Cosmic Delight.

I am really not a very creative person. I am good at taking something, and making it mine, and replicating ideas that are out there. But to come up with something, just out of the blue? Not so much. After about three, maybe four if I am feeling generous, new cupcakes, I ran out of things to make. I am talking new ideas, not the same delicious treats you see in all the cupcakeries. What do you do when you run out of ideas? Well, I decided I should get the input from the people who actually eat the cupcakes. (Another post on that in the future, about how I rarely eat cupcakes, or anything I make for that matter...)

The input I am getting is pretty great. Actually, every time I walk in with some cupcakes, I get "Hey, how about...?" It is fantastic, and that is where the Cosmic Delight comes in. A request came in from Taste Cadet D, for a cupcake made like a Lil' Debbie Star Crunch snack. This seemed like a great idea, especially since it was a childhood favorite of mine. Apparently, as a child, I thought I was Lil' Debbie, and would drop everything to go watch my commercials. This dream must have stuck, as making cupcakes is a favorite hobby, 30 years later.

The recipe itself has been waiting for me, in my handy book I carry everywhere. In fact, I have been holding the ingredients for a couple of weeks, but as D was on vacation, I thought it only fair to wait and make her creation when she was actually there. ;) I have even eaten a couple of Star Crunch snacks, for research purposes, of course! (Can I just point out that these snacks are a lot sweeter than I remember?)

The cake, I decided, needed to be a brown sugar cupcake. The recipe for this was pretty simple, until I thought I knew best and tried to bake it at 325 degrees rather than my usual 350. I don't advise this, in fact, I highly discourage this. Stick with what works, and reference this picture if you think changing your traditional temperature is a good idea.

My second attempt worked much better. Amazing what a proper oven temperature can do!

The second step was to layer in the delicious caramel. All I can say is yum.

Finally, that awesome out layer, where you get delicious chocolate and fun texture. I melted some chocolate into a thick ganache, and added crisp rice cereal. And Voila! Cosmic Delight Cupcakes.

Check back soon for the recipe, once I know it actually tastes good!!

Root Beer Float Recipe

A few days ago (okay, a week or so ;) ) I posted about my new favorite hobby of turning drinks into cupcakes. The Root Beer Floats were amazing, if I do say so myself! (And it wasn't just me, really.) I heard things like, "This tastes like a root beer float!" and "The frosting is just like vanilla ice cream!" I could go on, but don't want to seem too proud...



My whole point in revisiting this post, besides to brag, was to share the recipe. This one is definitely too good to be selfish with. It will also definitely be part of my menu in my somedayinthedistantfutureFrostedbyDebbie Cupcakery. :)



Absolute deliciousness!

Root Beer Float Cupcakes
makes 26-28 cupcakes
Bake at 350 degrees

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups flour
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup soy milk + 1 tsp vinegar
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup canola oil
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp root beer concentrate

Directions:
Whisk dry ingredients together, set aside. Combine milk and vinegar, let sit about 5 minutes. Add rest of ingredients, whisk until frothy. Add dry to wet in 2 batches, mixing well after each to combine. Fill cupcake tins (lined) about 2/3 full. Bake for 17-20 minutes.


Very Vanilla Frosting

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter or margarine
2 1/4 cup powdered sugar
(up to) 1/4 cup Almond milk
1 1/2 tsp Tahitian vanilla, double strength

Directions:
Cream butter. Add Powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, followed by dash milk. After about 1 1/2 cups sugar, add vanilla. Continue alternating sugar and milk, beating well after each addition until desired consistency is reached. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes.


Root Beer Drizzle

****Warning**** This was not my most successful topping. Tasted great, but never really reached drizzle consistency. I am only putting this up here in the hopes that someone can tweak it and make it work. And then tell me how.


Ingredients:
3/4 cup water
1 tsp Root Beer concentrate
4 Tbsp Agave nectar
Powdered Sugar

Combine 1st three ingredients in small saucepan. Bring to boil, reduce by half. Add sugar as needed for substance. Drizzle over top of frosted cupcakes for an extra kick.

Ah, Tahini...

It has been a few days sine my last post. Cupcakes, while always on my brain, were farther in the back the last little bit. Part of this lifestyle I live means pretty consistently saying good bye to friends. When you have been with certain ones for several years, it is that much harder. Good luck, J & K, in your new very green, very wet home!

