Sports Theme Birthday Cupcakes

This week my nephew turned 2 years old! He had a sports theme birthday party. So, I made these cupcakes with footballs, baseballs, and basketballs made out of fondant. These are red velvet cupcakes and chocolate cupcakes with whipped ganache. I love making ganache, so I thought I'd share the simple recipe for you below. I also made some caramel mocha cupcakes, which ended up to be my nephew's favorite of all.  Happy birthday Joziah!

Ganache frosting:
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate (you could also use dark, bittersweet, or mildlysweet)
1 cup heavy whipping cream

In a double boiler melt chocolate with cream. Cool, and then whip with an electric mixer for 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy. And, that's it! Enjoy :)

Peppermint Mocha Cupakes Are Back!

Christmas is just around the corner and I am so excited! Why? ...because IT'S CHRISTMAS! Well, also because I get to start making my peppermint mocha "christmas" cupcakes :) I have been waiting all year for this. It just gives the perfect taste of the holiday. These eye-catching cupcakes are perfect for your Christmas party, and to give as a holiday gift, wrapped up in a bow, all decorated and ready.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Cupcakes

I could eat these pumpkin cupcakes year round. It doesn't matter if it's Thanksgiving or not, I'll have it with a hot cup of coffee anytime. I really love Starbucks' pumpkin cream cheese muffins, but wished that they would have them as cupcakes too! (maybe one day...) So whenever I'm craving Starbucks' pumpkin cream cheese muffin, I would just whip up this yummy pumpkin cupcakes, and they definitely satisfy the cravings :) These cupcakes are made with pureed pumpkin and topped with my cream cheese frosting.

Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Minis

We all know that too much cupcakes aren't good for you! ...but they are sooo GOOD :) And for someone who is strict on their caloric intake, cupcakes are probably eliminated from your diet. BUT, good news! You could still satisfy your sweet tooth with some MINIS, and, it's less calories (if you limit it to 2 minis, of course). Not only are they less calories, but also less sugar--good for the little ones, especially for the kids who loves to lick off the frosting! So just a reminder: you could order all my flavors as minis :)

Birds' Nest Baby Shower Cupcakes

These were the cupcakes I made for my sister's baby shower a couple weeks ago. They are coconut flavored cupcakes and chocolate coconut cupcakes. I also made my very popular favors: red velvet and chocolate hazelnut cupcakes, which you've already seen, and maybe even tasted :) The baby shower cupcakes are topped with toasted sweetened shredded coconut. I made the cute little birdies our of fondant (you could also make them blue for a baby boy). I also added sweetened shredded coconut in the cake.

Ladybug Birthday Cupcake Favors

These cupcakes were the favors I recently made for a birthday party. They are cute little pink ladybugs on leaves. I enjoyed making them so much!  The mom wanted them for her 1 year old daughter's baptism/birthday party. She asked me to used these cute favor boxes that she had ordered from papermart.com. The flavor of the cupcake is red velvet with cream cheese buttercream frosting and the photo above it are madagascar bourbon vanilla cupcakes with a madagascar bourbon vanilla bean buttercream--very yummy! :)

Oh Baby!

 This weekend I attended two baby showers; one for a baby girl and the other for a baby boy. The first image above has two different flavors: red velvet and chocolate hazelnut. They are two of my popular flavors. The red velvet cupcakes are topped with a pink flower made of royal icing. The second image above are chocolate cupcakes with chocolate buttercream frosting and blue vanilla buttercream frosting. I used brown and sky blue fondant for decorating. Click on the images for larger view. You could also find more baby shower cupcakes in my cupcake gallery section.

Hey Chocolate Lovers!

Fall in love...

These are dark chocolate cupcakes covered with a bittersweet chocolate ganache and chocolate ganache frosting. For the frosting, I whipped the chocolate ganache after it has cooled, for a light and fluffy frosting.

Blue and Yellow Wedding Shower Cupcakes

Rocky Road Cupcake & Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Cupcake

Personalized wedding shower cupcakes with bride's and groom's initials. It's a perfect way to make the soon-to-be-wed couples special, even before the Big Day. 

Rocky Road Cupcakes That Really Rocks!

This is my newest cupcake flavor, rocky road cupcakes. Looks very plain and simple, right? But don't be fooled. This cupcake has intense flavors that's gonna rock your taste buds. It's a marble cake (I started off with a plain vanilla batter and folded in a little bit of ganache). Then I topped it off with a cream cheese- marshmallow buttercream frosting. What gives these cupcakes that rockin' taste are the unsalted peanuts. When you bite into the cupcake and taste the marble cake, marshmallow frosting, and the peanuts... the flavors in your mouth will be heaven!

