Pumpkin, Pumpkin, Pumpkin!!!

I'm all about pumpkin treats this fall season. That includes roasted pumpkin seeds for a freshly carved pumpkin, Pumpkin Spice Lattes from Starbucks, and these pumpkin cupcakes with salted caramel buttercream frosting. I think these cupcakes won the favorite flavor award at work the past two times I've brought them! They have that perfect touch of fall! I found the recipe off of Pinterest which links it to the blog, "Made in Melissa's Kitchen". Happy Baking!

Ingredients for Pumpkin Cupcakes
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin purée

Steps
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, line cupcake pans and set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice; set aside.

3. In another bowl combine the brown sugar, butter, and eggs. Beat on medium speed until well combined. Add dry ingredients and beat on low until smooth. Fold in pumpkin purée.

4. Fill each cupcake liner about halfway and bake for 20-25 minutes, rotate the pans once halfway through. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.

Ingredients for Salted Caramel Buttercream Frosting
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons water
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 stick salted butter
1 stick unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 cups powdered sugar
Because I use an icing tip to ice the cupcakes I like to double the frosting recipe. Please note that the measurements above are the original measurements not doubled.

Steps for Frosting
1. In a saucepan stir granulated sugar and water. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Cook without stirring until mixture turns a deep amber color, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and slowly add in cream and vanilla, stirring until smooth. Let caramel cool for about 20 minutes until it is just barely warm and still pourable.

2. In a medium bowl, beat butter and salt together until lightened and fluffy. Reduce to low speed and add powdered sugar. Mix until well combined.

3. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add caramel. Beat on medium speed until light and airy and completely mixed, about 2 minutes. You should be ready to frost your cupcakes! If the caramel was too warm when you added it your icing will be runny and you should refrigerate for 15-20 minutes.

4. I used a round tip to ice these cupcakes.

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Buttercream


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Stuffed Bell Peppers

Lately, stuffed bell peppers have sounded great and I wanted to try making them so I set out on a new adventure, I think it was a success! I found a couple of different recipes to try but settled on this one, it was easy to make and a great meal! I found this recipe on Pinterest (seeing a theme?) but it originally came from Southern Bite.
Ingredients
4 medium-sized bell peppers
1 1/2 lbs ground beef
Small onion, diced
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 - 15.25 oz. can Hunts Seasoned Tomato Sauce for Meatloaf (I couldn't find this so I substituted Hunts diced seasoned tomatoes)
1 cup instant rice
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce

Directions
1) Cut off tops off peppers and remove seeds and insides of peppers. Blanch peppers in salted boiled water for 5 minutes, remove and drain.
2) Sauté onions in vegetable oil until translucent. Add garlic and cook until fragrant.
3) In a large bowl, combine ground beef, sautéed onions and garlic, Seasoned Tomato Sauce for Meatloaf, white rice, salt and pepper. Mix until combined. Note: you do not need to brown the meat or cook the rice before combining with other ingredients, it cooks long enough in the oven.
4) Stuff mixtures to each pepper and place upright in a small greased baking dish. Pour small can of tomato sauce over the peppers.
5) Bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes or until cooked through.

Serve and enjoy!

Before cooking the peppers:


After cooking, ready to be served:


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In the South we have four seasons...Spring, Summer, Football, and Winter

When preparing for a weekend in the South it revolves around what time the football game comes on! And to prepare for the perfect football weekend you need tailgating food! Add something extra to your football Saturdays with these football cupcakes! And who can say no to chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate? You're bound to score a touchdown when you bring these cupcakes to your next football tailgate! :) I originally got this recipe from The Baker Chick off Pinterest.

Ingredients
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup warm water
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with cupcake liners!
2) Sift together cocoa powder, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Add eggs, warm water, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla, mix until smooth (about 3 minutes). If you don't have buttermilk you can substitute 1 cup of milk and 1 tbsp white vinegar or lemon juice, let stand for five minutes and then use as called for (I happened to not have buttermilk when I made these cupcakes)
3) Fill each muffin tin, each 2/3 full.
4) Bake about 20 minutes, rotating once half way through. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

Frosting
Ingredients
8 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
6 cups confectioners' sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter
6 tbsp milk
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. salt

Directions
1) Have all ingredients at room temperature.
2) Original recipe calls for a double boiler but you can use the microwave to melt the chocolate. Stir until melted and let cool to room temperature.
3) In a large bowl, combine the confectioners' sugar, butter, the 6 tbsp milk, vanilla, and salt and beat with an electric mixer on low until combined (about 1 minute). Increase speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes, then reduce to low.
4) Set aside 1/2 cup of the frosting to make for the laces.
5) Add the chocolate gradually and beat until combined, increase speed to medium and beat for a minute. If frosting is dry add more milk, 1 tsp. at a time until creamy but holds peaks.

