Halloween cupcakes continue!

It seems that I got a little cupcake crazed this Halloween! My friend Maria, and blogging expert!!, sent me this fabulous link with all sorts of creative ideas! I only tried one of them due to time, but I would have loved to try them all! Next year!




These were the cupcakes i tried from the website. I followed the recipe for the chocolate cupcakes, which originated from Country Living. MAJOR disaster. I don't even know what happened, except that I didn't have a German Chocolate Cake mix. I didn't think it would make a huge difference if I used a Devils Food. Well it did, and these poor cupcakes turned into mini grand canyons. I tossed them and repeated it with a basic chocolate box mix. The frosting was a chocolate buttercream. The webs were actually very easy! I tried using a pastry bag to pipe them, which was also a huge mess! I stopped half way through and went back and used a ziploc bag like the recipe suggested. Much better! It was so easy and clean after that!




I made these chocolate with buttercream frosting cupcakes for Momma Linda, one of the Unit Secretaries that I work with! It was her birthday, and she lovess cupcakes! I had these adorable Martha Stewart treat boxes that I was dying to use! The treat box with the cupcakes in it was a big hit!

Double Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes

These cupcakes were RICH!


They really turned out more like muffins almost because they were so dense. I love the idea of chocolate and pumpkin together, so this recipe seemed perfect. I used my own cream cheese frosting, but I bet the spiced frosting per the recipe would be pretty good! I would definitely leave out the chocolate chips next time. They overpowered the pumpkin flavor for sure. I'll probably play around with this recipe again next year.

Happy Birthday Uncle Mark!

I had the privilege of making a cake for my Uncle Mark who just recently celebrated a large birthday! The big Five-Oh :)

He's loves baseball, so I knew I wanted to try and make a baseball cake of some sort. He also happened to be sporting a very funny hat down at the beach this past summer, so I thought I'd take advantage of some of the pictures we took from that!

The cake turned out pretty cute I thought, and seemed to be a big hit!

Praline Cupcakes

I recently traveled to New Orleans with some girlfriends, and when I needed a sweet break from the spicy, delicious cuisine, I found an adorable cupcake shop! Of course I can't remember what it was called, but it was very much like Georgetown cupcakes.

So today I saw some pecan pralines in Trader Joe's, and had to bake me some praline cupcakes! Here's the recipe I found: http://thefrostedcakencookie.blogspot.com/2009/03/gimme-some-brown-sugar-and-praline.html. I used the cupcake recipe, but made my own cream cheese frosting. I put a pecan praline on top.

Cupcakes turned out a little drier than my amazing one in New Orleans, but the cream cheese frosting made it ok! I'll have to try a different recipe next time, but all in all, they were pretty darn good!

The Kitchen's Chambord Layer Cake

I've been feeling adventurous in baking and decided to break away from the boxed cake mixes that I normally use. I feel like boxed cake mixes are really good and can sometimes taste better than homemade! Plus, they're a lot less work. However, I ready for a little bit more of a challenge!

I decided to use Don (hubby), Joe (brother) and Don's new coworkers (never met them, they can't judge me yet!) as my guinea pigs. I went with The Kitchen's Chambord layer cake from Country living (recipe here: http://www.countryliving.com/recipefinder/chambord-layer-cake-recipe-3841). It was a three layer white cake with black raspberry preserves between the layer and a yummy, light pink Chambord frosting. Chambord is a black raspberry liquor (very delicious by it's self and in champagne).

I thought it turned out really well. The cake baked well and was relatively flat. It was easy to handle and layer. I loved the look and the taste of the preserves in the middle, and the frosting was fab. It was a big hit at home and at Don's job :)

Summer Cupcakes!

Two of my coworkers celebrated their birthdays in the last two weeks and by special request, I was in charge of cupcake making!

For Remika, she wanted Red Velvet and cream cheese frosting! I found the best new cream cheese frosting recipe. These may have been my best tasting and looking cupcakes yet!! Can I have a job at Georgetown cupcakes now please? Maybe one day!

For Tonya, I made yellow cupcakes with hot pink frosting and pretty sprinkles. They turned out so cute!

Happy Easter

I made some simple cupcakes for our family's Easter dinner. A classic white cake mix and my favorite Swiss Meringue Butter Cream. They turned out perfectly! I loved them displayed on my tiered dessert platter next to the pretty flowers! Martha would be proud!