Tag Archives: cupcakes

Raspberry-Filled Lemon Cupcakes

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Happy almost springtime!

I’ve been so busy recently that I really haven’t had much time to spend in my kitchen. With spring on the way, it’s time to get back to cooking with fresh veggies and baking some sweet new treats.

I’ve actually never baked anything lemon before and I’ve been wanting to try it. These lemon cupcakes were actually inspired by some cupcake wrappers and decorations I had. The liners on these cupcakes are actually yellow with little white polka dots, but of course after baking you can’t even tell. And then there are the daisy toppers. How cute, right? So I wanted to bake something that felt and tasted like spring and ended up with these raspberry-filled lemon cupcakes with lemon cream cheese frosting. So delicious!

The lemon flavor is so fresh (just don’t pull a Nikki and zest your thumb while you’re zesting the lemons) and the frosting is so creamy and tart. I really love this flavor combination, which is saying a lot for me when chocolate isn’t involved. The cupcakes got great compliments from my co-workers – someone even said it was better than a Georgetown Cupcake!

Raspberry-Filled Lemon Cupcakes

(Cake adapted from Martha Stewart)

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 4 large eggs
  • Zest of 3 lemons (about 3 tablespoons), plus 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • Seedless raspberry jam
  1. Preheat oven to 325°. Line 2 (12-cup) muffin tins with cupcake papers.
  2. Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside
  3. With an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time until fully incorporated. Beat in lemon zest and vanilla. Alternate by adding some flour mixture, then some buttermilk, then some lemon juice. Repeat in 3 batches until fully incorporated.
  4. Fill cupcake cups half way with the batter. Spoon about a teaspoon of raspberry jam in the center of each cup and press it down into the batter. Cover the jam with the remaining batter.
  5. Bake for about 20 minutes, rotating pans half-way, until cupcakes are golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

  • 1 block of 8 ounce cream cheese, room temperature
  • 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
  • 4 cups powdered sugar
  • 4-1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
  • A few drops of yellow food coloring
  1. With an electric mixer, beat butter and cream cheese.
  2. Gradually add sugar, beating well after each incorporation.
  3. Blend in lemon juice and add food coloring.
  4. Pipe on to cupcakes and decorate!

A view from the inside! The surprise raspberry filling is a perfect flavor addition to the fresh lemon.

Happy spring!

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Raspberry Cheesecake Cupcakes

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Obviously, this post is a little late. Oops!

Valentine’s Day night I got very sick for a few weeks so forgive me. (I was really excited for it too, do you remember?) I did want to post this sweet little raspberry cupcake recipe though so, enjoy…

This cupcake is so light and fresh. The recipe uses fresh raspberries, which add a wonderful sweetness and fun color. I topped these with my cream cheese frosting…with the two together the cupcake tasted like raspberry cheesecake. Perfect! Topped with some fun sprinkles and candies, these were a great non-chocolate V-Day dessert. But they’ll work anytime in early spring too, (or whenever you can find fresh berries) if you want to try them out now.

Raspberry Cupcakes (from Martha Stewart)

  • 2  1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
  • 2  1/4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1  1/4 teaspoons salt
  • 1  1/4 cups whole milk
  • 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
  • 2 sticks plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 2  1/4 cups sugar
  • 6 large eggs
  • 2 containers (6 ounces each) raspberries, 1 container pureed, 1 container coarsely chopped
  • Gel-paste food coloring, in Tulip Red
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with baking cups. (Mine actually made more than this…)
  2. Whisk together flours, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir together milk and vanilla in a small bowl. Beat butter with a mixer on medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add sugar in a slow, steady stream, and beat until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down sides of bowl, and beat until smooth.
  3. Reduce speed to low, and add flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with milk, beginning and ending with flour. Fold in pureed and chopped raspberries and a small drop of food coloring.
  4. Divide batter among baking cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake until a toothpick inserted into centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Let cool in tins on wire racks for 15 minutes. Remove cupcakes, and let cool completely.

My Favorite Cream Cheese Frosting

  • 2 eight-ounce package of cream cheese, softened
  • 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
  • 1- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 4-5 cups confectioners’ sugar
  1. Beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth
  2. Add the vanilla extract
  3. Gradually add the sugar and beat until incorporated
  4. Stick your finger into the bowl and lick away
  5. Just kidding… maybe… spread on cooled cupcakes and enjoy!

And the whole (maybe a little over the top) Valentine’s Day table…

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Homemade Hostess Cupcakes

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You gotta love a good Hostess cupcake, right? They’re moist and chocolate-y and have a delightful cream center. But you know what’s even better, is a Hostess cupcake made from scratch. Same comforting treat, but made fresh, with a little more love – so obviously, they’re incredible.

