Granny Smith Apple Cupcakes:
Servings: 24
Ingredients: 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
9 ounces unsalted butter, softened at room temp
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon orange zest, finely grated
1 cup whole milk
Apple Topping:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/3 cup granulated sugar
3 granny smith apples, peeled and cored and thinly sliced
Cinnamon Frosting
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened at room temp
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Directions:
1. To cook the apples: Place butter and sugar in a large fry pan over low-medium heat. Stir to dissolve sugar. Add apple slices and cook for 8-10 minutes or until apples are lightly caramelized. Remove apples from pan and let cool completely.
2. To make the cupcakes: Preheat oven to 325°F Line 24 4-fl-oz-capacity muffin wells with paper liners.
3. Sift together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Set aside dry ingredients.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides if the bowl occasionally. Beat in the vanilla and grated zest.
5. On low speed, add the flour mixture and mix until flour is barely incorporated. Add the milk and mix until just smooth.
6. Divide the batter among lined muffin wells, filling each well about 2/3 full. Top with the apples.
7. Bake at 325F until a cake tested comes out clean, about 15-20 minutes. Remove from pan and cool cupcakes on cooling racks. Make sure cupcakes are completely cooled before frosting.
8. To frost the cupcakes: In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the confectioner's sugar and cinnamon and beat for another 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Frost the cupcakes.
These are the best Granny Smith Apple Cupcakes! Enjoy!
Erin K - The Sexy Cupcake Ditty
Thanks, Erin K, for turning me on to your "Sexy Cupcake Ditty" a while ago.
If you love cupcakes, you'll love her song!
WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT...GENIUS!
Seen on grubstreet.com: Manhattan Finally Getting the Cupcake ATM It’s Been Missing All These Years
The cupcake craze may be trending downward, which is perhaps why it's a good thing Sprinkles is going to start selling ice cream in a newly leased, 1,000 square-feet spot adjacent to its enormous store on the Upper East Side. The new space, at 782 Lexington Avenue, will also have a cupcake ATM built into its façade, which allows convenient access to sweets, 24-7. The machine's L.A. counterpart has been known to attract sugar-craving child TV stars.
According to U.S. News & World Report Travel...These Are....
America's Best Cupcakes
Cupcake Apps?? Yes!!
Ohh La La! Be sure to check out these cupcake apps for iPhone, iPod, and iPad bakers! They are fun and useful for both the savvy and the novice cupcake baker!
5. Vegan Cupcakes Pre...Vegan Cupcakes will change your world! In this sweet and sassy guide, you'll discover 75 recipes for cupcakes and frosting--some innovative, some classic--all certain to make your most carnivorous friends wish they were vegan! Cost $4.99. Search iTunes apps for Vegan Cupcakes.
Let me know what you think of these apps and have a great week! CQ
Food fight: Miss Mamie’s wins $10,000 on Food Network’s ‘Cupcake Wars’
THIS IS SUCH A GREAT STORY—
On Monday, Mamie Doyle sold 600 cupcakes, about triple what she usually sells on that day at Miss Mamie’s Cupcakes, Cakes and Such, located just off the Marietta Square.
But the sales boost didn’t come out of nowhere. The night before, Doyle and her assistant, Erin Chupp-Sintos, beat out three other bakers from around the country and won a $10,000 prize on the Food Network’s “Cupcake Wars.”
Read more: The Marietta Daily Journal - Food fight Miss Mamie’s wins 10 000 on Food Network’s ‘Cupcake Wars’
Bobby Flay's Peanut Butter Buttercream Devil's Food Cupcakes
A Taxing Day: Martha Stewart's Salted Caramel Chocolate Cupcakes!
Enjoy! CQ
The Cupcakes
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup warm water
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line mini muffin tin with paper liners. Whisk together flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. With mixer on low speed, add eggs, buttermilk, oil, extract, and the water; beat until smooth and combined.
Spoon the batter into liners about two-thirds full. Bake approximately 15 minutes, or until tester comes out clean. Transfer tins to wire racks and allow to cool for 10 minutes; turn cupcakes onto racks and let cool completely. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 1 month in air tight containers.
To finish, use a paring knife to cut a cone-shaped piece (about 1/2 inch deep) from the center of each cupcake and throw away the pieces. Spoon 1 to 2 teaspoons warm Salted Caramel Filling into each hollowed-out cupcake. You will notice the caramel will sink into the cupcake a little, just fill it up a bit more. Sprinkle a pinch of sea salt over filling.
Use a pastry bag with a medium open-star tip (I used Wilton #1M) and pipe Dark Chocolate Frosting onto each cupcake, swirling tip and releasing as you pull up to form a peak. Garnish each cupcake with a pinch of sea salt. Cupcakes are best eaten the day they are filled and frosted. Store at room temperature in airtight containers - do NOT refrigerate. Enjoy!
Salted Caramel Filling
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups sugar
2/3 cup water
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
2 1/2 teaspoons sea salt, preferably fleur de sel
Directions
Heat sugar with the water and corn syrup in a heavy saucepan over high, stirring occasionally, until syrup is clear; clip a candy thermometer to side of pan and stop stirring.
Cook until syrup comes to a boil, washing down sides of pan with a wet pastry brush as needed. Boil, gently swirling pan occasionally, until mixture is caramelized and just reaches 360°F. Remove rom heat and slowly pour in cream; stir with a wooden spoon until smooth. Stir in sea salt.
Use immediately; if caramel begins to harden reheat gently until pourable.
Dark Chocolate Frosting
Ingredients:
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon boiling water
2 1/4 cups (4 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 pounds best-quality semi-sweet chocolate, melted and cooled
Directions:
Combine cocoa and boiling water, stirring until cocoa has dissolved.
With electric mixer on medium-high, beat butter, confectioners' sugar, and salt until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to low. Add melted and cooled chocolate, beating until combined and scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in the cocoa mixture.
Frosting can be refrigerated up to 5 days, or frozen up to 1 month in an air tight container. Before using, bring to room temperature and beat on low speed until smooth again.