Brown Sugar Pound Cake Cupcakes with Brown-Butter Icing

Okay I know in the last blog I said I was gonna make Red velvet cupcakes, but plans changed. I hadn't been able to get the food color paste, so I thought I would just make the next cupcake in the recipe book. That didn't work either. Let me tell you why. My mother in law was going into town so I asked her to stop by the grocery store. I gave her a list with four items on that list for my next two recipes and my ATM card. It included sour cream, rhubarb, a vanilla bean, and heavy cream. When she got home she handed me my ATM card and receipt. I didn't look to see what she bought, but looked at the total amount, and thought, wow she only spent $19. As I was reading the instructions for my cupcake I asked mom "Where's the rhubarb?" She turned around and asked "What rhubarb, was I supposed to get rhubarb?" The look on her face was priceless. We reviewed the list and realized she got every other item. she missed the heavy cream as well. We had to laugh.
She offered to go back to the store but that would have been an other hour of her time.

Well needless to say I sat down and started looking for a recipe I had all the ingredients for and that is why we ended up with a Brown Sugar Pound cake cupcake with Brown butter glaze.

This cupcake isn't as light as a regular cupcake. The pound cake is more dense. But I will say it was yummy. I believe the glaze was supposed to be thinner than I made it but I was trying to avoid a drippy mess that it showed in the picture. I will call this a success.

Now for the next cupcake I WILL do the Red Velvet. I now have all the ingredients.

This is fun, I can't explain the feeling I get when I'm done and they actually taste good. I may just turn into a baker yet.

Till next baking time.

PS: I will be rubbing it in that we can't send Mom to the store even with a list. At least for a couple of weeks.

COCONUT CUPCAKES



Today was a busy but fun day. Easter Sunday. I love watching my boys hunt for Easter eggs. Although I did find out today that my little guy Kevin knows there is no Easter Bunny, I am afraid Santa may be out as well. He informed us this morning that he knows dad hides the eggs and mom (me) goes out and buys all the stuff. He is seven and a half but I had hoped it would last one more year. Oh well, my boys are growing up and and we had a good time anyway. We made a prime rib dinner, never made it before but it was yummy. We sat around and watched Harry Potter movies, starting with the first one, for the rest of the day.

Today I tried to make a coconut cupcake. I ran across a couple of snags along the way. Since I worked 12 hour shifts the past three days and got off late last night I couldn't or should I say didn't go shopping ahead of time, and had trouble finding coconut milk. I would just like to know what people in my town were making today because the only grocery store here was completely sold out of coconut milk. Why? Anyway I bought a fresh coconut for its milk and crossed my fingers that it would work.


Well in the batter I used the fresh coconut milk, the batter had a mild hint of coconut flavor so I added half a teaspoon of coconut extract to ensure the flavor came through. Once the cupcake was baked and cooled I noticed that the cake was crumbly. It was still very soft and moist but wasn't holding together firmly like a cake should. But the taste was spot on. Half of the cupcakes had coconut flakes i them while the other half didn't. Even though I like the taste of coconut I do not like the texture of the flakes. Silly, but don't ask me why.

Now the frosting came out perfect. It was lite and fluffy and ever so creamy. My family loved them but they also agreed that they were crumbly. In going over the ingredients and the process of making the batter, the only thing I can think went wrong was the butter wasn't soft enough before starting the mixing processes. So next time I will let the butter stand till it is definitely room temperature.

My next attempt will be red velvet, that is if I can find red gel food color paste.

Happy Easter everyone.

Buttermilk Cupcakes

Buttermilk Cupcakes

Today has been a rough day. Because of my issues with chronic pain making cupcakes today was especially difficult. I have degenerative joints in my c spine that are painful most of the time but are aggravated by stress and over use. Well I can control for the most part the use but the stress in life comes without asking. It took me over an hour to mix the batter and get it into the oven. So today I spent about 3 hours to make cupcakes that should have only taken half the time.

