Confectionery Conceptions

Cupcakes Catch-Up

2009-07-27T09:12:00.000-07:00

It's been a good while since I've done any sort of blogging about cupcakes...I've bake 'em but I haven't wrote about them. So instead of writing each recipe about the different kinds that I've done since April, I'm going to show them to you in photos.

Gluten-free chocolate cake mix with homemade marshmallow frosting.

Made these for my sister's bachelorette party in April!
They were YUMMY!

Tangy Tangerine Cupcakes
Made these for Mother's Day!

Jungle Cupcakes
My first pay baking gig for a baby shower.

Chocolate Sour Cream Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
(there the one's with bananas and coconuts on top)

White Cupcake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting*
(Monkey faces)

*I don't mean to brag but chocolate buttercream that I made was the most luscious, velvety, chocolate-y goodness I have ever made. If wanted let me know!

Birthday Art

2009-04-12T12:36:00.000-07:00

This is a cupcake that even Strawberry Shortcake herself could be proud of...if she were reading this post.

What she's not reading it? And she's not really real? Gasp.

Another birthday. Another confectionery conception to be making and baking. This time it was my roommate Kimberly's big birthday bash of celebrating her 25th year.

So I asked her, "What kind of cupcake do you want?" This is something I usually do as my gift to friends and family, as you might have already read, but unfortunately I forgot my other roommate, Melissa's birthday, this past January. Oops! So it's not a full proof plan, but in my defense it was about the same as my sister's birthday, so I focused too much on that. Excuses, excuses! Back to the cupcakes...

Kimberly mentioned that she would like strawberry cupcakes. This lead to angel food cupcakes. Continued on to cupcake ice cream cones. More strawberries were mentioned and then whipped cream. And this lead to me trying to find a blend of all this things...so naturally it became Strawberry Shortcake Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes.

A hybrid cupcake, if you will. And oh yeah, no vegan, dairy-free, gluten-free options...hmm...that will be my first on this blog. I do love a challenge.

Golden Cupcakes Recipe taken from...Crazy About Cupcakes...but of course!

Ingredients:

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, separated
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven 350 degrees.
2. In mixer, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed until fluffy. Add the egg yolks. Beat well. Add the vanilla. Mix.
3. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt
4. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, alternating with the milk.
5. With clean beaters, beat the egg whites on high until stiff peaks form. Then gently fold the egg whites into the batter.
6. Fill the cupcake liners. And bake 20-25 minutes.

And then I add the ice cream cones into the cupcake liners full of batter and prayed that it would resemble something like an ice cream cone or a cupcake, or both. I'm not picky.

BEFORE

AFTER

Alas abstract cupcakes!

So for this conception I didn't need to make buttercream anything, it just involved a dollop of Cool Whip and fresh strawberries. It took a little creativity and conversation to figure out how to use that dollop and the berries to make them into a confectionery conception, and this is what we came up with...TA DAH!

Happy Birthday Kim!

A little Cullen confection...

2009-04-03T19:10:00.000-07:00

And no I'm not talking about the Edward (aka Robert Pattinson) variety...even though he is delectable.

I'm not sure if you've heard of a little book called Twilight and then there was this sort of popular movie that was based on the book...maybe you've heard of it mentioned through the grapevine through talking to your child with soup cans and string.

Well we've definitely heard of it in our household and so we decided to celebrate the movie coming out on DVD with a movie premiere of our own. And of course it was very exclusive.

Movie bought. Check.
Invitations sent. Check.
RSVP's received. Check.
Decor set. Check.
Embarrassing amount of Twilight articles posted to the walls. Check.
Projector set up. Check.
Amazing cupcakes baked and decorated. Double check.

Um...yeah we love the movie.

I wanted to try something a little different and use a different book, I seem to favor one over all the ones I own. I used an Orange Chiffon Cupcakes with Orange Butter Icing recipe in the book appropriately titled "Cupcakes" by: Elinor Klivans.

