Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Banana Cupcakes with Caramel Buttercream Frosting


Banana Cupcakes with Caramel Buttercream Frosting
Last week I realized how many of my friends love bananas. It's just one of those things that you don't think about, mostly because it's unimportant information, but that's neither here nor there. I decided to do a banana cupcake. I conveniently already had a banana cupcake recipe saved on my Pinterest. I used the Martha Stewart recipe for the cupcake and then used the Caramel Buttercream frosting recipe from Made in Mel's Kitchen blog.

Yes, Martha Stewart had her own frosting recipe, but I cheated and used the "Alternatively, you could use just under 1/2 cup of your favorite caramel sauce" on the other blog. Look, I tried to make my own caramel, but it didn't work. Ask my sister. It was taking forever to change color and just getting crusty instead. And I already had caramel left over from one of my previous cupcakes. I'll try to make my own caramel a different day. Don't judge me too hard. The only thing with this frosting recipe is it is a salted frosting, and I'm not too sure that would taste good at all with banana, so I took out the sea salt and just added a pinch of regular salt instead. I also did not add the pecans to the cupcake... gross.

These cupcakes were a huge hit. Another one where I should of made 24 instead of 12. They tasted just like banana bread, but better (I think, at least). It was just enough spice and just enough banana. So if you have a banana lover on your hands, then this is the cupcake for them. Now to try and figure out how to make a whole cake out of it..

They even looked like a good banana bread!
No fancy frosting, just spread it on top with a butter knife.
And then add a banana slice for garnish! You may want to wait and put the banana slice on top right before you hand them out, just so you don't have any gross and smooshy bananas. 

Friday, June 1, 2012

Butterbeer Cupcakes

Butterbeer Cupcakes
My sister is possibly one of the biggest nerds of all time, and I love her for it. For her birthday this year we threw a huge nerd bash full of Harry Potter, Star Wars, Hunger Games, Sherlock, Game of Thrones, and most of all Doctor Who. For her cupcakes, she specially requested Butterbeer cupcakes, like the drink they have in Harry Potter. We went to Harry Potter World (aka the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios in Orlando) last summer and had the most delicious butterbeer ever. We have yet to be able to recreate it, but I did find a butterbeer cupcake recipe at Amy Bites's blog. 

The cake part had Cream Soda in it with a butterscotch ganache and the frosting was butterscotch buttercream. It was a super easy recipe. I poked a lot of holes in the cake to make sure it was filled with the butterscotch ganache. I was a little worried it might of had too much filling, but everyone really liked it. You could barely taste the Cream Soda in it, but that was actually okay because butterscotch is awesome and delicious.

These were definitely a hit, even if you don't like Harry Potter or have any idea what butterbeer is. As long as you like butterscotch, then you'll like these cupcakes. And if you don't like butterscotch then you should probably rethink your life... but seriously. It's delicious.

Light and fluffy cake
Lots of holes for the ganache. I kept pouring the butterscotch in there until it was spilling out the top.
Kinda pretty, I guess.
I also made Game of Thrones Ned Stark head on a stake cake pops! Red Velvet. Absolutely delicious.