Christmas Cupcake Explosion!!

Thanks to the fact that I'm virtually unemployed and should probably just give in to the idea of being a house-Alanna*, I was relatively poor this Christmas. I basically had spent an entire paycheck from the last time I worked on my family and Jeff, but still had to figure out what to get for his family.

Thank god for my cupcaking abilities.

I decided to shove the Christmas spirit down people's throats in mini cupcake form. I had a plan figured out weeks in advance, as most effecient Germans often do, and executed it at the last minute (as Alannas always do). Knowing that I wouldn't have access to my parents' wonderful new oven on either Christmas Eve or Christmas day, I ended up taking over Jeff's tiny kitchen. he'll probably still be finding bits of candy from this adventure in July...

This is what my idea of Christmas is:

Peppermint with chocolate chips,

and chocolate with Godiva liquer and cherries.
I used ten entire candy canes in the peppermint and chocolate chip cupcakes, which magically gives you nice, freshly-brushed breath. And, of course, I had completely substituted the one cup of milk with Godiva chocolate liquer for the chocolate cupcakes. This might be why Jeff's family likes me so much.
As always, Jeff was my trusted sous chef (and by "sous chef," I mean taste-tester), and was prepared to make sure that everything was good enough for his family.

You seriously should've seen me; I was a cupcaking machine. The only time I wasn't doing something related to my project was when the last batch went into the oven. I spent those ten minutes doing my hair and makeup :).
But now that Christmas is over, I only have one more chance to make cupcakes this year! I'm not entirely sure what they'll be, but I'm positive that alcohol will be involved...
Here's to hoping I get more chances to bake next year!

* House-Alanna does not vacuum, however.

I Love Alcohol!

According to the show Food Detectives, alcohol actually doesn't completely cook out of food. And when you bake, about 75% of whatever you use remains. So, technically, if you were to eat a dozen alcohol-based cupcakes, you'd probably be drunk (or, in my case, maybe five...). So after learning this wonderful fact of life, what did I do?

I made cupcakes with Kahlua.Thank god it was a Hasher's birthday when I made them, because she gave me an obvious excuse to booze up her cupcakes, which sounds really dirty if you take this sentence out of context. I've always been a firm believer in tasting the products that I plan on using for my creations :>. That's why I'm also happy that the Mexican mart over the wall carries pre-made tiny bottles of White Russian Kahlua in a four-pack.

These cupcakes were super easy to make too, so they're perfect for anyone who wants both alcohol and cupcakes but doesn't feel like separating the two. All you have to do is replace the cup of milk with just a bit more than one mini bottle of kahlua. The frosting that I ended up making was a white chocolate buttercream with, of course, another splash of White Russian Kahlua! Fortunately for me, one was saved so that I could actually eat a cupcake after I was done with work. And guess what? It was damn delicious.

Cardamom!

I've had strange ideas for cupcakes in the past- for example, a red wine cupcake that smelled like pizza. But ever since watching Cupcake Wars, I seriously started craving cardamom. There was an episode in which someone (I was jet-lagged after coming back from England, so I was half asleep and barely remember anything that night) used cardamom in the frosting. That sounded really weird... weird enough for me to remember from over a month ago. As always, I asked my boyfriend if I should experiment with cardamom, or play it safe with horchata cupcakes. All he said was, "Yes!"
I decided on making chai cupcakes with a cardamom buttercream to feed my fellow performers in Short Bus Comics backstage during our Thursday night show. (I completely forgot to take photos right when they were done, so I ended up using my phone backstage...)


Chai cupcakes
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup self-raising flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup chai powder
1/8 tsp ground cardamom
1/8 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs
1 stick butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups milk

Preheat your oven to 350F and prepare your cupcake trays!
Cream the butter and sugar together, until it becomes smooth and creamy. Whisk in one egg at a time, and then the vanilla. In a seperate bowl, sift together the two flours. Add half to the wetter of the two mixtures, plus half of the milk. Add the rest of the flour and milk, and whisk until smooth. Throw in the chai, cardamom and cinnamon and whisk again.
Pop the cupcake trays (I'm assuming you've already put the batter into the cupcake trays at this point) into the oven for 25-27 minutes. Once they've got a slightly golden color on top, take the cupcakes out of the oven and let them cool for roughly 20 minutes (if you're in a hurry like I usually am and half a tiny fan, bring it into the kitchen and use it to cool the cupcakes in almost half the time).

Cardamom frosting
3 cups powdered sugar
1 stick butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 tsp ground cardamom, depending on your tastebuds
just under 1/4 cup milk

Cream together half of the sugar and the butter, and add in the vanilla. Pour in the milk and the rest of the sugar and whisk until the mixture is smooth. Put in the cardamom, 1/2 tsp at a time, until you're satisfied with the flavor. I personally prefer 2 tsp, because the frosting is neither too sweet nor too cardamomy.
Add the frosting to the cupcakes (I feel like I'm almost typing down to you by saying this, but when we order a hot coffee, the cups warn us that the contents may be hot, so...) with a butterknife by taking a dollop and spreading it counter-clockwise until you're satisfied with the amount of frosting.

Hopefully you'll all enjoy these strange cupcakes! Expect many more to come!