"Nothing Gold Can Stay", "Smooth Criminal" and "Summer Skin"

Left to Right: "Nothing Gold Can Stay" Vanilla Cookies and Cream,
"Smooth Criminal" Cookies and Cream Cheesecake,
"Summer Skin" Strawberry Shortcake.

“Summer Skin” Strawberry Shortcake Cupcake

“Summer Skin” Strawberry Shortcake Cupcake (makes about 24 cupcakes)

White Cupcake & Strawberry Filling

1 package white cake mix

2 eggs

1 cup whipping cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon salt

5 tablespoons water

2 cups diced strawberries

2 tablespoons white sugar

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.  Combine cake mix, eggs, whipping cream, vanilla extract, salt, and water and beat until light and fluffy.

3.  Add sugar to diced strawberries in a medium bowl. Stir and set aside. (Be sure to do this after you've finished mixing the batter because if you do this first the mixture will become watery if it is set aside for a long time. This is not good to add to the cupcake because it will make them soggy.)

4.  Pour batter into paper liners and fill about 1 - 2 tablespoons full.

5.  Add 1 tablespoons of the strawberry mixture on top.

6.  Cover the strawberries with more batter to ¾ full.

7.  Bake 15-20 minutes or until the cake springs back when lightly touched.

Vanilla Whipped Cream frosting

1 pkg instant vanilla pudding (you could use whatever flavor you want)

4 oz cream cheese, room temperature

1 cup cold milk

4 oz cool whip, thawed

1. whip room temperature cream cheese until light and fluffy
2. add instant pudding mix and beat until mix is well dissolved in cream cheese
3. add milk and whip
4. fold cool whip into mixture
5. frost cupcakes, refrigerate until serving

White Chocolate covered Strawberries

24 large strawberries

12 oz (1 bag) white chocolate baking chips

4 oz (1/3 bag) dark chocolate baking chips

1. Cover cookie sheet with waxed paper.
2. Heat white baking chips in a bowl on top of a saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, until chips are melted.
3. For each strawberry, poke toothpick into stem end, and dip three-fourths of the way into melted chips, leaving top of strawberry and leaves uncoated. Place on waxed paper-covered cookie sheet.
4. Heat dark chocolate chips in a bowl on top of a saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, until chocolate chips are melted.
5. Drizzle melted dark chocolate over dipped strawberries, using small spoon.
6. Refrigerate uncovered about 30 minutes or until coating is set.
7. Place chocolate covered strawberry on top of each cupcake as a garnish.

Thoughts on...

“Summer Skin” Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes:

Cupcake - The cupcake is light and fluffy but a little sticky. This may be because of the watery liquid from the strawberries. It's perfect with the strawberries.

Cupcake on the left has 1 tablespoon of strawberries.
Cupcake on the right has 2 tablespoons of strawberries.

Filling - The original recipe called for 2 tablespoons but after baking the strawberries leaked and created an ugly mess in the liner but it tasted amazing!   So for the second batch I changed it to 1 tablespoon and they still tasted delicious and they looked nice because the strawberry red didn't spill out and spread to other parts of the cupcake.

Frosting – Light and fluffy just like whipped cream with a hint of vanilla. It was perfect. You can substitute any flavor instant pudding. Next time I think I will try white chocolate. I originally used 8 oz (a whole tub of Cool Whip) and it made way too much. I only used about a cup to frost all the cupcakes so I changed the recipe to 4 oz. This frosting would taste good on the “Smooth Criminal” Cookies and Cream Cheesecake Cupcake.

Garnish – White chocolate covered strawberries are my favorite! You could dip the strawberries in other kinds of chocolate but the white chocolate and dark chocolate contrast is like heaven in your mouth.

Overall Rating (1 – 10, 1 being “blech” and 10 being “YUUMMMMM!!!!”)

“Summer Skin” Strawberry Shortcake Cupcake: 10

Minus the stickiness and the bleeding of the strawberries in the first batch I made, this cupcake is to die for. It's not about how a cupcake looks, it's about how a cupcake tastes and this cupcake is probably the best cupcake I've ever had.  

