One Year Anniversary Prosecco Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache Filling

Pin It Now! As you know, I love cupcakes.  They are my favorite treat to make for all occasions and somehow they just make an ordinary day seem special.

One year ago today, I became a Mrs.  And at our wedding we had the same kind of cupcakes that Mr. M. used when he proposed to me.  It seems only fitting to make cupcakes to celebrate our one year wedding anniversary, right?  But they had to be extra-special....  so bring on the bubbly!

Prosecco is basically Italy's answer to champagne.  It's slightly sweet with that beautiful champagne-y tang, and of course, the signature bubbles.  The cake recipe I found at Sprinkle Bakes, and to switch things up a bit I filled them with a simple chocolate ganache (1 pt cream to 2 pt chocolate.  Melt chocolate, simmer cream, combine. Cool.  Done!)  Since our wedding was accented with deep purple and lavender I used food coloring gels to tint the frosting a lovely, romantic lavender.

Prosecco Cupcakes

Note: make sure you allow the Prosecco plenty of time to come to room temperature, especially for the frosting. 

Forgive the short blog post, but I'm ready to go celebrate with my handsome hubby over some Prosecco and cupcakes...  cheers!  :)

Prosecco Cupcakes

from Sprinkle Bakes
(Makes one dozen cupcakes)
1/2 c unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 c granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 c AP flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c sour cream
1/2 c Prosecco or champagne

Prosecco Buttercream Frosting

1 c Prosecco
2 tbsp reduced Prosecco (instructions below)
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp
Powdered sugar, sifted

For the cupcakes...
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a muffin tin with baking cups.

In the bowl of your stand mixer, beat butter until light and fluffy.  Add in sugar and mix well.  Add eggs, one at a time, and beat well after each addition.  Mix in vanilla.

In a separate bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.  In a small bowl, combine sour cream and Prosecco.  Set aside.

Beginning and ending with the flour mixture, alternately add it and the sour cream/Prosecco mixtures to the butter, sugar and egg mixture.  Batter will be somewhat thick.  Fill cupcake liners with just under 1/4 c of batter.  Bake for 17-22 minutes, until cake tester or toothpick comes out clean.  Allow to cool completely.  To fill with ganache, fill a pastry bag fitted with Wilton tip 230.  Carefully insert the tip into the top of the cupcake and gently squeeze until ganache is just barely oozing out the top of the cake.

For the reduced Prosecco...
Pour one cup Prosecco into a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat.  Allow to simmer approx 20 minutes, until reduced to 2 tbsp.  Set aside to cool.

For the frosting...
Cream butter until light and fluffy.  Add in sifted powdered sugar, 1/2 c at a time, until a stiff frosting forms (stiffer than your desired consistency).  Add in one cup of Prosecco and the 2 tbsp reduced Prosecco and carefully mix until thoroughly incorporated.  If frosting is too thin, add in more sifted powdered sugar.  Too thick, add in more Prosecco one tbsp at a time.  Use gel food coloring to add color, if desired.  Top with sparkling sugar or any other decor you like.  Enjoy!!

Vanilla Bean Coconut Cupcakes

Pin It Now!

 Happy winter solstice!!  Can you believe that the end of the year is upon us?  I'm a Christmas freak so I'm loving all of the holiday decorations around town.  If I had my way, I'd have an entire room in my house dedicated to year-round Christmas decorations.  Yes, I'm a nut.

We like to do a small potluck and white elephant gift exchange at work, and this year I decided that coconut cupcakes would be a nice winter-y looking dessert to have.  This recipe is originally from Bon Appetit, and while I love the recipe, there are a couple things I would do differently.  First, the cupcakes rise far more than your typical cupcake, so next time I'll fill the cups just under half full (making 24 cupcakes as opposed to the original recipe's suggested 18).  Also, the frosting recipe was only enough to frost 12 cupcakes with a pastry bag, so I'll definitely be doubling. 

The secret to this recipe is the reduced coconut milk.   It keeps the cake soft and makes the icing melt-in-your-mouth silky.  Seriously, I could sit and eat the frosting with a spoon and be perfectly happy.  Maybe with a drizzle of chocolate ganache...  or a sprinkle of cocoa...  ooohh or toasted coconut and shaved dark chocolate...

What were we talking about??

Oh, yes - the cupcakes!

