cookie butter surprise cupcakes

if you haven't heard of cookie butter, i'm about to change up your life. if you're a fan of nutella or any similar sugary ridiculous spreads that totally are not a part of a balanced diet, cookie butter is for you. if you head over to amazon and read the reviews of the mystical cookie butter, you'd think it was made out of unicorn tears and baby's breath. people are absolutely nuts about the stuff. i heard the hype, but couldn't justify ordering it off amazon. for a jarred spread? really?

when i went to athens the other weekend with beth to visit molly, she informed us there was a trader joe's in town. i know a few things about this trader joe's place, one being that they have cookie butter. SOLD. and so, we went. and the more we chatted about it, the more it became apparent we needed to make some freakin' cookie butter cupcakes.

yeah, that's right. there are cookie butter cups too. i sampled the cookie butter and whaddaya know, it's amazing. i don't have the biggest sweet tooth in the world, but i completely get the appeal of this stuff. it's rich, it's unique, it's not "chocolate chip cookie"-ish but it's sugary, buttery and amazing. i brought my brother a jar and he just sits there and eats it straight, if that tells you anything.

anyway, we got to business. we adapted a basic cake recipe from a better homes & gardens cookbook and beth made up the cookie butter icing on the fly. they turned out amazing, so get ready.

for the cake, you will need:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons buttermilk
• 24 cookie butter cups (optional, but so amazing!)

for the frosting:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 1/2 cup cookie butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 2 cups powdered sugar 

to make the cake:

1.  preheat your oven to 350 degrees. line a cupcake pan with liners of your choice.
2. in a mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. add in vanilla. add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
3. in a bowl, mix together flour, baking powder and salt. 
4. add half flour mixture to egg mixture, then add half buttermilk. alternate adding flour and buttermilk until combined.
5. add a dollop of batter to the bottom of your cupcake liner, then press a cookie butter cup into the dough. top with more batter until cupcake liner is 2/3 full.
6. bake for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick insert comes out clean. let cool before frosting.

 to make the frosting:

1. in a mixer, beat butter until light and fluffy. 
2. add vanilla, cookie butter and milk. gradually add powdered sugar until just combined.
3. top cupcakes with cookie butter icing and a cookie butter cup.

 

maple bacon cupcakes

make something a little different for thanksgiving this year. you know you want to. these cupcakes combine flavors that i used to believe should never be combined. gross. bacon and cupcakes? what is the world coming to?

welp, turns out it's delicious - so, don't knock it till you try it.

as a birminghamian, i had to make this recipe, included in southern living's big book of cupcakes. this recipe was provided by jan moon of dreamcakes, birmingham's local cupcakery (they've even got a cupcake truck!) holy perfect, right?!

for the cake:

1 cup butter, softened 

1 1/2 cups sugar 

4 large eggs 

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder 

1 teaspoon salt 

1 cup milk 

2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

for the maple frosting:

1 cup butter 

1 (16-oz.) package dark brown sugar 

1/2 cup evaporated milk 

1/4 teaspoon baking soda 

1 tablespoon light corn syrup 

4 cups powdered sugar 

2 teaspoons maple flavoring

for the toppings:

12 cooked bacon slices, broken to pieces (super crispy!)

preheat your oven to 350 degrees. combine butter & sugar and beat until light and fluffy. add in eggs, one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition. in a separate bowl, sift together flour, tabking powder and salt. slowly add flour mixture, alternating with milk, starting & ending with flour. add vanilla extract. be sure not to overbeat! spoon batter into cupcake tins & bake the cupcake for 15-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

for the frosting, melt butter in a heavy sauce pan over medium heat.  add brown sugar, stirring constantly, and bring to a boil. add evaporated milk, baking soda & light corn syrup. bring to a boil. remove from heat and let cool (this could take a while, but it's important! the caramel mixture needs to be 100% cool before you move on). once cool, beat in powdered sugar with an electric mixer. add maple flavoring. this frosting firms up quickly and is much easier to work with that way, so you may want to wait a few minutes before icing.

fry up some bacon, break into pieces for your topping, and voila!

i'm very excited to head to my parents house in fairhope for thanksgiving - it's going to be a wonderful weekend catching up with a few friends and family members. and nah, i'm not doing the black friday thing this year. i'll stick to online shopping, thanks.

i'm taking a little blogging break the rest of this week to enjoy the holidays - see you in december!

recipe via my recipes.

caramel apple cupcakes

hello blogging world. i took last week off, as you can see. and i kind of needed to. i was swamped at work, not feeling so hot and my birthday was on sunday, october 13th. but i'm glad to be back!

