S'more Cupcakes

This month's Martha Stewart Cupcake Recipe, S'more Cupcakes was chosen by Mary Ann from Meet Me in the Kitchen.  I love S'more marshmallow goodiness!  But I was torn on whether or not to bake the recipe in the Martha Stewart book.  1. I didn't want to buy graham flour for a one time use and 2. in the beginning of January, Bakerella posted this yummy looking recipe for S'more or Less

Photo Credit: Bakerella

I mean look at this picture... can you see why I was torn?  In the end, I decided to go with Bakerella (sorry Martha!).  


One thing I loved about this recipe is that I already had all the ingredients in my pantry.  I gathered all the ingredients I needed to make for two, yes two, cake batters (yes, I mais en plas with my new Parker bowl set that I got at my bridal shower - love these bowls!).

This recipe is fairly clever in that you essentially start with a base batter and then add cocoa powder to one and graham cracker crumbs to another.  

  
The graham cracker crumb batter smelled so good!  I had a hard time not sampling the product :)

  
Next, I made a graham cracker crumble, so once again I laid out my ingredients.  Love the bowls! 

Now I was ready to start layering the different flavors!  First you put a spoonful of graham cracker crumb batter in the cupcake liner and you follow with a sprinkling of graham cracker crumbles

Then you cut large marshmallows in half and place a half into each cupcake liner

Next you pour chocolate cupcake batter into the liner and then add another sprinkling of graham cracker crumbles

These cupcakes smell really good baking in the oven!  My entire house smelled like chocolate cake and pie crust.  After the cupcakes came out of the oven, I let them cool a bit.  Then I stuck a marshmallow on top and put the cupcakes under the broiler.  Roasted marshmallows, my fav!

Look at all the layers!  When you eat this cupcake, you definitely have to eat all the layers in one bite or you just won't get the full effect of this recipe.  The texture is really interesting, moist but crumbly.  The cupcakes were so good that I had one for breakfast the next morning!

Working for Sizzix has it's perks!  We have this really cute cupcake wrapper die, so I had to cut some wrappers out.  And I am so glad I did, because the cupcakes look extra cute! 

A big thank you to Bakerella for an amazing recipe for the collection.  If you haven't already, visit Bakerella's website for more amazing treats and fun ideas! And an even bigger thank you to Kelly and Shannon for my new Sur La Table cupcake tin and Linda, Jana and Ashley for my Parker bowls :) 

Stayed tuned, this month is turning out to be a very busy month with a wedding cake and a sweet 16 birthday cake!


Until next time, happy baking!
~Danielle

MSCC | Coconut Cupcakes

When I was in elementary school, I think it might have been 3rd grade, my teacher made us crack open a coconut and drink fresh coconut milk. That experience turned me away from coconut for a good fifteen plus years. The only time I had coconut was when I had Thai food... you can't have good Thai food without coconut milk. But I never had coconut in it's pure form not even on desserts. Then one day, I think my sister, Jennifer convinced me to eat a bite of Chocolate Haupia Pie (a local favorite to those that live in Hawai'i). It was soo delicious and I learned to try other food items with coconut. I can honestly say that coconut desserts and coconut shrimp are high up on my list of favorite foods.


Needless to say, I was pretty excited when I learned that our recipe for the month would be the Coconut Cupcake recipe on page 28 of the Martha Stewart cupcake book. The recipe was fairly complex for just 20 cupcakes (we had to grind sweetened coconut flakes down to a flour like consistency)... but the result was fantastic! They were fantastic for one main reason, the different textures. The texture of the cake was different than most of my cakes, dense and some what grainy from the grounded coconut flakes. I used my Swiss Meringue Buttercream recipe and then I topped the cupcakes with both toasted and non-toasted unsweetened coconut shavings. They were especially good in mini cupcake form where you can get all the different textures in one bite.
Ty and I were a little disappointed with the cake itself. We thought it lacked coconut flavor and a lot of coconut goes into the batter. Grounded coconut flakes and coconut milk, but yet the taste was subtle. I may try making my vanilla buttermilk recipe and adding some coconut extract next time... less work and less ingredients.



