Chocolate Filled Vanilla Cupcakes

I got a request this week for some going-away party cupcakes for my mom's work. Of course, everyone requested the Chocolate Xtreme Cupcakes, but my mom is a vanilla-lover so I had to make some of those too.

Well, I thought vanilla on vanilla was too plain, so I searched the web for a chocolate filling that looked like it wouldn't be too sweet or too chocolaty. And I stumble on the below filling recipe from EvilShenanigans.

Now, these only turned out kinda ugly because I spent all my energy on these pretty little things:

Vanilla Cupcakes (from Cupcake Project)
Yield: 16 cupcakes

• 1 cup granulated sugar 
• 1 T vanilla bean paste 
• 1 3/4 cake flour 
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt 
• 1/4 unsalted butter, room temperature 
• 2 large eggs, room temperature 
• 1/3 cup full-fat sour cream 
• 1/4 cup canola oil 
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract 
• 2/3 cup whole milk 

1. Preheat oven to 350 F
2. In a small bowl, combine sugar and vanilla bean paste
3. Mix together cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
4. Add the vanilla sugar and mix until well combined.
5. Add butter and mix on medium-low speed for three minutes.
6. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, sour cream, oil, and vanilla extract until smooth.
7. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined.
8. Slowly add milk and mix on low speed until just combined.
9. Fill cupcake liners 1/4 of the way up. Place a mini-cupcake on top, cover with additional batter.
10. Bake for 14 minutes
11. When the cupcakes are done, remove them immediately from the tins.

Chocolate Filling (from EvilShenanigans)
This makes enough to fill about 18 cupcakes, even though it doesn't look like enough after you mix it all up.

• 1 teaspoon water, hot
• 3 1/2 ounces marshmallow fluff
• 1/4 cup vegetable shortening
• 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons Dutch-processed cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1. Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. 
2. Use a cupcake corer to remove the core. If you don't have a corer, use a paring knife to cut a cone out of the center. 
3. Spoon some chocolate filling into the cored cupcake. 
4. Frost and enjoy!

Filling them was kinda messy! (I blame marshmallow fluff...so sticky!)

Vanilla Frosting (from Cupcake Project)
If you like a lot of frosting, you will need to double this as it barely frosted 15 cupcakes.

• 3 cups confectioners' sugar (add more until it reaches your preferred consistency) 
• 1cup unsalted butter, room temperature 
• 4 teaspoons vanilla bean paste (add more to taste) 
• 2 tablespoon milk 

1. Mix together sugar and butter until they are blended and creamy.
2. Add vanilla bean paste and milk and continue to beat for another minute.
3. If desired, add more vanilla bean paste to taste, or more confectioners' sugar to make it stiffer

The Finished Product

Overall, this cupcake was delicious! And everyone loved them! The chocolate filling was perfect, just enough chocolate flavor to kick the plain old vanilla cupcakes up a notch!

Another Twist on Red Velvet Cupcakes!

Red Velvet Cake Layered with White Chocolate Cheesecake Topped with Cream Cheese Icing


I have a thing for Red Velvet Cake, but for some reason, I always need to change it up a bit, plain red velvet just isn't quite good enough. (See my Black Velvet Cupcakes and Southern Comfort Red Velvet Cupcakes).

Well, for valentine's day I had to make Red Velvet Cupcakes, but I decided that white chocolate would go well with Red Velvet. So, I went searching for a white chocolate red velvet cupcake and I found this recipe: Red Velvet White Chocolate Cheesecake Cupcakes from the Real Women of Philadelphia.

I altered it a bit, the changes are reflected below. I also found these cute chocolate mold on Amazon a few weeks ago: heart mold. They were supposed to be pink, but of course Wal-Mart only had Red and Orange candy melts, so red they were.

They actually turned out super cute! and delicious too!

The makes 12 cupcakes. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. 

White Choc. Cheesecake Batter:

• 8 ounces of cream cheese, (room temperature)
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 3 tbsp. of beaten egg 
• 1 tbsp. of vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup of white chocolate chips

1. Combine cream cheese with sugar, beaten egg, vanilla until thoroughly blended. 
2. Add in white chocolate chips and set aside. 

Red Velvet Cake Batter:

• 1 cup of flour
• 1/3 cup of cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp. of salt
• 2/3 cup of canola oil
• 3/4 cup of sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 1/2 tbsp. of red food coloring
• 1/2 tsp. of vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. of baking soda
• 3/4 tsp. of white balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup of buttermilk

1. Sift the flour, cocoa and salt together.
2. In a large bowl, blend the oil and sugar together then add the egg and mix well. 
3. Add the red food color, mix carefully then add the vanilla and stir in.
4. Add one third of the flour mix, stir to just blend.
5. Add half of the buttermilk and another third of the flour mix and stir until just blended.
6. Add the other half of the buttermilk and the remaining flour and stir until just blended.
7. Mix the baking soda and vinegar together in a small dish (it should foam up) and the add to the batter stirring to make sure all dry ingredients have been combined.

