Tag Archives: cupcakes

Hot Flash Cupcakes!

These cupcakes are on fire!!

Hot Flash Cupcakes!
Hot Flash Cupcakes!

Hot Flash Cupcakes prove that menopause doesn’t have to be all bad!  Rich dark chocolate cupcakes combined with spicy buttercream frosting makes for a cupcake anyone would love!  Add some fire and you have the perfect gift for your hot flashing friends!

To prepare these fabulous Hot Flash Cupcakes, you need a dark chocolate cupcake recipe and luckily for you, I have one!  This recipe makes one dozen rich wonderful cupcakes that stand up well to the spicy buttercream that tops this fun and flashy dessert!

As always, a printable recipe can be found at the bottom of the page!

Dark Chocolate Cupcake Recipe

1 Stick of Butter at Room Temperature
3/4 Cup of Sugar
1 Large Egg at Room Temperature
1/2 Teaspoon of Vanilla
1 Cup Flour
1/2 Cup Cocoa Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Cup Buttermilk at Room Temperature
1/2 Cup Hot Water

Dark Chocolate Cupcake Recipe
Dark Chocolate Cupcake Recipe

Gather all the ingredients!

Dark Chocolate Cupcake Recipe
Dark Chocolate Cupcake Recipe

Whisk the dry ingredients together in a medium size bowl.  Beat butter in a large bowl at medium speed until light and fluffy.  Add the sugar and beat well, add the egg and vanilla and beat well.

Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients and beat until just combined,  Add ½ of the buttermilk, beat until just combined.  Repeat with 1/3 of the dry ingredients and the rest of the buttermilk. Finish with the rest of the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined. At a slow speed, beat ½ cup hot water into the batter until just combined.

Prepare the cupcake tin with 12 paper cups and distribute the batter evenly.
Bake at 350 degrees for 17-20 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean.
Cool on a wire rack.

Wonderful Dark Chocolate Cupcakes!
Wonderful Dark Chocolate Cupcakes!

Don’t they look incredible – they taste yummy too!

Now for the frosting!

Spicy Buttercream Frosting Recipe!

2 Sticks of Butter at Room Temperature
3 Cups of Powdered Sugar
2 Teaspoons of Cream
1 Teaspoons of Vanilla
1 Teaspoon of Cinnamon
1 Teaspoon of Chipotle Chili Powder
1/4 Teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper
1/4 Teaspoon Salt

Combine all spices into a small bowl.
For those of you who like it  extra hot, you can up the cayenne pepper to 1/2 teaspoon!
In a large bowl, beat the butter until light and fluffy.  At low speed, add the powdered sugar and cream, varying the amounts until the desired consistency is achieved.

Spicy Buttercream Frosting
Spicy Buttercream Frosting

Sift the spices into the frosting, add the vanilla and beat until light and fluffy.

Spicy Buttercream Frosting
Spicy Buttercream Frosting

Time to turn that spicy frosting into Fire!

We all know that the hottest part of the flame is yellow, therefore you need to try to make your frosting yellow as it will be the center or hottest part of the flame!  The added spice mixture makes this challenging because it lends a brownish hue to the frosting.  Just go ahead and throw in some yellow food coloring and mix well.  No need for perfection.  You will be adding orange and red to the tips of the flames and it will all turn out fabulously.   Now it’s time to frost!  Fill your pastry bag and frost using whatever tip you want. Try to form peaks like flames of a fire!

Spicy Buttercream Frosting
Spicy Buttercream Frosting

To finish your flames, add red and orange food coloring to a small amount of frosting. Gently mix the color in the frosting while trying to keep the colors mostly separate!

Making Fire with Frosting!
Hot Flash Cupcakes!

Using a fork, pick up a small amount of the colored frosting and streak it through the piped frosting of each cupcake.  Try to make it look like fire by lifting and separating the buttercream into flames!

Hot Flash Cupcakes!
Hot Flash Cupcakes!

Hot Flash Cupcakes will bring a smile to all your Hot Flashing friends!

Hot Flash Cupcakes will bring a smile to all your Hot Flashing friends!

For all you Hunger Games fans, these would work well at your next Hunger Games party!

[gmc_recipe 2820]

[gmc_recipe 2835]

Multicolor Frosting for Cupcakes!

Two-Tone Frosting for Cupcakes!

Multicolor Frosting for Cupcakes!

