To whom much is given, much is expected.

As many of you may now, my husband works for OtterBox and has for the last 7 years. We have watched this company grow in size from 7 employees to over 200. Along with the size, the profits have grown as well. And in order to repay the community we live in for its overwhelming support over the last 10 years, the CEO and his wife started an organization called Otter Cares. The idea behind Otter Cares is "To whom much is given, much is expected." We first heard about this about a month ago at one of Alan's last company meetings where they gave every employee a voucher in essence worth $200 that each employee could donate to whichever charity they chose, local charities and organizations were encouraged. This was the start of the 'Get it, Grow it, Give It Challenge" in which every employee was encouraged to grow the $200 donation in some way. It was great to see how people chose to grow their donation, some ran marathons and were pledged per mile, some sold services like swimming lessons, and some sold some of their homemade creations. That was what Alan and I chose to do to grown our donation in addition to contributing money of our own.

I've been toying with the idea of opening a cupcakery for a bit now and I thought that this would be a great introduction to what it would be like to bake for a living. Alan and I decided on 4 different cupcakes to make and I spent and entire day baking over 100 cupcakes. I'm not sure it is the way I want to make a living but it was fun and I really enjoy that people love them so much. It was so time consuming but I'm also not equipped for that amount of baking with one mixer and one oven. So I haven't given up on the idea of Moxie Cupcakes quite yet, maybe it will be a bake from home business existing solely on special orders for now. Anyways, we made over $200 dollars in cupcakes just selling them within OtterBox and on November 4, Otter employees delivered their donations to their organizations in person. Alan and 2 other Otters drove over to Fort Collins Cat Rescue to give them a total donation of over $1100. In total, Otter employees gave over $72,000 back to its community. It's really moving to see that many people come together and think of ways to grow the already generous original donation form OtterBox. It was a great thing to be part of and I'm hoping that they will be doing this more in the future so I can make some more cupcakes. The only regret I have being involved with this challenge is that I didn't get to go to the cat rescue with Alan! I wanted to play with the kitties....

Anyways, I am always searching the internet for new cupcake recipes and I have found some great ones. The 4 I made were all awesome so I thought I might do a bit of giving back of my own my posting the great recipes I've found and how I've tweaked them to my liking. So here ya go:

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

This recipe came from my sister-in-law, Katie, who has an affinity for Red Velvet Cupcakes. She has tried TONs of recipes in search for the best one. This is the best one she has tried and she was kind enough to share it with me. And I agree, it is the best Red Velvet I've eaten as well and a super easy recipe to make. It came from AllRecipes.com. Thanks Katie for sharing it with me!

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup whole milk

1 bottle Red Food Color ( I used red gel food coloring I purchased at Michaels so you can use way less, I just added it until I has happy with the red color)

2 tsp. vanilla extract

Frosting:

1 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup butter, softened

2 tbsp. sour cream

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 16 oz. box powdered sugar (plus a little extra)

whipping cream to make it light and fluffy

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Mix flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Set aside.

2. Beat butter and sugar in bowl of stand mixer on medium for 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Scrape down sides of bowl. Mix in sour cream, milk, food color and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low until just blended, being careful not to overbeat. Spoon batter into lined muffin pan, filling about 2/3 full.

3. Bake 20-25 minutes. Cool in pan for about 5 minutes and then remove to wire rack to cool completely.

4. To make frosting, beat cream cheese, butter, sour cream and vanilla in large bowl. Gradually beat in powdered sugar. Add whipping cream, about 1/4 cup, and turn mixer on high and let the frosting beat for 5-10 minutes until its light and fluffy. You might have to add more powdered sugar if it is not the right consistency for frosting.

My only note is that if you were frosting them with the intentions of them being 1:1 cake to frosting ratio, you might want to make one and a half or maybe double the frosting recipe.

Irish Carbomb Cupcakes

This recipe came from Smitten Kitchen.

Guinness Cupcakes:

1 cup Guinness

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup Dutch-process unsweetened cocoa powder

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp. salt

2 eggs

2/3 cup sour cream

Ganache Filling:

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate

2/3 cup heavy cream

2 tbsp. butter, room temp.

1/4 cup Jameson Irish Whiskey (more or less to taste, I like more)

Frosting:

3-4 cups powdered sugar

11/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temp.

3-4 tbsp. Bailey's Irish Cream (or milk, heavy cream or a combination. I prefer a bit of heavy cream and lots of Baileys)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Put the butter with the beer in a saucepan over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Whisk in cocoa powder until smooth. Cool slightly. I placed it in the fridge until I was ready for it.

2. In a large bowl, whisk the flour , sugar, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

3. In a mixer bowl, beat the eggs and the sour cream together. Add the beer mixture and beat to combine. Add the flour mixture and beat briefly just to combine. Then fold the batter with a rubber spatula until completely mixed.

4. Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full if you want flat cupcakes, 3/4 full for domed cupcakes. Bake for about 17 minutes and cool completely.

