Chocolate Ganache Glaze

The icing on the cake is the finishing touch. It’s the final addition, the presentation. A good icing can make or break a tasty cake. Don’t be caught with a “not-so-delicious” icing. Go with what works and then reap the benefits.

One thing that definitely does work is my recipe for a chocolate ganache glaze. One word—wow. This chocolate ganache glaze is a fun and different way to frost nearly any cake! Don’t be limited by what Betty Crocker says. Make your own rules… and your own icing! With this chocolate ganache recipe, it won’t even be hard.

Yield: Enough to cover 9” double layer cake or 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 4 oz. semisweet, bittersweet or milk chocolate, chopped fine
• 4 oz. heavy cream

Directions:

1) Place chopped chocolate pieces in a bowl.

2) In a saucepan, heat cream to simmering. Pour simmering cream over chopped chocolate and stir until smooth.

3) Let sit until it cools to room temperature. Use a ladle to pour ganache over cake cupcakes.

See, now wasn’t that simple. This easy chocolate ganache recipe is so fast, hardly has any ingredients at all! One word of caution; beware. This isn’t frosting you’re dealing with. Be sure not to flip a big dollop on because it (obviously) will go sliding right off your cake. Be careful and your reward will be great… a tasty chocolate ganache glaze to cover any fantastic cake!

Devil’s Food Cake: Cupcake Recipe

It’s hard to get that picky eater to suck down a couple carrots, but offer up a devil’s food cake cupcake and the full stomach suddenly has “just enough room”.

I know that trick. No… I’ve done that trick.

With this devil food cake recipe, you won’t have to worry about being unhealthy. While, there is still sugar and such, you may find that this chocolate cake isn’t too much of a diet-buster.

Using unsweetened cocoa powder, low-fat yogurt and wheat flour, are all great ways to make this devil’s food cake a little less of a guilty pleasure so go ahead… have two cupcakes instead of just one.

Yield: Two 9-inch or three 8-inch rounds, 16 servings each,
2 dozen cupcakes or one 9 x 13-inch sheet cake, 24 servings

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks, 6 ounces) unsalted butter
• 1 cup (7-1/2 ounces) packed light or dark brown sugar
• 3/4 cup (5-1/4 ounces) superfine or granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1-1/2 cups (5 ounces) whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 cup (4-1/4 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 cup (3 ounces) unsweetened natural cocoa powder
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 4 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup (8 ounces) plain low-fat or whole-milk yogurt
• 3/4 cup (6 ounces) water

Directions:

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour the pan or pans of your choice or line with parchment paper. For cupcakes, lightly grease two muffin tins or line with papers and coat the papers with non-stick spray.

2) Cream together the butter, sugars and salt in a large mixing bowl till fluffy and light, at least five minutes. Stop to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl at least once during that time. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flours, cocoa and baking soda. If lumps remain, sift or strain the mixture.

3) Add the eggs to the butter mixture one at a time, beating well (at least a full minute) after each addition, and stopping to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl before adding the next egg. Mix in the vanilla. Add half the flour mixture and mix until evenly combined. Add the yogurt and water, and mix again. Add the remaining flour, mix, and stop to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl once more, to make sure the batter is evenly moistened. Pour the batter into the prepared pan(s).

4) Bake the cakes; 30-35 for layered cakes and 35-40 for a sheet cake… even less for cupcakes! The cake is done when it begins to pull away from the side of the pan, and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool for 15 minutes before removing from the pan. Place on a rack to cool completely before frosting.

These tasty devil’s food cupcakes are great for parties, or any other occasion really. For a frosting, I love to top these delicious cupcakes with a smooth cream cheese frosting. For an added twist, try torting your cupcakes. (That means to put a dollop of cream cheese frosting in the middle of your cupcake!) No matter how you ice it, this devil’s food cake recipe is devilishly delicious!

Sesame Street Cupcakes (starring Big Bird)

He’s an oversized bird that talks and sports a fashionable bright yellow coat. He really is one of a kind!

He’s got buggy eyes and striped legs, yet despite all of this, we all love him. Big bird was the initial star of the popular children’s show, Sesame Street, and now he’s just had his second big break…on cupcakes!