mmm, these are good. and they're so fun to decorate if you're into caramel. the original recipe called for some chopped apples, but i left those out (feel free to throw them in if you're into chunky fruit!).

for the cupcakes:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• a couple dashes of vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup plain yogurt
• 2/3 cup apple butter

preheat the oven to 350 degrees. mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon in a bowl and whisk. beat your butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, then add both eggs and vanilla extract. beat in yogurt. next, incorporate flour mixture and apple butter, beating in separate additions, starting and ending with flour.

spoon mixture into cupcake pans and bake for 25-28 minutes.

for the frosting:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 4 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 tablepoons heavy whipping cream

beat together butter, vanilla and whipping cream. add powdered sugar in separate additions until incorporated. frost as desired, or use a decorating bag and tip. top with a soft caramel candy and caramel syrup.

looking for other fall desserts? check out my posts on pumpkin butterscotch cookies, pumpkin spice cupcakes with cream cheese icing, + red velvet cupcakes!

recipe adapted from paula deen.

photo diary: may & early june edition

♥ i attended hangout fest in gulf shores during may 17-19, and i had a blast! before the festival i stayed with my parents in fairhope for a few days (see henry the pelican at the fairhope pier) and spent time with family. the gulf was gorgeous for the entire weekend! i saw macklemore (surprisingly amazing), passion pit, the shins, kings of leon and countless others. i can't wait to go back next year. and yes, it's better than bonnaroo. beaches > field. click here to read my post about hangout fest from last year.

♥ stocking up some items for my summer wardrobe has been a lot of fun. i'm a huge fan of lightweight collared shirts, and it's kind of becoming a problem with how much i'm wearing them recently. i've scored some great finds at loft and express!

♥ aside from job hunting and working, i've been spending a lot of time enjoying my last months in tuscaloosa. i will probably have to write a whole post about this, y'all. i love this place so, so much and i'm sad to have to leave eventually. the thing is, while i love it so, i'm ready to move on and experience life in a new place. my lease expires at the end of july, and after that i'm moving on to a job or back to fairhope until i can get something worked out. so, needless to say, i've been spending as much time enjoying tuscaloosa's beauty as possible - i spent a wonderful evening on lake tuscaloosa with friends, and i'm eating at all my favorite restaurants. 

♥ i've got a lot of things planned for the blog in the upcoming months! blogging while in college was always difficult for me, but now i truly want to devote more time to it. i'm working on a few different types of posts, and i can't wait to see where it goes! 

(the best) pumpkin spice cupcakes

i had some domain issues, so floralfrocks.net is now floralfrocks.me. if you've dealt with godaddy before, you'll probably understand. my blog is accessible via floralfrocks.me or floral--frocks.blogspot.com. as always, i post updates on my twitter and those following via google will not be affected. thanks!

 
i bake things besides cupcakes, i swear. in fact, last weekend, i baked some banana bread. to be perfectly honest i'm not the biggest banana bread fan, so it doesn't get its own blog post. but let me tell you... these cupcakes are where its at. i was expecting them to be so-so. pumpkin has never been my ultimate favorite autumn treat ever. i don't rush out to starbucks for pumpkin spiced lattes, i don't eat pumpkin pie and when i carved pumpkins earlier this month, i had to battle my way through the smell. but these... oh my goodness, guys. it's probably the best recipe i've ever baked. when i tell you to bake them right now, i mean it.

it's my opinion that baking with oil instead of butter always lends to fluffier, smoother and lighter cake as a result. these are #1 in that department - they're super fluffy, not dense at all. the spices in the recipe - cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon - smelled super strong when i measured them out. i was worried it would be a bit much. nope, just enough. can i continue to tell you how perfect these are? i wish i could.

i doubled up on the frosting recipe and was liberal with my vanilla because i love it so. but other than that, i made it exactly as i found it on annie's eats.

for the cupcakes:

• 2 & 2/3 cup flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 can or 15 ounces of pumpkin puree
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs

for the frosting:

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
• 16 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons (or a pinch more) vanilla extract
• 3-5 cups powdered sugar, sifted (this amount is totally up to taste - i used 3 & 1/2)

preheat your oven to 350 degrees farenheit. line a cupcake pan with cute wrappers of your choice. in a large bowl, sift together your flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt. set aside. in a second large bowl, add your sugar, brown sugar, vegetable oil and pumpkin puree and mix with an electric mixer until smooth and cream. add the eggs in one at a time, beating after each addition. add the flour mixture in a few additions until the mixture is just combined.

fill your cupcake papers a little over halfway full, and bake for 18-22 minutes. allow them to cool completely before frosting.

