This is my variation of the Baked cookbook (a FANTASTIC book) Chocolate Root Beer Frosting. It’s nice and thick and chocolatey – with just a hint of root beer, you’d probably not even notice it if I didn’t tell you. Either way, this makes a great frosting for cakes, cupcakes…or just to eat with a spoon. But don’t tell anyone.

ingredients:
2.5 ounce bittersweet chocolate, melted
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
2/3 cup Valrhona cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 Tablespoons root beer
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

In the bowl of an electric mixer, mix the butter and the cocoa powder until combined. It will be thick.

Add in the melted bittersweet chocolate. I really love the smoothness of Scharffenberger. It adds just the right chocolate-y flavor.

Add the salt, then alternate the root beer and the powdered sugar. Once you get everything in there and combined without making a giant mess (it’s hard to do) crank your mixer up to a medium high speed and whip it up good – just a few minutes – until you get a nice light chocolate-y consistency and you’re ready to use it!

The morning of the Kid’s birthday I threw a Rainbow Cake together right quick, there was no planning so I didn’t have time to roll out fondant and do a whole thing. Writing on a cake with frosting is easy. But sometimes you want things to look a little cleaner – as if you really put in a lot of effort….but in reality you are just kind of lazy. Here’s a good way to fake it.

Since I wanted to stick with the Star Wars theme, I printed out wording in Star Wars font on heavy cardstock. Using an x-acto I cut out the letters.

Now you have a template. I laid this on top of the already frosted cake, and using a different color of frosting, I just went through and tried to stay within the stencil. Even if you go over or screw up it doesn’t matter, the beauty of it is when you lift the stencil off, you’ll have clean lettering – honest!

This is a super quick way to get fancy lettering done fast!

(Fondant lettering how-to is similar)

I love this frosting – I use it a lot because it has that perfect sweetness!

ingredients:
1/2 C. butter , softened
3 C. powdered sugar
3 Tbs. milk
1 Tbs. maple syrup
1 tsp.cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Beat the butter, adding the powdered sugar slowly. Add the milk slowly, then the syrup, cinnamon and vanilla. Speed up the mixer to a nice beat until fluffy. Frost the cupcakes and DEVOUR.

If you are from Hawaii, have visited Hawaii, or heck even go to the King’s Hawaiian bakery – then you know about Dobash. It’s a light chocolate cake, but what puts it over the top is the pudding like frosting. It’s surprisingly not as rich as it looks – just the right amount of sweet.

Usually it’s a layer cake but I thought just a cupcake would work out fine, turned out to be the best thing ever – easy to transport and still cute and tasty.

cake ingredients:
3 eggs, separated
1-1/2 cups sugar
1-1/2 cups cake flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup Valrhona cocoa powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup milk

frosting ingredients:
1-1/2 cup water
1 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prep a cupcake pan with liners (makes 24)

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat eggs whites until frothy. Gradually add in only 1/2 cup of sugar, until the whites are stiff.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, the other 1 cup of sugar, baking soda, salt and cocoa. After making a well in the center, pour in the oil and some of the milk. Mix well and add the remaining milk and egg yolks until smooth.

Fold the egg whites into the chocolate batter. Pour into cupcake pan and bake for 15 mins depending on your oven. Cool and rest on a wire rack.

While they are cooling make the frosting. In a saucepan combine the water, sugar, salt and butter – bring to a boil. In a small bowl mix together the 1/2 cup of water and the cornstarch to form a smooth liquid. Once the sauce pan starts to boil, add the cocoa carefully, then slowly pour in the cornstarch mixture. This process should happen quickly, and the frosting will seize up. Let the frosting cool. I usually pour it into another bowl to cool.

Since Dobash is traditionally a layered cake, I tried to incorporate the idea of frosting throughout by making a hole in the center of the cupcake. That way the frosting tunnels down through it. Once the frosting is cooled, fill/frost the cupcakes and serve.

Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Cupcake book, this marbled cupcake is special because the colors are gold and purple for the Lakers. Even if you aren’t a Laker fan you can still do this for your fave team with a quick color change. It’s so easy and fun AND tastes great with Champagne Buttercream – frosting of choice for all (hopeful) champions of course…

ingredients:
1-3/4 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup whole milk
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
gel food coloring

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a cupcake pan with paper liners.

In a large bowl whisk together the cake flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of your mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time until combined, then add the vanilla. Alternate the flour mixture and the milk until combined.

Now set aside one cup of the batter, in a small bowl. Here’s where you add food coloring. I prefer gel because it doesn’t mess with the liquid in the batter. Now I picked up this ‘royal purple’ at the store, and it was BLUE. Unfortunate. So I used my skillz, and added some red to get just the right purple.

Now in your prepped liners, alternate the two batters by spoonful until you get to about 3/4 of the way full. To get the nice marbled look, take a knife, toothpick, chopstick – whatever you have and make figure 8s in the batter. You’ll be surprised how well this works.

Bake for 17-20 minutes until you get a clean toothpick. Let cool on a wire rack.

These are delicious as is, but go ahead and top them with some Champagne Buttercream for that perfect punch!

A simple, elegant, three ingredient frosting that you can use over and over again.

ingredients:
4 cups powdered sugar
3 sticks butter
3 tablespoons champagne

Luckily I had the world’s smallest bottle of champagne on hand. I’m not sure where I got this, but since I don’t drink, it was just the right size for baking.

In an electric mixer, beat the butter and the powdered sugar til combined. Gradually add the champagne, more or less, as needed. Once combined, set the mixer to high and beat for about 1 minute. Pipe or spread on cakes or cupcakes!

All the coffee lovers in the house say HEY…HO! I LOVE coffee. I thought it’d be cute to make Coffee+Donuts Cupcakes, using the coffee cupcake and frosting as a nice flavorful base. I know not everyone has a mini donut maker, so here’s just the recipe for the cupcakes. They are really excellent on their own.

ingredients:
1/2 cup butter (1 stick) softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
1/2 cup strong brewed coffee
1/8 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

(coffee frosting recipe, below)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prep a cupcake pan with liners.

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Combine the coffee and milk, set aside.

Alternate the flour and the coffee mixture into the butter mixture, beating until combined.

Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake for about 15-20 minutes depending on your oven. Let cool on a wire rack.

The cakes become more coffee-vescent the longer they sit. These make a really nice cake as is. The coffee frosting is just a nice touch.

Coffee Frosting:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
2-1/2 Tablespoons coffee
1 Tablespoon milk (as needed)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

In the bowl of an electric mixer cream butter, carefully adding the sugar, coffee, and vanilla; mix until light and fluffy. Add a little of the milk at a time to get the right consistency. Turn the mixer up to high and beat well.

Quite obviously, if you have a donut maker OR a tiny sous chef to help sprinkle the donuts: top these with a donut to make coffee+donut cupcakes. Or just buy mini donuts from the store, they make a really cute presentation.

Then you can just top these with a donut to make coffee+donut cupcakes. Or just buy mini donuts from the store, they make a really cute presentation.

My friend Darlene has been going on a lot of caketastings for her wedding. I even made her a notepad to help her along in her selection process – however when she happened upon a white velvet cupcake, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. It sounded like it’d be delicious. So I altered my red velvet recipe and changed some measurements and came up with a darn good tasting cupcake. Most red velvet’s call for a flour or a cream cheese frosting – no way. So I put together a little mascarpone frosting to go with it. It paired itself pretty nicely…

cupcake ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1-1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup buttermilk (read on to find out how to make your own)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 TB white vinegar

mascarpone frosting ingredients:
16 ounces mascarpone cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prep a cupcake pan with liners.

Sift the flour and salt together and set aside. If I don’t have buttermilk on hand, I simply make my own by combining just under a 1/2 cup of milk with 3 teaspoons of lemon juice. Once you’ve done that, set aside.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well. On low, slowly alternate the flour with the buttermilk beginning and ending with the flour.

