MSC Club: Coconut Cupcakes

Don't tell Martha.  But I cheated.

I used store-bought frosting on these gorgeous coconut cupcakes, the January pick for the Martha Stewart Cupcake Club.  I was too scared to try the recipe for Seven Minute Frosting.  I've burned myself on hot sugar syrup one too many times.  So I decided to play it safe, even though it means ignoring my obsession with following every recipe as written.

Can I tell you, I adored these cupcakes.  These are my favorite so far from the Martha Stewart Cupcakes book.  And they actually turned out like a cupcake, not a muffin!  I love that there is shredded coconut in the batter.  I'm an absolute nut for coconut!  Reminds me of my trip to Hawaii, where my husband and I ate coconut shrimp and drank Pina Coladas every night.

Don't they look like Hostess snowballs?  Ador-a-ble!

And so yummy and rich!  But I have to admit, I'm not sure I like the canned "vanilla" frosting.  I'll be making these again, if I can perfect the frosting.  Thanks to Cinema Cupcakes for the great pick this month!

MSC: Gingerbread cupcakes

I hate to admit this, but I haven't been in the mood for holiday baking this year. It's been such a crazy couple weeks, with all the meetings and working on weekends and snow days, that I haven't had much time to bake up my favorite cookies and treats. I managed to make these gingerbread cupcakes, a Martha Stewart Cupcake Club pick for December, in between my Christmas baking. But I mixed them together in a hurry, and I think it affected the quality.

The cupcakes turned out tough and dense, perhaps due to overbaking. The mix of spices was a delicious surprise, but I couldn't get over how brick-hard these cupcakes turned out. I absolutely adored the white fluffy frosting, which was super easy to make with just three ingredients -- powdered sugar, butter and vanilla. I couldn't stop myself from "taste-testing" way too much frosting.

I don't own gingerbread shaped cookie cutters, so I decided to skip baking the cookies to accompany the cupcakes. Instead, I topped each cupcake with crystallized ginger. Probably not the best choice, however. I couldn't taste the ginger with all the heavy white frosting.

So far, I've made three recipes from the Martha Stewart cupcakes book. None of them have turned out as good as I had hoped. For some reason, my cupcakes seem more like breakfast muffins with (unnecessary) frosting on the top. I'm curious what others think about these cupcakes and how the other recipes are turning out. Maybe I'm doing something wrong. Or maybe I'm just tired. I probably shouldn't blog right before my bedtime :)

MS Cupcakes Club: Candied Sweet Potato Cupcakes

This month's Martha Stewart Cupcakes Club selection, Candied Sweet Potato Cupcakes chosen by Karen at Karen's Cookies, Cakes & More, offered many firsts for me. It was my first time baking sweet potatoes (we usually buy them in a can), my first time baking a dessert with sweet potatoes as an ingredient and my first time broiling marshmallows to get them toasty brown.

I loved every step involved in the recipe. I took a nibble of the sweet potato as it came out of the oven, and I was amazed at how naturally sweet it was, without the marshmallows or brown sugar. I definitely need to get in the habit of baking sweet potatoes more often when they are in season.

This cupcakes turned out fantastic, almost more like a muffin than a cupcake. The combination of spices -- including freshly ground nutmeg (yum!) and cinnamon -- were divine. In fact, the cupcakes tasted so good, I almost didn't want to add the marshmallows. Almost.

But gleefully I did. It was tricky to stack the tiny, round marshmallows without them falling over when they hit the oven. And it was even trickier trying to transfer the half-melted marshmallows to the cupcakes, but by some miracle, I managed.

I didn't manage, however, to make the candied pecans for the topping. I gave it a good try, but the sugar syrup crystallized instead of caramelized, and the combination of "rock candy" and pecans wasn't that great to look at or to eat. So I left the pecans off.

But the cupcakes still looked so cute...

And I discovered that you have to eat the cupcakes while the marshmallows are still warm and gooey. I loved these cupcakes, and I'd love to bake them again sometime.