Cherry Coke Float Cupcakes

These cupcakes are what happened when my previous plan went horribly horribly awry. Honestly though, I think these turned out WAY better than my original idea would have. What was my original plan you might be wondering? (or maybe not, but I'm going to tell you anyway.) I was going to make a chocolate cupcake with fresh Strawberry icing. All was going really well until I tried to pull together my icing. It seems that the fresh strawberries contributed too much moisture to the icing and to combat that I kept adding in sugar to try to absorb the liquid. I ended up with a sickly sweet strawberry icing that didn't hold together well enough to pipe onto anything. And it was way WAY too sweet. In hindsight, after pureeing the strawberries, I  probably should have placed them in some cheesecloth and  squeezed out all of the  extra liquid. But I didn't. In the meantime I had some beautiful Chocolate Coke cupcakes and no icing to top them with. 

So what's a girl to do? Well, since I'd already swapped out the coffee that I normally use in my chocolate cupcakes with Coke (just to see what difference it made), I figured I'd run with it. I made a quick run to the grocery store, grabbed some cherry pie filling, more coke and whipping cream. I then cored my cupcakes, filled them with the Cherry pie filling and topped them with a  Coke glaze (to up the Coke-ness of them, since the coke in the cake isn't very  powerful). Then, since any good float is never complete without whipped cream, I whipped up the whipping cream and piped it on. Once I topped that with a Maraschino cherry I had some wonderfully decadent cupcakes that tasted just like a Cherry Coke float. 

The moral of this baking tale? Sometimes when things go wrong in the kitchen and you have to punt, you'll end up with something greater than what was planned in the first place. Perhaps not always, but definitely sometimes.  

Cherry Coke Float Cupcakes

3 cups all purpose flour

6 tbsp cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

2 large eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1 1/2 cups Regular Coke (don’t use diet coke, this recipe needs the sugar from the coke)

3 tsp vanilla extract

1 can cherry pie filling*

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line 2 cupcake pans with cupcake liners. Set aside.

In a medium sized bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and cocoa. Set Aside.

In a large mixer bowl beat the sugar and butter together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs in one at a tme, beating well after each addition.

In another small bowl combine the buttermilk, Coke and vanilla extract. Make sure you let the foam from the coke settle down before moving on to the next step.

Add the flour mixture into the butter and egg mixture in three batches, alternating with the coke mixture, starting and ending with the flour (3 additions of flour mixture and 2 of the coke/buttermilk)

Place batter into the prepared pans adding approximately 1/4 cup batter to each liner (or until they're 3/4 full. Bake in preheated oven fo18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once cooled, core center of cupcakes using either a cupcake corer, apple corer or a paring knife, then add a heaping spoonful of cherry pie filling inside each cupcake.

*Since the cherries in pie filling are still whole, they’re a bit had to fit into the cored cupcakes. I opted to chop the cherries up a bit before filling the cupcakes. To do this strain the cherries and reserve the liquid. Give the cherries a rough chop up on a cutting board and then toss them back into the reserved liquid.

Coke Glaze

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

3-4 T Coke

Whisk the powdered sugar and coke together in a small bowl until smooth. Add in more sugar if needed to obtain a thicker consistency. The goal is to glaze the top of the cupcake and not be completely absorbed into the cake.

Whipped Cream Icing

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

6 Tbsp confectioners’ sugar

Maraschino Cherries for garnish

For best results, chill your mixing bowl for 10 to 15 minutes before you are ready to make your icing. Whisk heavy cream in chilled bowl on low speed. Slowly add in the confectioners’ sugar in, one tablespoonful at a time. Once all sugar has been added, increased the speed of the mixer  to medium high. Whip cream until it holds stiff peaks. Then pipe whipped cream on the cupcakes and top with maraschino cherries.

This whipped cream is excellent for many other uses, such as topping pies or fresh fruit. I pretty much use this recipe instead of cool whip or Redi-whip these days. It’s so easy and much cheaper than the pre made kinds. 

Pretty!

Salted Caramel and Chocolate Cupcakes

Yesterday I had the pleasure of not only attending a baby shower for good friends, but also of baking cupcakes for the baby shower. Something I learned 3-4 years ago still holds true now: when baking cupcakes for an expecting mom, make whatever flavor it is she loves. In this case, I was told that she loved chocolate, caramel, peanut butter, raspberries, and a few other things, which was the perfect guide for deciding what to make. My choice? I decided to take those first two flavors and run with them. And I may have made my new favorite cupcake. At the very least it's right up there with the Dark Chocolate Chili, Creamsicle, Cookie Dough Cupcakes, and the Buckeye cupcakes I made a few weeks ago. 

