cupcakes |

Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes

April 4, 2013 · by Organizedisland · 24 Comments

Can I just tell you that I am so loving The Voice this season? Honestly, my Mondays are so much better now that this show is back. I think all of the coaches are amazing and the talent this year is great. The stories on the participants are so inspirational. Plus Adam is just so cute.

I love to relax and watch these shows with a little dessert and it makes me happy.

I felt like making a cupcake that tasted like a peanut butter cup, so today I want to share with you what I call my Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes.

I used a devil’s food cake mix from a box and made a peanut butter frosting. I usually make my frosting from scratch because I really like the taste and it is worth the extra few minutes to make.

Bake chocolate or devil’s food cupcakes according to package directions. While the cupcakes are baking, make this frosting.

Peanut Butter Frosting

3 cups powdered sugar

1 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup milk

Cream butter with an electric mixer and slowly add powdered sugar. Add peanut butter and milk. Whip until smooth and creamy. Frost cupcakes after cupcakes have cooled.

I added a mini Reese’s peanut butter cup and sprikles to the top. These are really good when you are watching TV or pretty much for any time.

These cupcakes make The Voice that much better. Do you watch any of the singing competition shows on TV?

Chocolate Curls & Cupcakes

February 26, 2013 · by Organizedisland · 23 Comments

I am keeping to my commitment of making more cupcakes this year and so today I am sharing a recipe for chocolate frosted cupcakes with white chocolate mint curls. I made the shavings out of white chocolate chips and tinted them green to pretty them up for Saint Patrick’s Day. I also flavored them with mint. It is an easy way to dress up your dessert with chocolate chips.

I used a yellow boxed cake mix and here is the chocolate buttercream frosting I made:

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

1/2 cup butter, softened

4 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

4 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Cream butter using electric mixer. Slowly add powdered sugar and milk until blended. Add cocoa powder and vanilla. Beat on high until peaks form. This frosting is really good by the way. I have spent years getting it to just the right flavor and consistency. Before you make the frosting, make the curls so that they are ready to use.

Chocolate Mint Curls
For the mint curls, I took 1 cup of white chocolate chips and microwaved on 50% for about 3 minutes.

Since all microwaves are a litte different, check after two minutes and continue in 30 second increments until chips are melted.

Once you can smash them, add food coloring and flavoring. I added 1/2 teaspoon of peppermint extract.

Then once it was combined, I put the melted chocolate on a piece of wax paper to harden.

Catch up on some reading or errands and after a couple of hours it should be fully hardened. Peel the chocolate from the wax paper and using a potato peeler, peel off the chocolate.

You can save the curls for later, or use them to decorate right away. Depending on how thick they are they may be quite delicate so keep that in mind.

I frosted my cupcakes and added the chocolate curls to the top for some decoration and minty flavor.

They came out delicious and were a simple way to dress up a cupcake, without requiring too much time or preparation.

Filed Under: Entertaining & Celebrations, Recipes · Tagged: chocolate curls, cupcakes, how to color chocolate, how to make chocolate curls, making chocolate curls, making chocolate shavings, mint chocolate cupcakes, recipe for chocolate frosting, simple cupcake recipe

Orange Vanilla Cupcakes

January 10, 2013 · by Organizedisland · 27 Comments

Over the holidays, my family took turns getting sick so when I got healthy again I made these cupcakes for my family. They are orange cupcakes made with orange juice and a vanilla cake mix. I used the Vanilla cake mix, so that when it was mixed in with the orange juice, it tasted a bit like a creamsicle.

Orange Cupcakes

1 box Vanilla cake mix

1 cup orange juice

1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil

3 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put cupcake liners in muffin tin. Mix together above ingredients and pour into cupcake liners. Bake as directed on cake box. Mine took about 18 minutes.

When cool, frost with buttercream icing. Instead of milk, I used orange juice. I also added a few drops of food coloring to the icing.

I added an orange jelly candy to each one.

I like to think that the extra vitamin C did not hurt to get the family on the road to recovery. Were you and your family able to escape the flu/cold season?

Filed Under: Recipes · Tagged: cake mix add ins, cupcake recipes, cupcakes, orange cake, orange creamsicle cupcakes, orange cupcakes

Welcome Melanie from Metropolitan Money Pit

July 19, 2012 · by Organizedisland · 5 Comments

I am so exited about sharing a special guest post today. I am blogging here today, and my friend Melanie is sharing with you. Check out her blog & enjoy!

Hi! I’m Melanie from the blog Metropolitan Money Pit where I write all about fun and inexpensive things to do in Southern California. Raquel and I recently discovered that we both share a love of cupcakes so I’m writing here today to give you tips on the best places to find them in SoCal.

Big Man Bakes is my absolute favorite cupcake shop. Their cupcakes are ginormous and are oh so delicious! My favorite is the vanilla cupcake with chocolate frosting. The vanilla cake has a hint of almond in it and the chocolate frosting is thick and very chocolatey. I’ve never tasted cupcakes as good as the ones I’ve had here.

Big Man Bakes

413 S. Main Street

Los Angeles, CA 90013

Buttercake Bakery is a quaint shop that sells a variety of baked goods. All are delicious but my favorite are their chocolate cupcakes. Moist and chocolatey topped with a creamy frosting they are the perfect snack.

Buttercake Bakery

10595 W. Pico Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90064

Freesoul Caffe is a vegan cafe located in Old Town Tustin. They serve a wide selection of coffees, teas and pastries and have full breakfast and lunch menus. I am no vegan but I love their desserts, especially their chocolate cupcake. If I hadn’t already known, I would have never guest is was vegan.

Freesoul Caffe

191 E. Main Street

Tustin, CA 92780

Frosted Cupcakery is located in the Belmont Shore neighborhood in Long Beach. They sell a wide variety of cupcakes and all are good. My absolute favorite is their ice cream cupcake. They bake a gigantic cupcake and then fill the middle with ice cream. It’s the best summer treat. I highly recommend the chocolate cupcake with mint chocolate chip ice cream.

Frosted Cupcakery

4817 E. 2nd Street

Long Beach, CA 90803

Sprinkles Cupcake ATM is such a unique innovation that I just have to share it. Located next to the famous Sprinkles Cupcakes it’s a quick and easy way to get a sugar fix. It’s open 24 hours and is stocked throughout the day. Now, I don’t think Sprinkles Cupcakes are anything special but the ATM is worth trying just for the fun factor.

Sprinkles Cupcake ATM

9635 S. Santa Monica Blvd.

Beverly Hills, CA 90210

Hope you all enjoyed Melanie’s visit! Let’s have a cupcake shall we?

Filed Under: Places · Tagged: cupcakes, guest post, Los Angeles, things to do in LA

Simple Nutella Cupcakes

July 1, 2012 · by Organizedisland · 34 Comments

Tonight I wanted to make my son some cupcakes with Nutella. Since we were getting ready to watch the Olympic trials on TV, I didn’t want to make a complicated recipe. So I made white cupcakes out of a box and added a spoonful of Nutella to each cupcake before baking.

Then I swirled the batter a little bit.

After baking, I made some vanilla butter cream frosting, and put some Nutella in the bag as well.

Then I frosted them. They taste great with just plain buttercream frosting or, even unfrosted. You will get a taste of the hazelnut spread when you bit into them.