22 Pineapple Nut Cupcakes with Spiced Rum Icing

Another Manager In Training has completed his rounds at work and I got wind that his last day was coming up. We all wished he was staying with us instead of being shipped off to another location, but life sucks like that sometimes. So as a goodbye gift, naturally I offered him cupcakes. After he told me he didn't care what kind of cupcakes I made, I asked what his "favorite alcoholic beverage" is. He responded, "anything with Captain Morgan". Done! We all know that the cupcakes with the booze in them go over better than anything. That night when I got home I set off into internet-land and this is what I came up with.

With a lovely baking assistant by my side and all the necessary ingredients purchased, I was going to whip up these cupcakes (despite not feeling the greatest) before work so they could be nice and fresh. This recipe has a boxed cake mix so it's perfect if you're in a hurry and need to bake something quick. The first thing I did was strain the crushed pineapple. I just ripped the pull tab lid off, put it back on top of the pineapple in the can, and pushed it down. Don't forget to save the juice to use in the recipe. When you're buying the pineapple, make sure you get the kind in the juice, not the heavy syrup. The amount of juice that I got out of the pineapple wasn't quite the 1/2 cup that the recipe calls for and I knew that I wanted to put some in the icing as well, so I just added a little water (about 1/4 cup). Just enough to make the pineapple juice go a little further, but not really water it down. I mixed all the ingredients together and spooned the batter into the cupcake pan. It was a little on the thicker side so I expected these to be dense cupcakes and to take a little longer in the oven. The baking time in the recipe is for a tube pan so, based on my extensive cupcake knowledge, I put the cupcakes in the oven for 20 minutes. When I checked them when the timer went off, I wasn't expecting them to be done, but ridiculously enough they were perfect! Sometimes even I still amaze myself.

After the cupcakes cooled for a little, I started the icing. Looking at what the recipe said, I knew something wasn't quite right. So once again, I referenced all the cupcake information in the vast archives of my mind and altered it some. I added a cup of butter and then added all the other ingredients. It still needed something. I threw the rest of the pineapple juice in and a little more sugar. One more taste and we thought it needed more rum. So more booze and even more sugar. By then we had gotten it right. It ended up being about 2 cups powdered sugar, 1 cup butter, 1/4 cup pineapple juice, and 1/4 cup spiced rum. Go easy when adding the liquids though, just to be safe. My helper assisted me in icing the cupcakes, and we were done just in time to get ready for work.

Chunky Walnutty Batter

Seeing that I wasn't feeling too hot, I packed up a cupcake for me to eat later. Based on the reactions I got from work though, I didn't do half bad with these cupcakes. I got a kiss on the forehead. A proposal. And plenty of oh-my-god-those were-sooo-good's. The manager that I made the cupcakes for told me that he ate 4 of them before leaving that night. In my book, that's a success. The next morning, I felt a ton better and I shared my cupcake with my mom for breakfast. They really were that good. You can't even tell they were made with a cake mix. There wasn't a ton of walnuts, so if you're not a big fan of them, you shouldn't turn away from making these just for that reason. The little bits of pineapple were my favorite part. Like a juicy little surprise. And there wasn't a lot of pineapple that it made the cake sticky. I was surprised the most at how fluffy the cake was. I said that I expected it to be dense based on how thick the batter was. It was a cupcake miracle. The icing was a little sweet, but the flavor matched the cupcakes. It didn't take away at all from the overall taste.

Cupcake Ingredients
1 package pudding-included yellow cake mix
1/4 tsp nutmeg
3 eggs
1/2 c Captain Morgan
1/2 c water (reserved pineapple juice may be used)
1/3 c vegetable oil
1 (8.25 oz) can crushed pineapple, drained
1/2 c walnuts, chopped as finely as possible

Cupcake How to
1. Preheat oven to 350. Place cupcake liners in 2 pans.
2. Combine first six ingredients; beat at medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in pineapple and walnuts. 3. Divide batter into lined cupcake pan. Bake for 20 minutes. Cool cupcakes.

Icing Ingredients
2 c powdered sugar
1 c butter
1/4 c pineapple juice
1/4 c Captain Morgan

Icing How to
Beat butter until light and fluffy. Slowly add sugar. Add liquid ingredients in equal parts until desired consistency is reached. (You might not use all of the juice or rum). Spread or pipe on cupcakes.

adapted from grouprecipes.com

21 Peanut Butter & Jelly Cupcakes

So, I'll admit it, I forgot to bake these for a birthday on Friday, but I know she'll forgive me with these cupcakes, even if they are 3 days late. I was saving this recipe for another occasion, but since this is what she asked for, this is what she'll get.

These cupcakes are easy-peasy. It's one of those recipes that if you're nervous about straying away from the standard boxed cake mix and pre-made icing, this would be prefect. All you need to do is mix the cake as the instructions on the box tell you to, put them in the oven, and don't forget to smile when they come out perfect.

Next, you fill the cupcakes with the jelly. Really, you could use whatever flavor of jelly you want. My friend and the recipe both said strawberry so that's what I went for. I used a long piping tip made for filling cupcakes, but a regular one would work just fine. If you don't have tips at all, you could core the cupcakes and spoon the jelly in. All you do is put the tip into the cupcake and squeeze, slowly pull out the tip, and that's that. Be careful though: the jelly is thinner than icing, so it will drip out. I didn't use 2 cups of jelly. I just put all the extra back in the jelly container.

 

Finally, the icing. An easy icing from scratch. A little bit of butter, some peanut butter, a dash of vanilla, powdered sugar, and a touch of milk. I didn't used all the milk the recipe called for. If you add it slowly, like the recipe suggest, just stop when you get to the consistency that you like.


Crumbly Icing before You Add
the Milk

This cupcake was yummy. You're pretty much guaranteed that everything will be perfect. I probably could have squeezed some more jelly into the cupcakes. The peanut butter icing masks the flavor of the strawberry. But otherwise these are simple to make and delicious to eat. Perfect for packing into your kid's lunch or bringing with on a picnic... or even for a belated birthday.

Lily Loves Licking the Peanut
Butter out of the Empty Container

Peanut Butter & Jelly Cupcakes Ingredients
1 package (about 18 oz) yellow cake mix, plus ingredients to prepare mix
2 c strawberry jelly
3/4 c creamy peanut butter
1/2 c (I stick) butter, softened
2 c powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 c milk

Every Doggie Gets to
Lick the Spoon!

How to
1. Preheat oven to 350. Line 22 standard (2 1/2-inch) muffin cups with paper baking cups. Prepare cake mix according to package directions. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling two-thirds full.
2. Bake 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted into centers comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.
3.  Fill pastry bag fitted with small round tip with jelly. Insert tip into top of cupcake; squeeze bag gently to fill center of cupcake with jelly. (Stop squeezing when you feel resistance or jelly comes out of top of cupcake.) Repeat with remaining cupcakes and jelly.
4. Beat peanut butter and butter in medium bowl with electric mixer at medium speed 2 minutes or until smooth. Add powdered sugar and vanilla; beat at low speed 1 minute or until crumbly. Slowly add milk, beating until creamy. Pipe or spread onto cupcakes.

from The Cupcake Bible