Cupcake Tuesday-Orange Burst Cupcakes

Tuesday.  It’s such an interesting day isn’t it.  It’s kind of a boring day really.

Tuesday isn’t Monday so we don’t dislike it, it isn’t Wednesday so we aren’t working our way over the last of the “hump” and it’s not Friday so we don’t love it.  Tuesday and Thursday are just days in the midst of a week in which nothing much seems to happen.

Unless you live my life, and attend church every Tuesday night and often bring cupcakes.  There is a reason that I picked Tuesday as cupcake day here on Hairbows and Butter.  It’s because in real life Tuesday usually is cupcake day.

On Monday nights I almost always make a batch of cupcakes to share with my church folk the next day.  It’s become some what of a tradition, it’s pretty great!

These particular cupcakes were not however made on a Monday night, nor were they distributed on a Tuesday night.  They were in fact made on a Sunday morning while I was getting ready to leave for camp.  They were out for all to eat throughout the week of camp and were gone on Friday.

They’re pretty yummy, if I do say so myself!

Orange Cupcakes

makes 24 cupcakes

2 sticks room temperature butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

zest of one orange

vanilla

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

salt

2 1/2 cups flour

1 cup sour cream

cubed orange if you so desire

Preheat oven to 350 and line two cupcake pans.

In a large bowl combine the butter and the sugar.  Using a mixer whip until fluffy, about 2 minutes.  When the mixture is light, add in the eggs, one at a time beating well after each addition.

Add the orange zest, vanilla, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Mix briefly.

Measure out the flour and the sour cream.  While the mixer is on low add in 1/3 of the flour and mix until incorporated.  Next, add 1/2 of the sour cream and mix, repeat the process with another 1/3 of the flour and then 1/2 of the sour cream ending with the last 1/3 of the flour.

Scrape the sides, add the fresh orange if desired and mix one last time.

Scoop into cupcake liners, about 2/3 of the way full (I used a 2 oz. scoop to measure).

Bake for 18-20 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.

Allow to cool.

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

2 8 ounce blocks cream cheese

1 stick room temperature butter

zest of one orange

3-4 cups powdered sugar

1 tablespoon fresh orange juice if needed

In a medium bowl add the in the cream cheese and the butter.  Mix until well incorporated and fluffy, this will take 2-3 minutes.

Add the orange zest and mix well.

Turn the mixer to low and slowly add in the powdered sugar until your desired consistency is reached.  I find that it’s best to do this 1/2 cup at a time.

If you desire more orange flavor or need to thin out the frosting a bit go ahead and add the orange juice and mix until combined.

Pipe or frost onto the cooled cupcakes and enjoy!

Love,

Keely

Weekly Wrap Up

Ah Friday, you have finally made it.

Isn’t strange how your first week back from vacation is either insanely fast or incredibly slow.  This week has been the latter for me. Monday felt like Wednesday, and that’s never a good sign.

Sorry I missed last week, but as mentioned I was away working at a camp, there wasn’t a lot of Instagraming happening.

However, this week I’m taking you all the way back to two weekends ago, to get all caught up!

My first ever Smash pages!  I love Smashing so much (have you picked up a Smashbook yet?)

I thought these cupcakes looked so pretty in the morning sunshine, Strawberry Lime, not my best work but reasonably good.

Cinnamon pancakes!  I shared the recipe here.

My roommate and I went out to a tea shoppe that makes food that is all made with tea.  I got pulled pork sliders, yummy!

I tried to “competition” at a Food Truck party, not to have an ego or anything, but I win.

Camp cupcakes!  Malted Chocolate, Spicy Mango, and Orange.  They were all gone on Friday afternoon :)

After I got back donuts sounded amazing.  So that’s what the roomie and I did, they were delicious!

We had an insane downpour here in Denver on Saturday.  I just waited it out in my car while waiting for my friend to show.  We got new ear piercings :) )

Banana nut bundt anyone?

It’s pretty much a miracle that my full sized cake came out, but it did, and it was gorgeous!

This picture is not as exciting as it looks.  Hooray Casa Bonita!

A lovely day in the park listening to some free music.  I love trumpet players (there was one that was potentially attractive).

My lovely hair pins from Petunia Blooms.  I love them!  (You can also see the new piercing :) )

And last but not least, I died a piece of my hair blue.  Finished pictures when I have a finished hair do!

Have a lovely weekend!

Love,

Keely

Cupcake Tuesday-Molasses Cupcakes

These cupcakes may seem strikingly similar to my post about Oatmeal Cream Pie Cupcakes, but they are not the same, just slightly similar.

Certain things happen when I decide to not go to grocery store to buy more ingredients.  Things get interesting when I make myself make-do with what I have.  I’ve recently moved and decided to do just this.  I had all the basics just nothing fancy.  I did have molasses, and I did have brown sugar so I went for it.

