Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes

I love these cupcakes for two main reasons. One, they have Reese's peanut butter cups on them. Reese's are by far my favorite candy of all time. I ask for them every year in my Christmas stocking.  And I am currently making a Reese's cake for my friend's birthday tomorrow. I might have to make these cupcakes with the leftover candy. If there is any.

And two, I also love that The Curvy Carrot made the Reese's cups look like the cupcakes they're on. I have seen similar cupcakes on Pinterest, but I like these because the bigger cupcake kind of looks like a Reese's cup too with the black wrapper and chocolate cake. 

For the recipe and directions, head on over to The Curvy Carrot!



Beautiful, Elegant and Pricey French Cupcakes

 Very very very fancy cupcakes by pastry chef Claude Ducrozet, from Hotel Fouquet's Barriere (Paris).

From the PR sheet:

"Cupcakes -- as American as apple pie. But the pastry chef from Paris’ Hotel Fouquet’s Barrière, Claude
Ducrozet, is setting out to change that perception. In October, Claude Ducrozet introduces five flavors of
cupcakes (pictured above): strawberry-lemon, carrot with cream cheese, chocolate, pineapple-mango, and
raspberry pistachio. With French style and flair, each of these creations is a work of art and available from
morning to night – accompanied by coffee, tea, or a cocktail – at the hotel’s elegant Le Lucien Bar. And yes,
they taste as good as they look.
 

Price: 9 € each."

 

 

 

That's about $12 each (with current currency conversion)!

 

Hotel Fouquet’s Barrière 

46 avenue George V  

75008 Paris

33 (0)1 40 69 60 00

Facebook.

Dora the Explorer cupcakes and cake tower

These Dora the Explorer cupcakes and cake/cupcake tower are by Top the Cupcake in Perth, Australia, via Flickr.







I especially appreciate a behind the scenes look at the trials and tribulations of baking. From the post "Dora is so hot right now!":

It was a mammoth effort as those Dora characters were really hard to cut out! Not only were the Dora characters difficult to replicate, but my baking skills were really lacking that morning for some bizarre reason. Perhaps it was because I had no sleep as I was busy making those tricky Dora characters! Actually that is a lie – I had a hour’s power nap across my dining room chairs for an energy boost at 4AM. Anyway, there was something very wrong with my baking that morning. I burnt my vanilla cupcakes and could not get my buttercream frosting to work. My frosting was cluggy and had all these unnecessary lumps in them! To this day, I still do not know the reason behind this. I had sifted the icing twice and the butter was at room temperature. But nevertheless, there were lumps! Bah, it makes me furious just thinking about it.

Ritualistic Cupcakes

I am making up stories in my head about this image. Why is there a big smiley flag? Why are they on a concrete floor? Is this a gallery? What is happening here?! Also, why was I not invited?

Happy birthday.

Image courtesy creative commons licensing and uncleboatshoes.

Proof that cupcakes really are everywhere

As seen at Staples:

Louisiana Habanero Hot Sauce Recipe

This is an easy recipe for a versatile, hot and sweet, Louisiana Habanero Hot Sauce. It works great as a regular hot sauce but it is also great to use as a dipping sauce for egg rolls, samosas, acarajé, malu paan, or other appetizers. You can adjust the overall heat by adjusting the number of habaneros to you own personal taste.

Recommended Equipment:
food processor or blender

Ingredients:
7 habanero peppers, seeded and chopped
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup yellow mustard
1 15oz. can sliced peaches in heavy syrup
1 cup white vinegar
1 tbsp kosher salt
1 tbsp fresh ground black pepper
2 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp ground cumin
1/2 tspn ground ginger
1/2 tspn ground coriander
1/2 tspn ground allspice

Preparation:

1. In a food processor or blender, add the peaches and heavy syrup. Pulse until the peaches are ground into a puree.
2. Add the habanero peppers, molasses, brown sugar, mustard, vinegar, kosher salt, paprika, cumin, ginger, coriander, and allspice to the food processor or blender.
3. Pulse mixture until it becomes a smooth liquid.
4. Pour the mixture into clean glass jars. Place caps on the jars and refrigerate at least one day before you use the sauce.

United States Louisiana [ print this recipe for Louisiana Habanero Hot Sauce ]

Minestrone Soup is a Once in a Lifetime Experience

I always feel a little apprehensive when I post a recipe like this minestrone soup. It’s the type of dish I never make the same way twice, and the fear is that someone will watch and assume that this is my “official” version.

