Category Archives: Cupcakes

Rum Cupkrakes (with Kraken Rum)

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So The Kraken rum is dark, smooth, and almost most importantly, comes in a gorgeous bottle. The design and the name inspired my purchase but the rum inspired my baking. I love rum cake. The first time I tried it was a few years ago when a colleague came back from some rum-producing nation and baked us a batch. It was heaven and I’ve made it a couple of times since then. But, baking for a large group means that cakes aren’t particularly fun to haul around, so I tend to cupcake things that might not normally be cupcaked. This is one of those times. Also, full pun-credit must go to Genesis, he is the one who masterminded the Kraken pun. He is also very handsome, this may or may not be unrelated.

Rum Cupkrakes

Adapted from this all-homemade recipe for Rum Cake.

Ingredients

Cupcake

  • 3/4 cup walnuts, crushed
  • 1 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 3 tbsp + 1/2 cup grapeseed or canola oil (low flavour), separated
  • 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup cornstarch
  • 4 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • 1 cup DIY vanilla instant pudding mix (or packaged mix)
  • 1/2 cup plain yogurt
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 4 large eggs
  • 3/4 cup dark rum (The Kraken)
  • 1 tbsp vanilla

Rum syrup

  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup dark rum

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line your cupcake tin, and distribute a layer of crushed walnuts (making sure to keep enough for other rounds).
  2. Cupcakes: In a large bowl cream the sugar and the butter. Add the oil, flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt combining until evenly distributed. Mix in the pudding mix.
  3.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, yogurt, water, rum, vanilla, and remaining oil. Add to the dry mixture and mix well. The batter will be smooth, thinnish, and will pour easily.
  4. Ladle (a new trick that I should’ve discovered years ago) into the prepared cupcake liners, about 3/4 full and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the cupcakes comes up clean.
  5. While the cupcakes cool on a rack, prepare the rum syrup.
  6. Rum syrup: In a small saucepan, combine the rum, butter, water, sugar, and salt. Cook over medium heat until the butter completely melts and the sugar dissolves. Let reduce slightly, keeping an eye on it so it doesn’t boil over, it will bubble a lot.
  7. Place copious amounts of wax paper under your cupcakes, or even better, a baking sheet (to catch the excess syrup). Spoon the hot rum syrup over the cupcakes and let soak for 8 hours (overnight).

Rummed and ready for the oven.

Release the KRAKEN! (into my belly!)

Brown Butter Cupcakes with Dark Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream

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The title is a mouthful and a bit misleading because while my intention was to make dark chocolate swiss meringue, it turned into more of a dark chocolate-kissed swiss meringue buttercream drizzled with dark chocolate. In any case, these are my favourite whiteish cupcakes topped with a fluffy cloud of buttercream. Neither the cake nor the buttercream are super sweet so this makes for a fantastic bite.

Brown Butter Cupcakes

Recipe from here.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup butter
  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 2 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 4 eggs, room temp
  • 1 cup room-temperature milk
  • 1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions

  1. Use the cup of butter to make brown butter as per this post. Allow your browned butter to cool while you start the rest.
  2. Preheat oven to 325°F and prepare your cupcake tins with liners. (if using full-sized cupcake tins, preheat to 350°F)
  3. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
  4. In a large bowl, beat sugar and eggs until fluffy and pale, about a minute. Add milk, browned butter, and vanilla, mixing until just combined.
  5. Add half of the dry mixture and beat, again, until just combined. Repeat with the second half. Don’t overmix, this is the key.
  6. Divide batter amongst liners and bake for 15-20 minutes (18-22 mins, if making full-sized cupcakes), until tops are springy to the touch or a toothpick poked into the center comes out clean. Start checking at 10 minutes as mini-cupcakes bake quickly.
  7. Cool tins on a rack for 2 minutes before carefully removing the cakes. Allow to cool completely before frosting (this will be 5 minutes if you made mini cupcakes, they take no time at all to cool).

Ready for the oven.

Fresh out of the oven!

Topped with my first attempt at Swiss Meringue Buttercream and drizzled with dark chocolate!

Chocolate-Dipped Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes

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Well these cupcakes were an incredible hit. And how could they not be! I made this strawberry cake with a few adjustments, my favourite buttercream chocolate and strawberry-style, and I dipped the tops in melted chocolate. They were awesome. The cake in particular is amazing, it is rich with strawberry flavour. I could eat the cake all day. All day long.

Chocolate-Dipped Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes

Adapted from this recipe.

Ingredients

  • 6 cups  very ripe fresh strawberries, hulled
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 1/2 cup milk, at room temperature
  • 8 large eggs, room temperature
  • 2 tbsp vanilla extract
  • 4.5 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3.5 cups sugar
  • 8 tsp baking powder (or 2 tbsp and 2 tsp)
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1.5 cups butter, softened (not melted)
  • 2 cups (or more if needed) semi-sweet chocolate chips (or dark chocolate, I didn’t have any on hand)
  • 1.5 tbsp shortening

Directions

  1. Toss sliced and hulled strawberries in a bowl with the 1 tbsp of sugar. Let the strawberries sit and generate some delicious juiciness. Puree the strawberries with a hand blender (works great, you just need to move it around).

