A Round~Up of Red, White and Blue Treats

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This round up of Red, White and Blue Treats has a little bit of something for everyone! I love red, white and blue treats all year round, but they are especially fun to celebrate with during the summertime.  With Memorial Day coming up this week, and the Fourth of July, mid summer, I hope you will find something you can use to help you celebrate in style! Have Fun!

Triple Chocolate Shamrock Cupcakes

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I love St. Patrick's Day, don't you? I thought it would be fun to celebrate with some Triple Chocolate Shamrock Cupcakes. They are made with milk, dark, and bittersweet chocolate and topped with thin mint frosting for a festive, fun, and tasty St. Patrick's Day celebration!

printable recipe

Candy Corn Cupcakes!

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Today I am visiting over at Bacon Time with the Hungry Hypo,

 and I brought cupcakes!

 Since we are closing in on Halloween, 

I decided to make them Candy Corn Cupcakes!

Butter Mint Green Swirl Cupcakes w/ Bailey's Irish Cream Whipped Cream Frosting and Chocolate Drizzle!

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Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone! I hope you have a wonderful and lucky day! What do you think of my Butter Mint, Green Swirl Cupcakes with Bailey's Irish Creme Whipped Cream Frosting and Chocolate Drizzle?!  It is a mouthful, isn't it? But then, so are these cupcakes! I made them to celebrate the day, and to share with you!

St. Patrick's Favorite Cupcakes

Red, White and Blue Mini Cupcakes

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It's 4th of July! One of my very favorite holidays. I hope you have something fun planned. These cupcakes are easy and quick and they will fit perfectly into your holiday menu! I had fun using the Twizzler red, white and blue licorice strings to decorate.  

Red, White and Blue Mini Cupcakes   

(adapted from BHG)

egg whites 

2 cups all-purpose flour 

1 teaspoon baking powder 

1/2 teaspoon baking soda 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

1/2 cup butter or shortening, softened 

1 3/4 cups sugar 

1 teaspoon vanilla  

1 1/3 cups buttermilk 

Allow egg whites to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.
  In a medium bowl stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar and vanilla; beat until well combined. Add egg whites 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk to butter mixture, beating on low speed after each addition just until combined. Spread batter into the cupcake liners

  Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Cool thoroughly on racks.

Frosting

6 oz warm water

5 tablespoons Meringue Powder

1 teaspoon Cream of Tartar

2.25 pounds Confectioners Sugar
Red, white, and blue licorice strings

In a mixing bowl, place the warm water and the meringue powder.

Whisk for 30 seconds.

Add the cream of tartar. Whisk for 30 seconds more.

Pour all the confectioners sugar in the bowl at one time.

Mix on low speed for 10 minutes. Cover with towel to keep frosting fresh.

 Color 1/3 of the cake mix red, and 1/3 of the mix blue.

Add some white cake mix, some red mix, and......

 some blue.

Swirl the colors together.

Bake for 20-25 minutes.  Let cool.

Make your frosting.

 Cut your licorice into small pieces.

Top each mini cupcake with frosting.

Top each cupcake with pieces of the licorice.

Enjoy and celebrate!

Happy 4th of July! 

We are partying here:
Fabulous Fridays! 

Cannoli Cupcakes

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Today is Secret Recipe Club reveal day! This month I was the lucky blogger who was assigned the blog Mele Cotte, which is authored by Chris. I had a really difficult time deciding which recipe to choose. There are so many great ones and now I have a lengthy list of Chris's recipes that I will be making in the future! I finally decided to make the Cannoli Cupcakes and I was so glad I did. These cupcakes are just like the Italian pastry, and oh, so tasty!

Cannoli Cupcakes

2 cup cake flour
1 ¼ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. salt
1 ½ cup sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
4 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Cannoli Filling
1 cup whole milk ricotta cheese

 (drained in a fine-mesh strainer for 2 hours to remove excess liquid)
1 cup mascarpone cheese
½ cup confectioners sugar
½ tsp. vanilla
½ tsp. cinnamon
pinch of salt

Mascarpone Buttercream

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
16 oz. Mascarpone cheese, room temperature
4-5 cups confectioners sugar
chopped pistachios

Whisk flours, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl; set aside.

