In a previous post we showed you how to make your own Horchata at home.  Ever since I saw this recipe I knew I had to try to make it and it did not dissapoint me.  You can use fresh Horchata for the cupcake recipe or you can use Horchata mix which you can probably find in the international section at your supermarket. Just make sure you make a stronger mix. Usually it calls for 3 tablespoons per 8 oz of liquid, so use 4 or 5 tablespoons instead.  If the mix calls for water, I suggest you use milk, even if the package says it already contains milk.

Horchata Cupcakes
Yield: 24 cupcakes / 350 degree oven
Adapted from Cupcake Bakeshop

Ingredients:
1 stick butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup Horchata
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 large egg whites

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven at 350ºF. Line standard muffins tins with paper liners.
2. Soften butter in the mixer on high speed.
3. Add the sugar to the butter and beat until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
4. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together, set aside.
5. Mix the horchata and vanilla together, set aside.
6. Add the flour mixture and horchata mixture to the butter/sugar in 3 parts alternating between flour and horchata and beating well after each addition. Always start and end with the flour mix.
7. Set aside incorporated mixture.
8. In a clean mixer bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Fold egg whites into cake batter until incorporated. You can do this with a spatula and try not to overwork the batter.
9. Scoop batter into the prepared cupcake pans.
10. Bake for approximately 20 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. After you take them out of the oven, leave them on the tin to cool for about 5 minutes before removing them!

Horchata Frosting

Ingredients:

2 cups of Whipping Cream
4 tablespoons Confectioners’ sugar
6 tablespoons dried horchata mix
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Procedure:

1. Whip the cream together with the confectioners’ sugar in a cold metal bowl.
2. Once it has thickenned, add the powdered horchata just until it has incorporated
3. Add the vanilla and mix.
4. Make sure the cupcakes are completely cool before frosting.

We were invited to a end-of-summer BBQ, Mardi Gras Themed. I jumped right at the chance to make dessert. Cupcakes are great for BBQs since you don’t require a plate or silverware to eat them. You can also have fun and make them different colors. I decided to make Yellow Cake cupcakes with Purple Buttercream frosting and Yellow sprinkles… and Purple Chocolate cupcakes with Yellow Buttercream and Purple sprinkles. You can’t get any more Mardi Gras than that! The end result was great, although I will buy purple coloring next time, I used a mix of blue and red, but the purple color wasn’t as vibrant as I wanted it to. They tasted great!

Purple Chocolate Cupcakes (Mardi Gras Version)
Adapted from Paula Deen’s Recipe, The Food Network
Yield: 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cocoa powder
1 cup buttermilk
1 ½ cups vegetable oil
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons Purple Food Coloring
1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Line 2 (12-cup) muffin pans with cupcake papers.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, salt, and cocoa powder.
4. In a large bowl gently beat together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, and vanilla with a handheld electric mixer.
5. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth and thoroughly combined.
6. Add vinegar to the baking soda on a small bowl (this will have a chemical reaction and it will start to foam up- it’s what we want!) and add that to the batter. You should see the colors pop-up.
7. Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake tins about 2/3 filled.
8. Bake in oven for about 20 to 22 minutes, turning the pans once, half way through. Test the cupcakes with a toothpick for doneness.
9. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.

Yellow Cupcakes (Mardi Gras Version)
Adapted from MarthaStewart.com
Yield: 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup sugar
2 large eggs
Yellow Food coloring

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line the cups of a standard (12-cup) muffin tin with paper or foil liners.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a liquid-measuring cup, mix milk and vanilla; set aside.
4. In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes.
5. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
6. With mixer on low speed, add half of dry ingredients, followed by milk-vanilla mixture, then remaining dry ingredients. Add a few drops of yellow paste or food coloring as you go, when you get a very bright yellow batter, you got it! Remember not to over-mix.
7. Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups.
8. Place tin on a rimmed baking sheet; bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes.
9. Cool cupcakes 5 minutes in tin, then remove and cool completely on a rack before frosting.

