Cupcake Hints & Tips

 Last week we were in charge of bringing treats to Billy's basketball game.  I also needed a treat for the kids after dinner on Sunday, because there wouldn't be enough of the Rainbow Spring Dessert and most of them wouldn't appreciate the goodness of it.  So I made two batches of cupcakes, perfect solution for the game and dessert on Sunday.  Since I've pinned many a great tip and tricks for cupcake making, I decided to test a few of them out.  Some were great, others not so much, so here's my thumb up or thumb down rating for some of the best cupcake tips on Pinterest.

First up - This tip for making bigger higher cupcakes by filling the cups a little fuller and cooking at a lower temperature.  Sadly, it didn't make any difference for me.  I filled the cups 3/4 of the way full, preheated the oven to 350 and then I turned on the convection which lowers the heat to 325.  Still the same flatter cupcakes.  I don't know if the convection made any difference, I wouldn't think so, so maybe it was just the recipe she used that made them dome up like that. 
So for this tip - THUMBS DOWN

Next - This tip (or several others) for using canning rings to hold your cupcake liners so you can bake more at a time.  I was really excited for this one since I was making two batches and didn't want to be in the kitchen all afternoon.  I lined my rings out on my pan, set the liners in, and when I started filling, the liners all sank down into the ring.   I don't know if I did this wrong, I don't know how I could do it any different, but I had a big mess as most of the cupcakes overflowed the liners and cooked onto the pan.   I should have taken a picture.  I measured (eyeballed) and the rings are a little bit smaller than a muffin tin cup, so it made the liners sit up straighter, thus giving a little less room for batter.  They were a little skiwampus where the overflowed, or small little things, all edible still, but not very pretty.
So for this tip - THUMBS DOWN

I was pretty discouraged and a little leery of trying anything else, but I persevered all in the name of science. lol

3rd Tip - Back to the same site as the first tip, I decided to try this, her recipe for Nanny Burke's Buttercream Frosting.   Winner, winner, chicken dinner!  I'm not usually a fan of buttercream because it's just too sugary tasting, but this wasn't, it was buttery flavored and pretty good.  I did add the shortening with it for firmness like she mentions.  Now I wasn't piping it on to my finger to eat it liked she did, but it was good.
So for this tip - THUMBS UP

4th Tip - This genius little video for mess free filling/using your pastry bags.  It's so simple and worked really well.  However, it didn't work very well for using two different colors at the same time, but I think I might have filled the one too full.
So for this tip - THUMBS UP

Finally the last tip - This trick from Our Best Bites (those girls are amazing!) for making multiple color swirled frosting.  I didn't have any disposable decorating bags, so I just used ziploc sandwich bags and cut the corners off.  I filled them like they said, not too full, flattened them down a little, stacked them together and slid them in my decorating bag.  It worked perfectly!  This was fun, I've got to try it again.
So for this tip - THUMBS UP

Overall, a good little experiment.  I crossed 5 things off my Pinterest "to do" list and we got to eat the yummy results. :)



 

Where the Wild Things Are Birthday Party

Do you have any "wild things" in your home?  My sister, Leslie, is back today with another great birthday party idea.


We did this party when my youngest turned 2.  He has always been a bit of a "wild thing" so this was a fitting theme, plus our family loves this book.

The decorations were really fun to make.

The cupcake idea came from here.

To make these personalized illustrations, I found images from the book online and printed them (you could also scan pages from the book).  Then, I copy and pasted pictures of the birthday boy into Microsoft Word.  I sized them down to fit the illustrations, and then printed and cut out his picture.  Then, I glued them on to the illustration print outs.

I still laugh when I see these.  We still have some hanging in his room.  

For the party guests, I made these fancy crowns (with help from the B.K. employee who said we could have six : ), using the same method listed above.  The kids loved to see their pictures in place of "Max."  They also received their own copy of the book.

The wild guests, looking quite docile at the moment.

After my husband read the book to the kids, we gave them sixty seconds to "Let the wild rumpus start." They yelled, screamed, and ran around like crazy...actually, now that I think of it, it seems like it was only my boys running around like crazy, and their cousins staring at them in panic. Thank goodness it was only sixty seconds!

