New Sweet Pohickery Website!!

The Sweet Pohickery blog has moved to SweetPohickery.com!

The new website also lists services provided by Sweet Pohickery and Martyr Media.

AND, very soon, the Sweet Pohickery store will be up on the website, as well, with new items for sale!

So, head on over to http://www.sweetpohickery.com!

Strawberry Frosting Chocolate Cupcakes

On Saturday we attended a surprise birthday party for our friend Andrea. It was a fun party that ended up looking a lot like a wedding reception with lots of dancing and karaoke. I made some chocolate cupcakes for the party  to go with the blueberry and lemon frosting cupcakes I had made the day before.

As I said before, I've been working on finding a chocolate cupcake recipe that satisfies my deepest chocolatey cravings and I feel a step closer after tweeking my last recipe. I didn't want to get too crazy with the recipe since I was going to be feeding them to a room full of people I didn't know, but I felt fairly certain that my changes would make an awesome cupcake. And I was right. It was very moist and had a more sweet chocolate flavor, where as the previous cupcakes I had made were more of a strong, dark chocolate flavor. It went perfectly with the strawberry frosting, which nicely fulfilled my berry cravings.

I decided that I want to start baking for every event possible and taking my camera everywhere. I want to do everything I can to sharpen my baking and photography skills. So now my friends can expect me to shove a cupcake in their face at every opportunity and then take a picture of them eating it. Sounds fun, right? Everyone wins. 


Chocolate Cupcake Recipe

(makes about 16 cupcakes)


Ingredients:

• 1 cup steaming hot cappuccino (regular ol' coffee would work too)
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup white granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F and line your cupcake tray
2. In a small bowl, pour the hot cappuccino over the cocoa powder and mix thoroughly. Set aside to cool.
3. In a medium bowl, mix together dry ingredients.
4. In the bowl of your mixer (or in a large bowl if you don't have a mixer), beat together butter and sugar until fluffy.
5. Add eggs, on at a time, mixing well after each addition.
6. Mix in the vanilla extract
7. Add in the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.
8. Add in the cocoa mixture and mix well until smooth.
9. Fill cupcake tray evenly (each cup about 3/4 full).
10. Bake for 16-20 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

Strawberry Frosting Recipe
Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 3 tablespoons  fresh, pureed strawberries (about 3-4 strawberries with tops cut off)

Directions:

1. Cream butter in the bowl of your mixer or in a medium bowl with a hand mixer
2. Slowly mix in the powdered sugar
3. Add in the pureed strawberries, one tablespoon at a time and mix well

Blueberry Cupcakes with Lemon Frosting

I happened upon an article on MarthaStewart.com about spring dessert recipes when we had our lovely, too-short-lived warm days a week ago. All I can think about now are cherry pies, peach cobbler, and lemon cake. I want to feel a cool breeze coming through our open windows as flour flies everywhere and I feel right at home in my kitchen with my apron and rolled up jeans. Oh, spring. I miss you so.

My dear friend Melissa had surgery last week and I wanted to bring her some treats. Since I was just itching for a reason to make something springy and sweet, I decided to make her some blueberry cupcakes with lemon buttercream.

Lucas said they tasted like heaven. Either he's overly sweet or these cupcakes are divine. My own taste buds are leaning towards divine.

I iced the cupcakes for Melissa, then refrigerated the icing to frost the rest of the cupcakes later. Unfortunately, while sitting in the fridge, the butter in the icing stiffened up and the lemon juice just sort of separated. So, when I squeezed it out of my icing bag, it was less than pretty. But, as you can see in the pictures, I smoothed out the icing with an offset spatula and it worked out just fine. Plus, it still tasted awesome. That's all that really matters anyway, right?

