Cupcakin It Up! ~ Cupcake Reviews, Cupcake Designs, and Cupcake Inspiration

Top of the Cupcake to you!

noreply@blogger.com (Cupcakin' It Up) — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 00:28:00 +0000

Happy St. Patty's Week! Who is excited to bake up a wee pot of cupcake gold for friends, family, and co-workers?? While I definitely feel your angst in creatively coming up with ideas to bake for a holiday largely centered around clovers, leprechauns, and (for those of age...) drinking, I'm here to share with you a few cool ideas I had for 2012!

I got particularly excited after I came across liquor-infused icing ideas, and it's so easy to do! When making the icing, instead of adding water, milk, or vanilla, use Bailey's or whiskey. YUM. Nothing says Irish like integrating drinking into cupcake eating.

Moreover, I know that green cake is often a popular idea, but how about jumping on the red velvet band-wagon and calling it Green Velvet Cupcakes. You can even put some creamy cheese frosting on top to enhance the red-velvet-y flavor. Adorable and classy, right?!

On the more fun, mythical side of the spectrum, you can make any kind of festive cupcake and top it with Lucky Charms. This will undoubtedly be a hit with the kids. Sugar and more sugar?? I'm on board!

Another way to play up the whimsical is to utilize those colored marshmallows (that are on the shelves thanks to Easter just around the corner) to make tiny green top hats (like the below). Or you could always take a page out of my Mad Hatter Tea Party post and turn the cupcake upside down to make it one giant green hat!

Whatever you choose, just remember to taste test - because it's the scientific thing to do!!

Tour de Cupcake

noreply@blogger.com (Cupcakin' It Up) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 21:52:00 +0000

Last summer, I went to Europe under the guise of a honeymoon, when really I was on a covert cupcake recon mission! My accomplice and I visited London, Paris, and Bruges, and in each city, we scoured the streets for some tasty cupcake goodness. This is my report -

London - home of the infamous and decadent Harrod’s! This was literally a baker’s heaven. They had an ENTIRE room devoted to desserts and one wall exclusively to cake. My partner in crime insisted that – in the name of science – I try one of these gorgeous looking cupcakes. But which to choose? I wanted a fair comparison... so I went for the white icing with milk chocolate shavings on top of chocolate cake (to the bottom right). It was… kind of bland and a little dry. Maybe in the US we are used to super rich and sweet stuff, so my taste buds are on classic American over drive. But I confess myself disappointed. To be fair, this is my all time favorite flavor pairing, so I set the bar pretty high. Though it still was a blast! I took as many pictures of cupcakes as of the London architecture!

On a day trip to double date with our buddies Will and Kate, we meandered through the town of Windsor. It was adorable with its quaint cobbled streets and small kitschy shops. One of these was a bakery and fudge shop. I sampled the fudge, and it was excellent. So good that I bought some to bring home to my mother… however, it sadly melted long before we ever landed in LA. Nonetheless, it was fun to look at all the cupcake flavors that were alongside the fudge. There were so artfully decorated! Fit for a… queen?! (t-hehe)

And so we ate our way through Belgium to the small town called Bruges- sanctuary to the chocolate! There, we found chocolate nirvana. Chocolate shops lined the streets, and as if to affirm the reason I married this man, my husband suggested we sample from each! Surprisingly, I did not see too many bakeries with cupcakes. But honestly, my purse (and tummy) were so brimming with chocolate by the time we left, that I’m certain my jeans could not take one more bite!

By the time we rolled ourselves in Paris, we on quite the sugar high. On our first night there, I had the creme brulee, which was, and I'm not exaggerating... divine. Easily the best dessert I had on our honeymoon. Thus, I proceeded to eat that instead of any other dessert with dinner. Best meals. Ever.

To satisfy any further curiosity about European baked goods, check out the other wonders I found (in England):

SO freakin cute! (Harrod's)

My future birthday cake!!

I love this! I'm totally making it!

More from Harrod's - SIGH

Happy Hearts!

noreply@blogger.com (Cupcakin' It Up) — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 22:12:00 +0000

It's that time again - time for pink, purple, red, and a celebration of all that is sweet! To jump start the week of love, I decided to spend Saturday afternoon catching up on girlie shows and baking a Valentine's Day treat to surprise my favorite med student after his weekend hospital shift.

I saw this recipe for Chai Tea cupcakes on Allrecipes.com a while back, but it seemed like a lot work; however, since my Dr. Adorable loves Chai so much, I thought Valentine's Day would be the perfect excuse to truck through it.

One thing I always do when consulting All Recipes is read the reviews to see how people have improved the recipe. In this case, I was very glad I did, as I found the advice to be... well... delicious! See the appended recipe below:

1 cup milk
2 black tea bags
2 chai tea bags
1/2 cup plain yogurt (REMOVED)
3/4 cup white sugar (used 1 cup instead)
1/4 cup canola oil (vegetable oil because I didn't have canola)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (added 1 extra tsp!)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder (extra 1/2 tsp, per the reviews)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (added more to taste)
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves (used extra cinnamon/nutmeg because I didn't have cloves)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 pinch ground black pepper
2 eggs (ADDED)

The review said to keep added flour until the mix became less watery. Well, I didn't have any regular white flour, so I was forced to use buckwheat flour. I thought this could have been a potential taste-disaster, but the result was just that the cupcakes turned out more muffin-y in texture. I tasted the batter and decided to add in dashes of more of the above spices listed above.

