It's a party...you're invited!

I am cupcake crazy! I decided to send out LT's birthday invitations with a special gourmet cupcake fit for the occasion. After a terrible kitchen disaster with my original mix, I fell back on a classic recipe I have been wanting to try for a while. Let me give you a little bit of history on this cupcake....there are tons of hyperlinks that follow because there are so many props to be given.

A while back, my bro-in-law Chris sent Lauren a gift bag that was from a Baby Buggy event that he helped plan (he does high class events for very famous and important people!!) In this grab bag of goodies was the best tasting peanut butter I have ever eaten, from Peanut Butter and Co. !! I can't get enough of it!! Anyway, along with the peanut butter came a recipe book from the restaurant. Every time I read through the pages of the cookbook, I craved a PB&J sandwich! (and always made one when i read the recipes within).

The recipe I wanted to try was for Peanut Butter and Jelly cupcakes. I would post the recipe, but it is copywritten and I can't publish it online (however, you can email me and I will tell you how i prepared it). They had strawberry fruit jam in the center of them and the frosting was made from peanut butter, butter and sugar. It was awesome, however I think I am going to use more jelly next time. I was scared to use to much and end up with a soggy cupcake.

They were by far the best ones I have made and I received so many compliments on them. One person even said this was the best cupcake I have ever made!! So please enjoy this recipe and check out my fabulous birthday invitations. I guess I have to throw a superior party because the invite and the cupcake set a very high standard! ha ha!

Go ahead and click on the picture if you want to see close ups of the invite

Presentation means everything!

Inside the box lies the scrumptious treat!

Yes, this is my first child
and she deserves every bit of this!!

Sweet, sweet success

Cherry Vanilla Cupcakes

Okay...I was drowning in cupcake failure. Sure my last post looked delish (and they were) but my next couple of attempts flopped! I ran across this wonderful recipe on the 'Cupcake Bakeshop' blog and decided to try it out. It was the PERFECT cupcake that I was looking for! The cake was light and fluffy...and oh so SWEET! The filling was juicy and very cherry! I used a cream cheese frosting and it was the best frosting ever!


The only downfall is they don't taste good the next day :(
I made these for a dinner party and performed my usual "day-after" taste test and it FAILED miserably. So if you attempt the recipe (when I post it) then be sure to serve them that day!

Cupcakes...YUM!!!

Okay, this is actually my second attempt at cupcakes (I counted the first five as my 1st attempt!). These came out pretty good. I used a White Cake recipe and a Cream Cheese Frosting recipe. After trying all those fancy recipes, I turned to Betty Crocker and her cookbook....it was exactly what i was looking for!

The cake was light and airy...perfect consistency when you bit into it. It required buttermilk or soured milk. I thought that was unusual, but it tasted FABulous. The cream cheese frosting was AMAZING! It was smooth and creamy...sweet, yet mildly sour (from the cream cheese). It was melt-in-your-mouth scrumptious!

I am going to work with this recipe to get it even better. I will add a few "secret" ingredients and see if I can make it taste even more amazing. If all goes well, I will post the recipe!

I am really getting into this cupcake thing. I am now a regular at Michaels and have spent way more than Eric would like...but the end result will be spectacular. I will be the cupcake queen of Portage, MI...LOL!

Cupcakes...attempt one

Well, last night was a night of mass cupcake baking. I am trying to become the cupcake queen, yet I am failing miserably! Yesterday, I had two attempts. One was a yellow cake cupcake with a vanilla buttercream and the second was a devilishy moist chocolate with a chocolate buttercream. I wanted to start with a basic recipe so that I could get practice...but even the basics didn't come out right!!!

My first attempt at the yellow cupcake/vanilla buttercream frosting was a huge disaster. I got this recipe from Cooks Unlimited. They pride themselves on testing the recipes in their kitchen 50-70 times before publishing them, so you will get the very best recipes. I know I followed the recipe exactly....but my cupcakes were hard and flat. They reminded me of cornbread muffins, but not as tasty. The buttercream tasted like sweet sticks of butter. It was not very good at all!

My good friend Vdub send me some recipes from her Cake Bible and I decided to try a chocolate cupcake. When I made them, the came out of the oven amazing looking! I couldn't wait to sink my teeth into them. When I finally got a chance to taste them, I was soooo disappointed. It tasted like a bland, thick poof! What happened??? I re-read the recipe to see if I missed something (because I clearly did!). After reading it over again, I realized I missed the baking soda! I put the baking powder in, but forgot the baking soda. That is what I get for trying to attempt cupcakes at 1am I guess! The chocolate buttercream that I made was kinda thin too. I don't know if I over mixed it or what, but it was thinner than I would have liked it. I still saved it and refrigerated it to use today. We'll see how everything turns out!

Sorry, no pictures right now....cuz there was nothing worth taking a snapshot of!

Google...weird

That was weird...I just logged into blogspot and it required that I have a google gmail account. When did google take over blogspot? They are starting to take over everything! Just cuz their stock is worth $400 a share doesn't mean they can own everything! ha ha...
Anyways, just wanted to say that!