om-noms by kelly

MEATCAKE

2011-05-07T09:36:00.001-05:00

Hi guys! Sorry it’s taken me soooooo long to update, but the last few months have been a whirlwind of change for me. I started a job in February that didn’t work out as it was too far from my house (I was filling up my gas tank 3 times a week), but now I’m working at the bank I used to work at and it’s great!

This is the meatcake I made for my fiance David’s 22nd birthday in February. I got the idea and recipe from Black Widow Bakery. I wanted it to be a surprise, but do you know how hard it is to keep food a surprise when you live with someone? I resorted to putting all the components in a drawer of the fridge and taping it shut.

Here is the meatloaf mixture divided evenly between two aluminum cake pans. I made the meatloaf with ground turkey rather than beef.

I also made a woven bacon piece for the top of the cake. I baked it in the oven on an oven-safe ceramic plate.

The baked turkey bacon topper:

The cooked meatcake layers:

I trimmed the meat layers with a bowl as a template. The meat scraps were delicious.

I used potato flakes as there is no way I could use real potatoes and have them come out this smooth.

I put a layer of potatoes down on the first meat layer, and then stacked the second layer on top.

I then did a rough “crumb coat” of mashed potatoes and smoothed it out with a hot wet spatula. Yes, that is Buttercup’s rear end in the bottom left corner.

I put the bacon topper on after trimming it to size, and piped some borders on. I sliced a baby carrot with my mandolin slicer and used the slices for decoration.

I added some peas for some more color.

And piped on some words with ketchup!

We microwaved slices individually for efficiency.

David loved the cake and so did I. It turned out amazingly well, I think.

Rock Climbing Cake and Cupcakes!

2011-01-27T07:06:00.003-06:00

Hi guys! I made this cake and cupcakes for my little cousin Nick’s 9th birthday party last Sunday (1/23). He had his party at Main Event here in Austin, which is this awesome place that has an arcade, glow-in-the-dark putt putt golf, laser tag, bowling, and of course rock climbing. The theme was “Nick’s Rockin’ Birthday,” and it was a blast. My aunt Vickie asked me a week or so before the party if I’d make cupcakes for it. I had originally just planned to make cupcakes with grey frosting and some sort of candy on top to look like hand and foot holds on a rock climbing wall. Once I talked about it with my mom, however (who by the way is a creative genius), we had a completely different plan. She wanted to make an actual wall to place the cupcakes on, and have the cupcakes act as the hand and footholds on the wall. I told my aunt about the idea as well and agreed to make a small cake along with the cupcakes so Nick could have some candles to blow out. I think both the cake and the cupcakes turned out wonderfully, and the kids loved them. It was my first time really trying hard on a layer cake, and I’m very happy with how it turned out.

My mom made the wall out of styrofoam bricks and painted it grey with a small bucket of oops paint we found at Walmart.

I added a pennant at the top I had printed out on the computer as well as some rope to the wall.

The layer cake is three layers of rainbow chip (from a box mix) covered in vanilla buttercream. The “rocks” are actually large jelly beans. The letters are just some candy letters I had since I didn’t want to ruin the cake with mediocre piping.

The birthday boy about to blow out his candles.

Since both cakes were made from a box mix, I’ve got no recipe to share with you, but I do have some process pictures.

Mise en place the night before baking.

Here is the rainbow chip cake batter divided amongst three cardboard pans that I bought from All In One Bake Shop.

Here are the layer cakes fresh from the oven. My oven tilts toward the back, so the cakes are all lopsided, but I was going to level them anyway so it didn’t matter. I just leveled them by sticking them in the freezer for about 45 minutes (covered in plastic wrap) and then sliced them level with a large knife.

Here’s the cake with the first layer of frosting. I don’t own a turntable yet, so I used an upside down bowl with a plate on top instead.

Here’s the cake after the first smoothing. I used a smooth paper towel and a scraper after the frosting had crusted to achieve this.

Here’s the cake after the second smoothing and decorating.

For the cupcakes, I mixed up the cake batter (just plain vanilla) and divided it evenly into three bowls.

I then added Americolor gel coloring to each bowl to dye it red, yellow, and blue.

I used red, yellow, and blue cupcake liners as well.

Once frosted (I used my standard buttercream recipe and a jumbo 8B piping tip), the cupcakes and the cake went in the fridge to chill until the party the next day. I topped the cupcakes with Pop Rocks before setting them on the wall.

Gingerbread Snowflakes!

2011-01-13T21:47:00.002-06:00

Hiiii! Ugh, I'm so sorry these have taken me SO long to post. It was one of those things where I knew I needed to update, and I'd think about it, but felt so guilty about being so late that I just pushed it to the back burner, you know? I am the master procrastinator.
Anywho.
These are the last kind of Christmas cookies I made, and I suppose since they're more winter-themed than Christmas-themed, they're not so out-of-place in mid-January! They're spicy gingerbread snowflakes with royal icing and blue sugar, and I got the recipe from Smitten Kitchen.

Wet Ingredients. I had *almost* enough brown sugar, but not quite, so I had to sub a little bit of white sugar to make up the difference.

Dry Ingredients.

The cookie dough.

Divided the dough into three balls, wrapped each in plastic wrap (am I the only one who is terrible at working plastic wrap??), and stuck ‘em in the fridge.

Rolling out the dough.

Cutting out the snowflakes. I’m not a huge fan of this particular cutter, but it’s what I had.

Laid the cookies on parchment-lined baking sheet.

Fresh from the oven.

Iced and sugared. There were a lot more cookies than pictured here, I think this recipe made about 60 cookies. As you can see, I tried to make a few of them unique, but decided to just stick with the one design.

Spicy Gingerbread Cookies (from Smitten Kitchen)
6 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
4 teaspoons ground ginger
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
1 teaspoon finely ground pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
1 cup (2 sticks or 1/2 pound) unsalted butter (at room temperature)
1 cup packed dark-brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup unsulfured molasses
To decorate:
Royal icing (Martha’s recipe)
Various fine sanding sugars and sugar decorations
Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt in a large bowl and set aside. Beat butter and brown sugar together in a large bowl with an electric mixer until fluffy. Mix in eggs and molasses. Add flour mixture, mixing on low until just combined. Divide dough into thirds and wrap each in plastic. Refrigerate until cold and firm, about one hour or up to two days.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll out dough on a lightly floured work surface to a 1/4-inch thick. Cut into shapes of your choice, such as snowflakes* or gingerbread men. Spread two inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper, and refrigerate until the cookies firm up again, about 15 minutes.
Bake cookies until crisp but not dark, 12 to 14 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks.
When cool, you can decorate the cookies with icing and sprinkles. When you pipe designs, sprinkle the icing with sanding sugar and let it sit for five minutes before tapping off the excess sugar. Then let the icing set completely at room temperature, which will take an hour or so, depending on how thick it is.
Store cookies between layers of parchment or waxed paper in an airtight container for up to a week.

Peppermint Meringue Kisses

2010-12-30T19:43:00.000-06:00

More Christmas cookies! I had planned to get all my Christmas cookies blogged before Christmas, but I was so busy that there was no way that would have been able to happen. Ideas for next year, I guess?

I got this recipe from Sugarcrafter, and they came out sooooooo well. Do not be afraid of meringue! I had to bake them in a 200 degree oven rather than 175 since my oven doesn't go that low, and it actually only took an hour for them to be done. These cookies taste like peppermint, but aren't overwhelmingly minty.

Peppermint candies for smashing and topping the cookies.

Smashed peppermint candies.

Egg whites

Powdered sugar

Peppermint extract

Still totally in lurve with my KitchenAid. This whipped meringue in about 8 minutes, whereas with my hand mixer it took me an hour.

Quintessential "stiff peaks" photo

Delicious.

Peppermint Meringue Kisses (from Sugarcrafter)

1 cup powdered sugar
2 egg whites
1/8 tsp peppermint extract
1/3 cup finely chopped peppermint candies

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Sift the powdered sugar twice to remove any lumps, and divide in half. In a medium bowl, beat the egg whites on medium speed until foamy. Increase speed to medium-high and beat until the egg whites hold soft peaks. Continue beating while gradually adding in half of the powdered sugar. Beat until firm, glossy peaks form. Add in the extract. Fold the remaining powdered sugar into the meringue. Using a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip, pipe swirled kisses 1 1/2″ wide and 2″ high on to the parchment paper, about an inch apart. Sprinkle with the chopped candies. Bake about 3 hours or until dry and crisp. Turn off the oven and let the meringues cool in the oven for an hour longer. Serve immediately, or cover and store at room temperature for up to one week. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Eggnog Thumbprints

2010-12-28T05:22:00.001-06:00

Good morning! I hope you guys all had a lovely holiday weekend! Mine was packed full of stuff to do, and I am EXHAUSTED. Wouldn't change it one bit, though. =]

I ended up making 4 kinds of Christmas cookies this year, and baking from 9-9 on Friday to finish them all. Everyone loved them, and we've only got a few left of each to share with friends we didn't get a chance to see over the weekend.

