Perfectly Pipable Cream Cheese Frosting

So no longer can we call Mini Smalls a baby ... she is officially a toddler now! (And in an attempt to live up to her new title, she just started toddling around this week... yowza.)

Any occasion this momentous should be marked by something delicious.  Like a red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting.

But I must confess that I am a bad mommy and food blogger - on her actual birthday, I bought her a cupcake from a local bakery!  I know, I know... don't judge.  Her birthday was on a Friday and I worked late the night before, so my intention of making her a chocolate zucchini cake was just never realized.

Not that she seemed to mind.

(BTW, do not give a toddler any food dyed bright red, unless you're prepared to throw out their clothes afterward.  Just sayin'.)

But wait, it gets worse.  For her birthday "party" this past weekend, I cheated and make red velvet cupcakes from a box.

Ack!

However... I was not going to put that fake-tasting canned frosting on top, to boot.  So I did at least go to the trouble of making this cream cheese icing, which was perfect for piping.

I must admit, I was not able to eat any of these bad boys until days later - I caught some sort of evil bug that had me down and out not only for the party, but also the whole next day.  Mr. Vittles, my mother-in-law, and my brother-in-law's girlfriend all fell victim to it as well.

So, we may never be able to entice anyone back to our house for a party... but at least they got to enjoy some yummy cupcakes before their involuntary "cleanse."

And more importantly, somehow Mini avoided the Sickness of Death.  Might have been the best birthday gift of all... though it was tough to top some of the awesome presents she received, including a rockin' Elmo, a ball-spitting elephant, and a new wagon (in which she insisted on opening the remainder of her presents).

All in all it was a fabulous celebration.  Thank you to our friends and family for their generosity.  Happy Birthday, Mini Smalls!

Perfectly Pipable Cream Cheese Frosting

• 2 8-oz packages cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
• 2 3/4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• pinch salt

In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer until creamy.  Mix in vanilla and salt, then gradually add the powdered sugar until frosting ingredients are completely combined. (Check the consistency at this point - if the icing seems too soft, add a little more powdered sugar.  If it seems too thick, mix in a teaspoon or so of milk.) Use immediately, and refrigerate cupcakes after frosting.  Frosts about 18 cupcakes (if you pipe it tall, like in my photos.)

Note: Click here for a great tip using plastic wrap for no-mess piping, at Our Best Bites blog.

Recipe slightly adapted from Recipe Girl

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream

I've always had a funny little relationship with Valentine's Day.

As a kid, I guess it was kinda fun to pick out your mini valentine cards for all your classmates and eat candy, but as soon as 'love' started getting involved I became mostly uninterested.

Once, in the 6th grade, I was surprised to find a full-sized Hallmark card mixed in my stack of tiny envelopes.  It was from a classmate of mine who apparently had a crush on me.

His name was Nick.  And if I remember correctly, the card asked if I would be his girlfriend.

Such a sweet thing to do, right?

Well I wrote on it "Never in a million years" and promptly returned it to him.

True story.

I was a mean, horrible, rude little person at the age of 12.  Definitely not my proudest moment.

(By the way, years later I sincerely apologized to Nick for being so awful to him in that situation, and we actually became friends).

But even though I can appreciate a gesture like that now, the truth is I'm still not much of a romantic.

I would choose to watch 300 over Sweet Home Alabama any day.

And while I do indulge in The Bachelor, I view it more as a train wreck you can't look away from then a fairy-tale love story.

Mr. Vittles would wholeheartedly agree.  On one of the few occasions he tolerated Bachelor-viewing in his presence, he said to me "I don't understand why they always have to have rose petals & candles everywhere in this show - somebody's gotta go and light all those candles, and vacuum all those things up afterwards."

So luckily for him, I've really never been a fan of Valentines Day.

Not because I don't like love.  I do!  There's no better feeling in the world than truly being in love, no matter what stage of the relationship you're in.

But I don't need jewelry or overpriced dinners in the company of every other couple in America to celebrate my love.

Plus V-Day comes right on the heels of my birthday, so it seems wrong having my husband shower me with gifts twice in a matter of weeks.

Though I guess most ladies would welcome this.  Some would even demand it.

But that's just not my style.

I can get down with a simple card, and maybe a little chocolate - best way to a Maggie's heart is through her stomach.

(Another true story).

Actually, some chocolate-covered strawberries would be excellent.

Almost as good is... a chocolate strawberry cupcake.

But since I'm fairly certain that Mr. Vittles will be making me neither of these treats, I guess it's up to me to do the baking!

