Here are some really spooky Halloween cupcakes I've made:
Eat, Drink and Be Scary Pt. Deux
The "It's Close to Midnight and Something Evil's Lurking in The Dark" Halloween Cupcakes
Halloween Pumpkin Birthday Cupcakes
Halloween Cupcakes!
Showing posts with label vanilla. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vanilla. Show all posts
Trick or Treat...Smell my feet...Give Me Some Halloween Cupcakes to Eat!
The "It's Close to Midnight and Something Evil's Lurking in The Dark" Halloween Cupcakes
Halloween Pumpkin Birthday Cupcakes
Halloween Cupcakes!
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!
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
Vanilla Lemon (CQ's fav!)
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
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!
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 Marble Cupcakes (#10)
This marble cupcake is the tenth cupcake in my self-challenge to make all of the cupcakes from Martha Stewart's 175 Cupcakes book! It was very easy to make and tasted awesome...especially with frosting.
We were having a first birthday party for the Mini on Saturday, so I split this batch in half...some with powdered sugar and some with frosting...a win win situation for sure!
The party was set for 4:00....pizza and then cupcakes! For the birthday party, I made the doggy cupcakes from Martha's book, using pretzels, licorice, etc.
Layla, of course, helped out anyway she could!
She loved her new hat and was the life of the party until the thunder storm began...then it was time to crawl under the bed...sans hat!
The Mini pretty much squashed her blue cupcake and mushed it around her tray...it appeared she was having a grand time!
Here is the recipe:
Ingredients
Makes 16 cupcakes
1 3/4 cups cake flour (not self-rising), sifted
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup milk, room temperature
1/3 cup heavy cream, room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/4 cup boiling water
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Stir together cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Combine milk and cream.
2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and granulated sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of milk mixture, and beating until combined.
3. To make chocolate batter, measure out 1 cup batter, and transfer to another bowl. Combine cocoa and the boiling water in a bowl. Stir into reserved 1 cup batter.
4. Fill prepared cups with alternating spoonfuls of vanilla and chocolate batter, filling each three-quarters full. Run the tip of a paring knife or wooden skewer through batter in a figure-eight motion to make swirls. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until tops are golden and a cake tester (i.e. toothpick) inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 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.
5. To finish dust with confectioners' sugar just before serving.
Now, get out there and bake cupcakes!
CQ
Martha Stewart's Pistachio-Raspberry Tea Cupcakes (#5)
This is my fifth Martha Stewart Cupcakes book cupcake in my challenge to make all 175 cupcakes in the book. These little beauties...cupcakes...or as Martha calls them...tea cakes...turned out awesome! We ate a couple right out of the oven and they were so yummy!
And, the best thing about them is that they are made completely in a food processor.
The recipe says that it makes 15 cupcakes...I only got a dozen out of it, but I tend to fill the cupcake liners a little fuller than I should!
Layla and the Pistachio-Raspberry Tea Cupcakes! The recipe is below...
Makes 15 standard or 36 mini cupcakes
Ingredients
Nonstick cooking spray
1 cup unsalted shelled pistachios
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into pieces
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 to 2 containers (6 ounces each) fresh raspberries
1/4 cup slivered or chopped pistachios, for sprinkling
Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Line standard or mini muffin tins with paper liners; coat liners with cooking spray.
In a food processor, finely grind shelled pistachios with the sugar and salt. Add butter, vanilla, and eggs: process until smooth.
Add flour; pulse until just moistened and combined; do not overmix.
Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full.
Drop raspberries into batter (4 to 6 per standard cupcake; 2 per mini) and sprinkle with slivered pistachios (1/2 teaspoon per standard: 1/4 teaspoon per mini).
Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until golden brown, about 28 minutes for standard cupcakes, 14 for minis.
Transfer tins to wire racks to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature. Cupcakes can be stored up to 2 days at room temperature in airtight containers.
First published: May 2009
I think you'll really enjoy these "tea cakes."
Have a great week, CQ
Martha Stewart's Yellow Buttermilk Cupcakes with Fluffy Vanilla Frosting
Monday, July 13, is Ali's birthday...she lives in Pittsburgh...Layla loves her and her sister, Sam!
I hope something big is planned for her birthday! Layla thinks it's a pretty big deal!
Recently I purchased Martha Stewart's cupcake book: Martha Stewart's Cupcakes: 175 Inspired Ideas for Everyone's Favorite Treat (Paperback) . And after I looked it over, I've decided on another challenge for myself..and, it makes me very nervous to actually write it out...