These thumbprint cookies are SO GOOD if you're an eggnog lover like myself. I got the recipe from Allrecipes, but used another eggnog frosting recipe since the original had no actual eggnog in it.

Cookie dough. I've been so scatterbrained the past few days that I did not get a good step-by step for these cookies. I added a teaspoon of nutmeg to the dough for more eggnog flavor.

Dough rolled into 1-inch balls.

Since I have long fingernails, I indented the dough balls with the end of a thick-handled butterknife.

Right from the oven.

Frosted, waiting for the frosting to set up on my new 4-tiered platter set.

I topped them with little peppermint-flavored candy cane sprinkles.

Eggnog Thumbprints Recipe (from Allrecipes)

Ingredients

3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a medium bowl, cream together 3/4 cup butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine flour and salt; stir into the creamed mixture by hand to form a soft dough. Roll dough into 1 inch balls, and place balls 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Make an indention in the center of each cookie using your finger or thumb.
Bake for 12 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.
In a small bowl, mix together 1/4 cup butter, confectioners' sugar, and rum. Spoon rounded teaspoonfuls of filling onto cookies. Sprinkle with nutmeg. Let stand until set before storing in an airtight container.

Eggnog Frosting

1 stick (8 tbsp.) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
pinch ground cinnamon
pinch kosher salt
1/4 c. eggnog
1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

In a medium mixing bowl, use a hand mixer to cream the butter on medium speed until fluffy and light in color. Add the powdered sugar and continue to mix until it is well incorporated. Add the remaining ingredients and beat until frosting is very airy and thoroughly mixed, about 2 minutes. Use immediately to frost cookies or cupcakes, or store covered in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Buttered Rum Meltaways

2010-12-21T15:46:00.001-06:00

This is the first of three types of cookies I'll be making to share with family this Christmas, though I may need to make another batch of these since they're so irresistable! The recipe is from Martha Stewart, and the pictures do not do these scrumptious cookies justice. It's times like these we need smell-o-vision to be a reality, since these cookies make your whole house smell like Christmas.

Flour, cornstarch, salt, and spices.

Butter and confectioner's sugar.

Can't forget the rum! I had to have help from the liquor store clerk in picking this out. Glad he didn't let me go with the $15 bottle of Captain Morgan I was considering, since the cookies would have come out overspiced and I'd have nothing to do with the rest of the rum!

The heavenly-scented cookie dough.

I forgot to take pictures of the dough in log form, but here it is after being partially frozen and cut into cookies. I thought they would spread for some reason, but you'll see in the next photo that they definitely don't.

Fresh from the oven. Cool for 10 minutes, then toss in a ziploc bag with the remaining confectioner's sugar.

Buttered Rum Meltaways (from Martha Stewart)

INGREDIENTS

Makes about 4 dozen.

1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 teaspoon coarse salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup dark rum
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

Whisk flour, cornstarch, spices, and salt in a bowl. Put butter and 1/3 cup sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Mix in rum and vanilla. Reduce speed to low, and gradually mix in flour mixture.

Divide dough in half. Place each on a piece of parchment paper; shape dough into logs. Fold parchment over dough; using a ruler, roll and press into a 1 1/4-inch log. Wrap in parchment. Chill in freezer 30 minutes (up to 1 month).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Unwrap logs. Cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds; space 1 inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake until just golden, about 15 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks; let cool 10 minutes. Gently toss warm cookies with remaining 2/3 cup sugar in a resealable plastic bag. Cookies can be refrigerated in airtight containers up to 2 weeks.

Facebook!

2010-12-17T22:39:00.000-06:00

Yup, I finally went ahead and made a Facebook page for this thing. I'll keep the random updates to the Facebook page's wall so it doesn't get so cluttered here. Go ahead and take a gander!

Mini Sweet Potato Pies

2010-12-14T05:00:00.001-06:00

I made these little pies for Thanksgiving, which lets you know how behind I am with my posts haha. Another recipe from Allrecipes, though I added the toasted mini marshmallows on top, because what sweet potato pie is complete without marshmallows?

Rather than peel and chop whole sweet potatoes, I grabbed a bag of sweet potato fries at the store and chopped them up. Saved me a lot of time.

Draining the potatoes

Mashing the potatoes with a fork since I don't own a potato masher.

Yep, totally used store-bought pie crusts too.

I used a circle cookie cutter to cut the crusts out

I then pressed them into the mini cupcake pan with the end of a small rounded bottle since I've got long fingernails.

Mixed up the filling ingredients in my blender.

Ready to go into the oven. I put a tablespoon of filling into each shell.

Fresh from the oven. Yum yum.

I then put some mini marshmallows on top of each and toasted them in the oven until golden.

They were half gone halfway through dinner. Definitely a keeper recipe.

Mini Sweet Potato Pies (from Allrecipes)

Ingredients

3/4 pound sweet potato, peeled and diced
1 (9 inch) refrigerated pie crust
3/4 cup evaporated skim milk
2 egg whites
1/4 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 cup halved cranberries (optional)

Directions

Place the sweet potato in a saucepan with just enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, and cook until fork tender, about 5 minutes. Drain and mash with a fork or potato masher.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Divide the pie crust into 24 small balls. Press them into the cups of two 12 cup mini muffin pans to make tartlet shells. Set aside.
Spoon the sweet potato into a blender or food processor, and add the evaporated milk, egg whites, white sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Puree until smooth. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of this mixture into each tart shell.
Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted into one of the tarts comes out clean. Cool in the pans over a wire rack. Garnish each tart with a cranberry half before serving.

Nutritional Information
Amount Per Serving Calories: 69 | Total Fat: 2.5g | Cholesterol: < 1mg

Chocolate Espresso Mini Cupcakes with Mocha Buttercream

2010-12-13T05:00:00.004-06:00

These were made for my mom's Marketing class. She's been working on a group project of developing a marketing plan for my imaginary cupcake business (which will not come to fruition until I at least get some business classes and cake decorating classes under my belt, so don't get too excited), and asked for something to sample during their presentation. So, I made mini chocolate espresso cupcakes with mocha buttercream, and topped them all with a chocolate-covered espresso bean. They were a hit.

I got both the cake and frosting recipes from Allrecipes.com.

My KitchenAid mixing up the batter like a champ

This recipe makes a TON of minis. Filled up two pie carriers and my two-dozen mini cupcake carrier, with a few to spare for David to take to work.

Chocolate Mocha Cake I Recipe (from Allrecipes)

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon instant coffee powder
1 cup hot water

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease two 9 inch round cake pans. (I of course used mini cupcake pans and liners, adjust the baking time to about 10 minutes per pan)
Measure flour, sugar, cocoa, oil, eggs, buttermilk, baking powder, soda, and salt into a mixing bowl. Dissolve instant coffee in hot water, and add to mixing bowl. Beat at medium speed for 2 minutes until smooth; batter will be thin. Pour into prepared pans.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until an inserted wooden pick comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes, and then turn out onto racks to cool completely.

Nutritional Information

Amount Per Serving Calories: 318 | Total Fat: 11g | Cholesterol: 36mg

Coffee Butter Frosting (from Allrecipes)

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 tablespoon strong brewed coffee (I used two tablespoons for stronger flavor)

Directions

In a small bowl, stir together the confectioners sugar and cocoa powder. In another bowl, beat the butter until creamy, gradually beat in the sugar mixture, being sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl, occasionally. Finally stir in the coffee, and beat until smooth.

Nutritional Information

Amount Per Serving Calories: 105 | Total Fat: 5.2g | Cholesterol: 14mg

Snickerdoodles

2010-12-12T12:42:00.002-06:00

Okay okay, I admit, the holiday season has gotten me behind in my blogging. But, I've got a lot to share with you, and more to come over the rest of the season, so please forgive me? I'm going to spread the next few updates over the next few days so I don't bombard you all at once with catching up.

