We Love Cooking!:
frosting

Cupcakes cupcakes cupcakes! They just never fail to impress, no matter how many different types I make. These blackberry vanilla cupcakes were no different and only lasted a couple of hours in the house.

I had my little cousin Maisy (AKA the cupcake queen!) helping out, she totally enjoyed it and didn't complain once, despite me dragging her around the cliffs blackberry picking for 3 hours beforehand! I actually made the frosting a little too runny in an attempt to use up the coulis, but I kind of like the dramatic effect it gave the pics. Yup that was my sad attempt to cover up a mistake! But you'll let me away with it right?

Blackberry Vanilla Cupcakes

(Recipe adapted from Coconut & Lime)
This recipe makes delicious, light and moist cupcakes with a fruity taste.

Makes 12 cupcakes
For the cupcakes:
1 cup flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup blackberry coulis

For the frosting:
8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons blackberry coulis
Blackberries for decoration

To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 180c. Line a cupcake pan with paper liners. In a small mixing bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugars on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl between additions.

In another bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the milk and blackberry coulis. Add half of the dry ingredients to the bowl of the mixer and mix on low speed until just combined. Mix in the blackberry coulis/milk mixture. Mix in the remaining dry ingredients on low speed just until incorporated. Do not over-mix.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared paper liners. Bake 12-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan 10-15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool completely.

To make the frosting, combine the cream cheese, powdered sugar and blackberry coulis in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until smooth and well blended. Frost cooled cupcakes as desired and garnish with fresh blackberries.

I have never seen a better reaction from one item of food in all the time I have been cooking. When a plate of cupcakes enter a room, eyes light up, people make strange noises, and adults are quickly reduced to children when they have to make their selection!

If the Chocolate Chip Oreo Cookies and Cream Cupcakes were a bit too rich and heavy for you, you may be more interested in these regular cupcakes. This is the recipe we used and is really easy to throw together.

Basic Cupcake Recipe
This recipe again comes from aunt Erica, and is adapted from her fairy cake recipe. If you are making these to decorate with kids, and want to limit the time it takes to put everything together, it may be easier to make the cupcakes ahead of time.

Makes approximately 8 cupcakes.
175g of self raising flour.
110g of caster sugar.
1 teaspoon of baking powder.
110g of soft margarine or butter.

2 large eggs.
50ml of water/milk.

For the butter cream frosting:
170g of softened butter.
225g of icing sugar.

Preheat the oven to 180oC and line a cupcake tray with paper cases.
In a large bowl combine all the dry ingredients. Make a well in the center of the bowl and break in the 2 eggs and add the butter in small pieces. Using an electric hand mixer beat all the ingredients together until combined. Add in half the milk/water and beat again until combined. You are looking for the batter to be light and creamy. Add the rest of the liquid if you need it- you may not.
Divide the batter evenly into the paper cases and place in an oven for 15-20 minutes or until firm and light brown on top.
Allow to cool on a wire rack before applying the frosting.
In a bowl beat the butter and add the icing sugar bit by bit until it is all incorporated. At this point you can separate the frosting into a few different bowls and stir through different food colourings. Spoon the frosting into an icing bag and ice away! Let your imagination go wild!

I had spotted these on tastespotting.com a few months ago and have been craving them ever since. My brother and I were a little bit obsessed with Oreo cookies when we were kids. They only arrived on Ireland's green shores in the late 90's commercially, so they quickly became the coolest thing to have in your school lunchbox at the time! We were banned from eating them when my mother realised we were addicted after catching us devouring a whole box in one go. When she couldn't see our teeth because of the black biscuit she never bought them again!

Cookies and Cream Chocolate Chip Oreo Cupcakes

This is my aunt Erica's cupcake recipe and it could not be easier to make. You can easily adapt this recipe to make a regular plain cupcake mixture also, simply remove the cocao powder and chocolate chips from the ingredient list.

Makes approximately 8 cupcakes.
175g of self raising flour.
110g of soft margarine or butter.
110g of caster sugar.
2 tablespoons of cocoa powder.
1 teaspoon of baking powder.
2 large eggs.
50g of good quality chocolate chips.
50ml of water/milk.

For the Oreo Cream frosting:
250ml of fresh cream.
25g of icing sugar.
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract.
8 oreo cookies, crushed.

Preheat the oven to 180oC and line a cupcake tray with paper cases.
In a large bowl combine all the dry ingredients except for the chocolate chips. Make a well in the center of the bowl and break in the 2 eggs. Using an electric hand mixer beat all the ingedients together until combined. Add in half the milk/water and beat again until combined. You are looking for the batter to be light and creamy. Add the rest of the liquid if you need it you may not.
Divide the batter evenly into the paper cases and place in an oven for 15-20 minutes or until firm and light brown on top.
Allow to cool on a wire rack before applying the oreo cream.

For the Oreo frosting, simply beat the cream, vanilla extract, and icing sugar until it becomes thick. Gently fold in the oreo cookie crumbles and spoon the mixture into an icing bag with a large round nozzle. Squeeze the oreo cream onto the cupcakes and top with broken cookies.