Like the other filled cupcakes I made recently, they’re a little labor intensive…and a little messy…but they come out tasting great!

Perfect little chocolate cakes...

One Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes

  • 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1-1/2 cups sugar
  • 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 3/4 cup warm water
  • 3/4 cup buttermilk
  • 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  1. Preheat oven to 350°. Line 24 cupcake cups with papers.
  2. Mix all ingredients in one large bowl in order written above. Beat until all ingredients are fully incorporated.
  3. Bake for 18-20 minutes (rotating pan half-way through). Let cool.

After adding the cream filling...

Marshmallow Cream Filling

  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 3 tablespoons heavy cream
  • 1 cup marshmallow creme
  1. With a mixer, cream butter until light and fluffy.
  2. Beat in 1/2 cup powdered sugar.
  3. Add vanilla and 1 Tbs heavy cream and beat until smooth.
  4. Alternating between batches, add the remaining 1/2 cup powdered sugar and 2 Tbs heavy cream.
  5. Beat in marshmallow cream.
  6. Refrigerate until ready to use.
  7. When cupcakes have cooled, spoon cream filling into a piping bag with a star-tip. Push tip into center of cupcakes and fill until the cupcake is heavy. (Test one out to make sure you have the right amount of filling.) It’s ok if some filling peaks out of the cupcake tops (obviously, look at mine!)

Topped with silky chocolate ganache...

Chocolate Ganache

  • 1/2 cup + 1 Tbs sugar
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 3 ounces finely chopped chocolate
  1. In a small heavy saucepan, combine sugar and cocoa powder.
  2. Gradually add just enough milk to make a paste, then stir in the rest.
  3. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon (make sure you’re getting the corners of the pan) until mixture comes to a boil. Boil gently, and stir for about 2 minutes.
  4. Remove from heat and add vanilla.
  5. Let cool for 5 minutes. Stir in chocolate until melted and smooth. Continue to cool until spreadable.
  6. Spread ganache on top of cupcakes, covering any cream filling on top. Let set.

Icing

  • 1 stick unsalted butter
  • 2 tablespoons milk
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla
  1. Beat all ingredients until smooth, adding more milk if needed.
  2. Spoon into a pastry bag with a small tip (I just used a ziplock bag and cut a tiny hole in the corner).
  3. Pipe on to cupcakes to decorate.

Look at that delicious cream filling! So delightful! These cupcakes make a great gift too…I made them for one of my co-workers, Sarah-Jo, a fellow Hostess cupcake lover, as her final secret snowchick gift.

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Guinness, Whiskey, Bailey’s Cupcakes

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what else is more appropriate to celebrate a guy’s birthday? I knew I couldn’t go wrong with a dessert with three kinds of alcohol. Chris (and everyone else who tried them) loved the Guinness chocolate cupcakes with a whiskey ganache filling and Bailey’s cream frosting. Mmm mmm.

I’ve never made a filled cupcake before, and while it was a bit of a process, I thought they came out great and I’d definitely do it again. I loved every bit of these cupcakes…The Guinness helps make the chocolate cake moist and dense. The ganache was silky and added another great texture and flavor pop. And the frosting was sweet and boozy and just a great consistency. These would be great to make for a party…they will be a huge hit, I promise!

This great recipe came from Smitten Kitchen – though I definitely made some adjustments with the ganache and frosting. I would taste the ganache and frosting as you make it and adjust the alcohol quantity based on your taste. (Of course, I added a little more than instructed.)

Fresh out of the oven. The Guinness adds great flavor to the chocolate but isn't overpowering.

Cut out and ready to be filled.

Filled with chocolate whiskey goodness.

You know you want one...

A view from the inside...Yummy

Topped with orange sprinkles, of course.

 

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Decorating Georgetown Cupcakes

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On Sunday, Kaoru and I went to a Georgetown Cupcake decorating workshop. The two of us obviously love cupcakes, and really, she can never turn one down, so we had to go and check it out. The workshop was at the beautiful Ritz Carlton in Georgetown (which we never knew existed and was such a gem). We picked out our favorite flavors, frosted them with the “signature swirl” (I had no idea this was like a trademarked process but apparently they talked about it on their TLC show DC Cupakes a lot) and topped them with a variety of cute decorations.

Such a fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon around the holidays!

One of the sisters instructing how to do the swirl on chocolate chip cupcakes.

Frosting a red velvet cupcake!

All done!

(Thanks for the photos K!)
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