These Sesame Street cupcakes, or Big Bird cupcakes, look so cute; they’re practically a self-portrait of our giant feathered friend.

In addition to the uncanny similarities, these cupcakes are incredibly easy to make! Here let me show you how to create your own Sesame Street Cupcakes with Big Bird!

Ingredients:

• Premade Cupcakes
• Yellow Royal Icing
• White Royal Icing
• Chocolate Chips
• Blue Sprinkles

Directions:

1) Fill a pastry bag, with the Grass Tip on the end, with yellow icing. Make short choppy motions to create short fur for Big Bird.

2) For the eves, pipe small circles towards the center of the cupcake and put them close together.

3) Add the pupils by pressing chocolate chips upside down into the eyes, until level with the frosting. Add a couple sprinkles for eye lashes and you’re good to go!

4) Lastly, for the classic Big Bird nose, pipe out some yellow icing with a regular round tip. You can do this by starting with a triangle in the middle of the cupcake. Fill in the initial triangle with a lighter layer of icing along the interior of the triangle. Finally… tada, you’re done!

Of course everyone loves Sesame Street; the whole gang, Cookie Monster, Elmo, Burt, Ernie, Oscar. Despite all this communal love, the love for Big Bird is always the most for he is the face of Sesame Street. With these Sesame Street cupcakes you can express that Big Bird love in a big, big way!

Cookie Monster Cupcakes

C is for cookie… that’s good enough for me. In fact, it’s good enough for most people, but for those who love cupcakes as well, take a look here.

These adorable cookie monster cupcakes capture the lovable Sesame Street sweets lover at his most vulnerable hour—with a cookie right in his mouth!

These creative cupcakes are great for a child’s birthday or other special occasion. I especially like these cookie monster Sesame Street cupcakes because I used to love Cookie Monster.

Nowadays, there is talk of Cookie Monster eating healthy and such monstrosities like that, so it’s good to see that Cookie Monster still likes to enjoy an enormous cookie every now and then. But then again, don’t we all?

Ingredients:

• Premade Cupcakes
• Blue Sprinkles
• White Royal Icing
• Miniature Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Chocolate Chips or Black Icing

Directions:

1) Frost your cupcakes with your white icing. If you want Cookie Monster to look “extra” blue, tint some of the white frosting with blue food coloring. Be sure to keep the frosting as smooth as you can.

2) Grab a handful of blue sprinkles and lightly press them to the cupcake, being sure to cover all portions where icing is visible.

3) For the eyes, take a dollop of white icing and place them in the appropriate places. For pupils, you can use many different techniques. I’ve found that just a tiny dot of black icing works well, but feel free to use chocolate chips, raisins, etc. in order to give Cookie Monster some depth and personality. Have fun!

4) As a finishing touch, cut a small chocolate chip cookie into halves and press a half into the spot on the cupcake when a mouth would usually be. If you find the cookies too hard to cut, just shove the whole cookie into the cupcake. After all, that’s how Cookie Monster would do it!

After your Sesame Street cupcakes are complete, there is not much left to do, but enjoy. The only problem is, with Cookie Monster looking so cute, it may be hard to bite into the little guy, but you’re just going to have to try your best because he sure is tasty!

Elmo Cupcake Recipe

Sunny day…sweepin’ the clouds away—don’t lie. You know you love that giant obese yellow bird that sings to your kids and teaches lessons.

That’s right. We’re talking about the one and only Sesame Street!

For birthday parties and other gatherings, Sesame Street cupcakes are a popular choice for cupcakes. This design will help you to create Elmo cupcakes.

This Elmo cupcake recipe will give you adorable cupcakes that look just like the real thing. Come on… let’s head to Sesame Street and learn how to make these cute little Elmo cupcakes.

Ingredients:

• Premade Cupcakes (flavor of your choice)
• Red Royal Icing
• Orange Gumball
• Marshmallows
• Black Icing or Mini Chocolate Chips

Directions:

1) Take your premade cupcakes and get them ready for frosting. Apply the Grass Tip to your pastry bag and fill it with red icing.

