Banana Caramel Cupcakes with Browned Butter Frosting

That title does not even BEGIN to describe these cupcakes.  They're really Dulce de Leche Filled Banana Cupcakes with Browned Butter Cream Cheese Frosting.

Help me!  These are AH-MAZ-ING!

I discovered these scrumptious beauties here and knew I HAD to try these.  I've tweaked the recipe and you can download it from Scribd here or just keep reading.


First, I made really yummy banana cupcakes.

Pre-heat oven to 350°
1 box white cake mix (I prefer Pillsbury)
3 eggs
½ cup butter, melted
1 cup mashed ripe banana

On low for one minute, beat cake mix, eggs, butter, and bananas.  Increase speed to med-high and beat for one more minute or until batter is smooth.  Do not overmix.  Scoop into lined cupcake pan filling cups 2/3 full.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Cool in pan for 5 minutes before moving to cooking rack.

Then, I used my handy dandy cupcake corer, purchased here, to pull the middle out of the cupcakes and then filled them with creamy, delicious dulce de leche.

They're not pretty but who cares?  They'll have mounds of yummy, creamy, delicious browned butter cream cheese frosting on them.  And, everyone will be so busy scarfing the whole thing down, they won't care what it looked like before the heavenly frosting was piped on.

Then, I made the best browned butter and added it to some tasty cream cheese frosting.  It was so easy! 

1 C BUTTER
3 TSP VANILLA
16 OUNCES CREAM CHEESE, SOFTENED
12 C POWDERED SUGAR
APPROXIMATELY ¼ C HEAVY CREAM

Melt butter over medium heat until it browns.  Watch it because it goes from brown to burned quickly!  Let butter cool approximately 20-30 minutes.  Add butter to cream cheese.  Cream butter, cream cheese, and vanilla well.  Add powdered sugar one cup at a time, beating well between each cup.  As the mixture gets stiffer, add small amounts of cream and continue mixing.

Finally, I topped each one with a yummy caramel cream candy.

These cupcakes are HEAVEN!  Have I said that already?  Yes?  Good.  I MEAN IT!  Go make them now.  Go.  NOW!

Sorry, I don't mean to be so bossy.  I can't help it.  It's the "only-child who's also a teacher" in me.  Sometimes it just sneaks out.  But seriously, go make these and then tell me what you think.


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Mimosa cupcakes

Orange cupcakes.  Buttercream.  Champagne.  What could be better?

OK, if they were calorie-negative, THAT could be better.  But, they're not.

My wonderful sister-in-law asked me to make these so she could treat her colleagues this morning.  These are so yummy!  This was my first time making these and I'm so happy with how they turned out.

You can download the recipe here.



Mimosa Cupcakes

1 box white cake mix (I prefer Pillsbury)
3 eggs
½ cup butter, melted
1 cup orange juice

Preaheat oven to 350.  On low for one minute, beat cake mix, eggs, butter, and juice.  Increase speed to med-high and beat for one more minute or until batter is smooth.  Do not overmix.  Scoop into lined cupcake pan filling cups 2/3 full.  Bake for 22-24 minutes.  Cool in pan for 5 minutes before moving to cooking rack.  Top with champagne buttercream.

Champagne Buttercream

1 cup butter, softened
1 ½ tsp. vanilla
5 cups powdered sugar
6 tbl. champagne

Cream butter, champagne, and vanilla well.  Add powdered sugar one cup at a time, beating well between each cup.

 Enjoy!

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Easter cookies

Last year I was asked to make Easter cookies for my aunt's grandchildren and for a friend's family gathering.  I had so much fun and was looking forward to making more this year.

And then we were hit.  With the flu to end all flus.

My boys have been nursing 101-103+ temps for 6 days.  They're finally on the mend but it has totally taken the oomph out of my baking hopes for Easter.

These are the cookies I made last year.  Please forgive the amateur photography.  My camera was on its last legs.  And, I'm an amateur.

This idea came from Glorious Treats.

I LOVE Peeps.  I LOVED making Peeps cookies.

For some other great Easter cookie ideas, check these out:

Mini Speckled Eggs

Ducks, Chicks, and Sheep

Peeking Bunnies

Happy Easter!

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Salted Caramel Chocolate Cupcakes

I'm warning you now.  These are sinful!  The coarse salt offsets the sweet caramel and chocolate curls perfectly.  I could eat this buttercream with a spoon.

You NEED to make these right now and then devour 3 of them before anyone in your house notices that you're baking.  You will NOT regret it.

Well, ok, so you might think twice about it tomorrow morning when you step on the scale but these cupcakes are worth it.  I promise.

I have to give credit to Kate of Grin and Bake It for her caramel recipe that I tweaked for this caramel buttercream.

You can download the recipe from Scribd here.

