Cupcake Hero Fail

Even though it's not quite the noon deadline I'm going to call this now since I'm getting ready to hit the road and return home from my Thanksgiving vacation. Looks like my little experiment in keeping Cupcake Hero alive and kicking failed miserably as I didn't get a single entry. I hope this doesn't mean the end of the competition for good because I personally like being challenged and given new cupcake ideas, but this doesn't bode well for the future of the competition. Oh well. At least this saves me the trouble of having to sew something for the winner when I should be making Christmas presents for my friends instead. Hopefully another worthy competition will crop up soon to take its place.

Unofficial Cupcake Hero: November

We're already a week into November and still no word back from I Heart Cuppycakes as to whether or not Cupcake Hero will continue. As I mentioned last week, she replied to my initial email after October's results came in telling me to hold off on posting the next Cupcake Hero because she needed to reevaluate the competition due to her busy schedule and some complaints from bakers about how it's organized. Which is a shame because I know most of us don't take this so seriously that we'd complain but it seems that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Anyway, because November's such a short month I don't want it to slip by without some sort of cupcake challenge for those of us who enjoy these events not for the prizes but as a way to push ourselves and discover fun new recipes from others. I've also gotten a few comments and emails from other bakers who seem as eager as I am to see this challenge continue. For those reasons I'm disobeying orders here and am going ahead with posting November's challenge. Let's see how good of a turnout we can get to maybe help convince I Heart Cuppycakes that there's a lot of support for this great competition.

Since I don't have the official sanction I'm going to call this an unofficial Cupcake Hero. So don't count on the usual big prizes this time around. Instead bake for the glory of being the (unofficial) Cupcake Hero! That's reward enough, right? Because I'd hate to see you go without and because I like giving things away so much I will make some sort of cupcake-themed item for the winner and put together a prize pack. Hopefully we can keep this competition going!

And now on to this month's ingredient:


Yup, it's cranberries! Since it's nearly Thanksgiving here in the US I'm going with one of my favorite ingredients that's both in season and in keeping with the upcoming holiday. Cranberry sauce, berries, juice, whatever! It's your choice. Just get creative!

Even though this isn't official I'm sticking with the same guidelines as Cupcake Hero:

• Anyone can enter.


• Create a cupcake using CRANBERRIES in at least one component be it the cake itself, frosting, filling, garnish etc.


• Post the recipe for your entry on your blog and then email your name, the link, the name of the cupcake and a brief description/promo blurb to me at sourkrautkrafts@gmail.com with Cupcake Hero in the subject.


• Also join the Flickr group and upload 1-2 pictures per entry. I can't promise the administrator will actually post your pics since this is an unofficial competition but I want to stick as close to the Cupcake Hero rules as possible.


• While you're there, consider leaving a comment in the discussion section letting I Heart Cuppycakes know how much you support Cupcake Hero and want it to continue.


• Multiple entries welcome but separate email per entry.


• Deadline will be November 29th at noon Eastern Time. I will post the roundup by the 30th, followed by voting until December 3rd.


• Readers will pick finalist #1. I pick finalist #2.


• I bake both finalist cupcakes and assemble a focus group to help me decide the winner to be announced on December 6th.


• Any questions? Email sourkrautkrafts@gmail.com

I Am The Cupcake Hero!

Yes, I know I already blogged about my win and I swear this is not evidence of an inflated ego. It's just that a friend got creative and took my small victory a little too seriously and has cleverly created my superhero persona:


At my request, he even came up with a catchy theme song in a matter of minutes. The boy's got talent, let me tell ya!

Sing this to the tune of the original Spider Man cartoon theme song:

Cupcake gal, cupcake gal,
She's so cool and is my pal
Bakes a cake, any size,
Bakes cupcakes and sometimes pies
Look Out!
...Here comes the Cupcake gal.

Can she bake?
Listen bud,
She's got German in her blood.
Can she start a baking thread?
Take a look overhead
Hey, there
There goes the Cupcake gal.

