Today I have a very special post for you. I’ve been thinking about it and planning it for months and I’m tickled pink to finally get to post it! Today I’m hosting a virtual wedding shower for my dear friend, Kelsey. Though we’ve never actually met in person, she’s been one of my closest blogging friends for almost 3 years now and I just know someday we’ll get the long-awaited chance to meet. She’s a wonderful, encouraging, sweet girl, so naturally, when she first announced months ago that she and Michael were getting married, I decided I just HAD to throw her a virtual shower!
(What a cute couple! I love this picture- they look so perfectly happy and in love!) This is going to be so much fun- we’ve got some wonderful girls with awesome blogs participating and I’m just thrilled! The wedding is March 11th (only 9 days away- eeeek!!) and knowing Kelsey like I do, I have NO doubt it’s going to be the most gorgeous wedding! She and Michael are seriously one of the CUTEST couples ever and though I’ve never actually met either of them in person, I just know they’re going to have a beautiful and happy marriage! Cheers, Kelsey and Michael!
First up, Shawnda of Confections of A Foodie Bride made these adorable Phyllo Purses with Goat Cheese. Oozy goat cheese and crispy pancetta filling wrapped in phyllo “purses.” These look seriously amazing…too bad this is just a “virtual” shower, because I’d sure love to get my hands on two or three of these!
Jen of Beantown Baker baked these sweet Lemon Meringue Cupcakes. Tender yellow cupcakes filled with creamy lemon curd and topped with toasted marshmallow meringue frosting – YUM! I’m definitely going to have to try these myself one day!
These bright and festive Peach and Strawberry Bellinis come from Courtney of Cook Like A Champion. What’s a shower without a festive drink to enjoy? These fun and feminine drinks can be made with any kind of fruit, but strawberries and peaches really give them a great color! I’m especially excited about these, because they coordinate with my own dish!
Nikki of Pennies On A Platter contributed these yummy looking Dijon Ham and Asparagus Roll-Ups. These flavorful roll-ups combine the best of both worlds with your sandwich and vegetable options! Just a few easy steps and you’ve got an elegant appetizer perfect for a bridal shower! These look beautiful on a platter and they’re perfect finger food to boot!
Lindsay of Peace, Love and French Fries put together what she calls her “Indulge Salad” – a copy cat recipe from one of her favorite restaurants, this super simple salad has it all – a little creaminess from the goat cheese and avocado, a nice crunch from the pistachios, and topped with an easy homemade Italian dressing. Feels like an indulgence, but we get to save all of our calories for dessert! This is my kind of salad!
Josie of Pink Parsley Catering made Cinnamon Crescents as her contribution. With cinnamon-y sweet flavor reminiscent of a churro, these crescents are made from a yeasted dough, coated in cinnamon and sugar and filled with plump golden raisins. These look absolutely delicious, Josie!
Brady of Branny Boils Over made Pink Pizza with Acorn Squash, Caramelized Onions and Beet Greens. Crisp whole wheat pizza dough topped with sweetened acorn squash, caramelized onions, steamed beet greens, and ricotta cheese. Pink pizza crust? How cool is that?! Kelsey LOVES pink, so I know she’s sure to love this pizza!
Cara of Cara’s Cravings put together this gorgeous Spiced Beet Soup- a beautiful, deep red color with a taste of warm Asian spices. I don’t know about you, but this is definitely the most beautiful looking soup I’ve ever seen! I love the dollop of creme fraiche on the tops; so colorful and vibrant!
Here’s another fun and fruity drink contributed by Karen of Loves To Eat. Karen made this fizzy Champagne Cocktail using cranberry juice, orange liqueur, fresh lime juice and bubbly champagne – sounds fabulous! A delicious way to toast Kelsey and Michael!
Amy of The Nifty Foodie put together these adorable Homemade S’mores. She sandwiched homemade mixed berry marshmallows and sweet, gooey nutella between crisp, homemade graham crackers- a fantastic treat for Kelsey’s shower! I personally love that the marshmallows are pink – so girly and feminine!
These gorgeous looking Shrimp Canapes come from Bridget of The Way the Cookie Crumbles. These little toasts topped with salted butter, shrimp, fresh dill and mayonnaise are simple but delicious and absolutely perfect for a bridal shower!