Today I made a basic white cake with buttermilk. I think the cake came out so moist and soft, it would be great just as it is. but I topped it with a vanilla icing in three different colors.

After making the cupcake batter I realized I may want to cut some of them in half or the scale will continue to go the wrong way. Say la vi.

Have you ever looked at a recipe and wondered how many times it was made before the perfect recipe was created. How did the chef come up with each exact amount. I know first hand winging it can result in some strange creations.

Well next time should be more interesting. I'm using coconut. not to hip on the flakes so I will see what I can do to stay true to the flavor.

Carrot Cupcakes.

Who would have ever thought of turning carrot cake into a cupcake. Well Martha Stewart did. While I'm sure she's not the first nor the last, I tried these today.

These are little bites of yummy goodness if I do say so myself.

Carrot cake reminds me of when I was little, I can remember my mom trying her hand at making the perfect carrot cake. She loved it so much but never really mastered the art. She would make some that were really cakey (is that even a word), some really oily and sometimes they would be so heavy you could break a window if you through it. My momma would be really proud of these Carrot Cupcakes I just made.

Let me tell you about the process. peeling and grating a pound of carrots is tiring and it looked like so much for the n umber of cupcakes I was making but it is the perfect amount. This recipe called for a vanilla bean, something I have never used, but I tried. Do you know how expensive these are. WOW. I cut it lengthwise and scooped the seeds out of it. I hadn't realized that a vanilla bean contained thousands of teeny tiny black seeds in them. I think using the real vanilla was worth it. The flavor of these cupcakes is divine.

Who would have ever thought that cream cheese could be made lite and fluffy. This recipe created the perfect cream cheese frosting. It was lite, it was fluffy, smooth and not to over powering or sweet. It was the perfect compliment for the carrot cake.

I would have never imagined me as a baker but I am truly getting a kick out of this. It is the best therapy I have come across. It makes me feel good and my family is enjoying the benefits.

Till next time.

Okay, here is my first cupcake for my new blog.

Let me start by explaining the name, "Cupcakes with Martha." I have become addicted to Cupcake Wars on the Food Network and the other day I ordered a cupcake recipe book from Barnes and Noble titled Martha Stewart's Cupcakes. So therefore I am baking cupcakes with Martha. There are 175 different recipes in the book, although some cupcake recipes repeat in order to do different decorations, I plan on doing them all and teach myself to do more than just apply some frosting.

Today was a learning experience for me, because I learned something new. Now don't laugh at me but I didn't realize that when you are in the baking isle at the grocery store looking for flour there are so many choices. I always knew you could find white flour and wheat flour and bread machine flour but did you know there is actually cake flour? I didn't. I'm not sure exactly what makes it so special but I can tell you my cupcakes are SO soft and fluffy and moist.

I also for the first time ever beat egg whites into submission. I got them to foam up and form soft peaks as called for. Although I think my arm will be sore in the morning because I did it by hand instead of using a mixer.

Now let me tell you about today's cupcake. It is a Chocolate Chip Cupcake with homemade chocolate frosting(Martha would not approve of store bought frosting). The cake itself isn't very sweet but when you pair it with the semi sweet chocolate chip frosting it is divine.

I have to say my oldest son Robert (whom I lost last year) would be proud of my cupcakes. So as I enjoy a cupcake and a glass of milk, Here's to you Son. Love you.

Till next time.

Something New

I have decided to start something. Over the past few months since my sons death I have needed to find a way to be closer to him. I know Robert is always with me but I thought I would take it one step further. So here I am starting to bake. I have never really been a baker except for pumpkin pie, but my son always loved cake and started baking his own. So to honor Robert I plan on learning the fine art of baking cupcakes and my other two boys Trevor and Kevin can reap the benefits.

By the way nothing will come out of a cake mix box, all from scratch.
One to two new recipes a week.

Here's to you Robert for giving me the courage to go on.