Hey everyone! I don’t know if any of you have tried Biscoff spread, aka cookie butter, but it is amazing!

I first heard about Biscoff spread over at one of my favorite blogs, Picky Palate. Check out her Biscoff Cupcake recipe HERE!


Although this jar doesn’t say Biscoff, I think it tastes very similar & yummy. THANK YOU Trader Joe’s!




Super easy recipe. Mix all your wet ingredients together.




Whisk up your dry ingredients, then add to wet! Mix until combined & smooth.




I happened to have half a bag of white chocolate chips laying around, so I threw them in & mixed by hand.




Baked cupcakes, yum!!





Cookie Butter Cupcakes (Recipe adapted from Biscoff Cupcakes by Picky Palate)
-makes 18 cupcakes

11/2 cups all-purpose flour
11/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup canola oil
3/4 cup sour cream
3/4 cup Biscoff/cookie spread
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup white chocolate chips


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with paper liners.
2. Whisk together flour, sugar, salt, baking soda & cinnamon.
3. With an electric mixer, blend together oil, sour cream, cookie spread, eggs & vanilla. Add dry ingredients and mix until combined. Stir in white chocolate chips by hand. Divide batter between liners and bake 18-22 minutes. Cool on rack before frosting.


White Chocolate Buttercream
- enough to frost 18 cupcakes

4 sticks unsalted butter, softened
6 oz white chocolate, melted and cooled
2-4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 almond extract

1. Beat butter until creamy with electric mixer. Add melted and cooled white chocolate.
2. Add powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time, until desired taste/sweetness achieved. Add extracts and mix until fluffy.


Melted white chocolate!




Finished frosting, all white and beautiful!




I frosted using a plain round tip and a fondant flower decoration!




Hope you guys love this recipe, don’t forget to search your local Trader Joe’s for cookie butter/Biscoff spread!


See you next time =]


<3hollicakes

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Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone! Here are some super easy, yet amazing looking cupcakes for you!

They may look intense, but trust me, they are a piece of cake =]

First, my main ingredients….minus some flour tortillas!




Chocolate-Cinnamon Cupcakes
-makes 18-20

1 box Devil’s Food cake mix
3 eggs
1/3 cup oil
1 cup mllk
1 teaspoon sour cream
1 teaspoon cinnamon


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with liners; set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, stir together cake mix, cinnamon,, eggs, oil and milk. Scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl to assure batter is well mixed.
3. Divide batter evenly among liners, filling each about 2/3 full. Bake until tops spring back when touched, about 20 minutes, rotating pan once if needed. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely.



Add your eggs, milk, sour cream, oil and cinnamon to the cake mix, and bake!




While the cupcakes are baking, take 2-5 flour(or corn) tortillas and cut them into chip like triangles.




Place them on a lined baking sheet, sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar. Bake until crispy, about 5-10 minutes.





See, crispy sweet chips =]




Cupcakes are done!




Next, your buttercream!






Cinna-Cheese Buttercream

3 sticks unsalted butter, softened
4 oz cream cheese, softened
3-6 cups powered sugar, depending on taste desired
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
yellow food coloring
1/4-1/2 cup heavy cream

1. Beat butter and cream cheese until smooth in electric mixer.
2. Add powered sugar, vanilla, cinnamon & food coloring and beat until fluffy. Add heavy cream, mix on slow to achieve a softer, more nacho-cheese looking frosting. I used a piping bag and plain round tip to frost, the more abstract and messy, the better!

Like so!




Cinna-cream cheese in place! Ready for some toppings =]




I cut the red parts off of gummy worms to make some “tomato”




Cut some watermelon sour straws for my green onion!





One thing I forgot a picture of is raspberry preserves, used for the “salsa”!


Place about 3 chips on each cupcake, then sprinkle with nacho toppings!




Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone!





Be safe!

<3hollicakes
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I’m in the garden!


Hello everyone! So sorry I’ve been MIA for the past few months. Things have been crazy over at the hotel & I’ve been working a bunch.

Along with working, I’ve picked up another hobby besides cupcakes, gardening! I may be spending more of my free time outside in the garden rather than inside in the kitchen, hehe =D

I made an ADORABLE miniature garden.