I've decided to make each cupcake in Martha's new book...THERE! I've put it in writing. WOOF!
I've already made three of them...one I haven't posted on the blog yet. The one I made today was her Yellow Buttermilk Cupcake is my third. And, I frosted them with Martha's Fluffy Vanilla Frosting.
Martha says that I will like make these cupcakes again and again...see below...and I think she's correct. They do taste awesome! Give them a try!
I bought these two little people when I was in France recently...The turtle (I am a Terp, you know!..in the hand was found at Home Goods!
Here's the recipe:
Yellow Buttermilk Cupcakes
You will likely make these cupcakes again and again, varying the frosting (say, dark chocolate, page 302) and sprinkles (sparkly, multicolored, or otherwise) to suit your whim or fancy. Two types of flour contribute to the cupcakes’ singular texture: Cake flour makes for a delicate crumb, while all-purpose flour keeps them from being too tender. makes 36
3 cups cake flour (not -self--rising)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (21/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 1/4 cups sugar
5 large whole eggs plus 3 egg yolks, room temperature
2 cups buttermilk, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Fluffy Vanilla Frosting (page 302)
Round candy sprinkles (nonpareils), for decorating (optional)
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Sift together both flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to medium. Add whole eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add yolks, and beat until thoroughly combined. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of buttermilk, and beating until combined after each. Beat in vanilla.
3. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until cupcakes spring back when lightly touched and a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool 10 minutes; turn out cupcakes onto racks and let cool completely. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.
4. To finish, use a small offset spatula to spread cupcakes with frosting. Refrigerate up to 3 days in airtight containers; bring to room temperature and, if desired, decorate with sprinkles before serving.
Frosting Instructions:
Ingredients
Makes about 4 cups
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 pound (4 cups) confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Directions
With an electric mixer, beat butter on medium-high speed until pale and creamy, about 2 minutes.
Reduce speed to medium. Add the confectioners' sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down sides of bowl as needed; after every two additions, raise speed to high and beat 10 seconds to aerate frosting, then return to medium-high. This process should take about 5 minutes. Frosting will be very pale and fluffy.
Add vanilla, and beat until frosting is smooth. If not using immediately, frosting can be refrigerated up to 10 days in an airtight container. Before using, bring to room temperature, and beat on low speed until smooth again, about 5 minutes.
Nostalgia Cupcakes Win DC's First Cupcake Contest
Because We (the royal "we") couldn't be there for the contest, the Cupcake Princesses...Deb and Meg (see below)...took over for the Cupcake Queen last night at the Washington Club, location of DC's First Cupcake Contest! Nostalgia Cupcakes from Annapolis won the contest! 
Meanwhile, CQ was sharing a beautiful dinner with University of Maryland Pres. and Mrs. Mote and other awardees of the President's Distinguished Service Award and the President's Medal. We had such a great time that I hardly missed not being at the Cupcake Contest! Meanwhile, everyone at the dinner was asking for cupcake updates!
Everyone had a great time! The cute little skull and crossbones thinggies are from Martha Stewart!
These were the cupcakes I made for the event:
You're the One for Me Cupcake
(Vanilla Cupcake with Chocolate Frosting)
I Need You in My Life Cupcake
(Chocolate Cupcake with Vanilla Frosting)
I Love the Way You Look at Me Cupcake
(Cranberry, Apricot, Date, Walnut, Pecan, Almond Cupcake with Vanilla Rum Frosting)
It was definitely a fun day all the way around!
Thanks for all your good wishes!
CQ
Cupcake Queen is in DC's First Cupcake Contest!
The Cupcake Queen is entering three cupcakes tomorrow night in the "Pro" group of bakers at the Washington Club (15 Dupont Circle in DC) tomorrow night...Sept. 25th! All of the other pros are bakeries! Baked and Wired, Nostalgia Cupcakes, The Baltimore Cupcake Company, Sweet N Sassy Cupcakes from Newark, Delaware and more! We all make yellow cupcakes with chocolate frosting, chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting and the third one if the "wild card" cupcake...one of your own choosing.
I'll let you know what happens on Friday!
DelleiciousDC
All You Need is Love...and a Few Cupcakes!
The kids went to a couple of weddings this weekend...one in Binghamton, NY, and one on Amelia Island in Florida...this inspired me to look into making some wedding cupcakes!
I found just the right one in A Baker's Field Guide to Cupcakes by Dede Wilson.
