Hostess with the Mostest Cupcakes

This next cupcake comes from one of my cupcake books, "A Bakers field guide to cupcakes" and on page 142 Dede Wilson turned a classic childhood dessert into a cupcake. The cupcake itself is different then the one Dede suggests. I use my own chocolate cake recipe. It's then filled with a creamy vanilla filling, chocolate frosting and then decorated with white frosting swirls. It was actually a pretty easy and fun cupcake to create. Nothing to it really, but I was able to get some use out of my pipping tips, which is something I always enjoy. For this cupcake you'll need a #12 tip and a #3 tip. The #12 is used to squeeze the frosting into the center. You insert the tip right down the center of each cupcake and squeeze frosting until the cupcake begins to expand and crack.The cupcake has "now taken on as much filling as it can." The #3 tip as you might have figured out is used to create the signature swirl on top of a Hostess Cupcake. These cupcakes are now for sale for $1.50 each, please call ahead as cupcakes are made to order. Photography: Travis J. Premo

One for the boys

Well since I made Princess Cupcakes, I thought it would only be fair if I made cupcakes that the boys could appreciate. These cupcakes can come in your choice of vanilla or chocolate, and can be decorated to fit any party theme or toy of your choice. I have a wide range of toys to choose from. From cars, robots, animals, you name it. The boys in your life will enjoy the cupcake and will walk away with a party favor. A very simple cupcake, that can entertain the kids for awhile. These cupcakes are for sale for $2.00 each. Please let me know if you or anyone you may know is having a birthday party. Photographer: Travis. J Premo

NFL New Orleans Saints Cupcakes

Tonight's cupcake comes as a request from my old buddy, Alina. Her and her friend Haley wanted Saints cupcakes. For the cupcake I made white chocolate chip and macadamia nut, it was really good. Ive never made it this way. My old version was white chocolate chips on the inside and the macadamia nuts crushed on top with the frosting. I think this way was much tastier. So not only was the way I made the cupcakes new,but how I decorated it had a lot of firsts for me as well. For the frosting I made a butter cream frosting, dyed it a light brown color, and then dipped each cupcake in a gold sand sugar coating. Then, with the help of Travy, we piped on the Saints logo, in black butter cream and outlined it in white fondant icing. The crunch from the sand sugar mixed with the sweetness of the frosting was perfect. Travis really liked them, and it seems that Haley and Alina did too. In fact I just received another order from Alina, 50 more cupcakes for her uncles 40th birthday! Thank you Alina for all your support! These cupcakes are now for sale for $1.50 each! I can do any NFL logo, not just Saints so let me know! Photography: Travis. J Premo

Princess Cupcakes

My friend from high school, Val, opened up her own business this past season. It's an indoor playground in Woodland Hills, CA for little tykes. I'm very proud of her and at the same time I'm looking at it as a business opportunity for myself. Val and I discussed the possibility of me posting Cupcakes by Coley flyer's and business cards for her clients. Since the facility is open for birthday parties, I want to focus on little kid cupcakes, and get that angel going for me. These cupcakes are inspired by Barbie. I wanted something girly and cute for all the little girls out there. These are vanilla cupcakes, dyed pink with a butter cream frosting and pink sparkles on top. Very easy to make, very simple, and kid friendly =) Please contact me if you or anyone you may know is having a birthday party. These cupcakes are now for sale for $1.50 each. Nikki@cupcakesbycoley.com Please stay tuned for a more boy-ish birthday cupcakes! Photography: Travis J.Premo

Chocolate Drizzle Cupcake

This next cupcake is the perfect dessert for any adult birthday, anniversary, or just to veg out! This is a chocolate drizzle cupcake. It was actually one of the more difficult cupcakes I've had to make thus far. The cake itself is a chocolate cake, a no brainer to make there. But what was different was a didn't make them with a cupcake liner. I just sprayed some Pam into the cups, baked for their usual twenty minutes and wa-la! They looked really different when I pulled them out, they were completely flat, which was a good thing. I need a flat surface to work with. Then when the cupcakes have cooled I made a whipped cream frosting, which just consists of heavy cream, vanilla, and confectioner's sugar. The longest part of the process was trying to frost these suckers. They are so small, and I had to frost the top and the sides of it. I got very discouraged, but Travy gave me a pep talk and I went right back to it. It just takes time and patience. After they were frosting I put them in the fridge to chill for one hour. Meanwhile I made a chocolate ganache glaze and frosting. The ganache is pretty hard to work with as well for this type of thing. It had to be in just the right state, and at just the right temperature to create a drizzle look. If it's too thick it wont spread and will just be a pile of goo. So you have to use a tablespoon to aim the ganache straight down on top center of the cupcake and use the back of the spoon to help the drizzle along. When that's done....I placed a fresh raspberry a mint leaf on top. They have to chill until just before serving time. In the words of Travy,"These are stupid good!" haha what a silly silly man. But yes they are stupid good! I'm anxiously awaiting Mason and Brittany to come home. Mason just may pass out. The ganache is very sweet, the whip cream is light and the cake is fluffy, what more could you ask for? I mean, really? These are now for sale for $2.50 each. Please contact me direct at (818)620-7535 or please visit our website at www.cupcakesbycoley.com for ordering information. And don't forget 10% off all proceeds until the end of the month will go to Haiti to help rebuild their community. Photographer: Travis J. Premo

