Vanilla Chai

We had a mother/daughter tea at church over the weekend. I didn't want to show up empty handed so I whipped up some Vanilla Chai cupcakes. 

This super easy recipe doesn't require much. Here's your cast of characters ready to be whipped into cupcakes. I'm sure you have most of these ingredients on hand, so go ahead and make them today!

This is a your chai mixture that will give your cupcakes their awesome flavor. It just requires some cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, ginger, and cloves.

Make your batter and fill your cupcakes 3/4 full. Stick them in the oven until a toothpick comes out clean.

Once the cupcakes have cooled completely make your frosting and frost your cupcakes. You can even add a little cinnamon stick as a garnish if you'd like.

Chai frosting with a side of cinnamon stick.

These cupcakes were a big hit. They're super moist with a touch spice.

Vanilla Chai Cupcakes with Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting

Chai Spice Mix

1 1/2 tsp. ground cardamom

1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

Cupcake Batter

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

1 cup sugar

2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 tsp. chai spice mix

1 1/4 cups plain flour, sifted

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. apple cider vinegar

Buttercream

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened to room temperature

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

2 cups powdered sugar

remainder of the chai spice mix

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prepare a cupcake pan with liners.  This made about 14 cupcakes for me.

In a small bowl or plastic bag, combine the chai spice mix ingredients. Set aside.

Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the vanilla and beat in one egg at a time. Stir in 2 teaspoons of the chai spice mix. With mixer on low, slowly add the flour and buttermilk alternately until combined. Mix together the baking soda and vinegar in a separate bowl, then add it to the batter and mix until combined.

Spoon into prepared cupcake tins until 3/4 full and bake 20-24 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Buttercream Directions:

In a stand mixer, beat the butter until it is creamy. On low, mix in the vanilla and the rest of the chai spice mix. Carefully beat in the powdered sugar about ½ cup at a time. If the buttercream is too thick add 1-2 tbs of cold milk until the desired consistency is reached. Frost cupcakes when they have cooled completely.

Recipe adapted from:The Novice Chef

Banana Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

I was looking for a new cupcake to try and Kellee suggested this one. It's more like a banana muffin with an awesome peanut butter chocolate frosting on top. Oh, it also has a pretzel crust on the bottom. Can I call it healthy since it has fruit in it? To enjoy this cupcake you really have to like bananas. Since I do, I have to say that this is a pretty delicious cupcake. You should try and make some. I'll show you how.

We'll start with the pretzel crust on the bottom. Crush up a bunch of pretzels and add some melted butter to it.

Mix it all up and then place some of the pretzels in the bottom of your cupcake liners.

Mix up the cupcake batter and scoop it on top of the pretzels. Bake them in the oven. While they're baking you can make the frosting. 

The frosting is so good that it will be difficult not to taste it as you're whipping it up, so go ahead. Stick your finger in there and give it a little taste. It's for quality control. When the cupcakes have cooled carefully smear frosting on your cupcakes. Then you can sprinkle a little leftover pretzels over them.

Pretty nice, huh? You won't be disappointed either. 

Go ahead and dig in. You'll love the crunch on the bottom and creamy chocolate on top. It's a pretty dense cupcake, so it'll take just one to fill you up. But, it's healthy since it has bananas in it, right? ;)

Banana Bread Cupcakes with Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting

makes 12-14 cupcakes

Pretzel Crust

• 1 1/4 cups crushed salted pretzels
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

Combine crushed pretzels and butter in a bowl and stir until entire mixture is moistened. Line a muffin tin with lines and using a tablespoon measuring spoon, scoop pretzels into the bottom of each liner. Use the back of the spoon to flatten and press the pretzels together.

Cupcake

• 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• pinch of nutmeg
• 1 large egg
• 3/4 cup loosely packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 large ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg and set aside. In a bowl, whisk egg and add brown sugar, mixing until smooth. Stir in vanilla extract. Add melted butter and mix. Stir in dry ingredients, then add mashed bananas and mix until batter comes together. Using a 1/4 cup measure, scoop batter on top of each pretzel crust.

Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until golden brown on the top and set. Let cool completely.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 1/2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1-2 teaspoons milk, if needed

In the bowl of an electric mixer beat butter and peanut butter until creamy. Add in vanilla extract then gradually add in sugar and cocoa with the mixer on low speed until entirely combined and smooth. If frosting it a bit too thick, add in milk 1 teaspoon at a time until it becomes a bit creamier. Frost cupcakes, then top with crushed pretzels if desired.

Recipe courtesy of Sweet Eats.

