Soft Serve Twist Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

There is something about me you need to understand before we proceed.

I hate summer.

There, I've said it. I know, it makes no sense. Everyone loves summer - a time of fun in the sun, freedom from your studies, and getting to have super-fun mani-pedi dates with all your girlfriends so you can show off your cute nail polish in your brand new, fashionable wedge sandals.

I hate all those things.

Go ahead, judge me. I know, I'm a weirdo. But maybe you'll forgive me by the end of this post, because you know what I do love about summer? The ice cream truck! And the soft-serve ice cream that comes with it. My favourite is choco-vanilla twist with sprinkles...

Of course, this was all a big awkward segue into the fact that I felt like making ice cream cone cupcakes. Yes, those are cake! And guess what? The choco-vanilla twist goes all the way down.

If you know what I mean. Which is of course that the inside is swirled, too. What else could that even mean? Jeez, what were you thinking?

Anyway, to get the interior swirl effect, first prepare a batch each of your favourite white/yellow and chocolate cake batter, or a half-recipe, if you don't want to make 3 dozen of these! If you want my recipes, the chocolate cake is here and the yellow cake is here (uh, just omit the hot chili flakes. Yeah.)

Fill two piping bags with your batters, and tape them together near the tips so you can squeeze both bags at once. I totally got that idea from Bakerella, though I've made this type of cake before by putting 2 batters in the same bag. This was much simpler!

Carefully pipe swirls of batter into your ice cream cones. You'll notice I've stood mine in a cupcake pan for baking. When you pipe these, make sure you get right into the bottom sections so your cakes don't sink during baking.

Whatever you do, don't fill them this much! Leave about a half inch from the inner rim.

Use pie weights - or like I have, dried beans, to fill around the cones. This keeps them upright very well when they're being put into or taken out of the oven.

This picture isn't sideways. You're talking crazy.

Make at least as many mini cupcakes as you've made of the cones. You can swirl them too, if you like.

So, why did I tell you to be careful not to overfill your cones? Well, see, if they're overfilled, and they rise past the rim, they apparently can spill down the sides of the cones and make a big terrible mess.

Like that. Euugh. Luckily, they didn't all spill over, but I think we all learned a valuable lesson. Like I'm always saying, learn from my mistakes! I was able to save many of these. Others... the evidence had to be eradicated.

A dirty job, but some had to do it.

To decorate the cupcakes, once fully cooled, whip up your favourite vanilla and chocolate frostings, and cram them into the same piping bag. (By the way, my vanilla frosting is the same as the chocolate, except you omit the cocoa powder and up the icing sugar by a cup. So easy!) Try to keep them in their own half of the bag for the most part, but it's okay if they blend a bit. After all, a twist cone can be like that, too.

Yes, filling this piping bag was quite messy. But heck, messy is fun!

If your cake extends above the cone's outer rim, use a serrated knife to trim away the excess.

Pipe a little swirl of frosting on your trimmed cone cake.

Unwrap a mini cupcake, invert it, and smoosh it down on the frosting. This is kinda my favourite part. Or maybe I just like the word smoosh.

Smoosh smoosh smoosh!

It was very hard to get pics of the next step, so use the magic of imagination here. What you want to do is hold the cone in your off-hand, and wielding the piping bag in your writing hand, simply pipe a generous swirl of frosting along the outer rim of the cone cake, twisting up around the mini cupcake and culminating in a final swirl on top.

Hmm, what else?

Sprinkles!! Oh, how I love sprinkles. Especially rainbow jimmies. The best.

Mmm... if I have more excuses to make tasty fake-out treats like this, maybe this summer won't be too bad.

Hubby ate one of these on the bus on his way to work. At 10:30 PM. On a cool night. I really wish I could have been there. I hope there were double-takes.

In any case, these are super-fun to make, and messy as heck to eat, and a total party from start to finish. Highly recommended.

Ho boy, Father's Day is coming up fast, isn't it? No idea what I'm gonna do for my Dad this year. If I think of something, I'll let y'all know.

Until next time!

Fireworks Cupcakes: Sweet, Spicy, and Unexpected!

Besides working full-time as a charity fundraiser, I help out seasonally at a fireworks shop called Kaboom! Let me tell you, it is super-fun answering the phone and saying, "KABOOM! How can I help you?"

But maybe that's just me.

In any case, I had been batting a new flavor idea around in my head for a while and being called back to the shop for Victoria Day weekend gave me the nudge I needed to put it into action!

So I whipped up my favorite yellow cake - Bonnie Butter Cake, recipe below - and as a control batch, made 12 plain cupcakes in plain white wrappers.

Then it was time to experiment!

That, my friends, is crushed red chili flakes, which I crushed myself in my mortar and pestle. I knew I bought that thing for a reason.

Next, to be sure there'd be no confusion as to which cakes were regular and which were extra spicy, I chose bright red wrappers for the spicy half.

Then I filled the cups and baked like usual. Well, except that when I usually bake cupcakes, I don't get a faint whiff of chili from the oven, but I suppose that's to be expected.