You don’t need a recipe for minestrone, just like you don’t need a recipe for a great sandwich, or an epic salad. To make minestrone soup precisely same way every time, using a very specific list of ingredients and amounts, is to trample on the soul of this Italian classic.

Having said all that, what if you happen to make it so incredibly delicious one time that you want to experience the exact same shuddering soupgasm in the future? That seems like a perfectly sound reason for why you should write down the recipe…except cooking food doesn’t work that way.

Your perception of how a recipe tastes involves so many factors above and far beyond the list of ingredients. Remember that time you made that super awesome whatever, and it was so perfect, and then you made it again, exactly the same way, but somehow it just didn’t taste as great? This is why.

So, I hope you give this amazing minestrone recipe a try soon…but only once. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
3 oz pancetta

2 tbsp olive oil

1 diced onion

1 cup diced celery

4 minced garlic cloves

4 cups chicken broth

1 (28-oz) can plum tomatoes, crushed fine

2 cups water, plus more as needed

salt and pepper to taste

1 tsp dried Italian herb blend (mine was thyme, oregano, rosemary, basil)

red pepper flakes to taste

1 cup freshly shucked cranberry beans (aka shelling beans)
2 or 3 cups chopped cabbage

1 (15-oz) can garbanzo beans, drained

1 bunch swiss chard, chopped

2/3 cup raw ditalini pasta

extra virgin olive oil, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and fresh Italian parsley to garnish the top

And the Cow Says, "Moooo"

Cutie-pie farm animal shots from (appropriately enough) Cutie Cakes WY.

Call For Submissions: Kwanzaa Cupcakes

Hey Gang! I am looking to blog post about Kwanzaa Cupcakes this week. Please send photos, recipes, ideas, and links to CupcakesTakeTheCake AT gmail DOT com with the subject line Kwanzaa by Thursday. Thanks!

Banana Split Cupcakes!

I have always loved the idea of taking completely different desserts and dishes and turning them into cupcakes! For example, bacon and breakfast cupcakes or Starbucks latte inspired cupcakes. I think it's really interesting that some people can recreate those flavors into cute little cupcakes, and the same goes for these precious banana split cupcakes!

These were made by Allie at Cake & Allie. She started with banana cake and mixed in strawberries and pineaple.  They're topped with whipped frosting, chocolate ganache, sprinkles, and a cherry!



Next Up: Minestrone

Winners!

We had two giveaways recently and the deadlines to enter were last week, so I want to announce the winners:

• Dara E. won Carolyn's Kitchen apron 
• Diana V. won the Smucker's Gift Basket

If you are in the New York City area next Monday, come to our seventh anniversary where we will giving away lots of prizes.

Beautiful cherry almond cupcakes plus recipe link

Find out how to make these cherry almond cupcakes over at North Dakota Kitchen. They look fabulous!

Gingerbread Latte Cupcakes with Recipe Link

Ta ta Thanksgiving, HELLO CHRISTMAS! Now that Thanksgiving and Black Friday have come and gone I think now we can officially start gearing up for Christmas!

In honor of this season's most anticipated holiday I present to you a special Christmas themed treat...Gingerbread Latte Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting!

These ridiculously cute and delicious looking treats are brought to you by Bakers Royale! The recipe actually came about because of a disappointing Starbucks drink order, goes to show that the best inspiration really can come from anywhere!

I was a little taken aback by the idea of mixed lemon cream cheese with something as spicy as gingerbread but after reading why this was used, I have to say I'm more than curious to try out the recipe for myself. If you want to try this out as well, go ahead and check out the recipe here!

Fun but unusual cupcake flavors

These unusual cupcakes are by New Jersey custom cupcake and cake company Joy & Cake, via their Flickr account. They can be reached at info@joyandcakenj.com. or 732-331-7652.


sweet potato, thyme and pear cupcake


butternut squash and caramel cupcake

And here's a cupcake bouquet in a flower pot:

Cute vanilla snowman cupcakes with only 143.5 calories each

Blogger Gina Homolka at SkinnyTaste serves up recipes that are fun and healthy - even cupcakes! From her about page:

On Skinnytaste, you'll find healthy dishes that don't sacrifice any of the flavor that can be found in their full-fat origins. Gina knows all the food she prepares for Skinnytaste is tasty and satisfying, because after all, this is the same food she cooks on a daily basis for her friends and family, and they are some of her toughest critics!

She caught my eye with these very cute vanilla snowman cupcakes.



