Cupcake Project

Malva Pudding Cupcakes

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:13:00 +0000

Literally translated as mallow pudding, this [malva pudding] is a well-loved traditional South-African pudding. It is seriously sweet and seriously rich but oh-so-mouth-meltingly-delicious. I think every South-African has fond memories of malva pudding, either lovingly made by their ouma (grandmother), or on the poedingtafel (pudding table) alongside jelly and custard at the annual kerkbasaar (church fete). I can't remember my own granny ever making this but I do have fond memories of eating it at church fetes, visiting my aunts and yes even at the university residences.

The description of malva pudding above was written by my Taste & Create partner, Marisa, from the South African cooking blog, The Creative Pot. Most of us here in the United States (myself included, before this week) have never heard of malva pudding - but it's worth learning about!

Wikipedia explains that "Malva Pudding is a sweet pudding of Dutch origin, usually served hot with custard and/or ice-cream. It is made with apricot jam and has a spongy caramelized texture... The pudding's name is derived from Malvacea wine from Madeira. The dessert and dessert wine used to be served together after main course at Cape tables."

That last sentence was the key to my Name That Dessert quiz. A big congrats goes out to GiGi who guessed it correctly and even used the South African name, malvapoeding! Gigi, please email me with your address so we can send you your prize!

I decided (no shock to anyone) to make my malva pudding in cupcake form. Like bread pudding, the malva pudding cupcakes were definitely best when fresh out of the oven. However, the same effect can be achieved by microwaving the cupcake for around twenty seconds prior to eating (be sure not to use foil wrappers).

The malva pudding cupcakes' apricot flavor was practically non-existent (which could be good or bad, depending on your thoughts on apricots). The flavor was simply warm and sweet. Even though I'd never tried malva pudding before, it evoked happy homey memories. Sometimes the simplest flavors can provide the most pleasure.

Malva Pudding Cupcake Recipe

Here is the malva pudding recipe from The Creative Pot (adapted from Boerekos.com), converted to cupcake form.

Makes 16 cupcakes

2 C sugar
2 T unsalted butter, melted
2 eggs
2 t lemon juice
2 T apricot jam
2 t baking powder
2 t baking soda
2 C milk
1 C cake flour

For the sauce:

1 C lowfat evaporated milk
1 C sugar
1/2 C unsalted butter
1/2 C boiling water

Combine butter, sugar and egg
Add lemon juice, apricot jam, baking soda and baking powder.
Add milk and flour bit by bit, stirring to ensure no lumps form.
Fill cupcake liners almost to the top.
Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes or until nicely risen and browned on top. The top should feel spongy.
Combine all the ingredients for the sauce and heat for 2 minutes in the microwave, stirring to ensure all the sugar has dissolved.
Prick the cupcakes with a toothpick. Then, drizzle the sauce over them. It should be absorbed very quickly.
Return to the oven for another three minutes to caramelize.

I served the malva cupcakes with Ciao Bella Tahitian Vanilla Gelato. Because of the neutral taste of the cupcake, however, any ice cream flavor would work. Pick your favorite! Oh - and don't forget to serve the cupcake with some Malvasia wine from Madeira. It really was a perfect pairing. FYI - The bottle may not say Malvasia. Look for something labeled Malmsey. You can read all about Malvasia wine over at Wikipedia, my best friend.

Name the Dessert

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:59:00 +0000

THIRD UPDATE: We have a winner! Thanks to everyone for playing! You guys had some great guesses!

SECOND UPDATE: We still do not have a winner. Now, I'm going to give you a huge hint and the first person to correctly guess the dessert will win. Once someone gets it correct, I will close the comments and post about the cupcake. Ready??

Here we go: The dessert recipe is found somewhere on Marisa's blog, The Creative Pot. (Sorry Marisa, you are not eligible to win.)

UPDATE: I still have not received a correct guess. Here's a hint: The cupcake contains a small amount of jam. If I don't receive a correct answer by the noon deadline, I'll give a second hint. Be sure to check back!

My next cupcake is a based on a dessert which is traditionally served with wine made from the same grapes as the bottle of wine in the photo above.

Name that dessert.

All correct guesses by noon central time tomorrow (Thursday, Nov. 19) will be entered to win an OXO prize pack which includes a medium silicone spatula, 11” whisk, and a silicone pastry brush. I personally own the whisk and the pastry brush as well as a slew of other OXO products (my favorite is the jar opener) and can attest to their quality.

Note: If you are a friend of mine and have tasted the cupcakes or simply heard me talking about them, you are ineligible. Sorry.

Second Note: If you want to enter to win an even bigger prize, check out the Challenge Butter Taste of the West Sweepstakes. The connection between OXO and Challenge Butter is what got me these prizes to give to you. More about that later. And, no, this isn't a hint.

Turkey Dinner Cupcake on Paula Deen

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:31:00 +0000

Remember my honey baked ham cupcakes? This week on Paula Deen, you'll find my recipe for the Thanksgiving version. It's a cranberry cupcake with maple frosting baked in turkey! The flavors that work so well during the main course will also impress (or shock) your guests at dessert time.

While I've got your attention (hopefully you're not in a blog induced turkey coma), I'd like to humbly ask you to vote for my PAMA Mojito Cupcakes in PAMA's contest to help me win a trip to The Food and Wine Classic in Aspen. You can vote once per day for the entire month. I'm sure many of you are Facebook junkies like I am, so while you're on there, just think about popping over to PAMA's page and placing a vote. THANKS!!! You guys are the best!

Thanksgiving Sweet Potato Cupcake Video Review

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:41:00 +0000

Check out Bride and Groom 3.0 (and everyone's favorite co-star, Roommate Davin) as they review this week's Thanksgiving Sweet Potato Cupcake!

Note 1: The taste that they identify as oatmeal is actually crumb topping that was baked into the cupcake.

Note 2: Cousin Nancy who got the shout out is referred to around these parts by her new name, Grandma Nancy! Without her watching baby Myles, I wouldn't have had time to bake these cupcakes! Thanks!

Thanksgiving Cupcakes - Sweet Potato Casserole in Cupcake Form

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:00:00 +0000

Thanksgiving cupcakes can feature little turkeys or Thanksgiving cupcakes can feature pilgrims. But, what I like my Thanksgiving cupcakes to feature is TASTE! These sweet potato casserole cupcakes will be the star of any Thanksgiving meal. If you are a doubter, come back tomorrow to see the video review of these cupcakes.

