mudslide cupcakes

How can something sound so wrong be so right??

Now before you think “ew. Mudslide.” I ask you to stop, and reconsider.

Now, I’ve been known to have a few cocktails in my time. But not a mudslide, or if I have had one, I can’t remember having one. The only thing I’ve had that comes close to a mudslide is a Toblerone cocktail or some CSCs (I’m sure you know what the abbreviation is and I don’t need to spell it out).

I love cocktails, and everything about them. I love that you can concoct pretty much anything by combining liqueurs and fruity or chocolately flavours. You’re only limited by your imagination.

So when Rebecca suggested the theme for our Cupcake Combat could be cocktails, I couldn’t say no! As soon as the theme was settled, I dreamt of two things: sweet, tasty, fruity concoctions or rich, creamy, velvety chocolate creations.

So, it shouldn’t be a surprise that for my first cupcake (out of three) I decided on mudslide cupcakes. Before I decided to take on this cupcake, I did a bit of research. To say I wasn’t daunted would be a lie. A dual swirl of frosting? I’ve never done that before. All the versions I saw online looked so professional, so beautiful and not to mention so tasty!

And then if the frosting dilemma wasn’t enough, there were so many different cake base recipes. So many in fact that I got confused. Ones with Kahlua, ones with Baileys, ones that were plain chocolate… Turns out everyone else in the cupcake sphere enjoy experimenting no?

Nevertheless, I decided to give these bad boys a go. I adapted the chocolate cake recipe from the Crabapple Bakery Cupcake Cookbook and added dashes of Kahlua and Baileys to just a simple vanilla buttercream icing recipe.

The results as above: you judge for yourself. Winner? I think so, but I’m biased.

Mudslide cupcakes

Chocolate Baileys cupcakes

Makes lots and lots of cupcakes – at least 50 mini cupcakes and 16 standard sized cupcakes (that’s what I took in to work and they were all gone!)

3 cups of flour

2 teaspoons of bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1 teaspoon of salt

1 cup of hot water

1 cup of cocoa

2/3 cup of Baileys Irish Cream (or 1 cup of Baileys if you want even boozier cakes)

1/3 cup of milk  (omit if using 1 cup of Baileys)

200g of softened unsalted butter

2 cups castor sugar

4 eggs

1 tablespoon of vanilla extract

1| Preheat your oven to 170^oC. Line your trays with cupcake liners.

2| Sift together the flour, bicarb soda, baking powder and salt. In a small separate bowl, whisk together the cocoa and hot water until smooth. In another bowl, combine the milk and Baileys.

3| In the bowl of your mixer or in another bowl, using a hand mixer, cream the butter for 1-2 minutes. Add the castor sugar a third at a time, beating for around 2 minutes after each addition. After the last addition, keep beating until the butter and sugar mixture is light and fluffy. You should see it change colour – the mix won’t be as yellow as when you first started the creaming process.

4| Add the eggs in, one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition or until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add in the vanilla extract and beat for another minute or so.

5| Add a quarter of the flour to the creamed mixture and beat on low speed until combined. Add about a third of the cocoa and Baileys mixture and beat until combined. Repeat this process twice more. Add the rest of the flour and until combined. Be careful not to overbeat – it will toughen the mixture. Beat until just combined and you can gently fold the rest with a spatula if you like.

6| Spoon the mixture into the cupcake papers, filling each to about three-quarters full. If you don’t want cracks in the tops of your cakes (come on, no one does right? It’s not that pretty), just sit your cakes for 10-20 minutes before baking.

7| Bake for about 10 minutes (for little cupcakes) or 15-17 minutes for standard sized cupcakes or until a fine skewer inserted comes out clean. Remove the cakes from the trays immediately and completely cool on a wire rack before frosting. Try to refrain from eating.

Baileys buttercream icing

150g softened unsalted butter

1-2 cups of icing sugar mixture, depending on how sweet you want it

A dash of vanilla extract

3 tablespoons of Baileys Irish Cream

1| Cream the butter for 1-2 minutes in a clean, dry bowl.

2| Add in the Baileys and vanilla extract and beat for at least a couple of minutes.

3| Add in the icing sugar, a bit at a time, adjusting to your tastes.

Kahlua buttercream icing

150g softened unsalted butter

3 tablespoons of Dutch cocoa powder (this is the good stuff – it’s dark and has a slightly bitter taste so will balance out the sweetness of the Baileys)

A dash of vanilla extract

6 tablespoons of Kahlua

1| Cream the butter for 1-2 minutes in a clean, dry bowl.

2| Add in the cocoa powder and beat for at least a couple of minutes.

3| Add in the Kahlua and vanilla extract and beat for at least a couple of minutes.

4| Add in the icing sugar, a bit at a time, adjusting to your tastes.

Frosting the cupcakes

Note: this is a little tricky, and messy if not careful but definitely doable. You need a bit of equipment, but nothing that a well-equipped kitchen won’t have. The cakes do look better with a swirl but you can easily find a swirl nozzle from many stores like House, Matchbox, or the General Store.