Orange "Cullen" Chiffon Cupcakes

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour (I used rice flour, of course)
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup canola oil
4 large eggs, separated
1/3 cup water
1 1/2 tsp grated orange zest
1/4 cup orange juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. You will not need cupcake liners because they tend to stick, so I just spray cooking spray on the cupcake pan itself.
2. Mix the rice flour (which I sifted, finer quality), 3/4 cups of the sugar, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl.
3. With a spoon, put a well into the center of the dry ingredients and the put in the oil, egg yolks, water, orange zest, orange juice, vanilla and almond extract.
4. With a handheld mixer, I mixed these ingredients together, beat until smooth and thick. Set aside.
5. In another bowl, with clean beaters, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar on medium speed until whites are foamy and the cream of tartar dissolves. If the creamed mixture clings to the beaters, you should be good.
6. Beat in the remaining 1/4 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, then beat for about a minute.
7. Slowly add the egg white batter into the egg yolk batter, a little at a time with a rubber spatula until there are no white streaks in the batter.
8. Put into greased cupcake pan (s) and bake for about 35 minutes.

Orange Butter Icing:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 tbsp unsalted butter (vegan butter). Melted.
1 tsp grated orange zest
3 tbsp fresh orange juice

Directions:

1. Stir the powdered sugar, melted butter, orange zest, and orange juice together until smooth and thick.

The Results:

Hope you "sink" your teeth into them...or Edward, whichever you prefer! (:

Catching up on Cupcakes

2009-04-03T18:40:00.000-07:00

Oh my gosh...I know it's been forever since I've updated, so I thought I'd fill you in on a few of the cupcakes I have done in the last months since Christmas.

So one of the things I do now for friend's and family's birthdays is bake them their own batch of birthday cupcakes. I ask them what they want and I dig up some recipes to make their birthday cupcakes come true.

In January, my sister celebrated her birthday and she requested Mint Chocolate Cupcakes, like a thin mint or peppermint patty. No problem. And what good is a birthday present without a little bow to add a little something extra.

Kirsten's Peppermint Patty Cupcakes

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes (taken from Crazy About Cupcakes)

Ingredients:

6 tbsp applesauce
2 1/4 cups water
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp white vinegar
2 1/2 cups flour (rice flour for the gluten-free)
2/3 cup cocoa powder
2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. In large bowl mix together the applesauce, water, vanilla, and vinegar (I use a mixer).
3. In another bowl mix together the rest of the ingredients.
4. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the liquid mixture.
5. Fill the cupcake liners and bake for 20-25 minutes.

Now for the icing...on the cupcake. So I figured I would use a peppermint buttercream frosting, but I couldn't find a really good recipe. But I thought, what the heck, I've made enough frosting to know what the key is. So I made it up...

Kaari's Peppermint Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:

2 sticks vegan butter
4 1/2 cups powdered sugar (guess-estimate here, it all matters how thick you want the frosting)
1-2 tbsp plain soy milk
Peppermint/Mint Extract (put as much as you want in depending on how minty you want it)

Directions:

1. Cream the butter in the mixer.
2. Add the powdered sugar and then proceed to add the wet ingredients. You can play around with the amounts depending it on how thick or runny you want the frosting. And also how flavorful you want the frosting to be.

For the final touch, I added a sprig of mint and half a peppermint patty, so you knew exactly what you were devouring.

The Results:

Happy Baking!

Jolly Holly Gingerbread Cupcakes

2008-12-27T15:19:00.000-08:00

Ahh Christmas, definitely one of my favorite times of year. It's the time of year where an adult gets a free pass of acting like a kid again. The decorations of white lights and manager stalls in front yards. The smells of evergreen and baked Christmas cookies. The tastes of hot apple cider and gingerbread. And that's where I decided to take my next confectionery conception....Christmas style.

