I know I’m not in the kitchen as much as I’d like to be lately! Or, perhaps, as much you would want me to be…so, when I do manage to get a new recipe up and going, I want it to be different, and special, and….WOW!

And today’s recipe? Mixes some new with some old, and you definitely get the WOW! Spring has sprung and summer is just around the corner, so I wanted to celebrate with something light and fruity…but with a rich, decadent punch. These sounded exactly perfect!

Chocolate Angel Food Cupcakes!

You can add a little glaze, or maybe some fruit preserves or compote on top…but then I remembered this absolutely yummmm cupcake frosting I made last year, from Johnnie Gabriel’s Southern Cooking.

Yes, Fresh Strawberry Cream Cheese! I know, how decadently perfect, right?

Other then getting arm cramps whipping egg whites into a frenzy, this is an easy recipe with easy to find ingredients. Prep time is quick! (Which will give you time to chop up all the strawberries for the frosting, while they’re baking!)

Let’s dig in, shall we?

Cupcake Ingredients:

1 cup flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup baking cocoa (use the best you can find! I use dark dutched cocoa)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
10 egg lg whites (A lot, I know, but worth it! And? You’ll have all those yolks left over to make some awesome french toast with! Top with leftover strawberries. )
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Combine egg whites with salt, and beat until foamy.
3. Add cream of tartar, and continue to beat until stiff. (no, not kinda stiff…stiff stiff)
4. Stir in sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla.
5. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, cocoa, and baking powder.
6. Fold flour mixture into egg whites gradually.

7. Spoon batter into cupcake liners until 1/2 full.
8. Bake for approximately 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
9. Cool cupcakes completely in pan.

See? I told you it was easy! Now, while they’re baking, let’s go into the recipe archive and whip up some of Johnnie’s most delicious Strawberry Cream Cheese frosting!

Johnnie’s Cream Cheese Frosting:

1/2 cup butter
1 8 oz pack cream cheese
1 16 oz box confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped strawberries
(Johnnie also offers an alternative of using 1 cup chopped pecans instead of cut up fruit. Next time!)

Steps:
1. In large bowl combine butter and cream cheese, mixing well until smooth.
2. Add the confectioners sugar in increments, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl once or twice while adding.
3. Add vanilla and blend.
4. Fold in chopped strawberries. (Again, she calls for 3/4 cup, I used 1 full cup so there would be berries on all the cupcakes.)

And what you get is chocolate angel food strawberry cream cheese heaven in a cup! The perfect way to kick off the summer!

Until next time…take a break, and have a cupcake! And if you’d like to read about them…check out the contest below!

And now that we’ve satisfied our sweet tooth…how about a book to go along with that snack? Over on my Bigtime Author Website the Free Stuff Friday is back!! To win a book from my website bookshelf, simply send an email to donna@donnakauffman.com with “Cupcakes & Romance…I’m in!” in the subject line. This Friday, I’ll draw one name from the entry pile and announce it right here in the blog! (Don’t forget to check back to see if you’re the Big Winner!”)

I know it’s been awhile since I’ve been in the test kitchen, but I was finally able to get back to all things butter, sugar, and chocolate this week. And the results? Mmmmmm!

I haven’t played too much with filled cupcakes, so thought I’d take another stab at it. Literally. I also haven’t delved too deeply into my new Betty Crocker’s Big Book of Cupcakes cookbook, so went perusing and found two of my favorite things in one cupcake: pudding & chocolate!

So, this week, we’re making Boston Creme Cupcakes!

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:
2 1/3 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cup sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup milk

Filling:
instant vanilla pudding, 4 serving size
1 3/4 cup milk

Steps:
Preheat oven to 350 Line muffin tins with 24 paper liners
1.Prepare the vanilla pudding as instructed, using the amount of milk listed in this recipe. Refrigerate while making cupcakes.
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside
3. Blend together butter on medium speed for 30 seconds. Gradually add in sugar, about a 1/4 cup at a time. Beat well after each addition, scraping sides as needed.
4. Add eggs one at a time, blending well after each. Scrape sides as needed.
5. Beat in vanilla.
6. On low speed, alternately add milk (about 1/2 at a time) and flour mixture (1/3 at a time) starting with flour. Beat until just blended.
7. Use ice cream scoop and fill each muffin cup evenly (a little more than half full.)
8. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick test comes out clean.
9. Cool five minutes in pan, then remove to rack to cool completely.

