Monster Cupcakes (using American Buttercream Frosting)

There's nothing special about these cupcakes, other than the way they were decorated. I made these for my niece's birthday party a few months ago. (I know...I'm really behind on my "flogging"!) The frosting recipe I used is a basic American Buttercream Frosting recipe that I got from Glorious Treats. The recipe is a great guideline for basic frosting, and can be modified using various flavor extracts, or by adding cream cheese. I simply used the basic, unflavored (well, vanilla) version for decorating these cupcakes. I plan to try this recipe with other flavors at some point in the future.

American Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

• 1 C (2 sticks) butter (salted or unsalted), room temperature
• 1/4 tsp salt (if using unsalted butter) 
• 4 C powdered sugar (sift if needed to break up clumps)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2-3 T heavy cream, half-and-half, or milk

Instructions
In electric mixing bowl, with whisk attachment, beat butter on medium speed until completely smooth. (This step is important for buttercream! Make sure there are no lumps and it is not too warm and melty. Put it back in the fridge for a little while if you need to.) Add salt (if needed). 

Add 2 cups powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating after each addition.

Add vanilla and beat to combine.

Add about 1 tablespoon of cream, and continue beating.

Add the remaining 2 cups of powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time

Add another 1-2 tablespoons of cream until desired consistency is reached, and beat/whip for another minute or so.

Monster Cupcakes

Ingredients

• Cupcakes
• Frosting (see above, or use your own recipe)
• Food coloring (preferably gel type)
• Edible eyes (available in the cake decorating aisle, or make your own)
• Other candy decorations you might want

Instructions
Separate frosting into bowls (1 for each color). Use mixer to mix food coloring into frosting until thoroughly blended, one color at a time. Consistency may need to be adjusted by adding more powdered sugar, especially is using liquid food coloring.
Scoop into piping bag(s) fitted with a Wilton #233 or #234 tip. It looks like this:

Hold tip against cupcake top and gently squeeze, while gently pulling away. Stop squeezing and lift away a little more. Place tip right next to where you just frosted, and repeat until the top of the cupcake is covered in "fur" and there is no cake visible. It will take some time and experimentation to figure it out and get the hang of it. You might want to test on some parchment paper or something until you figure out how to get the length of the frosting "fur" the way you want it. Then find a rhythm/pattern and go with it. This part will take a while.

After frosting, decorate with eyes. Make it fun! Not all monsters have 2 eyes like people do! Some might have eyes that stick up (try using toothpicks, pretzel sticks, or something else to hold up candy eyes). Eyes can be marshmallows, life savers, M&Ms, gumdrops, etc. Maybe some have bushy candy eyebrows. Maybe some have different types of fur (use different decorating tips).  Maybe some have spots or stripes (alternate colors when frosting). Maybe some have fangs or horns! Use your imagination and have some fun with it!

My finished Monster Cupcakes!

 

 

Not my pictures. Just some examples from the interwebs.

The Verdict

The kids loved them, and the adults thought they were cute, too!

White Chocolate Buttercream

I was in a 2-week training class for work, and when we introduced ourselves, my personal fun fact was that I like to bake, especially cupcakes.  When the others in the class heard this, they asked me to make some for the class one day.  Luckily, I had enough time to squeeze in some cupcake baking before the last day.  I decided to try another new frosting recipe, and this white chocolate buttercream sounded interesting.  There is an excellent detailed tutorial with pictures here.  I recommend checking out the original blog and reading the details and notes there before making this frosting.

Dark chocolate cupcake with white chocolate buttercream

White Chocolate Buttercream

Makes ~3-4 cups (will frost 2 dozen cupcakes, piped)

Ingredients

• 1 C unsalted butter, softened
• ~2 1/2 C confectioner's sugar (or more, depending on desired consistency)
• 6 oz good quality white chocolate, chopped (NOT chocolate chips or candy melts!  I used Cadbury white chocolate bars.)
• 1/4 C heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Put the chopped chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl.  Heat in the microwave, 30 seconds at a time at 60% power, stirring in between, until chocolate is fully melted.  Set aside to cool.
2. Once chocolate has cooled, cream together butter, salt, and powdered sugar until fluffy.
3. Gradually add the vanilla extract and whipping cream.
4. Fold in melted and cooled chocolate.
5. Turn mixer up to medium-high and mix for about 3 more minutes.

I beat the butter a little before adding the sugar, and then added the sugar slowly as I creamed them together (a good idea to avoid the powder "explosion" of adding it all at once).  The original recipe calls for sifting the sugar and the salt together, but I typically skip sifting when I bake things, partially because I'm impatient and partially because I don't have a sifter.  In my experience, it hasn't really made a difference.  Also, the recipe has you add the vanilla to the cream before adding to the bowl, but that's really not necessary if you are mixing well and scraping the sides.  Additionally, I used a whisk attachment when making this frosting, and whipped on a high-ish speed for at least 3 minutes at the end.  This gave the frosting a nice fluffy, whipped texture and it was the perfect consistency for piping onto cupcakes.

Piped on top with a large star tip

The Verdict

Wow!  I'm not a big fan of white chocolate by itself, but this was excellent paired with dark chocolate cupcakes.  This frosting was so good by itself though, and I found myself licking the spatulas, the whisk, the bowl, and finding excuses to stick my fingers in leftover frosting.  It's not overly white chocolatey, but you can tell it's there.  Everyone loved it, and I will keep this recipe to use again! 

