Beer Cheese Cupcakes with Bacon Cheddar Cream Cheese Frosting: The Ultimate Super Bowl Cupcake

Beer and cheese dip show up at every Super Bowl party. Beer cheese Super Bowl cupcakes are sure to be a new and unique (to say the least) addition to the same old thing. Oh, and let's not forget that these Super Bowl cupcakes are topped with bacon and cheddar cream cheese frosting. Can you say artery clogging?

Beer Cheese Super Bowl Cupcake Review

The house smelled amazing throughout the entire cupcake process. First, there were smells of beer and cheese. It basically smelled like beer cheese soup. Then, there were smells of bacon.

The taste was sweet and smoky with a hint of beer.

Beer Cheese Super Bowl Cupcake Recipe

I came up with the recipe by modifying the recipe I used for chocolate stout cupcakes which was a modification of Big City, Little Kitchen's Guinness cupcakes.

• 1 cup beer (I used Bud Select. I'm not usually a Bud gal, but they do sponsor the Super Bowl, so I had to go there.)
• 1 stick, plus 1 tb, unsalted butter
• 1 cup grated cheddar (I'd go for the good stuff here. Get something nice and sharp, not the cheap stuff that comes shredded in a bag.)
• 2 cups dark brown sugar
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 2 eggs
• 1 tb vanilla extract
• 2 cups flour
• 2 1/2 tsp baking soda

Combine the beer and the butter, chopped into 1-inch chunks, in a large sauce pan, and heat to melt the butter. Add cheddar. Remove from heat, and whisk in the sugar. In a bowl, whisk the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla, then add to the beer mixture. Sift together the flour and baking soda, and fold into the batter. Pour into cupcake wrappers and bake for 25 minutes, or until inserted cake tester comes out clean.

Makes 18 cupcakes.

Bacon Cheddar Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

• 1 8oz package cream cheese
• 1/4 cup butter
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 3/4 cup grated cheddar
• 1 cup bacon bits (I made my own by cooking some bacon in a glass pan in the microwave for 3 minutes between paper towels and food processing it.)

Make sure cream cheese and butter are are room temperature and beat them until creamy. Add grated cheddar. Slowly mix in powdered sugar. Stir in bacon bits.

How to Make Football Cupcake Toppers

I learned how to make football cupcake toppers from a post on Team Sugar. It's simply a chocolate covered almond with white decorator gel on it. It's so easy and so cute!

Final Words on the Super Bowl

Since St. Louis isn't in the game, I've got to cheer for NY. Go NY GO! FYI - The only reason I know NY is even in the game is because my friend mentioned it in her Super Bowl party invitation.

If You Like the Concept of Bacon in Cupcakes

You may also want to consider:

Vanilla Garlic's Maple Bacon Cupcakes with with Maple Frosting

Cupcake Bakeshop's Sweet Corn, Maple, and Bacon Cupcakes

Ooh you tasty little things' Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies with Maple Cinnamon Glaze

Hmm... did I miss the memo that all bacon desserts must have maple?

If You Like the Concept of Beer in Cupcakes

You may also want to consider:

My Chocolate Stout Cupcakes

Big City, Little Kitchen's Guiness Cupcakes

If You Like Things That are Funny

Watch this video on bacon. I originally found it on Iron Stef's blog. I was a bit bitter that her name is actually Steph and she is posing as a Stef. However, she is actually really cool, so I've let that slide.



Happy Super Bowl!

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Chocolate Dulce de Leche Cupcakes: Sexy Valentine's Day Cupcakes

Last week, I posted a cute Valentine's Day cupcake that is perfect for kids, the Shirley Temple Cupcake. This week, I present you with a sexy Valentine's Day cupcake, the chocolate dulce de leche cupcake.

What Makes this Valentine's Day Cupcake Sexy?

I think just saying the word dulce de leche is sexy. Am I alone in this? It's even more sexy if you say "cho-co-lat" with a French accent and then go all Latin with "dulce de leche." You combine two extremely sexy cultures into one cupcake.

Will Making These Chocolate Dulce de Leche Cupcakes Get You More Valentine's Day Action?

I make no promises. However, it certainly can't hurt your chances, especially if you are particularly good at licking dripping dulce de leche off [insert body part here].

Chocolate Dulce de Leche Cupcake Reviews

Everyone enjoyed these cupcakes. My favorite review, however, was from my friend and massage therapist, Hao. Hao said that they were the best cupcakes she ever had. She is clearly a cupcake connoisseur. She also works across the street from Jilly's Cupcake Bar. If you need a massage, check out Studio Hao and then have a cupcake. Ah, bliss.

Chocolate Dulce de Leche Cupcake Recipe

For the chocolate dulce de leche cupcake recipe, I modified the cake I used in my Ferrero Rocher cupcakes. This original recipe has been modified from Sweets Made Here and makes about 30 cupcakes.

• 1 c boiling water
• 3/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 c milk
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 1 c unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/4 c dark brown sugar
• 3/4 c granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 2 c all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 t baking soda
• 1/2 t salt
• 2/3 c dulce de leche (Directions on how to make dulce de leche are found here.)

In a bowl, whisk the boiling water into cocoa until smooth and whisk in milk and vanilla extract. In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes, and beat in eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Into another bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, and salt and add to egg mixture in batches alternately with cocoa mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture, and beating well after each addition. Stir in the dulce de leche. Fill each wrapper slightly more than 1/2 way. They will rise a lot. Bake in a preheated 350F oven for about 18 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

Dulce de Leche Frosting

For the dulce de leche frosting, I simply spread some dulce de leche on top of the cupcake. Easy!