Now on to cupcakes. My inspiration for this weeks experiment was a Whole Foods blog. This blog discussed different ways to enjoy Tahini, a spread made of sesame seeds. The concept is fairly similar to peanut butter, but with sooooo many ways to enjoy. Now I must admit, I have never had Tahini. I did, however, happen to have a jar of Tahini I had purchased for a recipe I was never actually going to make. ;)

The blog mentioned a banana covered in Tahini and drizzled with dark chocolate. I am a pretty simple girl, and quite frankly, you had me at bananas and chocolate... It didn't take long to sit down and scribble out a recipe, with a banana cupcake, some Tahini frosting and some chocolate drizzles. After some intense discussion with A, who has actually had Tahini, we decided it would be most delicious if we added some chocolate swirls into the cake itself also.

Swirling cakes has proved to be an interesting challenge. I am pretty sure I ended up with a banana cake with a chocolate layer on top, but that's ok. If the recipe proves tasteworthy, I will have plenty of time to practice my technique. The cake also domes up a bit more than is typical for my recipes, but there is nothing wrong with a nicely rounded cupcake. The cake also has a sheen on it, which is another first for me. I do believe the bananas I used made for a denser cake, but again the jury is still out.

Wanna-be swirls

I decided to make the Tahini frosting the same way I make Peanut Butter frosting. Cream together some butter (or in this case, Earth balance) Tahini and Powdered sugar, with a bit of soy milk for consistency, and tada! Tahini Frosting. I have to admit to sampling this one, which I rarely do. The whole concept of Tahini kind of scared me, but it worked out surprisingly well.

Keeping this one vegan ;)

To finish these off, and make them pretty, I drizzled some melted semi sweet chocolate over the top.

You can almost see the chocolate layers here

Pretty BCT Cupcake!

Recipe

Banana Chocolate Cupcake
makes 24
Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Ingredients:
4 bananas, smashed (the riper the better)
2/3 cup canola oil
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup soy milk + 1 tsp vinegar (let sit about 5 minutes before combining with others)
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
2 Tbsp cornstarch
dash nutmeg

Directions:
Mix wet ingredients together (first 6). Whisk dry ingredients in seperate bowl. Add in 2 batches to wet mixture, reserving 1 1/2 cups batter. Mix well until no large lumps remain. To reserved batter, add 2 heaping tbsp cocoa powder, mix well.

Spoon white batter into liners until about 1/2 full. Add chocolate mixture to each liner evenly. Swirl with knife to create pattern. (I have trouble with this. Mine became banana layer topped with chocolate layer. Still delicious.) Bake 15-18 minutes.

Tahini Frosting

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter or margarine (Yay for Earth Balance!)
3/4 cup tahini
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 tsp (ish) soy milk

Directions:
Cream butter and tahini together. Add sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, followed by dash of soy milk. Mix until desired consistency is reached. (Make sure to test this before frosting your cupcakes, as different tahinis will take different amounts of sugar!!)

Pipe onto cupcake and drizzle with melted chocolate.

New Favorite Hobby: Turning Drinks into Cupcakes!

I guess I can't really call this a brand new favorite hobby, since I have been doing this for a few months now. Take your favorite drink, and turn it into a cupcake. How much fun is that? Today, my attempt was making a Root Beer Float. I love root beer, especially when you can find a yummy, frothy, fresh one. It is sweet and creamy, all at the same time. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream and voila! Perfection.

I started with my basic recipe, and then started subbing ingredients and swapping things around. This is the first time I have used root beer concentrate, so I was making guesses on the quantity. They at least smelled like root beer, and when my little man licked the bowl, he didn't seem completely grossed out. I take that as a good sign. ;)

Naked Root Beer cupcake

The second challenge is coming up with a frosting. I knew I wanted vanilla, for the cream part of the float. I was having the hardest time deciding how to make it. My vision: fluffy and silky, with that whipped cream texture, but I don't want the whipped cream taste. A definite dilemma. I finally decided on a very vanilla buttercream. I used my double strength Tahitian vanilla, and it ended up very smooth and vanilla-ey. Now I just hope the vanilla doesn't get overpowering overnight...

Frosted with Very Vanilla Buttercream

I would hate for my cupcakes to end up boring, so I decided that I should top the very vanilla frosting with a drizzle of root beer syrup. This was another first for me, never made a syrup before. Now if I can just put them together and make them fit my vision. ( I originally wanted to top them with crushed root beer candies, those barrel shaped ones, but had no luck at the store.)

Accesorized (okay, the syrup needs some work!)

