Halloween Cupcakes

I wanted to post these sooner so y'all could get some ideas to decorate Halloween cupcakes but I wanted this to be my submission for Rach's Baking Challenge which is due today. But don't worry because there's still time and these are simple. Are the kiddos having friends over tonight for a Halloween sleepover? Hand them some naked cupcakes and a couple bowls or tubs of frosting and decorate some spooky cupcakes!

I decorated these cupcakes at my local bakeshop. They had a cupcake decorating class and the theme was...you guessed it- Halloween! I had more fun at this class than I expected and I met a really sweet girl who was sitting at my table. Her name was Lindsay (Hi Lindsay!) and we had a great time eating and decorating cupcakes and laughing together.

These were really simple to make and the instructor was helpful and took her time showing us how to decorate each cupcake. I'll show you the pics of them individually then tell you which tips to use so you can recreate your favorite ones. There is no recipe today because I didn't think the cupcakes they provided were really that great. You can use a box mix or your favorite cupcake recipe. As for the icing you can use my favorite vanilla cream cheese frosting recipe or your favorite buttercream.

A couple helpful hint before we start. When filling your piping bag with frosting, fill no more than 2/3 full. Twist the bag to secure it shut. To aid in piping your cupcakes, put the frosting bag into the hand you write with. Let the twisted neck of the piping bag rest in the nook between your thumb and forefinger. As you pipe, use your fingers to press the frosting out of the bag. Use your opposite hand to provide stability and to help guide the tip.

Are you ready? Here we go!

Ridge Swirl- This cupcake is piped with Wilton Star tip #21. With your tip about 1/4-inch above the cupcake, start piping on the outside and pipe a swirl towards the center. Top with sprinkles.

Soft Swirl- This cupcakes was piped with Wilton round tip #12. With your tip about 1/4-inch above the cupcake, start piping on the outside and working your way towards the center. Top with bat and ghost confetti.

Eyeball- Also using Wilton tip #12, pipe on a swirl of frosting as in the above cupcake, then smooth. Or simply plop some frosting onto a cupcake and smooth with an offset spatula. Using a Wilton tip #2 or 3, starting from the inside and working towards the outside, squeeze squiggly lines to resemble veins. Top with rounds of fondant for the iris and pupil.

NOTE: You could also use prepackaged writing gel for the red veins and taffy or soft chewy candy (Starburst, tootsie rolls etc.) for the colored part.

Pumpkin- using Wilton round tip #10, pipe a circle along the exterior of the cupcake. Fill in the center working from the top and going down to the bottom. Top off the pumpkin with leaves using Wilton leaf tip #352 or #67. Use Wilton round tip #2 for the tendrils.

Jack-O-Lantern- With this one you want to pipe the face details first, then fill around it. Using Wilton round tip #2 pipe the outline (black) of your desired face. Then fill in the face details with Wilton round tip #3 or 4 (yellow). Using the Wilton star tip #16, pipe the stars around the face details until the cupcake is entirely covered. For better detail go back over the outline with more black icing.

NOTE: When piping stars, you want to place the tip on the cupcake, squeeze gently as you lift it slightly off the cupcake, then stop squeezing before you lift it off completely.

Smooth Jack or Ghost- You can do this one what ever color you want. Smooth icing over a cupcake. Pipe the black details of the face with Wilton round tip #2 or 3, fill in the details with Wilton round tip #3 or 4.

Moon & Witch- Spread out some yellow icing onto your cupcake and smooth with an offset spatula or a butter knife. To make the with on her broom, use a cookie cutter to cut out some chocolate fondant. You can also use some rolled out tootsie roll. Dust with cornstarch to keep from sticking.

Mummy- Using Wilton round tip #4, pipe some eyes. Make them as small or as large as you want. For larger eyes you want to squeeze the frosting and hold it in place as the blob grows :-) Using Wilton round tip #2, pipe the pupils. Using Wilton basket weave tip #47, pipe random lines all over the cupcake til it's completely covered and the eyes are still exposed.

NOTE: The basket weave tip has two sides- a smooth side and a ridged side. When piping the mummy hold the piping bag with the ridged side down so when you pipe, the smooth side is up.

Also, you want to pipe your mummies on a dark background, in other words, chocolate cupcakes work best for this so the eyes show up better.

Spider & Web- Spread icing onto cupcake and smooth it with an offset spatula or a butter knife. Using Wilton round tip #2, pipe 4 concentric circles onto the cupcake. Using a toothpick start from the center of the cupcake and pull outwards. Work your way around the cupcake until the web is formed. Top with a spider or pipe one yourself. To pipe the spider, make 8 little legs using Wilton round tip #2. Then pipe 2 round mounds (one slightly larger than the other for the body) using the same tip. Use sprinkles for the eyes.