Mini Cheesecakes (light)

I volunteered to make dessert for Sunday dinner when we were celebrating both Mother's Day and my brother's birthday.  I had a request to make Pennsylvania Dutch Lutheran Crumb Cake, aka "PDLCC" (probably a future "Favorites Friday" recipe), but I knew it was probably loaded with calories so I also wanted to have a lighter dessert option.  Most of our family loves cheesecake, and I have been eying some mini cheesecake recipes on Pinterest for quite a while now.  I found this particular recipe on Skinnytaste, which focuses on lighter "skinny" versions of recipes.

Mini Cheesecakes

Makes 12

Ingredients

• 12 reduced fat vanilla wafers
• 8 oz 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 C sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 6 oz vanilla greek yogurt
• 2 large egg whites
• 1 T all-purpose flour
• Sliced strawberries or other fruit for garnishing

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Line cupcake tin with liners.  Place a vanilla wafer at the bottom of each liner.
3. Gently beat cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla until smooth in a mixer.  Gradually beat in yogurt, egg whites, and flour.  Do not over beat.  Pour into cupcake liners, filling about halfway.
4. Bake 20-25 minutes or until center is almost set.
5. Cool to room temperature, then chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

With a candle for the birthday boy

The Verdict

Very good!  And it actually tasted like real cheesecake, and not some icky fake cheesecake imposter.  Hard to believe these came in at just under 100 calories each!  The vanilla wafers as the crust was perfect.  Don't let them sit for more than a day in the fridge, though, or the wafers get soggy.  In the future, the cups could probably be filled a little more, since cheesecake doesn't rise very much.  This is a cheesecake recipe I will make again, when I want to indulge without the guilt of normal cheesecake calories. 

Fluffernutter Frosting

In case you don't know, fluffernutter = marshmallow fluff + peanut butter.  I had to explain this to one of my younger brothers the other day, and I kind of felt like a failure as a big sister because he had never heard of a fluffernutter sandwich!  

I offered to make cupcakes for my sister's birthday party, and she requested "something with peanut butter and chocolate".  I had made a chocolate peanut butter cupcake before, but it was very dense and rich, so I wanted to try making something lighter.  (Not a "diet" version or anything...just lighter.)  I thought of using marshmallow fluff to lighten up the frosting, and after a little bit of searching I came across this recipe.   I paired it with Devil's Food Cake cupcakes from a box mix, but replaced the oil with melted butter and the water with milk.  You can use your favorite chocolate cake recipe.

Fluffernutter Frosting

Frosts ~16 cupcakes, piped

Ingredients

•  1/2 C creamy peanut butter (the cheap kind with all that added sugar and stuff works best for things like this)
• 1/2 C marshmallow fluff
• 1/3 C butter, softened
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• ~1 C confectioner's sugar (might be able to cut this down a little)
• 1-2 T milk

Instructions

1. Combine marshmallow fluff, peanut butter, butter, salt, and vanilla in mixer on low speed.
2. Add confectioner's sugar, beat until blended, and add enough milk to reach desired consistency.

I used the whisk attachment on my mixer to help get the frosting nice and fluffy.  I put the frosting in a piping bag and used a large star tip to decorate the cupcakes.  I didn't have quite enough to frost all the cupcakes I made when I piped on the frosting, so next time I would probably make 1.5x this recipe amount.  

  

Cupcakes on the cupcake tree that my sister gave me for Christmas

 

The Verdict

Awesome!  Light and fluffy, sweet, but not too rich.  (The flavor kind of reminded me of Reece's Pieces.)  The cupcakes were a hit at the party, and went like...well, cupcakes!  Will keep this one to use again!

Grasshopper Cupcakes (Thin Mints)

I got a request to make my "Better than Thin Mints - Grasshopper Poke Cake" again for Sunday dinner, but I was in the mood to make cupcakes!  I took the basic concept of the cake, lightened it up (a little bit), and converted it into cupcake form.

 

Grasshopper Cupcakes
Makes 18-24

Ingredients

• 1 box devil's food cake mix,
• Eggs, oil, water according to cake box instruction
• 1 box thin mints
• 1 container cool whip
• 1 packet mint chocolate frosting flavoring
• 1/8 tsp peppermint extract
• 1/3C heavy cream
• 8oz chocolate chips 
• 1/2C Andes mint pieces for topping (appx)

Instructions

Mix cake mix according to box directions.  Place a thin mint cookie at the bottom of each cupcake liner, and cover with cake batter.  Bake according to box directions. Let cool.

Combine cool whip and mint chocolate flavor packet.  Add a few drops of green food dye (optional) and mix well.  Place in refrigerator to keep cool until ready to frost.

Make ganache: in a double boiler, warm heavy cream until it begins to bubble at the edges (do not burn!).  Remove from heat, and stir in chocolate chips until thoroughly melted.  Stir in mint extract.  Allow ganache to cool slightly; it should be thin enough to spread out over the top, but thick/creamy enough to hold in place without running off the cupcake.

Dip tops of cooled cupcakes into ganache.  If tops are not high enough to dip, pour a little over top.

Cool until ganache is hardened.  Pipe frosting onto cupcakes.  Top with Andes bits.

Enjoy!

The Verdict 

Another favorite!  I think these were about as big of a hit as the poke cake!  They are minty and sweet, without being too rich; the cool whip frosting helps keep it lighter.  The worst calorie offender of the cupcake is probably the ganache, which could be optionally left off to lighten it up a little more.