Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cake

April 16, 2013 by

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cake

I want to start off this post with saying how saddened I was to learn of the bombing at the Boston Marathon yesterday. We live in such a dangerous world these days. My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected by this horrific event. In times like these, it is especially important to be thankful for what we have in our lives.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cake

One person I am thankful for every single day is my amazing husband. And yesterday was his birthday.

I have been dealing with some kind of sickness since Friday evening and haven’t really been able to stomach much food lately. But, what does one do when it is your husband’s birthday? I had to be strong. I had to bake the cake I promised I would make for him. He told me a million times not to worry about it, but how could I not? So this cake came together in baby steps.

My husband has told me many times that his most favorite cupcake in the whole wide world are my Chocolate Cupcakes with Cookie Dough Frosting. I told him awhile ago that I would turn his favorite cupcakes into a cake. So that is what I did!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cake

This cake has a few steps, but it is really pretty easy to put together. I used the same recipe for the cake. The frosting for the cupcakes is just so good, but it’s not easy to spread so I knew it wouldn’t work on a cake. So in this recipe, the cupcake frosting became the cake filling and then I came up with a cookie dough buttercream for the frosting. If you decide to make this recipe (and I totally think you should!), keep in mind that the frosting does have a gritty texture due to the sugar and it does contain flour which you do not usually see in frosting, but this is supposed to be like actual cookie dough so it’s all good!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cake

Print
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cake

Prep Time: 45 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes

Yield: About 8-10 servings

Ingredients

    For the cake:
  • 1 box devil’s food cake mix
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 4 eggs
  • ½ cup milk
  • 1 box instant chocolate pudding mix
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
    • For the cookie dough filling:
  • 1 ½ sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • Pinch of salt
  • ¾ cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • Milk (about 2-3 tbs. to thin out, add as needed)
    • For the cookie dough buttercream:
  • 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened at room temperature
  • 2 1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
  • 1/3 cup light brown sugar
  • 2/3 cup flour
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • milk (about 2 tbs. to thin out, add more as needed)

Instructions

    For the cake:
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 2 9-inch cake pans and set aside.
  2. Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl. Mix together until everything is well-combined, but try to avoid over-mixing the batter.
  3. Divide the batter evenly amongst the two cake pans. Bake for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
  4. Let the cakes cool completely before frosting.
    5. For the filling:
  5. In a bowl, beat together the butter and sugars until creamy with a hand or stand mixer.
  6. Mix in the vanilla extract, flour, and salt. Stir in the chocolate chips. Set aside.
    7. For the frosting:
  7. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter, confectioner's sugar, and the brown sugar until smooth and creamy.
  8. Add in the flour, salt, and vanilla extract. Beat together until everything is well-combined and the frosting is smooth and spreadable. If it is too thick, add milk, one tablespoon at a time to thin it out (I just needed about 2 tbs.).
    9. To assemble the cake:
  9. Remove the cake from the pans. Place one of the cakes down onto a cake plate (or whatever you will use to store and serve it), Using a large serrated knife (bread knife), carefully skim off the top of the cake with the knife until the top is level. Discard the scraps (or you know, eat them, whatever...)...
  10. Spoon the filling on top of the bottom cake layer and spread evenly. You may find that you don't need/want to use all of the filling you made. That is fine, use as much or as little as you'd like.
  11. Place the top layer of the cake on top of the filling and bottom layer. Using an icing spatula or a butter knife, frost the cake!
  12. Feel free to garnish the cake however you'd like. I just threw a bunch of mini chocolate chips on top of mine.

Notes

frosting recipe slightly adapted from Annie's Eats

You can really use whatever cake recipe you prefer to use for this cake. If you have a favorite chocolate cake recipe, go for it! Or if you would rather do a white cake, do it!!

http://eat-drink-love.com/2013/04/chocolate-chip-cookie-dough-cake/

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cake

Filed Under: Cupcakes, Desserts, Kid-Friendly · Tagged With: , , , , , 22 Comments

Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream Frosting

February 20, 2013 by

Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream Frosting

It is my boss’s birthday this week and I wanted to bring in something to celebrate. I mean, you kind of have to, right?!! I wasn’t exactly sure what time we would want to break into the cupcakes, so I didn’t want to make something that was too over-the-top in case we would be eating these earlier in the day (And it was good idea too because we ate them before having lunch). I opted for vanilla cupcakes with strawberry buttercream frosting.

Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream Frosting

Sounds easy enough, right? Well, not if you are not the best baker, like myself. These cupcakes were a labor of love for me. First, I tried to make the cupcakes from scratch and for whatever reason, they tasted like cornbread, so I threw them out and had to start again. Except, I didn’t have much time so I went for Plan B…my doctored up cake mix recipe which is still totally delicious, by the way.

Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream Frosting

Then came the frosting. Oh, the frosting. I wanted to do a strawberry meringue buttercream, but after adding my puree to the mixture, the frosting just did not come together. Luckily I had powdered sugar on hand so that I was able to to just make some simple buttercream.

Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream Frosting

Despite my difficulties with these cupcakes, I was pretty happy with how these turned out. The cake is light and is perfectly moist. The fresh strawberry buttercream is definitely my favorite part though. It’s just magical and bursts with fresh strawberry flavor.

Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream Frosting

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Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream Frosting

Yield: 18-24 cupcakes (see note)

Ingredients

    For the cupcakes:
  • 1 box vanilla cake mix
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1 box instant vanilla pudding
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
    • For the strawberry buttercream frosting:
  • 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
  • 4-5 cups confectioner's sugar
  • 1/3 cup fresh strawberry puree (about 1 1/2 cups hulled strawberries)
  • 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
  • milk (to thin out if needed)

Instructions

    For the cupcakes:
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners and lightly spray with non-stick spray.
  2. Add the cake mix to a large bowl. Stir in the flour. Make a well in the center and add in the eggs, oil, milk, sour cream, pudding, and the vanilla extract. Mix everything together until just combined.
  3. Divide the batter evenly amongst each baking cup. I prefer for my cupcakes to be larger, so I fill mine to just over 3/4 of the way full.
  4. Bake for about 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow for the cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.
    5. For the frosting:
  5. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and confectioner's sugar.
  6. Pour in the strawberry puree and the vanilla extract and mix until the frosting is well-combined. If the frosting seems to thick, add some milk, one tablespoon at a time until the frosting reaches your desired consistency.
  7. Spread or pipe the frosting on cooled cupcakes. If you are going to pipe the frosting, I recommend putting the frosting in the freezer for about 10-15 minutes first as this will make the piping easier.

Notes

Because I like my cupcakes to be larger, I get about 18 out of this recipe instead of the usual 24 that a box of cake mix typically yields.

http://eat-drink-love.com/2013/02/vanilla-cupcakes-with-strawberry-buttercream-frosting/

Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry Frosting

Looking for a doctored chocolate cake mix recipe? Go here!
Filed Under: Cupcakes, Desserts, Kid-Friendly · Tagged With: , , , , , 44 Comments

Homemade Funfetti Cupcakes

September 28, 2012 by

The first part of our moving journey is complete. Everything was loaded into our moving truck today. I hope it all makes it in one piece! Here’s a moving tip: Don’t bother using old boxes. They get too worn and cave in and your kitchen stuff will be smushed. Yup, true story. Even though we had movers to help with the labor, it was still an exhausting day. We are going to take today to tie up a few loose ends and then we are hitting the road on Saturday. I’ve done cross-country trips with my husband before and he usually does all most of the driving. I like to just sit there and take a nap and play Professor Layton on my DS. This time though, we must both drive our cars which means I have to actually drive and pay attention and stuff. I know. How awful.

Today I have another amazing guest poster for you all! Say hello to Chung-Ah from Damn Delicious! Chung-Ah is seriously one of the sweetest gals you will ever meet and her blog is absolutely fabulous! One visit and you will get sucked in by her delicious recipes and gorgeous photos! Some of my faves include: Bacon-Wrapped Sonoran Hot Dogs, Nutella Donuts, and Carnitas Avocado Pizza with Chipotle Avocado Mayonnaise Drizzle. Amazing, right?! Chung-Ah has made some homemade funfetti cupcakes today and they look incredible! I’ll let her take it from here!

Stephanie is in the middle of a huge cross-country move to Arizona so I have the honor of guest-posting for her today. When she first asked me for a favor to guest-post, I could not be more thrilled. Her blog is one of the first ones I began to follow when I started my own blog, Damn Delicious, and her recipes and gorgeous photos were (and still are) such an inspiration to me.