In the chill of night
When you're hungry for pie
Like a streak of light
She arrives just in time.

Cupcake gal, cupcake gal
Friendly neighborhood Cupcake gal
Wealth and fame
She's ignored
Yummy cupcakes are her reward.

To her, life is a great big bake off
Cupcakes are her payoff
She is the Cupcake gal!

Mucho thanks to Mr. Chucky for seeing fit to use his genius to plump up my ego and help me celebrate my win. If any of you wish to commission his services you can contact me as his authorized agent.

(Cupcake Hero) Victory Is Mine!

Whoo hoo! Found out last night that my Nutella Baklava Cupcakes won October's honey-themed Cupcake Hero competition. Thanks again to everyone who voted! I love the set-up for the competition as you still have a chance if your cupcake rocks but you don't have a million friends to turn out and vote for you. I also like that it comes down to a taste test as there's only so much you can tell about a cupcake from a description of the components.

I thought this would mean I'd get a chance to host November's Cupcake Hero, which I was looking forward to more than the prizes themselves, but I got an email from I Heart Cuppycakes this morning saying to hold off on posting the competition as she's reevaluating Cupcake Hero due to her busy schedule and complaints from several participants about how it's organized. I know that I and at least one other participant have offered to step in and help out with the prizes and any other aspects she's struggling with. I really hope she doesn't choose to stop the competition as I think it's an extremely popular one with lots of talented bakers. It'd be a shame to see it end, especially when I had a great idea for November's ingredient. Which shall remain a mystery until I get the go ahead to host. Assuming that ever happens.

Hopefully things will be back on track soon and we can look forward to another fun challenge!

Cupcake Hero: Honey

I've always thought that if I one day get the chance to choose the theme ingredient for a cupcake competition I'd pick honey. This month I Dream In Buttercream beat me to the punch by selecting honey as the ingredient for October's Cupcake Hero competition. I was so excited when I saw that because I already have a top-notch honey cupcake ready to enter!

This has turned out to be a good thing because in addition to Cupcake Hero I'm working on cupcakes for The Sweetest Kitchen's Mystery Box Cupcake Challenge, suitable cupcakes for my mom's book club meeting, and am tentatively considering entering a pumpkin- and Halloween-themed local cupcake competition at the end of the month. While I'd ordinarily call myself a slacker for recycling a cupcake creation and entering it in a second contest, I know I have never come up with a tastier cupcake than the Nutella peanut baklava cupcakes I entered in a local Iron Cupcake challenge earlier this year. I put my heart and soul into those cupcakes, subjected my co-workers/taste testers to numerous test batches, and invented and perfected my very own whipped honey buttercream recipe that is melt-in-your-mouth good. I even slaved away the day before making little marzipan bees with almond sliver wings to spruce them up. Which is probably why I was so disappointed when I only got second place. :(

I'm happy to present (again) my Nutella Peanut Baklava Cupcakes with Whipped Honey Buttercream. Yes, there are a lot of steps but the end result is so very worth it. If I was able to make five batches of these in less than four weeks I'm sure you can find the time to do it at least once.

The cupcakes begin with a crispy phyllo dough base layered with melted honey and butter with a dusting of Nutella to give it a little bee-like stripe. I discarded the traditional baklava filling of pistachios for a peanut and almond combination, something I think will appeal to a wider audience and works really well with the honey. Inside each cupcake I nestled a dollop of chopped nuts mixed with ooey, gooey honey. On top I piped some heavenly whipped honey buttercream from my own recipe in the shape of a little beehive and adorned each with a marzipan bee. Obviously the bees are totally optional although I have to say the almond flavor of the garnish does at least tie in with the nut filling.

If nothing else you should give the honey buttercream recipe a try. I think it would pair well with a variety of cake flavors or use it to spruce up some plain old vanilla cake.

