Blue Moon Cupcakes



I made these delicious cupcakes for Father's Day. Perferct for a summer cookout :)

What you'll need:

Blue Moon Cupcake-
3/4 cup butter
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon orange zest
1 cup Blue Moon (extra for brushing)
1/4 cup buttermilk

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting-
12 oz cream cheese
6 tablespoons butter
Fresh orange juice
1 teaspoon orange zest
4 cups confectioners sugar
Orange wedges for decoration

Preheat oven to 375. In medium size bowl, whisk together flour baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time to sugar mixture.





Add vanilla and orange zest to sugar mixture. If your like me and you dont own a zester I suggest you buy one before you make these cupcakes. Otherwise you'll be sitting there with a orange and knife having a grand old time :)



Next combine milk and beer in mearsuring glass. (It will be easier to add the liquid later) Add flour mixture to sugar mixture alternating with beer mixture. Starting and ending with flour mixture.



Fill cupcake liners 3/4 of the way. Bake at 375 for 18 minutes. Remove cupcakes from oven and immediately poke holes in the top of each cupcake. Brush with beer. Let cool before frosting.



For the frosting- beat butter and cream cheese until fluffy. Add in 1 cup at a time of confectioners sugar. Squeeze about a tablespoon of fresh orange juice into frosting, continue to beat. Last add orange zest.

Like the raspberry frosting from the previous recipe you might want to let frosting sit in the fridge for a couple mintues before frosting cupakes. Fruit and fruit juices tend to make cream cheese frosting a little runny. If you frost before putting in fridge your icing wont stay on your cupcake.

Frost your cupcakes and add an orange wedge on top for decoartion. If you drink Blue Moon regularly save the bottle caps, they also make a cute topper for your cupcake.

Enjoy!

What's Next?


Fried Pickles!

Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes

What you'll need:

Chocolate Cupcake-
1 1/3 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup milk

Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting-
1 cup unslated butter room temperture (2 sticks)
12 oz cream cheese ( 1 1/2 pkgs)
4 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup crushed raspberries
Whole raspberries for decoration
1/2 cup milk if needed

In a medium size bowl sift flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder and baking soda. In a separte bowl beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Next add eggs and vanilla. Add 1/3 flour mixture followed by half the milk. Repeat steps ending with flour mixture.

Fill cupcakes liners 3/4 of the way.

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes (depending on your oven)

Let cool. In the meantime make frosting! In a small bowl crush raspberries. You have to crush them into tiny pieces otherwise they'll get stuck in your frosting gun/bag. In a separate bowl beat together butter and cream cheese. Next add confectioners sugar 1 cup at a time. If mixture gets too tough add a little milk. Lastly add vanilla and raspberries. You might have to let frosting sit in the fridge for a couple minutes. I found that the raspberries make the frosting runny and you dont want runny cupcakes!

When you feel the frosting has solidified some, frost your cupcakes! Then add a raspberry on top for decoration.

(First batch with runny frosting! I didnt get a picture of second batch.)

What's Next?

Blue Moon Cupcakes

Catch Up

Lots and lots of baking and cooking and not alot of blogging. So lets play catch up!
My next couple posts will include a bunch of recipes I tried over the past month.

Mint Chocolate Oreo Cupcakes
Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes
Blue Moon Cupcakes
Peach Pie Pops
Beach Themed Coconut Cupcakes
Beach Themed Vanilla Cupcakes
Fried Pickles

Mothers Day Brunch!

So back to regular scheduled programming...Sorry so late, work has been busy busy busy.  On the flip side my Easter brunch idea can also be used for Mothers Day!!

Mothers Day Brunch Menu:

Tea sandwiches ( For ideas: Food Network Magazine May 2011 "50 tea sandwiches") These tiny little sandwiches are perfect! You can do 2 or 3 different varieties to appease different tastes.
Fruit and veggie platters
Salad (any kind you like)
Muffins
Bagels with different flavored cream cheeses
Bacon, Ham, and/or sausage
Make your own waffle bar (make waffles ahead of time and place in the oven on a low heat to keep warm.) Set out toppings in little bowls : fresh fruit, whipped topping, chocolate chips, granola, nuts, bacon, different flavored syrups.

You can arrange your menu to your liking! Don't forget Mom:)

For a sweet treat try Honey Cupcakes with Honey Cream Cheese Frosting!

What you'll need:

Honey Cupcake:
1 stick butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla

Honey Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 1/2 sticks butter
4 oz cream cheese
3 cups confectioners sugar
3 Tablespoon honey
yellow food coloring
yellow sugar sprinkles

Preheat oven to 350.
In a medium bowl mix together flour, baking powder and salt.

In a small bowl mix together buttermilk, honey and vanilla.

In mixer bowl, beat butter and sugar. Add one egg at a time.

Gradually add dry and wet ingredients alternating between the two. Start and end with dry ingredients.

Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full.

Bake 18- 20 minutes.

Let cool. Meanwhile make frosting. In mixer, beat butter and cream cheese. Gradually add confectioners sugar and continue mixing. Mix in honey. If desired add a few drops of yellow food coloring. It gave the frosting a nice "honey" tint.

Pipe on frosting. Sprinkle with yellow sugar sprinkles.

Originally I made these cupcakes for Easter so I found cute little toppers and liners from Michael's.

For Mother's Day try flower toppers or piping flowers on top. Amazon.com sells sugar bumble bee cake decorations which would also be really cute for Mother's Day.

Sugar Bumble Bee Decorations

For decorations set out potted flowers. The bumble bee cupcakes will look so cute sitting on the table next to the plants. For Easter I set out tiny Easter baskets filled with our tie dye creations.

Whats for dinner tonight?
Bowtie pasta with chicken and zucchini

Next cupcake recipe:
Mint Chocolate Oreo Cupcakes!

Blueberry Pancake Cupcakes

I know my last post stated that my next post would involve Easter Brunch but I had to take a break from our regular scheduled programing to bring you Blueberry Pancake Cupcakes with Maple Buttercream Frosting. I found this next recipe on pinterest via Your Cup of Cake. They are perfect for breakfast or as a snack!

What you'll need:

Blueberry Pancake Cupcakes:

1 cup butter, softened

1 ½ cup sugar

3 eggs

2 egg whites

3 1/3 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup sour cream

1/3 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 ½ cups fresh

Maple Buttercream:

½ cup butter, softened

8 ounces cream cheese

2 teaspoons Mapleine (maple flavoring) *I couldn't find Mapleine so I used vanilla instead. I've heard that maple syrup works well also but you have to use quite alot.

4 cups powdered sugar

Cinnamon sugar and fresh blueberries to decorate

What to do:

Preheat oven to 350. Beat butter and sugar until fluffy.

Add eggs and egg whites one at a time.

In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg together.

In a separate bowl, mix wet ingredients (sour cream, milk, vanilla) .

Add dry mixture to the butter/sugar mixture, alternating with the wet mixture.

Rinse blueberries and fold into cupcake mixture.

Fill cupcake liners (I've found that an ice cream scooper is the perfect tool for filling cupcake liners). Bake for 12 minutes (recipe bakes for 18 minutes but everyone's oven is different).

Let cupcakes cool before icing. Meanwhile prepare your icing.

Beat butter and cream cheese until fluffy.

Add in vanilla and powdered sugar.

Pipe frosting on cupcakes.

Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and place fresh blueberries on top.

So delicious! The girls at work loved them! There great without icing also. Warm them up and put butter on them..so good!

Ok back to regular programing! :)