X-Rated Goodies

One of my college roomates, Melanie, is getting married next month. Another one of my other college roomates, Jessica, and I were put in charge of baking some erotic treats for the bachelorette party weekend. Here's just a quick glimpse of our creations:

Penis Cake:


Cupcakes:




Fruity Condoms:



We made these by wrapping gummy Peach O's in fruit roll ups. These were delicious!

Condom Cookies:


We made these by pressing circles of white sugar cookie dough into pink squares of cookie dough. We then wrote on the cookies with icings.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Brown Sugar cupcakes...filled with eggless cookie dough...and topped with cookie dough frosting. Need I say more? These cupcakes are to die for and were a big hit at work for Jeff's birthday. Needless to say, eggless cookie dough is my new best friend and I may have to start making batches of it to have on hand for nibbling.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes
Source: Annie's Eats


Brown Sugar Cupcakes:
3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar, packed
4 large eggs
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips (semisweet or bittersweet)

Eggless Cookie Dough Filling:
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 Tbsp light brown sugar, packed
1 cup plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
7 oz sweetened condensed milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

Eggless Cookie Dough Frosting:
3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
3 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt
3 Tbsp milk
2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

For decoration:
Tiny chocolate chip cookies
Mini chocolate chips

To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350° F. Line two cupcake pans with paper liners (24 total). In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and brown sugar. Beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir together to blend. Add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl on low speed, alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, mixing each addition just until incorporated. Blend in the vanilla. Fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cupcake liners. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the cookie dough filling, combine the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and cream on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the flour, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla until incorporated and smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the mixture has firmed up a bit, about an hour.

To fill the cupcakes, cut a cone-shaped portion out of the center of each cupcake. Fill each hole with a chunk of the chilled cookie dough mixture.

To make the frosting, beat together the butter and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until creamy. Mix in the confectioners’ sugar until smooth. Beat in the flour and salt. Mix in the milk and vanilla extract until smooth and well blended.

Frost the filled cupcakes as desired, sprinkling with mini chocolate chips and topping with mini chocolate chip cookies for decoration.

Yield: 24 cupcakes

Dulce de Leche Pumpkin Cupcakes

It's safe to say that this will the first of many pumpkin recipes I will be making over the course of the next month or two. I love pumpkin and can eat it any time of year, but it is especially appropriate in the fall. These cupcakes were a must from the first moment I laid eyes on them. And, believe me, they did not disappoint. They were moist and tender with the perfect pumpkin flavor.

While you normally wouldn't necessarily think to pair dulce de leche and pumpkin together, they perfectly complimented each other. While it is relatively easy to make your own dulce de leche, I opted to just buy it and cut out the extra time and energy. At some point I would like to try making my own, since 1) all of the methods of making it are relatively easy, 2) it is difficult to find at stores (I found it at Byerly's), and 3) because it is only found at "high end" grocery stores, it's quite expensive.

I am happy to report that my first attempt at filling cupcakes was a complete success! I was a little nervous going into it, but I studied Nicole's directions for the "Cone Method" very carefully and followed them to a T and I ended up with cupcakes with that little extra oomph. If I would have known that filling cupcakes was so easy, I would have tried it ages ago.

Dulce de Leche Pumpkin Cupcakes
(Source: The Sweetest Kitchen)

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp coarse salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp allspice
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
7.5 ounces pureed pumpkin

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line cupcake pans with paper liners; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice; set aside.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together, brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter, and eggs. Add dry ingredients, and whisk until smooth. Whisk in pumpkin puree.

3. Divide batter evenly among liners, filling each about halfway. Bake until tops spring back when touched, and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes, rotating pans once if needed. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely.

4. Once cooled, using the cone method, fill each cupcake with a dollop of dulce de leche and frost with dulce de leche buttercream.

Dulce de Leche Buttercream

(Adapted from the Oreo Buttercream recipe)

1 cup shortening (or butter)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp water
4 cups confectioner's sugar
1 Tbsp meringue powder
1/3 cup Dulce de Leche

1. In bowl of stand mixer, cream shortening, vanilla, and water.

2. Add confectioner's sugar, meringue powder, and Dulce de Leche. Mix until well combined.

3. Little by little, add more water until the frosting reaches the right consistency.

Cookies & Cream Cupcakes

We missed Kyle's birthday the last two years and there was no way we were going to miss it a 3rd time. For the celebration, I decided to make Cookies & Cream Cupcakes. These Oreo Cupcakes were my inspiration, however I really didn't want chocolate cupcakes. I was envisioning vanilla cake with cookie chunks and that is exactly what I ended up finding at The Sweetest Kitchen.