"Wait," says the astute long term Cupcake Project reader, "I've seen Thanksgiving sweet potato casserole cupcakes featured here before!"

You are correct! I made the Thanksgiving sweet potato casserole cupcakes above in 2007 and while they were good (they had an awesome maple mascarpone filling), my cupcake skills have gotten better over the past two years and this year's version is far superior. They are moist, super sweet potatoey, have a brown sugar frosting, and a buttery crumb topping (they've got some crumb topping hidden inside, too!). You may not want to wait until Thanksgiving to try them, and I wouldn't blame you.

The Thanksgiving Cupcake Recipe

Note that these cupcakes have uncooked crumb topping baked into them. The crumbs won't be noticeable if you don't know they are there. However, they will make the cupcakes extra sweet, moist, and buttery and give the cake an ever so slight grainy texture - which led Bride and Groom 3.0 to incorrectly think that the cupcakes contained oatmeal.

Because you'll need to use unbaked crumb topping in the cupcakes themselves and baked crumb topping to garnish the cupcakes, I suggest that you prepare all of the unbaked topping you'll need at once and I have written the instructions below accordingly.

Makes 24 cupcakes

3 C flour
2 t cinnamon
2 t baking soda
3 C sugar
1 1/2 C pureed sweet potatoes (I used the kind from the can. Try to get the kind without corn syrup if you can. They have a really good one at Trader Joe's.)
4 large eggs
1 C vegetable oil
1 C apple cider
Unbaked crumb topping (1/2 C butter, 1 C flour, and 1 C brown sugar mixed by hand until crumbly)

Whisk together flour, cinnamon, and baking soda.
In a large bowl, combine the sugar, sweet potatoes, and eggs. Beat until smooth.
Mix in the oil and apple cider.
Slowly add the flour mixture and mix until fully incorporated.
Fill cupcake liners halfway.
Add a thin layer of the unbaked crumb topping on top of the batter. Bake the remainder of the crumb topping according to the directions in the crumb topping post.
Top off each cupcake with batter until 3/4 full.
Bake at 350 F for 25 minutes.

Frosting and Topping

Top each cupcake with brown sugar frosting and sprinkle with baked crumb topping.

Brown Sugar Frosting Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:02:00 +0000

I've made brown sugar frosting (penuche) many times, but have never devoted a whole post to it. Brown sugar frosting is one of my most favorite frostings. If you use light brown sugar, as shown above, the brown sugar frosting tastes like a thicker version of the glaze on a glazed doughnut. If you use dark brown sugar, as shown below, the flavor is a bit richer and the frosting is somewhat more creamy. This makes sense since dark brown sugar is really just light brown sugar plus additional molasses.

You can't go wrong either way.

Brown Sugar Frosting Recipe

I got the delectable brown sugar frosting recipe from Southern Food on About.Com.

1/2 C butter
1 C brown sugar, packed
1/4 C milk
2 C sifted confectioners' sugar

In a saucepan, melt butter.
Add the brown sugar.
Bring to a boil, lower heat to medium low, and continue to boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
Add the milk and return to a boil, stirring constantly.
Remove from heat and cool to lukewarm.
Gradually add sifted confectioners' sugar. (I would highly recommend sifting this confectioners' sugar. It's such a pain to sift, but it ensures that the frosting will be extra smooth.)
Beat until thick enough to spread. If too thick, add a little hot water.

FYI: The top photo is of my sweet potato casserole cupcake. The bottom photo is from my gluten-free quinoa cupcake.

Crumb Topping for Pies, Muffins, Casseroles, Oatmeal, or Cupcakes!

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:43:00 +0000

Crumb topping makes everything better. Crumb topping is the star of apple crumb pie and coffee cake. Crumb topping also makes many, many muffin recipes shine. But, you rarely find crumb topping on cupcakes. Perhaps this is because using a crumb topping leaves an uneven surface, which makes things difficult/ugly to frost. Never fear, cupcake fans, I have a solution!

Bake the crumb topping separately and put the crumb topping on top of the frosting!

The recipe (sourced from All Recipes) couldn't be easier:

Using your hands, mix equal parts brown sugar and flour with half as much unsalted butter (e.g. 1/2 C brown sugar, 1/2 C flour, 1/4 C butter). It should stick together and form crumbs.
Spread the mixture onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes.
Crumble any pieces that stuck together and put the crumbs on everything in sight!

More on the cupcake in the photo coming soon!

Pomegranate Mojito Cupcakes

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:30:00 +0000

"It did a happy dance in my mouth!" said my mother-in-law after tasting my pomegranate mojito cupcakes. I couldn't have said it better myself. But what kind of dance? I'd say a Lindy Hop. The sweetness of PAMA Pomegranate Liqueur combined with the tangy sourness of mint*, rum, and lime reminds me of a high energy couple bouncing around the dance floor, occasionally doing flips and throws to the thrill of the crowd (perhaps I have an overactive imagination).

Cooking With PAMA

I made these pomegranate mojito cupcakes as an entry into the Cooking with PAMA Contest. ~~If I win~~ When I win, I get to go to the Food and Wine Classic in Aspen! I wanted to wait until I had a cupcake that I really thought could win before entering - this pomegranate mojito cupcake is it! Voting will begin on November 16th (don't worry, I'll remind you).

BTW - Isn't the PAMA bottle gorgeous! Jonathan couldn't resist taking its photo.

Pomegranate Mojito Cupcake Recipe

Makes 12 cupcakes

For the pomegranate mojito syrup

1/2 C light rum
1/2 C PAMA
1/4 C freshly squeezed lime juice
2/3 oz fresh mint leaves
1/2 C sugar

For the cupcakes

2/3 C sugar
2 C flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1 T lime zest
1 T finely chopped mint leaves
3/4 C unsalted butter, room temperature
2 eggs
2/3 C sour cream
2 T freshly squeezed lime juice

Bring all syrup ingredients to a boil in a heavy-bottomed pot.
Reduce heat and simmer for fifteen minutes until you have about 1/2 cup of syrup.
Strain mint leaves and set syrup aside.
Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, lime zest, and mint in a bowl.
Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl for 1 minute, until light and fluffy.
Beat eggs, sour cream, and lime juice into the butter/sugar mixture until blended.
Alternately fold in flour mixture and syrup.
Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full.
Bake at 350 F for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out of the cupcake clean.

