cupcake

Dirty Chai Cupcakes — Chai Spiced Cake with Espresso Frosting

October 25, 2016 by Alyssa

Dirty Chai Cupcakes combine the best of both worlds with chai latte cakes swirled with creamy, espresso buttercream frosting and topped with a chocolate covered espresso bean!

These Dirty Chai Cupcakes were inspired by a friend who’s a fan the Dirty Chai butter coffee at Picnik — a local, Austin-based food truck (and now brick & mortar) that specializes in food that accommodates all dietary restrictions. Truthfully, these cupcakes don’t have any special dietary accommodations. In fact, they only accommodate those who love coffee and crave cupcakes.

If this sounds like you, read on!

Never heard of a Dirty Chai?

It’s the best of both worlds, combining the dessert like spices of a chai latte with the toasty notes of espresso. Think sweet, creamy & caffeine!

The cake in these Dirty Chai Cupcakes is made with a parade of spices — cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, allspice, clove, nutmeg and a dash of black pepper for a hint of spiciness and warmth. This combined with the caramelly, molasses notes of brown sugar bring a subtle, toasted sweetness to the Dirty Chai Cupcakes. A friend who tasted these cupcakes mentioned they’d be great sans the frosting as a chai breakfast muffin!

Bake the Cupcakes!

These Dirty Chai Cupcakes bake up thick and chewy yet moist! The key to these cupcakes is the addition of an apple cider vinegar & baking soda mixture added just before scooping the batter into cups for baking.

Much like in science class, mixing these two ingredients together forms a quick reaction and a mass of bubbles. Adding the bubbling vinegar and baking soda mixture to the batter creates air within the cake when it bakes, allowing the cupcakes to rise up and bake into fluffy, Dirty Chai Cupcake masterpieces!

Whip up the frosting!

Since you can’t have Dirty Chai Cupcakes without some sort of coffee involved, I’ve topped these delicious chai cakes with rich, creamy espresso flavored frosting. To make this frosting, I created a high-concentrated instant coffee mixture that’s drizzled into the buttercream as it’s mixing. The coffee flavor has the rich notes of espresso without any bitterness.

To bring an extra jolt of coffee flavor, these Dirty Chai Cupcakes are topped with a simple chocolate covered espresso beans! This small dark chocolate bean also adds a beautiful contrast to the espresso colored frosting and a hint of class to the Dirty Chai Cupcakes.

Perfect for Fall!

My Dirty Chai cupcakes are the perfect afternoon treat paired with a cup of coffee. Their chai spice flavor is on par for the Autumn season and they’re a bit of a change up from the traditional ol’ Pumpkin Spice hype this time of year!

5.0 from 4 reviews

Dirty Chai Cupcakes -- Chai Spiced Cake with Espresso Frosting

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Prep time

90 mins

Cook time

20 mins

Total time

1 hour 50 mins

Dirty Chai Cupcakes are the best of both worlds, combining the dessert like spices of a chai latte with the toasty notes of espresso.

Serves: 32

Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk (1%, 2% or Whole)
3½ cups all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons cardamom
2 teaspoons ginger
½ teaspoon allspice
¼ teaspoon clove
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon black pepper
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar
6-7 cups confectioner's sugar*
1 cup butter, softened
½ cup shortening
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon instant coffee
4 tablespoons warm milk
dark chocolate espresso beans, optional for decorating

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350*F
Line 2 cupcake pans with cupcake liners and set aside
Before making the cake, prepare the coffee for the frosting by whisking together the instant coffee and warm milk. Once mixed, set aside to cool.
To make the cake, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, allspice, clove, nutmeg, black pepper and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
In a stand mixer, add 1 cup softened butter and beat on high for 2-3 minutes
Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add both sugars and the 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
Cream on high for an additional 1-2 minutes
Scrape down the sides and one at a time, add in the eggs, mixing well before each new addition
In separate additions, add the ⅓ of the flour mixture followed by ⅓rd of the milk mixing on medium speed between each new addition
Once fully incorporated scrape down the sides and prepare the baking soda & vinegar mixture
In a small bowl, whisk together the baking soda and vinegar, quickly, while it's still bubbling pour the mixture into the batter and mix together on medium speed
Evenly distribute the batter into the prepared cupcake liners (makes ~32 cupcakes total)
Bake for 19-20 minutes
Remove the cupcakes from the oven and allow cakes to cool completely before frosting
To make the frosting, cream 1 cup softened butter and ½ cup shortening on high for 2-3 minutes
In 1 cup additionals, add in the confectioner's sugar
After 4 cups, add ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract
With the mixer on low drizzle in the cooled coffee extract
Add in the remaining confectioner's sugar, 1 cup at a time until the desired consistency is reached
To frost the cupcakes, place the frosting in a piping bag with a star tip
Cupcakes will keep 2-3 days, covered at room temperature

Notes

* I used 7 cups as I prefer a stiffer frosting to pipe with

Salted Caramel Bananas Foster Cake featuring Dollop Gourmet Frosting

September 5, 2016 by Alyssa

A rich, thick Bananas Foster Cake with traditional caramel and rum Bananas Foster flavors topped with a decadent Salted Caramel Frosting.

