Cupcakes

One thing I really enjoy are Cupcakes. They seriously make any day better. My favorite place in the whole world {besides Disneyland} is Sweet Tooth Fairy. They have the prettiest cupcakes and the nicest girls that work there. I always feel like home when I walk into the vanilla-frosting aroma. Yum!

This is the Classic Red Velvet Cupcake. yum.

Pinterest Recipe Day: Dr. Pepper Cupcakes

"Make these easy cupcakes with only TWO ingredients," Pinterest said. 

Yeah, right. . . . .a can of pop and a cake mix? really? 

okay. . .that kinda sounds intriguing. . . .I wonder if it works? how do they rise?. . . .

Soda Can Cupcakes via Cookies and Cups

• 1 box cake mix, any flavor
• 1 can room temperature soda, any flavor

1. Preheat your oven to 350°
2. Line muffin pan with liners.
3. In a medium bowl combine your soda and cake mix, stirring with a whisk until most of the lumps are gone.
4. Fill each liner 1/2-2/3 full of batter.
5. Bake for 18-20 minutes until cupcakes are springy and toothpicks comes out clean.
6. Let cool completely before frosting.
7. You can use any flavor combination you would like. Coke or Dr. Pepper would be great in a chocolate cake mix. Orange Soda, Mountain Dew, Sprite, Root Beer would all be fun to try too.

I love Dr. Pepper. and Lemon cake mix. . . .

So I tried it.

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.

.

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ready to bake. after seriously 2 minutes. what?

Well they HAD to have frosting. . .so I started making a simple butter cream. . .until I looked in the pantry and the powdered sugar had somehow disappeared. (probably into Calli's makeshift muddy buddies.) great.

So I searched the internet for "frosting without powdered sugar" not thinking I'd actually have some luck!

Tasty Kitchen saved me! 

The Best Frosting I've Ever Tasted

• 5 Tablespoons Flour ***( I know, I know. my nose wrinkled at that too--but it's good! I promise!!)
• 1 cup Milk
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1 cup Butter
• 1 cup Granulated Sugar (not Powdered Sugar!)

In a small saucepan, whisk flour into milk and heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens. You want it to be very thick, thicker than cake mix, more like a brownie mix is. Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature. (If I’m in a hurry, I place the saucepan over ice in the sink for about 10 minutes or so until the mixture cools.) It must be completely cool before you use it in the next step. Stir in vanilla.

While the mixture is cooling, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. You don’t want any sugar graininess left. Then add the completely cooled milk/flour/vanilla mixture and beat the living daylights out of it. If it looks separated, you haven’t beaten it enough! Beat it until it all combines and resembles whipped cream.

**I also added a little bit of left over Dr. Pepper to the frosting too. fyi.

Look how cute!!!! :) and they. are. so. goooooood! yum!

Think of all the soda-cake mixtures you could come up with! Endless possibilities! 

Pinterest Recipe Day: Cookie Cake

When I saw this recipe on Pinterest my mouth started watering and I HAD to try it out.

Thanks Cookie Madness--it's DELISH!!

Giant Cookie Cake: 

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (11 1/4 oz)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
8 oz unsalted butter or use 4 oz butter and 1/2 cup shortening for 1 cup total
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 bag milk chocolate chips regular or miniature size  (2 cups)**
1 regular size bag (about 1.5 oz) plain M&M’s 

Preheat oven to 300° F. Line a 12 inch round pizza pan with a circle of parchment or non-stick foil. Alternatively, you can make your own pizza pan by molding non-stick foil into a giant 12 inch circle.

Mix flour, baking soda and salt together; set aside.

Cream butter and both sugars by hand or with an electric mixer. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. When well mixed, add flour mixture and stir until blended Fold in chocolate chips.

Put all the batter in the pan and press it into a circle. Stop the circle about 1 ½ to 2 inches from the rim. Press M&M’s decoratively into top.

Bake on center rack for 32-35 minutes or until cookie is golden around edges and appears set.

**I ALWAYS use milk chocolate chips. . .but semi sweet is definitely an option. :)