But what really made them was the ICING! Also an All Recipe's pick, I took the liberty of modifying this recipe too. Whenever possible, I change out water for milk because I think it makes everything more fluffy and flavorful. It also seemed to call for a lot of liquid, so I took out the extra milk it suggests. Thank goodness I did because it would be been wayyy too watery and not dense enough to work with. Recipe below:

2 chai tea bags
1/4 cup boiling water (MILK instead)
1 cup unsalted butter or margarine, softened
8 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup cold milk (REMOVED)

Overall, I think this was a success, and I would definitely do it again but likely with normal flour... because who wants healthy when cupcakes and Valentine's Day are involved?!

My Icing Syringe, My Heart

noreply@blogger.com (Cupcakin' It Up) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 05:43:00 +0000

You may have noticed that my cupcakes have had "some work done" as of late... Yes, they have gone quite Hollywood! It is all thanks to my new friend the Kuhn Rikon Mechanical Pastry Bag, which I fondly call my Icing Syringe (blame the nickname on my med-student taste-tester!).

I was inspired to upgrade from the old sanitized pinky-finger and butter knife when Bead Up! came to town to help me with my blueberry baby shower cupcakes. She had a fancy-smancy icing bag (like what the pros use!), and I confess myself intimidated at first. Why buy a tool when you have a knife and a ZipLoc bag?! Bead Up soon showed me just how magical the right tools can be in making your creations look like they came out of Martha Stewart magazine. So I resigned myself to buy one of my own.

It was a Sunday afternoon when the plan turned to reality - an afternoon made for baking and Disney movies, and I needed my new toy NOW. So I popped over to Sur la Table to see what they had in store. There, practically glowing on the shelf was the Kuhn Rikon tool of glory that would forever transform my cupcake creations!

For $28, I purchased this completely disassemble-able tool (that is handy for easy washing) has seven different icing toppers of two varying sizes. It is perfect for any skill level - you simply smoosh the icing into the syringe and squeeze it onto your cupcakes to make tons of fun shapes!

I highly recommend making your icing a little more thickly than normal cake icing. If you plan on doing a more intricate design than just using one of the cool toppers (see left picture), a drier icing can act as a fondant like texture. That blue dragon (see right picture) was made entirely out of very stiff icing!

Other of my recent favorites shown below and made entirely with my fancy Icing Syringe.

BRAINSSSSS!

Whimsical swirls!

Rim for a hat!
(more details on this one in the previous post)

Down a cupcake-shaped Rabbit Hole!

noreply@blogger.com (Cupcakin' It Up) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 05:06:00 +0000

Kristie was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the river bank... when suddenly the White Rabbit appeared, muttering, "Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be very late!"

He soon popped down a rabbit-hole under the hedge. Kristie followed, never considering where she might wind up...

Here she appeared! - at her very own baby shower for her baby boy, Jacob, which was set to the appropriate theme of (you guessed it!) a Mad Hatter Tea Party! You see, Alice in Wonderland is my sister's favorite book. So her book club pals and I entered the creative wonderland of planning her baby shower down to the very last tea cup! I, of course, assumed the great responsibility of supplying the cupcakes!

I know my sister's favorite cake flavors are red velvet with cream cheese frosting and chocolate with chocolate frosting, so I planned everything around that. I'm a big believer in pleasing the mama's taste buds above all else. It just so happened that they came out adorable in the process!

My sister in infamous for her amazing milk chocolate icing. Her little secret (that I will share with you now!) is that she softens the butter to room temperature and then blends it with the milk, adding in the sugar and cocoa afterwards. Something about the warmth of the butter makes the icing extra fluffy. Especially when you are trying to make the icing look appealing, fluffiness is key. No crisco needed!

Curiouser and curiouser...

I hopped to baking two dozen mini cupcakes of each flavor (4 batches total) and one dozen normal sized cupcakes of each flavor. This came to... well, quite a few cupcakes! Luckily though, I had many eager taste-testers and guests who were most excited to take them home for midnight snacks.

When I bake rather epic amounts of cupcakes, I like to do it over a two day period - ideally baking on one day and decorating on another day. This gives me a rest and helps my creativity to flourish. May I also suggest having an adorable helper to keep you company and wash the occasional dish (despite how many times you tell her to sit down!!)?! This was some of the most fun I have ever had baking cupcakes - with my sister in her amazingly huge kitchen!

This culinary wonderland produced a rather white rabbit idea of its own! I noticed how, whenever I bake cupcakes anyway, there is always a rim around the side (because I fill the muffin cups almost to the top)... hmmmm doesn't that rim remind me of... of.... A HAT?! Why yes! And is this not a Mad HATTER tea party?! I decided to go with it because I justified that if it came out weird, I would simply call it MAD (not so much hat!). Luckily for me, they did come out pretty darn cute! I covered the chocolate cupcakes with white, colored icing. I separated the icing into bowls to produce multiple colors and multiple hat designs.

