MSC- Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes

This month's MS Cupcakes Club recipe featured the Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes, in perfect time for Halloween. In the cookbook they have a super cute marzipan cupcake on each cake. Unfortunately I just spent 4 hours working on a garden themed cake with vegetables made of starbursts and laffy taffies and I was just not in the mood to take the time to make a bunch of tiny pumpkins.

Overall, this recipe is a grand slam! The cupcakes are not too overpoweringly pumpkin, they are very light and just the right moistness level. They are not dense and thick like pumpkin bread, and lighter and a bit sweeter than a muffin, they truly live up to a cake consistency. The flavor is amazing. My family doesn't usually like pumpkin flavored things, we're more sweet potato people, but these cupcakes definitely make me rethink that. They're delicious!

We started eating them without frosting because I made them late night, and the universal feeling was that they don't really need frosting at all because they are so delicious naked.

These cupcakes are a perfect way to welcome in fall and pumpkin season, and a cinch to make! I had all the ingredients already at home except for the canned pumpkin. I halved the recipe and still got 18+ cupcakes! For whatever reason Martha's recipes always turn out way more than the predicted amount. Overall this recipe was fantastic, and I will definitely be making it again!

MSC-Zucchini Spice Cupcakes

I joined Martha's Cupcake Club this week, where we make a Martha Stewart Cupcake cookbook recipe every month. This month was Zucchini Spice Cupcakes. These cupcakes are essentially like carrot cupcakes, except with zucchini instead. I can't really taste the Zucchini too much, but they are delicious nonetheless.

I also made the cream cheese frosting suggested with the cakes in the book. The frosting is really good, very cream cheesy. I did think it was a bit too sweet to eat a lot of it with the cakes. Next time I'll only add a portion of the sugar. I added a little lemon zest, I love it in just about everything, it makes it a bit more fresh and lively.

Can you see the little green specks in the cake from the zucchini? I can't, and the pictures a little blurry. I took some new pictures, but unfortunately they're not so great either. I don't have an external flash and it was a bit overcast, and I didn't have a good specimen to photograph, since all the good ones were scarfed up by hungry residents.
My team at the hospital will love digging into these tomorrow morning! Yum!!

***So I updated the post a bit. These cupcakes were AWESOME! I'd like to believe that they're "healthy" since they're made with zucchini right?? Not to mention the whole cream cheese and butter frosting part! *wink*wink* I'd like to eat a whole batch by myself, but I'm trying to quit ;)

What Lies Beneath that Foil Wrapper and Wholesome Looking White Frosting?

It looks just like a mild mannered cupcake. White frosting, rainbow sprinkles. Nothing too crazy. Boy does it have you fooled! This is the Clark Kent of cupcakes! When you take off that wrapper- BAM! Psychedelic colorful swirls!

How fun is that?? For my friend Peter's birthday I decided to make some awesomely colorful tie-dyed cupcakes using an inspiration I saw on Tastespotting. I figured I'd also kill two birds with one stone and make another of Martha's Cupcakes. I went with basic yellow. Who can go wrong with yellow cake, especially when you're gonna color it all up! Here's the cake recipe:

Tie Dyed Psychadelic Yellow Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

2 large eggs

Sprinkles, for decorating

FROSTING

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

3 cups confectioners' sugar

1/2 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line the cupcake tin. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a liquid-measuring cup, mix milk and vanilla; set aside.

In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. With mixer on low speed, add half of dry ingredients, followed by milk-vanilla mixture, then remaining dry ingredients. Do not overmix.

Separate batter into smaller bowls, one for each color you have. Add food coloring to each bowl.

Spoon about a tablespoon or so of each color into each liner so that each color is represented and cups are about 3/4 full.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool cupcakes 5 minutes in tin, then remove and cool completely on a rack before frosting.