Cream butter and sugar, mixing until just light and fluffy. 

Add eggs 1 at a time until combined, 

scraping down the bowl after each addition.

Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of milk 

and vanilla to batter until completely mixed scraping down the bowl as you mix.

  Scoop batter into baking cups filling about 2/3 full. 

Bake until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 17 to 20 minutes.

In a large bowl, mix filling ingredients using a wooden spoon. 

Cover and refrigerate until ready to fill cupcakes, at least 2 hours.

When ready to fill cupcakes, transfer the cannoli filling into a pastry

 bag fitted with a plain tip.

 Push the tip gently into the bottom of a 

cupcake and squeeze in the filling until the cupcake plumps.

 Continue with the remaining cupcakes.

Using an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, 

cream butter and Mascarpone until light and creamy.

 Add sugar and continue beating until smooth.

Top with mascarpone buttercream.

Add chopped pistachios.

Chris added a cannolli shell to the top of each of the cupcakes,

and they look so cute!

Thanks for joining me today!

Stop by Mele Cotte and see this great recipe and so many others.

Check out what all the other Secret Recipe Club members made today.

Champagne Cupcakes for your NYE Celebration!

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Happy New Years Eve! I hope everyone has a great New Years Eve!  A night out on the town, or a quiet evening at home, have fun, I wish you the best! To celebrate I made some Spumanti Cupcakes for your celebration. They are quick and easy, and very tasty!

Champagne Cupcakes

(This recipe was adapted from a Martini Asti recipe.

 It makes 24 cupcakes.)

1 cup Spumanti Champagne. (I used Cooks.)

1 box White Cake Mix

8 ounces Butter, melted

2 Eggs

1 teaspoon Vanilla

Frosting

1/4 cup Champagne

16 ounces Butter, softened 

1/4 teaspoon Salt

4 cups Confectioner's Sugar

1 teaspoon Vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl.

Beat for 2-3 minutes.

Divide the batter between the cups and bake for 18-20 minutes.

Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then to a rack to cool for 20 more minutes.

Mix the butter, vanilla, and salt together until smooth.

Add the confectioner's sugar and half of the champagne.

Mix on low. Add more champagne according to taste.

Pipe the frosting on the cooled cupcakes. I used a 

Wilton # 1M.

Sprinkle silver sugar on the top of the frosting.

Enjoy your cupcakes, and 

Have a Happy New Year!

Thanks for joining me today.

See you next year! 

4th of July Cupcakes!

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We are smack in the middle of our "15 Days of Red, White and Blue" series, and I just couldn't wait any longer to post some really festive 4th of July cupcakes! I mean, what's a celebration without cupcakes? These cupcakes are not only perfect for the 4th of July, but they would fit right into an Olympic Celebration!!

4th of July Cupcakes

 Cupcakes

1 box Duncan Hines White Cake Mix

1 cup Sour Cream

1/2 cup Vegetable Oil

3 large Eggs

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Americolor Holiday Red

Americolor Royal Blue

Antonia74 Frosting

6 oz warm Water

5 tablespoons Meringue Powder

1 teaspoon Cream of Tartar

2.25 pounds Confectioners Sugar

Marshmallow Fondant

1 cup of Mini Marshmallows

1 tablespoons Water

1 1/2 - 1 3/4 cup Confectioners Sugar

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Place the cake mix, sour cream, vegetable oil and eggs

in a mixing bowl. Mix for 1 minute on low, then turn the 

speed to medium and mix for 2 additional minutes.

This recipe is from the Cake Doctor, white cake mix.

Divide your batter into thirds. I used three bowls, and tried

to distribute it evenly. Take the first bowl, and drop a few drops 

of Holiday Red into the batter. Stir until it is combined and

you are happy with the color.

Take your second bowl, and mix in a few drops of the 

Royal Blue. Mix well.

Use a small scoop or a tablespoon to place 1 scoop

of each color in your cupcake papers.

 Bake until done, about 20-25 minutes.

Let cool.

Let's make frosting!

I have used this frosting recipe a lot. I just love it!

It is called Antonia74 Royal Icing. I found it several years

ago on the cakecentral.com recipe page. It was developed by Antonia74.

