Fun! Fun! Funetti Cupcakes.

Who doesn't smile just a little when you see a cake or your favorite cupcakes covered in a variety of colored sprinkles? I know I do. I had some inspiration while I was researching recipes for the perfect vanilla cupcake and I came across some really yummy examples and motivated me to create something of my own..covered in sprinkles, of course.

I ended up using my old stand by vanilla cake recipe and its perfect and very simple to whip up if you need something yummy, like my daughter did, the night before she needed cupcakes and failed to warn me till the night before the event. So I decided to whip up some vanilla cupcakes using my very simple Vanilla cake recipe and dumped in a ton of sprinkles to add that little "smile" to the batter.

I love the little flecks of color it adds to the finished cupcake. Of course the cupcakes really wouldn't be really finished until I whipped up on of the best frosting's I have tried yet. I can only give the credit to an amazing baker who I admire and follow diligently. Her name is Rosie and she is the baker behind Sweetapolita a beautifully photographed and very delicious site to visit. I want to try everything on her blog.

I swirled on the frosting and added more sprinkles to the tops. Who could resist all those sprinkles atop so much frosting! They were a hit with my daughter and her friends.

My very simple but delicious Vanilla cake recipe

Vanilla Bean Cake
Dry Ingredients:

2 3/4 cup flour

1 3/4 cups Vanilla bean sugar (vanilla bean infused sugar)or regular is fine

2 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup butter

5 egg whites

1 cup milk

2 teaspoons Vanilla

1/2 teaspoon almond ( I didn't have Almond extract,so I used Lemon)

Cream Butter.
Add eggs(whites) one at a time till combined
add milk~vanilla~almond or Lemon flavoring
Fill two 8 in rounds, greased and floured
325 deg. to 350
bake 20~30 min

Frost generously and enjoy!

~The Pastry Diva

Snickers Cupcakes

Snickers Cupcakes with a surprise of little pieces of snickers and a drizzle of caramel hidden inside!

   

I know you want to lick your screen!

These are easy to make, I used the recipe I found

a great website, Annie's Eats 

I did change it up a bit by using a boxed cake mix, and a jarred caramel sauce. I know, I

try to use use the recipe as-is but with the time I had I

decided a mix would work and the result was very good.

These little gems are going out to my little brother who is celebrating

a birthday on Monday! I thought candy bar cupcakes would

be a favorite for my 20 something little brother!

Enjoy!

Mocha Brownie Cupcake with Irish Cream Frosting

As I looked around the verious food blogs and website that I follow to get inspiration or just see what you all are cooking and baking up in your kitchens. Well, for the St. Patty's Day celebrations, I saw alot of people cooking up the traditional cabbage and slabs of corned beef,not really my favorite but their recipes and pictures were really moutwatering.One of my favorite places to find tasty recipes and some really nice food pictures is If you arent hungary you will be after looking at the site.

So, I decided after my looking and searching that I would make my version of the perfect St. Paddy's Day treat!
This is a really easy brownie that I adapted from the Hershey website. I did modify it a bit with coffee instead of water, which gave it a more deep and rich chocolate flavor. I also like that I could just put this in ONE bowl and mix it all together.

Next, I lined the cupcake pans with papers and poured my brownie/cupcake batter in a measuring cup to pour it a little easier.

The Frosting was a little a little trickier but I managed to come up with a frosting that was smooth, very tasty and easy to pipe. I did use cream cheese and butter and it turned out very well. I used Irish Cream Whiskey to give it a smooth taste perfect for celebreating the "irish in you"

Irish Cream Frosting

12oz. Cream cheese
1 Stick or butter
1/3c granualted sugar
1/4c Irish cream whiskey (use your favorite brand, I used Knickers brand)
Add all abouve ingredience in a mixer and beat till smooth.
Add 3 cups powdered sugar, one cup at a time,till desired consistancy. If its too thin add 1/2 cup more
Scrape down mixer bowl and continue mixing till smooth and mix together. Taste!!!! (my favorite part)
Let the cupcakes cool, fit a pastry bag with a 1/2in round tip and swirl on the frosting! Decorate with any kind of decoration, I used colored sugar sprinkels.

You can always just make brownies and use the above frosting and cut into squares.

Enjoy,
THe Pastry Diva

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes

Recently I decided to make cupcakes for my soon-to-be Sister,Melissas' Bridal shower.I really havn't made cupcakes in a while, but since thay are all the rage and I wanted to try out a new Vanilla bean cake recipe I found,I thought it would be a great idea and something a little different.

Please look past the bad picture and the foil covered platter. It was a long week and I was recovering from a very nasty cold that knocked me out for a few day before.
The next picture is of the cupcakes at the shower. I really wished the picture had turned out better and that they were properly displayed, but they were a real hit.

The recipe I found for the cupcakes was a homemade recipe that uses ingredience you may already have in your kitchen. The frosting was the frosting I used in the previous post for the Mocha Chocolate cake and the little pink flowers are made of fondant that I left from a Birthday cake I made a few weeks ago.

Vanilla Bean Cake
Dry Ingredients:

2 3/4 cup flour

1 3/4 cups Vanilla bean sugar (vanilla bean infused sugar)or regular is fine

2 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup butter

5 egg whites

1 cup milk

2 teaspoons Vanilla

1/2 teaspoon almond ( I didn't have Almond extract,so I used Lemon)

Cream Butter.
Add eggs(whites) one at a time till combined
add milk~vanilla~almond or Lemon flavoring
Fill two 8 in rounds, greased and floured
325 deg. to 350
bake 20~30 min

*Fill cupcake tins lined with cupcake papers
bake for aprox. 25 min till lightly browned and if you touch the tops it will be firm.