GLUTEN & DAIRY FREE CUPCAKES

Last weekend my family had a reunion up in Bellingham and we celebrated my cousins engagement, WOO! I was in charge of cupcakes because thats my thing... My cousin is allergic to dairy and almost half of my family is allergic to gluten so of course I wanted to make something everyone could have. I have never tried dairy free cupcakes before, but my mom remembered having dairy-free cream cheese frosting at a restaurant so I figured it was worth a try!

I used Tofutti cream cheese and it turned out amazing! As someone who loves cream cheese frosting, it was not a bad substitute at all. I could tell the difference from regular cream cheese, but it wasn't bad, just different. I highly recommend this recipe! 

For the cupcakes I chose to use a mix, sometimes I just don't have the time for cupcakes from scratch. I used Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Vanilla Cake Mix and it was great (recipe on the mix bag). Gluten free baked goods can be dense and crumbly but this mix was fluffy and soft! I put in a little raspberry flavor so it wasn't vanilla on vanilla, but I also considered almond flavor because that would be delicious. Happy baking friends!

DAIRY FREE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

8oz container of Tofutti Milk-Free Better than Cream Cheese

1/4 cup dairy-free butter

1/2 tsp vanilla

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Cream together the Tofutti Cream Cheese, dairy-free butter and vanilla until smooth. Gradually add powdered sugar until the mixture is smooth and thick.

CHAMPAGNE CUPCAKES

With wedding season approaching I love to get a few cupcakes recipes ready that are fancy and fun for bridal showers, bachelorette parties, and rehearsals! I love this pink champagne recipe, reducing the champagne for the frosting gives it a strong flavor and it's really simple. I use Barefoot Pink Moscato Bubbly with this recipe, but any champagne or prosecco you like will work.

Enjoy!

Cake: 

1/2 cup butter softened
1 cup granulated sugar2 eggs1 tsp vanilla1 3/4 cups flour1/2 tsp baking soda1/4 tsp baking powder1/4 tsp salt1/2 cup sour cream1/2 cup champagne

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition. Add vanilla and mix. Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt, set aside.  in a medium sized bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup champagne and 1/2 cup sour cream (mixture will fizz and bubble a little).  Add flour and champagne mixture alternately, beginning and ending with flour.  Batter will be thick.
Fill cupcake papers with 1/4 cup level measures of batter.  Bake for 17-22 minutes.  Set aside.

Champagne Frosting:

1 cup plus 1 tbsp. champagne or prosecco
2 sticks of butter softened
2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

Place 1 cup of champagne in a small saucepan.  Simmer over medium-high heat until reduced to 2 tablespoons.  Transfer to a small bowl or condiment cup and allow to cool.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, cream softened butter and powdered sugar together.  Once the frosting is thick and fluffy, pour in the reduced 2 tbsp. champagne plus  1 tbsp. champagne from the bottle and mix well.

STRAWBERRY MARGARITA CUPCAKES

I'm fairly certain the addition of booze makes anything delicious, these cupcakes are no exception. Tequila and cupcakes are a match made in heaven, just in time fro Cinco De Mayo! I maybe added a little extra tequila too... no one complained so I'll say it was a good thing. I don't always used boxed mixes, but sometimes it's just so much more convenient, if I do I use Duncan Hines. Anyways, have fun mixing these boozy cupcakes!

Cupcakes

Boxed white cake mix

1 cup strawberry margarita/daiquiri mix (liquid)

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup tequila*

3 eggs 

.

1.  Preheat over to 350°(325° for dark pans).  Line muffin or cupcake pan with 24 cupcake liner cups.

2.  In a large bowl, combine cupcake ingredients. Mix on low for about 30 seconds until ingredients are combined, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally (or use a cool beater like this). Switch mixer to high for two minutes until batter is thick and creamy.

3. Spoon batter into cupcake liners.

4. Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the largest cupcake comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool completely before frosting.

Strawberry Margarita Frosting

10 Tbsp butter, slightly firm but not cold

10 oz cream cheese, cold

2 to 3 tablespoons strawberry margarita/daiquiri mix

5 cups powdered sugar

1. In a large bowl, mix butter and cream cheese together on medium speed.

2. Whip until fluffy, approximately one minute.

3. Add powdered sugar in slowly and mix until smooth and completely blended.

4. Mix in margarita flavoring 1 tsp at a time and beat until frosting is light and fluffy.

5.  Add frosting to a decorating icing bag with tip. I used a 1M Wilton Tip. If you don’t have an icing bag, you can spoon the frosting into a ziplock bag and cut the corner off to pipe the icing on top of the cupcakes.