PAMA Frosting

1/4 C unsalted butter, melted
1 T sour cream
3 T freshly squeezed lime juice
1 T PAMA
2 C powdered sugar, sifted
1 pomegranate (optional)

Mix all ingredients in a medium-sized bowl until smooth.
Spread on cupcakes.
Optionally, garnish with pomegranate seeds.

*I know that I said I would never make a cupcake with mint, but mint is growing on me and I really should never say never.

Garlic Cupcake Video Review and Cupcake Stacker Winners

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 21:39:00 +0000

I asked you guys what you thought of the new Cupcake Project video reviews and in exchange you had a chance to win some über-cool cupcake stackers. Thanks for all of your feedback (yes, I'm making you read to the bottom of the post to find the winners). Some of you (I'm talking to you, Danielle Johnson, Amanda, and Southern Baker) seemed to think that roommate Davin had it going on. Bride and Groom 3.0 listened and Davin is now hosting the videos!

In their video review of the garlic cupcakes below, the tasting trio made the video shorter (as you all suggested), listened to the great suggestion from Foodie Ffanatic and showed closeups of the cupcakes before the review, and responded directly to commenter Trish who said, "And I hate to say the obvious but there was a lot of hand to nose action....egads! While working with food!" Check it out and keep those comments coming!

And the Cupcake Stacker Winners Are...

Jere and Rachel! Congrats!!

Caramel Apple Cupcake Review

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:01:00 +0000

Bride and Groom 3.0 and their roommate, Davin, got a chance to try the caramel apple cupcakes that are featured on Paula Deen. As you'll see, they enjoyed them but thought that the chocolate pumpkin cupcakes were better (except for Groom 3.0, who doesn't like chocolate). Maybe I should have made the chocolate pumpkin cupcakes for Paula (please indulge me imagining that we are on a first name basis).

It's funny to me that the tasting trio keeps imagining maple where it doesn't exist. The frosting is a vanilla bean buttercream, not maple. Bride 3.0 nails it, though, when she says that the cupcake would be good hot. Everyone should get to try these fresh out of the oven. You can't beat it!

Reminder: I'm selecting the cupcake stacker winners tonight at midnight CST. Enter now!

Chocolate Pumpkin Witch Cupcakes

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 02:45:00 +0000

Remember back in 2007 when I made witch cupcakes? Didn't think so. Well, I made them again this year, only better:

Last time, I made a plain chocolate cupcake. This time, I made chocolate pumpkin cupcakes loaded with chocolate chips.
Last time, I made a funky green meringue frosting. This time, I made a seasonally-spiced buttercream frosting (I still used a little bit of green food coloring on some of them to make them more witchy).
Last time, I used giant pretzel rods for the broomsticks. This time, I realized (after someone pointed it out) that small pretzel sticks would work much better. I left the chocolate off of the broomsticks this year, though, because I was lazy.

For the cookie recipe and assembly instructions, refer to the 2007 post. But, for the new scrumpdidelyicious chocolate pumpkin cupcake recipe, look at the bottom of this post.

First, however, let's see what Bride and Groom 3.0 and roommate Davin thought of the chocolate pumpkin cupcakes. (Note: this video was made before viewing all of your video feedback. There is just one more pre-feedback video after this one, and then they will address your comments. Feel free to keep leaving comments on the videos and they will try to incorporate them whenever possible.)

I should point out that the cookies that they loved (on that hats) are maple or mint cookies. They are store-bought vanilla wafers that I coated in chocolate. I would normally make the wafers myself, but these cupcakes were made in a cupcake class that I taught and we needed to save time.

Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcake Recipe

This recipe should yield about fifteen cupcakes.

1 1/2 C flour
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t ginger
1/2 t nutmeg
1/2 t allspice
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 C sugar
3/4 C pumpkin puree
2 large eggs
1/2 C vegetable oil
1/2 C orange juice
4 oz bittersweet chocolate, melted
1 1/4 C semisweet chocolate chips

Whisk together flour, spices, baking soda, and salt.
In a large bowl, combine the sugar, pumpkin, and eggs. Beat until smooth.
Mix in the oil, orange juice, and melted chocolate.
Slowly add the flour mixture and mix until fully incorporated.
Mix in the chocolate chips.
Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full.
Bake at 350 F for 20-25 minutes.

Pumpkin Pie Spice Frosting

1 C unsalted butter, room temperature
3 C powdered sugar, sifted
4 t vanilla bean paste
2 T milk or heavy whipping cream
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t ginger
1/2 t nutmeg
1/2 t allspice
Food coloring (optional)

Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Mix in vanilla and milk or cream.
Mix in spices.
Optionally, mix in food coloring to create the color you’d like.

Garlic Cupcakes to Keep You Safe From Vampires This Halloween

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:30:00 +0000

On a dark night, just a few days until Halloween, an innocent, unsuspecting cupcake baker sat down to eat her latest creation.

Little did she know that a vampire lurked in the shadows.

The vampire was particularly interested in the cupcake baker, for her blood was extra sweet from eating lots of cupcakes.

The vampire drew closer. The cupcake baker noticed and panicked (but just for a moment).

Suddenly, things went black and white.

But, the cupcake baker had nothing to fear. The cupcake that she was eating was a garlic cupcake and everyone knows that garlic wards off vampires (unless they are Twilight vampires like Edward that you wouldn't want to ward off).

Yes, that's a chocolate covered garlic clove that you see on there.

The vampire dramatically fell to her doom.

Should you want to protect yourself from vampires this Halloween (which I highly recommend), the garlic cupcake recipe is below. While the cupcakes are deathly for the undead, humans are surprisingly fond of them. Several mortals claimed that the combination of flavors (chocolate, coffee, and garlic) actually worked quite well together. "We liked the garlic cupcakes and were surprised to find that a little hint of garlic actually does work with chocolate!" said taster Hao.

The garlic in the cake isn't all that strong, but it does leave you with garlic breath. The garlic in the frosting, however, is quite intense. Jonathan said that the frosting would be great on pasta. I'll post a video review from Bride and Groom 3.0 later in the week (I'm not expecting them to choose this one for their wedding, but you never know).

