Hummingbird Upside-Down Cupcakes

My hummingbird cupcakes with pineapple almond butter cream cheese frosting are among my  favorite cupcakes.  But, not everyone has almond flour, walnut oil, and golden syrup lying around (some of the key ingredients in that cupcake recipe).  This hummingbird upside-down cupcake recipe presents a simpler alternative with the same show-stopper flavor combination of pineapple, pecan, and banana. 

Hazelnut Coffee Cupcakes

Nutella is so in vogue that it's hard to think of doing anything with hazelnuts other than mixing them with chocolate.  It's easy to forget that Hazelnut (I prefer to call her Hazel) and Coffee are coffeehouse soul sisters.  They love their guy pal, Chocolate, but sometimes they need some bestie time.  I'm here to help.

I've created hazelnut coffee cupcakes with vanilla mascarpone frosting that closely mimic the aroma and flavor of a mug of hazelnut coffee.  As you eat, your "mmmm" may transition to a soft acoustic coffee shop soundtrack.  Just go with it!

Intensely Thai Cupcakes

There is nothing mild about these Thai-inspired cupcakes.  As soon as you are within grabbing length of these cupcakes, the unexpected aroma of fish sauce caramel buttercream hits you.  Once you place the scent, let it take you to your last Thai meal.  You'll recognize the smells from the tom kha soup you or your neighbor enjoyed.  A peel of the wrapper reinforces the setting.  The cake practically breathes coconut milk, lemon grass, and kaffir lime.  

This Can Happen When You Have a Toddler Who Loves Dumplings

My three year old, Myles, doesn't just request dumplings.  After reading "Yum Yum Dim Sum", he now requests them by name. 

Moonshine and Sweet Tea Cupcakes

What if, instead of moonshine, cupcakes were illegal?  Would you still bake them?  Would you race to deliver your cupcakes without getting caught.  "Oh no, officer, there's no need to check the trunk.  I was just headed to meet my husband and bring him some moonshine.  I would never get involved with something like cupcakes - heavens, no!"  Would NASCAR (a sport started due to moonshining)  be a largely female SUV-racing sport?  Thankfully, we'll never know.

NASCAR Cupcakes - Salt and Vinegar Pork Rind Cupcakes with a Beer Glaze

This NASCAR cupcake is for Nanette Biddle Taylor who posted the following on the Cupcake Project Facebook Page last week:

Might I suggest some type of NASCAR-themed cupcake in honor of the start of the racing season at Daytona in less than 10 days??? I'm having withdrawals and can't wait for Daytona.

After seeing Nanette's request, I polled the Cupcake Project Facebook Community to see what types of food you thought best represented NASCAR.  Beer was the clear winner!  I've been around that track before.  If you want a beer cupcake, check out my beer cheese cupcakes, Hefeweizen (wheat beer) cupcakes, or my cupcakes with a built-in cup for beer.  Another popular food on the list was hot dogs; if you want to make a hot dog cupcake for NASCAR, I've got a recipe for that as well.  So, I was forced to race toward another popular suggestion - pork rinds!

White Chocolate Amaretto Cupcakes

For my Valentine's Day contribution to Paula Deen's website, their editor suggested that I create a cupcake using white chocolate.  These white chocolate amaretto cupcakes did the trick!  The cupcakes contain both melted white chocolate and white chocolate chips for a double punch of white chocolate.  The amaretto adds a sultry almond flavor – enough to enjoy, but not strong enough to leave you with a lingering taste of alcohol.

Although you can make these white chocolate amaretto cupcakes using store-bought white chocolate, it would be extra fun to make them using homemade white chocolate (it only takes five minutes to make!). 

For the white chocolate amaretto cupcake recipe, head to Paula Deen's website!

Gumbo Mardi Gras Cupcakes Now Exist

I was alone in the kitchen when these gumbo Mardi Gras cupcakes came out of the oven.  Although I had loaded them with big chunks of smoked andouille sausage and prepared them using a roux (the traditional method for making gumbo), I wasn't sure what to expect.  Like you, I'd never tried a gumbo cupcake.  Would the cupcake taste vaguely spicy, or perhaps like a cupcake version of pigs in the blanket?

What I tasted as I popped a warm gumbo cupcake bite into my mouth blew my mind.  I tasted gumbo!  "These cupcakes actually taste like gumbo!"  I exclaimed aloud to no one but the masked ghosts of Mardi Gras past, present, and future who were giving me quizzical sidelong glances.

I served up these Mardi Gras gumbo cupcakes to several friends (trying to contain my excitement, lest they think me bonkers for proclaiming that the taste was so similar to the Cajun classic). To my relief and joy, they all agreed with me! One of my friends even went so far as to say that my cupcakes tasted like the gumbo made by one of the best chefs in town - huge happy dance time!