Now what I have for you today is homemade funfetti cupcakes. Sure, you can get the box mix from your local grocery store but if you’re already going to have to add the eggs and the oil, why not just make it from scratch? You get to control all the ingredients that go into the batter, and you’re omitting so many preservatives that are included in the box mix.

Plus, nothing beats homemade right?

And truth be told, I was seriously amazed as to how so many people people were impressed that these cupcakes were made from scratch. Little do they know its actually so easy to make! So the next time you’re celebrating a friend or a co-workers birthday, I highly suggest making these cupcakes. You’ll be sure to wow everyone, and they’ll think you’re a professional baker! Plus, the sprinkles are just so pretty to look at!

Print
Homemade Funfetti Cupcakes

Yield: 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

    For the cupcakes:
  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 3 large egg whites
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/4 cup rainbow sprinkles, plus more for sprinkling
    • For the vanilla buttercream frosting:
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
  • 2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
  • 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1-2 tablespoons milk

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 12-cup standard muffin tin with paper liners; set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt.
  3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Beat in egg whites until well combined. Beat in vanilla until well combined. With the mixer on low speed, add dry ingredients and milk alternately in 3 parts, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, beating just until incorporated. Add sprinkles and stir using a rubber spatula just until moist.
  4. Scoop the batter evenly into the muffin tray. Place into oven and bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.
  5. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter on medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add powdered sugar, beating just until incorporated. Add vanilla, salt and milk. Increase speed to medium high and beat until frosting is light and fully, about 1-2 minutes.
  6. Use a small offset spatula to spread the cupcakes with frosting, garnished with sprinkles, if desired.

Notes

Adapted from Gimme Some Oven

http://eat-drink-love.com/2012/09/homemade-funfetti-cupcakes/

Thank you Chung-Ah for sharing these awesome cupcakes!!
Filed Under: Cupcakes, Desserts · Tagged With: , , , 34 Comments

Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Frosting

September 11, 2012 by

Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Frosting

Who likes cupcakes?

Who likes chocolatey cupcakes topped with chocolate chip cookie dough frosting?

If you answered “no” to any of the above questions, please leave.

These cupcakes might be the best thing that ever happened. Ever. When my husband eats one, he says he is the luckiest man alive. That’s pretty serious!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Frosting

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Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Frosting

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

Yield: 18-24 cupcakes (see note)

Ingredients

    For the cupcakes:
  • 1 box devil’s food cake mix
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 4 eggs
  • ½ cup milk
  • 1 box instant chocolate pudding mix
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
    • For the frosting:
  • 1 ½ sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • Pinch of salt
  • ¾ cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • Milk (about 2-3 tbs. to thin out, add as needed)

Instructions

    For the cupcakes:
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl. Mix together until everything is well-combined, but try to avoid over-mixing the batter.
  3. Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners; fill each liner a little more than ¾ of the way full with batter. Bake for about 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool completely before frosting.
    4. For the frosting:
  4. In a bowl, beat together the butter and sugars until creamy with a hand or stand mixer.
  5. Mix in the vanilla extract, flour, and salt. Stir in the chocolate chips.
  6. Spoon some of the frosting on top of each cooled cupcake and spread with a knife.

Notes

I like for my cupcakes to be a little bigger, so I got about 18 cupcakes out of this recipe instead of the usual 24. You can certainly make them smaller if desired, but you may also want to mix up some extra of the cookie dough frosting

http://eat-drink-love.com/2012/09/chocolate-cupcakes-with-chocolate-chip-cookie-dough-frosting/

This post was originally a guest post for my sweet friend, Emily over at Life on Food. So, please go give Emily a shout out and check out the recipe!
Filed Under: Cupcakes, Desserts · Tagged With: , , , , 24 Comments

York Peppermint Cupcakes

December 22, 2011 by

Hi Friends! Sorry I haven’t posted in a few days. Hubs and I are currently making our way from Florida all the way to California to spend Christmas with his family so my internet access has been quite limited. But, we stopped for the night to get some rest and I wanted to share these cupcakes with you guys.

My brother, Mike, loves York Peppermint patties. My mom always keeps a bag hidden in the cupboard and her and Mike are always sneaking in to take one. It was Mikey’s birthday over the weekend and I wanted to make him a special treat. I have been wanting to give these cupcakes a try for some time and Mikey’s birthday was the perfect occasion! Mike seemed to enjoy the cupcakes and also said that these cupcakes were good because they also freshen your breath. So, there you go, dessert that also freshens your breath! Sounds good to me!