Steps for filling:
1. Use a melon baller (I used a round, scoop shaped teaspoon measuring spoon) and scoop out the centers of each cooled cupcake.
2. Fill with pudding
3. Eat all of the cupcake divots. You won’t need them! (Okay, so this is my step, not Betty Crocker’s, but you know she ate them, too! If, you know, she was real.)

To top them off, we’re using the very yumm Chocolate Glaze Frosting:

Ingredients:
1/3 cup butter, room temperature
2 oz unsweetened baking chocolate
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup hot water

Steps:
1. In 1 qt saucepan, melt butter and chocolate over low heat, stirring occasionally.
2. Stir in powdered sugar and vanilla
3. Stir in hot water until smooth. (if necessary, add more hot water, 1 tsp at a time, until frosting is the right consistency.)
4. Frost cupcakes with metal spatula or back of large table spoon. (Refrigerate extra frosting. Or…you know, eat it by the spoonful. Not that I’ve done that or anything….)

And? Bon apetit, cupcake! I hope you enjoy them!

See you soon with more recipes from the cupcake test kitchen. In the meantime, enjoy all the other goings on over at my regular Bigtime Author Blog and enter the weekly giveaways to win copies of my new Cupcake Club books!

You can also follow me at my Facebook Fan Page and on Twitter!

Hello intrepid cupcake bakers!

I know, it’s been awhile! But I haven’t left the kitchen. I’ve been hard at work in the test kitchen, finalizing the recipes that will appear in the next Cupcake Club book…BABY CAKES (out this October.) So my life has been filled (and filled, and then s’more) with cupcakes, but I haven’t been able to share all that hard work here. BUT! Those recipes are done and ready to go, so I can finally come back and play with you all!

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, so to celebrate the holiday, I decided to attempt a recipe I saw online: The Heart of a Cupcake cupcakes! Now, those of you who have been with me since the beginning of this journey, know that I can be somewhat…shall we say…challenged by the more complicated recipes. It has been said that I’m more Lucy Ricardo than Julia Child, and well, Lucy was probably a better baker, too, so I hate to disparage her like that! But, I’ve come a long way in the past year (because, frankly, what other direction could I have gone in, really?) So I figured, why not! Let’s DO THIS!

Um…Yeah.

So….my results, perhaps not exactly on par with the original recipe I’d chosen to use. Not because there’s anything wrong with the recipe. Nooo, no, no. The recipe is great, and easy even. If…you know…you have the right tools. It’s just…me. Anyway, you’ll understand as we move onward. However, for the purposes of giving you a recipe and photos that will actually guide you toward cupcake nirvana, and not running screaming from your kitchen, I’m going to give you the recipe I found over on Desert Living as well as thank the chef, Amanda Szot, for letting me use her delightful and very useful photos, rather than…well, rather than mine.

Now, in her version, she used a frosting made with pink Laffy Taffy. Here’s the link to the site, so you can get that recipe, too, if you’ve a hankering for it! But, given this is the holiday that all but begs us to indulge in our inner chocolate diva, I had to top these fun cupcakes with a little decadence! Okay, okay…a LOT of decadence.

Oh yeah, we’re talking ganache. Dark Chocolate Ganache. Mmmmm. Because THAT? I can make. I mean, come on, it’s three ingredients. How badly could I screw that up? (Hey! I heard that! Rough crowd.)

I promise you, that regardless of how the results look, the taste? SO worth it!

So…here we go!

Heart Cupcakes

Ingredients:

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cup granulated sugar

3 eggs

2 t. baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

the seeds from half a vanilla bean
 (or 1 tsp vanilla)
1/4 tsp salt

2 1/2 cup flour

1 1/3 cup whole milk

red food coloring

Directions:


Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees (F) Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.

1) Mix the butter and sugar together at medium speed for about 90 seconds, until fluffy.
2.Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing until creamy. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl so everything gets well combined.
3.Add the baking soda, baking powder, salt, and vanilla and mix until the batter is smooth.
4.Finally, alternate between the flour and milk, beating on med-high speed until the batter is light and creamy.

NOTE: So…about vanilla beans. I was just going to sub vanilla extract, but hey, I’m trying to learn here, so off I went on the hunt for vanilla beans. And, if you can find them, definitely give it a try! Really rich, full flavor!

5.Pour a little more than 1/3 of the batter (about a cup and a half) into a smaller bowl.
6. Add red food coloring until you get your desired pink or red color.
7. Pour the batter into a non-stick (or lightly greased) 8×8 baking pan and bake for about 20 minutes until the edges of the cake start to turn golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

8.Allow to cool completely. Once the cake is cool, loosen the edges away from the pan with a knife and then invert the pan onto a cutting board.
9. Use a small heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut out a dozen cake hearts that are small enough to fit into an average-sized cupcake pan.