These delicious little gems are the first thing I made with my new KitchenAid Artisan Mixer! Yep, David gave me my Christmas present early, and I loooooooove it.

Awwwww yeeeeeaaaah.

I used this recipe from Joy of Baking and ended up with the fluffiest Snickerdoodles I've ever had.

Mixing the dough

Dough is mixed, time to let it chill so I can roll it into balls for the cookies

Rolling the dough into balls

Rolling the dough ball in cinnamon sugar, except I was out of cinnamon so I used Apple Pie Spice

Lining up the dough balls on the parchment-lined cookie sheet

Fresh from the oven

I had David take them up to work with him the next day, and everyone thought they had come from a bakery. Delicious little cookies, and so easy to make!

Snickerdoodle Cookies (from Joy of Baking)

2 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
1 c. unsalted butter, room temperature (I used I Can't Believe It's Not Butter for baking)
1 1/2 c. granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla

For Coating:

1/3 c. granulated white sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon (I used apple pie spice since I was out of cinnamon. Gave them a lovely flavor.)

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter and sugar until smooth (about 2 to 3 minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat until you have a smooth dough. If the dough is soft, cover and refrigerate until firm enough to roll into balls (one to two hours).

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (190 degrees C) and place rack in the center of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Shape the dough into 1 inch (2.5 cm) round balls.

Coating: In a large shallow bowl mix together the sugar and cinnamon.

Roll the balls of dough in the cinnamon sugar and place on the prepared pan, spacing about 2 inches (5 cm) apart. Then, using the bottom of a glass, gently flatten each cookie to about 1/2 inch (1.5 cm) thick.

Bake the cookies for about 8 - 10 minutes, or until they are light golden brown around the edges. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

Can store in an airtight container, at room temperature, for about 10 - 14 days.

Makes about 6 dozen cookies.

Pumpkin Bread

2010-11-15T19:59:00.004-06:00

Whenever fall finally rolls around (and it takes it's sweet time down here in Texas), one of the first flavors I crave is pumpkin. It never fails. Every fall I am consumed with the desire to add pumpkin to everything, especially baked goods. It's a very versatile squash, and has many applications aside from the standard pumpkin pie. It's got a sweet, earthy flavor unrivaled by any other winter squash, and when mixed with the right spice, the combination can be nothing short of amazing.

I can't remember where I got this recipe, but I am glad I wrote it down, even if my handwriting was rushed. I don't have any photos of the finished loaf as it was gobbled up too quickly, but believe me when I tell you it was pretty and it was good.

Wet ingredients: 1 cup pumpkin pie filling, 1/2 cup oil (I used Smart Balance), 3/4 cup sugar, 1/2 cup molasses, 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Dry ingredients: 2 cups flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda, 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt.

Spices: 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (didn't have any cloves), 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger.

Pumpkin Bread

1 c. pumpkin pie filling
1/2 c. oil
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. molasses
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cloves (I subbed pumpkin pie spice and it worked fine)
1/2 tsp. ground ginger

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9x5 loaf pan. In a large bowl, combine pumpkin pie filling, oil, sugar, molasses, and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger. Slowly add dry ingredients into wet, stir until combined. Pour into prepared loaf pan, bake 50-60 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Serve warm with butter if desired.

Gift Idea

2010-11-10T05:00:00.003-06:00

The holidays are just around the corner! No, seriously, Christmas is only FORTY-FOUR days away! Can you believe it??? I know, it snuck up on me too.

For those of you who, like me, are freaking out over what to give people this year and wondering why you didn't start shopping in September like you always say you will, I've got a solution.

Here's my Gram thrilled with hers. I used it for her birthday gift, so I know people love it.

Creole Seasoning Blend Jars! Now, I know it's not the most original idea ever, but this seasoning blend is so awesome that I had to share it with you. You can pretty much put it on anything for instant Cajun/Creole food.

Creole Seasoning Blend Recipe (from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

2 tablespoons onion powder
2 tablespoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons dried oregano
2 tablespoons dried basil
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon white pepper
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
5 tablespoons paprika
3 tablespoons salt

Directions

In a small bowl, combine onion powder, garlic powder, oregano, basil, thyme, black pepper, white pepper, cayenne pepper, paprika and salt. Store in an airtight container.

Super easy, super flavorful, and super awesome gift! Just put it in a cute little jar, maybe tie on a little cute measuring spoon, add a tag with the ingredients so they can make more if they run out, and you're done!

I got the little jars at Walmart:

I got my gift tags there too, but can't find them on the site. Any gift tag will do, as long as it has room on the back to write the ingredients!

I attached a decorative tea scoop I found at my local grocery store with raffia, but any decorative spoon or ribbon will do.

If you use this idea, or have a better one, let me know!

Almond Joy Balls

2010-11-09T05:00:00.001-06:00

I made these for David's dad, Martin, at his request. I've made them before, but never blogged about them since I was sticking to just cupcakes at the time. These are so easy to make, and taste just like the real thing!

Firming up in the fridge before coating in chocolate.

Packed up and ready to go!

Almond Joy Balls (adapted from chocolate-candy-mall.com)

Ingredients:
5 oz sweetened condensed milk
1 t vanilla
2 C powdered sugar
14 oz shredded or flaked coconut
24 oz semisweet chips
1 cup whole dry roasted almonds

Directions:

Blend the condensed milk and the vanilla. Add the powdered sugar a little at a time until smooth.
Stir in the coconut. The mixture should be firm.
Roll the mixture into ping-pong-sized balls, either topping each with an almond or inserting an almond into the center. Refrigerate until firm.
Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave (my preferred method) or in a double boiler. If using the microwave, be sure to use a glass microwave-safe bowl and check every 30 seconds so you don't burn the chocolate. You cannot save burnt chocolate.
Remove the coconut mixture from the refrigerator.
Set each coconut ball onto a fork and dip it into the chocolate. Tap the fork against the side of the pan or bowl to remove any excess chocolate. Place on waxed paper lined tray or wire rack above wax paper to set. Optional: top with sprinkling of chocolate jimmies.

Zucchini Bread

2010-11-08T05:00:00.003-06:00

This was also brought to the family brunch. I made it out of necessity really, since I had a zucchini in the fridge that was about to go bad and David hates zucchini. It turned out awesome, super flavorful and moist, without a trace of zucchini.

2 cups of grated zucchini. IMPORTANT: Do NOT drain the zucchini! It adds much needed moisture to the bread!

3 cups all-purpose flour, 1 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. baking soda, 1 tsp. baking powder, 3 tsp. ground cinnamon

Mix dry ingredients together. The recipe says to sift, but I don't have a sifter, so I used a whisk. I'm terrible, I know.

3 eggs, 1 c. vegetable oil (I used Smart Balance), 2 1/4 c. white sugar (mine is lumpy because I store vanilla beans in it), 3 tsp. vanilla, 2 cups grated zucchini

Mix wet ingredients together.

Add wet ingredients to dry, stir in zucchini.

Pour half into greased loaf pan, bake at 325F for 40-60 mins. Makes two loaves.

Mom's Zucchini Bread (from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 1/4 cups white sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

Grease and flour two 8 x 4 inch pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl.
Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini and nuts until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pans.
Bake for 40 to 60 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool.

Nutritional Information

Amount Per Serving Calories: 223 | Total Fat: 10g | Cholesterol: 26mg

Pumpkin Apple Streusel Muffins

2010-11-07T14:51:00.001-06:00

These were so delicious. I made them for a family brunch we had yesterday and everyone loved them. They've got simple ingredients, and aren't terribly high in calories!

Ingredients

The real kicker was the streusel:

Streusel

The batter came out nice and thick, and was easy to portion into the muffin tin. This recipe made 24 muffins.

Pumpkin Apple Streusel Muffins (from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups peeled, cored and chopped apple (I used 4 Gala apples. Went a little over 2 cups, but no biggie.)
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 teaspoons butter

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease 18 muffin cups or use paper liners.
In a large bowl, sift together 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 2 cups sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together eggs, pumpkin and oil. Add pumpkin mixture to flour mixture; stirring just to moisten. Fold in apples. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
In a small bowl, mix together 2 tablespoons flour, 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle topping evenly over muffin batter.
Bake in preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.

Nutritional Information

Amount Per Serving Calories: 249 | Total Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 26mg

CNN Photo Usage Update

2010-11-02T20:50:00.005-05:00

So I went ahead and emailed CNN through their online form to request proper credit for my photo, and I actually received a response!