  A few days after the party, when the fun of tearing through the house in their "Max" crowns wore off, I cut out the pictures from the crowns and glued them inside our copy of Where the Wild Things Are, so I can always remember my three wild things at this age. 

(OK, let's be honest, there are plenty of days when I'd like to forget their daily wild antics, but again, they love to see the pictures and relive their day as "Max")

Thanks Leslie!  Isn't that such a cute idea?!  I love her kids' pictures in the illustrations.

Doctored Cake Mix & Cheyenne's Birthday

As I mentioned in this post, my daughter Cheyenne turned 16 a couple weeks ago.  We had both sets of grandparents over for presents and cake and ice cream.  Since she is now allowed to date, her dad and I gave her a "promise" ring - a promise to us ring, to remember who she is, make wise decisions and to stay pure and clean.  I think she liked it.  However, I don't think that was her favorite present.  Bill's brother, Uncle Thomas, loves to tease Cheyenne.  He loves to give her presents like a John Deer tractor poster or calendar, or a TinkerBell calendar, usually wrapped up with Hannah Montana wrapping paper or Jonas Brothers cards.  This year was no exception, and topped everything he'd ever given her before.  He gave her a tote box and inside this box was all the ingredients (and I mean everything!) to make HIS favorite cookies with instructions that she had until the expiration date on the milk to make them for him.  Little does he know that when he returns from his honeymoon (he just got married this past weekend, yeah!) he'll have a plate of beautiful cookies waiting for him - with a little pepper or some other special ingredient in them. Oh, and Cheyenne's wedding present to him, a beautiful, bright green John Deer tractor poster for their new house. :)

I'm not a big party person, I'm too cheap. :)  My parties here and here are fairly low-key and pretty simple and easy.  Now these two fabulous parties here and here are my sister, Leslie's, awesome creations.  See, she loves to plan a party, me, not so much.  So back to Cheyenne, 16 is one of those big years and we told her she could have a party.  She wasn't sure she wanted to, which friends should she invite, it costs too much, it's too much work for you, mom, and on and on.  I told her 16 is a time to celebrate so quit your whining we're having a party! ;)  Let me tell you though, a 16 year old party is so much easier to plan than a 6 year old party.  I decorated our bonus room a little, bought a bunch of pizza, and left them to have fun watching movies, playing xbox, ping-pong and pool.  They all had a great time, I think, and there was only one small casualty of a broken pool cue (thank goodness it was just the little one.) 

Now if you've stayed with me this long, I'll share my favorite cake recipe.  I made this once for the family party and then again as cupcakes for her friend party.  I'm not a beautiful cake maker.  It takes me too long and I don't have enough patience for it.  I've adopted the motto that it's not what's on the outside, but what's on the inside that matters.  So true in life, and even more so for cake! :)  See above for my fancy decorating, well, actually Natalie did the writing (that's how Cheyenne used to sing "Happy Birthday"), I only frosted.  I'm as busy as the next mom, and sometimes a box cake is just faster.  However, my husband is somewhat of a food snob and can always tell a box cake from a "real" cake, and then complains.  So when my friend, Hilary, shared her "doctored cake mix" recipe, I was all over it.  This is so good and very moist, unless my husband sees the box (which I usually quickly bury in the garbage) he can't tell it's a box mix.

Basic "doctored mix" Recipe
-Hilary Muckleroy

Prepare cake mix as per package directions.  In addition to this add:
1 egg
1 c. flour
250 ml (or 8oz.) sour cream or yogurt
1 c. white sugar
1/3 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla or other suited flavoring

Use any flavor cake mix, yogurt, or flavoring.

Bake according to box directions.  If baking a 9x13" pan, it will be more full, so it will take a little extra time.  Or, you can make a 9x13" pan (normal fullness) and 6 cupcakes.  I saved the 6 extra cupcakes in the freezer for later. 

Use your imagination when it comes to flavor combos.  I've done white cake and chocolate cake with strawberry yogurt, both good.  I wonder what white cake with key lime yogurt or boston creme pie would taste like?  Maybe chocolate with butter flavoring?  Chocolate with orange yogurt and orange flavoring?  The possibilities are endless and now I'm getting hungry. :)  What else could I try?  What are your favorite flavor combinations?

