Donut Cupcake + 3 Frostings

I haven't tried this recipe yet, but it sounds delicious! I've also added the recipe for three different frostings.

Donut Cupcake

1 box yellow cake mix

1 (4-oz.) pkg vanilla instant pudding mix (powder only)

1/4 c mashed potatoes (instant works)

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 c milk

Mix together all ingredients until well combined. Fill paper liners 3/4 full.

Bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Remove from oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.

Cool completely before frosting.

Frosting suggestions:

Caramel Cream

Vanilla Buttercream

Chocolate Buttercream

Caramel Cream

4 T butter

1/4 c brown sugar

1/4 c dark brown sugar

2-3 T whole milk

1 c powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

*You're going to want to use a wooden spoon with this. If you have a steel pot/pan, use that - basically, preferably not non-stick. But use what you have. :)

Place butter and brown sugars in a medium skillet over medium heat. Stir and cook the mixture until it comes to a boil.

Add milk and bring the mixture back to a boil, stirring constantly.

Remove pan from heat and add powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat mixture with a wooden spoon until smooth and creamy.

Allow cupcakes to cool slightly before frosting. Frosting will harden when cooled completely.

Vanilla Buttercream

1 stick butter, room temperature (NOT melted!)

3-3/4 cups powdered sugar, sifted

3-4 T milk or cream

2 tsp vanilla extract

Place butter in a large mixing bowl. Beat until light and fluffy, about 30 seconds. Stop beating before adding sugar to avoid a large mess.

Add sugar, milk or cream, and vanilla extract. Beat frosting starting on slow, increasing your speed until frosting is nice and creamy. Add up to 1 more T milk or cream if frosting is too thick.

Chocolate Buttercream

1 stick butter, room temperature

1/3 c cocoa

3-3/4 c powdered sugar, sifted

304 T milk or cream

2 tsp vanilla extract

Beat butter in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy, about 30 seconds. Stop mixer before adding cocoa to avoid a large mess.

Add cocoa, sugar, 3 T milk or cream, and vanilla extract. Beat frosting starting on slow speed and add up to 1 more T milk or cream is frosting is too thick.

Cupcake Heaven

When I student taught, one of my cooperating teachers was AMAZING! I swear she was just plain Heaven-sent. She was even so kind as to give me a cupcake recipe book (anyone who knows me knows how much I love a good cupcake... and if you didn't know that, well, now you do).

This recipe book is called "101 Gourmet Cupcakes in 10 Minutes" - how perfect is that? I love pretty and tasty things and I love saving time. This book is brilliant! Take a cake mix and turn it into cupcake heaven!

So this past week, we had the missionaries overfor dinner and I made two different cupcakes. Patrick wanted to have a cupcake decorating contest, it being close to Halloween and all, and I wanted tasty cupcakes.

Here are the recipes, and my personal notes to go with them. :) Enjoy!!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cupcake (these are like Reese's Heaven, really. And I realize I've used that word a lot in this post.)

1 box chocolate cake mix (I used Devil's food)

3 eggs

1 c milk

1 bag chocolate PB cups (Reese's - yes, the big ones. Yum! Get the jumbo bag.)

- Mix together cake mix, eggs, and milk. Pour 2 T batter into paper liners and place a Reese's cup on top. Fill paper liners 3/4 way full. (I used Pampered Chef scoops and used the medium scoop, which is the perfect size!)

- Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes or until the cake springs back when lightly touched. Remove from oven and allow to cool on wire ra

ck. When completely cooled, frost.

- Frost with PB frosting or chocolate buttercream.

It took the full 15-18 minutes or so. I had one batch that I cooked for that time and they sunk, but they were SUPER moist. Another batch I let cook too long, they were still good, but kind of dry - though they were tasty after they sat in the fridge for a day. The first 6 I made were HEAVENLY moist, so somewhere around 20 minutes, I'm guessing. Or whatever your oven does because maybe it's my possessed gas oven. :) And it made 18 cupcakes, but they're BIG full cupcakes because you have to use a good amount to cover the Reese's. Next time, I'll double the batch and let them sink a little and I think they'll be just plain perfect - besides, who complains when there's a little extra frosting on top to cover up a sunken center? (Not Miss B!)

Peanut Butter Frosting

1 c peanut butter (smooth or chunky - I used smooth)

1/2 c butter, room temperature

2 c powdered sugar

3-4 T milk or cream (I used cream because I have some)

1 tsp vanilla extract

- Combine PB and butter in a large bowl, mixing together until light and fluffy. Stop mixer before adding sugar.

- Add sugar, 3 T milk or cream, and vanilla. Start slow and mix together, gradually increasing the

speed. Mix until smooth and creamy. Add more milk or cream (1-2 T) if frosting is too thick.

I made this batch and was immediately taken back to my childhood. Every Christmas, or some Christmases, we'd make these peanut butter balls dipped in chocolate. They are basically a stiff version of this frosting, dipped in chocolate and frozen. I could sit in front of the tv and eat this frosting from the bowl. Yummmmmmmmmm.

Rob and Elder Siegfried enjoying their cupcakes. Elder Siegfried won the decorating competition! Look at the detail! (it's about baptism :p)

Harvest Pumpkin (Pumpkin Spice) Cupcakes

1 box spice cake mix

1 c pumpkin puree (I put the rest in the fridge to use later this week)

1 tsp vanilla xtract

2 eggs

1/2 c milk

1 c chocolate chips (I used milk choco)

1 c butterscotch chips

Mix together all ingredients. Pour batter into paper liners and fill 3/4 full.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes or until cakes are light golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool completely on wire rack.

