Chocolate Peanut Butter Easter Eggs

I will be doing a post on how to do these since they came out so well. I'm going to be making these for my family for Easter.

I got the mold the other day while out wedding shopping and I decided to make the peanut butter eggs for my sisters kids. She's stopping by today to drop off her dog since our mom won't be at home. I offered to take him for awhile instead.

I wanted to share this awesome picture of them. 

They are a chocolate shell with a creamy peanut butter filling inside. So much better tasting than what you could buy.

Zebra Cupcakes

Baby Shower Cupcakes

Baby Shower Layering

I did 4 dozen cupcakes for a baby shower yesterday. There were the dozen chocolate, a dozen white that were tinted pink, and then there were 2 dozen that were white and chocolate that were a zebra design inside. I made exactly enough so I couldn't see how the inside turned out! I had a lot of extra bright hot pink icing left over so I decided to make another batch of white (dyed half of it pink) and try the zebra stripes out again. This time I'd be able to see how they look inside.


I made the cake batter with no changes. I divided it in half and dyed one bowl a light pink.

Dyed Batter

To put them in the cupcake liners I used a tablespoon to put alternating layers. 4 layers all together; 2 of each!

Alternating Layers

That's all I did and put them in the oven.

Out Of The Oven

My finished cupcake:

Now that I've done it I know what I would do different as well.

• For starters I would use a little extra water in the batter to make it thinner so it spreads instead of layering on top of each other
• To put it in the liners I would of put each batter in a separate pastry bag and piped it in instead.
  
  

What's Next?

When I go to pick up my order from last Saturday, in the next week or two, we are getting together to plan some more or our friends baby shower. I was also asked if I could make "Better than Sex" cake. So I'm making that and bringing it for everyone!!

Egg White Cake Recipe (White)

This the starting recipe, or the recipe for just the white cake, for many of the cakes.

Preheat to 350 degrees


Ingredients:

• 5 Egg Whites
• 1 1/4 Cup Water
• 1/3 Cup Oil
• White Cake Mix
• 1/4 Cup Sour Cream
• 1 Teaspoon Vanilla

Making the Cake:

Mix the Egg Whites, Water, and Oil for 30 Sec.

Add the Cake Mix, Sour Cream, and Vanilla.

Mix for 30 Sec, scrap, and then beat on high for 2 Min.

 Scoop into lined cupcake pans and bake for 15 min then check. They're done when the toothpick comes out clean.

Butter Yellow Cake Recipe With Chocolate Icing

This is the request from the hubby. A butter yellow cake with chocolate icing.

This recipe calls for butter instead of oil.

To begin with ingrediants:

• 1 Cup Water
• 1/3 Cup Melted Butter
• 4 Eggs
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1/2 Cup Sour Cream
• 1 "Golden Butter" Cake Mix

 What to do?
Preheat to 350 degrees

Mix the water, melted butter, and eggs for 30 secs.

Add the vanilla, sour cream, and cake mix.

Mix that for 30 secs, scrap the bowl, and beat on high for 2 mins.

Simple as that.
Once again all I had was mini liners so mini cupcakes is what we get.
Scoop into lined cupcake pans.

Bake for 12 min until a toothpick comes out clean.

Now:

Chocolate Icing

This is a really simple recipe.

2 sticks Butter (I use salted)

3 1/2 Cups Powdered Sugar

1/2 Cup Cocoa Powder (I use Dutch / Dark)

4 Tablespoons Cream or Milk

Directions:

Cream the butter for a minute or so.

Sift the powdered sugar and cocoa powder into the butter. Mix until incorporated. Add the cream or milk until creamy. 

I still don't have pastry bags at the house so I used a freezer gallon bag and cut a small hole. Not as pretty as if I'd used a tip but the tip wasn't staying in the bag. 

A Request From The Hubby

Last night we went to walmart and he mentions that I haven't made him the yellow cake and chocolate icing that I meant to many months ago. So the stuff to make both ended up in the cart!

So this week I will doing both!! I will be having a post on yellow cake and a separate one on chocolate icing. Enjoy!!

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

My first official cupcake post is going to be a request I had a couple month ago from one of my friends. Carrot cake with a cream cheese icing.

The mix I get has carrots and raisins.  I pick out all the raisins and throw them away!! Who has ever heard of raisins in carrot cake??? Not me!! But I guess that's really up to you so keep them in if you prefer!

Why do I start with a boxed cake mix? Check it out here.

First the Cake:

Ingredients:

• 1 deluxe carrot cake mix (Yes! I start with cake mix!)
• 4 eggs
• 1 C  HOT water
• 1/4 C Amaretto (you can use water)
• 1/4 C oil
• 1/2 C sour cream

Making the Batter:
 First things first preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Make sure you use the right measuring technique. You can refer to this post

with raisins (eww!)

After picking out the raisins (you can leave them in if you want)

Add the carrots to the hot water and let them sit for about 5 Min.

