Cherry Coke Cupcakes

I tried a couple of Soda Pop recipes and they just werent very impressive.  So on my LAST attempt to make this party work, I made this recipe from Annies Eats.  It was moist, heavy, with tons of flavors and just loved it!  So I used this as the basic recipe for all of the cupcakes with some tweaking, which I will be posting throughout the week.  Hope you enjoy, and I highly suggest trying this recipe out! Here is the original post for Cherry Cola Cupcakes!

Cherry Coke Cupcakes

Yield: 10-12 Cupcakes

Ingredients:
For the cupcakes:
1½ cups all-purpose flour
3 tbsp. cocoa powder
½ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
¾ cup sugar
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 large egg
½ cup buttermilk
¾ cup Coca-Cola
¼ tsp. maraschino cherry juice
2 tsp. vanilla extract
Maraschino cherries, stemless

For the glaze (optional):
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 tbsp. Coca-Cola

For topping:
2/3 cup heavy cream
3-4 tbsp. powdered sugar
Maraschino cherries

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350° F.  Line  a muffin pan with foil or paper liners.  In a medium bowl combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.  Stir together and set aside.  In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the sugar and butter.  Mix on medium-high speed until light and fluffy.   Mix in the egg until incorporated.   In a bowl or large measuring cup, combine the buttermilk, Coke, maraschino cherry juice, and vanilla extract; stir to combine.  (This mixture may look disgusting and/or curdled – it’s okay!)

Mix the dry ingredients into the butter-sugar mixture on low speed, alternately with the liquid ingredients, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients and mixing just until incorporated.  Divide the batter evenly between the cupcake liners.  Drop 4 or 5 stemless maraschino cherries into each cupcake well and push them down into the batter.  Bake for about 18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Allow to cool in the pan 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the optional glaze, combine the confectioners’ sugar and Coke in a small bowl and whisk until smooth.  Spoon or drizzle a small amount of the top of each cupcake.  Allow to set.

To make the whipped cream topping, add the heavy cream to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.  Begin whipping on medium speed, slowly adding the confectioners’ sugar and gradually increasing the speed to high as the cream holds soft peaks.  Whip until the cream holds stiff peaks, being careful not to overbeat.  Spoon or pipe the whipped cream on top of the cupcakes and top each with a maraschino cherry.

S'More Cupcakes

One of my favorite things about Utah Summers, is going up the canyon, building a HUGE fire and making camp fire dinners. Then after the sun sets, sitting around the fire and roasted marshmallows and making S'mores while bonding with good friends, family, or even complete strangers.  There really is nothing more spectacular then getting away from the city lights, laying under the stars, and biting into that gooey chocolate crunchy messy S'more.  So in honor of those fun Summer days, I created my own version of a S'more cupcake.

Now for my confession, I only like S'mores because of the experience, but im actually not a huge fan of them all together.  So instead of the typical S'more cupcake that has become such a big trend, with the layers of graham cracker and then chocolate dough.  I made a rich moist chocolate cupcakes from Taste of Home, and a light Marshmallowy type frosting by doing a Swiss Meringue Frosting.  To top off the cupcake I added a piece of HONEY graham cracker, a chunk of HERSHYS Almond Chocolate bar, and of course a roasted MARSHMALLOW on a stick.  Which I lightly toasted on the top with a lighter, after sticking it on a toothpick.

To see more creative Smore Ideas check out my post HERE!

Here is the Recipe:

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup baking cocoa
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• Frosting of your choice

Directions

• In a small bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture alternately with water and buttermilk, beating well after each addition.
• Fill paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 375° for 12-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely. Frost cupcakes. Yield: 16 cupcakes.
• You can find the recipe HERE.

For the Frosting, I used the same frosting recipe I used on my RAINBOW CAKE, but I noticed that Whisk Kid did an amazing tutorial on this frosting that you can find HERE with the recipe!  Hope you enjoy!  This was one of my favorite cupcake recipes I have made so far.

