Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

 Want to know a secret? I don't like pumpkin pie.  Never have, possibly never will.  Hate the texture, dislike the flavor, just. don't. like. it.  Sounds kind of like a treasonous statement, doesn't it?

Funny thing is....I like everything else to do with pumpkin.  Pumpkin muffins. Pumpkin bread. Pumpkin cookies. Pumpkin beer. Pumpkin pasta.  Pumpkin oatmeal.  And most of all, pumpkin cupcakes.

Like I said before, I refuse to buy and use pumpkin until at least October each year, then set it back up on the shelf around February.  It's reserved for a special time of year.  But I'm happy to tell you, it's that time of year!

 So may I present to you......Pumpkin Cupcakes!

Warning: these are dangerous.  Usually when I bake, I can try a cupcake/cookie/blondie then for the most part be done with it and ready to give it away.  But these...I wanted to keep all of them for myself.  They were that delicious.  The cake was fluffy and moist and paired perfectly with my favorite icing. Dare I say, my new favorite cupcake. 

Thank goodness for a groggy head early yesterday morning when I thought, "how great would it be to take these to work for everyone to enjoy!"  Whelp. Regretted that decision when clear headed self came home last night to no cupcakes.  Kidding...kind of.  

These cupcakes received rave reviews at work and by my professional taste tester.  I just tweaked my carrot cake recipe a bit and voila!  Make these. You won't be sorry.

Caramel Apple Spice Cupcakes

I love the holidays.  More specifically I love December and Christmas and cold weather.  But, I also love October because it usually brings cooler temperatures, pumpkin patches, Autumn decorations, Starbucks specialty drinks (Pumpkin Spice and Gingerbread Latte, anyone?), "Fall Back" time change, and most importantly, it's only 2 months away from December.  

I also love Fall baking and I've been waiting all year to be able to whip out the cans of pumpkin.  Something just doesn't seem right about using pumpkin during the spring and summer.  Oddly enough though, this recipe has nothing to do with canned pumpkin.  But it is along the same line of thought....Fall.  

Browsing some blogs, I saw a recipe for Caramel Apple Spice Cupcakes at YourCupOfCake.  They looked delicious and I loved the idea of pie filling in a cupcake.  I just "spiced"  it up a little by changing the flavor of the cake mix and chopped the pie filling up more.....and made the icing a little different.


Result:  Icing=I could eat it with only spoon and no cake good.  Cake= more like a muffin, a little dense, but tasty.

The cake batter was pretty thick, but I was okay with that since I've glorified mixes before and the cake still turned out moist and wonderful.  I just don't think there was quite enough liquid though to make these more cakey.  Next time, I think I would still add the water that the box mix calls for in their directions, but cut the oil.   I would assume using the apple pie filling is similar to using apple sauce as a replacement for oil in recipes...right mom? 


Bring on the holidays. Dense cake and all.  

Caramel Apple Spice Cupcakes 
(printable recipe)


Cake:

1 box Spice Cake mix

1 can apple pie filling

3 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place cupcake liners in cupcake tin. Place apple pie filling into food processor and pulse until filling is "chunky" and there are no more large slices of apple.  Mix together cake mix, eggs, and pie filling until combined. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake for 14-18 minutes.  Let cool.

Frosting:

1 (8oz) package cream cheese

2 sticks butter (1 cup)

6-8 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup caramel

Beat cream cheese and butter together until smooth.  Add caramel and mix.  Add in powdered sugar 1 cup at a time until you reach desired consistency.  Frost cool cupcakes.  Drizzle frosted cupcakes with caramel sauce.

Angry Birds Cake

I've been a busy bee...and I love it.  Now that I've successfully completed one complicated cake (aka a wedding cake), all I want to do is decorate cakes.  Truth be told, I did not make this actual sheet cake.  That is compliments of Costco.  I did however make all of the Angry Birds decorations!  

Last week,  a few of my co-workers asked me if I'd be willing to make decorations for an "Angry Birds" birthday cake.  I'm not one to say no, especially when it comes to a challenge.  Before I actually said "yes", I looked up a few pictures online to see what I could come up with.  Then I sketched out my idea, presented it to them, and voila-I was hired!  They assured me I didn't have to make the actual cake part, which is a good thing because it was only three days ago that I made the wedding cake and wasn't quite ready to do it again.

