they are practically dust
• Sprinkle each cupcake with crushed candy canes

Pupcakes

From the decorators who brought you Vagina Cake, now come Pupcakes, a new birthday endeavor. These are from the book Hello, Cupcake!, which we think is pretty much the coolest thing ever (seriously, check out their Starry Night cupcakes and try to tell us that Van Gogh himself could do better).

We think of the below recipe as guidelines. You can use whatever candy, frosting, or cupcake that works best for you, but see below for how to construct the Westie puppy cupcakes. These cupcakes take a ton of frosting, so make sure to use one that you like. For simplicity's sake the book calls for store-bought cans, but feel free to make your own, which is probably tastier.


Westie puppy cupcakes
(the below makes three, but if you're baking a whole batch of mini and regular cupcakes, you'll easily make a lot more)

3 standard vanilla cupcakes baked in white paper liners
3 mini vanilla cupcakes baked in white paper liners
1 can (16 ounces) vanilla frosting
Brown, yellow, and black food coloring (we didn't have this, so we made our own colors with yellow and red food coloring and chocolate frosting)
1 cup dark chocolate frosting
6 mini marshmallows
1 tablespoon pink decorating sugar (we used the sugar from a Baby Bottle Pop)
9 black candy coated chocolate covered sunflower seeds (for us, just a dot of chocolate frosting)
1 red fruit chew, (Starburst)

Divide the vanilla frosting into thirds. Tint 1/3 of the vanilla frosting a golden brown with the brown and yellow food coloring, 1/3 light gray with the black food coloring and leaving the remaining 1/3 white. Spoon each color frosting into a separate ziplock bag (or if you want your dog to be striped, put two colors in one bag). Tape a bottom corner on each ziplock bag with the frosting. Flatten taped corner on each ziplock bag and cut out 2 small notches to make an “M” in the tape to make a small star tip.Cut 6 of the mini marshmallows in half and pinch the top for the ears. Press the cut sides into the pink sugar to coat. Cut the remaining 6 of the marshmallows on the diagonal to remove 1/3rd of the marshmallow. The larger piece is used for the muzzle. (Or, don't make this harder than it has to be. Just use a whole marshmallow for the snout. Come on, they're mini.)

For the head: Pipe a small dot of frosting with the star tip on lower half of a mini cupcake. Attach the large piece of marshmallow, flat side against cupcake and cut side toward bottom edge for the muzzle. Pipe several dots of vanilla frosting on opposite edge of mini cupcake and attach 2 sugared marshmallows as ears. Pipe several lines of vanilla frosting to cover the ears. Starting just above the marshmallow muzzle, pipe lines on either side to cover cupcake. Pipe smaller lines in the front to cover the marshmallow. Starting along the opposite edge of ears, pipe frosting “fur” over cupcake, 1/2 inch from edge. Continue piping rows of “fur” to cover the cupcake. Add the black candy sunflower seeds as the eyes and nose. Cut the fruit chew into quarters. Use one piece to shape into a tear drop shape as the tongue. Press a knife onto the fruit chew to create a crease and pinch one end. Add the pink fruit chew for the tongue under the nose.


For the body: Starting along the outer edge of a standard cupcake, pipe the vanilla frosting with the star tip about 1/2 inch from edge. Continue piping rows of “fur” to cover the cupcake. Place the decorated mini cupcake on its side on top of the standard cupcake. If you want to add a leash, stick a red licorice lace in the standard cupcake towards the back of the mini. Continue with the other colored frostings to make other dogs.

We took these to a birthday party at bar in Brooklyn and they were snatched up by hipsters, though everyone seemed to think they were too cute to eat. That is, until they had a few beers in them and pupcakes became the perfect drunk food.

Bleeding Heart Cupcakes

Posting this recipe was a bit of a debate. On one hand, they're a little too sweet and Yumsugar omitted the baking time (though we've added it below). On the other, they still taste pretty good, and are fun for Valentine's Day.

The cake itself is good and not too sweet, but stuffing it with jelly and topping it all off with frosting makes it go from 0 to 60 in about 30 seconds. Eating more than one might induce diabetic shock, but moderation is key, and at least they look cool - especially if you can fashion the anatomical topping on this post. We suggest a cream cheese or mascarpone frosting to cut some of the sweetness that comes with the jelly, but we've included the original buttercream recipe below.