PIMMS CUP CUPCAKES

A classic beverage for Wheels & Wickets is pimms cup mixed with lemon lime soda, and garnished with cucumbers and mint. I wanted to incorporate the flavors into cupcakes for dessert and found this recipie that worked great, it's from another blog so that's a bonus, I'm all about supporting fellow bloggers! I garnished them with a little sparkle and colored the frosting slightly orange so they wouldn't look identical to the mimosa cupcakes. This was a fun new recipie and I am happy I tried it out, it's always fun to incorporate an interesting new flavor that you don't use often. Besides, cooking with alcohol spices things us! Enjoy :) 

PIMM's Cupcakes

(This recipe yields 6 cupcakes, be sure to adjust for however many you want!)

3/4 cup flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

1/2 cup sugar1/4 cup veggie oil

1 egg

1 tsp lemon zest

1/4 milk

1/4 cup Pimm's

Mix together flour, baking powder and salt.

In large bowl or mixer, whisk together sugar, oil and egg until smooth. Add lemon zest.

Slowly beat in flour mixture, milk and Pimm's until smooth.

Divide into cups, fill them about 3/4 of the way. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

4TH OF JULY CAKE

I found this amazing ombre 4th of July cake in this month issue of InStyle, so I decided to try it out! I am definitely not a cake wiz, and the picture on the magazine looked sooo much better than mine, but hey I tried! It was fun to make and everyone was very impressed with how the inside looked, it was a nice surprise! So if you're in need of a patriotic dessert, try this out!

Ingredients

3 boxes white cake mix

6 egg whites

4 1/2 cups Sprite

Blue gel food coloring

Red gel food coloring

5 12oz. tub of whipped vanilla frosting (Or, I used the frosting from these cupcakes!)

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Mix one box of cake mix with 2 egg whites and 1 1/2 cups Sprite: divide evenly among 3 bowls.

3. Create three shades of blue: Add 2 drops of coloring to one bowl, 4 to the second, and 8 to the third.

4. Coat three 9-inch cake cake pans with cooking spray; line bottoms with parchment paper cut to size. Pour each batter into its own pan.

5. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Let layers cool; remove from pans. If needed, use a serrated knife to trim tops so they are level.

6. Place darkest blue layer on plate; cover with a thin layer of frosting. Repeat with remaining layers, from darker to lightest. Chill cake in fridge.

7. Repeat step 2.

8. Add one drop of blue food coloring to one bowl, and one drop of red to another. Do not tint last bowl.

9. Repeat steps 4 and 5

10. Keep building cake with blue, then white, then red layers, frosting after each. Chill cake in fridge.

11. Repeat steps 2-5 using red food coloring instead of blue.

12. Keep building cake with red lays, going from lightest to darkest, frosting after each.

13. Coat outside of cake with a thin layer of frosting. Chill for 15 minutes.

14. Use remaining frosting to generously coat outside of cake. Chill for at least one hour before cutting.

FERRERO ROCHER

One day I needed a super quick cupcake, I found this recipe on Pinterest and it look delicious so I tried it out! It's SO SIMPLE, a chocolate cupcake with a Ferroro Rocher glued down with Nutella. No frosting, nothing complicated, easy peasy. I used the chocolate recipe from this post, you can do them gluten free or not! Happy baking!

 

GUAVA CHIFFON

A few weeks ago my boss told me about a popular cake in Hawaii called guava chiffon. At first I was like WHHHHAT, and then I was like "I must Google this now." I seriously love guava flavored things, if you haven't had the guava sunrise smoothie at Emerald City smoothies you haven't lived. SO, obviously I had to try guava chiffon cupcakes.

These cupcakes take a little extra time and patience, and to be honest I think this recipe could use a little tweaking. They turned out a little sticky for my taste, but it's all the same in your mouth right?! I got the recipe here, but chose to use my own frosting recipe instead of the one provided. The frosting was bomb and will now be a staple for me! Lastly, make sure you use powdered sugar in the guava sauce to make it thick. I used regular sugar because I prefer the taste, but the sauce was very runny and made everything sticky!

>> Cream cheese/Cool Whip frosting

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup sugar
8 oz. cool whip, thawed
1 tsp. vanilla

Combine cream cheese and sugar, beat for 1 minute. Add cool whip and vanilla, beat until well combined. So easy, woo!

