Piña Colada Cupcake Shake

Sometimes you need some booze in your cupcakes and sometimes you need some cupcakes in your milkshake. Nothing’s scream summer like a milkshake or ice cream cone. So last week I had some left over Piña Colada cupcakes and I thought I would make a cupcake shake. What’s awesome about the cupcake shakes is you can really design any flavor of milkshake around the extra cupcakes you have. Is there any less guilt in consuming a cupcake in milkshake form? I mean, if you were walking around with a cupcake shake, no one would know there was a cupcake in there, which means they won’t judge you for drinking a milkshake and consuming a cupcake at the same time. It’s a win in my book.

Tomorrow we are headed to Minnesota for my cousin’s wedding. I haven’t see a majority of my family since 2005 as we are spread out across the country. I am pretty excited to see my cousins, who all have kids now! We will be in Roseville, so if anyone reading this has some bakery recommendations, please let me know!

For the piña colada cupcake shake, you need some cupcakes, some vanilla bean ice cream, shredded coconut and fresh pineapple. You will also need a large blender and some chilled glasses. I like to put my glasses in the freezer when I am making homemade milkshakes because it helps keep them that much colder!

Piña Colada Cupcake Shake
Yields 2 large shakes

2 Piña Colada Cupcakes

6-7 large scoops vanilla bean ice cream

1/4 cup shredded coconut

3/4 C Chopped Pineapple

1/3 C Milk

The instructions for this aren’t too complicated. Combine all of your ingredients in a large blender and beat until well mixed. For a thicker shake, add additional ice cream. For a thinner shake, add more milk.

I am kind of excited for all the cupcake shakes that I could create. Surely there is a chocolate one coming your way.

Don’t forget the Pina Colada Cupcake!

Strawberry Pound Cake Cupcake

It’s not a secret around here that I love cupcakes. So this week, I wanted to make my Grandmother’s classic pound cake in a cupcake form. A couple weeks ago, a friend of mine asked me to make cupcakes for her son’s second birthday party. This was the perfect opportunity for Strawberry Pound Cake Cupcakes. California is also in the height of strawberry season, so I am trying to enjoy every last minute of it.

I started with my basic pound cake recipe. For this, I knew I had to fill my cupcake liners mostly full because these wouldn’t rise as much as normal cupcakes. I topped it off with a Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream. This is one of my favorite frostings because it has the fresh strawberries mixed right into the frosting and there isn’t an over powering sweetness from confectionary sugar- because there is none!

Vanilla Mint Chip Cupcakes

You know when life just sort of sucks you into a tornado of stuff to do? There is so much going on around you and you feel like you can’t get it under control. I am in one of those tornados! Work is so very busy right now, exciting things are happening with my blog, and the demand to keep up is awesome, but difficult at times. I have been without my partner in crime for almost two weeks while he is traveling in Asia, and he will be gone for another week. I miss him dearly. However, with all that’s going on, I am so happy to be spending the weekend in Colorado with my family while my little brother graduates from college; and bonus, he called me yesterday to tell me he got a full time job in the medical field. I am so proud of him!

Okay, enough ranting. Thanks for listening, but lets move onto cupcakes. That’s why you are all here right? Today I am sharing Vanilla Mint Chip Cupcakes. Oh my word, these cupcakes… these cupcakes are in my top three favorites. You see, mint chip is my favorite flavor weather it is in ice cream, brownies or chocolate; you name it. I have seen lots of cupcakes with mint chip frosting, but a couple weeks ago, I found myself searching for an actual mint chip cupcake. I wanted the cupcake to be mint flavored, with chocolate chips and chocolate frosting.

I am so in love with these. Even my boyfriend, (who, gasp, isn’t a fan of mint chip) enjoyed these cupcakes. They are the perfect balance of mint flavor cake and subtle chocolate chips. I topped them off with my absolute favorite dark chocolate frosting. I have to tell you that once you make this chocolate frosting, you might never make another chocolate frosting. I found a similar recipe a couple years back, scribbled it on a sticky note and now, I have not be able to locate it since. It continues to be my favorite frosting recipe.