Gingerbread Cupcakes--Crazy About Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1/4 lb butter (vegan butter) at room temperature
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
2/3 cup molasses
2 teaspoons lemon zest
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (rice flour)
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 cup sour cream (vegan)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. In mixer cream the butter and the sugars together until fluffy. Add the egg, molasses, and lemon zest to the creamed mixture.
3. In separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, alternating with the sour cream, until they are completely combined.
5. Fill the cupcake liners. Bake for 15-20 minutes.
So the last few cupcakes I have made I have used the Maple Buttercream Frosting to my Yammie Cupcakes and the Pumpkin Cupcakes and yes I used it for my Gingerbread Cupcakes as well. The recipe for the Maple Buttercream Frosting is under the recipe for the Pumpkin Cupcake recipe. And then I decided to make my own version of holly decorations with red hots and apple licorice, just to make it more festive.

Merry Christmas!

"Yammy" Cupcakes

2008-11-08T19:58:00.000-08:00

I'm on this fall flavors kick, so after the great success of the Maple Pumpkin Cupcakes...it I became curious-er and curious-er about other potential vegetables or starches in this case, that I could use. So I was thinking sweet potato or my personal favorite...YAMS!

It's no secret to my family or who anyone who's sampled, that my thing is cupcakes. So naturally I put these people to work for me, especially if they ever want to have a cupcake again, that's right, I'm a hardcore cupcake fiend. My Mom found this recipe in the Better Homes and Garden magazine, unfortunately you need to register to view it online, so I will give you my variation.

Sweet Potato (YAM) Cupcakes

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour (rice flour for me)
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 cup butter, softened (vegan margarine)
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
3 yams (I baked them before hand and left them cool after I scraped them out of their skins, so this will definitely add time to the process. )
OR if you are doing Sweet Potatoes they suggest 1 17.2 oz canned sweet potatoes
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat to 350 degrees.
2. In medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.
3. In the mixer, cream the butter and then add the sugar about beat for about 2 minutes, or until fluffy. Then add the eggs one a time, mixing in between, until all are added. Add the baked yams and vanilla. Lastly, add the flour mixture.
4. Bake for about 20 minutes.

And for the frosting, I used the left over yummy Maple Buttercream Frosting. It's a perfect compliment. If you liked the Pumpkin, you are definitely going to love the Yammy Cupcakes.

Yummy Yammies!

Pumpkin Cupcake Wrapped In Maple Buttercream

2008-10-06T16:04:00.000-07:00

Fall is definitely upon us and that means it's time for baking with fall flavors and spices.

Nutmeg. Cinnamon. Hot chocolate. Cider. Maple. Pumpkin pie. Cranberry. Orange. Vanilla.

The list could go on, well I decided to cap upon the falling leaves, warm colors and raincoats, just in time for concocting confections for my Dad's birthday.

His favorite dessert is pumpkin pie. The story is that his first word was pumpkin. So of course I had to incorporate pumpkin into my love of cupcakes and for a special treat, other that pumpkin pie, for my Dad.

Pumpkin Cupcakes Recipe (taken from Crazy About Cupcakes)

Ingredients:
1 stick (1/4 pound) unsalted butter; at room temperature (vegan margarine)
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/3 c. granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups all-purpose flour (rice flour)
2 teaspooons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk (soy milk)
1-1/4 cups pumpkin puree, canned or fresh
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Insert liners into medium cupcake pan.
2. In large bowl cream together the buttter and sugars with an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy, 3-5 minutes. Add eggs to the creamed mixture one at a time, mixing afer each addition. Beat well.
3. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and salt.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, alternating with milk. Mix until completely integrated.
5. Add the pumpkin and vanilla and beat until smooth.6. Fill the cupcake liners 1/2 to 3/4 full. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Maple Buttercream Frosting(taken from website CDKitchen.com)

Ingredients:

1 cup butter (vegan margarine), at room temperature
2 3/4 cups powdered sugar

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp maple syrup

1/4 chopped walnut (I didn't use these, but I'm sure it would be great with them)

Directions:

1. Mix the butter in the mixer.

2. Add the powdered sugar, brown sugar, and maple syrup for 2-3 minutes until fluffy.

I was a little skeptical about the maple frosting, but it turned out to be the perfect compliment to the pumpkin perfection. And probably one of my favorite frostings that I have made...not to mention cupcake. It's getting so hard to choose.