We took the leftovers to our friend's surprise birthday party. On the way there we stopped at a grocery store to get more blueberries to top them off. They looked really cute with the berries on top, but I forgot to take a picture of them. Fail. Just take my word. They were stinkin' precious looking. Later this week I'll tell you all about the other cupcake I made for the surprise party:]

Blueberry Cupcakes Recipe

Makes about 14 cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 12 oz (about 3 cups) fresh blueberries
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 tablespoon sour cream
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup buttermilk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and line cupcake pan with paper liners
2. Coat washed blueberries in the 5 tablespoons of flour in a medium bowl
3. Sift together the 2 cups of flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl
4. Cream butter and sugar together in the bowl of your mixer
5. Mix in sour cream, vanilla extract, and lemon zest.
6. Add in eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
7. Add in flour mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.
8. Gently fold in blueberries
9. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for 22-25 minutes.

Lemon Buttercream Frosting Recipe

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened
• 5 cups powdered sugar
• Freshly squeezed lemon juice from one lemon (about 1/4 cup)
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons water
• pinch of salt
• 1 drop yellow food coloring (optional)

Directions:

1. Cream butter until light and fluffy in the bowl of your mixer
2. Slowly add in powdered sugar until fully mixed
3. Beat in heavy cream
4. Add lemon juice and mix well
5. Add water and salt and mix thoroughly
6. Add food coloring
7. Frost your cooled cupcakes!

The end!

Daydream Believer

EEK. I've been slacking on the blogging. My brain is fried and my to-do list is out of control. But things are going down. Good things. I finally got all of my crafting supplies organized and bought some tubs to organize them. I spend (waste) my mornings daydreaming about how beautiful my crafting station will be when it's done. We've talked about getting a window in our bedroom, and I imagine it being a very tall window with a little bit of a ledge for me to sit on and look outside for inspiration. I sit and I daydream in the morning as I listen to the birds singing outside, knowing that they want spring to come just as badly as I do.

 

Speaking of spring, look forward to some springy recipes. Those two days of warmth we had last week made my berries and citrus cravings kick in.

Heart-Shaped Spritz Cookies

My darling husband got me a fancy pants cookie press for my birthday. He did a lot of research, including seeing what Ms. Martha Stewart had to say, and got me the best cookie press ever. It's Italian. And I love it. The Europeans call it a "biscuit" press, which I also love. It's stainless steel and comes with a ton of plates to make various cookie shapes.

He also got me a new paddle attachment for my KitchenAid mixer (also recommended by Ms. Stewart) which has little rubber scrapers on the sides. The paddle scrapes down mixes as it goes, which saves a lot of time since I don't have to stop and scrape it all down myself. I love it.

I finally had a proper excuse to use my cookie press (not that I need an excuse to make cute cookies) for the Valentine's Day tea party we had a couple weeks ago. I used my heart-shaped plate to make these little cuties:

The plate is a sort of "Y" shape that molds the dough into a heart. It took a little practice trying to get cookies that didn't just look like "Y"s or a big mushy mess.

This may sound crazy but I thought the creamed butter and sugar looked so pretty.

It gets so fluffy and lovely.

Yeah, I think butter and sugar are pretty. I'm weird like that.

I used Spritz cookie dough to make these guys. They were deeelicious. I'm excited about experimenting with different shapes, especially the floral shapes, and decorating them with icing and candies.

Notice the flour everywhere? Yeah. I'm a messy baker. And I'm too stubborn to use the splash guard (which is sitting conveniently right next to the mixer, sigh).

Spritz Cookie Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (two sticks) unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup white granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. In the bowl of your mixer, beat butter until creamy
3. Mix in sugar and beat until fluffy
4. Add in the egg and vanilla extract and mix until fully incorporated
5. Add in the salt and gradually add in the flour until fully incorporated
6. Either press out the cookie dough in your cookie press, roll out the dough and cut out shapes, or drop cookie dough 1-2 inches apart.
7. Bake 6-9 minutes

Makes about 4 dozen cookies

Valentine's Day?

