Cakepop Solution

To say that my husband is handy is an understatement.  There hasn't been anything I've asked him to make me that he couldn't make.  Recently I asked him to help me make a birthday present for a friend who loves to make cakepops; my idea was to make her a set of cakepop holders out of wood that she could use over and over again instead of buying styrofoam. Well the wood idea didn't turn out so great, instead he had the idea to make them out of metal, that is his profession after all.  He took some measurements and came back with this perfect creation that turned out much better than I had even imagined!!

Freshly Made

Inside plate with holes so they don't tip over

A little color

30 perfectly displayed cakepops

  
The best part was he made the cakepop holder into two pieces that fit perfectly into a Cupcake Courier.  Now there is no worrying about the cakepops tipping over as they're taken to a party.  They hold 15 cakepops each and weigh just under 5 lbs, so you'll also get a workout carrying them around. He also made me my own set that I'm so excited to use.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I wanted to make cupcakes for St. Patrick's Day that weren't just your standard cupcakes with green frosting, I wanted something unique.  So I do what I do best, I started searching the Internet, and it turns out there are so many for fun St. Patrick Day cupcakes.  The one that sounded the best to me was an Irish Car Bomb inspired cupcake, which just so happens to be my favorite St. Patrick's Day shot/drink.  For those that don't know what an Irish Car Bomb is it's a 1/2-3/4 pint of Guinness, 1/2 shot of Baily's and 1/2 shot of Jameson Irish Whiskey; mix the shots together and drop into the pint and drink away! It's delicious and tastes like chocolate milk.  Although I must warn you, be careful when making this drink at home, if not done right the Baily's can curdle (I've learned from experience). 
 
Anyway, I was talking about cupcakes and this recipe I found from Annie's Eats is fantastic! The Baily's Ganache was my favorite part. Since I was on a time crunch to get these done I've rearranged the recipe/directions in the order I did things so that I was able to get everything done in about 2.5 hours.  It also helps to have a husband that loves baked good and can be bribed into helping as long as he gets the first cupcake.
Recipe for Guinness Cupcakes with Baily's Frosting:
 
1. Guinness & Chocolate Cupcakes

• 1 cup Guinness
• 16 tbsp. unsalted butter
• ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Preheat the oven to 350° F.  Line two cupcake pans with paper liners.  Combine the stout and butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Add the cocoa powder and whisk until smooth.  Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1½ tsp. baking soda
• ¾ tsp. salt
• 2 large eggs
• 2/3 cup sour cream

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.  In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the eggs and sour cream to blend.  Add the stout-butter mixture and beat just to combine.  Mix in the dry ingredients on low speed just until incorporated.  Divide the batter evenly between the cupcake liners, filling them about 2/3 to ¾ full.  Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 17 minutes.  Allow to cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

If you have a 12 cup cupcake pan make the Ganache while the first batch is cooking

2. Baily's Chocolate Ganache

• 8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 2 tbsp. butter, at room temperature
• 2 tsp. Bailey’s Irish cream

Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl.  Heat the cream in a small saucepan until simmering, then pour it over the chocolate.  Let sit for one minute and then whisk until smooth.  If the chocolate is not completely melted, place the bowl over a double boiler or give it a very short burst in the microwave (15-20 seconds).  Add the butter and Bailey’s and stir until combined. Place in fridge to cool, stir every 10 minutes for even cooling

While your second batch of cupcakes are cooking make your Frosting

3. Baily's Buttercream Frosting

• 8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3-4 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
• 4-8 tbsp. Bailey’s Irish cream

Place the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.  Gradually add the powdered sugar until it is all incorporated.  Mix in the Bailey’s until smooth.  Add more if necessary until the frosting has reached a good consistency for piping or spreading

Once you've made all your cupcakes and they've had time to cool a bit you can pipe the ganache into your cupcakes, I used the Wilton tip #230.  Once all your cupcakes are filled you can frost them how ever you like. Makes 24-30 cupcakes


I was also able to use my new Silhouette to make custom St. Patrick Day cupcake wrappers...so fun!!!