Next I invented a very simple, Thai-flavours-inspired frosting consisting chiefly of peanut butter, icing sugar and coconut milk. My brother, Duck, happened to be assisting, and asked how I made the frosting.

"Oh, it's really easy," I said, "You just throw it all together in a bowl and -"

"... Okay, not that easy, jeez."

Actually, measure out a 1/2 cup of peanut butter and, using a hand mixer, slowly add 3 cups of icing sugar while mixing until the peanut butter is pretty evenly distributed.

Then add 1 teaspoon of vanilla and a tablespoon of coconut milk at a time, mixing on medium in between additions until a smooth frosting forms, like so:

Because of the amount of peanut butter, the frosting will have a somewhat goopy consistency. If it gets too soft to pipe, simply add a bit more icing sugar to firm it up.

The plain cupcakes were topped with pretty swirls of peanut butter coconut frosting. Of those who tried the plain cupcakes, I heard both that the coconut flavor was too strong, and that it wasn't strong enough, so I suppose you can adjust the level of coconut milk depending on your liking. Simply replace the coconut milk with regular milk when you feel you have enough coconut flavor.

The spicy cupcakes got a swirl of icing, too, but I wasn't stopping there, oh no. I mixed up a simple icing glaze.

Then I made it less simple and more sensational! Add as much sriracha sauce as you think you can handle.

Then add a little more.

Then a little more than that.

Seriously. I thought I had made mine too hot until I put it on the cupcakes and tried it. The frosting's richness really brings the heat level down, so feel free to go a little nuts with the hot sauce!

You could stop here, but I felt the glaze looked kind of pale-orange-beige and I really wanted it to visually scream: WARNING! SPICINESS AHEAD! So I threw in a bit of red food colour, with a smidge of brown to try to approximate the colour of the sriracha sauce.

Now that says hot! I dipped a spoon into the glaze and simply drizzled it over the top of the cupcake, like so:

Feel free to adjust the amount of the glaze to your own liking. Heat levels are a very subjective thing... 'not hot enough' to me might be equivalent to 'oh god my eyeballs are melting!' to you, so be sure to keep that in mind.

So I packed up the spicy Fireworks and took them to the fireworks store. I also brought the plainer ones in case of non-spice fans. And you know what?

Most of the staff was afraid to try them!

Seriously, guys? Seriously? You're okay to work in a building full of explosives, but a little hot sauce on your cupcake freaks you out? Come on.

The manager was brave enough to try one. Then he was brave enough to try a second, so I'll take that as a good review. Hubby devoured a couple himself and I certainly had my share!

Hubby took what was left to his workplace the next night, and they pretty much disappeared, all reviews were positive - unless hubby just didn't want to hurt my feelings - but seeing as the trays returned very nearly empty, I'm inclined to believe the overnight staff at the fast food restaurant truly did enjoy these!

Of course, these are the same guys who sneak bacon into their ice cream treats, so... take that as you will.

On another note, these cupcakes were featured on My Food Looks Funny (and before you get upset about the caption, know that I wrote it, poking fun at my own creation!) so definitely go check out the other funky treats and oddities over there.

Want to make your own? Here's all the required recipes:

Bonnie Butter Cake

Another one adapted out of the ol' Betty Crocker book

2/3 Cups Butter, salted
1 3/4 Cups Sugar
2 Large Eggs
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla
2 3/4 Cups Cake or Pastry Flour
2 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Salt
1 1/4 Cups Milk
1 tsp Red Chili Flakes, crushed (if making fireworks cupcakes, optional. Add more if you're a real heat fan!)

Mix butter, sugar eggs and vanilla until fluffy.  Beat 5 minutes on high speed with hand- (or stand-) mixer, scraping sides down occasionally. In separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, chili flakes (if using) and salt. Reduce mixer speed to low and add dry ingredients bit by bit, alternating with milk, until well combined.

Pour into lined cupcake pans and bake at 350 degrees for 17-19 minutes. Makes 24 cupcakes.

***

Peanut Butter & Coconut Frosting
From my brain, where I get most of my ideas.


1/2 Cup Peanut Butter
3 Cups Icing Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla
5-6 tablespoons Coconut Milk (not coconut water or beverage!)

Cream peanut butter with hand mixer on low, slowly add icing sugar until peanut butter is distributed throughout. Add vanilla, and first tablespoon of coconut milk. Be sure your bowl and mixer are very secure, due to the thickness of the frosting at this point, the bowl can try to get away from you!

The next thing you know, the mixer's out of control and spraying frosting everywhere! Not that it would ever happen to me.

Get that photo out of here!

In any case, add a tablespoon of coconut milk at a time until the frosting reaches a spreadable (but yes, it will be kind of goopy) consistency.

***

Sriracha Glaze
Only the brave need apply.

1 Cup Icing Sugar
1 tblsp Coconut Milk (or regular milk)
1 tblsp  Water
Sriracha sauce to taste. Then a bit more than that.


