Feature Friday!

Friday we feature some of our favorite cupcake flavors and designs from flickr. Enjoy the posts below and have a great labor day weekend!

Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Curd

Lemon Cupcakes, originally uploaded by melena's.

melena's, the owner of this photo says:
Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Curd and MMF.

Hamburger Cupcakes "McMaggies"

Regular spot local gift shop, originally uploaded by Maggie's Cupcakes.

Maggie's Cupcakes, the owner of this photo says:
'McMaggies' Vanilla sponge bun with chocolate burger, toasted with caramel and sesame seeds

Mini Red Velvet

Mini Red Velvet, originally uploaded by Sweet cupcakes Co. Dublin Ireland.

Sweet cupcakes Co. Dublin Ireland, the owner of this photo says:
Mini Red Velvet. Cocoa and vanilla base with a hint of red and vanilla frosting.

Chocolate cupcake with Peanut butter Buttercream

A Popular Cupcake, originally uploaded by alicakescupcakery.

alicakescupcakery, the owner of this photo says:
Alicakes Foster Grants-Chocolate cupcake with Peanutbutter Buttercream. Normally I do Peanutbutter Swiss Meringue.

Blue vanilla swirl on vanilla cupcake

Blue vanilla swirl on vanilla cupcake, originally uploaded by Star Bakery.

Star Bakery, the owner of this photo says:

Papers from http://www.icing-works.co.uk/ Yumm!

VANILLA & CHOCOLATE

VANILLA & CHOCOLATE , originally uploaded by Muffinت.

Muffinت, the owner of this photo says:
A vanilla cupcake with a butter cream along with choco fondat.

Hawaiian Cakes with Cupcakes

Hawaii 1, originally uploaded by melissa_makes cakes.

melissa_makes cakes, the owner of this photo says:
Chocolate cake with chocolate fudge filling covered in buttercream and decorated with Hawaii inspired flowers and hula girl!

Pirate Cupcakes

A Pirate, a pirate, a pirate, originally uploaded by Happy Cakes - Leoni Abernethy.

Happy Cakes - Leoni Abernethy, the owner of this photo says:
says arhhhhhh. Ok, so for those who have kids that watch The Backyardigans, you should get that!! With the help of the new Planet Cake book and Kiwi Girl Steph. I fell in love with these little characters, they were a challenge, but arhhhh, I do love them me hearties!!

Pumpkin Pecan Cupcakes

Pumpkin Pecan Cupcakes, originally uploaded by Glorious Treats.

Glorious Treats, the owner of this photo says:
I've been longing to do some fall baking, so what better flavor to kick off the season than pumpkin?

Lightly spiced pumpkin cake with toasted pecans, topped with vanilla cream cheese frosting, a dash of cinnamon and a fondant decoration.

Fall is coming up! Just around the corner. Can you believe it? What better time to prepare than to bake some Fall cupcakes :)

Dinosaur Cupcakes

Dinosaur Cupcakes, originally uploaded by neviepiecakes.

neviepiecakes, the owner of this photo says:
Vanilla cupcakes with green lemon buttercream green glitter and fondant dinosaurs. Presents for two of my daughters' classmates, she missed their party because of a fall.

Chocolate Ganache cupcake

Chocolate Ganache cupcake, originally uploaded by Zurru.

Zurru, the owner of this photo says:
A chocolate fairycake i made, decorated with milk chocolate ganache.

I love this colorful photo! What a great contrast with the cupcake.

Cupcake Converse Shoes

cupcake converse, originally uploaded by dogboneart.

dogboneart, the owner of this photo says:
To replace my lost in las vegas converse..cuppiecakes converse!

Journey's carries these adorable Cupcake Converse Shoes and you can find and purchase them here: http://www.journeys.com/product.aspx?id=89234

Fall Sewing Pins Set

DSC_9189a, originally uploaded by stayhomecupcake.

stayhomecupcake, the owner of this photo says:
Sewing Pins Set for Fall

see my profile for ordering info

Love the cupcake pin cushion! Absolutely adorable and so fitting for fall coming up.

Mimosa Cupcakes: The Best Sunday Brunch Cupcakes

image from: cupcake project

If you couldn't tell already, we are a big fan of Cupcake Project. I think the out-of-the-box thinking and the different variations of cupcake flavors really drives readers to her site. I am often amazed at the different ideas she comes up with, for example, the Oreo Cupcake w/ Built in Milk Cup... that we featured last week.

This week's feature is Mimosa Cupcakes. What a great thing to feature on Sunday, yes?

What is a Mimosa Cupcake? Cupcake Project explains....

My mimosa cupcakes are orange cupcakes with champagne syrup drizzled inside, topped with a champagne frosting and a little orange rind.

To read more about this cupcake, visit her post here: http://www.cupcakeproject.com/2008/02/mimosa-cupcakes-best-sunday-brunch.html

Mimosa Cupcake Recipe

I got the mimosa cupcake recipe by making a VERY subtle modification to a recipe for cherry limeade cupcakes on Ooh You Tasty Little Things. The only change I made was to substitute orange concentrate for the limeade concentrate. I'd been wanting to try baking using a frozen concentrate for a while and was happy to find a good recipe.

• 3 cups cake flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp frozen orange concentrate
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup plain yogurt
  

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix together the flour, salt, baking soda and powder and set aside. In a medium sized bowl, cream the butter until smooth then add the sugar and cream together. Once the butter and sugar are creamed add in the orange juice concentrate. Mix in one egg at a time. Add in flour mixture 1/3 at a time. When flour is thoroughly mixed, mix in the yogurt. Batter will be slightly lumpy, but should be smooth kind of like pancake batter. Divide the batter evenly into lined cupcake tins and bake for about 15-20 minutes. Allow to cool.

Champagne Syrup

• 2 cups champagne
• 1 cup powdered sugar

Bring the champagne and powdered sugar to a boil and let them reduce about half way. Don't expect it to get thick. It will still be very liquidy when you are done. Poke holes in the cupcakes and drizzle in the syrup. Let it absorb into the cupcake and add more. Keep adding to taste.

Champagne Frosting

The problem with champagne frosting is that you have to add way too much champagne in order to get a strong champagne flavor. This ends up making your frosting runny. The last time I used champagne, I opted for a champagne glaze. This time I decided to go the artificial [insert gasp here] champagne flavor route.

I bought some champagne flavor from LorAnn Gourmet. When I opened the bottle and took a whiff, I was overwhelmed by the aroma of bubble gum. I was disgusted. My husband had to remind me over and over again that this stuff was extremely concentrated and just a few drops would smell / taste completely different then taking in the whole bottle at once. Good thing he was right. However, smell your champagne and think bubble gum, you'll be surprised at the similarities.

• 1 cup chilled whipping cream
• 8 oz mascarpone
• 2 to 3 cups confectioner's sugar (depending upon how thick you prefer frosting)
• 8 drops of champagne flavor (use an eye dropper)

Whip up whipping cream in mixer until soft peaks begin to form. Fold in mascarpone. Then, while mixing over low speed, slowly add the confectioner's sugar one cup at a time, being careful not to over whip frosting. Mix in the champagne flavor.

What's the Orange Stuff in the Middle of the Frosting?

The orange stuff is just a little orange zest I used for decoration to add a bit of zing.