At Long Last, The Vanilla Chiffon Recipe!!

I'm back carnivores!! Sorry for the HUGEEE gap in posts, I have been super busy with life and neglecting my cupcakes!! Today I am going to at long last share with you the recipe for Vanilla Chiffon cupcakes!!! These babies are super moist and pretty easy to make! Plus, you get to say "chiffon" in conversation when you make them....how often does that happen?? I got this recipe from my dad's old ass 1971 edition Betty Crocker cookbook.

As you can see...this sucker has been through the mill, but the recipes are awesome!! So without further dudes, the recipe!

WHAT DO I NEED??
2 Eggs, separated
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup oil
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

WHAT DO I DO??
1. Preheat your oven to a toasty 350 and get those cupcake pans set up with some liners.
2. In a medium sized bowl that is preferably copper or stainless steel, beat the egg whites until they are foamy.
3. Slowly add 1/2 cup of the sugar to the egg whites 1 Tbsp at a time while beating. Continue beating on high until very stiff and glossy. (I will address some issues you might have with this at the end of the post)
4. In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, the rest of the sugar, the salt, and the baking powder.
5. Beat in the oil, the egg yolks, and half of the milk. Make sure to scrape down those sides!!
6. Beat in the rest of the milk and the vanilla.
7. FOLD in your egg white & sugar mixture carefully, do not over mix and do not use the mixer!
8. Fill your cupcake liners 3/4 of the way full and stick those bad boys in the oven.
9. Bake for 18 minutes (may vary) until toothpick in the middle comes out clean and tops are springy, but not wet.
10. Let cool in pan for a minute or two, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Voila! Chiffon cupcakes :)

For these cupcakes I made a simple almond glaze to go on top. Here's how:
Combine 1/4 cups (4 Tablespoons) melted butter with 2 Tablespoons of milk and 1/4 tsp almond extract or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract with 2 cups of sifted powdered sugar. Blend until creamy, adding more milk if it becomes too thick. Drizzle over cakes :)

You can also use the cream cheese frosting from the Orange Cupcakes post! Add more powdered sugar to make the frosting stiffer if you want to do some fun piping work on them.

Like so :) 

ISSUES YOU MAY HAVE WITH THESE!
1. If you don't have a stainless steel or copper bowl for making the meringue (egg whites and sugar) then the next best thing is glass. A plastic bowl will NOT give you a proper meringue, unless you beat if for a VERYYYYY long time! Also, using a Large bowl is essential! The bigger the bowl, the more air you're going to be able to incorporate into the egg whites and sugar which is your goal!
2. If you can't get the meringue to come around fully and make stiff peaks, just beat the mixture for as long as you can and get it as frothy as possible. Your batter will be more liquidy and your cupcakes won't be QUITE as spongy as they should be, but they'll still come out damn good! The first few times I made these I had that issue, and the cupcakes still came out delicious. 
3. If you are adding anything like food coloring to these, add it before you incorporate the meringue. 
4. Don't overbake! I know this seems stupid but yea...keep an eye on em! These are supposed to be super soft and fluffy, over bake them by even a few minutes and they'll come out on the dry side.

Some chocolate chiffon cupcakes getting ready for transport!

My supercute cupcake wrappers 

Now get on out there and make some fancy sounding cupcakes!!!
STAY HUNGRY CARNIVORES!!!

Orange Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe!!!

Hey Carnivores!! Sorry it's been so long since my last post! Life has been crazy!! Today I'm giving you guys my new favorite cupcake recipe, Orange! It's been warming up lately and I feel like my life is just screaming for summer! And what says summer quite like oranges? Maybe coconut, but that's for another time :) So let's get ready for summer people and bust out some orange cupcakes!!

 

Orange Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

WHAT YA NEED:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temp

2/3 cup sugar

3 large eggs

1 1/2 tsp Vanilla

1/2 tsp Orange Extract

Orange Zest (optional)

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup milk

WHAT TO DO!!