Right. So…I was good until I got this point. Now, I had the photos. Looks simple. How cute are they, all dunked in the cupcake batter! I knew I needed a little heart cookie cutter. And I had a little heart cookie cutter. Well..it looked little to me! Turns out you need a TINY heart cookie cutter. Compared to the muffin cups, mine where like the Red Cake Hearts that Ate Manhattan! The King Kong of red cake hearts. Anyway, you get my drift. So…when shopping for your heart cookie cutter, take a paper muffin cup with you for guidance. Just sayin! Now…back to our recipe….

10. Spoon two heaping tablespoons of the remaining batter into paper-lined cupcake tins, so they’re about half-full. Put one heart into each tin and press it point down into the batter.

Okay, just to be clear: HERE IS THE PART YOU NEED TO PAY ATTENTION TO!

11. Keep all the hearts facing forward in the pan. !!!! Seriously, do this.
12. Cover with another teaspoon of batter
13. Bake for 24 minutes. Allow the cupcakes to cool before frosting.

14.Here’s where it gets a bit tricky.

Oh, she is SO not kidding! Sure, sure, I kept the hearts facing toward the short end of the pan when I stuck them in. Easy right? Ether end of the pan, doesn’t matter. However!! When you take the cupcakes out of the pan you need to put them on the rack in the same direction.

Right. So easy, and yet? Epic fail on my part. I cut through three of them, trying to figure out how the hearts went, and, well, I’m just trashing cupcakes, essentially. Hopeless.

15. You need to keep the cupcakes facing forward so you get the right cross-section of the heart when you cut or bite into the cupcake (to get the full heart effect). After frosting, put heart candy on them (or some other decoration) that can also face forward so you know which way to cut the cupcake in order to see the heart shape inside (if you cut the heart in the wrong direction you just get a rectangle shape—not very romantic!).

Dark Chocolate Ganache:
1 lb bittersweet chocolate, chopped (use semi sweet if bitter’s not for you)
1 pint heavy cream
5 ounces unsalted butter

Directions:

1) Bring cream and butter to a simmer.
2) Pour over chocolate and stir/whisk until melted and smooth.

Seriously. Even I can do it. You can let cool and thicken a bit before frosting the cupcakes. You can also dip the cupcake tops in the ganache and swirl when it’s still soft, but then good luck in figuring out which way your hearts go! I recommend the cooling process first, then frost as usual.

And then?? Sink in! It’s worth every bite!

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

Oh, and don’t forget, there’s a contest going on over at my regular Big Time Author Blog. We’re giving away both Cupcake Club books (SUGAR RUSH & SWEET STUFF…check out the links above to learn more!) and Valentine baking goodies! You have to hurry though. Entries close midnight Sunday, February 12. Winner announced in the blog on Monday, Feb 13. Click here to find out the entry details! Good luck!

I’m interrupting all the cupcake baking going on here to announce the release of the second book in the Cupcake Club series…

SWEET STUFF!

And? I’m also having a CONTEST! (Winners announced!! Plus, a new contest! Head on over to My Big Time Author Blog to read all about it!)

See below for all the details…imported from my regular weekly blog.

YAY! Cupcake Club Book #2–SWEET STUFF–is now officially ON SALE everywhere!!

A little peek at the back cover copy:

Double Fudge…Toasted Coconut…Key Lime…Strawberry Cream… Every bite is a mouthful of heaven.

And the women of the Cupcake Club are bringing their appetites …

Riley Brown never imagined she would find her bliss on Georgia’s quiet Sugarberry Island after years of Chicago’s city life. With a new career and fantastic new friends, she’s got it all—except for eligible men. But a gig staging a renovated beach house delivers a delicious treat—six feet of blue-eyed, gorgeous writer as delectable and Southern as pecan pie. Quinn Brannigan has come to Sugarberry to finish his latest novel in peace, and suddenly Riley has a taste for the bad boy author that no amount of mocha latte buttercream or lemon mousse will satisfy …

Riley’s friends are rooting for her to give in to her cravings and spice up her life, but it’s Quinn who needs to learn that life’s menu just might include love, in all its decadent, irresistible flavors…

Here’s what the reviewers are saying…

“A deliciously sexy fulfilling treat!” –New York Times bestselling author Carly Phillips

“Romantic fun, lovable leads, and surprising emotional complexity…”
— (Starred Review!) Publisher’s Weekly AND a Publisher’s Weekly Top Ten Spring Romance !

