Homemade Funfetti Cupcakes

Who doesn't love funfetti cake? My friend's son is turning 1 so I thought it would be fun to find a good homemade funfetti cake recipe. This recipe came from I Heart Cuppycakes. It really wasn't hard to make this without a box. I already had all the ingredients. The sprinkles melt while baking to give you the same colored dots in the cakes.

The icing was just as easy and really yummy! The recipe tells you to start with 5 cups of sifted powdered sugar and then add more to get your desired consistency. I think I ended up using just under 6 cups. The cake recipe made 12 cupcakes but the icing recipe (depending on how much icing you like on each cupcake) could have iced more than 12 cupcakes, probably about 18 cupcakes. Overall these cupcakes were delicious! It didn't taste exactly like boxed funfetti cake but I think it was better. It had more of a buttery flavor.

For Cupcakes:

Ingredients

• 1-1/4 cups AP flour
• 1-1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 6 tbsp butter, room temperature
• 1 large egg + 1 egg white, room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 tbsp rainbow sprinkles

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line cupcake pan with paper liners.
2. In a large bowl, sift flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
3. In a stand mixer, fitted with flat beater, beat the sugar and butter until well combined, about 2-3 minutes. Add egg and egg white, one at a time, beating on low. Then add vanilla. Gradually add flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with milk in 2 additions, ending with the flour mixture. Fold in rainbow sprinkles.
4. Fill cupcake liners about 1/2-2/3 full. Bake for about 17-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove from pan and cool completely on a wire cooling rack before frosting.

 For Buttercream:

Ingredients

• 2 sticks butter
• 7 cups powdered sugar, sifted
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

1. In a stand mixer, fitted with flat beater, beat butter until creamy, about 2-3 minutes. Add 5 cups of sifted powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla, beat until combined. Add more powdered sugar until you get to the consistency desired.
2. Frost cupcakes and garnish with more rainbow sprinkles.

Source: I Heart Cuppycakes

Spicy Pumpkin Bundt Cake with Brown Sugar Glaze

It's fall, even though it doesn't feel like it in Florida! I've been wanting to make a pumpkin bundt cake for awhile. After looking at several recipes, I finally decided to combine a couple of recipes. The cake recipe is from Martha Stewart and the glaze was found on Heather's Dish. Reviews about the cake on Martha's website said it didn't need a glaze so I debated adding it. However, I'm glad I did. The cake was very spicy. The glaze was delicious and complimented it well, I thought. It was a little thin though, maybe because I used half & half instead of heavy cream or maybe I didn't let it cook long enough. My bundt cake pans must be smaller than normal. This recipe made enough for two cakes, which just meant our neighbors got a little surprise!

Spicy Pumpkin Bundt Cake

Ingredients

• Nonstick cooking spray, for pan
• 4 cups cake flour (not self-rising), plus more for dusting
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 1/2 cups packed light-brown sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk (or substitue just under 1 cup milk + 1 Tablespoon Vinegar and let rest for 5 minutes)
• 1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin puree

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 14-cup Bundt pan with cooking spray. Dust with flour, and tap out excess.
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Set aside.
3. Beat butter and brown sugar together in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, on medium speed until pale and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down sides of bowl. Reduce speed to low. Beat in flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the buttermilk. Beat until just combined. Add pumpkin puree, and beat until combined. Pour batter into prepared pan.
4. Bake cake until golden and a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes. Carefully turn cake onto rack too cool completely. Before serving, dust with confectioners' sugar.

Brown Sugar Glaze

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream (I used half & half because it's what I had)

Directions

1. In a saucepan combine all ingredients and bring to a simmer.  Remove from heat and stir until all sugar is dissolved.  When cake is finished baking, poke holes in the top with a toothpick.  Pour glaze over the cake, making sure to cover all surfaces.  Serve cake warm or at room temperature.

Chocolate Cupcakes

I hosted a baby shower for a really good friend this weekend. She said she wanted chocolate cupcakes. I searched all over the internet for THE perfect from scratch chocolate cake recipe. I finally decided to try the Pioneer Woman's Chocolate Cake. She made a sheet cake but I still did cupcakes. AMAZING!

The cake was perfect. It was easy, moist, soft, chocolatey, perfection. I won't be using a box cake mix anymore!  The icing was meant to be poured onto a sheet cake, but I still decided to give it a try. The flavor was great but it is probably better for sheet cake than it was cupcakes. I used cupcake wrappers and there was just enough lip of wrapper for each cupcake to hold the icing in place. So I took a spoon and poured a small amount of icing onto each cupcake. The mom-to-be said it was perfect, just sweet enough without being too much. I will definitely be making this again.

No pictures yet, by the way. I was too busy so I just hoped someone else got pictures. :)

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 2 cups Flour
• 2 cups Sugar
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• 4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa
• 2 sticks Butter
• 1 cup Boiling Water
• ½ cups Buttermilk
• 2 whole Beaten Eggs
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla

For Frosting:

• 1-¾ stick Butter
• 4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa
• 6 Tablespoons Milk
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1 pound (minus 1/2 Cup) Powdered Sugar

Directions

1. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt.
2. In a saucepan, melt butter. Add cocoa. Stir together.
3. Add boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool.
4. In a measuring cup, pour the buttermilk and add beaten eggs, baking soda, and vanilla. Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into cupcake pan and bake at 350-degrees for 20 minutes.
5. While cupcakes are baking, make the icing. Melt butter in a saucepan. Add cocoa, stir to combine, then turn off heat. Add the milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Stir together and pour over warm cake.