“Nothing Gold Can Stay” Vanilla Cookies and Cream Cupcake (modified)

"Nothing Gold Can Stay” Vanilla Cookies and Cream Cupcake (modified)

Vanilla Cupcake (makes about 15)

1/2and 3/8* cups cake flour, not self-rising


1/2 and 1/8 cups unbleached all-purpose flour


1 cups sugar


1/2 tablespoon baking powder


1/4 and 1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes


2 large eggs


1/2 cup whole milk


1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract


15 golden cream-filled sandwich cookies twisted in half

1. Preheat oven to 325°. Line cupcake pans with paper liners and put half of a golden cream-filled sandwich cookie in the bottom of each liner; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt; mix on low speed until combined. Add butter, mixing until just coated with flour.

2. In a bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, and vanilla. With mixer on medium speed, add wet ingredients in 3 parts, scraping down sides of bowl before each addition; beat until ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat.



[Modification from original]

Instead of adding the golden cream-filled sandwich cookies to the batter I:

1. put half of a full golden cream-filled sandwich cookie on the bottom of each liner
2. add 1 tablespoon of the vanilla batter on top of the cookie
3. place the other half of the full cookie on top of the batter
4. add 1 more tablespoon of vanilla batter on top of the cookie
5. bake, rotating pan halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 17 to 20 minutes.

[modified] Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
(Makes enough for over 15 cupcakes)



1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature


1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar


1/4 cup milk


1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract



1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth and creamy, 2 to 3 minutes. With mixer on low speed, add sugar, milk, and vanilla; mix on medium speed until light and fluffy.
2. Put frosting in a pastry bag and frost the top of the cupcake.

Thoughts on...

“Nothing Gold Can Stay” Vanilla Cookies and Cream Cupcakes:

Cupcake – The vanilla cupcake is still the best vanilla cupcake I've ever had. The texture is more consistent without the cookie crumbs and the full cookies in the inside are a nice surprise. The layers also look cool when the cupcake is bitten into.

Frosting – The perfect balance of butter and sugar. If you want the frosting sweeter you can add in more sugar. I added the sugar in ¼ cup at a time until I reached my desired flavor. This gave me more control than adding the sugar in all at once.

Overall Rating (1 – 10, 1 being “blech” and 10 being “YUUMMMMM!!!!”)

“Nothing Gold Can Stay” Vanilla Cookies and Cream Cupcake: 10

This is a big improvement from the original. It's also Greg's and Tabatha's favorite cupcake I've made so far. This one is a classic that you can make over and over again and not get sick of.

“Smooth Criminal” Cookies and Cream Cheesecake Cupcakes

"Smooth Criminal” Cookies and Cream Cheesecake Cupcakes

Cookies and Cream Cheesecake (makes about 24)


(modified from a Martha Stewart recipe)

32 cream-filled sandwich cookies, such as Oreos, 24 left whole, and 8 coarsely chopped


1 pound cream cheese, room temperature


1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten


1/2 cup sour cream


Pinch of salt


1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Place 1 whole cookie in the bottom of each lined cup.



2. With an electric mixer on medium high speed, beat cream cheese until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Gradually add sugar, and beat until combined. Beat in vanilla.



3. Drizzle in eggs, a bit at a time, beating to combine and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in sour cream and salt. Stir in chopped cookies by hand.



4. Divide batter evenly among cookie-lined cups, filling each almost to the top. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until filling is set, about 22 minutes.  Transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Refrigerate at least 4 hours (or up to overnight). Remove from tins just before serving.

Thoughts on...

“Smooth Criminal” Cookies and Cream Cheesecake Cupcakes:

Cupcake – It tasted just like cheesecake. I think the whole Oreo cookie on the bottom gave it more flavor than the crumbs in the actual cheesecake part.

The vanilla whipped cream frosting I used in the “Summer Skin” Strawberry Shortcake Cupcake would compliment the cheesecake very well.

Overall Rating (1 – 10, 1 being “blech” and 10 being “YUUMMMMM!!!!”)

“Smooth Criminal” Cookies and Cream Cheesecake Cupcake: 7

It was good but it wasn't my favorite. I would like to make a chocolate chip cookie dough version of this cupcake. I like this recipe because it was simple and I didn't have to make frosting or filling. 

