Out of retirement!

Erin here and I decided to come out of retirement.
It was hard for me to look at Martha's book while it took all my energy to keep my lunch in.
BUT now I am feeling SO MUCH better. Wahooo!
So I have decided to come out of retirement and finish what I have started.
But tonight I had to revisit a recipe for a special occasion.

The Buttermilk Cupcakes

I got off to a little bit of a rocky start...some combusted. Not really sure why. Maybe my cupcake tin was upset for leaving it alone for so long.
Since I am having twins we did cupcake's for Baby A

And cupcakes for Baby B


I shared my cupcake love with my friends who came over to see what we were having.

When they bit into the cupcakes this is what they found!

A boy and a girl :)

Birthday Red Velvet Cupcakes!!!

I have a small confession to make. I bake, I photograph, usually I bake again, and photograph again (something separately delicious) and then I take forever to blog. I have never been good at the getting to the blog part, so I apologize and promise to work on this. If Erin could do it with two kiddos, then so can I! Right? :)

Last Friday night was my girlfriend Megan's birthday. We had a party for her at our favorite pizza place here in town. I was very excited because even though she's never actually said it, I knew Red Velvet Cupcakes are her absolute favorites. It made my cupcake choice this week very easy.

I have never made Red Velvet Cupcakes before, and have really only eaten them from Sprinkles Cupcakes. Yes, THE Sprinkles Cupcakes (in CA we are semi-used to them, out here in AL they are an icon to cupcake people, LOL.) I have to admit it, again, they call her Martha Stewart for a reason. These were by far the best Red Velvet Cupcakes I have ever had...and the best part!?!?! I made them!! You should too!

Red Velvet Cupcakes (pg. 30)
Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising), sifted
2 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon red gel-paste food color
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar
Cream-Cheese Frosting
     1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
     12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
     1 pound confectioner's sugar, sifted
     3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Instructions for Cupcakes:
1. Preheat oven to 350. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together cake flour, cocoa, and salt.
2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, whisk together sugar and oil until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until incoporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.

 Mix in food color and vanilla.

3. Reduce speed to low add flower mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of buttermilk, and whisking well after each. Stir together the baking soda and vinegar in a small bowl (it will foam); add mixture to the batter, and mix on medium speed 10 seconds.

 4. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three quarters full. Bake, rotating tins half way through, until a cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes.

 5. To finish use a small offset spatula to spread cupcakes with frosting.

I have to insert a blurb about Martha's Cream-Cheese frosting. It was nothing short of amazing! I have made several cream-cheese frostings, purchased it, and NOTHING has come close to being as good as this recipe. It will be my go to for cream-cheese from here on out. I only made a half batch for this recipe and it turned out to be the perfect amount.

Cream-Cheese Frosting Instructions:
With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter and cream cheese until fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Reduce speed to low. Add sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, and then vanilla, and them mix until smooth and combined, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.

The cupcakes were simple enough and tasted AMAZING. I was surprised at the fact that there was no butter in them, and the oil/sugar mixture was a new one. It seemed very weird when I was mixing it but it was delicious!! I will be making these cupcakes again and again I just know it!

Because it was Megan's birthday I wanted to make these cupcakes extra special. So I rolled out some fondant and decorated them in a happy birthday fashion :) Here's my birthday version of Martha's Red Velvet Cupcakes.

And here's a shot of all of us ladies enjoying Megan's birthday celebration and the Cupcake Love!

Up next? Tieramisu Cupcakes for my friend Treva. :) Can't wait to try those!

Brown Sugar Pound Cakes

Hi :) It's Krystle. Thanks Erin for letting me join the challenge. I was so excited when I finally got my book in the mail I had to start baking right away. I've probably looked through the book 50 times already so I was very excited when my husband presented me with an opportunity to bake some to share.

My husband is currently in flight school for the Army. He attends academic class for half the day and flies for the other half at this current point in his training. Funny thing happened to him in class last week, his cell phone went off. Yes he was THAT guy! Apparently there is an unwritten rule that when your phone goes off you have to make up for the interruption by bringing pizza for the class. I begged him to let me make cupcakes! He did :) So my first batch of Martha Stewart goodness was shared with a class full of Army Blackhawk pilots. The only thing I don't have is a picture of them eating.