Are these gumbo cupcakes wacky? Oh, yeah!  Are they worth making for Mardi Gras?  You betcha!  Laissez les bons temps rouler!

Everything You Need to Know About Mardi Gras Gumbo Cupcakes

One Bowl Pine Nut Cupcakes with Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting

I go crazy with elaborate projects sometimes (see my Homemade Lucky Charms for a prime example).  But, it's always nice to have a few one bowl recipes on hand to quickly whip together.  Despite the gourmet sound of a pine nut cupcake, these pine nut cupcakes fall into the dump and mix category of cupcakes.  Remember, easy doesn't mean any less tasty!

These pine nut cupcakes taste nutty and familiar, yet unexpected (pine nut is hardly a staple cupcake flavor). They have an occasional crunch from the whole pine nuts mixed into the batter and the tart, sweet finish of raspberry cream cheese frosting.  

If you don't want to splurge on pine nuts, you can make this recipe using any nuts and nut butter.

Waldorf Salad Cupcakes

When I told Jonathan that I was going to decorate a cupcake with grapes, he got a little scared.  You see, the last time that I decorated with grapes, I created grape man (just go look).  I assured him that this time, I'd keep it more normal and simply replace the iconic cherry on top with a grape.  Why grapes at all?  This is my cupcake version of Waldorf salad - a fruity salad created in the late 1800's at the Waldorf hotel in New York.

An Extreme Super Bowl Cupcake Makeover for Easter Eggs

A couple of years ago, I introduced you to cupcakes baked in real egg shells. Cracking open an egg shell to reveal a cupcake inside is one of those rare food surprises that leaves even the most jaded of adults with a sense of childhood wonder and awe.  This year, I am turning the Easter cupcake phenomenon into a Super Bowl sensation.

Skip the pastels and dye your egg to look like a football, hide a chocolate cupcake inside, and get ready for kickoff! 

How to Make Super Bowl Football Cupcakes Baked in Real Egg Shells

Savory Hoppin' John Cupcakes for New Year's Day

I didn't like these Hoppin' John cupcakes.  In fact, the mere smell of them turned my stomach.  The full 15 ounce can of black-eyed peas in the recipe produced a dense cupcake with an occasional bean bite - and maybe I should have gone with the popular opinion that chicken broth doesn't belong in a cupcake.

Not everyone agreed with me. 

Hot Buttered Rum Mugcakes

I originally developed these hot buttered rum mugcakes for Paula Deen back in 2010, but given that they are so fitting for a holiday menu and it's sometimes hard for me to remember what I did yesterday, I thought that the hot buttered rum mugcake recipe was worth sharing again. 

Hot buttered rum (for the uninitiated) is a drink often interchangeably described as a hot toddy.  While there are a variety of recipes out there for hot buttered rum, the most common preparation is to freeze a batter of brown sugar, spices (such as nutmeg, cinnamon, and clove), butter, and vanilla ice cream.  When you are ready to serve the hot beverage, mix some frozen batter with boiling water and rum.

This hot buttered rum mugcake recipe uses all of the same spices as the beverage - and because the alcohol is cooked off in baking, it’s kid-friendly. 

Hot Buttered Rum Mugcake Recipe

Cappuccino Eggnog Angel Food Cupcakes

These cappuccino eggnog angel food cupcakes have changed everything. Angel food cake is no longer relegated to the summer, topped with fresh, seasonal fruit.  These heavenly light cappuccino eggnog angel food cupcakes, topped with a dollop of snowy white whipped cream, smell like a bag of coffee beans kissed under the mistletoe by a jug of eggnog.  Their taste follows through on the scent's promise - each bite like a drink of the season's flavors. 

Cappuccino Eggnog Angel Food Cupcake Recipe 

Magical Sugar Plum Fairy Cakes

In the United Kingdom, cupcakes are sometimes called fairy cakes.  Never has that name been more fitting than when used for my sugar plum fairy cakes!  I spun dried fruits, walnuts, honey, orange juice, and seasonal spices together in my sugar plum fairy cakes, creating a magical taste spectacle. While similar in flavor to my sugar plum recipe, these sugar plum fairy cakes are dainty, light, and majestic. Coriander orange buttercream and a sprinkle of fairy dust (edible glitter) add the finishing touches. 

Acorn Cupcakes are Not for Squirrels

Get out there and start competing with your local squirrels for some acorns - you're big, you can take them.  With those acorns you can make your own acorn flour* - the star of these acorn cupcakes.  I used half all-purpose and half acorn flour in my acorn cupcakes to keep them light while still imparting the acorn flavor (a walnut-like, sweet, earthy taste). My favorite honey buttercream frosting caps the acorn cupcakes so well that I feel sorry for my squirrel opponents that buttercream doesn't grow on oak trees. 

