Snow men cupcakes

I haven't had much time to bake anything lately, but I really wanted to make something for christmas. A friend of mine showed me a picture of melted snowmen cookies that were very cute and funny, so I decided to make snowmen cupcakes!

Another friend of mine invited me and my boyfriend on friday (Dec 23) to make a Brioche and to help me make the cupcakes. We were so hungry by the time he brioche was done, that we forgot to take pics, but here, have a picture of it just before we put it in the oven!

The cupcake cups were a little tall, I think they're actually for muffins... Anyway, this is the second time I try this vanilla cupcake recipe and it was as good as the first time!

We made three batches of those, and while the last batch was in the oven, I started to decorate the snowmen heads: marshmallows with black icing.

Oh look, you can see some of the Brioche in that pic!

I started with neutral ones, with eyes and mouths of "coal", then we got excited and my friend and boyfriend kept giving me ideas! Toon Link that ended up looking like Michael Jackson, a Sheikah Stone, Doug, money eyes, a snowman in love, Harry Potter and Voldemort (which ended up looking like a chinese man), a zombie, dead snowmen (burned marshmallows).

Then I made the frosting, and they went to buy some oreo cookies for the hats... which ended up being berrets 'cause we couldn't figure our how to make a top hat.

They added the noses, we added the hats and frosted the cupcakes and...

Neutral snowmen, three eyed snowman, Harry Potter and Money eyes.

Snow man in love.

Burnt snowman

Zombie snowman.

Elvis snowman.

We even made a Bert!

Happy Holidays!!

Lilac Cupcakes

Some pretty chocolate cupcakes I baked for my Grandmother's 86th birthday. I'm in love with the vanilla lilac frosting and the pink pearls, despite them being a little bit hard to chew. 

More Christmas Cupcakes

Vanilla cupcakes with vanilla frosting. Tried the open star tip with the green frosting cupcakes and the closed star tip with the white frostin cupcakes. Only 10 days for Christmas! 

Christmas Cupcakes

'Tis the season to be jolly! And also, bake Christmas treats. I've been meaning to make some Christmas-themed desserts but I didn't have time until now. My aunt asked me to bake her some treats for her get-togethers with her friends, and I went with the always reliable cupcakes.

While doing my shopping I came across these lovely cake cups. I didn't occur to me that the chocolate cake will darken the cup and the Christmas decorations would be lost. Oh well, I still have some of them left and am planning to do some vanilla cupcakes later.

 I used some vanilla frosting and added a few drops of green dye. If there's something I can't stand about food colorants it's the obnoxious amount you have to use to get a solid color. Although these pastels look pretty, if I wanted it to be Christmas-tree green, I would had have to use A LOT of green dye. 

And to finish them up, just added a few Christmas sprinkles. Voilá, an easy-pretty Christmas dessert. 

Cookie Monster Cupcakes

This time I tried to make the famous Cookie Monster cupcakes, as shown by this tutorial. I've seen the picture of them around tumblr and the internet a couple times, so I decided to give them a try when my boyfriend asked me if they were difficult to make. 

Once I got around it and watched the tutorial I felt very disappointed when I learned she used purchased muffins instead of cupcakes. I realized the reason to do so makes it easier to fit the cookie inside the bread, since the muffin have bigger tops that the cupcakes. However, I decided I would bake my own cupcakes and in case they were too small, purchase muffins as my back-up plan. 

My first batch of cupcakes were not big enough for a Cookie Monster cupcake. I kept them and figured I could make some 'Cookie Monster' inspired cupcakes with them later. The second batch looked like this:

Then we had the frosting. She is not kidding when she says you need A LOT of blue dye to get the right color. I think mine's still a little too light, but I was about to finish the bottle and had my hands completely tinted in blue.

Now, for the furry-like shape of the Cookie Monster, she used dried coconut and dyed it blue. It seemed fair enough so I did the same thing. Once again, I used a lot of blue dye and actually got it looking more blue than the frosting.

So I took my cupcake and applied the blue frosting making sure to cover all of it. Next step is to dip it in the dried coconut. 

...not quite the result I was looking for. Although it did not look bad, it certainly did not resemble the Cookie Monster! The problem here is that my dried coconut came in stripes, while hers looked more like powder.

After a panic attack, I looked for my handy-dandy pastry bag and star-shaped tip and did my best to give it a furry effect. 

I also decorated the smaller cupcakes with the same blue frosting and added small chocolate chips as if they were some sort of blue cookie. 

Next step was adding the cookie to the cupcake. The gap she makes with a knife in the video is quite big, but I discovered that (since my cupcakes are smaller than a muffin) I did not need to cut that much. Just a small cut will do to make the cookie stay. 

Here's where things did not turn out very successfully. Unfortunately they don't sell Cadbury chocolate in Mexico, so I could not get the white buttons. I found something similar in a local bakery shop, although I discovered quite late they were not big enough for the cupcake. The result is that instead of having the big-googlie-eyes that characterize the Cookie Monster, I got a very reasonable-looking Cookie Monster. I guess he won't steal your cookies.  