1. Preheat the oven to 350 and get your cupcake trays ready with your favorite liners. (Orange ones look awesome!)

2. Put the sugar and orange zest in a large bowl and mix. 

3. Add the butter to the sugar and mix until light and fluffy. Then add the eggs one at a time, don't forget to scrape the sides!

4. Add the orange and vanilla extracts. 

5. In a medium bowl mix the flour, baking powder and salt together. 

6. Alternate adding 1/3 the flour mixture to the butter/sugar mixture and 1/3 the milk, mixing each time you add something in. Make sure you scrape the sides!

7. Load up your cupcake trays with batter about 3/4 full and throw those babies in the oven!

8. Bake for 16-18 minutes or until a toothpick in the middle comes out clean. 

Cream Cheese Frosting

WHAT YA NEED:

1 (8oz) package of cream cheese, room temp

2 Tbsp. butter, room temp

1Tbsp. shortening

1tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, add more to get the consistency you want

WHAT YA DO!!

1. Mix cream cheese, butter and shortening on high until smooth and creamy. 

2. Blend in the vanilla

3. Slowly mix in the powdered sugar a little at a time, adding more than the 1 1/2 cups if you want it thicker. 

That's it! Ice 'em up!!

A FEW TIPS

1.Always make sure your butter and cream cheese are room temp, but not melted. 

2.I thought these needed more orange flavor, to me it was just a hint so you may want to use 3/4 tsp of the orange extract if you want a more orange-y pow!

3.With the icing you may want to use more than the 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar, i thought the icing was just a bit too thin. 

4. With timing the cupcakes, I cooked mine for 20 minutes and I thought they came out a bit dry. Partner in crime Joe (my official taste tester) thought they were fine, but he likes his cupcakes and baked goods in general a bit drier than I do. So if you like them more moist, go towards 16-17 minutes and if you like them drier, try around 20 min. 

5. The recipe says it's enough to make 12 cupcakes, but for me it made 12 cupcakes and 9 mini cupcakes! :) 

Some Pictures of My Finished Cupcakes!

Trying to get fancy on the icing!

Some of the good ones lol

The Minis! I think they look the best!

My Super Cute Liners!

I hope you guys love this recipe as much as I do!! I'll be posting more recipes and reviews soon so stay tuned!!!! BRING ON THE SUMMER!

STAY HUNGRY CARNIVORES!!

Milkyway Cupcake Recipe with a Caramel Buttercream!!

Welcome back Carnivores! As promised I will be sharing with you a recipe for Milkyway cupcakes topped with caramel buttercream frosting!

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For the past year and a half, it has become customary for me to bake cupcakes for every holiday, birthday, and occasional TV show season premiere (True Blood anyone???) to share with my coworkers, which is how this recipe came to life. It's my supervisor Rocco's birthday tomorrow and he LOVES Milkyways. He asked if I could make a milkyway themed cupcake....at which I heartily chuckled and said "ummm this is ME you're talking to...I'm pretty sure I can make this work!" I searched high and low for a recipe that didn't involve shoving a bite sized milkyway into the center of the cupcake and came across this one!! So without further adieu....THE CUPCAKES!!

Cake Ingredients:
3 Full sized Milkyway bars, and an extra one if you want to use it for decoration
1 3/4 cups milk, plus 2 tbsp to use when melting the candy bars
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 cups flour
1Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick room temp butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs

Frosting Ingredients:
25 caramels (the chewy square kind)
1/4 cup milk
1 stick room temp butter
2 1/2 cups sifted powder sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla

HOW DO I DO IT???
1. Preheat your oven to 350 and get your cupcake pans ready with the cutest cupcake liners you can find!
2. In a medium saucepan (I used a frying pan and just kept it all on one side) melt the 3 Milkyway bars with 2 Tbsp of milk. Stir until smooth and creamy.  Pour the melty milkyway mixture into a bowl and let cool off for at least 10 minutes.
3. In a medium bowl, mix the cocoa, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt gently and set aside for later.
4. In a larger bowl cream the butter, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla until smooth.
5. Add eggs one at a time, make sure to scrape the edges of the bowl in between!
6. Add the milkyway mixture and mix on high for 30 seconds (time it! or count lol)
7. Add 1/2 of the flour mixture and 1/2 of the milk to the butter mixture and mix well until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl every once in a while and then add the rest of the flour mix and the rest of the milk. Mix again until smooth.
8. Spoon your newly made cake mix into those pretty cupcake liners! Fill them about 3/4 of the way (about one big spoonful each)
9. Bake 20-23 minutes or until a toothpick put into the middle comes out clean.
10. When the cupcakes are down cool them in the pan for about 10 minutes and then let them finish cooling on a wire rack.

Frosting?? WHAT DO I DO??
1. In another medium saucepan (or frying pan) melt the caramels over low heat stirring often. Take the pan off the heat and add the milk, stirring until smooth. Poor into a bowl and allow to cool to room temp.
2. In a medium bowl cream together the butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla for 3 minutes on high (time it!!!)
3. Add the room temp caramel and mix for 2 minutes on high (time it!!)

Well that's it!! Frost those babies!

Some tips when making these:
1. Make sure your butter is room temp! It really does make a difference, especially with the buttercream.
2. Make sure the caramels are completely melted and liquidy...if you half ass melt them they will glob up when you add the milk (yea...i did that). If this happens, put it back in the saucepan and put it on low heat, stirring often until the mixture is completely smooth.
3. DO NOT ADD THE CARAMEL MIXTURE TO THE BUTTERCREAM HOT!! It HAS to be room temp, if its even a little bit warm it will RUIN the buttercream! Don't make this mistake!
4. About cooking times...the original recipe I used for this said to cook them 28-30 minutes. The first dozen I cooked for 28 minutes and they came out dry as a bone. The second batch I cooked for 23 minutes and they came out better, but not perfect. The third batch I cooked for 20 minutes and they came out perfect! Play around with times until you find one that works for you. Remember if you are using dark coated pans or dark/thick cupcake liners your cupcakes will cook faster, so you should reduce your cooking time. If you pull them out and they aren't done yet, put them back in for 1-2 minute increments until done. Don't walk away! Cupcakes aren't a set it and forget it kinda deal :)

Here are a couple of pictures of the finished product!! The icing is really a light caramel color but my phone couldn't quite capture that, so keep that in mind :)

Some of my "Fancy" icing work, I'm still new to this!

A couple more :) 

Well, that's it for now Carnivores!! I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I now do! I'll let ya know in my next post how Rocco and the rest of my coworkers liked them :) If you have questions about the recipe or anything else leave me a comment, I'll be sure to get back to you. 

Stay Hungry Carnivores!!

Sweet Tease Desserts! Review Time

Today I visted  Sweet Tease Desserts in Manasquan, NJ. It's a tiny little Tea shop which I think is awesome because there are a million coffee joints out there, but how many places do you see that are dedicated to tea? They have a decent selection of home-made cupcakes and a giant variety of drinks.  As usual my partner in crime boyfriend joined me and we tried these cupcakes!!

The one on the left is a s'mores cupcake and the one on the right is lemon with raspberry filling. Here are our thoughts!