I picked the Brown Sugar Pound Cakes (pg. 60) because, lets be real, they seemed to be one of the easiest recipes in the book. I needed to start out with something from Martha that I felt I could easily conquer (she's always secretly intimidated me!) everyone needs to have a confidence booster, right? That and I didn't start the baking until 8:30pm (once my baby boys were in bed) so I had to make something that I already had all of the ingredients for. Not only were they easy...they were delicious.

Ingredients:
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
3/4 cup buttermilk
Brown-Butter Icing
     1/2 cup unsalted butter
     2 cups sifted confectioners sugar
     2 tsp pure vanilla extract
     2 Tbsp milk, plus more if needed

Insturctions for cupcakes:
1) Preheat oven to 325. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
2) With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and brown sugar until pale and fluffy.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each in incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of buttermilk, and beating until combined after each.

3) Divide evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake rotating tins halfway through, until golden brown and a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool 10 minutes, turn out cupcakes onti racks and let cool completely.

4) To finish place cupcakes on a wire rack set over a baking sheet; spoon icing over cupcakes, and let set.

Instructions for Brown-Butter Icing:
1) Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, swirling pan occasonally, until but-brown in color, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat, and pour butter into a bowl, leaving any burned sediment behind.
2) Add confectioners sugar, vanilla, and 2 tablespoons milk to brown butter, stir until smooth. If necessary add more milk (up to two tablespoons) a little at a time, just until icing is spreadable. Use immediately.

A few additional side notes...

I learned something new when baking these cupcakes (thanks to my friend Laura and Google!) I ran out of brown sugar and still needed a full cup after starting the cupcakes. Did you know you can make your own brown sugar?? You can, and it's super easy! All you need is molasses and regular white sugar. 1 cup white sugar and 1 Tbsp molasses and wah-la you have light brown sugar (2 Tbsps and you have dark brown sugar)

Also...I baked the cupcakes the night before his class and was waiting to frost them (based on Martha's recomendations in the recipe) and when I stored them in their air-tight container and opened it in the morning this happened:

I have no idea why this occurred? Thankfully the recipe makes 28 and he only needed 24 for class. The only thing I can attribute it to is maybe the wonderful humidity in the air here in wonderful lower Alabama. I will have to watch for this in the future. Suggestions anyone?

The cupcakes were remarkably simple to make, smelled like yummy Christmas when they were cooking, and were quite tasty to eat. The Brown-Butter Icing is quite sweet, but was a good combo...that Martha sure does know what she's doing. And yes, the guys all liked them. I might actually bake this recipe again as mini pound cakes, not just cupcakes.

Another kind of Challenge

I can't even tell you how much I have LOVED doing this cupcake challenge.

Not only am I learning how to bake but giving cupcakes away is SO much fun.

Right now I have a bigger challenge at hand and that is growing TWO babies.

Which most people probably already know.

Until I can get back on my feet and off this bed rest I plan on returning and getting my bake on!

Until then I asked one of my best friends from high school and super mom(of twins!)

Krystle Redley(who I will always think of as Krystle Walker) to help you!

She is in Alabama so we can better distribute the cupcake love around the country:)

Thank you all for you love and support!

Martha's Meyer Lemon Cupcakes

I was shopping at Sprouts and I found Meyer lemons on sale so I decided to make one of Martha's favorites on page 121.

They really must be one of Martha's favorites since they make 42 cupcakes!!!

I personally have never seen/tasted/heard of Meyer lemons before and to me they looked like tangerines.

whisk together 3 1/2 cups flour, 1.2 tsp baking powder, 1 1/2 tsp coarse salt and two tablespoons finely graded lemon zest together in a bowl. Then in a mixer mix together 3 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter and 3 cups sugar. Once pale and fluffy beat in 8 oz of cream cheese. Reduce to low speed and mix in 7 large eggs one at a time. Then beat in 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and 1 tsp vanilla. Then put into liners and and cook at 325 for 28 minutes rotating halfway.

Then for the lemon curd combined 2 whole eggs, 8 egg whites and 2/3 cup lemon juice in a heat proof bowl over simmering water. Cook, whisking together constantly until mixture is thick and coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and mix in 2 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into small pieces. Then strain through a small sieve into another bowl. I made this all the night before so you then need to put a piece of parchment paper pressing directly on top of the curd to prevent a film from forming.

Now you know how when you eat something you really like then immediately get the stomach flu you no longer like it? Well that is my relationship with Martha's Meyer Lemon cupcakes. I ate a few that night which is WAY more than any other cupcake I have made. But they were light and fluffy and.....blah sorry I can't even talk about it honestly. About 10pm that night I came down with the stomach bug that was floating around our house and....well...let's just say that I will never eat a Meyer lemon again.

