Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cupcakes

I've been quite enamored with the cupcake lately.  If you don't understand why, we can't be friends.  I mean, it's a miniature version of a big cake.  What's not to love?  These Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cupcakes are my latest in cupcake love.  

I went to a potluck dinner of sorts recently and the theme was breakfast.  I was beyond excited because breakfast is my favorite meal!  I figured the basics would be covered (and I was right), so I jumped on the dessert train, of course.  This was my favorite find in searching for breakfast themed cupcakes.

These cupcakes taste a lot like Cinnamon Toast Crunch (which I'd never eaten before I bought a box to make these cupcakes), but the icing is what really sends them over the top.  This is the kind of icing that is all sorts of soft and melty.  It's sweet, but not over the top.  Nothing short of perfect!  If you liked my recipe for Snickerdoodle Cupcakes, you've got to try this one because they're quite similar!

Adapted from: Ingredients of a 20something

Here's what you need for the cupcakes:
2 cups + 1 tbsp Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
3/4 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) Butter, softened
1 cup Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla
2 Eggs, at room temperature
1 cup Buttermilk, well shaken
1 handful Cinnamon Toast Crunch, crushed into powdery crumbs
Additional Cinnamon Toast Crunch pieces for garnishing, if desired. 

Here's what you do to make the cupcakes:
1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  

2.  Prepare your muffin tins (line with liners or spray with nonstick spray).

3.  Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Stir in Cinnamon Toast Crunch crumbs.  Set aside. 

4.  Beat butter and sugar until fluffy. 

5.  Add vanilla to butter/sugar mixture and mix well. 

6.  Add eggs to the mixture, one at a time.  Make sure each egg is mixed well into the batter before adding the next.

7.  Beat buttermilk into the mixture until well combined. 

8.  Add the flour mixture, adding about 1/3 of the flour mixture.  Beat until well combined.  Repeat until all of the flour mixture has been added. 

9.  Fill each muffin tin about halfway full.

10.  Bake for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown. 

11.  Allow to cool completely before icing. 

Here's what you need for the icing:
3 sticks Butter, softened
4 cups Powdered Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla
3 tsp Buttermilk
Ground Cinnamon, to taste (I used about 5 tsps)

Here's what you do to make the icing:
1.  Beat the butter until light and creamy. 

2.  Add the powdered sugar and buttermilk.  Add the first cup of powdered sugar.  Mix well.  Add 1 tsp buttermilk.  Mix well.  Repeat for cups two and three.  After adding the fourth cup of powdered sugar and mixing, you will not add more buttermilk. 

3.  Add the vanilla.  Mix well. 

4.  Add the ground cinnamon to taste. 

I iced my cupcakes the night that I made them and then added the cereal pieces on top as garnishment the morning of, so the cereal pieces didn't get soggy.  

Enjoy!

Lemon Bundt Cake with Citrus Glaze

I happen to think that certain flavors belong to certain seasons.  For example, I think cinnamon belongs to Autumn.  And I think that lemon belongs to Summer.  Although I'm really starting to crave my Cinnamon Coffee Cake, Mother Nature says its still Lemon season.  And, who am I to argue with her? 

I found this recipe in a cookbook that I picked up at the Missouri State Fair.  It is the 2008 Official Cookbook of 2006-2007 Award Winning Recipes.  I found this recipe on page 127 (it's called Luscious Lemon Orange Bundt Cake in the cookbook).  It turned out great -- the lemon cake was very subtle, so it wasn't overpowering at all.  And the glaze was sweet, but definitely didn't make it too sweet.  I did modify the recipe slightly from what is printed in the cookbook.

Here's what I used:
1 Cup Butter, softened
1/4 Cup Shortening
2 Cups Sugar
5 Eggs
3 Cups Flour
1/2 Tsp. Salt
1/2 Tsp. Baking Soda
1/2 Tsp. Baking Powder
1 Cup Buttermilk
1 Tsp. Vanilla Extract
1 Tsp. Lemon Extract
1Orange Rind, grated
1 Lemon Rind, grated
2 Tbsp. Fresh Orange Juice
2 Tbsp. Fresh Lemon Juice
1 Cup Powdered Sugar

Here's what I did:

1.  Preheated the Oven to 325 degrees. 

2.  Greased and floured a bundt pan.

3.  Mixed together the butter, shortening, and sugar until creamy.

4.  Added the eggs to the butter mixture, 1 at a time, making sure each egg was completely integrated into the mixture before adding another.

5.  In a separate bowl, combined the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.

6.  Alternately added the dry ingredients and the buttermilk to the wet ingredients (Step 4), completely integrating the dry ingredients or buttermilk before adding more. 