Vanilla Mint Chocolate Chip Cupcakes
Makes 24 cupcakes

1 Box Vanilla cake mix

1/4 C Dry instant vanilla pudding mix

3 Large Eggs

½ C Vegetable oil

1 C Buttermilk

3/4 C Sour cream

1 tsp Pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 tsp Mint extract

1/2 C Mini chocolate chips

• Preheat oven to 350°
• Combine all ingredients in a bowl, except chocolate chips, and mix thoroughly. I like to fold my chocolate chips in last once the batter is mixed.
• Fill lined cupcake pan 2/3 full. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Check your cupcake for doneness by inserting a toothpick into the center of the cupcake. If your tooth pick comes out clean, your cupcake is done. Allow the cupcakes to cool in the pan for at least 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

Dark Chocolate Frosting

1 1/3 C Dark chocolate cocoa powder, sifted

1 C Butter at room temperature

1 Package cream cheese (8 oz) at room temperature

3 tsp Pure vanilla extract

4 C Confectionary sugar

2 tbsp Milk

• Allow butter and cream cheese to come to room temperature.
• Using a fine sieve to sift the cocoa powder, eliminating any clumps.
• Once softened, combine butter and cream cheese in a large mixing bowl and beat on medium speed until well combined.
• Slowly add cocoa powder and continue to beat on medium speed until you achieve a smooth consistency. Add vanilla extract. I like to add the vanilla extract after the cocoa powder too help keep the mixture from getting dry and clumpy to quickly.
• Continue by adding 2 cups of powdered sugar, followed by 1 tablespoon of milk. I alternate the powdered sugar and milk because the frosting will get clumpy. Add the last two cups of powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon of milk. Here is where you need some patience, and you might need to increase the speed of your mixer up one notch. The frosting takes a little time to cream together in order to get a silky smooth finish. If you feel your frosting is still too thick, add 1 teaspoon of milk until desired thickness.

I used an open circular tip to frost my cupcakes and topped them with chocolate sprinkles. I still have dreams about these cupcakes! Good thing my birthday is coming up, because someone will be making themselves some vanilla mint chocolate chip cupcakes.

Gluten-Free S’mores Cupcakes

Part of the fun of being a food blogger is trying recipes from my peers. I love experimenting in the kitchen. I have also been inclined to try various baking mixes to see how my favorites compare. On a recent shopping trip to Wholefoods, I found a Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake mix from King Arthur Flour. I must say, that I am in love with this cake mix, it is the fudgiest cake I have ever had. You can purchase their cake mixes online. I used it to make cupcakes instead of a layer cake as shown on the box.

Once my cupcakes cooled, I took a heaping spoon of chocolate and smeared it over the top of each one. Obviously you need an excess amount of chocolate for anything s’mores related. Instead of graham cracker, I used Annie’s Gluten-Free Bunnie crackers, they are most compared to Teddy Grahams. I used a food processor to grind them up into smaller pieces.

I have never made marshmallow frosting before (gasp!). So I spent some time looking at ingredients from different recipes to see what I wanted to try. I was never a huge fan of marshmallow fluff when I was a child, so I was looking for something different.

White Chocolate Coconut Cupcakes

Let me start my apologizing for my absence lately. Between work and a few other things going on, I have been slammed! I was able to enjoy a relaxing weekend at home and got some serious baking done. White chocolate serious.

I am really excited about these white chocolate cupcakes with macadamia nuts and coconut. Only in the past couple years was I introduce to macadamia nut cookies, and I am totally hooked. I wanted to make a cupcake version of the cookie. These cupcakes are a white chocolate cupcake infused with a hint of coconut. For the frosting I made a white chocolate cream cheese rolled in toasted coconut and topped with macadamia nuts. I love the salty nuts contrasted against the creamy frosting.

You will love this cupcake, because you would never know it’s from a box! The cupcake has a very light crumb but actually has a lot of structure. What do I mean by structure? It doesn’t fall apart when you peel back the wrapper. From someone like me who likes the frosting piled high, you always appreciate a cupcake with good structure.