Springtime!

The weather is so beautiful here in Phoenix, so springtime cupcakes are only appropriate! Here are fantastic orange creamsicle cupcakes, made with oranges off my very own tree! They're also filled with orange cream for a yummy surprise. They're a big hit and remind me of my childhood, when the ice cream truck would come around every evening.
ps- there is actually an ice cream truck in my neighborhood today! But sadly, all the ice cream varieties are different from what I remember.

Leave the gun, take the cannoli

So last week we went to a free screening in the park of the Godfather. One of my favorite lines from the movie includes cannolis, so I made cannoli cupcakes! They are an almond cake, filled with traditional cannoli ricotta filling, and topped with a vanilla buttercream with chocolate chips. I shared them with people sitting nearby, and everyone loved them. I just can't resist a theme!




I cut open a cupcake to see the filling, but it's hard to distinguish because the cake is about the same color. You can kind of tell, it's the denser-texture stripe in the middle. Although I had put chocolate chips in the filling, not every cupcake got some, and this one didn't. It was still delicious! Even better after being refrigerated for a while.
I love trying new recipes, because I always learn something in the process.

Sugar-Free

One of my friends is diabetic, so I've been experimenting with sugar-free or reduced sugar recipes. I've found it easy to do in the cupcakes, but harder in the frosting. I use agave nectar in the cakes, which is sweeter than sugar, so you use a lot less, but it's all natural and the body metabolizes it slower, so it doesn't cause a spike in insulin. But for the frosting, it's more difficult. I usually use an easy buttercream, with multiple cups of powdered sugar. I've also attempted a swiss merenge buttercream, which only uses a small amount of regular sugar. This is the easiest to convert to sugar free. I use either agave nectar or stevia, a natural sugar alternative, in lesser amounts. This technique is a lot harder, so it's taken me a few more tries to get it right. But the result is yummy! No one can tell these cupcakes are sugar-free! And although it's not wise for anyone, much less a diabetic, to eat all 6, one or two is ok.

St. Patrick's Day 2009

Here are the photos from this year's batch of Irish cupcakes! Again, chocolate-Guinness cupcakes with (green) Bailey's buttercream. So yummy! I used a different cocoa powder this time, and it was amazing! I'll have to continue using it in the future. My husband ate 3 last nite :)

St. Paddy's Day

It's almost time, once again, for my most requested cupcake. I call it an Irish Car Bomb, after the drink, because it's a chocolate Guinness cupcake topped with Bailey's buttercream. It's amazing! A big hit with the fellows, for sure. These are pics of last year's, since I'm not baking this year's until Monday. They are super yummy, and the only cupcake that I make that I can eat more than 1 of. Although they're great any time of year, they're best enjoyed on March 17th. I even got some special decorations for this year's batch. Come back on Monday and check it out!

Absinthe cupcakes

Recently, my husband and I became obsessed with absinthe, and we ordered a few bottles. While I love the smell, I can't drink too much of it, unless it's mixed with something else. Since the traditional way of drinking it involves dissolving a sugar cube with water in the drink, I decided to make cupcakes with absinthe, since sugar already goes well with it. I took a regular vanilla recipe, added the absinthe, and made frosting as well. I tinted it green, because most versions of the drink are green, and added a little licorice bite on top, to reference the anise flavor. Oh, and I also used silver glitter :) Everyone loved them, and the flavor was much more mellow than the drink itself. A little unusual, but definitely tasty.

Deadly Creatures

To celebrate the completion of my husband's latest video game, Deadly Creatures, I made creepy crawly cupcakes! The technique was from the book, Hello Cupcake, and it was easier than I expected. The cupcakes themselves were chocolate, with a vanilla buttercream, and of course, creepy crawlers made out of M&M's and chocolate. Everyone loved them at the wrap party. There were scorpions, spiders, and centipedes. Scary!

Dulce de Leche

For my friend's wine and cheese party, I made Dulce de Leche cupcakes, since the party had a Spanish theme. The cupcakes were brown-sugar vanilla, slightly scented with orange, to tribute the famous Sevilla oranges. I filled them with pure dulce de leche, and made a dulce de leche buttercream. Then I sprinkled them with raw Demerara sugar. They were sooooooo rich and delicious! Everyone loved them. Although it was kinda hard to find dulce de leche, even being in Arizona. I went to a few specialty stores, but eventually found it in my local grocery store, in the Hispanic foods aisle. But you can also make it yourself, by heating a can of condensed milk for hours and hours. Maybe next time I'll try that. But for now, the store bought stuff worked just great.

Watchmen

I am super psyched for the premiere of the Watchmen movie tomorrow! I already have tickets and will probably have to wait in line forever. So I made Watchmen cupcakes! I must admit, I saw pics online of someone who had made these, and I thought it was brilliant. I'm going to let my husband take them to his office tomorrow, since he works with a bunch of comic book nerds :) The cupcakes are yummy moist chocolate, with a fudge buttercream frosting, and topped with fondant. this is my first attempt at fondant toppers, and it went fairly well! I may have to do this more in the future.

Sky Cake

So, a few weeks ago a bunch of friends and I went to see Patton Oswalt at the Tempe Improv. He's one of my favorite comedians, and in fact, he's my ringtone. Well, he did a bit about religion, and how some people decided when you die you get sky cake, and others decided you get sky cookies, and then others said you get sky baklava. It was hilarious, I don't do it justice. So I decided to make sky cake, or sky cupcakes. So I made rainbow cupcakes topped with swirly white frosting, with rainbow sprinkles and glitter on top. Super yummy! I think Patton would be proud :)

Long Time....

So I realize it's been a long time since I last blogged. update: I'm studying for my MBA now, and trying to get my business off the ground. I've been baking quite a bit, although not as regularly as before. It's been about a year since I started seriously testing recipes, and I'm pretty confident I can bake whatever whenever. I hope to have my own website up soon, and I just started posting pics on Flickr too.
I am still obsessed with everything cupcake, and in fact I made sure all my school supplies were decorated with cupcakes. I was the only person at my MBA orientation who was self-employed, and I was known as the cupcake lady! I even did a cheer with my team, Tania and the Cupcakes :)

So, here's to many more posts, with tons of pictures. Hopefully I'll be more consistent and not go months between updates.