Channeling My Inner Elvis

Okay, okay, I know it is a cliche. There is only one thing Elvis is famous for that translates into a cupcake: peanut butter banana sandwiches. Personally, I love this combination. It is positively delicious, so why not make a cupcake out of it? I know it's been done, but has it been done my way? I think not. This is the first cupcake recipe I created, from start to finish. Lucky for me, it turned out very well, and I developed some newly found confidence. Yay!! One of my taste cadets actually said one bite immediately transported her into memories of PB & B sandwiches, so that is the name I settled on, the PB & B.

I am going to post my recipes here. Let me know what you think!

Roasted Banana Cupcake (The B, of PB & B)

Makes 20-22
Preheat oven to 350 degrees, line muffin tin with papers

Ingredients:
2 ½ cups Flour
1 ½ cups Sugar
2 tsps. baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt

Mix above ingredients into mixing bowl; leave a well in the middle for wet ingredients.

Add:
½ cup well blended silken tofu (The silken part is very important!!)
3-4 roasted bananas, peeled and cooled
2 tsps. Vanilla
¾ cup canola oil
½ cup soy milk

Into well, mix until wet and dry are combined. (Don’t over mix). Fill muffin tins 2/3 full, bake 20-25 minutes.

*To roast bananas, place in pan, put in 375 degree oven for about 15-20 minutes. They will turn dark brown.

Peanut Butter Frosting (The PB, of the PB & B)

Ingredients

4 oz cream cheese
4 oz butter
9 oz peanut butter
1 ½ cups powdered sugar
Milk

Blend cream cheese and butter together. Add Peanut butter, mix until well combined. Add powdered sugar, ½ cup at a time. Add splash of milk between powdered sugar additions, until desired consistency reached.

*Substitute vegan options, such as earth balance spread and vegan cream cheese, and this is a perfect vegan combo. That was my original recipe, and works perfectly either way.

A 7 Year Old Boy and Pink Cupcakes

A few weeks ago, I was faced with a challenge. My little boy turned 7, and wanted to take cupcakes to his classmates. This was pretty exciting, as my boy is notoriously picky, and he could have asked me to go buy an Iron Man 2 cake, or something much more now. He didn't though, and the little man asked me for his favorite flavor: Strawberry.

I am not much for gender bias, or anything crazy like that. I just happen to have an 11 year old son also, and we have been learning through the years how mean little kids can be. So where could I find a solution that didn't have my favorite 7 year old proudly walking into mayhem, where he would develop a hatred of his favorite thing just cause kids are mean? Maybe I look into things waaaayyyy too far, but I'm mom, that's my job. My ah ha! moment: The absolutlely delicious frosting I use tastes exactly like strawberry ice cream. Why couldn't my guy have ice cream cones instead?

I took my favorite strawberry cupcake recipe, from Candace Nelson of Sprinkles via Martha Stewart online, and poured it into ice cream cones instead of my usual paper liners. Baking these proved a challenge, as ice cream cones are just a tad top heavy, and they took forever to bake. I mean forever. My recipe that usually bakes in about 20 minutes took closer to 45. Getting them out of the oven was surprisingly uneventful. I had a vision of myself dropping them, and having to start all over.

My favorite strawberry frosting recipe, again from Candace Nelson of Sprinkles via Martha Stewart online, topped off the cones perfectly. As I mentioned earlier, tastes just like ice cream, and what could be better on a cone? For a finishing touch, and to alleviate some of my pink fears, I added a dab of chocolate ganache and a cherry, just for good measure.

I was pretty excited about these cupcakes, but the highlight of the day was when one of my son's classmates asked me if he gave me $10, would I make him some?

Ah, Cupcakes...

Cupcakes make me smile. Cupcakes make everyone smile. That is the simple reason behind my love of cupcakes. Really, truly, what more can you ask of a dessert? Not much, I say. There are thousands of ways to have a cupcake: kid friendly, adult friendly, alcoholic or virgin, fancy or bake sale, the possibilities are never ending.

For the last few months, I have been exploring my love of baking. Growing up, baking was a weekly thing. My mom made wedding cakes, and I remember sitting at the kitchen table, helping mix the food coloring into the frosting. I loved doing that little task, and also eating the leftover frosting. In fact, I ate so much of the leftovers that I wouldn't touch buttercream for years. Now I am on a quest to find the best buttercream ever, one that doesn't contain scary ingredients.

I am also on a quest to make the best cupcakes ever. My most recent attempts have been my own creations, and my Taste Cadets have responded favorably. I will post about these experiments soon. Someday, in the distant future, I will own a cupcakery. Until then, I will keep baking and frosting.