Screwdriver Cupcakes

2008-09-28T22:13:00.000-07:00

Wow. I can't believe it's been almost 3 months since my last confectionery conception that I have shared with you. I have been baking since July, but nothing I baked seemed quite good enough to post and share with you. But after a girl's weekend, sharing laughs, flirting with cute bartenders, martinis and shots, and watching chick flicks...my passion for cupcakes is turning a little orange.

Screwdriver Cupcakes

taken from Crazy About Cupcakes

Orange Cupcake Recipe:

Ingredients:

1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature (I used vegan margarine)

3/4 cup sugar

2 large eggs, separated, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups flour (I used brown rice flour)

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup orange juice

Zest of 2 oranges

Directions:

1. Set the oven to 35o degrees.

2. Cream together the sugar and the butter, until fluffy, for about 3-5 minutes. Add the egg yolks. Beat well.

3. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

4. Add the dry ingredients to creamed mixture, alternating with the orange juice. And add the zest of the 2 oranges.

5. Whip the egg whites in a separate bowl. Blend them into the batter.

6. Fill the cupcake liners about 2/3 full. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

*****

Spiked Orange Frosting:

Ingredients:

3 tbsp orange juice

3 tbsp Triple Sec

3 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature (I used vegan butter)

3 3/4 cups confectioner's sugar

1 1/2 tsp orange zest

Directions:

1. In a small bowl mix the orange juice and the Triple Sec.

2. In a mixer cream the butter. Add the confectioner's sugar to the butter, altering with the orange juice mixture , until you get the desired thickness of the frosting.

3. Stir in the zest and beat with mixture until creamy.

And for fun, I baked the cupcakes in this silicon cupcake liners with feet. And then I added a gummy orange slice for a little extra pizazz.

The baker enjoying the fruits (ahem...frosting) of her labor.

Happy baking!

Coconut Vanilla Dream

2008-07-10T16:31:00.000-07:00

It's that time again...to make and bake some more cupcakes. Yeah! A baker must practice, practice, practice. Now it was a matter of deciding what kind...that's the fun part.

I knew at least one of the ingredients I wanted to use and that was coconut, whether it be in the frosting or the cupcake...it was going to be involved.

So I narrowed it down to a Toasted Coconut Frosting with a Vanilla Cupcake (both of which are gluten-free and vegan)! And of course this recipe comes brought to you by, Crazy About Cupcakes, my recipe book of choice. Actually it's the only one I have right now...but it works just the same.

Vegan Vanilla Cupcake
*I actually used the recipe for Vegan White Cupcake, just altered the recipe ever so slightly to make them vanilla.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup vegan margarine, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups unbleached can sugar
3 cups unbleached all purpose flour (substituted rice flour to make it gluten-free)
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 cups rice or soy milk (I used vanilla soy milk to bring in more of the vanilla flavor)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

*recipe calls for almond extract, but I opted for adding more vanilla instead of using the almond extract)

*I also added a little xanthan gum, which is used for many purposes, but for baking gluten-free goodies, it adds volume to your bakery items.

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. In mixer, cream together the margarine and sugar for approximately 3-5 minutes on medium speed, or until fluffy.
3. In separate bowl, combine the flour, salt, and baking powder.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, alternating with soy milk. Then add the vanilla extract and beat for another couple of minutes at medium speed.
5. Fill the cupcake liners 3/4 full. Bake for about 20 minutes.

Toasted Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

4 tbsp vegan margarine, at room temperature (unsalted butter, in regular recipe)
2 cups flaked coconut
1 8-0z cream cheese, at room temperature (used vegan cream cheese)
2 cups confectioners sugar
2 tsp milk (soy milk)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Melt 2 tbsp of butter in large skillet over medium heat. Stir in the coconut and cook, stirring constantly, until golden brown. (Experts say by toasted the coconut it brings out more of the flavor)
2. In a mixer, cream the remaining buter and the cream cheese, on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add the confectioners' sugar, milk, and vanilla slowly, beating after each addition. Stir in the toasted coconut.