One key note that I discovered through trial and error was that once a cupcake is turned upside-down, it really cannot be moved without destroying the rather sticky top. Hence the tiny plates with the doillies as their final resting place. I laid the cupcake down on the doilly and iced it using this fancy icing syringe that I will write about in my next post. But suffice to say, it comes with many different icing tips that I used to create ridges and flowers on the hands to make each one unique!

While you really had to LOVE icing to want to eat them, they made such cute additions to our table decorations. Believe it or not, a couple did get eaten! It was quite fun to create.

I do love being an Auntie, and I have no doubt that there are many ways in which to spoil my nephews and nieces in the years to come!

~~~~~
"Wake up, Kristie, dear!" her sister said. "Why what a long [sugar-induced coma] you have had!"

"Oh I've had such a curious dream!" said Kristie, and she told her sister of all these strange adventures she'd had [decorating onesies and staring at diaper cakes].... So Kristie got up and [waddled] off, thinking while she went, what a wonderful dream it had been!

Happy Thanksgiving!

noreply@blogger.com (Cupcakin' It Up) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 17:55:00 +0000

Happy Turkey Week! I hope it has been a FULLfilling one so far. If it has not been, try these tasty treats on for size, courtesy of Betty Crocker and a little cupcakespiration! They are called Praline Pumpkin Cupcakes - Betty suggests it in cake form, but after reading some reviews and knowing my audience, I decided to make them into cupcakes.

No muffin cups necessary. Simply simmer butter, whipping cream, and brown sugar and put it on the bottom of each muffin cup. Sprinkle with chopped pecans. A thin layer of the goo works just fine. Then mix the Duncan Heines (I prefer Duncan to Betty), eggs, water, oil, pumpkin, and pumpkin spice - and PRESTO! You have a delicious Thanksgiving treat!! Well, then add the cream cheese frosting....

Full recipe can be found here - Praline Pumpkin Cake

The recipe says to bake the cake for 41 minutes, but my cupcakes were done in about 15-17 minutes. For the cupcakes, you don't really need to let them cool for an hour... the normal 30 minutes is just fine.

Enjoy! Hope you have a festive holiday!

Baby Blueberry Champagne Cupcakes

noreply@blogger.com (Cupcakin' It Up) — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 14:14:00 +0000

It doesn’t get much cuter than mini cupcakes… ok, well the actual babies are pretty adorable! I’ve been baking up a storm for the little buns in the oven these past few months. First for my sister-in-law, then my boss, and soon my own sister! I will tell you about my sister’s baby shower cupcakes much later as it is a surprise and she would likely snoop on my blog (hehe). Today, I wanted to share what I whipped up for my boss at work...

When I make baby shower cupcakes (this is my third time), I try to cater to the tastes of the mother and the general color scheme of the event. Since her stomach can be a little sensitive, I want to give her something she and the little munchkin will absolutely love and hopefully not up-chuck later!

My boss loves cupcakes and fruity dessert. She is not a big fan of icing or super sweet things. AND she is having a boy. I took all this into account when I cooked up the idea for her cupcakes. My co-workers had given me the specifications of the color blue. Ok, that I could do!

I knew I wanted to do minis for two reasons – 1.) It’s a baby shower! A celebration of a tiny dude! Minis seem appropriate, 2.) I was baking for an office of about 40, which would take FOREVER with a normal sized cupcake in a 12 dozen sized pan.

The next idea I had was to involve blueberries – I knew they would look so cute topping a mini cupcake. But could I take it all a step further? Why yes! Thanks to the innovations of Bead Up! who introduced me to adding flavored Jello mix into a white cake mix (and joined me for an epic night of baking!), I had a great pairing idea to go with my blueberries – I picked up blue Very Berry Jello mix at the store.

We proceeded to mix it… but the dough was tasting quite berry. So we added about two teaspoons of Vanilla. Ah yes, the sweet spot! Then on to the icing! Bead Up had the brilliant idea of adding champagne flavoring to the normal Martha Stewart Buttercream Icing recipe. What a festive idea for a baby shower! While she promises me it did not taste like medicine, I could not help but feeling that the final pairing of blueberry and champagne flavoring tasted a little like dental fluoride… but I must be crazy because everyone loved them! Especially the Mommy!

The Cupcake Quest - Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Cupcakin' It Up) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 20:00:00 +0000

On July 8th surrounded by friends, family, mini and normal sized cupcakes, I wed my favorite taste-tester. I knew he was a keeper from the time he told me my demonic farm animal cupcakes were “adorable” and that the time I totally messed up champagne cupcakes and they tasted like medicine, he wolfed them down and asked for seconds. He is as much a necessity to my baking as my new KitchenAid mixer (but of course he is way cuter!).

As I'm sure you know, planning a wedding requires a lot of detailed organization, and while my wedding was a budge one that did some unorthodox things like RSVPs online, skipping Save the Dates all together, and registering on a site called the HoneyFund (where people can contribute money for certain activities on your honeymoon), there were a couple of things I felt strongly about. One was my cupcakes.