7.  Stirred in the vanilla and lemon extracts.

8.  Poured into bundt pan and baked for about 50 minutes.  Remove the cake from the oven when a stick inserted comes out clean.

9.  Put the cake (still in the pan) onto a cooling rack.

10.  While the cake was cooling, I combined the grated orange rind, grated lemon rind, fresh orange juice, fresh lemon juice, and powdered sugar in a mixing bowl.  Set aside.

11.  After the cake had cooled for 15 minutes, removed from pan.

12.  Punched holes in the top and sides of the cake.

13.  Drizzled the glaze over the cake while it was still warm.

Enjoy!

Mini Pankcake Muffins

I LOVE miniature anything.  So, naturally, these caught my eye.  I gave them a shot and they were worth it - they really did taste like pancakes!  I served them with maple syrup for dipping.  Delicious!


Slightly adapted from: Bakerella


Here's what I used:


1 Cup Flour
1 Tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp. Baking Soda
1/4 Tsp. Salt
2 Tbsp. Sugar
2/3 Cup Buttermilk
1 Egg
2 Tbsp. Maple Syrup
2 Tbsp. Butter, melted
1 Cup Chocolate Chips


Here's what I did:


1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Sprayed a mini muffin pan with cooking spray.


2.  Combine Flour, Baking Powder, Baking Soda, Salt and Sugar in bowl with a whisk.  Set that bowl to the side.


3.  In another bowl combine Buttermilk, Egg, Maple Syrup, and Melted Butter until combined.


4.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and combine.


5.  Stir in the chocolate chips.


6.  Fill muffin tins 2/3 full.


     Hint:  I used a tablespoon to scoop the batter from the bowl to the muffin 
     tins.  It ended up being just about the right about of batter and helped to
     minimize the mess.


7.  Bake for about 8-9 minutes.  Remove from the oven when they are golden brown and spring back when touched.


Let them cool for a minute or two before removing them from the pan.  Serve with regular pancake toppings.  You can add whatever filling you want.  I think blueberries would taste great.


Enjoy!

Chocolate Buttermilk Cupcakes with Fudge Frosting

Apparently I made something with buttermilk recently.  I know this because I found an almost completely full container of buttermilk in my fridge.  It was set to expire the next day.  I can't, for the life of me, remember what I used that buttermilk for.  Anyhow, I didn't want to waste the leftover buttermilk, so I googled recipes using buttermilk and came up with this one.  I thought the cupcakes turned out well, although I'd probably tweak the recipe a bit if I made them again.  But, I thought the frosting was ahmazing!  I will be using this frosting recipe for many different things.  Or maybe I'll make it just to eat all by itself.  Out of the bowl.  By myself.  Don't judge.

Slightly adapted from: Emeril

Here's what I used to make the cupcakes:
3 Cups Flour

3 1/2 Tablespoons Cocoa Powder

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1 Stick Butter

1/2 Cup Shortening

2 Cups Sugar

1 Cup Water

2 Eggs

1/2 Teaspoon baking soda

1/2 Cup Buttermilk

2 Teaspoons Vanilla extract

Here's what I did to make the cupcakes:
I lined a muffin pan with cupcake holders.  I mixed the flour, cocoa, and salt in a large mixing bowl.  On the stove, over medium heat, I combined the butter, shortening, sugar, and water.  I let that mixture boil.  Once it boiled, I poured it into the bowl holding the dry ingredients and mixed them all together well.  Next I added the eggs, soda, buttermilk and vanilla.  After all was mixed together well, I filled each muffin cup about 2/3 of the way full and put the pan in the oven.  I baked the cupcakes for about 18 minutes.  Make sure to pull them out of the oven when they spring back when touched and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Here's what I used to make the frosting:

1 Stick Butter

1/2 Cup 2% Milk

1/2 Cup Cocoa Powder

1 Pound Powdered Sugar (half a bag) 

1 1/2 Teaspoons Vanilla

Here's what I did to make the frosting:
First, I mixed together the powdered sugar and the coca powder.  In a pan over medium heat I combined the butter and milk and heated until it boiled.  I added the butter/milk mixture to the sugar/coca mixture and whisked everything together well.  I added the vanilla and whisked to combine.  I iced the cupcakes while they were still warm.

     Hint:  If you do not ice the cupcakes while they are warm and the
     frosting is fresh, the frosting will be dull when it cools, rather
     than shiny.  It will not affect the taste at all, the cupcakes will just
     be less attractive.
This recipe made about 27 cupcakes for me.

Enjoy!