Recipe of the Week - Easy Black Forest Cupcakes

Week 25

Start with a dark chocolate cake mix. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. For a nicer textured cake, sift the ingredients in the box into a large bowl. Mix all the wet ingredients- water, eggs, oil, in a separate bowl. Add 1 teaspoon almond extract to the wet ingredients. Combine the wet ingredients with the dry cake mix & blend until smooth.

Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full.  Bake 15-18 minutes.  Cool completely.

Frost the cupcakes with your favorite buttercream or canned Fluffy White frosting.  Put one tablespoon of cherry pie filling on top of the buttercream frosting & garnish with shaved chocolate.

Google Andoid Cupcake

This giant version of the Android mobile phone platform mascot sits outside a Google office building. "Cupcake" is the code name of the latest Android software release.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

cathy_somos via Flickr

New Year's Eve Cupcakes

Welcome the new year with cupcakes! 

Taste of Home

AshleyFlickr via Flickr

The Frosted Cake Shop via Flickr

Happiness in a Bite via Flickr

moonberry via Flickr

Cake Wrecks

Cake Wrecks is one of my favorite blogs and the blog is now a book!  What is a Cake Wreck you ask? 
To quote the author Jen Yates "a Cake Wreck is any cake that is unintentionally sad, silly, creepy, inappropriate - you name it. A Wreck is not necessarily a poorly-made cake; it's simply one I find funny, for any of a number of reasons. Anyone who has ever smeared frosting on a baked good has made a Wreck at one time or another, so I'm not here to vilify decorators: Cake Wrecks is just about finding the funny in unexpected, sugar-filled places. Now, don't you have a photo you want to send me? ;) "

Jen Yates did not forget about cupcakes.  When you visit the blog, enter the word "cupcakes" in the search box to find photos of cupcake wrecks...so get the book and start laughing! 

Reindeer?  Froggie Santas?

Poo-Dolph the rust-nosed reindeer?

Keep Calm and Have a Cupcake

With the Christmas holiday behind us and New Year's approaching, it is time to relax and have a cupcake!  I love this print from jennysbakeshop.  It is available on Etsy for $26.00 and comes in a variety of colors and sizes. 

Jenny Heid & Aaron Nieradka are a design team from New Jersey who focus on the "tributes with a twist" concept. Their description of this print states that this piece is based on an old World War II era poster that was issued by the British government. During wartime, it was important to try to keep the public informed, and as free from panic as possible. The original poster read  "Keep Calm and Carry On" and at the top there was a graphic of a crown to signify that this directive came from the King.  They replaced the crown with a cupcake! 

New Year's Cupcake Collar

The New Year is only a few days away and Chica and Jo have cupcake collars to make any New Year's celebration more festive.  Check them out at Cupcake Collars.  I just downloaded this double "2010" cupcake collar (if you laminate them they are easy to reuse).

So bake some cupcakes, sprinkle some confetti on the table, open a bottle of champagne and get ready to welcome the new year! 

Recipe of the Year - Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Week 24

This week we honor 2009 with the most-Googled cupcake recipe of the year....vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting!

Vanilla Cupcakes

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
Zest of 1 large lemon
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup milk


Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

2 cups confectioners sugar-sifted
1/2 cup unsalted butter-room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons milk or light cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and lemon zest.

In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and milk, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Evenly fill the muffin cups with the batter and bake for about 18-20.  Once the cupcakes have completely cooled, frost with vanilla buttercream.

500 Cupcakes

Santa left quite a few cupcake delights under my tree yesterday.  One of them was a cookbook called 500 Cupcakes.  This little book is packed with recipes and photos and I plan to try as many as possible! 

by Fergal Connolly (2006)

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from Carpe Cupcakes!