“This is only the second book in the series but I can tell this is going to be a promising one. Kauffman touches on trust, desire, friendships, and a promising new love that just needs a little tlc to grow into something amazing. The emotions behind the characters were a big part of the story that kept me intrigued and wanting to find out more. Every single character made this story more than enjoyable but also delightful. I can’t wait until book 3 comes out. I am excited to see who will be next to fall in love in the town of Sugarberry.” ~ Lush Book Reviews

It’s all because of your amazing support that the books exist in the first place, and I owe each and every one of you a huge THANK YOU for all that you do in getting the word out. I couldn’t be more grateful.

And…one way I’d like to say thanks is to have a BIG HUGE CONTEST this week!!! With amazingly cool and awesome (not to mention freaking adorable) prizes!!

First…TWO lucky readers will win a set of both SUGAR RUSH & SWEET STUFF!! I know! How cool is that?

And ONE fabulous blog babe reader will win the grand prize of both books AND this handmade, adorably kitschy and cute cupcake apron from The Cracked Cup. Seriously. Does it get any more fun that this? No, it does not!

To enter the contest, send an email to donna@donnakauffman.com with “I want to be the winning fabulous blog babe! PICK ME!!” in the subject line. I will draw three names from the stash – first two get the book sets and last one wins the grand prize!

DEADLINE TO ENTER is midnight EST, Sunday, February 5. Winner will be announced right here on Monday, February 6. Don’t forget to stop by to see if you’re a Big Ol Blog Babe Winner!!

Ready…..set….ENTER!!!

So…I’m writing the third book in the Cupcake Club Series, titled BABYCAKES…and I’m coming in to the final stretch. Book is due next week, which means…oh yeah: I’m. On. Deadline. And we all know what that means.

Yes. Chocolate. And lot’s of it.

So, today, in the Cupcake Kitchen, I went full tilt. Chocolate Fudge Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip cupcakes. Seriously. I don’t mess around when it’s deadline hell time. And these? SO worth it!!

I started with a recipe from the Original Martha…yes, I’m talking about Betty Crocker. And while I liked the cream cheese chocolate chip filling, the cupcake batter called for cocoa. And cocoa on deadline? Yeah, just won’t do. I need the real stuff. The kind you have to chop up and melt. The kind where I wield sharp things and melt stuff and risk having to call that cute EMT over again when something catches on fire or I (inevitably) nick a finger while in a chocolate chopping frenzy. (How do chefs chop so fast? I make a chop like, once every ten seconds, and I still end up with bandages.)

So, I went searching and dug up this chocolate fudge cupcake recipe in my “family” folder. Not sure which family member this came from, or where they got it, but they are my new, Most Favorite Family Member, that’s for sure!

It’s an easy recipe, as there is no frosting. Because, a sugar rush is one thing, a sugar coma…well, just make sure Cute EMT Guy is there before you collapse. But with this one, it’s sort of like the frosting is on the inside.

Here we go!

Preheat oven to 350. Line 24 muffin cups with cupcake papers. (You may want to double line these as there is a lot of melting chocolate going on!)

Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Filling:

1/2 cup sugar
6 ounces cream cheese (two 3oz packs)
1 egg
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Steps:
1. Beat sugar and cream cheese until smooth
2. Beat in egg
3. Stir in chocolate chips. Set aside.

Fudge Cupcakes:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups milk
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate melted

Steps:
1. Chop chocolate and melt in double boiler, let cool.
2. Whisk togethe flour, baking powder, soda and salt.
3. In separate bowl, use mixer set on med high to cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. 4. Add eggs, one at a time, scraping sides as needed.
5. Stir in vanilla
6. Add flour mixture to creamed mixture alternately with milk, beating well after each addition. 7. Add melted chocolate and mix thoroughly.

Filling cups:
Fill each cupcake liner approximately half full, reserving at least 1 1/2 cups batter for later. Then drop a tablespoon size dollop of cream cheese/chocolate chip filling onto the top of each cup. Finally, add a teaspoon size drop of cupcake batter on top.

Bake for 19-22 minutes, or until the toothpick test says you’re done. Let cool on rack for 10 minutes, then remove and cool the rest of the way on a rack.

Then pour yourself a big ol’ glass of very cold milk and enjoy! SO good, am I right?? And you don’t even have to be on deadline, to enjoy them!

Okay, okay, before you race out to buy cream cheese and chocolate chips…don’t forget to enter this week’s Free Stuff Friday Contest! Then don’t forget to head on over to my Big Time Author Blog on Friday to see if you’re a winner!

