Red Velvet Cupcakes-Cupcakes for a Cure

The official beginning of the Relay for Life year started September 1st, and I had such good intentions to send cupcakes to work with my mom once a month starting then.  However, as always September through December is a crazy busy time of year with the holidays and Grant's birthday and I never ended up getting around to it. 
So I figured I only have 4 months from now until the end of the school year to raise money with cupcakes and I better get started.  Naturally with Valentine's Day this week I thought red velvet would be the perfect flavor, plus I have never made red velvet and have been wanting to for awhile now.

I used the red velvet recipe from the girls of Georgetown Cupcakes except I didn't use red food coloring, I used the Red Velvet Emulsion I also used for the Red Velvet cut out cookies.  Since the recipe was from Georgetown Cupcakes I thought I would be blown away with a really great flavor but I have to say I was a little disappointed.  There wasn't enough of a chocolate flavor to satisfy me.  The recipe calls for 2 1/2T cocoa and I have to say next time I will be using 1/4c to add more flavor.  Most of the recipes from Katherine and Sophie say they will make 12 cupcakes and I always somehow end up with 18, I thought this would be the same for their red velvet recipe so I only added 1 1/2T red velvet emulsion.  This recipe ended up making 24 cupcakes so I really should have added 2T of the emulsion and I plan to next time I make them.

All this being said, my husband said they tasted good and they were really moist right out of the oven.  They rose perfectly and other than wanting a little deeper red color and a little extra cocoa flavor they seemed perfect.

Cherry Cupcakes

My Mom's birthday was this week and she requested cherry cupcakes.  I've never made them before so I was a little hesitant.  I have has some bad experiences with attempting recipes I've never made before and them turning out really badly.  I got the recipe from the girls of Georgetown Cupcake.  Their book has a few recipes and this one is Cherry Blossom.

 

The only alterations to their recipes I make is to decrease the sugar content, so the tops of the cupcakes are not sticky.  I also added about 1/2 a vial of cherry Lorann's flavoring.  When I tasted the batter before adding the flavoring I couldn't get any cherry flavor unless I bit into a cherry.  I decided that wasn't good enough and I didn't want to search for flavors in a cake.  Adding the Lorann put it over the top yummy!

Minnie Mouse Birthday

As I mentioned before my Neice turned 2 on the 4th and we through her a small birthday dinner, but even with a small dinner a little girl needs some decorations.  Which is where I come in.  I used pink and purple poms for the baby shower I did and just reused them for Sophie's birthday. 

I made a banner with my Cricut and used the Minnie and Daisy Cricut images I made for Grant's Mickey Mouse Clubhouse birthday.  I absolutely love how this banner turned out.  I had debated about making one, not knowing if I wanted to add one more project to my to-do list, but I'm so glad I did.

 

I got to use the cupcake stand I made for the baby shower as well.  I love getting multiple uses out of things.

 

 

Are these not the cutest girly cupcakes (recipe coming later):

 

We didn't do many other decorations but even still it looked too cute all put together, and Sophie loved it all which is the most important thing.

 

 

 

Banana Split Cupcakes

I made some banana split cupcakes for my Mom to take to work to help raise money for our Relay for Life team.

(seems like all I'm getting recently is ugly cell phone pics, but at 6 am I have no desire 2 whip out the good camera)

I altered the recipe a little since I've had some trouble with the tops of my cakes being a little sticky after they've cooled.  They turned out super cute and I was really pleased with the taste, texture, and presentation.

I used the Pumpkin Spice recipe in the book Cupcake Diaries except I substituted the pumpkin for about 3 mashed bananas, omitted the spices, added vanilla, and decreased the sugar from 2 cups to 1 1/2 cups.  To top them I did a regular old vanilla buttercream, chocolate drizzle, peanuts, and a cherry.  They were so tasty and everyone loved them.

Chocolate Mint Cucakes

I love making cupcakes and last year I made a bunch to help raise money for the Relay For Life.  My intention was to make chocolate cupcakes with cherry frosting.  However, I made the cherry frosting twice and both times the butter seperated and it was NOT good and I had to dump it out, ugh!  So I had to nix the cherry frosting idea and decided to go with a Chocolate cupcake with mint frosting and Thin Mint cookie crumbles on top.

