Recipe: Pirate’s Bounty Cupcakes

A friend of mine had a birthday last week and as part of my baking ventures this year, I decided to go conceptual again (after the wildly successful Spam cake). There’s a back story about he and his brother’s saying the word “bounty” in a low, deep voice that makes it too hard not to laugh.

Either way, I came up with what I thought to be a hilarious birthday cake concept: a pirate and his bounty of treasures! How perfect, right? And then! I come to find out that the special saying of the word “bounty” came out of Pirates of the Caribbean. Who knew? And how perfect!

I found a recipe on bettycrocker.com for Pirate’s Hidden Treasure cupcakes. Chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter cups inside. YUM! But mostly I liked the decorating, so I used parts of that recipe. The actual cake and frosting recipe is a mix of 2 other recipes too. I’ve made the cupcakes and the frosting before, but I’ll include the recipes here just in case (since this recipe is a conglomeration of 3 recipes).

continue reading for the recipe

Deliciously evil chocolate – two times over

For some reason I’ve made chocolate cake and cupcakes 3 times in the last couple weeks. I know I said I would start baking more this year, but is this getting out of hand? I know several people who would adamantly disagree with that last statement.

I like chocolate just as much as the next person, but I love baking with chocolate. Stop the presses…I just said “I love baking…” is this really happening? Sweet.

I was vacationing up north (Two Harbors, MN) this past weekend and it just so happened that two of the friends with were celebrating birthdays. And what do they like? Cupcakes. Chocoloate cupcakes. Lots and lots of cupcakes.

My friend and I essentially made homemade Hostess cakes. Oh yeah they were good.

Pictured above are the Cream-Filled Devil’s Food Cake cupcakes for the birthday boys.

As for the cake that I made the following night…I felt like making chocolate cupcakes a couple weeks ago. And they turned out pretty good with the exception of my complete and utter lack to successfully make that buttercream frosting. Never fear, I found the one that I made 4 years ago (that’s right, 4 years ago) that worked!

When I remade this chocolate cake with the new frosting, I added chocolate ganache topping…oh yeah. I love chocolate ganache like a nervous tic I can’t get rid of.

A friend and coworker has changed jobs and his last day was yesterday so I baked him this chocolate cake. It was pretty darn good.

In fact, I should quote another friend:

“Your cake is sick… by that I mean phat…or dope…”

You get the idea.

So make this cake. It’s easy and it’s fun to get a lot of stuff like flour and cocoa all over the kitchen and yourself.

Recipes after the jump…