Prepare frosting: in a medium bowl, with an electric mixer, beat unsalted butter, confectioners' sugar, milk, and vanilla extract until smooth. Mix in up to 1/2 cup more sugar or a few more teaspoons of milk as necessary to achieve a spreadable consistency. Makes enough for 12 cupcakes.

Aren't they great! I love how this one has a wave like pattern. See that one little crater in the middle? It happened in every cupcake! Isn't that weird? Anyways...Here's Peter enjoying a cupcake!

Yum! These cupcakes turned out great! A bit dense, probably the mixing in of the colors and stuff deflated the air bubbles a bit, but definitely tasty. The colors were amazing. I'd make them again just for the colors! I can't wait to experiment with different flavors in the different colors. Lemon for yellow, lime for green, strawberry for red. Could be a fruit salad in a cupcake!

(Chocolate) Chip Off the Old Block- One Third of the Way There!

This week cupcake convert Diana (Pashunfroot and Thyme to Lime) and I decided to make Martha's Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Chocolate Chip Buttercream. Check out her take on this chocolate chip madness here! This will be my 5th of the 15 cupcakes! 10 more recipes to go! I started a list to the right with links back to my interpretation of each recipe! I had a friend's birthday and a class to bring them to so that I wouldn't eat the whole batch! Good thing too, these are awesome cupcakes! The batter uses beaten egg white to help with the leavening, and it makes for a fantastically light and fluffy white vanilla cake.
Semisweet chocolate chips make for a fantastic chocolatey surprise, a little bitter compared to the sweet cake. The icing is a basic buttercream, ultra sweet, but when combined with the cake its alright. I would use mini chips or chop up the chips, because I don't like big chips in such an otherwise light and soft bite, and its difficult to spread on the cake. I would also consider using a different icing...I'm just not such a fan of the ultra sweet buttercream. I guess it works overall, but its not something I want to add more of to the cupcake, or eat with a spoon (not that I would...wink wink).
Overall, very tasty. Martha's on a real streak- 5/5 cupcakes I will make again! And, I'd even make the cake without the chips! The cake part is delicious! As always, you can find the recipe here!

I Want Some of your Brown Sugar...

If you haven't heard it, listen to the song "Brown Sugar" by D'Angelo. It's a nice smooth sultry song that's been in my head all week. I love dark brown sugar! The flavor is so deep and rich. It really can make a difference in a recipe. On my quest to make all 15 cupcake recipes in Martha Stewart Living Feb edition, my friend Diana (of Pashunfroot and ThymetoLime) and I decided to make the Brown Sugar Pound Cake Cupcakes with a Brown Butter glaze. This recipe is my 4th out of 15... still quite a few to go! Please check out Diana's interpretation of the same recipe at ThymetoLime!

These cupcakes are great! Delicious, sophisticated and rich, these cupcakes are on another level from the ordinary, run of the mill cupcake. The flavor is deep and intense, and the glaze elevates the overall cupcake to a new level. The flavor was reminiscent of the DB Caramel cake with brown butter frosting, but better. I prefer this cupcake, a little less sugary sweet, a little different flavor. They were easy to make. I goofed a little bit, I added 2 1/2 cup of brown sugar instead of 2 1/4, and I used dark brown instead of light brown as called for. I also added a bit of vanilla to the batter. My recipe made 30 instead of 27, and I felt like a little more glaze would have been nice... I was defeinitely scrounging to frost them all. When making the frosting, I put my butter on low, and it still browned up very fast. Make sure you watch the butter, if you don't it will burn right up. I used a sieve to separate the solids, and when I poured the butter into the powdered sugar, it sizzled loud! The recipe doesn't say to let it cool, so I just went for it... as far as I can tell, it didn't mess anything up! Here's the recipe.

Once again, another good recipe, I highly recommend it! Martha's on a roll- 4/4 cupcakes that I'd love to make again!

Addendum: My cupcakes made it to Tastespotting again!! Search: jesschubb. YEAHHH!!!!