Hairy Monster- Using Wilton grass tip #233, pipe the fur. With this one you want to hold the tip directly on the cupcake and squeeze as you're lifting the tip up. It can be as random as you want- messy is fine. Using Wilton round tip #4, pipe eyes, tip #2 or 3 for the pupils and nose and crooked mouth.

Star Tip Monster- Pipe stars using Wilton star tip #21. Start with the tip on the cupcake then pull up as you're squeezing. You want all the lengths to be different lengths- the more random the better. Pipe eyes using Wilton round tip #4 for the eyes and round tip #2 for the pupils, nose and mouth.

Open Mouth Monster- With this one you want to cover half the cupcake with black frosting. Smooth it the best you can with an offset spatula. Using Wilton round tip #5 pipe a half circle around the bottom of the cupcake and around the mouth. Then pipe lines back and forth to fill in the top half of the cupcake. Pipe eyes with Wilton round tips# 4 (yellow) and tip #2 for the pupils and eye brows. Using Wilton round tip #3 pipe some teeth. You want to squeeze as you're pulling away from the cupcake for jagged teeth.

Happy Halloween! Have a safe weekend!

Don't Knock It Til You Try It

I've made so many different chocolate cakes recently. Some with cream cheese frosting, some with fudge frosting, some with white chocolate mousse and even some cupcakes. I am chocolate caked out! So when Rachel of Five Year Plan announced that this months ingredient for Rach's Baking Challenge was chocolate, I was not so excited.

But, this Chocolate Zucchini Bundt is one chocolate cake I NEVER get tired of making or eating, and neither does my family. They ask for it every holiday.

This year for my mom's birthday, she requested this cake. To make it a little fancier, I added a simple glaze to the top. I didn't measure, but it was about a cup of sifted powdered sugar, with a little milk and vanilla to thin it out.

I love you mom!

I've been making this bundt cake for years. I've baked it in loaf pans, a bundt and even cupcakes. It's chocolaty and so moist from the shredded zucchini. And before you start cringing or turning up your nose, trust me! You can't taste the zucchini at all. It's like carrot cake- it provides moisture and melts into the crumb but you don't really taste bits of the veggie.

My brother who hates zucchini, loves this cake. He hates zucchini because I made him eat it one night for dinner and he gagged through the entire thing. (I know I'm such a mean big sister!) So when I told him I was making this he said, "eww, gross!". But I made him help me and when we were done baking this beautiful bundt he was the first one to want a bite. He even ate it for breakfast the next day- zucchini and all!

So if you don't try any other recipe on this blog, please try this one. I promise you will like love it! This was also the very first recipe I blogged about nearly 2 years ago. It's definitely a keeper. Now go grate up some zucchini and make this bad boy. You will not be disappointed.

Chocolate Zucchini Bundt

• 2/3 cup cocoa
• 2 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 3 cup flour
• 1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 4 large eggs
• 3 cup sugar (plus more for coating pan)
• 3 cup grated zucchini (4 med. zucchini)
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small mixing bowl combine cocoa and melted butter (mixture will be stiff and dry). Add vegetable oil to cocoa (it will resemble motor oil- don't be alarmed) and set aside.

In a medium bowl sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl beat eggs and slowly add sugar, until thick and light in color. Add cocoa mixture to eggs until well combined, then gradually add flour being careful not to over mix. Once mixture is well incorporated add grated zucchini and vanilla.

Butter or spray bundt pan evenly with non stick spray, then sprinkle with granulated sugar to form a sugar crust. Pour batter into pan about 3/4 full. Place pan in a preheated oven for 65-70 minutes until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Allow to cool completely before removing from the pan. Loosen your belt, because you'll be eating more than one slice.

NOTE:

A small amount of batter will be leftover depending on the size of your bundt (use the largest one you have). I usually pour the extra batter into a small pyrex dish, bake it and eat it while the bundt is still in the oven. The cake baked in a small dish will cook much quicker than the bundt.

Drool :-P'''

When Life Hands You Lemons...

You make Lemon Tassies! August's baking ingredient for Rach's Baking Challenge was, LEMONS- a perfect summer refresher.

I'm usually on the ball when it comes to deadlines and blogging, but I was busy playing board games with my family (Mustang Monopoly and Yahtzee, if you're curious) that I forgot about posting til late last night. I'm supposed to post on the last day of the month, and it looks like I barely made it by the hair of my chinny chin chin. No, I don't have a hairy chin, why do you ask?