Nutella Peanut Baklava Cupcakes With Whipped Honey Buttercream
Printable version here

For the Base:
1 Tablespoon Unsalted Butter
1 Tablespoon Honey
6 teaspoons Nutella
1 package Phyllo Dough, Thawed (You Will Use 5 Sheets)

For the Honey Nut Mixture:
⅔ cups Chopped Salted Peanuts
⅓ cups Chopped Almonds (Blanched or Without Skins)
¼ teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
3 Tablespoons Honey (Heaping Tablespoons)

For the Cake:
1 cup Granulated Sugar
1-⅔ cup All-purpose Flour
1-¼ teaspoon Baking Powder
¼ teaspoons Ground Nutmeg
½ teaspoons Salt
6 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, At Room Temperature
⅔ cups Milk, At Room Temperature
1-½ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
2 whole Large Eggs
Additional Honey For Filling Cupcakes

For the Honey Buttercream:
½ cups Unsalted Butter, At Room Temperature
4 Tablespoons Honey
2-3 cups Powdered Sugar
1 Tablespoon Heavy Cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tin with 16 liners.

For crispy phyllo dough base:
In a small bowl, combine butter and honey. Microwave 30 seconds and stir. Continue to heat in the microwave in 10-second increments until butter is completely melted. Stir well to combine. In another small bowl, microwave Nutella for 35 seconds until it’s warm and spreadable.

Carefully unroll thawed phyllo dough onto a dry, smooth surface. Place one sheet of dough on a cutting board or baking sheet. Using a pastry brush, evenly coat dough with the honey butter mixture and cover with a second layer of phyllo dough. Again brush evenly with the honey mixture. Add a third sheet of phyllo dough and dab/spread Nutella as evenly as possible, trying to cover all areas. Repeat with a fourth sheet of phyllo dough and Nutella. Cover with a fifth sheet of phyllo dough. Using a sharp knife, cut phyllo dough into 2.25-inch squares. Discard any remnants. Place one square in the bottom of each liner and bake for 4 minutes until edges become crisp. Remove from oven and set aside.

For honey nut mixture:
Combine peanuts, almonds, and cinnamon and mix well. Add tablespoons of honey and stir to completely coat the nut mixture. Set aside.

For cake:
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, baking powder, nutmeg, and salt. Add the butter and beat with an electric mixer at low speed, until the mixture looks sandy.

Combine the milk and vanilla and add, all at once. Mix at low speed for 30 seconds, then increase the speed to medium and beat for 30 seconds. Scrape the bottom and sides of the mixing bowl.

With the mixer running at low speed, add 1 egg. Increase the speed to medium and beat for 30 seconds. Add the second egg, again beating for 30 seconds.

Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl, and beat briefly, just until smooth.

Add a small scoop of batter (about 1 ½ Tablespoons) to each cupcake liner. Top each with a heaping teaspoon of the honey nut mixture. Then add a final scoop of batter to fill liners ¾ full.

Bake the cupcakes for 20 to 25 minutes, rotating once halfway through. Cupcakes are done when they’ve domed, are a light golden brown around the edges, and spring back when pressed gently on top. Let cool in pan approximately five minutes and transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Using the cone method for filling cupcakes, cut a small cone out of the top of each cupcake (stop cutting when you hit the nut mixture inside) and set aside. Squeeze/spoon a dollop of honey into each well, filling it to the top. Let the cupcakes sit approximately five minutes so the honey can seep into the cake. Replace each cake cone.

For whipped honey buttercream:
In a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, cream together butter and honey for 2 minutes.

Add 1 cup of the powdered sugar. Begin with mixer on low speed until sugar is incorporated, then increase speed to medium and beat until smooth and creamy, about 3-5 minutes.

Add another cup of powdered sugar, again mixing on low speed to incorporate.

Add heavy cream at low speed. Increase speed to medium and mix about 2 minutes until frosting is smooth.

You may need to add additional powdered sugar as needed for desired consistency.

