Embroidered Onesies

More baby shower goodies!

When I thought about practical, yet fun, gifts for the family and expected baby- clothes came to mind, of course. But, I wanted to be sure to make something that would be unique.

I took fabrics and colors from other projects and worked from there.

The onesie in the back left is an "S" in the owl fabric for the baby's first initial. Back right is a cupcake- in colors pulled from the owl fabric. And the front one, is my favorite.

I screen printed the skull and crossbones onto the fabric patch first. I used my Cricut to cut the shape out (from the Mini Monsters cartridge) of vinyl. Then I put the vinyl on the fabric and painted the fabric paint over that. I wasn't sure it would work- I was a little worried about the paint bleeding under the vinyl, but I shouldn't have. It worked like a charm!

Plus- I used the shape that it cut out as a tattoo for my sewing machine.

I'll definitely be trying the Cricut vinyl for screen printing single items again.

Homemade Funfetti

I'll spare you my usual diatribe about Funfetti. Suffice to say, while I can understand its appeal I don't feel it is a unique flavor.

A few weeks ago, I wanted to whip up some cupcakes for my husband's friends who were getting together to brew some beer. It probably didn't hurt that I was going to be hanging out with the wives, and wanted something to snack on.

Vanilla cupcakes are something that should be in your back pocket- a recipe you can customize by adding other flavors or ingredients (ie chocolate chips). I don't like making vanilla cupcakes. I feel like they never come out the way I want- they're always too dense for me.

At any rate, I used my current favorite vanilla cupcake recipe (Billy's Vanilla) and to jazz it up I mixed in rainbow sprinkles (jimmies- whatever you want to call them). I think I probably used about 1/2 cup of sprinkles (the recipe makes around 2 doz. cupcakes).

I topped the cupcakes with my favorite Vanilla frosting recipe (from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World). If you haven't used this recipe yet, I could not recommend it more highly. I always make more than I need, so I can eat some directly from the mixing bowl later. In fact, I have some in my fridge right now (from a batch made last night), mmm. Where was I? Right, ok so then I topped the frosting with some rainbow nonpareils because I'd almost exhausted my sprinkle supply on the batter.

Viola! Homemade funfetti.

One housekeeping note: I know I've been very lax in my posting. To be honest, I haven't been doing that much baking or crafting recently. Work is typically very busy for me over the summer, then I went on a nice long vacation, and when I came home I learned I was pregnant. While I can't wait to meet this new little person, I haven't had the energy or the time to devote to baking and crafting that I did previously.

I am working on a number of crafted items for the Holidays, which I will photograph and blog after the recipients have opened their gifts. And, I hope to tackle some new cookies this weekend or next.

In short: even though I'm not posting as much, I'm still here and eating desserts!

Giant Cupcake Cake

I know I've been MIA for a bit- things were a little hectic. We had a visit from some family and then our basement flooded. No worries, everything/everyone is just fine and dry now.

Our family's visit coincided with our nephew's 4th birthday. Although we celebrated his birthday in NYC a few days before his stop by our place, I was itching to try out my Cupcake Cake pan and this occasion was too good to pass up.

My nephew requested chocolate cake, so I used my favorite recipe and layered vanilla buttercream in between the "frosting" and the "cake" sections.

My crumb coating is terrible on cakes. Terrible. I wanted this cake to look like a cupcake I would bake and not like one I'd dropped on the floor. I decided to try using rolled buttercream (because I'm pretty sure my nephew would not have enjoyed eating fondant on his birthday).

My experience with rolled buttercream was interesting. I am a perfectionist (I may have mentioned that before) and I got quite frustrated. The rolled buttercream was probably a little too warm (too much kneading by hand) and a little too sticky (I kept adding powdered sugar by the handful, but it never seemed to un-stick).

However, having said that- I think it looked great on the finished product. Plus, it tasted really good too. It's quite sweet, but I think that's right in line with it being a buttercream product.

I used the leftover cake batter to make coordinating cupcakes.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcakes

Oh my god you guys.

Look, I know it must seem to you (all four of you who read this blog) that I am forever gushing over some new amazing recipe for cupcakes (or other sweet treats). I think that's only because by the time I post the dessert here, it's already been taste tested by reliable sources (aka not just my husband who has to like whatever I make- though he doesn't always like everything). It's rare that I will post about something that didn't last long enough for anyone outside of my household to try.

This though? This. Is unbelievable.