(Click to view since I know it crops weird)

I was so pleased with the fast response, but I still do not see any credit on the photo or the video description. I sent Jo another email this afternoon to let him/her know, but no response yet. We'll see where this goes.

Update: Just got another e-mail from Jo. Apparently the video was too old for them to go back and edit with credit to me, but they went ahead and expired it so it will no longer play. At least something was done, and glad this is over with!

(Click to view complete pic)

What's up, CNN?

2010-10-30T00:52:00.000-05:00

CNN took the liberty of using my photo twice in the above segment without contacting me for permission or crediting me. You guys all know that THAT cupcake is definitely MY rainbow cupcake! I'm flattered that they thought the cupcake was good enough to use in the segment, but upset that I couldn't even get my name in the corner or an email letting me know they were using it. I know the photo is EVERYWHERE online (comes up #2 in a Google image search for "rainbow cupcake"), but it's not that hard to find the original owner of internet content. I sent them an email asking for the issue to be resolved, so I'll let y'all know how it turns out.

The photo in question, from my Triple Rainbow Cupcakes post:

Filled Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes!

2010-10-30T00:37:00.001-05:00

Just in time for Halloween! These are essentially the same pumpkin spice cupcakes I made last year, but pimped out a bit.

I used my Debbie Meyer Cupcake Genius pan that I got for Christmas last year from David's mom Mary to bake these. The pan has this neato contraption that fits over the top and makes your cupcakes bake with a well in them for filling.

I was kind of skeptical of how well it would work, but the cupcakes came out great! The wells in them are the perfect size for getting enough filling in so you can actually taste it. MUCH easier than the cone method, and you get more filling than with an injection piping tip.

I mixed the batter the same as last year's cupcakes, with the addition of about 2 tablespoons of pumpkin butter mixed in. I filled them with pumpkin pie filling, though it wasn't my original choice. I had made up a box of Jell-O pumpkin spice pudding (made with the pie filling instructions) the night before, but when I tasted it this morning the milk in the pudding had spoiled. Since it was about 4:30 in the morning, I was kind of limited as to what else I could use for filling. I headed to Walmart, grabbed a can of Libby's, and that was that.

I frosted the cupcakes with the same frosting as last year as well, but instead of cinnamon I used pumpkin pie spice in it. Super scrumptious. Then, I topped them with the marzipan pumpkins just like last year, but I sprinkled bat and pumpkin confetti on top as well! I also dusted the tops of the pumpkins with gold luster dust. I got the liners from Walmart, since for some reason I didn't once go into Michael's this Halloween season to check out Martha's liners.

Easy Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

1 package spice cake mix
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp butter flavoring
2 tbsp pumpkin butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl for 2 minutes. Contents will be very thick. Line muffin tin with paper cups. Fill 2/3 full with batter. Bake 22 to 24 minutes (I only baked for 12 minutes since I always take cupcakes out when I can smell them). Makes a little more than one dozen. TIP: If you have extra batter but not enough to fill all the cups of the muffin tin, fill the remaining empty cups halfway with water. It helps the cupcakes to bake more evenly.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Beat the cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer in a bowl until smooth. Beat in the powdered sugar a little at a time until incorporated. Add the vanilla extract and pumpkin pie spice; beat until fluffy.

New Header, Name

2010-10-27T06:33:00.001-05:00

In case you're wondering how this blog got onto your feed, it used to be Adventures in Cupcaking! The new name is om-noms by kelly to encompass the array of different treats I'll be blogging about for your enjoyment! Check the new header to see how our awesome new mascot turned out! The mascot was designed by my friend Cody at DiscoBill.Com, and I can't be more pleased with how he turned out! All I've got left to do is make the new buttons for the sidebar and the redesign will be complete! Thanks for bearing with me through this revamp.

Love you guys!

I'll leave you with a picture of some cinnamon peanut butter cookies I made a while back for your food porn fix of the day. =]

Cinnamon Peanut Butter Cookies (from wipkits)

1 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. peanut butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, salt and cinnamon in a small bowl; set aside. In a larger mixing bowl combine butter and both sugars until smooth and creamy. Add egg, vanilla and peanut butter, blend until smooth. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Make a single fork tines impression across each cookie. Bake for 10 minutes. Yield: About 20 cookies

New Mascot Preview

2010-10-25T19:42:00.002-05:00

How cute is this? This little dude is going to be the new blog mascot and will work his way into the new header design! My friend Cody White (who is super awesome and you can see more of his work here) designed it based off of an old dinosaur sketch I had drawn. We're still working out the final touches, but I thought you guys would like to see what's being done behind the scenes.

Fall Construction

2010-10-17T14:30:00.004-05:00

Well, the decision has been made. I will be redesigning and renaming this blog so that I can share more than just cupcakes with you guys. It might take a while, but I'm really excited for the change and the new look it'll be getting.

I'm warning you know that the blog is going to look pretty weird/ugly until I get everything I want it. I'll be live-testing backgrounds and colors until I get it tweaked just right, so please bear with me.

To help you overlook the mess, here are some pretty apple pictures.

I love apples. They just exude falliness to me. These little Gala apples were too pretty not to share, especially displayed in my huge thrift store vase (or giant brandy snifter, if that's your thing). I'll be using them in my next post, so stay tuned!

P.S. Thanks so much to everyone who responded to my last post! Love y'all!

Question for you!! (Yes, you!)

2010-10-06T17:58:00.001-05:00

I've got a question for all of my---holy poop is it 38 already???---followers!

Would you still follow my blog if I, from time to time, updated with treats that I make that AREN'T cupcakes?

I make cookies, brownies, cheesecakes, et cetera in between cupcake batches all the time, but never really thought about blogging about them here. Do you think I should, or should I maybe make a separate blog for them? Orrrr just keep them to myself since nobody cares about anything other than cupcakes? Let me know!

One of the pros to having non-cupcake posts would be that I would blog much more frequently, but I would also need to change my blog's name and beg my dear Aunt Kristi for a new header!

I'm dying to hear what you think, so please don't be shy!

Banana Nut Chocolate Chip Mini Bundt Cakes

2010-10-02T10:26:00.003-05:00

Sorry it's taken me so long to post these! I made these mini bundt cakes a couple of weeks ago to use up some overripe bananas I had. They've got a Pralinutta (same as Nutella but cheaper) "ganache" (really just warmed up Pralinutta with some water added) on top! The cakes came out so moist and delicious.

One of the best things about this recipe is that it's very versatile. You can add so many different things to it and have it still come out delicious. And, it doesn't have milk! I didn't have milk on hand at the time, so I was very excited to find this recipe.

Banana Nut Chocolate Chip Mini Bundt Cakes (adapted from Serious Eats)

1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 stick (4 oz) unsalted butter (I used I Can't Believe Its Not Butter)
1 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 large egg
2 very ripe bananas, mashed (about 3/4 cup)
1/2 c. sour cream or plain yogurt (I used Strawberry Banana Yoplait because it's what I had on hand)
3 oz chopped chocolate (I of course used half a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease mini bundt cake tin with baking spray (I use Crisco Baking Spray). Beat butter with mixer until creamy. Add the sugar and beat at medium speed until pale and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla, then the egg, beating for about 1 minute. Reduce the mixer speed to low and mix in the banana mash. Finally, mix in half the dry ingredients (don't be surprised if the batter curdles), all the sour cream or yogurt, and then the rest of the flour mixture. Stir in the chocolate by hand. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Bake the little cakes for about 28 to 32 minutes (my oven cooks faster then this, I just always take them out when I can smell them). Transfer the tin to a cooling rack for around 3 minutes, then gently turn them out of the tin (I place a clean dish towel on top of the tin, then flip quickly and carefully onto the table). Cool to room temperature on a rack. The cakes will keep at room temperature if stored tightly for 2 to 3 days, or you can freeze them for up to 2 months.

Happy Baking!

Chocolate Chunk Cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Buttercream

2010-08-14T12:17:00.003-05:00

Long time no post, eh? Well, we're finally settled into our new place, and I've finally had an opportunity to make cupcakes! My cousin Lauren and aunt Cathy whom I haven't seen in about 4 years came down to visit our family yesterday! So, of course, I needed pull out all the stops and whip up some awesome cupcakes.