for the frosting, mix the cream cheese and butter together with an electric mixer until smooth. add the vanilla extract. gradually beat in the powdered sugar until the frosting is to the sweetness you desire. i used a wilton frosting bag & tip.

chocolate cupcakes with raspberry icing

i love raspberries, and i love chocolate. thus, its one of my favorite combinations. you can take the chocolate raspberry love a step further with these cupcakes and fill them with raspberry jam, but i couldn't find my tiny decorating tips and had nothing to pipe the filling with. this cake is moist and the icing is pretty unique. i found 6 cups of sugar in the frosting to be a bit much, but modify it to your tastes!

for the cupcakes:

• 9 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 & 1/2 cups flour (or cake flour, which i didn't use)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 & 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1/2 cup strong coffee
• 1/2 cup milk

preheat the oven to 350 degrees farenheit. line cupcake pan with cupcake liners of your choice. combine the cocoa powder, flour, salt, baking and baking powder in a bowl and whisk or sift. in another large bowl, combine the sugar and butter and beat with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about five minutes. add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.

brew your coffee and combine it with the milk. add half of the dry ingredients to your butter, egg and sugar mixture. next, add the coffee and milk mixture. add the rest of the dry ingredients and turn off the mixture just after all ingredients have combined. divide the batter in the cupcake pan and bake for 20-22 minutes. allow the cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.

i chose not to fill my cupcakes, but if you desire to do so: heat up some seedless raspberry jam in the microwave for 10-20 seconds, then put it into a piping bag with a thin, circular tip. simply poke a whole in the top of the cupcake and pipe some filling inside. 

for the frosting:

• 16 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
• 5 cups powdered sugar (to taste - i only used about 4 1/2)
• 1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam
• pink food coloring

combine the butter and raspberry jam and cream them together until smooth. gradually add the powdered sugar, and finally, the pink food coloring as desired. garnish with a raspberry!

recipe adapted from annie's eats.

key lime pie cupcakes

this is an older photos of the key lime pie cupcakes i made for my dad for father's day last year. key lime pie is his favorite, + these were delicious & had the most subtle hint of lime, just perfect enough. i suppose i'm thinking in spring/summer mode since we didn't really have a winter here in tuscaloosa, so these cupcakes were on my brain & i had to share the recipe.

in the original recipe adapted from food network, white chocolate icing is used. if you'd like to give that a try, follow the link! i used cream cheese icing instead, which is the same i use for my red velvet cupcakes, found here. any variant of cream cheese icing would taste delicious, or you could even create a lime buttercream if you really enjoy the lime flavor.

for the cupcakes:

• 3/4 cup (1 & 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 heaping teaspoon grated key lime zest
  
• 1 1/2 tablespoons key lime juice (bottled or freshly squeezed)
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 cup buttermilk

preheat oven to 325 degrees f.

in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. with the mixer on low, add the eggs, 1 at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition. add the vanilla extract, key lime zest and juice and mix well. in a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. in 5 parts, alternately add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk to the batter, beginning and ending with the dry. mix until just combined.

line a muffin pan with cupcake papers & scoop batter evenly into each. bake for 25 minutes or until the tops begin to brown and a toothpick comes out clean. allow them to cool for 10-15 minutes before icing. i simply sprinkled graham cracker crumbs on top & garnished with a tiny slice of lime. enjoy!

happy holidays!

i love christmas. i do the same thing every year, but i look forward to it so much. on christmas eve, i whipped up a quick batch of my go to red velvet cupcakes to take to my grandmother's. christmas morning, i opened gifts with my family, then we went to my grandmother's for lunch. mimosas, beef tenderloin & the most AMAZING mashed potatoes ever = the meal i look forward to all year, every year. i got lots of presents that i'd been wanting, including some things from my holiday wishlist! i am so in love with the coach poppy scent, i'll probably go through half the bottle before the new semester starts. my other obsession is the steve madden annie booties - i can't wait to wear these on new year's eve!

this week i'll be spending time with friends, working out, watching netflix, baking & doing a little shopping with mom. during the upcoming weekend i'll be back in tuscaloosa to ring in the new year with my boyfriend & spend some time with him! hope everyone had a wonderful holiday.

chocolate cupcakes + cream cheese icing

after making my birthday cake, which was my first experimentation with chocolate, i wanted to make cupcakes as well. on thursday night i whipped up this batch & i'm proud to say i'm very happy with them! paula deen recipes haven't disappointed me so far. i've found that i'm starting to prefer cakes made with oil instead of butter, they're always lighter & fluffier, which is the texture i prefer. dense cupcakes can still taste nice, but i love bouncy cake.