I am a huge chocolate chip cookie junkie. In years past I often lamented my ability to make a prefect looking chocolate chip cookie. More recently, I embrace that my cookies come out either too puffy or too flat. Because the important thing is the taste. And I love the taste of a good chocolate chip cookie. If I had my druthers (and weight gain were not an issue), I would probably bake a batch of them a week.

But, I digress. The point of this post is the Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcake. Not my obsession with chocolate chip cookies. Ahem.

A few fridays ago, my husband really wanted cake. I did not want to bake another cake (so soon after the mini cakes and the cake truffles). He rarely requests specifics of my baking, so I set about finding a simple cupcake recipe- one which called for ingredients already in my pantry. I spotted this (in my Martha Stewart Cupcakes book), and called it out to my husband. Once he gave me the green light, away I went.

The recipe is pretty straight forward and quick. It doesn't actually call for frosting, but I love frosting more than is healthy. So, I whipped up a quick almond swiss meringue buttercream (and if you've never used half vanilla half almond extract in a frosting, you haven't lived!) to top them. Perfect combination.

The recipe made about 22. Only 4 of those ever left our house.

I used some super cute cupcake papers that I've had on hand since my birthday back in Sept. I got these at Bake It Pretty (thanks K for the gift certificate!). Look, even the bottom of the paper is cute.

By request, the recipe on Martha's site. I used chocolate chips instead of chunks- it's what I had on hand.

Screen Printed Shirts

I love the holidays. Which, I am sure, comes as a suprise to those of you who read this blog.

I love giving gifts, I love making gifts, and of course receiving them. Of all the gifts I give and receive, some of my favorites are those that are handmade. Don't get me wrong, a good iTunes gift card makes me smile (and usually dance later on)- but there's something about a homemade gift that's just extra special.

This year I'm trying to make things for my close friends and family, in addition to things from their wish lists. It's been a lot of fun, and I haven't seen any of their reactions yet- but I'll be sure to share some photos after the holidays.

Way back over the summer, I spoke with my friend Christyn of BeadUp about doing a trade of sorts. She works in beads (which you probably know, as this isn't the first time I've recommended that you check out her blog) and I was in search of some unique jewelry for a wedding I was in. We settled on a trade: two pairs of earrings, a necklace, and a bracelet for some screen printed t-shirts (from me). I was expecting to churn out a few BeadUp! shirts for the lovely lady.

More recently I received an email from Christyn saying that she wanted to use her shirts as gifts for friends. Feeling the way I do about handmade gifts, I was beyond thrilled to accomodate her wishes. We went back and forth a little bit about her designs (and they were designed by her, 100% so I take no credit there). Mainly we were trying to settle on some designs that she liked and I felt would screen print well.

Screen printing by hand can be very tedious. Some of you may know about the freezer paper method, but I prefer to do it differently. I use a large embroidery hoop, very sheer curtain fabric, a design (printed on paper), a pencil, and some glue to create my screens. That way, I can reuse the screens with ease. It takes me a while to make a good screen, and every time you print from it the design will look a little different.

Christyn emailed me a design that said "I love cupcakes" that she wanted printed on a small pink t-shirt. She told me she was giving the shirt, as a gift, to her friend Cheryl (of Cupcakin' It Up). I've been brainstorming an idea for a similar shirt for a while, so I was excited to try this out.

The shirt in the photo above, was the result of the screen that I made. Unfortunately some of the cute details in the cupcake didn't come out as well as I had hoped. It's awfully hard to make such a detailed screen by hand- at least for me. Overall, I thought the design came through nicely.

Besides, I received a glowing email from Christyn telling me how awesome she thought the shirt was. Then, I got an even better follow up email saying that she'd given the shirt to Cheryl and she'd proceeded to wear the shirt around work for the remainder of the day. That was definitely a nice boost to my ego.

And now, I'm off to finish up some more handmade gifts for the holidays. Hope you all have a wonderful holiday season!

*Photo courtesy of Christyn, BeadUp

Root Beer Float Cupcake

Root Beer Float Cupcake
Originally uploaded by Cup O'Cake Designs

Mmm....root beer floats. Whenever summer rolls around you can bet your sweet bippy that I'm thinking about root beer floats.

This past summer I started thinking about trying to recreate that taste in cupcake form. I poked around online looking for a recipe, but the ones I found called for root beer extract. I didn't have any of that handy and I certainly couldn't find it at my local grocery store.

