Princess Jacqueline's 5th Birthday Cupcakes

Princess Jacqueline will be celebrating her fifth birthday this upcoming Tuesday but her parents threw her a Princess Tiana themed party today. The birthday girl's cupcakes were grown-up funfetti cake which is a vanilla buttermilk cake dotted with green, purple and yellow specks and the frosting was a vanilla butter cream frosting. I did eighteen cupcakes with white/violet swirl adorned with gold fondant crowns and the remaining eighteen cupcakes were white/green swirl with chocolate froggies. Lucky for Jacqueline, I was taking a basic fondant class and decide to decorate the cake for her. I baked grandma's oriole chocolate cake and covered it with butter cream fondant (which is to die for). I had so much fun baking and creating these cupcakes. I truly hope that the birthday girl and her court of friends loved them just as much as I enjoyed baking them.

Happy Birthday Princess J!

Ethan's 1st Birthday Safari Cupcakes

I met Ethan's mommy while we were planning our June 30, 2007 weddings. Back then we obsessed about wedding details and now we obsess about our children. Danielle and Joseph are such a sweet couple and they threw an amazing first birthday party for Ethan yesterday. Dani had purchased the liners and picks so all I had to do was bake these healthy cakes. They were a carrot and pineapple cake made with whole wheat flour and agave, very kid friendly and perfect for any tiny tot soiree!

Happy First Birthday Ethan, we cannot wait to continue to watch you grow!

Maple French Toast and Bacon Cupcakes - Recipe #9

This combination of maple, cinnamon, french toast and bacon have been on my list for a very long time but I wasn't sure how I was going to go about it. Today, while surfing the Internet like I do everyday, all day I randomly stumbled upon the food networks site and found this recipe for maple french toast and bacon cupcakes. I knew right away that I needed to prep the kitchen and bake them right away for Doug's birthday. I have to apologize to you Doug, I know you are a bacon connoisseur but all I had on hand was normal store-bought smoked bacon; it's not that fancy schmancy stuff your palette is used to tasting. ;)

Any who, these cupcakes are pretty good. Dense but good. The actual cake tastes just like a slice of extra thick (dry) french toast, but the frosting is simply amazing! If I make these again I will alter the cake and maybe soak the cake in a little maple syrup so it gives an actual french toast texture.

Overall, pretty damn good. Doug-o-lis I hope you enjoy these and my first ever attempt at a fondant animal.

Happy 26th Birthday!

Bee Mine Cupcakes - Recipe #8

This recipe for Lemon-Honey cupcakes came to me from Women's Day magazine. While I was getting my hair done last week the cover caught my eye with the cute little bee's so I decided to give the recipe a try but added a few pink fondant hearts for a Valentine's Day twist.

The cake didn't carry as much honey packed flavor that I thought it would, considering it has 3/4 of a cup. The frosting recipe calls for 7 to 8 Tablespoons of lemon, I only added 4 and it was almost too overbearing. Overall, they weren't my favorite but they were something different.

INGREDIENTS

Cupcakes
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp each baking powder and baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream
1/4 cup milk
1 1/2 TB grated lemon zest
4 TB lemon juice
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup honey
1/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs

Lemon-Honey Frosting
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup honey
1 1/2 Tbsp grated lemon zest
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
7 to 8 tsp lemon juice
Few drops yellow food color

Bumblebee
Tootsie Roll
Two pieces of string
Yellow peanut M&M
Brown food marker
Clear spice drop candies
Small cookie cutter

PREPARATION

1. Cupcakes: Heat oven to 350°F. Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.

2. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl to blend. Whisk sour cream, milk, lemon zest and juice in a small bowl until well mixed.

3. Beat butter, honey and sugar in large bowl with an electric mixer 2 minutes until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until blended.

4. With mixer on low speed, beat in half the flour mixture, then the sour cream mixture. Beat in remaining flour mixture until just combined.

5. Spoon about 1/4 cup batter into each muffin cup. Bake 18 to 20 minutes until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove cupcakes from pan to wire rack to cool completely.

6. Frosting: Beat butter, honey and lemon zest in large bowl with an electric mixer until creamed, about 2 minutes. On low speed, beat in confectioners’ sugar until blended. Beat in lemon juice and a few drops food color until mixture is fluffy and pale yellow.

7. Spoon into a large ziptop freezer bag, snip off one corner and pipe onto cupcakes, or just spread frosting onto cupcakes.

