We give you the cupcake enthusiast

IN A WORLD FULL OF STRESS AND homework, WHAT CAN PUT YOUR MIND AT REST AND YOUR STOMACH IN BLISS? WELL, DUH…

A CUPCAKE!!!

We give you, The Cupcake Enthusiast!

Welcome to The Cupcake Enthusiast, a blog about cupcakes! Anna and Eva, former cupcake entrepreneurs, swimmers, and best friends have joined to give you folks out there a beacon of bake-able hope to put a smile on your face in time of need through recipes, commentary, experiences, and more. (Hopefully) So start reading now, you fools, and embark on a frosting-smeared journey into a world of… um, you get the picture. This must-read blog is sprinkle-filled delight to the cupcake lover inside all of us, if we do say so ourselves! Read! Read! Read!



Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Cupcake Haiku

cupcakes are so good
I would eat it upside down
Bring me one right now


Yum- Anna plus Jon Lee

Monday, July 19, 2010

My new and improved delicious frosting!!!!

Making frosting is all about not being afraid to try knew things, Its like composing a poem except Instead of turning i in to your English teacher when you have completed  you you can eat its sugary wonderfulness ( on a cupcake on right out of the bowl!!!)!!! So..... I decided If  you can put cream cheese in frosting (who thought of that?) then you should possibly, maybe be able to put ricotta in frosting!!!!!!!!

It was awesome... and because I am such a generous person I will share this amazing, cool, wonderful. and any other word that sort of means those things... cupcake frosting recipe with you!!

INGREDIENTS:

. half of a stick of butter ( softened)
. 4 oz of cream cheese( room temp)
. a quarter to half of a box of powdered sugar
. 2 tsp. of grated orange zest
. 1 tsp. vanilla extract
. half a cup of ricotta ( you can use as much or as little as you like!)

DIRECTIONS:

Cream together butter, cream cheese,vanilla, orange zest, and 1/4 of the box of powdered sugar. Add in ricotta, If the frosting seems to watery or is not sweet enough slowly add in the  other 1/4 box until you are satisfied.

note: I used this of carrot cupcakes!

Leave any comments, recipes. or recommendations! Enjoy!!!

Thursday, June 3, 2010

OMG I posted

OMG I posted. yes it true, I posted. Unfortunately my post is not about cupcakes it is about... CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCC
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKK
KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEE
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Yay.
Once upon a time when a good friend of mine had surgery. I made her some awesome peanut butter cookies.
She liked them. They were good. The end.

And that's my post for the day. yay (hey that rhymes) yay.


Recipe:

\
 .1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature, plus more for greasing
  • 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups (12-ounce package) semisweet chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup peanut butter chips
  • 1/2 cup dry-roasted peanuts
print a shopping list for this recipe

Preparation

Place an oven rack in the middle position and preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly rub two cookies sheets with butter, or use nonstick baking sheets. Set aside.
Put the butter, peanut butter and the sugars in a large bowl. Beat with an electric mixer or a wooden spoon until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat again. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, and beat on low speed until well blended. Add the chocolate chips (see Mom Tip), peanut butter chips and peanuts and mix thoroughly.
Using a teaspoon as a guide, scoop a portion of the dough and, with your hands, roll each portion into a ball. Place the balls on each cookie sheet, 3 cookies per row in 5 rows. Flatten the balls with the heel of your hand or the tines of a fork so that they spread to about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Bake each batch, one cookie sheet at a time, for about 10 minutes. The cookies will be firm to the touch and just beginning to brown.
Remove from the oven and cool on the sheet for about 3 minutes. Then transfer them with a spatula to a cooling rack. Let the cookie sheet cool for 1 or 2 minutes more before reusing so the dough doesn't melt. Store in an airtight container.

Note: I got this recipe from www.epicurious.com but changed a few things. I only added chocolate chips not peanuts, and peanut chips, and dipped them in chocolate. YUM!!! :)

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Some Beautiful carrot cupcakes



Ona beautiful theursday afternoon I decided to make some awesome carrot cupcakes. They were awesome. I had the day off because( I know what your thonking, and know I had confrences) I decided to make some carrot cupcakes with my gradma. I startede bye searching the cumputor foe a carrot ckae recipe that didn't have pineapple or apllesauce ( we did'nt have any ). I ended up having to go through my grandmas amazing selection of cookbooks till we found the perfect recipe. I started by grading 4 cups of carrots( with help from my friend choppy thing A.K.A Cuisinart). After that I dumped all the ingredeints into te beloved mixer and well, mixed. After that was over I carefully scooped them with all of their awesomeness into the tins and set them to bake. I was a little worried becuase my grandmas oven is form the 1920s and the temp gage dosent work so well, but.............. lucklty they din't stick. Te bad side: NO BREAD PUDDING:( Anywho I set to work making the frosting . I have decided that frosting is the best food in the world brcause it's butter sugar and cream cheese (heaven). I pulled the cupcaked out only to descover I hac 20 minutes to frost thenm and they were still hot. My goal was to do one sheet. To cool them down I had a plan.....
A) To put them on a bead of ice. (It DID NOT exactly work)
B) to cover them with a cloth and put them in the fridge. (The answer is above)




