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First, here are the recipes for the cupcakes. I'll have a post in a bit with more substance to it, but people have asked, so here ya go. :)
S'mores Cupcakes
Graham cracker crust
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 tbsp sugar
5 tbsp butter, melted
Mix until well incorporated and then spoon into baking cups, making sure to fully cover the bottoms. This will make a lot more than you need, but I suck at cutting down recipes, so you'll have to work it out yourself.
Cupcakes
Ingredients
Makes 2 dozen
* 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 1/2 cups sugar
* 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
* 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
* 3/4 teaspoon salt
* 2 large eggs
* 3/4 cup warm water
* 3/4 cup buttermilk
* 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with liners; set aside. In a large mixing bowl, sift together cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add the eggs, warm water, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla; mix batter until smooth, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl to assure batter is well mixed.
2. Divide batter evenly among liners, filling each about one-third full. Bake until tops spring back when touched, about 20 minutes, rotating pan once if needed. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely.
Note: In my opinion, it's not necessary to only fill them 1/3 full, especially with the crust in there. Stop a little under the edge of the cups. You just have to get a feel for this, although it will affect how many cupcakes you end up with, but this recipe makes a lot so that's kinda good.
Mallowcreme Frosting
Ingredients
1/2-3/4 lb. (2 or 3 sticks) butter, room temperature
1 lb. confectioner's sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
16 oz. tub of marshmallow cream
Directions
Cream the butter on high until it's light and fluffy. Add the confectioner's sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, and beat until fluffy each time. Beat in the vanilla until incorporated. Then dump in the marshmallow cream and mix it up 'til it's all creamy. Transfer to pastry bag (if desired) and pipe onto cupcakes! (You can also cut the corner off a Ziploc bag and use that instead.)
A couple notes- you will have a boatload of batter. I wouldn't worry about only filling the tins 1/3 up. I did that with my first tray, and then filled the second up a bit more, and I still had batter left over. Also, the frosting makes an absolute frakton too. Goes with the extra cupcakes, though!
These are Amy Sedaris's vanilla cupcakes, with a minor twist.
ingredients
5 chai teabags
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/4 cups milk
Amy Sedaris's Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
preparation
Turn oven on to 375 degrees F.
Put butter in mixer and beat at medium speed until somewhat smooth. Pour in sugar and beat well. Add 2 eggs. I like to crack the eggs on the side of the bowl while it is moving, which can be really stupid. I like to take chances. Yes, I have had to throw away my batter because I lost eggshells in the mix. Yes, it was a waste of food and yes, I know how expensive butter is, but what can I say? I'm a daredevil. Mix well. Add: vanilla, baking powder, salt, flour, and milk. Beat until it looks like it is supposed to and pour into individual baking cups, until they are about 2/3 full. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Should produce 24 cupcakes; I get 18 because I'm doing something wrong, although my cupcakes were voted second best in the city by New York Magazine.
For making this recipe into vanilla chai, take your milk, warm it slightly, and stick four or five chai tea bags in there to steep. Let it steep for several minutes so it gets very strong, and make sure to squeeze the bags as you take them out too. (Can you tell I love chai? You could do less bags or shorter steeping if you want.) The bags WILL soak up some of the milk, so replace it back to 1 1/4 cups after you take them out. (I like to do this in my glass measuring cups for this reason.) And that's it! That's the secret to making these with chai. As for "beat until it looks like it's supposed to", that's very smooth and with no lumps.
Frost with Amy Sedaris's Vanilla Buttercream Frosting-
1 box (1 lb.) confectioners' sugar
1 stick unsalted butter
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract*
1/4 cup milk or light cream
food coloring (optional)
*Less than 1 teaspoon pure almond extract can be substituted.
preparation
In a bowl combine: one box of confectioners' sugar, one stick of unsalted butter, one teaspoon of pure vanilla extract, and 1/4 cup of milk or light cream and beat for a while. Really whip it, don't be afraid to get in there. I occasionally add food coloring and sometimes substitute pure almond extract for vanilla.
If you do choose to add pure almond extract instead of vanilla, you're on your own. I don't know the measurement for it, but I do know it's less than the amount of vanilla you would add.
Originally, I was going to steep chai in the milk for this recipe too, but I decided it would be too much for the cupcake and the frosting to taste basically the same, so I left them as-is. If you make chai frosting too, though, I'd love to hear your thoughts on how it tasted!
One final (really!) note. I don't have a stand mixer, and while I do have hand mixers, I did 90% of this by hand with a wooden spoon. So if you don't have the equipment, don't worry. You'll just give your arm a good workout. ;) As for why I mostly did it by hand? I don't know. I kinda like doing it manually because it feels like I get a better feel for what I'm making that way. Also the way the beaters get clogged and have to be scraped out every few minutes annoys me to no end (yes, I have cheap mixers, I know).