I took my base recipe and replaced some of the sugar with molasses and adding a touch more flour.  Easy as that.

Here we go.

Molasses Cupcakes

2 sticks butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup molasses

vanilla

2 eggs

2 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon cinnamon

salt

1 cup sour cream

Preheat the oven to 350.

Start with some room temperature butter and give it a nice beating with a mixer.  Add the sugar, molasses and vanilla and mix until fluffy.

Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix until well incorporated.

In a small bowl add the flour and the baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Start by adding 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.  The add 1/2 cup of sour cream.  Add another third of the dry ingredients followed by the last half off the sour cream.  Finally, add in the last third of the dry ingredients  and mix until just incorporated.

Scrape down your sides to make sure everything is in there and give it all one last mix.

Using a 2 oz. ice cream scoop or spoons, scoop the cupcakes into two lined pans.

Bake for 18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool.

Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting

adapted from Joy The Baker

2 8 oz blocks room temperature cream cheese

1 stick butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

3-4 cups powdered sugar

In a medium bowl add the cream cheese and the butter and mix until slightly fluffy.  Add the brown sugar in and continue to mix until smooth.

Once the mixture has smoothed out slowly add in powdered sugar until the frosting has a stiff consistency, you want the frosting to be able to stand up.

Scoop the frosting into a piping bag (mine was fitted with a large, round tip).

Pipe onto cooled cupcakes and do not hesitate to enjoy!

Weekly Wrap Up

Happy Friday!  The weekend is in sight lovelies!

How was your week?  What were you up to this week?

I sadly don’t have a lot to chat about this week, it was just an average week.  Nothing super amazing in anyway and nothing horrible, it was just, life.  It was nice.  It was a pretty relaxed week full of a LOT of baking, which is a lot of fun but a touch tiring when you’re always doing it around 11 at night.  You know how some bloggers are morning people?  That is so NOT me!

I am always up super late at night doing all sorts of things, mornings are just not for me, as much as I would love for them to be.  Such is life.

My friend has a bunch of Where’s Waldo books, and check it out, I found Waldo, woohoo!

Told you I did some baking.  Vanilla raspberry anyone?

Getting ready for camp this week, isn’t this sun great!

Ah, I love the park across the street from me, it’s so wonderful.  Too bad it was 100 degrees out that day.

Oh wow it has been SO hot!  There have been some thunderstorms recently, it’s been better!

Ah!  Getting ready for our first, in home Martini Monday, I have a slight obsession with that bar cart!

See that, that’s not a cloud, that’s some smoke from one of the fires.  It’s crazy.

It’s totally normal to take cupcakes on a .8 mile walk, right?  That’s what I thought.  Dulce de Leche cupcakes (recipe soon).

So there you have it.  Hope you had a wonderful week as well!  What was your favorite moment?

Love,

Keely

Whimsical Wednesday-Week 9

In my normal life I have a hugely disgusting amount of conversations about cupcakes. Different flavor ideas, what I’m making them for, my new pans, etc.

My friends and I often sit around and chat about new flavor ideas, which ones were their favorites, and it’s a really great way to get new ideas for recipes.

This week I came up with ideas for Strawberry Balsamic Cupcakes, Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes, Shirley Temple Cupcakes, Olympic Cupcakes (my friends are going to be having an opening ceremony party), and some times I need some recipe help.

I turned to the interwebs and found some great ideas!  I plan on making them my own but it’s nice to have some guidelines.

via

Strawberry balsamic buttercream on top of a chocolate cupcake.  Yes please!

via

I have dreams about making a Shirley Temple Cupcake, look at how amazing this one is!

via

My friend mentioned Pineapple Upside Down cake, wow, this one is amazing!

via

Key lime is my favorite kind of pie, so why not bake it into my favorite dessert!

via

These are absolutely perfect peanut butter and jelly cupcakes!  How cute!

via

The Olympics are coming up!  Look at how perfect these Olympic cupcakes are!  I have big dreams…

There you have it my friends, my brain on a daily basis.  I am pretty much always wondering what I can bake into a cupcake, if you ever have any ideas let me know!

Love,

Keely

Cupcake Tuesday-Gluten Free!

So for all of you gluten-free people out there I’m sure you don’t want to hear this, but I’m sad for you! I can’t imagine a life without those perfect baked goods and I’m sure that blogs like mine that just throw them in your face are frustrating to you.

Alas! I have a recipe for YOU! Yes you! And I think that all of your gluten eating friends will also LOVE these cupcakes.

They’re a wonderful balance of chocolate and orange with just a hint of raspberry in the frosting. Oh, and the frosting is pretty bomb, you can’t really go wrong when you mix cream cheese with whipped cream. Oh boy you should be so excited right now, I know I am!