Halloween treats

I haven't been able to make something for my friends lately, and since I couldn't want to go to any Halloween parties this year, I decided to bake something for them.

The original idea was to have three kinds of cupcakes: chocolate, vanilla, and orange, with vanilla frosting. All made from scratch, a first in frosting and vanilla for me.

Sadly, the first chocolate cupcakes I made overflowed and dripped in the oven, so I had to take them out and clean everything before they started a fire. I cried in frustration for a while, and after washing everything I moved on to try the vanilla cupcakes. They came out surprising well! (my previews tries had only ended in sunken, raw un-edible things)

I made them green and put them in purple cupcake cups, purple frosting, and green chips to make them the zombie cupcakes. After I finished, I realized they could also be Hulk cupcakes, lol.

Then, while my amazing boyfriend was buying me more butter, trying to make me feel better about the ruined choco-cupcakes, I started to make the orange cupcakes. He arrived and helped me put them in the cupcake pan, we put them in the oven and we were happy.

After 10 minutes in the oven, I realized I forgot to color them! Oh well, I'll color the frosting.

Ok, so I didn't color them, but they're still pretty!

They were supposed to be purple, in green cups, with green frosting and purple chips. To make them the other zombie cupcakes. Or reversed Hulk ones.

I tried again with the chocolate cupcakes, and for some odd reason, they sunk! I was sad, and I was thinking of trying another batch, when my mom said I should make brownies since they always come out right. Plus, the frosting is not too sweet, so I could frost them and they'd still be good. So I listened to my mom.

I made black cupcakes and put them in orange cups, with orange frosting and black chips!

I am VERY satisfied with the results!

The vanilla cupcakes that were moist and delicious and just sweet enough. The orange cupcakes with their tangy flavor and subtle maple hints. The brownies to which I added a bit of baking powder so they would rise a bit and come out fluffier. AND my first ever frosting from a Paula Deen recipe! It came out so velvety and flavor neutral, you can use it on everything! Plus, it makes a crust after a while, so it stays put.

I now have one mixed dozen for work, and two mixed dozens for my friends, plus some left overs of each for my family. I am happy (and hyper) camper. :D

Celebration Cupcakes

I started looking for a new job a few months ago, and I was so sure I would get one that I bought a Strawberry Supreme cake mix to make something once I got a job. Sadly, job openings were pretty scarce, and I ended up bombing most of my interviews.

Last week, I got an email from an agency. They had a job opening, and I was in the top 6 of 70 applicants, and the only woman. Needless to say, I was excited!

On the day of the interview I was way more nervous than I was in other interviews: cold sweaty palms, nervous chatter, and smiling like an idiot. I don't know why I felt the way I did, but it was a great coincidence the interviewer (also owner of the agency) was a huge Disney fan like me. So we spoke about my experience, portfolio and a bit about Disney, then we talked about the agency and the job itself. Sadly, I didn't get the job because of my lack of experience, BUT he offered me ANOTHER job in which I could fit in nicely!

Time to open my cake mix box!

I decided to make cupcakes with two different cupcake cups, and different decoration.

First, I added a little sugar on top of three cupcakes, but the batter ate it all when it poof-ed up, so I sprinkled a bit of sugar after they were done.

Since the new job is at a design agency, I decided to try my hand and make some CMYK multicolored frosting. I thought it would be great now that autumn is starting and we're getting our first fresh days of the season.

I was wrong. It's still too hot for anything to stay put, so the frosting melted a bit. Of course, this being my first time with multicolored frosting doesn't help.

I must admit I regret using frosting for this, since I don't like it so much and I usually only use a tiny bit of it. Whatever, I can scrape it off, I suppose.

So, as a conclusion: The cupcakes are delicious but I wish I would've only gone with the sprinkled sugar.

EDIT: Now that the frosting is dry and shiny, they look and taste A LOT better. I'm sorry cupcakes, for ever doubting your awesomeness.

Cookies&Cream Cupcakes

A couple days ago Carola introduced me to the amazing blog Bakerella and I instantly fell in love with it. One of the most recent entries was about making Cookies & Cream cupcakes with Oreo cookies. The recipe seemed simple enough, so I though I'd give it a shot.

I got my Oreos and broke them into small pieces.

Then, I placed them in the baking cups.

I decided to make half a dozen cupcakes with a whole Oreo cookie within them.

In the end, the cookies didn't go up as Bakerella's did, they stayed at the bottom of the baking cup (maybe it was my Betty Crocker ready-made cake mix?), so there really wasn't a visible difference between the whole Oreo and the broken ones (which is a shame, Bakerella's broken Oreo cupcakes looked so pretty)

This time I actually wanted to try and make the frosting myself, since it was a special cookies & cream one, but unfortunately I didn't have shortening at hand so I had to settle with good ol' Betty Crocker's vanilla frosting.

I smashed the broken cookies I had left and sprinkled them over the vanilla frosting.