Enjoy!

You Say Banana

I'll say banana split cupcakes! Doesn't this just look like the perfect sundae?

Let's make some shall we?

Here's the batter for the cake part of the cupcake. It even has mashed up bananas in it. You can't have a banana split without bananas right?

Fill your cupcake liners 3/4 full. It kind of looks like banana muffins.

Bake them up pretty!

While the cupcakes are baking dice up some strawberries and add some powdered sugar. Let that sit for awhile.

When the cupcakes have cooled you're going to cut a cone shaped hole out of the center of each cupcake.

Fill each center with your strawberry mixture.Pull out a can of crushed pineapple.

Throw some pineapple on top of the strawberries because that's what you do with banana splits right?

Heavy whipping cream is a staple in my house. I use it frequently. In this case we're going to make a whipped cream frosting.

Whip up your heavy cream until it's nice and fluffy. This is way better than that Cool Whip stuff. ;) Then add powdered sugar and 

a few teaspoons of vanilla.

Whip it up on high speed until you get a nice whip cream consistency.

Frost your banana split cupcakes because you have to have whip cream with banana splits.

Here's one of my favorite parts of the cupcake! This is the BEST chocolate ever!

Pull out your heavy whipping cream again because we're making ganache!! Aren't you excited? I could eat ganache all by itself. Heat up the cream.

While the cream is heating chop up your chocolate and stick it in a heat safe bowl.

Once the cream is heated through pour it over the chocolate. 

As you whisk the mixture the chocolate should magically start melting. Mix well.

Then before the ganache cools too much grab a spoon and put dollop of ganache on top of each cupcake. It looks just like chocolate syrup doesn't it?

A banana split is not complete until you add a cherry on top. So just do it! Then add some sprinkles to make it even cuter. This was a fabulous cupcake!

Banana Split Cupcakes

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:

2½ cups all-purpose flour

1 tbsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

12 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature

2½ cups sugar

6 eggs

1 cup plus 2 tbsp. buttermilk

1 1/3 cups mashed ripe banana

For the filling:

1 lb. strawberries, hulled and diced small

2 tbsp. confectioners' sugar

12 oz. crushed pineapple, drained

For the frosting:

1½ cups heavy cream, chilled

1/3 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted

½ tsp. vanilla extract

For the ganache:

8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1 cup heavy cream

For garnish:

Multi-colored sprinkles

Maraschino cherries

Directions:

To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350° F.  Line cupcake pans with paper liners.  In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt; whisk together and set aside.  In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream together the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Reduce the mixer speed to medium low and add in eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.  Mix in 1 the mashed banana until well combined.  With the mixer on low speed alternately add the dry ingredients and buttermilk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients and mixing only until just incorporated.

Divide the batter between the prepared cupcake liners, filling each about 2/3 to ¾ full.  Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 20-22 minutes.  Allow to cool in the pan 5-10 minutes, then transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the strawberry filling, combine the strawberries and confectioners' sugar in a medium bowl.  Toss well, smashing slightly with a fork.  Allow the berries to macerate at least 20-30 minutes.  

To fill the cupcakes, cut a small cone out of the center of each cupcake with a paring knife or small biscuit cutter.  (The excess cake can be discarded.)  Add a teaspoon or two of the strawberry filling to the center of each cupcake.  Top with a teaspoon or two of the crushed pineapple, filling to the top of the cupcake.

To make the frosting, add the heavy cream to the chilled bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment.  Whip on medium-high speed until soft peaks form.  Add the powdered sugar and continue to whip until thoroughly combined and stiff peaks form.  Be careful not to over-beat!  Blend in the vanilla extract.

Add the whipped cream to a pastry bag fitted with a large plain round tip.  Pipe a swirl of the whipped cream onto each filled cupcake, covering the filling.  Transfer the filled and frosted cupcakes to the refrigerator and chill for at least 30 minutes.

To make the ganache, place the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl.  Bring the cream to a simmer over medium-high heat.  Remove from the heat and pour the hot cream over the chocolate. Let stand 1-2 minutes.  Whisk together until a thick, smooth ganache forms. Let stand at room temperature at least 10 minutes so the ganache is not hot, but also not completely cooled.  

To finish the cupcakes, pour a spoonful of the ganache over the whipped cream topping of each cupcake.  Garnish with sprinkles and maraschino cherries before the glaze sets.  Chill the assembled cupcakes until ready to serve.

Again, I got this recipe from Annie's Eats and the ganache recipe from Martha Stewart.

These are the perfect party cupcake!