Buttercream Frosting
A Foodies’ Original
Yield enough to frost 12 cupcakes

For the frosting, I made one recipe for the Yellow Cake Cupcakes and two for the Purple Chocolate Cupcakes. I didn’t feel comfortable doing the three recipes at once, well, because it’s plenty of frosting and I’m using a hand mixer.

Ingredients:

1 sticks unsalted butter, softened
2 ½ cups confectioner’s sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 to 2 tablespoons milk
Yellow and Purple Food Coloring

Directions:

1. In a mixing bowl, cream butter until smooth.
2. Gradually add confectioners’ sugar; beat until smooth, add the food coloring until desired color is achieved. If too thick to spread, beat in 1 to 2 tablespoons milk.
3. Frost the cupcakes when they are completely cooled. Add colored sprinkles for decoration.

Note:

• To fill up the cupcake liners with batter, you can use either an ice cream scoop (a 2-ounce or 1/4-cup ice-cream scoop is good for this) or two teaspoons: One for  scooping and the other one for sliding the batter out.

I saw an episode of the F Word the other day, and it featured an Argentinean restaurant that served empanadas, among other things. Gordon Ramsay was so delighted by them, that I felt like trying to make some of my own and see if I could pull it off. I had some ground beef in the freezer, and as you already may know… I’m not crazy about ground beef, so making a filling for empanadas sounded like a good way to eat it.

A couple of days later I made the dough, from a recipe I found online.  It was very easy to make, and I was surprised to see how easy it was to handle. It didn’t break appart at all, so forming the disks was easy.  The ground beef filling is my own recipe, I always use lean beef to avoid that awful taste that lingers in your mouth all day. These empanadas are winners, I made 12 and gave some to my mother in law, they didn’t last one day. Don’t be afraid to try this recipe I promise you it is not hard to make.

Beef Empanadas

Empanada Dough
This recipe is an accompaniment for Beef Empanadas.
Recipe From: Epicurious
Yield: Makes enough for 12 pastries

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 large egg
1/3 cup ice water
1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar

Procedure:

1. Sift flour with salt into a large bowl and blend in butter with your fingertips or a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal with some (roughly pea-size) butter lumps.
2. Beat together egg, water, and vinegar in a small bowl with a fork. Add to flour mixture, stirring with fork until just incorporated. (Mixture will look shaggy.)
3. Turn out mixture onto a lightly floured surface and gather together, then knead gently with heel of your hand once or twice, just enough to bring dough together. Form dough into a flat rectangle and chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, at least 1 hour.

Filling:
A Foodies’ Original

1 lb ground beef, lean cut
½ white onion, finely diced
½ red bell pepper, finely diced
½ carrot, finely diced
1 garlic clove, diced
1 bay leaf
Salt and pepper
¼ teaspoon Oregano
½ teaspoon Cinnamon
½ teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon cumin
1 cup tomato sauce
2 teaspoons sugar ( to correct the taste if tomato sauce is to acidic)

1. In a large pan, heat a bit of olive oil and sauté the onions, bell pepper, carrot and garlic clove for a few minutes, until the onion is translucent.
2. Add the beef, the bay leaf, season with salt and pepper and add the rest of the spices. When the beef is no longer pink and has started to brown, add the tomato sauce. Correct flavoring by adding a little sugar if the tomato sauce is too acidic.
3. Let this mixture cool to room temperature.