Annie of Annie’s Eats made these adorable Assorted Truffles as party favors. Coconut, lemon chiffon, blackberry, and strawberry cheesecake truffles in sweet little boxes tied up with ribbons coordinating with Kelsey and Michael’s wedding colors. How cute is that?! Annie, I’ll send you my address so you can ship me a box of these! 
For my own contribution, I made these Peach Bellini Cupcakes. Moist champagne cake with peach schnapps and bits of diced peaches baked in and topped with a peachy champagne buttercream frosting. Kelsey told me she loves peach bellinis and that she and her sister shared many a bellini over the years (Kelsey, she’s here with us today, sharing in your happiness – I know it.). I’ve always been a big fan of champagne cake and wanted to jazz it up a bit – the addition of peaches and peach schnapps really adds a nice flavor! Kelsey, it’s too bad this was only a virtual shower and that you don’t get to actually taste any of these beautiful dishes, but feel free to come visit me and I’ll make you all the peach bellini cupcakes you can eat! 
I’d like to thank each and every blogger who took the time to submit such gorgeous, scrumptious looking recipes for Kelsey’s shower- I know she definitely appreciates and I do too! I am so blessed to have such a wonderful group of food blogging friends- hugs to each of you!
To see Kelsey’s take on the shower, visit her blog!
Peach Bellini Cupcakes
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
6 egg whites
3 cups all purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup champagne
1/4 cup peach schnapps
1 small peach, peeled and diced
Peachy Champagne Frosting
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup champagne
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon peach schnapps
1 teaspoon vanilla
2-3 drops red food coloring, if desired
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium sized bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt. In a mixing bowl beat together butter and sugar for 3-5 minutes until light and fluffy. Add vanilla, then beat in egg whites one at a time.
Add in flour mixture and champagne/schnapps mixture (I mixed the peach schnapps in with the champagne) in three alternating additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Gently stir in the diced peaches. Pour batter into cupcake liners, filling 2/3 full. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
To make the frosting beat together the butter and vanilla. Add powdered sugar in one cup increments, then add champagne, milk, peach schnapps and food coloring. Frost cupcakes once they have completely cooled. I also sprinkled with a little orange and yellow sugar, for decoration.
Makes 2 dozen cupcakes.
Recipe source: champagne cupcake recipe from Baking Junkie, originally from Booze Cakes. The addition of peaches and peach schnapps was my idea.
CONGRATULATIONS, KELSEY AND MICHAEL!!!!!
Every year around this time I start to get reeeeally excited. Not just because it’s Fall and it’s the best season of the year, but because I can start getting out my Halloween decorations!! Yay!! Those of you who have followed my blog since the beginning know I have a (big) thing for Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas (big as in, it’s my all-time favorite movie second only to The Little Mermaid). I collect anything Nightmare Before Christmas related- Christmas ornaments, snow globes, tiny little figurines – I have it all, and I leave it out from Halloween through Christmas. That’s the beauty of it- my two favorite holidays, all in one totally awesome movie!
Besides my freaking sweet collection of Nightmare Before Christmas stuff, I also have lots of other Halloween decorations (not the scary kind- the cute, homey kind), and I look forward to pulling it all downstairs every single year. I got it all out this week. And now my house is decorated with pumpkins, candy corn, cute jack-o-lanterns and (duh) my freaking sweet collection of Nightmare Before Christmas stuff. So, I had to celebrate the occasion. This sort of thing definitely calls for cupcakes. Delicious orange-scented cupcakes. Yum. The batter tastes like creamsicles! They’re slightly grown up due to the Grand Marnier in both the batter and the frosting and the orange flavor isn’t totally overpowering, so they’re just right, in my opinion!
Orange-Scented Cupcakes
-adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking From My Home to Yours
*Makes 24 cupcakes
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cups whole milk
1/2 cup orange juice
1 tablespoon Grand Marnier, or any orange liqueur you like
4 large egg whites
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Center a rack in the oven to 350 degrees. Fill cupcake pans with cupcake liners.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
Whisk together the milk, orange juice, liqueur and egg whites in a medium bowl.
