Emergency Blender Cupcakes with Fudgy Frosting

How irresistible is an easy cupcake recipe you can throw together at the last minute? Especially a moist, chocolatey cupcake? So irresistible that I started these tonight at 8:15 in an effort to make it under the wire to post them on time. All in all, it took less than two hours to complete them (as in wearing icing) and would have taken less if I wasn't goofing off on Words with Friends. I used one of my favorite tricks to cool them off, using my granite countertop to pull the heat out of the cupcakes.

This recipe is from The Weekend Baker by Abby Dodge, and I made it for ABC Bakers. Hanaa has raved about the deliciousness and ease of the cupcakes, so as I worked, I weighed all of the ingredients for which she only gave volume measurements. I knew I would be making them again and I love recipes that I can weigh everything into either the mixing bowl (or blender jar in this case) or a measuring cup.

Hanaa had mentioned that she'd never made the frosting because she always has some extra frosting in the freezer, and I wish I was similarly afflicted. The frosting just didn't do it for me. Maybe it was the sweetened condensed milk. Next time, I'll make a ganache, let it cool and whip it until it's light and fluffy.

These cupcakes are too good to save for an emergency, unless your emergency is needing a quick chocolate fix. If you're craving an easy chocolate entreat, you can find the recipe here. And check out the other ABC Bakers' cupcakes here.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

The other day, a coworker bought red velvet cupcakes at one of those fancy cupcakes stores and shared them with the office. Amid the oohs and aahs, no one seemed to notice that the frosting was overly sweet, the cake blah, and the general experience disappointing. This isn't a complaint directed at this kind gentleman, but an indictment of what passes as a good cupcake (hint: looks matter).

I was so disappointed in what felt like false advertising that I was determined to find a red velvet cupcake recipe that would make people swoon, that deserved the acclaim, and that we could all eat and feel like it was worth the calories.

I didn't have to look far to find what I wanted. Deb at Smitten Kitchen posted this red velvet cake back in 2007, and she noted many people had made it quite successfully as cupcakes.

The recipe didn't disappoint. For red velvet lovers, the cupcakes were swoon-worthy. For the rest of us, they were a pretty darn good cupcake.

Note:  You're working with red food dye here, so be careful not to splash it all over your kitchen. I have very porous light granite countertops and was careful to the point of paranoia. I think next time I'll just spread newspapers on the counter and not worry so much about making a mess. Be careful when you put the bowl, etc. in your sink. If the water splashes the batter around, you could have quite a mess.

Red Velvet Cupcakes - Adapted from "The Confetti Cakes Cookbook" by Elisa Strauss by way of Smitten Kitchen
Printer-friendly recipe
Yield: 36 cupcakes (I got 24 standard cupcakes and 24 minis)

3 1/2 cups/450 grams cake flour
1/2 cup/47 grams unsweetened cocoa (not Dutch process)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 cups canola oil
2 1/4 cups/450 grams granulated sugar
3 large eggs
6 tablespoons (3 ounces-3 standard bottles) red food coloring or 1 teaspoon red gel food coloring dissolved in 6 tablespoons of water
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 1/2 teaspoons white vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk cake flour, cocoa and salt in a bowl and set aside.

Place oil and sugar in bowl of an electric mixer and beat at medium speed until well-blended. Beat in eggs one at a time. Turn off mixer, add the food coloring and drape an old (but clean) kitchen towel over the mixer to control splashes. Turn mixer on lowest setting, wait ten seconds then turn off the mixer. Remove towel, turn mixer to low and add the vanilla. Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk in two batches. Scrape down bowl and beat just long enough to combine.

Place baking soda in a small dish, stir in vinegar and add to batter with machine running. Beat for 10 seconds.

Fill cupcake papers 3/4 full, place in oven and bake until a cake tester comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool in pans 2 minutes, then remove cupcakes to cool on a wire rack. Cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting-Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

1 pound cream cheese, room temperature
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
6 cups/684 grams confectioner’s sugar, sifted
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Beat cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer on medium speed (or use a hand mixer) for 5 minutes. Turn off mixer and add butter, then beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Turn mixer to low and slowly add the sugar and vanilla. Continue beating on low speed to combine. If too soft, chill until slightly stiff, about 10 minutes, before using.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

Take the deepest, darkest chocolate flavor. Add a soupçon of coffee. Crown with cream cheese frosting with a hint of orange zest. Devour.

