Our cupcake contributor, Lauren of Crave. Indulge. Satisfy, is back with her first post of the year…

Happy New Year!  I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and is looking forward to a fresh start in 2012!  I am excited to kick off a new year and share one of my family’s favorite recipes for Italian Cream Cake.  This is a family recipe that has been around for as long as I can remember and one that we always enjoy around the holidays, especially the winter months.  With winter around for a little while longer and still a chance of snow for some of you that live in colder climates, I thought this recipe would be perfect baked as individual cakes to resemble snowballs.  I hope you enjoy these Italian Cream ‘Snowball’ Cupcakes.

The base of the cake is white and fluffy loaded with chopped walnuts and flaked coconut.  Apply a heaping mound of cream cheese icing and garnish with coconut flakes to create a mound of snow on top.  Aren’t these just the cutest little edible snowballs!  Although these cupcakes taste amazing at room temperature, my family loves to enjoy them after being chilled in the refrigerator!  You can’t go wrong either way!

For this particular batch of cupcakes I decided to bake them in Wilton White Nut & Party Cups.  I simply placed the paper cups on baking sheets instead of using a muffin pan.  You should be able to find these cups in the baking section of your local craft store if you want to use them.  Traditional paper cupcake liners will work perfectly fine as well, I just wanted to try something “new” for the new year with these cupcakes!

This cake recipe is pretty versatile and works well as an 8″ 3-layer cake as well.  If you aren’t a huge lover of coconut then feel free to garnish with chopped walnuts instead.  Or you can swap out the walnuts for pecans.  We love to switch up the garnish in my family!

Italian Cream Cake Cupcakes
(makes 24 cupcakes)

For the cake:

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups sugar
5 eggs, separated
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
1 bag (14 oz) flaked coconut (use 1/2 cup for cake, remaining for garnish)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place paper cups on a baking sheet.
2. In bowl of stand mixer beat butter and vegetable shortening.
3. Add sugar and continue beating until mixture is smooth.
4. Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
5. Combine flour and baking soda.
6. Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately scraping down sides of bowl as needed.
7. Stir in vanilla, 1/2 cup coconut and walnuts.
8. Beat egg whites with electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Gradually fold into cake batter.
9. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full with batter.
10. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
11. Let cupcakes cool on pans for 5 minutes, then remove to wire racks to finish cooling.
12. Once cupcakes are completely cool frost with Cream Cheese icing.

For the icing:
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
8 oz cream cheese, softened
5 cups confectioner’s sugar
1 tsp vanilla

1. In bowl of stand mixer beat butter and cream cheese on medium speed until well combined.
2. Gradually add in confectioner’s sugar one cup at a time, scraping down sides of bowl as necessary.
3. Add vanilla and mix until combined.
4. Frost cupcakes with offset spatula and garnish with coconut flakes.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my family does!  Here’s to a wonderful and exciting new year!

	Lauren is a regular contributor for Half Baked. She is a self-taught baker and lover of all things sugar. Read more about Lauren on her bio page.

Our cupcake contributor, Lauren of Crave. Indulge. Satisfy, is bringing cupcake merriment to all!  Enjoy!

Happy December! It’s beginning to look at lot like Christmas at my house. The tree is up and decorated, Christmas songs are playing all day and my holiday baking “to do” list is about a mile long. To kick off the baking I thought it would be fun to combine my favorite seasonal drink, hot chocolate, with the always popular peppermint candy to create a festive cupcake. I am thrilled with how delicious and adorable these Hot Chocolate Cupcakes with Peppermint Buttercream turned out and hope you enjoy them as much as we did.

These cupcakes are your basic chocolate recipe with the addition of a prepared cup of Hot Chocolate mixed in. The magic happens when you add the peppermint buttercream on top. The combination of chocolate and peppermint is absolutely perfect together, not to mention it gives you some fresh breath!

To add some extra cuteness on top, garnish with homemade peppermint bark, which is a staple sweet in my house each Christmas. The bark is super easy to make and you will have plenty left over after topping the cupcakes! So you can certainly package up the bark and give away as gifts. If you don’t want to hassle with the extra step of making the bark, you can easily buy some already made at the store.

You should definitely add these cupcakes to your holiday baking list! Your friends are sure to go crazy if you show up to a party with a batch of these! I guarantee I will be making them several more times before the month of December is over!

