Tangled Cupcakes

Tangled Cupcakes

My sister asked me to make cupcakes for her daughter's 4th birthday.  She is in love with the movie, "Tangled".  Yes, I am referring to both of them.

This is my baking mess that I set up before getting started.  I like to get everything I need together in one spot before starting; to make sure I have all the ingredients I need.  I put things away as I move along. 

Microwave Marshmallow Fondant
The first thing I started with was the paint pallets.  I quickly made some fondant, rolled it out and cut out some paint pallets with a few fondant cutters:  large leaf, medium circle, and small circle.

Painter Pallets.

On to the Frying Pans.  I used black candy melts and sort of dripped out the relative shape of a frying pan, then let them dry overnight.

Chocolate frying pans are the best.

Then on to some frosting.

Vanilla ButterCream Frosting - Wilton

½ cup shortening

½ cup butter – melted

1 tsp vanilla or other flavorings

2 Tbs heavy cream, milk, or water – Mix with beater

1 Tbs Meringue Powder (optional)

4 cups powdered sugar – Mix with a beater 1 cup at a time.

Add more heavy cream or powdered sugar for the right consistency you want.

I made the cupcakes the day of the party so they would be fresh.

Chocolate Cupcakes - 24+

1 and 2/3 cup sugar

¾ cup (1 and 1/2 sticks) butter - softened

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup cake flour

1 and ¼ cup all purpose flour

2/3 cup cocoa powder

¼ tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

1 and ½ cup milk

Cream together sugar and butter.  Add in eggs and vanilla.  In a separate bowl combine dry ingredients.  Alternate adding dry ingredients and milk, starting and ending with milk.  Stir to combine.  Bake 350°F for 18 – 20 min.

Time to add some paint to those pallets.

I mixed red, yellow, and blue, then combined them all to get the different paint colors.

I wanted some grass for half the cupcakes.

Then purple to match Rapunzel's dress for the other half.

Here are my finished Paint Pallet cupcakes.

And the Frying Pans go on a bed of grass with a flower.

Finally finished the Tangled Cupcakes

Tangled Birthday Party.

Everything was decorated super cute.

The highlight of the party was that they got their very own Princess Rapunzel.

Only Princess Rapunzel can get the children's undivided attention.

With Singing...

and Face painting...

Since little kids are so wiggly this was the best group shot we could get.

The most important thing is that they all had fun.
And I had fun making cupcakes.
Enjoy.

Pumpkin Cupcakes

This time of year I crave for something pumpkin.  I love pumpkin.  I love pumpkin spice.  I cannot honestly say I love pumpkin flavored everything because of the infamous pumpkin milkshake that one year, but I like most things pumpkin.  

Pumpkin cupcakes

• 2/3 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• ¾ cup + 2 Tbs sugar
• ¾ cup canned pumpkin (half of a 14 oz can)
• 1 and ½ cup flour
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp cloves
• ¼ tsp nutmeg
• ¾ tsp cinnamon
• ¼ tsp salt
• Mix together oil, eggs, sugar, and pumpkin.  Mix together dry ingredients, add to wet and combine.  Bake 325°F for 25 min. Makes about 24 cupcakes.

Mix together wet ingredients and sugar.

Add dry ingredients and mix together.  Using an ice cream scoop fill cupcake wrappers.

This batch made exactly 24 cupcakes.

I think Cream Cheese frosting goes best with pumpkin cake and cupcakes.  My twist is the cinnamon.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

• 8 oz cream cheese (one package) microwave shortly until warm
• ½ cup butter (1 stick) at room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 5 – 6 cups powdered sugar
• 2 Tbs Cinnamon - add according to taste. I tend to go a bit heavy on the cinnamon.

Peanut Brittle for garnish.  Peanut Brittle

Here I go all trying to be fancy and made peanut brittle to garnish my cupcakes.
Cupcakes without peanut brittle.

Cupcakes with peanut brittle.  I think they look nicer with that added touch of something crunchy.

Enjoy.