“Nothing Gold Can Stay” Vanilla Cookies & Cream Cupcake

“Nothing Gold Can Stay” 

Vanilla Cookies & Cream Cupcake

Vanilla Cupcake (Makes about 15 cupcakes)


1/2 and 3/8* cups cake flour, not self-rising


1/2 and 1/8 cups unbleached all-purpose flour


1 cups sugar


1/2 tablespoon baking powder


1/4 and 1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes


2 large eggs


1/2 cup whole milk


1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract


21 golden cream-filled sandwich cookies (15 twisted in half and 6 coarsely chopped without cream)

*if you don't have a 1/8 measuring cup, you can use ¼ cup and 2 tablespoons of cake flour.

I decided to make some with the cookie
in the bottom and some without.

1.  Preheat oven to 325°. Line cupcake pans with paper liners and put half of a golden cream-filled sandwich cookie in the bottom of each liner; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt; mix on low speed until combined. Add butter, mixing until just coated with flour.
 


2.  In a bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, and vanilla. With mixer on medium speed, add wet ingredients in 3 parts, scraping down sides of bowl before each addition; beat until ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat.


I didn't take the cream out of mine.
It made quite the mess inside the bag.

3.  Put 6 cookies without their cream in a plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin.  

4.  Fold in the chopped cookies by hand with a spatula.

The cupcakes without the cookie puffed up!

5.  Divide batter evenly among liners, filling about two-thirds full. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 17 to 20 minutes.
 It may take a little longer than normal if you are using a light colored pan.

6. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
(Makes enough for 15 cupcakes)



1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature


3 to 4 cups confectioners' sugar


1/4 cup milk


1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract



15 golden cream-filled sandwich cookies halves

1.  In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth and creamy, 2 to 3 minutes. With mixer on low speed, add 3 cups sugar, milk, and vanilla; mix on medium speed until light and fluffy. If necessary, gradually add remaining 1 cup sugar to reach desired consistency.

2.  Put frosting in a pastry bag and frost the top of the cupcake.

I love how the "W" upside down is a heart.

3.  Place one of the left over halves of the golden cream-filled sandwich on top of each cupcake.

Thoughts on...

“Nothing Gold Can Stay” Vanilla Cookies and Cream Cupcakes:

Cupcake - The best vanilla cupcake I've ever had!

Frosting - The frosting turned out too confectioners sugar tasting so I added 1 ½ tablespoon of butter. When I make this over the weekend I am going to add more butter and use less sugar, gradually adding it last to the mixture until it reaches the desired flavor.

Another idea I have is instead of adding crumbs to the batter you could make a layered cupcake with the cookies. Put one half of a cookie on the bottom of the liner, put some batter on top of that, add another half of a cookie and then some more batter. Then on top you could add sprinkles to the frosting instead of another cookie. I think I will try this over the weekend as well.

The vanilla cupcake without the cookie crumbs would taste amazing as the cupcake batter used in the “Cheers” Boston Cream Pie cupcake.

Overall Rating (1 – 10, 1 being “blech” and 10 being “YUUMMMMM!!!!”)

“Nothing Gold Can Stay” Vanilla Cookies and Cream Cupcake: 7

I gave it a 7 because I wasn't crazy about the frosting at first, but it definitely tastes better the day after. Perhaps when I make these cupcakes again this weekend and tweak the frosting recipe a bit it will taste as good the first day it's made.

Next Cupcakes: August 27 - 29, 2010

“Smooth Criminal” Cookies and Cream Cheesecake Cupcakes

“Summer Skin” Strawberry Shortcake Cupcake

“Nothing Gold Can Stay” Vanilla Cookies and Cream Cupcake 

"Cheers" Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes

“Cheers” Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes

Yellow Cupcakes (makes nearly two dozen cupcakes)

1 cup unsalted butter

2 cups sugar

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

4 eggs

3 cups sifted cake flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

In a mixer with a whip attachment, cream the butter until light and fluffy. Make the butter soft so it's easier to beat. I always forget to take things out ahead of time so I had to blast the butter in the microwave for a few seconds.

Add the sugar and continue to cream. Gradually add the vanilla and eggs and mix in well.

Combine together the dry ingredients; then mix into the butter mixture alternating with the milk. Sifting the 3 cups of cake flour was awful and took forever. I guess it didn't help that I first began sifting regular flour and then actually looked at the ingredients and saw that it was cake flour I was supposed to be sifting. Major fail! Luckily I was sifting it into a bowl by itself so it didn't mix with anything and I could just put the regular flour back in it's bag and start sifting the cake flour.

Pour batter into cupcake paper-lined muffin tins filling them 3/4 full. Bake until puffed and firm in the center and light golden brown on top, about 20 to 25 minutes.

