ACK!!!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you to Cupcakes Take the Cake for mentioning me!

I was so shocked when Asian Persuasion emailed me to say she saw my cupcakes on their website! My heart is racing! Thank you to all my new followers too! I'm new at the blog thing, but thanks for looking in on me!

Thanks for the mention, you guys are my idols!

Salty Carmel Cupcakes

I was in the mood to bake today and have been wanting to try these, so today was the day!

They are a delicious carmel cake filled with homemade buttery salted caramel and topped with a salted buttercream frosting. Salty sweet!

Cupcakes:
1 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. coarse salt
1/2 c. butter
1 c. plus 2 tbsp. packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. plus 2 tbsp. heavy cream

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line cupcake tins paper cups. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.

Cream butter, brown sugar and vanilla on medium-high until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until combined. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of heavy cream, and beating until combined after each.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each about 1/2 to 3/4 full. Bake for about 25 minutes. When done, transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Salted Caramel Filling:
1/2 c. sugar
3 tbl. salted butter
1/4 c. plus 1 tbsp. heavy cream, at room temperature

Melt the sugar over medium high heat in a large pot. Whisk the sugar as it melts, until it becomes an amber color. I love the smell of melting sugar! Have the butter already opened and set aside to add when necessary. Add the butter and stir it in until melted. Pour in the heavy cream and whisk until smooth. Remove from heat and let cool.

Cut a small round cone-like shapes out of each cupcake and add about 1 teaspoon of carmel. Replace the cake piece and set cupcakes aside.

Salted Carmel Buttercream Frosting:
1/4 c. sugar
2 tbsp. water
1/4 c. heavy cream
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 c. salted butter
1/2 c. unsalted butter
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1 1/2 c. powdered sugar

In a saucepan, stir together sugar and water. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Cook without stirring until mixture turns an amber color. Remove from heat and slowly add in cream and vanilla, stirring until smooth. Let carmel cool, about 20 minutes, until it is just barely warm and still pourable.

In mixer, beat butter and salt together. Reduce speed and add powdered sugar. Mix until thoroughly combined. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the caramel. Beat on medium high speed until light and airy, and completely mixed (about 2 minutes). Mixture should be ready to use without refrigeration. If your carmel was too warm when added, it will cause icing to be too thin; refrigerate for 10-20 minutes.

Top caramel-filled cupcakes with frosting. I added a sprinkle of coarse sugar crystals to the tops of mine for a fun look.

Whoo-Hoo!

I did it! I am entering the Harrisburg Cupcake Cup on October 3rd! I wanted to enter this last year, but I had another commitment on the day of the competition so I couldn't, but this year, this year I am in!! The proceeds from the competition go to benefit the Central PA Food Bank. Details are available on the website, http://cupcakecup.org/

I am so excited and will be trying out my recipe this week before school starts again for me on Aug 23rd!

To Wear or Not to Wear

Since I feel too lazy to bake today, I've turned my attention towards another part of being in the kitchen - aprons!

I'm not sure if it's the designs or the fun fotos but I love these by Cupcake Provocateur.

Cupcake shooters

What will they think of next! I love these, now I wonder where I can get the goods to make them myself! Thank you All Things Cupcake for sharing.

Or these delicious little ones from A Modern Event:

5 Layer Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

What to bake for my hubby (who does not like cake) for his birthday?

Last year I made large sugar cookie cut outs shaped like a tiered cake for him.

This year.... a 5 layer giant chocolate chip cookie with cheese cake filling!

It's perfect!

I started with a huge batch of cookies and made 5 giant 8 inch round cookies. I found that baking these on parchment paper was the easiest way to do this, so I could gage the size and remove them from the baking stone to cool without cracking.

While they cooled I made the cream cheese filling. Unfortunately my husband made it home from work before I had assembled it and was in awe of the giant cookies. I almost had to wrestle the cookie loving man to get my layers back, intact!

Recipe:

Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

For the cookie dough

4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar

3/4 cup regular granulated sugar

3 large eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla

3/4 cup heavy cream

3 cups bittersweet chocolate chips

For the frosting

40 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 cup confectioners' sugar

1 cup regular granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

To make the cookies

Preheat oven to 350

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.

In a large mixing bowl, add butter and sugar - mix until combined. This will most likely look dry and not creamy as you would expect. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing until well combined after each. Mix in vanilla. Add flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the cream. Stir in the chocolate chips.

You need to make 5 cookie layers for this cake. Drop about 1 cup worth of batter on a piece of parchment paper - use an off-set spatula to spread the mixture into an evenly round 8" circle. I recommend baking them one at a time.

Bake until the edges are a rich golden brown and the center looks lightly golden on top, about 18 to 20 minutes. Remove to a wire rack and let cool completely. Repeat with remaining cookie dough until you have 5 rounds.

To make the frosting

In a large mixing bowl, beat together cream cheese, sugars and vanilla until fluffy and smooth. Spread a thick layer of mixture onto 4 of the cookies, I used a pastry bag with large star tip to give the edges a finished look. Stack the cookies on top of each other and place the final unfrosted piece on top. Cover and place in the refrigerator to set the cream cheese, about 20 to 30 minutes. Serve at room temperature.

When it's cold outside, make it hot and spicy in the kitchen!

Snow!

I just love it! It's a good thing since we got two and a half feet of it this weekend and are expecting a little more this week. I think this is just the way winter should be! If it's going to be cold the ground should be covered with the powdery white stuff! I just love it!It doesn't need to fall everyday but a good coating not just a dusting but a thick frosting like coating that's enough to last. Beautiful!! And what goes with snow but hot chocolate!

So I used this snowed in weekend to finally try out my recipe for Mexican Hot Cocoa Cupcakes with Marshmallow Filling and Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting!

Mexican Hot Cocoa Cupcakes with Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting

• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup dark chocolate cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper (more or less to taste)
• 1 cup boiling water
• Marshmallow cream

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 24 standard cupcake pans with liners, or coat with non-stick cooking spray. In the large bowl of an electric mixer, stir together the sugar, eggs, milk, oil and vanilla, until blended.

2. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper and gradually add to the sugar mixture, until the mixture begins to come together.

3. Very slowly, add the boiling water, and blend until the mixture is smooth.

4. Ladle or scoop the batter into the cupcake tins, filling ¾ full. Bake the cupcakes for 15 to 18 minutes until a skewer inserted into the center of each one comes out clean.

5. Cool the cupcakes in their pans on wire racks until cooled.

6. Cut cone shape holes in the centers of the tops of each cupcake, save them to replace the tops before frosting.

7. Fill in each hole with marshmallow cream.

8. Replace the tops.

(Do-Ahead: At this point the cupcakes can be kept covered at room temperature for up to 2 days, or frozen for 6 weeks. Defrost and ice with the cinnamon butter cream frosting.)

Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting

Makes enough to frost two 9-inch layers or 24 cupcakes

You Will Need

• 4 ½ cups confectioner’s sugar
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons milk
• Mini Marshmallows and Red Hot Candies for deco

What to Do

In the bowl of an electric mixer, stir the sugar, to aerate it. Add the butter, vanilla, cinnamon and 1 tablespoon milk, and beat on high speed until the frosting is spreading consistency. If the frosting is stiff, add a few more drops of milk, beating after each addition. Frost the cooled cupcakes and garnish with the marshmallows and the red hots.