Put the sugar and butter in the bowl of a mixer and, working with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat at medium speed for a full 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar are very light. Beat in the extract, then add one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed. Beat in half of the milk-egg mixture, then beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients until incorporated. Add the rest of the milk and eggs, beating until the batter is homogeneous, then add the last of the dry ingredients. Finally, give the batter a good 2-minute beating to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed and well aerated. Using a small spoon, fill each cupcake liner 1/2 full with the batter.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the cupcakes are well risen and springy to the tough – a toothpick inserted into the centers should come out clean. Transfer the cupcakes to cooling racks and cool completely before frosting them.
Vanilla-Orange Buttercream
1 stick butter, at room temperature
3-4 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons orange juice
splash Grand Marnier
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch salt
Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 1 cup of the sugar and then the orange juice, Grand Marnier and vanilla. On medium speed of an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3-5 minutes. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to be of good spreading or piping consistency. You may not need to add all of the sugar. Refrigerate until needed.
This has been a great couple of days – first off, I received my copy of Dorie Greenspan’s new cookbook, Around my French Table a couple of days ago (Weeeeeee!!), yesterday was the first official day of Autumn, and today I celebrate 4 years of marriage to the man of my dreams (happy anniversary Sweetie! I love you!!!). What a great week!! Also, I was lucky enough to find four cans of pumpkin at the grocery store the other day! Hallelujah!!! So naturally, the only logical thing to do was make pumpkin spice cupcakes! Yippee!! My awesome new boss/coworker, Albert asked if I’d be willing to make cupcakes for the 4th and 5th period girls’ choirs last week. And of COURSE I said yes, those girls are all totally sweet and fun! Albert pretty much let me pick what to make, but he did request these pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting as well. Done and DONE!
Let me just tell you: these are SO delicious! So moist and fluffy with just the right amount of spice; and the tangy cream cheese frosting really completes the whole cupcake. A winner, for sure! I LOVED these and so did the girls- I made these along with my Perfect Chocolate Cupcakes and the pumpkin ones were the first to disappear! I can’t wait to make these again- they’re the absolute perfect Fall cupcake, hands down!
Spiced Pumpkin Cupcakes
-Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes
*Makes 32 cupcakes
4 cups cake flour (not self-rising), sifted
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 Tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 1/2 cups packed light-brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin (not pie filling)
cream cheese frosting (recipe below)
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices.
With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and brown sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of buttermilk, and beating until just combined. Add pumpkin; beat until just combined.
Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full.
Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until golden brown, 15 to 18 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool 10 minutes; turn out cupcakes onto racks and let cool completely. Cupcakes can be refrigerated up to 3 days in airtight containers.
Frost with cream cheese frosting and top with Fall-themed sprinkles, if desired.
Cream Cheese Frosting
-Dorie Greenspan’s Baking from My Home to Yours
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
3-4 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth and creamy. Gradually add the sugar (start with 2 cups, then gradually add more until you get the desired consistency. It needs to be thick enough to spread or pipe) and continue to beat until the frosting is velvety smooth. Beat in the lemon juice and extract. Refrigerate until needed.
And lastly, I just wanted to thank you all for your sweet comments, votes and support throughout the Project Food Blog competition so far. It means so much to me to have your support and encouragement – really. Voting ends tonight (I think at 6:00…maybe), so if you haven’t had a chance yet, I’d love your support! Thanks again, for being such wonderful readers! I love you all! And now, I must rush off and get ready for my dinner date with a VERY handsome fella!
Ok, I know I said that these were my favorite cupcakes, and they ARE practically perfect and amazingly delicious……however, I can’t keep my feelings a secret any longer. I’m sorry, Perfect Chocolate Cupcakes, I’ve met someone else. That’s right, these peanut butter and jelly cupcakes are my new favorite. There, I said it! Phew! I feel so much better now!
I’m sort of a peanut butter and jelly fiend…I love it. I eat it all the time and never get tired of it. I ate it as a kid. I ate it practically every single day in college and I eat it now. Last night, hubby went to the baseball game with some guys, so I was all alone for dinner and thinking to myself how much I love peanut butter and jelly (that’s right- I really do sit and think about things like that quite often), and decided right then and there to make these cupcakes. A star was born. I used Martha Stewart’s recipe for the cupcakes and filled the centers with plum jam (my favorite!), then topped it all off with a creamy, dreamy peanut butter frosting. I. Am. In. Love. So are my coworkers. I took these to work and came home with an empty box- they were a huge hit with everybody! Something about the combination of the peanut butter frosting with the tart, fruity jam….a total match made in heaven. Do yourself a huge favor and try these ASAP!!
Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes
-adapted from Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 1/3 cups sugar
2/3 cup creamy peanut butter (believe it or not, I used reduced fat and you totally CAN’T tell a difference!)
3 large eggs
1/4 cup sour cream
1 cup chopped peanuts
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup jam (your favorite flavor- I use plum)
Peanut Butter Frosting (recipe below)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk dry ingredients in a large bowl. Cream butter, peanut butter and sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition.
Reduce speed to low. Mix in the sour cream, vanilla, milk and peanuts. Add dry ingredients slowly. Scrape sides of bowl. Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full.
Bake cupcakes until testers inserted into centers come out clean, about 20 minutes. Let cool in tins on wire racks. Cupcakes will keep, covered, for up to 3 days. Makes approx. 18 cupcakes.
Peanut Butter Frosting
-adapted from Martha Stewart Cupcakes
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup creamy peanut butter
2 tablespoons cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cream the butter, peanut butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Add in the powdered sugar. Stir in the vanilla. Use immediately or refrigerate until needed.
To assemble:
When cupcakes are cooled, using a small paring knife, cut out a small hole in the top of each cupcake; discard crumbs. Fill a piping bag fitted with a round tip (I used a Wilton #12) with the jam. Insert the tip into the center of the cupcake and squeeze the jam inside (you’ll want to apply a decent amount of pressure) until the hole is filled. Repeat until all the cupcakes are filled. Pipe or spread the peanut butter frosting on each cupcake (I used a star tip). Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Here we are at Part 3, the final cupcake, of my Cupcake Week. I sort of like this whole “nothing but cupcakes” thing…kinda fun! I’m especially excited to post these because they happen to be my favorite of the 3. This is Hershey’s Perfectly Chocolate Cake and Chocolate Buttercream – the very best chocolate cake recipe out there, in my opinion (and it translates beautifully to cupcakes!)! It’s so amazingly moist and tender and the frosting?? Oh MAN, don’t even get me started on that frosting! It’s the BEST chocolate frosting you will ever put in your mouth! Silky smooth, rich, thick, buttery and oh-so chocolaty. I ate an embarrassing amount of these cupcakes at the party. Then I took some home with me and ate another embarrassing amount. For breakfast. I’m in love with this recipe. I’ll never, never stray from it. I don’t want any other smelly old chocolate cake recipe- I’ll always be a Hershey’s girl. Now and forever. Wow, those sound like wedding vows! I’m pretty good at pledging my love to a cupcake, huh?
Hershey’s Perfectly Chocolate Cake
2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup HERSHEY’S Cocoa
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
2/3 cup HERSHEY’S Cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake pans with liners.
Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl.
Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes.
Stir in boiling water (batter will be very thin).
Pour batter into cupcake liners.
Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.
Meanwhile, make frosting: stir melted butter into cocoa.
Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency.
Add small amount additional milk, if needed.
Stir in vanilla. (Makes approx. 2 cups frosting)
Frost cupcakes when completely cooled, as desired. Makes approx. 24 cupcakes.
I really hope you’ve enjoyed my special “Birthday-Extravaganza-Week-of-Cupcakes” – I certainly have! I enjoyed making them, sharing them, blogging them and especially eating them (I’m starting to really understand the whole obsession with cupcakes now….albeit a little late…). Bottom line: everyone, from little kids having a birthday to 75 year-olds having a birthday to twenty-somethings having breakfast (tee hee) LOVES a good cupcake. They’re cheerful. They’re easy. And most importantly, they’re YUMMY!
Maybe I’ll do another Cupcake Week again sometime and see what other delicious flavors I can come up with- for now, I’m happy with the Holy Trinity – Vanilla, Strawberry and Chocolate. Who was and is; and is to come. Amen.