I made everything out of fondant except for the logs/bricks which are tootsie rolls.  I had some leftover pre-made green fondant from the succulents that I used for the grass and the little green guys.  Then I started with basic white fondant and added Wilton gel food coloring to make the other colors.  

Not going to lie, the eyes and eyebrows on each of the birds and green creatures (what are they? pigs?!) were the most difficult part of this whole thing.  It took many attempts to get them to stick to the body rather than my fingers, but perseverance is key!

Now that I'm on a fondant kick, I've already got pictures and ideas for upcoming October birthdays....get ready. 

Succulent Wedding Cake

I love sugar, that's no surprise. And it's a good thing because this past Thursday, I had icing all over my arms, in my hair, down my shirt, and the stickiest hands ever.  Sounds like a normal day, right?  Well, maybe if I were in the business of making cakes, it would be. And that, my friends, is the goal.

8 dozen assorted flavors of cupcakes and one 8 inch top tier were made for the long awaited wedding of Lucy and Willy last Friday night. Sneak peak:  

Four dozen chocolate cupcakes with salted caramel buttercream frosting, two dozen carrot cake cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese frosting, and two dozen lemon cupcakes with lemon cream cheese frosting and one top tier of chocolate cake with strawberry filling and cream cheese frosting.  Whew, I did it. 

Not to mention, I spent hours making, molding, and shading a dozen fondant succulents. My inspiration for these succulents came from here and here.  

Sadly, I neglected to take any up close pictures of my succulents after I had shaded them, but I'm hoping the photographer snapped some good shots that I'll post later.

A brief run through, I bought the Wilton Gum Paste Flower Kit and an cala lily kit cutters to make the succulents.  I basically just looked at a few pictures and went from there.

Camera phone pictures....my apologies.

My mother was a great help in making these and even let me do all of my baking and decorating at her house...she has double ovens.  For the win.

I made these succulents about a month ago because I wanted them to harden and keep their shape.  I placed a few of the larger ones in cupcake tins so they would maintain their shape and the big daddy in the first picture in a bowl for its shape.  Then I bought a dark purple, light purple, dark green, and moss green dusting powder for the shading.  I'm no professional, but when it was all said and done, I thought they looked pretty darn real...and cute.

Lucy and Willy built the cake tower themselves and added the teal ribbon.  I added the purple ribbon to their top tier.

Like I said before, I hope the professional photographer took some good pictures for me to show you later.

Overall this was an amazing experience.  My FIRST wedding.  My FIRST (detailed) fondant use. And my FIRST time to make that many cupcakes in one day.  And frost them all.  And panic when I had to transport everything.  I felt like I was on one of those shows when you finish everything then you have to transport it and every little bitty bump in the road feels like it could knock all the cupcakes over and result in disaster.  Thank goodness for my sister's mommy-van (aka the Mamba).  It packs a smooth ride.

Many thanks to my wonderful mother for all of her help throughout this whole process.  Little does she know she's signed on as my partner in crime for my bakery business.  Hehe.  AND thank you to my younger sister, Meredith, for her sweet cupcake baking skills that she contributed and my older sister, Brandy, for stellar cupcake placement on the tower and the smooth ride.

I yoinked this picture from Lucy's facebook page. I did not take it.  But congratulations, Lucy and Willy, and thank you for trusting me to make your cake!

Bridal Shower for Loo

Last night, I hosted a Bridal Shower for Miss Lucy and wanted to share a few DIY decorations and, of course, cupcakes with you.

First off, I made a "Bride to Be" banner to hang above the fireplace.

I printed out letters from Martha Stewart's website, then pasted those on decorative scrapbook paper that I picked up at a craft store.  Strung ribbon through the tops and Voila! a cute, budget friendly banner.

Next up, I made Martha Stewart's (just call me "mini-Martha") classic tissue poms.  I love love love these poms and had wanted to make some for my wedding but wasn't able to fit them in, so glad I finally got to use them here.

I stored them in my guest bedroom until the party, but didn't actually take a picture of them hung in the living room, so guest bedroom picture it is!  They were super simple and super cute.  

And now the star of the show....

Key Lime Cupcakes! Mmmm....

My first idea was to come up with a "Margarita Cupcake" since I was serving Mexican food at the shower, but the majority of cupcakes I came up with in my search used a box mix, so I nixed that idea and went with my own variation.

