Mothers Day Cupcakes

A few months ago I got an email from Kristen from POM Wonderful saying she came across my blog and loved it and wanted to send me a case of POM wonderful juice to use in a recipe and blog about. I have been trying to figure out what exactly I wanted to make. First off cupcakes of course, but what combo would work best with pomegranate? And for what occasion besides just because. Mothers day cupcakes came to mind because when I was a little kid one of my favorite things to do with my mom was go grocery shopping ( I know weird huh?) but I always KNEW I would get treats if I went with her. She used to joke that the grocery bill would be way more when I went with  her. I wasn't the kid that screamed for cookies or donuts or candy at the store. I wanted pomegranates. There was just something so awesome about that big red fruit that I could peel away at and pull the little seeds out and nibble on all day. Little did I know back then how good they are for you full of fiber, vitamins, antioxidants etc. But then again does an 8 year old think about let alone know what an antioxidant is??

 If I was to ever call a container of juice cute, these would be it. They're adorable. ha ha

 I searched many pomegranate recipes online and I thought it was funny that almost all the ones I came across in other blogs they too had mentioned receiving a case of POM juice from POM Wonderful. I was torn between two recipes but since I have 8 cute little bottles ( well now 5 left) I can make several recipes. I first went with a white chocolate pomegranate cupcake and was going to do a pomegranate buttercream but the cupcakes failed miserably. I am not sure what happened exactly but the cupcakes FELL apart when taken out of the cupcake pans after cooling a few minutes. I had found the recipe here.The tops were a little crunchy and the middles were too moist and too light. They were more like a muffin than a dense cupcake and there was no way they were going to hold up under even the tinest bit of frosting.

Plus all the wrappers peeled off too. I threw them ALL OUT. I was so mad I almost didn't make a new batch. But I had worked really hard on these gorgeous fondant flowers for the decorations I had to make a new batch.  I think these ones had either too much melted chocolate in the recipe or something was just off. Not sure. I debated making a box mix and adding in the pomegranate juice but I cringe at the thought of a box mix and it really is against my own personal baking religion. ha ha

So I decided on my basic vanilla cupcake and subbed pomegranate juice for the milk

Even with the juice added in for some reason they looked green...

I made a glaze of pom juice and powdered sugar and spooned over the tops of the cupcakes while still warm so it would soak in. They smelled like pomegranate just didn't look pinkish.

I whipped up a small batch of white chocolate swiss meringue butter cream and frosted with wilton 1M swirls

Decorated with my fondant flowers. I love these cutters and I got the veiner/mold I had seen on one of my favorite blogs that has a tutorial for these flowers. CakeJournal is the site and she has lots of great tutorials and all kinds of beautiful cake and cupcake creations.

I added pink luster dust to the light pink ones, I added pixie disco dust to the pomegranate colored ones. I mixed some different colors of fondant and added in some other colors to try to match the color as best as I could. They came out a little darker but I think they were a nice contrast with the light pink

So happy Mothers Day to all the amazing moms out there that really should be recognized daily not just one day a year. And thanks to my mom for always letting me get a pomegranate at the store when I was a kid and for being a great mom to me!!

Pomegranate Cupcake Recipe

adapted from my own vanilla cupcake recipe
makes 12 regular sized cupcakes

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

pinch salt

1 stick unsalted butter at room temp

3/4 c granulated sugar

2 large eggs room temp

1/2 cup plus 2 teaspoons pomegranate juice ( I subbed this for the milk and vanilla in my basic vanilla cupcake recipe)

Directions

preheat oven to 350 deg f, line a cupcake pan with 12 cupcake liners. 

Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl and set aside. Cream butter and sugar together in and electric mixer til light and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl. Add in the eggs one at a time making sure each one is fully mixed in before adding the next.  Alternate the flour mixture with the pomegranate juice in 5 additions ( 3 dry, 2 juice) and mix until just incorporated don't over mix

Distribute batter evenly in liners in cupcake pan. Bake for 15-18 min. Test for done ness with a toothpick or by pressing lightly on the cupake and it bounces back. Cool in pan for 5 minutes, transfer to a wire cooling rack and cool completely. Frost when cool.

White Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Ingredients
3 large fresh egg whites at room temp
1/2 cup extra fine granulated white sugar ( bakers sugar)
pinch of salt
2 sticks of unsalted butter at room temp cut into tablespoon sized pieces
3 ounces of melted and cooled white chocolate ( not chips but a baking bar) ( melting can be done in microwave or by double boiler method)

Directions




1. In a heatproof bowl, add the egg whites, sugar and salt, set over a pan of simmering water. Mix by hand constantly with a whisk, until the sugar has dissolved completely and an instant thermometer register 160°F.
2. Remove the bowl from heat, and beat with an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment on high speed, until fluffy and glossy and the bottom of the bowl feel cool to the touch.
3.With the mixer on medium-high speed, add the butter two tablespoons at a time; mixing well after each addition. Once all the butter has been added stop the mixer and scrape down the sides and whip on high a few minutes. If it looks like its not coming together keep beating and it will.  Add the melted and cooled white chocolate, beat on high until smooth. If mixture looks curdled at any point during the beating process, continue beating until smooth; the curdling will disappear.
4. Transfer the buttercream to an airtight container and keep at room temperature if using the same day or refrigerate up to 3 days. Before using, bring to room temperature and beat with an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on low speed until smooth.

Girl Scout Cookie Cupcakes "Tagalongs"

I made the homemade Tagalongs the other day and because this is a blog that's supposed to be mainly about cupcakes I just HAD to make a cupcake version of it.  A friend had come across a Samoa cupcake over on one of my favorite cupcake blogs Cupcakes Take the cake and said that it had my name all over it since I was making homemade girl scout cookies. Well since I had made the Tagalongs first I decided to go with this in cupcake form first. I may or may not get to all the homemade Girl Scout cookies and cupcake versions here soon but I will eventually. I have a GIANT ever growing list of cupcakes I want to make from new flavors to try to perfecting ones I have been making forever to new decorating techniques. So don't you all worry I will get to these cupcakes eventually because even I am DYING for some thin mints and thin min cupcakes!!

We started buying our eggs from a local farm recently instead of at the grocery store. I just LOVE the color of the eggs we have been getting from creams to tans to browns, speckled and even GREEN! They don't come in uniform sizes like at the store since well they aren't sorted so finding ones that are considered to be larges isn't always easy. 

The yolks are a deeper yellow than store bought. This was my first time baking with them. I have eaten them for breakfast now a few times and the taste is way better, richer almost. So I wondered if one can tell a difference in a cupcake.

Since Tagalongs aka Peanut Butter Patties come in the RED box I figured I could finally use these red liners I bought a while ago and for some reason had yet to use them

All my ingredients lined up. I tried a new recipe for this cupcake. I recently bought 3 new cupcake cookbooks and this one came from "Cupcakes" by Shelly Kaldunski

The batter was a nice creamy yellow. I was looking for a buttery cupcake with just a hint of vanilla since the cookie in the Tagalong is a buttery cookie

Ready for the oven

They smelled really good fresh out of the oven

I like the dome they got when baking. I love my recipes from Warren Brown's Cakelove but they tend to be a little flatter topped and this was what I was looking for this time. I was stoked!

Not totally sure what happened to this one. I think maybe some sugar and butter clumps that didn't get mixed all the way in and blew out during baking. I've never had this happen before but hey that's what LOTS of frosting is for. Cover up the oops!

For the filling I used my peanut butter frosting that I use for my chocolate peanut butter cupcakes instead of the same peanut butter mixture that I used in the tagalongs. It's a bit creamier and easier to pipe into cupcakes. I made a big batch because I am going to be making some cupcakes in the near future with them per request. So stay tuned you will see this frosting again in a few days.

Filled using my Wilton Bismark tip ( with a couple this time so I wouldn't have any mishaps like I did with my Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes)

I added a little round of the peanut butter on top because well one can't have too much peanut butter frosting

I have 3 chocolate frosting recipes in my file but I wanted more of a chocolate fudge taste to match the Tagalong chocolate coating so I took two of my recipes and combined but then tweaked again and came up with this one. Cocoa whisked together with powdered sugar and meringue powder

It doesn't look very dark but once it was mixed into the butter and vanilla it turned dark brown

Really tasty. I am happy with how this came out

My favorite tip for piping on those pretty swirls. This is a MUST have for any baker/decorator. I have probably 5 of them in my decorating kit. I have a few others that are giant open star tips or my 1M's on steroids ha ha

Pretty 1M swirl

I was really happy with how my swirls came out and almost didn't want to shove a cookie in them to squish it but since these are Tagalong cupcakes I just HAD to decorate with one of the homemade Tagalongs that I made

A cookie on a cupcake. Does it get much better than that??

My husband INSISTED on taste testing one...

He said it was "Damn good"  I'll take it. 

Yellow Cupcakes Recipe

From Cupcakes by Shelly Kaldunski

Makes 12 regular sized cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup sugar

6 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temp

2 large eggs, at room temp

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup whole milk

Directions:

Position rack in middle of oven, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a standard 12 cup muffin pan with paper or foil liners

In a bowl whisk together flour, baking powder and salt, set aside.

