Fun Times and Peaches n' Cream Cupcakes

Heyyyy there.
Remember that super fun time I was ambitious and said I was going to bake 52 new cupcakes recipes in one year?
Those were fun times. Fun fun times...it is good to reminisce, isn't it?
I thought (after skipping 6, um 12? weeks of cupcake recipes) that maybe I was too ambitious. Too crazy. Too obsessed with cupcakes.

Well, okay. I thought right. Because I am most certainly too crazy/ambitious/cupcake obsessed. Which is why I didn't give up!! HAHAHAH...behold me and my evil adorable cupcake laughter! Well, I probably won't meet my 52 recipe goal, but I'm still going to make as many dang cupcakes that I can. I'm also a bit stubborn maybe?

Here we are dedicated cupcake friends:
Peaches n' Cream Cupcakes
I do apologize for the not so impressive photos. I was left with a dead battery after the recent Adventure in Brazil and so the only camera available was on my phone. Believe me, these cupcakes are much much much tastier than theses pictures make them look. Like, I actually ate three of these. Um. Within a half hour.

OKAY. That's enough confession time! Heheh. Recipe!

Peaches n' Cream Cupcakes                                                                                          Yield 8
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp almond extract
6 TB room temperature butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 peaches, halved, pitted, and sliced
Leaving 10 slices for topping the cupcakes, finely chop the remaining peaches and set aside.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together flour, baking powder, and cinnamon in a small mixing bowl. In another large mixing bowl beat the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add the almond extract and one egg, beat well. Add the other egg and beat well. Beat in flour mixture in 3 additions alternating twice with milk.
Line a muffin tin with liners and fill each with about two tablespoons of batter. Fill each with a heaping tablespoon of peaches and then fill with the remaining batter. Bake about twenty minutes or until the edges turn golden. 
Let cool completely. 
Top with sweetened whipped cream and grilled peaches. Add a honey balsamic sauce for extra yum factor. :)
Honey Balsamic Drizzle
1/4 cup honey
1 Tablespoon Balsamic Vinegar
Whisk together and drizzle over cupcakes...

How the Amazon taught me to bake cupcakes

Wow.
Welcome back to the interwebs, Candice.
Now, while I really like you all and I really like blogging...I have to confess. I really didn't miss the internet at all this past month. Like, none.
Zip, Zero, Nada, Negative.
It could be because I was hanging out with these gorgeous people the whole time...maybe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Sorry for the overload of pictures, but I really like these people, okay? Okay. Moving on...)

 

I think I checked facebook once and even then as I was scrolling through my news feed, I got bored. And so the fact was reached that the world wide web was completely unnecessary for survival (or even happiness). This, and the realization that my life is going to get topsy turvy pretty soon, caused me to set aside a lengthy period of time to consider giving Purple Door Bakery a break. (and by "lengthy period" I mean 3 whole hours. That's a lot of hours for me to think about one thing, guys. Seriously.) I made nice pros and cons lists, and then I crossed them out and made different ones. In the end, I decided to keep it going as long as I can. I mean, I already took a mini hiatus for the month of June anyway. So for now, PDB is still chugging along.

That being said...let's talk cupcakes!
Yeahhhh. Cupcakes are pretty much always going down around these parts. It's a thing.
So yes. Show of hands, please. How many of you lovelies have been to the Amazon?
Nope, not the website. The jungle.

Right. If you haven't, you should. It's incredible. (This is connected to cupcakes eventually, I promise.)
Incredible people, incredible rivers, incredible lightning storms.
Incredible starry skies, incredible hearts, incredible opportunities for God to pick you gently up and thrust you into a story you never thought you would tell, much less live right out.

You know, it's pretty unfathomable that the person who imagined, designed, and put together every detail of the universe can still somehow know you perfectly.
God knows my favorite song and why it makes me cry (even though, to this day, I still don't know why myself.) He knows that when I was a girl I wanted to be a red-winged blackbird.
Confession: sometimes I still have days that I want to be a red-winged blackbird. This, along with why my favorite song makes me cry, is a mystery.
And He knows that when I am very happy (or unhappy) or very relaxed (or stressed) I like to bake. And He knows (yes, the all powerful, jaw dropping, magnificent God knows) that I like cupcakes.
The reason I know that He knows this is because of the Brazilian Amazon.