What is the Red Stuff?

To give the cupcake a bit more of a romantic feel, I put some red sugar on top of the cupcake. There is no need to buy red sugar - simply put some sugar in a bowl, add some red food coloring to it, and stir. I then used my culinary torch to brûlée the top of the cupcake. This is something you could do table side to really get the fire going for the evening.

If Fire is Your Thing...

You may also want to check out my coffee cupcakes with meringue. Those would also be perfect for a table side cupcake preparation.

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What is Dulce de Leche?

This week, I made chocolate dulce de leche cupcakes. When I told my friends and family about it, the most common response was, "Huh? What is dulce de leche?"

What is Dulce de Leche?

According to the Wikipedia article on dulce de leche:

"Dulce de leche in Spanish or doce de leite in Portuguese ('milk candy'), is a milk-based syrup. Found as both a sauce and a caramel-like candy, it is popular across Latin America."

How is Dulce de Leche Different from Caramel?

Everyone, myself included, has been tempted to call my dulce de leche caramel. However, dulce de leche is different from caramel. Caramel is simply sugar that has been heated. It becomes really sticky and very sweet and, of course, caramel colored. Dulce de leche is made from mostly milk with some sugar. It is also very sweet and caramel colored from the heated sugar in it, but it is not quite as sticky and has more of a soft, smooth flavor.

What are the Origins of Dulce de Leche?

My favorite part of the dulce de leche Wikipedia article talks about dulce de leche's origins.

"One story involves the 19th century Argentinian caudillo Juan Manuel de Rosas. The story goes that in a winter afternoon at the Rosas house, the maid was making some lechada—a drink made with milk and sugar boiled until it starts to caramelize—and she heard someone knocking at the door. She left the lechada on the stove and went to answer the door; and when she came back, the lechada was burnt and had turned into a brown jam: dulce de leche.

It is, however, more likely to have its origins in Europe, possibly as the French confiture de lait: a popular similar legend dating back from the 14th century exists in the region of Normandy, involving a cook from the military troops who had the same culinary accident when making sweetened milk for breakfast. Variations of this legend refer to a cook in Napoleon's army."

When I goof up in the kitchen, things end up burnt. These people must have been in such shock to find a winning dessert rather than a burnt up mess.

Two Ways to Make Dulce de Leche

There are two ways to make dulce de leche.

Dulce de Leche Recipe One

I made my dulce de leche using a method I found out about from The Clumsy Cook. I also have to credit her for my whole interest in dulce de leche. It looked so tasty in her picture!

Ingredients
1/2 gallon of milk
2 cups sugar (I used vanilla sugar to make it extra vanilla flavored. You can also put vanilla beans into the pot if you have some.)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Pour milk, vanilla, and sugar into a pot over medium-high heat (make sure the pot is big enough so that milk won’t spill over the sides when it boils). Bring to a boil, whisking constantly.
Turn heat down and slightly simmer over very low heat for about 2.5 to 3 hours. Check the mixture every once in a while to make sure it isn't simmering too much. When done, stir until smooth and pour dulce de leche into jars. Refrigerate any leftovers.

Note: I had mine on the stove for 5 hours! It is possible that this was because I didn't whisk it enough at the beginning. I have a metal whisk and I didn't want to scratch the pot. I know, pots are meant to be scratched. However, my husband likes our pots to stay looking brand new and I didn't want to mess it up. It still came out perfectly; it just took longer. Just be sure to keep an eye on it. You'll know it's done when it starts sticking to the spoon. It won't really get thick until it gets off the stove and cools down.

Dulce de Leche Recipe Two

The second way to make dulce de leche is heat up a can of sweetened condensed milk in boiling water. This is an easier method, however there is a risk that the can will explode! As mentioned above, my husband doesn't like our pots to get scratched. I don't think he would be pleased if he came home and there was sweetened condensed milk all over our ceiling. This was not a risk I was willing to take.

Coconut and Lime wrote about how she overcame this fear and successfully made dulce de leche using the boil the can of sweetened condensed milk technique. She opened the can just slightly to keep it from building up pressure. Great idea! Here are her instructions:

Ingredients
1 can sweetened condensed milk, label removed
water

Directions: Using a can opener, open the can half way. Do not pull back the lid, leave it in place. Place in a deep sauce pan and fill the pan with water just to the edge of the top of the can. Simmer over low heat, 4-5 hours or until a thick, creamy caramel forms, adding more water as it evaporates. Take care to keep the water level as close to the top of the can as possible for best results. After the 4 hours, use an oven mitt to remove the can from the pan and allow to cool. Remove the lid and serve. Store leftovers, tightly covered, in the refrigerator.

The Dulce de Leche Cocktail in Guys and Dolls

My first introduction to dulce de leche was in the Guys and Dolls musical.




The interesting thing is that no one seems to know exactly what the drink is they are referring to in this scene. If it tastes at all like the dulce de leche I made, I could see how Sara Brown kept downing them.

I found two different recipes online for dulce de leche drinks:

A Recipe for a Dulce de Leche Martini:

3 oz. of Dulseda liqueur
1 oz. vodka
Pour into martini glass drizzled with caramel.

