Caramel Chocolate Surprise Cupcakes

So today I decided to try Duncan Hines new Frosting Creations™!! 
I decided to try the caramel flavor, and what goes better with caramel than chocolate??

  Ingredients:
2 packets of Duncan Hines® Frosting Creations™ Caramel Flavor Mix
2 cans of Frosting Creations™ Frosting Starter
1 Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix (16.5oz)
1 Cup Water
1/3 Cup Vegetable Oil
3 Large Eggs
24Chocolate caramel filled candies (Milky Ways)
24 Chocolate Covered Pretzels

 

1. Prep: PREHEAT oven to 350°F for metal or glass pans, 325°F for dark or coated pans. Fill two 12-cup muffin pans with paper liners. 

2. Mix: BLEND dry mix, water, oil and eggs in large bowl at low speed until moistened (about 30 seconds). BEAT at medium speed for 2 minutes. POUR batter into muffin pans, press the caramel filled candies into each cupcake, and bake immediately. 

3. Bake: BAKE for 18-21 min. Cake is done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. COOL in pan on wire rack for 15 minutes. Cool completely before frosting. 

4. FROST: Pour 1 pack of Duncan Hines® Frosting Creations™ Caramel Flavor Mix into each can of Duncan Hines® Frosting Creations™ Frosting Starter. Stir until evenly blended. Use a piping bag with desired tip, or frosting knife to frost cupcakes. 

5. Garnish each cupcake with a chocolate covered pretzel and enjoy!

Note: This blog is not sponsored by Duncan Hines, however this is a contest entry.
 http://www.duncanhines.com/recipes/cupcakes/thebakingchemist/caramel-chocolate-surprise-cupcakes

Hatching Peeps Cupcakes

Happy Easter everyone!  

 The peeps have just hatched!

These are dark chocolate fudge cupcakes with coconut whipped cream filling, vanilla frosting and green coconut grass!

You can make any chocolate cupcakes you like.  For the coconut I thought a dark chocolate cake mix would be best.

What I am really excited for is the coconut whipped cream filling.  I got the idea here: Nutty Kitchen.

 

To Fill the Cupcakes: I used the Cuisipro Cupcake Corer, pictured above.  Press the bottom of the corer into the top of the cupcake and twist slightly.  Pull the corer out and eject the cupcake center.  I used 2 teaspoons to fill the cupcakes.  Then press the cupcake center into the top of the filling. (Makes it easier to frost the cupcakes when you are using an icing knife)


Next choose any frosting you would like and use a few drops green food coloring to dye it.  I choose vanilla frosting.

For the coconut grass, take about 2 cups of sweetened shredded coconut add 10 drops of green food coloring.  Mix and adjust color as needed. Place on top of frosted cupcake.  Before I put the coconut grass on I added sprinkles for a fun spring look.


And we can't have hatching peeps with out the eggs!  For the eggs I used vanilla melting wafers.  You can use white chocolate too.  Place the wafers in a microwavable bowl, microwave for 10-15s at a time until fully melted, stir well.  Place melted chocolate into a piping bag or use a Ziploc bag with the tip cut off.

Before piping the eggs I had sketched out a quick template for the broken eggs. (see picture below).
 Next I piped the outline of the egg, filled in.  Then to smooth out the eggs I used a tooth pic.  To harden the eggs place in freezer for at least an hour, I left mine in over night.

To secure the chicks onto the cupcakes I used toothpicks.  Then place the egg in front of the chicks.  If the eggs  are slipping off use a little bit of frosting to secure.

Mini Irish Carbomb cupcakes

You may think I am crazy making these in April,but they are for the very belated St. Patrick's Day celebration  at work.

From one batch of cupcakes I got more than 6 dozen mini Irish Carbomb cupcakes!!

For the cupcakes you can add 1-1.5cups Guinness to any chocolate box mix, or see the recipe here: Irish Carbomb Cupcakes

This time I decided to try a cream cheese icing!

Bailey’s Cream Cheese Frosting
12oz. (1.5 bar) cream cheese, softened
6oz. (1.5stick) of unsalted butter, softened
3 C confectioner’s sugar
9 Tablespoons of Bailey’s Irish Cream
In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or with a hand mixer, add the cream cheese, butter, and confectioner’s sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add in the Bailey’s and mix well.

This will give you plenty of icing for all the mini cupcakes.  Decorate and enjoy! :)

My New Baking Assistant

Hello stand mixer, good bye hand mixer!!  :)

So, I finally upgraded to a stand mixer.  Took me killing two hand mixers to get the message. :P

I will be writing about my first adventure with my new mixer shortly!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!