The recipe involves Duncan Hines Cake Mix and Chobani yogurt, whose nutritional stats clock in at:

Servings: 24 • Size: 1 cupcake • Old Points: 3 pts • Points+: 4 pts* (3 pts no frosting)Calories: 143.5 • Fat: 2.7 g • Carbs: 27.3 • Fiber: 0 • Protein: 2.1 g • Sugar: 19.6Sodium: 143.2 mg

And if you just can't get enough, she's got lots more recipes on her site. Here are two of the cupcake ones:


super moist low fat chocolate cupcakes with chocolate glaze


pink lemonade confetti cupcakes

You can also follow SkinnyTaste on Facebook and @SkinnyTaste on Twitter.

Cannoli alla Nonna Saporito Recipe

From Ciao Italia Family Classics by Mary Ann Esposito....

The queen of all Sicilian desserts is definitely cannoli. Cannoli probably originally came from Arabs, who influenced so much of Sicily’s cooking. These crisp, flaky pastry dough cylinders are filled with sweetened sheep’s milk ricotta cheese, nuts, citron, and bits of chocolate. I cherish Nonna Saporito’s old recipe that originally called for sheep’s milk ricotta cheese for the filling but when she came to America, it was impossible to find, so whole cow’s milk ricotta was substituted instead. Whenever I make these, I use her old and very worn wooden forms, fashioned from a broom handle, but stainless steel forms are available in kitchenware stores.

Ingredients:
Filling
1 1/2 cups whole-milk ricotta cheese, well drained
3 tbsp granulated sugar
1 1/2 tspn ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped milk chocolate (4 to 5 small bars)
1/4 cup pistachio nuts, coarsely chopped

Dough
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tbsp unsalted butter or lard
1 tbsp granulated sugar
4 to 5 tbsp dry Marsala wine
2 cups vegetable oil
colored sprinkles
confectioner's sugar for sprinkling

Preparation:

1. To make the filling, whip the cheese in a bowl until smooth. Stir in the granulated sugar, cinnamon, and chocolate. Refrigerate, covered with plastic wrap, until ready to fill the cannoli shells.
2. To make the dough, place the flour in a bowl or food processor. Add the butter or lard and sugar and mix with a fork, or pulse, until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Slowly add the 1/4 cup of wine and shape the mixture into a ball; add a little more wine if the dough appears too dry. It should be soft but not sticky. Knead the dough on a floured work surface until smooth, about 10 minutes. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 45 minutes.
3. Place the chilled dough on a floured work surface. Divide the dough in half. Work with 1 piece of dough at a time; keep the remaining dough refrigerated. Using a rolling pin or pasta machine set to the finest setting, roll the dough out to a very thin long rectangle about 14 inches long and 3 inches wide. Cut the dough into 3-inch squares. Place a cannoli form diagonally across one square. Roll the dough up around the form so the points meet in the center. Seal the points with a little water. Continue making cylinders until all the dough is used.
4. In an electric skillet(see note), heat the vegetable oil to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
5. Fry the cannoli three or four at a time, turning them as they brown and blister, until golden brown on all sides. Drain them on brown paper or paper towels. When they are cool enough to handle, carefully slide the cannoli off the forms.
6. To serve, use a long iced tea spoon or pastry bag without a tip to fill the cannoli with the ricotta cheese mixture. Dip the ends into colored sprinkles, arrange them on a tray, and sprinkle confectioner's sugar over the tops. Serve at once.

Note: If you prefer, you can fry the cannoli in a deep fryer. Be sure to fill the cannoli just before serving - any sooner will result in soggy shells.

Makes 14 to 18 cannoli

Recipe courtesy of Ciao Italia Family Classics by Mary Ann Esposito

Italy [ print this recipe for Cannoli alla Nonna Saporito ]

Rum Baller, Shot Caller?

I was playing with some rum balls today, for a video next week, and the first one I pulled off the silpat left this perfect chocolate smiley face. That has to be a great sign, right?

Thomas the Tank Enginge cupcakes

Thomas the Tank Engine cupcakes by Zoey Cakes in Baldwinsville, New York, via Flickr. They can be reached at Zoeycakes at gmail.com or 617-320 3590 and you can get more information at zoeycakes.com.

Jabba The Cupcake

courtesy of tumblr

Jabba the...cupcake?! I found this impressive Jabba the Hut cupcake on tumblr and was surprised at how easy it looked to replicate. He looks to be made mostly of frosting with some special attention to coloring detail. Perfect for all Star Wars fans!