Only one thing could unseat a coworker's favorite birthday treat and it was these cupcakes. The cupcake is moist and flavorful and the frosting is lightly orange, sweet enough but not cloyingly. You can make them a day or two in advance without compromising the texture, just store them in a sealed container in the fridge.

They're easy to make but the batter is exceedingly thin, so the first time I made them, I poured the batter into a large measuring cup. That was fine, but my measuring cup dripped all over the muffin tins. The second time I made them I experimented with using a piping bag. This is what happened:

Maybe that wasn't the way to go.

Chocolate Cupcakes - adapted from Ina Garten, inspired by Jamie at My Baking Addiction
Printer friendly recipe
Makes 24 cupcakes

1 3/4 cups/245 grams all-purpose flour
2 cups/190 grams sugar
3/4 cups/72 grams unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk, shaken
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners; set aside.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined. In a 2 cup measure, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla and stir with a fork to blend. With the mixer on the lowest speed (I use the Stir speed on my KitchenAid), slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on the  lowest setting, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. The batter will be very thin. Don't worry if you have a few lumps.

Using a large piping bag or measuring cup, fill the muffin wells 2/3 full. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack and cool completely.

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting - adapted from My Baking Addiction

16 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
zest of one large orange
9 tablespoons/4 1/2 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 pounds confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon Fiori di Sicilia (optional but soo good)

In a the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the softened cream cheese at medium speed for about 3 minutes. Add the softened butter, orange zest and beat until well combined, about 2 minutes. 

With the mixer on low, gradually add the powdered sugar until thoroughly incorporated and smooth. Add the extracts and mix to combine.

Put the frosting in a piping bag fitted with a star tip (or use a knife or small offset spatula) to swirl frosting on each cupcake. Store cupcakes in a sealed container in the refrigerator. Remove to room temperature 30-45 minutes before serving.

Self-Frosting Nutella Cupcakes

It's World Nutella Day. How did I celebrate? By swirling a spoonful of Nutella into my oatmeal (you should try it sometime-it's yummy!) and by baking these Nutella cupcakes. I originally saw them on Amy's blog, Playing House, and they went into my mental file of recipes I HAD to make. Although the recipe says to cool them completely, they are sooo yummy while still warm.

Self-Frosting Nutella Cupcakes (adapted from Playing House)
Printer friendly recipe
10 tbsp (140 grams) butter, softened
3/4 cup (150 grams) white sugar
3 eggs, at room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cups (200 grams) sifted all purpose flour (sift before measuring)
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
Nutella, approximately 1/3 cup

Preheat oven to 325F. Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners.

Put the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and whisk together to combine. If you're weighing your flour, you can skip the sifting and just whisk the flour, baking powder and salt well. Set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar until light, about 2 minutes. Add in the eggs one at a time, mixing until fully incorporated. Don’t worry if the batter doesn’t look smooth. Add vanilla. Stir in the flour mixture until batter is uniform and no flour remains.

Using a small ice cream scoop for uniformity, fill each muffin liner with batter. They should be 3/4 full, if you’re not using a scoop. Top each cake with about 1 1/2 tsp Nutella. Swirl the Nutella in with a toothpick, skewer, or sharp knife, making sure to fold a bit of batter up over the Nutella. Don't worry about making it look pretty.

Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until cupcakes test done (poke the cupcake with a toothpick, making sure to miss the Nutella swirl). Remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Makes 12 cupcakes.

Lots of Ways Banana Cupcakes

This week's selection for Tuesdays with Dorie was chosen by Kimberly of Only Creative Opportunities. Lots of Ways Banana Cake is, as the name implies, open to many changes. I know I'll see a lot of variations on the theme of banana cake if I'm able to tear myself away from my spreadsheet du jour and visit my fellow TWD bakers. And to those of you who are still stopping by to see if I'm still alive (yes!), I'm ever so grateful to you for continuing to do so in spite of my seeming neglect of your posts. I read much of what you write while I'm eating my lunch, but I don't comment, thinking I want to wait until "later" to comment when I'll have more time to write something more meaningful than "nice brownie." It's still not "later" so I have yet to write the intended comments. My Google Reader has a life of its own. I could cut it down considerably by marking as read all the Lolcats and The Kitchn posts, but who doesn't need a laugh and a recipe?