Lady Bug Slidders

To make the LADY BUG SLIDDERS is very simple.  First take any roll mix that you like, OR make your favorite roll recipe.  Do not buy pre-made roll dough.  When you add the dye it will just streak the dough instead of dying all of it.  When you get to the stage where you are adding your liquid to the dough, add a 1/8 teaspoon of dye.  If you are using liquid dye you made need to add more.  Once you are done form the dough into balls and let it rise for however long the instructions say.

NEXT, in each roll cut into the top making a stripe across the body and put three little holes on each side.  Next use a little measuring spoon and put black sesame seeds into each whole and along the line down the back.  Bake for whatever time the rolls say to bake them at.

LAST, make your kids favorite burger and add it to the cooled buns, and ENJOY!

Cherries Jubilee Cupcakes

Nothing says summer to me like a good bowl of fresh cherries from the tree.  So I decided to try making a Cherries Jubilee Cupcake.  I used a Vanilla Almond Cupcake recipe from The Curvy Carrot. It was very moist and delicious, and ended up making 48 cupcakes so I froze half of them and used the batter for my Red and Blue Cupcakes from my 4th Of July party found HERE.  

Vanilla Almond Cupcakes

Servings: 48 cupcakes

For the cupcakes:

5 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

5 teaspoons baking powder

1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt

3 and 1/2 cups granulated sugar

3 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

2 teaspoons almond extract

2 whole vanilla beans, split length-wise and seeds reserved

8 large eggs

4 egg yolks

3 cups whole milk

For the Vanilla Almond Buttercream:

3 cups (6 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

8 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

1 vanilla bean, split length-wise and seeds reserved

2 teaspoons almond extract

For the Cherries Jubilee Filling I added:

I Can of Cherry Pie filling (large can)

1 orange (Juice of it, and orange zest)

1 tsp. Orange Zest

1/4 tsp Rum Extract, Brandy would be best but not sure if it exists, or you can skip this step.

(The real Cherries Jubilee recipe is made with orange zest, cherries, sugar, and Brandy.  You can make it to fill the cupcakes, but I find it rather runny.  So I did the cheater way!)

Instructions:

1. For the cupcakes: Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Line cupcake pans with liners; set aside.

3.  In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt, mixing well.

4. In the bowl of your standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter until light and fluffy, about two minutes.

5. Slowly add in the granulated sugar, almond extract, and vanilla bean seeds and mix until well-combined, about 2 more minutes.

6. Add the egg yolks, and mix well.

7.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

8.  Add the flour and milk mixtures alternatively (start and end with the flour mixture) to the mixing bowl at low speed, mixing until the flour is just combined.

9. Evenly distribute the batter among the prepared baking pans.

10.  Bake for 20 minutes total, rotating the pans halfway during the baking time.

11.  When a cake tester inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean, remove the cupcakes from the oven and let cool for about 15 minutes.

 For the buttercream frosting:

 1. In the bowl of your standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter at medium-high speed until light and fluffy.

2. Reduce your mixer speed to low, and gradually add the confectioners’ sugar slowly, making sure to frequently increase the speed of the mixer for about 10 seconds increments to aerate the frosting.

3. Add the vanilla bean seeds and almond extract, mixing well, until frosting is smooth and creamy.

For the Filling:

In a large bowl.  Combine Cherry pie filling, orange juice, orange zest, and rum extract.  Mix together and set aside until cupcakes have cooled.

When the cupcakes are cool, create a hole in the middle of the cupcake by using your finger or cut part of the cupcake out.  Make sure the whole is big enough around for the size of a cherry.  Spoon in about 1 T. of Cherry filling.

Pipe or frost with icing when finished.  To garnish I used candied Lady Bugs because of my theme, but I think it would be cute with a fresh cherry on top as well! 

To View the Lady Bug Picnic Party click HERE!

**Picked up by Tip Junkie.