Sweet Potato Cupcakes with Marshmallow Frosting

Hello, all! Happy winter break! Now that Christmas is two weeks away, I can finally get caught up on my Thanksgiving posts... Aye. No matter how hard I try, I just can't seem to keep up. Oh well. Though we usually have Thanksgiving at our house, we went to our friend, Marty's, brand new house for dinner instead. Dinner was to die for and after 21 years of complete and utter distaste for Brussel Sprouts, I have finally succumbed to their deliciousness. Granted, I will still only eat them if they are fried with maple syrup and butter but hey, baby steps.  Sorry it took me so long to like them, Marty. Anyhoo. Cupcakes! These cupcakes were SO relevant to Thanksgiving. I wanted to do a little play off a Thanksgiving food, but obviously green bean casserole or turkey cupcakes were not the way to go. Instead, I decided sweet potato cupcakes would have the same fall-y taste as the Pumpkin Ginger Cupcakes I made for friendsgiving. And of course, you can't have sweet potatoes without marshmallows and/or walnut crumbly things on top, so that's exactly what I did.

Grace, Marty, and Sarah at Thanksgiving. Sorry about the picture quality. Dinner mood lighting didn't do me any favors

SWEET POTATO CUPCAKES:

1 stick butter (room temp)

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

Splash of vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1 t baking powder

1/4 t salt

A few shakes of cinnamon

1 can of sweet potatoes, drained (the big can)

1/2 cup milk

Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, and then mix in the vanilla. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, vanilla, salt, and cinnamon. In yet another separate bowl, mash the sweet potatoes with a fork until they are mushy. Note: this part is kind of gross. These look absolutely disgusting but in the end they make some wicked good cupcakes. Just be patient! Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture slowly, alternating with additions of milk and sweet potatoes. Mix until combined, but don't over blend. These cupcakes have the ability to become extra dense with the sweet potatoes. Divide the batter among lined cupcake tins and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. 

MARSHMALLOW FROSTING:

1 stick butter (room temperature)

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 7oz can of marshmallow fluff 

Beat the butter and powdered sugar together until almost combined. Add the marshmallow fluff slowly until frosting is thick and combined. I frosted my cupcakes while they were the tiniest bit warm still so the marshmallow would melt a bit on the cupcake. 

Pre-Melt

Post-Melt. Slurp.

CANDIED WALNUTS

(Note: I didn't measure any of these ingredients. These are just guesses as to what quatities I actually used)

2 Cups Walnuts

1 Cup Sugar

A few shakes of sea salt

In a pan, over medium heat, begin heating the sugar and salt, stirring constantly. After a few minutes, add the walnuts, still stirring constantly. Keep stirring until the sugar begins to liquefy. Once the walnuts are completely coated in the caramelized sugar, place them on wax paper to cool. THESE ARE GOING TO BE SO HOT. DON'T TOUCH THEM FOR AT LEAST 5 MINUTES. YOU WILL REGRET IT OTHERWISE. After letting them cool for a long time, I topped my cupcakes with them. I had about half of the batch left over but they are great in salads or for snacking. 

I was really happy with how these cupcakes turned out. The marshmallow frosting was really sweet but it balanced out the savory-ish cake nicely. I had big plans to toast the marshmallow frosting with a torch but my cupcake liners were too big and boisterous and would have caught on fire had I taken a torch to them. Plus, it's not like anyone in their right mind should let me use a blow torch inside the house. 

Happy Holidays!

xoxo,

KG

Pumpkin Ginger Cupakes

Happy Thanksgiving!! Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. Everything is so cozy and delicious and family oriented. It's so fun. With such a fun group of housemates and a lovely bunch of friends in Eugene, the Fort decided to throw a little thanksgiving of our own on Sunday. Patty, chef extraordinaire, was in charge of most of the actual meal, but I was obviously in charge of dessert. Check out Patty's food blog too! She's brilliantly witty and makes sure I eat actual food other than oatmeal and scrambled eggs. Just because I love baking and have sort of mastered the cupcake, I'm still working on my cooking skills. You can lurk on all of Patty's skills at Feeding the Fort. I must admit, our house eats pretty well. Anyways, for our pre-thanksgiving/ friendsgiving dinner, I made my first successful pecan pie after the dreadful blackened pecan pie incident of 2011 and of course, I made some cupcakes. Fall flavors, though I love them, are rather limited. There are a hundred Winter flavors, but as far as Fall goes, pumpkin is really the main attraction. So pumpkin cupcakes had to be made! To spice things up a bit, I wanted to experiment with some ginger too. And as per Ellie's request, they were topped with a cinnamon cream cheese frosting.