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes

• 1 stick (8 T.) butter, cut in 4 pieces
• 2 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 1/2 C. Dutch-processed cocoa
• 3/4 C. all-purpose flour
• 1/2 t. baking soda
• 3/4 t. baking powder
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 C. sugar
• 1 1/2 t. pure vanilla extract
• 1/8 t. salt
• 1/2 C. sour cream (4 oz.)

Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven 350 degrees.  Line a standard-sized muffin pan with baking-cup liners and set aside.

Combine butter, chocolate pieces, and cocoa in medium heat-proof bowl.  Set bowl over saucepan containing barely simmering water, and heat mixture until butter and chocolate are melted.  Whisk until smooth & combined.  Set bowl aside to cool mixture until just warm to the touch.

Whisk flour, baking soda, and baking powder in a small bowl to combine.  Set aside.

In second medium bowl, whisk eggs to combine, then add sugar, vanilla and salt.  Whisk until fully incorporated.  Add chocolate mixture and whisk until combined.  Add about 1/3 of flour mixture over chocolate mixture and whisk until combined.  Add sour cream and whisk to incorporate.  Then add remaining flour mixture and whisk to combine, using a spatula as necessary to fold in any un-incorporated parts at the bottom of the bowl.

Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.  Bake until toothpick inserted in center of cupcakes comes out clean, about 18-20 minutes.

Cool cupcakes in pan set on wire rack until cool enough to handle (about 15 minutes).  Carefully lift each cupcake from pan, and set on wire rack to room temperature (about 30 minutes) before frosting with strawberry buttercream (recipe below).

Strawberry Buttercream

• 3 large strawberries, hulled, washed & dried, and at room-temperature
• 1 stick (8 T.) butter, room temperature
• 1/4 t. vanilla extract
• pinch salt
• 3 - 4 C. powdered sugar
• 1 T. heavy cream
• 1 t. strawberry jam (optional)

In the bowl of a food processor, pulse berries until chopped.  Add butter, vanilla, salt, and 2 C. of powdered sugar.  Pulse until well-combined.

Add cream and small amounts of powdered sugar, pulsing after each, until strawberries are pureed and mixture reaches desired consistency.  The frosting should be smooth & soft, yet hold its shape.  Pipe or spread onto cooled cupcakes.

Store leftover cupcakes in refrigerator, and bring to room-temperature before serving again.  Makes 12 cupcakes.*

*If you want to double the amount of cupcakes, make 2 separate batches of batter and bake separately.  According to Cook's Illustrated, doubling the recipe and baking the trays together does not yield as good of a cupcake.

Cupcake Recipe Slightly Adapted from Cook's Illustrated; Buttercream Recipe Slightly Adapted from Sophistimom blog

Fauxstess Cupcakes

So I know it's a little late for me to be boarding the Fauxstess Cupcake train, but this is honestly the first time I've tried such a recipe.

Mr. Vittles and I went to our friends' Super Bowl party this weekend, and I was on cupcake duty. 

But I didn't want to make just any cupcakes- I wanted to make something special!  And what could be more special than a homemade version of Hostess cupcakes?

I will not lie to you though - these are a lot of work. 

And the cream filling (aka seven-minute frosting) is... terrifying.  It turned out absolutely fine, but those seven minutes were riddled with quite a bit of self-doubt (rivaled only by arm-muscle fatigue.)

However, it was all worth it in the end. 

I thought these were awesome, and everyone at the party seemed to enjoy them as well.  So if you have the free time to make these, I would definitely recommend it!

Fauxstess Cupcakes

Cake Recipe:

• 1/2 C. plus 2 T. cake flour
• 1/3 C. Dutch-process cocoa
• 1/2 t.baking powder
• 1/4 t. baking soda
• 1/8 t. salt
• 2 large eggs, separated and at room temperature
• 1/3 C. canola oil
• 1/2 C. plus 2 T. sugar
• 2 T. water

Preheat the oven to 350.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together egg yolks, canola oil, 1/2 cup sugar and water until well combined. Add the dry ingredients and stir by hand just until combined.

In a clean medium bowl, beat egg whites at high speed until soft peaks form. Gradually add remaining 2 tablespoons sugar and beat until stiff and glossy. Beat one quarter of the whites into the batter to lighten the mixture. Add remaining whites and gently fold the mixture together until no streaks remain.

Evenly divide the batter between the wells of a 12-cup muffin tin coated with nonstick spray (they will be about one-half full). Bake until the cupcakes spring back when lightly touched in the center, about 13 to 16 minutes. Remove and let the cupcakes cool slightly before turning them out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Once cupcakes are almost cooled, make cream filling.

