Salted Caramel Frosting

This may in fact be the most delicious frosting ever created. If I had known how easy caramel is to make I would have been making it along time ago. It doesn't seem like it should be that easy. Candy making was always one of those things that I thought only a scientist could make, or someone a lot more patient than I am. Yet caramel is so simple. Water, check, sugar, check, heavy cream, check. You don't even have to stir it! Just watch it to make sure it doesn't burn. Amazing. Then, to make this frosting, you add  butter AND salt. So this frosting has those basic, delicious flavors that everyone craves. Sweet, salty, and buttery. You're taste buds can't get much happier. So needless to say, these cupcakes were a hit and I will be adding them to a list of my go-to cupcakes.

Salted Caramel Frosting
Adapted from CHOW

1/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp water
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 sticks butter, at room temp
1 tsp kosher salt
1 cup powdered sugar

1) Stir together sugar and water in pan and bring to a boil

2) At medium heat, allow caramel to continue boiling, DO NOT STIR
3) When caramel has turned a light amber color, remove from heat, about 6 minutes

4) Add heavy cream and vanilla and stir until smooth, then let sit for 25 minutes

5) Cream butter, salt, and sugar in a bowl until fluffy, then mix in caramel until combined and fluffy

6) Let frosting cool in refrigerator for 45 minutes, then frost cupcakes of choice, I used chocolate, end enjoy!

Halloween Treats

My friends through a huge Halloween party Saturday night. So of course, I had to bring treats. I made Chocolate cookies with Candy Corn, Brown Sugar Spice Ghost Cookies, Chocolate Mini Cupcakes with Halloween Sprinkles, Pumpkin Mini Cupcakes with Bourbon Cream Cheese Frosting (piped in the shape of brains), Mexican Hot Chocolate Mini Cupcakes with Spicy Ganache, and Pumpkin Cupcakes with a Chocolate Ganache filling and chocolate buttercream frosting. An epic amount of desserts for an epic party.

Mini Cupcakes with Alcohol

Friday night my friends had an engagement party and asked if I would bring some cupcakes. While I was trying to figure out which flavors would be the best, it suddenly hit me. Alcohol. But not just any, Margarita and Pumpkin Bourbon would be perfect. So I spent the early portion of the day trying to track down the perfect recipe. I wasn't entirely happy with many of them, but still managed to pull it off. In the end I decided to brush the warm cupcakes with the alcohol and add alcohol to the frosting. They were a hit. The happy couple enjoyed them as well as party-goers.

Margarita Mini Cupcakes
1 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. of salt
3 tbsp. of butter at room temp.
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
Zest of two limes
Tequila

1) Preheat oven to 325 F
2) Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and butter until it turns into a crumbly mixture
3) Pour in half of the milk then whisk the remaining milk with the egg and vanilla, then pour into mixture
4) Fold in lime zest
5) Fill molds 1/2 full and bake for 12-15 minutes
6) Brush with tequila

For the frosting
2 sticks of butter
2 cups of sugar
3 tbsp. lime juice
2 tbsp. (or more) of tequila
2 tbsp. lime zest
Salt to taste

Mix ingredients, then frost cupcakes and enjoy!

Bourbon Pumpkin Mini Cupcakes
1 stick of butter, room temp.
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup sugar
2 cups cake flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/8 tsp. ground clove
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
1 tbsp. bourbon

1) Preheat oven to 350 F
2) Mix wet ingredients and then add dry ingredients until combined
3) Fill molds 3/4 full
4) Bake for 12-15 minutes
5) Brush with bourbon and let cool

For the frosting
2 8 oz. packages of cream cheese, at room temp.
1 stick of butter, room temp.
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup (or more) bourbon

Mix ingredients and frost cupcakes

Fourth of July

Currently in Bolivia so I haven't had time to post anything new. I do however want to post the cake I made for Independence Day. I wanted to make something that really celebrated the holiday so I decided to make a layer cake with the colors of red white and blue. Before I baked the cake I went on the search for red and blue sprinkles. This turned out to be impossible. I would have thought that blue and red sprinkles would have been the easiest to find, especially around the holiday. The only red sprinkles that I could find in the store were cinnamon flavored. I thought this was odd. But as it turned out I had a few left over in the back of my cabinet, but no blue ones to be seen. Luckily they make marshmallows that are in the shape of stars and red white and blue. So I figured this would work. I don't have the recipe with me since I left in at home but it is a basic white cake with a lemon cream cheese frosting. I'm not much of a vanilla cake person, but everyone else enjoyed it. It was very festive in the end.