Cupcakes for Two with Whipped Cream Frosting

Oh my goodness it's September! Where did August go? Seriously...band camp flew by, school started, and before I could catch my breath September arrived.

All colored from my run

This weekend has been a celebration weekend. I participated in my first 5K - the Color Me Rad 5K. I ran with some friends from college and had a blast! I'm definitely going to run this again next year. This weekend also marks Sonny's one year anniversary of home ownership and the two year anniversary of our first date. 

To celebrate, I decided to make cupcakes. Cupcakes are delicious, but we didn't want to have 10 cupcakes. Thanks to How Sweet It Is I didn't have to make a dozen cupcakes...I could make 2! Two vanilla cupcakes, but double the recipe to make 4 cupcakes so we could share two of our friends.

I have to admit, the cupcakes did not turn out very well. They looked and smelled good, but they tasted awful! In the process of measuring and mixing and preheating the oven....I forgot to double the vanilla. Oops! times 10!!!!!! The cupcakes tasted bitter and just plain awful! But the frosting....that's another story.

Cupcakes for Two!

I was a little leery when it came to frosting. I could have bought some from the store, but then there would be a ton of frosting leftover. So, I decided to try making whipped cream frosting. The results? Success! 

These cupcakes and frosting were very easy to make. The hardest part was whipping the frosting and waiting for it to thicken up. In the end, we ended up with some tasty cupcakes for our celebration.

Whipped Cream Frosting - enough for 2-4 cupcakes

- 1/2 c. heavy (or whipping) cream

- 1 Tbsp. sugar

- dash of vanilla extract (optional)

- food coloring (optional)

Combine cream and sugar in a mixing bowl and whisk together until stiff. Add extract and food coloring has the mix begins to thicken. 

Cupcakes, Cookies, and Almond Milk

I have been busy in the kitchen making delicious treats. I have been head-over-heels for the Raspberry Lemonade cupcake from Cardinal Cupcakes since the first bite, and I've wanted to make similar cupcakes. I also wanted to try substituting almond milk for regular milk in baked goods. I did some digging and found that almond milk is a healthier choice. But would it make food taste different? I've been eating cereal with vanilla almond milk (thanks to Sonny), but I never tried it when I cook/bake. I used the original almond milk, not the vanilla flavored almond milk, and found no difference. Now if there is no "regular milk" on hand at Sonny's I don't have to run out to the store...as long as there is almond milk on hand.

My baking adventure started with Raspberry Lemonade cupcakes. I found the recipe I used here. I couldn't wait to make these cupcakes and share them. The cupcakes turned out beautiful. They looked great and smelt wonderful. The frosting was another story. I ended up with A LOT of "extra" frosting. My frosting making skills needs work and I needed to add a TON more powdered sugar. It was thin and runny...I think I needed to pack the powdered sugar instead leaving it loosely packed. I kept adding more powdered sugar and kept beating the icing, but I just couldn't get the icing to fluff. I iced the cupcakes anyway, added a fresh raspberry on top, and took them to Sonny's office. Despite the icing, they were a hit!

The next day I made some chocolate cupcakes, in attempt to use up the rest of the frosting. I did try and thick up the frosting some more by adding even more powdered sugar. Even though I didn't get the frosting to fluff, I did get it to thicken up! I'll count that as a win. But I still had a TON of icing leftover! What do I do now? Make sugar cookies! Raspberry iced sugar cookies!

All three raspberry iced desserts were delicious! Try making the raspberry lemonade cupcakes...they are great! I look forward to trying the icing recipe again in hopes of getting it to be fluffy and not be thin/runny.

Chocolate Cupcakes
Ingredients
1 1/3 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 c. cocoa powder
1/8 tsp. salt
3 Tbsp. butter, softened
1 1/2 c. sugar
2 eggs
3/4 tsp. vanilla extract
1 c. milk (almond milk)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a muffin pan with liners and set aside. In a bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, soda, cocoa, and salt...set aside for later.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy and well mixed. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat into the meat. Slowly add the flour mix and milk, beat well. Fill the muffin cups 3/4 full.

