Moist Cupcakes Everytime

I was searching for an easy and moist yellow cupcake recipe when I happend to stumble upon a recipe called THE BEST Chocolate Cake. I'm not quite sure how moist yellow cake landed me on THE BEST Chocolate Cake, but, I am glad it did! Not only did I find a great recipe for dressing up just about any boxed cake mix, I also found another great blog to follow called Kevin & Amanda. They have tons of delicious recipes including these Creamy Chicken Enchiladas and Cheesy Chicken, Bacon & Avocado Quesadillas which my whole family absolutely loved!

This recipe is so versatile and you can use it to make cupcakes, a sheet cake, a bundt cake, or in two 9-inch round cakes. All you do is take a box of your favorite cake mix and dress it up with sour cream, instant pudding, oil, eggs, and vanilla and you place all the ingredients in one large bowl and mix them up. Just match any cake mix with instant pudding; some ideas are chocolate cake mix with chocolate pudding; white, yellow,  french vanilla, or strawberry cake mix with vanilla pudding, or banana cake with banana pudding. The possibilities really are endless and will result in super moist, super rich, and oh so flavorful cupcakes or cake every single time. No one will ever know they came from a box! Give these a try and you won't be disappointed, I promise :)

Moist Yellow Cupcakes: (adapted from Kevin & Amanda)

• 1 box yellow cake mix
• 1 small package Jello instant vanilla pudding mix
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla exract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare cupcake tins with cupcake liners (this makes between 18-24 cupcakes); set aside.

Place all ingredients in a very large bowl. With an electric mixer, beat ingredients at low speed for 30 seconds and then at medium-high speed for 2 minutes. Batter will be thick. Divide batter evenly between prepared cupcake liners (about 2/3 full). Bake for 18-23 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Cool in pan for 10 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Frost as desired.

Easter Coconut Cupcakes

With Easter just a couple of days away, I wanted to make an Easter inspired Cupcake to share with you! I whipped up these adorable little bird's nest Coconut Cupcakes that are super simple and yummy! All you do is dress up a white cake mix with a little coconut milk and top the cupcakes off with a sweet, creamy, white coconut frosting. Then you roll the edges in toasted coconut for the nest and top them with jelly beans for the eggs! Aren't they just adorable? They are perfect for any Easter festivities you have going on this weekend! Enjoy :) 

Coconut Cupcakes: (adapted from Paula Deen)

1 (18.25-ounce) box classic white cake mix

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup coconut milk

1/3 cup vegetable oil

3 large eggs

Coconut Frosting (recipe follows)

1 1/2 cups toasted coconut

-jelly beans

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 (12 cup) muffin pans with paper liners (I got 18 cupcakes).

2. In a large bowl, combine cake mix, water, milk, oil, and eggs. Beat at low speed with an electric mixer for 1 minute. Increase speed to medium, and beat for 2 minutes, or until smooth. Spoon batter evenly into prepared muffin cups, about 2/3 full. Bake 18 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pans, and cool completely on wire rack.

3. Spread Coconut Frosting evenly over each cupcake. Roll edges in toasted coconut and place 3 jelly beans on each cupcake.

Coconut Frosting:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup coconut milk

4 cups powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon coconut extract

additional milk, if needed

In a large bowl, beat butter and milk at medium speed with an electric mixer until combined. Gradually beat in confectioner's sugar until smooth-if frosting is too stiff add a little milk. Stir in coconut extract.

Spooktacular Cookies n' Cream Cupcakes

I can't believe that it is already almost Halloween, can you?! Where has October gone? But, what I do know and have for you is a delicious Cookie's n' Cream Cupcake recipe using Halloween Oreo's with a fun and vibrant orange creme filling. Each cupcake starts with one whole Oreo as the base and then you fill it up with Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake batter, which is my go to chocolate cake recipe, it is the best chocolate cake I have made and so simple to make, you basically just combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and beat until combined, just as simple as a boxed cake mix, but, wwwaaayyy better! It always comes out perfectly moist, perfectly fluffy, perfectly chocolately, and perfectly delicious! If you haven't tried it, please do, you will not be disappointed! Then you top the cupcake off with a basic vanilla buttercream frosting that gets mixed with chopped up Oreo's, it tastes just like the creme filling inside an Oreo. Happy baking!

Spooktacular Cookies n' Cream Cupcakes:

For the Cupcakes:

-1 recipe for Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake, found here

-24 Oreo's

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 24 cupcake tins with paper liners. Place one Oreo in each of the 24 cupcake liners. Prepare Hershey's "Perefectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake according to the directions. Fill each cupcake cup almost full with batter.

Bake about 18-22 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in the centers comes out clean. Cool completely.

Cookies n' Cream Vanilla Buttercream Frosting:

-10 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened

-6 cups powdered sugar

-2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

-1/4 to 1/2 cup milk

-8 Oreo's

-orange food coloring, if desired

Directions:

Beat the butter until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla, powdered sugar, and some of the milk. Beat until well incorporated. Add more milk to desired consistency. Mix in food coloring, if desired. Fold in the chopped Oreo's. Frost the cupcakes as desired.

