Trying to master the signature swirl

I've been a fan of cupcakes all my life! How can you not love receiving an individual cupcake, it's your very own dessert that you do not have to share with a single person! When I was working in Bethesda, there was this bakery right next to our building, I remember going there pretty much on a weekly basis to get their delicious hazelnut cupcake. I remember the cake being so delicious and chocolaty, and the hazelnut frosting was perfect, even topped off with a little hazelnut on top. It was how I treated myself if I was having a particularly stressful day or because I felt like I deserved a treat!


I then stumbled onto Georgetown Cupcakes a few years ago and fell in love!!! I've tried the other cupcake places, they are popping up like hot cakes around the area --Baked and Wired, Cake Love, Crumbs, Curbside Cupcakes, Hello Cupcake, just to name a few. Now, each of these places are good, but I'm still very partial to Georgetown and it will always be my number one cupcake place. Heck, we even served them at our wedding, that's how addicted I am! And yes, I am nuts and will stand in line for them. To me, they are just that good and totally worth it.


So, when the two sisters who founded Georgetown went on the Today Show and gave out their signature cream cheese frosting recipe, I was all over it! By this time, I had received my Kitchen Aid mixer as a Christmas present and knew that baking would be a part of my future! For those of you who haven't used this mixer, it's like the best kitchen appliance ever! My mixer is this charcoal gray color and I absolutely love it, both for it's functionally and because it looks super cool. So the first thing I made with my cool new mixer were chocolate cupcakes with the Georgetown cream cheese frosting recipe! They came out beautifully and were delicious!

I'm still having some issues with the piping. And I definitely cannot master the Georgetown signature swirl yet, but practice makes prefect!

Cupcake ingredients:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, sifted

1/2 teaspoon baking soda, sifted

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

1 1/4 teaspoons good quality pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted European-style butter, room temperature

1 1/4 cups sugar

2 large eggs, room temperature

1/2 cup cocoa powder, sifted

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a standard muffin tin with 12 cupcake liners.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In a small bowl, add milk and vanilla extract; stir to combine and set aside. In the bowl of the electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. With the mixer on low, add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with milk mixture; beat until just combined. Add cocoa powder and beat until just combined.

Fill each muffin cup two-thirds full with batter (I used an ice cream scoop and the amount of batter for each muffin cup was perfect). Transfer to oven and bake until a cake tester inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean, about 18 to 20 minutes. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for two minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Frosting ingredients:

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

1/4 teaspoon good quality pure vanilla extract

6 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

Place all ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; beat until well combined. Transfer the frosting to a pastry bag fitted with a large 5/8-inch round tip. Pipe frosting onto cooled the cupcakes.

If you have will power and can manage to not devour all the cupcakes in one sitting, they store really well in an air tight container for a few days.