Cream Filling (Seven Minute Frosting):

• 2 large egg whites
• 1/2 C. sugar
• 1/4 C. light corn syrup
• 2 T.s water
• 1 1/2 t. pure vanilla extract

Combine filling ingredients with a pinch of salt in a metal bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water and beat with a handheld electric mixer at high speed until frosting is thick and fluffy, 6 to 7 minutes. Remove bowl from heat and continue to beat until slightly cooled. Reserve 1/2 cup of the filling to use for piping the swirls on top of the cupcakes at the end.

Once cupcakes are completely cooled, use a sharp knife to slice circles (that end up being cone-shaped pieces) out of the center of each cupcake.  Keep in mind that the closer your sliced circle is to the outside circumference of the cupcake, the bigger the well in the center of the cupcake will be (and the more filling will go on it!).  So slice according to your preference.

Once the cone is cut out of the cupcake, set it aside and fill the well with the cream filling, almost to the top.  (I find that using a pastry bag and large tip was the neatest way to do this, but yo can use a spoon if you prefer). 

Slice off the pointy bottom part of the cake cone so that just the top layer of it remains, then place it on top of the filling.  Press down to adhere.  (How you go through the above steps is up to you - you can either do all the steps on each cupcake one at at a time, or do each step to all the cupcakes, then the next step to all, etc.)

Once all cupcakes are filled, make the ganache.

Chocolate Ganache:

• 1/4 cup cream
• 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened

In a small saucepan, heat cream until steaming. Remove from the heat, add chocolate and let stand for 5 minutes. Add the butter and stir until smooth. Transfer the frosting to a small bowl and dip the top of each cupcake to thoroughly coat.

Spoon the reserved filling into a pastry bag fitted with a very small plain tip and pipe swirls across the center of each cupcake. Refrigerate the cupcakes for 10 minutes to set the frosting.

Recipe from Beantown Baker, (via Heather Drive, Smiten Kitchen, and Culinary in the Desert)

Doctoring a Cake Mix and Cupcake Frostings

Sometimes... you have no choice but to take a baking shortcut.

In my opinion, single-handedly making five types of desserts for 45 people, over a span of 2 days, calls for a shortcut or two.

For my brunch in honor of Momma Vittles, I decided that I wanted to make mini vanilla cupcakes - but I didn't want to take the time to make the batter from scratch so I doctored up a cake mix.

Multiple people at the brunch asked me for the recipe because they were so "moist" and "wonderful".  I wasn't embarrassed to admit it was a mix that I just fixed up a bit, and they asked me to put the shortcut here on V&B.  (Which, by the way, made me so happy that people are reading it!)

So, here is my tip: Substitute 1 cup of buttermilk for the water in the recipe.  If you're using a white cake to make vanilla cupcakes, add a teaspoon of pure vanilla extract to boost the real vanilla flavor.  Follow the rest of the recipe as it is on the box.

But since this isn't technically a recipe and I don't want to cheat you all, I will also share a couple of recipes for a vanilla frosting and a chocolate sour cream frosting that you can use to pipe onto your cupcakes.  I just think that for cupcakes, it looks so much cuter when you can pipe the icing on rather than spread it on!

So these two frostings are both conducive to holding the shape of a decorator's tip.  The vanilla one is so light and fluffy, it almost tastes like whipped cream.  And the chocolate one is rich with just a hint of tang from the sour cream and cream cheese.

 

Vanilla Frosting

• 3 T flour
• 1/2 C. milk (whole milk is best, but you can use lower fat versions as well)
• 1/2 C. real butter (one stick)
• 1/2 C. granulated sugar  
• 1 t. vanilla extract

Whisk together the flour and the milk in a small saucepan on medium heat.  Continue whisking until mixture starts to thicken and it looks like smooth, shiny pudding (you should be able to see the bottom of the pan when you stir it).  Once it hits this point, promptly remove it from the stove and immediately empty it into a mesh strainer set over a bowl.  The mixture will be thick, but you can whisk within the strainer and also use the back of a spatula to push it through (you just don't want any residual flour lumps to go into the mixer.)

Let mixture cool to room temperature (you can chill in fridge to speed this up).  Just make sure it's cooled completely, otherwise it will melt the butter and you'll have runny frosting!

In an electric stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the butter and sugar for a minute or two until well-combined and fluffy.  Then while beating, add in thickened milk mixture and the vanilla.  Beat on the highest speed you can for 7-8 minutes.  It will start out looking like a mess but I promise after being mixed that long it will turn out smooth and fluffy.

Spread or pipe onto cupcakes using pastry bag fitted with decorating tip.  I was able to pipe a dollop onto about 60 mini cupcakes with some leftover (as shown in the above pictures) but depending on how much you use, you could frost anywhere from 12-24 regular sized cupcakes.