York Peppermint Cupcakes with Peppermint Buttercream Frosting

Makes 24 cupcakes

Ingredients for the cupcakes:

– 1 box devil’s food cake mix

– 1 box instant chocolate pudding mix

– 4 eggs

– 3/4 cup vegetable oil

– 1 cup sour cream

– 1/2 cup milk

– 2 tsp. vanilla extract

– 24 small York Peppermint patties, frozen overnight

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, mix eggs, oil, sour cream, and vanilla extract. Add in cake mix and pudding mix and continue mixing until well-combined.

2. Place cupcake liners into muffin pan and pour batter into cups filling each cup approximately 1/4 of the way, then place a small york peppermint patty. Fill the liner with more batter until it is about 3/4 of the way full. Bake for 19-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.

Ingredients for the Peppermint Buttercream Frosting:

– 2 sticks of unsalted butter, softened

– 2 lbs. confectioners’ sugar, sifted

– 6-8 tbs. milk or heavy cream

– 2 tsp. peppermint extract (or to taste)

Directions:

1. Cream the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add in confectioners’ sugar 1 cup at a time and continue until all sugar is creamed together with the butter. Add peppermint extract and 3 tablespoons of the milk or cream and mix. Keep adding a tablespoon of the milk or cream until your frosting is smooth. Frost the cupcakes and garnish with an additional mint or with shaved chocolate or sprinkles!

Notes:
- When baking with candy, I recommend freezing it overnight, otherwise, it will melt right into the batter while it’s baking!
- If you can’t find the small-size Yorks in a bag, you can just buy the large ones and cut them up into smaller pieces!
Filed Under: Cupcakes, Desserts · Tagged With: , , , 42 Comments

Apple Spice Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

October 26, 2011 by

My good friend, Amanda, and I have been talking about having a fall-themed baking party since September. First, we said we were going to make like 4 or 5 things. Then a few weeks ago, it turned into 3 things. Then, two weeks ago, it was just two things. Come Saturday, the day of our baking party, it was one thing. Grad school gets in the way of all our fun! Not only did we only end up making these cupcakes, but we took a shortcut by using boxed cake mix and kicked it up a bit. Some people don’t like to admit to using box mix, but I am not one of those people my friends. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy making my own cake from scratch, but when you are short on time, why not use a box mix? We didn’t end up getting together until the evening and had two other important things on our agenda: 1. drink lots of wine and 2. watch trashy TV.

So, all in all, our baking party was certainly not the baking extravaganza that we had hoped it would be, but these cupcakes came out pretty good!!

Apple Spice Cupcakes

Makes approximately 12 cupcakes

Ingredients for the cupcakes:

– 1 box spice cake mix

– 1 1/3 cups water

– 1/3 cup vegetable oil

– 3 large eggs

– 1/2 cup sour cream

– 1 tsp. vanilla extract

– 3 apples, peeled and diced into small bite-size pieces

– 1 tsp. cinnamon

– 1/2 tsp. nutmeg

– pinch of salt

– 1/2 lemon

Ingredients for the frosting:

– 1 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened

– 4 cups confectioner’s sugar

– 1 tsp. vanilla extract

– 1- 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon (add more if you want to really taste the cinnamon)

– 1 stick unsalted butter, softened

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, combine the cake mix, vegetable oil, eggs, water, sour cream, and vanilla extract. Mix until well-combined. In a separate bowl, add the diced apples, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and lemon juice. Mix well. Add the apple mixture to the cupcake batter. In a muffin tin lined with baking cups, distribute the batter evenly amongst each cup. Bake for approximately 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Allow cupcakes to cool for at least 15 minutes before frosting.

2. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and cream cheese. Add the vanilla extract. Add the confectioner’s sugar 2 cups at a time until it is well-combined with the cream cheese. Add the cinnamon and mix until it is thoroughly mixed in with the frosting, but try to avoid over-mixing the frosting.

Notes:
- I used Duncan Hines box mix for this recipe. If you use a different brand, I recommend following the directions for that specific cake mix, then add in my additions of the vanilla, sour cream, and apples.
- Most cake mixes say that the mix will make 24 cupcakes, but because you are adding the apples to this, you have to account for the fact that they are going to release moisture while baking, so you need more of the dry mix to account for this. This recipe should give you about 12 cupcakes.
- The frosting recipe might make more than you need for just 12 cupcakes, but I wanted to give these a generous frosting so I made sure to have extra!
Filed Under: Cupcakes, Desserts · Tagged With: , , , 77 Comments

Chocolate Whoopie Pies with Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting AND a GIVEAWAY!

