Tag Archives: Cupcake

Week in Review (4/9-4/13)

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Hey hey hey there Friday! Lookin good, there. Pretty fantastic week here at Beautiful Disasters. Let’s recap…

Monday I shared with you guys my First Ever Guest Post! I made a delicious Triple Chocolate Birthday Cake in honor of my sister’s birthday (which was in March), and posted it over on The Heritage Cook. If you haven’t had a chance to check it out, you definitely should, because that thing was dee-lish! Chocolate gone wild.

I also got my prom dress!!! I was pretty nervous that it was going to be like IMPOSSIBLE to find one that I like under $400. yes, that is a 4 with 2 zeros behind it. Prom is expensive.

Tuesday I got to get out of school early, so our team could make it to our game in time. Good deal!!!! We won :)

Wednesday I showed you guys the yummy Chocolate Surprise Cupcakes that I brought to Ren Hen. YUmmm. I’m probably just about the only person in the world who would bring cupcakes to a bakery. But hey, the owners like them and I love bringing my stuff to them for them to try! A post on my visit will be coming soon :)

Thursday I had another game. Third one of the week. We lost, but put up a great effort and were all exhausted

Friday was my Bloggie’s Birthday!!! My blogiversary, if you will. So exciting! I can’t believe it’s been a whole year since this whole shebang started. It’s crazy to see how far everything has come, yet there is always so much to look forward too. I want to thank each and every one of my readers for your amazing support, loving comments, pins on pinterest, and everything else you guys do that just makes me smile. You guys are great, and you make blogging the fun it is. It’s so nice to have this as an outlet so I’m not stuck talking to myself about all these crazy things from bugs to couples eating eachothers’ faces off. So in honor of the big day, I made you guys what seemed to make the most sense. Super Duper Funfetti Mini Layer Cake. Maybe my titling of recipes could use a little work?

Today I have my FOURTH and final soccer game of the week. High school soccer season is cray cray.

Random Fact of the Day: Over 340,000 liposuctions were performed in the US in 2008

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Chocolate Surprise Cupcakes

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Is it still a surprise if you say what the surprise is in the title? Tricky, tricky.

Coming up with a name for these guys was a bit of a challenge for me, but I figured chocolate surprise cupcakes sounded pretty darn good. Who doesn’t like chocolate? Or surprises? If your hand is raised…I shake my head for you in shame.


Anyways, I mentioned a little while ago that I was visiting the Red Hen Bakery. Of course I couldn’t go empty-handed! So I decided to bring along these little gems.

Say hello to Chocolate Surprise Cupcakes.


The idea of these was to come up with a cupcake recipe that could sit out for a period of time without going bad. That eliminated heavy cream from the ingredient list, which is in like so many of my filling recipes for cupcakes….so I had to come up with a new filling.

By the way, since I have started stuffing and filling my cupcakes, there has been no turning back. Cupcakes are definitely not the same to me anymore unstuffed. They’re just..lonely. Empty.

So anyways, I came up with the idea to make a cookie dough filling. An eggless cookie dough filling, of course. Salmonella scares me and I don’t plan on finding out what it’s like to have it.

Well here we go, double chocolate cookie dough stuffed yellow cupcakes with peanut butter buttercream frosting. Or you can just call the surprise cupcakes which I find is a wittle bit easier.

My dad thought he was super witty…his title for them was “Peanut Butter CUPcakes” (emphasizing the CUP). Yes, he’s quite the clever guy. He was very proud!

Double chocolate cookie dough stuffed yellow cupcakes with peanut butter buttercream frosting. Chocolate Surprise Cupcakes. Peanut butter CUPcakes. Whatever you want to call them…you should try them, because this whole cookie dough in a cupcake thing kinda totally, completely, rocks.

Chocolate Surprise Cupcakes

(Makes about 20 cupcakes)

1 box of yellow cake mix, prepared according to box directions (Don’t bake, yet until instructions below say so)

FOR COOKIE DOUGH:

3/4 cups (1 1/2 sticks) butter

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup cocoa powder (I used dark cocoa powder)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup chocolate chips

FOR PEANUT BUTTER BUTTERCREAM:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

2 cups peanut butter

1/4 cup milk (or heavy cream), as needed

4 cups powdered sugar

  1. Cream butter, white sugar, and brown sugar together in the bowl of a mixer. Stir in vanilla.
  2. In a separate bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add to creamed mixture. Fold in chocolate chips by hand. Scoop dough into balls by the Tablespoonful, place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, and freeze in the freezer for at least 2 hours.
  3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Prepare cake batter according to directions on box and scoop into cupcake liners about half-way to 3/4-full. Drop frozen cookie dough balls into the center of each cupcake batter cup. Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or until tops are covered and they spring back slightly when touched. Edges should be golden.
  4. Let cool in tins for 20 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack to finish cooling for an additional 30 minutes.
  5. FOR FROSTING: Cream butter until smooth. Mix in peanut butter. Beat in powdered sugar. Add milk or cream as desired to achieve the ideal consistency. Frost onto cooled cupcakes as desired. Enjoy!

of course I couldn’t just bring some cupcakes, so I brought some cute little Easter/Spring sugar cookies for them (BTW this was before Easter!)