Then, I was lucky enough to receive a wonderful gift certificate to the online shop, Bake It Pretty for my birthday. And whaddaya know? They sell root beer extract!

Last Saturday my schedule had some free time so I got out my extract and started baking!

The recipe I used called for both root beer and the extract. The extract I had was for candy flavoring- a little goes a long way with the candy extract. Instead of using the full two teaspons of extract I used a few drops.

While making the SMBC, I also added a few drops of the extract.

These cupcakes are super moist and while they may not taste exactly like root beer floats, they certainly get the idea across.

Chocolate Cupcake Day 2009

Chocolate Cupcake Day 2009
Originally uploaded by Cup O'Cake Designs

In case you didn't know, yesterday (10/18) was National Chocolate Cupcake Day. Yum!

My weekend was fairly busy and I wasn't sure I would have time to bake anything to celebrate. Sunday morning at 9:30 I thought, 'darn it, I have to bake something!'

I grabbed my Martha Stewart Cupcake book (a gift from my fabulous friend danger kitten and her husband) and rustled through to find a recipe that sounded intruiging. The problem? I was definitely low on ingredients.

Ultimately I chose my old standby- Martha's 1-bowl chocolate cupcakes. But to spice it up, I added toffee bits into the cupcakes. Then to frost them, I chose a Dark Chocolate Frosting (from Martha as well) with some sea salt on top.

The combination of flavors was incredible. Rich, sweet, and salty all rolled in one.

I brought the cupcakes to my husband's performance to congratulate him and his castmates on a wonderful show (for a local Library Arts series). I tried to snap a picture of the cupcake on stage, but the lighting was all wrong. So, this one with the mic pack will have to do.

How did you celebrate Chocolate Cupcake Day 2009?

Cupcake Congratulations

Cupcake Congratulations
Originally uploaded by Cup O'Cake Designs

I haven't been making or blogging my papercrafts as much as I'd like as of late. So, I'm working on correcting that.

A friend of mine recently got engaged. I wanted to send her a card because it's what I do, but also because I remember how much I enjoyed the handful of engagement cards I received (hard to believe that was four years ago now).

My friend is an avid cupcake lover. I know that no matter what, I can't go wrong if her gifts/cards have cupcakes involved.

I used my Cricut to cut out the cupcake, and the shapes for the engagement ring. Instead of topping the cupcake with sprinkles or a cherry, I used the engagement ring.

The cupcake ribbon is from Michael's (I think the dollar bin a while back, it has a little sparkle to it). Then I used gel pens to decorate the engagement ring and to write the "congrats!" sentiment.

I'm really pleased with the way this card came out. It's simple and sweet, and I think it works well for the occasion.

Bakeover with Danger Kitten

Cheese Crackers
Originally uploaded by Cup O'Cake Designs

Life has been hectic for me this summer, I know I've mentioned that before. I've been very careful to leave time for baking because if I go too long without it, I start to feel like I'll never pick it back up again.

About a week ago, my husband made plans to attend a Beer Festival with Danger Kitten's husband, Brewfus. Danger Kitten & I had zero desire to attend said festival, but I thought a bakeover would be a great idea. I'd been wanting to get together with her for a while now that she's moved back to the state, but hadn't had the opportunity.

While the boys went off to taste who knows how many Belgian Ales, we baked our little hearts out. And it was fantastic.

I made Cheese Crackers, two ways. First I made them as called for in the recipe- with two cups of Cheddar Cheese. However, I love a little spice to my cheese, so for my second batch I used a Chipotle Cheese.

In the future, I think I'll roll the dough much thinner, because I prefer a crispy cracker. These were delicious, but a little soft for my tastes. The Chipotle crackers were addictive, and the Cheddar crackers were quite yummy as well.

Danger Kitten baked Black Bottom Cupcakes and Raspberry Lemon Thumbprints. I didn't have a chance to eat either fresh out of the oven- but they were both delicious. I had a hard time keeping myself from eating too much of the cookie dough. The addition of lemon (juice & zest) made them the perfect summer afternoon treat.

We also had our friend Linda along. She baked some wonderful peanut butter chocolate brownies. Mmm.

I had so much fun doing this, that I'm hoping we can make it a monthly event.

Looking to get out of a baking rut? Looking for an excuse to try out a recipe you keep putting off? Find some friends and host a bakeover. I promise you'll have fun.

You can see more pictures (mostly "in progress" shots) at my flickr.

