Snickerdoodle Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

After I made these I went around for days bragging that I had made cupcakes from scratch for the first time. Quite an accomplishment for me since I LOVE cupcakes, I usually make them with a cake mix, instead of from scratch. These were so good! And I love Snickerdoodles, so for that reason they were doubly good. I'm a slacker with posting pictures, see a picture here with the original recipe.

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes
makes about 2 dozen cupcakes

2 ¼ cups cake flour*
2 ¼ tsp baking powder
3/8 tsp salt
2 ¼ tsp cinnamon
¾ cup butter, at room temperature
1 ½ cups sugar
3 eggs
1 ½ tsp vanilla
1 cup milk

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Set aside. Using a mixer, cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla. Slowly add the flour and milk, alternating between the two until well incorporated. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl whenever needed. Line a muffin pan with cupcake liners. Evenly distribute the batter between the cups (about 2 dozen). Bake at 350 degrees for about 18-20 minutes. Top with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting and sprinkle a bit of cinnamon-sugar on top if desired.

* add 1 tablespoon cornstarch per 1 cup all purpose flour to make your own cake flour. Add the cornstarch to the bottom of the cup and fill the rest of the cup with flour.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
4 tbsp butter, at room temperature
4 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar
¼ cup milk
1 tsp vanilla or almond extract
½ tsp cinnamon

Cream the cream cheese and butter until creamy and smooth. Add half the sugar, milk, vanilla (or almond) and cinnamon. Mix until smooth. Add remaining sugar and beat until light and fluffy and creamy. **Add more powdered sugar if you want it to be a stiffer consistency for decorating.

**I made the recipe into 1 & 1/2 of the original recipe to make more cupcakes since the original recipe only made 18 cupcakes. I would still change it a bit for high altitude baking. If you are higher than 3000 ft, you may want to add a tbsp or two of flour to the batter before cooking for better rising.

Burnt Sugar Candy Bar Cake

One of Bo's aunts made this for the baby blessing this past weekend. It was amazing! I wish I would've taken a picture of it before it got eaten. But trust me, it looks amazing and tastes even better!

BURNT SUGAR CANDY BAR CAKE

3/4 Cup Granulated Sugar
3/4 Cup Hot Water

3 Cups All-purpose Flour
1-1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
1/4 tsp. Baking Soda

2/3 Cup butter, softened
1-1/2 Cups Granulated Sugar
2 Egg Yolks
2 tsp. Vanilla

2 Egg Whites

1 Recipe Browned Butter Frosting

1-1/2 Cups Finely Chopped Assorted Candy Bars (Hershey's, Mars, Nestle', etc.)


Grease and lightly flour three 8x1-1/2 inch round baking pans (if you only have two just save the batter for the third layer until after the first two are done and then bake it and it turns out fine.) or two 9x2 inch pans. In a large skillet cook the 3/4 cup sugar over medium-high heat until the sugar just begins to melt. Do NOT stir. Reduce heat; cook until sugar is a golden brown syrup, about 3-5 minutes more, stirring constantly. Carefully stir in hot water. (It will steam and turn brittle.) Bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat. Continue stirring until mixture is dissolved and free of lumps. Remove from heat. Pour syrup into a large glass measuring cup. Add additional water to equal 1-3/4 cups liquid. Set aside to cool.

Preheat oven to 350F. In a large bowl or sifter mix together flour, baking powder and baking soda. In a large bowl beat together the 2/3 cup butter, 1-1/2 cup sugar, egg yolks and vanilla until mixture is smooth. Alternately add flour mixture and sugar syrup to egg yolk mixture just until combined. In a medium bowl beat egg whites until stiff peaks form, Fold into batter. Divide batter into baking pans; spread evenly. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a wooden toothpick comes out clean when inserted near the center. Cool in pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove cakes from pans onto wire racks. Cool completely. Prepare Browned Butter Frosting (below).

To Assemble: spread 1/2 cup Browned Butter Frosting over bottoms of two of the cake layers. Sprinkle each frosted layer with half of the finely chopped candy bars. Stack these layers on cake plate, frosted sides up. Place the third layer (unfrosted) on top, rounded side up. Spread remaining frosting on top and sides of cake. Garnish with the coarsely chopped candy bar pieces. Makes 12-16 servings.


BROWNED BUTTER FROSTING
In a small saucepan heat and stir 1/2 cup butter (Use butter only. Margarine or other spreads will not yield same results and could keep the frosting from setting properly.) over low heat until melted. Continue heating (it foams) until butter is a nut brown color. Remove from heat and cool for 5 minutes. In a large bowl beat together two 3-oz. packages of softened cream cheese with 3 tablespoons butter until combined. Beat in about 2 cups sifted powdered sugar. Beat in the browned butter and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Gradually beat in 4-1/2 cups more powdered sugar and 2 to 3 teaspoons milk until frosting is spreading consistency.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese - softened
1 stick butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1 box powdered sugar

Beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy then add vanilla beat until well blended. Add powdered and beat until soft and fluffy.