Now dissolve the baking soda in the vinegar. Sounds weird but trust me on this. Carefully stir it into the batter. You will get a lovely velvet-y batter. Pour into prepped cupcake pans, about 1/2 full.

Bake for 20-25 minutes depending on your oven, or until toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean. Cool on wire racks and start your frosting…

To make the frosting, in a medium bowl combine mascarpone cheese, sugar, salt and vanilla. Stir together until smooth, and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer beat whipping cream until stiff peaks form – don’t overdo it, the last thing you want is for it to curdle. Then fold the whipped cream, into the mascarpone mixture until combined. If you get it just right, you will get a nice sweet fluffy frosting.

I decorated these with edible pearls – the kids LOVED this cupcake and I think they will be asking for it again soon.

Caramel apples are very fall-ish, and I know I’d seen caramel apple cupcakes done before – because the completely useless stick is just so cute. So here’s my version – let me tell you it has been tested well, as I gave them out to 3 separate groups of people who all gave them rave reviews, so give ‘em a try.

Apple cupcakes
ingredients:
(frosting to follow)

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 large eggs
1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup applesauce
1 cup shredded or finely chopped, Granny Smith apples

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Prep a cupcake pan with liners.

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.

In a mixer, stir the eggs, butter, and applesauce. Mix until combined. Carefully add the dry ingredients.

Now is when I chop the apples. This may seem like last minute, but I hate how quickly apple brown up after cutting. So I do it right before I throw them in. The way I do it – peel and slice the apple. Then using a grater, grate the apple into fine shreds, like cheese. You can also chop it finely which works just as well. Now stir the shredded apples into the batter mixture.

I like to fill the cupcake liners 2/3 full to almost full, so that they have a nice rounded top like an apple. This batter will make 12 cupcakes.

Bake for 15-20 mins, 17 works best for me. Test with a toothpick for done-ness.

See how they rise a little and puff and overflow? That is perfect to me, because then when you frost it – it gives it a little roundness, and makes it more…apple-y? If that makes sense. Cool on a wire rack. While they are cooling…make the frosting.

Caramel Frosting
ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup whole milk
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1tsp cinnamon
1 TB maple syrup

In a saucepan on medium heat, melt the butter and brown sugar. Paula Deen would be in heaven right now. Give it a stir now and again. When they are melted and bubbly, add the milk. Carefully raise the heat and bring the mixture to a quick boil. Careful – you don’t want to burn it. Once it foams up and turns that lovely caramel color, take it off the heat immediately.

Remove pan from heat and stir in the powdered sugar and vanilla, cinnamon and syrup, mixing until frosting is smooth. I like to put it in the fridge for about 20 mins to cool down. Then I simply frost the cupcakes by dipping them into the frosting. It’s more of a glaze – in the sense that it will firm up.

Now the fun part – you can roll the sides in sprinkles and of course, for effect, put in a popsicle stick to make it look like a real caramel apple. It’s totally useless but lots of fun. Even without the sticks, these are really tasty and I think they’d be great for a party.

I am not a fan of cream cheese, but I know I am in the minority. When I make these people seem to love them – the cookies are obviously just vehicles for the cream cheese filling…

ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup crushed pineapple, drained
3/4 cup shredded carrots
3/4 cup raisins
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon cinnamon

filling ingredients:
8oz. cream cheese
1/4 cup butter
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prep a cookie sheet with a silpat.

Cream the butter and brown sugar. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then add the vanilla. Then stir in the pineapple, carrots and raisins.

In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt nutmeg and cinnamon. Slowly add to the carrot mixture. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto the prepped cookie sheets.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes just until bottoms begin to brown and cookies are set. Cool on wire racks.

While the cookies are cooling, start the filling. In your mixer, combine the butter, cream cheese and vanilla. Slowly add the sugar and scrape down the sides of the mixer. Turn to high to get it nice and fluffy.

Once the cookies have cooled, spread the frosting on the flat side of one, then stick another on top, flat side down. You’ll get a hefty little sandwich.

The cookies are quite good on their own if you don’t want to go to the trouble of putting them together.