Then I added a bride throwing her bouquet to a small crowd while the groom looks on....
...and so does Layla!
All you need is love!
CQ
Painting the Amy Sedaris Tattletail's Vanilla Cupcakes!
Somehow those little guys got out of the box last night and I found them this morning adding another color to the Amy Sedaris "Tattletail's Vanilla Cupcakes" I'd made earlier in the day. They are from her book I Like You....it's so funny. I also made her "Tattletail's Vanilla Buttercream Frosting" to go along with them and frosted some white and some lilac. When I woke up I found the painters at work adding a spot of green...hmmmmm...the must have had some left over paint from their last job!
I don't know if you have her book or not, but it is really hysterical...I received it for Christmas from my good friend, Meg, who loves to try out new things and is into knitting beautiful scraves. I have never read a recipe written the way Amy wrote hers. It's a bit of a guessing game, but as she says "I like to take chances." Me, too!
The cupcakes were a huge success! They are a little bit crunchy around the top edges and the rest of the cupcake is moist and dense, as opposed to some others I've made that are very light. These cupcakes have authority! They practically scream VANILLA! VANILLA! Next time I'm going to try them with her Dusty's Chocolate Buttercream Frosting....maybe I won't be able to wait until next week to do it!
I found these little pots at Ikea yesterday and thought they would make cute cupcakes...I sprayed the inside with PAM w/ flour before I put the batter in and they fell right out when it was time to pop one in....your mouth...that is! The frosting was, again, a pretty funny recipe. Pour everything in a whip it up. It tastes divine!
I can see why Amy's cupcakes were voted second in New York City by New York Magazine...they are delish! More photos are on my flickr place: photos by the cupcakequeen.
Here are the recipes for both the vanilla cupcakes and vanilla buttercream frosting as quoted from her book:
Tattletail's Vanilla Cupcakes
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. You will need: Unsalted butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, baking powder, salt, flour, milk.
Put 1-1/2 sticks of butter in mixer and beat at medium speed until somewhat smooth. Pour in 1-1/2 cups of sugar and beat well. Add 2 eggs. I like to crack the eggs on the side of the bowl while it is moving, which can be really stupid. I like to take chances. Yes, I have had to throw away my batter because I lost eggshells in the mix. Yes, it was a waste of food and yes, I know how expensive butter is, but what can I say? I'm a daredevil. Mix well. Add: 2 teaspoons of pure vanilla, 2-1/2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, 21/2 cups of flour, and 1-1/4 cups of milk. Beat until it looks like it is supposed to and pour into individual baking cups, until they are about two-thirds full. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Should produce 24 cupcakes; I get 18 because I'm doing something wrong, although my cupcakes were voted second best in the city by New York magazine.
Tattletail's Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
In a bowl, combine 1 box (1 pound) of confectioners' sugar, 1 stick of unsalted butter, 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract, and 1/4 cup of milk or light cream and beat for a while. Really whip it, don't be afraid to get in there. I occasionally add food coloring and sometimes substitute pure almond extract for vanilla.
If you do choose to add pure almond extract instead of vanilla, you're on your own. I don't know the measurement for it, but I do know it's less than the amount of vanilla you would add.
Hope you enjoy them!
CQ
Cupcake Queen Makes Cake! Terps Beat Duke..Again!
All I can say is "Let Them Eat Cake"....I don't know whether to write about the cake or the win...hmmmmm. Okay, it's the cake first! So, the Wilton cake decorating class we were taking is over :( ...last night was week four. We all brought cakes to decorate in our last class. We've enjoyed the most awesome teacher. Her name is Jalaika. She'll be teaching the second class we're taking in April. I decided to make my vanilla cake have two frostings...chocolate on one side and vanilla on the other...the only problem became was that then you have to eat two pieces, because you just can't decide which flavor you want...and, guess what? You don't have to decide...you just eat both!
Last night we finished learning how to make the rose...it's a three week process we built up to. And, we also learned how to make the ribbon bow and some leaves! It was a great class.
And, the other great thing that happened last night...the Cupcake Queen's Terps beat Duke...at Duke...we were soooooo happy. So, I just had to post a couple of photos of our guys! They are so "red hot" right now. We are all keeping our fingers crossed that they keep winning. The contributions came from everywhere. Ibekwe also scored 17 points, freshman point guard Greivis Vasquez scored 13 points, had 12 assists and nine rebounds in 37 minutes! Go Terps...and don't forget to FEAR THE TURTLE!
Rock On!
CQ
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