Chocolate Soufflé Cupcakes with Mint Cream

More cupcakes! Cupcakes traditionally seem unsophisticated but not these.  A new trend in this area is to have a bunch of cupcakes for your wedding instead of a big wedding cake.  Certainly easier to serve, no cutting required.  I don't know what it is about cupcakes that is so appealing, is it the childhood memories they illicit or the completeness of each one (you get your own, not just a piece).  Whatever it is they seem to be hugely popular.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Red velvet cupcakes are devil's food cupcakes with a lot of red food coloring.  Whenever I have devil's food I think of a part from one of my favorite books, "Lamb" by Christopher Moore.  The exchange takes place between two angels, one heading off to do a job on Earth and the other asks him to bring back some chocolate, a human snack invented by Satan.  The first asks, "Devil's food?" and the second responds, "One can't always eat white cake, my friend."  Which seems very fitting for chocolate month.

1upcakes

My first experience with video games was our friends' across the street Nintendo 64.  In homage to the 1up mushrooms on Mario here are 1upcakes, inspired by this t-shirt.  Can you tell I like mini cupcakes?

Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes

This is my mom's and aunt's favorite birthday cake.  My mom and aunt are twins and they are the best!  It is their birthday on the 13th.  So happy birthday Mom and Aunt Leslie.  I wish you guys could have eaten my Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes but come visit me and I'll make you some.  I love you both!

Chocolate Stout Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

I turned 25 last month.  I decided 25 is a pretty important number.  After all, it is a perfect square and I can now rent a car.  So I had a party and made these cupcakes.  They were a big hit.  It is hard to combine things like stout, chocolate, cupcakes and cream cheese and not have it be a big hit.  Rather than frost the cupcakes in advance, I made a cupcake decorating bar.  It may sound a little lame, but it was super fun.  To make it a little more sophisticated, instead of just food colors I put out some different flavorings (like vanilla, almond, Irish Cream and maple) and let people flavor their frosting too.  I sort of forgot to take any other pictures, though, as I was busy having a lot of fun.

Pumpkin Muffins with Cream Cheese Frosting

I love this time of year.  Only in part because my birthday is in October.  Also because I love pumpkin things: pumpkin pie, pumpkin beer, and now pumpkin cupcakes!  This recipe is a snap and super yummy.  And cream cheese frosting is, quite literally, the icing on the cake.  Cream cheese frosting is the best.  Don't make to much or you will have trouble not finishing it off with a spoon (not that I speak from experience or anything).

Plum upside-down cake

I had this vision of making individual plum upside down cakes with a perfect half of a plum like a little jewel in each one. It mostly worked, but scaling a recipe from a full cake to mini-cakes is not as straightforward as I expected. That said, they turned out looking fairly nice, even if most of the plums didn't make it out of the pan initially and they are super tasty. I'm a big fan of cardamom and plums and I seriously ate like 4 of these. Or more, but really no one is counting.

Mini Hostess-esque Cupcakes

I was talking to the lovely and talented Sierra yesterday about what my next baking project should be and she suggested hostess cupcakes.  She is also very smart.

So here you are, my take on the Hostess cupcakes (little white squiggle and all).

Chocolate Stout Cupcakes with Irish Cream Frosting

 Happy St. Patrick's Day