Cream Cheese Frosting
This is my ALL TIME favorite cream cheese frosting. From coconut to caramel, this recipe is an ideal base for unlimited frosting or icing flavors. I love that it’s not overly sweet and it can be used on cupcakes, cakes, cinnamon rolls, cookies, and anything else you feel needs a dab of icing. Like carrots, or celery, or spinach. . . This cream cheese frosting will be hard to beat.
Ingredients
Directions
A few ingredients to be snobby about. Make sure you are using pure cane sugar instead of beet sugar. Beet sugar will cause your icing to feel grainy. Cane sugar dissolves easier and results in a smooth lickable (is that a word) spread. If available, use pure vanilla. With a high quality vanilla a small amount will go along way. Note: pure vanilla may tint the shade of your icing, use sparingly.
Professional Tip: add a small amount of powdered sugar to the bottom of your bowl before you beat the cream cheese and butter together. This will keep the mixture from sticking to the bowl.
Beat cream cheese and butter together until light, fluffy and creamy. Make sure there are no chunks! Add 1 cup powdered sugar and beat until smooth.
Add vanilla and remaining powdered sugar and beat on medium hight until smooth and creamy. About 2 minutes.
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
The PERFECT consistency for frosting cakes and cupcakes, I use this no-fail chocolate buttercream frosting recipe ALL THE TIME! It pairs perfectly with dark chocolate ganache, raspberries, peppermint, caramel and a hundred other flavor combinations. Your guests will love my perfected chocolate buttercream frosting.
Ingredients
Directions
In a stand mixer bowl with the paddle attachment, beat butter until light, completely smooth, and fluffy.
Turn the mixer speed to low and add half of the powdered sugar. Add cocoa powder. Mix until smooth.
Alternately add remaining powdered sugar and milk until smooth and creamy. Add vanilla and salt. Beat until smooth.
Raspberry Swirl Cupcakes
Hands down that the Raspberry Swirl is the MOST POPULAR cupcake for summer weddings. Moist vanilla cake and fresh raspberry puree swirl together to create a marbled incredible cupcake. No one can eat just one. Recipe below!
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Beat butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed until combined.
Stop mixer and scrape down sides of the bowl.
Add sour cream, buttermilk, applesauce, oil, eggs, and vanilla.
Beat together until smooth.
In a separate bowl, sift together dry vanilla pudding, flour, baking powder, and salt.
Turn the stand mixer on low and add dry ingredients until just incorporated. The batter should be smooth.
Fold in raspberry puree until batter is marbled. Pro Tip: be careful not to over mix when adding the raspberry puree. The batter should be marbled, not pink.
Line two standard muffin tins with paper cupcake liners.
Fill each cup two-thirds full with batter. Use an ice-cream scoop for perfect measuring.
Bake for 20-22 minutes or until the stops spring back at the touch of your finger and the edges are just golden brown.
Remove raspberry swirl cupcakes from tins and cool completely before icing.
Icing with Cream Cheese icing and garnish with a single fresh raspberry.
Chocolate Coconut Almond Cake
Inspired by Almond Joy’s, the chocolate coconut almost cake recipe is adapted from Laurie and Amy’s Amazing Chocolate Cake from the fabulous blog A Bountiful Kitchen. I live in a dry climate at a high altitude and this cake turns out amazing every time. People always ask if I use the same recipes for cakes as I do for cupcakes and the answer is ABSOLUTELY NOT. Well, most of the time, there are a few exceptions but this is not one of them. Keep the cupcake recipes to cupcakes and the cakes to cakes and you’ll bake just fine.
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Line two 9 or 8 inch round cake pans with baking parchment. Spray edges with no-stick baking spray.
In a separate bowl pour boiling water over chocolate chips.
Add cocoa powder and mix until smooth.
Set aside to cool.
Cream butter and sugars.
Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each one.
Add dry ingredients and half of the chocolate mixture. Beat until smooth.
Add remaining chocolate mixture and beat on low until mixed.
Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
Cool for 10-15 minutes; level with serrated knife and remove from pans.
Wrap in double layer of plastic wrap and freeze.
Fill and stack cakes with icing.
Chocolate Cupcake Recipe
These chocolate cupcakes are unbeatable. Made with melted dark chocolate and cocoa powder, this cake is rich, moist, and not too sweet, making it the ideal match for dark chocolate ganache, smooth chocolate buttercream, and layers of fillings and garnishes.
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place dark chocolate in the bowl of a stand mixer. Pour boiling water over chocolate and let sit for 1 minute. Using the whisk attachment, mix until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Add sour cream, applesauce, oil, eggs, and vanilla.
In a separate bowl, sift flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cocoa.
Turn the stand mixer on low and add dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated. Batter should be smooth.
Line two standard muffin tins with paper cupcake liners. Fill each cup two-thirds full with batter. Use an ice-cream scoop for perfect measuring. Bake until the tops spring back at the touch of your finger, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. About 20-23 minutes.
Remove from tins and cool completely before icing. Garnish with chocolate curls.
Yields 24 cupcakes.
Easy Chocolate Chip Cookies
This recipe was given to me by my neighbor Brooke. These cookies are moist, chewy, and full of chocolate chips. A stellar combination for the BEST chocolate chip cookies. Ever.
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In the bowl of a stand mixer beat margarine and sugars together.
Add eggs one at a time. Mixing each one until blended.
Add baking soda and flour to wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
Fold in chocolate chips.
Using an ice-cream scoop measure out cookie dough and drop onto a parchment covered cookie sheet.
Use the back of a measuring cup to slightly flatten cookie dough.
Bake for 8-10 minutes or until just brown.
Remove cookies from oven and place on cooling rack for 5-10 minutes before eating.
