Rock Climbing Cake and Cupcakes!

Hi guys! I made this cake and cupcakes for my little cousin Nick’s 9th birthday party last Sunday (1/23). He had his party at Main Event here in Austin, which is this awesome place that has an arcade, glow-in-the-dark putt putt golf, laser tag, bowling, and of course rock climbing. The theme was “Nick’s Rockin’ Birthday,” and it was a blast. My aunt Vickie asked me a week or so before the party if I’d make cupcakes for it. I had originally just planned to make cupcakes with grey frosting and some sort of candy on top to look like hand and foot holds on a rock climbing wall. Once I talked about it with my mom, however (who by the way is a creative genius), we had a completely different plan. She wanted to make an actual wall to place the cupcakes on, and have the cupcakes act as the hand and footholds on the wall. I told my aunt about the idea as well and agreed to make a small cake along with the cupcakes so Nick could have some candles to blow out. I think both the cake and the cupcakes turned out wonderfully, and the kids loved them. It was my first time really trying hard on a layer cake, and I’m very happy with how it turned out.


My mom made the wall out of styrofoam bricks and painted it grey with a small bucket of oops paint we found at Walmart.

I added a pennant at the top I had printed out on the computer as well as some rope to the wall.

The layer cake is three layers of rainbow chip (from a box mix) covered in vanilla buttercream. The “rocks” are actually large jelly beans. The letters are just some candy letters I had since I didn’t want to ruin the cake with mediocre piping.

The birthday boy about to blow out his candles.

Since both cakes were made from a box mix, I’ve got no recipe to share with you, but I do have some process pictures.

Mise en place the night before baking.

Here is the rainbow chip cake batter divided amongst three cardboard pans that I bought from All In One Bake Shop.

Here are the layer cakes fresh from the oven. My oven tilts toward the back, so the cakes are all lopsided, but I was going to level them anyway so it didn’t matter. I just leveled them by sticking them in the freezer for about 45 minutes (covered in plastic wrap) and then sliced them level with a large knife.

Here’s the cake with the first layer of frosting. I don’t own a turntable yet, so I used an upside down bowl with a plate on top instead.

Here’s the cake after the first smoothing. I used a smooth paper towel and a scraper after the frosting had crusted to achieve this.

Here’s the cake after the second smoothing and decorating.

For the cupcakes, I mixed up the cake batter (just plain vanilla) and divided it evenly into three bowls.

I then added Americolor gel coloring to each bowl to dye it red, yellow, and blue.

I used red, yellow, and blue cupcake liners as well.

Once frosted (I used my standard buttercream recipe and a jumbo 8B piping tip), the cupcakes and the cake went in the fridge to chill until the party the next day. I topped the cupcakes with Pop Rocks before setting them on the wall.

Chocolate Chunk Cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Buttercream

Long time no post, eh? Well, we're finally settled into our new place, and I've finally had an opportunity to make cupcakes! My cousin Lauren and aunt Cathy whom I haven't seen in about 4 years came down to visit our family yesterday! So, of course, I needed pull out all the stops and whip up some awesome cupcakes.

These cupcakes are yellow cake with dark chocolate chunks mixed in, with Mexican vanilla bean buttercream and a dark chocolate butterfly on top. I got the recipe for the cupcakes and frosting from Brownies For Dinner, and the recipes for both will be posted at the end of this entry with my additions listed.

I started by making the chocolate butterflies from melted Ghirardelli 60% dark chocolate on Wednesday. I'm not sure I tempered the chocolate correctly, because they never really hardened like they should have, but the fridge/freezer was a quick fix for it.

I drew up the pattern for the wings, drew over it with thick black Sharpie, and just laid it underneath the parchment paper and piped chocolate over it with a squeeze bottle.

I baked the cupcakes on Friday, with these cute ruffled liners from Wilton that I found at Hobby Lobby.

Then, I packed up my frosting, the butterfly wings, and the cupcakes, and headed to my Gram's. I didn't assemble them beforehand because I wasn't sure the butterfly wings would hold up, and it's much easier to travel with unfrosted cupcakes. I assembled them at my Gram's, and they were a total hit!

Chocolate Chunk Cupcakes Recipe

• 1 box yellow cake mix (I used Duncan Hines, since I had it in my pantry)
• 4 eggs (I always use brown, cage-free eggs)
• 3/4 cup oil (I used Smart Balance, which is a blend of canola, soy, and olive oil)
• 1/2 cup water
• 8 ounces of good dark chocolate, chopped (I used Ghirardelli 60% dark)

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners. 

2. In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, oil and water.  Add eggs one at a time.  Mix well (about 2-3 minutes).

3. Stir in chocolate. 

4. Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups.

5. Bake for about 15-20 minutes (I think I baked mine for 12, but I only bake one pan at a time. Just take them out when you can really smell them and a knife or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean).  Let them cool completely on a rack before frosting.

Vanilla Bean Buttercream

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened (I actually used I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, in the stick form)
• 2 – 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted (I used 3 cups)
• 1/2 vanilla bean (I ended up using two whole beans. The flavor wasn't strong enough for me and there wasn't a high enough concentration of vanilla caviar visible in the frosting with just half)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon milk (I probably only used about half a teaspoon. I like my frosting stiff for piping.)

1. Beat the butter until it gets light and fluffy.  Gradually add powdered sugar.  Add the milk and beat for 2-3 minutes.

2. Split the vanilla bean half in lengthwise and scrape out all of the seeds.  Add the seeds and extract to the bowl.  Beat on high until combined and fluffy.

Vegan Cookies 'n' Cream Cupcakes!

