Pina Colada Cupcakes with Pineapple Pudding Frosting, 03/24

Since Courtney's birthday was yesterday (happy birthday!!!), her request was for Hungry Girl's Pina Colada cupcakes, which I made several weeks ago for another birthday, but I wasn't kidding when I said these were just fabulous. And easy AND low-calorie. Seriously, get the book. Anyway, to make them a bit more festive, I added a little pineapple chunk and maraschino cherry to fit the "island" theme that comes to my mind whenever I think of pina coladas (and no, there is no rum in here, but again, that's what comes to my mind and I wanted to "cute-sy" up this picture). My favorite part, though, is the cupcake holder. Courtney definitely is a cheetah and zebra print girl and luckily the local cake store had these fun wrappers, so in honor of her birthday, I thought it would be fun to add this little touch! See the up-close pictures, they really are adorable. I can see an animal-theme cupcake for future use of these holders!!

Pistachio Cupcakes OR Irish Cream Cupcakes, with Cream Cheese Frosting, 03/17

While there was no planned St. Patrick's Day cupcake (for a few reasons--A) I'm not Irish and don't quite feel the pull, B) I decline to celebrate days when I don't get them off from work, and C) anything remotely "Irish" reminds me of Notre Dame and I do all I can to avoid THAT upchuck reflex), I received some St. Patty's Day themed cupcake holders, and so the plan materialized. There are two types because I wanted to try the Pistachio cupcake recipe from Martha Stewart's book (and the green reminded me of St. Patrick's Day anyway), but because of nut allergies, I also made Bailey's Irish Cream cupcakes, from Crazy About Cupcakes (having made them before, I knew they would turn out well. Cream cheese frosting went with both flavors, although the Bailey's cupcakes have green sprinkles, while the Pistachio cupcakes have green-tinted frosting, just to be different. I tried a new frosting technique from one of my new cupcake books, A Baker's Field Guide to Cupcakes, a recent birthday present. You frost your cupcakes and use the back of a spoon to pull the frosting up (it was initially used on a cupcake that had "ocean waves" as the decoration)I think it might have worked better with frosting that wasn't as pliable as cream cheese frosting, but it still looked different and gave it some texture. Hopefully the close-up will illustrate it well enough.

Strawberry Cupcakes with Strawberry Frosting OR Strawberry Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting, 03/10

First off, a bit of a self serving moment--HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME. That's right, the big 3-0 and I can't even eat birthday cake. Believe me, I will be freezing a few of these babies to enjoy in April. Well, the reason for strawberry cupcakes is that strawberry is my favorite flavor, and having made these cupcakes before (they are the Sprinkles Bakery recipe, as given to Martha Stewart), I can vouch for their deliciousness. The frostings vary because I had some leftover strawberry frosting (also from Sprinkles via Martha) but wanted to try a yummy sounding recipe in 125 Best Cupcake Recipes, Strawberry Cream Cheese Buttercream. YUMMY. Well, my mistake in substituting an ingredient might have made it less cream cheese-y but that is the lesson I will have learned. While it called for strawberry jam, I decided to just use pureed strawberry for a "healthier" alternative. Well, unbeknownst to me, strawberry puree is more liquid-y than jam (ok I KNEW it but didn't it didn't really cross my mind at that point), so the frosting came out WAY too runny, and I literally had to add about 1 more cup of powdered sugar, so I'm sure it changed the taste a little bit. Next time, I will slowly add the puree, but I do think I will stick to the puree (it just seems more pure, you know?). The comments heard 'round the room was that it tasted like a strawberry smoothie. Good to know!! Well, these are my birthday cupcakes, happy birthday to me, and while everyone else celebrates it today, I'll celebrate April 8th!! :)

Yellow Buttermilk Cupcakes with Maple Buttercream Frosting, 03/03

I must admit, when you don't get to taste the cupcakes, it makes it rather difficult to write about them. But that is the sacrifice I have made, and I will continue to use reviews of the cupcakes to report on the success of Cupcake Wednesday (I have, however, frozen two of them to indulge as soon as Easter hits). The yellow buttermilk cupcakes were from Martha Stewart's cupcake cookbook, and even though I cut the recipe in half (which is difficult when there are 5 whole eggs and 3 egg yolks) and used regular flour in place of the cake flour portion (using 1/4 cup less according to my mom), they came out fluffy and moist and nicely rounded on the top (I hate the cupcakes that come out flat). The maple buttercream frosting was from PureMapleProducts.com, although I substituted maple extract for the maple syrup (halving the recipe, I used three teaspoons of maple extract) and added a bit more milk, slowly, until I found the right consistency. Despite the strong smell of the extract (my fingers smelled like maple syrup for DAYS), the report on the frosting was that it was NOT (again, despite the smell) as maple-y as one would think. Thanks to this frosting, I now have just about every extract available at Vons!! My mom dubbed these cupcakes "Breakfast Cupcakes" (because I was going for the pancake inspiration), so that is what they shall be called!