Chocolate Pomegranate Cupcakes... Wonderful!

Chocolate covered pomegranates is one of my weaknesses.  Every now and again they have dark chocolate coverage pomegranate and they get me almost every time! So of course when I came across this recipe I had to try it! To sum this one up:  WONDERFUL!

POM Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting
Makes 24 cupcakes
 1 cup POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup water, heated to boiling
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons vinegar (not wine vinegar)
1 tablespoon vanilla

Pomegranate Chocolate FrostingJuice from 1 large POM Wonderful Pomegranate,* or 1/2 cup POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice
6 tablespoons butter
1 6-oz. package chocolate chips (about 1 cup)1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
12 tablespoons whole milk (I didn't use this)

1. Preheat oven to 350F with rack in the center.
2. Place a paper baking cup in each of 24 regular sized muffin cups.
3. Whisk together the dry ingredients to combine well.
4. In a large measuring cup, combine pomegranate juice and boiling water.
5. Add oil, vinegar and vanilla to the pomegranate juice mixture.
6. Add to the flour mixture all at once and whisk to combine (batter will be lumpy).
7. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups (about half full).
8. Bake 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean and free of crumbs .(Mine were done around 20 minutes)
9. Let cool. Frost with pomegranate chocolate frosting and drizzle with glazeFrosting:
1. In a saucepan, bring pomegranate juice and butter to a boil.
2. Remove from heat; blend in chocolate chips.
3. Stir in vanilla and powdered sugar. Beat until frosting is of spreading consistency. If frosting is too stiff, add 1 to 2 tablespoons of milk to thin. ( I used 1/2 cup more powdered sugar)
(For the glaze, mix 1/2 cup powdered sugar with about 2 capfuls of POM. It should be thick. Drizzle it on top with a whisk or put it into a ziploc bag and cut the corner to use it as a piping bag.)

RECIPE FROM http://www.howtoeatacupcake.net/

Red Velvet Bliss

Happy Birthday to the members of the Matta Family  born in November! The Tin Palace wishes you a birthday full of Red Velvet Bliss! Cheers!

These Red Velvets are so delicious, the kiddo begged to have one for breakfast, good thing there were extras.  Hey- cupcakes are the new pancakes ..... right???  Don't worry I made him have a banana with the cupcake.  :)

The recipe I used for these was from Martha Stewart, though I didn't use her cream cheese frosting recipe, any cream cheese frosting recipe will compliment the cupcake nicely.

Living life one cupcake at a time! :)

Aloha from the Tin Palace.....

Nothing says Aloha like coconut cupcakes with a white chocolate cream cheese frosting!

The Barefoot Contessa's Coconut Cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 5 extra-large eggs at room temperature
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure almond extract
• 3 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 7 ounces sweetened, shredded coconut

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs, 1 at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and mix well.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In 3 parts, alternately add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk to the batter, beginning and ending with the dry. Mix until just combined. Fold in 7 ounces of coconut.

Line a muffin pan with paper liners. Fill each liner to the top with batter. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, until the tops are brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Remove to a baking rack and cool completely.

*These are delicious dense cakes! They are delicious even without the frosting. I filled the liners about 3/4 of the way full... if I had filled this to the top they would have EXPLODED!

If you are going to pair this with a frosting here is my pick:

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

• 7oz (approx one heaping cup) white chocolate chips
• 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups powdered sugar

1. Melt white chocolate chips in a bowl in the microwave in 20-second bursts. Cool for about 10 minutes.
2. Cream butter and cream cheese together using an electric mixture (make sure they are both room temperature or they won't cream properly).
3. Add the white chocolate and vanilla and beat until combined.
4. Carefully add in the powdered sugar and beat at low speed until combined.
5. Turn off mixer and give it a good stir to make sure everything is combined.

*I added another cup of powdered sugar to mine because it was a little to thin.

I made these recipes for a party my cousin was having today.  I am dying to hear how they went over with the rest of the guests!

Aloha!

Cupcake Love

Hope you all had a nice Valentine's Day with your sweeties!!  I shared with you the Valentine's that I received in the exchange with my family but I didn't share what my contribution was.  I decided to send a little cupcake love.

Cupcake Love    

I sent the ladies each a flour sack dish towel with a cupcake embroidered on it with a little heart on top.
They are a lot of fun to make.  I found it really relaxing to do them. I would just cuddle up on the couch with a good show on t.v. and embroider away on them.

Hope the ladies enjoyed their Valentine's as much as I enjoyed making them.
Everybody needs some cupcake love!

Cupcakes for Breakfast..... Yes Please!!!

One of my biggest obsessions is CUPCAKES!  I love all things cupcake, and making them is so much fun! I think cupcakes are so awesome we should be able to have them for or with every meal! So imagine my excitement when I found a recipe online for stuffed pancake cupcakes.  YAY! 

So this morning we made the Tin Palace version and we like to call them Stuffed Flapjack Cupcakes.  (We like the name Flapjack for pancakes!!) They are super easy to make and you can change them up and make them different everytime by changing the filling that you stuff into the flapjack!  Today at the Tin Palace we stuffed our flapjack cupcakes with Whitney's Homemade Strawberry Jam (THANKS WHITNEY!!)  Delicious!!!

Sprinkled with powdered sugar and ready for syrup!

Ready to enjoy breakfast!!     

STUFFED FLAPJACK CUPCAKES:
(recipe found on www.allthingscupcake.com/ )
Ingredients
2 cups Original Bisquick mix
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 stick butter
12 tbsp filling: try Nutella, fruit jam, or cream cheese
confectioners sugar for sprinkling
maple syrup for serving
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Generously coat the bottom & sides of a 12-muffin tin with butter. Make Bisquick pancakes per instructions on the box. Fill each cup in the muffin tin half-way. Add 1 tbsp of filling to the middle of each muffin, then cover with the remaining pancake mix. Bake 20 minutes. Remove from oven, place on serving dish & use a flour sifter to sprinkle with sugar. Serve with warm syrup.
Serves 6

A Champagne Celebration

Tin Palace Cupcakes strikes again!     

Tonight we celebrate the fact our friend Cassie has found her Prince!  So in honor of the occasion the kitchen staff at the Tin Palace (ME) was busy with the cupcake selection for the evenings event.  CHAMPAGNE CUPCAKES! 

So raise your glass (or your cupcake) and join in the celebration.

Tonight the Queen of The Tin Palace passes her tiara over to the future Mrs. Prince.

Yes she has really found her Prince, and yes I really have a Tiara! (Thanks Aunt T!)

Congratulations to the Princes may the future hold for you nothing but happiness!