Random Fact of the Day: Rhode Island is the smallest state but has the longest name.

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Whipped Cream Stuffed Chocolate Cupcakes with Caramel Buttercream

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It’d be nice if I could come up with a shorter name for these guys…but I thought I’d go the more descriptive route.

These cupcakes were for a special crowd that I was hoping to impress, and I thought that this was the perfect flavor combination to please any palate.

I was SUPER DUPER PUMPED to make these (picture me doing a cheerleading dance). It has been so, so, so long since I got to make a cupcake. I mean like pretty much a whole month! Lent has been driving me a little wack-o and I thought I was just about to jump out of my skin when I was making these babies.

I have never been so thankful to whip cream. Or to mix a cupcake batter. I know, I’m weird. But you secretly love it…!

One little note about this recipe that I would like to mention is that I used my Gram’s go-to chocolate cake recipe. That lady sure could bake one heck of a cake. My mom adores her red devil chocolate cake recipe and I know she hold this recipe quite close to her heart, but I’m happy to share this with the rest of you all so everybody can enjoy some of Gram’s love. If you’d like to learn more about Gram, I wrote a pretty big post about her here.

Gram’s Red Devil Chocolate Cake

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

2 cups sifted flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 cup cocoa powder (I used Dark cocoa powder)

1/2 cup milk (I used skim)

1 cup boiling water (I just microwaved mine for about 75 seconds)

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line 24 cupcake tins with liners.
  2. Cream together butter, sugar, and vanilla. Add salt and eggs. Mix in sifted flour, baking soda, and cocoa powder. Stir in milk. GRADUALLY stir in hot water by HAND! (well, with a spoon or spatula, but a mixer might make a mess)
  3. Fill lined cupcake tins about half-way and bake in preheated oven 15-18 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Whipped Cream

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

4 teaspoons powdered sugar

  1. Whip cream and powdered sugar with mixer, using whisk attachment, on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form and mixture looks just like whipped cream. Place whipped cream  into a pastry bag fitted with a piping tip to fill cupcakes. Stick pastry bag into cupcake and squeeze whipped cream into cooled cupcake. Repeat for all cupcakes.

Caramel Buttercream

1/2 cup plus 2 Tablespoons white sugar

5 Tablespoons water

pinch of salt

5 Tablespoons heavy cream

2 sticks butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups powdered sugar

  1. Combine white sugar and water in small or medium heavy-bottom saucepan. On medium heat, bring the mixture to a boil and stir in salt. Stop stirring and let the mixture cook, gently stirring every so often, until it is a deep amber color. Remove from heat and slowly stir in cream, a couple tablespoons at a tim. Watch out because the cream will cause the caramel to get a little crazy and fizz up a bit! Set aside and let cool.
  2. Cream butter until smooth. Mix in vanilla extract. Add cooled caramel mixture to creamed butter. Mix in powdered sugar and add milk as needed until you achieve your desired consistency of frosting and piping.
  3. Pipe or frost cupcakes as desired.

Random Fact of the Day: Your body uses 200 muscles to take a single step.

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Chocolate Mousse Stuffed Yellow Cupcakes

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Lent is coming. It starts Wednesday in case you haven’t heard yet…

My family usually gives up sweets for Lent. It NEVER EVER fails to be a monstrous challenge. So we (I) like to really load up on Tuesday. Some of you may know it as “Fat Tuesday”. So here we are, making some good ‘ol cupcakes, perfect for Fat Tuesday!

Now because my family and I give up sweets for Lent, that means that there are most likely not going to be too many cupcake and cookie recipes on here for a while…Just warning ya. There will probably be some granola bar and muffin-type recipes on here that will help me control my sweet tooth! We do, however, make exceptions for certain occasions. My sister’s birthday always happens to fall in the middle of Lent and even though she is like a gajillion miles away, in Spain, we will probably still have a slice of pie or cake in honor of her day ;)

These cupcakes are a little bit like my Snickers Stuffed Chocolate Cupcakes that I absolutely adore. I can’t get enough of the chocolate mousse filling. It is seriously the easiest thing everrr! No eggs required. Just TWO ingredients!!

I always happen to end up with a bit of extra mousse, which is awesome because you can make little mousse cups like I did above, or frost some cupcakes like I did below.

