Chocolate Oreo Cupcakes with Strawberry Fluff Frosting

Today I am happy to share the first post of 4 in my self-made Martha Stewart Cake for Every Pan challenge.  In the September issue of Everyday Food, Martha published four different cake recipes that use four different types of cake pans.  I challenged myself to try all four and blog them, because all four look really tasty!  Here's the lineup:

-8" Round pan: Plum/blueberry upside down cake
-Cupcake pan: Cookie cupcakes with raspberry fluff frosting
-Loaf pan: Almond-grape tea cake
-Sheet pan: Vanilla sheet cake with malted milk chocolate frosting

So, for the first Cake for Every Pan project, I bring to you chocolate oreo cupcakes with strawberry fluff frosting.  I chose these because it is my birthday and I love chocolate, so I thought these would make a great treat for myself! :D  The recipe is very easy and comes together fairly quickly.  The cake is dense, the frosting is smooth and creamy- similar to oreo filling, and the whole treat together is fantastic.  It's like a supercharged sweet- delivering cake, cookies, and FLUFF all in one bite.  These babies are de-lish and I am sure these would be a hit at a dinner party or work event or any place where you want to make sure people like you (haha!)

Lastly, I'm sure many of you have heard about Hurricane Irene which has come up the east coast.  My thoughts and prayers are with all who have been affected by this storm; power outages, blowing debris, flooding, etc. are not fun and I wish people safety and fast and efficient clean-up!  Hubs and I were fortunate to have only seen a small bit of rain and a few strong wind gusts.  We've had our power all day and are comfy, cozy and safe at home.

Let me know how your cookie cupcakes come out, and keep an eye out for the 8" upside down cake I'll be posting about next!  Here is my version of Martha's recipe; I tweaked slightly for the ingredients I had on-hand.

Oreo Cupcakes with Strawberry Fluff Frosting

    

Need:

• 2 sticks of butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup unsweeted cocoa powder
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 12 oreo cookies 
• 3 tbsp strawberry preserves
• 3 cups Fluff
• 1/3 cup confectioner's sugar

Do:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line your cupcake pan.  The recipe makes ~12...I got 17 cupcakes at the end. 
• Melt 2 tbsp butter, and put it aside to cool. 
• In the bowl of your mixer, whisk together cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  
• In a separate bowl, beat the egg and egg yolk with a fork, and add to the cocoa mixture.
• Also add buttermilk, vanilla, melted butter, and 1/2 cup of hot water to the cocoa mixture.  Use the whisk attachment and whisk until smooth.
• Using a measuring spoon, put 1 tablespoon of batter into each of your cupcake cups.

• Drop an oreo in each cupcake cup- do not press it down

• Using your measuring spoon, put another 1- 1.5 tablespoons of batter on top of each cookie.  The cookies will show through a little bit; it's okay!

• Bake for 15 minutes, and then let cool on a cooling rack.

• For the frosting, mix the remaining butter and strawberry preserves together in your mixer with the paddle attachment until smooth.
• Add the Fluff and confectioner's sguar and beat until fluffy, about three minutes.  Note- as you can see, my frosting came out more white than pink.  If you want a prettier frosting, I'd try adding a couple drops of red food coloring to make the frosting more pinky.
• Pipe or frost cupcakes however you like (Probably a good idea to let the cupcakes cool completely because the frosting is a little runny, you don't want it to melt even more.)

Dulce de Leche Cake

Not so long ago, hubs and I tried a little place called Coffee, Tea and Me in Melrose.  It's a great little shop that sells coffee, pastries, tea, smoothies, sandwiches, etc.  Very cute, and the service was great.  Most importantly, they had this cake out...

Even though it's simply decorated, the caramel called my name and I had to get a slice.  I'm a sucker for caramel and cake, soooo, that was an easy one.

The cake was dense...very heavy (but good), the frosting was a balanced light and sweet caramel buttercream, and each layer of cake was separated with thick, gooey caramel.  The combination of all three elements made each bite absolutely de-lish.

This cake would be SO good around the holidays.  Something about the heavy cake and caramel reminded me of cold weather.  I'm going to file this idea away to try until the fall/early winter, but if you can't wait to try something similar, scoot on up to Coffee, Tea & Me in Melrose, or check out some recipes I found that look like they may be good!  I haven't tried these yet, so if you do, let me how how they are!