Because it was so creamy, I put the frosting in the fridge to thicken a little bit while the cupcakes cooled.

These have a nice mild flavor to them, but the toasted coconut definitely stands out the most to me. And the vanilla cupcakes were moist, not to0 dry, which with gluten-free recipes they have a tendency to be. They were by far the easiest to make and the most fun! I was pleasantly surprised!

Death By Chocolate...almost!

2008-06-22T21:39:00.000-07:00

My birthday present to my Mom was...surprise...CUPCAKES. I asked her what kind she would want, she said, "CHOCOLATE & CHOCOLATE!" I told her that was way too easy! But instead of doing just the chocolate cupcakes and frosting, which I had done in previous blogs, I wanted to do a little something extra. I wanted to try my "making and baking skills" at cupcake fillings. This was going to be battle of how strong my cupcake enthusiasm was and how much I could overcome my fear of the pastry bag. Who would come out on top...the baker or the chocolate? Only the cupcake could tell.

Round one. The cupcake batter. Simple. I used it last week, so I could do this part in my blindfolded with one hand tied behind my bag. Yes, I'm just that talented. Round two. Frosting. I used this recipe a few weeks ago, so I had to brush up on my previous buttercream skills. A little rusty, but managed to come through. Round three. Filling. This was new territory for me.

Side note here...I used a raspberry cream cheese filling, which was very similar to a raspberry buttercream...everything was similar just added cream cheese to the recipe. By the way all of these recipes can be found on previous Playful Cook blog posts, in some form of another.

I inserted the filling into the cupcake, but the filling didn't want to come out. I think it was due to the chunks of raspberry clogging the tip of the bag. Argh! When it finally did come out I didn't know how much had actually was in the cupcake, so I kept inserting more. So the surprise filling would be a surprise to me too because I didn't know how much of it actually made it into the cupcake, most of it probably ended up on my hands. Then I went out to hand-to-hand combat with the frosting.

The initial batch of frosting proved to be too thick to fit through the tip, which required me to take the buttercream out of the pastry bag and put it into a bowl, which was no easy task! From there I added extra soy milk and mixed it up. This proved to make it too soft to make the frosting stay in shape once it made it onto the cupcake. So I ended up spreading it with a butter knife. By the way much of this has been edited to save time so that I wouldn't have to relive the frustration. A lot of frosting wanted to come out the open end of the pastry bag since I have yet to master the art of handling the bag. It seemed that no matter how tight I twisted the open end of the pastry bag, frosting always managed to escape and ooze out onto my hand. In the end, I believe the pastry bag and chocolate teamed up to beat me in the hand-to-hand combat portion of the battle.

The kitchen looked like a war zone once it was all over...I think every bowl, measuring cup and spoon was used in this fight over chocolate raspberry perfection, which lasted over a two hour span. And pretty much the last thing I wanted to do was clean those dishes that remained unscathed only to show signs of "batter" (chocolate batter, that is)...ugh!

The only batter I should were that my hands cramped up due to the constant squeezing of the pastry bag for the frosting and filling. There was dried chocolate batter found in cuticles and under my nails, and my lower back hurt from bending over the kitchen table at weird angle to spread the frosting and decorations. There were relatively minor on both sides of the battle lines.

The dishes remained on the counter, in the sink, and the cupcakes simply radiated perfection. And now all I wanted to do was revel in the fact that I almost was beaten to death...by chocolate!

Chocolate Coffee Decadence

2008-06-17T15:44:00.001-07:00

As anyone knows who bakes or cooks that when you have a recipe in front of you sometimes things don't always go according to plan. Kirsten came to me with an idea for a cupcake, something involving coffee and cream cheese frosting. She had recently purchased these vegan cream cheese in hopes that I would use it for cupcake. So I knew in the cupcake recipe book that I had that there was recipe for a Coffee Cream Cheese Frosting, but what to pair the frosting with? Chocolate cupcake...well I just recently baked a batch of those, so I thought maybe vanilla with coffee cream cheese buttercream. Yum...that sounded good.