I had it in my mind from day one that cupcakes would be involved in dessert, perhaps in replacement of a traditional cake. Then I found Kara’s Cupcakes had an option perfect for the cupcake lover – they offered a tiered scenario of cupcakes with a small 6-inch cake on top to give it a wedding cake feel and something for the Bride and Groom to cut. You could pick and choose as many different flavors of cupcakes as you want. The only little catch is that you had to keep their frosting and cake pairs (unless you paid extra for a special order). But you know what?! Kara’s knows best! Their flavor pairings are AMAZING.

For dessert, I decided to go with a 6-inch chocolate cake and white icing on top, with cupcake flavors of: Sweet Vanilla (white cake, white icing), Chocolate Coconut (chocolate cake with white coconut icing), Smore (chocolate cake with marshmallow frosting), Chocolate Velvet (Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting), and Mocha Java. Each cupcake had a light pink daisy adorning the top (no extra charge!). It turned out SO cute...

My little brother, a Smore expert was underwhelmed by the flavor, but nonetheless ate two. He really loved the Sweet Vanilla, as many guests did. Like I mentioned previously, the chocolate and vanilla frosting pairing is EPIC and an instant favorite. The chocolate velvet was delicious but very rich in flavor.

Then came the question of the display tier. Kara’s does offer a rental of a porcelain tier for $75, which is totally reasonable BUT they require insurance of a credit card, and if you or your venue breaks it, they can charge you $500! To me, that was SO not worth the stress. So I hopped online and found a $25 Styrofoam one on ebay – not the sturdiest, but certainly got the job done.

But was this enough cupcakes?? NEVER! After I confirmed my dessert choice, I moved on to other wedding details like place cards that display guest names and their table numbers. I found lots of cute crafty ideas on Etsy, but decided that for $1.25, I could do so much more… I ordered a few dozen mini Sweet Vanilla cupcakes and then constructed the “place cards” by printing their names and table numbers on a round label and sticking two together on the top of a toothpick.

On the day of the event, the staff placed my creations popping out of the cupcakes for each guest to sample on their way to the seat. The result?? Well, you know that little brother of mine who ate two Smore cupcakes?? He ate 8 mini cupcakes that he poached from absent guests!

Overall, the cupcakes were a smash hit and really helped my personality shine through. My husband, though an avid taste-tester of my cupcakes, prefers ice cream. So mid-evening, when people were working up a dancing sweat, we put out an ice cream bar for guests to refresh. Now both of us had our sugar fixes!

It truly was a sugary sweet evening that I will remember forever with the best cupcakes I’ve ever had!!

The Cupcake Quest - Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Cupcakin' It Up) — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 15:00:00 +0000

After a rather epic hiatus, I’m back with a two parter about the Ultimate Cupcake Quest! You can’t be mad at me because I was having the ultimate cupcake tasting experience – planning my wedding!

The quest for the wedding cupcakes that were to meet of the high standards of Cupcakin’ It Up! was an ambitious one. It started with a wide Yelp search for wedding cake bakeries that would deliver to Sausalito, California, where my reception would take place, at a minimal fee. The first place had an impressive background in making gorgeous fondant flowers to cover the cake in; however, the taste of the cake was mild and not very memorable. The next place was a full on bakery that had promise in its variety but poor and dry in its execution. No, no, none of this would do!

Distraught, I roamed the streets of San Francisco. I meandered my way to Ghirardelli Square - a place of comfort, warmth, and chocolate to console my affronted taste-buds and revitalize my quest for a cupcake fit for a princess. And there, as I reached the top of the steps, my eye was caught by the soft pink glow emanating from a shop window. I moved closer to discover the holy grail of sugar – Kara’s Cupcakes!

Their set up was a more girlie version of Sprinkles, and honestly, their reviews on their San Jose location were not promising. However, Yelp could not have been more wrong. I tried my favorite chocolate cupcake with vanilla and coconut icing and it was HEAVEN. The cake was perfectly moist and the icing was creamy but not too sweet or Crisco-y. Perfection. My mother and sister, prophets in the art of chocolate, agreed. These were the cupcakes I wanted to serve at my wedding...

Cupcake Accessorize for a Good Cause

noreply@blogger.com (Cupcakin' It Up) — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 19:12:00 +0000

What better way to help a good cause than doing it in the name of Cupcakes!! From now until April 26th, Maki Taniguchi, an art student on Etsy, will donate 100% of her sales to relief efforts in Japan.

When I came across Maki's shop on Etsy, I totally fell in love with the intricacies of the cupcake designs and the ability for customization. With nearly 95% of materials coming from Japan, Maki wanted to give back to organizations in Japan such as International Save the Children Alliance, GlobalGiving, and Global Animal non-profits.

"I think donating my proceeds to people in need is the least I can do... for the country that my parents come from."

What I love about Maki's shop is that you can pick everything from toppings to muffin cup colors! Maki took a moment to share the process of whipping up her creations -

"I use resin clay, paper clay, and silicone from Japan that is specifically formulated for decorating purposes. I order whatever molds and hardware from a supplier who buys everything from Japan. Molds are utilized to achieve consistency in quality and look of the product as far as little things like the cupcake bottoms and mini donuts go. But all the whipped toppings, ice cream swirls, ice creams scoops and whatnot are piped and hand-sculpted by me, much like a real baker.... Custom orders are my favorite. People come up with whatever flavor and topping combo they wish and i do it. It keeps me on my toes!"