Neopolitan Cupcakes

Neopolitan Cupcake Insides
Originally uploaded by Cup O'Cake Designs

I've been itching to make Neopolitan cupcakes pretty much all summer long. I had planned to make them for a BBQ at our new house. Unfortunately, Mother Nature decided that this summer would be a mix of rain and unbareably humid thus prohibiting any comfortable BBQs (at least in our busy schedule).

Last weekend, I had a party to go to. A friend who moved across the country was in town. The perfect occasion to bust out a recpie I'd been dreaming about for months.

I tried out a new chocolate cake recipe. While the cake is delicioius, it's a bit too moist for a filled cupcake. I would definitely use this again for chocolate cupcakes, but not any filled cupcakes.

The filling is a strawberry cream, made using fresh pureed strawberries. I was a little uncertain about the cream at first. I felt you didn't get a strong enough strawberry flavoring. I shouldn't have worried. It's perfect.

The frosting is my go-to Vanilla buttercream.

The cupcake came out just right. I might try again, but with a strawberry cake and chocolate filling- because I didn't feel like the filling here was enough of a surprise (my ultimate goal).

Chocolate Butterscotch Chip Cupcakes

Chocolate Butterscotch Chip Cupcakes
Originally uploaded by Cup O'Cake Designs

What do you get when you have to make cupcakes for someone who is celebrating a birthday, but you have absolutely no idea what flavors they like? Apparently, in my world you get Chocolate Butterscotch Chip cupcakes with Vanilla frosting.

I'm not going to give the birthday celebrant a hard time, because I'm the same way- when someone asks me what I like, I say "Oh, I like almost anything related to desserts."

I went to the grocery store hoping inspiration would hit me. I went down the baking isle in search of baking soda (I'd run out the previous week), and BAM! There it was- butterscotch chips. Mmmm.

I didn't want to use vanilla cake, because I wanted the butterscotch to be a hidden surprise, instead of the feature for this cupcake. I used a new chocolate cake recipe (from the Better Homes & Gardens cookbook) which turned out amazingly.

After baking up the cupcakes, I decided to go with Vanilla buttercream frosting. I made a half recipe for 24 cupcakes, because I knew I was going to hand frost (as opposed to piping it on) and also because again, I didn't want the frosting to take away from the overall flavor.

They came out pretty darn well. And? The important thing: the birthday celebrant really liked them.

Sometimes going into the kitchen with no ideas does work out favorably.

I Can't Bake Without: OXO Good Grips Cookie Scoop

Well, the move is progressing along nicely- and our kitchen is now completely unpacked. However, I have yet to bake anything in the new kitchen (hopefully that will happen this weekend). Combine that with the fact that all of my craft materials are still packed and chaotic, it's time for another segment of "Things I Can't Craft Without" but this time, it's a Baking Edition.

I see what you're thinking over there "yawn, a cookie scoop." But hold on dear readers, I'm here today to tell you that you can do more with a cookie scoop then just make drop cookies.

This is my cookie scoop, the OXO Good Grips Medium Sized Cookie Scoop. I bought it a few years back when I was making mounds of Holiday Cookies because I was tired of my lame attempts to make my cookies come out at about the same size. I settled on the medium, because the small was not going to cut it (I don't like tiny cookies) and the large was just...too big.

It works wonders on my drop cookies, but that shouldn't be a surprise as that is what it was created to do. I use it occasionally for rolled cookies, when I want a nice uniform look, because I don't trust myself to roll 2 dozen cookies in the same size.

Ok, ok, I hear you out there "so why should I not be yawning at this entry again?"

Here it is....are you ready for it?

The best use ever for this cookie scoop is to make cupcakes. Yeah, you heard me, I said cupcakes.

People always ask me how I get my cupcakes so even- without a few random small or overly large cupcakes. This is my secret- I use my cookie scoop to put batter in the baking cups.

It's so much easier/cleaner then trying to pour the batter from my mixing bowl/measuring cup/ziploc bag.

A regular sized cupcake takes between 1.5 and 2 medium cookie scoops of batter. A Texas Cupcake (jumbo, large, whatever) takes probably closer to 3-4 scoops. My mini's take between 1 and 1.5 scoops. Some day, I will probably end up with both the small and large sized cookie scoops too.

If you aren't using a cookie scoop to make your cupcakes yet, get on it. I promise you will think it was the best idea since the invention of velcro.

