Double Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes with Pumpkin Spice Buttercream

February 15, 2012 By

If you are new here I would like to welcome you to What’s Cookin’ Wednesday! Every Wednesday I share a recipe with my readers. Excuse me, a DELICIOUS recipe! And I think this is my most delicious recipe find yet!

Every Valentine’s Day my husband and I make a yummy dinner and a decadent dessert. However, this year we ended up going out to dinner over the weekend while my sister babysat and we didn’t ever discuss what to make on VDay. I decided to surprise Ben with these cupcakes! (I also made Turkey & White Bean Chili… recipe for another day). He almost left me to marry these cupcakes. They are THAT good.

He took them into work today and already IMed me at 8:15am to tell me how much everyone loves my cupcakes. So, if you need to wow someone then I highly suggest making these! They are chocolatey, moist and have the perfect amount of pumpkin flavor. Warning – if you are against using cake mixes than this recipe isn’t for you, but seriously you should get over that because these cupcakes are worth it!

Double Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes  by Picky Palate

  • 1 box devils food cake mix
  • 1 small box instant chocolate pudding
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 15 ounce can pumpkin (reserving 2 Tablespoons for buttercream)
  • 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and prepare your cupcake trays with liners.

2. In a stand or electric mixer, place cake mix, pudding mix, oil, buttermilk, eggs, sour cream, can of pumpkin and chocolate chips. Mix all ingredients until well combined, about 1 to 2 minutes. Divide batter evenly into cupcake liners. Be careful not to overfill! Bake for 15-20 mins. I suggest setting the timer to 15 mins and then testing with a toothpick. Do not over bake! My oven took 18 mins for perfect cupcakes!

Pumpkin Spice Buttercream

  • 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 2 tablespoons reserved pumpkin
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 4 to 5 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 to 4 tablespoons milk

Place butter, pumpkin and cinnamon into stand or electric mixer. Mix on high until well combined. Slowly add the powdered sugar until thick and creamy. Slowly add the milk until buttercream is a nice consistency. Frost over cooled cupcakes.

Filed Under: Dessert, Meals/Recipes, Noms by Nikki, What's Cookin' Wednesday Tagged With: , , , , , , 1 Comment

Cakes

January 27, 2012 By

No words today… just yummy, beautiful cakes.  :)

monkey smash cake

elmo smash cake

Yes, I made these.

Filed Under: Noms by Nikki Tagged With: , , , , 1 Comment

What I Did Today

January 26, 2012 By

So, it’s 6:30pm and I haven’t blogged. However, I have:

  • made a batch of buttercream
  • iced two cakes
  • taken two separate trips to the airport – one to drop off Ben (I miss him already!) and one to drop off my mom and stepdad.
  • let the dog out twice
  • fed the “baby” (toddler?) more times than I can count
  • went to the cake shop to stock up on supplies
  • watched Sesame Street
  • played with blocks
  • read books
  • scarfed down a salad
  • skipped the gym, yet again, because Molly is still getting over her cold (i’m dying to get back in the gym!!!)
  • caught up on Google Reader and Facebook
  • chatted with two friends via telephone. (I NEVER talk on the phone)
  • done a load of laundry
  • pitched some writing ideas to my new endeavor (soon to be announced!!)
  • fed the dog
  • put the baby to bed
  • cooked my own meal (currently in the oven – salmon in a tin foil pouch seasoned with salt, dill, garlic powder and topped with sliced lemon and a teaspoon of butter… which I’ll eat with a side of veggies that I also fed Molly earlier. YUM!)
  • had a glass of wine

Phew. I’m tired. And I still have to eat my dinner, walk the dog, finish decorating both cakes (Elmo and a monkey), make cookies and prep the crock pot dinner for tomorrow night. Well, I don’t have to do those last two things, but I really want to!

Here’s a sneak peek of the cakes I’m currently working on!

Smash Cakes

Filed Under: From Nikki, Noms by Nikki Tagged With: , , 2 Comments

Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

December 28, 2011 By

This will probably be the last guilty pleasure recipe you see for awhile. I know you’re thinking, “What the hell?” Don’t worry, it will only be for a few weeks. A new year = a new you, right? I’m sure many of you will be looking for healthy recipes and I am going to give them to you. Have no fear, all of my healthy recipes taste awesome! I only eat food that tastes good.

So, why not go out with a bang this year and blow some people’s minds with an awesome banana cake? You really should.

Totally Awesome Banana Cake

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups ripe, mashed banana
  • 2 teaspoons lemon juice
  • 3 cups flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup butter at room temp
  • 2 1/8 cups sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 275°
  • Grease and flour 2 9-inch cake pans
  • In a small bowl, mix mashed banana with the lemon juice; set aside.
  • In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
  • In a large bowl, cream 3/4 cup butter and 2 1/8 cups sugar until light and fluffy.
  • Beat in eggs, one at a time, then stir in 2 tsp vanilla.
  • Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk.
  • Stir in banana mixture.
  • Pour batter evenly into prepared pans and bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
  • Remove from oven and place directly into the freezer for 45 minutes. This will make the cake very moist.