 

I'm not a huge mint fan, even though I love me some mint chocolate chip ice cream, but I have to say these cupcakes were pretty darn tasty.  I used Lorann's Creme De Menthe flavoring for the frosting.

 

Is it wierd that I love taking pictures of my cupcakes when they turn out pretty.

 

If only it was daytime when I took them so the lighting would be better.

 

 

I feel like a cupcake pro with the plastic containers we bought.  I know that sounds stupid but after using the cardboard cake boxes from Hobby Lobby all last year to transport cupcakes, having the plastic ones with the cupcakes seperated and everything, it was a dream.  Made it alot easier for my mom to take them to work too.

 

16th Birthday and a Customer

My entire Saturday morning was spent creating these:

 

Ok Technically I spent all morning making these and trying to keep Grant's little hands off the counters.  He's a little theif when I'm not looking.

 

I had a request from a family friend to make cupcakes for her daughter's 16th birthday.  I could not have been more excited (and a little nervous) to have a "customer".  I love making cupcakes.  I love the way they smell when you take them out of the oven and look how darn cute they are.  They make people smile, which makes me smile.  I am normally a from scratch baker of cupcakes (probably because I watch too much cake boss) but can I say how much I truely value cake mixes.  The mother and daughter requested vanilla and red velvet (no pictures, oops) made from cake mixes.  At first I was a little disappointed because when a cake mix cupcake tastes great I don't get the same satisfaction as when a scratch cupcake tastes great, as if all the flavor was created by me. 

However this order was for 100 cupcakes.

 

That's right 100!  Which may be a drop in the bucket for seasoned bakers but not for me.  I'm used to making no more than 40.  So the cake mixes were a godsend.  Less thought, less room for error, and almost fool proof.  I think they turned out adorable and the guest of honor said they looked "perfect".  Is there anything better to hear when you put a lot of work into creating something for someone.

 

 

Apple Spice Cupcakes with Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting

When I decided to take a trip to my cousin's (she lives over an hour away) I knew I had to take her some cupcakes.  She's never had any of mine and I've been dying to have her try them.  I knew I was going to make a fall flavor because I've been wanting to try some out for about a month now.  I decided on Apple Spice cake with caramel cream cheese frosting.  I used the caramel apple cupcake recipe and the caramel sauce recipe from the book Cupcake Diaries, by the girls of DC Cupcakes on TLC. 

I changed the recipe to a spice cake by adding 2t cinnamon, 1t allspice, and 1t nutmeg and otherwise baked them the same as the recipe in the book states.

I topped them with caramel cream cheese frosting (cream cheese frosting recipe with 1/4c caramel sauce added), caramel drizzle and chopped pecans. 

 

They were super YUMMY, I think this flavor is my favorite to date!

A Mini Cupcake Mess & Blueberry Simple Syrup Recipe

This was the scene on my counter the other day as I was trying so hard to make the perfect red, white, and blue mini cupcakes for the 4th of July.

I made a vanilla cupcake  and divided it into 3 bowls using food coloring to color 1 bowl red and 1 blue, leaving the 3rd white.  I put each of the batters into ziploc bags and cut the tip off of one corner so I could easily pipe the batter into the mini cupcake liners.  The only problem with this is I didn't at all pay attention to how much of each I was putting in and ended up over filling each of the liners.  Of course I didn't realize how much I over filled them until they were baking.  All 24 of them overflowed and stuck to the stupid pan and I had no choice but to scrape them out with a butter knife.

I did manage to fill them correctly the 2nd time around and decided to do red and blue cupcakes with white frosting.  I didn't want just a plain vanilla cupcake because that sounded too boring to me so I decided to make a blueberry simple syrup to drizzle over the top and give it a nice flavor.

If you haven't ever tried making a simple syrup for your cakes or cupcakes now is your chance.  It's so easy I couldn't believe it myself. 