This post was featured by:

December is not far away! Can you help me reach my goal of 100 follower by Dec. 1? 

Heavenly Hostess Cupcakes

Wednesday was a very big day at our house, the day my kids went back to school. Now this was made a little more momentous because my oldest was starting high school, second daughter was starting jr. high in a new school, too, and my youngest three were starting 1st grade.  All my babies were gone all day long.  The day before, we walked through the high school and jr. high, hoping to find all their classrooms and lockers and stuff, hoping to alleviate a little stress the next day - it helped a little, although Cheyenne still got lost once. :)  So at about 8 a.m. I watched as they all left me, they just walked away onto that big yellow bus and probably never thought about me again.  What did I do, did I break down and start bawling? No, that was so last year.  I did a little happy dance and then sat in an eerily quiet house.  I took a deep breath and realized I hadn't been alone for this much time in over 15 years.  Then I went to work.  I ran to the computer and quickly printed up this recipe from Somewhat Simple for hostess cupcakes, a treat for after school. While those baked, I grabbed a broom and went to work on my dirty kitchen floors that had been severely neglected while canning and kids tracking in mud everyday from the garden.  In record time the floors we're shining, the house smelled so good, and I still had hours to myself.  It is amazing how much you can get done in a day when you're not breaking up fights, seeing the newest lego creations, twirling with a princess, or having tea.  Then I sat down to lunch by myself and I realized I was really missing all of them.  I was missing having a tea party and playing legos.  I didn't have anyone to watch "Psych" with me while eating lunch.  And the house was still so quiet.  I've never been so excited to see the bus come in the afternoon.  The little kids came in bubbling with excitement, each talking over the top of the others, and then they saw the cupcakes.  They were so excited to try them (I was too, as I'd waited all this time to try one.)  There were sticky, marshmallowey, happy faces as they quickly ate them.  I was so happy!  Then the older girls came home and we repeated the same scenario without so much excitement and a little more drama as only teenage girls can have.  Now we're on day 3, and as much as I've enjoyed some free time to myself and I LOVE being able to take a shower without at least one person knocking on the door, I'm really missing them, too.  It's a happy balance of both.  I look forward to them leaving, but I sure look forward to them coming home, too.

I couldn't resist adding my cute (and goofy) kids. Natalie, Billy, Cheyenne, Jon, Maddie, and Chloe.

Okay, okay, enough of my sappiness.  On to, again, one of the best cupcakes I've ever made.  A HUGE hit with everyone in the family, even Bill who's not much of a sweets, and really not cupcakes, kind of guy.

Picture courteousy of Somewhat Simple because hers look much prettier than mine did.

•••Hostess Cupcakes•••

Cupcakes:
• 1 box cake chocolate cake mix (or your favorite cake recipe)
• water, eggs and oil called for on the cake mix box  Filling:
• 1 cup whipped vanilla frosting
• 1/2 cup marshmallow creme
Frosting:
• 1 cup whipped chocolate frosting
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 2 tsp. corn syrup
• 3 Tbsp. whipped vanilla frosting (for the loops)

1. Bake cupcakes according to directions on package. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, continue to cool on cooling rack for another 30 minutes or until cooled completely.
2. With end of round handle of wooden spoon, make deep, 1/2-inch-wide indentation in center of each cupcake, not quite to the bottom (wiggle end of spoon in cupcake to make opening large enough). You could also use a melonballer to scoop out the middle of the cupcakes, instead of the spoon method. In small bowl, mix 1 cup vanilla frosting and the marshmallow creme. Spoon into small resealable food-storage plastic bag. Cut 3/8-inch tip off 1 bottom corner of bag (I used decorating bag and Wilton tip #12). Insert tip of bag into each cupcake and squeeze bag to fill.
3. In small microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate frosting, chocolate chips and corn syrup uncovered on High 30 seconds; stir. Microwave 15 to 30 seconds longer; stir until smooth. Dip top of each cupcake in frosting. Let stand until frosting is set.
4. Spoon 3 tablespoons vanilla frosting into decorating bag or small resealable food-storage plastic bag. Cut tiny tip off 1 bottom corner of bag (I used Wilton tip #5). Pipe loops on each cupcake.  