A Recipe for a Dulce de Leche Cocktail:

1.0 tbsp Chocolate Syrup

1.0 cup Ice

6.0 oz Milk

2.0 oz Rum

Pour milk over ice. Add rum. Add chocolate syrup. Stir.

I think the second one sounds more like the one in the show. However, if anyone has a better idea, please let me know in the comments!

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Valentine's Day Cupcakes for Your Sweetheart - Shirley Temple Cupcakes

These Valentine's Day cupcakes happened somewhat by accident.

When Kristen of Bakesweet contacted me about a recipe for cupcakes with grenadine, the first thing that came to mind was making a Shirley Temple cupcake. Since Valentine's Day is almost here and grenadine is red, this also makes for a perfect Valentine's Day cupcake!

This post has three main sections: About Shirley Temple, a Shirley Temple Drink Recipe, and a Shirley Temple Cupcake Recipe.

About Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple was America's sweetheart. She was particularly well-known for two of her trademark songs, "On the Good Ship Lollipop," and "Animal Crackers in My Soup." According to the Wikipedia article on Shirley Temple:

"In 1936, Temple was paid an unprecedented amount of money for her work on Poor Little Rich Girl: $15,000 per week. It was during this period, in the depth of the Depression, when her films were seen as bringing hope and optimism, that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt is reported to have proclaimed that 'as long as our country has Shirley Temple, we will be all right.'"

A little known fact about me is that as a child, random strangers and my grandparents would call me Shirley Temple.



Shirley's the first picture. I'm the second one. Do you see a resemblance?

The way I see it:

Our Differences

• Her eyes are bigger.
• My cheeks are bigger.

Our Similarities

• We both have curls.
• President Franklin Delano Roosevelt is reported to have proclaimed that, "as long as our country has Shirley Temple, we will be all right," and my mama is reported to have proclaimed that, "as long as our family has Stef, we will be all right."

Shirley Temple Drink Recipe

Shirley Temple is a drink known as a kiddie cocktail. Shirley Temples are drinks that kids can order at a bar and feel all grown up. They make me think about the many Bar and Bat Mitzvahs I attended in the 80's. They were definitely the young teen drink of choice.

To make a Shirley Temple:

1. Put some ice in a glass.
2. Fill the glass 3/4 full with lemon-lime soda or ginger ale.
3. Top it off with grenadine. (I strongly recommend using homemade grenadine.)
4. Garnish with a cherry and/or some orange.

Little Known Fact About Shirley Temple the Drink

According to Wikipedia, "When Temple herself is asked for her opinion of these drinks named for her, she invariably replies that she dislikes them because they are too sweet, and that she does not gain earnings for the use of her name."

Shirley Temple Cupcakes

Shirley Temple cupcakes are perfect Valentine's Day cupcakes for your child sweetheart or really for anyone.

They taste so much like the drink that when offered a Shirley Temple drink with his cupcake, Groom 2.0 couldn't finish the drink: "I feel like I've already had one."

The cupcakes were a big hit with all tasters. They were drenched in grenadine, which made them a bit messy, but also moist and satisfying.

Shirley Temple Cupcake Recipe

These were a Cupcake Project original recipe. However, some credit is due to Bittersweet Blog. I used the Rootbeer Float Cupcake recipe from there as a starting point for this one.

• 1 C Lemon-Lime Soda (I used Izze Sparkling Limon, but 7-Up or Sprite would be fine.)
• 1 C Grenadine (I used homemade grenadine.)
• 2 t Honey Vinegar (I happened to have this on hand. Apple cider vinegar would also work.)
• 1.5 C Sugar
• 2/3 C Canola Oil
• 2 2/3 C Flour
• 1.5 t Baking Soda
• 1 t Baking Powder

Combine soda, grenadine, and vinegar and let stand for a few minutes. Add sugar and oil and whisk vigorously until slightly frothy. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Add flour mixture to the first bowl. Be careful not to over-mix.

This should make 24 cupcakes. Fill cupcake liners about 1/2 way. They will rise a lot! Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Lemon-Lime Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

The Valentine's Day heart part of the frosting was lemon-lime cream cheese frosting. To make lemon-lime cream cheese frosting:

• 1/4 C butter
• 1 8oz package of cream cheese (I used Neufchâtel - a lighter cream cheese - and was very happy with the results.)
• 4 C powdered sugar
• 1/8 t lemon extract
• 1/8 t lime extract

Make sure butter and cream cheese are at room temperature. Cream the butter and cream cheese. Sift in 4 C of powdered sugar. Add extracts.

Concentrated Grenadine Recipe

I filled the inside of the Valentine's Day heart with concentrated grenadine. To make concentrated grenadine:

Mix equal parts of grenadine and powdered sugar to make the grenadine more of a syrup, less runny. If the sugar isn't dissolving in the grenadine, you may need to heat it on the stove on low heat until it dissolves. Add a few drops of red food coloring to the homemade grenadine if you want the hearts to be a deeper red.

Pour the grenadine syrup into the heart. The frosting will act as a wall keeping the syrup within the boundary of the heart. Because the cupcake is porous, the syrup will seep through into the cupcake. This is what makes the cupcake so yummy! As the syrup seeps in, add more. I added 3 or 4 layers of grenadine to mine. Eventually, you should be left with the center of your heart dyed red.

Where to Buy Heart Sprinkles

I bought the heart sprinkles at Shop Bakers Nook.

