Yellow Cupcakes (Cross Cupcake Cake)

My godchild was confirmed earlier this month, and I made her a cross cupcake cake for her party afterward. She is very plain (which is what I love about her) and only likes vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream (which just so happens to be my favorite as well). I also made Hershey's perfectly chocolate cupcakes, too, to mix things up a bit. I decided to cast aside my go-to vanilla cupcake recipe for a new one. While there is nothing wrong with the recipe I typically use, it does sometimes turn out a little dry. I decided to try Cook's Illustrated's yellow cupcake recipe (I didn't try the white cake recipe mostly because I didn't know what to do with the leftover egg yokes). While the cupcakes looked a little muffin-y and were a tiny bit dense, the flavor was quite good! They got rave reviews. I'm still on the hunt for a lighter vanilla cupcake recipe, so I think I'll be trying CI's white cupcake recipe soon.

Yellow Cupcakes
Source: Cook's Illustrated via Can You Stay for Dinner?

1 and 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick butter (room temperature)
1/2 cup sour cream
2 large eggs (room temperature)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and line a cupcake tin with 12 paper cupcake liners.

Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric stand mixer.

Add butter, sour cream, eggs, and vanilla. Beat everything at medium speed for about 30 seconds until the batter becomes smooth and satiny. 

Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula and mix by hand until all ingredients are incorporated and the batter is smooth. The batter will be slightly thick.

Fill cupcake liners about 3/4 full and bake about 20 - 22 minutes, until cupcakes are golden. 

Cool cupcakes completely on a wire rack before icing.

Random Cupcakes

I have been busy the last two months with a few cupcakes orders for various events. Though I've made these recipes before, I wanted to share some new pics. I hope you enjoy! 

Chocolate cupcakes with Irish Cream Buttercream

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes
for my friend Becca's birthday

Red Velvet Cupcakes
for my cousin Ky's confirmation

Finding Nemo Cupcakes

I was asked to make cupcakes for a Finding Nemo-themed baby shower. The host asked me to incorporate blue and green for the baby boy and the design was left up to me. I scoped out a few images on the Internet but nothing caught my eye. I didn't want to decorate each cupcake to look like Nemo or the other characters from the movie, but I did want them to look pretty. In the end, I decided to decorate the cupcakes with a pretty swirl of icing and top each of them with a cheddar Goldfish cracker to represent Nemo. The cupcakes were vanilla and chocolate topped with vanilla buttercream.

Cinco de Mayo Recipe Roundup

I love Mexican food, and with Cinco de Mayo just a few days away, I'm looking forward to indulging in some margaritas, sangria, and Mexican cuisine. I decided to share some of my favorite Mexican-inspired recipes. Enjoy!

Tamale Pie

 

Chicken Enchiladas or Beef Enchiladas

Mexican Stuffed Shells

Cheesy Chile Cornbread

Creamy Taco Mac

Margarita Cupcakes

Slow Cooker Carnitas

Mexican Sour Cream Rice

Baked Chicken Taquitos

Spicy Chocolate Cupcakes

Enchilada Stack

Tequila-Lime Shrimp Tacos

Chocolate Chip Toffee Cookie Bars

I adore chocolate chip cookies. They are my favorite. When I saw the recipe for these chocolate chip toffee bars, I had to make them right away. And they did not disappoint. They had a chewy interior and a crispy exterior. The toffee chips melted into the center, resulting in a buttery almost caramel-like flavor. They were heavenly! The only thing I would do differently next time is bake them in a 9×13-inch pan  I baked them in an 8×8-inch pan and they were huge! Plus they took almost an hour to bake.

Chocolate Chip Toffee Cookie Bars
Source: adapted from Smells Like Home

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 and 1/2 sticks butter (melted and cooled)
1 cup brown sugar (packed)
1/2 cup white sugar
1 large egg 
1 egg yolk
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 and 1/2 cups chocolate chips (any flavor)
3/4 cup toffee bits

Preheat oven to 325 degrees and line an 8×8-inch baking pan with aluminum foil so that the edges of the foil overhang two sides of the pan. Spray the foil with baking spray and set aside.

Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside. Using a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugars together until thoroughly combined. Beat in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla until just combined. Slowly add the flour mixture and beat on low speed until the mixture is just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips and toffee bits.

Spread the dough in the bottom of the baking pan and bake on the center rack of the oven for 30 - 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from the bars when tested. (I had to bake mine for 50 minutes because of how thick the bars were in the 8×8-inch pan; next time I will use a 9×13-inch pan.)

Cool the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes and then remove the bars using the foil overhang to the wire rack to cool complete. Slice into bars.

Herb-Roasted Chicken & Peppers

I have been waiting for the warm weather. Waiting, waiting, and waiting—to no avail. I think Mother Nature forgot about us in the Northeast. I wanted to grill chicken drums for dinner, but the weather has not been cooperating. The calendar says it's spring, but it's cold. So cold that there was ice outside a few times this week when we woke up. Yep, that's right, ice. So our grilling plans went out the window, and I decided to roast the chicken in the oven instead—mostly to warm up the house. This dinner was simple, yet tasty. I coated the chicken in a mixture of spices and topped it with a yellow pepper, which became sweet like candy when roasted. It was a perfect, comforting Sunday dinner.

Herb-Roasted Chicken & Peppers

10 chicken drums
1 yellow bell pepper (sliced into strips)
3 to 4 tablespoons oil (olive or canola)
1 tablespoon dried crushed rosemary
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon minced garlic
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.Place the chicken and pepper slices in a Ziploc bag with the oil and spices. Shake until well coated. Arrange chicken on a lightly greased sheet pan and top with the pepper slices. Bake for 45 minutes until the chicken is no longer pink inside. 

Kitty Cake

Every year I bake my godchild a birthday cake. It's always vanilla cake topped with vanilla buttercream. She's not a risk-taker when it comes to food—just like her godmother used to be. Hopefully she'll grow out of that like I did. This year, she asked for a kitty cake and told me her favorite color was purple. I kept it simple and piped an orange cat with a purple bow with the birthday girl's name on top. The cat's tail cascaded down the side of the cake, which was decorated with a purple star border. She loved it!