Applesauce Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

With a certain birthday coming up I asked J what he would like me to make for him.  Applesauce Cupcakes are J's second favorite dessert.  First are Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars (which rarely leave the house http://furfish.blogspot.com/2012/10/peanut-butter-bars.html and I made them for him last week), second are Applesauce Cupcakes, and third is Peanut Butter cookies http://furfish.blogspot.com/2012/06/peanut-butter-cookies.html.  The Husband loves his peanut butter.  I like them because they are a good cupcake I can make for my nut and milk sensitive friends, because they have neither.  You could add nuts if you wanted to.  I think walnuts would be good, but J is not a nut (unless they are well buttered, and um.....peaed?) so all of my more nutty desserts are not allowed to stay in the house too long.  Much like certain relatives I suppose.

Ingredients, Assemble!

Applesauce Cupcakes

• 1/2 cup Butter (1 stick) room temperature or slightly melty
• 1 and 1/4 cup Brown Sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla
• 2 Eggs
• 3 cups Flour
• 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
• 1 and 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp Cloves
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 1/2+ cup Applesauce
• 1 Granny Smith Apple, peeled, cored, and finely chopped (food processor works great)

Cream butter and sugar together.  Add eggs and vanilla.  Mix dry ingredients in.  Fold in applesauce and apples chunks.  Add more applesauce if it looks too dry.  Lunchable sized applesauce packs are 1/2 cup.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20 - 25 min for full sized cupcakes.  (I got my oven down to 16 minutes exactly.  My oven runs hot.)  Makes 24+ cupcakes.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10 min for 84+ mini-cupcakes.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1/2 cup Butter (1 stick) room temperature or melty
• 1 (8oz) package of Cream Cheese room temperature or melty
• 5 - 6 cups Powdered Sugar
• 1 Tbs Heavy Whipping Cream
• 1 tsp Vanilla (optional)
• Cinnamon

Cream together butter, cream cheese, and heavy whipping cream.  Add powdered sugar and mix in one cup at a time.  Add cinnamon to taste.  I like it really cinnamon-ey so I think I added like 4 Tbs of ground cinnamon.

To quote my friend Heather, "If there is no frosting, it's a muffin.  Muffins are healthy.  You're welcome."  I admit, the same logic does not quite apply to a bran muffin with frosting on top and calling it a cupcake, but I think these could pass for muffins.  They are pretty dense.  But a blueberry muffin with cream cheese frosting sounds good right now.

Even more perfect with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting.
Enjoy.

Breast Cancer Cupcakes

My friend ran in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure this past weekend.  She asked me to supply a dozen cupcakes for the team.  Her only requirement was that they had to be pink.  I was more than happy to oblige.  Not only do I love making cupcakes, I also enjoy supporting a good cause.  This is my favorite chocolate cupcake recipe. 

Chocolate Cupcakes

• 1 and 2/3 cup sugar
• ¾ cup butter - softened
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup cake flour
• 1 and ¼ cup all purpose flour
• 2/3 cup cocoa powder
• ¼ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 1 and ½ cup milk
• Cream sugar and butter.  Add eggs and vanilla.  In a separate bowl combine dry ingredients.  Alternate adding dry and milk starting and ending with milk.  Stir to combine.  Bake 350°F for 18 – 20 min. Makes 24 - 30 cupcakes.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

• 8 oz (1 package) of Cream Cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) of Butter, softened
• 1 tsp Vanilla
• 3 Tbs Strawberry puree
• 2 Tbs Heavy Cream
• 7-8 cups of Powdered Sugar
• Mix the Cream Cheese, Butter, Vanilla, and Strawberry puree together.  Add 1 cup of powdered sugar at a time and mix it in.  Add Heavy Cream as needed for consistency.  
• I find it really hard to flavor cream cheese, since cream cheese is such a strong flavor in an of itself.  To make the strawberry really stand out I boiled down 1 cup of strawberry puree with 1/4 a cup of sugar until it was reduced to about 1/3 cup of a thick syrupy paste, then added it.

I wanted these to scream "Breast Cancer Cupcakes" and not just pink cupcakes so I made some pink fondant ribbons for them.

Then, as if I did not have enough pink, I added pink sprinkles.

Now I have my Pink Breast Cancer Cupcakes that is more than just pink cupcakes.

I ended up with 30 cupcakes.  I brought a dozen for the race and another dozen to share at work.

Enjoy.

Destroy Breast Cancer.  It sucks.