Result was perfect.  Spongy white cake with a hint of key lime and a key lime infused cream cheese icing all topped with a yellow fondant flower (?) or sun. 

I used the lemon cupcake recipe from here and then tweaked it a bit.

Key Lime Variation:

• I used the zest of 4 small key limes instead of the 2 lemons
• I couldn't find key lime extract so I still used the lemon extract from the original recipe
• For the frosting, I used the juice of 4 key limes and 1/4 tsp of lemon extract, 2 packages of cream cheese, 2 sticks butter, 1 bag of powdered sugar, 1 tsp vanilla
• For the color, I used Wilton's green and yellow gel dye 

Best Wishes, Lucy!

Baby (Girl) Cakes

Not much of a story for this post, other than I came. I saw. I conquered. (With some assistance)

I finally took the plunge and tried my hand at working with fondant.  And let me just say, I don't know what I was so intimidated by.  It was actually fairly easy to work with. 

Friday night, I enlisted Lucy as my worker elf and put her in the assembly line of flowers while I baked and iced.  (Yes, we spent our Friday night making cupcakes...we're two wild and crazy girls) These my friends are our beautiful creations. 

Strawberry cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.  This is the same strawberry cake I used for Nelly's 1st Birthday cake, only this time I added fresh chopped strawberries instead of frozen.

And now for the real reason I wanted to play with fondant....remember I mentioned I was making the wedding cupcakes and top tier for Lucy?  Well, her theme is "succulents." And here is a (very rough) sneak peak.

Get excited.

A day to celebrate

Today is the Grand Chawhee's Birthday! (name that movie...before you click on the link)

Aka my favorite guy...aka my best friend...aka my hubs' birthday!

Since the start of his new job and the start of his classes, we don't get a lot of free time to spend together, so today was a special treat where we both had off! (Until he went to class at 6, but still)

So first, I surprised him with breakfast in bed!

My family has a running tradition of "breakfast in bed" on your birthday and always, always includes pigs-in-a-blanket.  I'm pretty sure birthdays are the only days of the year we ever have these little guys and I'm so excited to bring Ry in on the tradition!

Just Lil'Smokies wrapped in biscuits and baked.  So simple. So good.  Plus a fruit cup. All served on a cake pedestal.  I realized soon after the piggies came out of the oven that I don't have the proper "breakfast in bed" trays that my mom always used to carry the food up to our rooms.  Cake platter it is. 

Weeks ago (I like to plan), I asked Ryan what type of cake he wanted for his birthday.  Last year, he asked for a blackberry cobbler.  

This year, he said "I want the Tres Leches cake from Whole Foods but I want you to make it. :) "

Humph.  Whole Foods makes an amazing Tres Leches cake that we contemplated serving at our wedding.  This was the first time I straight up asked if I could just buy it from WF rather than risk messing it up.  Being the best husband ever, he said he knew I could do it and he wanted me to.

So, the search began.  I spent forever a few good hours looking up recipes for Tres Leches that sounded similar to Whole Foods.  The problem is, every recipe I found had a whipped cream topping, whereas WF's Tres Leches has a marshmallow fluff meringue topping.  Finally, I found two different recipes I liked the sound of.  I used the cake from one and the icing from another and created this:

Thin cinnamon-y sheet cake soaked in three milks with a fluffy meringue topping.

Ry said it tasted just like, if not better, than Whole Foods.  He's sweet and I don't believe him, but it's the thought that counts.  It does taste pretty darn close, but I swear they must mix marshmallow fluff into their meringue to make it.  Next time I'm trying it.

For those of us who don't own culinary torches, I put the cake under the broiler and rotated for a few seconds to get the perfect brown-ness. 

And I was pleased.

But more importantly, the birthday boy was happy. And that's all that matters.

You can find the Tres Leches cake recipe here.

Not Quite Marshmallow Fluff Meringue Topping

adapted from about.com

4 egg whites

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup water

1 tbsp corn syrup

1 tsp vanilla

Place egg whites in mixer and beat until stiff peaks form.  Combine sugar, water, and corn syrup and bring to boil over medium heat.  Cook for 4 minutes or until sugar mixture thickens and strings when it cools.

With mixer turned on, slowly pour sugar mixture down side of bowl into egg whites.  Beat 4-5 more minutes.  Add vanilla.  

Frost cake with topping.