Peanut Butter Blossom....cupcakes

My son's class was having a Christmas party earlier in the week, and he volunteered me to make cupcakes.  Thanks!  I never mind baking, but I get nervous when it is for people I do not know.  Also, there is the transportation factor, especially when I am not the one doing the transporting.  

When I bake for those I am not familiar with, I like to eliminate all potential allergens as much as possible.  I made the base cupcakes using a recipe that does not call for milk, eggs, or butter.  I add about 1/2 cup of extra flour to this to make it a bit more sturdy since it will be a cupcake.  I literally just dump everything into the bowl and mix.  

2 C flour
2 C sugar
6 Tbsp cocoa
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 C warm water
2/3 C oil
2 Tbsp vinegar
2 tsp vanilla (or 1/2 tsp mint) extract

Put in cupcake liners and fill about 2/3 full.  Bake at 350 F for about 10-15 minutes (toothpick will come back clean).  

I made a batch of standard buttercream and decorated with royal icing to look like holly leaves and berries.  I still had some cupcakes left over, so I decided to make peanut butter frosting (no recipe....just 1/2 cup butter, PB to taste, milk and powdered sugar).  I dusted with sanding sugar to mimic the sugar on peanut butter blossom cookies and then topped with a Hershey kiss.  I saved 1-2 for me and packed the rest separately from the holly decorated cupcakes.

I sent my son off with these cupcakes to school.  When he got home that evening, I asked him how everyone like everything.  He fell to his knees and did the "we're not worthy" thing from Wayne's World.  I think it's fair to say everyone liked them!  Mission accomplished!

Butterfly cupcakes

Butterfly cupcakes

BUTTERFLY CUPCAKES

When my daughter had her second child, I decided that instead of having the traditional girls-only baby shower, I would do a big family party.  As it turns out, she delivered the baby 3 weeks early, so it turned into a “meet the new baby” party.  We also did not want to leave our granddaughter out of the celebration, so we combined “meet Baby Chase” with “Maddie’s a big sister.” 

Since there would be several small children at the party, I decided against a cake.  Instead, I thought about making cupcakes, of course.  I made a chocolate box mix cake (since I had so much else to do to prepare) and then made a basic buttercream frosting.  I used Wilton green gel food coloring to tint the buttercream.  I then used Wilton Candy Melts in light cocoa to trace the outline of the butterflies.  Once these were set, I used more of the candy melts and tinted them with Wilton gel food coloring in pink and blue.  I filled in the outlines with the pink or blue and then tapped the counter to smooth out the tinted chocolate and get out any bubbles.  I then detailed the wings with more melted light cocoa.  The final step was to make the butterfly bodies by making a small line on wax paper with the light cocoa melt and adding the wings. 

New Year cake

When I think about New Year's Eve, I think about parties.  I think about how I celebrated New Year's Eve in my youth.  One year we played a game where every hour, at the top of the hour, we celebrated the new year as it became midnight in each time zone.  Oh my...what can I say?  We were young and dumb.

Now that I am a little more.....mature and I have a little more common sense, my new year was rung in by planning this cake and cruising around Pinterest (I like to live on the edge these days).  I barely made it to midnight.

This morning, even though not 1 drop of adult beverage was consumed, I still felt like I was hung over.  I decided to cheat on the cake and make a box cake.  I did, however, spruce it up a bit.  I added an additional egg.  I used butter instead of vegetable oil, and I used milk instead of water.  These little substitutions make all the difference if you must use a box cake mix.

When my husband dragged himself downstairs a little later, I asked him what kind of frosting he wanted.  He requested chocolate fudge.  I found a recipe on line that looked perfect.  Something went awry when I made it though.  It closely resembled the fudge batter I made last month for Christmas.  I knew it would not spread to cover the cake so I put it between the layers of the cake.  I found another recipe (here) and made yet more substitutions.  This recipe called for fudge topping.  I didn't have any of that, but I did have a bag of milk chocolate chips hanging around.  I melted them up in the microwave and added them.  I did need to add more milk than the recipe called for after I added the chocolate chips.

I had delusions of grandeur when I thought about the decorations.  I had chocolate fireworks made in about 4 different colors.  I had my confetti.  I had my little rolled up things...whatever they are supposed to be.  I started putting the fireworks on the cake and it looked awful.  Take 2 - get all of that off of the cake and just go with the confetti and those little rolled up things (which I was pretty proud of, BTW.  Fondant cut and wrapped around a straw to dry).

After our traditional pork dinner (minus the sauerkraut), it was time to reveal the cake.  Everyone seemed to like it a lot.  I guess today was not the day to count calories...

Happy New Year!