Ha! I love it!

On Sunday, June 23, 2013, in the small town of Caqueta, I woke up at 6 am to a tiny kitchen with no electricity. I hand beat enough butter cream frosting to decorate the five dozen cupcakes I had made during an impromptu prayer meeting the night before.

It was hands down the best baking experience of my entire life.
Better than any of the wedding cakes I've done, better than the time I sold my first cake, better even than the satisfying "pop" of the lid on my first can of successful jar of jam. It was just amazing.

I managed to make 5 dozen Bolinhos de Acerola e Morango without measuring cups, spoons, an electric mixer or American ingredients. The oven didn't even have degrees of temperature. It was a stick-your-hand-in-and-see-if-it's-hot-enough oven.

And to be doing something I really enjoyed for children I had never met (and yet somehow already loved) while praying with a group of women in two languages. Asking for grace and truth and Christ given power to cover ourselves and the men with us?

Yeah. You guys all need to visit the Amazon.
And make cupcakes there.
And if you do, I promise that it will only be the tip of the iceberg...there are so many things that happened in Brazil. Making cupcakes there just happens to be something that pertains to my frivolous baking blog.
That in and of itself is just SO DARN COOL. :D

Crazy Side of the Fence: Iced Tea Lemonade Cupcakes

Memorial Day is coming.
And for me that means one thing. HOT DOGS! Wow, I love hot dogs.
Okay, so it means two things then. Hot dogs and cold drinks. (Actually, it doesn't really mean much. I have absolutely zero plans for Memorial Day because I'm a loner and like to stay on my own front porch and blog, but beside the point...)

Cold drinks. Memorial Day means Lemonade!
Or....Iced Tea.
Or BOTH. Because here at Purple Door Kitchen (and by Purple Door Kitchen I actually mean my very comfy bed) we embrace the wild and crazy ones who pour their glasses half full of lemonade AND iced tea. It's a partay with these kind of shenanigans of mixed drinks goin' on. Or it should be, at least.

I love lemon. I love tea. Seriously. If I had to pick one thing to drink for the rest of eternity I would pick lemon tea. I wouldn't even start complaining about it for at least 7 and a half years. Or at least 7 and a half months...but it would be a lovely 7 and a half months. Of course, if I love something I usually put it in cupcake form. It's a bad wonderful habit I think. Lo and behold: Lemonade Iced Tea Cupcakes.

And you're going: "Whuuutttt? Candice, you've honestly lost it fer shure." Perhaps I have. It's okay, it's nice here on the crazy side of the fence. you should join me. Jooooiiiiiiinnnn meeeeeee...Well. You don't have to. I admit, these are weird. Not everyone can enjoy those off the wall flavors, so I understand if you stay on the normal side of cupcake world. However, if you are one of those people who really enjoy iced tea and lemonade and you think it would taste AWEsome in cupcake form then yes. Hop on over.

Iced Tea Lemonade Cupcakes
1 cup milk
5 black teabags
juice and zest of one lemon
1 1/4 cup flour
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 packet of powdered Arnold Palmer iced tea mix (you know, the ones you pour into a water bottle? Yup.)
1/3 cup oil
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Heat the milk in a saucepan til almost boiling. Remove from heat and steep the tea bags in it for ten minutes. Whisk in the lemon juice and set aside to curdle. Sift together flour, baking powder, corn starch, salt, lemon zest, powder drink mix and sugar in a large bowl. Mix in the tea-milk mixture, oil and vanilla. Stir until no lumps remain. Pour into cupcake wrappers and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until they spring back when lightly touched. 
Frost with
Lemon Buttercream
1/2 cup soft butter
1/2 cup shortening
4 cups powdered sugar
zest and juice of one lemon
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tablespoons milk if needed
Blend butter and shortening together until combined. Mix in vanilla, juice, and zest. Beat til combined. Add four cups of powdered sugar. If too sift, add tablespoons of milk to thin.

Signs of Spring and Orange Pistachio Cupcakes

People.
Tulips are here. So are forget-me-nots. Also...the sun stays up til eight o'clock.
This means SPRING!
Okay, so it is still raining cold, hard, ugly rain and venturing outside usually means misery, but it's coming. There are signs. I love the signs.

