Mocha Cupcakes with Kahlua Cream Cheese Frosting

Please excuse my repetitive posts of cupcakes recently. I realized that my photos are also becoming somewhat homogeneous. Hmm... I'll have to work on that. I'm done with midterms this week and the weekend is finally here! As you may or may not know, I'm kind of a nerd at heart. I love the marvel superhero comics, my favorite being X-Men. I've seriously been counting down the days for Wolverine to come out ever since last year. That day is finally here! I'm celebrating the end of week 5 with the midnight showing of Wolverine. Luckily, my boyfriend is a bigger nerd than me, so I don't have to hold back my adoration for X-Men. :)

By the way, is anyone watching this Bulls/Celtics game? It's so ridiculous!!! I can't stand the celtics, but oh my goodness, ray allen! By the way that they're playing, this game will never end. But man, what a game to be at. They're going into the 3rd overtime right now... how intense is that?!

I haven't baked in a week and it's driving me nuts! Luckily, I'll be baking this weekend and next week, as I'll be sending out cookies for my mailing list. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, check out my previous post. I got this recipe from Culinography and pretty much followed it exactly, with a few minor adjustments. I piped on the cream cheese frosting and dusted some cocoa powder on top (the second picture, I just slathered on the frosting and got a little lazy :) The cupcake was indefinitely moist, flavorful, and went well with the Kahlua frosting. I upped the cocoa and mocha, making an even stronger cupcake. After baking, you couldn't really taste the coffee much.. it just had a coffee aftertaste. Now, don't go thinking that I'm an alcoholic because I put a little kick into the frosting. I actually despise drinking and everything about it, but if I HAD to choose a drink, it'd be a white russian. You can always sub this frosting and use a regular cream cheese frosting if you don't want the alcohol or plan on serving it to kids. The recipe with my adjustments is as follows:

Mocha Cupcakes
2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
1 cup yogurt
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
5 1/2 rounded tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup water
4 tablespoons espresso powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat over to 350 degrees F. Insert liners into a cupcake pan.

On medium speed, cream together the sugar, butter, and eggs until fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix in the yogurt.

In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking soda, cocoa, and salt.

In a measuring cup combine the water, coffee and vanilla.

Alternate adding the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar/sour cream mixture with the coffee mixture. Mix thoroughly.

Fill the cupcake liners three-quarters full. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of cupcakes comes out clean. Remove cupcakes to wire rack and cool before frosting. (makes 24 cupcakes)

Kahlua Frosting
5 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
2.5 tablespoons Kahlua
16 ounces powdered sugar

Cream together cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Mix in Kahlua, then powdered sugar in one cup increments until frosting reaches desired consistency. Apply to cupcakes. (frosts 24 cupcakes generously)

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Welcome to the first phase of hell week.. week 5.. midterms week. Compiled of late nights & early mornings, iced coffee & donut runs, procrastination & perseverance, every student is relieved once they see the light at the end of the tunnel (the end of week 5). Crazy to say, this is the last set of midterms that I'll ever be taking! That alone makes me overcome with joy. I've prepared myself and created blog posts to keep my blog up to date while I'm out writing numerous papers for school this week. Ironic how that works- how I procrastinate so much on school work but don't procrastinate when it comes to baking. I guess that's why they call it a passion.

Alright let's be honest here.. I've been searching for a moist, light red velvet cake recipe and still have yet to find it. I have a folder in my bookmarks solely dedicated to numerous red velvet recipes that I've stumbled upon across the internet. Going down the list, I've been testing and checking each recipe one at a time, never being able to put that huge star next to the title. All of the recipes that I've tried have just been "meh" and unimpressive. I'm on a mission to find the perfect red velvet recipe... so if you have it, let me know! :) Everything that I've tried just doesn't compare or even come close to the ones sold in bakeries. I was really disappointed in these cupcakes so I didn't bother piping on the frosting. I just slathered a chunk on and let it be. As for the cream cheese frosting, it was just okay in my book. I'm sticking to my cream cheese frosting on my carrot cakes. I'll post the recipe just in case you guys want to tweak it or give it a go for yourselves.