I'm hungry just reading about this, and little did I know that this style of decoration is quite popular in Japan. Now, that's something I could get on board with! I would bejewel everything with cupcake insignia!

"There is a huge subculture comprised of women, young and old, who make their own decorations. They decorate anything from their nails to compacts and picture frames. But the most popular item to decorate and personalize is the cell phone. this phenomenon is called "decoden" which is short for "decorated denwa" or decorated phone in Japanese. Swarovski crystals, fake flowers, silk bows, mini teddy bears and, of course, mini fake desserts are among the most popular types of decoration. So what I do is merely a spin-off of what's been popular overseas."

Like what you see above? Each image is linked to Maki's shop, which can also be found by clicking here.

Cupcake FAIL: A Cupcake Only A Mother Could Love

noreply@blogger.com (Cupcakin' It Up) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 05:10:00 +0000

The urge stuck me, one sleepy Saturday afternoon. I was trolling the Internet for some Spring cupcakespiration to blog about when I spotted them. So innocent, so unassuming. Little did I know they would soon become my nemeses.

They were a baby chick, a baby sheep, and a kitten to be exact. Sound harmless to you? Yeah, just wait.

*Note: images depicted to the right and left were the cupcakespiration - NOT what I created.

You see, I'm charged with the most sacred sister-in-law baby shower duty of providing enough sugar to propel the baby games into action! More importantly, I had to practice my craft so that come the day of the event, I'll know I have a winner.

Thank the good Martha Stewart that I did a trial run! Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce to you today, an original Cupcakin It Up FAIL. Prepare yourself for a serious barn-raising stinker that would make even the hungriest Wilbur strangle himself in Charlotte's Web.

It all started very promising...

Ironically, the above icing was the best I've ever made! Such a shame... my secret?
No milk, all butter!! I used:

About 1/2+ a box of confectioner's sugar
1/4 teaspoon of vanilla
1.5 sticks of butter

Then I iced the entire cupcake (yellow-dyed icing for the chickies and white icing for the sheep).

I dyed the coconut yellow for the chicken feathers and borrowed a chocolate almond from my snacks and a couple of chocolate chips from my baking cupboard.

Still thinking this looks promising? Yeah, me too... and yet...

This little turd hatched before my eyes - he sorta looks like Chicken Little but on crack.

Ok, so at this point, I'm feeling just a little disheartened. It doesn't look anything like the picture. In fact, if anything, this belongs on an episode of the Twilight Zone.

But I forge on and prepare the baby sheep...

I pulled out a handful of marshmallows, chocolate chips, and even some red icing for accents. "This is going to be adorable and delicious," I think to myself. It will totally make up for the swamp thing that is likely hailing its mothership as I ice.

Or will it?!...

Wrong again! And I thought the last one was extraterrestrial - run Little Bow Peep, RUN!! Bring the garlic and the crucifix! This is not a drill!

Note how I valiantly try to make the eyes less creepy by giving it pupils. FAIL.

Ok, so maybe you're thinking to yourself, "Cheryl, this one isn't SO bad," - well, hi mom, thanks for still loving me!! To the rest of you, I apologize that you had to witness this cupcaketastrify!

And still I march on... I don't even bother to photograph the creepy cat I wind up making. It will undoubtedly appear in some kind of cautionary tale about what lives under your bed. But check out the whole demented family here:

And that, kids, is how you turn cute and cuddly farm animals scary, creepy creatures ;)

Get your PINK on - it's Spring time!

noreply@blogger.com (Cupcakin' It Up) — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 19:12:00 +0000

What's not to love about Spring? The sun is out, the weather is warm(ish), and pink is back in fashion on baked goods! When dessert extraordinaire, Christyn of Bead Up! posted her most recent pink creations on Facebook, I knew it was time to bust out the Spring features on Cupcakin It Up!

Christyn is great at making the best out of the materials at hand - something that Cupcakin It Up most certainly values in every creation! Christyn enrolled in a cake decorating class at Michael's Arts & Crafts to learn these mad skillz. Across the country, I've only heard good things about these cake and fondant classes.

"I made the bow at my first cake decorating class, all the instructions are here... I had some pink fondant left from making the daisies, so I decided to polka-dot the thing up. The bottom of my fondant was all wickety-wack, so I covered it up with a thick pink stripe," Christyn said. Now that's resourceful!

"As for the pink cake... I made it super chocolate-y with a box of Jello Devil's Food Cake Instant Pudding Mix (any kind of pudding mix adds TONS of moisture - now you know my secret)! I torted the cake with some blackberry jam I had in my fridge, and I decided to make the icing match!"

Well done, Christyn! I would say this is a pink-tastic Spring success!!

Nothing Says 'I Love You' like a Cupcake!

noreply@blogger.com (Cupcakin' It Up) — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 18:00:00 +0000

Happy Valentine's Eve! Time to shower your counter tops in candy hearts and sprinkles! You may be sitting in your kitchen pondering the meaning of pink icing, chocolate covered strawberries, and all things savory... what to bake? What to bake?...