Today is my big sister’s 30th birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LINDSAY!!! Here’s cupcake #2 in my special “Week-o-Cupcakes”. Strawberry. My sister’s favorite. Every year on her birthday, strawberry cake is what she requests. I made her one last year and it was probably the ugliest cake I’ve ever made (but it sure did taste good! Why is it that the ugliest cakes always taste the best?). This year, I opted for cupcakes; and instead of using the stand-by cake mix/jello/frozen strawberries recipe, I just added fresh strawberries (lots of them) to half of the yellow buttermilk cupcake batter I already had on hand (that recipe makes a TON, so I split it in half and made half plain, half strawberry and still came out with over 40 cupcakes). I know it sounds a little “underwhelming” to just add strawberries to the batter and call it a day, but I promise that the end result is anything but! These were so incredibly moist and flavorful, but not too sweet like so many strawberry cakes. They were a huge hit and honestly, I wish I had made more of them!
To make these, I used this recipe. I added fresh, diced strawberries to the batter and iced them with vanilla buttercream. Perfection.
Happy Birthday, Lindsay *and* Uncle Steve!!! (And yesterday was my Nana’s birthday, so Happy Birthday to her too!!)
Yesterday was a fun day. We had a ginormous party for my sister, Nana and Uncle Steve who are all having a birthday this week (within two days of each other) and I made a boat-load of cupcakes (as well as a big batch of pulled pork tacos). It was a really great time- we had homemade guacamole and salsa, chicken enchiladas and pork tacos….and cupcakes. Lots and lots of cupcakes. I made chocolate with chocolate buttercream, strawberry with vanilla buttercream and buttermilk (yellow) with vanilla buttercream. Boy, you just can’t beat a good ‘ol yellow cupcake with good ‘ol vanilla buttercream. That’s the best there is! Normally, when I make cupcakes, I always use Dorie’s perfect party cake recipe (it’s perfect every single time!), but this time I wanted to try a yellow cake, so I chose Martha Stewart’s version. Good call- these were delicious! And as always, I used my stand-by Magnolia Bakery buttercream recipe- it’s everyone’s favorite. I’ll be posting the other cupcakes throughout the week (there’s no way I could possibly leave out those chocolate cupcakes…Lordy, were they good!).
Yellow Buttermilk Cupcakes
-Martha Stewart ‘Cupcakes’
Makes 36
3 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (2 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 1/4 cups sugar
5 large whole eggs plus 3 egg yolks, room temperature
2 cups buttermilk, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Sift together both flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to medium. Add whole eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add yolks, and beat until thoroughly combined. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of buttermilk, and beating until combined after each. Beat in vanilla.
Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until cupcakes spring back when lightly touched and a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool 10 minutes; turn out cupcakes onto racks and let cool completely. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.
Vanilla Buttercream
-Magnolia Bakery
2 sticks butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4-6 cups powdered sugar
Cream butter and gradually add powdered sugar, milk and vanilla until you reach piping or spreading consistency. *I doubled the recipe- it’s always a good idea to have extra frosting, just in case! Plus, the birthday girl was entitled to a little extra frosting!
The 4th of July is such a great holiday, I think. I mean, aside from the whole “winning our independence” thing, which is obviously the most important, this is such a fun-loving, happy holiday. Who doesn’t love grilling/eating hot dogs, watching baseball, setting off fireworks and being with friends and family? That’s what it’s all about, to me. When I was a kid, we had a lake house where we would spend every single 4th of July- we’d sit out on the boat dock eating watermelon and shooting off fireworks. I always loved the sparklers. Some of my very happiest memories come from those 4th of July celebrations out at the lake house. Such good times. This year (like last year), we’re going to a baseball game – baseball, hot dogs and fireworks- is there anything more American? We just love it! In honor of the good ‘ol 4th – I decided to get a little patriotic in the kitchen and bake up some red, white and blue cupcakes. Nothing fancy, just simple white cake with a kick-butt buttercream. As always, I chose Dorie Greenspan’s recipe for her perfect party cake- it never fails. I also went with the standby Magnolia Bakery buttercream and topped it off with some patriotic sprinkles. Happy 4th of July, everybody- ENJOY!
Red, White and Blue Cupcakes
-Dorie Greenspan’s Baking From My Home to Yours
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
4 large egg whites
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Center a rack in the oven to 350 degrees. Fill cupcake pans with cupcake liners.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
Whisk together the buttermilk and egg whites in a medium bowl.
