Mini Pumpkin Cupcakes

I had this recipe filed away and when I was cleaning out my recipe file the other day, it just happened to slip out and fall neatly on the floor.  The universe was on my side because I was in the process of researching what I was going to make for the bake sale at this years Halloween Hoot.

The "Hoot" as we call it in the "hood", is one of our most favorite days and one of our best fundraisers.  The school yard is transformed into a magical Halloween wonderland.  The haunted house is a scary place, however I appreciate all the dad's that spend their Saturday setting it up. The local restaurants set up their food tents, and each and every one of them donate their "fare", the games area is where Levi spends the majority of his day and the rides, especially the grand prix race track, is where I am guaranteed to find Isaac.  The kids art is scattered through out the yard and it is always exciting to see our teachers wondering around, with their own off spring in tow.

The bake sale is a huge draw and I am always up for donating my goodies.  This year was no different.  Along with 7 dozen garbage disposal cookies, I also made 5 dozen of these mini cupcakes.  These are delicious and decorating them with my kids was a fun, creative project!

Mini Halloween Pumpkin Cupcakes
adapted from here
yield: 30

ingredients:
1 cup self rising flour (to make self rising flour, go here)
2/3 cup succanat or brown sugar
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 large egg
1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup sour cream
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 8 oz. package cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup ( 1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
food coloring, candy, sprinkles, sanding sugar

instructions:
for the cupcakes:
• preheat oven to 350*.  line mini muffin tins with 30 liners(I doubled my recipe).
• mix flour, brown sugar, and pumpkin spice in a large bowl
• whisk egg, canned pumpkin puree, vegetable oil, sour cream and vanilla in another bowl.
• mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir to combine
• fill liners 2/3 full with batter.
• bake cupcakes about 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cupcakes comes out clean.  remove from the pan and let cool on wire racks.
for the frosting:
• using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and the butter until combined.  add the sugar and a touch of vanilla, mix until all is smooth and combined.
• divide the frosting between 3 bowls.  tint each bowl, separately, with the food coloring (black and orange).
• chill frosting for at least 2 hours before piping or spreading on cupcakes.
• have fun with the decorations!

Dulce de Leche Buttercream + a cupcake

The past two weeks have been  very, very busy.  Between Miguel's birthday, beginning of school, the Jewish New Year and catering a party for a bunch of "ladies", I am happy to finally be on the other side!

At the last minute, the hostess of the party(that I was catering) called to say they needed some sort of "cupcake" so they could honor the birthday girl.  My original plan for desserts were the bite sized ricotta cheesecakes (here), apple galettes (here), and lemon tartlettes (recipes to follow).  Four desserts was a little over the top.  I opted to swap out the galettes and replace them with these little chocolate cupcakes.  Everyone was glad I did!

I made a batch of my favorite devil's food chocolate cupcake recipe (here).  Topped them with the most delicious dulce de leche frosting and finished them off with crushed, chocolate covered cocoa nibs.  This was one fantastic creation!

Dulce de Leche Buttercream w/devils food cupcakes
yield:  36 cupcakes 2 oz. cupcakes


ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 Tbls. heavy cream
1 tsp. vanilla
4-5 cups powdered sugar, sifted
pinch of salt
3/4 cups prepared Dulce de leche
1/2 cup crushed chocolate covered cocoa nibs

instructions:
• in the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter.
• gradually add the sifted powdered sugar
• add the cream and the vanilla and beat on medium speed until smooth.
• add the Dulce de leche and combine on low speed
• depending upon how you like your frosting, you may want to add more sugar
• scoop frosting into a piping bag fitted with desired tip
• top with crushed cocoa nibs

note: I used 2 oz. souffle cups, filled them 2/3's full and baked them at 350* for 18-22 minutes

Bake Sale for Charity

The kids have been begging me to have a lemonade stand.  After all, it is summer!  What better time to set up our out door retail store than summer? And what better day than on the morning of the 4th of July?

(eli's favorite toy; the kitchen torch)

The kids made posters, I sent emails and we launched our campaign to bake for charity.  I have become somewhat attached to Share our Strength, a charity that wants to make sure that no child in America goes hungry.  I try to remind my kids, daily, how fortunate we all are.  It is nice to come together as a family and as a community to help those not as privileged as we are.

Doing something for others always brings the best out in people.  We sold out in 40 minutes, made $240.00 and even those of you who came by and left empty handed, threw some money our way for this terrific cause.  Just think about it...what if 5 of us did a little something like this each week? We COULD make a difference!

I came up with the bake sale menu and started baking and creating days in advance.  We had s'mores cupcakes = graham cracker, devils food cupcakes with marshmallow cream frosting, butter sandwich cookies (here), sugar cookie bars, peanut butter, double chocolate wedges, homemade marshmallows, and s'mores bars (here).  I also made lemonade and a very delicious pomegranate virgin cocktail.  I will post the various recipes throughout the week.  There was tons of stuff, apparently not enough.  I am going to have to step it up next time!