The reduced coconut milk can be made a couple days in advance (so convenient!) and kept in the fridge.  In fact, you could make the whole works in advance and keep the frosted cupcakes in the fridge overnight if needed.  Make sure you bring them to room temperature prior to serving.  Decorate as you see fit - I chose edible glitter to look like snow for my wintery cupcakes.  :)  Enjoy!

Coconut Cupcakes

Source: Bon Appetit

1 1/2 c reduced coconut milk (instructions below)
2 c AP flour
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 c (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/3 c sugar
3 large eggs
Seeds from 1 split vanilla bean (alternately: 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract)
1 c reduced coconut milk

Coconut Frosting

1 c (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 1/2 c sifted powdered sugar
1/3 c reduced coconut milk
Seeds from 1 split vanilla bean (or 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract)
1/8 tsp salt
Toasted coconut (optional - garnish)

Directions:

For the reduced coconut milk...

To reduce coconut milk, pour two 13.5 ounce cans of coconut milk into a medium saucepan and heat on medium high heat. Bring to a boil (watch it - it'll boil up) and reduce heat slightly.  Allow to boil 25-30 minutes until reduced and syrup-y.  Cool completely.  (Can be made two days in advance.  Keep chilled.)

For the cupcakes...
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line cupcake tins with baking cups and set aside.  Whisk the dry ingredients in a bowl.  Meanwhile, beat butter with electric mixer until smooth.  Add in sugar and beat until well mixed.  Add 2 eggs, one at a time, and beating well after each addition and occasionally scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula.  Beat in seeds from vanilla bean and remaining egg.  Add half of flour mixture and beat on low until just combined.  Pour in one cup of reduced coconut milk and blend until just mixed.  Add remaining flour and mix.  Divide the batter among the cups and  bake approx. 20 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.  Cool 10 minutes in baking pans and then carefully remove to cool completely.

For the frosting...
Beat butter until smooth using an electric mixer.  Add in sifted powdered sugar, 1/3 cup of reduced coconut milk, seeds from vanilla bean and salt.  Mix all ingredients well until light and fluffy.  Transfer to a pastry bag and decorate as desired.  (Can be made a day in advance.  Keep chilled.  Bring to room temp prior to decorating.)

Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Buttercream

Pin It Now! Recently our good friends A & T invited us over for Fight Night.  I won't pretend to know the first thing about boxing or ultimate fighting or whatever it was, but getting together with friends is always great.  It's also a good excuse to get in the kitchen and make something yummy to share.

I decided to make chocolate cupcakes with a creamy peanut butter frosting.  I can't remember what chocolate cake recipe I used for this particular occasion, but there are lots of good ones out there.  Yummy Mummy features the famous Magnolia Bakery chocolate cupcake recipe here.

When it comes to making frosting, I admit to completely winging it.  Here's the gist of it:

Peanut Butter Buttercream

2 sticks of unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup of creamy peanut butter
1 tsp. vanilla
Powdered sugar

Cream the butter on medium speed until light and fluffy.   Add the vanilla and 1 cup of peanut butter and cream until well mixed.  Sift in powdered sugar (I usually go 1/2 cup at a time) until it reaches the desired consistency.  Finishing ideas: mini chocolate chips, mini peanut butter cups (Trader Joe's makes the perfect tiny peanut butter cup), drizzled ganache... Hungry yet??

National Chocolate Cupcake Day and Why I Love Cupcakes

Pin It Now! Yesterday was National Chocolate Cupcake Day.  Did I have a cupcake to celebrate?  You betcha!  My favorite local cupcakery is just a hop, skip and a jump away from my office, so there really was no excuse not to.
(Forgive the poor quality of the first few pics.  All but one were taken on my phone.)

Everybody loves a cupcake, right?  Right.  Well, cupcakes hold a very special place in my heart.  On August 15, 2010, the love of my life got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.  Over a box of cupcakes.  Nestled among the treats stood a ring box disguised as a cupcake.  Adorable, right?!  I know.  One of the many things I love about him is his creativity.

When it came time to plan our wedding, having cupcakes as our dessert was the obvious choice.  We of course chose Crushcakes!  They were a huge hit and everyone loved the tie-in to our proposal story.

So even though National Cupcake Day 2011 has past, why not enjoy a cupcake today?  Or tomorrow?  Any day is cupcake day in my book.  Cheers!

(Photo credit: Kiel Rucker Photography)