Also, if you plan on doing these more than once, invest in a pastry tip and some disposable pastry bags. I did that for the party this weekend, and they not only came out looking WAY prettier, but it was about a thousand times easier than using ziploc bags. I got a standard star tip, 1M, and some disposable Wilton bags at Michael's. They were pretty cheap and I love them. :)
S'mores Cupcakes
Graham cracker crust
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 tbsp sugar
5 tbsp butter, melted
Mix until well incorporated and then spoon into baking cups, making sure to fully cover the bottoms. This will make a lot more than you need, but I suck at cutting down recipes, so you'll have to work it out yourself.
Cupcakes
Ingredients
Makes 2 dozen
* 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 1/2 cups sugar
* 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
* 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
* 3/4 teaspoon salt
* 2 large eggs
* 3/4 cup warm water
* 3/4 cup buttermilk
* 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with liners; set aside. In a large mixing bowl, sift together cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add the eggs, warm water, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla; mix batter until smooth, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl to assure batter is well mixed.
2. Divide batter evenly among liners, filling each about one-third full. Bake until tops spring back when touched, about 20 minutes, rotating pan once if needed. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely.
Note: In my opinion, it's not necessary to only fill them 1/3 full, especially with the crust in there. Stop a little under the edge of the cups. You just have to get a feel for this, although it will affect how many cupcakes you end up with, but this recipe makes a lot so that's kinda good.
Mallowcreme Frosting
Ingredients
1/2-3/4 lb. (2 or 3 sticks) butter, room temperature
1 lb. confectioner's sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
16 oz. tub of marshmallow cream
Directions
Cream the butter on high until it's light and fluffy. Add the confectioner's sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, and beat until fluffy each time. Beat in the vanilla until incorporated. Then dump in the marshmallow cream and mix it up 'til it's all creamy. Transfer to pastry bag (if desired) and pipe onto cupcakes! (You can also cut the corner off a Ziploc bag and use that instead.)
A couple notes- you will have a boatload of batter. I wouldn't worry about only filling the tins 1/3 up. I did that with my first tray, and then filled the second up a bit more, and I still had batter left over. Also, the frosting makes an absolute frakton too. Goes with the extra cupcakes, though!
These are Amy Sedaris's vanilla cupcakes, with a minor twist.
ingredients
5 chai teabags
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/4 cups milk
Amy Sedaris's Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
preparation
Turn oven on to 375 degrees F.
Put butter in mixer and beat at medium speed until somewhat smooth. Pour in sugar and beat well. Add 2 eggs. I like to crack the eggs on the side of the bowl while it is moving, which can be really stupid. I like to take chances. Yes, I have had to throw away my batter because I lost eggshells in the mix. Yes, it was a waste of food and yes, I know how expensive butter is, but what can I say? I'm a daredevil. Mix well. Add: vanilla, baking powder, salt, flour, and milk. Beat until it looks like it is supposed to and pour into individual baking cups, until they are about 2/3 full. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Should produce 24 cupcakes; I get 18 because I'm doing something wrong, although my cupcakes were voted second best in the city by New York Magazine.
For making this recipe into vanilla chai, take your milk, warm it slightly, and stick four or five chai tea bags in there to steep. Let it steep for several minutes so it gets very strong, and make sure to squeeze the bags as you take them out too. (Can you tell I love chai? You could do less bags or shorter steeping if you want.) The bags WILL soak up some of the milk, so replace it back to 1 1/4 cups after you take them out. (I like to do this in my glass measuring cups for this reason.) And that's it! That's the secret to making these with chai. As for "beat until it looks like it's supposed to", that's very smooth and with no lumps.
Frost with Amy Sedaris's Vanilla Buttercream Frosting-
1 box (1 lb.) confectioners' sugar
1 stick unsalted butter
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract*
1/4 cup milk or light cream
food coloring (optional)
*Less than 1 teaspoon pure almond extract can be substituted.
preparation
In a bowl combine: one box of confectioners' sugar, one stick of unsalted butter, one teaspoon of pure vanilla extract, and 1/4 cup of milk or light cream and beat for a while. Really whip it, don't be afraid to get in there. I occasionally add food coloring and sometimes substitute pure almond extract for vanilla.
If you do choose to add pure almond extract instead of vanilla, you're on your own. I don't know the measurement for it, but I do know it's less than the amount of vanilla you would add.
Originally, I was going to steep chai in the milk for this recipe too, but I decided it would be too much for the cupcake and the frosting to taste basically the same, so I left them as-is. If you make chai frosting too, though, I'd love to hear your thoughts on how it tasted!
One final (really!) note. I don't have a stand mixer, and while I do have hand mixers, I did 90% of this by hand with a wooden spoon. So if you don't have the equipment, don't worry. You'll just give your arm a good workout. ;) As for why I mostly did it by hand? I don't know. I kinda like doing it manually because it feels like I get a better feel for what I'm making that way. Also the way the beaters get clogged and have to be scraped out every few minutes annoys me to no end (yes, I have cheap mixers, I know).
Also, if you plan on doing these more than once, invest in a pastry tip and some disposable pastry bags. I did that for the party this weekend, and they not only came out looking WAY prettier, but it was about a thousand times easier than using ziploc bags. I got a standard star tip, 1M, and some disposable Wilton bags at Michael's. They were pretty cheap and I love them. :)