Show your graduate’s school colors with two-tone frosting!

This delightful multi-colored frosting would be wonderful for any occasion: weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, holidays…

What do you need?
One 16″ Decorating Bag
Two 12″ Decorating Bags
Coupler and Tips for the 16″ Bag
Frosting and Gel Food Colors

Two-Tone Frosting for Cupcakes!
Supplies for Multicolor Cupcakes!

Stir up a bowl of frosting.  Here I have made cream cheese frosting, but any kind will work! Divide the frosting into two bowls and color them using the gel food colors.  If you want, you could divide the frosting three times – wouldn’t that be cool!

Two-Tone Frosting for Cupcakes!
Two-Tone Frosting for Cupcakes!

Color your frosting, cut the tip off the end of your 12″ bags and fill them with frosting!

Two-Tone Frosting for Cupcakes!
Multicolor Frosting for Cupcakes!

After placing the coupler base into the 16″ decorating bag, tuck the two 12″ filled decorating bags into the 16″ decorating bag.  Make sure both bag tips are positioned into the very bottom of the bag.  Place a decorating tip on the coupler and secure with the coupler ring.

Two-Tone Frosting for Cupcakes!
Two-Tone Frosting for Cupcakes!

Time to start frosting!

Two-Tone Frosting for Cupcakes!
Two-Tone Frosting for Cupcakes!

Pipe the frosting onto your cupcakes.  Here I have used the 2D decorating tip!

Two-Tone Frosting for Cupcakes!
Two-Tone Frosting for Cupcakes!

These are so fun and delicious!  Perfect for any occasion!

Two-Tone Frosting for Cupcakes!
Multicolor Frosting for Cupcakes!

Musical Chocolate Garnish for Cupcakes!

Musical Notes Chocolate Garnish
Musical Notes Chocolate Garnish

Musical chocolate garnishes for one of my favorite cupcakes!

We were attending a jazz event for my son’s school and I needed to donate a dessert!
What could be better than fabulous cupcakes decorated with a musically themed garnish!

Drawing for chocolate garnish
Drawing for chocolate garnish
Musical Notes Chocolate Garnish for Cupcakes
Musical Notes Chocolate Garnish for Cupcakes

Draw the shape you would like to create out of chocolate.  Place a piece of wax paper over the drawing and pipe melted chocolate, using a pastry bag and small round tip, over your drawing.  When finished, slide the wax paper exposing the drawing again to create multiple garnishes!

Chocolate Garnish for Cupcakes
Chocolate Garnish for Cupcakes
Treble Clef Chocolate Garnish for Cupcakes
Treble Clef Chocolate Garnish for Cupcakes

If you would like to see more about creating this delicious and fun garnish refer to my previous post – Cupcakes for Prom or any Special Occasion

Chocolate Garnish for Special Occasion Cupcakes

Chocolate Cupcakes
Chocolate Cupcakes

It’s the season for prom and what dessert could be better than cupcakes? To me, the best part of eating a cupcake is – No sharing required!

It’s the one time when eating the whole cake by yourself is completely acceptable!

The recipe I prepared was Ganache-Filled Chocolate Cupcakes with Seven-Minute Meringe Frosting because it is my son’s favorite. It was his prom after all, so I guess he deserved some say!

This recipe is fabulous and produces a deep rich chocolate cake filled with a creamy ganache and piled high with light as air, velvety, meringue frosting.

Wish they were bigger – no worries – just have two, three….

Filling cupcakes with ganache.
Filling cupcakes with ganache.

Because the cupcake’s frosting was white, I wanted to embellish it with a chocolate garnish. I struggled over what to create until my daughter suggested making bow ties and dresses. Brilliant! I immediately set out to do just that!

Chocolate Garnish
Chocolate Garnish

I began by drawing an outline of ties and a dress in the sizes I wanted the garnish to be. I then placed a piece of translucent wax paper over the drawings and the pencil lines were clearly visible. After filling my pastry bag with melted chocolate, I piped the chocolate onto the sheet of wax paper using a small round decorator tip. I simply needed to follow the lines and voila – a super easy and very fun garnish.

Chocolate Garnish for Cupcakes
Chocolate Garnish for Cupcakes

Once the chocolate hardened, I eased them from the wax paper and gently pressed them into the frosting. So fun!

This easy garnish would work well for any formal occasion especially weddings, engagement parties, wedding showers, anniversaries, prom…..