CAMI'S WEDDING CHURRO CUPCAKE

                        Cami's Wedding Churro Cupcakes

This little cupcake has made a name for itself!   Faye and I recently catered dessert for our friend Cami's wedding in October.   She requested that one of her desserts be a Churro Cupcake. (We also made, mini cheesecake with fresh strawberries, vanilla cupcake with passion fruit filling and frosting, mini chocolate cream pies, mini banana cream pies and assorted fruit tarts and the now famous Cami's Churro Cupcake.. this bride know her dessert! )  So after a few trials and errors, I came up with this delicious result!  I have made this cupcake for two other events and every time it is hit.  Faye also made a batch for our October Halloween party.   So like I said , this cupcake definitely has a good reputation!   The cake is moist and flavorful, with a little hidden surprise of Dulce de Leche caramel in the middle.  Top it off with Cinnamon Cream Cheese frosting and a crispy churro on the top.

There are quite a few steps for this cupcake but they're so worth the effort. I really hope you give this Churro Cupcake a try. 

As for Cami and Tim's Wedding , it was beautiful! The Bride looked gorgeous, Groom handsome and the wedding amazing.  Faye and I wish them nothing but happiness in their future and we thank them for letting LIVEBAKELOVE be a part of it.

P.S. we heard the desserts were a hit too, I wonder who made them :-)

Happy Cooking!

Churro Cupcakes with Dulce de Leche Filling and Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
Makes 24 regular size cupcakes


Ingredients
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 ½ cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temp
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs, room temp
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ¼ cup milk (use whole if you can)
1 can Dulce de Leche

1 . Preheat oven to 350f.

2. Line cupcake pans with 24 paper cupcake liners

3. In a large bowl, add both flours, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Whisk to combine. Set aside. 

4. In a large bowl using electric hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy (approx. 2 min). Add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition and scraping down the bowl as needed. Beat in the vanilla extract.

5.  Gradually mix in the flour mixture and milk, alternating between the two until combined. (Start and end with the flour mixture)

6.  Divide the batter evenly between the lined cupcake pans filling each cup approx. 3/4 full.

7. Bake at 350f for approx. 20 minutes until the centers are set and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

8. Remove from the pan and place on a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

9. Once the cupcakes have cooled, take a wooden spoon and make a hole in the center of each cupcake.

10. Use a pastry bag with a round tip (or just cut the tip off of a plastic storage bag) and fill it with the Dulce de Leche filling.

11. Pipe the filling into each cupcake

Make the frosting

Frosting Ingredients:
½ cup of butter
8 oz cream cheese softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
5 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk or cream
24 mini churros for decorating

1. With an electric mixer, cream the butter and cream cheese together until smooth and creamy
2. Mix in the vanilla extract and cinnamon
3. Gradually mix in the powdered sugar to achieve desired consistency. If frosting is too thick, add the milk.
4. Frost and decorate the cupcakes as desired.

Making the Mini Churros

Ingredients
1 wheat tortilla
½ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Vegetable or Canola Oil for frying

1. Combine cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl
2. Heat oil over medium-high heat
3. Cut shapes out of the tortilla using a mini cookie cutter
4. Fry each tortilla until golden brown
5. Remove from the oil and toss in the cinnamon sugar mixture
6. Place the churros on a plate to cool before garnishing the cupcakes

                                             Pictures from desserts at the Wedding

Friendship cupcakes:Raspberry Cupcakes with Lemon frosting

Baking as a form of expression is one of my favorite ways to say thank you. Recently, I want thank two special women who have been very helpful so I went to the kitchen to see what I would come up with. After searching the ingredients I had to work with, I came up with this combination - lemons from my parent's tree and raspberries from the local farmers market, a perfect combination for these Raspberry Cupcakes with Lemon frosting! I found this recipe for Raspberry Cupcakes and the frosting was an adaptation from my Banana Boat Cupcake frosting recipe.  This recipe came out exactly the way I wanted, fresh, sweet and tart.  The cake is perfect, not too dense. And the frosting is light with bright lemon flavor.  

 

I hope you give this recipe a try.

Happy Cooking everyone!