Salted Caramel Chocolate Cupcakes

1 box chocolate cake mix (I prefer Pillsbury)
3 eggs
½ cup butter, melted
1 cup water
3 tbs dutch-process cocoa powder

On low for one minute, beat cake mix, eggs, butter, water and cocoa powder.  Increase speed to med-high and beat for one more minute or until batter is smooth.  Do not overmix.  Scoop into lined cupcake pan filling cups 2/3 full.  Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.  Cool in pan for 5 minutes before moving to cooking rack.


Salted Caramel Buttercream  adapted from Grin and Bake It (she has pics of the caramel that I found helpful my first time through)

½ CUP SUGAR
2 TBS WATER
¼ CUP HEAVY CREAM
 1 ½ TSP VANILLA
1 CUP BUTTER, SOFTENED
5 CUPS POWDERED SUGAR

ADDITIONAL INGREDIENTS:

FRAN’S CARAMEL (or your favorite caramel sauce)
COARSE SALT
CHOCOLATE CURLS (I get mine at a local kitchen shop but you could make your own or just use shaved chocolate)
Stir sugar and water in a small pan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Continue cooking, without stirring, until mixture turns dark amber in color, about 5 minutes. Do NOT stir it.  Remove from heat and slowly add in cream and vanilla (start with a few spoonfuls), stirring until completely smooth. Set aside until cool to the touch.

Beat butter in a large bowl.  Add powdered sugar and about 1/3-1/2 of caramel.  Beat until mixed, adding caramel in small amounts until buttercream is the right texture.  I really go by feel on this.  All of the caramel is a little too much but I use ¾ or more of it.
Pipe onto cupcakes.  Working with 4 cupcakes at a time, drizzle Fran’s Caramel (or your favorite caramel sauce) over the top.  I find that I have to soften it a little in the microwave first.  Sprinkle a pinch of coarse salt over cupcakes and then sprinkle chocolate curls on top.

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Liebster Award

I haven't been blogging long.  Just a few months really.  I love it but I find it difficult at times to balance my baking hobby, blogging, my "real" job as a 6th grade teacher, mommy-hood, and being a wife.  Which means that my blogging is inconsistent which I know is not ideal.  But, it is what it is.

So imagine my surprise and joy when I opened my email last Thursday and saw a very sweet message from Keri at The Sweet Life telling me that she had chosen MY BLOG to receive the Liebster Award!  One thing I have learned in my short time blogging is that bloggers are the nicest people you'll ever meet.  They are kind, generous, and always looking out for each other.  It's an amazing community that I am thrilled to be a part of.

Liebster is German for Dear, Beloved, Favorite.  The Liebster Award is given to blogs with fewer than 200 followers.  I am so honored that Keri chose me for this.  Please check out her blog and tell her I sent you.  She makes the cutest cake pops!  I envy her cake pops.


I now get to pass the Liebster Award along!  Here are the rules: 

The honor of accepting is done in the following fashion:
1.  Link back to the person who bestowed the honor on you.
2. Pick 5 blogs with less than 200 followers to pass the award forward.
3. Post the award on your blog!

Here are the sites I chose to share the award with:

All The Weigh by Kenlie--I actually have no idea if Kenlie has under 200 followers or not but I love her blog.  She has worked hard and lost over 100 pounds.  I know it seems odd that a baking blogger is following a weight loss blogger but seriously, this girl is inspiring!

Yammie's Noshery--This is a beautiful blog by an amazingly talented young woman.  She makes food that has me drooling on my keyboard.  AND, she's only 19 years old!  Check her out.

Jennifer Cooks by Jennifer--I fell in love with Jennifer's blog the moment I first stumbled across it.  Her layout is easy to follow as are her tutorials and recipes.  She makes the most delicious looking food.  I think my favorite is the Portobella Pizzas or maybe the Avocado Eggs in a Basket or the Pear and Gorgonzola Pizza.  Now I'm hungry.  We need to move on.

Stella B's Kitchen--Stella B's blog is easy to follow and navigate through, which I LOVE.  She has mouth-watering recipes and takes fabulous pictures.  When I grow up, I want to take pictures like Stella B.  My new fave recipe that I MUST try for our next movie night is her Caramel Cereal Mix.  You make it in the microwave!  Also on my list are Mom's Ultimate Brownies, Whole Wheat Oatmeal Pancakes, and Chicken Pot Pie (I'm a sucker for a good chicken pot pie).  I think my favorite thing about this blog is that she started it as a way to catalog her family's favorite recipes.

'A Casarella--This blog is new to my list.  I just wandered across it the other day when I saw a link on another blog to a fabulous recipe for Meatloaf Stuffed Peppers that you make in the crock-pot.  I LOVE a good crock-pot recipe!)  I love that Elena is real.  She doesn't hide that not everything turns out perfectly.


Please go check out these blogs and share the love.

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Guinness cupcakes with chocolate ganache and Bailey's Irish Cream buttercream

Whew!  That's a long title.  Good thing these are amazing cupcakes!

My youngest son turned 4 this week.  4!  I swear I just birthed him a few months ago.  I keep trying to convince my boys to stop growing up but they are really bad listeners and just keep growing anyway.