I'll be honest, I'm not really a fan of Valentine's Day. I don't want to go to a crowded restaurant or have my husband spend a ridiculous amount of money on roses that will just soon die and be thrown out. I don't even like roses. I'm just not that kind of girl (not that being that kinda girl is a bad thing, it's just not for me). And I don't like the pressure put on couples on this particular holiday to be overly romantic. But, I'll tell you what I do like... I like hearts and heart-shaped decorations, I like following cute themes (especially in relation to baked goods), I love spending time with my husband, and dressing up for him, just to stay home and sit on the couch.

So what did we do on this Valentine's Day? I made this little heart garland out of wrapping paper that I saved from one of our wedding gifts (it was too pretty to throw away). I'm happy that it's simple enough to keep up year-round. Then, I busted out my heart-shaped pancake mold to make cute (in theory) pancakes. They didn't want to come out of the mold. I like how curly the bacon turned out. I got a pretty nasty grease burn/blister on my arm due to my typical clumsiness. Lucas ran to my aid with aloe and a band-aid. Then, after dinner, we watched Bruce Willis kick some major booty in the movie Red, and ate the heart-shaped chocolate chip cookies I made for Lucas while he was at work.

It was Valentine's Day, but that didn't matter. It was just a typical day in the the Walther home, being in love with my husband, baking cookies, and finding a new way to hurt myself while cooking.

Creamy Chocolate Cake

"Let's face it, a nice creamy chocolate cake does a lot for a lot of people; it does for me."

Audrey Hepburn

I'm weak in the knees for chocolate. Chocolate chip cookies. Chocolate truffles. Chocolate candy bars. Chocolate ganache. Hot chocolate. Chocolate brownies. Chocolate milkshakes. Chocolate ice cream. Chocolate gelato. Chocolate shavings. Those little crunchy chocolate bits in the middle of a Carvel ice cream cake. I'll take it anyway I can.

But I don't think anything can beat a rich, creamy, chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. When I first lived on my own I would run to the grocery store to buy a slice of chocolate cake from the bakery whenever my craving would kick in. Now, being a little older and a littler wiser (and a far better baker than I once was), I can make my own cheaper version of chocolate cake. Cheaper, but just as delicious. AND, I get to have an entire cake instead of just one measly slice. Though, that may not really be a good thing. I do have my husband here to help me eat it, though. So, I'm only eating about 3/4 of it by myself :]

I've made chocolate bundt cakes before, but somehow the chocolate cupcakes that I made for the little Valentine's Day tea party this past weekend were the first for me (at least the first from scratch). I'm now on a mission to test out different chocolate cake and chocolate frosting recipes and see which one most fulfills my chocolatey desires. I have hopes of a more rich, sweet chocolate cake with matching frosting- but I really liked the cupcakes I made this time around as well. The cake itself is made with cocoa powder which gives it a strong chocolate flavor. I was rushing around the morning of the party trying to make the frosting, and took my eyes off the melting chocolate too long as it started to burn. -Insert sad face here-. I was majorly bummed. But, then I had a stroke of genius (or desperation) which thankfully turned out pretty darn good. I used up the last bit of German chocolate I had (which wasn't much) then added a little punch of that same cocoa powder that I used in the cupcake batter. I added just enough to be noticeable, but overall left the frosting as a buttercream. Lucas dug it (he's always my tester) so the panic subsided and I stuffed my little frosting bag and went to town.

The girls took leftovers home with them as well. I see that as a sign of success. Chocolate for the win!

(Oh and you better believe that my quest for the perfect chocolate cake means that more recipes are coming your way soon!)

Chocolate Cocoa Cake Recipe

(makes about 16 cupcakes)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup and 1 teaspoon (for frosting) cocoa powder
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup white granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F and line your cupcake tray
2. In a small bowl, pour the boiling water over the cocoa powder and mix thoroughly. Set aside to cool.
3. In a medium bowl, mix together dry ingredients.
4. In the bowl of your mixer (or in a large bowl if you don't have a mixer), beat together butter and sugar until fluffy.
5. Add eggs, on at a time, mixing well after each addition.
6. Mix in the vanilla extract
7. Add in the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.
8. Add in all but one teaspoon (reserved for frosting) of the cocoa and mix well until smooth.
9. Fill cupcake tray evenly (each cup about 3/4 full).
10. Bake for 16-20 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

