Blue Velvet Giants Superbowl Cupcakes

In case you didn't already guess...I'm kinda sorta just a little excited that the Giants are in the Superbowl.

I made blue velvet cupcakes to celebrate. Nothing says Go Big Blue like royal blue cupcakes with sweet buttercream and red non-pareils. Don't you think?

Last time I tried to make a velvet cake, it was a big fat fail. This time, I made sure that I would get it right. It's for the Giants after all. Oh and t-shirts work nicely as backgrounds for cupcake photos. Just sayin'!

When I pulled them out of the oven, I did a little Cruz-style salsa to celebrate the fact that they turned out blue...not mossy, not brown...just beautiful, Giants blue. You can do it too. And you should! Everyone needs a little kitchen salsa in their lives. And some blue velvet cupcakes.

Then I tasted the cupcakes. And I was in a little bit of heaven. Especially since they were incredibly easy and only 6 WW Points+ per cupcake. Even if you don't make these for the Superbowl, you should make them for a random evening...they are just so pretty and yummy. Though I'd rather you make them for the Superbowl.

I just have to decide which of my Giants shirts to wear on Sunday. I'm thinking about my Bradshaw t-shirt (shown above). I like him.

Blue Velvet Giants Superbowl Cupcakes
*Adapted from Betty Crocker
Yields 24 cupcakes
1 cupcake = 6 WW Points+

1 box Supermoist white cake mix
1 Tbsp cocoa powder
1 1/4 C buttermilk
1/3 C canola oil
3 eggs
3 bottles blue food coloring
1 toothpick full violet food coloring gel/paste

for the frosting:
1/2 C butter, at room temperature
2 C confectioners sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2-3 Tbsp milk

red nonpareils, if desired

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Mix cake mix, cocoa powder, eggs, oil and buttermilk together, starting with 30 seconds on low speed, then increasing to medium speed for 1 minute. Add in food coloring (I still have it all over my hands. Classy) and beat for 1 minute more until totally blue and combined. Pour into 2 muffin tins lined with baking cups. Fill about 2/3 full. Bake for 16 - 18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool.

To make the frosting, beat the butter. Add in sugar, 1 cup at a time, thinning out with milk as necessary. Beat in vanilla. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes. Serve with milk. Eat many.

I know what you're thinking. Is she going to be shoving Giants stuff down our throats all week? Maybe No. But I really love these cupcakes! I hope you like them too!

For some other Giants-themed goodies, you should check out my white chocolate pretzel Giants popcorn...

...and marbled Giants cake bars

Have a great week, everyone!

Questions of the Day:

Will you be watching the Superbowl? Are you just in it for the food and party? I usually am just in it for the party, but not this time!

How was your weekend?

Butter Lane Cupcake Class

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I know...usually I do Five Things Friday, but I'm skipping it this week because a) I have had a week that has been B-A-N-A-N-A-S and thus haven't been doing much Internet window shopping and b) I just need to tell you about the sweet class asap. I hope you're down with hearing about cupcakes on this Friday...you don't mind, do you? ;)

As I mentioned, Kimberly had gotten a cupcake class at NYC's Butter Lane for me as a gift for Christmas last year. Due to scheduling, and Butter Lane's extreme busyness (they are always booked up! now I know why...), we only just got around to it this week.

First of all...Butter Lane is one of my favorite bakeries in New York City. It's so cute and charming, and the cupcakes are buttery, fluffy and heavenly to boot. They use high quality ingredients in all of their cupcakes, and it shows! In fact, I did a whole write up about these last year when we got them for my mom's birthday.

The class started in a little bakery studio next to the bakery itself and kicked off with...what else...a platter of cupcakes for the group!

this is after we all got at 'em!

The class was set up with stations featuring KitchenAid mixers, {lots of} butter, sugar, tasting sticks, and recipes.

Kim and I joined 3 other sweet women at the chocolate station, where we were in charge of the chocolate on chocolate cupcakes!

I have to say, I have made and written about many a cupcake here on TAA, so to be honest, I had a good idea of the ingredients that would go into the cupcakes. However, what I really learned was how long and at what speed to mix specific parts of the process (like letting the butter get uber duber fluffy for many minutes on high speed when making frosting). I thought this was so helpful, and I can't wait to try out my new found skills! I also came to the realization that I'm never making cupcakes again without an ice cream scooper (for quick and clean batter transfer) or a cake frosting spatula (for a perfect frost).

sistaaas

After our cupcakes were in the oven (and a lot of batter tasting had commenced), we made a variety of frostings, including vanilla bean, pumpkin (swoon), chocolate peanut butter, basic cream cheese and more. Once the cupcakes were done, we learned the proper way to frost a Butter Lane cupcake...

...and a certain someone won for best frosting job!

How cute is that little tote bag? I'm jeals. But at least I got my own frost on...

After frosting time, we loaded up our bakery boxes and headed back to Kimberly's place...

...where I got my cupcake eat on like it was my job.

chocolate cupcake with pb frosting...heaven!The only thing missing from our girls night? Our sister Christine! Christine Bean is at school at Penn State (and dealing with all the scrutiny going on there right now) and we cannot wait until she comes home for Thanksgiving so we can finally celebrate her 21st birthday in style!