White Cupcakes
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cups unsalted butter, softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups whole milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract

20 glass marbles or small balls of tinfoil
2 to 3 cups strawberry jelly or smooth strawberry jam

1. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl.


2. In a separate, larger bowl, cream the butter. Gradually add the sugar, creaming until light and fluffy.


3. Add the eggs one at a time, and beat well after each addition.


4. In a small bowl, combine the milk and vanilla.


5. To the butter mixture, add about one quarter of the flour mixture and mix well. Add about one quarter of the milk mixture and mix well. Continue alternating the flour mixture and milk mixture, beating after each addition until smooth.


6. Line cupcake tins with paper liners. Fill the liners two-thirds full with the batter. Place 1 marble or tinfoil ball between each liner and the tin. This will make a dent in your cupcake when it bakes to make it heart shaped.


7. Bake about 20-25 minutes at 350. If you are using marbles, be careful when removing the cupcakes from the tins because the marbles will be very hot.


8. When the cake is cool, with a small paring knife, cut out a circle about the size of a dime in the center of each cupcake, going about two thirds of the way in. Pull the little plug of cake out. Cut off the top of this piece (about 1/2 inch thick) and eat the bottom. Use a teaspoon or a squeeze bottle to fill the hole partway with the strawberry jelly "blood." Put the little cake plug back in. Continue with the rest of the hearts.

Vanilla Butter Cream Frosting
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 cup whole milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract

1. In a large bowl, cream the butter until smooth.


2. Add the powdered sugar, salt, milk, and vanilla and mix until smooth and creamy.


3. Put one-third of the frosting into two separate bowls. Color one bowl of frosting with the red food coloring. Tint the other bowl of the frosting blue. Tint the remaining two-thirds pink.


4. Frost the cupcakes with the pink frosting. Make it super smooth by dipping a butter or frosting/palette knife in a bowl of hot water and smoothing it over the top. With a pastry bag or a knife, use the red and blue frosting to make veins on the hearts (as you'll see below, we skipped these steps).

Beach Themed Cupcakes

Recently, I went to a Cupcakes and Champagne party. Clearly, this was a great reason to make themed cupcakes. In the dead of winter, what theme is most desirable? You got it: Beach themed cupcakes. I was inspired by yogi_lo's beach themed cupcakes on flickr and decided to create my own.

For the cupcake, I made both cappuccino brownie and vanilla funfetti bases. For the frosting, I took some "white" whipped frosting and added some blue food color until I got the desired sea blue. I used graham cracker crumbs for the sand and Teddy Grahams as my beach-goers. The rest of the elements were hand formed out of marzipan and tinted accordingly with food coloring.

I made a variety of scenes. I made happy swimming and surfing scenes, and also some shark attack and red tide scenes. I had SO much fun making these... maybe too much fun.

Carrot Cake Alternatives

Since today is National Carrot Cake Day, you might expect us to post a classic recipe of the vegetable-infused baked good. But here at mad tasty (and Shake and Bake HQ), we don't succumb to the expected. So while the crumbly sweetness of carrot cake is all well and good, we want to introduce a few alternatives with which to celebrate the day. Who knows, maybe these will have their own holidays soon!

Hummingbird cake is apparently a Southern recipe and makes are one of our all-time favorites cupcakes, perfect if you're looking for a chocolate-free dessert. We've seen a bunch of recipes (Martha even has one, video included) and each is just a bit different. Some add coconut (which we think is a good addition to any cake), some call for pecans or walnuts (though we opted for toasted almonds), and the recipe is so simple that you can probably just wing it. We went with the one from Cupcake Bakeshop today, since it uses oil instead of butter and because we miss this blog being active.


