French Toast Cupcakes

So I've discovered that there's a world where cupcakes are acceptable for any meal. I used to think they were only good for desserts, snacks, and celebrations ... but now I've discovered breakfast cupcakes. Now, I know what you're thinking. You're probably asking yourself, "Aren't these called muffins?" The answer to that is, "No!" They are really cupcakes that just taste like breakfast items. Earlier, I wrote about Blueberry Pancake Cupcakes. Today, however, I'm going to tell you about French Toast Cupcakes.

These were so easy to make because they start with a box. I got the idea from Kate at Grin and Bake It.


Ingredients
1 package plain yellow cake mix
1 package (3.4 ounces) vanilla instant pudding mix
1 1/4 cups whole milk
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Directions 
Preheat oven to 350. Line 24 cupcake cups with paper liners. Mix cake mix, pudding packet, milk, oil, eggs, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer until smooth (approximately 2 minutes). Spoon batter into each lined cupcake cup, filling it 2/3 full. Bake approximately 15-20 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on a wire rack. Cool completely before frosting.

I used the same Maple Buttercream recipe that I used for my Blueberry Pancake Cupcakes. You can find it here.

To assemble, I loaded up my piping bag with the maple buttercream and a large star tip and made a pretty little pile on top. I then sprinkled with some powdered sugar. In hindsight, a strip of bacon might have made a nice garnish for this cupcake.

Just like with the Blueberry Pancake Cupcakes, I fed these to the junior high jazz band. They loved them.

I don't really understand why my mother wouldn't let me have things like pie and cake for breakfast when I was a kid. How is this any different from donuts and Pop Tarts? Yea ... I know... I won't let my kids have cake and pie for breakfast either. I save it for other people's kids.

Graduation Cakes

It's graduation season. Since I'm a high school teacher, and since I tend to feed high school kids cupcakes on occasion, I get asked about doing graduation cakes. Not a lot of cakes ... thank goodness. And they all seem to want 1/2 sheet cakes. I've broken my share of these cakes ... but then fixed them with frosting. I always seem to fight with them too. But I always seem to win. :)

This year I got to do a fun cake for graduation. Four boys, whose mothers I'm friends with, had their party together. The moms wanted cake for 150 people. After much e-mailing, they finally settled on 2 half-sheets, and this little beauty.

The bottom is a 12" square chocolate cake and the top is an 8" square white almond cake. I personalized it on the corners for each boy. Jeff got music notes, Dominick got a stethoscope, ...

... Matt got a computer mouse, and Aaron got a film reel. Everything was edible except for the cap and diploma on top.

As mentioned before, they also and 2 half-sheets. One was red velvet and the other was vanilla.

It was a lot of cake, but when I asked later, I was told that most of it got eaten at the party. Ben, Matt's younger brother, finished off the red velvet himself, and the rest was divided up and taken home (where I'm told it didn't last long).

Another one of my students, who just happens to be my neighbor, and I work with his dad, had 3 wishes for his graduation party: kegged root beer, a chocolate fountain, and a cake made by me. So of course I obliged. After talking with Reid in class, he said he wanted chocolate and peanut butter. So I made a half-sheet of chocolate cake and filled it with peanut butter butter cream. This was another party where the moms combined forces. Since Reid is off the the University of Illinois, and Jordan and Charlie are off to Western Illinois University, they wanted those schools included on the cake. Here's what I came up with ...

I am really tired of sheet cakes...and orange and black frosting. I'm so glad graduation season is over.

But before I go ... let's take a look at some graduation cakes I made last year for friends and former students.

Red Velvet cake for a young man heading off to Stanford

Chocolate and Vanilla cake for a Sox fan

Red Velvet and Vanilla cake

Chocolate and Peanut Butter

My son's 15th birthday was last month. Last year, I made him a guitar cake ... so I asked him what he wanted this year. Instead of cake, he said he wanted peanut butter filled chocolate cupcakes ... AND ... his favorite chocolate fudge frosting. He truly is my boy ... I LOVE chocolate and peanut butter too.

