"It's Summertime in my Mouth!" Lemonade Cupcakes

Thanks to Beth for the best endorsement ever for my lemonade cupcakes.

Lemonade Cupcakes

• 2 c. flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 c. suga
• 1/2 c. butter
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 c. frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
• 1/3 c. milk

Heat oven to 350F and place cupcake liners in cupcake pan.

Cream sugar and butter. Add eggs, lemonade concentrate, and milk; continue beating until well mixed.

Add flour, baking powder, and baking soda until well mixed.

Fill cupcake tin 2/3 full.

Bake for 15-18 min. Coll completely and frost with lemonade frosting.

Lemonade Frosting

• 6 Tbps. butter
• 3 c. powdered sugar
• 5 Tbsp. frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed

Cream butter. Add icing sugar and enough lemonade concentrate for desired frosting thickness.

Red Velvet and Un-red Velvet Cupcakes

I first made these Red Velvet Cupcakes for a viewing of the "Red Shoes." Delicious!

Ingredients:

2 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. cocoa
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. butter
2 c. sugar
4 eggs
1 c. sour cream
1/2 c. milk
1 oz. red food colouring
2 tsp. vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Cream butter and sugar together for 5 minutes, until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs until combined. Mix in sour cream, milk, food colouring and vanilla.
3. Mix remaining dry ingredients together. Add to the creamed mixture.
4. Line tins with cupcake liners. Fill cups 2/3 full.
5. Bake 20-25 min.
6. Frost with Cream Cheese Frosting

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1. 8 oz cream cheese
2. 1/4 c. butter
3. 2 Tbsp. sour cream
4. 2 tsp. vanilla
5. 16 oz. icing sugar

Beat cream cheese, butter, sour cream, vanilla until light and fluffy. Beat in icing sugar until creamy.

Un-Red Velvet Cupcakes

These came about when I meant to make these for a party but didn't have any red food colouring or and cream cheese. They still turned out delish with just regular buttercream frosting. Successful versions of Un-Red Velvet Cupcakes include:

• vanilla yoghurt instead of sour cream
• no red food colouring
• dark cocoa instead of regular cocoa
• a combination of all three.

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.

When the Levee Breaks Chocolate Cupcakes

This is my 2nd "entry" in Iron Cupcake: Music. My sister C. just graduated from beauty school and we're all really proud of her. She said that she loved Led Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks" and that it relaxes her. She was thinking chocolate-chocolate-chocolate - so I came up with this:

When the Levee Breaks Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour unsifted
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup butter room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate melted *
  
• chocolate pudding
  
• chocolate graham cracker crumbs
  

Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine flour, baking powder, soda and salt. Cream butter and sugar together until light in texture. Add eggs and vanilla to creamed mixture. Beat thoroughly. Add flour mixture to creamed mixture alternately with milk, beating well after each addition. Add melted chocolate and beat thoroughly. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Once the cupcakes are cooled, take a knife and cut a cone out of the centre of the cupcake. Fill the hole of the cupcake with the chocolate pudding. Cut off the top of the cone and place it on top of the pudding.** Then frost with chocolate buttercream icing and top with chocolate graham cracker crumbs.

*You can also substitute cocoa + oil for chocolate - 3 T. cocoa + 1 T oil = 1 oz. chocolate. I actually prefer using cocoa - it gives it a more intense chocolate flavour.
**There is a great tutorial on filling cupcakes at Baking Bites.

Iron Cupcake Music: 3 Little Hummingbirds Cupcakes

For this month's Iron Cupcake theme (music), I decided to honour my two sisters with their very own cupcakes based on their favourite songs. My sister B. just got accepted to nursing school and my sister C. just finished beauty school. I was a little lazy and didn't get these uploaded in time, but I do still want to post the recipes.

3 Little Hummingbirds Cupcakes

One of B's fave song is Bob Marley's "Three Little Birds."  She said "3 Little Birds is just a feel good, happy "every little thing, is gonna be alright", put you in a better mood, if things are going badly" sort of song. She thought it should be have pinapple, banana, coconut, and pecans. What better than a Hummingbird Cake cupcake?

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 3/4 cups vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple w/ liquid
  
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 2 cups mashed bananas (3-4 bananas)
  
• 1 c. coconut
  

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line cupcake tin with paper liners.
Combine flour, white sugar, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Add eggs, vanilla and oil and stir until moistened - don't over-mix. Mix in bananas, pineapple, pecans and coconut.
Spoon into liners until about 2/3 full.
Bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown.

Icing:

• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 4 cups icing sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• toasted coconut

To toast the coconut, spread a layer of coconut on a baking sheet and bake at 350 for about 10 minutes or until it gets nice and golden. Check it often and stir so it toasts evenly and doesn't burn.
Beat cream cheese until fluffy. Add butter and vanilla and beat until combined completely. Add icing sugar little by little until nice and fluffy. If you need to thin it, add a little milk.
Frost cupcakes and roll the tops in the toasted coconut.

Makes 24 + cupcakes.