But that doesn’t mean I haven’t been baking! Here are a few things you’ve missed….


Chocolate Pistachio Cupcakes for St. Patrick’s Day.




Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes for Dylan’s birthday!




Fancy Chocolate Cake I made at work, also for Dylan’s birthday (he’s totally spoiled) =]




Corona & Lime Cupcakes! & a Coronita bouquet. Loved this!!




Chocolate-Blackberry Cupcakes for a family gathering, yum!






See you soon with some fresh & fun springtime recipes!

<3hollicakes
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So I was killing some time on Pinterest the other day, and came across this amazing blog called Miss Make! Beer + cupcakes caught my eye immediately. The second I saw the post I knew I had to try it!!

But since baking for fun has gotten a little expensive these days, I try to wait for the perfect occasion to bust out new recipes I’ve been wanting to try! Two of my guy friends had birthdays the same weekend, the perfect opportunity!! I love when that happens.


Check out an awesome blog and her how-to + recipe for these cupcakes right here, Blue Moon Cupcakes by Miss Make.

Thank you so much for a great recipe and inspiration!


Good thing I had the perfect liners just laying around!




I used zest from oranges fresh picked from my grandma’s orange tree, so yummy!




Baked and beautiful!




One thing I did change in this recipe; once the cupcakes came out of the oven and cooled for about 5 minutes, I poked holes in the tops of the cupcakes and brushed them with the leftover beer =]

To be honest, I couldn’t really taste the beer too much, but that was okay with me because these cupcakes were moist and delicious! You could probably add a 2nd or 3rd coat of beer for a stronger taste! Careful, too much liquid will make them soggy though!




Meringue frosting with fresh squeezed orange juice. So heavenly. Seriously, this is what I imagine the clouds in heaven will be like. =]




I added a couple orange sprinkles to each, you could always use an orange slice to garnish as well! If you do, make sure you serve them immediately, or wait until the last minute to put the orange on. They might get funky and make the frosting watery if not eaten right away!




Happy Birthday Andrew!!




Thank you to my love Dylan for some of the pictures, including this awesome one =]




I’m sorry, I HAD to share this picture. I love my grandma so much, she is amazing and my most dedicated taste-tester!! So silly.





Have a wonderful day!! Drink a Blue Moon and eat a cupcake. Or both =]


<3hollicakes

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Happy Valentine’s Day from hollicakes!

One of the most popular desserts on this romantic day are chocolate cover strawberries. Two of my favorite things. So I combined them into one fabulous cupcake!

First we’ll start with the easiest, almost-foolproof chocolate cupcakes ever!

Easy Chocolate Cupcakes

1 package chocolate cake mix
1 package instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin trays with paper liners. (I made 1 dozen regular cupcakes & 2 dozen minis with this recipe)
2. Mix all ingredients together using a stand mixer, or just simply by hand.
3. Distribute evenly into liners, filling about 2/3 full (they rise quite a bit). Bake for 20-24 minutes, or when tops spring back when touched.
4. Cool cupcakes, then frost!

The main ingredients.




All mixed up. I gave my mixer the day off and mixed this by hand!!




Cooling by the window. I always wonder if people walking by outside can smell them =]




Beautiful strawberries!





I used half of them for the frosting and the other half for decoration!

So I didn’t love this Strawberry Buttercream recipe as much as I thought I would. But it was still pretty good! Thick almost like ice cream. I think next time I’ll try for a Strawberry Swiss Meringue variation.

Strawberry Buttercream

4 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
6 ounces strawberries, pureed
2-5 tablespoons heavy cream or milk

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter on medium speed until fluffy. Turn down speed and slowly add in powdered sugar, and continue mixing until well blended.
2. Add vanilla, pureed strawberries and cream/milk. Once combined, beat on high speed until frosting is fluffy. Frost away! Garnish with a chocolate-dipped-strawberry.





I also made red velvet cake balls, and dipped some cute little strawberry heart marshmallows in chocolate as well. Anything sweet dipped in chocolate is always better. =] Then combined all the elements in my hollicakes Valentine’s boxes!

See!





Find the recipe for these yummy cake balls at one of my favorite sites, Bakerella!




Hope everyone has a lovely Valentine’s Day!

<3hollicakes


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