Savory Thyme Turnip Cupcakes for Daylight Saving Time

Daylight Saving Time is a such an overlooked event.  We simply fall back or spring ahead, laugh at our forgetful friends who show up late or early to events, and fumble through changing that one clock in our house that is always so much harder to adjust than all the others.  Some of us also change our smoke alarm batteries on Daylight Saving Time day - smart, but not really celebratory. 

I propose that we celebrate Daylight Saving Time the same way that we celebrate everything else - with cupcakes!

Hipster Cupcakes - Vegan PBR Cupcakes with Vegan Buttercream Frosting

I'm someone who always smiles for photos, rarely wears skinny jeans, and has never worn glasses just for style.  I'm so not a hipster that I had to ask the staff at Plato's Closet to tell me what to wear for this shoot.  I felt like someone else as I posed by this beat up door (compliments of Clover Hill Interiors) for my hipster cupcake shoot.  But, playing dress up was fun (those of you who have seen my Wild West cupcakes and my absinthe cupcakes know that I don't shy away from costumes).  Many of us dress up for Halloween, but I encourage you to play with new looks throughout the year - you might just discover one that fits more than you expect it to.  I'm going to wear the hat again - for real, not as a costume - and I've already worn the jeans quite a few times.

Dressing up is extra fun if you can get the kids into the act.

What About the Hipster Cupcakes?

The hipster cupcakes are vegan Pabst Blue Ribbon (PBR) cupcakes made with my vegan buttercream.  (See the article on Quora to learn how PBR became known as the hipster drink of choice.)  The PBR flavor comes through in the cupcakes just enough for you to know it is there, but not quite enough to make you feel like you are eating beer.  It's tempered by brown sugar, and once frosted, the PBR cupcakes end up being something you'll sit on your front stoop snacking on while chatting about the latest indie music. 

Hipster Cupcake Recipe

Yield: 10 cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup PBR
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• vegan frosting (get the recipe in my vegan frosting post)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together PBR, apple cider vinegar, sugar and oil until slightly frothy.
3. Mix in the flour, baking soda, and baking powder until just combined.  
4. Bake for 20 minutes or until cupcakes bounce back when lightly touched.
5. When cool, frost with vegan buttercream.

More Hipster Fun


For more hipster fun, head over to Best Friends for Frosting to see a guest post from my friend Brooke (of Sucre Shop fame).  She's prepared just the thing to serve with these cupcakes!

Mini Black Licorice Cupcakes for Halloween

In my last post, I asked you to guess which flavor of licorice I'd be using in my licorice cupcakes.  The answer is black licorice!  Black licorice is a love it or hate it flavor and I saw some strong opinions about it in the contest comments.  Even if you fall into the "hate it" category, I hope you'll consider giving these black licorice cupcakes a try.  Flavors taste different in different formats.  Some people enjoy bananas, but can't stand banana bread; others detest tomatoes and adore tomato sauce.  Likewise, several anti-licorice tasters raved about my licorice cupcakes.  

Before I developed the licorice cupcake recipe, I made homemade black licorice to see firsthand how to achieve the distinct flavor of black licorice.  (I didn't post about the candy itself because I wasn't able to get the texture quite right.  If I master it, I'll share it.)  The black licorice recipe was made using dark corn syrup,  molasses, and anise extract, so I used those same ingredients in my black licorice cupcakes.  It worked!  The cupcakes truly taste like a cupcake form of black licorice. 

To get the black licorice cupcake recipe, head over to Paula Deen's website.  I'm a regular guest contributor on her site and the black licorice cupcakes were my contribution for Halloween!

And the winner is...

Quest for the Ultimate Chocolate Cupcake - Call for Explorers

With the hundreds of recipes I have developed for this blog, the one that I am most proud of is the Ultimate Vanilla Cupcake.  I worked on the recipe for months, both on my own and with the help of an incredible team of Cupcake Project Explorers.  I still get comments on the Ultimate Vanilla Cupcake recipe almost daily from folks letting me know that it's their new favorite vanilla cupcake recipe.  I also know of several bakeries that are using it as their signature vanilla cupcake.

Many of you have asked when I would share a recipe for the Ultimate Chocolate Cupcake.  Those of you who follow Cupcake Project on Facebook already know that I've been testing chocolate cupcake recipes for months.  After baking 28 different chocolate cupcake recipes, I finally have one that I think is the Ultimate. 

So, Where's the Recipe?