The Road to 135 Cupcakes

8:00 am- First thing's first. Making a list of ingredients so I only have to take one trip to the grocery store today.

9:51 am- Back from the grocery store and washing up the last few dishes, I've donned my apron and am ready to start the baking marathon. Also, saying a huge Thank You! to my husband who cleaned up the kitchen on Thursday before I came home. He did a mound of dishes in preparation for my day of baking.

10:54 am- The first two dozen cupcakes are in the oven- Chocolate Peanut Butter. I've got another 11 waiting for their turn (10 regular, and 1 extra large for the Groom). I started here because the Chocolate recipes don't call for butter. I'm also pulling out more eggs (for the next batch) so they can come to room temperature. I'm off to wash dishes so I can start making the next flavor.

11:40 am- Cupcakes have finished baking. Taking a lunch break.

1:30 pm- Starting up again with the Mint Chocolate Chip cupcakes. My break was a little on the long side, but I'm still fine for time.

2:10 pm- First two dozen Mint Chocolate Chip cupcakes are in the oven. There are 11 more waiting (again, 10 regular sized and 1 extra large for the Bride). I'm washing the dishes so I'm ready to start making the next batch. I also need to wash some of my cupcake containers (Cupcake Courier, Wilton 3-in-1, and my regular old Tupperware) so I can store these puppies.

3:45 pm- Margarita cupcakes in the oven- well 1/3 of them. And, with that I am 1/4 of the way done with the cupcakes.

4:09 pm- Live blogging saved my behind. I forgot to set a timer after I rotated the cupcakes. Thankfully, I was able to check the blog to see when I put them in originally and avoided overcooking. Sweet.

6:08 pm- The Margarita cupcakes have been done for a while now. While I was baking the last 10, my husband came home with dinner. So, I took a nice break to eat and catch up on The Office, 30 Rock, and Scrubs. Now, back to baking!

6:40 pm- Cookies & Cream cupcakes are in the oven. Whew- so close I can almost taste it.

7:30 pm- Having finished all four flavors, I'm off to the grocery store. Looking back at my first batch I'm unhappy, so I'm redoing them. Which requires more peanut butter chips.

8:30 pm- Back from the grocery store, about to pop the second try of the Chocolate Peanut Butter cupcakes in the oven. The nice part is that I can whip up the two frostings (Margarita & Cookies & Cream) without having to wait for pans to cool.

10:30 pm- Everything is done for the day.

All in all, I think today went pretty well. Sure, I could have budgeted my time a little better. For my first time making more than 4 dozen cupcakes (and it's a big jump from 4 dozen to 11 1/3 dozen) it went smoother than I'd anticipated.

Tomorrow I'll make the last two frostings, frost the cupcakes and transport them to the wedding. I promise to post photos of the set up early next week.

*The goal for today is to bake all 135 cupcakes, make 2 of the 4 frostings, and complete the cupcake tower/stands.*

What's Going On?

Well, glad you asked.

This weekend I am baking 135 cupcakes, in a variety of four flavors, for a good friend's wedding. I am currently alternating between nervous and excited as I am sure you can imagine.

Not only am I baking, frosting, and decorating the cupcakes- I am also creating cupcake stands and some hip and cute cupcake toppers (identifying the flavors and for the Bride & Groom's special cupcakes).

I took Friday off from my "regular" job to give myself ample time for this project. So, I will be waking up nice and early on my day off to bake. I might check in here from time to time- if I'm not feeling too hectic- to update you on what I am doing.

In the mean time, why don't you check out some of my new favorite blogs?
My friend Danger Kitten started a baking (and sometimes crafting) blog.
Another good friend, Christyn, is now blogging her adventures in beading.
My new favorite design/diy blog How About Orange (mad props to K for recommending this one).

And if you want to laugh and haven't found this one already: Cake Wrecks.

See you all tomorrow!

S'more Birthday Cupcakes, Please

Fired Up
Originally uploaded by Cup O'Cake Designs

My husband's birthday was this weekend. I'd been bugging him for quite some time about what he thought he might like to have. He suggested possibly the Peanut Butter Chocolate cupcakes I made for the wedding tasting, but I wanted to try something different.

I was going through my copy of Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and calling out ideas to him when I came upon their recipe for S'mores cupcakes. Perfect! He's been a vegetarian for almost a year and hasn't eaten any marshmallows in that time (since they contain gelatin which is an animal product).