Then I began to look for a vanilla cupcake recipe, oddly enough my cupcake book didn't have a simple vanilla cupcake recipe, so I looked online. It took a few sites before I found one that seemed promising that looked easy enough to incorporate vegan, gluten-free ingredient substitutions.

So I began the baking process, but as I mixed together the batter for the cupcakes, something seemed off. The flour quantity seemed rather low, 1 1/2 cups of flour, when in other recipes it called for at least 2 cups. But I didn't think anything of it until I began filling the cupcake liners with the batter...8 cupcakes I got! I didn't even get an even dozen. So needless to say I will nto be sharing that recipe. Great...oh and by the way I only had enough dairy-free butter for one batch of these. Hmm...plan B! Wait a second...what is plan B? I don't have butter, it's like 8 pm on Friday night, and I really didn't want to spend 5 bucks on dairy-free butter. So I did the next best thing...I made vegan chocolate cupcakes, which I made previously on the Playful Cook, May 27 post, which didn't require butter or eggs. YEAH there is a plan B!

Now so instead of just making vanilla cupcakes, I now had to make chocolate cupcakes. This pretty much depleted much of my rice flour stash...oh well this is why I buy lots in the first place. Next in line is to make the Coffee Cream Cheese Frosting...no problem! Famous last words!

Crazy About Cupcakes

Coffee Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

1 8-0z package cream cheese, room temperature (substituted for vegan cream cheese)

2 tbsp evaporated milk (used soy milk...this is where things got iffy)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/8 tsp salt

2 cups confectioner's sugar

4 tsp ground espresso beans (Kirsten gladly sacrificed a little of her coffee to flavor this)

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl beat together cream cheese and evaporate milk until smooth (which we used soy milk for).

2. Add the rest of the ingredients and beat until desired spreading consistency.

However upon looking at the "spreading consistency" of the frosting I realized something was not right. It was way too runny to be spreading over the cupcakes...running or drooling over the cupcakes but not spreading. My substitutions failed me. After some careful deductions I realized that there is no substitution for evaporated milk (long time bakers are laughing at me right now...foolish child). Argh...another amiss for the coffee cream cheese cupcakes. What to do? Oh I know...how about plan C? We already moved on to plan B, so it was only logical. Plan C was to use the leftover chocolate butter cream frosting I had in the fridge with the runny coffee cream cheese frosting. But that was for another day...because it was about 9:30 pm by the time I did the dishes and I had to get up early for work.

So the next day I got home, I took out the coffee cream cheese frosting and the leftover chocolate buttercream frosting and let them warm up. The day before while collecting the remaining ingredients at the store I came across a reusable pastry bag set hanging next to the frostings, which looked a little more user friendly than the first set I bought and cheaper...just $2.99. I've been wanting to use more than a butter knife to spread the frosting around...now I could make it look somewhat professional. I mixed some of the chocolate substance with the coffee substance and tried spreading that. And then I finally put just the chocolate buttercream into the pastry bag and began to feel like an budding confectionery artist. Of course Kirsten wanted to get in on the fun and she finished off the remaining cupcakes. And for an extra added bonus I got dark chocolate covered espresso beans to garnish. And voila...chocolate coffee decadence.

It was the perfect blend of coffee and chocolate...pure decadence!

Sweet Dreams

2008-06-15T23:05:00.000-07:00

Every baker needs the right gadgets and accessories to make their "confections" rise and take shape. Since I am in the beginning stages of my pursuit of being a amateur cupcake baking connoisseur, I do not own of the necessary gadgets, I am merely borrowing them. But I do have a dream list and I thought I would share it with you.

The first would be a KitchenAid mixer. Ooh...it makes me so happy just imagining the rainbow of colors I can get it in. Orange, yellow, green, turquoise...I wouldn't care, as long as I could see it perched upon the counter, waiting to mix a delictable batter.

Another thing I would love is a cupcake stand to display my lovely confection creations.

Then I would need something to carry them in with out ruining the swirled icing or edible decorations. This fits the cupcakes perfectly.

Sweet dreams to happy baking!