Spork or Foon
What a Dish!
Technicolor Kitchen

Mini Margarita Cupcakes!

Before the summer is long gone, I had to share these delicious summery cupcakes with you.  I spotted them on one of my favorite Boston blogs - Delicious Dishings - and knew I had to try them out.  Hub's family were the lucky chosen ones who got to try them out on the 4th of July.

While these little cuppies were admittedly a lot of work, trust me, they are worth it!!  The other call-out is that these are definitely for adults only!  The alcohol flavor is very noticeable and while you will not get a buzz from eating a mini, it's probably not a treat you want to feed a child.

I followed Megan's recipe to a T, so if you want to try for yourself, click here for the instructions.  The recipe made TONS of minis, plus I made two thin 8" cakes that I stuck in the freezer to use when I'm in a pinch.

If you love margaritas, you will love these cupcakes.  The cake is nice and light and limey, and the tequila-lime frosting is SUPER creamy, smooth and delicious.  If you pop a whole one in your mouth it honestly tastes JUST like a classic margarita.  Weird thing that happened to mine- as the cuppies cooled, the little paper liners detached themselves from the cupcakes, you can kind of see that in the picture above.  Maybe too much alcohol?  Anyway, if you try these, ENJOY, and let me know what you think!!

Bakery Review: Vicki Lee's

Do you like cake?

Me too.... see?

I was so excited to eat this cake that I forgot to take a picture of the slice first.  And being out of blogging practice, I didn't even get any good pics of the bakery or other pastries in the shop.  Bad blogger!

So while I can't show you picture of the other delicious treats at Vicki Lee's, I CAN tell you that it is a bakery that you must make a point to visit if you're around the Belmont/Waltham area.

There's lots of seating and the bakery is bright, airy, white, clean and modern.  The case isn't overwhelming- there are a few (GORGEOUS) cakes, cookies, little individual pastries, pies, gallettes, etc.  Everything looks perfect and appetizing, and the service was great.  We had no complaints at all and will definitely be going back.

The cake that I chose is a simple white cake with vanilla buttery buttercream, and filled with fresh strawberries and a thin, thin layer of something tangy, I believe it's a light lemon curd.  I thought this cake was one of the best I've eaten- the cake was so light, spongy, and had a very delicate crumb.  The buttercream was silky smooth, not too sweet, and super complimentary to the fruit and the cake.  Hubs tried it and said it was awesome, not the best he's ever had (obviously, because I didn't make it, haha!) but a "really, really good wedding cake."  I guess it did seem kind of wedding-y, which makes it even more awesome.

Whoever does the cake decorating at Vicki Lee's is ah-maze-ing.  I'm talking meticulous, error-free piping.  It was unreal, super impressive, tv-style cake decorating.

In addition to the sweets, Vicki Lee's also sells breakfast, sandwiches, soups, salads, coffees, etc.  Our trip was quick, so we didn't try any of those items but they looked fresh and yummy.

Vicki Lee's is a must-go, and gets an A+ in our book!

I'm baaaack!

Hello!  I know it's been a while, but this summer there has been an awful lot of new-job-working, couch-cuddling with the hubs, and most importantly....

ice cream eating!!!  I think J and I are keeping the local ice cream place in business with our almost nightly trips.  As you can probably guess, I haven't had much time for baking.  Luckily I sense that little dry spell coming to an end, but in the meantime I have some Boston-area bakery reviews to share.  

For upcoming BostonSweetie baking fun, I've challenged myself to try the four cake recipes in the most recent issue of Martha Stewart's Everyday Food.  She has four recipes that use four different cake pans - a round cake, cupcakes, tea cake and sheet cake.  Over the next few weeks I'll try each one and let you know how they come out, and finally get some use of the magazines I receive each month.

Check back soon for a review of Vickie Lee's bakery in Belmont.  Ta ta til next time, sweets!

(PS- how cute are these pictures!?  We did a little love-shoot on our vacation to Bar Harbor, Maine, in July with Danielle Brady.  She. Is. Awesome.  If you're in Maine, she's your girl!!!)