This week, up for grabs is an advance copy of Cupcake Club Book #2, SWEET STUFF, which your friends and neighbors can’t get their hands on all the way until January 31. So, be the envy of your block and be the first one to snag a copy! To enter, just send me an email to donna@donnakauffman.com with “Cupcake Coma isn’t enough! I need SWEET STUFF, too!” in the subject line. I will pick TWO lucky happening blog babe winners and announce them here Friday. Don’t forget! You gotta check in to see if you win!

And, if you want to keep up with everything going on both in and out of the cupcake kitchen, don’t forget to Like my Fab New Facebook Fan Page & follow me on Twitter for all the latest daily goings on. Today we took the What Cupcake Flavor Are You quiz. I’m Key Lime. Come join the fun…and find out what flavor you are!

And yes, yes, I know for all you regular blog readers, I promised you all the MAC you could stand, but this week’s first Morning After Commentary will have to wait until tomorrow. I was too devastated when my beaten up Steelers couldn’t stop the Tebow Train, so I only got as far as the season premiere for Downton Abbey. (And if you are not watching this, head right on over to www.pbs.org and watch the first season for free. SO good!)

I will have all the dish on that, Once Upon a Time and Good Wife AND Castle when I finish my TV Junkie Marathon in the wee hours after coming out of Deadline Cave.

Because nothing, and I mean, nothing ends a Monday better than Chocolate Fudge Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip cupcakes with Nathan Fillion on top. Seriously.

Bon apetit!

It’s here, it’s finally here! After a year of cupcake blogging, SUGAR RUSH, the first book in The Cupcake Club Romance series is finally here! Woo hoo! Or…better yet…Whoopie!

Yep, to celebrate Big Release Day, we’re making Whoopie Pie Cupcakes! Thanks to CakeSpy for the great recipe (and photo!)

Ingredients:: For the cupcakes and cookie tops:
2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup milk

Steps:
1: Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare two baking sheets: one muffin tin and one cookie tray. Line the muffin tin with cupcake liners, and the cookie tray with a sheet of parchment.
2: Sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt into a medium-sized mixing bowl. Set aside.
3: With an electric mixer, cream the butter, eggs, and vanilla together in a large mixing bowl until light and lemon-hued. Add the dry ingredients bit by bit, alternating with the milk until your batter is smooth.
4: Using either a cookie scoop or by heaping teaspoons, drop 12 rounds of cookie dough on the cookie sheet, leaving about an inch and a half around each mound of dough. Try to size them so that they are slightly smaller than the circumference of the cupcake cups you are using.
5: With the remaining cookie dough, fill the cupcake cups. This should be enough batter to fill each cupcake cup about 2/3 full.
6: Bake until lightly browned around the edges (these are a lighter cocoa color than some whoopie pies so you will see light browning). For the cookie tops, this will be 8-10 minutes; for the cupcakes, this will be about 15-20 minutes (a toothpick inserted in the cake should come out clean). I baked both at the same time, simply taking out the tops sooner and leaving the cupcakes to bake a bit longer.
7: Let the cupcakes and cookie tops cool completely.

Ingredients: For the filling:
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/2 cups marshmallow fluff
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Steps:
1: Beat butter and marshmallow fluff together until smooth
2: Stir in vanilla until well blended.
3: Scoop filling on top of cooled cupcakes, then top with the cookie tops.

Inhale.

A big, hearty thank you to all the bakers and readers out there who have followed my adventures in the kitchen this past year. I look forward to sharing many more cupcake recipes with you in 2012!

Ho Ho Ho, Cupcake Bakers!

Thanks to Joyce Lamb and Pamela Clare over at USA Today for the great interview opportunity. I got to talk about SUGAR RUSH, the other Cupcake Club books…and cupcakes. Not a bad day. AND? They published one of my cupcake recipes.

Cream Cheese Pound Cake w/ Fudge Frosting! Yum!!

So…go check it out already!

USA Today HEA interview….

Join me next week for a special cupcake celebration for the release of SUGAR RUSH, on Tuesday, 12/27. Woot!!

Have a wonderful holiday weekend!

So…I’ve been in the kitchen baking cupcakes all morning. I realize this comes as a shock to absolutely no one.

I am baking for friends & family (and editors, agents…) and decided I needed something that was both super yummy and delicious….and would hold up well via various forms of transport and delivery. So, I went with my younger son’s favorite cupcake from this whole past year of cupcake blogging…

Martha’s Streusel Cupcakes!

Below is the original entry from my Cakes By the Cup Blog for this recipe, written way back on February 9. I’ve learned so much since then….

Enjoy! (And yes, the winner of the first ever Fan Page Contest is announced below, after the goodies!)