Hands Like Glass

Today I wanted to do something a little closer to home and something special for my brother in-law Mason, and his band mates. For those of you who don't know, Mason is a singer in a band called Hands Like Glass. He's been in several bands, but this one is by far the best and he actually had a meeting with a producer tonight, so I'm wishing them the best of luck. To celebrate them becoming big one day, because I know they will, I made them Hands Like Glass cupcakes, a special edition by Cupcakes by Coley. The cupcake is a chocolate cake with butter cream frosting. I used orange and black frosting to pipe on the letter G, which is the bands logo. The boys loved them! They were so polite and very grateful. =)In the words of Mason, "Sick!" Calling all Hands Like Glass fans, get your special edition cupcakes for $1.50 each. (10% of the proceeds from these cupcakes will go to support the band) Please visit their website and have a listen! http://www.myspace.com/handslikeglass Do you have something to say? Say it with a cupcake! Whether you're trying to promote your business, band, or just wanted to say I love you, Cupcakes by Coley will send out the message. Please contact me direct for ordering. (818)620-7535 or visit us at www.CupcakesbyColey.com follow us on Facebook! http://www.facebook.com/#/pages/Reseda-CA/Cupcakes-by-Coley/143205672827?ref=ts Photography: Travis J. Premo

Football season is almost over......

For all you football fans out there, the big game is coming up February 7th, so if you or anyone you know is having a Superbowl party, please keep me in mind. I've designed "yard line cupcakes" I can make them in any flavor with a buttercream frosting. They will be selling for a $1 each. Also stay tuned, I'll be making cupcakes with your favorite teams logo on them, such as the Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers, and more! (Did that sound too "infomercial like??") Please let me know if you'd like to place those as well. Contact: (818)620-7535 or by email Nikki@Cupcakesbycoley.com Photography: Travis J. Premo

Cupcake Heaven

Yesterday I tried something that wasn't in a book, but rather something I've wanted to try.

One of my favorite desserts has always been Cheesecake, so I thought why not make a smaller version, and put it in a cupcake liner? It's the perfect size, (smaller means less calories for those who are watching their figure!) it's a few bites of heaven really.

The bottom, is a Graham cracker crust, that Travis had a hand in, made of graham crackers, butter, and sugar.

After the crust is laid in place, at the bottom of the cupcake liner, I combined sugar, vanilla, cream cheese and eggs and poured it on top. I then baked them for half hour at 300 degrees and removed from the oven for five minutes.

For the topping, I combined sour cream, sugar and vanilla and poured it on top of the warm cheesecake, and put them BACK in the oven for another five minutes. After that they were finally done, and I put them in the fridge to cool down.

Dessert time had finally arrived. Mason and his girlfriend Brittany loved them and Travis and his friend Frank who was over for margaritas and tacos each had two! I must say-they are a problem and they may ruin my diet.

The good news is that they are now availble for ordering for $2 each. Please contact me directly for ordering. (818)620-7535

Photography: Travis J. Premo

My 62nd Cupcake

Tonight I made my 62nd cupcake, a little short of my goal-but I'm trying. I got really behind when I didn't make a single cupcake in the month of November. But that's the past, so let's focus on 2010 shall we?

This cupcake is a pound cake cupcake with a chocolate Italian meringue butter cream topped with Minnie's Bake Shop Sprinkles! (Provided by my Mommy & Daddy)--makes sense to have these sprinkles because January is Disney month, well according to AAA it is.

I've never made pound cake but it was pretty darn easy, with the help of Travis of course. He's my "Can you whisk the dry ingredients" man.

Pound cake is consisted of flour, baking powder, salt, butter, sugar, vanilla extract and eggs. I noticed this particular cake is a little different then the rest. It doesn't consist of milk, probably because the amount of eggs that are in it. (6 eggs)

Pound cake has a tendency to form a peak while baking-to decorate cupcakes afterwards you can always slice and level them off. Or leave it, it isn't a huge deal especially if you'll be piping the frosting on.

All in all turned out to pretty well, a little on the dry side. But practice makes perfect!