When I make chocolate and peanut butter cupcakes, I usually make peanut butter buttercream and fill and top a chocolate cupcake with it. But he specifically asked for the chocolate fudge buttercream and I didn't want to make two kinds of frosting. So I decided to go a different route with the filling. I found a recipe for a peanut butter filling that went into the cupcake before baking.

I got the recipe for the filling from Lizzy at Your Cup of Cake. The recipe is very simple.

Peanut Butter Filling
6 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons milk

Just cream all of the ingredients until well combined and set aside until ready to use.

So here's what I did ...

I started by making my favorite chocolate cupcake recipe and then filled each of the baking cups about half full. I then placed a dollop of the filling in each cup.

To make sure nothing spilled over the top, I used a spoon to push the filling down into the batter. I then baked at 350 for 19 minutes and then placed them on a wire rack to cool.

While they cooled I made Collin's favorite chocolate fudge frosting. I had also bought a package of regular sized peanut butter cups. I took this time to unwrap each of them and cup them in half with a sharp knife.

When everything was cooled and ready to go, I loaded up my piping bag with frosting and used a large star tip to make a pretty swirl on top. I then placed a peanut butter cup half on each one.

After dinner, we sang to the boy and each had a cupcake. I had made so many of them that we had cupcakes for days to come as well. Collin was very pleased.

Blueberry Pancake Cupcakes

I've mentioned before that my boys are really into music. They both are in band and choir, and they both play in the jazz band. The tough part right now is that one is in high school and the other is in junior high. I end up going to a lot of concerts each year. But that's okay because I enjoy hearing them play and sing.

Junior high jazz band always rehearses at 7:00 in the morning a couple of days a week. Being a morning person, this is really no problem for me. The boys, on the other hand, really aren't morning people. Not really sure how that happens. Wait ... yes I do ... their dad's not a morning person either.

Anyway ... the parents of the jazz band members are given a snack schedule at the beginning of each semester. One morning I'll be responsible for bringing drinks, and another morning I'll be responsible for bringing a snack. I think this is a great idea. The only problem is that I don't think Rice Crispy Treats and Goldfish are good morning snacks. I think it should be something breakfast related. But since I'm the cupcake lady, how can I turn cupcakes into breakfast.

Ding ding ding ding! I have an idea!

Blueberry Pancake Cupcakes!!!!!!!

Okay, I know. They could still be considered sweets and/or junk food. But it kind of sounds like breakfast. So that's what I made the last time it was my turn to provide snacks.

Here's how I made them.

Blueberry Pancake Cupcake
Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 egg whites
3 1/3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup sour cream
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

Directions:
Preheat oven to 360 degrees and line pans with cupcake liners (yields 24). Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. On low speed, add eggs and egg whites one at a time until each is fully incorporated. In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg together. Add dry ingredients to the butter mixture in thirds alternating with the wet (milk, vanilla extract, and sour cream). Let each ingredient fully mix in before adding another, still be careful not to over mix. Fold in blueberries. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for about 18 minutes, or until an inserted knife comes out clean.

Maple Buttercream

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened

1 lb (4 cups) powdered sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup maple syrup

2 tablespoons heavy cream

Directions:

Beat the butter on high speed until light and fluffy. Beat in the sugar until combined. Stir in the vanilla, salt, and syrup. Add the heavy cream and whisk on high for 4 minutes.

Assembly

Pipe buttercream onto cooled cupcakes and top with extra blueberries.

These really taste like blueberry pancakes. I couldn't resist trying one myself.

There were so many blueberries! And the maple buttercream ... OMG!

I really needed a cup of coffee to go with this cupcake ... but it was 9:00 at night and I had to get the boy to jazz band at 7:00, so I settled for a glass of milk.