    •  

    The Best Cream Cheese Buttercream Ever

    I stand by Edna’s frosting. It’s delicious and easy to work with. I want to give her all the credit so if you want the recipe then you have to visit her site :)

    If you feel like getting creative then you can play with some fondant and make a cute little design. I made a baby giraffe for a friend’s baby shower. Everyone loved the cake!

    bananacake

    Filed Under: Dessert, Holidays, Meals/Recipes, New Year's Eve, Noms by Nikki, What's for ____ Wednesday Tagged With: , , , , Leave a Comment

    Noms Update

    December 15, 2011 By

    It’s been awhile since I gave you some Noms to look at and since Molly has decided to skip her morning nap, it’s the perfect opportunity! You see, typically I blog during her morning nap, which gives me plenty of time to blab on and on. But, right now, she’s sitting in my lap and I’m distracting her with everything I can reach to keep her from banging on the keyboard. I think it’s time to start storing up my blog posts for days like these!

    —————————————————————————————————

    Cake Pops are all the rage right now. I love the final product, but I hate getting there. They are super time consuming and often frustrating, however, they come with the custom dessert territory. These pops were fall-themed. I LOVED how they turned out.

    fallcakepopss2

    Here they are all “dressed” up at the party with the other goodies (not made by me):

    fallcakepops

    These are some pops I made for a recent baby shower. They make great party favors!

    pinkcakepops

    Cupcakes are always fun. Can you guess which movie these came from?

    toystorycupcakes

    Give up? Toy Story!

    Now my most favorite things to work on…. CAKES!  This was a recent groom’s cake. He’s a big Packer’s fan.

    Packers Collage

    Mini cakes are always a big hit — as smash cakes or just little pretty cakes on a dessert table.

           minicakes 

    And of course… the ever popular fondant cakes. I’m not quite yet covering cakes in fondant, but I am doing fondant details.

    CrabCakeMaster

    fallthemed

     

    bananacake

    Are you hungry yet? Stop by my place and I’ll have some Noms for ya! I’m actually about to start my Christmas Cookie baking. I’ll have more pics for you soon!

    Filed Under: Dessert, Noms by Nikki Tagged With: , , , , 2 Comments

    Molly’s 1st Birthday Party

    November 7, 2011 By

    I hope everyone had a great weekend!  I’m still recovering from running around getting everything ready for Molly’s party yesterday.  It ended up being a great time and Molly was such a trooper.  We only had about 10 or so guests which made things a lot easier for me and a lot less overwhelming for Molly.

    We went with an owl party because Molly’s nursery is woodland themed and we just love owls.  I decided this would be the perfect opportunity to round out the year with our little owlet!

    Invites

    invitation

    I got the inspiration for Molly’s invites from this Etsy shop.  Her invites are beautiful and perfectly cut.  I did all mine by hand with scissors while watching The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.  I think it’s time to invest in a Silhouette or Cricut.  Me want.

    Bunting Banner

    bunting

    Here’s a close-up:

    bunting closeup

    Check in tomorrow for a tutorial and my very first giveaway!!

    Owls

    owls

    Michael’s was having a 50% off sale on all their Halloween and Harvest merchandise.  I snagged a huge pack of these foam owls and hot glued “Happy Birthday” ribbons on them.  I had them all around the house during the party.  Now that the party is over I’m thinking of creating a banner with them and hanging them in Molly’s nursery.

    Tutu

    tutu

    A tutorial to come and maybe another giveaway?  I had so much fun making this tutu (while watching The X Factor).  It turned out great!

    Onesie

    onesie

    I had a 12 month plain white onesie that I decided to spruce up.  I found the owl iron-on at JoAnn Fabrics and I used some extra fabric from my bunting banner to create the 1.  I found a font I liked on Microsoft Word and printed it out (be sure to make it big!).  I pinned the 1 on the fabric and cut it out.  I then hand sewed the fabric number 1 on the onesie and stuffed it with a filling I snagged from an old pillow.  The onesie creation was quite a tedious process, but I didn’t feel comfortable doing it on the sewing machine.

    Here’s Molly in her onesie and tutu!

    IMG_1348 

    Cake

    cake

    TADA!  The cake I spent hours working on!  It turned out so great.. with just a few minor flaws.  I didn’t realize how sad I would be when it was all gone.  Typically when clients pick up their cakes I am not sad to see them go, but this was my first tiered cake and my baby’s 1st birthday cake — I guess I was a little sentimental.  The good thing was that everyone enjoyed it!

    Filed Under: Birthday Parties, Crafts, From Nikki, Noms by Nikki, Sewing Tagged With: , , , , , , , , 5 Comments

    Skins Extravaganza Update

    October 18, 2011 By

    I promised y’all photos of the dessert bar I set up for the Extravaganza this year.  So here they are!

    Redskins Extravaganza DessertsThe spread!

    Extravaganza Dessert Table

    The cake is devil’s food with cream cheese buttercream.  I also made pumpkin whoopie pies, oreo-stuffed chocolate chip cookies and two flavors of cake pops: red velvet & yellow cake.  I made chocolate dipped strawberry footballs as well, however I didn’t capture them on camera because they were melting in the sun. oops!

    If you are interested in a dessert bar at your next event just shoot me an email at Novamomblog@gmail.com and we’ll talk!

    Filed Under: Dessert, Events, Noms by Nikki Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , Leave a Comment