(Originally titled….) “The one where I wished I’d kept my grandmother’s pastry blender…..” February 9, 2011

Hello intrepid cupcake lovers!

I’m back with the latest in my journey to research all things cupcake! But first, Book Update!

As you may or may not know (but surely care….and care deeply) this blog is a result of all the hands on research I’ve been doing for my new Cakes by the Cup series, a trilogy of romantic comedies that will start appearing on the shelves the end of this year.

Book 1, SUGAR RUSH, is already in the hands of my publisher, in pre-production, and now, after a short break to finish up the Hot Scots trilogy with a novella that will appear in this fall’s UNWRAPPED Christmas anthology (yes, Shay’s story for all who have been asking!)…I am officially BACK in the kitchen, baking away!

I’ve started work on Book 2, SWEET STUFF, and we all know what that means. Cupcakes, cupcakes, and well…more cupcakes!

This week’s adventure comes from a bit earlier on in my research trials and tribulations. I’m titling it… “the one where I really wish I’d kept my grandma’s pastry blender” but could have also been called “the one where I should have read ALL of the instructions first.” Or, you know…both.

The good news is, despite any initial issues I had in perfecting this recipe (okay, okay, in just following the instructions which required no perfecting, just madd reading skillz and patience, one of which I lack. Sorely.) this cupcake has gone on to become a fast family and friends favorite and is one of the two I’ve made most often since.

Today, my friends, behold the Streusel Cupcake. Yes, the perfect combination of coffee cake and cake in a cup, full of rich, buttery, brown sugary crumbly topping goodness, all in a little paper cup. Or two. Or….okay, three. But three was my limit! (For breakfast.)

For this recipe, we dive back into my now favorite cookbook, Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes.

You’ll recall, not a huge Martha Fan here, but the woman knows her cupcakes. And what did I learn the last and first time I cooked a Martha Recipe? Right: READ THE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST. Did this lesson stick with me? Apparently not. I mean, it’s coffee cake in a cup. How complicated can that be?

Not very. If you, you know, READ THE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST.

Streusel Cupcakes:

2 ½ cups all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 ¼ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon coarse (Kosher) salt
½ cup plus 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, room temp (which equals 1 ¼ sticks. Because nothing is easy with la Martha)
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs (she doesn’t say room temp, but you totally know she means it.)
1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 ¼ cups sour cream

So…those are the ingredients. At the end of that list, she just adds:
Streusel Topping (recipe follows)
Milk Glaze (recipe follows)

So….naturally, I think it’s safe to just go ahead and make the cupcake batter, THEN skip on down to the streusel instructions. WRONG, young padewan.

But, that’s what I do. The first time I made this, anyway. And, you’d think, given that I screwed up the READ ALL THE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST when dealing with Martha Rule the first time I used this cookbook, I’d be all over that. Sadly, no.

And, the Instructions for the cupcake batter are:
1. Preheat Oven to 350. Line muffin tins with 24 paper cups
2. Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. (I am a big fan of whisking. It’s much easier on the forearm than squeezing that sifter lever a million times. Not to mention positioning said sifter exactly over the mixing bowl and somehow still managing to get powder everywhere BUT in the bowl. Whisking? That I can manage.)
3. With electric mixer on medium-high, cream butter, sugar until pale and fluffy. (And, what did we learn? 2-3 minutes min, 4 min max. Set a timer.)
4. Add eggs, one at a time, until they are each assimilated, like the Borg. Scrape sides of the bowl as you wish. Make it so.
5. Stir in vanilla by hand. (Apparently it’s too gentle a flavor to withstand the electric beaters. I don’t know. But I can do this.)
6. Add flour mixture and sour cream. Stir until just combined. Again, use non-electric man power.
7. Do the math and divide this big honkin’ bowl o’ batter evenly into 24 cups. Good luck with that.

Now….now she tells you, blithely, to just “sprinkle half the topping over the cupcakes, gently pressing it into the batter, then sprinkle evenly with the rest of the topping. Meaning, I guess, that you’ve already MADE the topping. Except she SAID the recipe was to follow. And it does follow…it follows the above instructions. As in, printed below them. Not in the regular ingredient column. Which I took to mean, “Make after.”

Yeah. I would have been wrong. Why? Well, apparently, all this time you were making the batter? The streusel topping was supposed to be already made and being chilled in the refrigerator! I know!

So, now I have 24 cups full of marginally evenly divided batter (oh, who am I kidding? It’s not even close to even.) and I haven’t made the streusel, much less chilled it in the fridge!