2) Frost your cupcakes with the Grass Tip, pressing down lightly at the base and pulling the pastry bag up, off the cupcake, about ¼ of an inch (depending on how furry you want Elmo to be).

3) With your marshmallows, you can either slice the regular size in halves or you can use mini marshmallows. If you’re not even a marshmallow fan you can just use some white icing and pipe a circle blob of frosting.

4) Use either some black icing or mini chocolate chips for the pupils. Have fun with this. Experiment with the position and size of the pupils to make Elmo excited, wild, confused, or just his regular cute self.

5) For Elmo’s nose, simple use an orange gumball– right in the middle of the cupcake or you could use an orange gumdrop, M&M, circus peanut… the possibilities are endless so be sure to try them all!

Growing up, Sesame Street was one of my all time favorite shows and I always loved Elmo, especially the segment called “Elmo’s World”. Although times are changing, it is good to know that our little red fuzzy friend will stay the same.

He is still learning to tie his shoes and count by twos… leaving a good example for the growing generation of Sesame Street lovers. Don’t spoil a good birthday with regular cupcakes. Choose Elmo cupcakes and they are sure to be the hit of the party.

Sailboat Cupcake Recipe

Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me! With these fun boating cupcakes, that’s what you’ll be singing all day long! These cupcakes are so tasty and very creative! The little boats look kind of hard to make, but in reality they’re so simple.

I found these cupcakes to be very fun and made them one day for some family friends. They were going down to the lake for a couple of days and these sailboat cupcakes were a great way to let them know that we’d miss them while they were away.

Whether you’re a boating expert, just like to dunk your feet in off the dock, or simply love cupcakes, this sailboat cupcake recipe is sure to please.

Ingredients:

• Pre-made cupcakes
• Blue icing (butter cream with blue food coloring)
• Decorating Tip No. 5
• Red Icing (have fun switching up the different boat colors!)
• Corn starch
• Toothpicks
• Construction paper
• White cellophane tape

Directions:

1. Ice the pre-made cupcakes with blue icing, pulling up a little bit with each wipe of icing to create the desired “wave” effect.

2. Pipe in tip No. 5 oval boat bottom shape on the top of the cupcake (smooth with finger dipped in cornstarch). Outline the shape with tip No. 5 and pipe two more times to build up the boat sides.

3. Cut the sail shapes from construction paper and tape to the toothpick; insert into the boat on the cupcake to finish.

4. Enjoy!

Catch a wave, catch a tan, or catch a sailboat cupcake. These cupcakes are easy, adorable, and great for the marina lover in all of us. This recipe will make you wish you could whip the sail up and go out for the day. Call the office and tell them you’re out baking boat cupcakes… be back on Monday!

Fourth of July Firework Cupcake

It’s explosive. It’s amazing. It heats up the whole neighborhood. No, not fireworks, it’s these Fourth of July cupcakes!

These cupcakes are absolutely so easy, it the perfect dessert for anyone to make! This cupcake recipe makes a fantastic addition to any firework extravaganza or summer barbeque.

The thing that makes these cupcakes so easy is that all you need is a pastry bag and some icing. Flags are a nice addition to these 4th of July cupcakes as well, but they’re not necessary.

Sound like fun? Okay then, let’s get started.

Ingredients:

• Premade Cupcakes
• Red Royal Icing
• White Royal Icing
• Blue Royal Icing
• Flag Sticks (optional, but recommended)

Directions:

1. Start with the blue icing and fill it into a pastry bag with a “grass” decorating tip attached. Place a small dot of icing on the middle of the cupcake.

2. Start in the center and move in a circular pattern around the cupcake, with the starting point of your filled pastry bag on the dot. Drag to icing from the dot all the way until the edge of the cupcake.

3. Switch to white icing and repeat step two, not dragging the icing as far this time.

4. Do the same with the red icing and when you’re done, top the cupcake with a little American flag as the topper.

Tada! There you go. Your 4th of July cupcakes are complete and with this recipe, the cupcakes may be just as popular as the fireworks! You can vary the end product of this recipe by using different cupcakes.

Try different flavors like vanilla, chocolate, marble, or dye vanilla batter red, white, or blue! The possibilities are endless so have fun mixing up a batch of 4th of July cupcakes for yourself!

