Cupcakes for Everyone!

Tomorrow is Halloween so I thought I’d bake some cupcakes to take to work for my co-workers. Of course I forgot half the stuff I needed when I went to the store yesterday so had to run by the store on my lunch break today. Wouldn’t you know I couldn’t find any cupcake liners on the baking aisle which is one of the things I had forgotten yesterday. I looked high and low and finally found the last two packs in the back of a shelf. One was Barbie and the other these giant foil liners. Well I didn’t have time to go anywhere else so I bought the foil ones and a pack of Halloween colored sprinkles. Since I was making the frosting, I thought about making different colors to write words and make different designs on the cupcakes. But I knew they’d just get scarfed down in a matter of seconds so I decided to just stick with the sprinkles. They turned out pretty good. My husband and I were the willing taste testers since everyone knows you can’t take food to work without testing it first. : )

For the cupcakes:
(I totally cheated and used a boxed mix)

1 box yellow cake mix (I used Duncan Hines)-prepare as directed on the box.

Line a muffin pan with cupcake liners and fill each liner about half full with cake batter. Bake as directed. Let cool completely.
Makes 24 regular sized cupcakes or 16 jumbo ones.

For the frosting:
(I used the recipe I used for a chocolate cake I made)

Chocolate Frosting

INGREDIENTS

• 1/4 cup margarine, melted
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large bowl, beat margarine and cocoa together until combined. Add milk and vanilla; beat until smooth. Gradually beat in confectioners’ sugar until desired consistency is achieved. Adjust with more milk or confectioners’ sugar if necessary.

*After reading the reviews on the website I got the recipe from I made a couple alterations. I used 3 cups confectioners’ sugar and 3/4 cup cocoa powder. It made a great frosting!
Frost cupcakes and decorate as desired.

Original source for the frosting recipe: All Recipes

Happy Birthday Sis!

Another mission accomplished…my first carrot cake! I’ve been wanting to make a from scratch carrot cake for a long time now. I finally found a recipe on Peabody’s blog that looked perfect so decided to make it this weekend. Now a lot was depending on this cake being good since I was making it for my little sister’s birthday. She and my mom were up for the weekend so I thought it would be a great time to make this cake. I was a little concerned, not about the recipe, but about my ability to make a wonderful carrot cake and frosting from start to finish. But thankfully, this turned out so great. My sister, mom, and husband loved it! I sent most of the cake home with my mom and sister so they could eat some later and take some to my dad. My dad just called tonight to say it was the best carrot cake he’s ever had. This recipe is a keeper!

Check out more great baking recipes at culinaryconcoctionsbypeabody.com

Solid Gold Carrot Cake (with my alterations)

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp fresh nutmeg
4 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup canola oil
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup whole milk
1 TBSP vanilla extract
2 TBSP finely chopped crystallized ginger (I didn’t have any so used 2 tsp ground ginger)
3 cups firmly packed shredded carrots
1 cup walnuts, chopped (I used chopped pecans)

1. Preheat to 350F. Butter and flour two 9-inch pans or mini muffin pans.
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk together and set aside.
3. Beat eggs and sugars together on medium speed until well combined, about 2 minutes. At low speed, add the oil, melted butter, milk, vanilla, and ginger and mix until blended, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add the flour mixture in three additions, mixing until just blended. Add the carrots and walnuts and mix until blended. Scrape the batter into the prepared pans, dividing it evenly.
4. Bake cakes for 25-30 minutes until they are dark golden brown. For mini cupcakes, it took 15 minutes.
5. Invert cakes onto racks and cool completely. Frost with your choice of frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1/4 cup butter
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, room temperature
1 pound confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
PREPARATION:
Directions for cream cheese frosting
Combine all ingredients in large mixing bowl; beat well until smooth. Makes enough cream cheese frosting for a 2-layer cake.

Source-cake: Tish Boyle’s the Cake Book

Source-frosting: Adapted from Tish Boyle’s the Cake Book, 2006

My sister about to blow out the candles. If you look closely, you will see someone else eyeing the cake.

My first homemade chocolate cake!!

This was my first attempt at homemade chocolate cake and it was a success!! I was worried about it being dry, sticking in the pan, or falling apart. But thankfully everything turned out great! It was very moist and the frosting recipe I used was the perfect compliment to it. It’s not the prettiest cake but it tastes awesome which is what really counts!!

Dark Chocolate Cake

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups boiling water
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 1/4 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease 3 – 9 inch round cake pans. In medium bowl, pour boiling water over cocoa, and whisk until smooth. Let mixture cool. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at time, then stir in vanilla. Add the flour mixture alternately with the cocoa mixture. Spread batter evenly between the 3 prepared pans.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Allow to cool.

*I used a bundt cake pan instead of 3 round pans. It took about an hour to bake.

Chocolate Frosting

INGREDIENTS

• 1/4 cup margarine, melted
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large bowl, beat margarine and cocoa together until combined. Add milk and vanilla; beat until smooth. Gradually beat in confectioners’ sugar until desired consistency is achieved. Adjust with more milk or confectioners’ sugar if necessary.

*After reading the reviews on the website I got the recipe from I made a couple alterations. I used 3 cups confectioners’ sugar and 3/4 cup cocoa powder. It made a great frosting!

Original recipes from allrecipes.com
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Dark-Chocolate-Cake-I/Detail.aspx
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chocolate-Frosting-I-2/Detail.aspx