fire up the ovens!!

for some gingerbread cupcakes! I made these cupcakes along with some peppermint chocolate ones for a Peet's Coffee and Tea Holiday meeting (featuring seasonal drinks such as the gingerbread latte and peppermint mocha). Once again, following the cupcake wisdom of my 'Hello Cupcake' book, I made a pseudo-homemade batch up cupcakes using a yellow cake mix, 4 eggs, buttermilk in place of water, a bit of molasses (about 1/4 to 1/2 cup), and a bunch of ginger. You can alter the spiciness of your cupcakes with the amount of ginger you add. I made a batch of cream cheese frosting, piped some on each one using a large circle icing tip and then sprinkled some yellow sugar on top! I also topped them off with a ginger snap wedge. *However, you should add the wedge just before serving your cupcakes because as I found, the cookies go soft in the fridge and when they stay out for too long.* When it comes together, it's really all about the cream cheese frosting. yum. :)

rock-a-bye-baby cupcakes

These cutie cakes were gobbled up today at a baby shower for a friend of mine. I made a scrumptious white chocolate raspberry cake recipe with raspberry buttercream icing. I've tried a few buttercream icing recipes and I think this is the best and easiest one to make that doesn't taste like you're eating a stick of butter:

Easy Buttercream Icing

1/2 cup unsalted butter

2 cups icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1-2 tbsp milk

Mix together and add more or less liquid for desired consistency :)

Where did I get the inspiration for these cakes you might ask? My new fav cupcake book: "Hello Cupcake!" This book is a great resource and has some really fun ideas. Some thought the blankets over the babies were made of fondant - not so!!! Just microwave starburst candies for 4 seconds and then roll them out and mold them! I give two thumbs up for the creative inspiration of "Hello Cupcake!"

my cupcake debut...

October 1. 150 cupcakes. San Francisco. Caribbean-theme.

After a couple afternoons of non-stop baking and decorating, these little babies left their home and went out into the great beyond - downtown San Francisco! This was an adventure indeed which included a moment of panic when we had to think of a quick solution to prevent toppling cupcakes in the cooler as they were being transported.

***HINT: If you are transporting cupcakes, fill up extra space in your cupcake container with marshmallows! They're flexible, cheap and at the end of the day still edible! I went to Target and bought a few stackable organizer containers that I used to transport the cakes - these worked great, and the marshmallows that filled in leftover space kept the cupcakes from toppling over and mushing into each other :)

Just got word today that the event was a success and the cupcakes a hit! Here's a picture of some of the cakes before they were gobbled up!