Churro Cupcakes

One more Cinco de Mayo recipe for you before I get back to the healthy stuff!  I LOVED my tres leches cake, but with 13 kiddos coming over, I just envisioned how messy chocolate cake would get, so for the kids I made these churro cupcakes.  They turned out so yummy and the frosting is absolutely sinful ;)  I stole a couple spoonfuls after I made it and could have kept going without self-control!  

Churro Cupcakes
Yield:  about 28 cupcakes

For Cupcakes:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 3/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups milk

For Cinnamon Sugar Crunchy Topping:
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

For Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 (8 ounce) cream cheese, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
5 cups confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon milk (if desired)


For Cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Line standard muffin tins with paper liners.
Whisk together both flours, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until fluffy.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.
Beat in vanilla.  Reduce speed to low.  Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of milk, and beating until combined after each.  Fill each cupcake liner three-quarters full.
Bake 20 minutes.

Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes.  Top with cinnamon sugar crunchy topping and cinnamon cream cheese frosting.  Refrigerate until ready to serve. Set out 20 minutes before serving

For Cinnamon Sugar Crunchy Topping:
In a small bowl melt butter.  In another small bowl combine the sugar and cinnamon.  When cupcakes are completely cooled brush melted butter on the tops and dip into the cinnamon sugar mixture.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting:
In a medium bowl, beat butter and cream cheese until light.  Mix in vanilla and cinnamon; add confectioners' sugar 1 cup at a time until all is incorporated.  If the frosting gets too thick, add milk a few drops at a time until it reaches desired consistency.

Recipe Source:  Lady Behind the Curtain

{Skinny} Pumpkin Cupcakes with Pumpkin Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting

Um...excuse me...a cupcake WITH frosting that only has 121 calories, YES PLEASE!  Not only are these great in the calorie department, but they are beyond delicious.  Just don't judge them by my piping job, one of these days I will get a tip that actually works :)

For those of you counting Weight Watcher points, this has been calculated out for you already... 3 points, and that's with the frosting.  So go ahead, indulge!

{Skinny} Pumpkin Cupcakes with Pumpkin Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting

From:  Skinny Taste

18.25 oz Betty Crocker Golden Vanilla Super Moist Cake Mix* (I ended up using a yellow cake mix)

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice 

1 cup canned 100% pure pumpkin 

1 cup water

For the Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting:

8 oz Philadelphia 1/3 fat cream cheese (do not use fat free) 

1/2 cup pureed pumpkin (canned is fine) 

1 tsp vanilla extract 
1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice 

5 tbsp packed brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350°. Line a cupcake tin with cupcake wrappers. Combine cake mix and pumpkin spice in a large bowl. Add pumpkin puree and water, mix about 2 minutes.

Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake about 20 - 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

For the frosting, combine the cream cheese, pumpkin, vanilla, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and brown sugar until smooth. You can use a spatula to ice the cupcakes or pipe them which may require making more frosting.  Makes 24

*Betty Crocker has reduced their cake mixes, so read the labels on your box. Dunkin Hines still carries 18.25 oz boxes.

Rainbow Cupcakes

I saw these last year on so many blogs...never got around to making them.  This year, I decided to crank out a few before we go on vacation here in a few days. They are so fun, and they are dang tasty, too :)  They would be really cute for a little kid's birthday party...I may be making them again for little man's b-day next month!  I found this recipe on The Girl Who Ate Everything.

1 white cake mix

2 eggs
1 C sour cream
1/2 C milk
1/3 C vegetable oil

Combine all ingredients until incorporated (about 30 seconds). Scrape sides of bowl and then beat on med-high speed for 3 minutes.

Divide batter according to how many colors you are using. I used 5 colors and it worked out to a little over 1 cup for each color.

Use food coloring to color batter to desired intensity. Wilton brand gel colors have the brightest colors and wont thin your batter. They can be found at Walmart or Michaels.

To get a layered stripe like I used, you'll want to put a spoonful of each color in the cupcake one at a time. The batter is thick, so it won't spread on it's own. A great tip is to set out a little bowl of water where you're working. Dip your finger in the water and then gently spread the batter out. The water will make it so the batter doesn't stick to your fingers.

Another tip is to use a measuring spoon and some water to measure out how many teaspoons/tablespoons are going to fit in your cupcake. Then divide that by how many colors you have so you know how much of each color to use for each cupcake. For my 5 colors, it worked out perfectly with 2 t of each color in each cupcake. So I put in 2 t of blue in the bottom of each cupcake and spread it out with my finger. Then I put in 2 t of green on top of that, then yellow, etc.

Bake them according to the package directions, until a toothpick comes out dry. Makes around 15 cupcakes.

Frost with your favorite frosting. If you had to use store bought like me, fancy it up by putting the frosting in a ziplock bag. Cut of the corner of the side of the bag and you have an instant frosting decorating bag.

Frosting:

3 sticks butter (1 ½ cups), room temperature
6 cups powdered sugar
5 Tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon coconut extract (or just use all vanilla extract)
Dash of salt

Add butter and powdered sugar and beat until light and fluffy.   


Add the coconut extract, vanilla extract, and salt. Mix until combined. 


Gradually add milk (you may not need all of it) and beat for 2-3 minutes until fluffy.


Frost cooled cupcakes. Add rainbow colored sprinkles if desired.

Candy Corn Cupcakes

Okay, so maybe I'm a follower.  I have seen these on pretty much every blog I've looked at lately, but they are so cute!  The version I decided to use was from I Heart Naptime.  They used sour cream in theirs, which I love!  It made them very tasty I must say!  They were the hit of the trunk-or-treat!  Maybe one day I will learn how to properly frost my cupcakes to make them look pretty, but in the meantime, I'm just happy they look and taste great! 


1 box yellow cake mix
3 eggs
1/2 c vegetable oil
1/4 c water
1 c sour cream


Food coloring (orange and yellow)
Frosting of choice


With an electric mixer, beat all ingredients for about 2 min. Divide batter into two separate bowls. Add about a 1/2 tsp of food coloring in to each bowl. Stir Well. Spoon about 1 TB of yellow into the bottom of each cupcake liner. Then spoon about 1 TB of orange batter on top of that. Bake for 20 min, remove and let cool completely before frosting.