Supernatural Cupcake Wars, Part One
รขโฌลI got cake. It’s close enough, right? รขโฌย Sam to Dean รขโฌลThe Girl Next Doorรขโฌย
When I’m not watching Supernatural or getting caught up on my DVR, I sometimes watch Food Network. They have a show titled Cupcake Wars where they pit four cupcake bakers against one another surrounding a major theme. Which ever one ends up on top wins the right to present a 1000 cupcake display for an event surrounding the theme. They’ve done things from zoos to charities to opening nights for movies or plays and more. The cupcakes pay a delicious homage to something.
This past Fall, I started to take up baking. I started with cookies. Snickerdoodles, chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal raisin, peanut butter. All of them were yummy and got me comfortable with the appliances and baking process.
So, with that in mind, I thought I’d expand my baking horizons. I decided if we can’t get a real episode of Cupcake Wars why not try to do our own? What cupcake ideas could you recommend to try? What flavors make you think of Supernatural? Don’t worry. The fussy French judge on the show won’t be able to criticize your suggestions. Let’s explore!
After all, this is another great way to enjoy the show. I think Dean would approve—even if it is cake.
My first cupcake choice is an apple pie cupcake. Considering how important apple pie is in the show, it seems absolutely the best place to start.
First, here is the recipe.
รขโฌลFreakin’ Worth Itรขโฌย Apple Pie Cupcakes
For the cupcakes:
3 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk
For the apple pie filling:
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons cinnamon
3 tablespoons sugar
3 large granny smith apples, peeled, cored, and diced
For the vanilla buttercream:
2 1/2 sticks butter, softened
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons heavy cream
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two cupcake pans with paper liners.
To make the cupcakes, combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until fluffy (approximately 2 minutes.) Next, beat in eggs one at a time, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. Mix in vanilla extract. Alternate beating in the dry ingredients and milk, in small increments, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.
Divide the batter evenly among cupcake tins. Bake 18-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Place cupcakes on a cooling rack.
To make the apple pie filling, melt butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add cinnamon and sugar and heat until bubbly. Lower the heat and stir in apples. Coat thoroughly with cinnamon sugar mixture. Cover and cook for an additional 10 minutes, until apples are tender. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely before filling the cupcakes.
To make the frosting, beat butter with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until creamy. Stir in sugar and salt and beat on medium-low speed until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add vanilla and heavy cream. Mix on medium-low speed for approximately four minutes, until frosting appears light and fluffy.
To assemble, use a paring knife to cut out the center of each cupcake. Fill each cupcake with apple pie filling, and frost with buttercream.
Printed from A Bitchin’ Kitchen
Recipe adapted from Annie’s Eats, originally from Fatty Fat Fats
Here’s my journey on making these cupcakes—complete with photos!
As always, I gathered all of my ingredients together so all I would have to do is combine them. I felt comfortable, everything was coming together, and I was baking to my show of choice, Psych. The batter looked great after I put all the ingredients together, and I filled my cupcake tins carefully. They look so pretty as you can see in the photo here!
Those of you who watch Cupcake Wars knows that each episode features one of the bakers having a disaster in the midst of the contest. The batter is mixed wrong. The frosting isn’t the right flavor. The cupcakes are dropped in the process of putting them in or taking them out of the oven. Something goes totally wrong for one contestant and we all have to wait and see if they can recover.
I had that.
Our oven is over ten years old. The baking process just would not finish. I went way past the allotted maximum time of 22 minutes, and even then they just would not bake completely. It was disheartening to see—especially since everything else was coming together so nicely! No matter what I did or when I checked, the cupcakes just would not come out clean.
It also caused many of them to fall in the middle, collapsing. I was frustrated but not hopeless. I would try and salvage as many of these cupcakes as I possibly could. I tasted a couple of the total rejects that just didn’t make it. They were scrumptious and very vanilla sweet. I knew I had to try to save as many as possible.