But I am so dedicated to my cupcake love that I dragged my pale pathetic butt out of bed and and breathed only through my nose pulled out the lemon curd out and put it in a pastry bag to insert lemon curd into each cupcake and then let it overflow to the top. It might have looked better if I didn't feel so crappy but hey it is what it is. I was so anxious to get these cupcakes out of my house that I put them in my holder and placed them outside for my friend Amber to take to church and hand out to the girls.
On a level of difficulty I would say that these were fairly easy.

I can't talk about the taste.

My buds are a bit tainted.

But everyone else said they were good.

My husband still swears the raspberry cheesecakes are the best so I am going to have to make those again this week and I like the idea of sticking something in the middle if they are sunken again.

And can I just say how much fun this whole project has been? I have gotten SO much better at baking. Even though I still have a long way to go I feel like I am making progress and I am really excited about that.

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

I was throwing a baby shower for my friend Trena yesterday and I knew I wanted to make two different kinds of cupcakes. I decided to make one I had already done and a new one. I chose Orange Vanilla Bean because Trena had one and said she liked them and what a pregnant woman wants a pregnant woman gets :)

She also mentioned she liked white cupcakes so I decided to go with Snickerdoodle.

The only problem with the Orange Vanilla Bean was that I was going to have to make the dreaded Swiss Meringue Buttercream.

So I watched this video posted by Stephanie and prepped myself mental for the task.

I first put everything out just because that is what she did in the video.

(Ps I have spent over 98.oo on butter since starting this project so I simply can not afford all these failed attempts at swiss meringue)

So here is my one cup sugar and my 2 pounds of butter.
So I did my egg whites, then added the butter and...it was ALL runny AGAIN!!!

So I tossed it.

Errrr!

SO I did it again.

This time I switched to the Paddle attachment like the video says(and Martha does not say).

After I added the butter it got really runny again and I was all but crying(and I am being serious) I felt that it HAD to be me. What the heck! So I just threw the rest of the butter in and flipped the switch to heck a fast and left. When I came back 15 minutes later....

I DID IT!!!

I think I wasn't letting it whip long enough after adding the butter.

Or maybe it's the paddle attachment

Or maybe I am just incompetent when it comes to baking.

Either way I DID IT!

I was so proud.

And my Orange Vanilla Bean Cupcakes looked fantastic!

So then it was on to Snickerdoodle.

I got WAY to excited about my Swiss Meringue that I forgot to take pictures of the steps to make the Snickerdoodle.

And I am including the recipe because I had a few asking for it.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

On medium-high speed cream 2 sticks of room temp unsalted butter, 1 3/4 cup sugar until pale and fluffy. Then add 4 eggs(at room temp) one at a time. Then beat in 2 tsp vanilla. Reduce to low speed and add flour mixture(1 1/2 cup flour, 1 1/2 cup cake flour, 1 tblspn baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tblspn of cinnamon) in to the mixture in three batches alternating with 1 1/4 cup milk. Then fill up the cupcake liners 3/4 the way full(I do a little higher) and bake for about 20 minutes rotating half way through and you done!

Simple.

Now the frosting.

Which is always the most tricky.

Except this frosting was called 7 minute frosting so in my head I thought it only took 7 minutes so it must be easy. Right?

I must have forgot I am baking Martha's book here.

I think she makes things complicated for kicks.

So you take 1 1/2 cups of sugar, then 2/3 cup water and 2 tablespoons of corn syrup and heat until 230 degrees(side note I LOVE trader joes but their dishwasher detergent will make your pots look like this)

Then you beat 6 large egg whites until fluffy peaks form. Once the peaks have formed add two tablespoons of sugar and continue to beat. Once the syrup mixture reaches 230 degrees you set the mixer to medium-high and pour the syrup mixture down the side in a slow constant stream. Once you have poured the entire mixture in you let the mixer keep beating until the bottom of the bowl is cooled. Which apparently takes 7 minutes thus the name but took more like 15 minutes. So the entire process took about 30 minutes or so.

7 minutes by butt.

Anyways.

The frosting was DELICIOUS and came out looking great which is an accomplishment for me in itself.

Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar and your done.
I dipped some strawberries as well and my dessert spread was pretty tasty if I do say so myself.