Well, I have some ideas to make your Valentine's Day sweeter - whether it's for a loved one, a co-worker, a community-in-need, or just your own hungry tummy!

Check out my favorite online picks:

A little icing goes a long way!

It's a candy heart garden! Quick and easy.

I LOVE this idea! But I'm thinking
pink and purple hearts... in chocolate cake!

How about an ooey gooey center!

Happy baking for a holiday that just invites sharing love through sugary goodness!

Cupcakin' It Up for a Good Cause

noreply@blogger.com (Cupcakin' It Up) — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 04:11:00 +0000

Nothing brings people together like red velvet, funfetti, candy hearts, and sprinkles! Cupcakin' It Up and friends at Hall & Partners visited a PATH shelter to decorate cupcakes with kids and families.

We came armed with 200+ cupcakes (baked by many volunteers from the Hall & Partners office). Flavors included funfetti, vanilla, chocolate, red velvet, and strawberry. Good thing our helpers were so artistically equipped to help!

Check out some of the creations below! They even taught this cupcaketeer a thing or two -

First up, is the collection of our finest creations! The pink plates really made them pop.

Toppings included M&M's, cinnamon red hots, candy hearts, marshmallow hearts, and sprinkles of every color.

My personal favorite is the one on the right - unorthodox in its green, my helper added only green candy hearts and sprinkled circles throughout to add some pink and purple as well.

I also love the way she made a cupcake flower out of M&M's!

Next is an explosion of sprinkles, M&M's, and gummy heart candies on top of pink and chocolate icing. I love the way this executes - it's so festive!

Check out this icing innovation to the right!

I never realized that this texture could be accomplished so easily. My helper told me to spread the icing thinly and then take the knife and gently tease out little tufts on top.

If you unearth some cake in the process? My helper says, "no problem! Just smooth it back and start again."

Sprinkle some colored sugar or sprinkles on top for added color and texture!

This fun evening activity is easy to replicate with local in-need children in your community. I suggest having your group of volunteers each back 1-2 batches of cupcakes. Then check CVS for best candy prices (I bought my gummies, cinnamon candies, marshmallows, and heart candies there). Icing can be purchased for a dollar at Ralphs around this holiday. Even my Red Velvet cake mix was a dollar! It's a minimal price for making someone's day - and spreading the cupcake love!

Sweet and Juicy Cupcakespiration!

noreply@blogger.com (Cupcakin' It Up) — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 02:47:00 +0000

For Superbowl Sunday, my friend Shawna got her bake on with the best kind of sports food - Cupcake Burgers! She found her inspiration from a step-by-step tutorial on Bakerella. And can we say... SCORE!

Using a yellow cake mix, a box of double chocolate Ghirardelli brownies, some food coloring, and sesame seeds, Shawna made a treat that is the perfect addition to any sporting event, bbq, or birthday party!

Let's see how she did it!

First she made the brownies in a 13" pan. Don't have one? Either fill your 8" pan with half of the batter or use a cake pan. If they turn out thick, it's ok - the best burgers are thick and juicy anyway!

Then, she took a circular cookie cutter and cut the brownies into "patties." Don't have an official cookie cutter? Use a cup!

The next official step (not depicted here) was the baking of the yellow cake. Shawna filled the muffin cupcake liners about half way so that the top was only slightly dome-like.

Then she added the dyed frosting! You can either apply it using an icing bag or just a Ziploc with the corner cut. It can be uneven or overflow because it is supposed to be lettuce, ketchup, and mustard after all!

And now... the brownies and the cake come together, with a sprinkling of sesames on top to make sizzlin sweet burgers!

Cupcakes off to you, Shawna!

Wedding cupcakes turned Celebration cupcakes!

noreply@blogger.com (Cupcakin' It Up) — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 20:00:00 +0000

So maybe your thoughts are not overrun with cake tasting, venue scouting, and experimental Sephora make-up purchases that make you look a little like a crazy person. Need I remind you that you can make any gathering, holiday, or celebration into an excuse to make and display cupcakes?!

Check out this truly awesome cupcakespiration from reader, Jennifer. I love the pink, black, and white colors on the tiered display - the pink-coloring in the cake totally makes this! Sure, I want to adopt this for my wedding, but this could easily be a birthday display or even a girl’s night-in delicacy!

Jennifer’s brother-in-law built the tiers. But if you don’t have a handy cupcake-display-making-enthusiast around, you could accomplish a similar effect with some white-painted boxes of varying sizes, doilies, ribbon, glitter (of course!), and hot glue.

Making a smaller batch? Check out Jennifer’s Wilton tree, purchased at Michael’s and her adorable sunflower cupcakes perfect to welcome Spring!

Great work, Jennifer! Mmmm… now I’m hungry!!!

A Sweet Twist on the Wedding Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Cupcakin' It Up) — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 03:56:00 +0000

Nothing starts married life in a sweeter way than cupcakes dressed for the occasion! This new wave in wedding cake is something I can most certainly get on board with. And I did with my own wedding cake - or shall I say, wedding cupcakes!

This blog will be series, sprinkled throughout the next few months, leading up to my own nuptials! Now, let's figure out just how many different ways of we can work cupcakes into a wedding, shall we?!

