The first 6 months

For those of you that have joined me a little later on my 52 weeks of deliciousness I thought I'd give you a direct list. Starting with my first week.

Week/cupcake

1. Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes bomb is a very good description
2. Lemon Raspberry Cupcakes
3. Lemon Poppyseed Muffins
4. Ginger Cupcakes with Lemon Frosting
5. Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting (attempt 1, wasn't impressed)
6. Apple Streusel Cinnamon Swirl Cupcakes
7. Kid Friendly Cupcakes
8. Individual Coffee Cakes
9. Champagne Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream Icing
10. Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
11. Mocha Chip Cupcakes
12. White Mountain Chocolate Cupcakes
13. Orange Cupcakes with Vanilla Frosting
14. Chocolate Cupcakes with Coconut Buttercream Frosting
15. Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes
16. Mini-Cheesecake Cupcakes (nothing mini about them!)
17. Red, White and Blueberry Cupcakes
18. Mimosa Cupcakes
19. Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting
20. Muffins that taste like donuts
21. Carrot Cake Cupcakes (attempt 2, the winner!)
22. Chocolate Cupcakes with Caramel Frosting (fail!)
23. Individual Raspberry Cobblers
24. Slider Cupcakes also the winner of my Cupcake Challenge
25. German Chocolate Cupcakes

Any guesses what week 26 will bring?
Thanks for reading!

German Chocolate Cupcakes

I mentioned in my other post that I made German Chocolate cupcakes for my Dad. Originally, I had told him that he should enter into the cupcake challenge but when he tried to enter it told him that he had to be a member, he didn't want to be a member, and didn't really think that he should have to enter a contest for me to make him cupcakes. He had a point.

As you may have guessed, I'm a huge fan of sweets. Growing up, there were two days of the year that I didn't want an extra big slice of cake. Those two days would be February 25 and July 27, my Dad and older brother S's birthdays. Everyone knows that you get your favorite cake on your birthday and guess what both of them love? You got it, German Chocolate. Now, don't get me wrong, I still ate the cake, but it's definitely not my favorite.

Not my favorite, but still something I wanted to add to my cupcake repetoire so I spent some time searching out German Chocolate recipes via Google. And I ended up stumbling onto The Cupcake Project. How have I not found that before?! I swear, the longer I go on with my weekly cupcake-ing the less original I feel. Oh well! Anyway, there was a great recipe for German Chocolate cupcakes (not that I really know because I didn't actually eat any of them....) and a little education on the history of the German Chocolate Cake. Guess I'll have to stop telling my Dad "This isn't real German chocolate cake."

The condensed milk had me a little wary, just because I haven't used it before and generally I'm against dairy of any kind that doesn't require refrigeration, but it turned out fine.

We had a little bit of a cupcake disaster with this batch. The yield is supposed to be 30 but I lost 12 due to my mini oven. I was making these on Thursday night, we were going to leave Friday afternoon, for my family's annual camping trip. That Thursday it also happened to hit 107 degrees here, a rarity. It was still 80+ after 7pm when I finally dragged myself into the kitchen. Since I normally only make one tray of cupcakes at a time and this time I was making two different types I decided to put two of the trays in at a time. Big mistake. The tray on the top cooked fine, the bottom tray burnt on the outside and barely cooked in the center. I hate wasting food but was forced to toss out that whole tray.

This definitely was the messiest I have ever seen all 4.5 feet of my counter space:

Kinda entertaining though isn't it?

I had no space for an extra cooking rack! The cupcakes with the sunken centers were later dumped in the trash. Much to my Dad's dismay.

That's one gooey mess.

I decided there is no way to make these look pretty. So I went for butterfly papers.

I couldn't catch him taking a bite, here he is meticulously removing the paper.

Dad said they were great, so did my brother S and his family!

And by now, we all know how Bretta feels.

Cupcake Challenge Winner: Mini-slider Cupcakes

Cupcake Challenge Winner!

I have to admit, after all these months of baking from scratch this felt an awful lot like cheating! Jess submitted the recipe from Bella's Bistro and I feeling a little nervous. Bella is a pastry-chef in training (literally) and makes delicious meals almost every night of the week (I'm not kidding, I see her weekly menus.) Her cupcakes looked great and already had great reviews.

The Materials

These cupcakes were simple to make and looked adorable (even if my lettuce doesn't look as good as Bella's!)

I had Sarah do a taste test before sending them out to Jess. Sarah thought they looked cute and tasted good.

Unfortunately these didn't make it to Jessica in good order, the food containers I sent them in opened up mid ship and they were ruined by the time they got to her :( I'm so sorry Jessica, I'll have to make it up to you!

As for Bretta, she's pretty tired of everyone else getting treats and isn't talking to me.

Individual Raspberry Cobblers from The Pioneer Woman

It's summer time in the valley and the berries know it. We've been making a habit of making a weekly stop at our local berry patch. It has been delicious. I think that I purposely block out how good berries taste during the winter time, like the memory of their taste hurts to much to think about. Then, once summer hits, I take full advantage of the ripe berries available to me. For my 23rd week I chose to make Pioneer Woman's individual Raspberry Cobblers, with some fresh whipped cream. The result was dangerous. So dangerous that I got into the car and got them to Mr. T's job before I could eat all of them. And I would have.

What's that? You think I'm cheating again? I will have you know that in the first line of her post PW says "Technically I could call these cobbler cupcakes." See, I win!

But no need to get technical. Just a need to make them yourself at home. And give some away. You have my permission to eat more than one, but not the whole batch. I'm sorry. Your hips will thank me.

