Cupcakes for the Guys

I recently started playing D&D again with my husband and his friends, which is a lot of fun. Of course, hanging out with a bunch of guys once a week gives me a great opportunity to do some baking! And with these guys, I can start getting creative. I'll probably start experimenting on them, soon...

This week and last week I made cupcakes for them, since my husband had been bragging about my baking to them all summer. I hope they were sufficiently impressed! Read on for more pictures and the second flavor...

Last week, I made what I referred to as "indecisive" cupcakes, based on Cupcake Project's "Divided Home" recipe, where you make both chocolate and vanilla cupcakes from a singe batch! They turned out great--sour cream cupcakes always have such a nice dome. I topped them with chocolate and peppermint cream cheese frosting swirls.

Then yesterday, I made pineapple cupcakes with a thin layer of vanilla bean cream cheese frosting. (I didn't want the frosting to overpower the fruity cake.) I was experimenting with some of the new vanilla bean paste I got from Williams-Sonoma this week, and it worked really well in the frosting. The frosting recipe is posted below if you want to try it yourself. The little vanilla bean flecks look so nice!

Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz cream cheese

4 T butter (1/2 stick)

3-4 cups powdered sugar

2 tsp vanilla bean paste

Cream together butter and cream cheese until thoroughly combined and fluffy. Add powdered sugar one cup at a time, scraping down the bowl in between. I like to add my flavoring between the second and third cups of sugar so that I know if I need to add extra sugar to compensate for liquid, but you can also add it in at the end. Add extra sugar if you want it more stiff; leave some out if you want more of a glaze.