I figure what the heck, just make it, sprinkle and press it, and be done with it. Which, I do.

Streusel Topping:
2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
¾ cup packed dark brown sugar
2 ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¾ teaspoon coarse (Kosher) salt
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temp

Instructions:
1. Whisk together flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt. (Brown sugar doesn’t immediately whisk all that well, but keep at it. Or break it up with a fork first.)
2. Cut in the butter and use a pastry blender, your fingertips, or two table knives, until combined but still crumbly.

Is she kidding me with that? Me, use two knives? Simultaneously? I don’t care if they’re dull butter knives. That’s crazy talk. I can hurt myself with a potato peeler. So, since I didn’t bring home my grandmothers pastry blender (why? Why?) I am forced to do the fingertip method. Yeah. That was fun.

THEN! Martha just happens to mention that you’re supposed to pop this bowl of crumbly perfection in the fridge. For THIRTY MINUTES.

What, and leave the unevenly distributed cake batter to just soak through my muffin cups? I think not. So I sprinkle and press and re-sprinkle, and while it will all work out okay, it’s a lot harder to sprinkle soft streusel. And when you press it, it just kind of gloms into the batter.

Did it make the cupcakes inedible or anything? Not at all. In fact, they were heavenly. It was more a clean up situation. A lot of the topping did melt all over the muffin pan and ooze down between the paper lining and the pan and made for not-so-fun clean up. So, when I made this recipe the second time, I READ THE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST, and refrigerated the topping while making the cupcake batter and it did go much, much more smoothly, they looked better, and the clean up was a cinch.

So, now you’ve topped your batter, pressed, and sprinkled. Next?
1. Bake, rotating the tins halfway through, until golden brown and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. (By “tester” I assume she means “toothpick.) Approx 20 minutes. Mine cooked closer to 18.
2. Transfer tins to wire rack. Cool completely before removing cupcakes.

Milk Glaze:
1 ½ cups confectioners sugar. Sifted. (I know, because god forbid I have clean counters)
3 tablespoons milk

Whisk together ingredients and drizzle over cupcakes. Use immediately.

And do you know what else you’ll do? Eat them immediately. These are yummy with a capital Y. One of my favorites.

Don’t they look yummmmm to you?

I hope you enjoy making these as much as I do and they become family favorites in your house.

Now….the moment you’ve all been waiting for!! Thank you everyone for you enthusiasm for my brand spankin’ new Facebook Fan Page and for entering my first ever Fan Page Contest! Winner gets copies of both SUGAR RUSH & SWEET STUFF! (Now that’s a sweeeet prize!) !!

Lots of entries and comments this past week…but only one winner! Was it you? Well, head on over to My Fan Page and find out already!!

Hope everyone has a festive and frolicking weekend! See you back here next week with a new (promise!) cupcake recipe!

So it’s Cupcake Friday again….and I decided that it was time to delve back into the world of chocolate. Haven’t done a good chocolate cake in a while. Been cheating with cocoa-based recipes, but today, I wanted that rich, dark, decadent chocolate. The kind that would make Ghirardelli drool. I found this recipe on Food.com and thought it sounded interesting. It combines the decadence of rich melted chocolate with whipped egg whites, so the resulting cake is lighter, like a sponge cake, yet still with that rich chocolatey goodness. The frosting is simple, but ohmygod good….just more melted chocolate and whipping cream. Seriously, does it get much better than that? I think not.

This is what will keep you warm on a cold winter’s day. Or…you know…any day.

There is a recipe at the end for how to make your own chocolate curls for garnishing the cupcakes. As you can see, I didn’t go the distance on that. I didn’t have a loaf pan (oh Santa….are you listening?) and none of my other containers seemed suitable…so I used chocolate jimmies instead. I know, cheating right? Except…no. In my defense, well, first off, I love jimmies. And how often do they really work into the daily menu? So I had to take advantage. Besides, it’s the holiday season, where you’re supposed to use sprinkles on stuff. It’s like, Clausian Law or something. The photo below is pre-jimmies. Because it just looks better.

I think this is now one of my favorite chocolate cake/frosting combos ever. Light, rich cake and melted fudge frosting…you really must try it!

So….here you go with Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes! Enjoy!