Recipe from Somewhat Simple 

These were surprisingly really easy. I thought they'd take a lot more time and effort.  I think I may have overcooked my melted chocolate just a tad, as it was starting to harden just a little.  I ended up using a knife to spread my frosting on after the first few because I was getting to much filling and crumbs in it.  It worked, they just didn't look quite as pretty as hers in the picture.  I also may have filled them a little too full.  Ahh, I guess I'll be forced to make them again to practice. :)


Partying With:
Somewhat Simple
While he was napping
Whipperberry
Key Lime Digital Designs
Lovely Crafty Home
504 Main
Sassy Sites

I'd love it if you follow me!

Deliciousness in a Cute Wrapper!

So I have this awesome friend who is a fabulously talented cook.  She's a great friend in this awesome cyberworld of ours, and even though I've never actually met her, I feel like we've been friends for years.  So how do I know she's an amazing cook, because every recipe I've tried of hers quickly becomes a family favorite, 5-star rated, add to the recipe box (not just a printed copy) kind of recipe.  So when Ginny posted pictures of this incredible oreo cupcake on facebook, I knew I had to try it. If I'd had unsalted butter on hand, I would have made them that minute.  I now have unsalted butter stored in my freezer just in case I want to make these. :) So here it is, the best oreo cupcakes in the world.

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes

Picture from Simply Yum!

Yield: 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:
For the cupcakes:
24 Oreo halves, with cream filling attached
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 2/3 cup sugar
3 large egg whites, at room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup milk
20 Oreo cookies, coarsely chopped (I quarter them)

For the frosting:
8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
2 tbsp. heavy cream

For garnish:
Oreo cookie crumbs
24 Oreo cookie halves

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Line the wells of two cupcake pans with 24 paper liners. Place an Oreo halve in the bottom of each liner, cream side up. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt; stir together with a fork to blend and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter and sugar and beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Blend in the egg whites one at a time, beating well after each addition. Blend in the vanilla extract. With the mixer on low speed, beat in half of the dry ingredients just until incorporated. Add the milk and beat just until combined, then mix in the remaining dry ingredients. Gently fold in the chopped Oreos with a rubber spatula until evenly incorporated, being careful not to over-mix.

Evenly divide the batter between the prepared cupcake liners. Bake for 18-20 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pans 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting, combine the cream cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on medium-high speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Blend in the vanilla extract. Beat in the confectioners' sugar until incorporated and smooth, 1-2 minutes. Add the heavy cream to the bowl and beat on medium-low speed just until incorporated, then increase the speed to medium-high and whip for 4 minutes until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Frost the cooled cupcakes as desired. Sprinkle with Oreo crumbs and garnish with Oreo halves.

Recipe from the awesome Ginny of Simply Yum!

My only tips or changes to this recipe are:
1. The first time I made them I put the oreo in the bottom of the cupcake wrapper as it said, and it stuck big time to the wrapper.  I think we only had just a couple of cupcakes where we didn't leave the oreo in the bottom.  So the second time, I just left that out and we didn't miss them at all, in fact that giant oreo in the bottom was, dare I say, a little too much at least for us.
2. I'd would lightly spray the wrapper to make it come off a little easier.  Those oreos really stick to it, and make it a little hard to peel off the wrapper nicely.  But really, with cupcakes this good, who cares if the wrapper takes a little work to get off.  Also, the spray in the wrapper might remedy the problem above.
3.  Use cute wrappers. There are so many cute ones now, why use the boring pastel pink, yellow, and blue ones. A cupcake is awesome, but a cupcake in a cute wrapper makes anyone's day a little brighter. :)
4.  Make sure you have people to share these with or you will eat these all in no time flat, seriously!

Parties I'm linking with:
House of Hepworths
Thrifty 101
Somewhat Simple
A Glimpse Inside
Frugalicious Me
Suzys Sitcom
Happy Hour Projects

I'd love it if you followed me!