Putting 2 ice cream scoops worth of batter in each liner I made 22 cupcakes. At 19 minutes I stuck a tooth pick in and it came out clean so I took the cupcakes out of the oven even though the tops of them weren't light golden brown.

Vanilla Custard Filling (makes way more than enough for two dozen cupcakes)

2pkg.  (3.4 oz.) JELL-O Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding

2 cup cold milk

1 cup COOL Whip

Beat the pudding mix and milk with whisk 2 min. Let stand 5 min.

Stir 1 cup COOL WHIP into pudding

Fill a pastry bag to apply it to the cupcake for more control.

For some of the cupcakes I inserted the tip of the pastry bag to the center of the cupcake and squeezed some down in the middle. Other cupcakes I cut where the top of the cupcake meets the liner in half and added some cream to the bottom half of the cupcake and then just set the top of the cupcake on top of the cream. If you're going to serve them right away or don't need to transport them anywhere, you can take the entire liner off the cupcake when cutting it in half but because I was going to deliver some to other people I pulled just the very top of the liner down so it would still be protected when it slid around in the cake pan in the car. These could not be transported by putting them back into the muffin tin because it would be too hard to get them out again without ruining them.

Dark Chocolate Frosting (modified from MarthaStewart.com) (makes enough frosting for 30 cupcakes) (Also the same Dark Chocolate Frosting I used for the “Campfire Kansas” Smore cupcakes)

1/4 cup plus 1/2 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 cup plus 1/2 tablespoon boiling water

2 1/4 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

1/8 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted

1/8 teaspoon salt

¾ pounds best-quality semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled

To melt the chocolate, I melted used a double boiler, which means I melted it in a bowl over a pan filled with water on a low-medium heat setting.

When boiling water, I was told that it is best to boil more water than needed and then measure out the correct out because boiling such a little amount of water is not food for the pan.

Combine cocoa and the boiling water, stirring until cocoa has dissolved.

With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter (it's best to break up the pieces using a fork and adding it instead of just putting a stick of butter in). Then add in and beat at the same speed the confectioners' sugar, and the salt until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to low.

Add melted and cooled chocolate, beating until combined and scraping down sides of bowl as needed. (This tastes awesome!)

Beat in the cocoa mixture. (Don't taste the cocoa and water mixture because cocoa does not taste like everyday chocolate because it is bitter, but it tastes amazing after you beat it into the chocolate mixture!)

If not using immediately, frosting can be refrigerated up to 5 days, or frozen up to 1 month, in an airtight container.

Before using, bring to room temperature, and beat on low speed until smooth again.

Frost the cupcake and add a dollop of the vanilla custard filling on top.

Thoughts on...

“Cheers” Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes:

Cupcake - This was the first time I made yellow cupcakes from scratch. While the cupcake tastes good, I still prefer the box mix to this recipe. You can definitely tell it is homemade.

Filling – The filling was awesome! Next time I think I'm going to cut all of the cupcakes in half or use the cone method to add the filling just so you can taste it more. The pastry bag tip inserted into the center didn't give me as much filling in the cupcake as I would like. I put a dollop of the filling on the very top of the frosting and that tasted great together. Perhaps next time I'll use more on the frosting too. This might be a good idea especially because there was so much filling left over. Luckily, since I still have the yellow cake mix and chocolate frosting I bought from the store, I can use the extra filling with those to make more Boston Cream Pie cupcakes.

Frosting – I used the same frosting for this cupcake as I did for the Smore cupcake. I'm in love with it's satiny finish and deep, dark chocolate taste. It works perfectly with the vanilla custard and doesn't overpower it like it does with the marshmallow. Chocolate makes Greg's mom stop breathing, so I frosted special ones for her where only the very center of the cupcake top had chocolate frosting. The contrast between the pale cupcake top, the chocolate frosting and the yellow vanilla dollop of the custard filling on top looked awesome.

My mom love dark chocolate with maple cream filling, and I think this frosting would work perfectly if I could make that into a cupcake some how. Now I just need to figure out how to make maple cream filling and decide what kind of cupcake to bake it in...

Beware – Dogs cannot resist the smell of these cupcakes! I brought both kinds of cupcakes over to Greg's parents house last night and when Greg's mom and I came back inside from a walk, the dogs knocked the container (a cake pan with a fastened lid) off of the counter and ate them all! Luckily we only brought them a few cupcakes and have more at our apartment to bring them so they can taste the deliciousness!

