And the winners are…
First for the throwdown – chocolate cupcake style. AND on National Chocolate Cupcake Day! How fitting. I made a half batch of the chocolate cake (I got 15 cupcakes) out of Confetti Cakes for Kids by Elisa Strauss. The recipe is definitely “fussier” than my go-to chocolate cupcake recipe. This one has sour cream and coffee in it. Neither of which are staples in my kitchen. I paired it with the Brown Sugar frosting because I was intrigued by that idea…
The batter came together quite nicely. It does take 3 bowls and like I mentioned, has some ingredients that I had to send hubby out to grab for me… It does have some great flavor combinations going on. It’s got almond extract as well as vanilla and includes coffee. Both almond and coffee go great with chocolate. The batter was quite thick and very tasty. Hubby really enjoyed licking the beater 🙂 And this frosting is AMAZING. We both agreed, it’s one of the best I’ve ever made. Think of a caramel Swiss-meringue buttercream. It paired perfectly with the chocolate cupcake.
Now to the Throw-down results. I’m basing this on 3 categories: Overall Taste, Ease of making, Moistness
So it’s a TIE!?! I’ll definitely keep my go-to chocolate cupcake for when I just want to whip something up. It’s quick and easy and the results are great. But when I want to go the extra mile, I’ll make the Confetti cupcakes. It does take more effort, but the results are worth it. I’m not going to post the recipe here, but definitely I definitely recommend checking out Confetti Cakes for Kids by Elisa Strauss.
Now on to the GIVEAWAY!! I almost forgot about it after these amazing cupcakes. Thanks to everyone who participated! Using Random.org, I chose 5 random numbers from 1-79 and the lucky winners are…
Megan – who’s email begins with mybakingadventures
Chrissy – who’s email begins with chrissyblogs
Grifam93 – who’s email begins with aseminara
Jared – who’s email begins with jared
MoonFreckle – who’s email begins with angelaj
Congratulations to the winners!
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
Ohh I love that it’s an all-natural mint flavor. So much better than the fake stuff.
beantownbaker — July 24th, 2013 @ 12:53 pm
I agree. Hubby likes to give me a hard time by calling me a food snob for trying to avoid fake stuff in everything we eat. I figure, it’s worth the effort. And the name calling 😉
Ohhh, I love mint chocolate chip! Love that you used coconut milk in it!
Yummy 🙂 my mother would love this, mint chip has always been her favorite! Can’t wait to try this recipe!
beantownbaker — July 30th, 2013 @ 5:48 pm
I can’t believe you’re commenting on blogs while at a blogging conference. Overachiever 😛
Love it! This is amazing 🙂
for some reason your blog stopped updating in feedly 🙁 corrected and now to catch up on all the deliciousness! i just made a fresh mint ice cream as well, but i like how you used coconut milk. will be doing that next time 🙂
beantownbaker — August 1st, 2013 @ 3:17 pm
I know – I realized that too. But it’s working again now. Not sure if it was a Feedly issue or something on my end…
Really good! I may have steeped the mint too long.. A little earthy. Will try again!
beantownbaker — August 1st, 2013 @ 3:18 pm
Oh bummer! I’ve never had ice cream that I’d call “earthy”…
Would you consider doing a mint chocolate chip ice cream with goat’s milk? Or do you think the “goaty” would show through too much?
beantownbaker — August 10th, 2013 @ 9:36 am
Interesting idea. I think it would be good. This ice cream was very minty, so I think it would mask the goatiness of the milk.