Form and bake empanadas:

1. Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 400°F. Divide dough into 12 equal pieces and form each into a disk. Keeping remaining pieces covered, roll out 1 piece on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 5-inch round (about 1/8 inch thick).
2. Spoon about 2 tablespoons filling onto center and fold dough in half, enclosing filling. Press edges together to seal, then crimp decoratively with your fingers or tines of a fork. Transfer empanada to a baking sheet. Make 11 more empanadas in same manner, arranging on 2 baking sheets.
3. Lightly brush empanadas with some of egg wash and bake in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until golden, about 25 minutes. Transfer empanadas to a rack to cool at least 5 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

So I’m feeling adventurous this week. I wanted to try to use Yogurt on something else than a salad dressing or breakfast. Reading online, I found out that you can substitute for sour cream or buttermilk. Since at Foodies’ we want to take the flavors from Guatemala to the world, what other than Roselle (Rosa de Jamaica) for the Buttercream! The end result of my daring baking day is a Foodies’ Original Recipe double take: Vanilla Yogurt Cupcakes and a Roselle Buttercream Frosting. Hope you enjoy!

Vanilla Yogurt Cupcakes
with Roselle Buttercream Frosting
A Foodies’ Kitchen Original Recipe
Yield:  12 cupcakes

1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour, plus
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 egg whites
½ cup milk
¼ cup vanilla yogurt*
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven at 350ºF. Line standard muffins tins with paper liners.
2. Sift together the flour, kosher salt, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.
3. Whisk together the milk, vanilla extract and yogurt. Set aside.
4. Cream the butter and the sugar on medium speed. Add the egg and beat just until they become together nicely (careful not to over beat). Add the egg whites, one by one beating for 25-30 seconds each.
5. Using the Dry-Wet-Dry method, add both the dry and wet mixes: Add one third of the dry ingredients, mix, add half of the wet ingredients, mix. Then the second part of the dry ingredients, the remaining half of the wet ingredients and end up with the remaining flour mix. As before, just mix until combined.
6. Divide the batter into the 12 muffin tin, and bake for 18-20 minutes, or until lightly golden brown. Make sure to keep an eye on these cupcakes, since they can be over-baked quickly. A good tip is to time them exactly for 18 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean. If it comes clean. it’s ready!
7. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely to frost!

*Notes: If you can’t find vanilla yogurt at your local store, you can use regular yogurt and increase the vanilla extract 1/4 teaspoon.

Roselle Buttercream Frosting
A Foodies’ Kitchen Original Recipe
Yield: Enough for 12 heavily frosted cupcakes or one big cake

Ingredients
2 cups butter, room temperature
2 cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted
1 ½ tablespoon roselle syrup, room temperature
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Beat the butter for about 3 minutes, until it’s creamy.
2. Add the confectioner’s sugar already sifted, mix until it’s together.
3. Add the roselle syrup and watch magic happen! The consistency of the buttercream will be more stiff and will be able to hold it’s peaks, it’s color will be slightly pink.
4. Last, add the vanilla and mix together.

Notes: It’s crucial that both the butter and the roselle syrup are at room temperature. When working with buttercream, how you achieve the correct consistency is with the butter (so it must be at room temperature) and when mixing it with other ingredients, that those won’t distort that balance. Remember, you’re working with butter! We suggest 2 cup of confectioner’s sugar if you follow our Roselle Syrup recipe. If you made it with less sugar, increase the confectioner’s sugar on this recipe in increments of 1/4 cup.

My grandma Flory is from San Antonio Suchitepequez, a south western town in Guatemala. One of the things that she loves about San Antonio (and so do I!) is it’s chocolate tablets.

Guatemala has one of the best chocolates in the world, and depending on which city you find chocolate, the cacao beans go through a different process to become the tablets that we’ve showed you before, the same ones that we’ve used to make Hot Chocolate. One of the most famous chocolates from Guatemala is the one made in Mixco: they toast the cacao beans, peal them, grind it (twice) and the paste gets mixed with cinnamon or almonds.  In San Antonio Suchitepequez the process is very similar, but instead of adding just cinnamon, they add sugar to it. When making any recipe with chocolate from San Antonio, you have to take note of this, if not, you’re going to have a very sweet result.

