In the Kitchen -Cadbury Cupcakes

Ladies and gentlemen I’d like to say I’M BACK!! Although I’m still recovering from my knee injury for the first time in months I was inspired enough to step into the kitchen and bake something new. I don’t promise that I will have weekly posts going forward, but I will try to be more active. I’m still relying on my taste testers to tell me if a recipe is good and this cupcake got the seal of approval! I will say though that these cupcakes are EXTREMELY sweet and not for everyone. I noticed a lot of recipes online mentioning using Cadbury cream eggs as the base & I decided to take 2 recipes I found and combine them together. I took my recipes from Pizzazzerie (which I have been a fan of for a VERY long time) and Culinary Concoctions by Peabody (which I found through good ol’ pinterest).

Cupcake Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 2/3 cups sugar
• 3/4 cups butter, softened
• 2/3 cup cocoa powder
• 3.4 oz Jell-O instant pudding in Chocolate Fudge (1 package)
• 1 1/4 cup water
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs

Instructions:

1. pre heat oven to 350 degrees
2. combine all ingredients together and beat on medium high until fully mixed, about 60 seconds
3. bake for 18-20 minutes

Frosting Ingredients:

• filling from 24 Cadbury cream eggs (you’ll want to save the shells to garnish your cupcakes
• 1 cup unsalted butter softened
• 4-6 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• milk to thin frosting if needed

Instructions:

1. place butter in mixing bowl 
2. add 4 cups powdered sugar
3. add vanilla extract
4. beat with mixer until smooth and creamy, 3-5 minutes
5. at this point you can taste the frosting and see if you want it to be sweeter, I added the extra 2 cups of powdered sugar but you can choose not to
6. if you frosting is too thick you can pour some milk while beating to make it a better consistency
7. frost cupcakes and garnish with half of a Cadbury egg

The most tedious part of the whole process was sitting there and scooping out the insides of all the Cadbury eggs! The insides are my favorite so it was very hard for me not to just eat it all! This cupcake will truly be something everyone will love at your Easter celebration. I hope you enjoyed this sweet Easter treat & follow me on Pinterest to help me pick what I make next! Also I just want to say I truly appreciate everyone who has stuck around while I took this unplanned hiatus, hopefully the road to recovery continues to go smoothly.

In the Kitchen – Cinnamon Roll Casserole

Usually for Christmas Eve we have dinner at my house, but this year due to downsizing our house before we move my sister volunteered to have it at her house. This was her first time ever doing it and it was a huge success and a wonderful evening. Mr. H and I went over first thing in the morning to help out as much as possible so I volunteered to make breakfast for everyone. Of course I decided that I wanted to make breakfast for all of us the day before so I didn’t have very much planned. Thankfully I hopped on Pinterest and knew I had a few things that I could try. I made a cinnamon roll casserole that was absolutely delicious. There are definitely a few things I’d like to tweak on the recipe the next time I make it but really you can do whatever you like to this and it will still taste fantastic! Mr. H already said that he wants sliced apples on it next time.

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons of melted butter or baking spray
• 2 cans (12.4 oz each) Pillsbury® refrigerated cinnamon rolls with icing
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2  teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2  teaspoons vanilla
• 1/4 cup maple syrup (I did not measure this out, I just poured some over the rolls)
• Icing from cinnamon rolls

Directions:

• Heat oven to 375°F. Pour melted butter into ungreased 13×9-inch baking pan.
• Separate both cans of dough into 16 rolls; set icing aside. Cut each roll into 8 pieces; place pieces over butter in dish.
• In a medium bowl, beat eggs. Beat in cream, cinnamon and vanilla until well blended; gently pour over roll pieces.
• Bake 20 to 28 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 15 minutes.
• Place icing in microwave 15-30 seconds until warm enough to pour over rolls. (REMEMBER TO TAKE METAL TOPS OFF, I almost forgot)
• Pour icing over rolls, serve & enjoy!

 

I hope you all had a lovely holiday & a happy New Year! Follow me on Pinterest & pick what I make next!

In the Kitchen – Banana Cupcakes

I will admit with the holiday weekend I have been very lazy in regards to the blog, I apologize! But I do have a new recipe that has been a hit with the taste testers! Mr. H has been eating at least one of these cupcakes every morning. Now I don’t think it’s a great breakfast food, but there’s no arguing with Mr. H. This weeks inspiration came from Annie Eats, which I found of course through Pinterest. I changed her recipe just a little bit & since I was being lazy this week I did not make the caramel frosting that she uses, although some day I may attempt it, I just used the whipped cream topping I used for the Pink Lemonade Pie.

In the Kitchen – Pink Lemonade Pie

Oh my gosh you guys, Mr. H picked a good one this week! This weeks In the Kitchen is a Pink Lemonade Pie which I found on Prepared Pantry, through Pinterest of course. The cool thing about this website is that they have all different variations of this recipe so you can really create something that everyone will love. Now I think I would like this better if it had a waffle cone crust instead of graham crackers, but everyone else loved it so I guess I’ll just leave it alone. Is it weird that I usually don’t eat what I bake? I usually have a taste of course, but otherwise I don’t really eat anything I bake. I rely on all my taste tasters, so big thanks to everyone willing to try my creations! Now without further ado..

In the Kitchen-PuppyCakes

This weekend at my job we had an open house and I was in charge of making cupcakes that visitors could have for free. For those of you who don’t know I work at animal hospital & of course I couldn’t just put out plain ol’ cupcakes, baking is in my blood and someday I will open my own bakery! This weeks In the Kitchen is inspired by a pin I found on Pinterest. It didn’t have any source or any instructions so I winged it all, but I have to say it came out pretty darned good!

Ingredients:

• any kind of cupcake you’d like. Since I was making so many & didn’t have much time I used a box mix
• chocolate frosting
• smarties (eyes)
• Nutter Butters (ears)
• Nilla Wafers
• Junior Mints (nose)
• Black gel frosting, you could also use an edible marker for this

Directions:

1. Bake cupcakes & let cool
2. Frost with chocolate frosting
3. Split Nutter Butter cookie in two and use as ears
4. Place Smarties & Nilla Wafer as eyes & nose
5. Put some frosting on back of Junior Mint and add to top of Nilla Wafer
6. Dot eyes with black gel & draw mouth on wafer

These cupcakes are super easy to make & would be great to make with kids! There wasn’t a single cupcake left at the end of the event and kids were coming up to me telling me they were the best cupcakes in the entire world. Also if you receive the Derry Newspaper keep an eye out as the cupcakes and a puppy should be featured!

Follow me on Pinterest & pick the next thing I make In the Kitchen by commenting here!