Grilled Pineapple & Coco Cupcakes

El verano donde esta?!....Where has the summer gone?....

gone too soon, it happens to me every year I try to relish each day. 

Trying to juggle a healthy mix of chilling on the couch air conditioner breeze blowing through my hair

and running like a wild cavemen through the concrete jungle also known as the  amusement park.

Trying to escape the 105 degree summer sun while standing on line for the colossal jumbo vertical stand-up twister with the 300 ft drop.

Either way I tried it both ways and trying to focus on keeping summer from going away too soon helped me not to realize that summer was halfway over....

and now I can't help but pay attention because I'm receiving letters stuffed with homeroom numbers, binder and paper size requirements and kids requesting Converse sneakers with pictures of doughnuts printed on the sides.

Summer's over but I'm just not ready to let it go so I'm enjoying the sweeter side of summer with these

Grilled Pineapple Coco Cupcakes...

they give me the excuse to light up my grill  sit in the grass and soak up the leftover rays of the beautiful summer sun!

A La Cocina!

ingredients (yields approx. 12 cupcakes)
2 1/4 c. flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. butter
1 1/3 c. sugar
1 c. milk (or 1/2 c. milk and 1/2 c. pineapple juice)
3 eggs, separated
2/3 c. grilled pineapple cut into chunks, drained
1 tsp. good quality vanilla extract
12 pineapple rings (approx. 2 cans keep in mind you'll need extra pineapples for the batter)

grilled pineapple directions
Grill pineapple wedges, a cut side down, on a lightly oiled rack set 5 to 6 inches over glowing coals until just charred, about 2 minutes on each cut side.

(If you don't feel like lighting up the grill you can also use your oven being careful to lay the pineapples over the oven rack so that they won't fall through the cracks)

cupcake directions

1.Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In medium bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt.

 

2.In separate bowl cream together butter, sugar, vanilla and egg yolks until well blended.

 

3.Pour flour mixture and milk and pineapple juice into your butter mixture, alternating between the two. Add in your crushed pineapples then gently fold in your egg whites.

 

4. Bake at 325 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until done. Cupcakes will be moist.

coconut buttercream

1 stick butter, softened
1 teaspoon coconut extract
4 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons coconut milk

 

                                                   

buttercream directions

 

1.Beat butter with a mixer until smooth.

 

2.Slowly beat in powdered sugar and mix until crumbly.

 

3. Add in the  coconut extract and 3 tablespoons of coconut milk and mix until smooth. If needed, add another tablespoon of milk to reach desired consistency.

 

4. Once buttercream is done, you can either frost with spatula or place buttercream in a piping bag and swirl it on top of the cupcake.

 

5. Once cupcake is frosted and set, take your grilled pineapple rings and place them on top.

 

Now it's time to taste la vida dulce!

                         

                                                    

 

 

 

 

 

The Ultimate Cake Nachos

So one of my absolute FAVORITE holidays is literally right around the corner!

 I adore it because it's the day that many of the Gringos (like me)

love everything about Mexican Food, Mexican music & Mexican culture. 

Every store have an overstock of piñatas, super grande margarita glasses & hard taco shells.

It's the one day that it's perfectly normal to ride in your car wearing a colorful sombrero fist pumping to Mariachi music ( this is jersey after all)

and I love it!

El Ultimo ( The Ultimate) Cake Nachos are absolutamente perfecto for a Cinco de Mayo party or a super cute addition as a dessert for a summer party or BBQ.

                                                   Ingredients

1 box of Dark Chocolate cake mix ( I used Duncan Hines)
your favorite buttercream or frosting like this one ( I never use can frosting, but it can be substituted)
1 bag of yellow Wilton chocolate melts
1 bag of white Wilton chocolate melts
1 bag of Swedish Fish or any red gummy candy
1 package of green sour licorice string
orange food coloring
piping bags
colorful bowl

                                                Vamos a la cocina! ( Directions)

A day or two before you bake your cake, you may want to prepare your chocolate tortilla
 chips.

For the tortilla chips

1. Line a baking sheet with wax paper. Take 1 Oreo cookies and crunch them until they are completely crushed in a plastic ziplock bag and set aside. Combine 1/2 bag of white chocolate with 1/2 bag of yellow chocolate in medium bowl.

2. Place bowl in microwave on 70% power heating for 35 second intervals, stiring well after each interval until completely melted.

3. Once chocolate is melted it's time to add in your crushed Oreos, you will only need about a couple of sprinkles of the cookie. ( the crushed cookies just serve as the black flecks seen in real tortilla chips)

4. Once you mix in your cookies, immediately place the chocolate in the piping bag and begin piping medium sized tortilla chips right onto your waxed paper.

