Lots of Cupcakes!

My oldest niece Nina, just turned 7 a little while back and my sister Adrienne asked me to make cupcakes for her birthday party! I was informed that Nina doesn't like regular cake and that she wanted brownie cupcakes and then regular cupcakes for the rest of the guests that enjoy vanilla cake. So here it is! Recipes adapted from Crazy About Cupcakes! cook book.


For the Brownie Cupcakes:
4 oz. unsweetened chcolate

2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

1 cup flour

1 tsp. vanilla

4 lg. eggs

3/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. And line cupcake pans. Melt the chocolate and butter together in a saucepan making sure not to burn the chocolate and transfer to a bowl. Add the sugar, flour, and vanilla and beat well. Add the eggs one at a time beating well after each addition. Add the chocolate chips and mix until evenly dispursed. Fill each liner until 3/4 full and bake off for 20 minutes. Make 18-24 medium sized cupcakes.

Chocolate Frosting:

6 tbsp. butter

2 tsp. vanilla

3 cups confectionars' sugar

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1/3 cup milk.

Cream the butter and vanilla together on medium speed. In a separate bowl combine confectioners' sugar and cocoa powder. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture until fully integrated. Slowly add the milk to get the desired consistency.

For the Golden Cupcakes:
2 sticks unsalted butter room temp.

2 cups granulated sugar

4 lg. eggs separated

2 tsp. vanilla

3 cups all-purpose flour

4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake tins. In a large bowl cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the egg yolks one at a time and beat well. Add the vanill and mix. In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, alternating with the milk. Mix well. With clean beaters beat the egg whites until they form stiff peasks. Then fold into cupcake batter. Fill tins 1/2 way full and bake off for 20-25 minutes.

For the vanilla frosting:

3 cups confectioners' sugar

1 stick unsalted butter at room temp.

2 tsp. vanilla

2 tbsp. milk

Gradually add the sugar to the softened butter and cream together with an electric mixer. Stir in the vanilla and milk. Beat until smooth and of the consistency that you desire. For the above cupakes I just added a few drops of red food coloring to make the frosting pink.

For the decorations I used fondant and colored it brown and pink using icing paste and kneaded it until it came out the color I wanted then I used little cutters to make the flour shapes.

Enjoy!