WITH SPELLING ISSUES TO BE CONTINUED

Monday, March 15, 2010

I love cupcakes

the tittle tells all I love cupcakes

Some aewsome cupcake recipes

SO, (announced self-importantly)

We cupcake enthusiasts might have mentioned in the blog proceeding the most recent Oreo Cupcake one, that we would give you the recipe for Thick & Rich Chocolate Brownie Cupcakes w/ Coffee Frosting! and, as we always, well, somethimes keep our promices and follow through here it is! Fortunately for you folks; we feel guilt tripped into adding a second recipe. Wait for one get one free!


Thick & Rich Chocolate Brownie Cupcakes w/ Coffee Frosting
  • 3 ounces fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), chopped
  • 1 ounce unsweetened chocolate, chopped
  • 3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°F. and butter and flour an 8-inch square baking pan, knocking out excess flour.

In a heavy 1 1/2-quart saucepan melt bittersweet and unsweetened chocolates and butter over low heat, stirring, until smooth and remove pan from heat. Cool mixture to lukewarm and whisk in sugar and vanilla. Add eggs, 1 at a time, whisking well until mixture is glossy and smooth. Stir in salt and flour just until combined and stir in chocolate chips.

Spread batter evenly in pan and bake in middle of oven 25 to 30 minutes, or until a tester comes out with crumbs adhering to it. Cool brownies completely in pan on a rack before cutting into 16 squares. Brownies keep, layered between sheets of wax paper in an airtight container at cool room temperature, 5 days.
FROSTING

  • espresso whipped buttercream frosting
  • 2 sticks unsalted organic butter, softened
  • 1 cup organic pure cane sugar
  • 1 cup organic whole milk
  • 1/4 cup sifted organic all-purpose flour
  • 1-2 tablespoons powdered espresso
  • 1-2 tablespoons hot water
  • make the frosting

    In a small saucepan, combine 1/4 cup of the milk with flour, whisking until there are no lumps. Over medium heat, slowly add the remaining 3/4 cup milk. Whisk constantly over medium-high heat and cook until bubbles form and it comes to a low boil. Reduce heat to low and keep whisking for a few more minutes until the mixture starts to thicken. Remove from heat and keep stirring. Then let cool to room temperature. Quicken this step by throwing mixture into freezer until it is room temperature. If there’s a thick skin on top that’s developed while in the freezer, remove and discard it.

    While milk-flour mixture is cooling, make the butter-sugar mixture. In a mixer, cream butter on medium speed for 3-5 minutes. Add in sugar and beat on high speed until light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes. Once milk-flour mixture is cooled, on low speed, slowly pour the milk-flour mixture into the butter-sugar mixture. Increase to medium speed and beat until frosting is light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes.

    Dissolve espresso powder in hot, preferably boiling, water. Start with 1 tablespoon of each. I was looking for a stronger coffee flavor so I went with 2 tablespoons of each. However, add additions slowly so that you do not lose the desired frosting consistency. Frost the cupcakes!




Keylime cupcakes


Ingredients

  • 1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
  • 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
  • 1 tablespoon grated Key lime zest
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 3/4 cups self-rising flour
  • 3/4 cup whole milk
  • 1/4 cup fresh Key lime juice, divided
  • 1 cup confectioners sugar
  • 1 tablespoon rum (optional)
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Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Generously butter a 9- by 2-inch round cake pan and line bottom with a round of parchment paper.

Toast coconut in a small baking pan in oven, stirring once or twice, until golden, 8 to 12 minutes. Cool. Leave oven on.

Beat together butter, granulated sugar, and zest with an electric mixer until fluffy. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Stir together flour and 1/2 cup coconut (reserve remainder for topping). Stir together milk and 2 tablespoons lime juice. At low speed, mix flour and milk mixtures into egg mixture alternately in batches, beginning and ending with flour.

Spoon batter into pan and smooth top. Bake until golden and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Cool to warm, then turn out of pan and discard parchment.

Whisk together confectioners sugar, remaining 2 tablespoons lime juice, and rum (if using) and pour over cake. Sprinkle with remaining coconut.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Oreo cupcake madness

What sounds better than an oreo cupcakes, cookies and cake double yum (yum).
Well that's what we thought until well, we pulled them out of the oven. So grab a drink, sit down, and read. It all started after an incredibly boring series of little league games. For us the whole 4 hours included switching between watching our brothers games, drawing ion each others hands, and sitting in trees making up stories about random people ( we were really bored).
After the freezing cold, mildly interesting, drawing on handish game, we decided to make some cupcakes. Eva had just bought some joe joes so it seemed fitting to make oreo cupcakes. We have no ides what caused the lack of yummyness but after about an hour of baking and snacking we pulled the cupcakes about of the oven and as i would say they were "blucky" they were dry and just not good. The cupcakes were BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD.
But at least they made good bread pudding :)