Spicy Caramel Buttercream Frosting

Ok, so as if we haven't eaten enough Halloween candy... here are the general steps to make the homemade frosting I whipped up for the apple cupcakes I shared here and here.

I say general, because I had a specific taste in mind and didn't find a recipe to follow -- and that means I made a lot of it up as I went along.  I was also making a very large batch of frosting for 3 batches of cupcakes (biggies and mini's), so I haven't scaled this down yet for one dozen cupcakes. 

If you give this a try I would be very interested to see what variations you make and the results!!  Let's dig in!

I stared with pre-made (store bought) caramels and unwrapped a whole bunch -- the more you use the more caramel flavor you will add.  If you were really feeling ambitious, homemade caramel would work too!

I popped a bunch of caramels in the microwave to melt them 10 seconds at a time -- stirring in between each zap -- until I got a gooey sauce like this.

While the caramels were melting I put 2 sticks of unsalted room temperature butter in the mixer with a bunch of powdered sugar.  I let this mix and kept adding powdered sugar until the butter looked consistently mixed and had stiffened a bit.

I then tried to just add the caramel to the butter.... didn't work.... the caramel cooled too quickly as it hit the metal bowl, hardened and made all the drippy mess that you see on the sides of the bowl. 

This is part of the fun of experimenting, right?!!

With that not working, I decided to add a little bit of apple cider and vanilla extract to the melted caramel to loosen it up a bit.  And then I ended up also adding a small amount (2-3 tablespoons) of the sugar-butter mixture to the caramel goo to keep it from hardening.  And it worked! 

I did mix in more of the sugar-butter just to make sure the caramel was really softening.  Then, it looked like this... a little bit lighter in color and a little more soupy.

Next, I was ready to incorporate the caramel into the remaining sugar-butter.

Gave it a good whizz in the mixer.  Don't you love mixer in action pictures!!  I know I do!

I also added spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, black pepper... add to your liking.

When you step back and take a peak at how I roll in the kitchen you can see I'm all over the place!  Lots of things out, using a lot of counter space, and happy happy as a clam!!

When I picked up the paddle and the frosting started to look like it does below; I knew we were there!  Not too thick that I can't pipe it.  Not too thin that it would run off the cupcakes.  Just right.  It's neat how the caramel gave a bit more of a goo-texture to the buttercream.  That's buttacream -mmmm!

This turned out to be a tasty experiment!

I put the frosting in a big plastic zippy bag (in lieu of a real piping bag) using this measuring cup to help support the effort.  Cut off a very small part of one of the corners of the bag and start frosting.

I made swirls since I knew I could do a ton of swirls rather quickly.

Yum!  I love how you can see the black pepper and cinnamon flecks in the frosting!

More yum!  I enjoyed mixing and matching cupcake liners for a more festive presentation!

A peak at my display for the actual competition!!

I felt really good about this effort! 

And I received so so so so many compliments on the cupcakes.  The judges did their thing and I didn't end up placing, but hey... I had fun, made people smile, and got to spend quality 'cooking with Katie' time in the kitchen -- and that's all that matters!

What goodies have you experimented with lately?

I am also linking to the Creative Juices linky party over at These Creative Juices... hosted by the lovely Beckie!  Check out the other creatives there!!

You've Got to Smile

"When you look at a cupcake, you've got to smile"

-- Anne Byrn, award-winning cake baker!

I was looking through my draft blog entries this morning and found these cupcake pictures just begging to be posted!  I still in shock that I haven't put these up yet!!

These are the Cocoa-Strawberry Cuppies that I made for my birthday (two weeks ago -- where has time gone?)

I took a chocolate base and made it more rich by adding extra cocoa and a pinch or five of cayenne pepper.

Then I topped these sweet delights with a homemade strawberry buttercream. 

I didn't follow any specific directions. Or rather, I didn't follow them well.

My buttercream ended up being a little more runny than I had hope, but it was jam packed with flavor and real bits of little diced strawberries!  Not bad for only the second time of making homemade buttercream.

A blueberry made the perfect topper to finish them off!

I can still taste the moist cake and sweet frosting now. 

I'm still kicking myself for not throwing a few in the freezer for a later date; maybe I'll remember to do that next time around!

Hope your having a sweet Monday!

Strawberry Scones

I have had the urge to make strawberry scones for some time now.

And, I am excited that I was able to hide in the kitchen long enough on Saturday morning to whip up a batch.

I took fresh strawberries (1/2 cup chopped) and added them to a basic recipe to sweeten things up!

Here is what the dough looked like while I was shaping and cutting the blob into scones.

And now dropped onto a baking sheet.

Don't these look just down right delish-i-oso?  Minus that fact that they are raw dough and stuff.

And presto... 10-12 minutes (9 minutes for me in the convection oven)... and they are golden and steamy!

I about died seeing them all cooked up!  I had barely transferred them over to a cooking rack when I snatched one up and began devouring it!

These are the ones that made it to the rack.

I just adore the bits of strawberry that were poking here and there.  Gave them a really nice pop of color!

And then of course they needed a little drizzle.

Of icing that is.

A tablespoon or two of powdered sugar, vanilla extract, water, and lemon juice all mixed up made the perfect compliment!

Don't you just wish that was drizzling right on your tongue?

It was pretty good on the scones too!

And there you have it!  My craving was satisfied. 

I was covered in flour and butter which is second best to being covered in dirt from the garden. 

And my apron got some action.  My apron always appreciates when it gets some action! 

