Watermelon cupcakes

Sunday, August 3, 2008

I saw these Watermelon cupcakes in my Google Reader and I thought they were so cute. Like the perfect summery treat. We were going to a cookout last weekend and I immediately thought of these cupcakes. I wanted to be able to pipe the frosting, so I opted not to flavor them with watermelon. I also didn’t think chocolate and watermelon really go together… So I guess mine are just watermelon look-alike cupcakes.

I made the same chocolate chip cupcakes that I made for the 4th of July, but this time I used mini chips and added some pink and red food coloring to the batter. For the frosting, I made my favorite buttercream. I actually made two shades of green that I wanted to swirl together. The swirling didn’t go as planned, so really all you can see is dark green frosting, not the lighter lime green frosting. Everyone enjoyed the summery (looking) cupcakes.
Chocolate Chip cupcakes – adapted from Vanilla cupcakes from Crazy Delicious – original recipe from Martha Stewart – makes 24
1 3/4 cups cake flour, not self-rising
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
4 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup mini chocolate chips + 1 Tbsp flour (toss to coat chocolate chips)
Few drops pink and red food coloring

Mix the dry ingredients

Add butter

Whisk eggs, milk and vanilla

Add wet ingredients 1/3 at a time to the dry ingredients

Stir in food coloring and chocolate chips – be sure to coat the chips with flour so they don’t all sink to the bottom while baking

Bake for 17-22 minutes at 325 degrees or until a toothpick comes out clean

Vanilla and Buttercream

2 sticks butter
7 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/4 cup milk – I used whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Few drops green and yellow food coloring

Beat butter until creamy, scrape bowl

Add 5 cups of sifted powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla, beat until combined. Add food coloring until desired color is reached.

Add more powdered sugar until you get to the consistency you want (not too stiff so that its hard to pipe)

Cupcakes, Dessert

10 comments »

18 Responses to “Shipping Cupcakes in a Jar”

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CB — November 9, 2008 at 4:22 pm

I love it! Where did you get the jars? Now I totally wanna do this for xmas gifts!
/Clara
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2

Jen — November 9, 2008 at 4:23 pm

I looked everywhere and just couldn’t find them. I ended up ordering them from Amazon. They weren’t very cheap so that was a bummer…
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CB — November 9, 2008 at 4:35 pm

Ah bummer. What size are the jars? I wonder if Ikea would have them? Whats the amazon link?
/Clara
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Jen — November 9, 2008 at 4:42 pm

I ordered them from here. You want the wide mouth jars so the cupcakes fit and the 1/2 pint size is perfect.

The yellow cupcakes didn’t rise much so I added more frosting to fill the jar and the chocolate ones rose quite a bit so they had less frosting. My sister said that the chocolate one had the perfect amount of frosting or could use a smidge more, so you want a cupcake that has at least a small dome.
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ttfn300 — November 9, 2008 at 7:29 pm

haha, i’ve never seen that before 🙂 love it!
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Katie — November 10, 2008 at 1:14 pm

OH FUN! I’ve seriously always thought about doing this and never did. I’m starring this post to remind myself at Christmas. Too cute!!
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Janna — November 11, 2008 at 2:46 pm

I have been dying to try this ever since I saw it last year on someone else’s blog. They actually baked the cake in the jar and then iced it like a cupcake. I am going to have to order some of those iddy jars! Too cute!
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Beth — November 16, 2008 at 4:25 pm

Hmmm…might have to do this for Christmas instead of those “ingredients in a jar” thing we were thinking of.
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Renée — March 12, 2009 at 3:24 pm

I really want to try this, but I keep reading online that you shouldn’t put frosting in the jar because it will get moldy by the time it reaches its destination. I’m sure you would have heard if it was moldy when it got to your friend right? I would just be so embarrassed if that happened. Any help?
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Jen — March 12, 2009 at 3:30 pm

Renee – I’ve done this twice and both times haven’t heard of any mold. I froze the cupcakes/frosting in the jars prior to shipping them. I also shipped in the winter. My one sister even didn’t go get her package from the office until a week after it arrived and it was still good. I would guess she ate her cupcakes about 10 days after I sent them. I’m not sure if shipping in warm weather will have an impact on potential mold…
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Renée — March 12, 2009 at 3:33 pm

Alright I’ll definitely give it a try then. It will make for a very good Easter present for my faraway friends =)
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Jen — March 12, 2009 at 3:35 pm

Oh that’s a good idea!! I might have to order some more jars and do the same myself…
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Hillary — June 5, 2009 at 3:25 pm

What a clever idea! I would love to get a cupcake in the mail! 🙂 Maybe I’ll send out Valentine’s Day Cupcakesnext year!
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CuteCupcakesAllTheTime — May 6, 2010 at 5:39 pm

This comment has been removed by the author.
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CuteCupcakesAllTheTime — May 6, 2010 at 5:40 pm

Love these!! We have featured you on our blog. http://cutecupcakesallthetime.blogspot.com
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Pat — February 16, 2013 at 11:19 am
Did you freeze them before shipping? The jars looked frosted…
- beantownbaker — February 24th, 2013 @ 10:21 am
  
  I did freeze them. They defrosted as they were shipped. I’ve done it with and without the freezing depending on the weather and whatnot.
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PinkSuga — October 27, 2014 at 7:38 pm

What shipping method did you use? Overnight or Express???