Chocolate Hazelnut Nutella Mini Bundt Cakes

These were made for my friend Becca's 21st birthday party. They're chocolate hazelnut Nutella mini bundt cakes with Nutella, tiramisu mascarpone cheese, fresh raspberries, and homemade raspberry sauce on top. I got the idea from Passionate About Baking, but tweaked it a bit to suit my needs.

For the cakes, rather than follow Deeba's recipe, I decided to use a box of chocolate cake mix that I had in the pantry. I added to it some chopped toasted hazelnuts, a cup of strong espresso, some chocolate chips, and Nutella. 

To make the raspberry sauce for the tops of the cupcakes, I simply heated a jar of sugar free raspberry jam over the stove. You can add in whatever you like to it at this point, so I added a teaspoon each of rum extract and vanilla extract. I also added about 2 tablespoons of orange liqueur (I used Paula's Texas Orange). Then you strain the seed out of the jam, and you're left with a fabulous sauce that is also great on ice cream!

Then, I just assembled the cakes by putting Nutella in the center of the cakes and somewhat on the top, then a dollop of tiramisu mascarpone (it's infused with espresso, making it perfect for tiramisu), then a fresh raspberry, and a drizzle of sauce!

Chocolate Hazelnut Nutella Cake

• 1 box of chocolate cake mix
• 1 cup of toasted hazelnuts, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup of strongly brewed coffee (I used instant espresso granules)
• 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 2 small jars of Nutella
• 1 tub of tiramisu mascarpone cheese
• fresh raspberries
• raspberry sauce (see recipe below)

Prepare chocolate cake mix according to instructions, substituting the coffee for part of the water. Stir in hazelnuts, chocolate chips, and one jar of Nutella. Bake according to instructions on box. Garnish with Nutella, mascarpone, raspberries, and sauce. 

Raspberry Sauce

• 1 small jar of raspberry jam (I used sugar free just because)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp imitation rum extract
• 2 tbsp orange liqueur (I used Paula's Texas Orange)

Heat jam in saucepan over medium low heat until viscous. Stir in vanilla, rum extract, and liqueur. Strain with mesh strainer to remove seeds and pulp. Refrigerate until needed. 

Unfortunately, this may be my last post for a little while. Why? Because we're moving!!!!! Yes, we're finally moving out of this duplex and into a house! So no cupcaking for at least a month since we need to save up for deposits and whatnot, and also we'll be settling into our new place. Updates will come as soon as they're available.

P.S. 22 followers? Really??? You guys are AWESOME!!!

Popcorn Cupcakes!

I made these for my cousin Teela's twin sons' 3rd birthday party! It was carnival themed, so the popcorn idea was perfect! Teela gave me the idea, and I found help at Cake Central.

 

The cupcakes are buttery pound cake with extra buttery buttercream on top (I added Wilton Butter Flavor to everything haha). The "popcorn" is actually just yellow and white miniature marshmallows that were cut crosswise at the bottom and smooshed to look like popcorn. 

Teela made some great cupcakes too, with the most adorable little toppers!

Memorial Day Slider Cupcakes (second try)

I made these for a Memorial Day potluck we had at work that was BBQ-themed. Unfortunately, I only figured out toward the end of my baking that in order to have a perfect dome at the top of the cupcake instead of having them come out like little hats, you should only spray the bottom of each cup of the muffin tin, not the sides. When you spray the sides, the spray over cooks the edges/top of the cupcake. They still tasted great, though. Just used box mixes and my standby buttercream recipe.