i used 2 separate paula deen recipes for these. for the cake, i used this recipe, but omitted the filling elements. the filling is supposed to be coffee buttercream by the way, so maybe i'll try that one day! for the icing, i used this recipe, which i always use for my red velvet cupcakes as well.

lately when it comes to icing i've just been using a good old ziploc bag. i need to get some tips & get creative! round icing is pretty but i want to experiment.

for the cupcakes:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup strong brewed coffee, cooled
• 3 large eggs
• 1 (8-ounce) container sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

preheat the oven to 350 degrees f. line muffin pans with paper liners and set aside.

in a large bowl, whisk flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. add oil, coffee, & eggs. beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. mix in the sour cream & vanilla.

spoon the batter evenly into prepared muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full. bake until a tester inserted in center comes out clean, for 16 to 18 minutes. let cool before icing.

for the icing:

• 1 pound cream cheese, softened
• 2 sticks butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

beat the butter, sugar & vanilla together until smooth. add confectioners sugar slowly until incorporated.

love like woah

hi everyone! long time no update, & for totally valid reasons! school is eating me alive, i've got midterms in 2 weeks. currently, i'm at my parent's place for the weekend. it's been a wonderful past few weeks & i'm so excited for the rest of this month, despite my exams. let the recap begin!

school, internship, homework, repeat. as i mentioned, i've been the busiest ever academically. i've done a lot of thinking about my minor, &... i think i'm going to cut it out with the graphic design & switch to creative writing. i'm looking to brush up on my indesign skills for my portfolio, but i don't feel like my heart is in graphic design. i've been writing since i was a child, & i really think that means something. JUST A THOUGHT. will i stick with this sentiment? who knows.

i made my very first bread! if you follow me on twitter you probably already know about this endeavor. i started with sourdough - i let the starter ferment for a week, then i got right to work on baking & it turned out great. it was so much fun to do & i'm looking to experiment with french bread next.

spent tons of time with my girls, went to football games, had football parties (made a taco ring!) & have literally been cooking my ass off simply because i love it.

i used my incoco nail strips that i got in my september birchbox, & i was actually pleasantly surprised. although i'm not the biggest fan of blue glitter, i wanted to try them out.

i attended bayfest in mobile this weekend, the first time i've been since i was 14. i went simply for a throwback - 3 doors down, hinder, theory of a deadman, korn, drowning pool... yep, all the music i enjoyed as an 8th grader. i couldn't resist. had a great time, felt nostalgic & was sort of reminded why i stopped going to bayfest - it's a sweaty alabama mess. however, i knew this ahead of time & i'm cool with it. seeing ludacris was also a (classy) highlight.

because i was at my parent's place this weekend, i did a little baking, just some simple chocolate chip + cookies & cream cookies to satisfy the baking fix.

my birthday is this week (!!!!!) & i'm looking forward to turning 21 so much - not just for obvious reasons. yes, i'm still mulling over what my first legal drink shall be. a cocktail? champagne? wine? i have no idea, but i have a feeling it will just come to me when the time is right. besides that, i'm looking forward to spending time with my family & friends. in 21 years, i've learned that that is what's most important.

the reason i'm able to make this post is because i'm sick. last night, after arriving home from bayfest, i started to feel kinda off & thought i had a cold. within a few hours it progressed into a full blown virus & i've been running a fever all day. hopefully i'll be feeling better by my birthday on thursday, & if i'm not... well, i'm still going out, i only turn 21 once. here's to hoping i'm better by then.

the perfect red velvet

every southern girl should know a good red velvet recipe. i hadn't experimented with red velvet before & i had no desire to until i tasted a batch of cupcakes my grandmother made a year or so ago. it was the most amazing red velvet i had ever had the pleasure of putting into my mouth, & i vowed to make it some day.

turns out, it was a simple paula deen recipe. while i originally was planning some dark chocolate cupcakes with raspberry filling for our 4th of july festivities, i whipped out the mixer & got to work on these after my mother reminded me of them. i had never made cupcakes with vegetable oil replacing butter before, so this was definitely something different. i'm really happy with the way they turned out & i can't wait to make them again.


for the cupcakes:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 tablespoons red food coloring
• 1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

for the cream cheese frosting:

• 1 pound cream cheese, softened
• 2 sticks butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

preheat the oven to 350 & line a cupcake pan with 12 wrappers. in a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. in a large bowl gently beat together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla with a handheld electric mixer. add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth and thoroughly combined.

divide the batter evenly among the cupcake tins about 2/3 filled. bake in oven for about 20 to 22 minutes, turning the pans once, half way through. test the cupcakes with a toothpick for doneness. remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.

to make the frosting: in a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until smooth. add the sugar and on low speed, beat until incorporated. increase the speed to high and mix until very light and fluffy.