Precious. Thankful for my friends!

PUMPKIN GINGER CAKE:
1 stick butter (room temp)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
Splash of vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1 T pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 T ground ginger
A few good shakes of cinnamon (to taste)
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup egg nog  (See Note)

Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs one at a time until blended. Add the vanilla and mix. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, ginger, and cinnamon. Slowly add the dry mixture to the butter mixture, alternating with the pumpkin and egg nog. (NOTE: I ran out of milk but had egg nog. The final product benefited from the extra nutmeg-y flavor and didn't taste like egg nog, but while they are baking/ still warm, these cupcakes smelled absolutely horrible. I didn't even want to taste them. Luckily, I did and was rather pleased by the taste. Once they cooled, the smell subsided. Milk would be a perfectly valid substitute in this recipe.) Being careful not to over mix, blend all ingredients until combined. Dived among lined cupcake tins and bake at 350 for 20-22 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting.

CINNAMON CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:
1 stick butter (room temp)
1 block cream cheese (also room temp)
3 cups powdered sugar
A splash or two of whipping cream as needed
Lots of cinnamon (to taste)


Beat the butter and cream cheese until creamy. Add the powdered sugar and cinnamon slowly and blend until combined and thick. Cream cheese frosting has a tendency to get a bit sticky so adding a a little whipping cream will thin it out a bit. Spoon or pipe onto completely cooled cupcakes. (ANOTHER NOTE: I rarely work with cream cheese frosting because it is so sticky. Scooping it into a piping bag can be a tricky mess. If you can, have someone hold the bag open so you have maximum hand usage to limit the frosting from sticking to the sides of the piping bags, avoiding an otherwise inevitable collapse)

These cupcakes were a lovely taste of fall. The ginger made them a little bite-y and interesting. If given the opportunity to make them again, I would probably use milk over egg nog. It worked out fine, but I think milk would be a better choice. Oh well. Hakuna Matata. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

xoxo,

KG

Apple Pie Cupcakes

Hello friends! It is officially Fall! While I'm a little bummed about the lack of sunshine and the excess rain, the trees are absolutely gorgeous. My roommates and I have been constantly drinking spiced cider and and carving pumpkins and carrying around our personal space heaters to each room we move to. It's like we are bachelors with only one light bulb carrying it around to whichever room we need light in. You know, Yolo. In the spirit of the season and to ease my woes/ self pity about having to work on Halloween weekend, I whipped up a little batch of apple pie cupcakes. Don't be alarmed, it wasn't another Pi Day Mishap sort of situation. They were scrumptious. It was the perfect little treat before everyone went out and about on their merry ways to various Halloween festivities/ Work.

The Dread Pirate Pinta, Patty Mayonnaise, Lumberjack, Cow, Formal Apology. Happy Halloween!!

CAKE
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Many shakes of cinnamon (this is kind of to taste. I LOVE cinnamon)
1 cup sugar
1 stick butter (room temperature)
2 eggs
Splash of vanilla
3/4 cup apple cider

Sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. and set aside. In a separate bowl cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla one at a time. Alternating with portions of the cider, add the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Blend until creamy and combined, being cautious not to over mix. Divide the batter among lined cupcake tins and bake at 350 degrees for 20-23 minutes. Usually 20 minutes is the perfect timing for my recipes, but this one took a bit longer. It seems as though most of our household appliances are on the fritz, though, so bake at your own discretion. As always, let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting.

APPLE PIE TOPPING
5-6 Apples (I used honey crisp and braeburn because I don't like granny smith, but if you like tart, those seem like a nice option too)
3 T butter
Cinnamon to taste

Peel the apples and cut them into small pieces. I used a paring knife and just cut away at them willy nilly. In a large pan (I used a wok because that was readily available and seemed to keep my apples in check and in the pan) melt the butter and add the apples and cinnamon. Saute the apples until they are a bit soggy (I realize this usually isn't a word you want to use when discussing food items. Maybe soft is a better word) and warm. Pull them off the burner and let them cool completely.

Place/mound the completely cooled apples on top of your completely cooled cupcakes.