Turns out I wasn’t doing anything wrong. The heating element in the bottom of the oven is malfunctioning. It’s not baking evenly or properly—reason yet to be determined. It’s a shame because if they had been baked in a properly working oven they could have been even better in the finished product.
Nevertheless I pushed forward with the filling and frosting. I had come this far so I was bound and determined to see it through. I wanted to know if my cupcakes really were รขโฌลFreakin’ Worth It.รขโฌย
I washed and peeled my apples before dicing them up and setting them aside. Then I melted the butter and cinnamon and poured the apples in. The longer they cooked, the happier I became. I love apples and I love apple pie, so this was all good eats. When I took it off the stove and set it aside to cool, I tasted it. It tasted even better than it smelled or looked like and I was ecstatic about the result. Once the filling was cool I set about filling my poor cupcakes. I hollowed out a small cavity to put it in and put the cake I took out back on top to make frosting later easier.
Only problem was I ran out of cupcakes due to the fiasco with the oven. I had too much filling and not enough cupcakes. So, I sat down and ate the rest. I will not lie. Making this filling and eating it by itself could be a great snack. It was sweet, cinnamon spicy, and tart from the Granny Smith apples. What’s most amazing, though, is it did taste just like apple pie—just without the crust.
Then I did the frosting. I debated about buying the canned stuff as butter cream intimidated me, but I felt that if I was going to go through all this effort I had better see it all the way through. So I went ahead and made the frosting from scratch, too. Besides, making it myself ensures that it is Leviathan free—no SucroCorp here!
Boy was I ever glad I went that extra effort. It’s sweet, creamy, and amazing. It tastes a million times better than the stuff in the can.
Some of my cupcakes held up fairly well to the filling and frosting portion. Others didn’t as much, so I gingerly put frosting on those and didn’t fuss too much about how they looked. I might have been inspired to do this baking experiment by Cupcake Wars but I wasn’t trying to win it. I just wanted each one to have enough of it.
So, moment of truth. What was the verdict on the cupcakes? Sure, they’re not the prettiest thing on the cupcake market, but were they any good? Were they actually รขโฌลFreakin’ Worth It?รขโฌย
The short answer: YES.
They tasted like a sweet vanilla cake wrapped around a morsel of apple pie with amazing sweet frosting dolloped on top. They were satisfying and tasty. Despite the oven nearly ruining the whole venture, they turned out to be well worth the effort it took to make them. The flavor result really played great homage to Supernatural.
In another words, Dean would probably eat these and not complain that it wasn’t actually pie. Besides, now that he has a kitchen at the MOL Bunker, maybe he could bake up a batch of these for the road. It’s a lot easier to pack and eat these on the run than it is a whole apple pie after all.
Give ’em a try and tell me if you think they’re actually รขโฌลFreakin’ Worth It.รขโฌย
Now it’s your turn. Suggest any type of cupcake you think fits Supernatural, and I’ll see if I can make it and share the recipe in another article. This could be one of the tastiest adventures ever.
Far Away Eyes – you are mean (in a good way) – I have been sitting here craving brownies most of the week but don’t have the ingredients/funds this week to go get them. Then I get on here today and find this article – and after all of your totally awesome description words I am now craving these too. On top of all that I get on my FB and they are passing around this recipe that they are calling “Santa’s Suicide” which is a bar cookie recipe where you put a layer of cookie dough on the bottom, spread Oreo Cookies over that and then put brownie down on top of that and cook until brownies are done. I don’t see why you can’t transfer that recipe to a cupcake recipe – layering cookie dough (they didn’t say what kind but I suspect chocolate chip cookie), an Oreo and then some brownie mixture and the name “Santa’s Suicide” kind of goes with A Supernatural Christmas. Of course, you will probably succumb to a sugar coma but it would be so worth it ๐
Thanks for the comment.
I am cruel, aren’t I? These cupcakes are totally “freakin’ worth it” and I wish I had more. I already have my second cupcake made (and mostly eaten) with an article written to be posted at some point.