These cupcakes are yellow cake with dark chocolate chunks mixed in, with Mexican vanilla bean buttercream and a dark chocolate butterfly on top. I got the recipe for the cupcakes and frosting from Brownies For Dinner, and the recipes for both will be posted at the end of this entry with my additions listed.

I started by making the chocolate butterflies from melted Ghirardelli 60% dark chocolate on Wednesday. I'm not sure I tempered the chocolate correctly, because they never really hardened like they should have, but the fridge/freezer was a quick fix for it.

I drew up the pattern for the wings, drew over it with thick black Sharpie, and just laid it underneath the parchment paper and piped chocolate over it with a squeeze bottle.

I baked the cupcakes on Friday, with these cute ruffled liners from Wilton that I found at Hobby Lobby.

Then, I packed up my frosting, the butterfly wings, and the cupcakes, and headed to my Gram's. I didn't assemble them beforehand because I wasn't sure the butterfly wings would hold up, and it's much easier to travel with unfrosted cupcakes. I assembled them at my Gram's, and they were a total hit!

Chocolate Chunk Cupcakes Recipe

1 box yellow cake mix (I used Duncan Hines, since I had it in my pantry)
4 eggs (I always use brown, cage-free eggs)
3/4 cup oil (I used Smart Balance, which is a blend of canola, soy, and olive oil)
1/2 cup water
8 ounces of good dark chocolate, chopped (I used Ghirardelli 60% dark)

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.

2. In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, oil and water. Add eggs one at a time. Mix well (about 2-3 minutes).

3. Stir in chocolate.

4. Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups.

5. Bake for about 15-20 minutes (I think I baked mine for 12, but I only bake one pan at a time. Just take them out when you can really smell them and a knife or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean). Let them cool completely on a rack before frosting.

Vanilla Bean Buttercream

1 cup unsalted butter, softened (I actually used I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, in the stick form)
2 – 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted (I used 3 cups)
1/2 vanilla bean (I ended up using two whole beans. The flavor wasn't strong enough for me and there wasn't a high enough concentration of vanilla caviar visible in the frosting with just half)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon milk (I probably only used about half a teaspoon. I like my frosting stiff for piping.)

1. Beat the butter until it gets light and fluffy. Gradually add powdered sugar. Add the milk and beat for 2-3 minutes.

2. Split the vanilla bean half in lengthwise and scrape out all of the seeds. Add the seeds and extract to the bowl. Beat on high until combined and fluffy.

Chocolate Hazelnut Nutella Mini Bundt Cakes

2010-06-27T10:31:00.003-05:00

These were made for my friend Becca's 21st birthday party. They're chocolate hazelnut Nutella mini bundt cakes with Nutella, tiramisu mascarpone cheese, fresh raspberries, and homemade raspberry sauce on top. I got the idea from Passionate About Baking, but tweaked it a bit to suit my needs.

For the cakes, rather than follow Deeba's recipe, I decided to use a box of chocolate cake mix that I had in the pantry. I added to it some chopped toasted hazelnuts, a cup of strong espresso, some chocolate chips, and Nutella.

To make the raspberry sauce for the tops of the cupcakes, I simply heated a jar of sugar free raspberry jam over the stove. You can add in whatever you like to it at this point, so I added a teaspoon each of rum extract and vanilla extract. I also added about 2 tablespoons of orange liqueur (I used Paula's Texas Orange). Then you strain the seed out of the jam, and you're left with a fabulous sauce that is also great on ice cream!

Then, I just assembled the cakes by putting Nutella in the center of the cakes and somewhat on the top, then a dollop of tiramisu mascarpone (it's infused with espresso, making it perfect for tiramisu), then a fresh raspberry, and a drizzle of sauce!

Chocolate Hazelnut Nutella Cake

1 box of chocolate cake mix
1 cup of toasted hazelnuts, coarsely chopped
1 cup of strongly brewed coffee (I used instant espresso granules)
1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 small jars of Nutella
1 tub of tiramisu mascarpone cheese
fresh raspberries
raspberry sauce (see recipe below)

Prepare chocolate cake mix according to instructions, substituting the coffee for part of the water. Stir in hazelnuts, chocolate chips, and one jar of Nutella. Bake according to instructions on box. Garnish with Nutella, mascarpone, raspberries, and sauce.

Raspberry Sauce

1 small jar of raspberry jam (I used sugar free just because)
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp imitation rum extract
2 tbsp orange liqueur (I used Paula's Texas Orange)

Heat jam in saucepan over medium low heat until viscous. Stir in vanilla, rum extract, and liqueur. Strain with mesh strainer to remove seeds and pulp. Refrigerate until needed.

Unfortunately, this may be my last post for a little while. Why? Because we're moving!!!!! Yes, we're finally moving out of this duplex and into a house! So no cupcaking for at least a month since we need to save up for deposits and whatnot, and also we'll be settling into our new place. Updates will come as soon as they're available.

P.S. 22 followers? Really??? You guys are AWESOME!!!

Popcorn Cupcakes!

2010-06-27T09:46:00.002-05:00

I made these for my cousin Teela's twin sons' 3rd birthday party! It was carnival themed, so the popcorn idea was perfect! Teela gave me the idea, and I found help at Cake Central.

The cupcakes are buttery pound cake with extra buttery buttercream on top (I added Wilton Butter Flavor to everything haha). The "popcorn" is actually just yellow and white miniature marshmallows that were cut crosswise at the bottom and smooshed to look like popcorn.

Teela made some great cupcakes too, with the most adorable little toppers!

Memorial Day Slider Cupcakes (second try)

2010-06-26T16:13:00.001-05:00

I made these for a Memorial Day potluck we had at work that was BBQ-themed. Unfortunately, I only figured out toward the end of my baking that in order to have a perfect dome at the top of the cupcake instead of having them come out like little hats, you should only spray the bottom of each cup of the muffin tin, not the sides. When you spray the sides, the spray over cooks the edges/top of the cupcake. They still tasted great, though. Just used box mixes and my standby buttercream recipe.

Updates!

2010-05-23T19:22:00.003-05:00

The Upcoming Cupcakes page is finally up-to-date!

My flickr is nearly up-to-date!

The Recipes page is up-to-date!

I've joined CookEatShare!

Also, I have 17 followers!!! I can't believe it! Thanks so much everyone for following my blog and enjoying my cupcakes as much as I enjoy making and sharing them. Please let me know if you have any suggestions!

I've been thinking about getting rid of the recipes page and just including the recipe with each post. Would this be more convenient for you? Or should I just add the recipe to each post but keep the recipe page for additional reference?

Ambrosia Cupcakes

2010-05-22T16:00:00.002-05:00

These were made for my Gramp's 80th birthday celebration. He's a big coconut fan, so they definitely won him over. I got the recipe out of a Taste Of Home magazine. The only things I did differently were using root beer concentrate in place of rum extract (they were all out of rum extract at HEB and I happened to have the root beer concentrate on hand), and I sprinkled chopped pecans on the tops of some. The frosting was dangerously delicious. I could have probably eaten it by itself straight from the bowl.

And here's my Gramp enjoying the 80 balloons we blew up for him with a note about why we love him attached to each one.

Ambrosia Cupcakes

1/2 c. butter, softened
1/2 c. butter-flavored shortening
2 c. sugar
5 eggs, separated
1 tsp. rum extract (I substituted root beer concentrate)
1/2 c. sour cream
1/2 c. apricot nectar
1/4 c. pineapple preserves
1/4 c. apricot preserves
2 c. cake flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 c. chopped pecans

In a large bowl, cream the butter, shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in extract. In another bowl, whisk the sour cream, apricot nectar, and preserves. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; add to creamed mixtures alternately with sour cream mixture. Beat just until blended. Stir in pecans. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form; fold into batter. Fill paper-lined muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake at 350 for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely. (Yields 3 dozen)

Ambrosia Frosting

1/2 c. butter, softened
3 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 tsp. coconut extract
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1/4 c. pineapple preserves
1/4 c. apricot preserves
3 3/4 c. powdered sugar
1 c. flaked coconut
36 maraschino cherries with stems

In a small bowl, cream the butter, cream cheese, and extracts until light and fluffy. Beat in preserves. Gradually beat in the powdered sugar until blended. Frost cupcakes; sprinkle with coconut (it was easier for me to kind of dip the tops of the cupcakes into a bowl of coconut since the coconut wouldn't stick otherwise). Garnish with cherries.

Vegan Cookies 'n' Cream Cupcakes!