So today being a Saturday completely to myself (my family is out of town) with zero obligations to the outside world I decided to wake up at 7 o clock in the morning and be HAPPY and PRODUCTIVE. (See  how those things are in caps? That means stuff just got real.) Do you know how much more time you have when you wake up at 7 instead of at ten? It's crazy...

So. What does HAPPY mean in my personal dictionary? It means making cupcakes. And cupcakes can kind of be productive, right? (I did three loads of laundry and cleaned all the bathrooms just to make sure I covered the PRODUCTIVE aspect of the morning. You know, just in case. I wanted there to be no doubts regarding the matter.)

Enter:
Happy Productive Signs of Spring Cupcakes;
Mandarin Orange and Pistachio Almond Cupcakes
So that's a long name. I'm sorry, you'll have to deal with it because all those words are important for everyone to understand how awesome these cupcakes are.
Fluffy almond cake: check

Juicy bits of mandarin oranges: check

Crunchy pistachios: check

Lightly sweet almond buttercream and cute springtime topping of orange segments and pistachios: check

Happiness and productivity: check

Now, decorating these cuties proved a challenge. I started with green tinted frosting. Because pistachio cupcakes=green. Understandable.

But it didn't look quite right. So I added orange tinted frosting to the equation. Better....But then I tried frosting them with just the plain white un-tinted frosting. I liked the way those ones looked best.

What can I say? I like simplicity. And it seems classier that way. But of course, when you make these yourself (You will be making these, right? RIGHT? Ok, good.) you can decorate them however you please. You can even skip all the trial and error of frosting tinting since I got that out of the way for you.

Mandarin Orange and Pistachio Almond Cupcakes (Makes 12)
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/4 c. buttermilk
2 cans mandarin oranges, with syrup
1/2 cup shelled and chopped pistachios
Preheat your oven to 350 F and line a muffin tin with cupcake liners. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl. Set aside. Open the cans of mandarin oranges and measure 1/4 of the syrup in to a small bowl. Add 1/4 cup of buttermilk to this syrup, set aside. Using mixer, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Beat in vanilla and almond extract. Beat in the dry ingredients and milk/syrup mixture in 3 additions to the batter. Chop orange segments roughly to measure 1/2 cup. Fold with pistachios into the batter. 
Measure the batter into the muffin cups, filling 3/4 of the way full. Bake 20-25 minutes or until the tops spring back when lightly pressed. Let cool completely before frosting. Top with additional chopped pistachios and remaining mandarin orange segments.

Almond Buttercream Frosting:

1 lb powdered sugar

1/2 cup milk

1/4 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp almond extract

1 stick of softened butter, cut into cubes

1/2 cup shortening

Whisk together sugar, vanilla, almond, and milk in stand mixer. Add butter one slice at a time, beating until incorporated. Add shortening and whip about 8 minutes until double. 

Me dealing with the Ugly: Oatmeal Raisin Cupcakes

You guys ready for some ugly food?
I love baking...because I feel that baked things tend to look prettier. I mean. C'mon. Cupcakes? They are probably the prettiest things you can eat. I'm having a hard time thinking of something that is cuter than a cupcake. And so I usually don't get super excited about shrimp scampi or meatloaf. It just isn't nice looking. Tasty, yes. Beautiful? Not so much.
But sometimes I try and work my way off the beaten path of the frilly baked goods and try to make ugly food. It's hard. It is so very hard.

My little artsy soul is repulsed by something so ugly as an Oatmeal Raisin Cupcake. Yes, my dear friends. I have created an UGLY cupcake. It's most likely a sign of impending doom. The end is coming. An ugly cupcake. Oh my oh my.

But then...I tasted it. And it kinda helped a little. Who am I kidding. It helped a lot, because it was darn scrumptious.
It was a little like a oatmeal cookie, but in a cupcake form. Doesn't that sound nice? Just make sure you close your eyes when you eat it so that the ugly doesn't have an effect on your taste buds.
Because oh my goodness, is it uhhhglee!

Oatmeal Raisin Cupcakes
1/2 cup of softened butter
1 1/2 cups of sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup of vanilla or plain yogurt
1 cup flour
1 1/2 cup of oats
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
2 cup raisins
Cream together butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, scraping the sides of the bowl when needed. Add the vanilla, applesauce, yogurt, and vinegar. Beating until combined. In a separate bowl whisk together flour, oats, baking soda, baking powder, spices, and salt. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients slowly. Fold in the raisins. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake at 350 F for 20 minutes or until the tops bounce back when touched lightly.

