High Heel Cupcakes

I loved the idea of these cupcakes - they're especially cute for an engagement/wedding shower or bachelorette party (after all, what woman doesn't love shoes?)

NOTE: You can use any cake flavor/frosting you want, I just chose vanilla so the decorations would stand out more.

Vanilla Cupcake:
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup butter (softened)
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake trays with 18 liners.  Beat together butter and sugar at medium speed until smooth and fluffy, then add the vanilla and the eggs one at a time and beat after each addition.  Mix the baking powder and flour in a bowl, then gradually add to the mix, alternating with the buttermilk.  Fill each cupcake liner 3/4 of the way to the top (you want it to puff up over the top of the liner), and bake at 350 for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 325 and bake for 5 more minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Allow to cool before cutting into them (diagram below).

Vanilla Frosting:
(Adapted from Food Network)
1 cup butter (softened)
3 cups confectioners' sugar (powdered sugar)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 to 3 tbs heavy whipping cream

Mix together sugar and butter, gradually increasing the mixing speed until fluffy.  Beat in the vanilla extract, then gradually add in the whipping cream (1 tbs at a time) until you reach the desired consistency.  You may then divide up the frosting into bowls and dye them different colors if you would like.


Sole and heel:
18 graham crackers
9 Pirouette rolled wafers
1 bag white chocolate chips

Cut the graham crackers and wafers as shown in the diagram below.  (Cut the Pirouette wafers in half using an angled cut, and cut the graham crackers on the sides at an angle).  Melt half the white chocolate chips (I melted them in the microwave, but feel free to melt yours however you want).  I put them in the microwave for 30 seconds, stirred, then put them back in for 10 second intervals, stirring between each.  Paint the white chocolate onto the graham crackers (or dip the graham crackers into the white chocolate) to coat them, as this will be the heel of your shoe.  If needed melt the rest of the chocolate chips to finish covering your graham crackers.

Assembly:  
I chose to decorate my cupcakes with candies and frosting before assembling them (as that way I didn't have to worry about the frosting not being set to keep all of the pieces together), but feel free to decorate and assemble in whichever order you would prefer.  For assembly, frost the angled side of the Pirouette, the narrow side of the graham cracker, and the part of the cupcake where you cut a piece out.  Then, attach the graham cracker to the cupcake and the Pirouette to the graham cracker (diagram below).

You can use any number of candies or frosting techniques to decorate your "shoes," and you can also roll them in colored sugar after they're frosted to give them a glittery appearance. Have fun with it!

Banana Pudding Cupcakes

My boyfriend recently got the flu, and as you may or may not know, there's this thing called the BRAT (bananas, rice, apple sauce, toast) diet that you're supposed to follow when you're sick like that.  Anyway, I really like to bake, but also didn't want to make him more sick, so I decided to make some banana pudding cupcakes.  Pudding seems to be all the rage in baked goods these days, so I figured I'd hop on that bandwagon.  Below is the recipe to the cupcakes I whipped up.  They taste deliciously light, yet moist and satisfying, and I recommend them to anyone who likes their taste buds.

Banana Cupcake:
1 box yellow cake mix (ignore the ingredients it calls for)
3 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 cup buttermilk (or milk, but buttermilk makes it taste richer)
1 ripe banana (chopped into little bits)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line 1 1/2 cupcake pans (18 cupcakes).  Whisk together the cake mix, eggs, oil, and buttermilk until smooth.  Stir in banana until evenly mixed throughout the batter.  Spoon the batter into the paper liners, then bake for 22-25 minutes or until lightly browned on top and a toothpick comes out clean.

Custard Filling:
1 can sweetened condensed milk
8 oz (1 package) cream cheese, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1 box vanilla (or banana) pudding mix

Beat together sweetened condensed milk and cream cheese until smooth (about 2 minutes), then add in the vanilla and pudding mix until smooth.  The longer you let it sit, the more it will firm up (which doesn't really matter since it's going inside the cupcake).

Whipped Topping:
1 cup of milk
1 box vanilla pudding
2 containers cool whip

Mix together the milk and pudding, then fold in the cool whip.  I used two containers, but you can use more or less depending on the consistency you want your frosting to have.

Assembly:
Cut a cone out of the top of your cupcake being careful not to cut all the way down through the base of the cupcake.  Spoon the custard filling in.  Top off with a dollop of whipped topping, then sprinkle cookie crumbs (I used Nilla Wafers) around the sides and place a cookie on top.