valentine's day Life's Ambrosia

This past weekend was an amazing fundraiser called "Will Bake for Food" where Seattle/Tacoma food bloggers came together with their home-baked goods to raise money for NW Harvest.  The event was scheduled from 10am-2pm, but all the baked goods were sold out by 12:30!

At the event two bloggers brought cupcakes! Of course I, JavaCupcake, was there with my delicious cupcakes (stay tuned for my recipe for these Candy Cane cupcakes!)... but so was Life's Ambrosia.  After seeing her adorable creations, I decided to check out her website!

Here's a picture she tweeted before the event of her cupcakes before they're frosted and then all ready to go!  Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese frosting!

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And from her blog.... here's a list of all the cupcakes she has made!! Quite an impressive list!

Dark Chocolate and Pumpkin Cupcakes (made for Will Bake for Food)

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Eggnog Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

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Buttermilk Cupcakes with Cherry Cream Cheese Frosting

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Chocolate Egg Stuffed Cupcakes

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Irish Cream Cupcakes with Coffee Frosting

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Rolo Cupcakes

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Spiced Cupcakes with Caramel Frosting

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Dark Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes

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For more deliciousness from Life's Ambrosia, you can visit her website, find her on Twitter or Facebook!

valentine's day Candy Cane Cupcakes by JavaCupcake (with recipe)

With Thanksgiving this week... I've been getting really excited to get past the pumpkin and spice and get onto the peppermint and chocolate! So, for Will Bake for Food, I made a Dark Chocolate Mint cupcake paired with a Peppermint Buttercream topped with Candy Cane! 


Thanks to Kellie Sutton of Sutton Gourmet Paper for these amazing liners! They hold their color beautifully, even with a chocolate cupcake!

JavaCupcake’s Candy Cane Cupcakes
A dark chocolate mint cupcake topped with peppermint buttercream & candy canes
Makes approx 2 1/2-3 dozen cupcakes

Cupcakes
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar (not packed)
½ cup canola oil
2 eggs, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla
6 oz baking chocolate 100% cacao
3.5 oz bar of Lindt Intense Mint Dark chocolate bar
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk
½ cup boiling water

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and line pan cupcake liners.
2. With an electric mixer and a paddle attachment, mix together the sugars, oil, and vanilla.
3. Add eggs one at a time, mixing between each egg.  Beat until smooth.
4. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler.  Add the melted chocolate in a slow stream to the egg/sugar mixture.  Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix until well incorporated.
5. In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda & powder and the salt.
6. On low speed, add the flour mixture to the wet mixture in thirds.  Between each addition, add ½ cup of milk. MIX ONLY UNTIL INCORPORATED. Scrape the sides of the bowl
7. Add the boiling water and fold together by hand.
8. Fill cupcake lines ½ full.
9. Bake at 375 degrees for 9 minutes.  Rotate pan 180 degrees, lower temperature of oven to 325 degrees and bake an additional 4-6 minutes.
10. Cupcakes will be done with a toothpick comes out clean.
11. Cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.

Frosting
4 cups powdered (confectioners) sugar, sifted
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1-2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream

1. In an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth and well blended.
2. Add the vanilla extract and blend.
3. With the mixer on low speed, gradually beat in the sugar. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
4. Slowly add the cream.
5. Beat on high speed until frosting is light and fluffy for 4 minutes.

Garnish
1 box candy canes
Star tip & piping bag full of frosting

1. Unwrap the candy canes and set aside half.
2. Break half of the candy canes into ¾-1 inch pieces
3. Put the second half into a zip loc bag.  Place on a flat, hard surface and pound with the flat side of a large wooden spoon until there are no more big chunks left.  You should have a fine powder with a few small pieces left for dusting the tops of your cupcake.
4. Pipe frosting onto cupcake.
5. To garnish, sprinkle candy cane dusting onto piped frosting.  Place a candy cane piece on top.