Ferrero Rocher Cupcakes

I just realized that I never did the entry for these cupcakes. These were part of the baby shower cupcakes I did for work a few weeks ago. I chose these because I was told the mother to be loved them.  Next time I think I will put halved Ferrero Rocher candies on top of the cupcakes. The chocolate cake part of theses cupcakes was fantastic. I will for sure be using that recipe for other cupcakes in the future. The Nutella frosting was also very good. The only thing I would change about the recipe is the ganache. It never seemed to get hard and was very liquidy. I will put the recipe I used in here, but unless you like your ganache to not get hard, I would recommend adjusting the recipe. I also cut the recipe in half because I only needed 12 cupcakes.

Cupcake Recipe:

*1 1/3 Cup Flour
*3/4 Cups Dark Cocoa Powder
*1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
*1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
*1/2 Teaspoon Salt
*1/2 Cup Sour Cream
*1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
*1/2 Teaspoon Almond Extract
*1/2 Cup Butter
*1 Cup Sugar
*1 Egg
*1/2 Cup + a little extra Coffee (room temperature)

*Heat oven to 350 Degrees F and line muffin pan with liners.

*Sift together Flour, Dark Cocoa Powder, Baking Powder, Baking Soda, and Salt. Set aside.

*In a separate bowl, combine Sour Cream, Vanilla, and Almond Extracts. Set aside.

*In the bowl of your mixer, cream the butter and sugar.

*Add the eggs one at a time until combined.

*Add half the Flour Mix.

*Add the Sour Cream Mix.

*Add the rest of the Flour Mix and mix until combined.

*Add the coffee and beat until combined.

*Divide batter among prepared muffin cups.

*Bake for about 25 minutes.

*Let cool before frosting.

Nutella Ganache Recipe:

*1 Cup Heavy Cream
*1 Cup Nutella

*In a saucepan over medium heat, warm the cream.

*Slowly add the Nutella in small spoonfuls.

*Mix until combined.

*Cut out the center of the cupcakes with a knife.

*Remove the cut out part.

*Spoon the ganache into the cupcakes.

Nutella Buttercream Frosting:

*6.5 Ounces Nutella
*1/2 Cup Butter
*3-4 Cups Powdered Sugar
*Pinch of Salt
*1 1/2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
*4 Tablespoons Heavy Cream

*In the bowl of your mixer, cream Butter and Nutella.

*Add the Powdered Sugar one cup at a time, beating well after each addition.

*Add Salt and Vanilla.

*Add the Cream, one tablespoon at a time.

*Beat well, add more Powdered Sugar if needed until frosting is the desired consistency.

*Frost Cupcakes and Enjoy!

Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream

We were throwing a baby shower for one of the girls at work. She is having a baby boy, so they decided to do the colors orange and blue (more like a mango and turquoise). I made strawberry cupcakes and dyed the frosting orange. I wanted a variety of flavors, so I decided on a simple vanilla cupcake recipe and dyed the frosting blue. I like this cupcake recipe because it is so simple and easy to make, but also really light and yummy. I think the colors all came out well, and the baby shower was a  hit!

Cupcake Ingredients:

*1 1/2 Cups Flour
*1 Cup Sugar
*1 1/2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
*1/2 Teaspoon Salt
*1/2 Cup Butter
*1/2 Cup Sour Cream
*1 Egg
*2 Egg Yolks
*1 1/2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract

*Preheat Oven to 350 Degrees F and line muffin pan with liners.

Since it was a baby shower I used the ones with little baby feet on them. I know they are pink and that the shower was for a boy baby, but I figured they would fade once baked. I didnt want to buy colored liners because it would be hard to find the exact shades of orange and blue that I wanted.

*Whisk Flour, Sugar, Baking Powder, and Salt in a bowl and set aside.

*In the bowl of your mixer, beat Butter, Sour Cream, Egg, Egg Yolks, and Vanilla.

*Add Flour mix and beat until smooth.

*Divide Batter evenly among muffin liners.

*Bake for approx. 20 minutes.

*Let cool before frosting.

Frosting Ingredients:

*1 Cup Butter
*2 1/2 Cups Powdered Sugar
*1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract

*Beat Butter until smooth.

*Add Powdered Sugar one cup at a time, beating well after each addition.

*Add Vanilla and beat until light and fluffy.

*If coloring frosting, add food color.

* To get this shade of turquoise, I added about 61 drops of blue food color. (I just had the regular pack of red, blue, yellow, red).

Bridal Shower Cupcakes

My friend had her bridal shower last weekend and asked me to do the cupcakes. It was a Japanese Honeymoon theme bridal shower. I was looking for some cute cupcake wrappers that had cherry blossoms on them, but couldn't find any that I really liked. Eventually I settled on a green with burgundy vines, since those are the wedding colors. For flavors I did one dozen Strawberry and one dozen Orange Chai Spice. And to top it all off, I got some really cute edible cherry blossoms from Etsy.