With Sprinkles on Top

Happy Bunny Day!

Happy April – the month of spring, in my opinion! The weather is finally improving, Easter is approaching, and all things spring are here. I made these little cupcakes as my last baking project in my previous apartment. Admittedly, I took the easy way out and make funfetti cupcakes from a box and used store-bought frosting — but sometimes, the easy way is just as tasty. If you’d like to replicate these, here’s what you’ll need:

Mini Cupcakes
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1 box cake mix of your choice (plus oil and eggs, as called for)
2 tubs of vanilla frosting
~ 48 mini muffin tin liners
Assorted food coloring

1. Make the cake mix according to box directions.
2. Line a mini-muffing tin with liners and fill 2/3 full with batter.
3. Bake approximately 11 minutes – and check to make sure a toothpick comes out clean.
4. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely on a wire rack.
5. Divide and color the frosting to your liking. I used pink, yellow, green, blue, and purple coloring.
6. Once the frosting is colored, microwave the frosting, one color at a time, for 8 seconds. Dip the cupcakes in the frosting to coat. The microwaving will soften the frosting and give it the smooth, silky appearance.
7. Decorate the cupcakes with sprinkles or whatever you’d like!

Sometimes simple is better. A simple vanilla cupcake paired with simple buttercream frosting. Of course, no cupcake would be complete without a ton of sprinkles!

Vanilla Vanilla Cupcakes
Recipe Source: Billy’s Bakery
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1 3/4 cups cake flour, not self-rising
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
4 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt; mix on low speed until combined. Add butter, mixing until just coated with flour.
2. In a large glass measuring cup, whisk together eggs, milk, and vanilla. With mixer on medium speed, add wet ingredients in 3 parts, scraping down sides of bowl before each addition; beat until ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat.
3. Divide batter evenly among liners, filling about 2/3 full. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 17 to 20 minutes.
4. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Serve at room temperature.

The Repressed Pastry Chef: Buttercream Icing
Recipe source: therepressedpastrychef.blogspot.com

1 stick salted butter – room temperature
1 stick unsalted butter – room temperature
1 cup shortening
1 tablespoon clear vanilla extract**
2 pounds confectioner’s sugar (powdered sugar, 10x)
4-6 tablespoons very cold milk

**the CLEAR extract is very important if you want WHITE buttercream. Most buttercream tends to have a yellow-ish tint if you use real vanilla extract.

1. Cream the butter and shortening in the bowl of an electric or stand mixer.
2. Add the clear vanilla extract and combine well.
3. Begin adding in the sugar and mixing thoroughly after each addition.
4. After all of the sugar has been added and mixed thoroughly, begin adding the very cold milk… one tablespoon at a time, combining very well after each addition (mixer on medium-high to high speed) until you reach the desired consistency.

I had some Guinness leftover from last week’s Irish Car Bomb cupcakes, so I decided to make brownies! Thank you to my friend Kate for the recipe. 

Yield: 24 brownies

Guinness Brownies

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A perfect dessert on St. Patrick's Day -- or any other time you have Guinness on hand!

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into cubes
• 8 ounces dark bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 4 ounces high quality white chocolate, chopped
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/4 cup Guinness Stout beer, at room temperature
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375F.

2. Line a 13 x 9-inch baking pan with nonstick foil (or regular foil coated with nonstick spray); or, use a nonstick pan coated well with nonstick spray.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa and salt; set aside.

4. Melt the chocolate in the microwave: In a medium glass bowl, or other microwave-safe bowl, combine the dark chocolate, white chocolate and butter. Microwave on medium power for 45 seconds and stir. Continue microwaving and stirring at 30 second intervals, reducing to 15 second intervals as the chocolate is nearly melted. Stop just when the chocolate is smooth (all microwaves are different, so take care not to burn it). Set aside. (I used a double-boiler – I think it’s a much easier way to melt the chocolate consistently without burning)

5. Combine the eggs and sugar and vanilla in a large bowl and mix on high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

6. Add melted chocolate in two additions, beating on medium speed until combined.

7. Add flour mixture in two additions, beating on medium speed until combined.

8. Add one-third of the Guinness and whisk until combined. Repeat two more times with remaining Guinness.

9. Pour brownie batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle chocolate chips evenly over top. Bake for 23 to 27 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely in pan, cut into 24 squares and serve.

Ah, Peeps. You either love them or hate them. I tend to lean more toward the side of hating them, but each and every spring I buy a box and eat a few of the fluffy little marshmallow animals. They remind me of my childhood and the Easter baskets I used to run around the house trying to find.

Since today is the first day of spring, I thought I’d post the cute and EASY sunflower Peep cake that I made. I think cakes are notoriously tedious – they can be tough to make entirely from scratch and decorating them is usually fun, but so time consuming. This cake is different – so easy and fast to make!

Peeps Sunflower Cake
Print Recipe

1 box cake mix, your choice (plus the ingredients for the mix, such as eggs and vegetable oil)
16-18 yellow Peeps
Chocolate chips
Mini chocolate chips
Chocolate frosting (store-brought or you can make your own)

1. Make the cake according to the box directions and frost with chocolate frosting.
2. Place the yellow Peeps around the outside edge of the cake.
3. Fill the center with chocolate chips – using more mini-chips as you get toward the center of the cake.

That’s it! An easy and adorable spring cake!