Thank you Antonia!

In a mixing bowl, pour in the warm water and the meringue 

powder. Mix it with a whisk by hand until it is frothy

and thickened, about 30 seconds.

Add the cream of tartar and mix for 30 more seconds.

Pour in all the confectioners sugar at one time.

Using your paddle attachment, and on the lowest speed,

mix slowly for a full 10 minutes.

You will not need all the icing this recipe makes for the

cupcakes. Scoop some into a bowl for the red, 

some for the blue, and then the white. Using a Wilton

#2A tip decorate the cupcakes with the icing like above.

As you can see,

I tried 3 different ways to put the icing on the cupcakes.

The middle one was my favorite, so I made

 the rest of the cupcakes just like it.

Let's make fondant!

Place the marshmallows in a 1 cup measuring cup 

and push down to pack them in.

Microwave for 20 seconds. Just long enough for

them to soften and puff up. Stir with a spoon

until well combined. It should look soupy at this point. 

Add the sugar and mix until it is not sticky. 

Now take it out of the bowl and knead

with your hands. Knead for about 5-7 minutes. 

You only need a small amount for these cupcake

toppers. Pull three equal size pieces from your

piece of fondant. Flatten each piece out. 

Use gloves if you have them. Curve the flattened

piece a little, and drop a few drops of holiday red onto the small

fondant piece. Kneed the fondant piece until it is the color you want.

Do it again with the royal blue color. 

Once you have colored the fondant, 

take a small piece off of each color.

Place then together like above.

Start to knead the three colors together.

You want to create a piece of fondant that shows all the

colors clearly. Over kneading will make the 

colors meld together too much.

Once you have the colors looking pretty, 

roll the fondant with a rolling pun.

Cut out the letters USA from your piece of fondant.

The letters at the top were cut first.

Each time you knead the colors together,

they get a little more distorted.

They still look great, just darker.

Place the letters on top of the cupcake.

Happy 4th of July!

Thanks for joining me today!

We are starting the party early for the 4th!
Here's where we are linking up:
Cupcake Tuesday

Crazy Sweet Tuesday

Works For Me Wednesday

Patriotic Project Parade Linky Party

King Cake Cupcakes!

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Today is Fat Tuesday and the last day of Mardi Gras, so I thought I would make a version of the King Cake~

King Cake Cupcakes! 

Printable Recipe

(adapted from Coastal Living)

1/2 cup warm Milk

2 (1/4 oz) Dry Yeast Packs

1/3 cup Sugar, divided

1/2 cup Butter, melted

3 Egg Yolks

1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1/2 teaspoon Lemon Zest

3 teaspoons Lemon Juice, divided

1 1/2 cups Flour

1/2 cup Cake Flour

1 tablespoon Ground Cinnamon, divided

1/4 teaspoon Salt

1 large Egg, lightly beaten

1 cup Powdered Sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons Hot Water

 Purple, Green Yellow Sprinkles

Combine yeast, milk, and 1/4 cup of the sugar, in a bowl.

Stir well, and set in a warm place for 10 minutes.

In another bowl, combine butter and next 3 ingredients,

stir in 2 teaspoons lemon juice.

Combine flours, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl.

Add milk mixture, and butter mixture, and beat, adding a couple

tablespoons of flour, 1 at a time, if the dough is too sticky.

Mix the dough until it is smooth, but soft.

Spray a bowl with pan spray.

Put the dough in the bowl.

Roll the dough around until it is coated with the pan spray.

Cover it with a kitchen towel.

Place in a warm place and let it rise for about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Once the dough has risen, punch the dough down.

Place the dough on a lightly floured surface.

Roll dough into a 12" X 8"  rectangle.

Combine the remaining 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 

4 teaspoons sugar.

Sprinkle over the dough.

Roll dough into a log.

Cut log into 12 equal pieces.

Place pieces into muffin cups.

Brush cupcakes with beaten egg.

Bake 15 minutes.

Remove from the pan, and cool on rack.

Combine the powdered sugar, water, and 1 teaspoon 

of lemon juice. 

Drizzled  frosting on top of cupcake.

Add yellow, purple, and green sprinkles.

Happy Fat Tuesday!