Hot chocolate Cupcakes with Peppermint Buttercream
(makes 20 cupcakes)

For the cake:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 eggs
1 packet Hot Chocolate mixed with 3/4 cup warm milk
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin pans with cupcake liners.
2. In bowl of stand mixer combine dry ingredients: flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients: eggs, hot chocolate/milk mixture, vegetable oil and vanilla.
4. Beat on medium speed until well combined, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.
5. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full with batter.
6. Bake for 16 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
7. Let cupcakes cool in pans for 5 minutes, then remove to wire racks to finish cooling.
8. Once cupcakes are completely cool frost with Peppermint Buttercream and garnish with Peppermint Bark.

For the icing:
3 sticks unsalted butter, softened
6 cups confectioner’s sugar
1/4 – 1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 tsp peppermint extract

1. In bowl of stand mixer beat butter until creamy.
2. Gradually add in confectioner’s sugar one cup at a time, scraping down sides of bowl as necessary.
3. Add milk until you reach desired consistency.
4. Add peppermint extract and mix well.
5. Place icing in piping bag fitted with a large round tip and frost cupcakes.
6. Garnish cupcakes with Peppermint Bark and white nonpareils (optional).

Peppermint Bark:
12 oz Chocolate Bark
12 oz Vanilla Bark
20 mini candy canes, crushed
1/2 tsp peppermint extract

1. Line a baking sheet with wax paper.
2. Melt chocolate bark in microwave safe bowl for 1 minute. Continue to microwave at 15 second intervals until melted. Pour melted chocolate onto prepared baking sheet and spread evently with a spatula. Let chocolate harden for about 30 minutes.
3. Melt vanilla bark in microwave safe bowl for 1 minute. Continue to microwave at 15 second intervals until melted.
4. Add peppermint extract to melted vanilla and stir. Pour melted vanilla overtop of hardened chocolate and spread evenly with a spatula.
5. Sprinkle crushed candy canes ontop of candy bark.
6. Allow bark to harden for about 30 minutes before breaking into pieces. Garnish cupcakes.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

	Lauren is a regular contributor for Half Baked. She is a self-taught baker and lover of all things sugar. Read more about Lauren on her bio page.

We officially kicked off the holiday season on Monday with our annual Crate and Barrel Giveaway!  And what better way to continue the fun than a new Christmas Cupcake Liner Craft?  If you’re a regular reader, you know we love a good cupcake liner craft!  And why not?  They’re adorable, easy and make great use of the extra cupcake liners we all have lying around.

A few weeks ago, I found my inner Santa and came up with a fun new tutorial for you. In a few simple steps, you’ll be able to ’spruce’ up any cupcake.  So break out your tape, extra baking liners and let’s get started!   Perfect for Christmas goodies and easy enough for the kids to craft… hope you enjoy my Cupcake Liner Christmas Trees!

Cupcake Liner Christmas Trees

Tools:
Cupcake Liners
Double Sided Tape
Extra Long Toothpicks (or mini skewers)

Instructions:

1. Grab a regular sized cupcake liner.  Fold liner in half.  Fold in half again, creating a pie-like wedge.  Tape the two flaps together using double sided tape, so that you have one solid triangle.
2. Fold in half again.  Tape again.  Now you should have a tall skinny wedge that is 1/8 the size of your original circle.  If your liner is now a flat triangle due to folding, fluff it up with your finger so that it makes a cone.
3. Insert your toothpick through the center of your cone.  Slide it down about half way.  This is the bottom tier of your tree.
4. Repeat folding steps 1 – 2 with another cupcake liner.  Mixing in another pattern or color adds to the fun!  Slide this onto your toothpick creating the middle tier.
5. Repeat folding steps 1-2 with a third and final cupcake liner.  Place this last liner on the top of your toothpick to complete your tree.  Smush, crinkle and/or adjust layers until you’re satisfied with your tree.  Insert into cupcake and enjoy!

TIP:  To complete the look, bake your cupcake in a pannetone baking cup {purchased at Bake It Pretty} and dust icing with powdered sugar before topping with a Christmas tree.

Whether they top off your delectable homemade cupcakes, spruce up some store bought sweets or provide a Christmas activity for the kiddos… I hope you enjoy these Cupcake Liner Christmas Trees!

{While you’re here…. be sure to enter our annual Crate and Barrel Giveaway, going on now!  One lucky reader will win a $150 Gift Card!}