Frosting Ingredients:

• 2 oz. German Chocolate (you could use unsweetened chocolate for a more dark chocolate taste)
• 2/3 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon cocoa powder (reserved from cake batter)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Frosting Directions:

1. Melt the German chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Set aside to cool.
2. Cream butter in your mixer
3. Add powdered sugar to butter and mix until smooth.
4. Add in cocoa mixture (reserved from cake batter) and mix well.
5. Add in vanilla extract and mix well.
6. Add in melted German Chocolate and mix until thoroughly combined with frosting.

Valentine's Day Tea Party

My wonderful friend Laurie (the star of our recent engagement photo shoot), has hosted a valentines crafting event for the past several years. It's always a lot of fun to sit around and craft with girl friends and feel super girly as we talk about our beaus and baking and other girl-type topics. To make things even more awesome, Laurie decided to make this year's valentine-making party a tea party (in theme with our recent love of throwing tea parties) which was held this past Saturday.

As always, our tea party was really fun and filled with lots of delicious food. We had banana bread, fancy pants potatoes, heart-shaped sandwiches, heart-shaped cookies, chocolate cupcakes with chocolate buttercream, an egg quiche with red pepper and arugula, and a gazillion types of tea to choose from. We get fancy. And stuffed. Amanda's quiche made us feel less guilty about our consumption of chocolate cupcakes and cookies. It had green in it. That has to get a us a few health points. Right? Right.

And here is the quiche chef herself, hard at work on her valentine:

We had a nice spread of crafting supplies in various shades of pink and red.

Unfortunately, I got so consumed in my own valentine making that I forgot to take pictures of everyone else until we were almost all done. I did get a few of Amanda crafting. And Fischer (Laurie's adorable kitten) lending a helping hand.

And being unbelievably cute as he got himself stuck in a piece of paper with a heart cut out of it:

I also took a picture of Melissa's completed valentine:

Those are her legs in the picture. She had on really cute tights. I've said this before and I'll say it again- I have super cute friends.

Oh, and Laurie's fellah took this picture of all of us gals together!

Later this week I'll tell you all about the heart-shaped cookies and chocolate cupcakes I made for the party:]

Sean and Laurie's Engagement Shoot

This past Saturday I did my first official photo shoot with Lucas. We did engagement pictures for our lovely friends Laurie and Sean in Baltimore outside of the Baltimore Museum of Industry and the American Visionary Art Museum. It was a lot of fun other than the fact that it was freezing cold outside. But I like the little bit of rosiness they had in their cheeks as a result.


Laurie and Sean are an amazing couple and could not be more perfect for each other. I'm so glad that Laurie found someone who compliments her so well and who truly appreciates the awesome chick that she is. We've been friends for a long time now and have been through a lot together. It's really awesome to see how far we've come and how rad our lives are now. Especially Laurie. I'm really proud of her. She's gettin' herself an education and working towards a career that I know she'll do awesome in.

Okay enough with the sap. On to the pictures!
























My awesome husband snapped this picture of me, knowing I'd want a little reminder of my first photo shoot. He's sweet like that.

The first backdrop was a sort of tree house in a garden outside of the Visionary Arts Museum. It was really neat and went up into a tower. So I guess you could say it was more of a tree castle. Or tree tower. Whatever it was, we got some rad pictures inside of it.

These pictures were taken with a giant mirrored mosaic egg. This is where Lucas would go on his rant about how he doesn't get "art". A giant mirrored mosaic egg isn't really his cup of tea. So, I gladly stepped in to take some "artsy fartsy" pictures.

Look at their faces. Seriously- they're like GQ models.

I love their hands on the natural wood. So pretty and simple.

Ah, love.

Literally. "Love".

I call this the "everyone should know how lucky Sean is" picture. She's so purdy.