Combine the eggs, oil, and the amaretto and beat on low for 30 secs.

Eggs, Oil, and Amaretto

Mixed for 30 Secs

Then add the cake mix and sour cream.

Beat on medium for 30 secs. Scrape the bowl and then beat on high

( 6 on a kitchen aid stand mixer) for 2 min.

Fold in the carrots with the excess water.

I didn't have any regular cupcake liners so I made mini cupcakes. I ended up with 3 pans all together.
I like using a scoop to make my cupcakes all the same size.
Scoop the batter into lined cupcake pans

Bake for 15 min and then check. When the toothpick (or cake tester) comes out clean or few crumbs they're done!

Cool in the pan for about 5 min then take them out to cool the rest of the way on cooling racks.



Cream Cheese Icing:
I'm not the biggest fan of cream cheese icing but this recipe I like. You can always add more cream cheese to make the cream cheese flavor more pronounced. Which I did for these cupcakes. As well as adding additional powdered sugar to make it more stable. I usually use vanilla extract but Since I put amaretto in the cake I wanted to tie it in with the icing too.

Ingredients:

• 4 ounces Butter, softened (I use salted butter)
• 6 ounces Cream Cheese
• 1 lb  Powdered Sugar
• 1/2 t Amaretto (you can use vanilla)

Mixing the Icing:

Beat the cream cheese and butter. Do NOT over beat!

Cream cheese and Butter

On low speed mix in the powdered sugar till smooth. Beat in the amaretto till mixed in. Again do NOT over beat!

Finished Cream Cheese Icing

And were ready to put the cupcakes all together!

 I had to use a gallon sized zip lock bag and tip because I didn't have any piping bags at the house!

High Heel Cupcakes

 I did these high heel cupcakes a couple weeks ago. And of course being my forgetful self, completely didn't take any pics on how to do it!! But good news is its not to hard and I explain it.

The finished products

After tinkering around with what size to cut things I got it to fit together more or less beautifully.

First things first-

What I used:

• 12 Graham Crackers
• 12 Kid Waffle like Cones
• Melting Chocolate
• 12 cupcakes
• Icing
• Sparklies (sanding sugar, sprinkles, pearls, etc)

First thing to do is cut the tip off the cones and cut the open end down to size.
Cut the graham crackers into the sole shape I had it in a diamond shape to cut them, not the rectangle, leaving one end pointed to stick in the cupcake.
Melt the chocolate and dip the cones and graham crackers to coat them.
While those dry decorate your cupcakes.
Pipe an outline on the coated graham cracker. Dipping it in sanding sugar or sprinkles is up to you. I also piped and decorated a line up the heal.
With icing pipe around the wide opening of the cone and stick on the graham cracker. Stick the other end into the cupcake.

Shoe s in a shoe box!

Day Off Plexus

So I was on a three day trial of Plexus. Yesterday was my first day off of it. I found out that you never know how bad you feel until you feel 100% better. Yesterday was HORRIBLE! I was tired, irritable, I over ate and ate all the wrong foods.

On a good note I have lost a pound or two in those three days, so I'm super excited to be starting it all the time and lose so much more!!

I can't wait till my month supply comes in so I can feel so much better again! Hopefully it will come tomorrow

I have decided to start a new blog on my Plexus journey; instead of intertwining it on a cupcake page! You can find it here: A New Life

Getting Back On Track: Posts and Mainly My Health

It has been a rough couple weeks. I'm getting back on track!! Back on track with my posts, my health, and overall well-being.

I'm so excited to be starting Plexus. Today is my last day of my three day trial. I can't wait till my 30 day supply comes! I have taken Plexus Slim and the accelerator +

In these last three days I have felt 100% better! I even went to town yesterday and didn't come home with a frappe coffee in hand! I felt no need to get one. Any time I'm in a town I always HAD to have a coffee. I now have no desire for it :) I also have not been over eating; which isn't usually to much of a problem unless I'm making cookies!!

Now being a stay at home wife/mom I don't have much of a personal income. He didn't want to pay for it every month so what better way to get him aboard than to make a deal with him! In the first month I've got to lose 10# and he'll help me out to continue it.

Now I'm a big girl. It's also not because I'm a baker. I've always been bigger and it just got worse through high school. I was a size 22 when I left for college. In that first year of being away I lost about 80 pounds and went to a size 14/16.It was a 2 year college. I DO NOT recommend how I did this. I lost my appetite and pretty much was anorexic for 5 years off an on. I did not intentionally do this, I literately forgot to eat the majority of the time. Also the first year of college I did not have a car and only 1 out of the 5 of us had one at that time. We walked EVERYWHERE and at anytime. By anytime I mean all through the night from 11pm to 7am at times.

I was stuck at a 14/16 for awhile, then last year I became pregnant. So a year or so later I am at a tight 16. I HAVE to do something! As well as my wedding being only 3 months away, I also need to do it for myself and my daughter.