Frost with cream cheese frosting (or you can use chocolate ganache, chocolate buttercream, or vanilla buttercream).

Made about 2 - 2 1/2 doz regular sized cupcakes. You know, not spilling over the top, but not too small either. These cupcakes were seriously Heaven-sent. Really, I know you're going crazy with my lack of vocabulary, but I wanted to eat them all after I tasted just one. In fact, I think they tasted better without the cream cheese frosting. Next time I'm going to try the chocolate ganache frosting. The chocolate and butterscotch chips add an extra tasty and rich element to these cupcakes, so make sure every cupcake has some! I used my Pampered Chef scoop again. It is seriously a brilliant purchase - the scoop - in case you're wondering. So fast, so easy, so clean! I hate messy cupcake trays and uneven cupcakes in the same pan. Hello, even baking!

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1/2 c butter, softened

3-3/4 c powdered sugar (I think I read this wrong when I made them and only used a couple cups, haha, still tastes good)

1 tsp vanilla extract

- Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth and light.

- Stop mixer and add sugar and vanilla.

- Start mixer on low and gradually increase the speed until frosting is fluffy.

- Frost and refrigerate.

I actually doubled this recipe since I had 2 1/2 doz cupcakes. Good idea. Well, I like a good amount of frosting on my cupcakes, no skimping there! I did have extra frosting, but it's a great dip for graham crackers!

I refrigerated both of these cupcakes since their frosting is more prone to perishing and let me tell you, the Reese's cupcake is SOOOOO good cold! In fact, I'm going to go get the last one from the fridge right now. Enjoy!

Elder Harward and Rob showing off their cupcakes.

Better-than-Anything Cake

I love this cake!  LOVE it!  It's quite rich, though, so keep that in mind.  I love it because it is so full of flavor and is so moist, so I have made it many a time.  I feel like this is the chocolate version of Tres Leches Cake, which is also delicious!

Better-than-Anything Cake

1 devil's food (or chocolate) cake mix

1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk

1 medium bag crushed toffee candy pieces (or mini kisses, Reese's, your choice of candy - toffee candy is best!)

Caramel or butterscotch syrup

Chocolate syrup

1 large tub of whipped cream topping (or make homemade whipped cream topping)

Prepare and bake the devil's food cake mix as directed on the package.

When cake is baked, take the small end of a plastic/wood mixing spoon and poke holes all over the cake every inch or two.  Pour one 14-oz can of sweetened condensed milk over the cake.  I also like to pour some chocolate syrup and caramel or butterscotch syrup on at this point.  Sprinkle 1/2 - 3/4 of the toffee pieces on the cake.

Allow to cool for a few hours.  (After it cools you can also put it in the fridge to cool up more.)

Add whipped topping on top like frosting.  Decorate top with syrups and remaining toffee pieces.  Best if decorated shortly before served.

Also best when refrigerated.  

Enjoy!

Lemon Bars

Finals are over and spring term has started.  And I sort of have more time. :)  Here is another recipe from the day Bella was blessed.

LEMON BARS

From a classmate in SFL 110; we used this for our final project in the class.

1 c. butter or margarine

dash of salt

1/2 c. sugar

2 c. flour

Mix above ingredients and press into a 9" x 13" pan.  Bake at 350˚ for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

4 beaten eggs

¼ c. flour 

2 c. sugar

5-8 T. lemon juice (lean toward 8 T, but add to taste) 

Mix above ingredients and pour on crust.  Bake at 350˚ for 25 minutes.  Sprinkle with sifted* powdered sugar after it has cooled a little bit.  

Cut into small pieces because they are rich and full of flavor!

*Sifting: scatter or sprinkle over the top using a sieve or sifter. (If you don't have a sifter or a sieve, you can sprinkle the powdered sugar over the top by hand.  Sifting creates a more even distribution and 'prettier' look.)

Cinnamon Rolls

This is a family recipe that my sister-in-law made for a big family get together we had on Sunday.  They are delicious!

Cinnamon Rolls

(Neva Mae Brandt Herbert) 

1/2 c shortening

1/2 c sugar

1 egg

1 T yeast in 1/2 c warm water & 1/2 tsp sugar (let sit 10 minutes)

8 c flour

2 c warm water

1 1/2 tsp salt 

Combine all ingredients.  Raise and knead down.  Rise again and roll out on floured surface.  Cover with butter, cinnamon, and sugar (You can use brown sugar).  Roll up and cut into 1" wide slices.*  Melt butter in pans and dip top of roll in butter and turn up in pans.  Bake at 425 for 10 - 15 minutes.  Cover with icing immediately as they come out of the oven. 

Icing:

2 c powdered sugar

4 T water (not more than)

(If you want to make it richer 2 T butter or cream cheese [both of these need to be at room temperature] – this can be more if you want) 

Don’t make it too runny.

*Tip for cutting rolls into 1" wide slices.  Use a piece of floss (no flavor, plain, waxed) about 12" long.  Place under the rolls, then cross on top in a tying motion.  This creates a clean, fast, and easy cut.

Definition:

Knead: to work dough into a uniform mixture by pressing, folding, and stretching.