Peanut Butter Chocolate Cupcakes

So for my step-dads birthday earlier this year I made him peanut butter & chocolate  cupcakes after his favorite candy. It was chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting & chocolate frosting. The cupcakes were filled with a mini reeses and also topped with 1/2 of one.

Sorry for the photos. The coloring is totally off. And I forgot to cut one open and take a pic of the reeses inside.

A good recipe is: Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate, Chocolate Cake.

• 2 cups sugar
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.

2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.  10 to 12 servings.

VARIATIONS:
ONE-PAN CAKE: Grease and flour 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Heat oven to 350° F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely. Frost.

THREE LAYER CAKE: Grease and flour three 8-inch round baking pans. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost.

BUNDT CAKE: Grease and flour 12-cup Bundt pan. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 50 to 55 minutes. Cool 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely. Frost.

CUPCAKES: Line muffin cups (2-1/2 inches in diameter) with paper bake cups. Heat oven to 350°F. Fill cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely. Frost. About 30 cupcakes. 

 

 

*** to add the mini reeses cup to the cupcake once you fill the cupcake liner push a mini reeses into the center of the cupcake & bake ***

 

For the frosting I used a buttercream chocolate:

 

1/2 c shortening

1/2 c butter (softened)

3/4 cup cocoa

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

4 c powdered sugar

3-4 tablespoons of milk (add more for thinner consistency)

 

Cream together butter & shortening. Add cocoa & vanilla extract and mix thoroughly. Add sugar one cup at a time. If it starts getting too thick begin adding milk. Mix in milk until light and fluffly. If not using right away refrigerate in an airtight container. This icing can be refrigerated for 2 weeks. Just make sure to re-mix before using.

 

I also made a peanut butter frosting:

 

1/2 c. butter (1 stick, softened)

1 c. peanut butter

2 c. powdered sugar

3-4 tbsp of milk.

 

Cream together butter & peanut butter. Gradually mix in powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time until fully incorporated. When it starts to get thick add 1 tbsp of milk at a time until you get your desired consistency. Beat for 3 minutes to get it nice & fluffy.

 

I then put half the chocolate frosting & half peanut butter into an icing bag & frosted the cupcakes. I then chopped the chocolates in half & placed one on each cupcake.

 

They turned out great! My stepdad said it was the best cupcake he's ever had & already asked for them again on his next birthday :)

 

With Love,

Cheri

 

 

 

 

 

First Stacked Cake

About a year ago I made my sisters 16th Birthday Cake and she really wanted a zebra cake and I wasn't sure how to do it. It was my first time doing a stacked cake & a first time using fondant..

Here's how it turned out:

My sisters favorite colors are purple & red so I wanted to use those. The red layers are fondant. The black "zebra" stripes are fondant as well.. The purple is buttercream.

I used marshmallow fondant from here:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Marshmallow-Fondant/Detail.aspx

This stuff gets very difficult to stir once you get all the marshmallow in. At least you'll get a great arm exercise.

Jarret helped me so much with this cake and without him I'm sure it would've been a nightmare. 

With Love,

Cheri

Mint Chocolate Cupcakes

Awhile back I made these Mint Chocolate Cupcakes which were amazing. They are one of my all time favorites. Great for those people who love mint chocolate chip ice cream.

I used a basic chocolate cake recipe and added mini chocolate chips to it.

Stolen from: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Extreme-Chocolate-Cake/Detail.aspx
The recipe above includes a frosting recipe which I didn't use. I just used my buttercream recipe and added peppermint extract & mint green food coloring to it.

Buttercream:
1/2 c shortening
1/2 c. butter
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
4 c. powdered sugar
3-4 tbsp milk
a few drops of mint extract
few drops mint green food coloring

Cream together butter & shortening. Add vanilla & mix. Then add powder sugar 1 cup at a time when it starts getting too thick add in a tablespoon of milk and mix. If still too thick add more milk until you reach your desired consistency. If it gets too thin because you added to much milk just add more powdered sugar. Then add a couple drops of mint extract.. start out small and taste. If it's not minty enough add more. You don't want it to be overpowered by the mint taste. Then add the food coloring & mix until you get your desired color.

Frost the cupcakes :)

I then added mini chocolate chips to the top or you could add an mint chocolate candy to the top for decoration.

Then.. ENJOY!

With Love,
Cheri

Rainbow Cupcakes

I just made these yesterday for my little sisters 17th birthday. She loves rainbows and is just a happy and fun person so I wanted to capture that.

This inside of these are also rainbow. I just didn't cut them open because there for her party this weekend. I'll get a photo once they are being eaten :)

So to make these I used a basic white cake recipe:

1 c. white sugar - granulated.

1/2 c. butter (1 stick)

2 eggs

2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 c. milk

Make sure to pre-heat your oven to 350 deg.

In a mixing bowl cream together the butter & sugar. Beat in the eggs one at a time & then add the vanilla. In another bowl combine flour & baking powder and then add to the creamed mixture & mix until all is combined. Then add milk until the batter is smooth (no lumps!)

Also if using a cake pan make sure it's greased and floured so your cake won't stick!

I then divided the cake batter evenly into 6 bowls. I used paper bowls to avoid dishes since I hate doing dishes. I then added food coloring to each bowl: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple. I used the wilton icing gel but you can use whatever you prefer.

I lined my cupcake pan with red foil liners and then begun layering the cake batter. I spooned into each cupcake liner a bit of purple frosting then smoothed it out and continued with blue, green, orange, yellow and topped it off with red. My awesome boyfriend helped me out by doing a whole cupcake pan by himself. And in truth his came out a little better then mine! Anyways...Bake for 20 min. This all depends on your oven though.. I'd set a time for 18 min and check on them & if they are not done continue cooking. Shouldn't take more then 25 min at the most.

I then made some basic buttercream:

1/2 c. shortening

1/2 c. butter

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (you can use 1 tsp vanilla extract but I like the vanilla taste so I use a little bit more)

4 c. sifted powder sugar

3-4 tbsp milk (the amount of milk you use depends on what consistency of icing you are trying to achieve for a thinner icing use more milk for a thicker use less)

1st- cream together shortening & butter then add vanilla & mix well. Begin adding sugar 1/2 cup to 1 cup at a time. Make sure to scrape down the sides & bottom of the bowl so everything is getting mixed in. Keep adding sugar until all 4 cups are incorporated. I then add milk. I usually use about 3 tablespoons. You can also add the milk in after each addition of sugar if you prefer.

I then divided the frosting evenly between 6 bowls, dyed it Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple & threw it all into a piping bag and frosted the cupcakes.

These cupcakes were super messy but a lot of fun and I think they look amazing but that is just my biased opinion ;)

With love,

Cheri

About me.

Hi!

I wanted to take a minute and introduce myself and kind of explain what I plan to do with this blog. My name is Cheri and I love baking.. cupcakes especially. I'm 23 and own my own business selling office furniture and in the meantime as a hobby I bake. Mostly for family events or friends or just for fun. I usually drag my boyfriend into helping me bake and he's actually pretty good at it. His name is Jarret. This blog is for fun & to share my baking experiences with you. I've never taken any type of cooking class or cake decorating class and I am in no way a professional! I just love cupcakes! So I'll post pics & recipes of our current baking adventures and hopefully inspire some of you.

With Love,
Cheri