14 Apple Streusel Cupcakes

After months and months of hard work and dedication, and also some solicitation, I thought it necessary to reward my handbell choir with cupcakes. This is always a good opportunity to use a recipe that only makes a few cupcakes instead of the one that make a ton for all the hungry cupcake monsters at work.

I had to pick up 2 things for this recipe. It calls for a 10 ounce jar of tart applesauce. I couldn't find the exact 10 ounce jar so I just got a bigger one. I like applesauce, I'll eat it later. Splurge a little on a brand name of applesauce. It has more flavor. Also, don't get the cinnamon kind, just get regular old applesauce. Then, the recipe calls for raw brown sugar. It's not like brown sugar, like sticky, pack it in the measuring cup, kind of brown sugar. It's like sugar in the raw brown sugar. Any raw unprocessed sugar is good. Lastly, the recipe calls for self-rising flour. This isn't the same as regular flour. If you don't want to buy it, there are substitutes floating around on the Internet you can find.

I guess it's kind of brownish

The first thing you make is the streusel topping. Time to break out some kitchen equipment. I used the food processor. It's like power tools are for dudes, you can't wait to get your hands on something with a small motor that's loud and has the potential to hurt you. If you don't have one, you can just get a little messy and use your hands. I forgot to read ahead in the recipe and see that part that says to cut up the butter into little pieces, but I didn't have a problem since I used the food processor. If you do use your fingers to mix it, make sure you remember that step, it'll be easier on you. The food processor makes the streusel a lot more fine that you'll get with your hands, so depending on what kind of visual appeal you're going for you might want one method over the other.

The next step was my favorite part of making these cupcakes. "Add the baking soda to the jar of applesauce and stir until dissolved." There should be a disclaimer here. If you managed to find a 10 ounce jar of applesauce, pour it into a bigger container. Since I had a larger jar of applesauce, I just look at the ounce measurements on the measuring cup and filled it to 10. I added the baking soda and went to work with the rest of the recipe. I happen to glance over and there was something going on with the applesauce. Upon closer investigation, I realized that science was happening. The inner nerd in me loved this. It's kind of like baking soda and vinegar, just not as science-fair-volcano-y. There is acid in applesauce and that makes the baking soda bubble. The volume of applesauce doubled! How cool is that?!

SCIENCE!

Anyway... back to the cupcakes. You beat the butter and sugar together like any other cupcake recipe. Then beat in the egg. The wording in the recipe lead me to mess up this next part (the fact that I don't sift anything together is probably the real reason though). If you do sift your dry ingredients, you'll be fine. Since, I'm lazy, this step always gets neglected. So, if you're like me, mix together your dry ingredients first, then add them alternating with the applesauce. No alternating happened when I made these cupcakes, but they were just fine.

After that, I used my trusty ice cream scoop to fill the cupcake papers. Before popping them into the oven, sprinkle the streusel on top. Pat it down a little so it sticks to the cupcakes and doesn't roll off when they're done in the oven. They came out perfect after the 20 minutes.

When all was said and done, these cupcakes were beautiful. Like, prettier than the picture in the book. They were tasty too. The applesauce made them moist, but surprisingly they weren't dense (probably from all that science that happened). I felt like they could taste a little more apple-y. I think probably because I bought cheap applesauce, hence the earlier warning. Definitely a good cupcake for the fall. If you feel that it lacks that fancy cupcake look, try adding caramel or even an apple chip on top for something extra.


Cupcake Ingredients
1/2 tsp baking soda


Raw Brown Sugar

10-oz jar tart applesauce
4 Tbsp butter, softened
generous 3/8 c raw brown sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
scant 1 1/4 c self-rising white flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

Topping Ingredients
generous 1/3 c all-purpose flour
1/4 c raw brown sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
2 1/2 Tbsp butter

How to
1. Preheat the oven to 350. Put 14 paper cases in 2 muffin pans or put 14 double-layer paper cases on a baking sheet.
2. First make the topping. Put the flour, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl or in the bowl of a food processor. Cut the butter into small pieces, then either rub it in by hand or blend in the processor until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs. Set aside while you he the cakes.
3. To make the cupcakes, add the baking soda to the jar of applesauce and stir until dissolved. Put the butter and sugar in a bowl and beat together until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the egg. Sift in the flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg and, using a large metal spoon, fold into the mixture, alternating with the applesauce.
4. Spoon the batter into the paper cases. sprinkle the topping over each cupcake to cover the tops and press down gently.
5.Bake the cupcakes in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until well risen and golden brown. Leave the cakes for 2-3 minutes before serving warm or transfer to a wire rack and let cool.

30 Chocolate Surprise Cupcakes

It was just an average Friday morning. I lazily rolled out of bed around noon and went into the kitchen to make some breakfast for my sweet bunnies. I came across this note and it was for me! It was from my mom, asking me to bake cupcakes, conveniently located near the mixer. I was like, "what the heck, I wasn't actually going to do anything today anyway (no matter how much I told myself I was), I might as well help my mom out."

This recipe should be in every cupcake baker's repertoire. These cupcakes are at every bake sale and kindergarten birthday. Tasty chocolate cupcakes filled with a moist cheesecake-y center and chocolate chips. You know the ones I'm talking about.

I decided to use a hand mixer to make these cupcakes. The recipe is simple enough that you don't need the extra hands that a stand mixer allows you to have. First, you make the chocolate part. I used a normal size ice cream scoop to fill the cupcake cups. Then, you mix up the cream cheese filling. I used mini chocolate chips, mostly because that's what my mom left out for me, but they're perfect since you just put a little plop of the filling in the cupcake. The cream cheese won't be taken over by the chocolate chips. I used a mini ice cream scoop to put the filling into the middle of the chocolate part.

When the timer goes off, check your cupcakes. I stuck the toothpick into the all chocolate part. Only the one tray wasn't quite finished, but there's a good chance 25 minutes will be perfect for your cupcakes.

The kindergartner in me loves these cupcakes. I'm pretty sure every part of me loves these actually. The chocolate was tasty and moist. It makes you crave a glass of milk. And the cream cheese filling is yummy yummy. I remember being a kid and looking at the display of these cupcakes, no matter what event they were for, and trying to pick the one with most cream cheese-y goodness. There is no need for icing for cupcakes like these. They are stand alone amazing and should not be tampered with. Love them for what they are.

Chocolate Surprise Cupcake Ingredients
3 c flour
2 c sugar
1/2 c unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
2/3 c vegetable oil
2 c water
2 Tbsp vinegar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1/2 c sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 c semisweet chocolate chips

Cupcake How to
1. Preheat oven to 350. Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.
2. In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, salt and baking soda. Stir in oil, water, vinegar, and vanilla until blended. Pour mixture into prepared muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full.
3. To make the filling: In a medium bowl, beat together the cream cheese, egg, sugar and salt until light and fluffy. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop a heaping teaspoonful of the cream cheese mixture into each cupcake. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes. Allow to cool.

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