So, I have to be honest with you. I made these lemon tassies for Mother's Day. I'm so behind on my posts and I didn't want to make another lemon recipe so I'm pulling this one from the archives. But it's a good one and it deserves to be seen and drooled over. So prep your salivary glands :-)

Their concept is simple but they're tedious to make since you have to portion out 48 pieces of dough then fill the little muffin pans. Not hard, just time consuming. I only had one pan so I went next door to my neighbors' and borrowed their mini pans to get the ball rolling. I'll forever be indebted to them. Because of them I still have hair on my head.

These were very buttery, lemony and creamy. They even tasted like they had coconut in them, but it was just lemon zest. These would also be really good baked into a larger tart. I'll have to play around with that though. They were best the day they were made though because the crust softens over time.

I added a simple lemon glaze to the top of the tassies once they cooled and topped them with jumbo sprinkles for color. Then I packaged them in simple white confection boxes and tied a ribbon around them and tucked in a pretty flower pick. I gave them to my mother, grandmother and mother-in-law. I wish I had saved some for myself.

Lemon Tassies from Martha's Cookies

For the crusts:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 10 Tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks
• 1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 tsp. finely grated lemon zest
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• vegetable oil cooking spray

For the filling:

• 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 3 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees with rack in upper third. Coat two 24-cup mini-muffin pans with cooking spray; set aside.

Make crusts: Process flour and butter in a food processor until mixture in the consistency of fine crumbs. Add sugar, egg yolk, vanilla, lemon zest, and salt. Process until evenly incorporated and sandy; do not overprocess.

Divide the dough into quarters. Divide each quarter into 12 equal pieces. Shape into balls. Place each ball in a muffin cup; press into cup, stretching dough up the sides. Set muffin pan on a baking sheet.

Bake until lightly browned all over and slightly darker at the edges, 18 to 20 minutes. Tap down any puffed centers of the shells with the end of a wooden spoon. Transfer baking sheet with muffin pan to a wire rack to cool.

Make the filling: In an electric mixer, beat cream cheese, sugar, egg, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla on medium speed until completely smooth. Using a 1-inch ice cream scoop, fill the cooled crusts with filling.

Bake tassies, rotating sheets halfway through, until filling is set and just beginning to color at the edges, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer muffin pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

The tassies may be refrigerated in single layers in airtight containers, for up to 3 days.

Makes 4 dozen.

NOTE: This is NOT the same recipe for lemon tassies that is found on Martha's website. The recipe on her website has the wrong filling to crust ratio so I have not linked to it. Instead I have copied this directly from the Cookies book.

The glaze I made consists of about 1/4 cup of powdered sugar mixed with fresh squeezed lemon juice. You want it just thin enough to drizzle. Add more sugar if too thin. Top each tassie with a dime size amount of glaze then top with a jumbo colored sprinkle if desired. Allow the glaze to set.

Sometimes You Feel Like A Nut

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Oroweat OatNut bread (that's some serious lovin' y'all)! So when I saw this recipe a few months ago on Baking Bites I bookmarked it. I kept thinking about it and when Rachel announced that July's theme for Rach's Baking Challenge was nuts, I immediately thought of this bread. I had everything I needed, or I adapted it the way I wanted to, I just lacked the nuts.

I'm not going to link to the original post because there are some mistakes in the recipe that haven't been fixed despite me and someone else asking questions. I had to improvise and hope it turned out well since she never got back to me. Thankfully, it did. But please don't think I'm "bad mouthing" her or her blog because she has some tasty recipes and yummy pictures and I've had success with her recipes in the past, this recipe just seemed to need some editing.

Moving on, the original OatNut bread incorporates hazelnuts, so that's what I used, but you could use pecans or walnuts. My hubby doesn't like hazelnuts (or so he says) so I didn't tell him they were in the bread and guess what? He liked it! He even asked me later on when I was going to use the hazelnuts and I told him they were in the bread and he said, "nu uh!" It's not quite like the store bought variety, but it's equally as good. It's nutty and slightly sweet, soft and hearty, but with a nice crust. And it's good for you, there's no butter, oil or eggs in this bread. Just yeast, flour, oats, nuts, honey and a sprinkling of salt. That's it!

I served this warm out of the oven with a schmear of salted butter and Debby's homemade olallieberry jam She sent me a jar and it is so good! It tastes like a cross between a raspberry and a blackberry, like a boysenberry- it's tart and sweet and bright. Thanks Debby! I only thought it was appropriate to serve this homemade jam with homemade bread. It was so worth it.