Maple Glaze Icing
2 cups powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons of pure maple syrup
3 Tablespoons of water
Mix together all ingredients with a whisk. Add more water if needed. Drizzle on cooled cupcakes.

This last week had some delicious weather. The weekend has some really really glorious days. It was full on sun, visits to the nursery, hardware store, Brussels sprouts plants, new garden beds, purple pots, and cupcakes.

Nice green minty cupcakes.
I wish I had stuck with my recipe for these. It was the sun. I completely blame the copious amount of rays coming in all the open windows. It went straight to my head.

I decided to try a new (fancy) cake recipe. One that involved soaking mint leaves in Bailey's Irish Cream, separating eggs, beating the whites and folding batter. It was supposed to reveal a light fluffy cake of supreme fluffiness. A cloud of minty delight sprinkled with little chocolate bursts of happy.
And it was a bit dry.
And hard.
*sigh*

The flavor itself was great. Pretty inspired. Mint with a hint of Baileys Irish Cream (as a tip of the hat to St Particks' Day coming up) with chocolate chips. A boozy mint chocolate chip. Awesome. But the texture just wasn't there.

Lesson learned? If there is something that tastes good, everyone loves it, and you like making it...just stick with it. There is no need to find something better! Sure, it's fun to experiment, but don't get your hopes up. ;) So I'm looking forward to recreating this with a more successful hope of light fluffy of supreme fluffiness. I'll keep you updated. ;)

Grumpy Cat and Oreos

Conversation this past Friday night between me and my sister:

"How are the cupcakes?"
"They were okay. Tasted kinda weird."
"Oh no! What kind of weird? Terrible weird or good weird?"
"I don't know. Just not as good as they usually are."
"Ugh. Great. They're ugly, hideous, and not tasty."
"Well, they weren't bad!"

At this point I was in despair. I wanted to make the perfect dessert for my sister's college friends who were visiting for the weekend and I ended up making the kitchen a mess and mediocre cupcakes. Then my mom came home...

Conversation this past Friday night between me and my mom:

"Ooh! Cupcakes! What kind?"
"Cookies and Cream. Laura says they don't taste good."
"Did you use your regular chocolate cake recipe?"
"Yes." (I admit I might have said that a bit sullenly. I probably had my "Grumpy Cat" face on. My dad says I have a perfect grumpy cat face.)
"I'm going to have one."
*Grumpy Cat Face from me*
"Wow, Candice! It tastes like an Oreo in cupcake form..."
"Oh. Well, that was the goal I guess."

I had one later and I thought they were fine! They did taste like Oreos. I don't know what my sister's expectations were. Sometimes I think she believes I'm a cupcake goddess or something and everything I touch is going to taste like the dreams of baby fairies or something. And then I make a decently delicious cupcake that just tastes like a good cupcake and not unicorn wishes and she is disappointed in me. This is perfectly okay with me. I feel like all big sisters probably disappoint their little sisters at some point. I'm right on track then. Our relationship is well rounded. We are so well rounded we are like a perfectly circular...

...Oreo.

Yeah. Like these here delicious Oreos on these here Cookies and Cream cupcakes.
Now. I don't have a recipe exactly. More like assembly instructions. Ready?
1. Pick your favorite chocolate cake recipe.
2. Pick your favorite buttercream recipe
3. Make them.
4. Throw in oreos and put oreos on everything. Thouroughly coat your kitchen in oreo crumbs.
5. Make Grumpy cat faces until you eat them and are satisfied. Drink milk from this mug in order to make it official.

No really, I used a plain chocolate cake recipe, stirred in cookie chunks (or just stuck a whole cookie in the cupcake before baking) and baked them normally. Be sure not to overfill the cupcake pan though. Mine ended up overflowing in the oven. :( I mean, I just ate the extra parts and it was fine. But there was a "OH NO! They are so ugly!" moment there for awhile. And then I used a plain cake icing that was shortening based and stirred in cookie chunks.
Oh yes. So Cordon Bleu over here. You're overwhelmed by the class and sophistication of this dessert, aren't you? Of course you are...

