Cupcakes

I'm not a huge cake lover, but I do love cupcakes and it seems everyone else is catching the love of cupcakes too, they are so in vogue. There are tons of cupcake blogs and bakeries all over the place. Beautiful little mini-cakes, not too big, not too small. Perfect for every size hands.

A couple of weeks ago the Martha (Stewart) TV Show had a week of cupcakes with a different recipe each day of the week. Such great ideas! Someday I want to try making these Chocolate Graham Cracker Cupcakes with Toasted Marshmallow and in my dreams I would love to make these Cupcake Pops for a shower or birthday party, but let's be realistic, it will probably never happen! But I do want to purchase this book, Hello Cupcake.

With these segments still fresh in my mind, I got a call yesterday afternoon, asking if I could make refreshments for a baptism happening that night ... the sons of a sister I visit teach. From what everyone understood, no other refreshments were coming ... a little background. It's about 1pm, GR had surprised me by coming home at 12:30 to help relieve me a little bit ... the morning hadn't gone well ... Alex was a loud, squirmy disaster during Library story hour, Sam disappeared for what seemed like forever (5 minutes or more) at the craft store, and I desperately needed a nap in order to keep from falling apart at the seems.

So with additional reinforcements in my court, I said I thought I could bang out two batches of cupcakes for that night. My thought process was this. I figured two batches of cupcakes would yield 48 cupcakes and that attendance would be around that. One cupcake seems like plenty of refreshment, while with cookies, one per person is never enough! Plus they are the perfect "finger food" no plates, no forks, no knife, no dishes, no clean-up needed!

GR and I both agreed that chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting would be well received, and I pulled out my trusty "Chocolate Cake Mix Doctor", settling on Chocolate Midnight Cake with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting.

Chocolate Midnight Cake
1 pkg plain dark chocolate fudge cake mix
1 cup water
1 cup mayonnaise
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line cupcake liners with papers or prepare two 9-inch round cake pans with butter and flour.

Place cake mix, water, mayonnaise, eggs and vanilla in a mixing bowl and blend on low speed for 1 minute. Stop machine, scrape down sides and mix for an additional 2-3 minutes on medium. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full or divide between both cake pans. Bake cupcakes for 17 minutes, bake cakes for 28-32 minutes. Allow cakes to cool completely before frosting.


Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
8 tablespoons butter, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
3-4 tablespoons milk

Place butter, vanilla and 1 cup confectioners' sugar in large mixing bowl. Blend on low until incorporated, 30 seconds. Add remaining confectioners' sugar alternately with 3 tablespoons milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, blending with the mixer on low speed. Add another 1 tablespoon milk if the frosting seems too stiff. Increase mixer speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, 1-2 minutes more.



The other thing I love about cupcakes, is that with one or two simple little extras, or in my case substitutions, your cupcakes can look like they took a lot longer than they really did.

A couple of years ago I got this little decorating tool from my MIL for either Christmas or my Birthday and I have used it for every birthday and school party since. I love using it to frost cupcakes ... for me, frosting cupcakes with a knife is really tedious and time consuming. Swirl on the frosting using one of the star tips and they almost, from a distance at least, look like they came from a bakery. Add a slice of strawberry for color (and cause you had them in the fridge already) and to cover up the fact that your swirl is more of an oval than a circle. And everyone thinks you've done something amazing, when in reality, you didn't - I mean come on, it's a cake mix cupcake, vanilla frosting and a slice of strawberry.


In other cupcake news, apparently Becca saw this segment on Martha earlier this month, and she's now decided that she wants the cupcakes I made last night for the baptism, only filled with pudding, to take to school for her birthday. Filled with pudding?! I guess I'll figure out how to use the filling tip from my little decorating tool kit ... I should probably practice this one before next week, huh?!

Patiently Waiting

We have had beautiful weather for the last couple of days and are expecting rain for the next five days. Last week I started cleaning out flower beds of oak leaves, dead weeds, new weeds, and cutting out dead stocks and branches from the bushes. I filled one yard bag with a small percentage of the work that needs to be done in the back yard, and this morning I filled a second with half or so of what needed to be cleaned out and cleared in the front flower beds.

Alex quickly joined me and Sam did too, once he finally decided to change out of his PJs. I had to go in to answer the phone and the boys continued to play together while I made a quick lunch, swinging and sliding and roaming and digging. At one point Sam came inside to use the bathroom.

Me: "Where's Alexander?"
Sam: "Outside"
Me: "Where?!"
Sam: "At the top of the slide. I told him to wait for me."



And wait he did. I poked my head out the back door and saw Alex very patiently and quietly waiting at the top of the slide for Sam to come back. I grabbed the camera, zoomed all the way in, and start clicking. His face totally lit up when he saw Sam ... pointing and yelling with delight, "Saaaa!" It was such a sweet moment and I was so glad I got to not only see it, but 'capture' it.

Down for the count!

For the last month, and longer really, we've been preparing for a very, very important and special day, and it's now less than two weeks away. Eight years we've been teaching and guiding, eight years she's been learning and preparing. We are so proud of Rebecca for making the decision to be baptized. It's something she's been looking forward to all year long and we've seen such a wonderful growth in her as she has thoughtfully planned her baptism. She's considered all the very important people in her life and ways they can participate in different aspects of her special day. We'd love to have as many of you attend as are able!