I’ll have to keep this idea in mind for that episode/time of year. I’d suggest a spiked egg nog cupcake for A Very Supernatural Christmas, but A) I hate egg nog and B) I don’t drink.
I do hope you’ll eventually be able to make these yummies. I’ll probably remake these again at some point, now that I have a new oven to bake them in.
Thanks again!
I love your apple pie cakes! They really sound yummy. However I am not certain that Dean would be fooled into thinking they were pie, he seems pretty pie-savvy.
Oh no, they’re not AS good as pie, but for carrying and convenience, he might accept them. I wouldn’t imagine they’d fool him by any means. Cake isn’t pie, after all.
Oh I think they are TOTALLY as good as pie. You know Dean needs to spread his wings a bit in the whole baked confections area ๐ (also Sam needs to learn the difference between cake and pie and learn to love both….) I think your cakes would be the ideal way to start!
I prefer pie to cake, but for some reason cupcakes aren’t nearly as dense. And yes, Dean needs to expand his horizons on food in general. Now that he has a MOL kitchen maybe he’ll do it all on his own.
OK, I didn’t put a huge amount of thought into this and I don’t have a recipe, but how about “Angel ” cupcakes. The cake would be all light, fluffy, vanilla (flakes of vanilla bean?), with a lot of egg whites beaten into the batter, similar to Angel Food cake. The frosting would be also light with powdered sugar, butter, cream cheese. Finally fold into the frosting some fresh strawberry puree (so it is all swirley). Sounds like Heaven to me ๐ This was fun!!
Ohhhh that could be fun and tasty. I think that cupcake flavors for this show could be totally endless.
My only question is: why strawberry??
HA, no real reason, it just sounded good. Cream cheese and strawberries, can’t miss. I couldn’t think of a way to tie the frosting into the show. ๐
Fair enough. It certainly would be tasty.
Use cocoa powder to add Castiel’s wing on top of the swirled frosting. (Create a stencil from an angel cookie cutter.)
Really great idea LadyJane! I was also thinking about callmethekimsters idea ( below) of melted chocolate in a squeeze bottle, to form wings. Either one would be a fine plan!! Thanks!
Yum, your cake sounds tasty!
It is a little difficult to come up with fruit to associate with the show isn’t it? Dean eats apple pie (probably). He ate a cherry off a cake in the gods episode, there were bananas in the basket of corn syrup-free food and Sam ate an apple once!
Ha, eilf “Sam ate an apple once”, girl you slay me. I broke down and bought some cupcakes today. I blame Far Away Eyes for my lack of willpower ๐ I have been craving them since I read the article. ๐
You’re welcome. My job is only complete if you MAKE some.
๐ Ok, ok next step after the over- indulgence of today!! Focus Leah!
Leah, some of the finest stunt apple-eating I have ever seen ๐
i love this idea Far Away Eyes – there should be more baking related Supernatural stuff! You may have started a trend.
Not really any sort of expert on cupcakes, but this might work:
Stew some strawberries and raspberries together with sugar and a little water until they are soft enough to roll into little balls which you then freeze
Make the cupcake recipe and stick the frozen fruit into the middle of each one
Bake
Use magic to get the little centers to beat (this might be the hardest bit, not sure)
“Beating Heart Cupcakes”
Jenny: There were tiny beating hearts in my cupcakes. There were hearts in my cupcakes. Hearts in my cupcakes. That’s never happened before, hearts in my cupcakes!
Dean: Shall I slug her?
Sam: Give it a second.
Oh yes. HEARTS IN MY CUPCAKES.
I like this idea. I don’t know if it’d work in baking or if it’d just melt and saturate the cake, but it’s a thought. It might work better to somehow figure out how to put the fruit mixture in after and see if it’s possible to make it close to at least biting into a heart (not that I would want to eat a REAL heart).
I think food plays such a HUGE role on this show that it only makes sense to play with that aspect. Hence Cupcake Wars!
Keep thinking. I’m open to all sorts of ideas.