FROSTING
1 1/2 sticks butter (room temperature)
3 cups powdered sugar
Lots of cinnamon (again, to taste)
Splash of vanilla
A splash or two of apple cider

Beat the butter and slowly add to powdered sugar and cinnamon. Add the vanilla and apple cider for liquid cohesiveness. The apple cider gives the frosting a really nice, light flavor but it can make the frosting really thin, really quickly so add with caution! Spoon or pipe onto your apple-topped cupcakes!

My frosting got a bit thin. Oops. I sprinkled mine with a bit of cinnamon

These were totally yummy. They were light and fluffy and the frosting and batter had the perfect amount of apple flavor to compliment the real-life apple mountain on top. I think these would also be really good with some sort of caramelized nut or something of the sort. Or maybe a pie crust-like struesel. 

Happy Fall!!

xoxo,

KG

Honey Strawberry Cupcakes with Goat Cheese Frosting

I'm alive!! After a crazy summer of taking too many credits and not enough time for cupcake baking and a wonderful European adventure, I am back to a (relatively) normal school pace. Thank goodness. I'm finally back to my preferred schedule of being able to bake a lovely batch of cupcakes once a week and I couldn't be happier. I promise my posts will actually be weekly from now on. Anyways, cupcakes. This summer, my mom found the coolest little Instructable cupcake contest. First prize for recipes: A KITCHEN AID MIXER. Holy smokes. I have the biggest passion for Kitchen Aids. They are incredible mixers, not to mention super durable. My grandma's from the 1950s is still in commission! The bad news for yours truly: It's a tradition in my family to get a Kitchen Aid for a wedding present. The bad news isn't a free mixer from my wonderful relatives. As a mere senior in college, I still have a while until a glorious new kitchen aid graces its presence in my kitchen. This contest seemed like the perfect fix. I knew I had to make something a little kooky in order to catch voters' eyes. For months, I have wanted to incorporate goat cheese into a buttercream and I decided Honey Strawberry cupcakes would be the perfect base for the savory frosting. For the first time in the history of this blog, I don't have a picture of the people eating them since I was so focused on taking pictures of the actual cupcakes:( 

Ben and Me with Beer, Brauts, and pretzels in Munich. Not cupcake related but we are eating so it's close enough.

HONEY STRAWBERRY CAKE:

1 1/2 cups flour

1 T baking powder

1/4 t salt

1 stick room temperature butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

Splash of vanilla

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup milk

1 container of strawberries, diced

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside. In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. One at a time, add the eggs, vanilla, and honey. Slowly, alternating with the milk, add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and blend until combined. Since the honey makes this cake a bit denser, be extra careful not to over mix, otherwise you'll have rock-like cupcakes. Carefully fold the strawberries into the batter. Divide the batter among lined cupcake tins and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting.

GOAT CHEESE BUTTER CREAM:

1 1/2 sticks room temperature butter

3 cups powdered sugar

8 oz. room temperature goat cheese, crumbled

A squeeze of honey

Beat the butter until fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar and honey and whip until thick. Crumble the goat cheese into the buttercream, being careful to make sure the goat cheese is fully incorporated into the frosting. Spoon or pipe the buttercream onto completely cooled cupcakes. 

HONEY BALSAMIC REDUCTION:

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup honey

In a small pan (I used a pan over a pot to make sure the heating of the balsamic was uniform) bring the balsamic vinegar to a boil. Stir in the honey and turn the burner down to let the balsamic simmer. Let the vinegar simmer for about 10ish minutes until it's thick and syrupy. This is prone to burning (I know from experience) so just keep an eye on it. Let the reduction cool in the fridge and once completely cool, drizzle on top on the goat cheese buttercream frosted cupcakes!

In the end, I decided not to submit my recipe. For the first time in my life, I didn't enjoy making cupcakes. I was too wrapped up in the competition to win the glorious kitchen aid that I almost dreaded each step that went into this recipe. Not to be too metaphysical/spiritual/what have you, but I took it as a sign to not enter the contest. If competing took away the fun and relaxation baking usually brings me, the brand new mixer just wasn't worth it. Maybe I'll be able to enter my cupcakes in other competitions in the future, but until then, baking cupcakes is just going to be for my own enjoyment (and the enjoyment of the people eating them!)

As my mom always told me, follow your gut. It is usually right. Happy Fall, Friends!

xoxo,

KG

PS. I put the link to the instructables contest in the intro! I urge you to take a gander at some of the cupcakes. They are absolutely beautiful! 

