Please excuse the wonky formatting – this was a post imported from Blogspot, and I can’t seem to get the formatting to match! Hence why I moved the blog in the first place!
Scene: A cramped kitchen, mixing bowls and cupcake pans spread across the counter with traces of flour and powdered sugar dotting the floor. There is a woman with frazzled hair in a cute cupcake apron frantically searching through the baking cupboard, mumbling obscenities under her breath.
That Crazy Baker Lady? Yeah, that was me at about 10:00 on Thursday night. You see, I was baking cupcakes for a fund raiser the following evening…my original plan was (this next tidbit is not for the baking purists…I hope you’ll forgive me in advance!) to buy boxed mixes and just make my frostings from scratch, but in my scatter-brainedness (huh?) I failed to buy a chocolate cake mix, which was the most important one. So there I stood, barefoot and dusty with powdered sugar, searching high and low for any ingredients that would remotely resemble a chocolate cake when baked. Thank goodness for Hershey and their recipe on the back of the cocoa powder jar!
I baked like I never baked before. 3 dozen cupcakes – chocolate with Oreo buttercream, chocolate cherry chip with cream cheese frosting, and snickerdoodle with cinnamon buttercream. BUT before I was going to provide these cupcakes to unwitting patrons at a bake sale, I wanted to test out the cinnamon buttercream vs cinnamon cream cheese to see which had a better flavor (I’m a little weird that way). So the night before, I baked two dozen cupcakes (just plain yellow – nothing too fancy) so my co-workers could test them out for me. The overwhelming consensus was the cinnamon buttercream, so that is what I made.
When it was all said and done that week alone I baked 6 dozen cupcakes, one 8″ round cake and I still had some snickerdoodle batter left over (it’s actually quite good unbaked, despite some peoples’ squeamishness about eating cake batter…again, I’m weird). And I was still faced with the possibility I might have to bake 3 dozen cuppies for my cousin’s graduation party on the 29th. Talk about potential burn out!
Now, I know you’re all tired of my rambling, so on to the recipes! Oh, and the fund raiser/benefit dinner raised over $17,000 which will go toward medical expenses for a man who was diagnosed with cancer and out of work for several months.
Snickerdoodle Cupcakes
makes about 2 1/2 – 3 dozen cupcakes
- 1 package plain white cake mix
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 stick of butter, melted
- 3 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (more or less to taste…I felt it could have used more)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and flour & grease 2 9″ pans (for cakes) or line your cupcake tin.
Place cake mix, milk, melted butter, eggs, vanilla, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl. Blend for three minutes (stop to scrape once).
Pour into pans and bake for 27-29 minutes (for cake) or 22-25 minutes (for cupcakes).*
Allow the cakes to cool completely.
* I actually only baked mine for about 18 minutes and they came out perfect.
Makes enough to frost 2 1/2-3 dozen cuppies.
- 1 stick butter, room temp
- 3 3/4 cup confectioners sugar (more or less to taste – I started adding it one cup at a time)
- 3-4 Tablespoons milk (I used heavy whipping cream for a fluffier, lighter frosting)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon (more or less to taste)
Beat butter until fluffy, then add other ingredients, adding the sugar one cup at a time. If you’d like a stiffer frosting, add more sugar; if you’d like a creamier, fluffier frosting add more milk/whipping cream. Add cinnamon to taste – I would have liked a little more in mine. Frost completely cooled cakes.
Hershey’s Perfectly Chocolate Cake
Makes about 30 cupcakes, or 2-8″ round cakes
- 2 cups sugar
- 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup HERSHEY’S Cocoa
- 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup boiling water
Directions:
Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour cake pans, or line cupcake tins.
Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans. If making cupcakes, fill 2/3 full.
Bake 30 to 35 minutes; 18-20 minutes for cupcakes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.
For the Chocolate Cherry Chip cupcakes, I just added some cherry baking morsels to the already-filled cupcake tins. I think most sank to the bottom, but I’m not really sure. (It was a last minute thing…I’m good with last minute things)
Oreo Buttercream Frosting
- 1 stick butter, room temp
- 3 3/4 cup confectioners sugar (more or less to taste – I started adding it one cup at a time)
- 3-4 Tablespoons milk (I used heavy whipping cream for a fluffier, lighter frosting)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Crushed Oreo cookies (you’ll have to use your judgement on this one – I honestly didn’t measure too much at this point in the evening.)
Beat butter until fluffy, then add other ingredients – add confectioners sugar one cup at a time to taste. Once frosting is well mixed and the consistency you like, carefully fold in the crushed Oreo cookies. If you’re going to pipe the frosting onto your cakes, be sure the cookies are finely crushed. If you’re just going to slather it on, it won’t make a huge difference.