You'd be bitter too if you didn't get any cupcakes and your person put silky belts around you on "Fancy" dinner night.

whew!

Mr. T, B and I just got back from a fabulous weekend of camping with friends and family. Wwe've got 2 weddings in the next 6 weeks and prepping for a third next spring so this week will be my blog-a-thon week. Upcoming cupcakes are:
Pioneer Woman's individual raspberry cobblers
Mini Sliders (also the cupcake challenge winner) from Bella's Bistro
German chocolate cupcakes for my Dad, who didn't think he should have to enter a contest for me to make him cupcakes
And last but certainly not least, our surprise celebratory 26th week cupcake which means that I am halfway done with 52 weeks of deliciousness!

Hope everyone has a fabulous week after our lovely long weekend!

Cupcake Fail: Popcorn and Milk Dud attempt

Have you ever gone to the movies and gotten popcorn and milk duds? Maybe your friend got the popcorn and you got the milk duds and shared them? My friends and I used to do that very thing and if you've never had a bite of popcorn (extra butter) and milk dud at the same time you are missing out! Enter Ben, Mr. T and I's friend, and movie night at our house. After narrowing down what movie we wanted to watch he says "you know, we both have seen this movie, let's make cupcakes!"
That's when I got the idea to make a cupcake with the same sensations as my favorite movie treat.
My ideas aren't always the best.

So our basic idea came down to making a chocolate cupcake with caramel frosting and we would sprinkle popcorn over the top for fun. And we had the length of a Disney movie to make them in.

Ben was the only one that had made caramel before, so I put him on that duty.

The end product tasted fine without the popcorn but the caramel was hard, not frosting like and didn't spread well. I don't think the popcorn had enough butter.

30 Day Challenge, Day 30

What I have gained from this blogging exercise.....

I wouldn't say that I really gained much from this if we are looking for enlightenment and soul searching moments. I did, however learn that there are some topics that I would rather not discuss on the blog (for example, my parents separation) and that in a few minutes a day I can slap a post up and hopefully entertain others! I enjoyed the questions, and the opportunity to share a bit of myself with all of you readers. Thanks to Cole and Mrs. A for getting me into it and to everyone that read through.

Now let's see if we can peer pressure the crazy bunny lady into it, c'mon we'd love to hear more about you!

So I will no longer be posting a response to a question every day but I will be adding more cupcakes, cupcake challenges and projects to the blog. And of course the occasional random tidbit.

Happy seventh Birthday to my handsome nephew D! Love you buddy!

30 Day Challenge, Day 29

What is my best feature?

Growing up I got a lot of attention for my blue eyes. Out of 8 kids I'm the only one with Blue ones. All my other siblings either have brown or dark hazel eyes. Both of my Grandfathers had blue eyes, I always felt extra special to share that with them.

But I've always really liked my neck.

30 Day Challenge, DAy

My Most Luxurious Purchase?

My 2006 Manual Ford Escape

That I love. That I would buy all over again. That faithfully takes me from point A to point B, C and sometimes D without so much as a squeak.

That I just smashed the front end on today.

How's that for irony?

More cupcakes are coming soon

I made too many cupcakes last month.
Ha! As if there is such a thing!
But seriously, I got a head of schedule so I took a little break.
Here's a peak at what I've been doing in the mean time:

30 Day Challenge, Day 27

What I am Good At

I'm good at baking. And playing with my dog. And shoulder rubs. 

I think that's it. ;-)

30 Day Challenge, Day 26

My Most Surprising Moment....

I am extremely hard to surprise. I always guess before hand. I would say the most surprising moment for me (in recent memory) was when Mr. T told me that he loved me for the first time. We were lounging together and he just blurted it out. I'm pretty sure the look on my face was super ugly, I raised my eyebrows and pulled away from him, utter shock on my face. Later he told me that he was slightly concerned about my reaction. As soon as I got myself together I told him I loved him to but it was a major shock. We had been "official" for exactly one month at that point and dating for about 6 weeks. 

30 Day Challenge, Day 25

My Dream Home

Are you ready for this?

 picture taken from hasso

This house would pretty much be the perfect looking house to me. In a perfect world I'd love a 5 bedroom, 3 bath house with an office, den and big kitchen. Sounds great doesn't it? If that perfect house could be on a shared ranch with my siblings, all the better!

30 Day Challenge, Day 24

My to-do list for the next 7 days:

Today: Wedding dress shopping with my cousin, BBQ for my Aunt's birthday

Tomorrow: Take quilting class, do laundry, clean house, make cupcakes

Monday: Work, gym, dinner and maybe a movie with Mr. T

Tuesday: Work, time with Mr. T, dinner, work on sewing projects

Wednesday: Work, gym, pick up CSA box and work on sewing projects

Thursday: Work, gym, dinner and time with Mr. T

Friday: Work, something fun :)

30 Day Challenge, Day 23

What's in my purse?

- Chapstick
- Lipstick
- Allergy Pills
- Pack of tissues
- Keys
- Sunglasses
- Gum
- Tums
- Pen & Highlighter
- Tea Bags
- Earrings
- Face Blotters
- Notepad
- Wallet
- Receipt Holder
- Face powder
- Mini Mascara
- Lip gloss
- St Teresa of Avila's prayer
- CA Insurance License (lol)
- List of materials for my upcoming quilting class
- Tampon
- Mini bottle of Aleve
- Make-up

Wow! I didn't realize I had so much in there! I guess I just like to be prepared.