What have you whipped up for a craving lately?

M is for Laughter!

This weekend was filled with cupcakes and laughter, as well as some much needed rest!

Happy Mother's Day and hope you had a great weekend!

I am hardly ever prepared.

I am hardly ever prepared with a post that is related to the holiday being celebrated.  That is what makes today so special, because lo and behold here is a post that relates to St. Patricks Day!   

Over the weekend I had a strong urge to bake.  I wasn't sure what I wanted to make, but I knew it had to be some that I could decorate.  You see I had this gel frosting pen left over from Christmas.  I had originally bought a green and a red one.  Well, Katie ended up get a hold of the red one and a few teeth marks later left it unusable.  So, I have had this lonely green gel pen in my pantry with no purpose for a few months. 

I landed on frosted sugar cookies.  I started with one of the cheater bags where you dump the dry ingredients from a package and add one egg and some butter.

I did make the recipie that allowed for making cut out shapes.  It was a tough choice looking at my shapes.  I have a flamingo, longhorns head, and hearts.  Nothing very in spirit with the holiday, so I ended up just using a glass to cut these out. 

They smelled so good coming out of the oven!

Then I had to wait for them to cool!  I still adore these stacking cooling racks!

Then the fun really began.  I gave all the cookies a coat of white/vanilla frosting with a butter knife and then went to work doodling on the cookies with the gel pen.

I made shamrocks:

 And it was pretty easy to write words:

This started off as "luck" but it turned out a bit gooey in the beginning there.

Which lead to making phrases like this one:

And what do you suppose this one means?

Go ahead... take a guess or two!

Yup.  That's a mug of beer.

Put the phase together and you get Green Beer!!

Yes, I'm a dork

Yes, I was having way too much fun with this. 

Yes, Mr. Happy got a nice laugh from this one!

Ok.

Now, try this one.

Any guesses?

I was thinking Spring when I was making this!  Get it?  Spring?


I can see getting more of those gel frosting pens in the future.  They were really fun, made a big impact.  And most importantly made me really happy!!  Oh, and don't you think they would make a cupcake look fantastic?

The pens also said that you could use them to decorate the cookie before cooking which would leave a nice shiny baked in version of the decoration.  I may have to give that a try in the future!

No matter how you decide to celebrate, I want to wish you a Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Sweet Buns

It's lunch time.  And I have food on the brain.  This is a recent treat that was made in the Happy house!

I admit these aren't made from scratch.  Really all I did was pop open on of those pre-made roll cans and put them in the pan.  To make them a little more special I did make some extra frosting. 

I mixed powdered sugar with a few drops of water and a splash of vanilla extract.  Added a little extra yumminess to these delights!

Just look at the toasty, roasty, brown, goodness!!

Oh and how about the way the frosting warms and drizzles down the sides of the buns!

Last thing I did was to sprinkle a little bit of extra cinnamon on them for presentation and flavor.

Pretty now, right?  I really can't tell you the last time we have cinnamon buns or as I remember them being called ... sweet buns in the house. 

I think the sweet buns name comes from my Hawaiian side of the family.  Must be something that is sticking with me (no pun intended) from my childhood.  I can't quite put my finger on what it is, but if I remember I will be sure to share! 

These disappeared quite fast!  It's funny, looking back at my pictures I could have sworn I took a plating picture and for the life of me I don't see it. 

Making a special something as a treat and filling the house with the wonderful aroma of cinnamon = happiness!

Must interrupt this broadcast

I twittered... or is it tweeted....

well what I mean, is that I have mentioned that I was going to NYC for a class this week and I have to interrupt what I was planning for you this evening for something much more important.

You guessed it.

I am that predictable.

Cupcakes!


Crumbs to be specific.

Not the crumbs left after I gobbled a cupcake down.

but Crumbs the Bake Shop.

Here is a shot of how beautiful it looked!

I was practically tickled silly when I found out there was a cupcake palace on the way back to the train station!

Yes, cupcake Palace!

It was a bit more difficult to pay super close attention... all my class breaks were spent day dreaming about what flavors I should get!

Here are sweets that had me absolutely salivating...



Ummm... yes I'll have two of all of them! Seriously how the heck do you choose with all these crazy flavors?



Nope, no clue how to choose... how many should I get... Ahhhh! I want them all~



Please can I have them all? I think I can carry about 42 of them pretty easily! And I can surely eat about 15 of these a day!



SCREAM!! Margarita? Shu-up! Nu-eh. Must have one of these....

And look closely... it has salt around the rim. I could just drink one up right now!

So, I narrowed. and narrowed. and himmed. and hawwed.


I ended up taking six... count them;

one, two, three, four, five, only six cupcakes came home with me.

*sigh*

too many cupcakes, not enough room in the fridge!

My lovely six new friends and I skipped on down to the train. (ok, we didn't really skip, but I think I was surely skipping inside!)

And we had a lovely ride home.

The whole time I was thinking about how much I wanted to gobble them all down all at once.

It's hard enough picking out which ones to take home.. how the heck am I going to pick which one to eat first?To be honest, I'm just proud that all six made it home -- so I can share with Mr. Happy.

I'm so lucky to have a guy to share my cupcake obsession with! More to come on how they taste.

(uh huh, I just ate one. you knew I wouldn't last much longer. I split the the Reeses PB cupcake with Mr. Happy... and WOW the frosting is fluffy, the cake is moist, it all compliments each other and I'm thinking it's the best cuppy I've had yet. Do you think the other 5 will survive the night?)