Taking a closer look at the recipe I discovered that they called for their Vegan Vanilla Buttercream. I love that frosting (in fact, it's my new go-to for Vanilla Buttercream), but my Husband does not. Not to mention the fact that I wanted something that was at least vaguely marshmallow-y. Otherwise? How is this like a s'more at all?

I had originally planned to make Vegan marshmallows, but got completely overwhelmed by a number of other things in life (though I do plan to make them at a later date). So I had to search for something else. Marshmallow fluff!

Believe it or not Marshmallow fluff does not have any animal products in it. I used the same recipe for 7 minute marshmallow fluff frosting that I used a while back for the Orange Creamsicle cupcakes. Now, please take note: this is not vegan frosting, it contains two egg whites. My husband does eat eggs, so it wasn't an issue for us.

The cupcakes turned out great. They weren't exactly what popped in my mind when I thought about them, because I'd expected a chocolate cake. These were a molasses cake, which made them extremely moist.

The frosting was super messy. But, what good s'more isn't?

We had a cast party for the play my husband is currently in on the evening of his birthday. The woman who is playing his wife in the show had her birthday the following day. What better way for the two of them to celebrate with their own special cupcakes.

You can see pictures of the whole group of cupcakes on my flickr.

Cupcake Tasting

Cupcake Tasting
Originally uploaded by Cup O'Cake Designs

This weekend I had my very first Cupcake Tasting. A friend of ours is getting married in May and asked me if I would make the cupcakes for her wedding. Of course, I jumped at the chance.

Anyone whose been involved in planning a wedding knows that one of the best parts of the planning is the cake tasting! I couldn't deprive the Bride and Groom of this experience, so after getting an idea of their favorite flavors I brought over seven kinds of cupcakes for them to try (along with some family members).

I made them mostly in half batches and left many of them behind for the Bride & Groom to share with friends and co-workers. The few that were left came with me.

I made: Mint Chocolate Chip (chocolate cupcakes with mini chocolate chips, topped with mint swiss meringue buttercream and mini chocolate chips- top left), Vanilla Vanilla (vanilla cupcakes topped with vanilla buttercream- top right), Vanilla Chocolate Chip (vanilla cupcakes with mini chocolate chips topped with vanilla buttercream and mini chocolate chips- below the Mint and Vanilla cupcakes), Peanut Butter Chocolate (chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter chips, topped with chocolate swiss meringue buttercream and Reece's pieces- fourth from the top on the left), Margarita (margarita cupcakes with margarita frosting- bottom right), Banana Toffee Caramel (banana toffee caramel cupcakes topped with caramel swiss meringue buttercream and drizzled with caramel- bottom left), and Cookies & Cream (not pictured).

It was a lot of work, but I viewed it as a test run for the actual wedding. I am pleased that spending that much time on the cupcakes didn't wear me out or frustrate me- in fact I think it was one of the more relaxing weekends I have had lately.

The Bride & Groom chose their favorite four flavors (Cookies & Cream, Peanut Butter Chocolate, Mint Chocolate Chip, and Margarita) for their big day.

Reece's Cupcakes

Reece's Cupcakes
Originally uploaded by Cup O'Cake Designs

A few weekends ago my husband and I had a small birthday gathering to go to out of state. One of the birthday people (there were multiple persons celebrating) has been seeing photographs of my baked goods from afar for quite some time. I thought it would be a nice birthday surprise (for all birthday persons) to bring along cupcakes.

I decided to try out a Reece's cupcake as I knew that peanut butter and chocolate were a favorite flavor combination of at least one of the birthday celebrants.

I started by freezing mini Reece's cups for four days. My goal was to have the Reece's cups so frozen that they wouldn't melt completely while the cupcakes were baking.

I used Martha's one-bowl chocolate cake recipe as the base for the cupcake. While making this batch, I figured out what went wrong with the Cookie Monster cupcakes. I'd forgotten to add the baking soda. Duh- but let this be a lesson that even people who have baked for quite some time make mistakes. At any rate, this batch of chocolate cupcakes came out perfectly. I topped them off with Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream- not wanting the frosting to overwhelm the hidden Reece's cup.

My only comments are that I did not care for the way the Reece's cups cooked inside the cupcakes. I'm not sure if it is because I used mini Reece's or not, but while they did not burn they kind of crystalized or something (the peanut butter). Everyone else who had one thought they tasted great, but something about it didn't come together for me. I'm going to try again, and fiddle with the recipe a bit and see how they come out.