5. To make the filling, chop the chocolate and transfer it to a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream until simmering and pour it over the chocolate. LEt it sit for a minute and then stir until smooth. If the chocolate isn't completely melted, heat over double boiler until melted. Add butter and whiskey and stir until combined.

6. Let the ganache cool until thick but soft enough to be piped. I put it in the fridge and stirred it every 10 minutes until it reached the right consistency. Using a small cookie cutter, apple corer, or your finger (the easiest), poke a hole in the center of the cupcake. Put the ganache in a plastic zippered bag and cut off a little bit of the corner to make a piping bag. Fill the centers of the cupcakes with ganache.

7. Fort he frosting, whip the butter for several minutes until light and fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar, letting it incorporate until the butter becomes thicker. Slowly drizzle the Baileys/milk and whip until combined. I like to whip it a bit longer to make it fluffier.

This is one of the most wonderful cupcakes I've ever had. I hated making the ganache though but I hate working with chocolate. It tasted so wonderful though that I think I will be making it again in the near future. I think I had barely enough frosting for all the cupcakes so you might want to make a bit more so you don't have to cut it so close. Seriously, the most wonderful chocolate cupcake I've made, almost as good as Trophy Cupcakes.

Rice Krispie Treat Cupcake

This cupcakes was inspired by a pancake at our favorite breakfast place in Fort Collins, Snooze. It was one of the best pancakes I've ever eaten and from that point on, I was trying to figure out how to make it into a cupcake. And the Rice Krispie Treat Cupcake was born...

The cupcake recipe is taken from my bible, Martha Stewart's book called Cupcakes.

Yellow Buttermilk Cupcakes:

3 cups cake flour

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp. baking soda

2 1/4 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup plus 2 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened

2 1/4 cup sugar

5 egg yolks plus 3 egg yolks, room temp.

2 cups buttermilk, room temp.

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1-2 cups Rice Krispies

1. Preheat oven to 350. Sift together both flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. REduce speed to medium. Add whole eggs one at a time, beating until incorporated. SCrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add yolks and beat until combined. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture alternately with butter milk, beating until combined after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Stir in 1-2 cups Rice Krispies. SAve extra for sprinkling on top of cupcakes before baking.

3. Fill each lined cup about 3/4 full. Sprinkle with Rice Krispies. Bake about 20 minutes. Transfer pans to wire racks to cool for 10 minutes then transfer cupcakes to the wire racks to cool completely.

Marshmallow frosting:

1 large and 1 small container of marshmallow fluff

4 sticks unsalted butter, room temp.

1 tsp. vanilla

2-3 cups powdered sugar

whipping cream or heavy cream

Beat butter until fluffy. Add the marshmallow fluff and beat until combined. Gradually add powdered sugar and mix until combined. Add vanilla. Add cream until frosting is at desired consistency.

The frosting I made up on my own and marshmallow fluff is hard to work with since it is so stick and makes a very stiff frosting to pipe but it was well worth it. I melted some chocolate and drizzled it on top of them for some color and topped them with a little Rice Krispie treat. They turned out better than I had imagined, they were super yummy. The buttermilk cake is so light and moist but beware, this makes a lot of cupcakes so you might have to make more frosting if you like a higher frosting to cake ratio.

And last but certainly not least,

Mocha Cupcakes with Mocha Buttercream

This cupcake came from Brown Eyed Baker.

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cups flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup whole milk

1/2 cup strong brewed coffee

1 1/2 tsp. espresso powder

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temp.

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1 egg, room temp.

Directions:

1. Mix the espresso powder into the brewed coffee until dissolved. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

2. Preheat the over to 350. Line the muffin tin with liners.

3. Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

4. Beat the butter and both sugars together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy (2-3 minutes). Add the egg and beat until combined. In a measuring cup, combine the milk, coffee/espresso mixture and vanilla. Slowly add the flour, alternating with the coffee mixture, ending with the flour mixture.

5. Fill liners 2/3 full. Bake for 17-20 minutes. Cool completely.

Frosting:

1 cup (2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp.

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/2 tsp. espresso powder

1. Mix the espresso powder into the vanilla until dissolved. Set aside.

2. Using the whisk attachment of a stand mixer. whip the butter on medium speed for 5 minutes, stopping once to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Reduce the speed to low and add the powdered sugar a little at a time, waiting until mostly incorporated before adding more. Once all the the powdered sugar has ben added, scrape the side of the bowl and increase speed to medium-high and whip until fluffy. Add the espresso powder and vanilla and continue to mix at medium high until completely mixed, scraping sides as needed.

These cupcakes were fantastic! The frosting was incredible and it was vert espresso flavored versus coffee flavor, much stronger. I was in heaven eating them since I heart coffee.

Well, that is all of them. I'm constantly trying to come up with new ideas to create more yummy cupcakes so hopefully I'll post more in the future. Until then, happy baking!