Oh yes, they tasted as good as they looked. =]

These were made for our nephew Jaedyn's adoption party. He's got severe dairy allergies, so everything I make for him needs to be vegan/dairy-free. You'd think this would limit my options as far as baking goes, but there are so many awesome recipes out there! This one came from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero, but I found it online at Chow.com.

Jaedyn LOVED them, especially the frosting. He was eyeballing them all through dinner. Here's some more pictures.

Jaedyn chowing down on the breakfast of champions the next morning. =]

Vegan Cookies 'n' Cream Cupcakes

• 1 c. soy milk (I used vanilla Silk)
• 1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
• 3/4 c. granulated sugar
• 1/3 c. canola oil
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. almond extract, chocolate extract, or more vanilla extract
• 1 c. all-purpose flour
• 1/3 c. cocoa powder, Dutch-processed or regular
• 3/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 c. coarsely chopped chocolate cream-filled sandwich cookies
• Vegan Fluffy Buttercream Frosting

Preheat oven to 350°F and line a muffin pan with paper or foil liners. Whisk together the soy milk and vinegar in a large bowl, and set aside for a few minutes to curdle. Add the sugar, oil, vanilla extract, and other extract, if using, to the soy milk mixture and beat until foamy. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add in two batches to wet ingredients and beat until no large lumps remain (a few tiny lumps are OK). Mix in the sandwich cookies. Pour into liners, filling 3/4 of the way. Bake 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely.

Vegan Fluffy Buttercream Frosting

• 1/2 c. nonhydrogenated shortening (I just used butter-flavored Crisco since I wasn't worried about the vegan aspect)
• 1/2 c. nonhydrogenated margarine (I used Willow Run soy margarine)
• 3 1/2 c. powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 c. plain soy milk or soy creamer (I used vanilla Silk again since it's what I had)

Beat the shortening and margarine together until well-combined and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat for about 3 more minutes. Add the vanilla and the soy milk, and beat for another 5 to 7 minutes until light and fluffy. Just fold in chocolate sandwich cookie crumbs to make it match the cupcakes.

Apple Pie Cupcakes

Hey y'all! It's been a while since I've posted, hasn't it? Well, we had another potluck at work so I now have new cupcakes to share!

Our potluck was for Thanksgiving since we're closed on the 26th, so of course I had to bring something in keeping with the theme. What did I bring? Apple pie cupcakes!!!!

Golden butter cupcakes with apple pie filling mixed in the batter, topped with Dutch apple jam and cinnamon vanilla bean buttercream.

I originally got the idea to do so when my baker friend Joyce sent me an awesome recipe for them. However, I only found out about the potluck the day before, so I tried to find a quicker recipe. The new recipe involved cake mix and canned apple pie filling, but turned out delicious nonetheless. The buttercream is the same as my staple buttercream, with the substitution of a real vanilla bean for the vanilla extract, and 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon. 

Everyone at work loved them, and I'm pretty sure it's most due to the fancy piping job. Don't get me wrong, they were scrumptious, but we basically had a table full of desserts and they wouldn't have stood out otherwise. All I did for the frosting was pipe a lattice pattern on the top with a small basket tip (Wilton #46) and then piped the wavy crust edge with a medium round tip (Wilton #7). Not too difficult, just time-consuming. 

Alright, I have a few more pictures that I know you're waiting for. 

I'll be making more of these for Thanksgiving dinner with David's family next week, but I'll only be uploading those pictures to facebook and flickr so I don't have basically a double post. 


Next should be something Christmasey! We'll see!

Apple Pie Cupcakes (easy version)

• 1 box Golden Butter recipe cake mix
• 1 can apple pie filling (you may want to run a knife through it a few times since the apple slices are pretty large for cupcakes)
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 c. water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Pour into lined muffin tin. Bake for 10-20 minutes, depending on what size tin you use. Makes 12-18 cupcakes.

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes!

We had a potluck at my new job to celebrate the end of training, and since I was in a pumpkiney mood, I decided to make pumpkin spice cupcakes for it! These were seriously the easiest cupcakes I've ever made.

I got started on Wednesday evening by making mini marzipan pumpkins as toppers. I've never worked with marzipan before, but this definitely won't be my last time. It was so easy to work with and smelled so good!

I baked the cupcakes Thursday evening. I love how they crackled on the tops, so pretty. They made the whole house smell heavenly, too. 

I filled the cupcakes with a squirt each of pumpkin butter on Thursday evening as well. I have a filling tip from Wilton that makes filling soooo easy. 

 

I frosted them all early Friday morning before work with cinnamon cream cheese frosting. I found the liners at Michael's, and they're by Martha Stewart. She has some awesome Halloween stuff. The "poison" liners have a skull image on the bottom of the cup, and the "beware" ones have spiders.

At the potluck. I displayed them on my Wilton cupcake stand with a big black charger plate underneath to hold the rest, since there were 24. 

These cupcakes were a huge hit and made me tons of new friends, haha. They were positively scrumptious as well! It was torture having to wait to eat them, since I was sitting near them and could smell them all day. I've already been asked by David's aunt to bring some to Thanksgiving dinner, though!

Easy Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

• 2 (18.25 oz) packages spice cake mix
• 1 (30 oz) can pumpkin pie filling
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp butter flavoring 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl for 2 minutes. Contents will be very thick. Line muffin tin with paper cups. Fill 2/3 full with batter. Bake 22 to 24 minutes (or, if you're only doing one 12-cup tin at a time, about 10 minutes). Makes about two dozen, usually a little more. TIP: If you have extra batter but not enough to fill all the cups of the muffin tin, fill the remaining empty cups halfway with water. It helps the cupcakes to bake more evenly.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Beat the cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer in a bowl until smooth. Beat in the powdered sugar a little at a time until incorporated. Add the vanilla extract and cinnamon; beat until fluffy.