Rum Cupcakes w/Salted Caramel Buttercream & Toasted Pecans

There was a meeting at work today with people coming in from out of town. PERFECT. Since our catering options through the cafeteria aren't particularly stellar, I offered my services up!

I decided to go with a flavor that was liked recently by all of my co-workers. My Rum Cupcake recipe is a slight tweak on a recipe from my grandmother. I remember liking this bundt cake so much as a kid. So, I got the recipe and just made more home made (ie, not using the box mix).

This is the recipe I got:-)

Cake
1 pkg Duncan Hines white cake mix
1lg instant pudding vanilla
4 eggs
1/2 c water
1/2 c dark rum
mix 1 at a time
grease and flour bundt pan
1/2 cup chopped nuts(walnuts) put on bottom of pan
pour cake batter over nuts
bake at 300 degrees for 1 1/4 hours
flip onto plate




Cake Topping
1/2 lb butter or marg
any questions call grandma.
1 c sugar
1/4 c rum
1/4 c water
bring to boil until foamy
pour over cake.

LOL. I adjusted this a bit to remove the boxed cake mix & replaced it with this cupcake recipe, I kept the pudding in from the original recipe, but used my standard butter cream recipe (obviously) minus one stick of butter and a little special caramel flavoring. 

After the cupcakes cooled, I carefully poured the butter mixture on each one. Then I let them sit over night so the frosting would not slide off due to the buttery goo. Once I frosted these, I topped them with a little toasted pecan (since I didn't put any on the bottom of the cupcake liners - see original recipe for cake) and some black sea salt. And that is it folks. Eat up!

JarCakes are the new Cupcakes.

I have a new obsession. Baking cupcakes in jars. Why? Why not?! Every time I bake something, I want it to be something I haven't done before. Not super realistic or practical of me, right? Well, I came across this when trying to figure out how I could ship cupcakes to friends with out some crazy, specially made cupcake shipping contraption. The JarCake is cute, portable, shippable and just kinda fun.

Here is my second attempt at this. Still figuring out just how full to fill the jars with batter...but it worked! Better to be a little under than over, or you won't be able to put the lid on!

red velvet cupcake (rvc) w/cream cheese frosting (ccf)

The recipe I used for this batch of cupcakes (made 36) can be found here. I have to say I am not personally a huge rcv fan, but apparently it is like, the thing to like. It has made a comeback - I read that somewhere. So, hopefully co-workers will tell me this doesn't taste like crap! It would be so unfortunate to make crappy tasting cupcakes for a co-worker's birthday!

sprinkled w/chocolate & cocoa crisps

At least I can always attempt to make a cupcake, regardless of the flavor, look decent! It is challenging to pipe into a friggin' jar - but practice...I will a lot, I am sure! So, let me know if you need any JarCakes as I am sure I will have more than enough to share with you in the near future!

all lined up!