Put the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl or another large bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Add the butter and, working with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat at medium speed for a full 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar are very light. Beat in the extract, then add one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed. Beat in half of the buttermilk-egg mixture, then beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients until incorporated. Add the rest of the buttermilk and eggs, beating until the batter is homogeneous, then add the last of the dry ingredients. Finally, give the batter a good 2-minute beating to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed and well aerated. Using a small spoon, fill each cupcake liner 1/2 full with the batter.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the cupcakes are well risen and springy to the tough – a toothpick inserted into the centers should come out clean. Transfer the cupcakes to cooling racks and cool completely before frosting them.
Vanilla Buttercream
-Magnolia Bakery
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
6 to 8 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract (I used a good Mexican vanilla and it was fantastic!)
Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 4 cups of the sugar and then the milk and vanilla. On the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3-5 minutes. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to be of good spreading or piping consistency. You may not need to add all of the sugar. Use and store the icing at room temperature because icing will set if chilled.
**For red, white and blue cupcakes- separate the cake batter into 3 different bowls. Add blue food coloring (I use gel) to one bowl, the red to another, and leave the third bowl as is. Fill each cupcake liner with a small, even layer of blue, then white, then red on top. Mine didn’t exactly come out perfectly straight- I ended up with more of a “wobbly” effect, but it really doesn’t matter as long as you get the three colors! I thought it looked kind of fun, actually!
Wow, 2 years!! It seems like just a couple of months ago I was writing the post for my 1 year anniversary! A lot can happen in a year’s time- my site got a completely new (and awesome) redesign, I left Tuesdays With Dorie after 2 years of faithful participation (and even got a sweet email from Dorie herself!), I created a cookie that went on to win a contest, I helped to overhaul and revive an awesome pie-making club with my good friend Jessica, and surprisingly conquered my fear of yeast. Not too bad for a year’s work. But I’ve been thinking. All these things are great and all, but none of it, not one single thing, would be possible without my husband. Seriously- if he hadn’t been willing to build me a site (completely from scratch, mind you) two years ago and devote lots and lots of hours to it’s upkeep (really, you have NO idea all the problems we’ve dealt with because of this blog!), Sing For Your Supper might still exist, but it wouldn’t be nearly what it is today. Joel puts in so much work for me and my passion of food blogging; I feel like I should thank him, publicly, for his hard work and devotion.
So Sweetie, this post is for you!
I’ve been thinking long and hard for months what I would make for my 2 year “blogiversary”. For awhile I thought I might try something really difficult and impressive…but the more I considered the idea, the more I realized that’s not me at all. Nothing about my blog or my food is “difficult” (or all that impressive, really) – just simple and tasty. I’m more of a “make-what-I-want-and-people-can-either-like-it-or-not” type of gal. That’s why I ended up choosing what I did: Lemon Mini-Cupcakes with Lemon-Vanilla Buttercream. Perfectly simple, sweet, and I’ve got to say it, down right delicious. I used Dorie Greenspan’s Perfect Party Cake as a base and sort of went from there. These were the perfect size- one bite of sweet, lemony goodness. Like a bite of sunshine. Which is why I decided to call them “Sunshine Bites”. Joel even agreed with me- as soon as he walked through the door, he was greeted with a cupcake being shoved in his face and me saying, “here, try this. Doesn’t it taste like a bite of sunshine?!”, to which he happily agreed (through a mouthful of cupcake). These turned out to be the most delightful, flavorful, happy cupcakes, and I’m perfectly thrilled with my choice! So, happy 2 year blogiversary to me and to my hard-working, sweet, thoughtful husband, Joel!
Sunshine Bites
-Cake adapted from Dorie Greenspan, buttercream adapted from the Magnolia Bakery
For the Cake:
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
4 large egg whites
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
juice of half a lemon
Center a rack in the oven to 350 degrees. Fill mini cupcake pans with cupcake liners.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
Whisk together the buttermilk and egg whites in a medium bowl.
Put the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl or another large bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Add the butter and, working with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat at medium speed for a full 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar are very light. Beat in the extract and lemon juice, then add one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed. Beat in half of the buttermilk-egg mixture, then beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients until incorporated. Add the rest of the buttermilk and eggs, beating until the batter is homogeneous, then add the last of the dry ingredients. Finally, give the batter a good 2-minute beating to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed and well aerated. Using a small spoon, fill each cupcake liner 1/2 full with the batter.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the cupcakes are well risen and springy to the tough – a toothpick inserted into the centers should come out clean. Transfer the cupcakes to cooling racks and cool completely before frosting them.
