Rum and Cherry Coke Cupcakes

Hi all,

I know it’s been a really long time.  I was busy finishing up my physical education degree, finding a new apartment, wedding planning, and working.  I want to try and get back into the swing of things on here now that things have calmed down a bit.

Since I often cook from recipes that I find online, I am changing the way I post on here.  I will give you links to the recipes I used and tell you about any changes that I made instead of posting the whole recipe.

What a better way to get back into things than with cupcakes!  I love cupcakes!! They are amazing and have so many variations.  This cupcake was inspired by the delicious rum and coke drink.  I like to use cherry coke in my rum and coke. Thus I decided to make the drink into a cupcake.  Yummy!

 

The cake recipe comes from Tasty Sweet: The Chronicles of a Cupcake Artist

Her post: Girl’s Weekend Rum and Cherry Coke Cupcakes

The frosting recipe was inspired by Raspberri Cupcakes: A Sydney Baking Blog

Her post: Lemon Cake Squares with Cherry Meringue Icing

My Changes:

1. I added about 1 teaspoon of maraschino cherry syrup to the cake batter.  I wanted just a bit more cherry flavor in the cake.

2.  I used a sour cherry spread in my frosting.

3. I decorated with white sugar pearls to represent the carbonation in the Cherry Coke!

 

Keep on baking!

Jess

Expresso Cupcakes, Caramel Ganache, and Irish Cream Frosting!

Today is my good friend, Josh’s birthday.  He had taken some really great pictures of my creations for the blog.  To celebrate his birthday I made him some cupcakes!

The cake recipe came from: Confessions of A Faux Gourmet

• I used at chocolate fudge cake mix
• I used 3/4 cup espresso and then a little under 1/4 cup water

The filling recipe came from: The Secrets of Baking: Simple Techniques for Sophisticated Desserts on Pg. 23

The frosting recipe came from: Brown Eyed Baker

• I have made her Irish Car Bomb cupcakes before, and knew the frosting was exactly what I wanted for these cupcakes.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Happy National Peanut Butter Day!

Peanut Butter; one of my favorite things!  When I saw that it was peanut butter day, I knew I HAD to make something!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Ingredients:

Chocolate Cupcakes (Recipe From: Cupcakes by Susannah Blake):

8 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter

1/2 Cup Sugar

2 Eggs

1 Cup All-Purpose Flour

2 Tablespoons Milk

1 Teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract

2 Tablespoons Cocoa Powder

Peanut Butter Frosting:

8 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter

1 Cup Peanut Butter

2 Cups Powdered Sugar

3 Tablespoons Milk

Directions:

Chocolate Cupcakes:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Soften the butter in the microwave for 30 seconds on high.  Mix together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

3. Beat in the eggs one at a time.

4. Mix in the flour and the milk until creamy.  Beat in the cocoa powder and the vanilla extract.

5. Spoon the batter into cupcake liners.  Only fill the liners 2/3 full of batter.

6. Bake for 17 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a cupcake comes out clean.

7. Remove the cupcakes from the oven.  Let the cupcakes cool completely!

Peanut Butter Frosting:

1. In a bowl melt the butter in a microwave for 30 seconds on high.

2. Mix the peanut butter in with the butter.

3. Beat in the powdered sugar.

4. Gradually beat in the milk, one tablespoon at a time.

5. Beat until smooth and creamy.

6. Pipe onto completely cooled cupcakes!

Gingerbread (men and sandwiches) – Christmas Baking Part 3

I also made cookies with Gary’s mom, my sister, and my mom too!  My favorite cookies we made were the Gingersnap cookies with Lemon filling and the traditional gingerbread men cookies!  We also made several other cookies, a cinnamon cookie and a Truffle-filled Thumbprint cookies.

Gingersnap Cookies with Lemon Filling

Ingredients:

Cookies:

3/4 Cup Unsalted Butter

1 Cup White Sugar

1 Large Egg

1/2 Cup Molasses

2 1/2 Cups Flour

2 Teaspoons Baking Powder

2 Teaspoons Ground Ginger

1 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

Lemon Filling:

2 Cups Powdered Sugar

1 Cup Unsalted Butter

1 Teaspoon Lemon Extract

1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice from 1 Lemon

Directions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. In medium bowl, cream butter and sugar until smooth and creamy.

3. Beat in the egg.  Then add the molasses and mix.

4. In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, baking soda, ground ginger, ground cinnamon, and the salt.

5. Now add the creamed mixture to the flour mixture and mix well.

6. Shape the dough into 1 inch balls.

• Try to make them all the same size so that when you sandwich the cookies together one cookie won’t be bigger or smaller than the other.

7. Place 1 inch balls onto a cookie sheet about 1 inch apart from one another.

• The cookies are going to spread out on the cookie sheet.

8. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

9. While the cookies are baking, in another medium mixing bowl cream together the butter and the powdered sugar until smooth and creamy.

10. Add the lemon extract and juice and beat for 1 minute.

11. Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool for 2 minutes.

12. Transfer the cookies to a wire cooling rack and let them cool completely.

13.  Pick two cookies that are similar in size, spread about a 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of the lemon cream onto one cookie.  Then sandwich the cookies together and enjoy!

Jewel Thumbprint Cookies – Christmas Baking Part 2

Each year my mom, sister, and I make several different Christmas cookies.  I always make sure that my favorite cookie is on our baking list.  The Jewel Thumbprint Cookies recipe that we use came from the December 2000 issue of Woman’s Day Specials Magazine on page 82.  It’s the Holiday Cookies issue.

Ingredients:

2 Cups All-Pupose Flour

1 Cup (2 Sticks) Unsalted Buttered – Softened

1/2 Cup Firmly Packed Brown Sugar

2 Large Eggs

• Separated

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1/8 Teaspoon Salt

1 1/2 Cups Finely Chopped Pecans

1/4 Cup Raspberry Jelly

1/4 Cup Another Flavor of Jelly

Directions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a large bowl mix together the flour, butter, brown sugar, egg yolks, vanilla, and salt until well mixed.

3. In a small bowl mix the egg whites until foamy.  Put the chopped pecans in another small bowl.

4. Shape cookie dough into 1-inch balls. Roll each ball in the egg whites then in the chopped pecans.

5. Put each cookie dough ball on a baking sheet about 1-inch apart.  With a thumb, index finger or the tip of a spoon, make a depression in the middle of each cookie ball.

6. Bake for 8 minutes. Remove from the oven and add about a 1/2 teaspoon of jelly into the depression of each cookie. Bake for another 6-10 minutes or until the cookies are lightly brown on the edges.

Several other cookies we made this year were (click on the picture for the recipe):