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

Dr. Seuss is one of those people that made my life better. And I can't really pinpoint it, but I love him and his crazy head. The nonsense he created has got to be some of the best nonsense I've ever read.

Look at him! It's like the face of genius and fun all wrapped up in one. I have seriously considered creating a Dr. Seuss board on pinterest. But I have wayyyy too many pinterest boards already. I mean, what is one to do when there are things like this floating around the internet?

Exactly. 

I'm not sure what flavor of cupcakes Dr. Seuss would want for his birthday. But I do know what a lot of kids like, and Dr. Seuss is the un-official patron saint of children. 

When I was a kid one of my favorite things to eat for lunch was Peanut Butter and Honey sandwiches. There was something special about them. Not your regular old pb and j fare, my friends. This was PB and awesome. 

And so: 

Peanut Honey Cupcakes.

If you ever loved peanut butter and honey sandwiches, you must make and eat these immediately. Just don't eat three at once and get sick like everyone else in my family. :/ That was a bit awkward. 

It will be hard. You will want to eat three. You will have to reach deep within you to find that self control that  every cupcake ninja possesses. 

Honey and Peanut Cupcakes- Makes about 13 (I know, weird number. Sorry.)

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup soft butter
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups chopped unsalted peanuts

In a bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a mixer cream butter and sugar until fluffy, about three minutes. Add eggs and vanilla, beating well and scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. In a measuring cup or small bowl, whisk together the honey and sour cream until smooth. Add to the batter alternately with the flour mixture, beating after each addition until all the ingredients are combined. Fold in the nuts. Fill cupcake tins 3/4 of the way full and bake at 350 until the tops of the cakes spring back when pressed or a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. About 18 minutes.

Frost with peanut butter, honey, cinnamon, or vanilla butter cream. You could try cream cheese frosting too because cream cheese frosting is my spirit animal icing.

And so I leave you with words of wisdom from Dr. Seuss himself...(I love this list. I want it for my future classroom. :D)

Things an 11 year old says...

There are three boys here, all under the age of 12, enjoying the sunshine and blue sky. There are basketballs, legos, sticks, and all sorts of boy things.
They are funny and say funny things.

JM: Candice?
Me: Yes?
JM: I feel like you are the type of person who if you were ever a queen, you would have a royal mouse catcher in your castle.
Me: Yes, I probably would
*several minutes of silence*
Me: Actually, I would probably have three.
JM: One for cuteness, one for sleeping with, and one to actually catch the mice...

JM: "I want a elephant that changes colors with his moods. Like a mood ring. And his name would be Disco. He would have to be an Indian elephant."
Me: "Why not an African elephant?"
JM: "It just wouldn't feel right."

K: "You wash your food?"
JM: "Yeah...apples have wax and pesticides and stuff on them."
K: "How weird!"

K: "There's a kind of fish that can be on land. Did you know that?"
JM: "What's it called?"
K: "A dead fish. HAHAH!"

They also eat cupcakes, of course. Particularly these blueberry cobbler ones.
Vanilla cupcakes, filled with blueberries, and frosted with vanilla cinnamon buttercream. Oh, sorry about that. Vanilla cinnamon awesome-cream. :)

Vanilla Blueberry Cupcakes

1 1/2 cup flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup of melted butter

2 Tablespoons of vegetable oil

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla 

1/4 cup unsweetened vanilla yogurt

2/3 cup buttermilk

1 cup frozen blueberries

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. In a mixing bowl blend the melted butter, oil, and sugar. One at a time, beat in the egg, vanilla, and yogurt. Add flour and buttermilk alternately in three parts. Stir until it's just combined. Fold in the berries. Fill cupcake wrappers 3/4 of the way full and bake at 350 for 20-22 minutes. The tops will stay pretty pale, but don't overbake them. Let them cool completely before frosting. 

Cinnamon Vanilla Awesome Butter Cream

1 pound powdered sugar

scant 1/2 cup milk

1/4 tsp salt

1 stick soft butter

1 c shortening

1 tsp vanilla

2 tsp ground cinnamon

Whisk together the sugar, salt, vanilla, cinnamon, vanilla and milk in a stand mixer until creamy. Add butter one slice at a time, beating well in between each addition. Add the shortening and beat ten minutes or so until light and fluffy, it will almost double in volume. 

It will be fluffy and delicious and kinda taste as good as a day of sunshine.