Cupcake Hero::October [Pumpkin] Roundup+Poll

October 18, 2009 at 8:35 AM | Posted in Cupcake Hero, cupcakes | 26 Comments
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I’m late! I’m late! For a very important date.

(SIDE NOTE: I am SO excited for Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland coming to a theater near you.)

Sorry fellow Cupcake Hero-ers. I’m a day late getting the roundup on the ol blog. I had all intentions of getting it done yesterday. I even tweeted about it. See! I’m not a slacker… ok maybe a little. But that’s not why I didn’t finish on time. Do you have a time for a little story? Gather round readers.

Once upon a time. A happy little CB, with no care in the world, settled into her Ikea Solsta Olarp computer chair for a little blogging time for Cupcake Hero. Her fingers swiftly moved along the keyboard adding word after word, punctuation after punctuation to the blank computer screen in front of her. Suddenly without warning the screen went black. CB screamed. Two hours later when the power came back on, she rushed back to the computer only to find that the post she spent hours working on had only 1/2 saved. Disgusted she cursed at the power company and decided it would be best to walk away and finish another day.
The End.

Now I know that any bloggers out there that have experienced the same blog post loss will feel my pain. I almost felt like wearing black the whole rest of the day to mourn. But California’s weather is in the 90s right now so I just settled for my black swim suit and went to the beach instead. Tehee.

Thank you to all our cup-testants who participated in Cupcake Hero::October! Sorry for the confusion this month with the pumpkin shortage. Since I changed my mind multiple times during the month I decided to accept all entries regardless if you didn’t get the memo about decorating them Halloween-y.

Without further ado. LET’S ROCK THE VOTE! — > Poll on the side menu bar. Voting ends October 21st @ 11:59pm EST. But you won’t win on votes alone. That will be decided in my kitchen. May the best cupcakes throw down!

Hint for next month’s ingredient: What do Reeses pieces, Jif and Skippy all have in common?

PS- Please, Please, Please don’t forget to email me your entry *AND* add 1-2 pics to our flickr group. I had a couple pictures in the flickr group that I didn’t get an email so I had no idea who you were, recipe, name of cupcake etc. Unfortunately I decided to leave them out of the roundup since I had no information.

Check out the Pumpkin Boo-licious entries ~>

Cupcake Hero::October

September 24, 2009 at 6:20 PM | Posted in Cupcake Hero, cupcakes | 21 Comments
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Even though I haven’t chosen September’s winner yet, there are A LOT of you that are pitching a fit for October’s ingredient. I LOVE all the enthusiasm! I’ve gotten emails, comments and tweets begging me to announce the next ingredient. Patience is a virtue… that I don’t have so… here we go.

But before we announce the ingredient *ducking stale cupcake stumps being thrown at me* it seems like the consensus on our flickr group discussion regarding the new monthly ingredient was to build up the suspense with hints so that’s what I was trying to do! Apparently some Cupcake Hero-ers weren’t feeling the haiku, eh? FYI hints are SUPPOSE to be vague. Just saying.

Are you readyyyyyyy?

I CAN’T HEAR YOU!?!

I said…

ARE YOU READY?!!?!

I’m a Fall girl. When October arrives I get all giddy for the trifecta of holidays: Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Halloween is my husband’s favorite holiday (Thanksgiving is a close second b/c of the food gorging and no gift buying thing) so I let him pick the ingredient this month. Of course he chose pumpkin. He’s a pumpkin freak. Cookies, cheesecake, cupcakes, pie, Starbucks etc etc. I think pumpkin is like his bacon. You pumpkin it. He will love it.

But wait. I’m not done yet.

Now I don’t know if my readers remember, but last year I co-hosted a Halloween cupcake contest with Cassie of How To Eat A Cupcake but unfortunately due to time constraits Cassie is unable to host with me this year. *sad face* (Congrats to her for starting her new biz though!) So I said “What the heck? I’ll combine Cupcake Hero and Booo-tiful Cupcake Contest for double the trouble fun!”

Not only do you need to include pumpkin in the cake, filling and/or frosting, you need to make your cupcake Halloween-y. (UPDATED: Due to an unforeseen (or maybe I’m the only one that didn’t know?) pumpkin shortage I’m changing so that you can substitute squash if you can’t find pumpkin.) Bake your cupcake with pumpkin (or squash) in the cake, filling and/or frosting and decorate your cupcake Halloween-y. “Halloween-y” is open to interpretation. You can use fondant, candy, frosting. Anything goes. Your cupcake creation. Your call. Just bare in mind that I’ll be recreating them so I’m more likely to invoke baker’s choice with something that’s not gonna take me days to put together but still makes me scream in terror! Check out last year’s entries for inspiration.