It's incredibly rich, moist and super delicious. I decided to put as many variations of caramel and chocolate into this as I dared. It's a chocolate cake, filled with a caramel sauce, then topped with a semi-sweet chocolate ganache and a salted caramel butter cream. Then just to make it extra super special, I topped the icing with more of the caramel sauce and some milk chocolate and toffee chips. This was just heavenly! 

Chocolate Cupcakes

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

1 ½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

2 cup granulated sugar

2/3 cup vegetable oil

2 egg

2 tsp vanilla

1 ½ cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350F. Line 2 cupcake pans with paper liners. Set aside 

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

In a large mixer bowl whisk together the sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla until smooth. Add the flour into the egg mixture in 3 batches alternating with the buttermilk, starting and ending with the flour.(so 3 additions of flour mixture and 2 of the buttermilk)

Place batter into the prepared pans adding approximately 1/4 cup batter to each liner (or until they're 3/4 full. Bake in preheated oven fo18-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Ganache
6 oz. bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate chips, finely chopped*

½ cup heavy cream

Place the chocolate in a small bowl.  Bring the cream to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium-high, then pour over the chocolate, and let stand about 2 minutes. 

Whisk together until a smooth ganache forms.  Let cool at room temperature to thicken slightly before using.

*the type of chocolate used is up to individual taste, although I prefer semi-sweet over bittersweet.
*To save a little bit of time I actually used semi-sweet chocolate chips, which worked just fine.

Caramel Sauce
To note: I chose to make the caramel sauce myself, since it's surprisingly very easy to do, but if you don't have the time, or just choose to use one, a store bought caramel sauce would work just as well. I should also note that while I would love to claim this caramel sauce recipe as my own, I can't. This is a recipe directly borrowed from Simply Recipes, as they have the best, clearest instructions on how to make it. Link to original recipe is below. 

2 cups of sugar

12 Tbsp unsalted butter cut into 1 tbsp pieces

1 cup heavy whipping cream

First, before you begin, make sure you have everything ready to go - the cream and the butter next to the pan, ready to put in. Making caramel is a fast process that cannot wait for hunting around for ingredients. If you don't work fast, the sugar will burn. Safety first - make sure there are no children under foot and you may want to wear oven mitts; the caramelized sugar will be much hotter than boiling water.

Heat sugar on moderately high heat in a heavy-bottomed 2-quart or 3-quart saucepan. As the sugar begins to melt, stir vigorously with a whisk or wooden spoon. As soon as the sugar comes to a boil, stop stirring. You can swirl the pan a bit if you want, from this point on. Note that this recipe works best if you are using a thick-bottomed pan. If you find that you end up burning some of the sugar before the rest of it is melted, the next time you attempt it, add a half cup of water to the sugar at the beginning of the process, this will help the sugar to cook more evenly, though it will take longer as the water will need to evaporate before the sugar will caramelize.

As soon as all of the sugar crystals have melted (the liquid sugar should be dark amber in color), immediately add the butter to the pan. Whisk until the butter has melted.

Once the butter has melted, take the pan off the heat. Count to three, then slowly add the cream to the pan and continue to whisk to incorporate. Note than when you add the butter and the cream, the mixture will foam up considerably. This is why you must use a pan that is at least 2-quarts (preferably 3-quarts) big.

Whisk until caramel sauce is smooth. Let cool in the pan for a couple minutes, then pour into a glass mason jar and let sit to cool to room temperature. (Remember to use pot holders when handling the jar filled with hot caramel sauce.) Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Warm before serving.

Yield: Makes a little over two cups of sauce.

Recipe was borrowed from Simply Recipes with adjustments made to quantities. http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/caramel_sauce/

Salted Caramel Buttercream Frosting

¾ cup caramel sauce (from recipe above)
8 tbsp salted butter at room temperature
4 tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature

1 teaspoon sea salt
4-5  cups confectioners’ sugar

6-8 tbsp heavy cream

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, salt and caramel sauce together until well combined and light, about 2 minutes. Slowly add in the confectioner’s sugar, a quarter cup at a time, until it’s all incorporated and well blended.