Recipe from Our Best Bites blog

~

Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting

• 7 oz bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 4 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
• 4 T. butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
• 3 T. unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup sour cream

Melt the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl, heating at 15 second intervals and stirring after each heating.  Set aside to cool until just barely warm.  In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.  Gradually mix in the confectioners’ sugar, cocoa powder, and salt.  Beat in the melted and cooled chocolate and then the sour cream.  Continue beating until the mixture is smooth and well blended.  Frost cupcakes immediately.

Recipe Adapted from Annie's Eats blog

Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosted Cupcakes

 

Ok, so tomorrow is my friend & co-worker Steve's birthday.  As I do for all my 'teammates', I am making a little something to bring to the office and celebrate.  I know for sure that Steve likes Reese's peanut butter cups (I mean, let's be honest - who doesn't?) so I did a quick search for some inspiring chocolate & peanut butter recipes.

This search lead me to the Hershey's website, where I found these glorious looking Chocolate-Peanut Butter Layered Cupcakes.  Behold:

Copyright @ The Hershey Company

Beautiful, right?  This looked like a winner.

But, ummm... mine don't look anything like that when they came out of the oven.

Hmm... so let me explain a couple things.  There is something in the Hershey recipe that seems darn near impossible to me - "spreading" the peanut butter layer on top of the batter.  How does one spread a thick frosting on top of a thin batter?  Skeptic that I am, I wasn't about to find out.  So I just sort of plopped the peanut butter layers on, and in my opinion they came out fine.  Whether you attempt to spread or not is completely up to you :)

I also thought that these cupcakes would benefit from a little upgrade - a meager sprinkling of chocolate & peanut butter chips just was not doing it for me.  So I felt that some frosting was definitely in order to kick this up a notch.  (Not to mention that with the icing on top, it really doesn't matter what the cupcakes look like out of the oven!)  I found a good frosting candidate on Bakerella's blog, posted as part of her Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cake.  (Which I have yet to try but it looks amazing, by the way!)  So after making the Hershey cupcakes minus the chip topping, I whipped up this icing to finish it all off.  I even added chopped up Reese's cups to the top for a little extra pizazz!  Here is the end result:

...which I am happy with and I'm sure Steve will be too.  Although - Mr. Vittles and I split one, and I won't lie to you guys ... in my opinion, they probably look a little better than they taste.  If I made them again in the future, I might try a sassier chocolate batter.  This one is a little lacking in the flavor department.  But overall, I would say they were a success.  Mr. Vittles gave them a "Pretty good..." + smirk + double eyebrow raise of approval.  Which is actually pretty serious business.  And... they sure do look purdy!  :)

Soooo... here's the recipe I followed.  Enjoy!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosted Cupcakes

• 1 1/2 C. flour
• 1/3 C. cocoa
• 1 C. packed brown sugar
• 1 t. baking soda
• 1/4 t. salt
• 1/3 C. canola oil
• 1 C. water
• 1 T white vinegar
• 1 t. vanilla
• 1  egg
• 1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 C. creamy peanut butter
• 1/3 C. granulated sugar
• 1/3 C. powdered sugar

Frosting:

• 4 oz. dark chocolate, chopped
• 1/2 C. heavy cream
• 1/4 C. peanut butter  
• optional: 4 large peanut butter cups, chopped, for topping

Heat oven 350°. Place paper baking cup in each of 16 regular-size muffin cups. (That's how many mine made - depending on how much batter you put into each cup, you may have more). 

In large bowl, mix flour, cocoa, brown sugar, baking soda and salt. Add oil, water, vinegar and vanilla to flour mixture, stirring just until smooth (do not over-mix).  In another large bowl, beat egg, cream cheese, peanut butter and granulated sugar with mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add powdered sugar & beat until creamy.

Spoon a tablespoon chocolate batter into each cup (I used a small ladle).  Then spoon about a tablespoon of peanut butter filling onto batter. Repeat with another layer of chocolate batter, and then peanut butter filling on top. *Tip: if you end up with empty spaces in the muffin tin, you can fill them with a little water right before baking to allow for even heating in the oven.

Bake 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes, then remove from pan to cooling rack; cool completely.

Once cupcakes are cooled, chop dark chocolate and place in a medium bowl.  Over medium heat in small saucepan, bring cream to a boil.  Pour hot cream over chocolate in bowl and whisk until melted.  Then whisk in peanut butter until smooth.  Frost cupcakes (being careful of messy drips down the side) and add chopped peanut butter cups to the tops if desired.  Place cupcakes in refrigerator 1 hour to set icing before serving.

Recipes adapted from Hershey's Kitchens and Bakerella