I shared my cupcake love with these girls especially the expectant mother in the middle who is having a little boy next month.
On a tasty level I would say that the snickerdoodle were a 9.

Really tasty.

On the skill level I would say the actual cupcake was easy the frosting was a little tricky so I would say medium.

But all in all I would say you need to go make these very soon.

Raspberry marble cheesecake cupcakes

So here is yet another one to repeat!

It was my first time cooking cupcakes in a bath in the oven.

It didn't go so well..
I don't know if you can tell but they are COMPLETELY sunken in.

They looked like they were poor sick cupcakes.

The ironic part my husband said they were the best he has tasted yet.

But since they were so ugly I couldn't bring myself to serve them to anyone else.

So I will try these again next week and see if I can't master this whole cooking in a bath thing.

One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes with Gumdrops

I honestly sit in bed at night and read this book as if it's a novel. As a matter of fact I nominate for next months book club ;)

Just kidding.

Anyways. I was going to visit teach my friend Shawna this week and she told me that she is more of chocolate person than a fruit person so I decided to go with the One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes. The first reason being that I wanted to make chocolate and the second reason was the One Bowl part really got me. I swear my kitchen looks like a tornado after making all of Martha's cupcakes.
So you basically combine flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, eggs, buttermilk, vegetable oil, vanilla and water into a bowl and mix. SO EASY!


Bake at 350 degrees for about 17 minutes and there you have it...

So I made them the night before and set them out to cool. Mind you my son was fast asleep.

So when I get back I see this...

And then this....
This little sinker seriously ate like 3 cupcakes and then destroyed a few more. Good thing I was taking this to just one person and it only made 13 cupcakes. So I didn't feel to horrible taking over a few less....then the next day while I was turned around making the frosting(the disaster I will talk about in a minute) this little stinker climbed over the baby gate and so quietly climbed up the cabinet and polished off two more! Errrr. I swear he knows he is being so bad because he does it so sneakily but there is just something about cupcakes that brings out the worst in him.

Anyways.

Honestly I was going to for go the whole gum drop thing because the idea made me want to gag(no I am not pregnant) but then I thought if I am going to do Martha's reciepes then I have to do what is written. SO I went to two flippin grocery stores to find gum drops but everyone had assorted spice drops and Martha's specifically said gum drops. I swear my grocer probably runs the other way when he sees me.

He is probably thinking "Lady you have shopped here for years and why now are you buggin me about all these random things that I have no idea where they are because I try not to work to hard."

Okay okay that is kind of mean...true...but mean.

Anyways.

I found strawberry gum drops and I went with it.

Then it was the frosting.

See post below.

I can't even tell you how many batches I did.

How much flippin butter I wasted

How many flippin eggs I wasted.

I could NOT achieve the fluff it's was runny.

I watched a video and I can see where I could change a few little things that will hopefully make a difference.

If not I am going to have to in-list the help of a professional because I will NOT let Swiss Buttercream Meringue beat me. I WILL NOT!

(three batches later)

Since it was now only 20 minutes before I was supposed to leave I decided to just curse the entire frosting thought and went with fluffy vanilla which is confection sugar, butter and vanilla. Even I can't screw that up.

By the time I let my husband have one and my kids split one I was left with 6 cupcakes.

I could not bring myself to put the gumdrops on top because...well okay because it just made the cupcake look like a boob. I don't know why but it just did and I did not want to visit my friend with book cupcakes. Nope. I just wasn't going to do it. I already screwed the recipe up with the frosting so I just stuck the gum drops in a bag and brought them to Shawna.

As far as difficulty I would say the cupcakes are SO easy.

Probably the easiest in the book.

The frosting is more complicated but I think it tasted good with the vanilla frosting.

I am NOT a chocolate person at all if you couldn't tell my all my fruit choices already so I couldn't really tell you how the taste was. My husband who is all about everything chocolate said they were okay he thinks they need more chocolate. Shawna said she liked them and those are who I made them for so that is what counts :)

I am going to have to make these again.

My goal is when I mess up to make it again until it turns out.

SO I will keep these gum drops handy.

(even though I am munching on them as I type)

UGH!!!!

Has anyone made Martha's Swiss Meringue Buttercream frosting??

I swear every stinking time I make it comes out runny.

Every flippin stinking time.

I am on my third batch as I type.

Two batches down the sink.

It's very very fruserating.

So if you have made it

Or you have some ideas

Please oh please

walk me through it.

