Happy Valentine's Day!!! (Nutella Brownies and Red Velvet Cupcake Recipes)

I couldn't have had a better surprise this morning than to wake up to a snowstorm and closed schools! I was really happy to have the kids at home, I made an army of tiny Red Velvet Cupcakes, found an Origami Heart pattern on the net then invited a few friends over for sweets and crafts!


It was my first time making Red Velvet anything and I thought Valentine's Day was the ideal day to try these cupcakes. I was pleasantly surprised by their texture, they were soft and fluffy with just a hint of cocoa and the color, wow, very impressive. The cream cheese icing, well, it's just over the top sweet and creamy but I wouldn't have it any other way!



And with all this talk about Nutella lately, combined with a serious craving for brownies, well it was just a matter of time before I gave in and made Nutella Brownies. Armed with a recipe by one of my faves, Ricardo, of course, I knew I couldn't fail! The brownies were just delightful, the hazelnut taste of the Nutella really came through and the texture, oh boy, just dreamy! Perfect for a Valentine's Day weekend!


I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day!!!

For the Red Velvet Cupcake recipe please visit Brown Eyed Baker. I made the recipe pretty much as is except for using gel food coloring (about 1 tbsp) instead of liquid and baking the cupcakes in mini muffin pans for about 12 minutes.

For the Nutella Brownies recipe please visit Ricardo's website.

Happy Halloween!!! (Pumpkin Carrot Cupcake Recipe)

Happy Halloween everyone! I hope you guys had as much fun as we've been having here. The kids have been costumed twice now, since last week: once for school and once for going door to door. They had a blast and of course, so did I! I just love making their costumes and also, baking up goodies.


I made these Pumpkin Carrot Cupcakes using an Anna Olson recipe from the Food Network and they turned out great. I made a Cream Cheese Frosting to go along and decorated with a pumpkin shaped candy. Aren't they cute! Of course, it's not as if the kids are going to need any extra sugar in their diets any time soon, but the cupcakes might just stop me from digging inside the kids' goody bags for a while. Maybe...

For the cupcake recipe click here. The only changes I made to the recipe was using butternut squash puree instead of pumpkin because that's what I had!

Cream Cheese Frosting

This frosting is perfect if you want to pipe it on thickly onto the cupcakes.

8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
1/4 cup of unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
3-4 cups confectioners sugar, sifted

In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla extract, until well blended. Then, a little at a time, blend in the confectioners sugar, until the frosting is thick, creamy and luscious. Pipe it or spread it onto your cupcakes and dig in!

TWD-Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes

Our host for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie is the lovely Clara of I Heart Food 4 Thought. I have only one thing to say to Clara this week: Thank you, sweetie! Clara even suggested that we decorate our Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes for Halloween and I thought that was a great idea.

After reading the FAQ on the TWD site, I was afraid that the recipe might yield dry cupcakes though. So instead of using a whole egg and a yolk, I used two whole eggs. And baked the cupcakes a little less than what was specified. That seemed to do the trick as these cupcakes were anything but dry!

I made 24 minis and 9 regular sized cupcakes out of the recipe and although they didn't need the extra icing, I went ahead anyways and drizzled them in colorful, Halloween appropriate icing. Nothing more than a little icing sugar, butter and milk and a few drops of food coloring. Easy and fun!

The ganache that tops these little guys is really luscious and although Dorie suggests to serve these to adults as they can better appreciate the dark chocolate, my little ones loved these! Perhaps the yellow, orange and green drizzles had something to do with it?

You still have a little time before Halloween to whip up a batch of these delightful little guys so go on over to Clara's blog for the recipe. And for more creative decorating ideas, check out the Tuesdays with Dorie blogroll, you won't be disappointed!

Pretty in Pink Frosting

I want to start this post by thanking all of you who left Olivia and I such wonderful birthday wishes. Be sure that I appreciate each and every comment. It boggles the mind how much love there is out there on the blogosphere! Thank you guys so much!

Now for part one of the birthday desserts... What could be better than pink frosted cupcakes for a little girl's birthday? My oldest daughter would argue that a Bratz cake is way better but she's 7 years old, not 1! So cupcakes it was for Olivia and let me tell you I had fun with these! I am usually a total clutz with a piping bag but I guess I found the right frosting recipe because I could have frosted cupcakes all day. Really, I wish I'd had loads of people over for a party so I could have baked dozen after dozen cupcakes. So much fun!

