trip to Asheville- with cupcakes!

So, last weekend I was in Asheville, NC for my mom's birthday. I made a point to check out at least one cupcake shop while I was there. We went to Short Street Cakes on Haywood Rd. It's a cute little shop that mainly deals in custom orders, but also has cupcakes available for retail.




We had 3: the Deep Dark Chocolate, the Almond and Chocolate, and the Caramel Apple. The chocolate frosting was amazing! And also vegan, I believe. The staff were friendly and answered all my questions. So thanks to Short Street Cakes for the yummy treats!

Grapefruit cupcakes

A few months ago my friend Donna gave me grapefruits from her tree! I squeezed and zested them, to use in cupcakes later, and put everything in the freezer. Today I used about half the zest and juice from 3 large grapefruits for a dozen cupcakes. I used a traditional vanilla recipe, reduced the vanilla, added about a tablespoon of zest and use the juice instead of milk. They are tart and yummy! The sweetness of the frosting is cut by the tartness of the grapefruit. I tinted the frosting slightly yellow, added sprinkles and glitter. They're all packed up and ready to go on the plane with me tomorrow. I'm going to try and hit a few cupcakeries in Asheville while I'm there.

Easter Peeps!

My favorite Easter candy is marshmallow Peeps! In fact, I prefer to eat them a bit stale. So I made Easter Peeps cupcakes! They are carrot-ginger cupcakes, with lemon cream cheese frosting, tinted pale green. I topped them with chicks and bunny sprinkles, then with either Peeps or jellybeans. Can you believe not everyone likes Peeps? They were a big hit at the Easter BBQ. I just love how colorful they are!

Chocolate Easter Cupcakes

So, the other day, my friend Amy suggested that I make Cadbury Creme Egg cupcakes for Easter. So after some research and thought, I decided the easiest way would be to make chocolate cupcakes with the eggs inside them. Then when you cut them open, the yummy egg centers are gooey. So, I put Cadbury mini and regular sized eggs into the cupcake batter before I baked them, and they seemed to turn out great. Until I cut them open. The eggs had sunk to the bottom, and the chocolate shell had hardened, making it hard to eat. The larger eggs did a little bit better, but still didn't give me the results I wanted. Back to the drawing board! I'll have to assemble my own version I think, and fill the cupcakes with pastry creme after baking, to give the appearance of a Cadbury Egg. Oh well! They were still delicious!
Here's the inside:

Peanut butter and jelly cupcakes

So, after reading a post on cupcakes take the cake, http://cupcakestakethecake.blogspot.com/2009/04/would-you-eat-peanut-butter-and-jelly.html, I decided to post about my own peanut butter and jelly cupcakes. I've tried this twice, with differing results. The second time was definitely better. These were the first try, a little messy looking. I put dollops of jelly on top to show what flavor was filled inside.





These are also peanut butter cupcakes, filled with jelly, topped with peanut butter frosting. I added purple sanding sugar to indicate the flavor of jelly inside. I just love cupcakes with a surprise! Both times the liners fell away from the baked cupcakes, not sure why. These are super rich and must be enjoyed with a cold glass of milk.