A Taxing Day: Martha Stewart's Salted Caramel Chocolate Cupcakes!

These cupcakes are so yummy, you might want to eat them all yourself! The recipe is below.....

Enjoy! CQ

Martha Stewart's Chocolate Salted Caramel Cupcakes

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.

Holy Baking, Batman...They're Junior Mint Valentine Cupcakes!

These are Double Chocolate Junior Mint cupcakes with pink mint frosting...ready to be eaten on Valentine's Day 2011!

Don't you love love songs...especially on Valentine's Day...one of my favs is by Celine Dion...Because You Loved Me...

You were my strength when I was weak
You were my voice when I couldn't speak
You were my eyes when I couldn't see
You saw the best there was in me

Lifted me up when I couldn't reach
You gave me faith 'cause you believed
I'm everything I am
Because you loved me

I'm everything I am
Because you loved me

Happy Valentine's Day, Batman!

CQ and Layla

The Absolutely Best Chocolate Reese's Cup Peanut Butter Cupcakes You'll Ever Eat!!

Notice the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup on the bottom!

The BEST!

Okay, Kids...here is the recipe:

Cupcake Ingredients:

1 package Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix

2 tablespoons Dutch process cocoa powder

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1-1/3 cups water

1/3 cup vegetable oil

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 package REESE’S Peanut Butter Cups Miniatures

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Line 24 cupcakes cups with paper liners sprayed with PAM. Place one Reese's Peanut Butter Cups Miniatures on the bottom of each paper liner.

Then, place the cake mix, cocoa powder, peanut butter, water, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Blend for 30 seconds on low, then increase speed to medium for 1 minute and 30 seconds. 

Spoon 1/3 cup of batter on top of each miniature peanut butter cup. 

Bake the cupcakes until they spring back when lightly pressed with your finger. Check them after 15 minutes. They may take 17 minutes, depending on your oven temperature.

Frosting Ingredients:

1 stick of butter (room temp)

1/2 cup shortening

4 cups confectioners sugar (sifted)

1 tsp vanilla

8 tbsp milk (may need a little more or less)

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 cup peanut butter (creamy)

Put all ingredients into a bowl and mix with a hand mixer. Then, decorate your cupcakes!

How About Some Easy Thanksgiving Cupcakes!

These are butternut squash cupcakes with sage frosting! They are very moist and taste awesome!

They are made using a Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Spice Premium Cake Mix!

Here is the recipe that makes 24 cupcakes:

Ingredients:

For cake:

--1 Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Spice Premium Cake Mix
--1 large butternut squash

For frosting:

--1 bunch of sage

--3 tablespoons of water

--3 tablespoons of granulated sugar

--12 ounces of cream cheese (room temperature)

--1/2 cup butter (room temperature)

--1 cup of eggnog (or milk, if you prefer)

3-4 cups of powdered sugar

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 24 muffin tins with paper baking cups, and set aside. Peel, quarter and remove seeds from butternut squash. Place in a large sauce pan covered with water and bring to a boil until squash is tender. Put the pieces in a food processor or blender, then set aside for a while.


Make cake mix as directed on package. When cooled, fold the butternut squash into the cake mix. Fill the cupcake papers three-quarters full, making sure that the batter is divided evenly. Bake cupcakes until a toothpick inserted in the center of them comes out clean, about 12-15 minutes. Let the cupcakes cool a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.


Frosting directions:

Chop up the sage so that it's in very fine pieces. Heat the sugar and water in a small sauce pan under medium heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Add the sage to the sugar water mixture and heat  over low-medium heat for 2-3 minutes. Set aside to let cool.

Beat butter and cream cheese until creamy...about 2 minutes.

Stir the sage syrup into the butter and cream cheese mixture. Add the eggnog or milk to the mixture.

Finally, add the powered sugar a little at a time to the mixture until you have the mixture you want.

Now, frost your cupcakes...you will receive very happy praises from your Thanksgiving guests!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving week!

CQ and Layla

It's a Rocky Road, Cupcake!

End of summer...vacations are over...what better way than to celebrate with Rocky Road Cupcakes from the Cake Doctor's Cupcakes! book?

While my folks never had a trailer like this one, we did have this type of station wagon when I was a kid...and we did go on vacation in it...I remember one time we traveled all the way across the country!

Hope you are all having a great start to fall. Time to think about pumpkin cupcakes...maybe?

Have a great week...CQ and Layla!

Sweet Dreams Are Made of This: Cake Dreams is a Little Taste of Heaven!

Layla admires the Chocolate Cupcake with Peanut Butter Frosting 

Cupcake from Cake Dreams!

Have you ever had people you know tell you that you should go someplace...that it's really great, the best, etc? Well, several people who know the Queen have asked her if she'd been to Cake Dreams in Rockville, MD. The answer was always not yet...they only opened last January...I'm just sayin'...The fact is CQ hardly ever buys cupcakes.