I seem to be completely and totally helpless in this department.

Ugh!

Recipe

Combine 5 large egg whites, 1 cup plus 2 tbl of sugar and pinch of salt in a heat proof bowl of a standing mixer and set on top of a simmering pan of water mixing continuously. (done)

Remove once the mixture is rubbery to the touch (done)

Attach bowl to the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Starting on low gradually increasing to medium-high whisk until stiff peaks form. Continue mixting until mixture is fluffy and glossy and completely cool. (done)

Which I feel like the moment I add the butter it get's all liquid.

With mixer on medium-low speed add 4 stick of butter one tlb spoon at a time. Once all butter has been added whisk in 1 1/2 tsp vanilla.

Switch to paddle attachment and continue beating on low speed until all air bubbles are eliminated about two minutes.

Ps-If you leave a comment talking about how easy it is and how wonderful yours always turn out I might have to mentally slap you upside the head.

Orange-Vanilla Bean Cupcakes

First off my poor mom has been SO busy taking care of my sick grandma who on top of her radiation just started Chemo this week as well. So needless to say she is VERY busy with that. But I just wanted to say I love you Momma and Happy Mother's Day!!!

I have recruited some extra help in our little project so hopefully our extra Baker will keep this going because it's been SO much fun!

I have even had several people say they decided to get Martha's Cupcake book and start trying some of the recipes themselves which is super fun. I am really excited to get through even more recipes and I have my eye on Martha's cookie book next ;)

Like I said I am really drawn to the fruit recipes. My husband can't wait for me to get through all these "froofy" cupcakes and get some good "real" cupcakes which apparently must have chocolate in them.
I picked Vanilla-Beach Cupcakes on page 145. For some reason this just looked really yummy to me. The ironic part is that I don't really eat the cupcakes I make. I just have a little bite to make sure they taste alright.
First thing first I NEEDED to get myself a new whisk. This blue whisk just wasn't cutting it anymore. Can you see why....

I decided to make the candied oranges for the top and frosting first. For the candied oranges you simple cut oranges into thin slices(the book says 1/8 inch and honestly you don't want to go any thicker or any thiner)


I also was on a mad hunt to find vanilla beans. For some reason I was picturing them in the produce isle. Turns out they are in the spice isle and crazy expensive. Luckily I found them at Sprouts for only $3.30 a piece.
To make the candied oranges you simple boil one cup water one cup sugar and stick the orange slices in and wait until they start to get a little translucent.


I was seriously multi-tasking by making my oranges AND getting the Swiss Meringue frosting going. Which is taking 5 large egg whites, 1 cup sugar and a pinch of salt to a smooth consistency on the double boiler.
NOW in the book Martha says take all the candied oranges out stick them in a container and then pour the remaining glaze all over them. This is exactly what I did. Then I thought about it for a second and realized that once the glaze cooled there was no way in heck I was getting those Oranges out. So luckily I grabbed the oranges out before it was completely cooled and I am glad I did because I lost a few that were already cooled. When I make this again I will put them on parchment paper.

Then I got to the cupcakes which had some grated orange zest, fresh squeezed orange juice, heavy whipping cream and vanilla beans. Ohhh my kitchen smelled SO good.



So I have NEVER ever ever cut a vanilla bean before. It says to cut length wise and take out the beans. So as soon as I cut it length wise I didn't see any kind of bean. So I quickly went on YouTube and found this.


I love the internet.:)

Now you might remember before that I had a hard time with the meringue, but luckily this time I was able to accomplish the "fluff" that was really lacking before. I found that the trick is to add the butter before it reaches the peak level. I still didn't add the full four sticks of butter simply because I think it still taste great with just three and I am not trying to kill my recipients.

The cupcakes turned out cute. The candied Orange on top really adds to the look but I was thinking that everyone would probably just take it off and eat the cupcake. However it seems that everyone loved the candied orange on top. The people who got ones that had a thicker grind suggested I make it thinner so again if you are going to make this I really recommend cutting them thin but not TO thing because they will break when you candy them.
All in all I would say the recipe was medium on the easy scale and I only say this because there is SO many components to it. From making the frosting to candy oranges it took a total of 4 hours from start to finish which is a lot of time to devote to cupcakes.

I would say they were VERY tasty. Everyone said that they tasted a lot less dense then my previous cupcakes which means I am getting better ;)

I gave my cupcake love to the women/mothers at church.

Happy Mothers Day!!!