The Dead Elvis Cupcake

Okay. Let's admit it. Halloween is totally just for kids. It's gives them a chance to dress up like their favourite superhero and/or princess and freak out after eating their body weight in sugar. Good for them. They need a holiday to cut up the long stretch to Christmas. Let's let them have it. I'm totally talking to you, Ms. Dress-up-as-a-slutty-nurse/police officer/ninja turtle. Just take your brewskies and walk away.

Halloween for us adults should be more refined. I know, it's hard to let go of your childhood. You can still dress up, if it makes you feel better. Just not as a sexy ninja turtle, please. Around here, we take our celebration inspiration from down south. Way down south.

Dias de los Muertos takes place shortly after Halloween. If you've never heard about it, you're totally missing a party, dude. It gives us a chance to honour those who have past on into the other realm - and to feast, drink, and make really wicked sugar skulls. What's not to love?

Amp'd Up Coconut Cupcakes

Why hello there! It's been a while since we've chatted, eh? Well, let me tell you my sob story - I get up for work at 6am, try to stuff knowledge into children's heads for a while, then fight Vancouver traffic in order to make it home at 6pm. After that, I just want to  shovel food into my pie-hole and go to bed. Before I'm able to do that, however, I've got to make up lesson plans and worksheets for the next day. Boy oh boy, do I ever long for the weekend. No, nix that. I long for the energy to make it to the weekend.

At this point, most people would reach for our dear little friend. No, not that box of merlot. Perish the thought. I'm talking about good ol' fashioned caffeine. Admit it, you can't get through the day without that Double-Double from Tim Hortons. Yes, it's extremely crappy coffee. Yes, it tastes like watery dirt. But, gosh darn it, it's water dirt with caffeine mixed in it. I'm not a coffee person, though. Nor am I a tea or soda pop person. I suffer through the day without the help of the big C. I have vowed never to become a slave to the stuff - of course, we'll see how long that lasts now that I've got a 6 to 6 job.

There is one caffeinated drink that absolutely fascinate me - energy drinks. Why oh why would people willingly put that stuff into their body? Have you read the label on one of these things? They actually have to put labels on it, warning people that drinking more than one a day is a health risk. In yet . . . in yet . . . I'm absolutely intrigued with them. How do they pack so much caffeine in that skinny little can? And what in the world does all that concentrated caffeine taste like? More importantly, can it be made into a cupcake.

Why yes. Yes it can.

The Vegan RasMataz: Raspberry-Mocha Cupcakes with Raspberry Frosting

I always feel bad for people with dietary restrictions. It must be the bleeding heart vegetarian in me. If you have allergies, finding out your favourite food has crab/peanuts/eggs/wheat in it can be devastating. When I found out that shrimp paste (my gastric arch-enemy) appears in the majority of Thai cuisine, I grieved for months. I'm still sitting in the first stage of denial: I'm not really allergic to shellfish. I'm sure this pad thai will go down just fine. A couple minutes later bending over the toilet tells me otherwise. Denial sucks.

Vegans and vegetarians have it worse. When you ask for a corn on the cob without butter or for a soup without beef broth, sometimes you get a funny look. Sometimes you get a snide remark. It depends where you live and where you're eating (try getting a vegan salad in a Calgary steak house). Luckily, the Pacific Northwest is pretty friendly to the meatless. There are veggie-friendly shops and restaurants popping up all over. Bakeries are also picking up the slack. Gluten-free/lactose-free/vegan/vegetarian/organic cakes and cookies are the new hot item around the city. It really gives me that warm, fuzzy feeling inside.

I Dream of Marrakech: Bittersweet Chocolate Coconut Cupcakes with Orange Buttercream

July brings with it another Cupcake Hero challenge. This time our host from Small Town Oven requested that we use coconut - an ingredient that inspires thoughts of summer, sun, and sand. Luckily there are a lot of tropical drinks that that can lend us bakers some tasty inspiration: Puerto Rico has it's piña colada, Malibu has it's coconut rum, and you can't forget about the "Blue Hawaii" or "Lime in the Coconut". We've experimented with these lovely cocktail flavours before, but - for Cupcake Hero - we wanted to push this month's coconut cupcake a bit further. We had to get out of the tropical island mentality.