2010-05-22T15:47:00.002-05:00

Oh yes, they tasted as good as they looked. =]

These were made for our nephew Jaedyn's adoption party. He's got severe dairy allergies, so everything I make for him needs to be vegan/dairy-free. You'd think this would limit my options as far as baking goes, but there are so many awesome recipes out there! This one came from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero, but I found it online at Chow.com.

Jaedyn LOVED them, especially the frosting. He was eyeballing them all through dinner. Here's some more pictures.

Jaedyn chowing down on the breakfast of champions the next morning. =]

Vegan Cookies 'n' Cream Cupcakes

1 c. soy milk (I used vanilla Silk)
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
3/4 c. granulated sugar
1/3 c. canola oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. almond extract, chocolate extract, or more vanilla extract
1 c. all-purpose flour
1/3 c. cocoa powder, Dutch-processed or regular
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 c. coarsely chopped chocolate cream-filled sandwich cookies
Vegan Fluffy Buttercream Frosting

Preheat oven to 350°F and line a muffin pan with paper or foil liners. Whisk together the soy milk and vinegar in a large bowl, and set aside for a few minutes to curdle. Add the sugar, oil, vanilla extract, and other extract, if using, to the soy milk mixture and beat until foamy. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add in two batches to wet ingredients and beat until no large lumps remain (a few tiny lumps are OK). Mix in the sandwich cookies. Pour into liners, filling 3/4 of the way. Bake 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely.

Vegan Fluffy Buttercream Frosting

1/2 c. nonhydrogenated shortening (I just used butter-flavored Crisco since I wasn't worried about the vegan aspect)
1/2 c. nonhydrogenated margarine (I used Willow Run soy margarine)
3 1/2 c. powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 c. plain soy milk or soy creamer (I used vanilla Silk again since it's what I had)

Beat the shortening and margarine together until well-combined and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat for about 3 more minutes. Add the vanilla and the soy milk, and beat for another 5 to 7 minutes until light and fluffy. Just fold in chocolate sandwich cookie crumbs to make it match the cupcakes.

Key Lime Cupcakes with Swiss Meringue and Candied Lime Slices

2010-04-04T11:25:00.002-05:00

These were made for twice-delayed St. Patrick's Day Potluck at work. AND THEY WERE TO DIE FOR. Seriously. The recipe was super easy. The hardest part was the meringue, as it was my first time making it without the help of my Gram, and I had to torch it with a long lighter since I had no kitchen torch. It was absolutely sublime. The only drawback to these cupcakes was that everyone at work thought that the candied lime slices on top were pickle slices. I got so frustrated by the end of the day that I told them all I was bringing pickle cupcakes next time.

More pictures!

Fresh from the oven. One thing about this recipe - the cake turns out so moist it won't stick to the wrapper. Which is good for when you're eating them, but hell for getting them out of the tin to cool and decorate.

Green batter. I added more green and yellow food coloring, but I think it still could have used more.

Genuine key lime juice is a must, especially if you don't feel like juicing a bunch of key limes to get what you need.

Speaking of key limes, here are the pre-candied slices. Totally do not look like pickles at all.

And after being candied. They lose a lot of pigment in the process.

Key Lime Cupcakes

1 (18.25 oz) pkg lemon cake mix
1 1/3 c. oil (I used a soybean/sunflower mix)
4 eggs
1 (3 oz) pkg lime flavored gelatin mix
3/4 c. key lime juice
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. butter flavoring

Preheat oven to 375 degrees (or whatever temperature is on your cake mix box). Combine all ingredients. Pour into prepared (lined or greased) muffin tin. Bake according to instructions on cake mix box (my oven bakes one 12-cup tin in about 9 minutes. I just take them out as soon as I can smell them because my oven is finicky.)

Swiss Meringue

1 c. egg whites
2 c. sugar
pinch salt

Whisk together the egg whites, sugar, and salt in the bowl of your stand mixer. Rest the bowl over a pot of boiling water to form a double boiler. Scrape down the sides of the bowl so that all the sugar is off the sides of the bowl. Continue to stir the mixture until all the sugar is melted into the eggs and you no longer feel any graininess when rubbed between your fingers, about 3-5 minutes. Place the bowl onto your mixer and whisk on high speed until the meringue is thick and glossy and the bowl is just warmer than room temperature, about 8 minutes.

Candied Lime Slices

6 key limes
1 c. sugar
2 tbsp sugar
1 c. water

Slice limes into thin rounds, blanch in a pot of boiling water for 2 minutes and drain. In the same pot, combine water and 1 c. sugar. Bring to a simmer and add lime slices. Simmer for 10-15 minutes, till white pith of limes looks translucent. Drain and spread out on cooling rack to dry for at least an hour (I left mine overnight). Put 2 tbsp sugar in shallow bowl or saucer. When limes are dry, coat both side of lime slices by pressing them into the sugar.

Babycakes

2010-02-28T20:33:00.001-06:00

So we had a triple baby shower at work earlier this month. Being that I've never made baby-themed cupcakes, I had to give it a shot. Here's what I came up with:

People were asking me permission to eat them at first! Since when do you need permission to eat something someone brings two dozen of to a party? Regardless, they were all gone by the end of the day. Got the bear toppers and baby wrappers at Hobby Lobby. No recipes for these since everything was store bought (I didn't have a whole lot of notice). The pink ones are strawberry and the blue ones are dark chocolate fudge, both topped with cream cheese frosting and sanding sugar.

Mini Gingerbread Eggnog Cupcakes

2010-02-28T13:03:00.002-06:00

Alright, time to play catch up. I've neglected this blog way too long!

Oh yes. They were quite scrumptious. I made them for work for no particular reason other than to be nice and that I wanted to make some Christmas-themed cupcakes. They're mini gingerbread cupcakes with Southern Comfort (non-alcoholic) eggnog frosting and mini candy cane sprinkles and white sanding sugar on top. And yes, the liners have little gingerbread men on them too!

Gingerbread Cupcakes

5 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
1/2 c. white sugar
1/2 c. unsulfured molasses
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. cocoa powder
1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground allspice
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 c. hot milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter or line with paper liners a 12-cup muffin tin or 24-cup mini muffin tin. Cream 5 tablespoons of the butter with the white sugar. Add the molasses and the egg and egg yolk. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and salt. Dissolve the baking soda in the hot milk. Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and stir until just combined. Stir in the hot milk mixture. Pour the batter evenly into the prepared tin. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 10-15 minutes or until slightly springy to the touch. Allow to cool a few minutes in the pan and remove to a rack to cool.

Egg Nog Frosting

1 stick (8 tbsp.) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
pinch ground cinnamon
pinch kosher salt
1/4 c. SoCo Egg Nog (any egg nog will do)
1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

Apple Pie Cupcakes

2009-11-21T19:07:00.002-06:00

Hey y'all! It's been a while since I've posted, hasn't it? Well, we had another potluck at work so I now have new cupcakes to share!

Our potluck was for Thanksgiving since we're closed on the 26th, so of course I had to bring something in keeping with the theme. What did I bring? Apple pie cupcakes!!!!

Golden butter cupcakes with apple pie filling mixed in the batter, topped with Dutch apple jam and cinnamon vanilla bean buttercream.

I originally got the idea to do so when my baker friend Joyce sent me an awesome recipe for them. However, I only found out about the potluck the day before, so I tried to find a quicker recipe. The new recipe involved cake mix and canned apple pie filling, but turned out delicious nonetheless. The buttercream is the same as my staple buttercream, with the substitution of a real vanilla bean for the vanilla extract, and 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon.

Everyone at work loved them, and I'm pretty sure it's most due to the fancy piping job. Don't get me wrong, they were scrumptious, but we basically had a table full of desserts and they wouldn't have stood out otherwise. All I did for the frosting was pipe a lattice pattern on the top with a small basket tip (Wilton #46) and then piped the wavy crust edge with a medium round tip (Wilton #7). Not too difficult, just time-consuming.

Alright, I have a few more pictures that I know you're waiting for.

I'll be making more of these for Thanksgiving dinner with David's family next week, but I'll only be uploading those pictures to facebook and flickr so I don't have basically a double post.

Next should be something Christmasey! We'll see!

Apple Pie Cupcakes (easy version)

1 box Golden Butter recipe cake mix
1 can apple pie filling (you may want to run a knife through it a few times since the apple slices are pretty large for cupcakes)
1 large egg
1/4 c. water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Pour into lined muffin tin. Bake for 10-20 minutes, depending on what size tin you use. Makes 12-18 cupcakes.