Yeah, I am a little dubious myself ๐
Oh, I know, what about fairy cakes? Do you have fairy cakes in the US? We European types have a (slight) tendency to conflate ‘fairies’ with ‘angels’ (side with me here Tim I need backup!) so it might apply under the category of cupcakes for angels!
Or, you know, faries …
Anyway fairy cakes are easy. You slice the top off your muffin and cut it in half then put a big blob of cream where the top was and put the two halves of the top back at an angle so they stick up like wings.
Fairy cakes always sell out second at Irish school bake-sales after all the rice krispie buns are gone.
Oooo. Fairies. Sprites. Little People. Just for the crazy fairy lady, eh?
I like. I haven’t heard of this type of cupcake, but it might be worth a shot. It’d also be a great cupcake for St. Patrick’s Day. I live in the most western room in the house, and that’s where the Leprechaun come you know.
We can use magic? I may have to rethink. Little flapping wings on my cupcakes then ๐ Nice idea eilf.
ooh,ooh how about a devil’s food cupcake and serve it in a cage?
Oh, just wait for the second one. I already made it, it’s been written up. But I do love the idea of a cage decoration! That’s a totally kick ass idea. I think you can play with a ton of devil’s food variety for this show.
…and maybe a little gummy bear in the cage (Adam ๐ )
Like an edible cage? Chocolate fingers or something?
Oh yeah, maybe built out of chocolate covered pretzels ( for structural integrity)? ๐
“For structural integrity.” ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐
Ooh 7 smilies, thanks l2b!!! Sometimes I amuse only myself. ๐
This is a fantastic idea.
I totally saw a recipe for a Turducken Cupcake somewhere. It had this amazing cookie dough and Hershey chocolate filling that spilled out just like Dean’s sandwich “I think you pissed off my sandwich.” Haha!
Looking forward to the next post. Devils food cupcakes…very clever ๐
So it wasn’t actual meat. It was chocolate and cookie like dough instead? Ingenious. I like the idea of the chocolate seeping out just like the goop in that Slammer.
I’ll have to think on it.
Yes, it was a desert cupcake. I saw the title and thought it sounded gross but the picture looked amazingly mouthwatering.
….Okay, found the recipe. Its description says, “A chocolate cupcake. Stuffed with raw cookie dough. Wrapped around a Hersheyรขโฌโขs Kiss. THE CUPCAKE EQUIVALENT OF A TURDUCKEN. All slathered in rich, homemade buttercream frosting. (Which is probably how real turducken eaters prepare their meatstravaganzas too. You donรขโฌโขt wanna mess with those people.)
Haha!
link to recipe, please thankyou.
HEALTH ALERT:
If you are going to eat raw cookie dough, be sure to use pasteurized eggs, or a product like “Egg Beaters.”
That sounds absolutely amazing. I’d have to make a lot more cupcakes before I could even attempt that. Sounds so yummy.
I love the idea of creating cupcakes for the show! I wish I was a good baker (I’ll have to leave that to my daughter!). Great suggestions so far too! I had a thought- what about a recipe using Salt? I looked up some and found one that might be apropos for Bobby. ๐ Salted Caramel-Chocolate Bourbon cupcakes http://www.bhg.com/recipe/cupcakes/salted-caramel-chocolate-bourbon-cupcakes/ Bourbon is a form of whiskey, isn’t it? And for the Boys -there are also a number of delicious recipes using beer as well .
I’ve been thinking of trying to work a Salted Caramel cupcake in somehow. It’d not only represent characters, but it’d also the weapons. Sounds very yummy indeed.
This is awesome! I too love watching Cupcake Wars. Now I can’t stop thinking about a SPN episode where the boys are on a hunt that takes place during a CCW episode – so they have to make it to the finale as bakers. This would be so entertaining.
Those apple pie cupcakes look really yummy….now I want cupcakes….
You’re welcome. The infection has spread. I’ve wanted a Supernatural themed Cupcake Wars forever and ever.
But the reverse? That could be just as great!
