Marble cupcakes with Halloween decoration

I know I'm a little behind on my blogs and Halloween is long gone. But better late then never! With my daughter going to day care now, i got to sign up for something to bring for their class party. Of course there had to be cupcakes, and no one had signed up for them! I did and this is what i came up with. They had to be Halloween themed, but i also wanted to keep them fun for the kids. So i made pumpkins with some orange colored fondant, and drew in the faces with edible markers. How cute are they?? Super easy to make them and great for decorating cakes and other food. As for the frosting, i used Class Butter cream icing and kept it at a medium consistency and pipped some grass using the grass tip. I have to say, i had a great time putting these together and the kids loved it. Now to the cupcakes. They were marble cupcakes from Martha Stewart's 175 cupcakes recipe book. Really easy to make them and they were just delicious. Which kid doesn't like cupcakes with both vanilla and chocolate!

Cupcakes can just be so much fun. They are easy to eat, and you can be as creative as you want and personalize them in your own way. Here's the recipe for the cupcakes and butter cream:)

Marble Cupcakes
Makes 16 cupcakes

1 3/4 cups cake flour (not self-rising), sifted
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup milk, room temperature
1/3 cup heavy cream, room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/4 cup boiling water
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Stir together cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Combine milk and cream.

2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and granulated sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of milk mixture, and beating until combined.

3. To make chocolate batter, measure out 1 cup batter, and transfer to another bowl. Combine cocoa and the boiling water in a bowl. Stir into reserved 1 cup batter.

4. Fill prepared cups with alternating spoonfuls of vanilla and chocolate batter, filling each three-quarters full. Run the tip of a paring knife or wooden skewer through batter in a figure-eight motion to make swirls. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until tops are golden and a cake tester (i.e. toothpick) inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.

5. To finish dust with confectioners’ sugar just before serving. Or personalize in your own way!


Class Butter cream

4 cups confectioner's sugar sifted
1 tablespoon meringue powder
1 cup shortening
2 table water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
a pinch of salt

Using a whisk attachment, whip together the shortening and liquids. Add the sugar and meringue powder and whip until ingredients come together. Whip on medium speed for 1 min. This recipe makes thick consistency so you have to thin it out to a medium consistency after it's whipped up. Color frosting as needed. Frosting can be refrigerated up to 2 weeks in an air tight container.

Blueberries and cream cupcakes

Last weekend, my friends and i decided to have a cupcake tea party which has been pending for the last 3 months. It finally happened and we all got to eat some yummy home made cupcakes. Since berries are in season, i decided to try out the Blueberries and cream cupcakes from my Martha Stewart's cupcake book. The fresh blueberries gives you a nice burst of sweet and tangy in each bite. These cupcakes are just amazing. They are not too sweet and the home made whipped cream gives it a nice finish to the cupcakes. They are light, spongy and another one of my favorites so far. Here's the recipe:)

BLUEBERRIES-AND-CREAM CUPCAKES
Makes 30 standard or 60 mini cupcakes

For the cupcakes:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups cake flour (not self rising), sifted
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 3/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups milk, room temperature
2 cups fresh blueberries, plus more for garnish

For the whipped cream:
2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted

Heat the oven to 350 F. Line standard or mini muffin tins with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, whisk together both flours, the baking powder and salt.

In a large bowl, use an electric mixer on medium-high to cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in the vanilla.

Reduce mixer speed to low. Add the flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of milk, and beating until combined after each. Fold in the blueberries by hand. Divide the batter evenly among the lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating the pans halfway through, until pale golden, about 25 minutes for standard and 15 minutes for mini.

Transfer the pans to wire racks to cool completely before removing the cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored up to 3 days at room temperature in airtight containers.

To make the whipped cream, in a large bowl whisk the heavy cream until soft peaks form. Add the powdered sugar, then whisk until combined. If not using immediately, whipped cream can be refrigerated, covered tightly, for up to 3 hours.

Strawberry cupcakes with Strawberry swiss meringue frosting

Since i enjoy baking so much, and absolutely love cupcakes, i decided to get the Martha Stewart's 175 cupcakes book. I've tried making cupcakes from recipes i find online and have had some great results and some not so great results. I hate having to waste and so decided I'm going to stick with Martha's recipes. Can't really go wrong and everything I've tried so far from her recipes have been a hit. So when my book came in the mail, i was super excited and couldn't wait to bake. I had some strawberries and i came across this recipe. It was also my husbands business partner's birthday. What more excuse do i need? Baking with fresh ingredients always make a huge difference. The cupcake itself was soft and moist with strawberry chunks and the frosting, just oh so good! Light, fluffy and smooth, with a little bit of sweetness. Can't wait to try out more recipes and share them with you. Here's the recipe:)

Martha Stewart’s Strawberry Cupcakes with Strawberry Meringue Buttercream
frosting (makes 34 cupcake)

2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup cake flour (not self-rising)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 ¼ cups sugar
1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 large whole eggs plus 1 egg white
1 cup milk
2 cups finely chopped fresh strawberries (about 20), plus about 10 more for garnish

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line standard muffin pans with paper liners. Sift together both
flours, baking powder, and salt.

2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter, sugar, and vanilla until pale and fluffy. Add whole eggs and the white, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the milk, and beating until well combined. Fold in chopped strawberries by hand.

3. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each about three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until golden brown and toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks and cool 15 minutes; turn out cupcakes onto rack and let cool completely. Cupcakes can be stored up to 1 day at room temperature in airtight containers.

4. To finish, fill a pastry bag fitted with a large open-star (Ateco #826 or Wilton #8B) with buttercream. Pipe butter cream onto each cupcake, swirling tip and releasing as you pull up to form peak. Just before serving, thinly slice strawberries, and tuck a few pieces into the butter cream.

Strawberry Meringue Buttercream Frosting

1 ½ cups fresh strawberries (8 ounces), rinsed, hulled, and coarsely chopped.
4 large egg whites
1 ¼ cups sugar
1 ½ cups (three sticks) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons, room temperature

1. Puree strawberries in a food processor. Combine egg whites and sugar in the heatproof bowl of a standing electric mixer set over a pan of simmering water. Whisk constantly by hand until mixture is warm to the touch and sugar has dissolved (the mixture should feel completely smooth when rubbed between your fingertips.)

2. Attach the bowl to the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Starting on low and gradually increasing to medium-high speed, mix until stiff (but not dry) peaks form. Continue mixing until the mixture is fluffy and glossy, and completely cool (test by touching the bottom of the bowl), about 10 minutes.

3. With mixer in medium-low speed, add the butter a few tablespoons at a time, mixing well after each addition. Once all the butter has been added, scrape down sides of bowl with a flexible spatula and switch to the paddle attachment; continue beating on low speed until all air bubbles are eliminated, about 2 minutes. Add strawberries and beat until well combined. Stir with a flexible spatula until the frosting is smooth.

Keep buttercream at room temperature if using the same day, or transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate up to 3 days or freeze up to 1 month. Before using, bring to room temperature and beat with paddle attachment on low speed until smooth again, about 5 minutes.