S'mores Cupcakes
adapted from many, many places
yield: 3 dozen

ingredients:
Graham Cracker Crust
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 11 pieces)
6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar
6 oz really good bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine

Devils Food Cupcakes
adapted from Recipes from Home
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups organic white-wheat flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. slat
1 cup hot brewed coffee
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs, lightly beaten

Marshmallow Frosting
adapted from Martha Stewart
8 large egg whites
2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp. cream of tarter
2 tsp. vanilla extract

instructions:
for the crust:
• preheat oven to 350*
• line 36 muffin tins with paper liners
• melt butter. put graham crackers in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until it becomes fine crumbs.  add sugar and pulse a few times.  add melted butter and mix thoroughly.
• place 1 heaping tablespoon of graham cracker mixture in the bottom of each muffin liner.  I use a 1/4 inch measuring cup to flatten the crumbs.  press down lightly to create a flat, smooth surface.  sprinkle with a pinch or two of chopped chocolate.
• bake for 7 minutes in preheated oven.  cool on wire racks.

for the cupcakes:
• melt the unsweetened chocolate in a bowl set over a pan with simmering water.  once melted and smooth, set aside.
• sift sugar, flour, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.  In another bowl, whisk the hot coffee, sour cream, and vegetable oil.  let cool slightly.  slowly whisk in the eggs, then stir in the chocolate.  add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.  mix until blended.
• fill the cupcake liners 2/3 full.  bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean. rotate pans, top to bottom and back to front half way through baking.  let cool on wire racks.

for the frosting:
• place egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar in the bowl of your kitchen aid mixer.  set this over a saucepan with simmering water.  don't let the water touch the bottom of the bowl as you may cook the eggs.  whisk constantly until the sugar dissolves and the whites are warm to the touch.  this could take up to 8 minutes.
• place bowl on the electric mixer with the whisk attachment.  start to beat on low speed, gradually increasing to the high setting. once on high, beat for about 12 minutes.  you want stiff, glossy peaks.  add vanilla and beat until well combined.
• place frosting in a piping bag with a large, fluted tip.  use immediately.

sugar cookie bars, peanut butter-double chocolate wedges

s'mores bar, patriotic butter cookie sandwiches

my girlfriend, kate - the aficionado of all things food, said that 

these were the best cupcakes she had ever eaten!

Cake Pops

I swore I would never make these.  Although I think they are super cute, especially if you see the way Bakerella does it.  I went back on my promise to myself and did in fact make them.  I have shared with you my week last week...end of year stuff, party after party, baked until I could bake no more.  I thought I was done and then I realized I needed something for a bunch of 4 year olds; Levi's party, the "Ducky" class.  They had requested cupcakes.  At this point I was really, really tired, totally burnt out and in my mind, done.  At some odd moment in time I got a burst of energy and decided to do something a little different...thus - Cake Pops.

Before I started I did a little research.  I read several posts on Bakerella, searched Tastespotting to see how other blogger/bakers (found a good how to on These Peas are Hallow ) had done it and lastly, checked out Angie Dudley's how to video on Martha Stewart.  Watching the video helped.  Regardless, I over mixed my batter resulting in a very wet batter.  These were for 4 year olds, after all.  They were not going to notice.  After shaping the dough into balls, I stuck them in the freezer, overnight.  All worked out in the end.  Everyone loved them and kept telling me "how delicious" they were!  I thought they tasted like cake batter on a stick.  But then again, I am not FOUR!

I am not going to post the directions only because, her website tells you exactly how to do it.  I changed one thing, which in hindsight I wouldn't do again; I made my own butter cream frosting to mix in.  Follow hers directly.  The idea of using a box mix made me a little uneasy.  I had to keep reminding myself who I was baking these for!

Get all info here:

P.S. I made a batch for Eli's 6th grade picnic.  They all went crazy over them as well and also said they were "delicious".  Heck, what do I know??

Birthday Cupcakes

This year, for our school's auction, I donated a years worth of baked goods, to be delivered to ones home, the first week of each month.  I am happy to say there was a little bit of a bidding war.  I am not a professional baker (just a little crazy and obsessed), so the fact that people were fighting over my sweet creations, was a little surprising.

A very, very good friend of mine ( I will refer to them as the G's) got the winning bid.  I  know the money collected goes directly to the school ( a really good cause, especially since LA unified is in the toilet), but heck, she could have gotten the sweet treats without the winning bid.

Today was her son's birthday party, whom also happens to be one of Isaac's best friends.  I called her mid week, last week and suggested I make one of his favorite desserts for the party.  After all, my monthly baking obligation starts the first week of April.  We will just call this a little bonus for being my friend, and for my love for her son.

He wanted cupcakes.  Easy-peasy!  He wanted white cupcakes with white frosting.  No chocolate.  He requested a blue and orange theme.  I made my favorite vanilla cupcakes (see post ) with a super simple buttercream frosting (he also requested no cream cheese!).

Happy Birthday, Mister.... hope you had a fun day!

Buttercream frosting:


4 oz unsalted butter, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
3-4 Tbls. milk


Mix first four ingredients in mixer.  Add milk to desired consistency (I added too much milk- I kind of blew it).