Cream Cheese Icing:

• 12 ounces cream cheese (1.5 8 oz. blocks)
• 4 tbsp. of unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 tbsp. of crisco
• 2 tsp. of vanilla extract
• 4 cup of powdered sugar
• 1 tsp. of buttermilk

1. Combine butter with the crisco until completely blended.
2. Add the vanilla and mix well.
3. Add 1/2 of an 8 oz block of cream cheese and 1 cup of confectioner's sugar
4. Add 1/2 tsp buttermilk, 1/2 of an 8 oz.block of cream cheese and one cup of confectioner's sugar
5. Add 1/2 tsp buttermilk, 1/2 of an 8 oz.block of cream cheese and one cup of confectioner's sugar
6. Add an additional cup of powdered sugar or more until you reach the desired consistency.

Kind of a bad picture, but you can see the layered cheesecake!

To assemble:

1. Line a muffin tin with liners
2. Spoon 1 heaping Tablespoon of Red Velvet Batter into each cup. 
3. Then Spoon 1 heaping Tablespoon of Cheesecake into each cup.
4. Top with another heaping Tablespoon Red Velvet Batter. 
5. Bake 23 minutes in 350 degree oven. 
6. Rest in pan for 5 minutes then remove from pan and place in freezer for 5 minutes. 
7. let cool the rest of the way on a wire rack and frost with icing. 
8. top with a candy molded heart pick. 

These turned out great! Recipe is definitely a keeper and Sean's co-workers are lucky this Valentine's Day!

Actually, Sean rates all my cupcakes on a scale of 1 to 10, and these earned a 9! Just below my Chocolate Xtreme Cupcakes!

Mocha Frappuccino Cupcakes

I have a habit of picking up random things at the supermarket that may or may not work well in cupcakes. A few weeks ago, I picked up some Starbucks Mocha Frappuccino drinks! Well they turned out great! Loved Em!

I started out trying to replace the eggnog from my eggnog cupcakes with the frappuccino, but they turned out very sunken in and gooey, so I used Martha Stewart's Yellow Cupcakes as my starting point, which turned out much better!

Since I don't have an event to bring these to, I didn't need a whole bunch, so I halved the recipes (edits shown below) to make about 6-8 cupcakes. The perfect amount!

The only glitch with these, (other than the horrendous first batch I made), was the fact that I am terrible at math!! So terrible! Especially when I am trying to mentally halve a recipe as I go. I thought I had gotten it right, and was wondering why the batter was so thick, but I brushed it off because they still tasted great. Well, as I was typing up the recipe, i realized that I did not halve the flour and baking powder right.

1 1/2 cups divided by 2 does not equal 1 1/4 cups.......I repeat, I suck at math! But they turned out delicious, so I guess it doesn't really matter.

Mocha Frappuccino Cupcakes:

• 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
• 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 cup milk
• 1/8 cup Mocha Frappuccino Drink
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 large eggs

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees; line the cups of a standard (12-cup) muffin tin with paper or foil liners. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a liquid-measuring cup, mix milk, frappuccino, and vanilla; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. With mixer on low speed, add half of dry ingredients, followed by milk-vanilla mixture, then remaining dry ingredients. Do not overmix.
3. Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups (a 2-ounce or 1/4-cup ice-cream scoop is good for this).
4. Place tin on a rimmed baking sheet; bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool cupcakes 5 minutes in tin, then remove and cool completely on a rack before frosting.
5. Prepare frosting: In a medium bowl, with an electric mixer, beat butter, confectioners' sugar, milk, and vanilla extract until smooth. Mix in up to 1/2 cup more sugar or a few more teaspoons of milk as necessary to achieve a spreadable consistency. Makes enough for 6-8 cupcakes.

Mocha Frappuccino Frosting:

• 1/4 cup butter, softened 
• 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar 
• 2 T frappuccino 
• 1/4 tsp instant espresso power (plus more to sprinkle on frosted cupcakes)

1. To make the frosting, beat the butter until smooth
2. Add the powdered sugar, half a cup at a time. 
3. Add the espresso powder, then add the frappuccino one Tablespoon at a time until the frosting is smooth. 
4. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes and sprinkle with espresso powder.

SoCo Red Velvet Cupcakes

Southern Comfort Red Velvet Cupcakes from the Boozy Baker Cookbook!