Has it got the look?- Sweet Tease had several cupcakes to choose from, some looked awesome and professional (like the s'mores cupcake) and some of them looked like they came out of anyone's kitchen, not very artistic (like the lemon raspberry). They had most of the cupcakes in regular size and then a mini size, the mini ones looked more put together than most of the regular sized ones. They get a 3 on this.
The yum factor:CAKE-The cake for both cupcakes was moist, but not as moist as I like cupcakes to be. The s'mores cake was delicious and unique, it was some kind of graham cracker flavor and I loved it! It also had a really unique texture, kind of crumbly while still being moist. I'm going with a 3.5 for cake taste.
The yum factor:ICING-The icing on the s'mores cupcake was of course, marshmallow!! It was nice and creamy, And even toasted which was a GREAT touch! The lemon icing was definitely homemade and had a real lemon taste to it, not artificial at all. The filling was raspberry jam which PIC Joe said was good, not overly sweet. 3.5 for the icing as well.
Money money money!- The cupcakes were only $2.25 each which is the cheapest price I've seen yet, and they were definitely good so they are getting a 4 for value.
Vibe- Sweet Tease is really cute inside, definitely a 'hipster' kind of place, and very laid back. The tables are decorated with cute little fake flowers the whole place is accented with things relating to Tea! The girl at the counter was very friendly and helped us pick out some cupcakes. I really love when employees suggest favorites because they are usually really good! This got them a 3.75 on vibe.
To infinity, and beyond!- Sweet Tease has over 40 varieties of tea that you can get by the cup or in larger amounts to take home! I LOVE LOVE LOVE tea as does PIC Joe, so this definitely gets them some extra credit. In addition, they offer Vegan cupcakes. So they get an extra point for these extras.

Total Points: 18.75/25

Rating: 3.75/5

Sweet Tease is a cute little place with lots of options and events!! They have some delicious drinks (try the Nutty Irishman Chai Latte!) and TONS of tea. They have a monthly "High Tea" and also have "Tea and Sweets Tastings" which I'm definitely planning on checking out soon. Also as I said before they offer Vegan cupcakes which I think is a great option because there aren't many vegan sweets out there. I plan on going back to try some, maybe when I check out the High Tea :) This is a fun little place and I suggest you go check it out if you're in the Manasquan, NJ area! 

Be sure to follow me on Twitter to see where I'll be next!

Stay Hungry Carnivores!

The Perfect Perk, Review Time!!!

Welcome back Carnivores!! This Monday I checked out The Perfect Perk Cafe in Bradley Beach, NJ.

It's a quiet little coffee shop that doesn't specialize in cupcakes, but has a pretty good selection of baked goods. They offer stuffed cupcakes which are definitely my favorite kind! My partner in crime boyfriend Joe joined me again and we split this friggin mammoth cupcake!!! It was vanilla with chocolate icing, stuffed with caramel/espresso filling.

It may not look huge in the picture, but trust me it was definitely plenty for two!! Now, onto reviews! Oh, I'm trying out a rating system to go along with each review section! Each part will be worth 5 points and the cupcake shop will wind up with an overall score out of 5. There's a chance for "extra credit" points if they offer anything that gets them into the "To infinity, and beyond!" category.  Also, I'm giving cake and icing separate scores.  Let me know what you think of this!


Has it got the look?-The Perfect Perk was offering 5 cupcakes on Monday, and they all looked exactly the same, a cupcake topped with swirly icing with powdered sugar sprinkled on. They were quite plain so I'm giving them a 2 on this section.
The yum factor:CAKE- This cupcake had a vanilla base that was just delicious! It was super moist and consistent throughout, no dry spots anywhere. It was also a very good texture, and held the 'stuffing' in place perfectly. I'm giving them a 5 on this, it was really that good!
The yum factor:ICING- The chocolate icing was pretty disappointing. It was WAY too sugary and tasted store bought. There was too much of it, we wound up leaving a huge glob of it on the plate because it was just too much. For this they get a 2.5. Icing can make or break a cupcake and it almost broke this one!
Money money money!- At $4.95 this seems pretty pricey, but it was a HUGE cupcake, AND it was stuffed so this actually turns out to be a pretty reasonable price. 4 for for price!
Vibe-The one guy working the joint was pretty nice, he had no trouble explaining to me what each cupcake was stuffed with (even though I was clearly missing a sign that had them all listed!) and brought our cupcake and drinks over to our seats. The 'theme' was...coffee shop lol But it had an interesting "grandma's living room" kind of feel. I give them a 3 on this.
To infinity, and beyond!- It was a stuffed cupcake!!! The filling was absolutely delicious, very smooth and creamy almost like pudding. As cool as stuffed cupcakes are you don't see them everyday, so they definitely earn an extra point for this.