Photography: Travis J. Premo

Chocolate Covered Cherry Day

For everyone who didn't know, like me this morning, today-January 3rd is national Chocolate Covered Cherry Day!

So in celebration Ive decided to make Chocolate Covered Cherry Cupcakes. You know I think there's a conspiracy that has been started by the supermarkets to artificially increase prices of cherries in the off season, who ever came up with National Chocolate Covered Cherry day in the beginning of January should be fired. A bag of fresh cherries were $7.99 a pound! Since cherries are out of season right now, I had to dip the cherries myself into the chocolate. Well Travis did that part for me. He's so good, he pitted all the cherries himself, then dipped them in chocolate. They look delicious!

The cake itself is made of the chocolate cake recipe Ive been using for the past couple of cupcakes.

The frosting is something I have never made before. Italian meringue butter cream, with 7 oz of bittersweet chocolate added. You can add any favor really, or just leave it plain. I suggest adding some sort of flavoring, the butter cream has a ton of butter, 3 sticks to be exact, so it tastes very buttery. There were several steps into making the frosting, first you have to boil sugar and water together, dipping a pastry brush in cold water and washing the sides of the pan down every once and a while. Then you mix egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar in a bowl, mixing until a stiff glossy peak is formed. Now for the interesting part...after bringing the sugar water to a rapid boil I had to let the temperature get up to 248-250 degrees. "As the syrup cooks, look for visual clues to assess temperature. It starts out thin with many small bubbles over the surface. The water will begin to evaporate and the mixture will become thicker. The bubbles will get larger and sticky and pop more slowly. At this point the syrup looks thickened, but has not begun to color. If you drop a bit of the syrup into a glass of cold water it will form into a ball. This is the firm-ball stage, and the syrup is ready" This was the coolest part of making it. The syrup really did turn into a crystal ball shape in my water glass, very cool scientifically speaking. Once that is all done, which will take about 5 or 6 minutes, I poured the sugar mixture over the meringue mixture. I had to do this slowly because you don't want any of it to get on the whisk or the bowl, it could potentially ruin them. Once its all added together, add the butter-slowly. Then it's ready! (told you it was a long process!)

Once I poured the batter into the cupcake liners I took a chocolate covered cherry and placed one in the center of each cupcake, and then smoothed out the batter with an offset spatula to cover them back up. These needed to bake also a little longer then the usual twenty minutes. I stuck these in the oven for 22 minutes at 350 degrees. They need to cool about 5 minutes before transferring them over to cooling rack. (They came out perfect! I've been struggling with the amounts for each liner, these didn't create a "hat" as I like to call them at all. I say hat because when I fill the liner up to much, the batter will rise above the liner, making it look like the cupcake is wearing a hat. =)

These turned out SOOOO yummy, in the words of Mason: "Hey Mason, are they good?" "Um, hell ya there good! they're unreal!"

Travis: "mmm there amazing! The frosting on those things are ridiculous!"

These are available for sale for $2 each. (sorry they were really expensive and really time consuming to make-but well worth it!) It's for sure going on the future Cupcakes by Coley menu!

Photography: Travis. J Premo

Peanutty Chocolate Cupcakes

Travis made a prototype of my business card, we'll be printing them soon! What do you think? I'm so excited!

So I thought I would try my hand at the peanut butter/chocolate combination. My last cupcake with this combination wasn't the greatest, I had even commented on them reminding me of the commercial with the dog eating peanut butter, the "Got Milk" commercial.

These are a little different, the peanut butter isn't directly stirred into the batter nor is it in the frosting this time. Instead, I made a chocolate batter (not my usual one) filled the cupcake liners about one quarter of the way, and then I placed 1 teaspoon of the peanut butter mixture, which consisted of peanut butter, confectioners sugar and salt, into the center and then filled the wells with the remaining batter.

The cupcakes themselves were baked a couple minutes longer then usual. 22 minutes. I'm guessing its because of the peanut butter but who knows.

The frosting is fudge frosting that I have never made before but turned out to be very yummy! Travis liked it but liked my Mommy's chocolate frosting better =) He said it wasn't very "fudge" like but still very smooth.

Notes to myself: 2 cups of frosting with make about 10 piped cupcakes using the large star tip.

This recipe originally had salted dry-roasted peanuts, chopped, on top of the cupcake but because I was a little on the lazy side, mine don't have any. It's sad when I can literally walk to the grocery store but I just didn't have it in me to go buy peanuts. Oh well, perhaps next time.

My brother in law, Mason, seemed to like these cupcakes pretty well. He said they are ruining his figure and will cost him more gym time. =) Sorry Mason. I also have a request from him to come up with an orange/cranberry mixture cupcake. I've already begun researching. So that will be coming up soon.

hint about my next cupcake: January 3rd.

Photography: Travis J. Premo