Classic

I would say that a yellow butter cupcake with buttercream frosting is a pretty classic cupcake. You can't go wrong with it. Nobody dislikes a yellow butter cupcake, yet it's not quite a "wow" cupcake.

It's a simple cupcake, really. 

It has great shape and it's light and fluffy.  How can you go wrong?

The frosting is another story. Buttercream frosting can be dangerous. This recipe I used was a bit too buttery for me, though it was still pretty good. It included all of this butter. :)

The almond buttercream frosting frosts incredibly well and was quite fun to work with.

If you want to add a little more fun throw some Peeps on top!

Yellow Butter Cupcakes

2 sticks butter at room temperature

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 cups cake flour

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 3/4 cups sugar

4 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Line muffin tins.

In the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. About 3 to 4 minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then beat in vanilla. With mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with milk, beginning and ending with flour. Beat until combined after each addition. 

Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full. Bake for 20 minutes. Transfer pans to cool on rack. Remove cupcakes from pan and let cool completely on racks.

Almond Buttercream Frosting

3 large egg whites

2/3 cups sugar

2 sticks butter unsalted, cut into tablespoons

1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract

In the heatproof bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment; beat, starting on low speed and gradually increasing high, until stiff, glossy peaks form, about 5 minutes. Switch to the paddle attachment. WIth the mixer on  medium high speed quickly add butter, a few tablespoons at a time, beating until mixture is smooth and has increased in volume. Add almond extract, and continue beating until incorporated.  

Thank you Martha for such wonderful recipes!

Nutella

Have you ever had Nutella? It's a dreamy, chocolate, hazelnut spread. You can put it on anything you want or just get a spoon and eat it by itself, by the spoonful.  When I saw cupcakes being made with Nutella you know what I had to do. Shall we get started?

Place your dry ingredients together in a bowl.

In your mix begin by mixing your eggs and sugar together until well blended.

It should be creamy and smooth.

Next you will add the ever wonderful Nutella, buttermilk, and dry ingredients.

Try to keep your hands out of the batter. It will be difficult, but I know you can do it. Okay, maybe one little taste won't hurt, so go ahead. Just a small little taste couldn't hurt right?

Get your trusty scoop out and fill your cupcake liners. Then bake them in the oven for about 22 minutes.

If you did everything right, you'll have cupcakes that look perfect.

Now we're going to make two different frostings. It's more fun and challenging that way. It'll also make your cupcakes a little prettier. ;) Cream butter and cream cheese together.

Then you're going to add Nutella to the Nutella frosting and powdered sugar. Next you'll make vanilla frosting. I forgot photos of that, so you'll just have imagine what it would look like.

Now you can frost your cooled cupcakes. 

Add some mini chocolate chips for fun!

Nutella Cupcakes

Cupcakes:
2/3 cup Nutella
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
2 1/2 cups buttermilk

Line 3 dozen muffin cups with cupcake liners or grease using non-stick spray. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350F.

Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar for 5 minutes, until it is pale and thick. Add in the butter. Mix until combined. Add in the Nutella. Now, add in the buttermilk. Beat until well incorporated.

Add the flour mixture in 3 increments and beat until smooth. Divide batter into the cupcake tins. Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool completely before frosting.

Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
5 tablespoons butter, softened to room temperature
1 pound powdered sugar (about 3 3/4 cups), sifted
2 teaspoons clear vanilla extract
Cream the butter and cream cheese in the large mixing bowl of a stand mixture. Add the vanilla. Slowly incorporate the powdered sugar as you continue to cream. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat on high speed until fluffy and smooth, adding milk or additional sugar (if needed) to reach desired consistency.

Nutella Cream Cheese Frosting:

8 oz cream cheese at room temperature

2 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature

1/4 cup powdered sugar

2 oz Nutella

In the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk together the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Sift the powdered sugar over the bowl and whisk for a few seconds. Add the Nutella and mix until completely incorporated. That is plenty for 12 cupcakes by the way. 

To make the fun swirl, put vanilla frosting in one frosting bag. Then put Nutella frosting in another bag. Grab a third bag cut the end and stick a tip on the end of the bag. Then insert the two other frosting bags into the third bag. The two frostings should come out simultaneously. Maybe someday, I'll photograph this for you. Somehow I forgot to do it this time around. Frost it pretty.

I had more vanilla frosting than Nutella frosting, so in the end some of the cupcakes had just vanilla frosting. I ended up with 30 regular sized cupcakes and 24 mini cupcakes. It makes quite large batch! Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Good Life Eats and Tartelette.