pineapple bliss cupcakes with whipped cream cheese frosting

I’m all about cooking and baking from scratch but, sometimes, you just can’t beat a quick recipe that takes advantage of the convenience of pre-made or pre-packaged ingredients.  Point in case… boxed cake mix.

We had a busy weekend on tap and, in the midst of working, cleaning, catching up on projects, etc. I had to find some time to throw together dinner and dessert for a friend and co-worker visiting from out of town. True to my usual M.O., I either overestimated how much I had to do or underestimated how long it all would take… but either way… my plan to make a pineapple upside-down cake was thwarted by the clock. So, I went with the next best thing – two-ingredient pineapple bliss cupcakes!

You read that right – two ingredient cupcakes (five if you count the frosting). Talk about a lifesaver! Take a box of yellow cake mix and a can of undrained, crushed pineapple… combine… mix… and bake! You don’t add any of the usual ingredients required by the box mix – it’s literally just the cake mix and the pineapple. They’ll bake up into a lovely, slightly dense, wonderfully moist cupcake with little bits of pineapple in each bite. They’re like a mixed-up pineapple upside down cake! Frost them with a nice, light cream cheese frosting and you’re good to go!

Pineapple Bliss Cupcakes
(cupcake recipe courtesy of Gina @ Skinnytaste)
18.25 oz box yellow cake mix
20 oz can crushed pineapple in juice (do not drain)

Combine cake mix and undrained crushed pineapple in a large bowl. Mix on medium speed with electric mixer until combined.

Pour into lined cupcake tins about 2/3 full. Bake according to directions on the back of the cake mix box or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean.

Cool completely and frost with Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe follows).

Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to eat. Cupcakes will keep nicely tightly covered in the fridge for a few days.

Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting
1 box of regular or 1/3 less fat cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup confectioners sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
10 ounces regular or lite Cool Whip

Beat cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and powdered sugar and beat until smooth and well-combined. Fold in whipped cream until combined.

Big Birthday Month 2011 – and so it begins…

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but September is a HUGE birthday month among my family and friends…

We kicked it off right with my husband’s birthday… a giant Better-Than-Hostess Cupcake.

This one started out as kind of a lark. I asked David what kind of birthday cake he wanted and he – somewhat jokingly – said “I want a giant Hostess Cupcake.”

Always be careful of what you ask for in this house. It was, in a word, ah-mazing!

Better-Than-Hostess Cupcake Cake
(modified ever so slightly from this recipe by Deb @ Smitten Kitchen)
Chocolate Cake Layers
3 ounces fine-quality semisweet chocolate
1 1/2 cups hot brewed coffee
3 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
3 large eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups well-shaken buttermilk
1 tablespoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 300°F. and grease pans. Line bottoms of 3 9-inch round cake pans with wax paper and grease paper.

Finely chop chocolate and in a bowl combine with hot coffee. Let mixture stand, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.

Into a large bowl sift together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another large bowl with an electric mixer beat eggs until thickened slightly and lemon colored (about 3 minutes with a standing mixer or 5 minutes with a hand-held mixer). Slowly add oil, buttermilk, vanilla, and melted chocolate mixture to eggs, beating until combined well. Add sugar mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined well.

Divide batter evenly between pans and bake in middle of oven until a tester inserted in center comes out clean, 50-60 minutes.

Cool layers completely in pans on racks. Run a thin knife around edges of pans and invert layers onto racks. Carefully remove wax paper and cool layers completely. (Cake layers may be made 1 day ahead and kept, wrapped well in plastic wrap, at room temperature.)

Marshmallow Frosting
2 large egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
2 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Combine frosting ingredients with a pinch of salt in a metal bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water and beat with a handheld electric mixer at high speed until frosting is thick and fluffy, 6 to 7 minutes. Remove bowl from heat and continue to beat until slightly cooled. Use frosting the day it is made.

Ganache Frosting
1/2 pound fine-quality semisweet chocolate
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/4 stick (2 tablespoons) unsalted butter

Finely chop chocolate. In a 1 1/2- to 2-quart saucepan bring cream, sugar, and corn syrup to a boil over moderately low heat, whisking until sugar is dissolved. Remove pan from heat and add chocolate, whisking until chocolate is melted. Cut butter into pieces and add to frosting, whisking until smooth.

Transfer frosting to a bowl and cool, stirring occasionally, until spreadable (depending on chocolate used, it may be necessary to chill frosting to spreadable consistency). I found that stirring this over a bowl of ice water did a great job of cooling it off quickly and evenly.

Assembly
Place the first cake layer onto a cake plate. Place the second cake layer on top of the first and carefully cut a large hole out of the center of the second layer only, about 6-inches across — remove and save for a snack later. Fill the entire cut-out area with frosting, leaving a half cup aside if you wish to pipe the signature loops or a message across the top. Lay the third layer on top of this, sealing the filling in. Spread a fairly thin coating of the ganache coating over top and sides of cake. Place the cake in the fridge to chill for a few minutes, then use the remaining ganache to create a thicker layer only on the top of the cake to replicate the chocolate frosting on the top of the cupcake. Return the cake to the fridge to firm up completely (approximately 30 minutes). Once ganache is firm and chilled, decorate with the signature swirly pattern (use a piping bag or a makeshift one, a sandwich bag with the corner snipped off).