I began to think of what our perfect summer vacation would consist of. We're not so much into the whole all-inclusive beach resort thing. Frankly, Mr. C and his red hair would probably burst into flames. Even with his SPF 7000. If money was no option, we'd love to take a page out of Anthony Bourdain's book - travel to the outskirts of the world and just eat. Give in to local customs and dishes, experiencing life as the country lives it. This isn't saying I'd turn my nose up at a trip to Disneyland or Las Vegas (god, I love Vegas) - traveling the world is a dream we plan on conquering slowly throughout our lifetimes. The first country on my list isn't France or Germany or Sweden - I'd want to visit Northern Africa.

More specifically, I want to visit Marrakech.

Cupcake Hero: June - Blueberry Roundup!

We had a couple lovely (and healthy! Gasp!) muffin recipes for you this Wednesday. Unfortunately, something went wrong in our test kitchen. Something went horribly horribly wrong.

It involved Swiss Buttercream. And it was not pretty.

photographic recreation

Anyway, both me and Mr.C got out alive (even if we were covered in frosting) and free to work another day - we've got a big order coming out for Thursday, and must once again venture into the test kitchen to finish what we had started. Hopefully with better results this time.

But, onto some better news - Remember those lovely Blue Pom-Poms we made oh-so long ago? Welp, Cupcake Hero: June has come to a close and voting has begun.

Check out Kitchen Koala's front page for the Blueberry Cupcake Roundup (there's some amazing entries this month) and the poll on the right hand side! Remember to vote!

Good luck to all the fantastic bakers! We'll see you again in Cupcake Hero: July!

And to our readers, we'll have a double shot this Saturday - I promise you both muffin recipes (as long as we've recovered from the Vesuvius incident by then).

The Blue Pom-Pom: Blueberry Pomegranate Cupcakes

Cupcake Hero is a fun little side project we always love to make time for. The last time we were able to compete was way back in October (you may remember our Pumpkin S'mores and Dias De Los Muertos Cupcakes). This month, we were lucky enough to have Dorothy from Kitchen Koala to take on the task of hosting Cupcake Hero. She decided to give June's cupcake a real summery feel and make the secret ingredient Blueberries!

Blueberries always tend to have the same partners in baked goods - lemon always tends to make an appearance, as do oats or other types of summery fruit. This was a problem for us. I absolutely love a good blueberry-lemon muffin, don't get me wrong, but that was too predictable for us. So, Mr.C and I wracked our brains - we even went to our beloved friends for new and different flavour profiles. Then inspiration hit:

Rock the Cupcake Hero Vote!

Cupcake Hero: October has just been brought to a close. This one is close to my heart - Halloween is my favourite time of year - so we tried to make entries that really fit with the season. We have complete confidence in the recipes, but there are so many amazing tasty (and spooky) cupcakes!

Here's where you can see all the entries and vote for the one you think looks and sounds the tastiest. We hope our Dias de los Muertos and Pumpkin S'more cupcakes do well - but competition is steep!

Pumpkin S'more Cupcakes

I love marshmallow. Too bad it's a real pain in the tuckus to make.



I really wanted to put in another entry into this month's Cupcake Hero and I also wanted an excuse to make a S'more cupcake. It was like it was destined to be.

I had a super recipe for Graham Cracker and Chocolate cake, but it was the Marshmallow that really got to me. At first, making it from scratch sounded like a wonderful idea. But I am an impatient person. Waiting over night for little marshmallows to set seemed like a waste of time - I wanted s'more cupcakes in my mouth as. soon. as. possible. So I tried my ol' stand by, 7 minute icing. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, my icing refused to form stiff peeks (I blame the corn syrup rather than my lack of patience). Frustrated and sticky, I went to plan C.



Even after all the tears and destroyed egg whites, I produced something that I'm proud of. The cake has a lovely texture and is full of chocolatey goodness. The marshmallow on top complements the cake well and leaves you in a happy, pumpkiny mood. If my other half was with me during this journey, maybe I would have gone with the fresh marshmallow (C&C's creations always seem to go better with the second C is around) - but these cuppies hit the spot just the way they are.

I even made little mini cousins, just so Colin could share them with the office.