You’ll need:

A large swirl nozzle

2 smaller piping bags (you can use disposable piping bags

1 large piping bag to house the 2 smaller piping bags

1| Place the Kahlua and Baileys icing into the smaller bags (one bag for Kahluah, one for Baileys). Try to make sure that the amount of icing in each bag is equal.

2| Place the nozzle in the end of the big piping bag. Snip the end off (but only make a small cut). Place these two bags side by side into the big bag. Close off the big bag by twisting off the top.

3| On each cake, make a swirl and sprinkle with chocolate shavings if you like.

4| Eat one or many, until full.

red wine chocolate cupcakes

Red, red wine.... go to my head...

Yes, I'm a light-weight. A cadbury, as one would say.

I always have trouble finishing off a bottle of red. Don't get me wrong, I do like a glass of red, but am not one for drinking a whole bottle. Luckily, I found this recipe while browsing through one of my sites of inspiration: Smitten Kitchen. The red wine in this recipe is the perfect amount to finish off that last bit  of wine in a bottle.

This cake is really divine. You can smell the wine (yes, it doesn't completely cook off!) and so has that 'adult' feel to it. The flavour can be quite intense but I think that's a good thing. Some type of topping or cream would help with the intensity of the flavour. I used cream cheese icing for my cupcakes - a bit like a red velvet cupcake. I recently made some for a friend's party and her daughter accidentally ate one (apparently she is attracted to anything 'chocolate'). She quickly proceeded to tell her mum that 'they taste funny' so a word of caution: probably not best for the kiddies!

If however, you are looking for a lovely cake for dessert or a cheeky somewhat boozy afternoon tea, this cake will hit the spot. It works in multiple ways - I made them into cupcakes but it would work as a cake too, as seen on the Smitten Kitchen website.

They are really easy to whip up, so go on, treat yourself, use up the last of the red wine in that bottle and kick your feet up when done. You'll thank me for it, I'm sure.

red wine chocolate cupcakes

adapted from smitten kitchen's Red Wine Chocolate Cake

85g unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup caster sugar
2 large eggs at room temperature
3/4 cup red wine, any kind you like
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup + 1 tbs plain flour
1/2 cup Dutch cocoa powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1| Preheat the oven to 165 degrees. Line your cupcake tray with cupcake liners.
2| In a large bowl of an electric mixer cream the butter on a medium speed until smooth. Add the sugars and beat until fluffy (for about 3 minutes).
3| Add the eggs and beat well. Pour the red wine in and vanilla. The batter will probably look a little uneven but that's ok.
4| Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt together, over the wet mixture. Mix until 3/4 combined, then fold the rest together with a rubber spatula. Nice and slow, so it's all even.
5| Divide the mixture into the cupcake liners and bake for about 20 minutes or so, or until the cake tester inserted into the cupcakes comes out clean.
6| Cool the cakes on a rack. Top with any icing you like or with icing sugar. I topped mine with cream cheese icing. mmm. cream cheese icing.

chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting

I don't really need a good excuse to bake cupcakes. Heck, I don't need an excuse full stop. I will happily oblige and provide cupcakes for anyone that requests I bring them to any shindig. The Biggest Morning Tea was no different.

What's the Biggest Morning Tea? Only one of Australia's most well-loved fundraising events, that's what. It's a great fundraiser for the Cancer Council. Apparently a first for the company I work for this year (in terms of participation), the inaugural Biggest Morning Tea was scheduled for Friday 27 May 2011. My colleagues are really organised. So organised in fact that we discussed what we were going to bring for the Morning Tea the week before. Hands down, it was unanimous. I was to bring chocolate cupcakes.

This suited me fine because I LOVE chocolate cupcakes. What's not to love? I am a firm believer that the best kind of cupcakes are the simple ones. Don't get me wrong, I love all the different kinds of cupcakes and flavours you can get these days that are frosted sky high and decorated to the nines. They certainly are beautiful to look at but my only criticism is I find them too sickly sweet for my palate and end up not enjoying the sensorial experience a cupcake should bring. Instead I find myself keeling over thinking I shouldn't have eaten that amount of sugar in such a short space of time, especially when I can feel my teeth 'hurting'. I believe that there's something really beautiful in the simplicity of a good chocolate cupcake made with high quality ingredients. I think that's key - you have to use a high-quality cocoa powder and chocolate (dark chocolate if possible!) to create the most scrumptious chocolate cupcake.

 I've tried a couple of different chocolate cupcake recipes; some with great results and others, not so great results. This one is a good one. They're easy to make, with minimal preparation and are absolutely scrumptious with good quality dark chocolate topped with my super quick and easy chocolate icing!