Decorate the cooled cupcakes by using a star tip and zig-zag the chocolate frosting in a diamond shape. Using the reserved vanilla frosting and a small filler piping tip to add the laces.

Enjoy your football cupcakes with the game! Oh yeah and side note, ROLL TIDE!



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Carrot Cake Cupcakes

I'm pretty sure I've posted this recipe before but you can never have too much carrot cake in your life! And no cupcake is ever the same to your last batch! With my carrot cake recipe I usually add pecans in the cream cheese frosting unless I'm making cupcakes and then I just sprinkle the pecans separately on top. I leave about half without the pecans in case someone doesn't like pecans!

Carrot Cake
Ingredients
2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup oil
4 eggs
2 teaspoons cinnamon
3 cups finely grated carrots
Directions
Sift and mix dry ingredients.
Add oil and stir well.
Add eggs one at a time.
Add carrots and cinnamon.
Split into a lined cupcake pan.
Bake at 350 for 18 - 20 minutes. A trick that I've learned is to turn the pan around halfway through baking to evenly bake the cupcakes through. To check your cupcakes Stick a toothpick into one and see if it comes out clean.
Cool completely before frosting.
Frosting
Ingredients
(Remember this is the normal recipe so if you are heavily icing the cupcakes you should make 1 1/2 times this recipe)
8 ounces cream cheese
1 stick butter
1 box (1lb) confectioner's sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
Pecan chips, for garnish
Directions
Soften cream cheese and butter and mix together.
Add confectioner's sugar and vanilla and beat well.
Frost cupcakes (I used a star tip for these cupcakes),sprinkle with pecan chips for garnish and enjoy! I bought pecan chips but actually crushed them even finer in my hand before sprinkling them on the cupcakes. I know not everyone is a fan of pecans so as I mentioned earlier I opted to do a few with pecans and a few plain.


Happy Baking!

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A summertime favorite! Brushetta pasta!

One of my favorite summertime dishes is Brushetta. Brushetta pasta, Brushetta toast appetizers, or Brushetta on Brie (an amazing spin on the traditional appetizer), you get the idea I will put the Brushetta tomato mixture on just about anything. It is a very light and refreshing dish for the summer, plus it is the perfect season for great tomatoes.

Ingredients for Brushetta
6 or 7 ripe Roma tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, minced 1 tsp equals 2 gloves
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
6-8 fresh basil leaves, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Steps for preparing the Brushetta
1. Chop the tomatoes into fine pieces.
2. Mix the tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, balsamic vinegar. Add the basil and mix. Add salt and pepper to taste.
3. Prepare angel hair pasta according to the package.
4. Serve pasta with tomato mixture over it.

Variations if you chose to serve it on toast as an appetizer
You will need 1 baguette of French bread and 1/4 cup olive oil
1. Cut baguette into 1/2 inch slices.
2. Brush one side with olive oil.
3. Place bread olive oil side down on a baking sheet and bake in the oven at 450 for 5-7 minutes.
4. Remove from oven and scoop the tomato mixture on each bread slice (on olive oil side)
5. Serve and enjoy!

One more thing before I go, I chose to serve Brie cheese for an appetizer with this meal. I wanted something more than just Brie and crackers so took to searching for what I had in my pantry and that would go well with the Brie. I settled on honey and not just any honey, Savannah Bee Company cheese honey. My sister always brings me different honey from Savannah Bee Co. when I see her which was perfect for this appetizer, thanks sis! Now you need to come to Birmingham and try the Brie and cheese!
This appetizer was extremely easy, I use half of a Brie cheese wheel. I lined a baking sheet with parchment paper and placed the Brie on the baking sheet and drizzled honey over the cheese and baked for about 7 minutes at 350. I sliced and served with crackers we got too excited to dig in I forgot to take a picture.

Brushetta pasta served with Texas Toast


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Red Velvet Cupcakes

If you've looked at other entries in my blog you know I love making cupcakes! And what better dessert to take into the office to share with everyone! Red velvet is one of my staples, it is easy to make and everyone seems to love it! What is your favorite cupcake recipe? Share it with me, I'm always looking to try something new! Happy Baking!