GLUTEN FREE CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES

Last weekend while I was in California my aunt asked me to make all of the cupcakes for my uncles big 60th birthday celebration! I obviously love making cupcakes so I was really excited. I made my coffee & heath cupcakes and made these gluten free chocolate cupcakes with a vanilla cream cheese frosting and a strawberry to top it off! I've mentioned it before, but the best gluten free flour I have found is Mama's Almond Blend, I find it on Amazon. I also use Xanthan Gum from Amazon.

These cupcakes were a huge hit, anyone gluten free knows how exciting it when you go somewhere and they actually have something you can eat! I stuck with something simple because you can never go wrong with chocolate and vanilla. I adapted this recipe from my aunt who got it from her mother. There is nothing better than a family recipe especially from the 50's! They know how to bake right. Happy baking!

>>Gluten free chocloate cupcakes

2 cups gluten free flour, sifted

1 teaspoon xanthum gum

1 1/4 cups sugar

1/2 cup butter

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

2 squares bakers chocolate-semisweet, melted

3/4 cup milk

3/4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 cup milk

3  ea egg , unbeaten

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Blend sugar and butter.  

Add flour, xanthum gum, soda, salt, melted chocolate and 3/4 cup milk.  Blend at medium speed for 2 minutes.  Stir in baking powder.  

Add the 1/2 cup milk, 3 eggs and vanilla.  Blend until batter is smooth, pour into cupcake tins.

Bake in 350 degree oven for 30 to 35 minutes. 20-25 minutes for cupcakes

>>Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

4 ounces unsalted butter, softened
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large bowl, beat together the butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer. With the mixer on low speed, add the powdered sugar a cup at a time until smooth and creamy. Beat in the vanilla extract

 

KEY LIME

This Sunday I tried out Key Lime cupcakes, a super refreshing taste for Spring and Summer. They were a huge hit! I was really excited about how flavorful they are. The only thing I would do differently next time is mixing the graham cracker crumbs with melted butter before pressing it in the bottom of this tins, they were very crumbly and needed something for binding. Otherwise they are great and I can't wait to use this recipe in the summer for BBQ's! Enjoy :)

Key Lime Cupcake>>

1 box classic white cake mix
1 small box (3 oz) Lime Jell-O
1 1/3 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
3/4 cup limeade concentrate, thawed
2 cups graham cracker crumbs

Key Lime Frosting>>
1 stick butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened
3 tbs freshly squeezed lime juice (about 3 limes worth)
4 cups powdered sugar
graham cracker crumbs and lime slices for garnish

Preheat oven to 350, line 24 tins with liners and sprinkle a spoonful of graham cracker crumbs in each.

In a large mixing bowl, combine cake mix, Jell-O mix, eggs, vegetable oil, and limade concentrate. Beat on low for 30 seconds, scrape sides of bowl, increase speed to medium high, and beat for two minutes. Fill tins 2/3 full.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, remove from oven when toothpick inserted comes out clean, place on wire racks to cool.

In the bowl of a mixer, beat cream cheese, butter, and lime juice on medium-low speed until combined, With the mixer set on low, slowly add powdered sugar. Beat until combined, increase speed and beat on high for 1 minute.

Frost cupcakes and garnish with graham cracker crumbs and lime slice.

BOSTON CREAM PIE

This weekend I was determined to make my cupcakes gluten free. I have been gluten free for years, but I find myself cheating every Sunday on cupcakes... So since I have found an amazing almond flour I decided to try it out. I made boston cream pie cupcakes, I started with a simple yellow cupcake recipe and to make it gluten free I did a straight across trade of normal flour and gluten free flour. In addition I added 1 tsp. xanthan gum. I am pretty pleased with the results, you can hardly tell they are gluten free! In the middle is Jello instant vanilla pudding, I cored out the cupcake with this corer. And to top it off is a chocolate icing. They were super yummy, it's a recipe I've been wanting try try for a while and I'm glad I did!

p.s. The icing on this cupcake looks messed up thanks to plastic wrap...

Chocolate icing>>
1/3 cup butter
2 oz. unsweetened baking chocolate
1 1/2 cups powdered cugae
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup hot water

In 1-quart saucepan, melt butter and chocolate over low heat, stirring occasionally. Stir in powdered sugar and vanilla. Stir in hot water until smooth. If necessary, stir in additional water, 1 teaspoon at a time, until icing is spreadable. With metal spatula or back of spoon, spread icing over tops of cupcakes.