Total Points: 17.5/25

Rating:3.5/5!

Overall this was a pretty cool place! had a kind of grandma's living room theme goin on but it's pretty cute to me! And the cupcake was awesome, although I would work on the icing because it almost killed the cupcake!  The presentation was pretty boring and could definitely have used some color to brighten it up, but it was not a dedicated bakery. If you're ever in the Bradley Beach area hit this place up! They also have some great coffee drinks :) 

Follow me on twitter to find out where or what I'll be reviewing next and to stay up to date on my blogposts!! 

Stay Hungry Carnivores!

Cake Bake & Roll!! Review Time

Hey Carnivores!! Today, I checked out the Cake Bake and Roll bakery in the Pier Village section of Long Branch, NJ.

Cake Bake & Roll is a cool little bakery that has all kinds of breads, cookies, cupcakes, and ice cream. Most reviews are on chocolate or vanilla, but that's not how I roll (no pun intended hahahaha) I chose 2 cupcakes, a Peanut Butter Cup chocolate cupcake, and a Red Velvet cupcake. My partner in crime boyfriend Joe tried both of them with me and this is what we thought.

Has it got the look?- Cake Bake and Roll isn't an exclusive cupcake bakery, so I wasn't expecting much but most of them looked pretty good! simple, but really tasty looking! However they should have added a little glam to the wrappers. However, some of them where fancier than these, with more intricate decor.
The yum factor- On first bite, the Red Velvet was somewhat crispy and dry, but the middle of the cupcake was more moist. The Peanut Butter cupcake was slightly better but still crunchy on the outsides. The icing on both cupcakes was awesome and definitely home made! The Red Velvet had a delicious cream cheese frosting, and same for the peanut butter frosting on the other. Great job there!!!
Money money money!-  These two cupcakes where marked at 2.95 each. They were the same size as a homemade cupcake, but a fair price.Worth a visit!
Vibe- an upscale place, with a cute european vibe combined with a musical theme. Very friendly staff as well!

To quote the PIC', "you can make better cake than this, but you ain't got shit on this icing!!" and damn he's right haha. I make awesome quality cake, but I haven't even tried icing yet haha.

Well that's it for now Carnivores! Follow me on Twitter to see where or what I'm gonna be reviewing next!!!  I'm gonna be adding video soon so it's less wordy wordy and more fun!!

Stay Hungry Carnivores!

Hey Hey CupCake Lovers!

Hey hey! I'm Bevie and I am... a Cupcake Carnivore. I love cupcakes and everything about them!! I've been told I have a problem, and that maybe I should join a 12 step program...but the only steps I need are in the cookbook!  I'm not a professional baker, but as far as my kitchen is concerned I am!  I'm 25, I have a day job and I bake on the side (mostly for my coworkers).  BUT I do love baking and want to someday open a cupcake store. Soooo what I'm going to be doing here is going to as many cupcake shops and dessert stores in the Tri-State area as I can to see who has the best cupcakes and what makes them so damn awesome!  I'll let ya know which cupcakes taste the best, which ones are bland and suck, which places have the best people working them and which ones have bitches you wanna knock out :) When I rate a shop, I'll be basing my rating on this stuff right here:

Has it got the look?-well, its gotta look good for you to even wanna eat it right?
The yum factor- it can be all dolled up like a Barbie but if it tastes like crap no ones gonna want it!
Money money money!- its a cupcake people, not a lobster dinner lets keep it reasonable
Vibe-friendly? bitchy? laid back? I'll let ya know my overall feel of the place
To infinity, and beyond!- anything that makes this place extra memorable, or goes above and beyond

I'm also gonna be posting my favorite cupcake recipes that I test out on my boyfriend, best friend, and coworkers, pictures and videos of reviews, and reviews of the many cool cupcake gadgets out there! So stay tuned and get ready for my first cupcake store review coming this weekend! I'll be reviewing Cake, Bake & Roll located in the Pier Village section of Long Branch, NJ.

Stay hungry Carnivores!!