Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Cup Cake Extravaganza!

I have been meaning to write this post for the past few months and am finally getting around to it.  As you can see by the title this post is about cupcakes.  My brother-in-law had a birthday in March and I told my mother-in-law I would make all the cupcakes.  There were three kinds to make, Chocolate with Ganache frosting, Lemon and Coconut.  They turned out amazing (if I do saw so myself)!  Everyone loved them and were surprised they were homemade, but how could you go any other way when it comes to baking?  Homemade is the best.  So, on to the cupcakes.





















Left the coconut in the toasted oven too long.
Much better the 2nd time


Lots of butter and cream cheese


Frosting, yum!
















Coconut cupcakes waiting to be topped with toasted coconut


Coconut cupcake batter


Nice dense, but moist cake and an amazing frosting

Finished Coconut cupcakes, they were amazing!!!


Coconut cupcakes

Butter and sugar waiting to be creamed

Cream sugar and butter, then add the egg

Cocoa

Part way through mixing the last cupcake batter

Chocolate cupcake batter

Chocolate cupcake batter, mmmm.

Made quite the mess with my hand mixer


Chocolate cupcakes going into the oven

Lemon Cream Cupcakes

Ingredients for Chocolate Ganache.  Super simple and tastes amazing!

Chocolate Ganache

Chocolate cupcakes, before being frosted


After being frosted, don't they look yummy?

Chocolate Ganache frosted cupcakes

All three kinds of cupcakes ready to go.

So there ya have it.  It took 5 hours to make all three kinds and I think I ended up making around 7 dozen.  I love to bake!  It's relaxing and quite rewarding when you are done.  Following are the recipes for all three kinds with frosting, enjoy!

Lemon Cream Cupcakes
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 Tbsp.grated lemon peel (I used more like 3-4 Tbsp.)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups (16. oz) sour cream

Directions:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time, beat well after each addition.  Beat in lemon peel and vanilla.  Combine flour baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add to creamed mixture alternately with the sour cream, beating well after each addition (batter will be thick).

Fill greased or paper lined muffin cups with 1/4 cup of batter.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 mins. or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Cool for 10 mins. before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.

Yield: 2 1/2 dozen

Frosting
3 Tbsp. butter, softened
2 1/4 cups confectioner's sugar
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
3/4 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. grated lemon peel
1-2 tsp. milk

Directions:  Cream together butter and confectioner's sugar in a small bowl until light and fluffy.  add the lemon juice, vanilla, lemon peel and milk.  Beat until smooth, frost cupcakes.

Chocolate Cupcakes
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup baking cocoa
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup buttermilk

Directions:  In a small bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in egg and vanilla.  Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture alternately with water and buttermilk.  Beating very well after each addition.  

Fill paper lined muffins cups 2/3 full.  Bake ate 375 degrees for 12-15 mins, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Cool for 10 mins, before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.  Frost cupcakes.

Yield: 16 cupcakes

Frosting, Chocolate Ganache
2 cups (12 oz) semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup miniature chocolate chips (optional)

Directions:  In a small sauce pan, melt chocolate chips with cream over low heat, stir until blended.  Remove from heat and transfer to a small bowl.   Cover and refrigerate for 45-60 mins. or until mixture reaches spreading consistency.  Stirring every 15 mins.  Dip cupcakes in to coat top, let dry and dip again.  Repeat as desired.

Coconut Cupcakes
3/4 lb (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp
2 cups sugar
5 extra large eggs, room temp
1 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp. pure almond extract
3 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1.2 tsp. kosher salt
1 cup butter milk
14 oz. sweetened, shredded coconut

Directions:  Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  In a mixing bowl cream butter and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 mins.  With mixer on low speed add eggs, 1 at a time; scraping down the bowl after each addition.  Add the vanilla and almond extracts and mix well.  In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and slat.  In 3 parts, alternately add the dry ingredients and the butter milk to the batter, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.  Mix until just combined.  Fold in 7 oz of coconut. 

Line a muffin pan with paper liners.  Fill each liner to the top with batter.  Bake for 25-30 mins, until tops are brown and a toothpick comes out clean.  Allow to cool in the pan for 15 mins.  Remove to a baking rack and cool completely.

Meanwhile make the frosting.

Frosting
1 lb. cream cheese, room temp
3/4 lb (3 sticks) butter, room temp
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. pure almond extract
1 1/2 lbs. confectioner's sugar, sifted

Directions:  In a bowl with mixer paddle attached (if you have one) on low speed, cream together the cream cheese, butter, vanilla and almond extracts.  Add confectioner's sugar and mix until smooth.  Frost the cupcakes and sprinkle with remaining coconut ( I toasted the coconut and it looked pretty and tasted good).

Yield: 2 dozen