Hopeful

Ok so for starters, tomorrow is my big family reunion...What am I making you ask? CUPCAKES DUH!
I am going to do a simple mini dark chocolate, with a fresh raspberry in each, then a butter cream dollop! YUM! Excited to make them and try them!

And second...I applied for my first craft show, and could I have picked a small one for starters? sure, but did I? NO! I went ahead and applied for a spot at MayDay! Underground at the Village Gate Mall on Goodman St Rochester NY. It is highly popular, and reported on. I am nervous as hell, because they choose from applicants to be in the show! So wish me luck! I will know for sure Sept. 1st! BUT this isn't a bake thing...my creations would be up for sale! ^_^

S'mors

how about a chocolate cupcake , filled with marshmallow fluff, topped with either a PB frosting, or chocolate ganach, dusted with gram cracker crumbs.

Family Re-Union

So saturday is my moms side family reunion, and we dont see them that offten,its been a loooong time for some of them. we both have some mixed feelings about going, but who know it could be for the best.
Anyways, its an outdoor clam bake, and everyone is supposed to bring a dish to pass, so what am i going to take? Cupcakes duh!
i was thinking lemon, with a fresh rasperry stuffed in the middle, with a buttercream frosting. then maybe garnished with a little lemon zest, and raspberry.

   note: maybe add lemon pudding?

Energy Cakes?

So I am trying to come up with some new creative cupcake flavors, that HOPEFULLY no one has tried to make or has even thought of yet.

Alright here's one idea, and you are probably thinking that I am crazy for even thinking of this idea, but hey you never know unless you try it right? Energy Cupcakes i.e. Redbull, Monster, Rock Star...So for the liquid portion of the recipe I will use an energy drink like my fave Redbull!

And for decoration, an example being black frosting, and then with a handmade stencil, the Monster logo; hold over the frosting and dusting it with lime green edible food color powder. How cool?! and always use the foil papers to give it the tin can look.

UPDATE!

Some chick from Australia made them! grrrrr....oh well I will give it a go anyways! here is her version:

To make these cakes, you will need:
200g plain flour
250g white sugar
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
125ml buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
125g butter
175 ml Red Bull
2 tablespoons cocoa powder


Icing
225g icing sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons Red Bull
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract


Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Line a 12 hole muffin tray with cupcake liners.
Sift the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt together into a bowl and set aside.
Beat the egg, buttermilk and vanilla together in a separate bowl.
Place the butter, cocoa and Red Bull into a saucepan, and place the saucepan over a low heat, stirring, to melt the butter. Pour the butter into the dry ingredients and combine, then mix in the egg mixture.
Divide the cupcake batter evenly between the muffin pans, and bake in the preheated oven for around 20 minutes or until the cakes are cooked through. Tip the cooked cakes out of the muffin pan immediately on removing them from the oven, and leave them to cool on a wire rack.


Icing
Place the butter, Red Bull and cocoa in a small saucepan, and stir the contents over a low heat until the butter has melted. Take the butter mixture off the stove and stir through the vanilla. Beat in the icing sugar, one spoon at a time, until you have a spreadable but runny icing. Spoon the icing on top of the cupcakes while they are still warm, then leave them to set.

Write Stuff

So I finally got a little notebook so I can write down my ideas when I am not at the computer, and re-write the recipes so I can better understand them, instead of just reading it once. PLUS it will work out great when I need to stock up on ingredients, at the grocery store!

I still have have to take a picture of my Coffee Cupcakes, that I made yesterday morning. Which by the way came out amazing, if I do say so myself (yes a little cocky about my baking abilities) These actually have brewed coffee, and a teaspoon of the grounds right in the mix! And I made a dark chocolate frosting, that also has coffee added into it. With about 1/2 the minis I let them cool completely (like you are supposed to) before I frosted them, but I didn't with the second 1/2 and the frosting kinda melted, but it was really good that way! Made a slight difference in the texture.

Now I want to try something a little fruity!

Coffee Cupcakes

I am a huge coffee buff. U usually just make it at home, have a few cups a day, but love to try different creamers. But I also love it when I can get the chance get a caramel mochiatto or a soy vanilla latte from Starbucks, but lets face it the economy still kinda sucks, and the price of just a "grande" is no small feat.

So why not mix my 2 fave things?! coffee, and cupcakes! Are you with me?!

I have found a few good base recipes online, and they sound pretty good. And you use instant coffee or espresso. (which I would need to go to the store for, because I just have regular Folgers ground coffee)

But I was even thinking about adding different flavors into a coffee infused icing. Like vanilla (OH even try and find the vanilla powder that Starbucks has, that you can sprinkle onto your coffee, you've seen it, in the silver shakers, they also have Cinnamon, and cocoa I believe!) And I cuoldd also do something with caramel with the frosting, maybe not a full a caramel frosting may be to much, but added into the coffee icing, or drizzled on top.

IDEA! Latte cupcakes!!!!

I must run with this idea!

More later!

Mini Coffee cupcakes with chocolate coffee frosting:

First Blog!

So this is my first blog ever! I am very new to this, and hopefully will learn as time goes on, on how to make it more original, and get creative with it!

I want to share, what I am learning, and testing out for baking cakes, cupcakes, and decorating them! I am self taught, just playing around with recipes, and techniques.

(I also do jewelry, so expect to see some of that stuff here as well :D )

So as of this past week I have made my first few dozens of cupcakes from scratch EVER! No box! And I am very happy with how they came out!

First: I made full size cupcakes of dark chocolate, with a mini Reese's peanut butter cup stiffed in the middle, then topped with peanut butter frosting, then garnished with another mini PB cup on top! And they came out VERY good! My husband couldn't get over how yummy they were!

What I learned from that recipe...don't over fill the papers! haha they came out a little huge!

Second: I made a bunch of mini red velvets! I have never had red velvet cake before, so I was a little worried, but oh my! so yummy! then I made a cream cheese frosting (which my mom couldn't keep herself from eating it out of the bowl!) My fav cupcake YET!

Third: Mini Dark chocolates topped with a vanilla frosting, and rainbow sprinkles! I loved the dark chocolate!

Now the hard part about doing all this is, that I have a VERY small kitchen! With hardly any counter space! So I am trying to come up with ways to organize, and make room!

And another...I have a 3 (almost 4) year old, and a 2 month old!...Enough said! haha

So I am going to make a hard effort to keep this up, and share what I am learning, and where I am succeeding!