September 22, 2011 by


Let the week of horrible eating continue!! I swear, I am taking a major break from baking and sugar. Back to healthy eating next week! But, for now, the sugar rush keeps going! Tomorrow is officially the first day of fall, my most favoritest time of the year! I wanted to celebrate with something special for you all. I’ve never made whoopie pies. They’ve been on my list of things I want to make for some time and I decided it was time to give them a try. I originally wanted to make pumpkin whoopies, but my dear husband wouldn’t touch them and God forbid if I make a baked good and he can’t enjoy it too! So, I opted for chocolate whoopie pies with plain cream cheese frosting for him and pumpkin cream cheese frosting for me. There. We both get our way!

Chocolate Whoopie Pies with Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting

Makes approximately 24 whoopie pies
Cake recipe from Martha Stewart

Ingredients for the Cake:

– 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

– 1 1/2 cups natural, unsweetened cocoa powder

– 1 teaspoon salt

– 1 tablespoon baking soda

– 1 teaspoon baking powder

– 1 cups unsalted butter (2 sticks) at room temperature

– 2 cups sugar

– 2 large eggs at room temperature

– 2 cups buttermilk at room temperature

– 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Spray whoopie pie pan with non-stick cooking spray. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and baking powder in a large bowl, set aside.

2. In a separate bowl, using a hand mixer or stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar. Add eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla. Beat until well-combined. Slowly add in the flour mixture until combined.

3. Drop approximately 2 tablespoons of the batter into each cavity of the pan (or drop directly onto a greased cookie sheet if you don’t have a whoopie pan). Here is where I had an issue. I overfilled mine on the first batch. See:

Here is a comparison of the first and second batch. The first batch is on the left. You can see that they puffed up too much. I didn’t really measure 2 tablespoons exactly the first time around. For the second batch, I did 2 leveled tablespoons of batter and I also tried to spread it a little into the cavity and this made a big difference! After filling each cavity, bake for approximately 9-11 minutes (mine took exactly 9 mins. with the whoopie pan). Cake should be “springy” to the touch. Let cool completely before frosting.

Ingredients for the Pumpkin Filling:

– 1 8-ounce package of cream cheese, softened

– 1/2 cup (1 stick) of unsalted butter

– 1/3 cup can pumpkin puree

– 4 cups confectioner’s sugar

– 1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

– 1 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Using a hand mixer or stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, cream cheese, and pumpkin. 1 cup at a time, add confectioner’s sugar. Add vanilla and pumpkin pie spice. Mix until well-combined. If your frosting seems too liquidy, try sticking it in the fridge before filling your whoopie pies!!

Notes:
- I didn’t stuff too much frosting into my whoopie pies so if you want to add more filling to yours, you might want to make extra frosting!

OK, now how about that GIVEAWAY?!!!
As a thank you for all of the support my readers have given me over the last four months and in celebration of fall, I decided to buy an EXTRA whoopie pie pan AND an adorable whoopie pie cookbook to give away to one lucky reader!! I love this whoopie pie book. It has whoopie pie recipes for every season and you can mix and match!!

Want to win?! Here’s how to enter:

Required Entry:

1. Leave me a comment below telling me your favorite thing about fall.

If you want extra chances to win:

2. Like Eat. Drink. Love. on Facebook. Leave me a separate comment telling me you did so.

3. Follow Eat. Drink. Love. on Twitter. Leave me a separate comment telling me you did so.

4. Tweet “I just entered to win a whoopie pie pan and book From @eatdrinkluv! Enter here: (You don’t have to use this exact language, but make sure you mention @eatdrinkluv so I know you tweeted it!). Leave me a separate comment below telling me you tweeted.

Notes:
- This giveaway is open to continental US residents only (sorry! I’m just a lowly grad student! lol)
- Giveaway ends at 12 AM EST on Wednesday, September 28th. All entries submitted after this date/time will not be counted.
- Winner will be announced on September 29th.
- Winner will be chosen via a random number generator.
- Winner has 24 hours to claim prize otherwise a new winner will be chosen!