I was nervous (because honestly, my confidence could use a little work), but I'm really happy with how the pictures came out. And, I think Lucas and I make a pretty good team. At first we had a little trouble with our differences in style, but now we see how they compliment each other. I'm not always good at executing my ideas (still learning), but I can explain to him what I want and he'll get the shot perfectly or help me to do it myself. He's amazing. And a truly amazing photographer. I'm excited about all of the future photography gigs that we'll get to do together. I like being a married photography team. And just a married team in general.

PS: Lucas also posted about the engagement photo shoot today; go check out his blog to get his take on things and see some extra photos!

PSS: Visit the Martyr Media website to see more of Lucas' work. We can be contacted at lucas@martyrmedia.com or starr@martyrmedia.com if you're in need of a photographer. Or two. :]

SP Etsy Shop

There is now a live link to the Sweet Pohickery Etsy Shop as well as a link to email me under the Shop SP tab on the blog. Just click on the blue web address to get to my store or the blue email address to email me. Thankss!

 

And thank you to my smartypants husband for his techy help.

Ye Olde SP Shoppe

As promised, the Sweet Pohickery Etsy Shop is up and running. Like I said, I'm starting small and will be adding more in the weeks to come. As of right now, there are just a couple of prints up for sale, which can be sent by email or snail mail, as well as canned apple sauce (which has already gotten the seal of approval from my husband and parents; that counts for something, right?). The apple sauce is sweet, just like everything I make, and as someone who's not usually a fan of applesauce I gotta say- it's mighty fine.

Look forward to various jams, hand towels, aprons, cupcake decorations and more soon! I'll post here in the ol' blog whenever a new item is added to the store. And again, please let me know if you have any baking needs! My information is under the "SP Shop" tab of the Sweet Pohickery blog.



PS: Today Lucas and I took engagement pictures in Baltimore of my dear friend, Laurie, and her fiance, Sean. I'm really excited about them and will be posting about the experience sometime next week!

Random Baking Tips

 When I first started baking many years ago, I was a mess of a baker. Literally. I made a huge mess. Lucas would argue that I still am a mess (always getting flour and icing all over myself and the counter tops), but at least now my messes result in some delectable treats. Every cake I made during my rookie years would overflow in the oven and every cookie was burnt to a crisp. I was horrible at icing and even box mixes ended up in failure, let alone recipes from scratch. But, I've come a long way since then and after lots of practice and reading cook books and tips online as well as watching a ridiculous amount of baking shows, I've learned a lot about the science of baking. Not the scary kind of science. The fun, still room to be creative kind. Anyway, I thought I'd share a quick list of baking tips that I've learned throughout the years.

1. 
   