So my Plexus trip begins!!!

Basic Butter Cream Icing Recipe

This is my all time favorite butter cream icing. Even people that don't prefer butter cream enjoy this recipe. It is not sickly sweet like most other recipes.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 # Butter, room temperature
• 1/2 # Shortening (I use Sweetex, a high-ratio shortening; but regular crisco will work fine)
• 1 bag Powdered Sugar
• 1 t Vanilla
• 5-7 T Whipping Cream

What To Do:

Put the butter, shortening, and vanilla into the mixer and beat until smooth.

 Add the bag of powdered sugar and mix slowly at first so it doesn't go everywhere.

When it's mixed up; it will be very thick.

Add the whipping cream till it gets to your desired consistency.

Simple as that!! Now it's ready to use on cupcakes!

Set backs :( and a Anniversary supper fail

We have got a bit of another set back to the experiments. Other than time management I found out last night that my range was not working properly; while trying to make a grand supper for our 2 year anniversary. And knowing how busy I'll be on Valentines Day with orders, I was trying to have it super special.

That was a fail. I had cooked the chicken in the crock pot along with tomatoes for the sauce. I went to finish it all up on the stove. Steaming the carrots, putting the tomatoes in a pot to make a sauce, boiling water for pasta and, heating the oven up to bake some brownies.

Well we figured out there was a problem when my water wasn't boiling. The first time it wasn't boiling I had a blonde moment where I hadn't had the stove on. This time he looked at it and it was on high and the coils weren't even red! Then we checked the oven that I had preheating. It wasn't warming up right either

Well my brownies were all ready to be baked, so I cleaned the crock pot  and poured them in there. looked online for some guidance; and ended up with burnt edges and liquid middle... another fail.

While pulling the stove out and messing with that he noticed the furnace blower was acting up as well. So he unplugged the stove and we went on. I tried to start the dryer and when I pushed the button the blower would make a horrible sound. Well there goes the washer (I'm assuming) and dryer too!

It has to be something electrical; we unplugged the washer and dryer and went to bed. This morning the thermostat was at 58!! I shut it off since it was obviously not working right!

Now we are going to be running on space heaters more than usual (we have an older farm house that doesn't hold heat well in the first place) and looking for an electrician to fix all this!

Hopefully before we know it everything will be up and running and I can get back to baking!

Girl Scout Cookies!

So it's everyone's FAVORITE time of the year!! Girl Scout cookie season!!!

We usually get a bunch, put them in the freezer and they last us till the next year. It doesn't help that my moms a first grade teacher that has a bunch of kids coming in with order forms. So naturally enough we get half of them pawned off to us.

I used to really like the shortbread ones but now I find them sorta plain. So what better use for them than try to put them into cupcakes??

What I'm thinking is a shortbread cookie on the bottom with a white cake, a peanut butter icing dipped in chocolate and the shortbread crumbs on top. Sorta a mix between the shortbread and peanut butter patties (that are my all time favorite!)

I'm also thinking about doing a thin mint version of a cupcake too.

I will be putting both of these up when I do them, so check back!

Measuring... the RIGHT Way!!

Now I'm sure you all know how to measure out ingredients. A lot of people don't know the right way to measure, so to make sure all your yummy baked goods turn out AMAZING I'm going to cover it.

Ok! Let's get started.

To measure any dry ingrediant use these:

Make sure to scoop out flour with a spoon into the measuring cup then level it off.

Wet ingredients like water, oil, etc. get measured in these:

To make sure you put the correct amount of the ingredient in your recipe use the right measuring method for the right ingredient.

That's the simple version of it all. Simple but doing this will ensure your recipes come out just how you want them to!!

Cake Mix vs. From Scratch

I hate to admit it but I start with a boxed cake mix. I have done side by side blind taste tests with my customers. They all preferred the cake mix rather than completely from scratch. As you will see I do NOT use straight cake mix and that's all there is to it. That is NOT all there is to it. I add to it and by the time I'm done with it you wouldn't even believe that it started with a boxed mix!

Welcome!

I'm the Cupcake Pirate! I love to bake cupcakes and experiment with new flavors!! I don't have as much time to experiment as I'd like with my daughter running around! I decorate cakes for my small Indiana town and I'm in the process of getting my business up and running (CAN'T WAIT). 

That is currently on hold because of my wedding, this upcoming May/ June. Yes! I said May slash June. We have decided to go up to Michigan to get married on the beach at the end of May. Then were going on our honeymoon right away! And coming back to our reception June.

OK I've gotten off track.

Back to my business. I do specialty cakes, cupcakes, and cookies.

I love to make new things but hate having them in the house. Luckily I have a great fiance that I can get to take them to work with him and off my hands.

I'm hoping for y'alls help with coming up with new flavors and ideas! My goal is once a week trying something new with your help and sharing it with everyone of course!!


Please go to the "What Should I Make Next?" Page and comment your ideas!