This wonderful treat came about because I had some eggnog left over from Christmas that was due to expire at the end of January, and I needed a way to use it up fast! After seeking a little bit of inspiration online, I dove into my old cookbooks and found a great Betty Crocker recipe for eggnog cake. It uses as its base this wonderful yellow cake recipe:

Starlight Yellow Cake

2 cups all purpose flour
1½ cups sugar
3½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup shortening (half margarine or butter, softened, if desired)
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 2 round layer pans or a 9×13 pan. Beat all ingredients in large mixer bowl on low speed, scraping bowl constantly, for 30 seconds. Then, beat on high speed, scraping bowl frequently, for about 3 minutes. Pour into pan(s). Bake until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, 9×13-40 to 45 minutes, layers-30 to 35 minutes.

I have used this recipe countless times as a basic yellow cake. The Eggnog variation of Betty Crocker’s recipe instructs that you add 1 teaspoon of nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon of ginger, and a teaspoon of rum flavoring to the recipe.

Based on this information, here’s what I came up with! My special Eggnog Cupcakes!!!

Eggnog Cupcakes
2 cups all purpose flour
1½ cups sugar
3½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup shortening (half margarine or butter, softened, if desired)
1 cup eggnog
3 tablespoons spiced rum
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake tins with your choice of liners (I used some of my football cupcake liners since it was close to the Superbowl), or grease with cooking spray. Set aside.

Beat all ingredients in large mixer bowl on low speed, scraping bowl constantly, for 30 seconds. Then, beat on high speed, scraping bowl frequently, for about 3 minutes. Fill the cup cake tins about 2/3 of the way full with batter.

Bake until wooden pick inserted in center of cupcake comes out clean, about 20-24 minutes.

So then I had to come up with a nice frosting for these sweet-smelling little babies. I’ve been making up frosting recipes since I was a little girl, and here’s what I came up with this time:

Spiced Rum Frosting
1 stick salted butter, softened
1 package confectioner’s sugar
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 tablespoons spiced rum
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Blend all ingredients together until smooth and creamy. Then, frost your cupcakes! I also added a sprinkle of nutmeg on top of the frosting, just for dramatic effect. I added a bit of extra cream to make the icing nice and gooey – almost like a very thick, luxurious glaze.

The idea for these cute little S’more Cupcakes came to me from my friend Ashley of HauteCakes – you should check out her website, she makes some fabu cupcakes!

I made these for some of our friends who have young kids, and they LOVED them. If it’s too rainy or cold to make real s’mores over a campfire, then these cupcakes definitely hit the spot. The icing is to die for – like a fluffy buttery melt-in-your-mouth marshmallow.

It was also a good chance for me to check out Martha Stewart’s One-Bowl Chocolate Cake recipe. It was super easy (especially considering it came from Martha) and tasted wonderful. It will definitely be in my normal rotation from now on.

I apologize for the sub-par photo quality – I’m hunting down my USB cord for my camera, so I took these with an older point and shoot.

S’more Cupcakes

Cupcakes: Martha Stewart’s One-Bowl Chocolate Cake

1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place cupcake liners in each tin, or simply grease with cooking spray.

Into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, sift cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. With the mixer on low, stir in eggs, 1 1/2 cups warm water, buttermilk, vegetable oil, and vanilla until smooth, about 3 minutes.

Divide batter among prepared pans. Bake, rotating once, until tester inserted in center of cupcake comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes, depending on the size of your cupcake tins.

Let cupcakes cool in pans on a wire rack for 20 minutes, then remove from tins and allow to cool completely on wire rack. Makes about 24 cupcakes.

Marshmallow Frosting:
1 7-ounce jar marshmallow cream
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups confectioner’s sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Graham Crackers, crushed
Mini chocolate bars (i.e. Hershey’s)

With an electric mixer, blend marshmallow and butter until creamed. Gradually add confectioner’s sugar until desired consistency and sweetness is reached. (I think I only used about 1 1/2 cups.) Add vanilla extract, and blend well.

Ice your cupcakes with the marshmallow frosting. I used a ziplock back with a corner snipped off to pipe the icing on, which made it super easy. Sprinkle with graham cracker crumbs and garnish with a miniature chocolate bar.

Here are some Winter Wonderland Cupcakes that I came up with for my husband. He loooves peppermint and chocolate, so what could be better than combining these flavors in a scrumptious cupcake???

As a base, I started with one of my most tried-and-true, easy, fail-safe chocolate cake recipes. It’s from my mom’s vintage Betty Crocker cookbook from the 60s.

Black Midnight Cake (from Betty Crocker’s Cookbook)

2 1/4 cups flour
1 2/3 cups sugar

2/3 cup cocoa

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/4 cups water

1/4 cup shortening

2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

Heat oven to 350 degrees and prepare cupcake pan with liners or grease. Measure all ingredients into large mixer bowl. Blend 1/2 minute on low speed, scraping bowl constantly. Beat 3 minutes high speed, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour batter into cupcake tins until 2/3 full. Bake for 20 minutes. Cool on racks.

Then, I took my trusty cream cheese frosting recipe, and made it wintry with some peppermint extract.

Peppermint Cream Cheese Icing

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

1 (8-ounce) block cream cheese

1 box confectioners’ sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon peppermint extract (or to taste)

Blend butter and cream cheese in small mixing bowl. Gradually add confectioners’ sugar until desired consistency is reached. Add vanilla and peppermint, and mix well.

I took half of the icing and put it in a ziplock bag. Then I added red food coloring (a few drops) to the remaining half of the icing, mixed well, and put it into a ziplock bag. Then, I cut the corner off of the bags to pipe the icing onto the cupcakes, placing alternating stripes in curved strokes. Then I finished them off by swirling the icing with a knife to create a peppermint-candy effect.

They turned out beautiful, and soooo yummy! The moist and tender chocolate cake complimented the creamy zesty icing so well!!