Lemon-Vanilla Buttercream
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
6 to 8 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
juice of one lemon
Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 4 cups of the sugar and then the milk, vanilla and lemon juice. On the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3-5 minutes. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency. You may not need to add all of the sugar. If desired, add a few drops of food coloring and mix thoroughly (I used yellow). Use and store the icing at room temperature because icing will set if chilled.
And now, to help me celebrate a fantastic 2 years of food blogging, I’d like to give you a little something! I got this to give away a few months ago and I’ve been saving it for just this occasion! I have one copy of Bob’s Red Mill Cookbook: Whole and Healthy Grains for Every Meal of the Day to give to you. This is FULL of great looking recipes; from things like “Bodacious Blondies” to Stuffed Pork Chops to Easy Mexican Lasagna.
All you have to do to enter for a chance to win is leave a comment on this post. Flattery is accepted. Hehe, just kidding…..sort of. I’ll pick one winner randomly. You have until Thursday night 8PM Central Time.
*For extra opportunities to win, you can become a Fan of Sing For Your Supper on Facebook (there’s a little button just to the right of this screen that you can click). Also, you can follow Sing For Your Supper on your RSS feed. If you already follow me on Facebook or through your RSS feed or both, all you need do is just say so for your extra chances to win! Good Luck and THANK YOU for helping me celebrate 2 years of food blogging awesomeness!!
Yesterday we had a big family post-4th of July get-together at our house. My grandmother (Granna), my Aunt Josie and her family, my Uncle Alan and his family, my mom, dad, sister and nephew were all there. 16 people total. This was the first time for most of them to see our new house, so we were excited for them to come! I was especially excited for everyone to meet Izzy! Of course, she was (as always) the life of the party! Here’s Granna outside in our backyard getting acquainted little miss Izzy Bell…
(And yes, that is a dead hibiscus plant over there….I killed it a few weeks ago and now I’m trying to bring it back to life. We’ll see…)
I thought this would be a perfect chance for me to try out my new Martha Stewart Cupcakes book – I picked the Yellow Buttermilk Cupcakes with Fluffy Vanilla Frosting and they were SO good! I think this might just be my new favorite cupcake. The cupcakes are light and moist and the frosting is to die for! Everyone really enjoyed them.
They were supposed to have cute little stars and stripes piped onto them, but we had a minor catastrophe just before everyone arrived (my pot wrack fell off of the wall, shattering my brand new ceramic measuring cups and making a HUGE mess that took forever to clean up!), so I didn’t exactly get a chance to do it. Oh well. They still tasted great. And who doesn’t love a plain ‘ol vanilla cupcake anyway, eh? Ok, so maybe it would’ve been cuter with the decorations….OH WELL!!
Yellow Buttermilk Cupcakes
-Martha Stewart Cupcakes
3 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (2 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 1/4 cups sugar
5 large whole eggs plus 3 egg yolks, room temperature
2 cups buttermilk, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Sift together both flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to medium. Add whole eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add yolks, and beat until thoroughly combined. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of buttermilk, and beating until combined after each. Beat in vanilla.
Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until cupcakes spring back when lightly touched and a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool 10 minutes; turn out cupcakes onto racks and let cool completely. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.
Fluffy Vanilla Frosting
-Martha Stewart Cupcakes
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 pound (4 cups) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
With an electric mixer, beat butter on medium-high speed until pale and creamy, about 2 minutes.
Reduce speed to medium. Add the confectioners’ sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down sides of bowl as needed; after every two additions, raise speed to high and beat 10 seconds to aerate frosting, then return to medium-high. This process should take about 5 minutes. Frosting will be very pale and fluffy.
Add vanilla, and beat until frosting is smooth. If not using immediately, frosting can be refrigerated up to 10 days in an airtight container. Before using, bring to room temperature, and beat on low speed until smooth again, about 5 minutes.
I think everyone had a great time (especially the kids who spent almost the entire time out in the pool!), and I loved making these great cupcakes and having everyone over for a great 4th of July get-together! I hope everybody had a great holiday weekend with friends and family!