His birthday party is today.  St. Patrick's Day.  Since I believe in equally sugar-highs for adults and kids, I make "adult cupcakes" for my boys' birthday parties.  The kids get their birthday-theme-related cupcakes and the parents get a little "thanks for bringing your kid to my kid's party" cupcake.  Because it's St. Patrick's Day, I decided the best cupcake for today's shindig is a Guinness chocolate cupcake filled with chocolate ganache and topped with Bailey's Irish Cream buttercream.

I've never made ganache before so I searched the internet and found several highly recommended recipes and started tweaking them.  My primary sources of inspiration were The Mess Pot and Red Shallot Kitchen.

One thing I learned about ganache-you can't rush it.  Boiling the cream takes no time at all but waiting for it to cool is an exercise in patience, my friends.  I used the refrigerator to help with the cooling process and that worked great.  Just be sure to stir it every 10ish minutes until it's almost the thickness you're looking for.  It will set up a little more after you remove it from the fridge.

You can download the recipe from my Scribd account here.

Guinness chocolate cupcakes with Bailey’s buttercream 

Pre-heat oven to 350°
1 box chocolate cake mix (I prefer Pillsbury)
3 eggs
½ cup butter, melted
1 cup Guinness
3 tbs dutch-process cocoa powder
Heat Guinness in microwave for 3 ½ minutes, stirring after each minute.  On low for one minute, beat cake mix, eggs, butter, Guinness, and cocoa powder.  Increase speed to med-high and beat for one more minute or until batter is smooth.  Do not overmix.  Scoop into lined cupcake pan filling cups 2/3 full.  Bake for 22-24 minutes.  Cool in pan for 5 minutes before moving to cooking rack.  Once completely cooled, use a cupcake corer (this one's mine and I LOVE it!), 1 inch round cookie cutter, or a small knife to cut the middle out of each cupcake.

Chocolate Ganache                   

2/3 C HEAVY CREAM
8 OZ. SEMI-SWEET BAKING CHOCOLATE, CHOPPED INTO PIECES
2 TBS BUTTER, SOFTENED AND CUT INTO PIECES
OPTIONAL: 2-3 TSP BAILEY’S IRISH CREAM

Place chocolate pieces in heat proof bowl.  Heat cream on stove top until boiling then pour over chocolate.  Let sit for one minute then slowly stir until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.  If needed, you can microwave cream and chocolate for 1-2 minutes to speed up the melting process.  Add butter and Bailey’s and stir again slowly, until smooth.  At this point, you need to let it cool until thickened.  You can either leave it on the counter for approximately 3 hours, stirring occasionally or put in the fridge for about one hour, stirring every 10 minutes.  Place heaping scoops of ganache in a piping bag, snip off the end, and fill cupcakes with ganache.

Bailey’s Buttercream                     

1 C BUTTER, SOFTENED
1 ½ TSP VANILLA
5 C POWDERED SUGAR
6-7 TBS BAILEY’S IRISH CREAM

Cream butter and vanilla well.  Add powdered sugar one cup at a time, beating well between each cup.  As the mixture gets stiffer, add small amounts of Bailey’s and continue mixing.  You can add heavy cream if you’d like but I just stick with the Bailey’s.

If you make these, let me know what you think.  I'm hoping everyone likes them this afternoon because I think they're heavenly.  (And, I don't even like Guinness.)

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Mocha Cupcakes with Espresso Buttercream

Tonight I made mocha cupcakes with espresso buttercream.  You know that really creamy jamoca ice cream at Baskin-Robbins?  This buttercream tastes JUST LIKE THAT.  I really wanted to sit down with a spoon and polish it all off but that seemed like it would thwart my recent weight loss efforts so I resisted.

A little.

Sort of.


Here's the recipe:  (you can download it from scribd here)

Mocha cupcakes:

1 box chocolate cake mix
3 eggs
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup strong, dark coffee
3 tbl dutch-process cocoa powder

On low for one minute, beat cake mix, eggs, butter, coffee and cocoa powder.  Increase speed to med-high and beat for one more minute or until batter is smooth.  Do not overmix.  Scoop into lined cupcake pan filling cups 2/3 full.  Bake for 22-24 minutes.  Cool in pan for 5 minutes before moving to cooking rack.  Top with espresso buttercream.  (I also like to sprinkle mini chocolate chips over the top.)

Espresso Buttercream:

1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
5 cups powdered sugar
approximately 1/4 cup heavy cream
4 tsp instant coffee
mini chocolate chips for sprinkling on top

Cream butter and vanilla well.  Dissolve coffee in 2 tablespoons or so of cream and add to butter.  Add powdered sugar one cup at a time, beating well between each cup.  As the mixture gets stiffer, add small amounts of cream and continue mixing.  I do a lot of tasting with this to get the consistency right so the amount of cream is really an approximation.  You’ll know when it’s right.

I hope you try these.  If you do, let me know how they turn out.  They are worth the extra time on the treadmill.  I promise!


I'm linking up to Jam Hands.  Check out this great blog!

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