I'm Back!

This blog will be updated whenever I bake some awesomeness to share with the world. My main blog is "livingmysweetlife.blogspot.com" Thanks for all the sweet comments, in a day or 2 I hope to have MANY pictures of my latest projects up!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

I have been baking WAY to many cupcakes. So in a vain attempt not to eat the cupcakes I've been baking I made some PB cupcakes since I have a mild allergy to peanuts and can't eat them without breaking out in hives. I used a basic vanilla cupcake recipe and added some chocolate chips that I coated in PB and than tossed in flour (so they wouldn't sink to the bottom, it worked!) Now the frosting was such a pain in the neck! It was so think that I couldn't even pipe it! I had to use my offset spatula and smooth it out into a dome shape. It was hard to work with but in the end I think they looked really sweet.

Cupcake Hero!

One of my new favorite cupcake blogs iheartcuppycakes is going to start a contest called Cupcake Hero! Now I am new at this whole blogging cupcake thing... but I have been doing my research! Looks to me like once a month we get a special ingredient and we have to make a batch a fabulously delicious cupcakes using that ingredient. Sounds like something right up my alley! I can't wait to start participating! 

In other news I am excited to say after weeks of badgering my husband he finally drove me out to the middle of nowhere to get my very cool souffle cups. Now I drive... but I have absolutely positively no sense of direction. I get lost. A lot. There was no way I would have ever found this place by myself. So the hubby drove me even tho he really didn't feel like it (but hey, he owed me one!) So now I am the proud owner of 500 souffle cups. Yippeeee! I was a little embarrassed when the woman behind the counter asked what they were for. I don't have a business and I don't have 500 people to make cupcakes for!

Lastly my 9 month old is the proud owner of this very first tooth! Perhaps he will get to enjoy his very own cupcake for his 1st birthday ;o)

Banana Bread Cupcakes

My house reeked of bananas... they go overripe so quickly! I finally decided that instead of tossing them ( yes I know I can freeze them but you should see how PACKED my freezer is!) that I would attempt to make a cupcake out of them! I used the Banana Cupcake recipe from the book 125 cupcakes (great book!) And the icing is Martha's cream cheese icing tinted yellow with some homemade marzipan flowers and yellow sugar sprinkles. It's to bad I have ZERO patience and iced the silly things while they were still warm! The icing started to melt! oops... My husband loved these and I will definitely make them again! 

Red Velvet Cupcakes

I have been dying to make my own red velvet cupcakes for weeks now. I finally took the plunge and made Martha Stewart's version from her new Cupcakes cook book.  These were so delicious! I didn't use the fancy cocoa powder that she used because my local grocery doesn't carry it, so I used what I could find (which was Hershey's) I also couldn't get regular buttermilk, I could only find light! (do they make whole fat buttermilk?) I used well over a teaspoon of red food coloring and I wish I had put more in to make the red a bit brighter. The best part is the cream cheese frosting... OMG I could eat it out of the bowl! I am so happy with these, I will definitely be making them again in the near future.

In other news my wonderful husband took me on a trip to Michael's where I spent a small fortune on baking supplies... I could live in Michael's! I had a ball walking around and filling up my cart with all my baking goodies! I should have taken a picture of all my loot before I opened it all. I have been playing with marzipan and fondant for the last 3 days... pics soon!

Cupcake Bites = FAIL

I came, I saw, I Tried and got frustrated.

I made 10 measly cupcake bites... and they were quite ugly.

So ugly in fact that I decide not to torture them anymore and eat them before anyone could see.

So now i have 30 balls of cake in my freezer in tupperware... and will wait for a night where I can be PATIENT and try again. 

On the bright side, they still tasted smashing.

Bakerella is my hero... one day I hope to made pretty little treats as perfect as hers!

P.S. Above picture are the best 2 out of the bunch! I was so proud of these 2 little cupcake bites that I wouldn't let anybody eat them!

P.P.S. putting the candy mold in the dishwasher is a very bad idea. btdt...

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcake

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcake

I used a Vanilla cupcake recipe and added 1/2 cup of chocolate chips to the batter. This made 12 large cupcakes, next time I can get 15 or 16 out of the batter. I think these are too large! The butter cream is a really simple butter cream frosting, just 3 cups of confectioners sugar, 2 sticks of butter, and a tsp. of vanilla. (I also added a pinch of salt) I topped it with some semi-sweet chocolate chips and they were good! They taste just like a homemade chocolate chip cookie.