The recipe in the book calls for unsweetened coconut shavings, but I like toasted coconut shavings. So, I decided to toast some. I tried both versions and I think the toasted one was much better. Ty and my coworkers agreed that the toasted version was better (again, more textures and a slight crunch!). I prefer sweetened coconut flakes, so I may try that next time as well. On a side note: I have been bad these past couple months... my goal was to post something every week and I barely manage to post twice a month. I promise to be better! In fact, you'll see a new posting within a couple days, a Wizard of Oz cake.

Until next time, happy baking!

~Danielle

MSCC | Gingerbread Cupcakes

Oh, I am sooo late posting this. It has been a long month at work so far and I have been feeling drained. By the time I get home, all I want to do is grab a glass of wine and sit in front of the tv... and that is exactly what I have been doing these past few weeks.

Anywho, I did manage to bake these cupcakes! I baked these last Sunday (I could have posted this on time... grrr) and took them to work on Monday. I followed the recipe for the cupcakes but decided to use my cream cheese frosting. I sprinkled some nutmeg over the frosting to add a little more flavor and some color. I had a sugar cookie order, so instead of making gingerbread cookies, I made gingerbread shaped sugar cookies. I also sprinkled these with nutmeg and some granulated sugar.



The recipe called for molasses, so I was already nervous about trying this. Molasses has a very earthy flavor that I just don't like in my sweets... Overall, I thought the cupcakes were extremely dry. My cupcakes developed a crust on the top, did anyone else experience this? In the end, this recipe left me very disappointed. I probably won't make this again, but I like the gingerbread cookie cutout idea!

And, at least the pictures came out cute, thanks again to my boss!If I had to make a cupcake or cake for the holidays, I would probably have to go with the sweet potato cupcakes we did last month. I just can't get enough of those!

Happy holidays everyone! Wishing you a safe and joyful season!

~Danielle

MSCC | Sweet Potato Cupcakes

I didn't think I was going to like these cupcakes at all... I didn't even want to try them. But I am glad I did, these cupcakes are amazing! You can barely taste the sweet potato, if anything I think it adds moisture and texture to the cupcake. These cupcakes are what fall is all about - fall spice, roasted marshmallows and candied pecans... um, yum!!! They are not too sweet and are therefore extremely dangerous because you could find yourself eating too many of these delicious morsels.

I followed the cupcake recipe exactly how it is written in Martha Stewart's book. When it came time to roast the marshmallows, the book recommends placing a few marshmallows on to a metal tray and then roasting them with a creme brulee torch. We tried this and it wasn't melting the marshmallows fast enough, instead we got blackened marshmallows. Next, I decided to place little mounds of marshmallows under the broiler. Although this worked... it was a little messy transferring the marshmallows onto the cupcakes. So, I tried another technique. I placed the marshmallows and candied pecans bits onto the cupcake and then placed the cupcakes under the broiler - much easier! And it didn't leave a mess, score!

I didn't use the candied pecan recipe from Martha Stewart. Back in October, I made pecan bars for my engagement party... my mom really wanted to try some, but living in Hawaii she wasn't able to attend our engagement party. We are going to visit my mom this week, so I decided to make her some pecan bars. I used the pecan part of my bars as the candied pecans on the cupcakes. I use orange and lemon zest in the bars, so it definitely gives a little extra flavor.

Now that I am working, I have two companies to share by goodies with... so I made a batch for Tyler to take to school with him and I made a batch of mini cupcakes for me to take to work. Look at how cute these are! They are the perfect bite!And I wanted to show off our new platter... wood grain to add to the rustic feel of these cupcakes. Thanks to Shira for the platter, we love it!

Unitl next time, happy baking!

~Danielle

Martha Stewart's Cupcake Club

Back in June, my best friend gave me the Martha Stewart Cupcake book.



175 recipes... how am I going to bake all these recipes. Answer: the Martha Stewart's Cupcake Club! A group of baking bloggers who have come together to bake one recipe at a time! I am so excited that I got membership... there is a waiting list right now...

Check in on the 15th of every month to see what our club is baking up!