So there you have it. Our fun girls night out, making cupcakes, and eating lots of frosting. I think this was such a great gift and would be perfect for any girls night or even a group of people or a party! Thanks to Butter Lane!

Questions of the Day:

Have you ever taken a cooking or baking class? This was my first one and I loved it!

What are your weekend plans? I'm hosting a Thanksgiving pot luck tomorrow...yay! Hope you all have a great one!

psst...it's The Peach & The Pit Friday! We're rounding up our highs and lows of the week!

Malted Chocolate Cupcakes

Everyone has their favorites.

If you’re this little cutie, its peanut butter and pizza.

If you’re my husband, it’s sports. And me. (obviously).

If you’re Charlie Sheen, it’s winning. Duh.     (sorry, I had to)

If you’re a food writer, you don’t have a favorite because everything is given equal opportunity eating. I’m ok with it.

If you’re my mom, it’s Whoppers. And malted anything.

During our holiday bake-a-thon, Mom made malted chocolate sandwich cookies that were fantastic...but the rich, chocolatey confections didn’t quite embody the whole malt flavor profile. It was kind of a bummer. Mom was sad. Who could blame her? She wanted malt.

So when Kimberly and I started planning her birthday brunch, I knew that a malted dessert must be on the menu. It’s mandatory to make people’s favorite things on their birthdays, didn’t you know? (Good luck to those kind enough to bake for mine. See above.) After I decided on cupcakes as the vehicle for this malted adventure, I spent lots of time researching. Blog after blog. Recipe after recipe. I had to make sure that the recipe I chose would, of course, let the malt shine. Nothing short of authentic Whopper-flavor would suffice.

When I came across Nam's recipe and beautiful photos on The Culinary Chronicles - where she noted that she had altered Martha Stewart’s original recipe to be more malt-like - I knew I had the basis for a winner.

If you like the malt flavor, I beg you to make these immediately. And if you could take it or leave it, I still beg you to make them. I simplified some of the ingredients (for those of you not, in fact, wanting to pay $19.99 for a box of Dutch process cocoa powder), essentially licked the mixer paddle clean (it’s ok, no one will know. especially if you make your cupcakes after your husband/boyfriend/roommate falls asleep on the couch watching March Madness), and proclaimed these the ultimate chocolate malt cupcakes. It’s like a giant Whopper in cake and frosting form. Make them now. Please.

Malted Chocolate Cupcakes
*Adapted from Martha Stewart Cupcakes via The Culinary Chronicles
**Makes 28 cupcakes
For the cupcakes:
2¼ C all-purpose flour
¾ C unsweetened cocoa powder
½ C granulated sugar
¾ C brown sugar
1½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp kosher salt
1 C milk
1½ C malted milk powder
1 C vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 C sour cream
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
½ box Whoppers (chocolate covered malt balls)
For the buttercream:
1 C (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 C vegetable shortening, at room temperature
½ C malted milk powder
3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp instant espresso powder
3 C confectioners’ sugar
½ box Whoppers, for garnish & presentation

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line 3 muffin tins with paper or foil liners. I used cute Spring + Easter themed ones from Michael’s. Aren’t they cute?

First, chop up about ½ C of the Whoppers. Set them aside.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking soda and salt. In a glass measuring cup, mix the milk and malted milk powder until powder is dissolved. I used a glass measuring cup because it saved me from having to wash an extra item (and by wash, I mean load into the dishwasher).

In a stand mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the flour mixture, milk mixture and oil until combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, until each egg is incorporated. Add the sour cream and vanilla, and beat until just combined. Sample the batter to make sure it’s wonderful. You know you want to. No one’s looking. Fold in the Whoppers (or any kind of chopped up malt balls).

Ladle the batter into your cute baking cups. Fill each one about half way, which should make about 28 cupcakes.

Bake the cupcakes for about 20 minutes, rotating the baking pans midway through, until a toothpick comes out clean. Transfer to wire racks and let the little bundles of joy cool completely.

While the cupcakes are cooling, make the malted frosting. Note: I let my cupcakes cool on wire racks overnight and frosted them on the morning of the party. In a stand mixer, or with a hand mixer, cream the butter and shortening until light and fluffy. Add the malted milk powder, espresso powder and cocoa powder. Mix on medium high for 1 minute. Add the confectioners’ sugar ½ cup at a time until all is incorporated. If you want a sweeter frosting, add another cup of confectioners’ sugar, however, I thought 3 was plenty. If your frosting is too stiff, slowly add a splash of milk at a time to thin out. Make sure the frosting is completely combined and fluffy. Go ahead. Sample a spoonful. Or 2.

Now frost ‘em up. I used a pastry bag to get the swirls, but a simple knife will do the trick. Top with Whoppers and place on a nice platter or tray. Sprinkle the rest of the Whoppers around the cupcakes. Prettiness.

My mom was very happy with these birthday confections. She actually proclaimed them to have the best icing she's ever had. So what do you think? Are you a fan of malt? What is your all-time favorite?