Recipe from The Repressed Pastry Chef:

Allison's Amazing Red Velvet Cupcakes
adapted from the NY Times Red Velvet Cake recipe

• 1c cake flour
• 1/3c cocoa
• 1/2tsp salt
• 2/3c vegetable oil
• 3/4c sugar
• 1 egg
• 1oz (2T) red food coloring (I used red food gel by Wilton)
  
• 1/2tsp vanilla
• 1/2c buttermilk (I used the milk & vinegar method)
  
• 1/2tsp baking soda
• 3/4tsp white vinegar

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Line12-cupcake pans with cupcake liners and spray with cooking spray.
Whisk cake flour, cocoa and salt in a bowl.
Place oil and sugar in bowl of an electric mixer and beat at medium speed until well-blended. Beat in eggs one at a time.
With machine on low, very slowly add red food coloring (and water or syrup, if necessary). (Take care: it may splash.)
Add vanilla.
Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk in two batches. Scrape down bowl and beat just long enough to combine.
Place baking soda in a small dish, stir in vinegar and add to batter with machine running. Beat for 10 seconds.
Divide batter among 12-cupcake pans, filling each about 2/3 full. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Em's Magnificent Cream Cheese Icing
adapted form the 06/98 Epicurious.com Cream Cheese Icing recipe

• 1 8oz pkg of cream cheese - room temperature, divided in three parts
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter - COLD
• 1 tablespoon shortening
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup powdered sugar

Directions
Beat sugar and butter in large bowl until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and combine very well. Add the first third of the cream cheese and combine very well. Add the shortening and combine very well. Add the remaining cream cheese one piece at a time, combining very well after each. Gradually add the sugar and combine thoroughly until light and fluffy.

Cheesecake Brownies

Talk about baking on a scorching day. 97 degrees.. Really, southern California?! We skipped spring and jumped right into summer. Don't get me wrong, I love southern California weather... just not when I'm at my apartment with no AC and the sun beams down through our window all day. Total bust. While on my way back to my little sauna of an apartment today, I was stuck in horrible Westwood/LA traffic (isn't LA the worst?!?) and watched beautiful baller cars pass me by. Then I got to thinking... what are my top 3 dream cars? All from different price ranges? After long deliberation, I compiled my list:

1.) Price Range $25,000-$35,000: Mazda RX-8; I've loved this car for basically as long as I can remember.. since about 9th grade when it made its first debut.
2.) Price Range $35,000-$45,000: Audi TT Roadster; no words needed.
3.) Price Range $45,000+: Nissan GTR; alright so maybe that's a little more than 45K.. but hey, we can all dream, right?

What's your list of top 3 cars that you long for?

Alright enough dreaming & wishing and back to reality.. When I make brownies, I always use my go-to recipe. I've used this one for about a year now and haven't bothered finding a new one. Why change something that's perfect? I use the same brownie base for all my brownies, and tweak it as necessary. Sometimes I add nuts, sometimes I add some mint extract and Andes chunks, sometimes I add chocolate chips, and sometimes I swirl it with a cheesecake batter. This time, I baked it in a glass 8"x8" pan because I wanted my brownies to be fudge-like rather than crispy. When baking in a glass pan, you have to let them bake for about ten minutes longer, depending on your oven.

The brownie recipe that I used can be found at my previous post HERE, but I'll repost it here with the modifications for cheesecake brownies.

• 1 cup butter
• 2 cups sugar
  
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup AP flour
• ½ cup cocoa
• ½ teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 8"x8" pan. Melt butter in saucepan over low heat. Once melted remove from heat and add sugar, vanilla, and eggs. Blend together. In separate bowl, mix together flour, cocoa, and salt. Add dry mixture to the wet and mix well. Pour into greased pan.