The next morning the kids all loved them. When I brought them in the kids asked if they could quit early to have their snack. Mr. Mattsey, however, had other plans. 

Baking something new from scratch is always a little scary for me. I just love when it turns out. 

Strawberry Filled Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream

Wow! It's been weeks since my last post. Where has the time gone? Oh yeah ... I remember ... baseball games, track meets, prom, graduation, teaching, my internship ...

Even though I haven't posted in a while, I have still been baking. I just looked at my pictures and asked my husband which project I should blog about. There were the cupcakes I made for my son's birthday, the cupcakes I made for my other son to take to jazz band, the cupcakes I made for the teachers at school, the cupcakes I made for prom, and the cakes I made for a graduation party. So much to choose from ... which means several more posts to come.

So Craig told me that I should write about these little beauties ...

Strawberry Filled Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream

I had been asked to make four dozen cupcakes for the teachers with which I work. We used to have a principal that would bring in several cakes every Spring when we finished our state testing. He retired six years ago, but several of us old timers still remember the celebration cakes. In honor of him, I was asked to do the baking. I was flattered, so I made a dozen of four different kinds of cupcakes. 

Now, I really enjoy a rich, ooey, gooey chocolate cupcake, but these little babies were so refreshing that I kept choosing to eat one of these over the many chocolate ones I made. They were sooooo yummy.

Here's how I made them...

For the Vanilla Cupcake I modified Kakeladi's White Almond Sour Cream cake recipe:

Ingredients

1 box of vanilla cake mix

1 cup flour

1 cup granulated sugar

generous dash of salt

1 cup sour cream

1 cup water

3 whole eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla

Directions

Mix everything together. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake at 350 for 19 minutes. Makes about 36 cupcakes.

I got the Strawberry Filling recipe from Baked Perfection. 

Ingredients

1 32-oz container of frozen strawberries packed in syrup, thawed

Juice of one lemon

3 tablespoons cornstarch

pinch of salt

Directions

Drain strawberries, reserving the liquid. Add enough water to liquid to equal 1 cup (I had enough syrup after thawing and didn't need to add water). In a large saucepan, combine the strawberry liquid, lemon juice, corstarch, and salt. Heat and stir until the mixture boils and thickens. Cool completely. Stir strawberries into the cooled mixture. Refrigerate until ready to use.

I also got the Strawberry Buttercream recipe from Baked Perfection.

Ingredients

2 sticks butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup strawberry filling (strawberry jam or preserves can be substituted)

pinch of salt

6 cups powdered sugar

2-3 tbsp milk

Directions

Beat butter and vanilla until creamy. Mix in strawberry filling and salt. Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, beating until combined. Add milk 1 tablespoon at a time until you reach desired consistency.

Now comes the fun part ... assembling the cupcakes.

I started by cutting cone shaped cores out of the center and placed them next to each cupcake.

Next, I filled each cupcake with a spoonful of the filling. I then cut the top off each cone and placed it back on top like a lid over the filling.

After filling all of the cupcakes, I used a 1M tip to make a pretty rose swirl on top of each cupcake. The tip occasionally got clogged up by the bits of strawberry filling in the buttercream, but I was able to clear it out with a toothpick.

Did I mention how refreshing this cupcakes is? It almost tastes like strawberry shortcake. Yum!

I took the cupcakes to the teachers' lounge during lunch. I had several people tell me that this was their new favorite cupcake. The filling is good on its own as well. My son wandered into the kitchen while I was cleaning up and ate the rest of the filling right out of the bowl. I wonder how it would taste on ice cream?

How to Make Pooh Bear Cupcakes

At school, we have department meetings once a month. The most important part of these meetings, it seems, is the food. The first item on the agenda at the first meeting each year is to decide the snack schedule. We pair off and choose different months in which we are responsible for bringing the refreshments. When the meeting reminder e-mails are sent out, there's always a reminder as to who is bringing the food. This is very important to us. Early on, we had to school the men in the department about making sure they have both salty and sweet snacks, and to not forget the diet soda (the first time they were in charge they brought meats and breads for sandwiches ... that's it). When my months came up this year, I brought ... you guessed it ... cupcakes.