Overall Rating (1 – 10, 1 being “blech” and 10 being “YUUMMMMM!!!!”)

“Cheers” Boston Cream Pie Cupcake: 7

It tasted great all together, and separately the filling and frosting were amazing on their own but I still prefer yellow box cake mix to this yellow cupcake made from scratch.

"Campfire Kansas" Smore Cupcakes

“Campfire Kansas” Smore Cupcakes

Graham Cracker Cupcakes (makes a dozen cupcakes)

1 ½ cups of graham cracker crumbs

½ cup of flour

2 ½ teaspoons of baking powder

½ cup of butter, softened

¾ cup of sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon of vanilla

¾ cup of milk

A rolling pin would have made crushing them easier.

For the 1 ½ cup of crushed graham cracker is about one package of graham crackers from a box. I split the package in two and placed them in plastic sandwich bags. Inside the bag I broke them into squares with my fingers and then closed the bag. Then I used the entire head of a wooden spoon to crush them up into fine pieces.

In a small bowl combine the crumbs, flour and baking powder; set aside.

To soften the butter, stick it in the microwave for 10 – 15 seconds. Beat the butter and the sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Scrape the sides of the mixing bowl with a spatula to make sure everything is mixed together well. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and then add the vanilla.

Add the graham cracker crumbs-flour-baking powder mixture to the batter alternatively with milk, beating well after each addition. 

I used an ice cream scooper to put the batter into the liners.

Divide the batter into a muffin tin lined with cupcake liners.

The original directions I followed said that you could fill the liners nearly to the top because the cake doesn't rise that much so I put 2 ice cream scoops worth of batter in each liners which ended up filling only 12 liners. The original recipe said it would make about 16 cupcakes.

Bake at 350F degrees for 20 minutes or until done. It's good to know your oven. Most cupcakes in my oven only take 18 minutes. Cool in pans for 15 minutes. It is recommended you remove the cupcakes from pans and cool completely on a wire rack but I usually just let my cupcakes cool in the pan. 

Marshmallow Filling (makes enough to fill a dozen cupcakes)

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

¾ cups confectioners' sugar

1/2 cup Marshmallow Fluff

3/4 tablespoons

2 regular sized Hershey candy bars

In a medium bowl, beat the butter with the confectioners'' sugar, Marshmallow Fluff and 3/4 tablespoons of the heavy cream at medium speed until fluffy. 

Transfer to a pastry bag to make filling the cupcake easier.

I didn't know where our pastry bags were at this point so I cut a cone shape out of the top of cupcake using a knife and filled it with 1 teaspoon of the marshmallow filling. 

 For a fun surprise I put 1 piece of the hershey candy bars in of the cupcakes on top of the bottom layer of marshmallow.  

Then I put another 1 teaspoon of marshmallow on top of that.  

I then cut off the point off the end of the cone and replaced the top of the cone back in it's place on the cupcake to cover up the filling.

Dark Chocolate Frosting (modified from MarthaStewart.com) (makes enough frosting for 30 cupcakes)

1/4 cup plus 1/2 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 cup plus 1/2 tablespoon boiling water

2 1/4 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

1/8 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted

1/8 teaspoon salt

¾ pounds best-quality semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled

To melt the chocolate, I used a double boiler, which means I melted it in a bowl over a pan filled with water on a low-medium heat setting.

When boiling water, I was told that it is best to boil more water than needed and then measure out the correct out because boiling such a little amount of water is not food for the pan.

Combine cocoa and the boiling water, stirring until cocoa has dissolved.

With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter (it's best to break up the pieces using a fork and adding it instead of just putting a stick of butter in). Then add in and beat at the same speed the confectioners' sugar, and the salt until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to low.

Add melted and cooled chocolate, beating until combined and scraping down sides of bowl as needed. (This tastes awesome!)

Beat in the cocoa mixture. (Don't taste the cocoa and water mixture because cocoa does not taste like everyday chocolate because it is bitter, but it tastes amazing after you beat it into the chocolate mixture!)

If not using immediately, frosting can be refrigerated up to 5 days, or frozen up to 1 month, in an airtight container.

Before using, bring to room temperature, and beat on low speed until smooth again.

Put the frosting in a pastry bag and frost the top of the cupcake however you'd like.