[quote]Now I can’t stop thinking about a SPN episode where the boys are on a hunt that takes place during a CCW episode – so they have to make it to the finale as bakers. This would be so entertaining.
[/quote]
Is it bad I’m picturing them both in aprons, trying to bake up a storm and ending covered in flour dust and icing sugar? ๐
Hi Far Away Eyes
I had watched Cupcakes Wars a few times. It was amazing what some of them were able to come up with.
I myself donรขโฌโขt bake. It outcome usually wasnรขโฌโขt successful, so I leave the baking to the Bakery.
However I did come up with an idea by decorating the top of the cupcake to look like รขโฌหBabyรขโฌโขsรขโฌโข tires.
Cover the top of the cupcake with a very dark icing and then use a silver tone icing to make the rims.
I was trying to think of a way to make the cupcakes look like a burger, but Iรขโฌโขm not sure how well it would work.
Maybe making two batches of cupcakes, one being a dark chocolate and one a light.
Cut the light chocolate ones in halve so they look like the buns. And cut the dark ones into smaller rings so they can be the meat.
Anyways this was fun thanks.
I love it! Baby’s tires would be a really neat decoration on some of the cupcakes. If I knew how to use fondant, I would totally make one to top any of the “Dean” centric cupcakes.
What a great idea. Thanks for sharing!!
This is a great idea! And I guffawed out loud when you said you sat down to eat the rest of the filling. That was the best part for me!
Here we go. I read in a companion book that they used Oreo’s to cover Dean’s grave in Lazarus Rising. So, chocolate cupcakes with oreo chunks. Green grassy frosting. I don’t know how to make the grass. You are the expert at baking now!
I didn’t want to throw it away! So what to do but eat it. I can almost see Dean whipping this filing up and eating it in the MOL Bunker. If he doesn’t wanna make the cupcakes or doesn’t have the time to make pie, he could do that!
Ohhhhh wow. Really? Thanks for that tidbit about Lazarus Rising. That’s awesome. I think that SHOULD be a cupcake for this. Maybe my fourth. I already have my third picked out.
As for being an expert, oh no. I’m no expert. I’m just learning and I have to bake to do that.
[quote]Thanks for that tidbit about Lazarus Rising. That’s awesome.[/quote]
Jensen said he was digging Oreos out of his ears for weeks!
Nice idea l2b, and you could put a litttle teensy cross on it!
[quote]Nice idea l2b, and you could put a litttle teensy cross on it![/quote]
Leah, maybe little crosses made with chocolate-covered pretzels glued together with chocolate frosting (for structural integrity).
love2boys-You took the words right out of my mouth!! ๐
Hi Faraway Eyes,
Way to get my mouthwatering! Drool, drool.
I was just thinking that a fun cupcake war for Supernatural would be to reprise the Apocalypse via Michael’s Magnificent Angel Food Cupcakes versus Lucifer’s Luscious Devil’s Food Cupcakes.
Sigh. I can taste them now!
I love baking too. This weekend I made quite a delectable chocolate/raspberry birthday cake. I should call it the Crowley Crossroad Special, because it’s quite tempting to eat a second piece!
Yours dusted in flour!
Pragmatic Dreamer ๐
Thanks for the comment.
Oh my. Now see the Apocalypse wouldn’t have been so messy or bloody if they had a bake off. I can see it now. It’d be classic.
Very nice.
[quote]Thanks for the comment.
Oh my. Now see the Apocalypse wouldn’t have been so messy or bloody if they had a bake off. I can see it now. It’d be classic.
Very nice.[/quote]
Not classic. It would be [i]epic[/i].Ben-TKAAR
:-* ๐
What a wonderful idea! I love baking cupcakes and when I get the chance, these were the first ones that came to mind that are inspired by the show. (I’m including links to recipes already online if you want to bake them.)
