Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcakes

Oh my god you guys.

Look, I know it must seem to you (all four of you who read this blog) that I am forever gushing over some new amazing recipe for cupcakes (or other sweet treats). I think that's only because by the time I post the dessert here, it's already been taste tested by reliable sources (aka not just my husband who has to like whatever I make- though he doesn't always like everything). It's rare that I will post about something that didn't last long enough for anyone outside of my household to try.

This though? This. Is unbelievable.

I am a huge chocolate chip cookie junkie. In years past I often lamented my ability to make a prefect looking chocolate chip cookie. More recently, I embrace that my cookies come out either too puffy or too flat. Because the important thing is the taste. And I love the taste of a good chocolate chip cookie. If I had my druthers (and weight gain were not an issue), I would probably bake a batch of them a week.

But, I digress. The point of this post is the Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcake. Not my obsession with chocolate chip cookies. Ahem.

A few fridays ago, my husband really wanted cake. I did not want to bake another cake (so soon after the mini cakes and the cake truffles). He rarely requests specifics of my baking, so I set about finding a simple cupcake recipe- one which called for ingredients already in my pantry. I spotted this (in my Martha Stewart Cupcakes book), and called it out to my husband. Once he gave me the green light, away I went.

The recipe is pretty straight forward and quick. It doesn't actually call for frosting, but I love frosting more than is healthy. So, I whipped up a quick almond swiss meringue buttercream (and if you've never used half vanilla half almond extract in a frosting, you haven't lived!) to top them. Perfect combination.

The recipe made about 22. Only 4 of those ever left our house.

I used some super cute cupcake papers that I've had on hand since my birthday back in Sept. I got these at Bake It Pretty (thanks K for the gift certificate!). Look, even the bottom of the paper is cute.

By request, the recipe on Martha's site. I used chocolate chips instead of chunks- it's what I had on hand.

Root Beer Float Cupcake

Root Beer Float Cupcake
Originally uploaded by Cup O'Cake Designs

Mmm....root beer floats. Whenever summer rolls around you can bet your sweet bippy that I'm thinking about root beer floats.

This past summer I started thinking about trying to recreate that taste in cupcake form. I poked around online looking for a recipe, but the ones I found called for root beer extract. I didn't have any of that handy and I certainly couldn't find it at my local grocery store.

Then, I was lucky enough to receive a wonderful gift certificate to the online shop, Bake It Pretty for my birthday. And whaddaya know? They sell root beer extract!

Last Saturday my schedule had some free time so I got out my extract and started baking!

The recipe I used called for both root beer and the extract. The extract I had was for candy flavoring- a little goes a long way with the candy extract. Instead of using the full two teaspons of extract I used a few drops.

While making the SMBC, I also added a few drops of the extract.

These cupcakes are super moist and while they may not taste exactly like root beer floats, they certainly get the idea across.

Cupcake Tasting

Cupcake Tasting
Originally uploaded by Cup O'Cake Designs

This weekend I had my very first Cupcake Tasting. A friend of ours is getting married in May and asked me if I would make the cupcakes for her wedding. Of course, I jumped at the chance.

Anyone whose been involved in planning a wedding knows that one of the best parts of the planning is the cake tasting! I couldn't deprive the Bride and Groom of this experience, so after getting an idea of their favorite flavors I brought over seven kinds of cupcakes for them to try (along with some family members).

I made them mostly in half batches and left many of them behind for the Bride & Groom to share with friends and co-workers. The few that were left came with me.

I made: Mint Chocolate Chip (chocolate cupcakes with mini chocolate chips, topped with mint swiss meringue buttercream and mini chocolate chips- top left), Vanilla Vanilla (vanilla cupcakes topped with vanilla buttercream- top right), Vanilla Chocolate Chip (vanilla cupcakes with mini chocolate chips topped with vanilla buttercream and mini chocolate chips- below the Mint and Vanilla cupcakes), Peanut Butter Chocolate (chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter chips, topped with chocolate swiss meringue buttercream and Reece's pieces- fourth from the top on the left), Margarita (margarita cupcakes with margarita frosting- bottom right), Banana Toffee Caramel (banana toffee caramel cupcakes topped with caramel swiss meringue buttercream and drizzled with caramel- bottom left), and Cookies & Cream (not pictured).

It was a lot of work, but I viewed it as a test run for the actual wedding. I am pleased that spending that much time on the cupcakes didn't wear me out or frustrate me- in fact I think it was one of the more relaxing weekends I have had lately.

The Bride & Groom chose their favorite four flavors (Cookies & Cream, Peanut Butter Chocolate, Mint Chocolate Chip, and Margarita) for their big day.

Reece's Cupcakes

Reece's Cupcakes
Originally uploaded by Cup O'Cake Designs

A few weekends ago my husband and I had a small birthday gathering to go to out of state. One of the birthday people (there were multiple persons celebrating) has been seeing photographs of my baked goods from afar for quite some time. I thought it would be a nice birthday surprise (for all birthday persons) to bring along cupcakes.

I decided to try out a Reece's cupcake as I knew that peanut butter and chocolate were a favorite flavor combination of at least one of the birthday celebrants.

I started by freezing mini Reece's cups for four days. My goal was to have the Reece's cups so frozen that they wouldn't melt completely while the cupcakes were baking.

I used Martha's one-bowl chocolate cake recipe as the base for the cupcake. While making this batch, I figured out what went wrong with the Cookie Monster cupcakes. I'd forgotten to add the baking soda. Duh- but let this be a lesson that even people who have baked for quite some time make mistakes. At any rate, this batch of chocolate cupcakes came out perfectly. I topped them off with Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream- not wanting the frosting to overwhelm the hidden Reece's cup.

My only comments are that I did not care for the way the Reece's cups cooked inside the cupcakes. I'm not sure if it is because I used mini Reece's or not, but while they did not burn they kind of crystalized or something (the peanut butter). Everyone else who had one thought they tasted great, but something about it didn't come together for me. I'm going to try again, and fiddle with the recipe a bit and see how they come out.

Visit my flickr to see a picture of the cupcake's innards.

Candy Corn Cupcakes

I love Halloween. I love the costumes and the decorations. I love the haunted houses and the jack o'lanterns. But most of all, I love candy corn.

I wanted to combine my favorite Halloween candy with my favorite baked good- viola! Candy corn cupcake.

Candy corn has a tendency to be overly sugary sweet and I know that a lot of people don't like it for that very reason. I wanted the cupcakes to give a hint of candy corn flavor that wasn't over powering or too sweet.

I scoured the internet to see if I could find any candy corn cupcake recipes, but no luck. Maybe my google-fu isn't as good as it should be, but as far as I know there isn't a recipe for candy corn cupcakes out on the old interwebs.

I decided to use a recipe for White Velvet cupcakes (from Cupcakes Galore by Gail Wagman) which includes mini marshmallows baked in. Then I chose to make Swiss Meringue Buttercream as the frosting, adding some honey to enhance the candy corn flavors.

As you can see from the picture below, my attempt to layer the colored batters didn't come out exactly as I planned. The marshmallows prevented the batter layers from settling evenly. But, I'm ok with that.


The cake tasted more like a sugar cookie to me, but the frosting was amazing. I just took the regular SMBC recipe and added about two teaspoons of honey (to taste). Mmmm....

Happy Halloween (a little early)!