COOKIES & CREAM 2

This week was John's birthday and he said he wanted cookies & cream cupcakes. The ones a I made previously were amazing, but I wanted to experiment and try something new! So this time I put an Oreo on the bottom of the cupcake, made vanilla batter, cored it out and filled it with marshmallow creme, then topped it off with cookies and cream buttercream. They were super delicious! It's definitely a different approach to cookies and cream than the previous one, it's less rich and more dynamic, but they are both worth trying!

Marshmallow Creme Filling>>

13 oz jar Marshmallow Creme
1 stick salted butter, softened
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
4 Tablespoons heavy cream
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
In a large bowl, beat Marshmallow Creme, butter, heavy cream and vanilla on medium low until smooth. Slowly add the powdered sugar and increase speed to medium high and beat for about a minute. Refrigerate filling until cupcakes are done baking and cooled.

Cookies & Cream Frosting>>

1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese softened

2 Tbsp. butter softened

1/2 tsp. salt

1 package Dream Whip dry

1 tsp. vanilla

3 cups powdered sugar

6 Double Stuffed Oreos finely crushed

For Frosting: Beat softened cream cheese and butter until smooth and blended. Add vanilla and salt and beat until well incorporated. Add Dream Whip and mix well. Add the powdered sugar and beat well. Lastly, add in the crushed Oreos and beat until well incorporated.

COFFEE & TOFFEE

I don't mean to brag or anything, but these cupcakes are absolutely amazing! I have always been a huge fan of coffee ice cream with Heath, so when Nic suggested it cupcake style I was all for it. I found a good coffee cupcake recipe and then decided for the frosting to just do Cool Whip with Heath toffee bits in it. It's probably really lazy of me to use Cool Whip all the time, but to be honest I am not a huge fan of overly-sweet buttercreams and frostings. The creamy and light flavor goes so perfectly on this cupcake, it's like adding a little creamer to your morning cup. To top it all off I sprinkled more Heath toffee bits and a chunk from cut up Heath bars. I wanted to pipe the frosting with a star tip but the chunks were just too big and clogged the tip. Next time i will consider blending the bits so they are more finely ground and able to go through the star tip. Anyways, I highly recommend trying these out, so simple and delicious!

Coffee Cupcakes

2 cups all-purpose flour 

1 teaspoon baking powder

 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 

1/4 teaspoon salt

 1/2 cup boiling water

 2 tablespoons instant-espresso powder 

1/4 cup whole milk 

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature 

1/2 cup granulated sugar 

1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar

 2 large eggs

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make the cupcakes: Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Pour water over espresso powder; let cool. Combine espresso with milk. Beat butter and granulated and brown sugars with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with espresso-milk mixture, beginning and ending with flour (batter may look broken). 

2. Fill 15 cups (of two 12-cup muffin tins) three-quarters full. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the centers comes out clean, 20 to 22 minutes. Let cool; turn out cupcakes from tins.

SALTED CARAMEL

Salted caramel is one of my most favorite things at Starbucks, so this weekend I decided to make it in to a cupcake. Possibly the best decision ever, they were perfect! I made a simple chocolate cupcake, then for the frosting made a fluffy white frosting and added actual toffee nut syrup from Starbucks. To top it off I sprinkled a mixture of sea salt and sugar, then melted Werther's caramels to drizzle on top. So flavorful!

 

Fluffy White Frosting

2 large egg whites

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup light corn syrup

2 tablespoons water

1 teaspoon toffee nut syrup (or any flavor you like)

1. Let egg whites stand at room temperature 30 minutes. In medium bowl, beat egg whites with electric mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form.

2. In 1-quart saucepan, stir sugar, corn syrup and water until well mixed. Cover; heat to rolling boil over medium heat. Uncover; boil 4 to 8 minutes, without stirring, to 242˚F on candy thermometer or until small amount of mixture dropped into cup of very cold water forms a firm ball that holds its shape until pressed. For an accurate temperature reading, tilt saucepan slightly so mixture is deep enough for thermometer.

3. While beating constantly on medium speed, pour hot syrup very slowly in thin stream into egg whites. Add toffee nut syrup; beat on high about 10 minutes or until stiff peaks form.