Food Colouring, optional

With a fork or small whisk, combine icing sugar, coconut milk, and water. Add sriracha sauce a bit at a time until desired heat level is reached. Add food colouring, if using, until desired shade is achieved.

***

So, feeling adventurous, my friends? Give these suckers a try. If you dare!

Until next time!

Cupcakes Two Ways - Part Two

Hello again!

We're back with the thrilling conclusion of Cupcakes Two Ways! Our spine-tingling adventure started over here in part one, so be sure you've read that first. There's a lot of character development and drama and such in that first part, and, well, if you go and read this one first it's just going to spoil the whole thing.

So, if you've read part one, you know I'm a great big over-dramatic liar. There's that character development I mentioned.

Oh, and also I baked two kinds of cupcakes, and now it's time to frost and decorate them!

I am sorry this picture is so dark. Sometimes in the passion of baking, I forget where my light source is. Oops.

I am again sort of stealing from Bakerella - so poke this link here for her cream cheese frosting recipe. I only did a half recipe because by the time I was done baking the cupcakes, and my brother came by to visit, 4 un-decorated cupcakes had mysteriously disappeared. (The silver white cake only made 10 cupcakes, by the way, in case you're a stickler for math.)

In any case, I blitzed together the cream cheese and butter, above, then added my vanilla, below.

There's that spoon again! All together now: "D'aaaaaaaw!"

Yes, I'll get over the spoons eventually. Give me time.

Next, sift your icing sugar in a separate bowl to sort out any lumps, and add it bit by bit to your cream cheese mixture, blending all the way.

I must say, I was baffled when I first read this frosting recipe. Never, ever have I made a frosting that didn't include a liquid of any kind. No egg, no water, no milk, just fat, sugar and flavor. Part of me feared it wouldn't turn out well, but a much bigger part of me said to trust Bakerella.

And I'm so glad I did. This frosting, you guys. It is so good!

Next up, decorations! I hit my local bulk foods store and basically brought home anything and everything that I thought even might look decent on Valentine's Day cupcakes.

Clockwise from top left: Wilton sugar pearls, large heart sprinkles, pink sanding sugar, and tiny heart sprinkles. But oh, we're not done.

Clockwise from top left: Cinnamon hearts (oh goodness, my favourite!) sour gummy hearts, Valentine's Day Smarties (the chocolate kind) and regular gummy hearts.

It's fun time.

Friend Shanahan had suggested making a 'cloud' of frosting and popping two heart candies on top, I believe because when you're in love, your heart feels light as air. Or something.

Anyway it looked super cute! Now all I can think of is that Phil Collins song, what was it? "Two hearts, sitting on just one cupcake" or something like that.

But it was still missing something...

Tiny heart sprinkles fix everything.

Now, let me tell you, when I first sat down to sort through my photos for this post, I had over 80 pictures, just for the frosting & decorating step. I think I'm getting a little snap-happy with the camera. I eventually was able to cull all but my very favourite cupcakes to show you. This was very, very difficult to do, they were all so cute!

A simple spiral of cream cheese frosting piped on with a large star tip, with a simple pattern of Smarties over the top. I don't care what day of the year it is, more chocolate = more better!

Just one heart gummy atop a cupcake. It would be lonely if not for all the tiny heart sprinkles. Maybe I went a little sprinkle-happy, too.

On the silver white cake, since I still had quite a bit of frosting left, instead of making a new flavor, I just tinted the existing frosting pink. I do wish I'd had some kind of strawberry extract on hand because that would have been just extra special, but I didn't think of that at the bulk store. Next time.

So uh, there's a cupcake with pink cream cheese frosting and two sour gummy hearts. (See, berry flavor would have gone great with the gummies. Hindsight is 20/20, and all that.)

This one has a thick layer of pink cream cheese frosting with a simple pattern of sugar pearls and white heart sprinkles. I am probably ill-proportionately proud of it, but that's still not as proud as I was of this next one:

Anyone who's a big fan of Amanda over at I am Baker may notice a similarity here to her famous Rose Cake, and I freely admit it certainly took inspiration from her cake, though I hadn't read that post in ages. Reading it over again afterwards did give me some more ideas, though... but I'll be saving those for another day.

It should go without saying, but if you're not already reading I am Baker, Bakerella and Bakingdom, guys, you really should be. Fantastic blogs. Just don't compare mine to them because, well, I tried it and then I got kind of sad.

Know what cheers me up when I get sad?

Looking at pretty cupcakes. Awww, yeah.

I would definitely do this again. I highly recommend the 'buy every candy that looks good and throw it on cupcakes' method of decorating, especially if you have kids who want to help in the kitchen. Would also be super fun at a party, set out your icing and sprinkles and just let people go nuts.

I know they're not the fanciest cupcakes in the world but they were a tonne of fun to make - and even more fun to eat. Now the question is, how am I going to top these for V-Day itself?

You'll just have to keep an eye out for the next post to find out.

Until next time!