Deadline: October 15th @ 11:59pm EST

Cupcake Hero FAQ ~> HERE. If you still can’t find answer to your question, email me.

Please, please, please don’t forget to email me your entry! Name, blog link (if applicable) and cupcake name.

Bake, drink and be scary. *Muhahaha*

Cupcake Hero #10: [Squash]

October 20, 2008 at 10:34 AM | Posted in Cupcake Hero, cupcakes | 20 Comments
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“I’m backkkkkkk…!!” says the cupcake logo to the left.

You guessed it! It’s Cupcake Hero time!

I am fresh off my recent cupcake hero win and feeling pretty darn cocky. I am allowed right? It’s a Cupcake Hero win for goodness sakes. I don’t think you understand the magnitude of the situation. It took me 9 tries, lots of bribes and a frillion lbs of butter. Don’t take my moment away from me!

::taking a moment to relish my CH victory::

Ok I am done now.

Before anyone starts doubting my squash selection, I just wanna go on the record and say that pumpkin is a type of squash. Did you know that? I didn’t. Apparently I am not up on my squash edumacation [sic]. But head CH baker, Laurie, confirmed that indeed pumpkin is a type of squash. Hmmm… let’s keep this new found squash knowledge to ourselves m’kay? I have a feeling that if more Cupcake Hero-ers find out, pumpkin will be the squash of choice. Personally I wasn’t feeling the Petite Pan Squash option myself. Sorry its true. Can you blame me? Its a green amoeba! That doesn’t scream cupcake to me. Just saying… HAHA.

Now I know that my entry will stir up a debate b/c I’ve already had a couple naysayers who I gave privy info about my Cupcake Hero entry argue that my entry doesn’t count. *cough NIKKI cough* but I kinda see it as my month of immunity since I won the last challenge you know? So I am doing something a little controversial and posing the question:

What makes a cupcake… a cupcake?

Check out my nifty WP poll below and vote. (I ♥ this new WP feature!)

Feel free to vote for multiple answers that apply.

You’ll see from the recipe below that I have 2 out of the 3 answers. I guess I’d say in order of cupcake importance: baked in a cupcake liner, frosting/topping and then texture. A non-cakey texture isn’t a cupcake deal breaker for me.

So have I convinced you…? Is my recipe a cupcake?

(If you aren’t Nikki, b/c I already know how she feels on the situation, just nod your head yes and agree. That’s a good little reader.)


Caramel Pumpkin Cheesecake Cupcakes
(Recipe adapted from Cooks Recipes & allrecipes | photos from me!)

Makes about 14 cupcakes

INGREDIENTS

For the crust
1-1/2 cups finely ground gingersnap cookies (I used graham crackers)
1-1/2 cups toasted pecans, finely ground
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted

[NOTES: I had alot of crust left over so next time I'll probably 1/2 the recipe.]

For the cheesecake
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 pinch ground cloves
1 pinch ground nutmeg

For whipped cream
1-1/2 cups whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp granulated sugar

caramel ice cream topping, garnish

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 350F.

To make crust—
Combine gingersnap cookies, pecans and sugar in bowl; add melted butter and mix until combined.



Press crust mixture onto bottom of each cupcake liner, about 1 tbsp. Set aside.

To make cheesecake—
In a stand mixer with a flat beater, combine cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Blend in eggs one at a time.

Add pumpkin, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg to the remaining batter and stir gently until well blended. Fill the cupcake liners almost full (cheesecake doesn’t rise that much).

Bake in preheated oven for 22-25 minutes, or until center is almost set. Allow to cool, then refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight. Cover with whipped topping before serving.

To make whipped cream—
In mixer with whisk attachment, whip the cream, vanilla extract and sugar on high speed until you get stiff peaks.

To assemble cupcakes—
Using a 1M star tip, pipe whipped cream on cupcake. Drizzle with caramel.

ENJOY!

Husband rating: A+
He really loved this recipe but he preferred it naked (no whip or caramel) and raved about the graham-pecan crust.

Wifey rating: A/A+
I am not a pumpkin fan but these were really good esp with that caramel drizzle. Everything’s better with a little caramel!

Other rating: A+
I brought it over for a family dinner. The whole family raved and requested I make it for Thanksgiving!

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