Garlic Cupcake Recipe

makes 18-20 cupcakes

2/3 C sugar
2/3 C brewed coffee
1/2 C sugar
2 C flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
3/4 C unsalted butter, room temperature
2 eggs
2/3 C sour cream
4 1/2 oz bittersweet chocolate
8 cloves roasted garlic (see my post on how to roast garlic, but skip the part about covering it in chocolate)

Whisk flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a bowl.
Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl for 1 minute, until light and fluffy.
Beat in eggs and sour cream.
Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or the microwave.
Mix the chocolate into the wet ingredients.
Alternately fold in the flour mixture and coffee into the batter.
Mash garlic cloves and mix into batter.
Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full.
Bake at 350 F for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out of the cupcake clean.

Garlic Coffee Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 C unsalted butter, room temperature
3 C powdered sugar, sifted
2 t garlic powder
1 t ground coffee

Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth.
Slowly mix in the powdered sugar.
Mix in the garlic powder and ground coffee until integrated.

Credits

Special thanks go out to makeup artist Jennifer from Looks by JLW for doing the makeup for this shoot. Our vampire would not have been nearly as spooky without it. Jennifer did an awesome job and, more importantly, she was willing to try the garlic cupcake and even liked it.

Thanks also go out to our vampire, my friend Christina, and, of course, my awesome in-house photographer!

Halloween Snack Idea - Chocolate Covered Garlic

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:48:00 +0000

Why?

Last year, Jonathan and I went to Gilroy, California. Gilroy is all about garlic. Each year, they host the Gilroy Garlic Festival - which features, as you might imagine, everything garlic! While we weren't able to make it to the festival, we were able to try some garlic ice cream. It was shockingly tasty and the only ice cream that I've ever eaten that left me with bad breath.

When I was talking about the trip to Groom 1.0, he suggested that I make garlic cupcakes for Halloween to scare off the vampires. I loved the idea! I sent myself a futureme email as a reminder. It's a good thing that I did. I completely forgot about the idea until I received the email a few weeks ago.

I wasn't quite sure how I would make a garlic cupcake, but one thing that I did know was that I would need to use roasted garlic (roasting makes the garlic much sweeter); and, if I were going to roast the garlic, I might as well cover some in chocolate to put on top of the cupcakes.

If you are a garlic lover, then I probably don't need to convince you that eating roasted garlic is a special treat. But, you'll just have to trust me (until you try it yourself) that adding chocolate makes it even better!

How?

I was really excited to find instructions for roasted garlic on Simply Recip es that used a cupcake tin - if it involves my cupcake tin, I can do it! I followed Elise's instructions to a tee, only instead of using olive oil, I used hazelnut oil and a little honey to make the garlic extra sweet. Oh, and I covered mine in chocolate!

6 heads of garlic (I only covered some of them in chocolate, I used others in my garlic cupcake recipe)
a few tablespoons of oil (I used hazelnut)
1/4 C semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 T unsalted butter

Peel away the outer layers of the garlic bulb skin, leaving the skins of the individual cloves intact. Using a knife, cut off 1/4 to a 1/2 inch of the top of cloves, exposing the individual cloves of garlic.
Put each garlic head in foil and place them in a cupcake tin, as shown above.
Drizzle a couple teaspoons of oil over each head, using your fingers to make sure the garlic head is well coated.
Drizzle each head with honey.
Close the foil over each head.
Bake at 400 F for 30-35 minutes, or until the cloves feel soft when pressed.
Allow the garlic to cool enough so you can touch it without burning yourself. Use a small knife to cut the skin slightly around each clove. Use a cocktail fork or your fingers to pull or squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of their skins.
Melt the chocolate chips with the butter in a double boiler or the microwave.
Dip each clove of garlic in chocolate. I thought it looked best to only cover half of the clove.
Place chocolate covered garlic on parchment paper and place in the refrigerator to cool.

Be sure to check out the garlic cupcakes to see just how well these worked at scaring off vampires.

First Video Cupcake Review and Your Chance to Win Cupcake Stackers

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 01:25:00 +0000

When Bride and Groom 3.0 asked if I'd like it if they did video reviews of my cupcakes, I was not about to say no. Below you'll find their first video review featuring the vanilla and chocolate sour cream cupcakes with sour cream frosting and the whole cupcake party setup. Bride and Groom 3.0 are joined in the video by their roommate, Davin (he's the one on the separate couch).

The review is pretty long (16 minutes - 16 hilarious minutes!). I do realize that some of you may not like video, may not be able to watch video at work, or may not care to watch people ramble about cupcakes for 16 minutes.

So, I'm asking for your opinion. Leave a comment with your thoughts about the video. Do you love it (I hope so)? Are you excited for more? What changes would you like to see (shorter? longer? - probably not). Are there things that you would like Bride and Groom 3.o to talk about? Would you like to send them hats to wear (they plan on wearing hats for each review)?

If you leave a comment with your opinion on the video and your email address, you will be entered for a chance to win a set of 6 cupcake stackers. I will draw two winners on Friday, October 30th.

How to Host a Cupcake Party

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:20:00 +0000

Rather than spending lots of time creating wow-worthy cupcakes to serve at your next party, consider letting your guests do the decorating. Serving your cupcakes unfrosted is not only a ton less work for you, but your guests will love getting to decorate their own. You might also consider making mini-sized cupcakes so that people can decorate and eat several cupcakes without feeling too guilty.

To host a cupcake party, you'll need:

Cupcakes (to make it really easy on yourself, you can make vanilla and chocolate cupcakes using the same recipe).
A cupcake stand. I was recently sent a cupcake stacker stand to review and I love it - more on that later.
Frosting (as many kinds as you feel like).
Toppings (sprinkles, chocolate chips, nuts, etc.)

Taste & Create
It's been a few months, but I am again participating in Taste & Create. Taste & Create is a food blogger event where you get randomly matched with another food blogger to try out their recipes and ideas. I got the idea for the cupcake party from my partner this month, Katie at One Little Corner of the World. Coincidentally, Katie lives in St. Louis and I met her at a FoodBuzz dinner.

Katie posted about a fabulous taco bar party that she hosted and I decided to take the same concept and use it with cupcakes. I hope she doesn't mind that I didn't use one of her exact recipes - I took the "Create" part of Taste & Create very seriously. I did make sour cream frosting (shown in the center of the photo above) to keep with the spirit of her meal.

In addition to the sour cream frosting, my cupcake party featured two kinds of sprinkles, chocolate chips, and Skor chips (toffee chips).