Thoughts on...

“Campfire Kansas” Smore Cupcakes:

Cupcake - The graham cracker cupcakes taste just like graham crackers! Probably one of the best cupcakes I've ever had. But beware because they are super soft.

Filling - I would like it to taste a little bit more marshmallowy. Next time I think I will add a layer of marshmallow on top of the frosting or put some mini-marshmallows on it.

Frosting -The frosting is to die for. Simply amazing. Perhaps using less frosting would make the marshmallow taste a little more prominent.

This may be a cupcake you want to eat on a plate with a fork. When I took my first bite of it, I was standing and Preston was underneath me, some of the top fell off and landed on him. So he had a streak of chocolate frosting down his side, just where he couldn't reach it when he tried to twist his body around and lick it off haha. This is probably due to how soft the graham cracker cake is but I think it may have to do with the fact that I kind of butchered the top of it while cutting the cone out and it had already fallen apart.

Overall Rating (1 – 10, 1 being “blech” and 10 being “YUUMMMMM!!!!”)

“Kansas Campfire” Smore Cupcake: 9

The cupcake taste was perfect! Plus it's rare to hear of a Smore cupcake using a graham cracker cupcake (I never even heard of a graham cracker cupcake until I thought I came up with the idea, only to find it already existing on the internet haha.) Most people make Smore cupcakes with chocolate cake. I didn't give it a 10 only because I would've liked a little bit more of the marshmallow taste.

This is a picture I put up in my kitchen as inspiration.

If I had a penny for everything I love about you, I would have many pennies.

So... I decided to write a blog about baking.  In 344 days, Greg and I will be getting married and I will be a wife.  A wife!  Although I have many characteristics to be an outstanding wife, I am kind of lacking in the wife duty department.  I'm not very domestic.  I don't know how to cook or bake and I can be quite the messy person.  I decided that in the next year I am going to change all that so that when I officially become Greg's wife, I will actually be able to play the part... well.

I chose baking as the first skill I will acquire.  This should be no surprise to anyone seeing as though my favorite movie is Waitress and that I love desserts!  As of last weekend, I have become a cupcake baking fiend.  I made a yellow cupcake with chocolate chips, filled with raw chocolate chip cookie dough and frosted with chocolate chip cookie dough (I will write a separate entry for my experience with this later).  Since then all that has been on my mind is baking, running and wedding planning.

I decided that I will bake something every weekend and then write about the process and share the recipe on this blog.  I figure this would be a much easier way of keeping a baking cookbook than printing out all the recipes (especially when I combine different recipes).  Plus, I can upload pictures of what I'm doing and help give pointers for what worked for me, what didn't work for me, and what I might do to improve it.

Right now, most of the baking recipes will be cupcakes.  We will be making cupcakes for our wedding instead of having a traditional wedding cake and I think by testing out these different cupcakes we will be able to narrow down the perfect cupcake selection to serve our guests.

Like last week's cupcakes, I will probably make them and instead of keeping them all for myself, I will offer them to other people and deliver them to your door.  At the bottom of each entry I will try to let everyone know what I plan on making for the next weekend, so if you think you'll want to try it, let me know and I'll see about getting you some!

For tomorrow, well technically today, I will be baking two different types of cupcakes.  I will be baking a Smore cupcakes (graham cracker cupcake filled with marshmellow and pieces of hershey chocolate, frosted with dark chocolate with graham cracker crumbs sprinkled on top) and Boston Cream Pie cupcakes (yellow cupcakes filled with yellow custard with dark chocolate frosting).  I'm making these special cupcakes in honor of Tabatha's new promotion at work!  We're going to celebrate by going out to dinner and eating these cupcakes for dessert!  Yummy!

This will be the first time I ever make the cupcake from scratch and not from a box mix, and I'll also be making the dark chocolate frosting from scratch (I'm going to use the same frosting for both cupcakes).  Cross your fingers and hope they turn out well!

p.s. I bought yellow box cake mix and a container of dark chocolate frosting from the store just in case they don't turn out well.

p.p.s.  I will bake a dozen cupcakes of your choice for anyone who can tell me where "Easy Monica's Bakery" comes from.

Next weekends cupcakes will be:  Cookies and Cream Cheesecake cupcakes and Triple Vanilla Cupcakes (vanilla cupcakes with Golden Oreos and vanilla frosting)