Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

So this all started when me and a girl I work with (who happens to be pregnant) started talking about cupcakes.  Before it was over with, we had both convinced me that I needed to make this.

To start, you need to whip up some chocolate cupcake batter.  I prefer my recipe that I have finally figured out for myself, so here it is again if you need it.

Chocolate Cupcake Recipe
2 cups room temperature unsalted butter
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 box instant chocolate pudding
1 1/2 cups milk

When filling your cupcake liners, fill them slightly over half-way full.  If you fill them like normal and then add the cookie dough, your cupcakes will over-flow when they bake.

Now, for your cookie dough, you are more than welcome to mix that up from scratch.  I bought a tub of cookie dough and used that. ;)

I used a half tablespoon and scooped out the cookie dough and rolled it into a ball.  Place it in the center of your cupcakes and push down slightly.  Your cupcakes will bake up around the cookie dough.

Bake these at 350 degrees for about 15-16 minutes.  You don't want to over bake these and the cookie dough will settle in the middle when you take them out, so don't panic.

Cookie Dough Frosting
3 sticks butter
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2/3 cups packed light brown sugar
1 cup all purpose flour
3 tablespoons milk
2-3 teaspoons vanilla
chocolate chips for garnishing, if desired

I don't usually prefer the taste of alot of butter in a frosting recipe, but for this, it worked well.  If you don't like the butter at all (which I usually don't), feel free to substitute it with shortening.

Top your cupcakes with the frosting and chocolate chips, and you're good to go!

Halloween Ghost Cupcakes

Just as I did last year, I had to make cupcakes for my boyfriend's niece and nephew's Halloween party!  This year, I used an idea that I seen in Betty Crocker's Easy Fall Entertaining magazine.  (That magazine also has some awesome dinner recipes.  Yum.)

I made vanilla cupcakes and topped them with orange buttercream.  Then, you just take a dum dum sucker and stick in the middle of the cupcake.

For the ghost, cut out 2 1/2' circles from fondant and just drape them over the suckers.  Then pipe on some "Boo"s and some eyes.

Way cute.  And these were so fun!

Icecream Cone Cupcake

I have been dying to try this.  And I assumed it would be easy - just bake a cupcake in the icecream cone, right?

To start, I wanted to put my Neopolitan Cupcakes inside of these.  It seemed like a fabulous idea.  When I was filling them, I filled them up to about 1" from the top.  DO NOT DO THAT! haha With that recipe that I used, I recommend going no higher than 2/3 of the way up from the cone.  I think it will really depend on how your cake batter rises, so even take a test run if you have to.

What happens when you over fill them, is that they run over, of course, and then your icream cone has cake batter running down the side of the cone, causing the cone to get gooey.  It's not good.

So take your time with these and test out your batter on a couple of cones first.  That's my recommendation for these, especially if you're using a made from scratch recipe.

After all was said and done, they were cute.  I personally didn't care for the icecream cone. lol

To transport them, I placed them in a small clear plastic cup and surrounded them by M&M's to hold them in place.

Oreo Cupcakes - Yummm.

My boyfriend absolutely loved that oreo cake I made his brother for Father's Day, so I was peer pressured into making cupcakes.  haha  Plus, I had some fabulous cupcake liners I was dying to use for something.

They were deeeee-lish.  I found some recipes online, and combined a little from each to get what worked for me. Even though I've gotten more comfortable with making all of my cakes from scratch, this is what tasted best.   Here is the recipe:

1 - pkg Devil's Food Cake Mix (Pilsbury is my favorite)

1 - pkg instant chocolate pudding

1 - tsp kosher salt

2 - tsp pure vanilla extract

1 - cup sour cream

1 - cup vegetable oil (I always use canola oil)

4 - eggs

1/2 - cup warm water

2 - cups chocolate chips

Bake at 350 degrees 25-30 minutes for a cake or about 18 minutes for cupcakes.

The icing I used is basic buttercream with crushed up oreos.  For my buttercream recipe, visit my Recipes page. :)  Enjoy!

Snow White Birthday Bash

A friend of mine at work asked me to make her daughter's birthday cake.  The theme was "Snow White" and she had found a cake online that she liked.  Here's mine.

She also had a great idea to make matching cupcakes that looked like apples.  They were so fun to make!

They are standard sized cupcakes with a half mini donut on top.  I then covered them with icing and dipped them into homemade edible glitter (sugar and food coloring).  Then I added some fondant leaves and stems.  

This is definitely one of my favorite cakes!

Angry Birds!

I would like to start off by saying this is one of my favorite cakes so far.  I was so excited over this one!

This cake was for a birthday party for an 8-year-old boy.  The cake is white cake covered in buttercream and MMF. It was hard to make him look angry, because he turned out cute.

I also made matching fondant decorations for the cupcakes.  And I must say, the cupcakes were my favorite part.  Here are the decorations...

I used MMF and some edible markers for the eyes.  Once they dried some, I added them to the cucpakes.

Mother's Day Bonanza

So, I'm very late with this post.  These are two Mother's Day cakes that I made - one for my mama and one for my boyfriend's mom.

One of the cakes are white and the other chocolate, with the cupcakes also half and half.  I used buttercream icing and added fondant decorations.

Peanut Butter Cupcakes

I've been experimenting alot with icing and cake batter recipes.  I love chocolate cake and my boyfriend really likes peanut butter, so I just went with it. haha

I whipped up some chocolate cake (using a recipe that I've finally got the way I like) and added some peanut butter chips to the batter.  I then added some peanut butter to my buttercream icing along with a little milk.  I am not a hug fan of peanut butter, but I really liked these cupcakes.

I made alot, so my boyfriend took them to work.  According to him, they were a success. lol

Welcome Back Cupcake!

At work, our boss, Janis, had been off for a little while.  So to let her know that she was missed, we had the idea for me to make her a cake.  And I went with a big cupcake. :)

I used the large cupcake pan and piped rosettes on the top.  The bottom of the cupcake is covered and decorated with a MMF bow.

Neopolitan Cupcakes

So anytime I'm out and find a cupcake/cake decorating book,  I just have to buy it.  haha  So, when I found a cupcake recipe magazine at Sam's Club, I just had to have it.  Inside, I found this recipe for Neopolitan Cupcakes.  Oh. Em. Gee.  The were fantastic.

The recipe was really simple to follow.  And just like the icecream, all three flavors are in the cupcake.  The icing recipe could be varied, but mine is a basic cream cheese icing.  This cupcake was awesome and everyone needs to try it!

Flower Cupcakes

I decided to make some cute cupcakes for Janis at work for her birthday.  And since most people like purple, I made some purple flower cupcakes.

These are pound cake cupcakes topped with buttercream.  I thought the purple looked nice with the black wrapper, as well. ;)

Birthday Cupcakes

My boyfriend's mom had a birthday on December 2nd, so I made her some pretty cupcakes.  I really liked the way the purple and green looked on the graduation cake I made, and I had some really pretty cupcake liners I bought at Walmart that looked like flowers and they were purple and green! lol

These are just vanilla cupcakes topped with buttercream.  I think they turned out way cute, though!  So, she got a whole batch of these!