"Green" Velvet St. Patty's Day Cupcake

This is actually a red velvet cupcake, but instead of red, it's green. The recipe is the same and the frosting is the same, cream cheese frosting. It's very similar to Sprinkles' green velvet, which will be available for only one day, March 17th on St. Patrick's Day. For the whole month of March, I will have this flavor and the mint chocolate cookies 'cream cupcakes available.

Mint Chocolate Cookies 'n Cream Cupcakes For St. Patty's Day

Here's a special treat for St. Patty's Day, mint chocolate cookies 'n cream! It's a rich, chocolate cake with a mint flavor cream cheese cookies 'n cream frosting. Happy St. Patrick's Day! (The other cupcakes in the first image above are my espresso cupcakes, btw.)

Valentine's Day Cupcake Box

Row 1 & 4: red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting and white chocolate chunks, topped with a heart fondant.
Row 2: chocolate cupcake with chocolate-hazelnut buttercream frosting, topped with "i love you" message heart fondant.
Row 3: espresso cupcake (rich, chocolate cupcake with espresso buttercream frosting) sprinkled with Oreo cookie crumbs and Ferrero Rocher, pieces giving these cupcakes a phenomenal taste!
You could create unique fondant decorations (ex., Nike SB shoe boxes) to top off these cupcakes for that someone special, making them even more special.

Princess Cupcakes

These are princess themed birthday cupcakes; chocolate and vanilla cupcakes with pink and purple vanilla buttercream frostings.



Red Velvet Cupcakes with "Marshmallow" Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting

I like to have varieties sometimes. So here are my red velvets with marshmallow cream cheese. They are to die for. I use marshmallow cream (the one that comes in a jar), and its flavor just blends perfectly with the cream cheese. You could also control the sweetness with how much marshmallow cream you add; add just enough so you could taste the flavor of the marshmallow, or else it'll just end up way too sweet considering the fact that you've already added a few cups of powdered sugar. Also, adding too much of the marshmallow cream can alter the consistency of the buttercream, resulting to a possible "runny" frosting and just won't hold up. Email me for the recipe if you're interested.

Cookies 'n Cream Cupcakes

These are the ONES I can't seem to get enough! And, no, I'm not just saying it because they're mines. They are my favorite right now. I usually can't stand eating all the frosting from cupcakes (including the ones I made), but I can't stop myself from completely devouring this cookies 'n cream cupcake-- to the last piece of crumb! Yes, they are that good! The flavor of the Oreo cookies incorporated in the cake and frosting perfectly satisfies the taste buds from the first bite to the last. It's not too sweet nor bland.

Peppermint Cupcakes

These are my "Christmas" cupcakes. Most people may hesitate in tasting peppermint flavored cupcakes, but once they've tasted these cupcakes they loved it! It's a very rich and moist dark chocolate cupcake with peppermint buttercream topped with white chocolate peppermint crumbles. The frosting isn't too sweet and the semi-sweet taste of the dark chocolate cake balances the sweetness from the frosting and white chocolate/peppermint crumble anyway. For the crumbles, I used white chocolate-peppermint Hershey's Kisses candy.

Servings: 12

Cook time: 20 mins at 350 F

Ingredients:

1 1/4 C + 2 Tbsp C all-purpose flour (replace 3 Tbsp of this with 3 Tbsp cornstarch)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 C unsweetened dutch-process cocoa powder

¼ tsp salt

½ C firmly packed light brown sugar

½ C granulated sugar

2 large egg

½ C buttermilk
3/4 C vegetable oil

1/2 tsp espresso powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp vinegar

Directions:
1. Preheat oven at 350 F. Place cupcake liners in cupcake pan. Mix dry ingredients; flour, cocoa power, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

2. Blend wet ingredients: mix sugars together, then add eggs, and blend together until thoroughly combined (do not over mix). Add buttermilk, vegetable oil, espresso powder, vanilla extract and vinegar with the rest of the wet ingredients. Mix together, but do not over mix; just enough that all the ingredients are blended together.

3. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients gradually, and mix until ingredients are combined. Do not over mix batter (overmixing batter could result to sunken cupcakes). Fill the cupcake liners about 3/4 of the batter.

4. Bake for 20 mins and cool for 30 mins.

Peppermint Buttercream

Ingredients:

1 C unsalted butter, softened

3 C powdered sugar

½ tsp peppermint extract

2-3 tbsp whipping cream (add for desired spreadable consistency)

Chopped white chocolate peppermint and topped on side

Directions:
1. Mix butter until smooth, 3-5 mins. at medium-high speed.

2. Decrease speed to low and gradually add powdered sugar, scraping sides of bowl.

3. Add peppermint extract. Increase speed to high and mix until fluffy, 3-5 mins. Add whipping cream by 1 tbsp at a time, until you reach desired spreadable consistency.

4. Once cupcakes have cooled add frosting. Garnish with white chocolate/peppermint crumble.
Note: to add red stripes, draw 3 lines inside pastry bag with red gel paste color.