Cupcake Stacker

I've never seen anything like these cupcake stackers before. They are essentially the legos of the cupcake world. You can connect the stackers together in whatever configuration you like, creating a custom cupcake stand.

The great thing about them is that when it's time to eat the cupcakes, people simply remove a cupcake stacker from the pyramid. The single cupcake stacker can then act as a little cupcake bowl to contain crumbs while people are eating.

Of course, you don't have to just use the cupcake stacker for cupcakes. You could use them for condiments, snacks, or candy.

Coming Next

I'm super excited to be posting Bride and Groom 3.0's video cupcake review of their cupcake party. Plus, you'll have a chance to win some cupcake stackers of your own. Stay tuned!

Sour Cream Frosting

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:09:00 +0000

Sour cream frosting is the obvious choice for sour cream cupcakes. This sour cream frosting is based on a basic vanilla bean buttercream frosting. However, instead of using milk in the frosting, the sour cream frosting uses sour cream.

Even if you are not a fan of sour cream, you still may enioy the sour cream frosting. The sour cream flavor is subtle. It adds a pleasant tang which helps to counteract the sweetness of the buttercream. Try it and let me know what you think!

1 1/2 C confectioners' sugar (add more until it reaches your preferred consistency)
1/2 C unsalted butter, room temperature
2 t vanilla bean paste (add more to taste)
2 T sour cream

Mix together sugar and butter until they are blended and creamy.
Add vanilla bean paste and sour cream and continue to beat for another minute.
If desired, add more vanilla bean paste to taste, or more confectioners' sugar to make it stiffer.

Do You Live in A Divided Home? Make Vanilla and Chocolate Cupcakes at the Same Time

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:00:00 +0000

Some families are all about chocolate cupcakes, some are all about vanilla, but some families are mixed-flavor homes. What are these divided homes to do?

a) Make the flavor that the baker likes best.
b) Rotate and make vanilla half the time and chocolate the other half.
c) Never make vanilla or chocolate and instead make pumpkin cupcakes every day.
d) Make vanilla and chocolate cupcakes at the same time, using the same recipe!

Answer: D

I used a sour cream cupcake recipe to make both vanilla and chocolate cupcakes. Both cupcakes had what I would consider a classic cupcake consistency (light and fluffy, not very dense). The vanilla had a vibrant vanilla flavor and the chocolate had a mild but satisfying cocoa flavor - you could make them more chocolaty with the addition of chocolate chips.

To make two recipes out of one, you simply prepare the batter for the vanilla cupcakes. Then, fill half of the cupcake liners. Next, add chocolate to the remaining batter and fill the other half of the cupcake liners. Bake and make everyone happy!

Vanilla and Chocolate Cupcake Recipe

To make these vanilla and chocolate cupcakes, I used a vanilla sour cream cupcake recipe from Seriously Simple Holidays by Diane Rossen Worthington. I am including the recipe below along with my modifications to make both vanilla and chocolate cupcakes.

Makes 6 vanilla and 6 chocolate cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 1/4 C flour
1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
2 large eggs
1 C sugar
1/2 C unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 t vanilla extract
1/2 C sour cream
2 oz bittersweet chocolate

Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium-sized bowl and set aside.
In a large bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the eggs and sugar for about 2 minutes, or until light and creamy.
Add the butter and vanilla and beat on low speed for about 1 minute, or until well blended.
Beat in the dry ingredients on low speed until blended.
Add the sour cream and beat until smooth and well blended.
Fill 6 cupcake liners about halfway full.
Melt the chocolate (either using a double boiler or in the microwave).
Mix the chocolate into the remaining batter.
Fill the remaining 6 cupcake liners with the chocolate batter.
Bake at 350 F for about 23 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean and the tops are firm.

Coming Soon...

A sour cream frosting to go with the sour cream cupcakes and Bride and Groom 3.0's video cupcake review.

I'm on Paula Deen

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 02:50:00 +0000

To anyone coming over from Paula Deen: Welcome to Cupcake Project! You might want to read the about page to get a sense of what I do over here, or if you just want the recipes, use the dropdown on the right side of this blog to pick your favorite flavor.

To my regular readers: Hurry up and go check out my caramel apple cupcakes on Paula Deen!! I'm so excited!

To my readers in St. Louis: I'll be teaching these cupcakes next week at Kitchen Conservatory. Hope you can make it!

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Pumpkin Cheesecake Frosting

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:44:00 +0000

Pumpkin cupcakes are so overdone. Pumpkin cupcakes are everywhere and if it's not pumpkin cupcakes, it's pumpkin muffins, pumpkin bread, or pumpkin cookies. If it's Fall, you'd better like pumpkin!

The good news is that most people do love pumpkin. We love it so much that we end up using it as a term of endearment. I regularly call Myles "pumpkin". Jonathan points out that I used to call our poodle "pumpkin" as well. I'm sure if we had a pet pot bellied pig, he'd be "pumpkin", too.

(I couldn't resist another Myles photo.
He's sucking the pacifier because
he's too young to eat the pumpkin cupcakes.)

Bride and Groom 3.0 are no exception to the plethora of pumpkin people. They listed pumpkin as one of the flavors they might want for their wedding.

Why Pick This Pumpkin Cupcake Recipe Over Any Other One?

We know from pumpkin pie that pumpkin and graham go well together. These pumpkin cupcakes capitalize on that. They contain graham flour and graham cracker bits. The graham cracker bits soften during the baking process. Rather than adding a crunch, they add a richer, grahamy flavor to the cupcake. The graham flavor does, however, make these treats seem a bit more muffiny than cupcakey (if you don't like the earthy, graham flavor, you might consider trying my pumpkin cupcakes with rum and maple instead).

My favorite part about these pumpkin cupcakes was the pumpkin cheesecake frosting. Use it to top any Fall dessert and you won't go wrong.

Bride and Groom 3.0 Review

Bride 3.0 warned me that she wasn't a big fan of frosting. I thought that perhaps I'd win her over with a cream cheese-based frosting. But, it turns out that she doesn't like cream cheese frostings (back to the baking board). Groom 3.0 and their roomate, Davin, loved the frosting.

Although Bride 3.0 didn't like the frosting, she did let me know that she loves sprinkles. She calls them sparkles! How fun! Expect to see more sparkly cupcakes coming soon.

