Trying something new...

I hope everyone enjoyed their Easter/Passover/Whatever you celebrate that just passed! It was great to have the family all together to mow down on a boat load of food and sweets. Hah. The Easter bunny (a good friend) got me the absolute cutest earrings- 

How adorable are these?! 

Anywhoo, this week (today-4/23) is one of my co-workers' birthday. I literally spend more time with her, than I do with my own family. We are partners. We often finish each other's sentences, and/or unintentionally wear the same color scrubs. Although her favorite "cake" is Boston Cream Pie, I just did not have the time to make those for her. Instead, I chose to make her, (and everyone else in the office) something just as delicious, if not more so. 

For some reason, I keep having these bright ideas that I have to make two flavors of cupcakes. I know it's completely unnecessary, but hey, like they say- You Only Live Once! So for this post we have chocolate cupcakes 2 ways- First, with an absolutely delicious peanut butter cream cheese frosting. I could literally eat this out of the bowl and be a happy, happy girl. Second, a play on the all too famous Hostess Cupcake- with a sweet marshmallow creme filling, topped with a chocolate ganache, and adorned with cute little white chocolate swirlies. 

Looks nasty right now but soon....deliciousness. 

Here we are again- starting with my favorite Duncan Hines chocolate cake mix-  Devil's Food - add a teensie bit of grated chocolate to the mix.

Took me a good 10 mins to get through this entire bag! 

Finished PB frosting...scrumptious. 

I'll start with the Peanut Butter ones. So while these are cooling, Hop on over to the mixer and cream some butter & cream cheese until smooth. Add in a little vanilla & however much peanut butter you would like. I didn't want them to be to peanut buttery, so I added in a little less than a cup. After all of that comes together, gradually add in 2.5 cups of SIFTED confectioners sugar. Trust me- Sifting is key. Unless you want lumpy frosting...I left it in the fridge for a bit while I did some other things, but when I tried to use it- it was just too thick. My sister  ( a fabulous baker herself) suggested we add some milk- so in went a couple of tablespoons. It ended up being the perfect consistency!

and the finished PB cupcakes....

little baby ones. So cute! 

Momma bear cupcake- with little baby bear cakes in the back! 

It's not a party until you have sprinkles! 

Now, on to the Hostess Cupcake! I saw this recipe a few weeks ago on Pinterest, and have been dieing to make it ever since. Again while the cupcakes were cooling, I made the filling to go in the center of each cake. It consisted of butter, confectioner's sugar, vanilla, and marshmallow creme (I used the JetPuffed brand...bad experience with Fluff last time...lol). 

Marshmallow Creme Filling. 

I just used a small piping tip in a pastry bag- stuck the tip in the cake, and gave a little squeeze until the filling popped out a little on the top. That's what she said. bahahahah. I wiped the little bit of excess off of the top of the cake before dipping them into the fabulous ganache. It made them have a smoother top, and didn't put some random marshmallow in my beautiful chocolate. 

 The chocolate ganche that went on top could not be easier to make. You just chop up 6oz of bittersweet chocolate (I chopped it on top of a piece of parchment, which was on top of our cutting board, so I could just scoop it up easily with no mess), and place it in a bowl. Bring a bit of heavy cream and a touch of butter to a very SLIGHT boil and slowly pour into the chocolate bowl. Whisk together until it looks delicious and glossy.

Then just have at it- dip those bad larry's into the ganache and have them dry on a wire rack. 

I am not so steady when it comes to the dainty things (like the cute little swirlies on top of the cupcakes) so I had to enlist my fabulous baker sister Ashley to give me a hand. All she did was melt some white chocolate chips and put them in a piping bag- cut the tip off ever so slightly, and just replicate the famous Hostess swirls. 

Ash at work! 

Adorable mini! 

And the finished product: 

Ready for travel! 

So what we had two different kinds? They were both absolutely delicious. Maybe next time I'll settle down, and just do one, but for now, this works. I wish you could taste these through the computer! If you want the recipe for these, or any of the other one's on the blog- email me and let me know- I'd be happy to send them along! That's all for now- Off to dream of some other delicious flavors! Happy Birthday Cole!

Hippity Hop Hop...

I hope you are all ready for Easter/Passover! I know I am! There has been a plethora of sweets at our house this week (really awesome for my diet!), but I couldn't help but make a batch of cupcakes for the holiday. 

Things started out like the usually do- with my favorite Duncan Hines mix. Literally the best chocolate cupcake you'll ever have. Prepare them according to box directions, and before you put them in the cupcake liners, fold in a teensy bit of of chocolate- I like Cadbury milk chocolate bars for this. 

Once again, I was unable to decide on a frosting flavor. I conducted a few polls again at work for people to choose between Nutella and Oreo frosting. Nobody could really choose, because they both sounded absolutely fantastic. So after a quick trip to the store, I was prepared to make both. I usually have a little of extra batter left from the two boxes of cake mix, so I just made a couple of pans of mini cupcakes with that. My idea was to use the Oreo frosting for the big cakes and the nutella for the minis. 

I started with the Oreo buttercream. I let out a few frustrations and smashed a pack of oreos with the back of a frying pan. I tried to get them as fine as possible, without having to break out the food processor. I decided to use a little cream cheese in this frosting to break up some of the sweetness from the oreos and the sugar. Let me tell you- this tasted absolutely divine. Honestly, what could be bad about it? Nothing. 

So after that was done- I started on the Nutella. At least 1/4 of the people I asked about their opinion on the flavors, had no clue what Nutella was. I couldn't even believe it. How had these people not tasted the most fantastic spread ever? I have no clue. Anyhoo, I started with my basic buttercream recipe, and added the nutella that I had softened in the microwave for like 40 seconds. While they were both resting in the fridge, I made a few little spring time decorations:

White chocolate (with rainbow crystal sugar) butterflies and cute little white chocolate flowers. I used a mold that I ordered from amazon & different colored candy melts from Michael's. They are a pain to make, but they look so cute! 

So here's when things started to get a little crazy. I'm all set to start frosting with the Oreo, and then...nothing. It would not come out of the frosting tip! So I figured it was the tip I was using, so I switched them out and....still nothing! So instead of getting more frustrated, I switched over to  the Nutella. Things seem to be going well until the frosting got melty and I had to refrigerate them for a little, so they wouldn't melt off of the cakes. 

While frosting, I was thinking of what went wrong with this absolutely delicious Oreo frosting, and I figured it out. I needed to use the food processor to get the cookie crumbs super fine. It was the pieces of cookies that were getting caught up in the piping tips. Lesson learned. But I will totally be trying that recipe again. 

It was pretty late at this point, but I still had all those minis to deal with. My sister suggested that I just frost them with an offset spatula, and roll them in some left over cookie crumbs, so they wouldn't look that "ghetto." LOL. So that's what I did, and they came out great! 

These went like hot-cakes! Once again, I used them to lure in the good looking men passing by in the hospital hallways...one of these times it'll work! 

Even though there were a few mishaps, it has helped me learn and now I know what I have to change and work on for next time. 

Well I hope everyone enjoys their holiday and time with the family. I know I will! Easy on the sweets- they'll be plenty more to come!