I'm a fan of the 6 inch cake on top and cupcakes down the sides on each tier. Check out a few cool ideas I found online:

PINK!! Need I say more?

I love the way flowers look on each level and then a big crescendo at the top!

If you choose two wedding colors, coloring the icing makes a lovely contrast. It's so cheery!

YESSS! Instead of a 6 inch cake, how about a GIANT CUPCAKE?! Muhahahaa!!

Baby It's Cold Outside!

noreply@blogger.com (Cupcakin' It Up) — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 03:54:00 +0000

Lack of short bread cookies, red and green sprinkles, and present-shaped cupcakes got you down? I'm familiar with these after Christmas baking blues and feel your pain! As a fellow cupcaketeer, I want you to know that I'm here for you with some wintery cupcakespiration to keep the holiday spirit alive and the oven warm!

Check out a few ideas for January:

Christmasy-looking trees aside, the aqua colored icing (easily achieved with Wilton food dye or adding a little bit of green to blue-dyed icing) and a touch of winter decorations are still appropriate for parties after Christmas!

No food dye handy? That's ok! Just tease the icing into lovely flowing waves and add some white decorations on top to achieve this elegant design.

In an entirely different direction, check out these frigid treats that will warm the belly!

Happy Halloween!

noreply@blogger.com (Cupcakin' It Up) — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 04:28:00 +0000

Hey there, Cupcakers!! Looking for a sweet way to get your bake on?! Today is the day - Happy Halloween! Check out all of these week's Cupcakin' It Up blogs for good ideas and see how I executed some of them in yesterday's blog.

This morning, I found myself short on time, and I had to throw cupcakes together. With some sprinkles and left over candy, I was able to decorate these red velvet cupcakes in 10 minutes!

Red velvet is great for Halloween, not only because red velvet is a hot flavor these days but it's also a deep shade of (bloody?!) red! Perfect for this holiday, and, conveniently, Christmas too!

Whether you've been planning your cupcakes for weeks or just decided (maybe while reading this blog!) that you want to whip up a festive batch, making cute Halloween cupcakes is easy and always a crowd pleaser!

Pick Your Poison

noreply@blogger.com (Cupcakin' It Up) — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 07:01:00 +0000

BOO!! Three hours later, I bring you Cupcakin' It Up's own creations! It was easy-

INGREDIENTS:
yellow cake
green and yellow food dye
sugar cupcake toppers / bag of candy corn

And a little mix of poison and adorableness makes...

What you can't see here is the green dye that was blended into the batter to create that acidic feel of poison!! Muhahahaha!!

Happy Halloween!! More to come....

A Halloween Cupcake Patch

noreply@blogger.com (Cupcakin' It Up) — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 17:10:00 +0000

When my talented cousin sent me her festive, Harry Potter-themed creation (fresh from Canada!), it got me thinking about the endless possibilities of pumpkin patches and cupcakes...

It takes so little to make cupcakes so cute at Halloween! Lucky for us, Wilton has made it easy with their adorable sugar candy toppers (right).

If you can't find them at your local market or don't have time to pop into a Michael's or Party City, here are a few more ideas that can be easily accomplished with some orange pumpkin candies (found at any grocery store!) or even some green dye and coconut. Get inspired below!

The cutest little pumpkin tree that Halloween has seen!

Coconut+green dye

100% icing!

My plan is to combine the Wilton candies with the pumpkin candies in a little happy pumpkin patch. In terms of cake flavor, I'm thinking either carrot cake or pumpkin spice cake to round out the theme and color. I'll try to post these on Saturday, so stay tuned!

Spooky Cupcakes

noreply@blogger.com (Cupcakin' It Up) — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 21:31:00 +0000

Happy Halloween Week! Yes, yes, I know I've been MIA since the summer, but work and studying have left me too exhausted to type or bake.... However, I intend to make it up to you in honor of my favorite cupcake holiday! Halloween is such a versatile holiday for cupcakes - you can go gory and spooky or cute and cuddly, AND no matter what you decide (or have laying around in your kitchen!), you will always sweeten somebody's day by baking them!

Today's Halloween cupcakespiration focuses on spooky cupcakes. I myself have three different events that I have to bake for this year and plan to make one batch of spookily disturbing cupcakes, using the Wilton sugar skull and cross bones (right, found at Michael's or Party City) and some festive skull muffin cups (left, also purchased at Michael's). My plan (that I will post to the blog on Friday for those of you who would like to get inspired for Halloween!) is to make yellow cake with green dye dripped down the center and acid-green-colored icing for the top. Will this detour tasters from eating them?! I hope not - but if it does, more for me!! MUHAHA!

Here are some more spooky designs I found from other sites that might give you more good ideas!

Eek! Spiders!! Some black licorice, chocolate sprinkles
and red M&Ms or red hots make these spooky treats easy!

For those skilled with an icing tip and black dye,
these really make a spooky statement!

Ok, so this is arguably adorable - but with some tick-tacks,
marshmellow, and white icing, this can be done.

Christmas come early?! So cute and so easy AND all done with icing!
Or get your Oreo on for the eyes!!