For the cupcakes, we’ve been looking for ideas to bring Guatemalan elements (as the chocolate or the roselle flowers), and finally got a recipe that would work perfectly with the chocolate. We modified it and added a bit of cayenne pepper to contrast with the sweetness of the tablet chocolate. I can’t wait to get back to Guate and make these for her… I want to know if the recipe will be up to her standards- both as a great (kitchen) teacher and as a San Antonio girl who loves her chocolate. We hope you like it!

Guatemalan Chocolate Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting
A Foodies’ Guatemalan Touch Original & Adapted from Emeril Lagasse’s Chocolate Cupcakes Recipe
Yield: 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper powder
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup hot water
1 tablet Guatemalan Chocolate, in small bite size pieces

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly butter 1 (12-cup) muffin tin.
2. Sift together all the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt and cayenne pepper.
3. Soften the butter and add the dry ingredients in two batches, alternating with the egg, then the buttermilk, beating until combined after each.
4. Add the hot water last. Beat with an electric mixer until smooth.
5. Stir in the guatemalan chocolate bits.
6. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin tin wells.
7. Bake until the cupcakes are puffed and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes.
8. Cool to room temperature in the tins. Run a thin, sharp knife around the sides of the muffin cups to loosen the cupcakes, and carefully lift out. Place the cupcakes on a work surface.

Simple Buttercream Frosting
Yield: Enough for heavily frosted 12 cupcakes

1 stick unsalted butter, softened
2 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 to 2 tablespoons milk

Directions:

1. In a mixing bowl, cream butter until smooth.
2. Gradually add confectioners’ sugar; beat until smooth.
3. If too thick to spread, beat in one by one the milk tablespoons, checking the consistency after adding each one.
4. Frost the cupcakes when they are completely cooled.
5. Grate chocolate on top of the frosted cupcakes for decoration.

Note: You can find Guatemalan Hot Chocolate online at Azotea Estate.

I really enjoy caramelized bananas with rum, served with vanilla ice cream, so I couldn’t resist to the thought of a cupcake made with them. This recipe is now one of my favorites. It doesn’t quite taste like banana bread, it does have the taste of caramelized bananas.  The recipe calls for a cream cheese frosting to go with them, but I prefer a cinnamon whipped cream with a little rum.  It seems like a lot of ingredients and like it’s a lot do to, but they don’t take much longer to prepare than regular cupcakes, so give them a try!  When using whipped cream as frosting, it is best if you will frost only the cupcakes that will be eaten on that day.

Caramelized Banana Cupcakes
with Cinnamon Whipped Cream

Makes about 18 cupcakes
Recipe adapted from Williams Sonoma

Ingredients:

For the Bananas:

1/2 stick unsalted butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3 ripe, but still firm bananas quartered (halved crosswise, then lengthwise)
2 tablespoons dark rum
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. In a sauté pan over medium heat, combine the butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon.  Cook until butter melts and sugar is dissolved (4 to 5 minutes)
2. Add the banana slices and cook until tender, turning once for 1 to 2 minutes per side.
3. Stir together rum and vanilla.  Turn off the burner and add the rum mixture to the pan.
4. Using a long match, light the alcohol by placing the flame just in the outer edge of the pan.  Stand as far back as possible.  The flame should extinguish in a few seconds.
5. Gently shake the pan from side to side to coat the bananas with the sauce.

Spoon the bananas into a bowl and set aside.

For the Cupcakes:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon dark rum
Banana mixture already prepared
3/4 cup heavy cream

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar with electric mixer until light and fluffy.
3. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt.
4. Add eggs, vanilla, rum and banana.  Mix well.
5. Add flour mixture alternately with the cream; blend thoroughly but do not over mix.
6. Pour into prepared cupcake pans.
7. Bake 20 – 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Cool for 1- minutes in pan on rack.  Remove and cool completely before frosting.