To make the bumblebee: Tear off a piece of a Tootsie Roll and roll between the palms of your hands to make a thin string. Wrap two pieces of string around a yellow Peanut M&M for body of bee. Using a brown food marker, draw two dots for eyes. To make wings, roll out clear spice drop candies and cut out a 1⁄2-in. circle using a small cookie cutter. Cut circle in half; attach each half by pressing into the front band of Tootsie Roll on the body of the bee.

Black Forest Cupcakes - Recipe #7

Black Forest Cake, also known in Germany as Schwarzwälder Kirsch torte is one of my personal favorites. I am a sucker for cake filled with any type of fresh fruit and custard filling but this one takes that over the top. In order to bake this cake correctly the way they do in Germany you have to soak the cake with Cherry Brandy or Kirsch. In America we commonly see this cake soaked with maraschino cherry juice which in my opinion loses it's flavor in the chocolate cake. The Kirsch has a smooth, robust kick that pairs nicely with the cherries and chocolate. When baking this cake you have several options for cherries; if you take the canned route you will find black cherries in syrup (think cherry pie filling) or you will find tart cherries in water. If time is not an issue you can make your own with a few simple ingredients: a pound of fresh pitted black cherries, a cup of sugar and cornstarch. I wanted to bake a traditional German Schwarzwälder Kirsch torte so I purchased the tart cherries. In my opinion the tart cherries are more pleasant with the sweetness of the cake, brandy and hyped up whipped cream.

For the recipe I used my go-to dark chocolate cake recipe. I lined the tins with greaseproof red glassine wrappers from Sweet Cuppin' Cakes Bakery and Supplies.

Whipped Cream:

• Whip 1 cup heavy whipping cream until you have soft peaks.
• Add in 1 cup powdered sugar and 1 Tablespoon of Kirsch. Continue whipping until you have stiff peaks. Do not over beat, it will separate.

Once you bake the cupcakes and they are cooled cut out the centers. Place 1 teaspoon of whipped cream in the center and top with roughly 3-5 cherries. Cut the cone part of cake tops off and place tops back onto the cupcakes. Pipe whipped cream on with desired tip (I used a round tip). Garnish with chocolate shavings or sprinkles and a chocolate covered cherry.

Perfect for Valentines day, holiday dinners or just for that someone special!

Rocky Road Cupcakes - Recipe #6

Rocky Road ice cream was one that we always ate as children, I would like to say it is one of my Mother's favorites or maybe she just loved the ice cream for all of it's yumminess. I would swirl the ice cream around until it was all melted so I could eat the nuts and marshmallows at the end. These cupcakes are super-marshmallowy and extra chocolaty. For the recipe I just winged it, literally. I made my dark chocolate cake recipe and then eye-balled the frosting: a cup of dark chocolate cocoa powder, a cup of powder sugar, one stick of butter and about a teaspoon of vanilla. For just throwing some yummy ingredients into a bowl it came out amazing and so chocolaty.

Okay, here's what I did:

• After the cupcakes were cooled I cut out the center and filled it in with marshmallow fluff. I cut the cone part of the cake off and just stuck the tops back on.
• Frosted the cupcakes with the yummy frosting and placed marshmallows, pecans (should have been walnuts but I was out) mini chocolate chips and then drizzled melted chocolate chips on top.

PB&J Cupcakes - Recipe #5

I'm not going to lie, I have baked these before for a mommy & me get together. My dear friend loves these cupcakes and has been begging me to bake them for her for months. So being a great friend I finally did and now I am at my parents in what appears to be a blizzard and will probably be here until Sunday as we are expecting 7-10 feet of snow. I originally found this recipe from Martha Stewart's Cupcake book. The peanut butter flavor isn't overbearing, the cake is slightly tinged with peanut butter; this time lacking the crunchiness of peanuts because I forgot to purchase them. The frosting is light and fluffy, using cream cheese, peanut butter and freshly whipped cream. I could eat an entire bowl of this frosting because it tastes just like the filling of a reese's pieces peanut butter candy. Martha's recipe calls for strawberry jam, but I have been on a grape kick for a long time and I personally think it tastes better for this cake.

My Tip:

• If you decide to bake these you need to adjust the bake time. I forgot to make a note in my cookbook last time I baked these so I went with the suggested 18 minutes, plus an additional 5 because the cake tester came out gooey. They should have only cooked for 20 minutes. The recipe online is slightly different than the book, suggesting the oven temp at 375, it should be 350.
• Another tip, if you bake or cook something from a recipe and you modify it or think it needs a modification make a note on a post-it or in pencil on the page so you remember the next time you go to that recipe.

Danielle H. and Danielle S. I hope you try this recipe, let me know what you think!