Playing Catch-up!!

So...back to school time really took all of my time and patience this year. I wanted to catch you all up on some of things I have made since my last post. Enjoy!

Mint Chocolate Chip w/minty fudge filling

"Coke Zero Cupcakes"- one box of cake mix & one can of Coke Zero

Pumpkin Spice batch #1

Pumpkin Spice batch #2 (with pie slices made from caramels & fondant)

Red Velvet- fundraiser for Susan G. Komen Foundation

So what have you made lately??

Independence Day!

 

After dinner with friends and before our trek downtown to watch the fireworks, I knew we would have time to enjoy a treat. I decided to make a special 4th of July cupcake and I think they turned out great. I used a vanilla cake and the left-over coconut buttercream frosting from my Pina Colada cupcakes. Easy!

 

The first step was to dye the batter. I divided it into 3 roughly two cup portions, leaving one white, and dying the others blue and red. Now red is a HARD color to get. It takes a lot of dye! So, I settled for a light red/pink shade, as I didn't want to mess up the thickness of my batter. Once the prep is done, you can start filling your cups. I put the blue at the bottom, white in the middle, and red on top.

Coming out of the oven...

 Cut in half...

I piped the frosting, added some red sprinkles, then a blueberry, and Wah-lah!

Perfect 4th of July cupcakes!

Summer Perfect Pina Colada Cupcakes!

A friend of mine shared an awesome recipe for these cupcakes and they are delicious! The crushed pineapple makes them so moist. The coconut-flavored buttercream is sweet, but not mouth-puckeringly so. They are the perfect summer treat! Here's some right out of the oven...

Add some coconut toasted in the oven, top with cherries and/or pinapple on skewers, and Wah-lah!

The Hostess with the Mostess...sorry, I had to!

Tell me that does not look delicious!! I grew up loving Hostess cupcakes and that has never ended. The one thing I don't like is the list of "ingredients" on the package. I can promise you it doesn't say: Flour, sugar, egg, oil, cocoa powder, and butter. However, these would! If you are interested in making them yourself, you can find the cake recipe here, courtesy of good ole' Martha Stuart. It looks like this-

The filling recipe came from here  because I love anything that involves marshmallow fluff. ;) It should be nice and thick like this-

And the chocolate ganache is the same I used for my Boston Creme cupcakes.

Once they are out of the oven, I core them, fill them, and then put the core back over the filling. After you have covered them with the ganache, put them on a drying rack to cool. I have some like this-

After they cool, you can fill a piping bag with some of the leftover marshmallow filling and pipe on the little swirls(This definitely takes some practice!), then Wah-lah!  

Inside view:

p.s. If you don't have cooling racks, get some! They really speed up the process. The ones I got are from here.

Cookie Dough + Cupcake = My favorite!

I know, I know...I say they are all my favorite. But it's kind of like choosing your favorite student or your favorite child. They are all great in their own way! However, I have always loved Cookie Dough ice cream, so it's no surprise to me. Plus, the Beach Wedding Shower cupcakes turned out so well, I had to try it again. This time I stuck with the white cake, froze the choc chip cookie dough ahead of time, and baked them just short of 17 minutes, so the dough would stay...well..."dough-y." The only thing I didn't fall in love with flavor-wise last time was the butter cream frosting. I am more of a chocoholic. I perused the internet and came across an delicious sounding alternative. This frosting was awesome! It was thick enough to pipe nicely, but had a delicate mousse texture. YUM-o! If you want to accessorize your cupcakes a bit, put a piece of chewy chocolate chip cookie on top and Wah-lah! Here are some pictures...

Some recent projects...

Here is a mish-mash of things I have been up to in the last week...


Boston Creme- This was one half of an order I had for a baby boy shower. I didn't like the ganache I used last time, as I felt it was too runny and didn't have the "look" I wanted. I would post the new recipe, but it's actually very simple. In a double-boiler (i.e. metal bowl over a pan of boiling water), melt a small package of Nestle Premium Semi-Sweet chips. If you use the cheap brand, it won't work as well. Then slowly stir in a 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream. To cover, hold the cupcake upside down and dip it into the ganache. If you kind of twirl it as you pick it up, it will leave a nice even coating instead of running off one side.

Oreo Cupcakes with Chocolate Owls- My school's mascot is the owl, so I made these from a chocolate mold and put them on top of my fore-mentioned Oreo cupcakes. They were pretty cute for the first attempt. I put the melted chocolate into a piping bag and cut off a tiny tip to make the molds easier (and quicker!) to fill.



Marshmallow Coconut- These were the second half of the order for the baby boy shower. That answers the obvious question- Why are they blue? It's a simple white cake, with a filling made from marshmallow cream and coconut. I dyed the buttercream and the rest of the coconut blue and decorated them with it. They are so easy to make, but they are very close to my favorite so far!

I had a few of each left over at the end of the week that didn't make the cut. So, I packed them up and sent them to a friend before I was too tempted to polish them off! :)

Red Velvet "Rapunzel"

For my daughter's 8th birthday, she had a Tangled theme. She also requested Red Velvet. Go figure! What 8 year old asks for Red Velvet? :) I took this opportunity to play around with making gum paste flowers. Tip- don't use powered sugar to keep them from getting sticky...they just dry out. My first attempt at a beautiful rose was a terrific failure! Use shortening instead, it keeps them moist. I quickly shifted gears, lowered my expectations, and punched out a bunch of lovely flowers you see here. For a little extra cute factor, I used gel icing to glue to candied pearls to the center.

I ordered some Rapunzel cupcake ring toppers from Amazon (shocking, I know!) and piped them with cream cheese frosting. Add on the little flowers and Wah-lah! Tangled Birthday Cupcakes! Here's a couple pictures of the final product-