Before we get started, would you ever guess that those are gluten-free? I mean look at how cute they are! Just don’t tell anyone and no one will ever know! (It can be our little secret :) )

Also, here’s the deal with this recipe. I get super stressed out when baking gluten-free for someone who NEEDS gluten free! I freak out about contamination from my non-gluten-free kitchen, so I clean all the bowls like two times before I use them, oh and I can’t use my sponge because I use that ALL THE TIME to wash gluten-filled bowls. I also grabbed a clean kitchen towel to wipe everything with, and has anyone else ever noticed that collection of flour on their stand mixer!?! What is that, that needs to go before any of this can happen. Oh and just to be safe, I had this pan from IKEA that has a slightly different shape, I had only used it once so it is now officially dubbed my “Gluten-free-cupcake-pan.” Done.

Ok, so after our little freak out, everything is clean and ready to go! So let’s get going!

Orange Chocolate Gluten-Free Cupcakes

makes 12 cupcakes

Adapted from My Life At Arnold’s

3/4 cup brown rice flour

3/4 cup arrowroot powder

1/2 cup cocoa

1 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons guar gum

1 cup warm water

3 tablespoons oil

vanilla

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

2 eggs

zest of 1 orange

The best part about gluten-free baking is that it is incredibly hard to over mix (there is no gluten to develop). I love it! I also love that most recipes can be made with a whisk instead of a mixer.

Preheat oven to 325.

In a medium bowl combine all the dry ingredients (if you don’t have guar gum on hand you can use 1 teaspoon xantham gum. I didn’t have xantham gum and guar gum was cheaper, thus the substitution.)

In a second bowl, combine all the wet ingredients except the eggs.

Add the eggs directly to the dry ingredients, whisk a little bit. (I did this because I was a little bit nervous about the warm water/egg situation).

Finally, pour in the wet ingredients and whisk. Whisk for a while (2-3 minutes).

Put in a line cupcake pan (about 2 oz. in each liner) about bake for 25 minutes.

Success! I was jumping with joy when I pulled these out, I never expect that kind of rise from gluten-free baking.

Raspberry-Orange Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting

adapted from Joy the Baker

1/3 cup heavy cream

4 ounces cream cheese

2 tablespoons agave

1 teaspoon raspberry jam

1 teaspoon orange zest

In a small bowl whip the heavy cream to stiff peaks.

In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese, agave, jam and orange zest until smooth and light.

Add half of the whipped cream and fold into the cream cheese mixture. Once mixed in add the second half of the whipped cream and gently combine.

Pipe onto to cooled cupcakes and top with a raspberry (optional).

Enjoy!

Love,

Keely

Weekly Wrap Up

Happy Friday lovelies!

I hope you had a fabulous week, as always!

This was my first full week in my new place and it is almost totally decorated!  My roommate and I have been having so much fun arranging things and making things for our walls and staying up really late talking.  It’s a ton of fun!

We’ve been not only holed up in our apartment, we’ve been exploring our neighborhood as well and we are in love.  It’s so wonderful (and they really like fireworks!)

This is my favorite wall!  My thrifted retro ball cart and a fabulous starburst mirror.  It’s like going to the seventies!

My roomie and I hung up a bunch of embroidery circles (she loves sewing, I love cupcakes).  It’s the easiest, cheapest project and it’s SO cute!

Told you my neighborhood loves fireworks.  We had a block party and at the end of it there were fireworks, great fun!

Isn’t this stop sign awesome?  It’s yellow and is trying to keep you safe!

Strawberry lemonade cupcakes anyone?  Recipe coming soon!

My cute little German girl hairstyle.  Gotta love the braids (I’m a shoe in for a remake of The Sound of Music).

Exciting things are happening here, raspberries, maple syrup, water.

Turned into raspberry syrup and mixed with sparkling water.  Raspberry soda!  Amazing (it was missing a touch of vodka ;) ).

So there you have it, a reasonable slow week (only 8 pictures this week, not the usual 15).

Love,

Keely

Cupcake Tuesday-Oatmeal Cream Pie Cupcakes

Remember forever and a day ago when I shared this photo with you in my Instagram Wrap Up?

These are some oatmeal cream pie cupcakes that I created when I found out that it was “Oatmeal Cookie Day.”  I was so excited when they worked out because they involved A LOT of editing to my standard recipe, but they were delicious!

When I was sharing them with my friends I got a comment that they “smelled just like a Hostess.”  That was the best comment of the night because that was most definitely my inspiration.

I remember in middle school my teacher would always bring in Oatmeal Cream Pies for “Pi Day.”  They were always my favorite, and now these are even better!

I mean you can’t really go wrong with molasses, brown sugar and marshmallow cream all in one bite, right?

Well, here you go, sorry for making you wait SO long for the recipe!  Enjoy!