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes!

2009-10-10T16:43:00.002-05:00

We had a potluck at my new job to celebrate the end of training, and since I was in a pumpkiney mood, I decided to make pumpkin spice cupcakes for it! These were seriously the easiest cupcakes I've ever made.

I got started on Wednesday evening by making mini marzipan pumpkins as toppers. I've never worked with marzipan before, but this definitely won't be my last time. It was so easy to work with and smelled so good!

I baked the cupcakes Thursday evening. I love how they crackled on the tops, so pretty. They made the whole house smell heavenly, too.

I filled the cupcakes with a squirt each of pumpkin butter on Thursday evening as well. I have a filling tip from Wilton that makes filling soooo easy.

I frosted them all early Friday morning before work with cinnamon cream cheese frosting. I found the liners at Michael's, and they're by Martha Stewart. She has some awesome Halloween stuff. The "poison" liners have a skull image on the bottom of the cup, and the "beware" ones have spiders.

At the potluck. I displayed them on my Wilton cupcake stand with a big black charger plate underneath to hold the rest, since there were 24.

These cupcakes were a huge hit and made me tons of new friends, haha. They were positively scrumptious as well! It was torture having to wait to eat them, since I was sitting near them and could smell them all day. I've already been asked by David's aunt to bring some to Thanksgiving dinner, though!

Easy Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

2 (18.25 oz) packages spice cake mix
1 (30 oz) can pumpkin pie filling
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp butter flavoring

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl for 2 minutes. Contents will be very thick. Line muffin tin with paper cups. Fill 2/3 full with batter. Bake 22 to 24 minutes (or, if you're only doing one 12-cup tin at a time, about 10 minutes). Makes about two dozen, usually a little more. TIP: If you have extra batter but not enough to fill all the cups of the muffin tin, fill the remaining empty cups halfway with water. It helps the cupcakes to bake more evenly.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Beat the cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer in a bowl until smooth. Beat in the powdered sugar a little at a time until incorporated. Add the vanilla extract and cinnamon; beat until fluffy.

Robot Cupcakes

2009-10-10T14:41:00.001-05:00

Hey guys! Sorry it took me so long to post! I've been super busy starting a new job!

Anyways, Benjamin's robot cupcakes turned out fantastically. They were apparently a huge hit at his awesome robot party! I had a ton of fun making them, and I'm glad they turned out as well as they did.

Here they are, in the plastic cases I got at the All In One Bake Shop and with my new tags attached! They smelled sooooo good!

And here they are displayed at the party! Aren't the signs Kristi made just adorable? She's so creative.

And here is one super happy birthday boy!

The cupcakes themselves were just french vanilla and devil's food, both made from a mix (terrible, I know, but they're soooo much easier!). The frosting was a shortening-based buttercream that I've lost the recipe to. It had to be shortening-based so that they wouldn't need to be refrigerated. The cookies are just plain sugar cookies with royal icing!

More news! These cupcakes will actually be the last order I'll be doing for a while. I want to focus more on developing my skills and testing new flavors and ideas before I make more to order. I think it'll be a nice little break to just make a dozen or so whenever the mood strikes me rather than having to make so many and plan so much. It'll be a nice little experimental period for me. =]

Cog Sugar Cookies!

2009-09-14T17:48:00.001-05:00

These are the toppers for my upcoming robot cupcakes! They're cog-shaped sugar cookies that are iced with royal icing (made with meringue powder because raw egg whites scare me).

First, of course, I rolled out the sugar cookie dough on a mat since my table is tiled.

My first batch, I had cut the cog shapes out and put them on the cookie sheet. I pulled them out of the oven and they looked like flowers. So, I had to end up cutting the cog shapes out of the cookies once they were baked. Therefore, every batch after the first was just circle cookies.

Cutting the circle shape out of the baked cookies.

Cutting the centers out of the cookies with a petit four cutter (it was the only circle cutter I could find that was small enough).

Cutting the teeth out of the sides with the petit four cutter.

Pile of sugar cookie scraps. Mmmmm, good snacking. =]

Finished cog cookies, un-iced.

I used the dip method to ice the cookies with royal icing, since it seemed easiest as I was only using one color for the whole cookie. I dipped the fronts of the cookies in the icing, then pulled them out and set them on a rack to dry.

Now all I've got left to do is make, frost, and assemble the cupcakes!

Royal Icing

2 tbsp. meringue powder (I could only find the Wilton brand, and only at Walmart in the cake decorating aisle)
2 cups powdered sugar
3 tbsp. water

Mix all together until smooth. This version is best for using the dip method to ice cookies. There are thicker versions that are better for piping.

Lots of News!

2009-09-10T18:44:00.001-05:00

So, in case you haven't noticed, my blog has had a complete makeover! It was designed by my Aunt Kristi of Kristi's Blog Design and More! In exchange, I'm making 4 dozen cupcakes for her son Benjamin's fifth birthday next week!

They're not just any cupcakes, however, they're....

And they're gonna be soooooo awesome. Here are some concept images of what they'll look like.

And here's the supplies I got today! I was shopping all morning at Michael's (I find they have a better variety of cupcake supplies than Hobby Lobby), Wal-Mart (it was on the way home haha), and my faaaaaaaaaaaavorite shop, the All In One Bake Shop!

Rolling pin, non-slip mats (since our table is tiled), red jimmies, blue and green gel food coloring, silver foil liners, 2 different-sized circle cookie cutters (for making the cog cookies), piping bags, 26-piece deluxe piping tip set from Wilton, and 4 plastic 12-cavity cupcake containers (since the robot cupcakes will be transported from Round Rock to Belton).

I can't wait to get started on them! They will definitely be my next update here!

I also got some supplies to make my own tags that will go on every order out from now on!

They're made by punching over the holes on tags with a Martha Stewart craft punch to get a cupcake-shaped hole. Then, I stamp the "Homemade By" or "Homemade With Love by" and fill in my name with a scrapbooking pen. Then, I color in the stamp using prismacolors that somewhat correspond with my blog. They'll be attached with this awesome cupcake ribbon I got at Michael's. I think I like the "With Love" tags better, but we'll see as time goes on.

That's about it for now, but stay tuned for Benjamin's Awesome Robot Cupcakes!

Strawberry Cream Cheese Cupcakes

2009-08-07T17:39:00.002-05:00

These were made for David's coworker Danielle's birthday party today! They're strawberry cupcakes made from a mix with whipped cream cream cheese frosting and sliced strawberries on top. From what I heard and tasted, they were scrumptious.

Whipped Cream Cream Cheese Frosting

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1 cup white sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

In a small bowl beat whipping cream until stiff peaks form; set aside. In a large bowl combine cream cheese, sugar, salt and vanilla. Beat until smooth, then fold in whipped cream.

Choco-nanner Cupcakes

2009-08-05T22:49:00.001-05:00

These were made just to use up the ripe bananas I had laying around.

Chocolate cupcakes from a mix with mashed over-ripe bananas thrown in. Topped with a Nutella/Coconut Pecan ganache made from what I had left of Nutella, some Coconut Pecan frosting, and confectioner's sugar. I believe there was some cocoa thrown in there as well. On top of that is a royal icing flower since it was the only yellow topper I had.

These may not be the prettiest cupcakes I've ever made, but they were certainly the tastiest. =]

And with that, I'm caught up! Stay tuned for some Strawberry Cream Cheese cupcakes!

Pirate Cupcakes

2009-08-05T22:38:00.002-05:00

Pirate cupcakes for my friend Mandie's son Dylan's first birthday! They're white cupcakes made from a mix with black chocolate buttercream, candy-coated rainbow chips, gold luster dust, and various pirate toys on top! They both loved them.

Double Chocolate Cupcakes

2009-08-05T22:32:00.003-05:00

Chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting, topped with cherry sours and rolled in white nonpareils. Made for David's stepmother's birthday. Both cupcakes and frosting are made from the Hershey's "Perfect Chocolate" recipes:

Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake (from the Hershey's website)

2 c. sugar
1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. Hershey's Cocoa
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tps. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 c. milk
1/2 c. vegetable oil
2 tsp. vanilla
1 c. boiling water

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.

2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. 10 to 12 servings.

VARIATIONS:

ONE-PAN CAKE: Grease and flour 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Heat oven to 350° F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely. Frost.