My cousin gave me the Boozy Baker cookbook awhile back and I have never tried anything from it before! Well, I was really bored last night and decided to give it a go. I love Southern Comfort and happened to have a bottle in my cabinet, so I went with the Red Velvet Cake and turned it into cupcakes.

Now, this recipe was for a cake, and called for 3 eggs, so unfortunately it couldn't be cut in half! I ended up with 24 cupcakes and some leftover batter! I probably could have cut it into thirds, but oh well. 

Red Velvet Cake:

• 3 cups cake flour
• 4 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 cup Southern Comfort (I added a splash more)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar
• 1 (1-ounce) bottle red food coloring
• 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. 
2. Whisk together the cake flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. 
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, Southern Comfort, vanilla, vinegar, and food coloring.
4. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. 
5. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. 
6. Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk mixture in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour.
7. Bake for 17-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool in the pans on a wire rack, and then remove them from the pans and cool completely.

The buttermilk mixture was very very RED!

Frosting (I cut the recipe in half and had plenty):

• 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 3 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1/8 cup milk
• 1/8 cup Southern Comfort (I added a splash more, but probably shouldn't have)

1. Beat the butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer for about 2 minutes. 
2. Add confectioners’ sugar, the milk, and the Southern Comfort. 
3. Beat on low speed until creamy.

This was a very dense cupcake, perfect crumb!

I loved the cake part of this recipe! You could taste the subtle flavor of Southern Comfort in it and the cake was the perfect consistency. 

As for the frosting, I should have stuck with the recipe, because it had waaaay too much booze in it! I think I probably would have used a different buttercream recipe and added the SoCo in. Was not a big fan of the frosting. 

Gingerbread Cupcakes

Gingerbread Cupcakes with a Cinnamon Brown Sugar Buttercream, Topped with a Little Gingerbread Man Cookie

So when my little brother (who is not so little at 6'5"), heard about my plan to make eggnog cupcakes for Christmas, he told me no one likes eggnog (soooo not true!) and that I should make something else.

Then he proceed to ask me why I had not made a second attempt at shipping him cupcakes (see my first attempt). As you can see from my first attempt, shipping cupcakes to Texas did not prove as easy as expected.

I did however, attempt to ship cupcakes a second time....they just didn't make it to the shipping part! I had this great idea of making Mountain Dew cupcakes, because what college freshman doesn't live on Mountain Dew and video games? But I ended up with just an OK cupcake with a blob of melted mountain dew frosting. I guess the carbonation from the soda destroyed the icing's ability to hold it shape and look pretty. Needless to say, I tried to forget this failed cupcake and did not blog about it, much less ship it!

Anyways....when I began listing off other Christmas themed cupcakes I could make, he settled reluctantly on gingerbread. Probably because all the others were just as bad as eggnog in his eyes.

Well, I am so glad I decided to make a second cupcake!

So here it is:

The Gingerbread Cupcake (from Tidy Mom)
Made 14 cupcakes.

• 1/2 cup canola oil 
• 1/2 cup sugar 
• 1/2 cup molasses 
• 1 egg, room temp and beaten 
• 1-1/2 cup flour 
• 1/2 tablespoon ground ginger 
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon 
• 1/4 teaspoon salt 
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves 
• 1/2 cup boiling water 
• 1/2 tablespoon baking soda 


1. Preheat oven to 350° and line muffin tins with baking cups.

2. In mixing bowl, using whisk attachment, combine oil, sugar, and molasses; then add beaten egg until well mixed.

3. In a medium bowl whisk flour, ginger, cinnamon, salt, and cloves. Whisk into molasses mixture until well combined.

4. Boil water and remove from heat. Add baking soda and whisk into batter.

5. Fill baking cups 2/3 full and bake for 25 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean when inserted. Set aside to cool.

6. Top with brown sugar butter cream. Garnish with gingerbread man cookie.

The Cinnamon Brown Sugar Frosting

• 1/2 cup butter (softened) 
• 1/4 cup vegetable shortening 
• 1/3 cup dark brown sugar, packed 
• 1 pinch of salt 
• 1/8 tsp vanilla extract 
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 
• 3 cups powdered sugar 
• 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk butter and shortening until fluffy. Add brown sugar, salt, vanilla and cinnamon. 
2. Continue mixing until well blended. Gradually add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Until you have a very thick gooey mixture. 
3. On the highest speed of your mixer, stream in the heavy whipping cream pouring nice and slow until desired consistency. 

The Little Gingerbread Man  (from food for my family)
This makes A LOT of dough, I halved it and still had twice as much as I needed!

• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup molasses

1. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, cloves, nutmeg and salt. Set aside.
2. Cream together brown sugar and butter in a stand mixer for 2 minutes. 
3. Add in eggs and molasses and stir until combined. 
4. Mix in flour and spices and mix until a soft dough forms and the dry ingredients are incorporated. 
5. Split the dough into two balls, wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours.
6. Lightly flour a flat surface. Roll out gingerbread dough and cut into shapes and then place on a baking sheet. 
7. Preheat oven to 350º F and chill the dough on the baking sheet while the oven preheats. 
8. Bake for 8-10 minutes until edges just start to brown. Allow to cool completely. 

I have to say these were AMAZING! I wish I made more of them! The cinnamon brown sugar frosting complimented the gingerbread perfectly!

Tis the Season for Eggnog

Eggnog cupcakes that is!

I love when it finally becomes time for eggnog. There is nothing better than relaxing with a glass of southern comfort spiked eggnog sprinkled with a little nutmeg!

Even though I have made dozens and dozens of cookies for Christmas, I still got a request to bring cupcakes! I am taking this as the perfect opportunity to make some eggnog cupcakes that I have been dreaming about for weeks. Eggnog cupcakes, filled with an eggnog pastry cream (my first time making pastry cream!) and topped with an eggnog buttercream frosting.

Too much eggnog?....nope! They were like sipping an eggnog drink, in cupcake form. The eggnog flavor was not too overpowering, they were just right.

The Eggnog Cupcake (from the cupcake project)
makes 36 cupcakes (I halved this recipe)

• 4 cups cake flour (not self-rising) 
• 2 teaspoons baking powder 
• 2 teaspoons baking soda 
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 
• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened 
• 2 cups sugar 
• 2 teaspoons vanilla 
• 4 large eggs 
• 1 3/4 cups eggnog 
• 1/4 cup dark rum 

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. and line twenty-four 1/2-cup muffin cups with paper liners.
2. Into a bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 
3. In a large bowl with an electric mixer beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy and beat in vanilla. 
4. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition 
5. With mixer on low speed beat in eggnog and rum until just combined. 
6. Add flour mixture in 3 batches, beating until just combined after each addition
7. Bake for 14-17 mins. 

The Eggnog Pastry Cream (from chockylit)
You need to double this recipe to have enough to fill all the cupcakes.

I was surprised at how long it took for the pastry cream to thicken! Overall, it was a very easy process, though.

• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup eggnog
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon butter, softened
• 1/2 teaspoon dark rum
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 

1.  Place flour in a heavy sauce pan, gradually whisk in eggnog until blended and smooth.
2. Add egg yolks, one at a time, whisking until just combined after each addition.
3. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, removing from the heat occasionally to avoid lumps, until thickened. If necessary strain through a metal sieve to remove lumps.
4. Remove from heat, stir in butter, rum and vanilla.
5. Transfer pastry cream to a bowl. Cover surface with plastic wrap, chill.

You can see the yummy pastry cream on the inside!

The Eggnog Frosting (adapted from cate’s world kitchen)

• 1/2 cup butter, softened 
• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar 
• 4-6 tsp eggnog 
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 2 tsp dark rum.

1. To make the frosting, beat the butter until smooth
2. Add the powdered sugar, half a cup at a time. 
3. Add the nutmeg, then add the eggnog one teaspoon at a time until the frosting is smooth. 
4. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes. 
5. Garnish cupcakes with nutmeg and a cinnamon stick.

I have to say, it was really hard to stop myself from eating the whole batch of these cupcakes. The only sad part is, I used up all my eggnog for this recipe and had none left to drink with one of these little cupcakes! 

I LOVE the cute little cinnamon sticks as garnish!

Taking a Short Break from Cupcakes

It's time for Christmas Cookie Baking....YAY!

Although recently, I have been feeling somewhat guilty whenever I make something that is not a cupcake....sorta feel like I am betraying my blog.

Oh well, Thanksgiving Pies and Christmas Cookies are just going to have to be an exception : )

The Array of Cookies This Year:

1. Bon Bons
2. Chocolate Chip Cookies
3. Cranberry Cheesecake Bars
4. Pecan Crescent Cookies
5. Dark Chocolate Mint Cookies
6. Gooey Butter Cookies (Chocolate, Vanilla, Red Velvet, and Funfetti)
7. Peanut Blossoms (PB cookie with a Hershey Kiss in the center)
8. M&M Cookies
9. Reese's Peanut Butter Temptations
10. Snicker's Surprises
11. Snowball Cookies (White Chocolate and Cherry)
12. Triple Chocolate Cookies
13. Butterscotch Oatmeal

We calculated it out and needed about 7 dozen of each kind, which makes over 1,000 cookies! It took us 2 full days this year.

Eggnog Cupcakes are on my agenda for Christmas eve!