My inability to cope with the sheer volume of work and external demands on my time led me to punt with this week's recipe. Dorie suggests we make cake layers and then suggests a few ways to top them. The spectre of taking a cake layer to the office and disappointing three-quarters of my coworkers was added stress I didn't need. And I was confounded by trying to imagine how it would look. So I made cupcakes. I even made sort of healthy cupcakes (no, thank you, I am feeling quite all right). I subbed about 1/3 of the flour with white whole wheat. The recipe yielded 17 regular cupcakes and 24 minis. I followed Dorie's suggestion and made her ganache for the umpteenth time and took it to work with me to frost the cupcakes after they cooled. My coworkers streamed in and out of the break room, oohing and ahhing when they spied cupcakes topped with chocolate for breakfast. And since not everyone likes chocolate, I left some bare. I grabbed one (with ganache, naturally) to enjoy as my afternoon snack. As the day played out, I emailed with my coworker who was ripped out of her position and stuck in another one, not in my department, as a result of the layoffs we had. She's miserable, and I met her while she took her break. The banana cupcake, while not a solution to her problems, did bring a smile to her face. And isn't putting a smile on a crying face so much better than eating a cupcake?

These were lovely, fluffy cupcakes, delicious with their undertone of coconut. I heard that the ganache + banana was a winning combination. They're a definite repeat.

Thanks, Kimberly, for choosing such a versatile and easy recipe. If you'd like the recipe, Kimberly has it for you here.

SMS - Carrot Cupcakes (Muffins?)

Julie of A Little Bit of Everything chose this week's Sweet Melissa Sundays recipe, carrot cake. I have an easier time giving away cupcakes, so I made 24 minis and 15 regular cupcakes. The cream cheese frosting received lukewarm reviews on the P&Q, so I elected to skip it and serve these unadorned.

I used the food processor to shred the carrots and that made this recipe a snap. Even though the recipe called for 1 1/2 tablespoons of cinnamon, which seemed excessive, I stuck with it, using my favorite Vietnamese cinnamon to amp up the flavor. The minis baked for 15 minutes and the regular cupcakes baked in 20. I sampled one warm and found the flavor a bit lacking. I have a favorite carrot cake recipe and will probably stick with it instead of retooling this one.  Sorry, Julie!

If you'd like the recipe, Julie has it here.

Barefoot Bloggers - Coconut Cupcakes

Why, Ina? Why? I really didn't want to fall in love with another one of your recipes that involves unwrapping multiple sticks of butter, blocks of cream cheese or measures sugar by the pound. But like my first flirtation with dark chocolate, there is no going back now that I've tried your luscious coconut cupcakes.

This one will be short as it's late and I'm trying to get this one posted on time. These were easy to put together (other than the pain of unwrapping six sticks of butter), and as I mentioned, they were deee-licious. Ina says this recipe makes 18-20 cupcakes. I don't know what kind of muffin tins she's using but I got 24 regular cupcakes and 24 minis. And I had a lot of leftover frosting.

If you'd like to make these delightful cupcakes, you can find the recipe here. Many thanks to Jamie from Jamie's Green Kitchen for hosting Barefoot Bloggers this week.

SMS - Red Velvet Cupcakes

Red velvet cupcakes are the foundation of many of the chic cupcakes shops springing up around the country. One of these shops was the reason my coworkers requested red velvet cupcakes. The shop cupcakes were dry, the frosting overly sweet and stiff, and they wanted the real thing.

Lucky for me this week's Sweet Melissa Sundays pick is red velvet cake, hosted by Rosy of Rosy Lips and Lavendar. I chose to make cupcakes, even though I was a bit intimidated that people would be comparing them to professional cupcakes. I know I've mentioned many times that my piping and decorating skills are primitive, but these cupcakes were exhibit A.

These were a snap to make, and in spite of the three sticks of butter and 12 ounces of cream cheese, the frosting was light and fluffy. And they were a hit at work. Raves all around.

Thanks, Rosy, for a great pick! If you'd like the recipe, stop by Rosy's as she'll have it posted.