cooking ala mel

Mini Vanilla Chai Cupcakes with Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting

June 5, 2011

Mini cupcakes round two from the bridal shower! This is the second to last post from the bridal shower…I’m excited to start sharing some recipes I’ve been making recently since we’ve moved into our apartment! In my OWN kitchen! You have no idea how amazing it feels to be able to say that! But anyway. Back to the cupcakes. These ones are vanilla chai with a nicely spiced cinnamon buttercream frosting. One of Jenny’s (my sister) favorite warm drinks is chai tea, and she makes these chai cookies that are fantastic..so I saw this recipe at Bakingdom and knew I had to make it for her shower. Cupcakes and chai combined? Jenny’s favorite things..

I love how little these are, and the cinnamon buttercream really pulled together the chai flavor wonderfully. They were definitely a nice complement to the chocolate chocolate cupcakes for those that aren’t so into really rich chocolate desserts! These cupcakes are light and much more subtle in comparison.

I had so much fun piping the icing on the cupcakes; it was my first time using pastry bags and tips! I love how they turned out. And this recipe ended up making around 60 mini cupcakes, which is half the amount that we had of chocolate cupcakes..and I was SO glad. I couldn’t handle that many cupcakes again!

The display…

Mini Vanilla Chai Cupcakes with Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting

yields 5 dozen mini cupcakes

For the cupcakes:

1 1/2 cups flour

1 t baking soda

1/2 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

1 t cinnamon

3/4 t cardamom

1/2 t ginger

1/2 t nutmeg

1/2 t cloves

1 cup sugar

1 stick butter

3 eggs

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 cup milk

4 chai tea bags (I used Bigelow’s Vanilla Chai)

Line a mini muffin tin with cupcake liners and preheat the oven to 350ºF. Combine the flour, spices, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. In a small saucepan, heat the milk until simmering. Remove from heat and add in the tea bags. Allow to steep for 10 minutes, remove the tea bags and allow to cool. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs and beat until well incorporated. Add in the applesauce and stir until combined.

Add 1/3 of the flour and mix until combined. Add 1/2 of the chai milk; mix. Add 1/3 flour mixture; mix. Add the other 1/2 of the chai milk; mix. Add the final 1/3 of the flour mixture and stir until combined – do not overmix!

Using a small cookie scoop, add one scoop to each mini cupcake liner. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until toothpick comes out with a few crumbs on it. Allow to cool before frosting.

For the frosting:

2 sticks butter

1 t vanilla

1 1/4 t cinnamon

4 1/2 cups powdered sugar

In a medium bowl, cream the butter until light and fluffy. Add 1 cup of the powdered sugar and cream together. Add another cup of sugar and then the vanilla. Add the cinnamon and mix until fully incorporated. Add the remaining sugar, one cup at a time, until light and fluffy. Add 1-2 T of milk, 1 T at a time, if the icing is too stiff (I needed 2 T).

Mini Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

June 5, 2011

A tea party is not complete without little mini cakes and treats, and my sister absolutely adores cupcakes. She originally wanted her wedding cake to be entirely cupcakes, but my mom wouldn’t allow it since she’d have nothing for a cake topper. So of course I brought the cupcakes to her bridal shower! I made two different kinds of mini cupcakes, vanilla chai with cinnamon buttercream frosting and chocolate with chocolate frosting (the chai will come in the next post). The chocolate on chocolate was mostly because I love all things chocolate, and I assume that most other people do too.

I originally was going to double the recipe for these, completely forgetting I was making mini cupcakes, so it would be like I was doubling it anyway. Thank goodness I didn’t; I ended up with about 120 mini cupcakes. We had plenty of leftovers!

These cupcakes are so perfect; the frosting is absolutely amazing. It’s extremely rich and chocolatey, just what I love. I’m usually not a big fan of frosting on cupcakes, so I was SO pleased with the results of this – I would eat the frosting alone! I loved the use of applesauce in the batter; it really added some extra moistness! Because they’re so moist, you have to be careful if you’re freezing them (unfrosted); some of mine just fell out of their liners after defrosting! It hardly mattered, they’re so delicious; I just took the few that fell out and plated them without the liners!