Cupcake Hero Voting Open Now

No, this isn't a threat to get you to vote for me. I promise you'll be safe from Old Greg even if you don't vote for me. But as I see the votes climbing over at the Cupcake Hero competition and still only two pathetic votes for my cupcakes from my husband and me I'm getting nervous. If you're a cupcake connoisseur like me you'll want to check out all of the caffeine-themed entries and vote for your favorite. No pressure to vote for mine even though that's of course what I'm secretly hoping you'll do. But be fair. If you see a tastier entry I won't ever have to know that you voted for it instead.


To refresh your memory, my entry is a yummy cocktail-inspired combination of coffee cake, bittersweet orange chocolate ganache filling, and Baileys buttercream.

Hope you check out the other entries because, as much as I hate to admit it, some of them look darn tasty. Voting's open until September 30.

Coffee Cupcakes With Orange Chocolate Ganache Filling and Baileys Buttercream

I'd heard of the Cupcake Hero competition here and there but hadn't ever properly looked into how to enter. There was some confusion for me because the host changes each month to the previous month's winner, so I had a hard time figuring out where to join. This month, however, I've tracked the competition to The Insomniac Baker so I'm on board and ready and rarin' to go! Fitting because the theme this time around is caffeine.

While I'm usually not the type to get hopped up on the stuff I do relish the challenge of incorporating something new into a cupcake. I've already come up with the best tea cupcake I can imagine, so it was time to broaden my horizons and try something different. I'm not a coffee drinker but I do like coffee-flavored sweets (ok, I like sweets of any flavor) so why not try a coffee cupcake? This is a first for me because my husband doesn't like coffee, so I'll be on my own eating this one. Oh, the sacrifices I make for my art.

I only own two bottles of liquor: cheap vodka I use for vodka cream sauce and a small bottle of Baileys I bought on a whim. The latter perfect for my current baking experiment. After all, what goes together better than coffee and a splash of Baileys? Decided on coffee cake and Baileys frosting, I had to brainstorm to find just the right filling. Did some research into various cocktails made with Baileys and fell for the idea of incorporating orange into the mix. In the form of orange chocolate ganache, naturally. Bam! Sometimes the cupcake creation process really is that simple.

The end result is a coffee-flavored cake with a sweet and subtle Baileys buttercream offset by the slightly bitter but oh so rich chocolate ganache filling with a hint of orange. Just like a tasty cup of gourmet coffee. And just like your coffee no one would ever suspect that it's laced with booze.

Coffee Cupcakes
Adapted from 6 Bittersweets

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
2 teaspoons instant coffee powder

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a standard muffin tin with 12 paper liners.
2) Heat the milk gently on the stove or in the microwave, then add the instant coffee powder, stirring to make sure that it's completely dissolved. Set aside.
3) In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
4) In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the egg and yolk and mix until combined into the batter. Then add the vanilla and mix again.
5) Alternately beat in dry ingredients and milk mixture, making three additions of dry ingredients and two of milk, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Beat just until combined.
6) Fill cupcake liners until they are about 2/3 full. Bake for 16 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool in pan on rack for ten minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely.

Orange Chocolate Ganache Filling

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate
1/3 cup heavy cream
Peel from 1/2 large orange, torn into pieces
1 tablespoon butter, at room temperature

1) Place chocolate in a bowl and set aside.
2) Heat cream and orange peel in a saucepan over medium heat until it just boils. Strain out orange peel and pour cream over chocolate. Let sit for one minute then stir until smooth.
3) Add butter and stir until smooth.
6) Using the cone method, cut a cone out of each cupcake and fill the cavity with ganache. Replace top.

Baileys Buttercream

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 1/4 to 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons Baileys Irish Cream

1) In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter for 45-60 seconds.
2) Add 2 1/4 cups powdered sugar and beat until mixture comes together.
3) Add Baileys and beat an additional 45 seconds. Add additional powdered sugar if necessary.
4) Pipe onto cupcakes and enjoy!