>>adapted from Betty Crocker's Big Book of Cupcakes

 

MARSHMALLOW BUTTERCREAM

This weekend I tried out a new frosting and I am so excited about it! It's marshmallow buttercream, and honestly its my favorite buttercream I've made so far! Every time I used powdered sugar in a frosting I use less than the recipe calls for, I'm not a huge fan of the overpowering powdered sugar taste. This recipe is so simple and fast, plus I love the marshmallow fluff that comes in the jars. I paired it with a simple red velvet cupcake, they balance each other so well! Enjoy!

Marshmallow Buttercream
1 jar (7 to 7.5oz)  marshmallow creme
1 cup softened butter
2 cups powdered sugar

Remove lid and foil seal from jar of marshmallow creme. Microwave on High 15 to 20 seconds to soften. In large bowl, beat marshmallow creme and 1 cup butter with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Beat in powdered sugar until smooth. Spoon 1 heaping tablespoon frosting onto each cupcake, swirling frosting with back of spoon.

IN A PINCH

Well Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! On most Sunday's John and I go to our friends house and watch a movie, or Dexter when it's in season. Typically I bring along cupcakes, and obviously today was to be no different, except I got caught up with Dakota and forgot to make cupcakes... So, when I need to I grab a cake mix from the store.

Normally I make all of my cupcakes from scratch, but today time would not permit. To be honest, I really love Duncan Hines' cake mix, almost as much as homemade. It's delicious,

I'm not ashamed to use it.

I picked up this devil's food cake mix and a few essentials for a simple frosting. Instead of using the 1/3 cup of oil in the cake mix, I decided to use 1/3 cup of melted butter, Dakota recommended it and it makes the cupcakes very light!

Sprinkle a little green on top, and voila! St. Patty's Day cupcakes.

 Easy solution for making cupcakes in a pinch. 

Easy vanilla frosting:

8 oz. cream cheese

4 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 tsp. milk

Combine and beat until creamy, adjust powdered sugar to taste

COOKIES & CREAM

Last summer my best friend Dakota introduced me to the most amazing cookies & cream cupcakes! I am a serious Oreo lover and will never turn down a cookies & cream anything. I have allowed Dakota to be the master of these cupcakes for a while, but this weekend I decided to try them! I got the recipe here, this lady is 100x better at presenting her cupcakes, but in the end it's all about the taste right?

My first tip: the frosting is like cement when you take it out of the fridge, you may have to warm it up for a few seconds in order to pipe it! One more tip: make these cupcakes! They are seriously so delicious, they are rich so you only need one, but you want more!

They take a little time, but I promise it is worth it!

VDAY CUPPYCAKES

My friends and family know I have developed an obsession for baking cupcakes. 

I enjoy making them almost more than I enjoy eating them. Generally I try to bake on

Sunday's, but I made an exception for Valentines Day! This is a simple white cupcake

(colored pink) with a cool whip raspberry frosting!

Now I had a bit of a dilemma when it came to the frosting. One of my favorite

frostings I've done was simply Cool Whip with fresh raspberries stirred in; DELICIOUS.

But when I came home from the store and realized I had about 10 useable raspberries,

I had to change my plan. Instead I opted for a little raspberry extract I picked up from

Michaels a while ago. It's not the same, but I had to think fast!

I managed to salvage a few raspberries as a topper to about 10

of the cupcakes, better than nothing!

The finished product all tucked away in this amazing carrier I got as a gift!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentines Day!
This cupcake recipe is from Betty Crocker's Big

Book of Cupcakes. For the frosting I just used plain ol' Cool Whip

and the raspberry flavoring to taste! Happy baking!

White cupcakes
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup shortening or butter
1 2/3 cups sugar
5 egg whites
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/4 cups milk

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Place paper baking cups in each of 24 regular-size muffin cups.
2. In medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.
3. In large bowl, beat shortening with electric mixer on medium speed 30 seconds. Gradually add sugar, about 1/3 cup at a time,
beating well after each addition and scraping the bowl occasionally. Beat 2 minutes longer. Add egg whites, one at a time,
beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. On low speed, alternately add flour mixture, about 1/3 of mixture at a time,
and milk about 1/2 at a time, beating until blended.
4. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups, filing each about 2/3 full.
5. Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool in pans 5 minutes.
Remove cupcakes from pans, place on cooling rack to cool. Frost with desired frosting.

24 cupcakes, prep time 15 minutes, start to finish 1 hour 15 minutes