Cinnamon Whipped Cream

1 1/2 cup whipping cream
2 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar (add more if you like a sweeter cream)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon rum

1. Whip your cream together with the sugar until it gets thick
2. Add the rum and cinnamon

Place cream in piping bag to decorate your cupcakes.

So, one of the things that I love about being abroad is the produce. Each country has it’s own things and here, I had the opportunity to try something I’ve been after for quite a bit: Rhubarb. Rhubarb, for those who don’t know, is pretty similar to celery, and has fresh raw stalks are crisp with a strong tart taste. Looks pretty much like celery, but pink! Yes, pink. So, when Helga and I found a few recipes with Rhubarb, we knew that I had to try them while in the US. To my surprise on Monday, I was walking around the vegetables and there it was! I’ve been tracking those for quite a bit, they didn’t made their way to Upstate NY till now… So I grabbed what I needed and started brainstorming. Yes, I could do a Strawberry and Rhubarb pie, but that’s the common path. I want something different. That’s when I remembered that I had a recipe by Martha Stewart that I wanted to try! I added an extra cup of rhubarb and instead of serving them with whipped cream, I made a Cream Cheese Frosting that turned out to be amazing. Before going all crazy baking, I needed to try it before baking. So, Rhubarb has the crunch of the celery, but the sweet tanginess of a not-quite-ripe strawberry. I loved it!

Rhubarb Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart
Yield: 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:
1  1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream, room temperature
3/4 pound rhubarb stalks, trimmed and cut into 1/4 inch dice (makes 3 cups)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven at 350ºF. Line standard muffins tins with paper liners.
2. Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
3. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and 1 cup of sugar until pale and fluffy.
4. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla extract. Reduce speed to low.
5. Add flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the sour cream, and beating until combined after each.
6. Stir in the diced Rhubarb.
7. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating thins half-way through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 25 minutes.
8. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored up to 3 days at room temperature in airtight containers.
9. Wait until completely cool to frost the cupcakes.

Cream Cheese Frosting
A Foodies’ Kitchen Original recipe
Yield: Enough to frost about 24 cupcakes

¼ cup unsalted butter, softened
8 oz. cream cheese
3 cups confectioner’s sugar (have a bit more around if you need to adjust the sweetness of the frosting)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Strawberries or blueberries for garnish

Directions:

1. Cream the butter on medium speed, then add the sour cream until well combined.
2. Lower the speed on the mixer and Sift in the powdered sugar, one cup at the time.
3. Add vanilla and mix. Test to see if it’s sweet enough, if you want it sweeter, add 1/4 of confectioner’s sugar at a time.
4. Spread onto cooled cupcakes or cake.
5. Place a couple of blueberries or a sliced strawberry on top.

These cupcakes are made from a vanilla cupcake recipe which is brushed with Godiva Dark Chocolate Liqueur and topped with a cocoa buttercream flavored with the same liqueur.

You can use any chocolate liqueur, or any other flavor you choose, actually. These can be made in the same manner with a berry flavored schnapps, or with Kahlua.

Godiva Liqueur Chocolate Cupcakes

Yield: 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

1 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
Godiva chocolate liqueur, or other chocolate liqueur

Godiva Buttercream Frosting

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
3 tbsp Godiva chocolate liqueur
1 tsp vanilla extract
approx 2 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
3 tbsp cocoa powder (unsweetened Hershey’s cocoa)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease line 10 cups from a 12 cup muffin tin with paper cups liners.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, eggs, vegetable oil, milk and vanilla extract. Pour in dry ingredients and stir until just combined.
4. Evenly distribute batters into prepared pans.
5. Bake for about 15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
6. Cool cupcakes on a wire rack before frosting.
7. Brush liqueur on top of the cupcakes, about 1 teaspoonful for each.

Preparation For the Frosting:

1. In a large bowl, beat together butter, rum and vanilla.
2. Gradually blend in the confectioner’s sugar until smooth.
3. Blend cocoa powder and beat until smooth. Pipe or spread frosting onto cooled cupcakes.

