Wednesday, December 16, 2009

EggNog Cupcakes with Rum Buttercream Frosting, 12/16


Although these cupcakes aren't embellished much, and there have certainly been cuter looking cupcakes, I do have to say, these ROCKED. For the last installment of Christmas-themed cupcakes, I chose eggnog cupcakes (from Crazy About Cupcakes) frosted with rum buttercream (from 125 Best Cupcake Recipes). I was worried about the eggnog cupcakes turning out too muffin-y and heavy (from the looks of the batter, that was the direction we were going). However, they were just as light and fluffy as cupcakes should be. The eggnog flavor was potent, but not too overwhelming or spicy (by spicy, I mean nutmeg-spice). So they are good. But the best part of this cupcake is the Rum Buttercream frosting. I did use rum extract since I took them to work, but I can't imagine real rum making any difference. I could literally just eat the frosting. Topping it on the eggnog cupcakes was really the (pardon the pun) icing on the cake.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Gingerbread Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Frosting; Chocolate Gingerbread Cupcakes with Fudge Frosting, with Gingerbread Men, 12/09

Second on the list of Christmas-themed cupcakes are the gingerbread cupcakes. I wanted to try two recipes to satisfy everyone's wants and likes, plus they made small batches. The regular gingerbread cupcakes are from Crazy About Cupcakes, and one of the ingredients I was excited about (yes, I got excited--I'm lame) was sour cream. All the cupcakes in which I have used sour cream have turned out SO MOIST. These were no exception. My only issue is that their consistency was more of a muffin (which subsequently made them exceedingly hard to frost). The frosting was from 125 Cupcake Recipes, a vanilla cream frosting with which I have fallen in love!! It's essentially vanilla frosting, but with whipping cream in the mixture and it makes the frosting very light and creamy and divine! The second batch of cupcakes were from the 125 Cupcake Recipes book, while the frosting was from Crazy About Cupcakes this time. Chocolate and gingerbread was an interesting combination and despite the fact that it seemed there was more chocolate than ginger, the ginger came through as the aftertaste, which satisfied me. I topped it with fudge frosting, so this cupcake is definitely one for the chocolate lovers. To finish it off, I quickly whipped up (yes I just said that) a batch of gingerbread men, a recipe from Crazy About Cupcakes, and the first time I have attempted this type of cookie (I'm usually a sugar cookie kind of girl). The mini gingerbread men were a fun way to decorate the tops of the cupcakes for the holiday season, and Kelli even named her little guy!! (Shhhh, we'll keep it a secret.)

Friday, December 4, 2009

Peppermint Cupcakes with Peppermint Frosting and CandyCane Sprinkles, 12/02


With three weeks left until Christmas vacation, I have gathered all the Christmas-themed cupcake recipes I can find and have them lined up for the next three Wednesdays. The first Christmas-themed Cupcake Wednesday was peppermint. Peppermint cupcake. Peppermint frosting. Peppermint sprinkles. It was like a giant cupcake breath mint. The recipe was out of Crazy About Cupcakes, and, true to the rest of my experiences with the cupcakes out of this cookbook, they were DELICIOUS. I liked how there was a TABLESPOON of peppermint extract in the recipe (and that is even when I halved the recipe) and a whole bunch of crushed candy canes. The cooking temperature and time seemed a little off, so I kept them in a little longer and upped the temperature about 25 degrees, but still the cupcakes stayed VERY moist (Marnie and I enjoyed that aspect the most--they were sticky:)). I think the candy cane pieces must have something to do with that when they melted. Tasty nevertheless. The peppermint frosting was creamy and I think an even better topping would have been peppermint cream cheese frosting (but I've been pretty reliant on cream cheese frosting lately and I wanted to branch out). These cupcakes reminded me of Candy Cane Lane--perfect for an introduction to the holidays!!