Kim's Birthday Cupcakes

It was a toss between margarita cupcakes with lime frosting and peanut butter cupcake with Nutella frosting. It was Kim's birthday and she requested cupcakes. In the end, peanut butter won out because I didn't feel like figuring out the margarita cupcake just yet. Maybe for Cinco de Mayo. The above photo was taken with my friend Beth's camera, and the said photo was stolen by me for the blog.

Peanut Butter Cupcakes with Nutella Frosting

• 2 c. flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 11/4 c. brown sugar
• 6 Tbsp. butter
• 3/4 c. peanut butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 c. milk

Preheat oven to 350F. Line tin with cupcake liners. In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl beat butter and peanut butter until smooth. Add vanilla and eggs and beat well. Alternately add flour mixture and milk. Mix well. Bake 22-24 minutes. Makes about 24 cupcakes.

Nutella Frosting

• 1/2 c. butter
• 1 c. Nutella
• 4 c. icing sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• milk as needed

Workin' Man Blues = Gone Cupcakes

My husband JD's working full-time and going to school. This means that he gets home at around 10:30 every night. And I leave for work before he gets up in the morning. To say the least, this situation is lame. Sometimes, when he's having a hard day, I like to make him something nice to come home to. So, I decided to make him some dark chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting. He posted on Facebook "workin man blues = gone". And thus the Workin' Man Blues = Gone Cupcakes were born.

Workin' Man Blues = Gone Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

• 2 c. flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 c. plus 1 Tbps. dark cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3/4 butter (room temperature)
• 2 c. sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 11/2 c. milk

Preheat oven to 350F. Line tins with cupcake liners. Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cocoa, and salt. Cream butter and sugar together and beat until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Add flour mixture and milk alternately, beating well after each addition. Bake 20-25 min.

Peanut Butter Frosting

Cream 1/2 c. butter and 1 c. peanut butter until smooth. Add 4 c. icing sugar and milk as needed, until desired consistency is reached.

A Late Christmas Entry -- Egg Nog Cupcakes with Rum Frosting

On my way to work one morning in December, I thought to myself, "I haven't had egg nog yet this season." Then I thought, "I should make egg nog cupcakes! Wait, what kind of frosting? Rum!" The rum frosting was inspired by my friend Steve's Facebook post "Wrapping gifts with 2 kids running around like animals. Gonna need some egg nog with lots of rum." Thus, the egg nog cupcake with rum frosting was born. This made its debut at a New Year's Eve party and was a big hit.

I decided to use my basic chameleon cupcake recipe, but to use egg nog instead of milk.

Egg Nog Cupcake with Rum Frosting

• 2 c. flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda>
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3/4 c. butter (room temperature)
• 2 c. sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla>
• 11/2 c. egg nog>

Preheat oven to 350F. Line tins with cupcake liners. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Cream butter and sugar together and beat until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Add flour mixture alternately with milk, beating well after each addition. Bake 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Makes 24 cupcakes.

Rum Frosting

To be honest, I don't have an exact recipe for frosting. I cream some butter (1/4 - 1/2c.), add some icing sugar (about a bag), add 1 tsp. vanilla and some milk until it's the desired consistency. If I make it too runny, I add more icing sugar. In this case, instead of vanilla, I used 1 tsp. rum flavouring. Then, frost your cupcakes and dust with some nutmeg.