Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Chocolate and peanut butter go together like strawberry and kiwi. So it's only logical that there would be a chocolate cupcake with peanut butter inside and topped with peanut butter frosting. Oh baby! Sign me up for one of those please (and a tall glass of ice cold milk too).

Cake Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup flour

2 cups sugar

3/4 cup cocoa

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup boiling water

Jiff peanut butter

Directions:

(1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with paper liners.

(2) In a large mixing bowl combine dry ingredients.

(3) Add remaining ingredients except boiling water; beat at medium speed for 2 minutes.

(4) Remove from mixer and stir in boiling water (batter will be thin)

(5) Using a small cookie dough scooper - pour batter into liners until it is 1/4 full.

(6) Using a spoon drop a quarter size amount of peanut butter on top of batter.

(7) Pour enough batter over peanut butter so that liners are 1/2 full.

(8) Bake for 30 minutes or until cupcakes are done.

(9) Remove from pans to wire rack and cool completely before frosting.

(10) Frost with Peanut Butter Frosting.

Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

This banana cake makes good use out of those ripe banana's in my freezer. On the other plus side it's moist, delicious and da hubby loves it.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups flour

3 ripe bananas, mashed

1 1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking powder

2 large eggs

Frosting:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 - 8 oz. package of cream cheese, softened

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

(1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13" pan.

(2) Beat all ingredients in large bowl with electric mixer on low for 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on high for 3 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally.

(3) Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 40-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack.

(4) Meanwhile, prepare frosting by mixing all ingredients until fluffy. Try not to eat any of it.

(5) Once cake has cooled spread generously with cream cheese frosting.

Helpful Hints:

(1) We like to keep our banana cake refrigerated. There's no real reason behind it, except that we think it tastes better.

Cake Release

When I was getting ready to make my first (and only) wedding cake, I was having a hard time with the cake sticking to my 6" pan. I ended up doing a lot of online research on what worked and didn't work. I've had a lot of success with the Wilton brand cake release but it is expensive. This home-made version is a lot more affordable and you already have all the ingredients on hand.Ingredients:

1 Tbsp. Crisco

1 Tbsp. Oil

1 Tbsp. Flour

Directions:

(1) In a small bowl blend the above ingredients together until smooth.

(2) Spread into cake pan.

Helpful Hints:

(1) This is an equal parts recipe. Using the Tablespoon works for me because I typically use one cake pan at a time. If you have more than one cake pan you may want to increase the amounts.

Ding Dongs

This recipe originally came from Linda Wagner but I got it out of Jane Hunter's cookbook. Both of these wonderful cooks attend the same church as I and I have several of their recipes. Everything these ladies make is AWESOME!

Cake Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup flour

1 1/4 cup sugar

1 1/4 tsp. soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup Crisco

1 cup milk

3 eggs

1 1/4 tsp. vanilla

Cake Directions:

(1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

(2) In large mixing bowl combine all dry ingredients.

(3) Add Crisco and 3/4 cup milk. Beat.

(4) Add remaining milk, eggs and vanilla. Beat until smooth.

(5) Bake in lined cupcake tins or mini tins.

Makes 24 regular cupcakes or 75 mini cakes.

Filling Ingredients:

1/2 cup flour

1 cup milk

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup Crisco

1 cup butter

1 tsp. vanilla

Filling Directions:

(1) In a small saucepan, starting with flour, gently whisk in milk. Cook on low heat, stirring until very thick. Will be like paste. If lumpy put through a sieve, pressing with a rubber spatula. Cool thoroughly in refrigerator. I've been known to get out my hand-held mixer and mix it while it cooks - makes the flour paste as smooth as a babies bottom.

(2) Beat butter, sugar and Crisco until fluffy.

(3) Add cooled flour paste and vanilla, beat until consistency of Cool Whip and you can't taste any sugar granules.

(4) Using a decorating tube, fill cooled cupcakes with filling. When cupcakes begin to "grow" a little, bring tip up out of cake and swirl some filling on top.

Helpful Hints:

(1) The flour paste must be COMPLETELY cooled is extremely important in making this filling.

(2) Will freeze well.

(3) For the Chocolate Ganache top: In a small saucepan bring to a boil 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream. When cream just reaches boiling point pour over 1/2 cup of Toll House, semi-sweet chocolate chips. Whisk until smooth. Let cool just a little then dip top's of cup-cakes.