For the cheesecake swirl:

• 8 oz (1 package) cream cheese, softened
  
• 1/4 cup sugar (you can use 1/3 cup if you want it sweeter)
  
• 1 egg

Beat the cream cheese and sugar mixture together. Mix in the egg until creamy. Drop by dollups on top of the brownie batter and then swirl using a knife. Bake for 50-60 minutes (mine took about 65 minutes before being completely done).

Cookie Mailing List! & Cinnamon Chocolate Bundt Cake

I've seen this recipe popping up on tastespotting and foodgawker recently, and I just knew that I had to try it. The cake looked SO moist and delicious, how can I pass up on that? I got this recipe from The Food Librarian, but many other food bloggers have made this cake as well. I think the original poster was Vintage Victuals. Anyways, I added a little (okay, a lot) more cinnamon than recommended, but I think it was too strong. Stick to the original recipe! I also upped the vanilla, and you can never go wrong with that. The cake was just about the moistest cake ever with all the liquids in it. Amazing! I baked it in mini bundt cakes, therefore lowering the baking time. I topped it all off with a dash of powdered sugar on top.

Good news! I decided that I'm going to start my cookie mailing list up again since I have a lot of free time and will be available over the summer now. Why? Well, I HAD a job for the summer working at an outdoor camp in Lake Tahoe, but I recently got an email from them nearly three months after being hired saying:

"Dear Kim,

____ and I had a long chat today about camp, staffing, and enrollment. Unfortunately, the enrollment numbers for this season are down -- much more so than when we looked at them closely about a month ago. To my great regret, we must withdraw the job offer you and I have discussed -- counselor and activity specialist.

You seem to be a very bright, hard-working, and personable person, and I’ve no doubt you will find success wherever you choose to seek it. If our enrollment numbers change, we will certainly contact you to find out if you still have an interest, and are available to work with us. But in any case, we sincerely thank you for the time you’ve spent in seeking employment with us. We wish all the very best in your future endeavors.

Very best regards,
_________" (the name is bleeped out cause that's just mean. i'll leave the director and the camp name anonymous)

Uhhh... total low blow! They told me three months after being hired, meaning I've already turned down another camp job offer and two interviews. Now, it's much too late to apply for positions at summer camps so I'm at a loss for summer. Talk about a sucky economy. I guess it just wasn't meant to be. Anyways, this means I'll have more time to bake this summer and keep up with my mailing list. If you're interested, keep on reading!

COOKIE MAILING LIST:
What is it and what do I get? Home baked goods by me mailed to your house every month! A different treat each month, sometimes a variety. You will be guaranteed AT LEAST 18 cookies, usually more. You can find an example of what you'll be getting at this post HERE (the cookies, not the cupcakes)

How much is it? A mere $15/month will cover your cost for shipping and supplies (only available to residents in the US.. sorry! Mailing baked goods internationally just doesn't seem like a good idea)
Where do I send the money/Who do I pay?
You can pay me via paypal by clicking the link here:

I also take concealed cash/checks, just email me for the address on where to send it to. For May's mailing list, I'll need the payment by April 30th.
When can I expect the baked goods? I will bake and ship the first week of every month. I will only bake the cookies and send them out the same day! That way, they'll stay fresher.

**Please let me know if you have any food allergies/ingredients that you absolutely despise so that I can avoid them for your batch, along with the address to mail the baked goods to and your email address so I have a way to contact you. Don't forget to let me know if you have any favorites that you are dying to have!

Don't hesitate to throw me an email at kim@lovintheoven.com if you have any questions. Thanks again!

Recipe:
1.) Bring 1 c water, ½ c oil, 1 stick butter and ¼ c + 1T (or 5 T) cocoa powder to a boil and then adding it to a 2 c flour, 2 c sugar and ½ t salt mixture. Add in ½ c buttermilk (I used 1/2 cup milk with a 1/2 tsp vinegar) and 1 t baking soda.
2.) Mix 2 eggs, 1 ½ t cinnamon and 1 t vanilla in a small bowl and combine with batter.
3.) Bake in a bundt at 375 for 30-35 minutes. Cool in the pan.