5. Once all tortilla chips are piped, you can place them in the freezer and prepare cake, if your not baking cake that day the tortilla chips can easily be stored in the refrigerator or a cool place in your kitchen.

6. This is also a good time to chop your Swedish Fish and green licorice. I gave them a rough chop to resemble tomatoes and jalapeños and lettuce. Set them aside

For the Cake

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, follow directions on box or cake recipe, you can either pour the batter in an 8 inch round cake pan or a jelly roll pan. I used the jelly roll pan because it was a shorter cook time and I seemed to get more cake out of it. ( I wanted my nachos to look like that had a lot of meat)

2. Once the cake is cooled, take a colorful bowl and crumble all of your cake it crumbs to resemble taco meat.

3. Take your buttercream and add a few drops of orange and yellow food coloring. ( I used about 3 orange drops and 5 yellow drops to achieve more of nacho cheese color). 

4. Place buttercream in the microwave for approx. 20 seconds until pourable. Once buttercream is colored you can either mix it directly into the cake crumbs or pour it all around. ( It all depends if you want to have a moister cake or not, the buttercream definitely soaks into the crumbs) If you are making the nachos with cheese, you need to add your chocolate tortilla chips first and pour the cheese on top of them and add a few jalapeño sprinkles.

5.If  you are going more for " El Ultimo" nachos, than it's time to add on heaping scoop of  plain white vanilla buttercream (sour cream) and sprinkle on your Swedish Fish & green licorice. You also use black licorice for olives, I am not a fan of black licorice or the smell so I didn't use it. Add your chocolate tortilla chips around the sides and in the middle to resemble "real nachos".

6. That's it!......All done a dessert that's not even hard, super cute and all dressed up for a
Fiesta!

Rainbow Gold Cupcakes

Every year it feels like the holidays are arriving faster than ever. 

As a little chica I would wait and wait for Christmas to come, my Christmas list ready since mid-summer for the happy handoff on Santa's lap. 

I would count down the days one by one and from November to December and it seemed like it was like 465 days until Christmas, instead of 30. 

But now that I'm older I can't seem to slow down time fast enough, in one moment I'm making milk chocolate hearts for Valentine's Day, than I'm hiding Easter eggs,

before I can even stop to think I'm picking out Halloween costumes

and then before I can even blink I'm flinging up my Christmas tree just to begin gently wrapping everyone of  my 1,500 breakable ornaments ten minutes later.

So it's no surprise to me that this year St. Patrick's Day and Easter are all crammed together in the same month.





 In honor of this year's holiday mash up I decided to make cupcakes that celebrate los dos ( both of them).

They are sweet little rainbow striped cupcakes with a great big golden chocolate filled egg. They are colorful enough to please a Leprechaun and have just enough chocolate for Easter bunny approval!

I thought it would be perfect to make these cupcakes in a flavor that would highlight their sunny appeal, so I replaced the vanilla extract in my buttercream with orange extract.


I even spiked my cake batter with un poquito ( a little bit) too!

The result was a colorful and feliz (happy) cupcake on the outside, with a vibrant orange inside that was like biting into a little piece of Sunshine!

                                                           INGREDIENTS

For Orange Buttercream Frosting-adapted from Gale Gand Recipe

3 cups confectioners' sugar

1 cup butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 to 2 tablespoons whipping cream

 

 

 

                                                     DIRECTIONS

 

In a standing mixer fitted with a whisk, mix together sugar and butter. Mix on low speed until well blended and then increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes.

Add orange extract and cream and continue to beat on medium speed for 1 minute more, adding more cream if needed for spreading consistency.

 

 

For the Orange Cupcakes-

 

1 box of yellow or white cake mix

 

1 tsp orange extract

 

Follow the instructions on the cake mix box and simply add in a tsp of orange extract.

 

Rainbow Stripes

1 can of vanilla frosting ( Pillsbury)

colorful dye ( enough colors for a rainbow)

 

1.In order to make the rainbow stripes that run along the cupcakes, you need to take a can of classic vanilla frosting.

 

2. Divide about  1/4 cup of frosting into 6 different cups ( or less if you choose) for each color of your rainbow.

 

3. Microwave each cup for about 15 secs until it's a pourable consistency, than add your colors to each cup and mix.

 

4. One color at a time using a spoon, drizzle color along each cupcake until you have a complete rainbow of colors.

 

For the Golden Eggs

Cadbury Eggs

luster dust

vodka

paint brush

 

1. You need to take your Cadbury Eggs and use a edible paint called luster dust, which you can purchase at your local cake supply store or online here.

 

2. I usually just use the top from the luster dust and pour a sprinkling of it directly into the cap.  Then you will need just a little pour of Vodka, enough to wet the paint but not overflow into the cap with the luster dust.