1. Always use unsalted butter unless otherwise stated in the recipe when baking. Every stick of butter differs in how much salt it contains. If you use unsalted butter, you can control the amount of salt you use in a recipe.
2. Unless otherwise noted, a recipe requiring eggs calls for large sized eggs.
3. Unless otherwise noted, all baking ingredients should be room temperature
4. Whenever I am baking a cake (especially bundt cakes), I always butter then flour the pan. This helps the cake to come out easily and also keeps the cake soft and not burnt on the outside.
5. When making a pie crust, don't work the dough too much with your hands. The warmth from your hands will melt the butter in the crust. It's important that the butter stay cold until it starts to bake. The crust will become nice and flaky as the butter melts during the baking process.
6. If a recipe calls for you to pre-bake the crust, use pie weights to keep the crust from shrinking down. You could also use dry beans.
7. When baking cookies, start to babysit them after the minimum baking time. Take them out right when they start to get golden around the edges.
8. When cookies and cupcakes are done baking, take them out immediately and let them cool on a wire cooling rack. If you leave them on the baking sheet/in the cupcake pan they will continue to bake.
9. When making individual cake layers or bundt cakes, leave them to cool in the pan for about 20 minutes before removing them.
10. When baking layered cakes, make sure the amount of batter is exactly equal in each layer. A kitchen scale can help to ensure equal amounts.
11. A little bit of lemon juice or a pinch of salt can really help to bring out flavors.
12. When using nuts in a recipe, toast them first to bring out the flavor more.
13. When cutting a cake, use a serrated knife and wash it with cold water then wipe off clean between each stroke. This will help you to get nice, neat slices.
14. When cutting a pie, cut two slices before pulling one out. For some reason it comes out easier this way.
15. When you are using lemons, roll them with your hand on the cutting board before cutting into it. This releases the juices. 
16. When alternating dry and wet ingredient additions to a batter, always start and end with the dry.
17. When adding eggs, introduce one at a time and mix well before adding the next one.
18. When creaming sugar and butter together, make sure they're thoroughly mixed together and fluffy before adding other ingredients.
19. When you frost a cake or cupcake, use an offset spatula. It's easier and gives a smoother result than a knife or regular spatula.
20. When making whipped cream, add a little honey to keep it from separating.
21. Use an ice cream scoop to pour cupcake batter into the individual cups in the pan. This has made a world of difference for me. It helps to evenly divide the batter and to get nice clean cups.
22. I don't always follow measurements exactly. With things that impact the taste of a dish (ie. chocolate, vanilla extract, honey, etc.), I will eyeball a tablespoon or teaspoon and sometimes add more if I think it would taste better with more of the ingredient. However, for dry ingredients I always follow the recipe to a T. The reason for this is that the amount of flour (and type of flour), baking soda, baking powder, or cornstarch you use greatly effects the outcome of your dish. If you don't follow the recipe, your dish may not rise, or it may rise too much or it may not thicken correctly. Also, it can impact the taste of the dish.

Yellow Cupcakes

My husband's family has a huge gathering for Christmas each year at alternating houses. This year the gathering was at Pohickery Farm, which was really exciting since it was my first Walther family Christmas as an official Walther family member. My job, fittingly, was to make a few desserts. I had planned on doing all of my baking on Saturday (the day before the party), but unfortunately we had a bit of a family emergency to tend to (poor Lucas has an awful eye infection, but it's starting to heal!). So, Saturday night I was up until 2am, watching You've Got Mail ("don't cry, ShopGirl") while baking cupcakes and pie, then woke up early the next day to bake some more. Luckily, I have quite a guy (a real trooper) who volunteered to help me decorate the cupcakes even though he was under-the-weather. He's a great helper. If I were ever to be a contestant on Cupcake Wars, he'd definitely be my assistant.

 
I decided to make a blueberry pie, red velvet cupcakes, and yellow cupcakes for the party. I've made yellow cupcakes before that were pretty rockin'. Unfortunately, I didn't save that recipe and had to find a similar one and then try to tweak it according to my memory. Lucas approved them and that's all I needed to know the recipe was a good one.

 My mother-in-law said that they taste like Berger Cookies and they really do thanks to the fudgey chocolate icing. Most of the pearl sprinkles on the cupcakes were added by Lucas while I tried to throw myself together in time for the party. I think he did a pretty fantastic job.


Yellow Cupcake Recipe
Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick), room temperature, cut into pieces
• 1 large egg
• 2 large egg yolks
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup sour cream

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line cupcake tin with paper liners
2. In an electric mixer beat to combine flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.
3. Add the butter to the dry mixture and mix well
4. Add the egg and mix well
5. Add the two egg yolks, mixing well after each addition (at this point the batter will be thick like cookie dough, but don't worry, it'll be more batter-like by the end!)
6. Add vanilla extract and sour cream and mix well
7. Evenly fill the cupcake tin and bake for 20-25 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean

..................................................................................................................

Chocolate Fudge Frosting Recipe:
 Ingredients:

• 4 oz. unsweetened chocolate
• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 1/3 cups powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

1. Melt chocolate in a double boiler over simmering water
2. Set aside chocolate to cool
3. Cream butter in the bowl of a mixer
4. Add powdered sugar to butter and mix well
5. Add vanilla to frosting and mix well
6. Add in melted chocolate and beat until well blended and smooth