Lessons Learned

1. On my first attempt at creating this recipe, I used lemon and lime extracts in the cake. The entire cake tasted like lemon and lime and the grenadine flavor couldn't be tasted at all. In the future when I make my own recipes, I am going to add the extracts at the end, once I know what the flavor is without the extract and I can taste what is needed.

2. I learned this lesson a long time ago, but I was reminded yet again that I should follow this rule. On a new cupcake, always bake one test cupcake to see how much the cupcake will rise before filling all the liners.

Suggestions for Variations

1. The drink has a cherry on top. Cupcakes often have a cherry on top. If you make this and cherries are in season by you, go for it!

2. There is a lesser known kiddie cocktail known as the Roy Rogers which is made from Coke and Grenadine. A Roy Rogers cupcake would also be tasty. Simply replace the lemon-lime soda in the cake with Coke and use cola extract in the frosting instead of the lemon and lime extracts.

3. Be sure to check out Kristen's take on this at Bakesweet.

Final Note

This post is part of the Heart for Your Valentine blog event.

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How to Make Grenadine and Why You Should Bother

Kristen of Bakesweet contacted me wondering if I had a recipe for a cupcake with grenadine. I did not, but immediately got excited about the concept of making one. In preparation, I did a bit of research about grenadine.

According to the Wikipedia article on grenadine:

"The name 'grenadine' comes from the French word grenade meaning pomegranate, as grenadine was originally prepared from pomegranate juice and sugar. However, grenadine is also a common name mistakenly applied to syrups and beverages consisting of other fruit juices (e.g. raspberry, redcurrant, blackberry) and sugar syrup. The characteristic flavor can be obtained from a mixture of blackcurrant juice and other fruit juices with the blackcurrant flavor dominating.
The food industry, however, has widely replaced grenadine fruit bases with artificial ingredients. The Mott's brand 'Rose's', by far the most common grenadine brand in the United States, is now formulated entirely out of a high-fructose corn syrup, water, and citric acid base, sharing nearly the same formulation as orange drink."

I looked in my pantry and found that the grenadine we had was, in fact, the Rose's high fructose corn syrup variety. About a year ago, we committed genocide against any food or beverage in our home that contained high fructose corn syrup. I was shocked to discover that there was a sole survivor. It had to be annihilated.

How was I to make my grenadine cupcakes without using this high fructose corn syrup impostor?

Thanks to Cocktail Chronicles, I learned that it is easy to make your own grenadine.

How to Make Grenadine

1. Buy a bottle of pomegranate juice. This is becoming more popular and should be easy to find. POM is a popular but very expensive brand. I was able to find some 100% organic pomegranate juice for much cheaper.

2. Bring 4 cups of pomegranate juice (the whole 32oz bottle) to a boil.

3. Lower heat and simmer until it reduces in half. You can let it reduce more that half if you want it to be a bit thicker. This process took about 15 minutes.

4. Add 2 cups of sugar and let it dissolve.

5. Chill.

It won't be quite as red as Rose's so you can add food coloring if you'd like. It will taste a million times better.

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Pumpkin Chili with Abuelita Two Ways - Cupcake and Non-Cupcake: My First Cupcake Pairing

This month, I participated in a new blog event (well, new to me) called Taste & Create. In this event, food bloggers get partnered up. Participants pick a recipe from their partner's blog, make it, and blog about it.

I got paired with What's Cooking. What's Cooking is a blog by a man whose family owned a restaurant in Mexico for 40 years. He posts mostly - but not exclusively - Mexican recipes. He does not have any cupcakes on the blog to date.

As a cupcake only blog, what was I to do? Create my first cupcake pairing, of course.

I decided to select a recipe that appealed to me, make it, and then make a cupcake inspired by it. This would involve doing actual cooking, an activity that hasn't been done by me for 9 months or so.

There were many appealing recipes on What's Cooking, but I had to go with the Pumpkin Chili. It's chili season and the bride mentioned loving pumpkin. Also, the recipe contained an ingredient I had never used or, for that matter, even heard of. This always intrigues me. That ingredient was Abuelita.

What the Heck is Abuelita?

Abuelita is Mexican hot chocolate made by Nestle that is sold in a variety of formats. The chocolate is made of sugar, cocoa and artificial cinnamon flavoring. It is sickeningly sweet to eat straight up, but it has a really nice and subtle chocolate spice flavor. In addition to being good for hot chocolate, it works well in pumpkin chili and pumpkin chili cupcakes.

Those of you who are Spanish speakers (I am not) will know that abuelita means grandma. The grandma on the package is Sara García, a legendary Mexican actress of more than 140 films. Despite her fame, I wonder if this kind of marketing would work in the US. She's kind of scary and reminds me of Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire. Then again, Mrs. Butterworth sells well, as does the Quaker Oats man, so who knows.

Where Can I find Abuelita if I'm not in Mexico?

My first concern about the chili was whether or not I would be able to find Abuelita. Thankfully, St. Louis has a number of different stores that carry Mexican products. I picked mine up at Global Foods Market in Kirkwood. If you don't have a good Mexican grocer near you, you can purchase Abuelita online.

The Pumpkin Chili

The pumpkin chili was fantastic. The combination of flavors was perfect: spicy but not too spicy with just a touch of sweet. I followed the recipe as written on What's Cooking with just a few exceptions as noted in red below.