Santa, reindeer, melting snowman, woodland creature, cocktail and Steve Jobs cupcake toppers on Etsy

These mostly seasonal cupcakes (the Steve Jobs one was for Halloween, but I had missed it, and the cocktails remind me of New Year's Eve) are for sale by death by cupcake on Etsy, and you can also keep up with them on Flickr.








I can't decide which I think is cutest...maybe the owl?

Chocolate Ornament Cupcake Toppers for Sale

These absolutely gorgeous Chocolate Ornaments are on sale via Etsy and would be the perfect trimmings to your holiday cupcakes. Ornaments are available via janessugarshack for $30 per pack of six.

Gluten-free Shirley Temple cupcakes plus recipe linke

These gluten-free Shirley Temple cupcakes are by Carol Kicinski of the blog Simply...Gluten Free, author of the cookbook Simply...Gluten-free Desserts, via Best Friends for Frosting.

Christmas tree and snowman cupcakes by Martha Stewart

From the one and only Martha Stewart, some fun holiday cupcakes and decorating tips: Christmas trees and a marshmallow snowman! Via Best Friends for Frosting.

Smoked Ham and Butternut Squash Spaghetti – Short on Daylight, Long on Flavor

I never film at night, since I don’t like the look of the video when I use artificial lights. Sure, I could actually learn how to use a real lighting kit, but it’s easier for my simple brain to just film during the day.

However, once in a great while, I’ll starting making something, like this smoked ham and butternut squash spaghetti, that looks like it’s going to be so good that I don’t care about lighting quality, and film it anyway.

Other than this less-than-subtle warning about the lighting quality, there’s not a lot to say about this simple and very delicious winter pasta. It will work with literally any type of ham or smoked sausage; and as I mention in the video, bacon would also shine.

Despite the rich and decadent mascarpone, the sauce is actually pretty light when you consider much of the sauce is really just chicken broth and squash. By the way, I didn’t add it, but I think a squeeze of fresh lemon juice at the end would have been a great idea. I hope you give this hearty pasta a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

14 oz package dry spaghetti

2 tbsp olive oil

4 oz thinly slice smoked ham

3-4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

red chili flakes to taste

1 1/2 to 2 cups chicken broth, or as needed

3 cups diced butternut squash

salt and pepper to taste

1 cup mascarpone cheese

1-2 tbsp chopped Italian parsley

freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Know Your Cheese

As most of your know, I LOVE cheese, and two of the most commonly used varieties in my kitchen are fresh mozzarella, and mascarpone. In addition to this recipe, I’ve used mascarpone in several recent videos, and received numerous inquires as to which brand I used.

My usual go-to brand is Galbani, so I was thrilled when Michele and I were recently invited to an event hosted by Lactalis Foodservice. Along with Galbani, Lactalis owns many of markets’ top cheese brands, such as President, Sorrento, and Precious, just to name a few.

This Chef’s Table event was held at Farina, San Francisco, and not only did we enjoy a very nice meal, but we got to talk directly to the people making the cheese. One reason I love shopping at Farmers Markets is that you get to meet the people producing the food you’re about to cook, but it’s not often you get the same experience for a product you buy at the supermarket.

Here are a few highlights from the evening.

Pardon the poor quality photo, but I just had to show this Foccacia di Recco, featuring Galbani’s Bel Paese. It’s sort of like a stuffed pizza, which uses a very basic, unleavened bread dough that’s rolled, spun, and stretched very thin, before being stuffed with the creamy cheese. It’s baked in a very hot oven, where it puffs up, and gets crispy on the outside, while the inside stays soft and cheesy. It was awesome, and something I must figure out how to make!

Chef at Farina spinning the dough for the Foccacia di Recco. By the way, the videographer seen here is my friend Vincent McConeghy, a fellow western New Yorker, and author of the novel, Gastro Detective.

This was my favorite course of the night. A golden and red beet timbale with Istara Petit Basque and shaved black truffles. What glorious combination of flavors!

I want to thank Lactalis Foodservice for hosting such a fun evening, and the chefs at Farina for taking such good care of us! For those of you that requested more info about the mascarpone cheese, you can check out the official website here. Grazie!

Happy New Year 2012, Christmas, snowflake, number and cute dog cupcake transfers from Ticings

Cupcake transfer company Ticings has a Black Friday sale going on through November 27th! Save 25% by using the code 25BLACK. Some of their designs include Happy New Year 2012, Santa, Christmas stockings, snowflakes, numbers and cute dogs, all seen below. Visit ticings.com and their Facebook page for more designs and ordering information. You can also follow them @ticing on Twitter.