Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes

I've really been looking forward to making these cupcakes for a long time! I love chocolate, I love fresh strawberries, and I of course love me some chocolate covered strawberries. So why not put it in cupcake form?!?! 

These are literally To. Die. For.

I mean what's not to love, really? The strawberry buttercream makes this cupcake. I would advise not to cheat and taste it ahead of time or you might just find yourself licking right off the spatula! But don't worry there will be some frosting leftover for you to do just that ;) Yes, it's really that good!

I made these for a special occasion, saying goodbye to my wonderful boss! Today was her last day as she took another position, we will truly miss her!!!

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes

From My Baking Addiction

Yield: 24 cupcakes

For the Cupcakes:
1 (18.25 ounce) package devil’s food cake mix
1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup warm water

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tin with paper liners or spray with non-stick cooking spray.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, eggs, vanilla and water. Beat for about two minutes on medium speed until well combined.
3. Using a large cookie scoop, distribute the batter between 24 muffin wells; about 3 tablespoons of batter per well.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick entered into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Allow cupcakes to cool inside muffin tins for about 10 minutes.
5. Remove cupcakes from muffin tins and allow to fully cool on a wire rack. Once cupcakes are cool, prepare your frosting.

For the Buttercream:
3 sticks unsalted butter, softened
pinch of fine grain sea salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 pounds confectioners’ sugar, sifted
6 ounces strawberries, pureed
4-6 tablespoons heavy cream

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, cream butter on medium speed until fluffy. Turn your mixer down to low speed and slowly add in the confectioner’s sugar, and continue mixing until well blended.
2. Add salt, vanilla, 3 tablespoons of heavy cream and strawberry puree. Blend on low speed until moistened. Add an additional 1 to 3 tablespoons of heavy cream until you reach the desired consistency. Beat at high speed until frosting is smooth and fluffy
3. Pipe frosting onto cooled cupcakes and finish with a chocolate covered strawberry.



Cake Auction

Last week Davenport West High School's boosters had a cake auction fundraiser event during the West/Assumption basketball game. Each sports team was asked to participate by donating a cake and a gift basket to be raffled off during the game. As a baseball coaches wife and baker, Head Coach Jones asked me if I would like to donate a baseball themed cake and get my name out there. Of course I'm not going to say no to a fundraiser...or free advertising ;)

For the cake I made a baseball base with the the teams signature "DW"on all their apparel. It's a vanilla cake, with a keylime filling and vanilla buttercream covered in marshmallow fondant.

Unfortunately I still don't know how my cake did but I do know the auction raised nearly $3,000!!!! Now that's pretty amazing!!

Root Beer Float Cupcakes

One of my favorite ice cream indulgence are root beer floats, so why not turn them into a cupcake?! This cupcake it not overloaded with the taste of root beer but just a hint in the chocolate cupcake, filled with a light root beer buttercream and topped with a vanilla buttercream.  

Root Beer Float Cupcakes
www.howsweeteats.com
makes 16 cupcakes
1 1/8 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup dark cocoa powder
1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons root beer concentrate
1/3 cup root beer
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon heavy cream
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 tablespoons sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a bowl, whisk egg and sugar until smooth and no lumps remain. Add cream, butter and vanilla, and mix until combined. Stir in sour cream. Sift dry ingredients together and add to wet mixture. Add root beer concentrate and root beer. Mix until batter is smooth. Line a muffin tin with liners and using a heaping 1/4 cup measure, add batter to each cup. Bake for 15-18 minutes. Let cool before frosting.

Vanilla and Root Beer Frosting
1 1/2 sticks butter, softened
4 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk
1/4 teaspoon root beer extract

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter until smooth. On low speed, add powdered sugar one cup at a time, increasing speed to bring the frosting together. Add milk and vanilla extract. Beat until smooth. Remove almost all of the vanilla frosting, leaving behind about 1/3-1/2 cup in the mixer. Set vanilla frosting aside. Add root beer extract to remaining frosting in the bowl and beat until it comes together.

Prep two pastry bags (or you can simply use spoons) and fill one with vanilla frosting and the other with root beer frosting. Once the cupcakes have completely cooled, fill each one with root beer frosting (I simply plunge the pastry tip into the cupcake and squeeze), then top with vanilla frosting.

New and Improved

Welcome to my New and Improved baking blog!

Yes I moved, mainly for professional reasons. 

Thankfully I was able to import all my previous posts, comments and pictures to my new address so everything is still all in one place. My old address will be deleted in a few weeks to accommodate readers with the updated change.

Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused. Stay tuned for new recipes, cakes and cupcakes. And don't forget to become a "Follower"!