Friendship Cupcakes: Raspberry Cupcakes with Lemon Frosting
Makes 1 dozen cupcakes

Cupcake Ingredients:
2 1/3  cup Flour 
1 tablespoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cup sugar
½ cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs (beaten)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cup whole milk
1/3 cup pureed fresh raspberries

Frosting Ingredients:
1 cup of unsalted butter (softened)
1 vanilla bean (scraped)
1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1-7 oz jar Marshmallow Cream
2 cups powdered sugar
¼ cup half and half milk or whole milk
12 raspberries for decorating

Prep Work:
1. Preheat oven 325 degrees
2. Line cupcake pan with 12 liners. (I prefer the ones that have the aluminum interior)
3. Take about ½ cup of fresh raspberries and puree them using a fork and small bowl.  Set aside

Recipe
1.  In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Using a mixer, slowly add oil until the mixture looks crumbly. 
2. Add eggs, milk, vanilla and pureed raspberries to flour mixture. Beat for 2-3 minutes.
3. Fill each cupcake liner with raspberry batter till its about ¾ filled.
4. Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

FROSTING:
1. Beat butter until it is smooth.
2. Add vanilla ,lemon zest, lemon juice and marshmallow cream and mix until combined.
3. Gradually add powdered sugar at low speed.
4. Add half and half milk or milk and beat at high speed till nice and fluffy.
5. Place frosting in a pastry bag fitted with a decorating tip or in a plastic storage bag with the corner cut off. Frost as desired.
F. Garnish each cupcake with a fresh Raspberry.

Enjoy!

Banana Boat Cupcakes

Banana Boat Cupcakes

 

 

Yumm.. The Campbodians famous Banana boats! What is a Banana boat? That is what I said the first time I heard of it, well…it’s a camping treat my boyfriend's friends (referred to as the Campbodians= a group of Pilipino men that love VW buses and camping) have been making for years. Picture this…a banana stuffed with pieces of chocolate, marshmallows and topped with graham cracker crumbs and sprinkled with cinnamon , wrapped in foil and cooked over an open fire till the bananas are warm and the chocolate and marshmallows are nice and soft and gooey . Pure heaven. Well, I have been craving these for awhile. Earl was nice enough to make them for my family a few weeks ago and they were a hit! But I kept thinking how to make these favors into a bake good. Well, I created a banana-cinnamon cupcake stuffed with chocolate pieces frosted with a marshmallow frosting and sprinkled with graham cracker crumbs, the birth of the BANANA BOAT CUPCAKE. There is nothing like a banana boat over a open fire, but this cupcake is delicious. The flavors are so good and the frosting is AMAZING! I really hope you give this cupcake a try.

 

Ingredients: (cupcake base is an adaption of Gina Neelys banana cupcake)

 

1 cup flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 stick sweet cream butter (room temp)

½ cup white sugar

¼ cup sour cream

2 large eggs (room temp)

2 large ripe bananas (not overly ripe)

1  3.5 oz large chocolate bars broken into pieces

 

 

Ingredients: Frosting

1 cup of butter

2 teaspoons vanilla

1-7 oz jar Marshmallow cream

 

2 cups powder sugar

¼ cup half and half milk

½ cup graham cracker crumbs

Banana chips for decorating (optional)

 

 

Pre-heat oven to 350

Prep-work:

a. Line cupcake pan with 12 cupcake .Spray with oil
b. Mash banana

 

 

1. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder,baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Mix and set aside.

 

2. In large bowl, beat butter with sugar.

 

3. Beat in Sour cream and vanilla.

 

4. Beat in eggs until all well combined

 

5. Add half the ingredients and beat in till combined, then beat in the other half. Do not over beat.

 

6. Beat in the mashed banana to batter. DO NOT OVER BEAT, just till combined.

 

7. Fill cupcake liners ¾ full.

 

 

8. Once all the cups are filled.  Add one square of chocolate in the middle of each cup. Batter will push up a bit on the sides.

 

9. Take a spoon and cover the chocolate with the batter that pushed up.

 

10. Bake for 20 minutes

11. Once removed from oven, wait about 3-5 minutes then transfer each cup to a  cooling rack. Cool completely.

 

 

While the cupcake are cooling…make frosting.

 

A. Beat butter until it is smooth.

 

B. Add vanilla and marshmallow cream till all combined.

 

C. Gradually add powdered sugar at low speed.

 

D. Add half and half and beat at high speed till nice and fluffy.

 

E. Frost and decorate as desired. I used a ziplock bag, cut off at the end and fitted with a decorating tip.

 

F. Sprinkle the graham cracker crumbs

G. Top with a banana chip

ENJOY!!