 

3. Next, dip your paint brush into the luster dust/vodka mix and paint directly onto your Cadbury Egg, leave them to dry on a piece of wax paper or baking sheet.

 

4. Once your eggs are dry, gently place them on top of each cupcake, than get ready for all the oohhs and ahhhs you will get from these pretty little treats!

 

 

 

 

                                                        

Marry Me, Cupcake- Cherry Vanilla Cupcakes

Although for some, the idea of packing up their last silver bell and unhanging their stockings and packing them away with care is a somber event.

For me it's a sign that my absolute favorite holiday is on it's way. I've had a "love affair" with Valentine's Day since?!.........

Well actually I have no idea when my infactuation with the national day of love began, but I do know that everything that it entails leaves me feeling warm inside and a smile on my face.   It's not so much the romantical idea ( I know this is not a real word, but I think I heard Snooki use it and I liked it!) of it all.








The whole having "El Hombre" of your dreams show up at your doorstep, whisking you off to an extravagant restaurant showering you with red roses and lavish presents like 25 karat diamond rings. Nope! that's not the reason for my obsession with Valentine's Day. It's more along the lines of almost all the store shelves blanketed with varying hues of red and pink which are my absolute favorite colors.

Hearts and sweet words of love on everything! Not to mention the chocolate! Ohhh yes the sweet, dulce, milk, dark, semi-sweet bites and boxes of caramel filled ways to show your love! LO AMO! ( I love it!). With those boxes of chocolate love come even more sugared-up dessert possibilities.  Like these Marry Me, Cherry Vanilla Cupcakes,  which are fluffy vanilla cupcakes swirled with a layer of vanilla buttercream, then a twist of pink cherry buttercream, drizzled with chocolate syrup, colorful sprinkles and a plump red cherry. Stuffed inside the cupcake is a strawberry ring pop.......... 

Well actually 5 minutes after I placed the ring pop filled cupcakes in the oven, I realized that what I would pull out the oven would be filled with an ooey gooey mess.  Ten minutes later.......Yup! I was right......the realization that the thin layer of cake batter wouldn't be enough to shield the candy coated ring pop from the molten hot temps within the oven!

Uhhh Duhh!  Anyway I still think that these can be super cute Valentine's cupcakes to give to your sweetie as gift or to bring to a school class.  Imagine their surprise when they take a bite and inside is an authentic sugared diamond, a Valentine's symbol of true love.

I assure you it will work this time, instead of baking the cupcake with the ring pop, just wait until they are out the oven and cooled.  Then you can just dunk the ring pop right in the middle of the cake and swirl your buttercream all around it.  Believe me this time it will work like a charm!

                                                                    
Adapted from Magnolia Bakery Recipe


                                                        Buttercream Ingredients

                                           

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

 

6 to 8 cups confectioners' sugar

 

1/2 cup milk

 

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

 

1 jar of maraschino cherries

 

 1 jar of chocolate syrup-  I used Hershey's

 

  1 container of red or pink sprinkles

 

  Ring pops- as many as needed

                                                                    Directions    

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine butter, 4 cups sugar, milk, and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until smooth and creamy, 3 to 5 minutes.

 

      2. Gradually add remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating for about 2 minutes after each addition, until icing reaches desired consistency; you may not need to add all the sugar.

 

     3. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.        

 

     4. To make the cherry buttercream, separate a cup or more of white buttercream, add in 2 drops of pink food coloring. Pour in 1/4 cup of maraschino cherry juice and whip for 3-4 minutes until well mixed adding more juice to reach desired cherry taste.

                                                                  

 

                                                               

                                     Cupcake Ingredients                  

3/4 cup butter

3 eggs

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 3/4 cups sugar

3 teaspoons vanilla (add more for a super-vanilla taste)

1 1/4 cups milk

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

 

                                                                    Directions                                           

1. Stir together the salt, baking powder, flour

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Beat butter in an electric mixer on high for 30 seconds. Add sugar and beat until combined. Continue to beat and add the eggs. Beat well and add vanilla.

3. Add part of the flour mixture then part of the milk, then beat on low. Repeat until all of the milk and flour mixture have been added. Combine and spread batter into cupcake pans. Be sure not to over mix your batter.

4. Bake for 15-18 minutes, until the cupcakes are golden brown and toothpick comes out clean from the center. Cool for at least 15 minutes.

5. Once the cupcakes are completely cooled it's time to stick in your ring pops, 

6. Next, grab two piping bags and fill with vanilla and cherry buttercream. Alternately swirl each flavor onto your cupcake.

 

 7.Drizzle cupcake with chocolate syrup, colorful sprinkles and plump cherry. You can package these up in pretty red or pink boxes and serve them with MUCHO AMOR!