From-Scratch Funfetti Cupcakes

Happy belated Easter, everyone! My baby cousin came over (alright, so maybe he's not so baby anymore.. he's turning 5 this year) and we did a mini Easter egg hunt for him. I absolutely adore the little munchkin and spoil him quite a bit. He doesn't eat much, but he LOVES cupcakes. He'll finish a cupcake in no time at all. I wanted to make something that the adults would love too, something not too sweet. I settled for vanilla cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.

I've always been a fan of Pillsbury's Funfetti cake mix, and when I saw this recipe on the community bakebakebake from livejournal, I knew I had to make it. This recipe is adapted from livejournal user bluemotion and the original recipe can be found here; thanks! I got about 17 cupcakes from this recipe. The cream cheese frosting is pretty much a basic cream cheese recipe. I usually just play around with it until I get the consistency/taste that I want since it's very forgiving. You can't really mess it up. The cupcakes were a huge hit-- adult and children alike. I probably should've left my cupcakes in a bit longer, as they sunk a bit in the middle. Besides that, the cake was wonderfully moist and the frosting was perfect-- creamy and not too sweet. The cake batter tasted exactly like that from the box, which is a huge plus in my opinion. These sure won't disappoint!

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons melted butter
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 XL egg whites
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/8 cup plain nonfat yogurt
• a handful of rainbow sprinkles (jimmies), optional

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Line muffin tins with paper liners.
2. Mix together in a bowl: flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
3. In a large bowl, beat together melted butter and sugar until combined. Add egg whites and beat until mixture is smooth and light. Stir in vanilla extract. Add flour mixture in two additions, alternating with the yogurt. Gently fold in sprinkles, if using. Scoop batter into prepared tins.
4. Bake for 25 minutes, until cupcakes are barely golden on top and a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out with a couple of loose crumbs. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes in tins. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Cream cheese frosting:

• About 1/3 cup and 3 T of softened butter
• 10 oz cream cheese
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Beat butter and cream cheese together until well blended. Mix in the vanilla. Gradually incorporate the powdered sugar into the batter. Beat until smooth. Add more powdered sugar if necessary to get the desired consistency.

And just for kicks, here's my little chubs (phone picture):
Devouring his cupcake, frosting first, as always:

Creamy Peanut Butter Cookies

Now, it's been a week since my surgery... so that means I can start eating normal food again! Hooray! My sweet tooth has been satisfied for the past week by McDonald's vanilla ice cream cones. I know what you're thinking.. "McDonald's... Really?!" Well, truth of the matter is I go there quite often solely for this reason. The ice cream cones there are hands down my guilty pleasure. They're dirt cheap and delicious! Plus, the McDonald's by me is open 24:7.. perfect for that late night craving. I don't recommend much of anything else from the menu, though.

My weekend officially started as of today since I don't have any more classes for the week, meaning it was time to bake. Picking my brains on what was okay to bake (judging on what was okay for me to eat), I decided I wanted a soft cookie. It couldn't have anything too crunchy or hard, as chewing is still a bit of a task for me. It couldn't have anything too small mixed in, or it would get stuck in my fresh hole-like wounds (sorry for the unattractive picture). Peanut butter cookies it was!

This is the best peanut butter cookie recipe that I've used. They're not too fragile, they can hold their shape once cooled, and are melt-in-your-mouth soft! This makes just over 2 dozen cookies. You can easily double the recipe if you want more, but I was just baking for me and my boyfriend so I didn't need a million cookies. I used Trader Joe's organic creamy butter to make these cookies, and they were fabulous! I usually use JIF for my peanut butter, but went for a little change thanks to my healthy eating boyfriend. Yup.. he's converted me. I'm stuck on Trader's Joes organic PB from now on (...like how I'm stuck on everything else at Trader Joe's, LOVE that store!). Feel free to add in some chocolate chips or M&M's to the recipe if you'd like a little extra kick to your peanut butter cookies.