I made a slight modification to Jamieanne's recipe by adding instant pudding. I have never done this before, but I have heard that it is supposed to make cakes/cupcakes unbelievably moist and delicious. These cupcakes were moist (and very rich), but the tops were flat and slightly browned (both easily hidden by the frosting). I'm not sure if that is a common occurrence when adding instant pudding, if it was because of the cookie chunks, or if it was just a fluke, so I guess I will just have to experiment a little more. Anyone have any ideas on what might have caused this?

I frosted the cupcakes with Heather's Oreo Buttercream recipe and it was absolutely to die for! This will definitely be my go to frosting recipe (minus the crushed Oreos) from now on. I topped each cupcake with half an Oreo (which, by the way, I would recommend doing right before you serve them, otherwise the cookies get soft).

Cookies & Cream Cupcakes
(Adapted from The Sweetest Kitchen)

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 2/3 cup sugar
3 large egg whites, room temperature
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 3oz box instant vanilla pudding
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
Oreos, crushed into chunks

1. Count out 12 Oreos and separate bottoms from top, making sure there is frosting on both sides. Place one wafer, icing side up, in bottom of each muffin cup. (This didn't actually end up working for me. Every time I separated my Oreos, the frosting was always on one side and not the other. Not really a big deal, though - I just used the halves without frosting in the cupcake batter and for the buttercream.)

2. In a large bowl cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy, about 3-5 min.

3. Add the egg whites and beat until incorporated.

4. In a separate bowl mix together the flour, pudding, baking powder, and salt. In a small bowl, add vanilla extract to milk.

5. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to butter mixture and beat until incorporated. Add 1/2 of the milk mixture and beat again until incorporated. Keep adding flour mixture and milk mixture alternately, being sure that you end with the flour.

6. Gently stir the crushed Oreos into the batter.

7. Fill the cupcake lines three-quarters full. (Mine were actually filled almost to the top because of the cookie on the bottom.) Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of cupcakes comes out clean.

Oreo Buttercream
(Source: Heather Drive)

1 cup shortening or butter (I used shortening so it didn't have to be refrigerated)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tbsp. water
1 lb. (approx. 4 cups) confectioner's sugar
1 tbsp. meringue powder
12-14 Oreos, finely crushed

1. In bowl of stand mixer, cream shortening, vanilla, and water.

2. Add confectioner's sugar, meringue powder, and crushed Oreos. Mix until well combined.

3. To top cupcakes, it's better to have medium to thin consistency icing, so you'll have to add more water. I probably added another 2-3 tbsp. to get the desired consistency, but you'll want to add the water little by little to make sure you don't add too much. When it's the right consistency, it should be pretty easy to stir by hand (think about whether you'd be able to easily squeeze it out of a piping bag). If you accidentally make it too thin (runny), add more confectioner's sugar.

Makes 24 cupcakes.

Vanilla Brown Butter Cupcakes

I've never worked with browned butter before, but these cupcakes over at Baking Bites sounded good, so I thought now was as good a time as any to give it a shot. Browned butter is surprisingly easy to make, even though I continuously checked the internet for pictures of what "browned butter" was supposed to look like. :) The toasty flavor of the brown butter was most noticeable in the batter (yes, I enjoy licking the beater), but the resulting cupcakes definitely tasted richer than they normally do.

Vanilla Brown Butter Cupcakes

(Source: Baking Bites)

1/3 cup butter, softened

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup milk

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners. Melt butter in a small saucepan and cook over low-medium heat until butter has turned an amber color and smells toasty, but not burnt.

2. Pour from saucepan, scraping all the browned bits from the bottom with a spatula, into a small bowl to cool. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. In a medium bowl, whisk together cooled butter, eggs, vanilla and milk. Pour into flour mixture and stir until just combined.

3. Distribute batter evenly into prepared muffin cups. Bake for 16-19 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.

Makes 12-cupcakes.

Quick Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

(Source: Baking Bites)

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla extract

approx 3 cups confectioners’ sugar

2-4 tablespoons milk

Cream butter with an electric mixer until soft. Add vanilla and gradually add in sugar until most has been incorporated. Mixture will look a bit sandy. Add in milk as necessary (start with 2 tbsp), along with any remaining sugar, until frosting reaches an easy to work with consistency.