"Pie" Cupcakes

My bff who lives six hours away had her baby girl, Leighton Rayne back in February, but because of my retarded schedule I had yet to meet her. I've felt like a horrible auntie for the past three months! But thank goodness they needed to come to Calgary this weekend for some doctor appointments, ending the madness that was my absence in this baby's life. Baby Leighton also just so happened to turn three months old on the day of our get together!

Baby Leighton and Auntie Stef (Uncle Stephen in the mirror)

I know Ashley's favorite dessert is pie, however I don't really "do" pie (yet, maybe one day I will feel so inclined). I got this idea from a picture on pinterest, in which someone topped a cupcake with pie filling, and iced it to look like a pie crust. There was no recipe to accompany it, so I've stolen the inspiration, but come up with the recipe myself.

INGREDIENTS

Strawberry Rhubarb "Pie" Cupcake!

Vanilla Bean Cupcake

1 2/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 egg

1/4 cup sour cream

3/4 cup whole milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 vanilla bean

 

"Pie" Topping

1/2 can pie filling 

1 batch vanilla frosting:
  - 1 cup butter
  - 4 cups confectioners' sugar
  - 2 tablespoons whole milk
  - 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

1) Preheat oven to 350F. Line muffin tin with cupcake liners.

2) In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. After melting the butter in the microwave in a microwave safe bowl, whisk in the sugar, then the egg (lightly beaten), sour cream, milk, and vanilla extract. Split the vanilla bean down the center, scrape the seeds, and add to the batter. 



3) Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until combined, and no lumps remain. Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake liners. Bake for approximately 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the cupcakes from the pan and allow to cool completely.


I wish you could see the black flecks of vanilla bean seed!

4) For the frosting, begin by beating the butter in your stand-up mixer until smooth. Add the vanilla, and milk, then the confectioners' sugar one cup at a time until light and fluffy.

5) To decorate, I began by applying a layer of frosting to each cupcake as a means to level out the tops, and minimize the chance of the pie filling dripping down the sides.

I then added a spoonful of pie filling to the top of each cupcake.

Next, I piped a "wall" around the circumference of each cupcake to hold in the filling. I smoothed the edge of this "wall" into the original layer on the bottom. Then, I piped two horizontal lines, and two vertical lines across the top, over the pie filling. Lastly, I piped around the outside to connect the lines. Voila!



Boyfriend's breakfast this morning

To this day, I've always had a special dislike for vanilla cupcakes. That being said, my goal with this recipe was to also create a vanilla cupcake worth eating. Nailed it! Nailed it to the point where my boyfriend had two for breakfast this morning #lovefat.

Peppermint Mocha Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes for my synchronized skating team's Christmas party last year and they were a huge hit. I also brought some to a hot "study date". And by hot study date I really mean writing a business plan with Ryan. In my case, business and social life are synonymous.

To be honest, I found the coffee flavor in this "mocha" cupcake to be a bit underwhelming. But I'm also terrible at brewing coffee.

I still had some of these left over, and was told that I could successfully freeze them. Wow was that person wrong. I got my brother to try a thawed one and he eloquently told me it was terrible. Now that I've slandered this recipe I'm sure you're really excited to try it.


INGREDIENTS


This picture hurts my soul

Cupcakes

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup strong brewed coffee (room temperature)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg


Frosting

1 package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 teaspoons peppermint extract
5 cups confectioner's sugar


DIRECTIONS

1) Preheat oven to 350F. Line a muffin pan with muffin cups. As you can see from the picture, I used some red and white striped candy cane inspired cups that looked really cute before baking and like crap after baking.

2) Combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.

3) In a measuring cup, combine the milk and brewed coffee.

4) In standup mixer beat the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat until combined. Add the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the milk and coffee, beating until just combined.

5) Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups, filling each about 2/3 full. Bake for about 16-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Move the cupcakes to a wire rack and let cool completely before frosting.

6) For the frosting, mix the butter and cream cheese together until blended. Add the peppermint extract and the confectioner's sugar one cup at a time. If you want it less stiff, omit one cup of the confectioner's sugar. It was difficult to refrain from adding a tasteless comment on that.

I divided my frosting in half and added some red food coloring to one portion. Then in my pastry bag, I carefully put the red frosting in one half of the bag and the white in the other so that it would come out with a striped red and white effect. I recently saw this tip on Pinterest. Instead of painstakingly trying to put the two colors in manually, you simply put two pastry bags (one for each color) within one bag.

I must have been feeling extra festive because I even added some red sprinkles.

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Buttercream

Another hit amongst my baking recipients of the male variety. Their reviews on this delightful cupcake were so good that it makes me wonder why I’m so chronically single. Perhaps it’s because I let them have their cake and eat it too. Never mind, puns like that are why I’m single. Let’s proceed.

INGREDIENTS

Cupcake

Sometimes I like to come back a year later and mentally bash photos like this one.

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 1/3 cups sugar

2 eggs, beaten until frothy

1 cup canned pumpkin

3/4 cup milk

Buttercream

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 package cream cheese, softened

4 cups confectioners’ sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

1) Preheat oven 375°F. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl.

2) Cream butter and sugar in stand up mixer until light and fluffy, then beat in eggs. Add in mashed pumpkin.

3) Stir in the sifted dry ingredients alternately with the milk, blending until batter is smooth after each addition. Spoon batter into paper-lined muffin pans. Fill about 2/3 full. Try using an ice cream scoop for perfect batter portions. Bake for 25 minutes, or until a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Makes 24 cupcakes.

4) Beat the butter and cream cheese together in stand up mixer. Add the remaining three ingredients and beat until smooth. Frost the cupcakes.