Visit my flickr to see a picture of the cupcake's innards.

Vegan Cookies N Cream Cupcakes

Vegan Cookies N Cream Cupcakes
Originally uploaded by Cup O'Cake Designs

For Christmas I got Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. I was dying to try a recipe out from the book and when my husband and I were invited to dinner at a friends house, it seemed like the perfect occasion.

The cupcakes themselves are chocolate with cookie pieces baked inside. They are a little denser than I would like, but taste awesome. If you gave these to someone without telling them that they were vegan, they would never know.

I used the vanilla buttercream recipe, and instead of using crushed cookies in the frosting, I placed a cookie half on top as a garnish.

This is my new favorite frosting recipe. It is so darned good, and I think a little less toothache inducing than some other buttercreams.

All in all, they were delicious and I can't wait to try another recipe from the book.

The Cookie Monster

The Cookie Monster
Originally uploaded by Cup O'Cake Designs

For my first weekend post-play, I wanted to make a more complicated cupcake. I had been thinking about cookie dough and chocolate chip cookies for a while, so it seemed like a good idea at the right time.

Originally, I was going to make the cupcakes look like Cookie Monster (if you read a lot about cupcakes on the internet, you've probably seen these already). However, I ran out of time so I went with something more Cookie Monster inspired.

I started with Martha's one bowl chocolate recipe as the base for the cupcakes. Each cupcake got a bit of semi-frozen cookie dough added in, pre-baking.

Unfortunately, something went wrong somewhere with this recipe. I think that I either overmixed the batter or the cookie dough wasn't frozen thoroughly. The cookie dough ended up baking pretty much into a little cookie and the chocolate cake did not rise nearly enough- so it ended up being dense instead of light and fluffy.

The frosting is a simple vanilla buttercream, tinted blue. I topped the cupcakes off with chocolate chips and chocolate chip cookies pieces.

Regardless of the issue with the cupcake batter, they still tasted quite good. I think I will try this again, with frozen cookie dough and a more watchful eye on the batter mixing.

Faux-stess Cupcakes

(click image to enlarge)

Annnnd....after a brief (hah) 3 month hiatus, we're back! Life kind of got in the way lately (new job, play, the holidays, etc), but I can assure you that I have been baking and crafting over the past three months. I'm going to try to play catch up and post about some things I did in Nov-Feb, but for now how about something current?

My husband and I have been in a play for the past five weeks (closing is this weekend), and last weekend one of our castmates had a party. She decided to have a pot luck, so obviously I chose to bring dessert. Originally I was going to decorate the cupcakes using details from my character, but I ran out of time.

I've been wanting to try my hand at a Faux-stess cupcake (faux Hostess cupcake) for some time now. I love Hostess Cupcakes. I don't think there was ever a time when I didn't like them, but when my husband and I started going on road trips together they were the perfect treat. Two to a pack, so we could split them, and not something we ate on an every day basis.

My husband asked me to make extras (for a coworkers) birthday, so I decided to make the cupcakes in both chocolate and orange flavors (I know the Hostess site says "golden" but I swear those suckers taste orange to me).

I used a Martha Stewart 1 Bowl chocolate cake recipe for the chocolate cupcakes. I was a little iffy on the cupcakes when I put them into the oven- but holy cats were they awesome after baking! This is probably the best chocolate cupcake I have made. They were light, fluffy, and really flavorful.

For the orange cupcakes, I modified a recipe from Wilton for Golden Yellow cupcakes by using 1/2 orange extract and 1/2 vanilla extract (instead of only vanilla). They came out pretty well- light, fluffy, flavorful- but I might cut back a tiny bit on the orange if I make them again.

After baking the cupcakes (each recipe yielded 24 cupcakes), and allowing them to cool, I used the cone method to fill the cupcakes. I definitely need a little more practice with this method but it wasn't hard.

I used a recipe from Baking Bites for the filling, and while it tasted just fine, I'm not sure I would use it again. It called for thickening milk with flour over a medium burner (on the stove) and I hated that method. Just hated it. I would much rather just make a whipped cream frosting for the centers.

The cupcakes were all topped with white whipped cream frosting- because I felt they were already rich enough. Using buttercream would have pushed them over the edge to sickeningly sweet.

Everyone at the party (and my husband's work) loved them. I will definitely be making these again.

I will post a photo of the orange verson as soon as I upload it from my camera.