Blueberry Simple Syrup
1/2c water
1/2c sugar
1/2c blueberries (or fruit of your choice)
place all in a medium sized pot and bring to a boil.  I couldn't remember what I had read online as far as how long it needed to boil but I let mine go for about 5 minutes until the water turned a pretty purple/blue and the pot looked like this:

Allow to cool down.  Now poke holes in your cake/cupcakes with a toothpick and use a spoon to drizzle the syrup over top.  Make sure to put plenty of syrup on because this is where all the flavor is.  I made the mistake of being a little shy with my simple syrup and regretted it after frosting all my cupcakes and tasting one only to find I couldn't taste the blueberry flavor at all.

Unfortunately I don't have a picture of my finished mini's because we lost electric in the middle of my frosting them and by the time the sun came up in the morning all the cupcakes were gone. 

Caramel Apple Cupcakes

Wednesday was my mom's birthday and I made her caramel apple cupcakes and a Kitchenaid mixer cover (more on that another day since I have yet to take a photo of it).
The cupcakes were apple cinnamon, filled and frosted with caramel cream cheese frosting, and a caramel drizzle on top.

 I used the cake recipe and caramel recipe from here by the girls from DC Cupcakes with one change,  I added a couple dashes of nutmeg.  The cakes were a breeze to make but the caramel took FOREVER, or maybe it just seemed that way because I had a 19 month old sitting on my feet ramming my toes with the oven drawer.  The sauce turned out amazingly good but I highly recommend making it when the kiddos are sleeping or not home.  It also takes longer than 20 minutes to fully thicken.  I ended up using mine while it was still a little runny because I was tired of being in the kitchen and just wanted the cupcakes finished.  It still tastes just as good whether runny or thick.

The recipe for the frosting is the vanilla cream cheese frosting by the DC cupcake girls as well, but with 4T of the caramel sauce mixed in at the end.  I could have licked the bowl the frosting was so tasty.

Thin Mint Cupcake

I have not been doing any sewing recently and I have to confess I'm having some major withdrawal symptoms.  Most of my sewing supplies are in my mom's basement in unmarked boxes mixed in with about 50 other unmarked boxes stacked to the ceiling.  Finding my supplies would be like searching for that one missing sock that you swear the dryer ate.  Every time I get it in my mind I'm actually gonna find my sewing stuff, I stand in front of the piles and piles of boxes and just stare at them for a good 10 minutes before deciding I should just start rebuying the needed supplies.

Anyway...

What have I been doing with my time you ask?  Baking cupcakes!
My mom and I are signed up for our local Relay For Life in June.  My family has been deeply effected by cancer with 2 of my aunts and my mother having gone through treatment for breast cancer and my grandmother dying of lung cancer, so this is close to my heart.  We decided we wanted to try and raise money for our team and my mom came up with the idea of Cupcakes for a Cure.  Every Wednesday for the last 3 weeks she has taken cupcakes to her school where people donate money for my cupcakes.  I was so super excited to try out some of my recipes and I wanted to share my Thin Mint with every one.

Since it is Girl Scout cookie season and my favorite are Thin Mints.  I've been wanting to make a Thin Mint cupcake forever and it came out perfect!  I adapted this recipe using the WASC version I found at Cakecentral

Thin Mint Cupcakes
2c chocolate cake mix
1/2 c flour
1/2c sugar
1T cocoa powder
1/4t salt
2Tchocolate pudding mix
2 egg whites
1/2 c sour cream
2/3c coffee
1/4 c chocolate milk
1T oil
1t vanilla
1c crushed thin mint cookie crumbs
approximately 1/4t creme de menthe Lorann flavoring (the flavoring should be very light since a thin mint does not have a strong mint flavor.  Be sure to add this flavoring to taste)

wisk all dry ingredients together then add all other ingredients and mix with hand mixer.

Chocolate Mint Buttercream
1/2c soft butter
3T milk
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1c melted semi sweet chocolate chips
approximately 1/4t creme de menthe Lorann flavoring (once again taste your frosting and add just enough flavoring to lightly flavor your frosting with mint)

cream the butter with a hand mixer until its fluffy. add 3T milk and mix. Add powdered sugar in small amounts and mix well.  Pour in melted chocolate chips and mix. Add flavoring to taste.

Yummy!!!