Bake cupcakes for 15 to 17 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. For mini-cupcakes, bake at the same temperature for half the time (7 to 8 minutes), or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Sour Cream Cupcakes

Cupcakes - individual cakes one can serve to a group of people. Cupcakes eliminate the (sometimes messy) step of cutting a cake into smaller pieces to be served. The cake as a whole looks great, until you start chopping it up. Once you start serving the cake, it loses the beauty it once had when whole. Cupcakes keep their design until eaten. The cupcake left undisturbed still has its beauty to showcase, it just has fewer companions on the tray.  When I am serving cake, I always end up either dropping a piece or it flops upside down on the plate...it never fails. I hate serving cake, so if someone else wants to cut and serve it, I let them. From a decorating standpoint, cakes give you a bigger surface to work with, but I still like making cupcakes.

Sonny and I have been enjoying some delicious cupcakes from Cardinal Cupcakes & Coneys. This place helped spark my recent cupcake obsession. We finally got around to trying this place after knowing about it for some time. Our first trip last week was almost crushed. We arrived close to closing time and as we were walking up to the door they were putting up a sign, "Closed: Out of Cupcakes". NOOOO! Before I could become too sad, though, the owner opened the door and said, "We have four cupcakes left!" Hooray! We didn't have much to choose from, but we were able to purchase two cupcake flavors: Duck Pond (lemon) and Strawberry. We split the cupcakes. I found myself liking the lemon cupcake better than the strawberry, but both tasted good.

    Strawberry and Duck Pond                                     Top: French Toast and Raspberry Lemonade
                                                                             Bottom:  Cow Path and Nutty Buddy  

Our recent trip to Cardinal Cupcakes led to us buying four different cupcake flavors: Nutty Buddy, Cow Path, French Toast, and Raspberry Lemonade. I had Raspberry Lemonade (a lemon cupcake with raspberry frosting and raspberry filling) and Sonny had Nutty Buddy (a peanut butter cupcake with peanut butter icing). We didn't split them this time, but we did make sure we both got to sample both flavors. I really liked the Raspberry Lemonade. YUM! Later, we split the other two cupcakes: Cow Path (a vanilla cupcake with chocolate icing and white chocolate chips on top) and French Toast (a cinnamon cupcake with maple syrup icing). Both were good cupcakes, but I like French Toast better. Of the half dozen cupcakes I've tried so far from Cardinal Cupcakes & Coneys, I like Raspberry Lemonade the best. I have not been disappointed in any cupcake I've tried. I'm looking forward to trying the other cupcake flavors this place has to offer.

After the cupcake adventure, the grocery store was our next stop. I finally picked up a mini-muffin pan. I have been wanting to purchase one for quite some time. I almost picked one up around Christmas time, but failed to do so. Mini-cupcakes make it even easier to share with a group a people. They're great to take to work, and leave in the break room for everyone to enjoy. Now equipped with my mini-muffin pan, I made some mini-cupcakes in time to share for Valentine's Day.

I decided to make chocolate sour cream cupcakes with sour cream icing and top them with a conversation heart. I was a little skeptical about using sour cream to make cupcakes, but Sonny reassured me that it would turn out fine. The cupcakes turned out better than fine...the turned out great! To add color to your icing, I suggest you first make up the icing, divide it up, and add food coloring.

Chocolate Sour Cream Cupcakes

Ingredients

1/2 c. boiling water

1/4 c. shortening

1 c. sugar

1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. soda

1 egg

1/2 c. sour cream

                                                                          1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine the boiling water, shortening, sugar and cocoa powder. Beat until the sugar is dissolved. Add in the dry ingredients a little at a time while alternating with the egg, sour cream and vanilla.

2. Heat oven to 325 degrees F. Fill lined mini-cupcake cups about half-way full. Bake for 10-12 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool and frost.

Sour Cream Icing

Ingredients

1/4 c. butter, melted

1/2 c sour cream

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. salt

2 1/2 c. confectioners' sugar

Directions

Combine the melted butter, sour cream, vanilla and salt into a medium mixing bowl. Slowly mix in the confectioners' sugar until desire consistency is reached. Spread frosting onto desired dessert treat.