For this recipe you will need:
2 lbs ground beef (I used local grass-fed beef from Whole Foods. It was great! It was the first time I have made something with beef that had no grease at all. Even after putting the chili in the fridge overnight, there was no nasty orange fat on the top to remove. If you like grease, don't use this.)
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
1 cup tomato juice
½ Abuelita chocolate bar
3 cloves garlic
1 chopped onion
2 cups pinto beans
olive oil

Special chili mixture:
1 tbsp black pepper
½ tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp oregano
2 tbsp salt (I don't like salt. I only used 1 tsp. That was plenty for me.)
1 tbsp cumin
2 tbsp chili powder
2 tbsp ground paprika
2 tbsp ground chipotle pepper

Preparation:
1. In a large pot cook onion and garlic in olive oil over medium heat.
2. When translucent, add ground beef and special chili mixture and cook until beef turns brown. It is important that the ground beef is thoroughly cooked.
3. Add pumpkin puree, chocolate, crushed tomatoes and tomato juice.
(At this point, I dumped everything into the crock pot and left it there for 8 hours. I added the pinto beans about halfway through. This worked perfectly for me. If you don't have a crock pot, read on.)
Stir and reduce heat to medium low and simmer for about one and a half hours.
4. Add pinto beans and simmer for about 20 more minutes.
5. Let it cool a little bit before serving.

Garnished with avocado, sour cream and fresh cilantro. (I topped mine with a Mexican cheese mix.)

The Pumpkin Chili Cupcakes

For the cupcakes, I turned to the book Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, which I finally broke down and purchased. There is a recipe for pumpkin chocolate chip cupcakes that sounded great. I decided to use that as a base, but I added the chili flavors and used Abuelita instead of chocolate chips.

When I got to the step when I was about to add the chili spices, I almost backed down. The batter tasted so good, what if the chili ruined it? "Oh well, here goes nothing," I thought as I dumped it in. I did not regret the choice.

The cake was melt-in-your-mouth moist. It was ever so slightly spicy, mildly pumpkiny, mildly chocolaty, and extremely tasty.

For the frosting, I opted for a pumpkin cream cheese frosting. I added Abuelita to half of the frosting and did something I've been wanting to try for a very long time, a two color cupcake swirl. There are swirling instructions at the bottom of this post.

The Cupcake Review

Bride and Groom 2.0 came over last night to pick up their cupcake samples. They also took two extras for friends they were going to dinner with. Lest you think them rude, my husband and I were invited to join. I just wasn't feeling well and had them bring over movies to watch in exchange for the cupcake pickup.

One friend of ours who was at the dinner has never before given me a cupcake review. He emailed me a quality review this morning and he will therefore get more cupcakes.

"I tried a bite of just the cupcake without frosting. Sigh, the density was what every cupcake should have and the cake was moist throughout. Too often a cupcake is dried on the top and too moist on the bottom thus it crumbles in hand. The pumpkin cupcake was evenly baked, kudos, and the density was respectable. Run of the mill cupcakes are too airy and not very satisfying. I like a pastry to have resistance when I bite into it."

He continues to talk about how our other friend claimed to like the soda fountain cupcakes better. He explains that choice as follows, "Last night I learned he is one year and 363 days younger than myself. So, perhaps in about two years he'll favor the mature pumpkin over root beer."

Bride 2.0 also really liked the cupcakes. She called them "wedding contenders" and said she liked the mild kick and the cupcake to frosting ratio. Despite my pride at the neat looking swirl, this was WAY too much frosting for me. I was glad that others liked that quantity though.

As I had predicted, Groom 2.0 didn't like the spice factor. He's more of a basics guy.

The Cupcake Recipe
adapted from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

2 C canned pumpkin

2/3 C vegetable oil

2 C sugar

1/4 C soy milk

1 t vanilla extract

2 1/2 C flour

1/4 t black pepper

1/4 t oregano

1/4 t cumin

1/4 t chili powder

1/4 t ground paprika

1/4 t ground chipotle pepper

1/4 t cinnamon

1/2 t baking soda

1/2 t baking powder

1/2 bar Abuelita

In a medium bowl, stir together pumpkin, oil, sugar, soy milk, and vanilla. Sift in the flour. In a separate bowl, combine all the spices. Add spice, baking soda, and baking powder. Do not over-mix. Melt 1/2 bar of Abuelita and stir in.

Bake for 20 min at 350 F.

Makes 20 cupcakes.

The Frosting Recipe

1 pkg of cream cheese
1/4 C butter
1/4 C pumpkin
1 t vanilla extract
4 C powdered sugar
1/2 bar of Abuelita

Mix cream cheese and butter well. Add pumpkin and vanilla extract. Add powdered sugar. Split frosting in half. Add melted Abuelita to 1/2 of the frosting. Note: If you plan to heavily frost the cupcakes, you may need to double this recipe.

How to Make a Two Color Cupcake Swirl
I got some help from Clever Cupcakes (who happens to have some of the best cupcake photos on flickr) to figure out how to do a two color color cupcake swirl. The way I did it was to use 3 different disposable pastry bags. I put couplers but no tips in two pastry bags. You could also just cut a small hole and not use a coupler. I thought the coupler provided some stability and an even flow. I partly filled one bag with the pumpkin frosting without chocolate and one bag with the pumpkin frosting with chocolate. Then, I placed those two bags side by side in a bag with a star tip and started piping. Voila! A two colored swirl.