Blueberry Pancake Cupcakes

Life is flying by. I know, totally cliche, but I don't care. Life is just zooming off at the speed of light and I have completely lost track of everything time related. Being home for a week was so much fun and totally relaxing. I made lots of cupcakes, like these blueberry pancake cupcakes, and did as many "Colorado-y" things as I could while I was home. Fast forward three weeks and here I am in in Oregon, sitting in my newly painted dining room (It is white with tiffany blue trim, basically guaranteeing no boys will ever live in this house without having to paint the entire interior. It is adorable.) with cupcakes in the oven while I write this post from three weeks ago. There is just so much going on! With school and my latest home improvement obsession (which should make Bill very proud since he has been trying to teach me the ways of a professional engineer for 12 years now), I am super behind on the blog. But no matter, I will catch up eventually. And with that, I present you with a very belated Blueberry Pancake Cupcake recipe!

Patrick and Ben being a little candid at Film on the Rocks

And Elise with her Birthday cupcakes. Happy birthday, Cookie!

BLUEBERRY PANCAKE CUPCAKES

1 Stick butter (room temperature)

3/4 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

Splash of vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1 t baking powder

1/4 t salt

A few shakes of cinnamon (to taste)

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup maple syrup

2 cups blueberries

Cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and blend until combined. Mix in the vanilla. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Add the flour to the butter mixture, alternating with the milk, and beat until combined. Blend in the maple syrup. Carefully fold the blueberries into the batter with a rubber spatula so they don't break. Divide the batter among lined cupcake tins and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting.

MAPLE BUTTERCREAM:

1 1/2 sticks butter (Room Temperature)

3 Cups Powdered Sugar

1/3 Cup Maple Syrup

Splash of Vanilla

Beat the butter until fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar and beat until almost incorporated. Add the vanilla and the maple syrup and beat until combined. Spoon or pipe onto completely cooled cupcakes. I garnished mine with a couple blueberries.

So I was a pretty big fan of these. They tasted like breakfast and dessert smashed into a petite little treat. My only qualm about them was how sweet they were. The cupcakes alone weren't too sweet but paired with the maple buttercream, it got a little intense. Next time I'll just cut back on the maple syrup a little and that should do the trick. Who ever thought I would find something that was too sweet for me? This might be the apocalypse. 

The philosophical Ferris Bueller said, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." Hopefully I'll be able to catch up on the blog soon and stop to smell the roses with this crazy school schedule. 

Until next time!

xoxo,

KG

Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes

Hey. Just me being the WORST blogger ever. The end of the term got a little bit stressful with finals and moving, but I made it through with good grades and a BEAUTIFUL new bedroom thanks to my mom and Bill. We worked our butts off pretty much 9am to midnight everyday and finally got everything finished. It's such a little sanctuary in there.

Totally luxurious, right? My parents are too cool.

I am home for a week in Colorado and I am baking up a storm and blogging like crazy. I wasn't home for more than 20 minutes before my mom asked me to bake up some cupcakes for a little shindig with her friends. I've been wanting to do a strawberry shortcake cupcake for a while, but it seemed like something that needed to wait until summer. Strawberry shortcake is such a light summery dessert so Ben and I whipped up some delicious cupcakes for my mom to take to her party, and they were totally scrumptious. Plus, I got to bake in my mom's kitchen, which is one of my favorite things. I'm always shocked when my great-grandmother's, ancient cupcake tin bakes cupcakes just as evenly as the hoity-toity, state-of-the-art cupcake tins I got for Christmas. Not to mention, the passion I have for her kitchen aid mixer.

My mom and her friends enjoying some cupcakes and conversation!

SHORTCAKE CUPCAKES:
2 Sticks butter
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
A generous dash of vanilla
3 cups flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 cup milk
2 cups chopped strawberries

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and then the vanilla. Beat until combined. In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, and salt. Alternate adding the flour mixture and milk to the butter mixture, and blend until combine. Divide among lined cupcake tins and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Let cool completely before filling or frosting.

Once the cupcakes are cooled, using a small knife (paring knives or grapefruit knives are my favorite) scoop out the middles of the cupcakes.

Fill the cupcakes with the diced strawberries.