In another bowl using an electric hand mixer or using a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar on medium-high until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and then add the vanilla and beat until just combined. Add the flour in three additions alternating with the milk. Don't wait for the flour mixture to be mixed in before adding the milk. You want the flour to be just barely combined. Scrape down the sides and then beat on medium -high speed just until no traces of flour remain about 30 seconds. Do not over beat.

Distribute evenly into the 12 cups, about 3/4 of the way full. Bake until lightly golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or the top springs back when gently pressed. About 17-20 min. Let the cupcakes cool in pan for 5 minutes then take out of pan and transfer to wire rack to cool completely before filling and frosting, About an hour.

Peanut Butter Filling/Frosting Recipe

Makes enough to frost 24 cupcakes and fill probably 100. ha ha

Ingredients:

1/2 cup ( 1 stick) unsalted butter softened

1 cup creamy peanut butter ( you can use crunchy for frosting but not for filling. Chunks of peanuts might get stuck in the piping tip) also use regular peanut butter like Skippy don't use natural peanut butter.

2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup or so whipping cream

Directions:

Cream together the butter and peanut butter until well mixed together. You can use a deep bowl with a hand electric mixer or a stand mixer. Add the powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time. So you don't have powder sugar flying all over the place. Add the vanilla and mix well. Then add the cream slowly a little bit at a time until you get the consistency that you want or think is good for piping. I think I use a little more than 1/4 cup

Chocolate Fudge ButterCream Frosting Recipe

Makes enough to frost 18 cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter room temp ( 2 sticks)

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 lb ( 4 cups) powdered sugar 

2 tsp meringue powder

1/2 cup Hershey's cocoa powder

4-5 tbsp whipping cream

4 ounces of semi sweet chocolate melted and cooled. Use Baker's chocolate squares or a baking bar NOT chocolate chips/morsels

Directions:

In a separate bowl whisk together the powdered sugar, cocoa powder and meringue powder, set aside.

Cream the butter til light and fluffy, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl once in a while. Add the vanilla and beat on med-high until mixed in.  Mix in  one third of the powdered sugar cocoa mixture on low until mixed in then add 1-2 tbsp of the cream and beat on high until well incorporated. Repeat until all of the powdered sugar cocoa mixture has been added but no more than 5 tbps of cream has been added. Mix on high stopping to scrape down the sides as necessary. Add in the melted and cooled chocolate and beat on medium until light and fluffy. This is a pretty thick frosting and holds up well when piped. You can add more whipping cream to thin out a little but not too much. If you want a ganache type glaze then well this isn't the recipe for you. I do have a ganache recipe but I'm not posting it here right now. 

Just in case you forgot what it looks like when all finished since this is such a long post!

Candy Corn Cupcakes

I LOVE October for two reasons:

Halloween
CANDY CORN
I LOVE candy corn. Couldn't tell you why. Its disgusting. Tastes like sugary wax. Says its made with "all natural honey" whatever. I like it and I eat a bag or so once a year. I am glad its not out any other time of year. I don't consider the other "holiday themed" candy corn to be the same confection. The real stuff is by Brachs and is yellow orange and white.

I baked a basic vanilla cupcake recipe that I have been trying to make for a while. I am still trying to find that perfect vanilla cupcake recipe from scratch. Still a work in progress. Not quite satisfied with the crumb and moistness of the cupcake. I will find my perfect recipe one day...

I made the basic fluffy vanilla frosting recipe and added in meringue powder. A tip from a friend that learned it in cake deco class. It adds stability to the frosting and we all like stability especially when piping frosting. I colored the frostings orange and yellow
Using my Wilton 1M tip I did a large swirl of yellow then the orange and a small dollop of white to match the candy corns. I of course added a candy corn to the top.
I was goofing around the night before I frosted these and used the last of my cream cheese frosting and frosted two of my lopsided cupcakes. Added a few candy corns as a decor. So yummy

Triple Apple Cupcakes

Triple Apple cupcakes

I got these silly cupcake pedestals and decided to take a few pics with a cupcake on them. I like them but they don't really serve much purpose. Maybe just for photo ops. And why not put a cupcake up on a pedestal?

First I made the apple cupcake. I used apple cider for the liquid, apple sauce instead of oil I peeled and shredded an apple and added in apple pie spice

They smelled amazing. I also made an apple fluff filling and I forgot to take a picture of them filled

I had leftover cream cheese from the cream cheese frosting I had made for the pumpkin spice cupcakes and I wasn't about to let it go to waste. Besides who doesn't love cream cheese frosting. I played around with my Wilton 1M tip and did different looks with the frosting. Not just the typical swirl

And of course my husband asked for a giant glob of frosting and so I did and served it to him on the pedestal.