Both Bride and Groom 3.0 found the cupcakes to be a bit too muffiny/breakfasty to be a wedding choice. They also thought that the cupcakes could be somewhat more pumpkiny. This was in contrast to other tasters. One of my tasters, Christina, even said, "Wow... this is so pumpkiny!"

They rated this cupcake three out of five fireworks. They made up the firework system and I dig it!

The Pumpkin Cupcake Recipe

The cupcake recipe contains graham crackers. You can use any store-bought graham crackers or make homemade pumpkin graham crackers.

Makes about 17 cupcakes

3/4 C graham flour or whole wheat flour
3/4 C all-purpose flour
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t ginger
1/2 t nutmeg
1/2 t allspice
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 C sugar
3/4 C pumpkin puree
2 large eggs
1/2 C vegetable oil
1/2 C cream soda
1 T vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
2 C smashed graham crackers (pea-sized bits)

Whisk together flours, spices, baking soda, and salt.
In a large bowl, combine the sugar, pumpkin, and eggs. Beat until smooth.
Mix the oil, cream soda, and vanilla into the wet ingredients.
Slowly add the flour mixture and mix until fully incorporated.
Stir in the graham crackers.
Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full.
Bake at 350 F for 20-25 minutes.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Frosting Recipe

8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 C unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 C pumpkin puree
3 C powdered sugar, sifted

Mix cream cheese and butter until smooth and creamy.
Mix in pumpkin puree.
Slowly mix in the powdered sugar. You can add more sugar to make the frosting stiffer, but I think that makes it too sweet.

Top each cupcake with a pumpkin graham cracker.

Pumpkin Graham Crackers

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 00:41:00 +0000

These homemade pumpkin graham crackers are not only pumpkin shaped, but also contain pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spices, giving them a subtle pumpkin flavor.

I made these pumpkin graham crackers in multiple sizes and added some orange sugar to the tiny ones (they were too small for me to give them good faces). Bride 3.0 said that she could "eat 100 of them!" But, she noted that they were a bit Halloweeny for a wedding. Come on - who doesn't want Jack-O-Lanterns at their Spring wedding? :)

The good news is that pumpkin graham crackers can be made in any shape you can cut out. Bride 3.0 suggested hearts.

What to Do With Your Pumpkin Graham Crackers

Aside from simply eating them all up, I have several usage ideas for these pumpkin graham crackers:

Crumble them to use in the crust for a homemade pumpkin pie.
Slather them with pumpkin butter or apple butter.
Put pumpkin ice cream between two of them and freeze for a pumpkin ice cream sandwich.
Use them to decorate your pumpkin cupcakes.

Pumpkin Graham Cracker Recipe

To make these pumpkin graham crackers, I modified my regular graham cracker recipe. I originally got that graham cracker recipe from Free Range Living. She got the recipe from The Fannie Farmer Baking Book.

My modified recipe is below. It makes 36 2 1/2 inch squares. You can do your own math on how many pumpkins that will get you. It obviously depends on the size of your cookie cutters.

2 T (1/4 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2 T pumpkin puree
1 egg
6 T sugar
4 T honey (Some graham crackers use half honey and half molasses. You might consider trying that as a variation.)
1/2 t baking soda
1 t ginger
1 t nutmeg
1 t cinnamon
3/4 t allspice
2 t water
3/4 t salt
1 1/2 C graham flour (If you can't get ahold of graham flour, there are plenty of graham cracker recipes that use regular whole wheat flour such as this graham cracker recipe from Baking Bites. You may also be able to directly substitute whole wheat flour in this recipe, but I haven't tested it and I make no promises.)
3/4 C all-purpose flour

Combine the butter, pumpkin, egg, and sugar in a bowl and beat until smooth and creamy.
Stir in the honey.
Dissolve the baking soda in the water and add to the butter mixture.
Add the salt, graham flour, all-purpose flour, and spices to the mixture and blend thoroughly. The dough should hold together and be manageable. If it is too tacky, add a little more graham flour.
Liberally dust a surface with graham flour and roll the dough to a thickness of about 1/8 inch.
Use your cookie cutters to cut out pumpkins or any other shape.
Use the tines of a fork to make Jack O' Lantern faces on the pumpkins.
Using a spatula, place the pumpkin graham crackers on an ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake at 350 F for 15 minutes.
Remove from the oven and cool on racks. They won't be hard when you first take them out of the oven, but they will harden as they cool.

Third Time's a Charm

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 02:33:00 +0000

Regular readers already know the story of my blog. I started this blog because having never baked a cupcake in my life, I offered to bake cupcakes for my friends' wedding. The "project" part of Cupcake Project was mastering the cupcake in the nine months leading up to the big day. I loved doing it and got so hooked on cupcake baking that after Bride and Groom 1.0 got married, I offered to do the whole thing over again for another couple. Bride and Groom 2.0 got married on Oct. 12, 2008.

For the past year, Cupcake Project has been without a project. That's about to change.

Meet Ron and Leslie (hereafter known as Bride and Groom 3.0)

Groom 3.0 is Jonathan's (my husband and live-in photographer) third cousin. I can't believe that he knows his third cousin. Not only does he know him, but they actually talk on a regular basis. We love Bride 3.0 and couldn't be happier with Groom 3.0's choice! Jonathan took photos of their proposal at the Lewis and Clark marathon. Check out the joy on their faces and you'll understand why I am so excited to make cupcakes for this wonderful couple.

They do not have a wedding date picked yet, but it will be this coming Spring or Summer. I'll let you know when I know!

As I've done for past couples, Bride and Groom 3.0 will be trying cupcakes each week and choosing two or three flavors that they would like me to bake for the wedding (for a total of 300 cupcakes!). I'll keep you up to date on their favorites and give you the play-by-play when the big day comes!

What Kind of Cupcakes Do Bride and Groom 3.0 Enjoy?

It's important for me to understand what types of flavors the couple likes so that I can start experimenting. Bride and Groom 3.0 left it WIDE open.

What they don't like:

Like Bride and Groom 1.0, they don't want nuts.
Bride 3.0 is not a big frosting fan. I'm not either, so I'm cool with that. It will be a fun challenge to find frosting that she likes.
Groom 3.0 doesn't love chocolate (I can't imagine that!), coconut (that always seems to be a love it or hate it thing), or whipped cream.

Here's the list of things (in their own words) that they said they like. I've put my responses to them (and snarky comments) in orange. If I've made a flavor before, I've linked to it.