Ingredients for Cake
2 1/2 cups cake flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
2 tbsp (1 oz.) liquid red food coloring
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp distiller white vinegar

Ingredients for the Frosting
8 oz cream cheese
5 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Steps for Cupcakes
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Line cupcake pans with paper liners.
3. Combine cake flour, sugar, baking soda, cocoa powder and salt; whisk to blend.
4. With electric mixer, combine eggs, vegetable oil, buttermilk, food coloring, vanilla, and vinegar. Beat on medium speed until well blended.
5. Mix in dry ingredients on low and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes.
6. Divide batter evenly. Bake, rotating pans halfway through baking, until a toothpick comes out clean, about 18 minutes. Let cool in pans for 5-10 minutes then cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

Steps for Icing
1. Combine cream cheese and butter with electric mixer. Beat on medium speed until well combined and smooth, about 2-3 minutes. Mix in vanilla extract. Gradually best in powdered sugar. Increase speed and beat until smooth.
2. I used a star tip to ice these cupcakes (if using a tip I would increase the frosting recipe to have plenty for all the cupcakes.)

Happy Baking!


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Celebrate the Fourth of July with fireworks and cake

Are you looking for that perfect themed dessert for your Fourth of July cookout? While I know this post is a little too late for Fourth of July this year you can get a head start for next year or Veteran's Day, Memorial Day, or just a random Tuesday!
Amazing what you can find on Pinterest, a co-worker showed me a picture of this cake and I immediately went to Pinterest and found it in no time complete with the recipe! The end product of this recipe is when you cut into the cake it looks like the American flag! The original recipe comes from justapinch.com! I made a few changes to the original recipe, one being I used cream cheese frosting instead of buttercream because who doesn't love cream cheese frosting?! I also used a golden cake mix instead of a white cake mix but would consider making it red velvet next time. Some other things I will do differently next time I make this cake would be to alternate between red and white layers of cake instead of just using the frosting as the white layers, this was you can be assured the white stripes show! I did 7 layers of red cake and 6 layers of white icing! It may sound difficult but I promise you it really isn't! Ok, let's get to the recipe!

Ingredients for Cake
2 boxes white (golden) cake mix
1 1/2 bottles red food coloring
1/2 - 1 bottle blue food coloring
1 bottle white star sprinkles (Unfortunately did not include the stars this time but next time for sure!!)

Ingredients for Cream Cheese Frosting
8 ounces cream cheese
1 stick of butter (softened)
1 pound powdered sugar
2 tsps vanilla

Steps for designing your Flag cake
1. Make one box cake mix according to directions, add 1 bottle red food coloring and separate into 2 10" round pans and bake according to the package.
2. Make the second box of cake mix according to the directions and reserve 3 cups of white mix, set aside. Color the remaining mix with the other 1/2 bottle of red food coloring. Color the reserved mix with the blue food coloring. If using the white star sprinkles gently fold them into the blue cake mix now.
3. In one 10" cake pan pour half of the red mix in. In the other pan place a 6" round cake pan in the center of the pan. In the 6" pan pour the blue mixture and on the outer pan pour the rest of the red cake mix. Note: If you do not have a smaller round pan do what I did, make your regular red and when you cut the final three layers(I will explain this in a minute) you will need to cut a hole in the center of each cake. I used a glass with a large diameter as my measurement. I also made the blue cake in a pan of its own and cut out from the center using the same glass as my measurement. Put the blue cake in the center of the red cake.
4. Once each cake has cooled you will divide it into half. You should have 4 whole red cakes before you begin dividing them. Do not divide the blue cake.
5. Alternate layers of red cake and cream cheese frosting If you end up using a white cake mix I would suggest doing a layer of red, frosting, a layer of white, frosting, repeat
6. Remember the final three red layers will have a hole in the center so you can place the blue inside. Once you have all the layers in place frost the complete cake.

Steps for Cream Cheese Frosting
I would suggest doubling the recipe to insure enough icing
1. Mix cream cheese and butter together.
2. Mix in the powdered sugar and vanilla.

Your flag cake is complete! You could add some red and blue decorations to the top but I chose to keep it simple so when they cut into it everyone would be surprised. I took this cake to work the week of Fourth of July...it was killing me to wait for them to take the first piece and see the flag! Now for pictures! Happy Baking!

Cake Preparations


Final product! Happy Fourth of July!!


To show how amazing my mom is, she was visiting me the week of July 4th and surprised me with this for my breakfast that morning! Toast complete with blueberries, strawberries and bananas.


Vulcan celebrates the Fourth in style!!!!


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