Cupcakes - a year later

No, not year old cupcakes...just something I didn't follow through with until more than a year later.

Remember this post? Well, I FINALLY made them!! And I think they were the perfect favor for Ethan's Christening.

First, it was a lesson in self control. I couldn't taste ANY batter, cake, icing, melted chocolate, etc. It was TOUGH. That is where the Cherrybrook Kitchen chocolate cake mix helped out. My mother-in-law tried my 'allergen free' chocolate cake and I think she thought it was gross but I really liked it. My coworker commented that my taste buds must be dying off since I actually like some of these foods now.

Anyway, back to the cupcakes ...
I attempted to make them the way Bakerella did here and they turned out OK but I preferred this idea of hers instead.

Here are some pics of how mine turned out...





I heard they were pretty good. I would definitely make them again.

More Giant Cupcake Goodness

In an email from Williams-Sonoma that I received last week there was a link to their version of the Giant Cupcake Pan. In that same link there is a recipe for a giant ICE CREAM cupcake! How awesome is that? What a clever idea! I can't wait to try it out this summer. I'll be sure to post pics when I do.

On another ice cream cake note, my sister-in-law sent me this recipe last year. I have to pass it on because it is amazing. With ice cream sandwiches, crushed Oreos, fudge topping, and Cool Whip, it can't be anything BUT amazing!

It wasn't a total flop.

I decided to try out my new giant cupcake pan on Friday night. I used this recipe for Magnolia Bakery's Vanilla cake. The cake tasted amazing. The Magnolia recipe is even easier than the Snowflake Cake recipe by Sara Perry that I have turned to over the past 3 years when I wanted a vanilla cake/cupcakes.

Here's what the cakes look like pre-icing and after being trimmed down (flat) so they could be put together:


I used the butter cream icing recipe from the same Magnolia link. It is good but was not stiff enough to use the way I had planned. I was hoping the icing would turn out like these cupcakes , pictured below, that friends and I made at a get together.


See the star icing design on the cupcakes at the top right hand side of the picture? That is what I was going for but the tip I chose to use may have been too big and the icing was too thin to create those. If I use that icing recipe again I'd use less milk (or, Jen, can you send me your recipe for icing please?). My icing ended up looking like this:


Not terrible and not exactly what I was going for but I'm still proud of it. I love my new giant cupcake pan. We shared the cake with family on Mother's Day and are still enjoying it with fresh strawberries for dessert this week.

Giant Cupcake

From the tiny cupcakes on a stick posted below to a GIANT cupcake! I don't discriminate. I love all cupcakes. I've wanted this special cupcake pan by Wilton since I saw this post last summer. Isn't it fantastic? I wasn't ready to drop $30 on it until I had a party planned to create it for. Well, while browsing the end caps at Target this past weekend I saw the pan on CLEARANCE! It was more than 50% off so I couldn't pass it up. I can't wait to try it out. I'll be sure to post pics when I do. If you'd like to see pics now of other people's creations with this pan, I did a Google image search here. Happy Monday... back to my paperwork!

I love cupcakes.

They're even better on a stick!
I've had this page bookmarked for a couple of months. I wanted to try to make them. I even bought the tiny scalloped cookie cutter but haven't gotten around it trying them out yet. The first part of the recipe is the same as I used to make the red velvet truffles at Christmas (except I dipped them in white chocolate). I wasn't as impressed with the red velvet truffles as I was with the Oreo truffles. Maybe I need to try to make Oreo cupcakes on a stick!

I checked Bakerella's blog recently and saw that she was on Martha! I am bummed that I missed this episode but hopefully it's still on our DVR (it's set to record all new Martha shows). Bakerella blogged about being on the show here. I'm thankful that she posted such detailed instructions and look forward to trying to make them myself. You should check out her blog & photos. She creates beautiful treats that seem almost too pretty to eat!