CUPCAKES
3/4 cup unsalted butter
6 ounces semisweet chocolate , chopped
3/4 cup sugar
4 eggs , separated
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 325°F.
2. Grease 12-cup muffin pan or line with baking cups.
3. Place metal bowl over medium saucepan of barely simmering water or use double boiler.
4. Add butter and 6 oz chocolate. Let stand until melted; stir until smooth.
5. Cool to room temperature, then whisk in sugar and egg yolks.
6. Stir in flour and baking powder.
6. In large bowl, beat egg whites at medium speed until frothy.
7. Add cream of tartar.
8. Beat at medium-high speed until soft peaks form.
9. Fold one-fourth of the whites into chocolate mixture.
10. Gently fold in remaining whites until mixed.
11.Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling two-thirds full. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack 10 minutes, remove from pan; cool completely.

FROSTING
6 ounces semisweet chocolate , coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons whipping cream

Directions:
1. In medium saucepan, combine remaining 6 oz semisweet chocolate and whipping cream.
2. Heat over low heat until melted and smooth, stirring frequently.
3. Spread each cupcake with frosting
If garnishing with chocolate curls: Let cupcakes stand until frosting is cool but not sett, then garnish with chocolate curls.

Making Chocolate Curl Garnish:

Ingredients: 6 oz semi sweet chocolate

Directions:
1. line 4x2x2-inch mini loaf pan with plastic wrap.
2. Melt 6 oz of the chocolate in metal bowl set over pan of barely simmering water (do not let bowl touch water).
3. Pour into mini loaf pan; cool until firm.
4. Unmold chocolate; remove plastic wrap.
5. Using vegetable peeler, make curls.

Now that I have you in a chocolate haze of deliriousness…it’s time to announce the winner of this week’s Free Stuff Friday contest that I run every week from my Bigtime Author Blog. Winner receives an advance copy of the first in my Cupcake Club Romance series…SUGAR RUSH! And the lucky winner is……Heather G!! Woo hoo, Heather!! Just send me your address to donna@donnakauffman.com and I will get the book in the mail!

Okay…so now on to the Big News! (What, a chocolate coma wasn’t enough? Why no, no it was not. It’s the holidays, dammit, and we want more!) Well, I’m gonna give you more. With the urging of my wonderful publisher, Kensington Books, I now have a brand, spankin’ new Fan Page on Facebook. I know! It’s where all the cool blog babes and bakers hang out. So…come on over and hang out with us!!! And….if you click the Like button…you’ll be in the running for my next contest, which will be announce Monday on the Fan Page. See you there!

Last week we had eggnog cupcakes, and I mentioned that I’d run across the red velvet/eggnog frosting combination, which sounded pretty yum, too. I wanted to keep the holiday spirit going this week, and decided on mmmmmm……Gingerbread Cupcakes!!

Typically, you see them paired with Cream Cheese Frosting, but I wasn’t completely happy with the Eggnog Frosting recipe from last week — too sweet and the cream cheese richness was a little lost — so decided to tweak it a little (less confectioners sugar, more butter and eggnog!) and try again with these. However, they are just as awesome with a simple bit of powdered sugar sifted on top. Or you can try the Cardamom Cream Cheese Frosting on the recipe site. (Click the blog link above the recipe!)

No matter what version you try…they are yummy! (And your house will smell sooooo good!)

From Gastronomyblog.com

Gingerbread Cupcakes

Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup boiling water
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon salt

Steps:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and grease 12 standard-size muffin cups or line them with paper cups.
2. Cream the butter and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy.
3.Beat in the molasses, egg, and vanilla.
4.In a small bowl, stir together the boiling water and baking soda until dissolved.
5.Stir the baking soda water into the molasses mixture.
6.Sift together the flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, lemon zest, and salt into a small bowl. 7.Whisk the flour mixture into the molasses mixture until the batter is combined.
8.Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups. Bake the cupcakes until a toothpick inserted in the center of one or two of the cupcakes comes out clean, about 20 minutes.

Remove the cupcakes from the oven and allow them to cool for 5 minutes before removing them from the pan. Place the cupcakes on a rack to cool for 30 minutes.

Eggnog Cream Cheese Frosting (my recipe):

Ingredients:
8oz cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons egg nog, to taste
1 tablespoon Rum, to taste (This is optional. I didn’t add to mine. If you don’t use rum, increase eggnog by 1 tablespoon.)

Steps:
1. Cream butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Add vanilla, blend.
2. Add confectioners sugar and nutmeg, then gradually add eggnog (and/or rum.) Add more sugar for consistency if needed (or cut back amount of eggnog to keep the flavor of the cream cheese from being diluted by too much sugar.)

I hope you enjoy these as much as I did. And do. And will again!

Want a chance to win a copy of the first in my new Cupcake Club Romance series…SUGAR RUSH?? Check in over at my Bigtime Author Website on Monday for all the details! Want to know more about the series? Click on the links at the top of this page!