 

S'More Please

Who out there doesn't love S'Mores?  All that chocolate, marshmallow melted goodness sandwiched between two graham crackers, they're delicious. I thought these looked a lot more difficult than they turned out to be, but I took them step by step and they turned out perfect, and not that difficult.  I especially liked the Marshmallow Frosting, it was so light and fluffy, definitely one I'll be using again.

Fresh from the oven

Perfect layers

Yummy marshmallow center

 


















For full recipes of the cupcakes and frosting click here and here

For next time:
- I might try taking the graham cracker crumble (crushed graham crackers, brown sugar, and butter) and make it the bottom layer so it's more like a crust

Margarita Cupcakes

I love the idea of taking your favorite cocktail and turning it into a cupcake, they are almost more fun than the cocktail itself, almost.  A friend of mine was having a "Fiesta BBQ" and of course I jumped at the chance to make the desserts because I had the perfect pairing for a Fiesta.  I saw these cupcakes a long time ago on another one of my favorite blogs Hostess with the Mostess, but never really had any reason to make them until now.  What made me choose this recipe over others was that it included both Tequila and Grand Marnier, and of all the margaritas out there I love Cadillac Margarita's the best.  A nice compliment to the cupcake was the Lime Buttercream Frosting, it was very sweet and brought out that lime flavor of a margarita. And check out those straws...they are my new favorite cupcake decoration.

For the full recipe click here.

Vampire or Werewolf?

Yes, I am a Twilight fan.I love the books and love the movies (well maybe not Twilight as much, let's face it that was a bad movie).
When New Moon came out a friend of mine invited me to go to the midnight showing where her friend had coordinated a theater to be rented out for all her Twilight friends to enjoy the midnight showing together.  She also coordinated a pre-movie trivia game where people could win prizes and she made Twilight inspired cupcakes. They were amazing and so creative, there were vampire and werewolf cupcakes.  For Eclipse this past year she planned to do the same thing and I jumped at the chance to help her make the cupcakes for the midnight showing. Since I work longer hours I wasn't able to help bake the cupcakes but I was able to decorate, it was so much fun and I got to make my first werewolf which I had seen in Hello, Cupcake! but had been too intimidated to try.
On top of the the werewolves, we also made Fire & Ice cupcakes, Tent cupcakes, Forks, WA cupcakes, newborn cupcakes, and cupcakes with fangs.

Here are just a couple pictures of the cupcakes we made for Eclipse:

 

 

 

I can't wait to see what we can come up with for the Breaking Dawn in November!!

Hamburger Cupcakes?

Sounds strange, but they are delicious!! I made these last summer for a BBQ and I can't think of a better cupcake that pairs with a BBQ.
I first saw this post on one of my favorite blogs Bakerella , if you have not visited this site I highly recommend it. Hamburger Cupcakes have three parts; cupcake (bun), brownie (meat), and frosting (ketchup, mustard, and lettuce).  They are ingenious and the blend of cupcake, frosting and brownie are amazing.

Follow these easy steps for assembling your "Hamburgers"

1. Bake your cupcakes (yellow cake tends to look more like a bun), let them cool completely and then cut in half
2. Bake brownies, let them cool completely and then cut out 1 1/2" circles
3. Separate a tub of store bought cream cheese or butter cream frosting or your own creation into three bowls, color one green (lettuce), yellow (mustard), and red (ketchup)
4. Build your burger: add brownie to the bottom half of a cupcake, pipe on your condiments, add the top half of the cupcake, and lastly add a couple sesame seeds to the top to really make it look like a hamburger.
5. Makes 20-24 cupcakes

Here is a picture of the end result:

 A couple tips:

•  Make sure you let the cupcakes cool completely so they don't fall apart when you take them out of the wrapper
•  Add a little bit of purple to your red frosting to make it a deeper red

For next time:

• I might try to add some orange to my yellow next time to make it a little bit darker
• I might also make the French Fries that are also shown on Bakerella

Why I'm Starting this Blog

I'm starting this blog because I've recently started baking a lot!! I love baking blogs and food sites, they all make it look so easy and tasty that I've wanted to try some of the recipes that sound the most delicious and interesting.  Since I've been trying a lot of new things I wanted a place the chronicle my success (and failures), now I can keep track of what worked and what didn't and what I would change for next time.  What better place to chronicle all this then in a blog to share with the world.