Butterscotch
PB (but I think you don't dig) - It's true. Sorry, peanut butter is off limits.
Vanilla - Boring! But, I do really need to master a perfect plane-Jane vanilla cupcake, so I may experiment.
Cinnamon
Any berry - Berries look really pretty on cupcakes. That would be a nice wedding choice.
Orange chocolate (Ron might not like as much) - I love those orange milano cookies, but I haven't made an orange chocolate cupcake. One of my very first cupcakes was a tangerine chocolate cupcake, but the frosting was a nasty, runny mess.
Red velvet - I've never made it. I think it's too overdone and frankly I don't get the appeal. Sorry, but I'm probably not going to make this one unless you really beg.
Bourbon - One of the cupcakes that I created for Paula Deen contains bourbon, but the recipe hasn't gone live yet. You'll see it soon!
Margarita - You may recall that Bride and Groom 1.0 had margarita cupcakes at their wedding. I love these and they look super cute when I make them with little umbrellas. I'd be happy to make them again.
Mango, exotic fruits - I was surprised (when searching through my archives) to find that I had made four recipes that involved mango. None of them were all that great, although the mango frosting was quite tasty and refreshing.
Brown sugar - I love how you listed brown sugar as a flavor! Brown sugar rocks! I use it all the time! I think that you would really like my penuche frosting - make sure that I let you try it.
Pumpkin - Pumpkin is the very first flavor that you will be taste testing.
Most fruits, apples, peaches - It cracks me up how most fruits are listed separately from exotic fruits and berries. Clearly, you like fruit.
Root beer - This was another flavor that Bride and Groom 1.0 chose. It's a winner.
Chai - Chai cupcakes were the very first cupcakes that I made. I don't remember much about them, but I do recall that they were a hit, despite how ugly they looked.
Flourless chocolate - I've got this recipe down. They are a crowd favorite!
Honey - I use honey all of the time. However, I've never made a honey cupcake.
Apple caramel - Oh look, another fruit! Look for this one soon on Paula Deen.
Well I am sure we will like a lot of things you come up with. Please experiment as usual and come up with your own ideas too. I am sure we don't even realize the potential of flavors. - Excellent! I'm sure that you will enjoy the garlic cupcakes that I'll be making soon (I do not jest).

High Tea Cupcakes - Orange Cranberry Scones Baked in Teacups

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:59:00 +0000

These high tea cupcakes are really scones, but since I literally baked them in a cup, I decided it was legit to call them cupcakes. It's my blog, so I can do what I want.

I love that scones aren't quite as sweet as most cakes. I used to think that they were less caloric than other baked goods, but I was deceived. They are loaded with butter and cream and worth every single calorie you'll get from them!

These high tea cupcakes are made with dried cranberries and flavored with a hint of orange, but you could just as easily make them with chocolate chips, raisins, or currants. For extra pizazz, they can be topped with some jam and clotted cream.

If you don't have oven-safe teacups, you can bake the same recipe as scones (by putting balls of dough directly onto an oiled cookie sheet) or as traditional cupcakes (in cupcake tins) as shown above.

Either way, they are sure to disappear!

High Tea Cupcake Recipe

I got the recipe for these high tea cupcakes from Barefoot Contessa. I modified her scone recipe to bake in teacups. I also added some orange extract to kick up the orange flavor a bit and decreased the amount of salt (I'm not a big salt fan). Below is my modified version of her recipe.

The number of cupcakes you get depends on the size of your teacups. I only had six tea cups so I made 6 teacups and 16 normal cupcakes.

4 C all-purpose flour
1/4 C sugar
2 T baking powder
1 t kosher salt
1 T grated orange zest
3/4 pound cold unsalted butter, diced
4 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
1 C cold heavy cream
1/4 t orange extract
1 C dried cranberries

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and orange zest.
Add the cold butter and mix at the lowest speed until the butter is the size of peas.
In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, heavy cream, and orange extract.
With the mixer on low speed, slowly pour the wet mixture into the flour and butter mixture.
Mix until just blended. The dough will look lumpy!
Mix the cranberries into the batter.
Using your hands (it's more fun this way), make balls of dough that will fill your teacups about 3/4 full. (Make sure the teacups are oven safe!)
Drop the balls of dough in the cups.
Place cups on a cookie sheet and bake at 400 F for about 20 minutes or until the tops are slightly browned.

Special Thanks

Special thanks to Lori and Rob for loaning me the teacups (don't tell ... they are actually espresso cups, but close enough).

High Tea Treats

I'm excited to enter these cupcakes in Meeta's Monthly Mingle. The theme this month is High Tea Treats.

High Tea Cupcake Preview - My First Time As a Shirt Model

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:05:00 +0000

My next post will be about my high tea cupcakes. I may even post it later today - so check back. But first, let's talk fashion.

As a food blogger, I've been sent my fair share of free food (it's an awesome perk). However, for the very first time, someone wanted to send me clothes. That someone was Sharper Uniforms. They provide "a huge selection of today's most popular styles of Restaurant, Hotel, Country Club, Casino and Security uniforms." While it would have been super cool to get a security uniform (I'm thinking Halloween here), I suppose it didn't fit with the theme of my blog. They opted to send me a ladies' blouse that could be worn by a server or hostess.

Here's me pretending to be a server. You're never too old to play make-believe. I suppose the server would most likely tuck the shirt in, but you can't really tuck when you are wearing maternity pants.

At the time Sharper Uniforms offered to send the shirts, I was very pregnant. There was NO WAY that I was going to fit into them. They kindly sent me the shirts anyway on the promise that I would review them when I could close the buttons (which turned out to be at five weeks postpartum). I don't say this to gloat - well, maybe just a little. I say this so that you know that Sharper Uniforms is one of those companies whose shirts run large (everything else in my wardrobe is at least a size medium and this is a size small shirt).

Not only did the blouse fit perfectly, I've been getting use out of it. Button down tops are great for breastfeeding (I'm sure that's just what they had in mind).

If you happen to be on the market for a uniform or nice blouse, check Sharper Uniforms out. I can't speak to all of their uniforms, but the shirt was high quality.

I don't expect to have a long career in shirt modeling, but I am certainly open to more free clothes, as is my junior assistant, baby Myles.