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Mardi Gras King Cake Cupcakes: Fit for a King and Queen

King Cakes are cakes typically baked throughout the Mardi Gras season (beginning on Jan. 6, Epiphany, and ending on Fat Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday) to celebrate the three kings. It is one of the few desserts that I know of that people base an entire party around. The tradition is that one person brings the king cake to the Mardi Gras king cake party. A plastic baby (representing baby Jesus) is buried somewhere in the cake and whoever gets the piece with the baby has to host the next year's Mardi Gras king cake party.

I'm not Christian and I'm not from New Orleans, so why did I bake a Mardi Gras king cake cupcakes?

1. Iron Barley was having a Mardi Gras King Cake Bake-Off. I won a prize in their last competition for my tomato cupcakes. I had to give it a shot.

2. King Cakes basically taste like cinnamon rolls. Groom 2.0 loves cinnamon rolls. He has in the past talked about going to the airport just because there was a Cinnabon there. Neither of us is sure if he actually did this or just talked about it.

3. In Jewish weddings (as Bride and Groom 2.0's wedding will be), the bride and groom are supposed to be treated as king and queen for a day. The traditional chair lifting is to emphasize the couples regal status. Therefore, a king/queen cake could be fitting. Maybe I could hide a fake flower bouquet in one and the person who finds it either gets married next or chooses the next bachelor/bachelorette to wed.

The king cake cupcakes were the first cupcakes I have made that used yeast. They were definitely more a bread consistency that a cake consistency. In fact, I used my bread machine to make them.

The cupcakes were amazingly good fresh out of the oven and three days later my house still smells sweet and cinnamony. They still taste good today, just not quite as good.

The Mardi Gras king cake cupcakes were so tasty on their own that they didn't really need frosting. However, cupcakes must have frosting and I thought that would be the best way to work in the Mardi Gras king cake colors:

Purple represents justice,

green represents faith,

and gold represents power.

Another option might have been to just use colored sugar.

If I made these again and called them cinnamon rolls instead of king cakes, I would definitely work some of the praline filling into the frosting. The filling was the best part! Because I didn't think that it would color well, I opted for a basic cinnamon frosting.

I used purple ball sprinkles to look like Mardi Gras beads and of course, I hid the baby in one of the cupcakes.

The Opinions of Important People

1. Groom 2.0 liked them a lot. He didn't like the purple sprinkles because he thought they added unnecessary crunch. He also considered them to be a bit brunchy for a cupcake, but it turns out they are considering a brunch wedding so that might not be so bad.

2. Bride 2.0 is sick and has no taste buds.

3. The Iron Barley judges voted my cupcakes 3rd place! When they were announcing the winners, I was standing next to the owner of Kreative Kakes. She was so sweet. She seemed certain I was going to place. She asked me "Do you have a bakery?" I replied matter o'factly, "No, I have a blog." My prize: A Mardi Gras crown, some fancy beads, Mardi Gras party cups, and a Mardi Gras CD by Bob Case. You can see some of the other contest entries in the picture to the left. Not surprisingly, mine were the only cupcakes.

The Mardi Gras King Cake Cupcake Recipe

I slightly modified the recipe from allrecipes to use a bread machine and to be cupcakes. If you don't have a bread machine, you can follow the steps from the original recipe.

INGREDIENTS
PASTRY:
1 2/3 cup milk
1/4 cup butter
2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

FILLING:
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2/3 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup melted butter


DIRECTIONS
Put all ingredients into the bread machine per your machine's instructions. Typically you put in all the wet ingredients, then all dry ingredients, and put the yeast in last. Run the bread machine on the dough cycle. After the cycle completed, I let mine sit overnight so it doubled in size.

To Make Filling: Combine the brown sugar, ground cinnamon, chopped pecans, 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup raisins. Pour 1/2 cup melted butter over the cinnamon mixture and mix until crumbly.

Rip off pieces of dough and make long strips out of them (about 2.5 inches wide). I didn't find the dough to be easy to roll so I basically just pressed it into the thin strips. Spread the filling down the center of the strip. Fold the top and the bottom of the strip around the filling to form a log. Stretch the log out to make it as thin as as you can without it breaking. Start on one end of the log and roll it until it fits snugly in a cupcake liner. Break it off, put it in the liner and continue rolling sections of the log.

The dough makes 24 cupcakes.

Bake at 350 for 20 min.

The Cinnamon Mascarpone Frosting Recipe
1 cup chilled whipping cream
8 oz mascarpone
1/2 T cinnamon

2 to 3 cups confectioner's sugar (depending upon how thick you prefer frosting)

Whip up whipping cream in mixer until soft peaks begin to form. Fold in mascarpone. Add cinnamon. Slowly add about the confectioner's sugar 1/2 cup at a time, being careful not to over-whip frosting.

The Very Important Tip

I found the plastic baby in the baby section of a local party store. The store employee who helped me find it was very excited to share all of her Mardi Gras knowledge with me. I was most thankful for this particular tip:

"Do not put the baby in the cake when you bake it. It will melt. Put it in afterwards."

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Meme: The Chain Letter of the Blogging World

I was tagged by Cuppycakes of I Heart Cuppycakes to participate in a meme. A meme, in the blog world, is an opportunity to reveal something about yourself and then request that x many other bloggers do the same. I see it as a blog chain letter.

