Pictures

I am finally in front of a computer WITH internet access AND I have my camera with me to upload pictures. Amazing!

Here are pictures of my most recent cupcakes. First up we have the chocolate cupcakes with cherry filling...

 

Next we have Valentine's Day cupcakes. The first ones are red velvet with cream cheese frosting.

Next are the chocolate chip cupcakes. They were for a kindergarten class party, so the big pink hearts are actually plastic rings.

Then we have the funfetti cupcakes for the same kindergarten class party.

Lastly, I would like to take a moment to appreciate sprinkles. I'm not a big sprinkles person, I actually prefer to not have sprinkles on cupcakes, cakes, donuts, etc, but I found these sprinkles and fell in love. 

They are just about the cutest darn things I have ever seen! Little red, white and pink heart sprinkles. Fabulous! I need more reasons to discover fabulous sprinkles like these!

I know my little man sure did enjoy them :)

Cupcake Wars

I'm obsessed with cupcakes....obviously. So it's only fitting that once I discovered Cupcake Wars on Food Network I was totally and completely hooked. This show is absolutely fabulous! If you don't watch it, I highly recommend it! We are talking insane challenges (the time-frame they have alone is enough to make it daunting - 2 hours to make 1000 cupcakes!) and total divas who all think, of course, that they make the absolute best cupcakes in America. I LOVE it.

For those of you who don't watch, I'll give a quick break-down of the show. It starts with 4 contestants who compete in 3 rounds of cupcake madness. After each round, 1 person is eliminated.
Round 1. The taste round. This is the round that gets me. Personally, I don't know how these people do it. The creativity they have to have to get past the 1st round is incredible. The 4 contestants have to make a cupcake (1 for each judge, so 3 cupcakes total) using insane ingredients that change each episode depending on what the final challenge is. I've seen everything from okra to goat cheese to salmon roe. And they have to taste good. They have 45 minutes for this challenge.
Round 2. 50% taste, 50% presentation. This round I think is a little bit more of a cake walk *ahem* It's more about you personally as a cupcake maker and bringing your best recipes to the table. The remaining 3 contestants have to each make 3 cupcakes (9 total) with their best recipes and decorations based on the final challenge. They have 75 minutes for this challenge.
Round 3. Final challenge. The final challenge the remaining 2 contestants get to have 4 baking assistants and a carpenter to help them. They have to design a cupcake display and make 1000 cupcakes. In 2 hours.

There are definitely parts of the show that are incredibly cheesy and dramatic, but what's a good show without a little drama. Check out the show yourself sometime! It's on F

Special request

Last week, I received a special request for some cherry cupcakes. They wanted chocolate cupcakes with cherry pie filling and I was definitely intrigued, as this is something I've never done before. I decided to fill the cupcakes after they were cooked instead of baking the filling in. I mean, come on, if you want a chocolate cupcake with cherry pie filling, I'm going to give you a chocolate cupcake with cherry pie filling!

So I baked up some chocolate cupcakes and cored the center of them, giving us the most room for filling inside the cake. My ever-faithful-partner-in-crime (my husband) and I then pureed some cherry pie filling and we filled those cupcakes wih it and then filled them some more. This cherry-filled cupcakes definitely did not lack any cherry! A little frosting with a cherry on top of the cupcake and some cherry glaze drizzled over it and wa-la! Beautiful cupcakes with a cherry surprise in the middle. Pictures to follow soon!

Seeing red

This Valentine's Day, my niece was having a party and asked me to make red velvet cupcakes for the event. She talked about these cupcakes every time I saw her for a month solid. The funny part is, I never once told her I was definitely making them! Ahhh the faith of a 10-year-old!

So of course, I made her cupcakes. And of course, I made the red velvet cupcakes she so desperately wanted. I have never made red velvet anything before. Or cream cheese frosting for that matter. After the cupcakes were all done, my husband and I tasted them and we thought they were pretty darn good, but I was worried about what my sister and niece would think of them. Like I said, this is something I've never done before! I guess I need not have worried because during the party, I received a text from my sister that said "OMG fabulous"...I knew exactly what she was talking about! So I asked her if she really liked them and she said they were so fabulous she just hid one for herself!

My internet access is still very limited at this point, but once I am able, I will post pictures of all of the Valentine's Day cupcakes I made, including the red velvets.

Valentine's Day

This Valentine's Day has definitely been different from previous ones. This year, I had cupcakes to bake...and a lot of them! I had 20 funfetti and 20 chocolate chip cupcakes to make for a school party, 15 red velvet for my niece's Valentine's Day party and 12 variety cupcakes to be given as a gift. I baked my heart out! Which is very appropriate, considering the holiday :) I hope you all had a fantastic Valentine's Day with your loved ones!

Birthday fun

We celebrated my youngest son's 1st birthday this week. It was a fun party with a year of 1st's type theme. The colors were red, orange, green and blue and we had pictures and polka dots everywhere. To be quite honest, my house looked like a scrapbook and we loved it! So with red, orange, green and blue dots, what's more appropriate than funfetti cupcakes?

 

Don't worry, I made a smash cake for the birthday boy, too. 

Cheerleaders

Here are the cupcakes I made for the Elkhart Christian Academy cheerleaders. The school colors are purple and white and their mascot is an eagle. I couldn't find anything eagle on the short time-span I had, so I decided to go with girly. What's more girly than a cheerleader?