    Before and after. Pour the leftover puree on EVERYTHING. (Maybe not on meat)

  2. Reserve 2 cups of the puree for the cake. Use leftover puree as a filling/topping for the cupcakes or fold into the frosting, if desired (I folded the puree into some chocolate buttercream).
  3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake tins.
  4. In medium bowl, combine puree, milk, egg, vanilla and mix with fork until well blended. In a large bowl, add flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt and mix to combine. Continue beating at slow speed and add butter. Mix until combined and resembling moist crumbs.
  5. Add liquids and beat at medium speed for about 1 minute, until combined. Stop mixer to scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix for 30 more seconds. Fill the cups 2/3 of the way.
  6. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the tops are spongy to the touch (time will vary). Once cool enough, place cupcakes on a rack and allow to cool completely before icing (about 30 mins).
  7. Prepare some Dreamy Buttercream (or your favourite frosting) and mix in 2-4 tbsp of cocoa (or more if you like it that way) until chocolatey enough for you. Fold in 1/2 cup strawberry puree (this step can be skipped, it does make the frosting a little slippery but it also adds a brilliant tartness that lightening it a bit).
  8. Frost the cupcakes in a swirl. Once frosted, place the cupcakes in the fridge to set the frosting, about 15 minutes.
  9. Meanwhile, melt 2 cups of semisweet or dark chocolate with 1.5 tbsp of shortening (it thins it out for dipping and allows it to set nicely). I microwaved my chocolate and shortening for about 45 seconds and then stirred until it was completely smooth. Let the chocolate cool for a few minutes but not set.
  10. Pour the chocolate into a deep bowl or cup/mug (deep enough that the icing wont hit the bottom). Dip each cupcake straight down into the chocolate, hold upside down to drizzle off the excess, set aside. Let the cupcake set for a few hours (in the fridge or at room temperature, works either way).
  11. Devour.

Naked cupcakes. These were amazing on their own... which you can see by the half-eaten one.

Dipped!

Cupcake anatomy. Layers of deliciousness.

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes with a Peanut Butter Surprize

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A couple of friends of mine are vegan so I decided to try out a vegan chocolate cupcake recipe with a bit of a twist. Peanut butter and chocolate is one of my favourite combos!

Peanut butter and chocolate.

The cupcakes are turned out alright, the true test will be tomorrow when I take them to the cohort. While I like how fluffy and moist they are (of course I had a tester) they are a little bland and not as rich as I would like. The peanut butter ball in the centre competes with the flavours in the cake (which is weird because it is supposed to be chocolatey but the almond extract that they recommend is the culprit here) but is a nice surprize on its own.

Batter with coconut oil chunks and the batter ready for the oven.

Nice crispy tops with peanut butter balls.

I topped three cupcakes with a “buttercream” made from the leftover peanut butter filling, some vegan butter, shortening, extra icing sugar, and some almond milk. I HATE the flavour of vegan butter (Earth Balance) so I just made a small amount of icing with that and went with my favourite buttercream for the rest.

I clearly need to hone my icing skills.

I used Coconut Oil which I love but it seized when I poured it into the batter and I had a bit of a battle incorporating it. If you aren’t prepared to do a heat bath to melt the oil in the batter (ugh not my brightest moment), then best to stick with canola or olive oil.

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

Adapted from Oh She Glows

Yield: 24 cupcakes

  • 2 cups non-dairy milk (I used Dark Chocolate Almond milk)
  • 2 cups sugar (I used white sugar but might do brown next time to make it more rich)
  • 2/3 cup coconut oil (or other oil)
  • 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 2 tbsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp pure almond extract (optional, I would opt out if you are going to pair the chocolate in the cupcake with another flavour of icing or filling)
  • 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 2/3 cup cocoa powder, sifted
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt

Peanut Butter Ball Filling

  • 3/4 cup sifted powdered sugar
  • 1/2 cup peanut butter
  • pinch salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F and line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners. Beat together the following ingredients in a large bowl: non-dairy milk, oil, sugar, apple cider vinegar, vanilla, almond extract. Beat on medium speed for a minute or two.

2. Now sift in the dry ingredients: flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix well, until the clumps are gone. If you are a dolt like me, place the bowl in a larger bowl that has some warm water in the bottom. This will help to melt the clumps of Coconut Oil, stir until incorporated.

3. In a small bowl combine the peanut butter, powdered sugar, and salt. I normally use a spoon to start and then knead it together with my hands until it is shiny and well combined.

4. Spoon the batter into prepared cupcake pan, about two thirds full for each. Roll a teaspoon of the peanut butter mixture into a ball, press one ball lightly into the centre of each cup.

5. Bake for about 22 minutes at 350F, or until the cupcake slowly springs back when pressed with a finger. Allow to completely cool before frosting.