Also, I have been doing some reading online and have found that people are really worried about cupcakes with cracked tops. As you can see from above, mine cracked and I don't really care. It doesn't really affect the taste of the cupcake but, I will make chocolate cupcakes again I'm sure, so when I crack the mystery of cracked tops I'll be sure to blog about it! But for now, I am content with hastily covering them up with yummy chocolate icing and coloured sprinkles.

chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing

 

preparation time | 15 minutes

cooking time | 20 minutes

makes | 12 cupcakes with a muffin top, 16 smaller ones

chocolate cupcakes

100g dark chocolate, chopped

1 cup (250ml) water

125g butter, softened

1 cup (210g) brown sugar

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups (225g) self-raising flour

1/2 cup (75g) plain flour

1/4 cup (30g) cocoa powder

chocolate icing

2 tablespoons butter at room temperature

2 tablespoons of cocoa powder

1 cup icing sugar mixture

1 tablespoon boiling water

1 tablespoon milk

1| Preheat your oven to 180°C (or 160°C fan forced). Line the muffin / cupcake tray with pretty paper cases.

2| Place the chocolate and water into a small saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring for about 5 minutes or so or until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is nice and smooth. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

3| Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, always beating well after each egg to make sure all are combined well. Sift the flours and cocoa and fold into the mixture, alternating in thirds with the chocolate liquid mixture, ending with the flour/cocoa mixture (so, you should mix flour, then a bit of liquid, flour, liquid and finish with flour).

4| Spoon the mixture evenly into the prepared cases (about 2/3 full so you don't get that muffin top look). Place into the oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool. 

5| To make the icing, place the butter, cocoa and icing sugar mixture into a small bowl. Pour 1 tablespoon of water. Whisk together the mixture until it forms a paste. Add in a little bit of milk (just a little bit!) at a time, until the mixture is spreadable. If you like heat up the milk a bit so it's easier to mix. If you want a sweeter icing, add in a bit more icing sugar mixture. If it's too thick, add in a bit more liquid and if it's too runny, add in more sugar (for those that love their icing sweet) or a bit more cocoa powder.

6| Ice and decorate your cupcakes any which way you wish!

peanut butter and mini m&m cookies

You know the feeling. It’s a Saturday night; it’s cold, damp and dark outside. The forecast says “rain”. You don’t feel like going out. All you want to do is spend time cosying up in front of the fire, watching Saturday night movies, and munching on something, anything, just because.

As I sat there, watching dare I say it High School Musical 3 on TV, I thought to myself, what better time than the present to do some baking? I’ll tell you why. It gets you up and about (albeit the kitchen), away from watching High School Musical (I know, secretly, I love it), you’re saving money (for a few $ you get way more biscuits than in a pack of Tim Tams!) and all the ingredients are household staples (except maybe the mini m&ms. I’m lucky I work in market research and sometimes, we get to keep the leftover stimulus.)

These peanut butter cookies take no time at all to whip up and trust me, it’s fun. Ok, so it might take a tiny bit of prep time and you have to then roll the mixture into balls and wait for them to bake but then you get to reap the reward of lovingly and painstakingly making them by gobbling them up. Another plus of baking cookies yourself is you know what’s in them. Yes, you can eat a few of these and not feel guilty. I feel your scepticism rising in your bones. I know you’ve raised your eye brows at me. How can I not feel guilty eating a handful of cookies? Because in my version I’ve adapted, I lessened the sugar content and added in chocolate. Eating chocolate causes our brain to stimulate endorphins, endorphins make you happy. Therefore, chocolate makes you happy. Also, the smell of fresh cookies wafting through your kitchen alone will have you salivating and thanking me for encouraging you to bake your own. 

So what are you waiting for?

peanut butter and mini m&m cookies

adapted from the Woolworths Good Taste magazine, April 1997, Page 76

Recipe by Anneka Manning

preparation time | 15 minutes

cooking time | 15 minutes

makes | about 40 small cookies, about 35 bigger ones

125g butter or margarine, at room temperature

275g (1 cup) crunchy peanut butter

150g (3/4 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar

1 egg

260g (1 3/4 cups) plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup (2 tubes) mini m&ms

1| Preheat oven to 180°C (or 160°C fan forced). Line a baking tray with non-stick baking paper.

2 | Beat the butter or margarine and peanut butter in a mixing bowl with electric beaters until creamy (around 1-2 minutes). Add the brown sugar and beat until pale (around 2-3 minutes). Add the egg and beat until combined. Sift the plain flour and baking powder together. Using a wooden spoon, mix the dry ingredients and mini m&ms into the peanut butter mixture. 

3| Lightly flour your hands then roll tablespoonfuls of the mixture into balls and flatten in the palm of your hand to about 5cm in diameter and 1 cm thick. Place onto tray about 4 cm apart on the baking tray you prepared earlier. Bake in preheated oven for about 15 minutes or until golden and cooked through. Stand on baking tray for 5 minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool. Repeat with the remaining mixture. You can store the cookies in an airtight jar for up to 1 week (if they last that long!)

For extra crunch, add in 1/2 cup unsalted peanuts, roughly chopped, when mixing the dry ingredients into the peanut butter mixture.