OatNut Bread adapted from Baking Bites

• 2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
• 1 1/4 cups warm water (100-110F)
• 1 cup bread flour
• 2-3 cups unbleached AP flour
• 1/2 cup quick cooking rolled oats (not instant)
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup hazelnuts, finely chopped

In a large bowl, combine the yeast and warm water. Stir and let stand for 5 minutes, until foamy.

Stir in 1 cup bread flour, the oats and honey, and mix well. Add in salt, hazelnuts and an additional 1 1/2 - 2 cups all-purpose flour. Stir, adding remaining flour gradually, until the dough comes together into a ball and begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl (this can also be done in an electric mixer with the dough hook attached).

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured board and knead, adding flour a tablespoon at a time as necessary to prevent sticking, until dough is smooth and elastic, about 5-8 minutes. You don't want the dough to be sticky, but it shouldn't be dry or tough either.

Place dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size, about 1 - 1 1/2 hours. Meanwhile, lightly grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan and set aside.

After dough has risen, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface again. Deflate dough, by gently punching down and pressing into a rectangular shape (approx. 10 1/2 x 8 1/2) Roll up the dough into a loose log, starting with the shorter end and place the seam side down into the greased pan.

Cover the bread with a piece of oiled plastic wrap and let rise until almost doubled in size, about 45 minutes. While the bread is going through its final rise, preheat oven to 375F.

Bake loaf for 35 minutes til golden and a skewer inserted in the center is clean. Cool loaf in pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack. Cool completely before slicing.

NOTE: You can use All-Purpose flour for this recipe and omit the bread flour if you want.

Also, I sprinkled oats on top of the bread before baking and they all fell off when I sliced it, so don't waste your time.

Go check out Rachel's blog to see what she made!

Strawberry Lovin'

This is my submission for Rach's June Baking Challenge. The challenge for this month was strawberries! Yesterday was my birthday (yay!) and I was going to post my celebration dessert, but I didn't want to feel rushed in editing the photos and uploading the recipe so instead, I present you with Strawberry and Blueberry Cobbler Cake. I originally spotted this cake at The Kitchen Sink and was taken aback. It looked so lovely. Kristen said it tasted almost like a strawberry shortcake. I'm not a huge fan of shortcakes so I wasn't sure I wanted to make this but I'm glad I did.

I did have a minor problem when I made this. I doubled the recipe and put equal amounts into 2 pie plates. One for us and one for my neighbor- their son was graduating. Only I wanted to use my new-to-me Corning ware pie plate that I got from Goodwill for only $2.99! Only that's where my problem was. The recipe calls for a 10-inch pie plate and this one was significantly smaller so it overflowed in the oven and burned all over the place. It was a freakin' mess.

I immediately smelled the smoke and rushed into the kitchen. I pulled out both cakes- the Pyrex pie plate was just fine- thank God! I scraped the over-flowing lava-like cake batter off of the edge and took out about half a cup of batter. I cleaned the oven as best I could and popped them back into the oven to finish their baking with a sheet pan underneath them, just in case.

With 10 minutes left to go on my kitchen timer, I went to check on the cakes and the berries had completely sunk despite me flouring them :-( Bummer, I hate when that happens. So I added a few more blueberries to the top of the cake and popped them back in. When the timer beeped at me I went to check them and they looked perfect. Nothing like they should but, but perfect to me.

Oh my gawd, this was delicious! I didn't think my husband was going to like it, but he went back for seconds! We finished this cake off in a day and a half, it was that good. It didn't taste like a shortcake to me at all. It was definitely cakey, but very moist (maybe because I added more fruit) buttery, vanilla-y and very reminiscent to a cobbler, so I renamed it. Beside if I want strawberry cake, Ill make this one! Despite my many mishaps, I would definitely make this cake again (in my Pyrex pie plate, not my pretty Corning ware find) :-)

Strawberry and Blueberry Cobbler Cake adapted from Martha Stewart

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pie plate
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons raw sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 pint fresh strawberries, hulled and halved
• 1/2 cup fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 10-inch pie plate. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together into a medium bowl.

Put butter and 1 cup sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-low; mix in egg, buttermilk, and vanilla.

Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in flour mixture. Transfer batter to buttered pie plate. Arrange strawberries on top of batter, cut sides down and as close together as possible. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons raw or granulated sugar over berries.

Bake cake 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. Bake until cake is golden brown and firm to the touch, about 1 hour. Let cool in pie plate on a wire rack. Cut into wedges. Cake can be stored at room temperature, loosely covered, up to 2 days.

NOTE: You can use all strawberries (1 pound) or a combination of berries that you prefer. Use enough to cover the top of the batter.