Popcorn Cupcake Recipe

Movie nights, for me, are the perfect way to spend any evening, but where would a movie be with no popcorn? Well, it would just be wrong. That’s what makes these cupcakes so much fun. I found them at familyfun.com and I just love the idea. This recipe allows you to create creative little popcorn cupcakes and gives off the image of a bucket of popcorn.

I’ve found that these cupcakes are great for parties, gatherings, or a fun girl’s night in! Who would have ever thought that marshmallows could be popcorn! So go ahead, pop in a movie, pop down on the couch, and don’t worry about popping that popcorn. These popcorn cupcakes already have it all taken care of!

Ingredients:

• Premade cupcakes
• White icing
• Mini marshmallows (white or pastel yellow and white)
• Yellow food coloring (optional)
• Clean paintbrush
• Scissors
• White construction paper
• Blue and red markers

Directions:

1) Frost the cupcake with white icing. To create each piece of “popcorn,” cut one mini marshmallow in half and squish the two pieces back together into a whole mini marshmallow, pinching firmly.

2) Pile the finished popcorn onto the frosted cupcake. For a buttery look, either dilute a drop of yellow food coloring in water and brush it on with a clean paintbrush or mix pastel yellow marshmallows in with the white.

3) To make the band, cut a strip of construction paper about 1 1/4 inches by 8 inches, or to fit your cupcake, and decorate as shown. If you’re creating many cupcakes, design just one band and color photocopy it. Wrap the band around the cupcake and secure with tape.

Well, that’s it. With these simple instructions and a little creativity, you too can enjoy a popcorn cupcake to accompany any movie night! This popcorn cupcake recipe is a fun twist on a traditionally salty snack!

Gardening Cupcake Design Recipe

I love gardening. It’s a fun outlet and making things from nothing (plants from seeds, cakes from flour and eggs, etc) has always been a passion for me.

I stumbled across these cupcakes yesterday and found them to be so adorable! Although they do take more work than my usual recipes the end product just looks so creative and professional!

As much as I love gardening, these cupcakes would make a fantastic addition to any farmer’s market or bake sale. Don’t let the directions or the ingredient list scare you.

These gardening cupcakes really do take the cake! It takes a while to make them, but what farmer ever planted and harvested at the same time? Give these cupcakes the patience they need and you’ll be happy you did.

Check these out in Woman’s Day magazine or on their site! (Click the blue link to be automatically directed.)

What a fun idea! For this garden scene, you’ll make….

-Radishes
-Peas
-Carrots
-Lettuce
-Signs
-Shovels

This gardening cupcake recipe will surely be a hit at the next party. Even those of you who don’t really care for gardening can benefit from these cupcakes! We all like sweets and cupcakes so what are you waiting for? Grab a shovel and dig in!

4th of July Cupcake Design

Uncle Sam wants you… but you may have to tell him to wait! These July 4th cupcakes are so good, you won’t want to miss them. These cupcakes are great for parties, Fourth of July firework shows, or just for you to enjoy! The little cakes may be red, white, and blue, but let’s face red, white, and blue are always in season!

The fun part about this holiday cupcake recipe is that it’s so versatile. For fun variations, you could try using vanilla cupcakes. Add some red or blue food coloring for additional color.

Ingredients:

• 24 pre-made chocolate cupcakes
• 1/2 cup marshmallow crème
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 3 cups fresh strawberries, halved
• 1 cup fresh blueberries

Directions:

1) Refrigerate pre-made cupcakes.

2) Place marshmallow crème in small microwave-safe bowl and microwave on high for 10 – 20 seconds, until softened. Beat heavy cream until soft peaks form. Add slightly cooled marshmallow crème; continue beating until stiff peaks form.

3) Frost cooled cupcakes with whipped cream mixture up to two hours before serving. Arrange 2 strawberry halves on top of each frosted cupcake. Place 3 - 5 blueberries around the strawberry halves. Keep refrigerated until served.

You could also substitute the fruit for more variations. Strawberries could be switched out for raspberries. If you don’t like blueberries, try putting a small dollop of blue icing next to the strawberries. This ties in the red, white, and blue all together in a festive little cupcake.

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