So, when CQ pulled into the parking lot last Friday night to pick up dinner from Bombay Bistro, she realized she was right there...right there at Cake Dream and they were open until 7:00! CQ was in luck and she was lookin' to purchase six cupcakes to try out...and share with her readers!

CQ opened the door and there was a guy behind the counter...who turned out to be Michelle's (the cake and cupcake creator) husband, Kevin. CQ mentioned to him that she baked cupcakes and had a blog. He asked CQ what the name of her blog was...when she said 52 Cupcakes, Kevin said "We were wondering when you'd come in!"

Chocolate Raspberry Cupcake

Then CQ met Michelle. She was awesome!

Vanilla Lemon (CQ's fav!)

Okay...now on to the cupcakes CQ and her entourage of four divvied up: Chocolate with Peanut Butter Frosting, Sweet Chocolate with Sweet Vanilla Frosting, Carrot with Vanilla Frosting, Yellow with Lemon Frosting (CQ's Fav), Chocolate with Raspberry Frosting, and Yellow Caramel!

The over-the-top reviews are in...here are some of the comments: Each and every one of the cupcakes that were bought were eaten (what else??), there were sighs of contentment all around, the flavors were deep when they needed to be (see Chocolate Peanut Butter), and light where needed (see Vanilla Caramel)...one a scale of from 1 to 10, with 10 being the BEST!, CQ and her band of cupcake eaters concluded that the Cake Dreams cupcakes were some of the most excellent cupcakes they have ever bought! Hooray for Cake Dreams. The royal "We" will be visiting them again soon.

Now, get in your car and go visit them! Tell them that the Cupcake Queen sent you! This is the address: 90 W. Montgomery Ave, Rockville, MD.

You might want to follow them on Facebook...(sometimes they give FB fans one free cupcake).

Have a great week...remember to Rock On!

CQ and Layla

New CPCK CO Design: Wear Your Cupcake Love!!

Proudly proclaim your love of cupckes...Check out this t-shirt and my other "Cupcake Wearables" at here!

OMG! The I Love Cupcake Shoes!

The shoes are made by KEDS! Here's where you can buy them online: Zappos. Aren't they adorable!
I must have them! CQ

Marie's "Fancy Pants" Vanilla Cupcakes with White Chocolate Chips

Late last week...in our mailbox I found some very nice  presents from our lovely neighbor, Marie, who lives down the street. Twenty-four cupcakes liners...what I'm calling "fancy pants" cupcake liners (by Wilton)...pink, they are! And, very cute cupcake ribbons!

These cupcakes are vanilla with white chocolate chips topped with vanilla cream cheese frosting and/or dark chocolate frosting.

Layla was wishing that a few crumbs would fall on the floor!

The chocolate ones were especially good!

I will definitely use the "fancy pants" cupcake liners again...they are so much fun!

Layla and I hope that you all have a great week!

Next week, a review of a new baking food scale!

CQ and Layla

Martha Stewart's Meyer Lemon Cupcakes (#7)

The is the seventh cupcake in my self-challenge to make all of the cupcakes from  Martha Stewart's 175 Cupcakes book. For this cupcake, you also make the lemon curd using Myer Lemons. 

I made these cupcakes for Laura's birthday...but a week late, because we were in Ocean City for her actual birth day! We went to The Hobbit on 81st Street...wow, that place has changed. It was awesome!

If you make these, make sure that you leave enough time for the entire process. Once you make the lemon curd you have to chill it for at least 2 hours.

I ordered these cute cupcake liners from fancyflours.com. They tons of really cute liners. Tell them that the Cupcake Queen sent you!

Layla was very serious during this photo shoot...but she got a big non-grain treat at the end of the session!

Hope you have a fantastic week...I'll be thinking about all of you. You are the greatest!

Rock on, CQ

---

Meyer Lemon Cucpake Recipe: Martha's book says: "The mild and sweet flavor of Meyer lemon is one of Martha's favorites, these zest-flecked cupcakes are filled with Meyer flemon curd, which peeks out from the tops. The fruit, which is actually a lemon-orange hybrid is generally available at specialty stores in winter and early spring. If you can't find Meyer lemons. use regular lemons instead. The recipe yields a lot of cupcakes, so you may want to consider these for a bake sale or large gathering, such as a shower or special birthday celebration."

Make 42 cupcakes.

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
2 tablespoons finely grated Meyer lemon zest, plus 2 tablespoons fresh Meyer lemon juice (from 1 to 2 Meyer lemons)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
1 3/4 cups (3 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cups granulated sugar
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
7 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
Lemon Curd (made with Meyer lemons; see recipe below for ingredients and directions)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together flour, zest, baking powder, and salt.
2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and granulated sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in cream cheese. Reduce speed to low. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in lemon juice and vanilla. Add flour mixture in three batches, beating until just combined after each.

3. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 28 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.

4. To finish, dust cupcakes with confectioners’ sugar. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a coupler and a medium round tip (#8) with curd. Insert tip into top of each cupcake, and squeeze some curd below top to fill the inside, then lift the tip and squeeze more curd in a pool on top. Filled cupcakes can be kept at room temperature up to 1 hour (or refrigerated a few hours more) before serving.

Lemon Curd
Martha says: "A high proportion of lemon juice gives curd its intense flavor. As an acid, the juice also prevents the yolks from curdling when heated (unlike when making pastry cream, which requires the extra step of tempering). You can substitute an equal amount of juice from other citrus, such as lime, grapefruit, or blood orange."

Ingredients

2 whole eggs plus 8 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice (about 6 lemons)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, room temperature
(Makes about 2 cups)

Directions

1. Combine whole eggs and yolks, sugar, and lemon juice in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Cook, whisking constantly, until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat. Add butter, a few pieces at a time, whisking until smooth after each addition. Strain through a fine sieve into another bowl, and cover with parchment paper or plastic wrap, pressing it directly on surface to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until chilled and firm, at least 2 hours (or up to 2 days).

50,000 Cupcakes for Maryland Day!!!

Maryland Day - the University of Maryland's annual open house - is 10 years old! We're baking with 50,000 cupcakes to celebrate - and the entire Washington, D.C. region has been invited to join us! The day kicks off with a grand opening ceremony at 10 a.m. in Hornbake Plaza featuring WMAR's Mary Beth Marsden as the host. Shhh - don't tell anyone - but Testudo has a special surprise in store.

Update: 4.24.08: we're test tasting the Maryland Day cupcakes this afternoon!!!!

The Cupcake Queen has been invited to be one of the judges for the Cupcake Decorating Contest on Maryland Day!

Here's the recipe for the 50,000 cupcakes provided by our Dining Services folks:

White Cake Recipe

1415 lbs cake flour.. sifted..
78.33lbs baking powder
46.33 lbs salt
707.55 lbs high ratio cake shortening
1769lbs granulated sugar
177 gallons 2% milk
2.5 gallons flavoring
117.93 gallons fresh eggs

Total weight 6,392.15 lbs

Icing

4275 lbs 10 x sugar
541.5 lbs Margarine
541.5 lbs Icing Shortening
912 lbs water
1.75 gallons flavoring

Total weight 6,284 lbs

This video features our president...Dan Mote and his wife, Patsy, beginning the baking process:



The Cupcake Queen will have to show up with four stitches in her cheek to do her judging...what do you think happened to her? Several good stories have been put forth:

CQ was sleep walking and tripped over Layla. (Deb)
CQ was working out on her treadmill, dropped her ipod and hit her cheek on the handrail. (Meg)
CQ was in a car accident. (Barb)
Somebody said shut-up and CQ thought he said stand up. (Mac)
CQ fell in the hallway...tripped over the cat...hit face on floor. (Millree)
CQ got bite by her dog. (Beth)
CQ was outside on her deck..it was raining...she slipped on the stairs and hit her cheek on the railing. (Peggy)
Something hit CQ. (Joanne)
CQ was out mowing her lawn. Her mower handle caught a tree branch and the branch swung back and hit CQ on the cheek. (Brian)
CQ walked into a pole. (Herb)
CQ heard a noise outside in her backyard. Layla ran out to see what it was. CQ picked up a dustbuster and a cupcake and went out to find Layla. There was an extraterrestrial vehicle in the yard and little ET things running around. They got scared when they saw CQ's dustbuster and shot her in the cheek with an ET laser thinggie. And, then they flew away! (Ellen)
CQ got bite by a dog. (Tom)
CQ was watching Law and Order with a friend. The friend got so carried away during one scene that he/she punched CQ in the cheek. (Dave)
CQ was gardening and fell on a hoe. (Holly)
Mo says that CQ hit herself with something...then Mo says that sounds goofy, doesn't it!
anonymous said...I think CQ was fast & furiously icing cupcakes when the icing spatula slipped from her glazed fingers, flipped in the air, and came crashing down on her tender cheek.
bro said...I think CQ was jumping on the bed and her brother pushed her into a radiator.
cupcake queen said...bro...that is the BEST laugh I've had all day...and you are so right...however, this time it was left cheek!
sam said...LOL...too funny! Thanks for sharing and wish I could be there for the cupcakes!
CQ tripped on on something in the yard (Sapienza)
CQ was hit by a kitchen cabinet (Brodie)
CQ got smacked by Laura (Bonnie)

What do you think happened to CQ??? If you can, come to Maryland Day and find out!

The truth will be revealed in CQ's next posting.