Ok, so that’s 4 ways to win! Please make sure you enter your email address in each comment so I can contact you if you win. Now, comment, tweet, like, and buzz away and tell all your friends and family! The more the merrier!! :)

Filed Under: Cupcakes, Desserts · Tagged With: , , 79 Comments

Frosting Galore!

August 16, 2011 by


This is going to be a hodge podge of a post, but I wanted to share my recipes for homemade chocolate buttercream frosting and for peanut butter buttercream frosting that my little sister, Carolyn, and I made. When I was in Cleveland visiting family two weeks ago, I was telling my little sister about this blog. She wanted to make something from the blog while I was home. We decided to make a cake because it was also my Dad’s birthday. We followed my doctored chocolate cake recipe and made a layer cake and then in between the layers, we whipped up a very rich peanut butter buttercream frosting and then did a homemade chocolate buttercream on the outside.

I only had made my own chocolate buttercream frosting once before and it came out okay. I tried to follow the same recipe again from memory, but all we could taste was the powdered sugar! We ended up melting some Hersey’s bars and mixed it in and that gave the frosting the chocolatey taste we were looking for! The peanut butter buttercream was pretty rich. In fact, if the whole cake had this frosting, I wouldn’t have been able to eat more than a few bites. And even with the PB in just the middle, this cake was RICH. Cut modest slices and have a big glass of milk on standby!

Carolyn is a perfectionist (what can I say, she takes after her sister…) and wanted our cake to look as professional as possible. She spent a lot of time trying to smooth out the chocolate buttercream frosting. Then she decorated the sides and the top of the cake! Here was our finished product:

Not too shabby, right? Oh, and while we’re at it. I have to give a little pre-birthday shout out to Carolyn because tomorrow is her 13th Birthday! So, Happy 13th Birthday, Carolyn! I can’t believe she is officially a teenager! Watch out world!

Peanut Butter Buttercream Frosting

Makes approximately 1 1/2 cups of frosting

Ingredients:

– 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

– 1 cup confectioner’s sugar

– 8 tbs. unsalted butter, softened

– 1 tsp. vanilla extract

– 2-3 tbs. milk or heavy cream

1. In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth (use paddle attachment if using stand mixer). Add in peanut butter and vanilla and mix until well-combined. Add in 2 tbs. of milk and beat continuously until well-combined. If the frosting is too thick, add additional milk, one tablespoon at a time.

Milk Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Makes enough frosting to liberally frost 24 cupcakes or one large cake

Ingredients:

– 2 lbs. confectioner’s sugar

– 2 tsp. vanilla extract

– 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

– 1 tbs. unsweetened cocoa powder

– 1/2-3/4 cup melted milk chocolate (about 2 Hersey’s Bars)

– 6-8 tbs. milk or heavy cream

1. In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and melted chocolate. Then add the sugar one cup at a time until smooth (use paddle attachment if using stand mixer). Add in cocoa powder and vanilla and and mix until well-combined. Add in about 4 tbs. of milk and beat continuously until well-combined. Continue to add milk one tablespoon at at time until frosting reaches desired consistency. Frost cake or cupcakes.
Filed Under: Cupcakes, Desserts · Tagged With: , , , , , 44 Comments

Nutella Cupcakes

July 3, 2011 by


It was my friend/co-worker’s birthday last week and I offered to make the cupcakes. But ya see, it wasn’t so simple because Jennifer is usually the person in my lab that makes the cupcakes for all of our special events. I had some big shoes to fill and I didn’t want to make plain ol’ vanilla or chocolate cupcakes and then I remembered seeing this this post from My Baking Addiction for Nutella buttercream frosting and knew I found the right cupcakes. If you have never had Nutella, I highly suggest you pick up a jar of it the next time you hit up your grocery store. It is a chocolate hazelnut spread that was sent down to us from Heaven. The addition of Nutella to the cupcake batter gave the cake a rich, decadent taste!

I used the doctored up chocolate cake recipe that I used for my Triple Chocolate Cupcakes, except instead of adding in the pudding mix, I added Nutella and baked it right into the cake! These Nutella cupcakes were amazing, but I almost wish they had a little more Nutella flavor. If I make these again, I think I will do it the way Jamie from My Baking Addiction suggests by filling the cupcakes with Nutella after they bake!