The only thing better than a Pumpkin S'mores Cupcake is three dozen mini Pumpkin S'more cupcakes.


Pumpkin S'more Cupcakes
Graham Cracker and Chocolate Cake with Pumpkin Marshmallow on top
Ingredients
1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup milk + 1/4 cup yogurt
1 cup chocolate chips (I prefer dark)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the flour, graham cracker, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a bowl and whisk until evenly distributed.

In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla. Next alternatively pour in the flour mixture with the milk/yogurt, starting and ending with the flour. Fold in your chocolate chips.

Fill your (preferably Halloween-oriented) cupcake liners and bake for about 20 minutes (or until your tester comes out clean.

Pumpkin Marshmallow Frosting
Now, if you want to go the extra mile, I'd use this recipe for homemade pumpkin marshmallow. If you are in a time crunch (Like I was), you can use this super easy subsitute.
2 cups big marshmallows
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp all spice

Put the marshmallows in a large glass bowl and add a TBSP of water. Make sure most of the marshmallows have soaked up some moisture and place them in the microwave. Nuke those bad boys 20 seconds at a time, stirring each time you take the bowl out to check, until the marshmallows are mostly melted (there still will be some lumps, but don't worry about that yet).

Mix all the spices together in a small cup. Put the pumpkin in the marshmallow bowl and about half of the spice mixture. Using a hand mixer, mix everything together until all the marshmallowy lumps are gone. Taste and adjust the spice if need be.

(Your marshmallow will seem watery at this point - don't panic. It will re-congeal when it cools.)

Using a knife, cut out a small hole in the middle of your cooled cupcakes (going just about a third of the way down). Spoon in the pumpkin marshmallow until it covers most of the top. Let the marshmallow cool.

Chocolate Ganache Topping
4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
Graham Cracker crumbs

Melt chocolate and butter over low heat (preferably in a double boiler). Take off heat and dip each of the cupcakes in the ganache, making sure the pumpkin marshmallow is completely covered. Sprinkle graham cracker crumbs over top.

Add candy/chocolate tombstone and/or zombie limbs as you see fit.

Dias de los Muertos Cupcakes

The colours. The smells. The sights. The skulls.

Dias de los Muertos is a holiday I can really get into.




The idea for these cupcakes came from a cute little skull mold I found digging around the local craft store. As soon as I picked it up, I new it was destined for greatness. I have always been in love with Calaveras art and thought perhaps I can incorporate it into cupcake form. The cake would, of course, have to be pumpkin - but with a little kick. This is how Dias de los Muertos Cupcakes were born.




The cake is not your average pumpkin cake. It's light and moist (an effect which always shows up in any one of my yogurt-cake recipes) with a real kick at the end. The kick is the cayenne - something I'm really getting into. There's nothing I love better than a sweet cupcake with a spicy surprise at the end.

I thought this cupcake was special enough to enter in October's Cupcake Hero - I hope it does well and, above all, I hope you enjoy it!




Dias de los Muertos Cupcakes
Cayenne-Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese buttercream

Ingredients
1 stick of unsalted butter (1/2 cup)
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/4 tsp cayenne powder
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp all spice
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 eggs
1/2 cup yogurt with 1 tsp vanilla mixed in
1 1/3 cup pumpkin

Preheat oven to 350.

Sift or wisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cayenne, ginger, nutmeg, all spice, and salt black pepper. Set aside.

Cream together butter and both sugars with a mixer until nice and fluffy (around 5 minutes). Add eggs and mix. Then mix in yogurt and dry ingredients, alternating between the two. Add in the pumpkin.

Spoon into cupcake papers and cook in oven for about 20 minutes (or when your cake tester comes out clean). Leave out to cool before frosting.

Frosting Ingredients:
16 ounces cream cheese
1 stick unsalted butter
2 cups of icing sugar (plus more - just in case you want your icing thicker)
1/4 cup real maple syrup
4 tsp cinnamon (plus more, if you add more icing sugar)

Put all ingredients (room temperature) in a mixer and mix until thick and yummy. Tint to any colour you like (or just leave it the natural cinnamon colour) and add to the cupcakes. Decorate accordingly (I'd suggest marigolds, sugar skulls, and lots of lovely bright colour!)

Enjoy! I know we did!