Peanuts and Popcorn Cupcakes, 05/26

How did I get into this creative mood? I found MULTI-COLOR marshmallows!! Albertsons!! Anyway, the ideas for these cupcakes came from two different books, Hello, Cupcake and Hey There Cupcake! The popcorn cupcakes, designed with yellow and white marshmallows, are on top of a white cupcake recipe (from Hey There Cupcake) with some leftover white buttercream frosting. To make the "kernels" you cut one mini marshmallow into three slices and then place another whole marshmallow on top (the stickiness of the cut side of the slice helps bind it together). They turned out better than I expected. I was pleasantly surprised. The peanut-like decorated cupcake came from Hey There Cupcake! and they were just as--surprisingly--easy. I made the peanut butter cupcake recipe from their book and filled the cupcake well (probably too high, but oh well), then balled up little pieces of foil to make an indentation. After they came out of the oven, I sliced off the tops (and ate a few--what??) to make a level area for frosting. I used a peanut butter cream cheese frosting from a different cupcake requested by my nana, and then piped on little lines to make it resemble a peanut. I like the combination of the two designs--it reminds me of circus food, or my diet (excluding the liquids) on football game days :)

Blondie Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting, 05/19

I have wanted to try these cupcakes for a while, but could not for the life of me find toffee chips. Well, let me tell you they are in the baking aisle by the chocolate chips (how I missed them I have no idea). Anyway, this is from Martha Stewart's Cupcake book, so how on earth could they be bad? Well, they weren't, and far be it for me to questions Martha Stewart, but I did add a little extra to the recipe. After mixing up the ingredients, I realized that these were, in fact, supposed to be like the brownie type of blondie, but I wasn't into something so heavy. So I added 1/3 cup of milk and a splash (maybe 1/4 of a cup) of sugar-free caramel flavored Torani syrup (can you say addicted?). The batter was thinner after those additions, and was exactly what I had been hoping for. The cupcakes rose well and I topped them off with vanilla buttercream from Hey There, Cupcake (and some with leftover cream cheese frosting from the week before), and added a cashew on top for a little "flair" :)

Mango Coconut Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting and Toasted Coconut, 05/12

As summer approaches (and the countdown is on the board!), the cupcakes are more summer inspired. That, and summer fruit is just really on sale now (the mangoes have been super cheap!). This cupcake recipe is from 125 Best Cupcake Recipes, and while I sometimes don't have the best luck with these recipes, this one turned out the way I like my cupcakes. I added more mango, and was worried that the mango flavor would not be strong enough, but surprisingly it was!! I then made my cream cheese frosting and rolled it in recently toasted coconut. A good summer cupcake, and one I would definitely make again! (And thanks to Brian for my birthday present--the fun plate in the background!!)

Margarita Cupcakes with Lime Cream Cheese Frosting, Sugar Crystals and a Lime Wedge, 05/05

Ok so in the past, I said I don't celebrate holidays on which I have to go to school, but maybe it's the southern California connection that I would prefer to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. For this day, which happened to fall on a Wednesday, I made my own version of several different designs I had seen browsing on the Internet. The recipe was a Lime Cupcake recipe from Crazy About Cupcakes (it's the lemon recipe, but altered for lime--I have had good luck with the lemon, so I figured I couldn't go wrong). To "spice" it up a bit, I added about a 1/4 cup of tequila (the cheap stuff)--nothing too overpowering, and it didn't really alter the consistency of the batter. They baked up nicely and then I frosted them with Lime Cream Cheese--cream cheese frosting recipe with some lime juice (so add a bit more powdered sugar to get the right consistency). After frosting them, I rolled the edges in clear sugar crystals (visit a Michaels Craft store), stuck a straw in it, and cut a little lime wedge! Bottoms up!!