[u]Margarita Cupcakes [/u][url]http://www.thekitchenismyplayground.com/2011/07/margarita-cupcakes.html[/url]
“Now get the hell off my property before I blast you so full of rock-salt that you start crapping margaritas!” -Bobby Singer
[u]Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes[/u]
[url]http://www.krissys-creations.com/2012/08/chocolate-peanut-butter-cupcakes.html[/url]
“You’re chocolate’s been in my peanut butter for far too long.” – Crowley
[u]”I Found a Liquor Store and Drank It” Whiskey Cupcakes[/u]
[url]http://www.annies-eats.com/2010/03/26/chocolate-whiskey-cupcakes/[/url]
Castiel “I found a liquor store.”
Sam “And?”
Castiel “And I drank it.”
[u]Mystery Spot Maple Syrup Cupcakes[/u]
[url]http://www.countryliving.com/recipefinder/maple-cupcakes-3461[/url]
รขโฌลGuy has maple syrup for 100 Tuesdays and suddenly he has strawberry?รขโฌย – Sam
I’ll update at some point if I ever have time to make any of these.
A really easy way to create toppers for cupcakes as well is to buy the meltable chocolate and once you melt it down, put it in a squeeze bottle. Have some parchment paper laid out and create whatever symbol you’d like as the topper. Let them cool and voila! You can also buy edible spray paint if you’d like them to be another color.
Here’s a few of the cupcakes I’ve made so far even though they’re not Supernatural:
[img]http://i.imgur.com/J9X8JWF.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/DvEodyD.jpg[/img]
Harry Potter Butterbeer cupcakes with Butterscotch ganache filling and buttercream icing.
[img]http://i.imgur.com/O5reP89.jpg[/img]
Lord of the Rings Dark Chocolate with Chocolate Ganache Icing
Wow. Those look awesome.
I will have to look into the meltaways and making decorations that way. I never would have thought of that. How cool!
If any show is huge on food, it’s this one, so the more cupcake ideas we can come up with the better.
Thanks for sharing!!
Hamburger Cake
– You might be able to shrink it down.
[url]http://allrecipes.com/recipe/hamburger-cake/detail.aspx[/url]
Rocky Road
[url]http://allrecipes.com/recipe/ghirardelli-rocky-road-cupcakes/[/url]
I don’t have a recipe, but the cinnamon “red hot” candies would be perfect for a “Fires of Hell” cupcake.
PS: You can buy rum and whiskey flavored extracts. The alcohol content isn’t any greater than plain old vanilla extract.
Ohhhh. I like the idea of the extracts. I don’t drink and I live in a house that can’t have booze, so finding alternatives but having the flavors for some of these will come in handy!
Mmmmm, that recipe sounded so good. But, I’m with Dean, I’ll take pie any day over cake. I did make my friend red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for her birthday. The more red die you put the creepier they look. But basically, they’re just chocolate cupcakes in disguise. ๐ Maybe something with devil food’s cake could be an idea? By the way, Far Away Eyes, you can freeze the fillling & the frosting for another time. ๐ Ha, ha! ๐
I prefer pie to cake, too, but I’m always amazed by the cupcakes those people make on Cupcake Wars and how they can make it represent the theme given them.
I love Red Velvet, but yes, it’s really a chocolate cake dressed up a bit fancier.
Oooo. Freezing the filling might not be a bad idea.
This is the BEST thread! ๐
I’d rather think so.
After reading everyone’s comments here, I’m so desperate for cake I can’t tell you! Well I guess I just did! I want cake. Or pie. Or a cake/pie. Just something! Ugh.
(Nice looking cakes Far Away Eyes ๐ )
Thanks for the compliment on the cakes.
I actually have at least two or three other cake ideas already in mind for the future. I can’t wait to share with all of you.
nice blog keep it up.
nice blog keep it up.
yummmy and looks delicious am a big fan of you and your blog.your blog is really helpful for me.am excited to find chocolate cupcake recipe ([url]”http://www.recipeslearn.com/easy-caramel-chocolate-cupcake-recipe”[/url]) in your blog.am going to bookmark your blog.you are doing really good job keep it up.thanks for sharing .