1 1/2 cups AP flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup peanut butter
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 medium sized eggs
extra sugar for rolling

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees.
2. Beat together the butter, peanut butter, and vanilla extract. Mix in both sugars, salt, and baking powder.
3. Gradually mix in the flour, half at a time.
4. Beat in the eggs, one at a time.
5. Roll into 1 1/2 inch balls and then roll the balls into sugar. Using a fork, flatten the cookie and make a criss-cross pattern. Bake for 12-13 minutes. Let cookies cool on the cookie sheet after taking them out for about 8 minutes before removing them with a spatula. Cool completely before storing. Enjoy!
   

Bakerella Cupcake Pop Bouquet

A friend of mine at school asked me if I could bake something for his girlfriend's sister's birthday. He basically left it up to me and let me make whatever I wanted since he trusted my taste. Ahh, the beauty of boys getting girls gifts... they always let the girls figure it out for them! Nevertheless, I was excited because I had another reason to make Bakerella's cupcake pops once again!

This time, instead of making a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting, I made a devil's chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting. The result? I think these were better than the red velvet, if I do say so myself. The only thing missing was that I didn't have the mini m&m's to top them all off. I used a styrofoam base to stick all the lollipops in and to keep them from tipping over (you can find these bases at a crafts store in the planting section). I made the cupcake pops just like before, but stuck a lollipop stick through them once they hardened and were completely dry. If the chocolate was too thick to poke the stick through, I used the tip of a knife to carve out a tiny hole so that the stick would go in easier.

I haven't been able to bake this weekend because of my wisdom teeth surgery, but I lucked out and only had 2 wisdom teeth instead of the usual 4 (both of mine were on the bottom)! The operation was definitely not as terrible as I thought it would be since they knocked me out. The last thing I remember was the doctor telling me, "You're probably freaking out and wondering 'Why haven't I passed out yet?'" The next thing I knew, I was waking up and the procedure was done. Amazing how that works. I've been living off of tomato bisque, mashed potatoes, yogurt, ice cream, and macaroni and cheese for the past couple of days. Man, what I would do for a chili cheeseburger! I'm seriously craving some REAL food. Thank goodness I have a nice boyfriend who's about to pick me up some creme brulee and caramel flan (my favorite desserts of all time) right now. :]

My family & friends have been amazing since I've basically been stuck in bed all weekend and I just want to say thank you! I even woke up from my nap today to find this from my boyfriend's mom & grandma:

...a "feel better" bouquet (sorry for the crappy picture quality, it was taken on my phone)! How sweet is that?! They're so precious. I'm recovering quite quickly compared to my friends' horror stories about their experiences with wisdom teeth pulling, and I should be up and about in no time. Thanks for all your concerns and words of advice! :]

Nutty, Chocolaty, Swirly Sour Cream Bundt Cake

I know, I know.. another recipe from Dorie?! I just couldn't help it. Her book is too good, how can you resist? I've always been intrigued of baking with sour cream... it always produces the moistest cakes! I would have never thought of using sour cream in baking; it just seems so contradictory. But who am I kidding, with all these bacon related desserts popping up, I'm really beginning to second guess myself.

This recipe was perfect (except that I pulled it out of the pan a little bit early and the top fell apart, hence no picture of the complete product). It was light, fluffy, moist, and flavorful. I loved how the sugar mixture hardened a bit and had a bit of a crunch. The nuts were a nice touch, but I would probably leave them out next time because I'm not that big of a fan of nuts. I would probably leave the chocolate pieces out, too, because I'm a simple kinda girl. It would actually taste like the cinnamon crumb coffee cake from Starbucks. Delish!

Now you must be wondering, "where's the recipe"?! I'm sorry to say that I'm not posting this recipe because I've already posted one from her, and I really think you should buy her book! This recipe is found on page 182 of Baking: From my Home to Yours. Trust me, it's really worth it. If there's only one book you buy this year, make it this one!

I'll be out for the next couple days since I'm getting my wisdom teeth pulled out tomorrow at 11AM. :( I'm actually kind of nervous about being knocked out, since I have never been knocked out in my entire life. Any words of advice? My meals for the next couple of days will consist of yogurt and smoothies. Wonderful!