Mmmmm... Chocolate!

Wednesday is date night for Sam and I, so I wasn't planning on making any cupcakes today because I'd have no one to share them with (besides Sam, of course, but the two of us DO NOT need to eat ~10 cupcakes each!).

But then last night I got a craving for chocolate and couldn't help browsing Google for chocolate recipes. I found this Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache Frosting recipe from Kirbiecravings.com. They just looked too good to pass up and I figured I could always walk the batch over to Sam's work and feed his drivers (as a former professional driver, I'm always supportive of providing drivers with delicious, home-made snacks!).

I must admit, baking these cupcakes were torture. TORTURE.
First of all, the batter reminded me of the brownie batter I used to make with my Nanny while growing up - which made me want brownies. It was super drippy and I found myself constantly licking my fingers clean. Then, they smelled heavenly while baking. The chocolate ganache was another major temptation that took all of my will-power not to just eat it up with a spoon. Finally, the recipe yields 30 cupcakes (though I only made 24) and that is just a few too many to pack in my rubbermaid container for sharing; meaning that there are 2 cupcakes saved for Sam and 1 more extra one in my fridge.
So, the real reason this recipe is torture is simply because they are too delicious and I want to eat them. I suppose there could be much worse forms of torture. ;)

Here are my pictures:

As you can see, they didn't rise much, but the tops did spread. 

I probably overfilled the cups.

Chocolate Ganache. Don't you just want to eat it straight from the bowl?

I need to work on building some decorating skills.

Yum!

The cake was just slightly under-baked, which is EXACTLY how I like it.

This little guy didn't last long. :)

Overall, I'm in love with these cupcakes! Plus, they were so simple to bake. 

OK SCM drivers/dispatchers/office peeps, I hope you like chocolate!!!

Enjoy!

Here is the recipe:

Makes 30 cupcakes

The cupcakes are made using Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Cake recipe

INGREDIENTS:

Cupcakes
2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa (natural)
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Ganache

1 cup heavy cream
8 oz dark chocolate, chopped

DIRECTIONS:

Cupcakes

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Line muffin cups (2-1/2 inches in diameter) with paper bake cups.

2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin).

3. Fill cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely. Frost.

Ganache

1. Heat heavy cream in a small pot. Be careful to not let it boil over. Once it begins to boil, remove from the stove.

2. Pour heavy cream into bowl of chopped chocolate. Stir and mix until chocolate is completely melted.

3. Let ganache cool and set before putting it in a piping bag and frosting cupcakes. *It took a long time for the ganache to set. I ended up putting it in the fridge for a while and, even then, it was melting in my hands as I piped it onto the cupcakes.

Baking With Vegetables - Mom Would Be Proud

Yesterday Sam was pretty disappointed that I had given away all of the banana cupcakes and hadn't saved any more for him. So, I thought I'd be a good doobie and bake another batch.

Much like yesterday, I searched through the contents of my fridge and found an unopened bag of baby carrots that needed to be consumed ASAP. Inspired, I exercised my Googling fingers and found this Carrot Cupcake recipe from joyofbaking.com.

Mom should be so proud of me for finding tasty new ways to eat my vegetables (and fruit, since apples and raisins are also included in this recipe)!
I won't mention the sugar... or butter.... or, well, maybe I won't tell her. :)

I was also more successful in photographing this batch:

Cooling off - they rose the perfect amount!

Lessons learned while frosting: 1) flat-bottom Ziplock bags do NOT make good pastry bags, and 2) cream cheese frosting melts REALLY quickly in hot, humid weather. :/ 

... and now I know.

Ain't it cute? :)

Yum.

These came out quite well. The carrots, apples, raisins, and walnuts are all coarsely chopped which gives the cake a lot of texture and the cream cheese frosting is delicious. Personally, I wish they were a little sweeter - I'm thinking that they are more suited for breakfast than for dessert.

I'm brining this batch to dance tonight (minus a few for Sam - I've learned that lesson!) and am looking forward to getting more breakfast vs. dessert feedback.

Here is the recipe:

Makes 20 cupcakes

INGREDIENTS
Carrot Cupcakes:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
4 large eggs
1 cup granulated white sugar
1 cup safflower, corn, or canola oil    *I used canola oil
2 cups finely grated raw carrots
1 cup grated apple (approximately 2 large)  *I used Granny Smith and only needed 1 to make a cup
1/2 cup pecans or walnuts, coarsely chopped  *I used walnuts
1 cup raisins or currants  *I used raisins

Cream Cheese Frosting:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
3 cups confectioners' (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract  *I accidentally used WAY more than 1 teaspoon - still came out great

DIRECTIONS
Carrot Cupcakes: 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place rack in center of oven. Place paper liners in 20 muffin cups.

In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and ground cinnamon.

In another large bowl whisk the eggs, sugar, and oil until slightly thickened. Fold in the flour mixture until incorporated. With a large rubber spatula fold in the grated carrots, grated apple, chopped nuts, and raisins. Evenly divide the batter between the 20 muffin cups and bake about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean.   *I used my Kitchen Aid; fastest speed for 'whisking' and slowest speed for 'folding'

Remove from the oven and let cool completely on a wire rack. Pipe or with a knife or small metal spatula spread the cream cheese frosting on top of each cupcake. Cover and refrigerate the cupcakes until serving time.

Frosting:

In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter and cream cheese until very smooth and creamy. Gradually beat in the powdered sugar until fully incorporated and smooth. Beat in the vanilla extract.

Banana Cupcakes = Delicious

I've been saying for a while that I want to start a blog and have had a million different ideas for what I'd write about.

While I'm not a professional baker (not even close!) and wouldn't even consider myself a frequent baker, I like to think that I'm pretty darn good at it; especially when baking cupcakes. Therefore, why not share my tasty, mini-cake successes with my friends on the World Wide Web.

I'll even start off by sharing my big secret... I follow the recipe. ;)

So, here goes - my first blog post:

Banana Cupcakes = Delicious
I had 4 bananas that were way too mushy to eat and I didn't want to throw them away so I Googled banana cupcake recipes and found this one on MarthaStewart.com: Banana Cupcakes w/ Honey Cinnamon Frosting. I chose it specifically because I already had all of the ingredients in my kitchen (huge plus!).

These smelled delicious while baking, came out perfectly, and taste absolutely amazing. I'm quite impressed.

Mine aren't as pretty as Martha's, but I'm sure they taste just as good! :)

One thing is for sure, I definitely have to work on my photography skills. Most of the pictures I took came out really blurry. :( Too bad... you'll just have to trust that they look awesome.

I ate one cupcake (I'm only allowing myself to have one!) and gave one to Sam. The rest I'm bringing to dance tonight. Hopefully I'll get some comments from people that try them *hint, hint*. Or, better yet, if you make a batch yourself, let me know how they come out. :)

- Shelley

Here is the cupcake recipe:

Makes 12.

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (about 4 ripe bananas), plus 1 whole banana, for garnish (optional)
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Make a well in center of flour mixture. In well, mix together butter, mashed bananas, eggs, and vanilla. Stir to incorporate flour mixture (do not overmix). Dividing evenly, spoon batter into muffin cups.
Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan; cool completely on a wire rack. Spread tops withHoney-Cinnamon Frosting. Just before serving, peel and slice banana into rounds, and place one on each cupcake, if desired.

Here is the frosting recipe:

INGREDIENTS
1 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon honey
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS
In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, beat confectioners' sugar, unsalted butter, honey, and ground cinnamon until smooth, 4 to 5 minutes