How I served them up..you’ll notice a few in the front without liners! I especially love these cupcakes after they’ve been in the fridge for a while; the frosting tastes almost like a ganache..to die for!

Here’s me in action setting up the dessert table; my aunt Jacki captured the entire bridal shower!

Both of the cupcake recipes, I found on Bakingdom – one of my favorite food blogs! I was so excited to be able to use recipes from a lot of favorite bloggers!

Mini Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

yields 10 dozen mini cupcakes

For the cupcakes:

2 cups boiling water

1 cup cocoa powder

2 3/4 cups flour

2 t baking soda

1/2 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

2 sticks butter, softened

2 1/2 cups sugar

3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 1/2 t vanilla

Line a mini muffin tin with liners and preheat the oven to 350ºF. Whisk together the boiling water and the cocoa powder in a medium bowl until the cocoa is completely dissolved. In another bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the applesauce and vanilla; stir until well combined. Add the flour mixture and the chocolate mixture alternately until all has been added and are well combined. Using a small cookie scoop, place one scoop of batter into each cupcake liner (to ensure even cupcakes). Bake for 15-18 minutes, until a toothpick comes out with just a few crumbs clinging to it.
Allow to cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.

For the frosting:
1/2 stick butter, melted
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup milk
1 t vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar

Whisk together the cocoa and butter until well combined. Add the milk and vanilla; stir until smooth. Beat in the powdered sugar until you reach the desired consistency. You can add more milk (to soften) or more sugar (to stiffen) until you reach what you like.

Spinach Artichoke Dip and Tomato Basil Bruschetta

June 4, 2011

I absolutely love a good bruschetta. The most traditionally known bruschetta is tomato basil, so I made that for the bridal shower on some yummy french bread crostinis. I’ve been wanting to make my own bread for a while, so that was the perfect excuse..and a perfect opportunity for some yummy spreads/bruschetta!

Photo by my aunt Jacki.

I made spinach artichoke dip as well, as it’s one of Jenny’s favorites. This particular recipe for spinach artichoke dip is out of this world. I’m usually not a fan of dips that have mayo in it, but oh boy. This one is fantastic. My cousin and aunt both don’t usually like spinach artichoke dip, but this one changed them! The bruschetta was so fresh; I added a drizzle of balsamic vinegar to amp up the flavor, and it was perfect. The key here is using fresh basil! Both of these recipes were from the lovely food blog, Annie’s Eats (dip & bruschetta), with only slight changes made. Make these soon – they’re SO worth it!

Here’s the spread of our savory bites. For the full menu from the shower, look to this link. This was the table I had to compromise about with my mom, so it was lacking natural light. I’m sad I couldn’t get better photos, but it’s better than nothing!

Spinach Artichoke Dip

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/3 cup sour cream (I used fat free)

1/3 cup mayonnaise

10 oz. frozen spinach, thawed, drained & chopped

1 cup canned artichoke hearts, chopped

4 cloves roasted garlic, smashed

1/4 t salt

1/2 t chili pepper flakes (Annie used roasted red pepper flakes..I wanted a bit of a kick – it was delicious!)

To roast the garlic, place unpeeled garlic cloves on a baking sheet and roast at 400ºF for 15-20 minutes, until fragrant and soft (the garlic will squeeze out of the peels once cool).

Combine the cream cheese, parmesan, sour cream, mayo, spinach, artichokes, roasted garlic, salt and chili pepper flakes in a medium bowl. Mix until fully incorporated. Spread into a small baking dish and sprinkle with some extra parmesan cheese. Bake for 35-40 minutes at 400ºF, until heated through and lightly brown on top. Serve with crostini, crackers, etc.

Tomato Basil Bruschetta

3 tomatoes, seeded and diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 T basil, minced

1/4 t salt

pepper, to taste

1 1/2 T extra virgin olive oil

2 T grated parmesan

1-2 T balsamic vinegar (to your tastes)

Crostini, for serving

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Cover and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to overnight to allow the flavors to develop. Spoon the mixture on top of crostini, drizzle with some balsamic vinegar and serve.