Hummingbird Cupcakes
makes 24 cupcakes

3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1-1/2 tsp vanilla
1 8oz can crushed pineapple, with liquid
2 mashed bananas (the browner the better, though ours are lacking in ripeness)
1 cup slivered almonds, toasted


1. Mix flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, salt with a whisk in a good sized bowl.
2. Beat eggs.
3. Add oil and vanilla to beaten eggs and mix until somewhat combined.
4. Add egg/oil/vanilla mixture to flour/sugar/baking soda/cinnamon/salt mixture.
5. Mix together pineapple, bananas, pecans until combined.
6. Add to the rest of ingredients and stir to combine.

Bake at 350 degrees for ~25 minutes until golden and a cake tester comes out clean. Top with cream cheese frosting (recipe below).




The almonds add an interesting little crunch though, to be honest, we think these were better last time when we made them with pecans - especially if you toast those babies for a few seconds before tossing them in your batter. Toasting isn't necessary, but it really makes the nutty flavor pop, and is helpful in adding more flavor to your cookies. But we digress...


Cream Cheese Frosting (for 12 cupcakes, but it's much easier to double and use for two dozen)

4 tablespoons softened butter
4 oz softened cream cheese
2 cups confectioners sugar (note: for a frosting that's not as sweet, you can stick with 2 cups sugar even if you double the recipe)
½ tsp vanilla

In a medium bowl, with an electric mixer, beat butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add 2 cups confectioners sugar and 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract. Beat until light and fluffy.


We like this recipe for cream cheese frosting because it uses less cream cheese and butter to make the same amount of frosting. Maybe it's a scientific miracle, but we think if you combine almost any amount cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla you'll get a passable frosting.

For those who really want veggies in their sweets, consider Zucchini cupcakes. We don't know where this recipe came from, but not to worry - it's tried and true.

Zucchini cupcakes (yields 12)

1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 zucchini (grated/shredded)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs lightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 and line cupcake pan with paper or foil liners. In a medium bowl, mix together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Mix in nuts.

In another bowl, combine zucchini, oil, eggs, and vaninlla. Add to flour mixture and mix until combined. Divide batter evenly among cups. Bake until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, about 40-45 minutes. Cool and add cream cheese frosting (frosted cupcakes are best eaten within one day, but honestly, why would you wait?).

Gin and Tonic cupcakes

What better food to bring to a cocktail party than a snack that's based on a cocktail? Combining alcohol and baked goods is right up our alley, so we decided on these Gin & Tonic cupcakes from Yumsugar for a cocktail party we attended.


INGREDIENTS
Cake:
2 medium egg whites
Pinch of sea salt
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar, sifted
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 tablespoons tonic water

*This recipe makes 12 cupcakes, but we doubled it and made them mini for the purpose of this cocktail party snack.

Frosting:
1/2 cup mascarpone
1 tablespoon gin
2 tablespoons corn syrup
Green food coloring
Lime slices covered in sugar or lime jelly candies, for garnish

*We added one more tablespoon of corn syrup and a couple teaspoons of Rose's lime juice to make this sweeter, but beware - it changes the consistency of the frosting.

DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 325° Fahrenheit.

With an electric hand mixer, beat the egg whites in a large bowl with salt and cream of tartar until they are risen, like a soft merengue. Now beat in the sugar, a couple of tablespoons at a time, sprinkling it over the egg whites and beating about 20 seconds with each addition. Fold the sifted flour into the meringue in three stages, and then stir in the tonic water.

Arrange muffin paper baking cups inside a muffin tin and fill two thirds full. Bake for 15-20 minutes until lightly golden on the surface and still springy to the touch. We figured out that when these are really golden brown they're more chewy than cakey, so try not to overbake. Remove and let cool.


Spoon mascarpone into a bowl and beat in the gin and then the syrup and tint it the palest green with a little food coloring. This ended up tasting cheesy and not very sweet, so we added some more corn syrup and some Rose's lime juice. Unfortunately, the exra liquid and over-mixing made the frosting less creamy and separate a bit, so it tasted better, but looked a little off. If anyone has a solution to this, please let us know. Anyway, frost and top with a lime slice or candy.


These cupcakes are light and soft, a lot like angel food cake. They don't taste much like tonic, but the lightness kind of gives the illusion of a mixer.

Now, it's no secret on this blog that Bake hates gin. Luckily, this frosting is creamy and just a little sweet, so it's the perfect way for her to work her way up to actually imbibing the juniper liquor.