This is my daughters Birthday cake (that was in March) a little late in the coming but I finally got it on my blog.  .The second layer you may notice is still shiny in the back I moved the hand mirror I made so the spot was still damp where I had put it on earlier. The first two are supposed to be like hat boxes and the last one just has flowers. I really didn't have a theme because as usual it was left to the last . A lot of a stuff going on at once.I have done better I didn't spend the time this really needed but her cheer team demolished it no problem.

 

Not a cupcake

My daughter and I are going to Anaheim in a couple of weeks for her Competitive Cheerleading (nationals) I was going to ride with another family (we live in Oregon) but they are no longer going so now I have to come up with plane ticket $! Now I am selling sugar cookies to try and make up the difference. I packaged these ones up and sent them to my sister-in-law Tami hoping she can sell some for me. They're so good and ship really well !

The little cookies are ones I decorated for samples this is the naked version!

These are all the little ones, aren't they cute.

Cinnabon cupcakes

Yes I am a professional baker and yes I can truly pick on a bakery product to the end. I do not care for the supposed "cupcakes" at Cinnabon I'll give them credit for the cream cheese icing and yes I do like there cinnamon rolls on occasion but... the cake itself is very heavy and doughy tasting. I don't know if they were going for the cupcake to be like the roll, which it does taste very cinnamony, but the consistency is not to my liking. I did not eat it in one gulp like the rest of my family, who not knowing any better,claim it's good. I have to be the critic and try frosting alone, then cupcake alone, then both together. I'll be working on my own version of this. C- I say!

Chocolate Orange Jellybean Cupcakes

These are vanilla cupcakes that I added chopped up Cadbury Milk candy bar to. I tossed the chocolate with a tablespoon of flour to keep it from sinking to the bottom. I pulled out the cupcakes about 6 or so minutes into baking and add 3 orange jelly beans (otherwise they sink to the bottom).

Then I made a orange creamsicle icing with orange extract and french vanilla icing. I topped them with candy bar and a jelly bean . I think these are adult and child friendly or bring out the child in the adult.

Costco find !

I was at Costco today and found these wonderful cupcake carriers. I actually bought 3 of them , they where $17.00 a piece. Great buy! They came in white, pink and blue. I bought the pink.

Target

Target always has the cutest stuff. I just found all these cute cupcake things in there $1 baskets. I believe the more you surround yourself with the things that are your passion the more likely you are to complete your goals.The buckets would be cute as place settings with pretty shreeded paper and a cupcake on top that has a fondant place card.

Look at these cute ribbons they have cupcakes on them.Wouldn't that be cute wrapped around a single cupcake container for decor?

I also found this cupcake stand it holds a dozen cupcakes. If you had several tables at a party you could put them on each table. If  you didn't want that many cupcakes on each you could do half cupcakes half favors.

Chocolate chocolate cookie dough cupcakes

I get to post my first recipe Yeah !

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough cupcakes

These are for all the cookie dough lovers.


I'll start with the cookie dough recipe. You should be able to get 24 cookie balls from this .






Chocolate chip cookie dough recipe:
1/2 cup +2 tbls all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 butter
3 1/2 tbls granulated sugar
3 1/2 tbls brown sugar
1 med. egg
1/4 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup choc chips (mini or regular)

Put all the dry ingredients in a bowl, flour salt and soda, sift with whisk.
In a mixer bowl put your butter and sugars , mix until smooth.Add your egg and vanilla mix,make sure to scrape down sides. Then add your flour mixture until combined. Stir in choc chips. Freeze these before use , it keeps them from completely baking and stay somewhat doughy.

Chocolate cupcake batter:
2 2/3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 cups + 2 tbls of unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup (8 oz) sour cream or milk
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup unsalted butter (rm temp)
2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs (rm temp)
1 1/4 cups strong coffee cooled

Preheat oven to 350 . Line cupcake pans with liners .These cupcakes rise well so you shouldn't have to spray your pan.

Sift together dry ingredients, flour, cocoa, baking powder , soda and salt with a whisk. In a separate bowl combine sour cream and vanilla set aside. Beat butter and sugar together on med. speed until smooth ad eggs one at a time scraping down sides. Alternate the flour and sour cream mixture to the butter. Once mixed slowly pour in the coffee. It tends to splash so have your mixer on low. You may have to mix by hand at the end scraping the bottom well.

Using a purple scoop ( these are color coded scoops, I don't have a number for you.) Put in the first scoop and then add your cookie ball being careful not to push in all the way to the bottom. Try to center it the best you can.Then add a second scoop an top of the cookie ball. Bake for 20 mins. making sure the cupcake is done,(not) the center cookie dough.
 








 
Once cooled I sprinkled them with powdered sugar and topped them with ganache in the center and choc. chips for garnish. You can top them with buttercream or whatever sounds good to you.


this is the packaging I use for my cupcakes. They are the large oriental to go boxes. They work really well and are a good price.

Cherry cupcakes...

So I made cherry cupcakes for Valentines and they turn out wonderfully. I used a wonderful white cake recipe and colored part of the batter pink which I added cherry flavoring (o'natural from local cake deco store)to. The buttercream I used was a french vanilla I had left over from other cuppies and added some of the cherry flavoring as well as chopped cherries from a can of pie filling that I used in my choc cuppies(later). I think that a little white choc coating on the top of the cupcakes before the buttercream would be awesome,yum!

Sorry no pics, camera coming soon.They were pink and white inside the cups and the butter cream was a very pail pink from the cherry filling I added with little bits of red cherry to enhance the flavor , color etc. I didnt include a recipe because these are fairly basic recipes most of you have . You can just enhance them.(:

Portland cupcake meetup: Saturday, February 20th

Cupcakes Take The Cake are having a Meet Up for cupcake enthusiasts YEAH!!! Its at Saint Cupcake from 2:00 until 4:00 In downtown Portland see their blog for details.