Add in 3 tablespoons of heavy cream or milk. Blend on low speed until moistened. Add the rest of the heavy cream 1 tbsp at a time until you reach the desired consistency. Beat at high speed for 4-5 more minutes until frosting is smooth and fluffy.

Cupcake Assembly:

Once cupcakes are completely cool and other components are made it’s time to assemble the cupcakes.

First step is to core the cupcakes, reserving the removed cake to put back in later.

Once all cupcakes are cored, spoon 1 ½ teaspoons of the caramel sauce into each cupcake.

Then replace the previously removed cupcake centers.

With a teaspoon, drop and spread 2 teaspoons of the chocolate ganache on top of each cupcake.

Pipe icing onto cupcake.

Drizzle with remaining caramel sauce. I use a small plastic bottle for this that I got at my local restaurant supply store for less than a dollar.

Top with Heath Bar Chips if desired.  

Enjoy!

Nutella Cupcakes

I knew that someday I had to make Nutella cupcakes, but quite frankly I've been putting it off for reasons that I don't think I could possibly explain. I love Nutella. I love cupcakes. You'd think that this would have been a no-brainer for me to make years ago. And yet, it wasn't until last week that I attempted it. I think that it was the fact that one of my co-workers has become obsessed with Nutella (or is just more out about her obsession). Okay, perhaps she's not obsessed, but she has a giant jar that always comes out at lunch time and she just can't seem to get enough. I thought that maybe the time had come to make her some Nutella cupcakes, complete with extra icing in a tub that she could dunk her pretzel sticks into. 

In researching the web for existing Nutella cupcakes I ran across many different recipes for what  everyone called "Self Icing Nutella Cupcakes". This mostly seemed to consist of dropping a certain amount of Nutella on top of the batter in the cupcake liner and then swirling it in, which seems a simple enough idea, so I found a vanilla cake recipe I haven't tried before and made these so-called self icing cupcakes. And while these cupcakes are certainly delicious, I don't know that I'd call them "self-icing". The Nutella stays on top of the cupcake and melts a little bit, but mostly it forms a bit of a crust on the top. In the end, without a legitimate butter cream icing these didn't exactly conform to what I'd call a cupcake. Thankfully I'd purchased one of the large jars while at the grocery store, so I had plenty left to make a wonderfully light and delicious Nutella butter cream to top the cupcakes with. Yummy!

Nutella Cupcakes
2 sticks (16 tbsp) unsalted butter, softened
1 ½ cup granulated sugar

1 tbsp tsp vanilla
6 eggs
3 ½ cups all purpose flour
½ tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

Nutella - approximately1 ½ teaspoon for each cupcake

Preheat oven to 325F. Line 2 cupcake tins with paper liners.

In a large bowl with a mixer, beat the butter, sugar and vanilla together until light and fluffy, approximately 2-3 minutes. Add in the eggs one at a time, beating the mixture thoroughly after each addition. Make sure to scrape the sides of the bowl periodically.

In another bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda), then slowly add into the sugar mixture. Beat batter until flour is fully incorporated. Batter will be very thick.

Fill each paper liner ¾ full, approximately ¼ cup each. I prefer to use a 2 oz ice cream scoop*. Spoon 1 ½ teaspoons (a heaping teaspoonful will do) of Nutella on top of each cupcake and swirl into the batter with a toothpick.

Place cupcakes in oven and bake for 18-20 minutes until top springs back when touched or a toothpick inserted on the side of the cupcake (where there is no Nutella) comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

These are great just like this, but if you’re like me and love the icing part, make some whipped Nutella buttercream to pipe on top and these will be heavenly!

Recipe makes 24 cupcakes.

*I bought my ice cream scoop at a local restaurant supply store for $4 and I highly recommend using one to scoop the batter into the liners as it makes sure that all are evenly filled.

Nutella Buttercream Frosting

2 sticks (16 tbsp) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 jar of Nutella (13 oz)

Pinch of fine ground sea salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4-5 cups confectioners’ sugar
6-8 tablespoons heavy cream or milk

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and Nutella together until well combined and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Slowly add in the confectioner’s sugar, a quarter cup at a time, until it’s all incorporated and well blended.

Add in the salt, vanilla, and 3 tablespoons of heavy cream or milk. Blend on low speed until moistened. Add the rest of the heavy cream 1 tbsp at a time until you reach the desired consistency. Beat at high speed for 4-5 more minutes until frosting is smooth and fluffy.