Cupcake Adventure Part 1

Over the weekend, my best friend and I went to Ann Arbor to visit our friend/ my cousin! We had such a great time just catching up and talking and just being with each other! It's not very often that we are all together at the same time. I already knew that I wanted to stop at Cake Nouveau and try a cupcake. Courtney, the young woman who owns Cake Nouveau has been on and has won a lot of the Food Network Cake Challenges and has made some pretty amazing cakes! I have been anxious to go to her shop ever since I found out that it was so close! So, I finally made it there....finally!

It was such a cute and tiny little bakery painted and decorated with shades of purples, pinks and greens. It was very whimsical and fairytale like and it reminded me of a little princess bakery.

They had a few varieties of beautiful little cake truffles to pick from. I tried the chocolate cake truffle, which had a very moist chocolate cake center mixed with chocolate frosting and dipped in milk chocolate with colorful sprinkles. It was a yummy little two bite dessert  it reminded me of bakerella's cake pops or cake balls. Some of the other flavors they had were birthday cake, snickers, and strawberry.

And for the cupcakes, each week they have a variety of 4 different cupcake flavors to pick from. They had vanilla beany, chocolate truffle, which is the one I chose, a mint one, and a mocha one. I really liked how the cupcakes were decorated, pure simplicity with a special little touch on each one. Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy the cupcake as much as I had hoped....it was a little dry and the frosting tasted more like the whipped cream frosting where I prefer a super sweet buttercream....but those are just my tastebuds! Overall, I am glad I made it there. It was a fun experience with an adorable atmosphere and I got to eat my favorite meal of the day, dessert!

Next up, Cupcake Adventure 2: Cupcake Station, Ann Arbor, Michigan. I will fill you in about the sweet cupcakes there soon!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

I don't have too much to say about these cupcakes because the name says it all! These scrumptious tasting and looking cupcakes are my most favorite looking cupcakes I have made yet. The mini chocolate chips and the mini chocolate chip cookie were the perfect little toppers!

First, you have a moist and fluffy white cake that is studded

with mini chocolate chips and filled with.........

a center of chocolate chip cookie dough that is soft, chewy, and

chocolately and it doesn't turn into a cookie but stays slightly

gooey. And then the cupcake gets topped off with............

a fluffy and light chocolate buttercream that just melts in your mouth!

These cupcakes are pure bliss! If you love cake and chocolate and

cookie dough then you should give these a try!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes with a Chocolate Buttercream: From Cupcakes from the Cake Mix Doctor (adapted by me)

Makes 22 to 24 cupcakes

What you will need:

-24 paper liners for cupcake pans

-1 package (18.25 ounces) white cake mix

-1 package (3.4 ounces) vanilla instant pudding mix

-1 cup milk

-1 cup vegetable oil

-4 large eggs

-1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

-1 package (30 ounces) refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough log

-1 1/4 cups mini chocolate chips

-Chocolate Buttercream (recipe below)

Ahead of Time Preparation: Use 18 ounces of cookie dough from the 30 ounce package of refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough and make 24 even sized cookie dough balls. Freeze for at least one hour or overnight. *It's important to use frozen dough, because you don't want it to bake completely and become a cookie. You want the center to be gooey when you bite into it.*

Use the rest of the dough to make mini chocolate chip cookies for the cupcake topper. Roll the dough into 24 tiny balls and bake at 350 for about 5 minutes. (You may have some leftover dough.) ( I did all of this the night before to make it easier for the next day when I was preparing the cupcakes!)

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 24 cupcake cups with paper liners and spray the top of the pan with non-stick cooking spray. Set the pans aside.

2. Place the cake mix, pudding mix, milk, oil, eggs, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping down the sides again if needed. Fold in 1 cup of mini chocolate chips (reserve the other 1/4 cup to sprinkle on top). Spoon or scoop a 1/4 cup batter into each lined cupcake cup, filling it two thirds of the way full.

Place a frozen cookie dough piece on top of each cupcake. Place the pans in the oven.

3. Bake the cupcakes until they are golden and spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, about 20-25 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire racks to cool for 15 minutes and then remove from pans and cool completely before frosting. 

4. Meanwhile, prepare the Chocolate Buttercream.

5. Frost as desired and sprinkle with mini chocolate chips and top with one mini cookie.

Chocolate Buttercream:

-8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, at room temperature

-1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

-3 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

-3-5 tablespoons milk

-1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Place the butter and cocoa powder in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed until the mixture is soft and well combined, 30 seconds. Stop the machine and add the confectioners' sugar, 3 tablespoons milk, and the vanilla. Blend with the mixer on low speed until sugar is incorporated, 1 minute. Increase the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, 1 minute more. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons more milk if the frosting is too stiff.