One of the men, Thomas, is a recent father. One day I got a phone call from Thomas's wife. Their little boy was having his first birthday, and Thomas had mentioned my cupcakes. The party was going to have a Winnie the Pooh theme and she wanted to know if I could make her a dozen vanilla and a dozen chocolate cupcakes. So here's what I made ... Pooh heads and "hunny" bees.

To make the Pooh heads, I started off with some Wilton fondant. I used the ready-made fondant because it's a lot more sturdy than my marshmallow fondant. I tinted a bunch of it yellow, rolled it out and, using a round fondant cutter, cut a bunch of circles.

With my fingers, I shaped the circles into Pooh heads.

Next, I used a piping tip to cut half circles from the sides of the circle cut-outs.

Before everything had time to dry too much, I folded the half circles over to make ears (attaching them with a little water) and also pressed a mini chocolate chip into the fondant to make a nose.

Finally, I used a Wilton Food Writer to draw the rest of the face on each of the Poohs.

While these dried, I got started on the bees. First I took the yellow fondant and rolled it into little cylinder shaped bodies.

Next, I took some black fondant, rolled it as thin as I could, and cut some thin strips. I wrapped two of these around each body and attached them with a little water.

I wasn't sure how to do the wings, so I took the piping tip, cut circles out of white fondant, and then cut them in half. I then used a little water to "glue" them on top of the bees. Then to make sure everyone knew that these were friendly bees, I gave them little happy faces with my black food writer.

To assemble the cupcakes, I just made a chocolate swirl on the chocolate cupcakes and placed the Pooh heads on top. Then I took some vanilla buttercream, tinted it yellow, and swirled it around on the vanilla cupcakes to make a bee hive. I then placed a bee on each hive and prayed that they would stay put and not jump off.

And there you have it ... cupcakes for a Winnie the Pooh themed birthday party.

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

It's no secret ... my boys are music boys. They are not ashamed to play in the band and sing in the choir ... and that's okay with me. When Collin was in junior high, he was a member of the swing choir. Jared, of course, followed in his brothers footsteps and also auditioned for the junior high swing choir. Both boys are talented musically, but let's face it ... they're boys ... they're going to make the swing choir.

Every semester the choir director puts together a snack schedule for the the rehearsals. The kids practice one day before school and one day after school, and snacks are a must. Today was Jared's turn to bring snacks, so cupcakes for everyone!

I decided to send two different kinds of cupcakes - chocolate (because really ... who doesn't like chocolate?) and snickerdoodle. Thanks to Jessica Burns at Elegance Made Easy, I was able to provide the kids with a treat they all loved.

Here's how I made them:

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon, plus 1/2 teaspoon for dusting
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 3/4 cups sugar, plus 2 tablespoons for dusting
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups milk

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Sift together both flours, baking powder, salt, and 1 tablespoon cinnamon.

With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of milk, and beating until combined after each.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored up to 2 days at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.

Assembly

Combine remaining 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and 2 tablespoons sugar. Use a large plain tip to pipe your favorite buttercream onto each cupcake. Dust peaks with cinnamon-sugar. Cupcakes are best eaten the day they are frosted. Keep at room temperature until ready to serve.


These really do taste like snickerdoodle cookies. The junior high kids loved them. The kids always look forward to the snacks ... and it's fun for them to get something different each week from the different parents. They all seemed pretty enthusiastic today when they saw the cupcakes (but I've also seen them enthusiastic about pre-packaged Rice Crispy Treats). I was told "Thank you!" and "These are awesome!" repeatedly while the kids were eating. If that doesn't feed the ego, I'm not sure what does.

These are definitely kid-friendly cupcakes. I'll have to make these again.