I’m a big advocate for cooking food at home and making meals from scratch, but once in a while there’s a product on the shelf that catches my attention, meets my ingredient standards and actually tastes good. This time around, it was Dollop Gourmet’s Sea Salted Caramel Frosting and it inspired my Salted Caramel Bananas Foster Cake. It’s a cake that whips together quickly, bakes up in a single large cake pan, so there’s plenty to share with minimal mess, and it’s made even simpler with Dollop’s Salted Caramel Frosting!

In order to achieve the caramelly, brûléed flavor that’s rich throughout Bananas Foster, I used brown sugar in the cake in place of traditional granulated sugar. The molasses in the sugar gives the cake a golden brown hue when baked, that basically screams caramel deliciousness and hits all the brûléed notes of the pan seared bananas in traditional Bananas Foster!

This caramel flavor is matched with an equally heavy dose of sweet bananas. When you choose the bananas for this recipe, I recommend choosing large, fat bananas that have been browning for a day or two. The riper and sweeter they are at the time you make this cake, the more decadent, moist and sweet this cake will be. My favorite part about the cake itself is how thick it is! I mean, look at that slice, it’s a cake lover’s dream!

The star ingredient of the traditional Bananas Foster dessert is the splash of rum that’s used to flambe the bananas right before serving. Since I’m not a big proponent of baking with alcohol, as it sometimes plays tricks with the cake when baking, I added a splash of rum extract to the batter. This splash gives just a subtle hint of rum to the cake that tips it towards the edge of Bananas Foster perfection!

The cherry on top of my Salted Caramel Bananas Foster Cake is Dollop Gourmet’s Sea Salted Caramel Frosting. Its caramelly sweetness is a delightful match to the brown sugar and bananas in the cake while Dollop’s hint of sea salt in the frosting brings the final flavor component to my Bananas Foster cake. I love the added touch of sea salt, as it brings a modern twist to the traditional Bananas Foster dessert, making it sweet, decadent and oh so, craveable!

It’s rare for me to promote packaged food, as I’m a huge proponent for cooking and baking from scratch but my views were swayed when it came to Dollop Gourmet Frosting. Often times, packaged food is chalked full of unnecessary ingredients and generally, it’s not great for your health — but this is NOT the case with Dollop.

Dollop Gourmet’s frosting can definitely hold its own against a homemade frosting. While I haven’t done any official experiments, I’d bet my Kitchen Aid mixer that you can’t tell the difference between a homemade frosting and Dollop’s when paired side by side.

I also love that Dollop’s frosting doesn’t contain any wacky ingredients. It’s pretty much the same ingredients I’d use if I were making my own frosting from scratch (with no mess!). I trust this frosting and that’s saying something, as I’m typically one to quickly turn up my nose at the fake, oily frostings regularly found on a grocery store shelf. Seriously, look at these frosting stats!

Do you know any frosting that can pull of these types of stats and still taste good? Seriously impressive.

Now, if these drool-worthy Salted Caramel Bananas Foster Cake photos haven’t convinced you yet, here’s my advice — get yourself some bananas so they start to ripen, hop on over to your Amazon Prime account, order yourself a jar or 2 of Dollop’s frosting and prepare to slather this cake with Dollop frosting to dig into later this week! You won’t regret it and you’ll be back to thank me for the most decadant banana cake you’ve ever tasted.

5.0 from 2 reviews

Salted Caramel Bananas Foster Cake featuring Dollop Gourmet Frosting

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Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

45 mins

Total time

1 hour 5 mins

A rich, thick Bananas Foster Cake with traditional caramel and rum Bananas Foster flavors topped with a decadent Salted Caramel Frosting.

