Cinnamon Cupcakes

My wonderful husband got me a mechanical pastry bag for Christmas this year. I was so excited to use it and equally excited to try a new cupcake recipe. I love the pastry bag and am excited to use it again. As for the cupcakes, I was worried that the cinnamon overpowering the cupcake and frosting, but that wasn’t the case at all. The orange zest came through and complimented the cinnamon flavors perfectly. The orange flavor almost makes these cupcakes seem like muffins. If it wasn’t for the frosting I might just eat them for breakfast. 🙂

Cinnamon Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the cupcake:
1 Cup all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 Cup milk
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 large eggs
3/4 Cup plus 2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp grated orange zest
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

For the frosting:
1/2 Cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
2-3 Cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a 12-cup cupcake pan with liners. Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt together in a small bowl. Stir milk and butter in a small saucepan over low heat just until the butter melts; set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat eggs and sugar until thick enough for the batter to fall in a heavy ribbon when the beater is lifted, about 5 minutes. Beat in orange zest and vanilla. Add the flour mixture and beat until just blended. Divide batter evenly between cupcake liners. Bake until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 16-18 minutes. Allow to cool in pan for 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool completely.

To make the frosting, cream the butter and the cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the vanilla extract and cinnamon and mix until incorporated. Slowly add the powdered sugar, and keep adding until you reach the desired consistency and sweetness. Frost cooled cupcakes as desired.

Source: Annie’s Eats

 

 

Eggnog Cupcakes

This holiday I will not be able to bake much since we are going home to Chicago and I will not have the opportunity to bake for Christmas. So, I have been taking every opportunity to make holiday goodies. These are a very festive and yummy treat. I made these to bring to a pre-holiday get together and got great feedback from everyone. The only change I would make next time is to add a bit more powdered sugar. The frosting seemed of perfect consistancy when I made it, but it thinned out a bit during frosting.

Eggnog Cupcakes
Ingredients
1/4 Cup dark rum or bourbon
1 Cup low-fat eggnog
1/4 Cup vegetable oil
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 Cup sugar
1 1/3 Cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

For the frosting:
1/4 butter, softened
3 Tbsp eggnog
1 Tbsp rum
generous pinch of nutmeg
2 or more cups powdered sugar

For decorating:
ground cinnamon
cinnamon sticks

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with liners. In a small bowl, combine rum, eggnog, vegetable oil, vinegar, and vanilla. In a large bowl, combine the nutmeg, sugar, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Combine the liquip ingredients with the dry ingredients and whisk until just combined. Divide evenly between muffin cups.

Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. Cool completely.

To make the frosting, cream together the butter, eggnog, rum, nutmeg and powdered sugar. Add in more powdered sugar if needed to make the frosting stiff, but spreadable. Frost the cupcakes. Sprinkle with cinnamon and garnish with a cinnamon stick.

Source: Annie’s Eats

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

I Love red velvet cake. Joe requested I make some of these so he could take them to work for his birthday. I found some cute Cars cupcake liners (yes my husband is a big kid!!) They were gone by 10am! I also made some fall themed ones for my co-workers at my internship. Everyone loved them.

 

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
2 eggs
1 1/2 Cups sugar
1 1/2 Cups Vegetable oil
1 tsp white vinegar
2 1/2 Cups cake flour
1 tsp baking soda
3 Tbsp cocoa powder
1 Cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
5/8 oz bottle red food coloring

For the frosting:
8 oz cream cheese (no need to soften)
5 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
2 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 Cups powdered sugar, sifted

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 muffin pans with liners. Cream eggs, sugar, oil and vinegar. Sift the cake flour, baking soda, and cocoa together. Add the flour mixture to the sugar and eggs while beating. Slowly add the buttermilk. Continue beating and add the vanilla and food coloring. Fill the cupcake liners 2/3 of the way with batter. Bake for 18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack and cool compltely.

To make the frosting, cream the cream cheese, butter and vanilla on medium-high speed. Add the powdered sugar to the cheese mixture in batches. Beat on low until just combined, increase speed to high until desired consistency is reached. Frost as desired.

Source: Annie’s Eats

Apple Pie Cupcakes

As soon as I saw these ingenious little cupcakes I immediately starred them in my google reader. Unfortunately for me, I will not make sweets unless I have someone to take them so they are out of my house! Last week, my internship site was having a pot luck for one of the ladies who was moving to another hospital. I quickly volunteered to make a dessert (or two!). These cupcakes were such a hit and I was thrilled to try a new technique.

 

Roscoe wondering why I am discarding the center of a perfectly good cupcake J

Apple Pie Cupcakes

 

Ingredients

Cupcakes:

3 cups sifted cake flour (I used 3 Cups all-purpose minus 6 Tbsp)

1 Tbsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1 cup butter, at room temperature

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 ½ tsp vanilla extract

1 cup milk

 

Filling:

2 Tbsp. butter

2 tsp. cinnamon

3 Tbsp sugar

3 large apples, peeled, cored and diced

 

Frosting:

2 ½ sticks unsalted butter, softened
2 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1/8 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp heavy cream

 

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 and line 24 muffin tins with paper liners.

 

In a medium bowl, sift together cake flour, baking powder, and salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar together on medium speed about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the vanilla mixing well to combine. Add the dry ingredients and milk alternating dry, milk, dry, milk, dry. Stir until just combined.

 

Fill cupcake liners about ¾ full. Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted comes out clean, 18-22 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

To make the filling, heat butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the cinnamon and sugar and cook for a minute, until the mixture begins to bubble. Lower the heat to medium and add apples, mixing well. Cook approximately 10 minutes or until apples are tender. Cool completely.

 

Meanwhile, use the cone technique to remove a ‘cone’ from the center of each cupcake. Make sure to leave a rim around the top of each cupcake. Fill the holes with the cooled apple mixture.

 

For the frosting, use a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat butter at medium-high speed until smooth, about 20 seconds. Add confectioners’ sugar and salt beating at medium-low speed until sugar is moistened, about 45 seconds. Scrape down the bowl and beat at medium speed until mixture is fully combined, approximately 15 seconds. Add, vanilla and heavy cream and beat at medium speed until incorporated. Increase speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, approximately 4 minutes. Scrape the bowl down completely at about 2 minutes.

 

To decorate the cupcakes, top each cupcake with a dollop of buttercream.

 

Source: Adapted from Annie’s Eats