THREE LAYER CAKE: Grease and flour three 8-inch round baking pans. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost.

BUNDT CAKE: Grease and flour 12-cup Bundt pan. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 50 to 55 minutes. Cool 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely. Frost.

CUPCAKES: Line muffin cups (2-1/2 inches in diameter) with paper bake cups. Heat oven to 350°F. Fill cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely. Frost. About 30 cupcakes.

Hershey's "Perfect Chocolate" Chocolate Frosting (from the Hershey's website)

1/2 c. (1 stick) butter or margarine
2/3 c. Hershey's cocoa (any cocoa will do of course)
3 c. powdered sugar
1/3 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. Yields about 2 cups frosting.

Memorial Day Cupcakes

2009-08-05T22:23:00.001-05:00

I made these cupcakes for my coworkers at Home Depot for Memorial Day. They were all gone by the end of the day, and everyone had a blue tongue. =]

The cupcakes are funfetti, made from a mix I had lying around. The frosting is my standard buttercream tinted bright blue. I rolled and dipped the cupcake tops into a bowl of red and white sugar crystals.

Meatloaf "Cupcakes"

2009-08-05T22:18:00.002-05:00

Behold the glory that is the meatloaf "cupcake".

Yes, it's really meatloaf. And it is SCRUMPTIOUS.

Meatloaf Cupcakes:

2 lbs lean ground beef
1 can condensed vegetable soup
1 tsp onion powder
1 cup bread crumbs
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
1 pinch black pepper
1/2 cup ketchup

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 12 cup muffin tin. Mix ground beef, soup, onion powder, bread crumbs, eggs, salt, and pepper. Scoop mixture evenly into prepared muffin cups. Place on top of cookie sheet to catch any grease that comes out of the muffin tin. Bake 1 hour in oven or until done. "Frost" with mashed potatoes, "sprinkle" with corn kernels.

Chocolate Lemon Cupcakes

2009-08-05T22:03:00.002-05:00

These were made for a picnic David's coworkers were having at an old boss's house.

I candied some lemon zests as a topping while I was waiting for the cupcakes to bake.

They are lemon cupcakes with chocolate frosting, topped with candied lemon zests and a square of Lindt 70% Intense Dark chocolate. They were soooooooo good.
The cupcakes were made from a mix, and the frosting was the Hershey's Perfect Chocolate Frosting.

Hershey's "Perfect Chocolate" Chocolate Frosting (from the Hershey's website)

1/2 c. (1 stick) butter or margarine
2/3 c. Hershey's cocoa (any cocoa will do of course)
3 c. powdered sugar
1/3 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. Yields about 2 cups frosting.

I candied the lemon zests according to this recipe:

Candied Lemon Zest Recipe

2 lemons
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
sugar to coat zest strips

    * Wash lemons thoroughly. Trim zest from lemons using a vegetable peeler. Cut wide strips, being careful not to cut into the white pith layer below. Cut zest strips lengthwise to create thin julienne strips.
    * Place julienne strips in a small sauce pan and cover with cold water. Cook over medium heat until the water comes to a simmer. Continue to simmer for 6 minutes.
    * Remove from heat, drain strips and then return them to the sauce pan. Add water and sugar to the lemon strips in the sauce pan. Bring the mixture to a simmer. Continue to cook over low heat until the lemon strips turn translucent. The water and sugar should be starting to thicken. Cooking time will be approximately 10 to 15 minutes.
    * When done cooking, remove strips from the pan and spread out on a sheet of wax paper. Separate the strips on the wax paper so they are not in clumps.
    * Once they have cooled slightly, roll in sugar until they are well coated.

Catching Up

2009-08-05T21:53:00.001-05:00

I have a lot of that to do, haha. I'm sorry! I didn't mean to neglect the blog for so long. It just go to a point where the thought of all the backblogging I'd have to do was just overwhelming. So I'm gonna catch up in baby steps.

First off, those Hello Kitty Cake Pops I mentioned in my last entry!

They didn't turn out as well as I had hoped, but that's alright since they were just for me and not a paying customer. I just don't think that Texas weather is right for making these, especially in the dog days of summer. They were incredibly tasty, though!
I made them with yellow cake from a mix (they're just plain easier), and mixed with canned strawberry frosting as per Bakerella's instructions. I think if I do make them another time, I won't put as much frosting in the mix since I have a feeling that lent a big hand in the amount of cursing I did at the Kitty heads that kept falling off the stick and into the bowl of candy melts.

Nope, these are next up.

2009-04-20T07:32:00.002-05:00

My friend Callie asked me yesterday if I would make her some Hello Kitty cupcakes for her birthday on May 1st.

OF COURSE I SAID YES!!!!!

For those of you who know me, you know that I am absolutely obsessed with Hello Kitty. So why haven't I made any HK cupcakes yet? I'm not really sure. I guess I never had a reason to before.

But, I'm considering making cake pops instead of cupcakes (or alongside plain cupcakes, not sure yet) this time around. If you read Bakerella's blog, you know what cake pops are. If not, here's a link.

And here are the lovely HK cake pops I'm thinking about making, if Callie will let me:

Aren't they absolutely adorable?

But just in case she doesn't like them, here are some other ideas I've found:

From bhoneymine on flickr.
From 0range County Girl on flickr.
From Jane Doe Cakes.

Any other ideas?

Possibly Next Up!

2009-04-19T13:00:00.002-05:00

I was browsing deviantART this morning and stumbled across these amazingly adorable cupcakes, made by Kimography:

They're French Toast Mini Cupcakes!!!!! Can you believe it? I love french toast, so this sounds like heaven to me.
After some googling, I found her recipe:
Ingredients

1 1/2 cup All purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon Baking powder
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Unsalted butter melted and cooled
2 Eggs
2 teaspoon Maple extract
1/2 cup Milk

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350'F and line baking pan with paper liners.
2. Mix together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a small bowl.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together butter, sugar and eggs until smooth. Make sure the butter is cool or you'll have scrambled eggs.
4. Whisk in maple extract and then alternate between whisking in flour mixture and milk. Make three additions of flour mix and two of milk. Beat until smooth.
5. Scoop batter into prepared mini-muffin pan and bake 12-14 minutes until golden brown and tops spring back when lightly touched.
6. Cool the cupcakes on a rack for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
Makes 3 cups

1 package (8 ounces) reduced fat cream cheese, at room temperature
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, at room temperature
3 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Place the cream cheese and butter in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed until combined, 30 seconds. Stop the machine. Add the confectioners' sugar, a little at a time, blending with the mixer on low speed until the sugar is well incorporated, 1 minute. Add the cinnamon, then increase the mixer speed to medium and blend the frosting until fluffy, 1 minute more.
So now, I just need a reason to make them. David doesn't like french toast, and I don't wanna pig out trying to eat them all by myself. I think I'll see if his dad likes french toast.

Sigh.

2009-04-19T12:52:00.001-05:00

So the Super Secret Cupcakes were for my cousin Brian's birthday. I made them at the request of his sister, my cousin Teela. They were yellow cupcakes with chocolate frosting and fondant bobcat toppers (since he goes to Texas State). They turned out pretty awesome. For the toppers, I had wanted to do a maroon cut-out circle, with a yellow/gold cut-out bobcat logo on top. Well, the temperature was pretty high that day, and it was enough of a hassle getting the maroon fondant to work with me. The yellow fondant (which was to be topped with gold luster dust) refused to cooperate. I was running out of time, so I decided to paint the bobcat logos on the maroon fondant with the luster dust instead! I applied the luster dust with Wilton Butter Flavoring. It smelled soooooo good. I didn't take any pictures, but hopefully Teela did and I'll be able to post them soon!

Here's the bobcat logo, for those of you wondering:

The "Sigh" title is due to the fact that my butthead of a cousin Brian was unable to receive the cupcakes because he couldn't make time to have Teela bring them by.

Super Secret

2009-03-28T10:31:00.001-05:00

My cousin Teela, her twin boys, and I went shopping on Thursday for some super secret cupcakes I'm making in the next month or so. It was a total blast.

Here's what we got:

Some gold foil liners.

Some super awesome gold luster dust.

Some maroon AmeriColor gel food coloring.

Some black Wilton icing coloring.

Some burgundy Wilton icing coloring.

And some white/vanilla Satin Ice rolled fondant!
I'm so excited to finally get to use fondant! But that's all you get to know about the super secret cupcakes until I post pictures. =]