Meme Vs Chain Letter

Why Memes Are Better Than Chain Letters
The only difference I see between a meme and a chain letter is that there is no mention of bad luck falling on my blog if I don't pass it on. This is a great improvement from your standard chain letter.
Why Chain Letters Are Better Than Memes
With memes there is no possibility of a prize. The bloggers I tag for a meme do not need to send 10 dollars to someone at the top of the list. In fact, there is typically no list.

My Past Chain Letter Experience
In High School, I participated in an underwear chain letter. Has anyone else seen these? If you pass it on, you are supposed to get a ton of underwear at the end. When you forward the chain letter, you include your underwear size and preferred style (maybe?). Anyway, I didn't get any underwear. Probably, some party pooper stopped the chain.

I'm a Chain Letter Party Pooper
Speaking of party poopers, let me start by saying I am flattered to be selected to be part of this meme. Thanks so much, cuppycakes! It was super sweet that you thought of me. However, I plan on pooping out.

I'd like to also own up to others I have pooped out on:

Note: I'm going to use this list to add anyone that tags me in the future. Tag me if you want your name on this list.

• Many moons ago Tart Reform nominated me as a Rockin Girl Blogger. I was supposed to happily accept and nominate 5 more people. I didn't.
• Tempered Woman tagged me. TW said of me, "She never answers memes so it's just fun to taunt her." Thanks. :) At least she didn't expect me to answer.
• Airy Fairy tagged me as well. She's another cupcake blogger with some amazing looking cupcakes. You should definitely check her out! Sorry to let her down. However, I did add her to my blogroll. That should count for something.
• Little Ivy Cakes makes me smile! I am always so excited when she stops by and leaves a comment! She tagged me for a "6 things about yourself" meme. Sorry, Ivy.
• Take the Cannoli tagged me with a Yum-Yum award. I love the name of that award! How fun! I must admit, I hadn't spent much time on her blog before, but having checked it out - it's yum-yum!! I'm not officially passing the award on, although I'll unofficially give it to everyone on this list. However, I am adding her to my Google Reader.
• Sweet Stilettos tagged me for a 6 random things meme. One fact that she shared was that she has never been drunk. I'll reveal here that I haven't either. Although, from the sound of it, I've tasted quite a bit more alcohol than she. I love tasting, just not to inebriation.
• I was tagged by one other person and I just spent oh, about an hour, trying to remember who and when it was. Did I mention that chain letters lead to guilt? If you tagged me, tell me and I'll list you HERE.

My Meme Response

So, I'm not going to respond to your meme. I'd be happy to answer the questions in an email to you and anyone else who is interested. It's not that I don't like talking about myself. I am just not going to continue the chain.

I'm also happy to list 5 blogs:
Kimberly C Baking
Courtney Watson
Everybody Loves Cheese
WOBL in Training
Chew on That

But, I'm not going to make them do anything!

FYI: Now, I'm feeling guilty for the blogs I didn't pick and concerned that maybe I should have just answered. Also, in the back of my mind, there is the thought that maybe some bad luck will, in fact, fall on my blog.

What do you think of memes?

Does anyone share my stance or am I alone on this?

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Another Wedding: It's Nuts!

A Story From the Past

Seven years ago, there was an event in St. Louis called Drink Exchange. The Drink Exchange concept was that by buying drinks for random strangers you would make new friends and business contacts. I don't drink, but back then, I needed some new friends so I went as a way to meet some people. It ended up being a blast! I met a ton of people including the the guy who would seven years later get injured by a margarita cupcake.

A few weeks after Drink Exchange, I ran into him at a different event. Afterwards, he asked a girlfriend of mine out. She said, "No." He then asked me out. I first had to grill him about why I was second. Answer: I wasn't being as flirty as my friend. This was true. I then said a tentative, "Why the the heck not?" We went on a few dates but it didn't work out. To be more direct about it, I dumped him. That is, if it even counts as dumping after just a few dates.

The Happy Ending

To his testament, we ended up becoming friends and over time he has come to feel like family.

The Even Happier Ending

He recently got engaged to someone who I 100% approve of (and we all know, that's what matters). She too, has become a great friend. Margarita friend has tried almost every cupcake flavor I have made and his fiancée has tried a great many as well.

And Yes, I'm Officially Crazy

At their engagement celebration, I offered my cupcake services. Margarita friend said for both their and my sakes we should wait until after the NYE wedding before making anything final. We all wanted to see if I could pull it off and if I would ever want to see a cupcake again when I was done. Since I was successful (yippee!!) and I still like cupcakes, I'm now on for doing their wedding.

Their date is not final yet. I'll update this post when it is. However, it is tentatively set for Oct. 12th.

The Blog Will Continue

From now until then, I will refer to them as Bride 2.0 and Groom 2.0 (Margarita friend will be glad to be rid of the blog name that constantly reminded him of his traumatic injury). I will continue to regularly make cupcakes and blog about them so that they can select. They, however, have some different requirements.