The cupcake recipe I used from Epicurious was really simple and easy. They were very good too, in a simple vanilla cupcake sort of way! It was Olivia's very first taste of cake and I have to admit, she was a lot more fascinated with the pretty candle than with the cupcake itself! She did have a small taste though and she liked it well enough. Annabelle and Thomas both loved them. Thomas even forgot to tell me they were too girlie, he was so busy eating!

So Olivia's birthday dessert went over well, now I have to decide what I'll make as my special dessert. Well, I couldn't do it all on the same day, now could I? And there are so many options out there I've bookmarked or printed out, I don't know what to choose! I'm not good with decisions, I'll let you know how it turns out... In the meantime, please have a cupcake!

The cupcake recipe is from Amy Sedaris and can be found on Epicurious.

Pink Buttercream Frosting
Adapted from The Cupcakery

4 oz. (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
4 oz. Vegetable Shortening
5 cups powdered sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
2 to 3 tbsp whole milk
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
Red food coloring

1. With an electric mixer, cream the butter, shortening & salt for about 30 seconds.
2. Add half of the powdered sugar and the milk to the butter mixture and beat again until combined. Scrape down the bowl. 3. Add the remainder of the powdered sugar, vanilla, and lemon juice. Beat until combined. Scrape down the bowl again.
4. Beat on high speed for 5-6 minutes or until the frosting is fluffy. Add red food coloring, a few drops at a time until desired color is achieved.
5. It is preferable to use the frosting on the same day you make it, but it can keep in the refrigerator for 3 days if tightly wrapped. Make sure and stir the buttercream well before using to get the air bubbles out of the frosting and then pipe onto completely cooled cupcakes.

Cupcakes and a Spectacular Comeback

I am on such a maple kick lately that when I was deciding on which recipe to make for Cupcakes Spectacular, hosted by Arfi of HomemadeS, I thought it would be fitting to make a cupcake with maple flavorings. Oddly, I chose the garnish before I decided on the actual recipe.

Maple Pralined Pecans; I made this recipe a dozen times without fail except for once, this past Christmas. You’re supposed to put 1 cup of maple syrup in a saucepan with one cup of pecans, bring to a boil and stir for about 15 minutes until the syrup crystallizes onto the pecans. I stirred for like a half hour and nothing happened. The whole thing was a burnt, mapley mess. But, I decided to try again, telling myself I must have measured wrong or something last time. So I measure and mix and boil and stir and sure enough after 15 minutes nothing was happening, again. So before the whole thing burned again, I threw 2 tablespoons of butter into the mix, stirred and dumped everything onto my baking sheet. Lo and behold, a few minutes later after it had cooled, I had the most wonderful fudge-like maple pecan brittle I had ever tasted! Well, now I had my topping! Not wanting to overwhelm the cupcakes with maple, I made an apple-pecan cupcake with a maple frosting.

The maple taste is not very strong in the frosting alone but add the chopped up brittle and we’re in business! The cupcakes themselves, without frosting are really moist and fluffy, and the brittle, well, it’s a wonder I still had any to garnish the cupcakes! I had so much fun with this event and I learned a few things about myself : I can come back from a failed recipe with a back-up plan, which is always a good thing, and I can decorate cupcakes! Thanks for hosting such a great event Arfi!

Apple Pecan Cupcakes
Adapted from Allrecipes.com

I made 58 mini-cupcakes with this recipe, but I assume it would make 12 large cupcakes.

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1 3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
2 cups finely chopped apples
3/4 cup finely chopped, roasted pecans

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Line cupcake molds of choice with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine flour, baking powder and salt, add to the creamed mixture, alternating with the milk, stirring until batter is smooth. Fold in the apples and pecans. Spoon batter into the cupcake molds.

Bake for about 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Cupcakes are done when they spring back to the touch.

Maple Frosting
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups of confectioner’s sugar, sifted
6 tbsp maple syrup

Cream butter with an electric mixer, add confectioner’s sugar and maple syrup. Beat well. You can add more confectioner’s sugar for a thicker frosting. Also this recipe doubles easily.

Maple Pecan Brittle
Adapted from Ricardo Volume 3, Number 3

1 cup maple syrup
1 cup pecans
2 tbsp butter

In a medium saucepan, combine maple syrup and pecans. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and stir for 15 minutes. Add butter, stir to combine and quickly spread onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Let cool and break into pieces. Enjoy as is or chop up to decorate cupcakes.

Note: if after only 15 minutes the syrup crystallizes onto the pecans: Congratulations! You’ve made pralined pecans, something I’m apparently not able to do anymore. Just omit the butter and quickly spread onto a parchment lined baking sheet. They can also be eaten as is or chopped up to decorate the cupcakes.