Nutella Cupcakes with Nutella Buttercream Frosting

Makes 24 cupcakes

Ingredients for the cupcakes:

– 1 box devil’s food cake mix

– 4 eggs

– 1 cup vegetable oil (though I used more like 3/4 cup)

– 1 cup sour cream

- 1/2 cup milk

– 2 tsp. vanilla extract

– 1/2 cup Nutella

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, mix eggs, oil, sour cream, milk, vanilla extract, and Nutella. Add in cake mix and mix until well-combined.

2. Place cupcake liners into muffin pan and pour batter into cups filling each cup approximately 3/4 of the way. Bake for 19-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow cupcakes to cool completely before frosting. Then, I want you to go for a quick jog or do some jumping jacks because if you are anything like me, you had at least two (maybe 3) spoonfuls of Nutella while you were making these cupcakes….

Ingredients for the Nutella Buttercream Frosting:

From My Baking Addiction

– 2 sticks of unsalted butter, softened

– 2 lbs. confectioners’ sugar, sifted

– 1 13 ounce container Nutella

– 6-8 tbs. milk or heavy cream

– 2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Cream together the butter and Nutella in a large mixing bowl. Add in confectioners’ sugar 1 cup at a time and continue until all sugar is creamed together with the butter and Nutella. Add vanilla extract and 3 tablespoons of the milk or cream and mix. Keep adding a tablespoon of the milk or cream until your frosting is smooth.

Notes:
- Because I wanted to add Nutella into the cake batter and needed it for the frosting, I bought the large, 26 ounce jar of Nutella so I didn’t have to buy 2 smaller jars.
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Triple Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

June 11, 2011 by

You know how I said I try to make healthy recipes whenever possible? Well, this one is the complete opposite of healthy. But you know what? Sometimes you gotta splurge and a birthday is the perfect excuse for splurging! No, it’s not my birthday, but it was my mom’s birthday and I wanted to surprise her with a delicious birthday treat! One of the reasons I wanted to start this blog was to improve not just my cooking skills, but also my baking skills. You see, aside from chocolate chip cookies and quick breads, my baking skills aren’t so great. I spent the last few days scouring the internet trying to figure out what kind of cupcakes I would make for my mom. Like mother, like daughter, my mom and I are both chocoholics.  So, I knew one thing – they needed to be chocolate. The more chocolatey, the better! The other thing I knew was that I was hesitant to make these completely from scratch. I didn’t want to risk them not rising or not tasting good and since I didn’t have much time, I decided to use a “doctored” cake mix recipe. By adding just a few extra ingredients, these cupcakes have more of the homemade taste that I was going for.  For the frosting, I whipped up my own chocolate cream cheese frosting.  Overall, these cupcakes came out great and I would definitely make them again. Happy Birthday, Mom!

Triple Chocolate Cupcakes

From All Recipes

Ingredients for the cupcakes:

Makes 24 cupcakes

– 1 box devil’s food cake mix

– 1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix

– 2 tsp. vanilla extract

– 1 cup sour cream

– 1 cup vegetable oil*

– 4 eggs

– 1/2 cup milk

– 1 1/2 cups mini semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and mix all ingredients in a large bowl except the chocolate chips. Once all of the other ingredients are mixed together, add in chocolate chips.

2. Place cupcake liners into muffin pan and pour batter into cups filling each cup approximately 3/4 of the way. Bake for 19-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.

Ingredients for the frosting (24 cupcakes):

– 2 8-ounce boxes of cream cheese, softened

– 8 cups confectioner’s sugar

– 4 Tbs. shortening*

– 2 tsp. vanilla extract

– 3 1/2 Tbs. unsweetened cocoa powder

– 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

Directions:

1. Using a hand mixer or the paddle attachment on a stand mixer, cream cream cheese, butter, and shortening together. Add in vanilla extract and cocoa powder and mix until thoroughly combined.

2. Add in confectioner’s sugar, one cup at at time until sugar is completely combined.

Notes:
- The original recipe calls for 1 cup of vegetable oil. This seems like a lot to me.  I only added about 3/4 of a cup.

- You might want to chill the frosting for about 10 or 15 minutes before frosting if you plan to use a piping bag and decorating tip to frost your cupcakes.

- When I first read this recipe and saw that it required shortening, I kind of cringed, however, after reading the comments from everyone, it is recommended to make your frosting a little more stable. You don’t have to use it if you don’t want to though!
Filed Under: Cupcakes, Desserts · Tagged With: , , , 4 Comments