I can’t tell you how delicious these cupcakes are! You can make them with or without the condensed milk pudding filling, but I recommend you try it.  The whipped cream topping is perfect for these little cakes.

Coffee Cupcakes with Condensed Milk Pudding
and Whipped Cream Topping

Yields:24 regular cupcakes
Recipe from Cupcakeblog

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup strong brewed coffee
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon coffee grounds

Procedure:

1. Beat butter on high until soft, about 30 seconds.
2. Add sugar. Beat on medium-high until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
3. Add eggs one at a time, beat for 30 seconds between each.
4. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.
5. Measure out coffee and milk together.
6. Add about a fourth of the flour to the butter/sugar mixture and beat to combine.
7. Add about one third the coffee/milk mixture and beat until combined.
8. Repeat above, alternating flour and coffee and ending with the flour mixture.
9. Fold in the teaspoon of coffee grounds.
10. Scoop into cupcake papers about half to three-quarters full (depending on whether you want flat or domed cupcakes. Note that these cupcakes will shrink slightly when they cool).
11. Bake for 22-25 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean.

Tip: Be careful when adding the coffee/milk mixture to the batter. If you add it too quickly the mixture will look curdled. Add small amounts and beat well to incorporate.

Condensed Milk Pudding

This is the pudding I was telling you about. It is not too sweet, and it has a thick and smooth texture. You will use this to fill cooked cupcakes using a piping bag.

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin
3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk

1. Sprinkle the gelatin over a 1/4 cup of water and let sit for 5 minutes.
2. In a small pan over medium heat, heat the  condensed milk until warm.
3. Add the gelatin and stir over heat until the gelatin melts.
4. Transfer mixture to a bowl set over a pan of ice water. Stir constantly until the mixture thickens. It will get very thick and might clump if you stop stirring.

To fill the cupcakes, place the pudding inside a piping bag with the filling tip, poke into the baked cupcake and squeeze about 1 tablespoonful of the pudding into each one.

Whipped Cream

Ingredients:

1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons sugar

1. Whisk cream on high speed until soft peaks form.
2. Add confectioner’s sugar (more or less depending on your taste) and whip until thick.
3. Top with swirls or dollops of lightly sweetened whipped cream.
4. Dust with finely ground coffee.

Something I’ve always wanted to try was Carrot Cupcakes made with both baby and regular carrots. Also, while grocery shopping, I remembered that I wanted to get some All Spice. We don’t get that in Guatemala, or if we get to find some it’s a bit pricey… I grabbed that. I browsed online for quite a while, and found this amazing recipe by Garrett McCord from Vanilla Garlic, featured on Simply Recipes. This has to be the best Carrot Cupcake recipe I’ve made. I made a few changes, since I had the baby carrots and instead of cardamom I used All Spice. Trust me, you won’t regret it!

Carrot Cupcakes
Adapted from Simply Recipes
Makes 24 cupcakes

½ pound carrots
½ pound baby carrots
3 large eggs
½ cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon orange, zest
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon, ground
¼ teaspoon all spice

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line up paper liners on cupcakes.
2. Rinse the carrots and peel the rough skins off, then grate the carrots.
3. Place the carrots, buttermilk, oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract and orange zest together in a bowl and whisk thoroughly.
4. In another bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, all spice, and cinnamon.
5. Fold the flour mixture into the carrot mixture, being sure not to over mix.
6. Scoop into cupcake papers about 3/4 full and bake for 20 minutes.
7. Allow cupcakes to cool for 5 minutes before taking them out of the cupcake tin and allowing them to fully cool on a wire rack.

Cream Cheese Frosting

½ cup unsalted butter, softened
8 oz. cream cheese
2 cups confectioner’s sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Beat the cream cheese and butter on medium speed until well combined. Sift in the powdered sugar and mix.
2. Add vanilla and mix. Spread onto cooled cupcakes or cake