For this recipe, I used a box mix that we bought during the post-Christmas sales. It is a Christmas funfetti cake mix, but I do recommend buying these mixes when you see them on sale because for one, you can sometimes get them where the sprinkles aren’t yet mixed in.

Two, if the sprinkles are already mixed in the mix, you can just add more multi-colored sprinkles to drown out the holiday-ness of the mix.

Three, the boxed mixes don’t expire for usually about a whole year.

So here you have it. Delicious cupcakes with a delicious little surprise anybody would be happy to discover inside :)

Chocolate Mousse Stuffed Yellow Cupcakes with Dark Chocolate Buttercream

1 yellow (or funfetti) cake mix (Plus ingredients listed on box to prepare cupcakes)

2 cups heavy cream

2 cups chocolate chips

1 1/2 sticks butter, softened

3 1/4 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup cocoa powder (I used Hershey’s Special Dark)

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

pinch of salt

3 Tablespoons milk, or as needed

  1. Prepare and bake cupcakes as directed on box. Let cool for at least 30 minutes or pop them in the fridge for about 10 minutes if you’re impatient.
  2. Meanwhile, prepare mousse by whipping heavy cream until stiff peaks form and it looks like whipped cream. Melt chocolate and gently fold into whipped cream until thoroughly combined. Pipe mousse filling into cooled cupcakes.
  3. Prepare buttercream by beating butter and vanilla until creamy. Mix in cocoa powder, salt, and powdered sugar. Add milk as needed until you have achieved your desired consistency for frosting. Frost cupcakes and enjoy! Top with sprinkles or chopped up candy, if desired.

Random Fact of the Day: Women have a better sense of smell than men.

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Almond Joy Cupcakes

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I hope you all enjoyed my ice cream cake post, I know I sure did!! :) Nothing really beats a big ‘ol ice cream cake on your birthday, in my house

I really do like to start the year off with a bang and that cake sure fit the bill. But hey, why stop there? I think you should all be familiar with my stuffed cupcakes obsession. I REALLY love them. 

I decided to try and replicate one of my parent’s favorite candy bars, Almond Joys, into cupcake form. Basically what you get when everything is all done, is a delicious chocolate cupcake stuffed with coconut flavored whipped cream topped with a chocolate coconut-ey buttercream frosting.

I had some extra whipped cream so I decided to top some of my cupcakes with that, but you can do whatever you so desire with that!

To finish everything off, I chopped up some Almond Joys that I had in the freezer for about 10 minutes and sprinkle them on top. I have not always embraced coconut as much as I should…these cupcakes showed me coconut’s true flavors and I LOVE them! Hope you do too :)

Almond Joy Cupcakes

Chocolate Cupcakes

1 Box of Devil’s Food Cake Mix

1 small box of instant chocolate pudding mix

1/2 cup oil

1 cup sour cream

4 eggs

1 cup milk

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line cupcakes pans. I used minis and regular sized. If you use all regular you should get about 24, minis will make many many many more!!
  2. Mix all the ingredients together  in a bowl for about 2-3 minutes or until thoroughly combined.
  3. Fill cupcake pans and pop in the oven for about 20-25 minutes (regular sized cupcakes) or 15-20 minutes (minis). Take them out once a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool on wire rack, or if you’re impatient like me pop them in the freezer. Meanwhile, make the filling. Once cupcakes are completely cool, pipe filling into cupcakes.

Coconut Mousse Filling

2 cups heavy cream

4 teaspoons coconut extract

4 Tablespoons powdered sugar

  1. To prepare the filling, whip heavy cream with an electric mixer until it looks like whipped cream and has very stiff peaks. Mix in the powdered sugar and coconut extract until completely mixed together. You may want to add more or use less coconut extract depending on your personal taste. I recommend filling your piping bag in two batches, there is no way you will be able to fit all the whipped cream in one piping bag. Save yourself a headache!
  2. Once the cupcakes are cooled, stick you piping bag that has a tip in it into the cupcake and pipe until you see the cupcake puff up a little bit.

Chocolate Coconut Buttercream Frosting

1 stick butter

2 1/2 -3  cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 teaspoons coconut extract

milk, as needed

  1. Beat butter in bowl with an electric mixer until creamy. Add powdered sugar and mix until combined. Mix in coconut extract and cocoa powder until thoroughly combined. Beat in milk until desired consistency.
  2. Once cupcakes have been filled, pipe and frost your cupcakes. Top with chopped up Almond Joys, if desired.

I know it looks like a mess..but it’s one heck of a delicious mess! ;) Hope your 2012 is off to a great start!!

Random Fact of the Day: In Kentucky, 50 percent of the people who get married for the first time are teenagers. (I’m not sure if I even believe that!)

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