Serves: 20 pieces

Ingredients

3 large ripe bananas, mashed
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup + 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1½ cups brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon rum extract
1½ cups milk
1 jar Dollop Gourmet's Salted Caramel Frosting
caramel sauce, optional for serving

Instructions

Preheat the over to 350*
Grease a 13x9 inch pan with a bit of butter and set aside
In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and set aside.
In a larger mixer, cream the softened butter for 1-2 minutes
Add in the brown sugar and beat until creamy
One at a time, add in the eggs
Once well incorporated, add in both the vanilla and rum extract
Add in the mashed bananas and mix well
Next add in the flour and milk to the batter, alternating each addition
Pour the batter into the prepared 9x13 inch pan
Bake for 40-50 minutes until a cake pin inserted into the center comes out clean
Place the cake on a wire rack to cool completely.
Once cooled, ice with Dollop frosting
To serve, slice the cake and drizzle with caramel sauce

Hummingbird Cake with Honey Cream Cheese Frosting

April 11, 2016 by Alyssa

I’m going out on a limb here, but I’m pretty sure most people have never heard of Hummingbird Cake. In fact, I have no idea how I eve know about the cake! If you’ve never heard of it, Hummingbird cake is a moist banana cake filled with pineapple, pecans, and sometimes coconut then topped with a rich cream cheese frosting.

I’ve always associated Hummingbird Cake with the South and in my mind, it was a true Southern dessert. I even made up my own little story of its origin. I always picture Hummingbird Cake being originally created by a sweet, old grandma with a thick Southern drawl wearing a blue gingham apron who simply dumped some tropical fruits into her banana cake recipe. She then topped it with cream cheese frosting since her favorite Red Velvet Cake is finished with the same creamy frosting!

As much I love my made up version of the Hummingbird Cake’s origin, it not even close to the truth. If you want to know the truth, read on, if you want to stick with my great Southern story, skip the nest paragraph!

Here’s the true story — which I learned while reach searching the recipe! Hummingbird Cake was actually created in Jamaica — which makes sense when you think about it. The cake is loaded with tropical fruits and both bananas & pineapples are abundant in Jamaica. The cake also shares its name with a Jamaican-native hummingbird species. Some say it received its name because the cake is so sweet it would actually attract the hummingbirds which feed on sweet nectar.

I prefer my story but regardless of its origin, I love Hummingbird Cake because it’s super moist, flavorful, and has a wonderful texture from the mix of pineapple, coconut, pecans and luscious cream cheese frosting.

Hummingbird Cake typically calls for a cup of oil and for most recipes, 2 or more cups of sugar! I chose to lighten the recipe by halving the oil. Instead, I relied on the bananas to bring moisture to the cake.

When it came to the sugar in the cake itself, I chose to only use 1/3rd of the sugar in standard Hummingbird Cake recipes (2/3 cups added sugar in all). To bring some caramel notes, which pair nicely with both the bananas and pecans, I used a mix of granulated and light brown sugar while again relying heavily on the mix of tropical fruits to bring natural sweetness to the cake.

Wanting to make the frosting a bit more special than typical cream cheese frosting, I chose to create a Honey Cream Cheese Frosting. I love the flavor the honey adds to the overall cake and it’s also a bit in tribute to the Jamaican hummingbird that dines on nectar.

With my fat and sugar swaps, this Hummingbird Cake is nothing you need to feel too guilty about eating. It’s a fruit & nut packed cake that’s super moist from mashed bananas, pineapple & coconut while being perfectly sweet when paired with the Honey Cream Cheese frosting.

I highly recommend enjoying this cake on a sunny afternoon on your patio with a bit lemonade or ice tea. After all, that’s how my Southern baking grandma would have enjoyed it when she first created the recipe!

Hummingbird Cake with Honey Cream Cheese Frosting

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Prep time

60 mins

Cook time

20 mins

Total time

1 hour 20 mins

A fruit & nut packed cake that's super moist from mashed bananas, pineapple & coconuts while being perfectly sweet when paired with the Honey Cream Cheese frosting.

Serves: 24 cupcakes

Ingredients

1½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 large bananas, mashed
½ cup oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
⅓ cup granulated sugar
⅓ cup light brown sugar
½ cup shredded coconut
⅓ cup crushed pineapple, drained
½ cup chopped pecans
8 ounces cream cheese, softened (1 brick)
½ cup honey
¼ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature (1/2 stick)
5 cups confectioner's sugar

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350*.
Line 2 cupcake tins with cupcake liners and set aside.
In a large bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon then set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the oil, eggs and vanilla extract.
Whisk in the mashed banana followed by both sugars.
Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture and combine with a spatula or wooden spoon.
Fold in the pineapple, coconut and pecans until fully combined.
Evenly distribute the batter among the 24 cupcake liners.
Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean.
Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.
To make the frosting, place the softened cream cheese and butter into an electric mixing bowl and cream together on high for 1-2 minute until fluffy.
Add in the honey and mix on medium for up to 1 minute.
Begin adding in the confectioner's sugar, 1 cup at a time, mixing on high before each new addition.
Once the cupcakes have cooled completely, frost the cupcakes by placing the frosting into a piping bag or spreading on top of the cupcakes with a spatula.
Refrigerator the frosted cupcakes until serving.
Allow the cupcakes to come to room temperature (20 minutes) before serving.