Molasses Oatmeal Cupcakes

makes 24 cupcakes

2 sticks room temperature butter

3/4 cups brown sugar

1/4 cups molasses

3 eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cups oatmeal

2 1/4 cups flour

1 cup sour cream

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

salt

Preheat oven to 350 and line two cupcake pans with cupcake liners.

In a medium bowl start by whipping the softened butter and the brown sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the molasses, mix until combined. Add the eggs, one at a time.  Add the vanilla and the cinnamon, adding them at this stage gives them the best chance to be well incorporated into the cake batter.

Once the eggs are incorporated, add the oatmeal.  Mix this until all of the oatmeal is coated in the wet mixture.  This helps with the texture of the oatmeal, making it softer in the final cake product.

Add in 1/3 of the flour, mix until just incorporated, then add in half of the sour cream followed by another 1/3 of the flour and the baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Add the last half of the sour cream followed by the flour.  Mix until just combined.  Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix one last time to make sure that everything is well incorporated.

Scoop out the cupcake batter into the cupcake liners.  The easiest way to do this is to use a 2 oz. ice cream scoop, if you have one on hand. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean (make sure to test the one in the middle).

Marshmallow Cream Cheese Frosting

adapted from How Sweet Eats

8 ounces room temperature cream cheese

1 1/2 cups marshmallow fluff

2-3 cups powdered sugar

1-2 teaspoons cream (optional)

Whip the cream cheese in a medium size bowl until smooth.  Add in the marshmallow fluff and blend together.

Slowly add in the powdered sugar until you have reached the desired consistency.  If you need to thin it out a bit add a touch of cream, if you need more powdered sugar keep adding until you reach a thicker consistency (make sure to keep tasting so that it doesn’t get too sweet).

Scoop the frosting into a piping bag fitted with a large round tip.

Once the cupcakes have cooled piped the frosting onto the cupcakes (I just do one “blob” in the middle, it gives it a nice twist at the top).

Enjoy!

Weekly Wrap Up

Wow!  This week has been crazy!  Moving is quite the process (the best part is that it’s such a good reason to get rid of SO much stuff!).

I have now found myself in a wonderfully wonderful apartment with an equally wonderful roommate and although it hasn’t even been a full week since our first night here, it feels like it’s been forever, it’s just so lovely and we have so quickly made it into a home.

There were nights with friends, and a lot of nights with the roomie stay up late chatting, planning trips, organizing furniture and often ignoring that we have furniture and either standing or using the floor.  How charming, it’s such an adventure!

Also!  With all this Instagram sharing I’ve never mentioned before that you can follow me on Instagram too!  My handle is @bowsandbutter, look forward to see you there.

Before I was actually moved in I had to christen to space with a cake (one thing done from my 22 before 23 list!) This is all the space I had.

Here is the finished product!  Thank you Joy the Baker this cake was fabulous! (Recipe to come).

And the classic slice shot, yum!

Here is our in progress living room, a fabulous blend of IKEA and vintage.   Love!  Those pictures resting on the couch are now hanging on the wall.

We replaced an ugly fixture with a Chinese lantern (FYI that is a jar of cupcake liners sitting on the dining room table!)

Here is the small tree that sacrificed it’s life for my job.

Molasses cupcakes with brown sugar cream cheese frosting!  Recipe sometime in the near future :)

This is my house!  The light in the morning is so gorgeous and peaceful, wish I was more of a morning person so I could just sit there and drink my coffee, it’s so perfect!

Me and the roomie planning a trip, we’re hoping to go to Nashville!  Instead of using chairs and couches we sat on the floor, and ate strawberries out of the carton, it’s the right way to do things.

This caught my eye, the street light lit up the trees and it was such an amazing view, the picture doesn’t do it justice.

This is in the lobby at my office and I’ve been meaning to take a picture of it for forever cause it’s so cool!   I want one in my house!

There it is folks.  I’m sure there will be more pictures of my new place as we get even more settled, but that was my week, relatively peaceful all things considered.

Love,

Keely

Cupcake Tuesday-Mocha Cupcakes!

I shared a photo with you in a Book Club Wrap Up of Mocha Cupcakes a while ago.

I made the mistake of pinning this picture before posting this recipe and brought several Pinterest folks to the page in hopes of a recipe only to be disappointed. I apologize if this was you, so to make up for it, I am bringing you a recipe!

These cupcakes are delicious, not too sweet and not too bitter.  The coffee isn’t an overwhelming flavor but just a nice compliment to the chocolate flavor.

I love putting a ganache filling in my chocolate cupcakes.  It keeps them very moist and adds another layer of chocolate flavor.

So here we go.

Chocolate Cupcakes

Makes 24 cupcakes

2 sticks butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup cocoa powder

2 1/4 cupcakes flour

1 cup sour cream

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

salt

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