Mini Chocolate Cupcakes/leftover icing & candy corn

Today, a number of people are helping my husband unload a tractor-trailer full of pumpkins at our church. So, I thought I could make a little treat for them. This was a recipe from scratch for the cupcakes and it was great! Will make again. I then used leftover choc. icing and put a piece of candy corn on each.

1/4 cup (25 grams) Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1/2 cup (120 ml) boiling hot water
4 tablespoons (1/4 cup) (57 grams) unsalted butter
1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated white sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2/3 cups (95 grams) all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) and lightly butter or line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.
In a small bowl stir until smooth the boiling hot water and the cocoa powder. Let cool to room temperature.
In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
Then in the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat until smooth. Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat until incorporated. Then add the cooled cocoa mixture and stir until smooth.
Evenly fill the muffin cups with the batter and bake for about 17-20 minutes or until risen, springy to the touch, and a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Once the cupcakes have completely cooled, frost with icing.

Pink and brown cupcakes

I made chocolate cake cupcakes and then iced them with chocolate icing or strawberry icing. Garnished with sprinkles and chocolate chips.

The chocolate icing was on the box of my dark chocolate cocoa.

ONE-BOWL BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
6 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
2-2/3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa or HERSHEY'S Dutch Processed Cocoa
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat butter in medium bowl. Add powdered sugar and cocoa alternately with milk, beating to spreading consistency (additional milk may be needed). Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.


The strawberry was my standard buttercream icing, but using 1 cup butter and added a little homemade strawberry freezer jam thawed. It was a softer strawberry flavor than I'm used to. I'll use more jam next time. Still very good!!

Cupcakes with extra cake batter

These were just extra from cake batter that I had and we (some my kids' did) decorated for us and ourselves.

White cake w/Orange Filling..my 1st cake sold!

This is a VERY simple cake, but this is what my customer wanted. Also, I've not learned how to make flowers yet, but soon!!

Orange Filled White Cupcakes

I was practicing with an orange filling before I made a cake with it for my FIRST customer. These was pretty good cupcakes. It was vanilla buttercream icing. It is good icing, but I'm going to experiment with more icing recipes.

For a marriage retreat...

These two cakes were for a retreat that my husband and I went on in September. We had a good time. These pics were taken on a phone, so they aren't the greatest photos. But the cakes were great!! One was chocolate with peanut butter icing and the other pb cake with chocolate icing. Reese's cups on top too!!! I love anything peanut butter and chocolate!

A niece's 10th birthday cake

This was just a few days after the wedding cakes and I'm already at it again. These was just a fun cake and girlie for her. She loved it.

My first cakes!

This was for my sister-in-law's wedding and our gift to her. These were my first cakes and I was nervous!!!! There aren't perfect, but I think they turned out well for my first cakes. I learned a lot making them and loved making them. Now, I'm going to make more and more.

Welcome to my Cakes and Cupcakes Blog!

I wanted a place to post my pictures and recipes of cakes and cupcakes that I have made. I just started making cakes for my sister-in-law's wedding in August and loved doing it that I have slowly started to make more. These are some of the goodies I've made. I've never taken a cake decorating class, but have a good friend that works in a bakery that has shown me a lot and helped with materials and how-to's. I try not to make cakes or cupcakes unless there is an ocassion because we don't need to have them around the house. :) If you know what I mean! Anyway, enjoy and maybe see a new idea or share ideas with me. I'm always open to new things.