The New Requirements

1. Fall Themed. Bride 2.0 likes cupcakes that are fall themed. Her favorite so far is the Apple and Honey cupcakes. This also happens to be one of my favorites. She also thinks pumpkin would be great. I like this requirement. I LOVE fall flavors. It will be fun playing around with different combinations.
2. Something Basic. Groom 2.0 likes his cupcakes to be pretty basic. He knows this is not typically my style, but I may need to try to master a simple chocolate or vanilla cupcake.
3. Nuts are Good. Groom 2.0 REALLY REALLY wants peanut butter. I do not like peanut butter and will not be using it. However, we compromised that I would play around with using other types of nut butters like cashew and almond. I'm really excited to get to bake with nuts since they were banned at the last wedding.
4. No Coconut. Neither Bride 2.0 nor Groom 2.0 like coconut so that is a banned ingredient.
5. No Coffee. I like coffee, they don't. Oh well.
6. No Mint. Per my original rules, mint will stay on the banned flavor list.

I'm surprisingly ready to get back to my typical smaller-scale baking. I'm excited to have another event to work up to and also really glad that it isn't until October.

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Sweet Success

I can't believe it's over! I've been baking a cupcake flavor each week for the past nine months in preparation for one day.

Nine Months on a Cupcake Project as Compared to a Nine Month Pregnancy

Pregnancy	Cupcake Project
Weight is always gained.	You may gain weight. I managed to only gain a few pounds.
Husbands sometimes gain sympathy weight.	Everyone you know has the opportunity to gain weight.
You think about foods such as pickles.	You only think about cupcakes.
People you encounter always ask how the pregnancy is coming along. They sometimes want to touch your belly.	People you encounter always ask how the cupcakes are coming along. They always want to touch your cupcakes.
Your friends don't get to choose the sex of the baby.	Your friends get to choose the flavors of the cupcakes.
The big day is hard. There isn't much your friends and family can do other than sit there and try to keep you calm.	The big day is hard, but you can put your friends and family to work.
When everyone sees the baby for the first time there are lots of oohs and aahs.	When everyone sees the cupcakes there are lots of oohs and aahs.
You do not eat the baby.	You eat the cupcakes.
You feel relieved to be done with the labor and have a happy healthy baby, but nervous about what's ahead.	You feel relieved to be done with the labor and now you can relax and party!!

Let's Back Up a Bit

Last I left you, I had all the cupcakes baked and one flavor (the margarita) frosted. I had left the frosting of the gingerbread latte and the soda fountain cupcakes for the wedding day itself. I expected it to be easy peasy.

I woke up early the day of the wedding and got right to making and applying the cream soda frosting. I was about 1/3 of the way done with frosting the cupcakes when I suddenly caught a huge whiff of gingerbread. Panic struck! Had I frosted the gingerbread cupcakes with the cream soda frosting instead of the gingerbread latte frosting? I called my husband down to the kitchen to put his nose to use. It turns out that, yes, in fact, I had.

Lesson Learned: If two cupcakes are being made at the same time and are roughly the same color, always label the boxes.

There weren't enough extra cupcakes to just throw them out, and while I thought the combination tasted good, it wasn't what the bride and groom had requested. I moved on to frosting the correct cupcakes while my husband tackled the task of removing the cream soda frosting from the gingerbread cupcakes. His method:

1. Scrape frosting off.

2. Use small amounts of water to wipe off the residue.

3. Leave them out to dry. (We tried drying some on low heat in the oven, but it dried out the entire cupcake.)

The method seemed to work just fine and no one knew the difference, until now that is.

The rest of the frosting process went smoothly. There was a need for a last minute (a few hours before we needed to arrive for setup) run to the store for more icing ingredients, but overall it went without incident.

The closer it got to wedding time, however, the more nervous I became. My biggest fear was that something was going to go wrong in transport. What if they all turned upside down? Should I have brought extra frosting to the reception site in case I need to re-frost all the cupcakes?

My husband and my friend from Texas ended up devising a system that worked perfectly. They loaded all the bakery boxes into moving boxes and padded the extra spaces in the big box so the boxes couldn't slide.

My husband was extraordinarily careful on the drive there, taking turns at a snail's pace. The cupcakes arrived almost flawlessly. They did end up touching each other a bit in transit since I did not have anything separating them. This left little frosting marks in places they shouldn't have been, like when Grandma gives you a big kiss hello and you've got that little splotch of lipstick on your cheek.

The other item that needed transport was the top cupcake. I gave the top cupcake an extra high swirl to make it special. It also made it impossible to fit in the normal-sized box. As the most visible cupcake, I was most nervous about its arrival in one piece. I did take some extra precautions there and made three of them. This, too, ended up working out fine.

The Stand

The cupcake stand was created by the bride's dad. Using the stand and the entire table, we were able to display all of the 250ish cupcakes I had made. Since the bride and groom had no further use for the stand, my husband and I are now proud owners of a large cupcake stand. If anyone in the St. Louis area has need to borrow such an item, that could be arranged - just drop me an email.

The Favorite of the Favorites

The groom gave a mini thank-you speech at the wedding and announced the three flavors of cupcakes that would be served. He mentioned that the soda fountain cupcakes were his favorite. As a side note, I didn't quite make equal numbers of each cupcake flavor. I actually made fewer of the soda fountain cupcakes. They were taller cupcakes so the batter didn't go as far. Because of the numbers and the groom's assertion, the soda fountain cupcakes went like hotcakes (or should we say cupcakes?). The other flavors were also enjoyed, however, I did get several comments that I went a bit too heavy on the salt part of the sugar/salt rim of the margarita cupcakes.

The wedding was one of the best I've been to, but even if it had sucked, I would have had a great time. I was so relieved and excited to have pulled it off successfully.

Happy 2008 to everyone! Thanks for all of your support and advice throughout this entire project!

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