WHIPPED CREAM:

1 Pint heavy whipping cream

1 cup powdered sugar

1 splash vanilla

In an electric mixer, whip the cream until almost stiff. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla and whip until stiff. Be careful not to over whip because your whipped cream will get grainy. Pipe onto filled cupcakes. We garnished ours with strawberries and mint for an extra summery flavor. 

These cupcakes were really yummy and had the summery taste I was aiming for. I liked the whipped cream instead of my normal butter cream because it was nice and light, which paired nicely with the lightness of the cupcake. These were a bit crumbly since we compromised the structure a bit by cutting a gaping hole in them. But what cupcake isn't messy, right?

Stay cool, guys.

xoxo,

KG

Mochaccino Cupckaes

Let me just start this post by sharing my complete and utter gratitude for the existence of coffee. It is the perfect drink in any form. Black, iced, lattes, cappuccinos, you name it, I love it. The taste is magical and the caffeine effects are miraculous. Until the withdrawal headaches come on. This term has been a little crazy and my coffee drinking has gotten a little bit out of control. Cutting myself off of caffeine cold turkey might have been a hasty decision but I figured it was the easiest way to get my coffee drinking back under control. While I was in the midst of this little caffeine cleanse, I had a little lapse in judgement. I have no idea why I thought it would be a good idea to make mochaccino cupcakes during this dark time. But I did, and I can't say I'm upset about it. Even though I slipped up a little on my coffee detox, I don't regret a thing. They were delightful. I made these cupcakes for a co-worker who so generously helped cover a shift for me and I brought them on our DDS camping trip! Thanks, Jordo! This recipe was adapted from Better Homes and Gardens.

My lovely DDS fam eating cupcakes at tent event!

MOCHACCINO CUPCAKES:

1 3/4 cups flour

1/2 t salt

1/4 t baking powder

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 sticks butter

2 eggs

2 cups sugar

Splash of vanilla

1 cup STRONGLY brewed coffee (cooled)

1/2 cup milk

4 Dark chocolate hershey bars  broken into pieces (or your favorite dark chocolate)

Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, and cocoa and set aside. In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix until combined. Stir in the vanilla. Alternate adding the flour mixture and the coffee and milk until all of the ingredients are thoroughly combined. Gently fold in the chocolate pieces, being careful to not overwork the batter. Divide the batter among lined cupcake tins and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting. 

CARMEL SYRUP (almost the same recipe as the carmel from my Chocolate Toffee Carmel Crunch Cupcakes:

3/4 cup sugar

5 T water

2/3 cup non-fat milk (I used almond milk because it is my latest obsession but regular milk will be fine)

A sprinkle of sea salt

In a small saucepan heat the water and the sugar on low heat. Using a whisk, stir only until the sugar is dissolved. Once the sugar is dissolved, crank up the heat to high and occasionally stir the mixture by swirling the pot by the handle, but don't stir it directly. The mixture will start to bubble and turn amber in color. This burns quickly so expect the correct amber-y color at about 3-4 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the milk. BE SO CAREFUL because this mixture tends to bubble and steam a lot. Keep stirring until you have acheived a smooth sauce. Mix in a baby bit of salt, just for a little kick. ANOTHER WARNING: This is SUPER hot. Don't do any sampling for a few minutes because you will singe your tongue right off. This won't be a thick caramel. I wanted to make it thin so it wouldn't alter the consistency of the frosting but would still have that caramelly flavor. If you want a thicker caramel, replace the milk with 1/2 to 2/3 cup heavy cream.

COFFEE CARAMEL BUTTERCREAM:

1 1/2 sticks butter ( room temperature)

4 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup STRONGLY brewed coffee

1/4 cup carmel syrup, or to taste and texture

Beat the butter until fluffy. Carefully add the powdered sugar and mix until combined. Slowly add the coffee and caramel syrup to the buttercream and beat until combined. There is a lot of liquid in this buttercream so you made need to add a little more powdered sugar to achieve a thicker frosting. Spoon or pipe onto your completely cooled cupcakes!

These were the perfect little pick me up. The coffee flavor was delicious and I didn't even feel bad about consuming the coffee. The caffeine was cooked out when I baked them, right? That's what I keep telling myself so I hope it's true! I felt like I should have been sitting in a little European cafe overlooking some beautiful monument while I was eating these. They just felt so regal.

I hope these cupcakes do the justice for coffee it deserves. I certainly thought they did!

Enjoy friends!

xoxo, 

KG