Cupcake Cones

Getting ready for all of those Memorial Day get-togethers? How about a totally portable, totally adorable sweet treat? Come on over to FGG and check out these cupcake cones – cupcakes baked in ice cream cones!

hi. can’t talk. buried.

Life is far, far too busy at the moment… so, no substantial update here – just a great little recipe and an entry for Ben’s Food for Plastic Challenge!

This month’s challenge was all about a taste of Spring. Spring makes me think of flowers in bloom. Blooming flowers make me think of hummingbirds. And hummingbirds? They make me think of hummingbird cake! Sweet as nectar, these are the perfect springtime treat!

Hummingbird Cupcakes
(adapted from Paula Deen by way of Martha Stewart)
Cake
3 cups self-rising flour
2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
3 ripe large bananas, mashed
1 (8-ounce) crushed pineapple, with juice
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 large eggs, beaten

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line cupcake tins with liners.

In a large bowl, stir together self-rising flour, sugar, oil, pecans, bananas, pineapple, vanilla, cinnamon, and eggs.
Divide batter evenly between cupcake liners Bake until toothpick comes out clean, approximately 17 minutes.

Remove pans to a wire rack to cool 10 minutes then remove cupcakes and allow to cool completely.

Frosting
1 pound (1 box) confectioners’ sugar
1 (8-ounces) cream cheese, room temperature
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon milk, more if needed
1 cup finely chopped pecans

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine sugar, cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and 1 tablespoon milk on medium speed until frosting is smooth. If needed, add more milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, to achieve the proper spreading consistency.

Frost cupcakes and serve.

Store tightly covered in the refrigerator.

Homegrown Gourmet roundup this weekend! Stay tuned for some pretty great entries!

caffeinated

I love coffee. And I love cupcakes. How exciting is it, then, that this month’s Cupcake Hero challenge features coffee as the star ingredient? Pretty exciting, I say!

There were so many possibilities with this one, but coffee and chocolate is always a winner in my book. That’s how Mocha Cupcakes with Kahlua frosting were born. If you’re a coffee junkie like me, you’ll love these rich coffee cupcakes laced with chocolate – and what’s better than coffee with a little Kahlua? Oh my.

These are the perfect dessert cupcakes. You get your cake and your coffee all in one happy little package. And, really, it’s the rare person who doesn’t love their own little personal cake!

Mocha Cupcakes
2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
5 rounded tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup water
3.5 tablespoons espresso powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat over to 350 degrees F. Insert liners into a cupcake pan.

On medium speed, cream together the sugar, butter, and eggs until fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix in the sour cream.

In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking soda, cocoa, and salt.

In a measuring cup combine the water, coffee and vanilla.

Alternate adding the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar/sour cream mixture with the coffee mixture. Mix thoroughly.

Fill the cupcake liners three-quarters full. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of cupcakes comes out clean. Remove cupcakes to wire rack and cool before frosting. (makes 24 cupcakes)

Kahlua Frosting
4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
2.5 tablespoons Kahlua
16 ounces powdered sugar

Cream together cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Mix in Kahlua, then powdered sugar in one cup increments until frosting reaches desired consistency. Apply to cupcakes. (frosts 24 cupcakes generously)

countdown to Thanksgiving – white chocolate-cranberry cupcakes

The countdown continues and the clock is ticking! Thanksgiving is just days away. I finalized my menu and my grocery list yesterday afternoon after finally settling on a couple of sweet treats to compliment the traditional pumpkin pie. The last one I chose doesn’t need to reside in the fridge (instead, it will do fine wrapped up and hanging out in the cool of the garage), is tasty, totally portable, and doesn’t require dirtying any dishes!

My inspiration?

Cranberries! (Okay, cranberries and my first blogging challenge!)

The original recipe is actually intended to be a cake that’s topped with a glaze (which I have no doubt would be awesome, too). But, cupcakes are personal, and portable, and – did I mention this already? – don’t require dirtying any dishes. And who wouldn’t love these little beauties?

Recipe after the jump…

the fate of the banana cupcake

So… what, exactly, does one do with thirty-some banana cupcakes? The logical thing here would be to freeze them and pull them out closer to the holidays to serve as part of the many goodie plates I find myself doing. Logic, however, is apparently the furthest thing from my mind these days. Because, instead of putting these little babies into the freezer, I frosted them and made them into even more indulgent (and hard to resist) little treats.

Banana cupcakes with peanut butter frosting, topped with a milk chocolate chip. How can you say no to peanut butter and chocolate? Obviously I cannot. Now we just need to recruit some willing friends to take some of these away before we eat them all ourselves.

Elvis would be so proud.