Clotted Cream Recipe - Making Clotted Cream at Home is Much Easier Than You Think

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 15:00:00 +0000

Clotted cream is so easy to make at home. Please don't think that I'm saying that clotted cream is only easy for experienced bakers to make. Clotted cream is really easy for ANYONE to make, regardless of your kitchen expertise. You dump cream in a pot and put it in the oven. When it emerges, you have clotted cream. It's like magic!!

What is Clotted Cream? Aren't Clots a Bad Thing?

If you are in the United States and have never heard of clotted cream, don't feel bad. I hadn't heard of clotted cream until a visit to a local restaurant, The London Tea Room. Clotted cream is a topping typically served on scones at high tea. I think of it as a cross between butter and whipped cream.

How Did This Clotted Cream Recipe Compare to Store-Bought Clotted Cream?

I bought some English Luxury Clotted Cream and tasted mine alongside it. The texture was the same (like butter, but a bit creamier), however mine had a slightly sweeter, much fresher, and richer flavor. It was worlds better. There may be really amazing store-bought clotted cream options out there, but they are not readily available in St. Louis. The quality of your clotted cream, however, will depend on the quality of your heavy whipping cream, which brings me to my next section...

The Difficult Parts of Making Clotted Cream

There are two difficult parts to this clotted cream recipe:

Finding heavy whipping cream that isn't ultra-pasteurized. Clotting will work better with an unpasteurized or pasteurized (not ultra-pasteurized) cream. I didn't try making the recipe with an ultra-pasteurized cream so I can't say for sure whether or not it would work, but I suspect it wouldn't work well. For more information on ultra-pasteurization, check out the FAQ from the New England Cheese Making Society (I know we aren't making cheese here, but the information found there is very helpful in explaining the problem with ultra-pasteurization). It is also best to look for heavy whipping cream with as high a fat content as you can find. I used a local brand, Pevely, that had 40% fat.
Waiting. The clotted cream was in my oven for so long that it shut itself off. This has never happened before, and I learned from the experience that our oven shuts off automatically at twelve hours.

Clotted Cream Recipe

I got the recipe for clotted cream from Sustainable Table. As I said above, there isn't much to it. There is only one ingredient: heavy whipping cream. Use as much as you would like. I used two pints (4 cups) - be sure to see my notes above about about not using ultra-pasteurized cream. The clotted cream can be stored in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. Use it to top scones, pancakes, toast, or in my case, high tea cupcakes (post coming soon).

Pour the cream into a heavy-bottomed oven-safe pot. The cream should come up the side of the pot somewhere between one and three inches.
Cover the pot and put it in the oven on 180 F.
Leave the covered pot in the oven for at least 8 hours. My four cups took 12 hours (until my oven automatically turned off). You'll know it's done because there will be a thick yellowish skin above the cream, as shown above. That skin is the clotted cream.
Let the pot cool at room temperature, then put it in the refrigerator for another 8 hours.
Remove the clotted cream from the top of the pot. The cream that is underneath it can still be used for baking.

Apple Cider Doughnuts with Honey Glaze - Rosh Hashana Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:18:00 +0000

Each year around this time, I start seeing apple cider doughnuts showing up on food blogs and on Tastespotting and Foodgawker. These posts often mention buying apple cider doughnuts at local apple orchards. I've been apple picking many times in my life and I have never seen an apple cider doughnut. I love apple cider and I love doughnuts - and frankly, every time I read about these elusive apple cider doughnuts, I felt cheated. Why didn't my orchard make them? I had to make them myself to see if they were as good as I dreamed.

Rosh Hashana seemed like the perfect time of year to give apple cider doughnuts a try. L'Shana Tova roughly means "for a good year". On Rosh Hashana (the Jewish new year) we dip apples in honey to show our wish for a sweet new year. Why not make apple cider doughnuts dipped in honey this year?!

Apple cider doughnuts are typically baked, not fried. They are essentially cake doughnuts made with apple cider. Because apple cider doughnuts are cake, the doughnut recipe also worked as a cupcake! In the photo above, you see a doughnut on top of a cupcake - both made with the same batter.

Were the Apple Cider Doughnuts Worthy of My Dreams

Our dinner guest, St. Louis food blogger Andrew Mark Veety, said that my apple cider doughnuts would be "killer with a cup of coffee for breakfast." However, he and his wife both felt that they could hardly be called doughnuts. I had to agree. The apple cider doughnuts were moist, fluffy, and sweet, but tasted more like tiny apple muffins than doughnuts. These doughnuts could be a great way to trick your kid or yourself into eating something healthier than a typical fried doughnut, but if you are expecting a Krispy Kreme, don't bother making these.

Apple Cider Doughnut Recipe

To make these apple cider doughnuts, you'll need a doughnut pan. The cool thing is that you can make any cake recipe into a cake doughnut with one of these pans - so fun!! I prefer the mini doughnut pan - that way they fit on top of my cupcakes (I understand that this may not be your priority).

I found the recipe for the apple cider doughnuts on Jen's food blog, Milk and Cookies. Jen adapted the recipe from one found on Diana's Desserts. I am reprinting it here, with my notes.

Makes approximately 36 mini doughnuts or 12 cupcakes.

2 C all-purpose flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1 1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
2 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t grated nutmeg
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2/3 C packed brown sugar
1/2 C apple butter
1/3 C pure maple syrup
1/3 C apple cider
1/3 C plain yogurt
3 tbsp hazelnut oil, plus extra for coating the pan (If hazelnut oil is not available, you can substitute with macadamia nut oil or vegetable oil.)
approximately 3 tbsp sugar for baking pans

In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg; set aside.
In another bowl, whisk together egg, brown sugar, apple butter, maple syrup, cider, yogurt and hazelnut oil.
Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir just until moistened.
Brush cavities of a doughnut pan with hazelnut oil and sprinkle with sugar. If making cupcakes, simply fill cupcake tin with cupcake liners.
For doughnuts, fill each cavity about halfway. For cupcakes, fill cupcake liners about 3/4 full.
Bake at 375 F for 10 to 15 minutes (doughnuts) or 20 minutes (cupcakes) or until the tops spring back when touched lightly.

Honey Glaze and Cinnamon/Sugar Topping

I topped each apple cider doughnut with a honey glaze and then dipped the doughnuts in cinnamon and sugar. For the honey glaze, simply combine and microwave two parts honey to every one part apple cider (i.e. 4 T honey and 2 T apple cider) until hot.

I used the same glaze to top the cupcakes, and I added some powdered sugar for kicks.