Thing to be wary of... making an eyeball cupcake - I find that seeing it in person is just weird looking. It looks like you tried to make a spider but failed (or maybe that's just my cupcakes! haha). Anyway, these are super cute options to spookify your baked goods!

As girlie as cupcakes get...

noreply@blogger.com (Cupcakin' It Up) — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 17:00:00 +0000

Courtesy of the Betty Crocker cupcake mini-magazine, meet the Pink Champagne cupcake. The thing I like about Betty, is that she keeps it simple. Her desserts almost always involve sprucing up a mix, not starting from scratch. The downer about Betty is that, although her stuff looks cute and is very creative, the taste isn't anything to blog about (yet here I am)! She certainly has some very cute designs.

The champagne cupcakes will not be a repeat experience. The cake part simply calls for adding a cup and a quarter of champagne and some food dye. The frosting is the same with less champagne and more sprinkle pizazz:

Cake:
1 box of Betty Crocker white cake mix
(I suggest using Duncan Heines - it has a richer flavor!)
1 1/4 cups of champagne
1/3 cup of veggie oil
3 egg whites
4-5 drops of food coloring

As for the food coloring, I highly recommend the Wilton 8 Icing color set - the colors are really rich and potent. One little dip of the fork prongs into the color gel and you have your self some HOT pink cupcakes. Just see to the right for proof! The coloring set also comes with a gorgeous shade of blue and green. So much fun!!

But back to the champagne cupcakes - so I separated the icing into the Betty recipe (calling for regular champagne) and my fun experiment (with strawberry champagne!). The strawberry champagne, though creative, in combination with the powdered sugar, practically brought cavities on contact with its sweetness! The normal champagne was an interesting flavor - maybe I'm just a sucker for a old fashioned vanilla frosting!

Cool Cupcakes

noreply@blogger.com (Cupcakin' It Up) — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 05:00:00 +0000

Hello summer cupcakes! How about this as a way to cool down? Cold Stones Creamery is selling these tasty summer treats - in chocolate, red velvet, and vanilla cake. A fun twist on a classic favorite, this cool summer snack was refreshing and festive. I tried them at a summer office birthday party.

While I give them an A for presentation, I must say that the cake, as usual with ice cream cakes, was not top quality - though to be fair, I do judge a good cake my moistness.

That being said, I was surprised at the richness of flavor, and, of course, the Cold Stones ice cream is deliciously creamy (I'm a sucker for chocolate ice cream, especially in the summer!). For a fun alternative to celebrate a birthday, a baby, or just a fun time at the pool, I would recommend these - especially if you're too tired to bake your own.

Cupcakin's First - German Chocolate Icing

noreply@blogger.com (Cupcakin' It Up) — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 23:24:00 +0000

I love making birthday desserts - and I've recently discovered my love of making cakes (thanks to my new non-stick, Williams-Sonoma 8" pan!) It has taken some practice, but now my cakes don't cave in, causing my med student fiance to re-engineer them using icing as gauze and butter knives as scalpels. What can I say, I'm a cupcake girl - cakes are new to me! This German chocolate cake was my first success.

Now, whether it is a faux pas in the baking world or not, I used the Duncan Heines cake mix for the cake part. People always remark how moist and rich my cakes are when I use their mix. I like it a lot better than Betty Crocker.

To make absolutely sure this cake wouldn't cave in, I cut the tops with a sharp knife to make them perfectly level (not rounded). What that revealed was tiny air-pockets that had formed in the cake's foundation. Upon some investigation, I learned that air pockets not only jeopardize the structural integrity (and thus the likelihood of a cave-in... or cake-in as we bakers might say!) but are also a sign of over-mixing. I always thought that you couldn't go wrong my mixing at a high speed, but apparently, medium speed is best over all - according to Duncan Heines, the alotted time for mixing on medium speed is 2 minutes. Eureka!

While I was letting my cake cool, I moved onto the icing, which was suprisingly complicated and not well-explained online. Here is the recipe I used from Allrecipes.com:

1 cup evaporated milk
1 cup white sugar
3 egg yolk, beaten with 1 teaspoon water
1/2 cup margarine (I used butter instead!)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup flaked coconut

You are supposed to cook these ingredients in a saucepan over low heat (adding the pecans and coconut after the other ingredients are combined). What I could not seem to get a straight answer online about was how long you cook it or what the consistency should be when it's done. After all, it calls for raw eggs... I don't want to poison the birthday boy!

Here's what I did - I stirred in all ingredients and let it sit on very low heat, stirring it again every 5 minutes. I continued this for 20 minutes, careful to not let the bottom burn. I found the consistency of the above recipes to be a little watery, so I added extra coconut and sugar. This made it very sweet - but that's what you're going for with German Chocolate Cake!

Every stove/oven is different. Allrecipes put the cook time at 15 minutes. I probably cooked mine for 25 minutes total, adding more coconut as needed. Then, I let the entire mix cool completely (for about an hour). Applied it to the cake and refrigerated the cake. It did not melt or lose its structure and still tasted good even though it was refrigerated.

Not sure I would make this again, unless it was specifically requested... it was too sweet for my taste. Maybe if the cake were a straight dark chocolate flavor it would be a richer contrast to the super sweet icing....