Pops' Visit

This is a super late post because I was sad that I didn't have any pictures to post. My Dad came to visit a few weekends ago by himself for the first time since he drove me halfway across the country to good ol' H-town. He played a few rounds of golf (major thanks to Brian for taking my Dad to play with ya'll!), had some amazing Mexican- Cyclone Anaya's off Durham, as well as some good bbq- Red River BBQ off 518, and hung out with Baloo. Thanks for coming to see me Dad! Major fail on my part on the picture front :(

Minis!

I decided to test out making mini cupcakes in preparation for the ones I will be making for an upcoming kid's birthday party. I also have been wanting to try making peanut butter icing from the two new varieties of Peanut Butter & Co. peanut butter that I just purchased: White Chocolate Wonderful and Dark Chocolate Dreams. FYI: I picked these two up at Arlan's Market and they were cheaper there than online, check your local grocery first! I also wanted to get a handle on dipping minis in chocolate shell so I went for it with these minis. Here are the two different minis as a finished product:




They are pretty darn delicious. I love me some pb and chocolate and these don't disappoint. They are pretty sweet with the flavored pb icing but since they are mini it's not too overwhelming. The recipe for the cake is Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake and the icing is just peanut butter, splash of vanilla, splash of milk, and powdered sugar until the proper consistency is reached. You can see instructions on how to do the chocolate shell in this previous post:

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bars

In addition to the trial run of the banana cupcakes, I also made some pumpkin cream cheese bars for myself this weekend. I need to start reading recipes because I assume they are for 8x8 pans and then they call for 13x9 pans and suddenly I've got way more goodies than I can eat. This time I messed up and should have cooked these babies longer so the middles were ruined and I ended up keeping both pans of bars. Anywho, they were still delicious despite a little center under cooking. Here are some pictures to get you excited for Halloween and fall and pumpkin flavors:



Recipe (from Grin and Bake it!)

6T butter, melted and cooled
1 1/2c sugar
2 lg eggs
1 c pumpkin
1/3c water
1 3/4c flour
1 1/2t cinnamon
1t baking soda
1/2t baking powder
1/2t nutmeg

Cream Cheese Mixture

1 pkg (8oz) cream cheese, softened
1 lg egg
1/4c sugar


Preheat to 325F.

In a large bowl beat together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs, pumpkin, and water until well incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and nutmeg. Mix dry ingredients into the large bowl until well blended. Pour into a buttered and floured 13"x9" pan.

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, egg, and sugar until smooth. Drop cream cheese mixture in evenly spaced spoonfuls into batter in pan. Pull a knife through the batter to create swirls. Bake for about 30 minutes (25 is definitely not enough). Let cool in pan.

Baloo Got a New Toy!

Baloo got a new toy last night from his Aunt Jesse! It was from one of his favorite companies, West Paw, that makes eco-friendly pet products from recycled materials. You can also send their products back to be recycled into new toys. He has a crate mat and the Tux toy. He got the Zisc flyer in the mail from my sister yesterday and he loves it! Here is a brief video of him playing with it today:


Thanks Jesse!

Adventures in Filling Cake Orders

Recently, my friend Todd asked if I could make cupcakes for his lady's kid's birthday party in October. I of course said yes because Todd is one of the nicest people I know and would probably help me out whenever I asked. Anywho, the theme of the party is monkeys and banana was requested. Now, banana is not a flavor that I personally like. I Love plain bananas but things that are banana flavored don't exactly light my fire I suppose. I found a recipe for banana cupcakes by Martha Stewart (I figured I couldn't go wrong with Martha) that a lot of bloggers were using and I decided to give it a trial run this past weekend. I think the consistency of the cupcake turned out great and the banana flavor was definitely coming through strong. I made 6 and gave 5 to the Todd to taste test since I can't really be objective about banana. This recipe also got a thumbs up from his corner so I'm stickin to it! I decided to pair it with peanut butter icing and dip the whole situation in chocolate like a hi-hat cupcake. Here are the various stages and results of this adventure:

Banana Cupcake with Peanut Butter Icing


Dipping the Cupcakes


Freshly Dipped Cupcakes


Banana Peanut Butter Hi-Hat Cupcake


We decided that minis would be better for kiddos (I had to eat mine with a fork it was so huge) but I'm excited to make the full order in a couple of weeks :) Here's the recipe:

Banana Peanut Butter Hi-Hat Cupcakes (adapted from Martha Stewart Banana Cupcakes)

Cupcakes (makes 12):
1 1/2c flour
3/4c sugar
1t baking powder
1/2t baking soda
1/4t salt
1/2c (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
2 mashed ripe bananas
2 lg eggs
1/2t vanilla

Preheat to 325F. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In a large bowl beat together butter, bananas, eggs, and vanilla. Stir in dry ingredients until just incorporated. Fill liners 3/4 full and bake for about 25 minutes. Cool on rack.

Peanut Butter Icing:
1c peanut butter (I use reduced fat JIF)
3T unsalted butter, softened
1t vanilla
1T milk
powdered sugar

Beat peanut butter and butter until smooth. Add in vanilla and milk. Add powdered sugar until desired consistency is reached.

Chocolate Shell:
12oz bag of mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
3T oil

Melt chocolates with oil in double boiler. Dip cupcakes in chocolate (it's best to use a cup or something deep enough for your cupcakes and just as wide as your cupcakes plus your fingers). Let set at room temp for 5 minutes. Set fully in refrigerator. Store in refrigerator until ready to serve.

A Baby Dragon

This is the baby who received the dragon hat I made for my friend Krista:


If that's not a wonderfully mischievous smile, then I don't know what is!

OMG Amazing Cupcakes!

I love cupcakes that are meant to look like other things. These cupcakes get extra high marks because they are amazing creations without the use of any (or extremely little) fondant! Check out these beauts:

Oreo panda cupcakes found on twitter by @StephanoGuerrera


Cupcake bouquets are pretty popular but I love this one for the different flowers and great use of colors: Bouquet by LoveLane Cupcakes


Perfectly simple apple by Coco Cupcakes


These are giving me a hankering for breakfast: Cinnamon Bun Cupcakes by Christy of from glitter to gumdrops


Hope you enjoyed these amazing cupcakes!