Wedding Cake and Cupcakes

Here are pictures of my first wedding cake that I made along with cupcakes and I was so pleased with how everything turned out and I thought the cake looked absolutely gorgeous! What do you think?

I was both excited and a tiny bit nervous about making this cake because although I love baking and have the perfect chocolate cake recipe to go along with the perfect creamy vanilla frosting, which is what they requested, I lack a bit of experience in the decorating and creative aspect of wedding cakes. And they wanted a two-tierd cake with pink and green flowers on top that flowed down the side. I have never been the creavtive one in my family, unlike, my mom and sister who are both very talented!  So, with my mom and sister's creative brains and help, they thought it would be a great idea to use my mom's pink hydrangea flowers from her garden. Then we looked around at hobby lobby and found the pretty green ribbon to tie around the cake and the pearls are those sixlets chocolate candies...do you remember those?! They had them in all different colors!

Here are the cupcakes; simple, yet elegant and beautiful.

Let me know what you all think!

Pretty in Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

The weather has been absolutely beautiful for the past week and a half, sunny and warm; I have been waiting for this weather all winter long! Summertime is the perfect season for lemonade and while I was shopping I found cute sour gummies that inspired me to make these adorable pink lemonade cupcakes!

My little cousin Lily was over and she loves to get in the kitchen and bake with me and we had a great time and she really loved the cupcakes! Everyone that tried these really, really enjoyed them. I sent some to work with my dad, and sent some to my boyfriend's house, and had some for my family. These didn't have a huge lemonade flavor, but you could definitely taste the tang at the end. I love the pink color of the cupcake and the cute straw and sour gummy on top!

For the Cupcakes:

-1 box (18.25 oz.) Betty Crocker white cake mix

-3 large eggs

-1 1/4 cups pink lemonade

-1/3 cup vegetable oil

-3 squirts of lemon juice

-pink or red food coloring

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake tins with paper liners or spray with cooking spray. With an electric mixer, beat the cake mix, eggs, pink lemonade, oil, and lemon juice, at low speed for 30 seconds and then at medium speed for 2 minutes. Mix in food coloring to desired liking. Pour evenly into prepared cupcake tins. Bake for 18-22 minutes. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes and then remove from pans and cool completely.

For the Frosting:

-1/2 cup margarine

-1/2 cup shortening

-1/8 tsp. salt

-1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

-5 cups powdered sugar

-1/4 cup pink lemonade

Directions:

In a large bowl, cream margarine and shortening until light and fluffy. Add salt, vanilla, powdered sugar, and pink lemonade. Beat well.

Frost the cupcakes and decorate with colored sprinkles, sour gummies, and straws if desired.

Key Lime Cupcakes

Don't you just love how cute cupcakes are? I think that cupcakes are simply adorable; they are just perfect little cuties that you can do so many things with and have them at so many different occasions; elaborate, elegant, or simple ones!

These cuties are Key Lime Cupcakes that I got out of a Paula Deen magazine. The recipe is actually for a cake but I chose to do them as cupcakes. These turned out to be really good and I have made them for a few occasions including my sister's wedding, a baptism party, and my dad's birthday because key lime pie is his favorite! These are moist and are more of a dense cupcake with a nice tart kick from the key lime juice and zest. My dad said they tasted just like key lime pie, but in cupcake form!

I used a simple buttercream recipe for the frosting that I use on a lot of cakes; it is really delicious, creamy, smooth, and very sweet. I added key lime juice to the frosting to also give it a nice tang! I think these cupcakes are perfect for the spring and summer season! I definitely reccomend giving these a try, especially, if you know someone who is a key lime pie lover.

Key Lime Cupcakes: (Paula Deen as adapted by me)

-3/4 cup butter, softened

-1 3/4 cups sugar

-2 tablespoons Key lime zest (I used regular lime zest because I couldn't find key limes)

-3 large eggs

-1/4 fresh Key lime juice (I used Nellie & Joe's Key Lime Juice from a bottle)

-3 cups cake flour

-1 teaspoon baking soda

-1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place 24 cupcake liners in muffin tins.

2. In a large bowl beat butter, sugar, and lime zest at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in juice until combined.

3. In a medium bowl, combine cake flour and baking soda; sift. Gradually add to butter mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture.

4. Pour evenly into prepared cupcake tins (I filled each of mine with a 1/4 cup of batter and got 26 cupcakes) and bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes and then transfer to wire racks to cool completely; then frost with your favorite frosting. The recipe below is the one I used.

Butter Cream Frosting (from all recipes)

Frosting Ingredients:

-1/2 cup margarine

-1/2 cup shortening

-1/8 teaspoon salt

-1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

-5 cups confectioner's sugar

-1/4 cup key lime juice (recipe calls for milk, so, use whichever you prefer)

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, cream margarine and shortening until light and fluffy. Add salt, vanilla, confectioners' sugar and key lime juice or milk. Beat well.